Preppers, could they be right?

Star Song, post mentioned the OP's video of the prepping mom flight to avoid the Zombie Apocalypse🤪
"...preparing for a zombie apocalypse, Morgan began to look into other potential...'

The OP seeks opinions from rational people, but how are we to retain any semblance of rationality when we have a video
of one of the preppers running around in the bushes with a rifle-fully aware that a zombie can 'snatch her up' at any time.

Sorry, but the lady in the video has given me a case of the giggles, nothing serious here for the next hour.
 
When we were in the health food manufacturing businss, in 1999 - Y2K times, we had people driving for states around to pick up our dried foods, including whole soy protein - some of them to seal them in cans and bury them in their back yards. Often wondered if they wound up actually eating all that emergency food. If it was kept dry, it would have been good for 20 years or more.

Hmmm.
 

StarSong said:
Like @hollydolly and some others I happen to have at least six months worth of food not including perishables. Between my water heater tank, RV fresh water tank, and emergency stored water (in case of an EQ) I have over 120 gallons of potable water plus a full backyard swimming pool for other water uses.

In a widespread collapse our meals would get repetitive, but long before that happened we'd face the dilemma of starving, dehydrated neighbors. How many on this forum could/would shun neighbors or get into shootouts with armed intruders desperate for water and food? I wouldn't.

Sure, preppers in the wild would have a greater chance at survival for a while, at least. But after a time some well-armed, organized, roaming bands of desperadoes would likely overwhelm them, too.

Some deep underground, well-guarded private and government installations would prove nearly unbreachable, but even those have limited food storage. How many of these jet-setters could endure three years of mole living without losing their minds? Would it be five years before the food ran low? Ten? Then what? Eventually those hapless folks would emerge to face a new tribal order where survivors had not only learned to live by their wits, they'd gladly run roughshod over (if not summarily execute) tenderfoot government hiders and wealthy nerds.

Medical problems managed easily with today's modern technology and readily obtained medications would quickly prove fatal. Sanitation systems for clean water and sewage treatment would collapse so there would be localized cholera, dysentery, and typhoid epidemics. Infant and childhood mortality would zoom and life expectancy plummet.

The woman profiled in the OP: "Morgan has been preparing for a life-changing disaster since 2010 and already has enough canned food to last six months." She "originally began prepping for a zombie apocalypse." Seriously? The threat of a zombie apocalypse is what motivated her to go down this road?

Many of us are reasonably prepared for emergencies that don't include societal collapses where civil order cannot be maintained or quickly restored. If the latter occurred I'd probably be early in the die-off numbers. Certainly within the first few months. As would most of the rest on here, I'd guess. If not by dehydration or murder, then by suicide.
Click to expand...
I think the zombie apocalypse she was thinking about was the 2012 Mayan calendar that was being talked about. There was even a book on that.
 
I never had kids so I guess I can't worry about it much. I'd just have myself and the cats to worry about. I'm with Don M. on this one, if it's a doom, it's a doom.
 
To clarify, I think it's both prudent and, dare I say, the civic responsibility of all adults to maintain household stocks of several weeks (if not months) of food, medications and drinking water, for at least one vehicle to be fully fueled and in good running order, to have emergency items on hand like flashlights, portable radios, batteries, and to have a civil relationship with neighbors so you can help each other out, and a plan in place with loved ones.

Rare indeed is the American who truly can't afford to buy a extra can of beans every week to build up a pantry, and who cannot refill water bottles from their taps and stash them somewhere. Prepper websites are filled with guidance, even covering people in small living spaces.

It takes a while for government and NGO agencies to organize responses. The larger and more severely affected the region is, the longer it takes for services to arrive.
 
hollydolly said:
I believe you're right. Recently I watched a Youtube Video where a 'prepper'' was talking about losing Electricity.. and how to prepare for it and her number one instruction was ... ''write down your contacts names , addresses and phone numbers on paper''... I laughed out loud,:LOL: to think that nowadays people just don't do this..because they have all contacts stored on their phones and computers .

