It's a prep that I've been looking to invest in for a while, now that I have the space and financial means for it.

My budget is $200, though I can go higher with some penny pinching.

I'm going with solar power due to them not producing noise, and my apartment doesn't have the ventilation to safely use a gas powered generator in.

I've been storing potentially non-pottable water in cleaned out kitty litter containers. I believe they are hdpe2 but will have to double check. The idea is these would be used for emergency dishwashing, hand washing, watering plants, washing clothes etc. Is this a good method? If we had to drink this in severe emergency, could we do it safely? We have a sawyer mini, sawyer bucket filter, katadyn backpacking filter and a culligan particulate water filter.

Very much appreciate any and all insights.

I was wondering if it is possible to run a genny in the rain or other inclement weather? Google is telling me different things.

Our power goes out a lot where we live and we are expecting a rough winter. It rains a lot here. I’d like to be able to run the generator in the rain but I may need to build some sort of box for it I’m thinking? Would love to hear how others have their set up for bad weather…

Although 'low prices' is not a phrase heard much these days - I mean relatively low - compared to the price hike of a widespread demand spike . Its the little ray of sunshine I have to remember when I think just how stupid people are and how I wish they'd prep more or how I wish they would just stop making fun of people who do, especially in times like these it seems some people have shit catapults aimed right at the fan - I have to remember I haven't done much myself compared to the seasoned preppers on this sub, and I need to be grateful of the relatively low prices of stuff compared to if people really bought in en mass. From a humanitarian point of view and a self-esteem point of view I would rather more people shared my concerns but when I feel frustrated I try to look at it from a practical point of view , supply and demand. Their loss is my gain.

It's been awhile since the last post on spotlights. What is a good one to buy?

I’ve now realized if you get sick or injured you’re gonna be SOL like 90% of the time unless if hospitals somehow remain staffed/operable. So….. do what you will with that information😂

Hi! The last two hurricanes that hit Florida brought a LOT of tornadoes. I have never taken tornado prep too seriously. I think I know all the basic advice. But I’m not sure what to do for my specific situation.

The safest place for me is my bathroom, but I don’t have a mattress I could put over the tub. I have a tempurpedic mattress that is WAY too heavy to move. What is an alternative?

It is just me and my 30 lb dog. I figured having him in a crate might be safer for him? But I’d rather I could hold him. Do they have suggestions for dog helmets and things for tornadoes?

I have plenty of warnings set up on my phone.

Please share any unique ideas you have that suit my situation. I’ve reviewed some told tornado posts but none have addressed Florida without a mattress :)

Wondering if anyone has utilized a large drum for gasoline storage from a wholesaler or gas supplier. Not sure if it’s possible from a safety perspective or from a cost standpoint. What’s everyone’s solution? I imagine if SHTF there would be very long lines for a drop of gasoline.

I have stored and used wheat berries for 10 years. I grind wheat daily. I seal them in 5 gallon buckets with 7m Mylar and o2. Never have had a big problem.

I am helping my friend get into prepping. We are both young moms and she wants to prep after a hospital scare with her young child and threat of job loss. So, I gave her buckets and gamma lids, and we are going to Mylar up most of the wheat. She does want to try putting a bunch of the wheat in mason jars and sealing them with a canning jar sealer. I have a mini food saver kit, though know food saver brand often gives grief, but have never tried to seal wheat berries this way.

Is canning wheat berries this way a legit storage method to prevent weevil hatching?

Thank you!

Both biltong and dried fruit can last quite a while and, supposedly vacuum sealing it can make it last even longer and I'd just like to know how much longer, are we talking weeks, months, years?

Whats a good brand for a respirator/gas mask?

I'm considering one for a bug out tote or to keep in my truck for SHTF.

The topic says it all. I also have a well but it's concrete capped.

I just thought I would share, I loved this infographic. Downloading and printing:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/a-guide-to-home-preparedness-5740113

Relatively new pepper, 30M. My parents are kind of heavy into it. They always encouraged gold because they said when SHTF, the dollar will be useless. I believe that’s partially true but I can’t run my car or feed my two kids on gold coins. I have 7 1 oz gold coins. We are financially stable but our goals are to continue with basic prepping for Tuesday first, like a lost job, and then eventually for when the shelves are empty. By doing that, we are paying off debt with the snowball method and should be able to drop both of us to part time by 3/2026. It’s only two car loans that we are underwater on. Not really important to this conversation but other than a mortgage and student loans that we will have forever, it’s what’s stopping us from our dreams.

