Episode-1330- An Evaluation of Prepping for the New and Seasoned Alike
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Be Prepared or You Could Wind Up, “In the Dog House”
As I look forward to about a week of shows with “just Jack” (that will be next week, we do have an interview this week) I am trying to do a bit of what my football coach always did, “stick with fundamentals”. Evaluation
I also want to do so in a way that won’t be overly remedial for those who have been at this prepping gig for a long time.
Today I want to discuss more “how to think” about prepping is more important in your planning and implementation than the “what” of prepping. Any good prepping plan should begin with a risk analysis. Any established plan should be tweaked from a starting point of a risk analysis. Note the clear commonality!
Prepping isn’t a once and done affair, it is an ongoing way of living. It is something that makes disasters often into simple inconveniences. It also takes many things that would inconvenience others and simply eliminates them for a solid prepper.
Join Me Today to Discuss…
- What are your primary risks
- What is commonality of disaster
- The inverse relationship between impact scale and probability
- How you evaluate your weaknesses
- Food
- Water
- Shelter
- Energy
- Security
- Communications
- Health and Sanitation
- Financial/Economics
- Recovery Risks
- Transportation
- Getting things off the ground
- Just start with copy canning and a “deep pantry”
- Store at least 50 gallons of water, it is too cheap not to
- Make sure you have a place to go if your home is compromised
- Make sure you can fix basic problems in your home
- Have a black out kit, build a simple battery back up, get a generator
- Store gas, rotate it, build your storage over time
- Have portable heaters and fans
- Know your neighbors
- Practice situational awareness and OPSEC
- Get firearms training, have a means of defense for everyone
- Have well understood procedures for threats before they happen
- Have a get out of the house and meet up plan
- Every family member should have the info of every other family member
- Have radios, consider two way radios as well
- Have a way to deal with waste
- Keep a good med kit
- Keep extra maintenance meds
- Take care of yourself
- Exercise mentally and physically
- Save money, get out of debt
- Know your investments, practice real diversity
- Have good insurances
- Think about how you would cope with a
- Minor loss
- Major loss
- Total loss
- Keep vehicles maintained
- Have a basic working knowledge of vehicles
- Have simple extra parts on hand and tools
- Plan to take extra fuel with you
- Have multiple routes planned and document for evac
- In the end, this makes you more prepared than 99% of Americans
- Remember the two most important things you can do in life are learn and teach
Resources for today’s show…
- Join the Members Brigade
- The Year 1330
- Join Our Forum
- 13Skills.com
- Join Our Forum
- Walking To Freedom
- TSP Gear
- PermaEthos.com
- Harvest Eating – (sponsor of the day)
- Western Botanicals – (sponsor of the day)
- CampingSurvival.com – (MSB Discounter of the day, 5% off)
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.
Also remember we have an expert council you can address your calls to. If you do this you should email me right after your call at jack at thesurvivalpodcast.com with expert council call in the subject line. In the body of your email tell me that you just called in a question for the council and what number you called in from. I will then give the call priority when I screen calls.
Our Expert Council is Made Up of…
- Kerry Davis – Dark Angel Medical – Emergency Medicine and Life Saving Care
- Bryan Black – ITS Tactical – All Things Tactical, E&E, Lock Picking, etc.
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- Darby Simpson – DarbySimpson.com – Livestock and Farm Management/ Homestead Consulting
- Ben Falk – Whole Systems Design – Permaculture (Specializing in North Eastern Climates)
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- Tim Glance – Old Grouch’s Military Surplus – Bug Out Vehicles, Military Surplus and Communications
- Steven Harris – Solar1234 – All things Energy
- Chef Keith Snow – Harvest Eating – Cooking
- John Pugliano – Investable Wealth – Investing and Finance
- Gary Collins – PrimalPowerMethod.com – Health and Nutrition (primal/paleo/etc)
- Michael Jordan – The Bee Whisper – All Things Bees
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Jack,
I can’t exactly articulate it, but you seem like you’re in a very good place right now. Cheers and thank you for content like this!
A new motto for… something… praeventionis, mitigandi, eliminanda. Prevention, Mitigation, Elimination.
Thanks for going back to the basics.
Okay, ass kicked quite thoroughly! Back to my pledge days, “thank you sir may I have another”, only this time I mean it.
Seriously Jack that was fing bad ass! Great stuff, much I have heard you say before but not quite with this delivery and assembly. I have been at this a while, long enough that I was prepping before TSP was born, but I in fact found holes today as you said.
Not so much found, more accurately accepted that they were really there and now I know exactly how to plug them, thank you for all you do man. I am MSB and I will tell you why, when you ask if each episode is worth two dimes, I always want to pull out a dollar and shove it into my iPhone! Today I wanted to shove in at least a 5!
