Hi! I am of the type of prepping that leans more into the common situations since many times those preps do make shtf situations more bearable if not just a mild inconvenience. Some of these items you can get easily over the counter or online. Other things you may need to discuss with a vet. I have gone through multiple health crisis, grid downs, survived floods, heater failures/ac failures during dangerous temps, fleeing from domestic violence/threats to their lives by family members, etc... and they are still with me. Here is a list of things I wish I had sooner because it's hard being a cat parent in a more dog friendly world.

1. Pet insurance - sign up asap! I cannot emphasize this enough!!! Especially if you get a male cat, insure them asap because bladder conditions can quickly become deadly and make them uninsurable. I no joke dropped 10k last week saving my boy's life but because I delayed insuring him, that's all out of pocket unlike his sister and buddy getting covered for everything.
2. Extra large dog crate that folds up- super helpful place to put their litterbox while at home as well as a safe familiar place to put them if you have to leave. Really helped during the grid down, heater failures and fleeing for safety in a hotel . Plus for. Practical purposes, a safe place to ensure they will be while you are moving.
3. Plain canned pumpkin- cats are infamous for hair balls, upset stomachs and poor to recover from dehydration due to low thirst drive. I always keep at least 1 can of pumpkin in the pantry for when they get sick, have diarrhea, etc. 1 tsp per day mixed with whatever they eat is usually the dose. They will eat it.
4. Unsalted chicken stock NOT BROTH and diluted with unflavored Pedialyte and water- this is the poor man's version of hydraCare, the prescription cat electrolyte drink. I call it "sick kitty soup" it has just a few calories so it can help bring back appetite a little while improving hydration. Not a replacement for other prescription methods but can be an option for those who can't afford the alternative or who act quickly.
5. Soft rags/old tshirts/baby burping cloths-omg my life was saved by a super nice lady on Facebook donating me half of her newborns wardrobe to be able to use for cleaning surgical sites. If you have old tshirts you don't want, hold onto at least 1. In the best of times it can at least be made into a cat toy.
6. Harness, leashes, hard and soft carriers- the soft ones are usually more comfortable for longer travel, evacuating, etc. the hard ones really help for sanitation after surgery
7. Multiple litterboxes with at least 1 clean one on standby. I didn't know how much easier life would be until I got an extra litterbox that was brand new and able to be sterilized for post surgery recovery. It's really nice to be able to quickly swap between the soiled and the clean one, especially as a person with variable health myself. Also clean ones make for faster leaving when something comes up. Sure, you could do a travel box but the dollar tree small ones will do in a pinch
8. Cat diapers.... Yeah, really hard to get when you need them. I would say if you have a kitty getting surgery for any reason, put in your order for cat diapers asap. You might not need them but it's hell if you do and don't have them. They aren't sold in stores and dog diapers aren't quite the same.
9. At least 1 if not 2 cat head "donuts", better if you have both cone and donut types. This is surprisingly hard to get quickly if your kitty won't keep the hard ones on. All of mine kick off the hard ones in a flash.
10. A back up location with a family/friend with basic supplies already there. It helps to have at least a litter box, a couple bowls, a small toy, a cardboard scratcher and a bag of litter at the safe person's house. You never know if there is maintenance emergency at your house and knowing that at least their basic needs are met makes the leaving safely easier
11. Portable scratchers, tunnels, tents, folding tables- makes for a portable version of cat furniture so they can feel less stressed when they are moved to the safe location.
12. Gabapentin- you will need to discuss this with your vet. Really helps with any animal that has vet/travel/pain issues/anxiety issues. The shelf life isn't always the best. They do come in capsules that can be put into pill pockets the cat will eat easily by themselves
13. Extra syringes and eye droppers. Practice using these with rewarding things like the gravy of wet cat food so if/when they do get sick, it's easier for both of you.
14. Puppy pads, great option for kitties who have litter box problems and surgery recovery.
15. Take photos of all vet records. I can't tell you how much this saved me. Sure, their primary clinic uses a portal on a national network, bla bla bla.... But knowing you have a folder/email of photos of all relevant records digitally backed up helps a ton. Not all vets can treat all diseases. And not everyone will stay with 1 vet for the lifetime of their kitties

That's what I can think of. Feel free to add to this. Thanks!!

