Actually, we've been prepping for a few weeks now, but I just haven't gotten around to posting about it yet.

I'd been bugging Mama and Papa Raptor about creating a cache of emergency supplies for quite a while, but they weren't keen on it. Seems they thought that when I said prepping, I meant for an End-of-Civilization event like on that NatGeo show, i.e. build an bunker in the back yard and fill it with canned goods, grain, water, and AK-47s. Once they realized I just meant stocking up on food, water, batteries, etc. in case of a major natural disaster (like Hurricane Sandy) or Papa Raptor losing his job and being unemployed for over a month, they warmed up to the idea. In fact, Mama Raptor has kinda gotten into it: about once a week or so, when she gets back from food shopping, she'll tell me "I bought X for your bunker." No, it's not really a bunker, just some shelves in the basement, but she likes to tease me about it. And I buy a couple of cans or containers of something every week or so on my way home from work. Working in a food store has its advantages.

Anyway, we have a generator (actually bought that after last October's freak snowstorm. No power for 4 days in the freezing cold sucked!) that works. We broke it out for a few hours in Sandy's aftermath, used it to power the fridge and a single lamp, plus recharge our phones. We also bought some flashlights with batteries, which will only be opened if the rest of our lights run out of juice and we can't get any more batteries.

Only a few days worth of supplies at this point - a few cans of soup, a few cans of fruit, a few cans of tuna (yech!), a container of raisins, a bulk pack of toilet paper, a case of bottled water, and of course, some packets of beef jerky - but we're working on it. Sandy hit this area pretty hard: some of the back roads are still messed up, and a lot of folks still are without electricity, but once things get back to normal, we're gonna stock up on batteries, I'm going to buy some more water, and we're also going to buy a few bottles of whiskey. None of us drink hard liquor, but we figure it'd be useful to have around for medicinal purposes, as well as stuff to barter with if need be. I'd really like to add a .22LR rifle and a few bricks of ammo to the stash, but that's a no go (though I am working on that...)

I gotta admit, I'm really proud of Mama and Papa Raptor. They've finally realized, with minimal help from me, surprisingly, that bad things can and do happen, and that they really do need to take steps to prepare for those events.

One last thing: how are we doing in terms of supplies? Like I said, we don't have more than a few days worth of food & water, but we are stocking up. But are we stocking up on the right stuff, and is there anything else we should be adding to the stash? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Great start brother, throw in a good sized first aid kit.

And don't forget the Spam.

Sometimes I am amazed simply by the concept of "prepping". 

I never really thought about "prepping" per say until Y2K.

In retrospect, I realize that we had done it all along when I was growing up.  A lot of stuff was canned because there was not the system of transport and refrigeration that there is today. (As an aside, this is still true of many more isolated places in Canada - many northern communities only see vegetables or fruit in cans most of the year.)  In addition to store bought canned goods, we canned or dried our own stuff too, from the garden and a small greenhouse.  Flour came in 20kg bags.  Same with sugar.  We always had spare fuel in the garage because you never knew when you would be snowed in.  Spare ammo?  Lots.  If the hardware store sold out of our preferred ammo, it might not be in stock again for a year. (For Winchester and Remington at least.  CIL - Imperial by then - was almost always in stock.  Federal and anything else was unheard of when I was growing up.)  Always had spare batteries and candles as the power could go out at any time, for no reason at all, and the cold was hard on batteries besides. Generators were expensive and rare. Split wood was stocked for the wood stove for the same reason.  Water came out of a well.  If you went out to work for the day, you carried what you would need for the whole day, and extra besides.

For me, that was just the way that life was.

It wasn't until I went to college that I saw that large swaths of the population - the urban population - lived radically differently.

There were people who actually bought the food that they were going to make for dinner that day on the way home from work. If, in fact, they were not going to eat out at a restaurant.

There were people who ate lunch at restaurants every day.  They didn't carry their food with them.  They often also ate breakfast at restaurants.  They got coffee or tea in little cups instead of out of a thermos.

They traveled lightly, and at ease.  If they were hungry, there were always vendors to feed them, if they were cold, there were always heated places they could loiter at before dashes to another.  If they carried matches or lighters, it was to ignite cigarettes.  If they had a pocket knife, it was a novelty either for display or attached to a key chain.

And these people - not these people exactly, but this archetype of people - have existed for generations that way, and continue to do so today.

Broader media awareness has illustrated the immediacy of the shortcomings of this type of cultural expectation of convenience, and that has resulted in the idea of "preparedness as a phenomena" as opposed to being the order of the day as it is for many people outside the realm of privilege.

Sometimes I am amazed simply by the concept of "prepping". 

I never really thought about "prepping" per say until Y2K.

In retrospect, I realize that we had done it all along when I was growing up.  A lot of stuff was canned because there was not the system of transport and refrigeration that there is today. (As an aside, this is still true of many more isolated places in Canada - many northern communities only see vegetables or fruit in cans most of the year.)  In addition to store bought canned goods, we canned or dried our own stuff too, from the garden and a small greenhouse.  Flour came in 20kg bags.  Same with sugar.  We always had spare fuel in the garage because you never knew when you would be snowed in.  Spare ammo?  Lots.  If the hardware store sold out of our preferred ammo, it might not be in stock again for a year. (For Winchester and Remington at least.  CIL - Imperial by then - was almost always in stock.  Federal and anything else was unheard of when I was growing up.)  Always had spare batteries and candles as the power could go out at any time, for no reason at all, and the cold was hard on batteries besides. Generators were expensive and rare. Split wood was stocked for the wood stove for the same reason.  Water came out of a well.  If you went out to work for the day, you carried what you would need for the whole day, and extra besides.

For me, that was just the way that life was.

It wasn't until I went to college that I saw that large swaths of the population - the urban population - lived radically differently.

There were people who actually bought the food that they were going to make for dinner that day on the way home from work. If, in fact, they were not going to eat out at a restaurant.

There were people who ate lunch at restaurants every day.  They didn't carry their food with them.  They often also ate breakfast at restaurants.  They got coffee or tea in little cups instead of out of a thermos.

They traveled lightly, and at ease.  If they were hungry, there were always vendors to feed them, if they were cold, there were always heated places they could loiter at before dashes to another.  If they carried matches or lighters, it was to ignite cigarettes.  If they had a pocket knife, it was a novelty either for display or attached to a key chain.

And these people - not these people exactly, but this archetype of people - have existed for generations that way, and continue to do so today.

Broader media awareness has illustrated the immediacy of the shortcomings of this type of cultural expectation of convenience, and that has resulted in the idea of "preparedness as a phenomena" as opposed to being the order of the day as it is for many people outside the realm of privilege.

I can agree with almost everything about that in Rural MT.   Alot of people are getting less that way, however in most instances, I can still see most of our neighbors being pretty comfortable for at least 6 months in a major disaster.

The wife ans I settled on a simple plan.
We have most everything covered anyway due to our backgrounds growing up in rural ND and WVa. We also go camping so we have some gear set aside. As with last July...the generator was a needed item anyway. But we had all of the stuff we needed and were fine. Armed to the teeth to keep the gen from walking...that an a serious hardened chain with a level 5 yale solid security lock. 5 days of extreme heat and no power almost caused some local rioting.
But our plans are simple.
1) In case of SHTF....bug out to alt location asap. You and your family are worth saving. Everything else is stuff.
2) Don't stick around if it gets worse. Leave the 'where de gubmint at?' morons to their own doom. Your family is worth more than theirs. Don't get dragged down with them or by them.
3) Arm yourself. Preferrably before step one.



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