I have all my contacts on my phone like anyone else, but I also have a back up written in longhand.. but when I thought about it , I realised that I bet even if I was to ask my very intelligent 45 year old daughter , I'd find that she too has her contacts stored only electronically..
Click to expand...
Brilliant advice! I just added address books to my list of things to get my children and their spouses for Christmas!
 
StarSong said:
It takes a while for government and NGO agencies to organize responses. The larger and more severely affected the region is, the longer it takes for services to arrive.
Click to expand...
Correct. When a disaster hits, you'll likely not find the government (even the local government) immediately hovering outside your door.
StarSong said:
Brilliant advice! I just added address books to my list of things to get my children and their spouses for Christmas!
Click to expand...
I use an address book for phone numbers and addresses, and a second one to record various accounts, usernames and passwords.
 
Last edited:
Irwin said:
There's nothing wrong with living off the grid if you can, since housing is so expensive and in most areas, you have to spend so much of your time working just to pay the bills. Living in the wild without having to hold down a regular job sounds pretty good. I understand that completely
Click to expand...
Living off grid is more expensive than one might think.
Did it for five years.
Gas (generator fuel, traveling to town and back) and propane (quick heat for cooking and heating water) alone can impact a budget.
Keeping some foods (propane fridge)
Keeping the well pump from freezing (propane heater)
Cooking in summer (zero fires) BBQ and camp stove (propane)

Some spout off about solar
It's around $20K to have a good (real) situation
...and then it goes obsolete

Kill that deer, and you best be inviting company or invest in a bunch of propane for canning.
And canning jars don't really fare all what well in winter, unless you store it where you sleep and live.

There's many other things that can suck up a budget

A good, really good snow blower is a MUST
Some inexperienced moron will say, 'shoot, I'll just shovel it....... exercise'
I did that the first winter
That...was the last winter I did that

That blower saved my winter butt

blower 2.jpg

blower.jpg
 
Last edited:
Living off grid was a romanticized idea for me and my late hubby. We also had checked into it, Gary 0, but as "gentleman farmers" as they called us, even with the cabin up on the mountain 2 hrs away that we bought 20 some years ago, we realized our limitations. We were isolated. We had to fend for ourselves. There were snakes and bears. It was constant work. Reminds me of "Holiday Inn" with B. Crosby who had dreams of living on a farm - but had to work constantly, getting up early, tending the crops, etc.

I do believe in solar panels. Yes, there's an upfront cost, but if you put that same money in the bank, you don't get much. And with the price of electricity going up, the solar panels have paid back their cost (in 10 years) and are earning enough to pay "rent." There is some upkeep involved but to me it was worth it. :)
 

Preppers, could they be right?​

The 'preppers' in the mountains were soooooo wrong

Mostly, they were serious.....about playing at prepping
Buying an arsenal of guns...racks of them
You just need three;
A shotgun
A deer rifle
A hand gun

'And they tend to 'practice' with boxes and boxes of precious ammo

Mainly they're nuttier than a pecan pie

Now, the hermits, they got it goin' on
Build a tight little cabin
Some storage (root cellars and pits)
Hunting a bit
Keeping to themselves
I love those guys
 
Pepper said:
You were obviously up for it. Many parents are not.
Click to expand...
I've been told that, Pepper! It was quite a learning experience for me. I was a stay-at-home mother and it was like going back to school for me. It also made me a good teacher, as I had to organize each day and prepare for his classes. As I taught, I had to refresh what I knew about geography, math, arts, science, English... We also had a lot of flexibility and travelled to museums, libraries, etc as part of his learning. I did enjoy it.
 
Taking Morgan Rogue literally the article began.

Morgan Rogue, 37, from Alaska moved her family off-grid to help train them for a possible disaster that could result in the world ending.

The world ends which would make prepping useless. But as topics do the variety of responses went to an unknown disaster.

That leaves me pondering since the world ends, what kind of disaster could happen that would allow for humans to emerge after 6 months?
 