I’ve started getting ads for preparemedical.com after taking a quick look they appear to be a company who will build and see medical kits for preppers / travellers, etc. as best as I can tell, you fill out a form, a doctor reviews your info, and they then package and ship you one of their kits.

It looks like if you have health coverage through work or school they’ll use that and send you a kit (assuming you qualify) for free.

TL:DR looks too good to be true, has anyone used them, what are your thoughts? Does it seem like a worthwhile thing to have on hand?

I think I’ve underestimated the importance of a bombproof umbrella. Not just for rain, but also wind and sun. Every umbrella I’ve ever owned fails easily at some point. Is there anything more resistant and/or durable? Eager to hear your opinions.

I've been researching multiple "best of" survival kits on the web and then Amazon. There are many good expensive kits. I have a limit of $30 for a present for a teen who would love that type of kit. From recs, the Weyland kit looks excellent for the knife value, but that seems more for a dad since where will he use the great knife? There's a good deal on the bestseller that has like four different knife versions. He doesn't camp, but he would like camping. He fishes sometimes. This no-name (or luxmom) one looks like a generic cheap set but with first aid as well.

There are also various handcrank solar radios. I'm just lost on which is better without seeing them, if you have any experience with purchasing/owning these.

Edit: The goal for the kit would be to let him try things out to see how he could cut a branch for shelter with a wire, etc. - he can purchase better items later, though it would be nice if there were something in the kit that could last.

I've been working on having a good supply of food in the event of whatever may come. I was so focused on what to get and how to preserve it that I was a little shortsighted on where to keep it all! I have plenty of pantry space for my canned goods and a lot of my dehydrated goods, but am low on options for my bulk items that I'm putting into mylar bags.

My home has minimal storage space, but I can make room in a closet for a large-ish tote. I had initially planned on keeping some metal garbage cans w/tight fitting lids (per a previous post I read to keep out bugs/rodents) in the crawl space of my house and filling those with mylar bags....but it's not insulated, so it's highly unlikely that the temp in there will stay in the preferred 40-60 degree range.

Are there items that will do ok for long-term storage outside of that temp range? If I take additional steps of putting the cans on a pallet or making a mini enclosure, will that help?

For reference, my food preps include canned goods (home canned and store bought) that are kept in the pantry, home dehydrated goods (backpacker-type meals, veggies, dog treats, etc....) sealed in mylar that would be for both house & long-term storage, store-bought dry goods (rice, beans, flour, instant coffee, oats, cereal, pet food, spices, etc....I'm still building) sealed in mylar that would mainly be for long-term storage but would be rotated out as needed. The last two categories is what I would likely need to store under the house. I also plan on adding freeze-dried products (Mountain House, Augason Farms, etc....) at some point.

Any advice or insight is welcome!

Specifically glyphosate and iron. These are the filters I currently have. Open to completely bailing and switching to something proven. What do you use, with confidence, and know that it's removing these two specific contaminants? I'm just at my wits end after exhaustive research and sneaky marketing, and want it explained to me simply! Thank you so much in advance.

I have read the cdc advice and multiple posts on disinfecting containers to store water.

My problem is finding bleach that does not contain perfumes and crap. Even my plain unscented household bleach has ‘perfume and limonene’. I’m in the uk and we dont tend to have chlorox type bleaches. It’s all thick toilet bleach.

I found online some ‘food safe catering bleach’ with no perfumes. The problem is it’s listed as ‘<5% chlorine based bleaching agents’ and cdc says use 5-9% at 1tsp/4 cups. (I think this one is designed for disinfecting food prep surfaces)

So my question is can I just double the amount of bleach I use (2tsp/4 cups) to account for the higher dilution? Or does it not work like that?

It’s to store treated tap water and the containers are new specific water containers.

Also, seeing mixed info on whether you rinse or not, dry or not etc. what are your preferences? Plan is to store for 6 months then re-do.

Thanks!

