Background:

I live in an 700sqft apartment in Houston. This year alone I have lost power for over a month (not consecutively), the longest period of time was 2 weeks after hurricane beryl. Luckily I was able to get out of the city and stay at a friend’s house for 5 days but that was a 3 hour drive and wont always be an option. For my dog and girlfriend’s sake I would like to be more prepared.

Question:

How do you generate power in an apartment? Whats the best way to stay cool and warm in the event of power loss in an apartment? What other tips and tricks do y’all have for these events? What have you done that works/doesn’t work?

Discussion:

Im on the second story and have a carport roof that backs up to a window and a balcony, for power generation I have a ecoflow delta 2 with 2 panels and a jackery 240 with one panel. I plan to put the solar panels on the carport roof and run the wiring through the window. The delta 2 is for household items like my lights, charging phones, TV and my refrigerator (untested). The jackery is for my modem and router basically acting as a UPC just not on standby. I’m also considering buying a small inverter generator for running a window or floor AC unit and topping off the delta as needed. I’m planning on running the generator on my balcony or on the bigger ground level patio below me (the people below me don’t live there and said it was fine). For heat in the event of a freeze I’m considering something like a Mr Buddy heater but open to options. I do fine in the cold, my dog is a husky so no problems there but my Texan girlfriend freezes at 65 F so I would like to make her comfortable.

My biggest concern is in the event of a major flood hurricane like harvey or a major freeze like the one we had a few years ago driving wont be an option and we will have to shelter in place. Food and water are already covered but power and cooling/heating is tough in my living situation. I would love to tie into my electrical panel with a generator but the panel is located in the kitchen so a transfer may be hard to put there (older building and weird placement) also I do own so it is something I could do.

Would love to hear y’alls thoughts!

I want to balance preparedness with living it up, especially after SHTF. I was thinking several handles of tequila and maybe some whiskey. Cartons of cigarettes because I'm not too worried about lung cancer at that point and think they'd be great for bartering if it came to it. Anyone have anything I should have in mind with long term storage of booze and cigs? I was thinking of storing the cigarettes in a container with oxygen absorbers to keep them fresh.

Hey, so I randomly had a thought and wanted to know your guys opinion. The "get home bag" is a very common thing to have, but I realized there are often times when I am walking around the city, mall, etc. or am catching a ride with a buddy, or just don't physically have imidiate access to my get home bag. I thought about filling a small pouch with just the bare essentials that could easily be tossed into a day bag, coat pocket or your girls purse incase your in a public setting when SHTF (public shooting, isolated car crash, etc) Am I just paranoid or thinking to deep into it? or could this be proven useful? If so, what essential items would you recommend?

Don’t get me wrong, I have guns and ammo but I don’t have level 4 armor or any bullet proof vests, a helmet (don’t want to catch any shrapnel to the noggin🤣), or anything else really. I would take any suggestions you guys have for stuff like CQB or just overall good things to have for SHTF combat. One random thing I was thinking of is strategically placing mirrors in my home so I could use to my advantage. Almost like ones in the store but smaller and less noticeable. Not all the time but to have ready to be put into place. Also I have walked through and found where I need to place shots to hit particular entry points.

Edit: I have plenty of food/water/medicine/clothing/survival items. I do appreciate people telling me not to focus on this until I have the basics. I have the basics.

Does anyone have a preference between Augason and Nutristore regarding just freeze dried fruits and vegetables as far as taste? (It can obviously vary a bit as they come from different crops, etc.) My parents are asking about freeze dried berries especially. I couldn't advise them because I only have freeze dried meals and home-dehydrated vegetables. They were also intrigued by Nutristore's freeze dried shredded cheese. (Augason seems to have a bucket assortment of smaller fruit bags they could use as a sample but I'll have to do the math vs just buying the #10 cans. I don't see smaller quanitities on Nutristore's site.)

Question for my fellow preppers with Hashimoto's: what plans (if any) do you have for the inability to access levothyroxine?

Has anyone found instructions of how to prepare and dosage information regarding dessicated animal thyroid?