I was born right after the Great Depression. My parents & neighbors all had huge gardens, we did not have in-house plumbing. Outhouse & a hand pump to get water from. We raised beef, but the 2nd war took all of it to feed the soldiers. We did get to keep the milk from 2 cows, which we made butter & gave to people in need.

Also had 5 pigs, that gave us piglets as they grew we butchered them & We canned the meat, or if we butchered in the wintertime Dad hung the pork on lines & would put lots of salt on the meat to preserve it.

We did have a gas stove to heat bath water in a small tub, more of a sponge bath. Old hand-crank telephone. We heated the house with coal that Dad bartered with the coal delivery guy that delivered it he would get some ham or other food he needed.

So Dad started raising 5,000 chickens & rabbits. We had enough chickens that laid eggs to share with people. Also gave them a chicken for their Sunday meal.

We had over 5,000 rabbits that Dad would kill some if a lodge or some party needed meat. (Rabbits multiply fast)

Mom & neighbors canned a lot of food. Also, our garden was about 1.5 acres, so Dad told people if they needed any food to come help him hoe & then help themselves to whatever they needed to feed their family.

I could go on & on about how everyone bartered or helped each other back them. Sure was a different world than what we have now. No one now knows how to live like this.
 
Knight said:
The world ends which would make prepping useless. But as topics do the variety of responses went to an unknown disaster.

That leaves me pondering since the world ends, what kind of disaster could happen that would allow for humans to emerge after 6 months?
Click to expand...
Things like an EMP, or even a small asteroid hit would kill off a large portion of the population, but, there would be survivors.
Of course, then it would be up to me to try and re-populate the planet. 🤣 🤣
 
@Gary O', thanks for some of the inside scoop about "living off the land" - which seems to often include lots of store-bought groceries and fuel.

I've heard a good rule of thumb for emergency supplies: Beans, Batteries, Bullets and Bandaids.

I'm not comfortable with the ammo or bullets part, but the rest of the advice is helpful:
Beans (shelf stable food plus water)
Batteries (batteries themselves along with radio or flashlights that use them - plus other power sources including propane tanks and firewood)
Bandaids (medications, first aid supplies and a paper copy of a first aid handbook)
 
Tom 86 said:
I was born right after the Great Depression. My parents & neighbors all had huge gardens, we did not have in-house plumbing. Outhouse & a hand pump to get water from. We raised beef, but the 2nd war took all of it to feed the soldiers. We did get to keep the milk from 2 cows, which we made butter & gave to people in need.



We had over 5,000 rabbits that Dad would kill some if a lodge or some party needed meat. (Rabbits multiply fast)
Click to expand...
so 5 thousand rabbits on Monday... how many by Friday ? :eek::ROFLMAO:
 
StarSong said:
I've heard a good rule of thumb for emergency supplies: Beans, Batteries, Bullets and Bandaids.
Click to expand...
Yeah, batteries for sure.
I have a huge list of necessities at the cabin.
Things to keep in good supply.
I kept everything topped off.
Had two open air hazmat sheds for gas and propane
But, yeah, batteries
Bought them by the sleeve
AA and C mostly, but some Ds

StarSong said:
I'm not comfortable with the ammo or bullets part, but the rest of the advice is helpful
Click to expand...
Up in the mountains, gotta have 'some' ammo
Bears, cougars, other predatory critters make it so
And the shotgun, for blasting in the air, to run the deer outa yer garden
And for running off the two legged renegades
 
squatting dog said:
Things like an EMP, or even a small asteroid hit would kill off a large portion of the population, but, there would be survivors.
Of course, then it would be up to me to try and re-populate the planet. 🤣 🤣
Click to expand...
I took the sentence literally as the world ending.

Partial destruction as you describe might be enough to cause the kind of decimation of most of the human race. Then there is the concern for our planet now over pollution which combined with asteroid strike/strikes would be what does end the capability for our planet to sustain human life. I think cockroaches would still be alive though & seek out those prepper supplies.


Will you as the surviving re populator get to pick & choose your mates?
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top