You might have been asked this question before;

I am looking for a book with all the old types of ‘how to’ blacksmith, windmills, water wheels etc - the kind of forgotten aspect of modern living.

Does anyone know of a book with similar techniques?

Thanks!

I am not tech savvy and am quite aware of the many risks and dangers we are facing. What is the easiest and best way to start saving, storing data, movies etc. ? What else should we be saving and what would be the easiest way (we) would be able to access them in the future?

Here is the original if I did this right:

https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/s/EMXI4ll2jc

I took alot of the advice from those commenting constructively and wrote down all the things that were required or would have been nice to have during the trip. The bag in question was left at home and rightfully so.

*this is not meant to be a BOB bag or any sort of long term survival. These are day-to-day things that are needed to function normally for (our lives). In an emergency this bag will be grabbed along with our GO BAGS.

What I've learned since first post.

• I meant this as a travel bag not a BOB bag.. simply grab this bag whenever we travel over night somewhere or in my original creation purpose; fleeing wildfire to another city
• I need to calm down and think more. This bag was thought and created in a state of panic during a wildfire alert and never continued it further.
• my motivation is tied to my stress of event. More stress, more motivation
• need a butt ton of car games for a 2 year old
• either travel in morning all day or all night. Don't try and leave mid- day for a 13 hour drive with a 2y year old.

Contents of the "travel bag"

Kept in car at all times or needed for car specifically

• car cig charger and cables (mini and type c )
• Aux cord
• winter gloves /cap / neck warmers
• Kids books and toys
• $200 gas on way down and 200 back up

• ( covers over 1200km in fuel cost )

• 1/2 roll tp for sick kid
• trash bucket or bag

Toiletries

• body wash (not bar)
• shampoo
• tooth brushes
• floss
• tooth paste
• pit stick
• ear cleaners
• nail kit
• electric shaver
• Hand sani
• fem pads
• sun and bug spray
• ear plugs

Medical

• inhaler
• pain meds small bottle of (acetaminophen and ibuprofen)
• few bandaids
• battle brew (homemade spicy drink for chasing cold off)
• hales drops

Clothes

• change clothes ( 3 days worth ) + 1 what you wearing
• swim wear + water proof bag for wet <no towels>
• light sweater
• sandals for in hotel room
• winter gloves, hat, buffs
• heavy coat per person keep in the trunk
• spare boots for snow / rain
• long pj pants and shirt
• laundry bag or smaller duffle for dirty

laundry

• $10-20 in loonies for hotel laundry machines

Electronics /entertainment

• cell phones
• battery bank kit°
• rechargeable headlamp
• headphones (pair for each person)
• Spare batteries for van headphones
• compact point and shoot camera w/ spare batteries
• DVD for van
• Kids books
• spare stuffie
• drawing booklet with sandwich bag of crayons

Food

• jerky
• seaseme seeds snacks
• small bags of candy
• chocolate bars
• crackers
• Peanuts
• Dried fruits
• fruit bars
• water (1L per person)
• X amount of cash for tasty pit stop snacks

Finally for those that were interested in how things turned out

We made the 1200 kms drive down and saw grandfather the night before his schedule medical assisted death. It had been over a year since our last visit. The man was a shell of him self, perched up by morphine and other drug cocktails. Lost Most of his weight and faded in and out of conversations... he was confused and couldn't remember what day his death was. When we explained it was tomorrow (4+ times) he sighed relief each time. The wife was glad he was at peace and took great comfort that hid suffering was ending. 3 years of cancer and chemo finally done. Turned out he passed away that night while he slept... we all gathered I'm the am for a brunch (which was supposed to be his last meal but sorta turned into a wake... ) the family were all quite broken down. They had been denying his passing up to the very last. I am proud of my wife as she supported her grandmother and family. She had been mentally preparing for this day for those years. She mostly felt that relief that he was in a better place with no pain. We left a few days later and drove home. Discussing her feeling as we drove she explained that she had no regrets as she was able to see him one last time and come to terms with all that had happened. Her Only concern was how her grandmother was going to be emotionally after the fact. Thankfully wife's sister had set up spare room in her home filled with 3 grandkids show her all the love they could.

Hey Y'all.