Found this patent for the production of levothyroxine that details instructions on how to make it. If one accumulated all necessary ingredients, would it be possible to make at home? https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/f7/03/96/279428fec83258/US9428444.pdf

Or do we just accept our fate and become very sluggish until we die as nature intended?

OK, So... hypothetical question here...
IF the economy were to 'collapse' ... Would the prices of silver, gold, and bitcoin go UP, or DOWN at that point?
trying to decide to buy now or wait...

We live in the pacific northwest in an RV. I made a bulk purchase of rice, beans, potato flakes, etc., from Azure Standard and the food has been sitting in the RV for 40 days in the original packaging (most of the packaging consists of lined paper bags that were stitched shut on the open end). I monitor the humidity inside the RV. It's ranged from 30% up to 60% for those 40 days (for the most part is has been 30-40%). I have no ideas if the food is still safe to package into Mylar bags for long-term storage. How would you determine that?

Would it just be a matter of packaging the food into Mylar bags with a desiccate pack on one end, and the oxygen absorber at the other end?

The main concern is to avoid conditions that would promote botulism, etc. Thanks!

This month I'm rotating my stock of emergency foods and eating at least 1 meal per day from that. I'm tracking those meals to give me a rough idea of what my food experience will be like during my 30 day disaster scenario.

I invite you to join me. Set your own goal for x number of days in a row and report back. What meals did you make from your supplies? What worked and what will you change in the future?

I'm no cook. And I've a backpackers pallet. So folks can expect my report to contain atypical combinations of foods and flavors.)

As a preview, here's my pantry menu from the first 3 days of December. :

Dec 1:

• Protein shake powder, powdered peanut butter, water (Breakfast)
• Soup: Combining cans of pinto beans, corn, mushrooms, 1 packet of chicken broth, and water. (Lunch and Dinner)
• Popcorn with shelf stable chocolate drizzled over it. (Snack)
• Unpleasantly stale protein bar (Snack)

I'd eat this menu again. Rotating protein bars sooner next time.

Dec 2:

• Protein shake powder, powdered peanut butter, scoop of Pero, water (Breakfast)

Leftover soup (Lunch and Dinner)

• Popcorn with shelf stable chocolate drizzled, with peanut butter powder and cheese powder mixed in. (Snack)

I'd eat this menu again. Cheese powder in that popcorn combo was so-so.

Dec 3:

• Protein shake powder + water (Breakfast)

Soup: Combining kidney beans, spinach, 1 spam single, 1/4 ramen chicken flavor packet, water, and 1 boiled egg mashed into my bowl of soup. (I have powdered eggs. I'm saving those. I have eaten them before though.) (Lunch.)

I'd eat this menu again. Spinach + Kidney was bitter though. Avoid soggy eggs by adding it to the soup bowl just before eating, so no eggs in the leftovers.

I'll report back again end of December. Im looking forward to reading how things went for anyone who decides to participate.

They seem to have a lot of manpower, more desperate people (which means more likely to want to fight), more fit (not obese people), and technology that’s trying to emulate ours.

There is no a zero chance they would win. What would happen then?

So here is an outline of my thoughts, many scenarios could occur where things around you suddenly turn to shit. You would presumably alway be quite close to your car in such a scenario. Just as an example here are some potential such scenarios.

• Wide scale riots (Hong Kong, South Africa)
• Terror attacks (9/11, London Subway attacks)
• Natural disasters (26 Dec 2004 tsunami, 1999 Turkey earthquakes)

Other potential disasters not imagined or listed here.

Everything around you is in sudden chaos, comms networks down, roads unusable, potential shitstorm, unknown duration. Your first priority is to get home. You are probably within commuting distance 6-15 miles from home. Your first priority is getting home.

For such an event I want a bag in my car, here are the items I have in my bag. Supplement, substitute or remove along with your motivation.

My main considerations are:

• Speed need to be highly mobile to get home as quickly as possible
• Threats need to be able to deal with hostiles
• Comms, need to be able to locate other family members

My bag

• Side cutter/wire snipper
• EDC pistol (carried daily, currently Springfield Hellcat pro) 3 mags in bag, all loaded with carry ammo
• 1L Double walled water bottle
• Personal IFAK
• Lighter x 2
• Small tactical torch
• Two way radio with am/fm tuner
• Burner phone
• Life straw
• Pepper spray
• Baseball cap
• Notebook + Pen
• local area street map
• Cut resistant gloves
• Cold steel fixed blade karambit
• Poncho
• Small bills currency
• basic change of clothes (I always keep a set of boot in the car)

This is all packed into a lightweight pack that prioritises mobility.