For a good source of plastic bottles try making water kefir (pronounced keh-fear) which is fermented sugar water. You can ferment many forms of sugar but the easiest way is to ferment store bought fruit juice. We prefer Welches juice. The sugar content is lower, it is carbonated and is loaded with probiotics. You end up with more good, thick plastic bottles than you will know what to do with.
Do you actually mean kombucha? I thought kefir is made with dairy.
I have tried kombucha but I didn’t really like the vinegar taste and smell I always got with it. There is a milk kefir but also a water version. You first ferment plain sugar water with the grains. Strain the grains out and I just mix 1:1 with Welch’s fruit juice. Let it sit for 2 days and you have reduced sugar carbonated grape (or whatever flavor you like) soda.
http://nourishedkitchen.com/water-kefir/
I do have a question about using the leftover bottles if you don’t mind.
I was thinking that they would make great short term storage (1 year or less) for things like dried beans and rice at no cost. It seems the prepping Nazi’s don’t like anything less than mylar bags,food grade containers and O2 absorbers. I am on a budget and I would rather buy food than containers.
In a pinch would you use them?
Dried Beans and rice would easily last a year in any kind of container as long as it is dry.
Tip for sanitation to make your poop in a bucket less gross…peat moss or sawdust. Store it in plastic bags or something (maybe make a kit with the bucket, bags, TP, peat, etc). Forget the blue stuff it just makes things stink worse.
Start the bucket off filled with about a gallon of peat moss. Whenever you use it add a cup or two of moss/sawdust to cover your waste. Avoid putting liquid waste in the bucket (guys anyway) it makes things worse.
This is basically how a composting toilet works less the mixing and exhaust fan. Outside in a pop up shelter/tent you will be fine.
wet poop = stinky poop
moss/sawdust absorbs the moisture. works great.
so.. pee into something else.
I need to get my hands on enough sawdush to start collecting urine. Its one of those things that I just keep meaning to call around about.
My sanitation plan is basically slit trenches. But again, I live on 8 acres…. not 1/4 an acre in a city…
I will say though that a non-functioning septic is a REAL big problem.
you don’t want sawmill sawdust.. you want wood shop sawdust
=)
and you don’t need the sawdust for the urine.. just for the poop.
the urine is a great fertilizer with a little bit of dilution (its sterile).
the humanure handbook is worth the read (though I liked the 2nd edition better than the 3rd):
http://humanurehandbook.com/
The Humanure Handbook is available for free online. Read it!
=)
Kitty litter is another option, it’s a great desiccant.
As a question on this episode, and if I should put it in the forum area please say so. But the question is does it really matter much what kind of battery you use to hook up your inverter to? My thought is other things being equal the largest size one would have more lead/material and hence more “reserve power” than a smaller group size. Since it would sit in the garage on a trickle charger until needed should one just go for the right size and lower price?
Second question is I would use my car as a charger, just hook it to jumper cables I already have (K.I.S.S.) How long would you need to idle the car like this to get a decent charge?
I live in a small house and am talking run the fridge or/and a kerosene heater and some lights. Plain, basic make-it-through-a-blackout kind of thing.
I think you will get more answers if you put it in the forum. You should listen to episodes 1039 and 1040 with Steven Harris and go to his website http://www.battery1234.com He hates trickle chargers, you want computer controlled
I enjoy these podcasts. More or less the same podcast every now and again, but it reiterates the importance of filling some of the major gaps in our plans. “Store a minimum of 50 gallons of water”. Epic fail. Out of all the important survival preps, we’re failing on that one. As with many of the holes, we’re trying to get the “perfect/ideal” solution, rather than a first solution.
We want to put in a cistern/large water tank. Therefore, I won’t spend minimum water storage like we should.
Good podcast.
You need portable water storage too. particularly if you may be helping out the neighbors. I’ve been buying these as they’re a decent price (about the same as new barrels on a per gallon basis) and much more portable.
http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/kitchen_storage_container_organizer_plastic_knife_rack_shelf_solution.aspx (blue 5 gallon water jug near bottom of page)
(if anyone has a cheaper source..)
If the neighbors need water, I can drop off a couple at each house, and refill them from the bigger barrels/tanks.
These come ten to a box, which is 50 gallons.
Survivalist :
A person who proactively takes action to maintain and enhance the comfort, safety, and well-being of themselves, their family and their community. Regardless of what may happen in the future.
I love these “back to the basics” podcasts. While the above actions items look to build a strong foundation preparedness-wise, the end result is refreshingly comprehensive as well. Keep them coming.