Are you prepared? Trying to be more self sufficient

Thanks it’s been what I hoped. Some thought provoking discussions and some good tips. I need to change me up with some more stuff. Maybe a how to for long term food storage. I’m sure a lot of these folks know how but some may not.

 

How to do different things and different ways of doing them is always good to learn. Different situations can be handle better with knowing different techniques.

 

Buy a gun and practice.

 

Everything is scenario dependent.

 

How do you think that's gonna help you? Because, y'know, on of the scenarios involved is 'cray folks with guns want your (and your neighbors) supplies since they didn't do anything else' ...

 

And what are you going to be able to do about that?

 

The question can work both ways. Buy a gun and practice. Ok it could be used by a useless person to accrue supplies by taking them but can also be used to get supplies by hunting. Those who believe they’ll survive by taking I don’t think will last long. Far more bought a/ or many guns and practiced

 

It's wayyyy down the list of 'things you need'. And highly dependent on possible scenarios. Hunting is a different skill and requires different gear than concealed carry/personal defense. It also depends a lot on where you are, what the scenario is and what's available. Won't help you in a power outage. Or a severe winter storm. Or, really, just about every *likely* scenario. Unless it's one of those where society breaks down, and even then, all that food preservation, power generation, engineering, etc skills and gear come first.

Plus there's plenty of dedicated gun threads. And 'get a gun' is way too simplistic. Type, caliber, availability of practice areas and gear, etc, all have their own discussions.

 

So we are either saying the same basic thing or conflicted? Lol the post “buy a gun and practice”, this has or can have different meanings depending on the situation as you stated. It is an answer just not THE answer to everything.
If used in the context of hunting and food gathering, yes that is its own skill set I am rather familiar with. If it’s for defending hearth and home or carry then yes it can be an answer for that hopefully as a last resort. While weapons we might use for hunting game may be somewhat different in normal times in a pinch any weapon can be used in either scenario. If the statement was made as that is your prep and it’ll be used to take what supplies you need from others well then there’s a moral delima we hopefully don’t have to experience but I don’t prefer that as an answer

 

Robbing people in the USA sounds like a good way to get shot.
In Canada it would work just fine.

 

Man, my power went out for 2 days and that meant the well pump was off. First time in my life that no power= no water. Kind of an eye opener. Living elsewhere (municipal water system) no power just meant it was time to bust out the coleman lantern and keep the fridge closed as much as possible. With the well pump out it a different story

 

Got a generator? Easy to run a jumper to it.


Prob need a good transfer switch in case power comes back on

 

In these situations it’s really good to have a rain catch system if that option is available to you. I stock drinking water but the rain water is good for flushing at the least

 

I need to do this if for nothing other than keeping freezer running and well. I can run extension cords to freeers for a short term situation

 

Yup. When it comes down to preps, there's a lot of others to think about, where that's nowhere near the first thing I'd mention.

Yeah for the short term I'm running extension cords to my car's inverter. Just gotta size up loads and figure out how much draw there will be, but a good off grid camping setup will also be a great 'in case of' prep.

Yeah we keep a couple of rain barrels, mainly for the garden but also for emergency drinking. But after filtration in the camping water filters, at least.

Yup. Anything rural I'd totally look into a good solar setup with islanding capabilities. Maybe a site where you can set up some stealthy pocket hydro.

 

I looked into solar (have space and sun exposure). Cost was just too much. Finding a reputable company to do install in rural GA was another issue. Tesla Power wall seemed to be the most DIY friendly, but cost was way out there.

Dual fuel generator is more feasible. Propane can be stored indefinitely, unlike gasoline. Transfer switch, and no need for extension cords, just watch your loads.

 

Gravity fed filters (like Berkley, but there other cheaper/better options) are good for rain water. No power needed, long life.
Rain water works great for toilets, been there, done that.
275 gal ICB containers work great. Buy black ones, to keep algae down (cost ~$75 per in my area), hook up several in series, to catch more water.

 

I haven’t researched solar much because the wife and I decided that would be a discussion for when our roof needs replacing a few years down the road. Is a system from one of the big companies, like Tesla, theoretically self sufficient?

I assume there’s some regular-ish maintenance required but if the grid went down would the solar system still be totally functional?

 

I put in a Reliance transfer switch 10 years ago. The house before that, I just back fed the panel through an unused breaker. I know what I'm doing, and I readily admit back feeding is sketch. The Reliance transfer switch is the only way to go, and well worth the cost. Best part about it is that it's hot switchable. You can hook the generator up, test it, and switch back to mains without having to reset your VCR clock

Store 3-4 100lb propane tanks in the shed, and you'll be good for a while. Another great piece of gear for propane is an automatic tank switch valve. They will change over from an almost empty to full tank automatically and let you know, so you don't have to restart everything when switching tanks.

 

Depending on the system capacity, yes, it could be sufficient.
Solar roof is a more expensive set up than ground based panels, fyi. We had our roof replaced last year, and my roofer did not like roof mounted solar panels. Harder to maintain, harder to fix, roof may be more prone to leaks.