Given all the above info (and carefully considering the purpose of the bag) I would appreciate you input.

I’ve got two different water filters on my “to buy” list one for at home and the other for travel. How is there such a difference in lifespan per gallon when theoretically close to the same price? At home is 15 gal while travel is 525 gal.

Albeit the travel is only one of three filters on the device the other filters lifespans are over 26k gal. each

I’m just sort of curious why the large difference.

At Home: https://www.amazon.com/ZeroWater-Replacement-BPA-Free-Dispensers-Certified/dp/B00C7N7L1E?ref_=ast_sto_dp

Travel: https://www.survivorfilter.com/collections/survivor-filter-replacement-filters/products/carbon-filter-pro-series

Hello everyone!

I recently developed and launched an app on the Apple App Store called Shelter Now, and I wanted to share it with you all. It's designed to help people during natural or man-made disasters by showing nearby available shelters. The app gathers information from sources like FEMA Shelters, Red Cross Shelters, and other public or improvised places to stay during emergencies like earthquakes, tornadoes, storms, floods, and even war or nuclear threats.

To make the app truly useful, I've added features that let you report, like, dislike, and add new shelters to help others. It mainly shows 20 locations around you, provides navigation, and offers details when you click on each location. The community can also contribute by adding videos or images of each place, which is super important for everyone to have access to.

I talked with the mods and I know that to make this app really helpful, community involvement is key. I'm sorry if some of the locations aren't 100% verified—there are over 80,000 listed worldwide, and only with your ratings, additions, and reports I can improve it.

There's also a small "prepare to go" section for all the disasters listed. For those in the USA, the app displays notifications in case of declared local alerts.

I'd really appreciate any advice on what to improve, or if you could add some shelters yourself based on the requirements in the app. You can find the app at: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shelter-now-shelters-map/id6737986858

Maintaining, improving, and scaling the app and server—along with handling moderation—is why I introduced the membership option for those who want to support the project. That said, it’s not a barrier to using the app, as most of the key functionality including offline use is freely available to everyone. I’ve also been considering adding rewards for contributors, like free memberships or other perks.

Thanks!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/03/unknown-disease-kills-people-south-west-drc-democratic-republic-of-the-congo

Please note that this might still turn out to be some unusual but known disease, but it's clearly virulent. What's not known yet is means of transmission, CFR or R0. Those always take a while to determine.

Seeing as it's characterized as "flu-like" it's probably airborne, and presumably everyone keeps a stock of N95 masks. If you don't, I don't know what you're thinking but I'd get on it.

I always recommend following an epidemiologist and I always recommend Your Local Epidemiologist on substack. Most media sites don't really do a good job on diseases, and I wouldn't be citing the Guardian if I had something better. But better should be available soon.

EDITL Ugh, 67 deaths reported on Dec 1, then 143 by Dec 3rd. Even allowing for some slop in the counting, which is inevitable... I don't like that rate of increase at all.

No word yet on the strict quarantine that NEEDS to go into effect immediately in that area, but it's what I'd expect.

Is it safe to use PVC to transport water from a well to your home/RV site? I'm looking at one of these bags from Amazon and wondering how safe it is. https://www.amazon.com/63gal-Foldable-Bladder-Storage-Container/dp/B0CJM7V18Y/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1#

If not, what are people using to accomplish this?

I'm new to prepping and very curious. In case of war scenarios, which places in countries are in danger of being bombed or attacked? Are these capital cities, major cities, port areas, or commercial areas? Is it safe to say that if you're far from these areas, then you have a huge chance of survival supposing you can't flee your country?