I live in southcentral Alaska where our winters will frequently hit -40 - -55*F.

I just realized that one can make a hand emergency pump like a $500 Flojak. I started looking for plans, and all I could find were PVC.

If you were to make something, what parts would you use that were more appropriate for frozen conditions.

In my get home bag, I have room for either a sleeping bag or tarp, but I can attach the tarp to the front of my bag but I don't want that to attract attention. Should I drop one or the other or draw more attention to myself?

I have a grill tank but I’d like to get another 30 40 or 60 for multi day outages. I’m seeing you gotta flip it over to refill camp tanks. At what size do the tanks become too unwieldy to refill 1lb camp tanks?

I can’t really do the giant on-their-side systems .

E: Also where the hell do you buy 40+ sized tanks??

The two purposes are for fueling a Mr buddy heater (most imports) and having fuel for a backup backup generator for outages more than 2 days

Would this IBC Tote be alright for long term storage? https://www.ibctanks.com/275gallon-rebottled

Are Illy cans made of steel? good for survival?

is this body part steel? https://www.ebay.com/itm/194563199572

if so that's good to go for me, any others?

The manufacturer mentions tenplate and steel in the same document: https://packaging.arcelormittal.com/News/News2020/IllyCansPerfectBalance

Hello all! I'm well prepared for most emergencies that would keep me at home. Never really planned to do anything else. However, the recent hurricanes in the southeast and a few wildfires in the northeast have got me rethinking my situation. I would like to have a checklist of things to take if I was forced to leave my home for whatever reason. And perhaps have a few things staged and ready to go. What would you grab if you only had a 1-hour warning before you had to evacuate? What would you do with a 12-hour warning? Thanks!

Highland Tactical?!?!

Looking to get a new outdoor/b.o.b/camping pack. I have everything from a small tent, space blankets, wool blanket, spare wool socks, fire making supplies, hatchet, knives, .357, box of ammo, larger flashlight, first aid kit, small tool kit, firearm tools...ect ect. I currently have a 27L pack and it's not holding up. I'm stuck between the Highland Tactical Foxtro and Spectro. They both have the larger ~40L capacity.

Does anyone else have these specific line up of backpacks? Any experience? In

Hi all,

I’ve prepped a 6 month deep pantry we rotate out, have enough stable long term food supplies for my family for 3 months and a simple car bag with a FAK, water, sunscreen, a wool blanket, simple granola bars etc, US atlas, flashlight, two person tent and a lighter/ferro rod. I want to make my car bag more robust to manage being stuck somewhere for a few days.

I live in an area where it could be possible but unlikely to get stuck on a highway in cold weather, and I’d like to have some way to heat other food sources that can stay in my car bag 24/7. I was hoping for a camping stove/jet boil type option, but in the summers it can get to 110* outside and I don’t feel like keeping a jet boil tank in the bag would be safe.

Thoughts? Just suck it up and take a bag in/out every day rather than let it stay in the car, or is there some other option I haven’t come across? Happy to take other suggestions as well!

Hey everyone, so I could use some help. My 13-year-old daughter recently caught the prepping bug and asked me to start prepping with her. To be honest, I am ecstatic she asked me to be involved. So I really wanna find some fun activities for us to do together.

I am pretty excited about this as I thought this would be a cool bonding opportunity for us and a way to teach some valuable life skills to her. So I was hoping some of you may have some ideas for fun things we could do together that are age-appropriate.

Found 10+ varieties of Mountain House meals for $4-5 a piece, depending on recipe. Expiration date of 2035.

They also have $2 bags of hand and feet warmers, $3 waterproof matches, $2 emergency blankets, and a ton of other stuff to throw in your bug out bags.

They’re owned by the TJ Maxx and Homegood companies, so if you have any gift cards they do work here.

I would have guessed Montana would be a good place because it is remote and not close to any major military bases or metropolitan areas. But I just found out that Montana is home to hundreds of nuclear missile silos, meaning it would probably be hit with many ICBMs during any nuclear war. Presumably, Russia has at least hundreds of nukes aimed at Montana at all times. (Sorry for anybody who lives in Montana.)