We live in the Rockies (actually in the mountains), having just bought our home last year. We currently have a pellet stove which I want to replace with a wood burning stove. It looks like potentially it had one previously. Searching for a fireplace on Google is not netting me what I'm actually looking for. We want a robust, sturdy wood burning fireplace that has a stove top on it. Even just a single cast iron type plate. I've seen them before, but the internets isn't helping me out much. Do you guys have any recommendations? If we can get the right fireplace, that's a pretty enormous prepping goal for us, being able to heat the home and cook in a grid down situation in an area that can reach -20. Thanks for help!

I’m concerned about maintaining a sustainable food supply in the event the grid goes down for more than five years. Many people learn to raise chickens and rabbits, but they typically rely on commercial pellets to feed them. The common assumption is that you can always freerange these animals, but the chickens we get today are fragile and often require assistance with incubation. Additionally, I’ve never seen anyone actually free-range rabbits meant for meat production

What would make multiple gallons and large water dispensers be crushed inward (from grocery store, stored in basement)? Some are fine but one is extremely deformed and another even cracked the plastic. They’re not even a year old. It looks like an air pressure thing, like they’ve been sucked inward but the water is still inside.

So far I just have my CCW, which is two mags total. I think I should have a few more mags in the go bag. Maybe 5 total.

I was wondering if anyone of y'all knows how to maintain Intranet for your community ? Like imagine a group of electronic devices that is privately connected to each other. The main hub server would be in the middle of the compound where we could store videos on how to stuffs and be able to communicate privately in our "zone" . I know the requirement for it to work after shtf is alot of electricity where in some shtf scenarios, wouldn't be possible. But I have alot of ideas and the will so let's imagine a group of 70 ppl would still have electricity enough to use phones, computers, and fridges, from solarpanels, water turbines, wind turbines, propane. Is there a Linux distro that is good for stuff like this ? The server can send data by jumping through routers to receiver. Apps that can be downloaded privately to use around that compound, messaging app, private wikipedia, Plex-like server etc.
Take care everyone and thanks for reading!

Edit : Amazing comments. THANKS, Imma go start research more!

It seems most people think that Nuclear War will destroy our civilization. That we will all either be blown up, die of radiation, or starve to death. This idea is especially common among infotainers. People who's job is primarily to entertain and secondly inform. But really all they end up doing is misinform. Here are some key points

● Nuclear Winter would not be as bad as we once thought. When the oil fields in Kuwait were burning scientists were saying this could cause a world wide winter. As it turns out mother earth is far more resilient than we give her credit for. Fallout ejected into the atmosphere will certainly cause issues with crops. But to a much more mild affect than once thought.

● US food stockpiles. America produces more excess food than any country on earth. The government has massive amounts of food stockpiled for doomsday scenarios. Many Americans have large amounts of shelf stable food in their pantries and cabinets and elsewhere. Also most Americans have nearly a months worth of calories stored in fat. All these factors combined it's clear that we have enough calories to sustain our population until food production recovers. The only concern may be with vitamin and mineral defiencies, and possibly protein. But luckily US fortifies flour and such, so even someone living off bread for months will likely be OK.

● Nuclear fallout. This is what will cause the most deaths likely. However, nuclear fallout is actually very survivable. How many people die from the nuclear fallout is heavily dependent on the preparedness of the government and the citizens. It seems like most people assume Nuclear War will just pop out of nowhere and no one will be prepared. The only way this would happen is if US or Russia receive a false detection of a nuclear launch from the other side and retaliate without caution or double checking. However in reality nuclear war will start as a conventional war. Meaning our nation will likely have months to prepare. By the time the nukes are launched most Americans will likely be prepared with a fallout shelter and enough supplies to sustain themselves until radiation subsides.

● Chain of command will not breakdown. The government has had decades to prepare for Nuclear War. They have countless contingencies to ensure Chain of command will not break down.

● Law and order. Most seem to think that post Nuclear War it will be everyone for themselves. However if you look at Russia or Germany in ww2, 2 countries completely destroyed with millions dead and dying. Law and order did not breakdown. It wasn't every man for themselves. Because people relied on the government. During these times of chaos the government had more control of their population than times of peace.

It will be hell, many will die, but our great nation will get through this.

Hey, I wanted to get into long term food storage in the event there was some turbulent economic issues. My main goal is to subsidize my food costs until things smooth out. I don't really expect to survive indefinitely or something off of it.