I doubt many people make this the reason they live somewhere, but what part of the US (or the world) is least likely to get nuked?

Please use this thread to discuss whatever preps you worked on this week. Let us know what big or little projects you have been working on, please don't hesitate to comment. Others might get inspired to work on their preps by reading about yours!

Hi, newer to prepping, started about a month ago for reasons =3. Anyways, I have recently bought Mylar bags and have food for them, but not quite enough to fill a whole bag. My question is if its ok to reopen the bag to put more food in at a later date, or should I wait till I have enough to fill the bag before storing? Along those same lines is it ok to do this when you are actually going into the supplies, or once you open a gallon bag does all of the contents need to be used asap? Would appreciate the help, this subreddit has been super helpful but I'm still confused on these 2 points.

You know, I'm just sitting back and enjoying a beer, reminiscing on jobs I've had in the past. One of which was working for a plant nursery. Something that stuck with me was how effective guano was for fertilizer for little jazz cabbage plants.

Then I got to thinking: damn, ideally, if I had it my way, I would have some underground bunker for a worst case scenario. That would be a pretty solid home for bats. Then I started thinking about how they would eat, and how their pray would feed themselves.

You guys have any concepts or wild ideas on how to have an underground ecosystem work for you?

I have prepping “friend” who thinks you don’t need basic camping gear(tent, sleeping bag, etc)at a prepper. But he thinks you need full army tactical gear. What do you all think of that?

I want to learn how to treat severe wounds (amputations, deep cuts, car crash stuff). the red cross offers a class for around $100. is that a waste? if so, how does one learn these things?

I'm in the market to buy a new rifle, I really don't have a proper hunting/prepping rifle. I was thinking of getting a bolt action 30-06 (maybe .308) or an AR platform, maybe a .44 lever action I want this rifle to be my primary weapon, something that I just grab in case of anything. I know with the AR I'm gonna have a lot more options to customize and modify the weapon to suit a lot of my needs and it's better in case of multiple threats, however I think the bolt action would be a stronger, more accurate option capable of bringing down bigger game and also better at long range to eliminate threats. If y'all have to choose which one would y'all pick. Any input it's greatly appreciated. (Note: I live in a rural area with lots of game)

Edit: After reading all the comments, most of y'all's advice is an AR platform, either 15 or 10. I'm not going with the bolt action anymore because some of y'all brought very good points against it. After doing some extra research about the AR15 and what I've gotten from y'all's advice, seems like the better choice and from what I gather, I have a lot more options with it than the AR10.

There are prepper books suggesting that we’ll need to shoot other survivors, survive outdoors, buy expensive tactical supplies, fight Zombies, & buy freeze-dried food. Considering Syria, Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, would any of that be great advice? With an attack, we could lose all that we depend on, without relief coming soon. I think we’d need to help each other rather than isolate, avoid conflict instead of looking for it. I’m thinking that those who are Special Forces trained or have gun fetishes may not be the best authors of prepper books. Am I wrong? After all, they see everyone as enemies but in a crisis where our country is attacked, our neighbors might be competitors but don’t need to be our enemies. Are those who are trained for the battlefield or those who love their guns experts on surviving a crisis? Has anyone found a book that is more realistic about what a real crisis, maybe an actual apocalypse, would be like, that promotes or teaches how to quell conflicts, empathize and collaborate to survive and recover

I have plenty of room in my freezer as I stock it, and a 50 pound bag of rice I’m about to freeze anyway for the usual three days. CAN rice and should rice be kept in a chest freezer long term versus in a room temperature container?

Sometimes I need to go to the hospital with a sick spouse without warning. Preparing that bag now. Do I bring my "leave the country" bag with me? Do I pack redundant electronics kit (chargers etc.), first aid kit, toiletries kit, etc.?

Seems like you end up with 6+ sets of overlapping stuff, because there may not be time to pull the kits together into the one bag needed that day for that emergency. (Office bag--some pouches move to the weekend leisure outing bag, no time sensitivity there, hospital bag, car bag--stays in car (kinda a get home bag)--2x if married, leave the country bag--2x again with redundancy for spouses, survival bags...)