I have ten five gallon buckets with lids at my disposal, mylar bags (2.5 gallon bags. I understand this isn't optimal for maximum amount of storage, but it's useful to get through useable amounts of food intermittently), and oxygen absorber packets.

What foods should I be prioritizing (and in what amounts?)

I am leaning towards rice and beans for the most part. they to be very cheap and shelf stable. From what I can tell about 8 of our buckets would make for about a year's supply of just those foods for two people, (likely not a year's supply of calories though. Optimistically it'd be about 140 lbs of each).

Is there anything I should prioritize for the last two buckets?

I have 2 gasoline generators already so I'm not looking to buy a solar "generator", but I'm curious about them. For example I see a patriot 2000x. I'm assuming the 2000 means 2000 watts. It comes with a free solar panel. Has anyone bought one? And if so how does it work for you? What can you run and for now long? Does the solar panel charge it up in a timely manner? I'm wondering if you are happy with it? Or did you end up buying more panels or an add on bank to work for you? I live in a 40 foot 5th wheel, and we have a solar panel on the roof, 4 large batteries, along with a power inverter that will run some lights and the TVs overnight along with the fridge, heater, and water heater all running on propane. But the recovery here in Washington state leaves much to be desired. I use the generator whenever the power goes out to run everything and charge the batteries, then use the inverter at night when there's a low demand for power. Living where I do, I wouldn't/ couldn't depend on solar.

Curious if there are any prepping books that get into mutual aid / community involvement. Maybe something with ideas for organizing with neighbors in an urban environment. Anybody ever come across something like this?

Here’s a different perspective: Nothing at all. It really hasn’t been that bad, as a healthy and able bodied adult. The sheriff issued a level 3 snow emergency banning all non-emergency travel, so I’ve been at home for 4 days chilling and doing my part by giving the first responders and plow drivers room to work.

I saw the other popular post on here from someone who had to run out to buy snow shovels and shampoo which was laughable. They were making fun of and punching down on people who were “less prepared” than them who have been needing assistance, but in reality those are just largely elderly and disabled folks whose needs stem from their physical abilities (and a lot of it medical in nature, of course) that OP is lucky to not need. Meanwhile, they had to illegally go out themselves and they’re running out of normal grocery items after only 3 days, so when it comes to prepping, they didn’t seem to be very far ahead of the average person.

What I DID learn in relation to prepping is that there are lots of amazing people out there who are helping others dig out, oftentimes for free, who don’t have the same attitude of “I got mine, everyone else should get theirs”. That’s what I expected to see of course, but it just underscores that the most important aspect of prepping is community-building, which is something I see talked about a fair amount on here.

Small prepping tip for those who dont know, and a question for those who do; A while ago I heard that for when water runs out, and your left boiling, using water tablets or life straws, that keeping a few bottles of water enhancers (MiO, Chrystal Light, etc.) could help make it all a bit more palatable. Since they are cheap and very small, it wouldn't hurt to store a few on a shelf. Problem is, I see that most that I've seen have a shelf life of 6-12 months. Now ik most foods can go much past expiration date, but I'm wondering if anyone here knows exactly how much longer for water enhancers like these. Or should I be swapping them out every year or so?

Hello, I'm looking for a full face mask that will give me full protection against tear gas. I'm going to be peacefully attending protests in my country of Georgia and want something I can rely on against the police's never ending supply of tear gas.

I've done a lot of research and couldn't find anything good within my budget. The Mira and Avon ones are way too expensive. The best one I've found so far the 3M 6800 but don't know how good it is and it only has pink p100 cartridges, I'd prefer black ones.

I'm willing to stretch my budget by a bit if there's something good but I'm not looking for some apocalypse ready mask, just something to get me by.

Thanks.

Not sure if this is the right group, but I'll take any help. I recently got a new induction stove and realized I'm going to have a problem cooking if I ever lose power. Given that I live in the great white north, that's bound to happen eventually.

I have a natural gas hookup for a gas range in our kitchen so I'm trying to find some kind of natural gas portable burner I can set up on top of my induction paperweight in the event of a blizzard.

What’s on your list?