What is the current thoughts on gold coins? Is it worth holding onto or do you think it’s better to sell off cause it wont be worth much in financial depression, which I believe is coming in the next few years. Keep in mind I bought it for roughly 1400 an oz many years ago. Or do you think it’s better to sell off to pay off the debts that chain you down? The gold doesn’t make or break us, but does speed it up by a year.

How long until the fluid become inert if its poured inside and left alone in storage?

I fill them up and use them for the days its brutal cold. But would love to have one or two just ready to go when needed. Suggestions on storage methods for this? Risks? Fumes? Bad idea?

Hello, I'm looking for a heater that does not run on electricity. As far as propane and kerosine, I have never used it, please do not laugh at me, are those safe inside? How do you get the Propane and or Kerosene? What is the cost for the Kerosene or Propane? How easy it it to fill the heater with the liquid? Looking for something affordable. Thank you so much.

Say you only had space to stock up a dozen cans of food for a short term survival situation. What dozen would you pick?

Recently I have been looking into the process of making very basic soap as its something I find to be extremely important in a long term survival scenario. I know preppers do talk about the importance of hygiene but I never see anyone talk about actually making soap. Most preppers will probably have a stash of soap however once you run out you can have some serious risk of infection or getting sick from lack of washing.

I found this cool video where this channel tried to make soap using old techniques and I think its a pretty good starting point for anyone who would like to know how to make basic soap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCUnRYJypVc

Lets say there was a 100kt+ nuke airburst happened around 40km from my place, and my place has no basement, all the nearby houses dosent have basement and small no open public buildings, all toilets have windows and its basically 2 floor house with a lot of windows, so I have to just seal every windows and doors up with tape from fallouts and hope for the best then wait for 3 days alone, if the rooms normal air % goes low and its being harder to breath in and stuff, Do I just open the door if its after 50 hours? Or just keep hope i survive 1 more day without passing out? Such shitty condition yes but sadly its where im living

I am considering purchasing a sawyer water filter (SP160) to use as part of a bucket system. The mini and the squeeze each seem to be used often for this type of set up, and sawyer even makes kits for them. I am looking for information about how to use the SP160 with a bucket - specifically what do I need to do to the bucket to make it so that I can attach tubing and run it down to the filter?

I chose the sawyer filter because I am familiar with it and the price point is good. I drank several glasses of water from Lake Victoria (nasty, nasty water) after it went through a sawyer filter (as did several of my friends) and none of us developed illness of any kind. I chose the SP160 specifically because it is made for gravity filtration.

Thanks in advance!

I've got land in Northern Arizona with a shipping container cabin and a stone slipform cabin that I just started construction on. I'm thinking about investing into coring equipment similar to what all the terrorist organization like Hezbollah uses. You don't have to like them to use they're tactics. My idea is more for a storage area that is Secure and underground . I'm on a mountain top with the stone cabin directly on bedrock. Amy advice ?

In a total collapse scenario I know both game and fish would probably get depleted due to the large number of people likely to turn to hunting and fishing for protein sources. Just wondering which one you think would get depleted first?

I’m not depending on either as part of my long term plan but I thought it was an interesting question.

I live in a hot desert climate where we keep our swimming pools filled all year round. Most pools here are 10k-20k gallons of fresh water. In an emergency, access to fresh water may be the highest priority over food, weapons, electricity, medicine, etc. It occurs to me that a swimming pool is an enormous reservoir of fresh water. While drinking chlorinated water isn't the tastiest thing ever, it is safe (from what I understand). However water evaporates rapidly depending on season. Has anyone here considered their swimming pool as a prepping resource for fresh water? A pool cover can reduce evaporation by 90% or more. The cover would ensure your pool water will last at least a month without evaporating. Is purchasing a pool cover justified for prepping?

EDIT

Discussion on safety of drinking pool water below. Assuming the pool was well maintained the consensus is it is safe for emergencies. I'm also assuming a private pool well maintainted by the owner, not a public pool. But assuming that power has been lost, you eventually do want to treat the pool as stagnant water because it is no longer circulating through the pool pump on a regular basis.

https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/s/J6zJWQR4Wg

Responses thusfar remind me that in order to leverage the pool water long term I need to be stocked on my chemicals and incorporate the pool pump into my power budget.

I have a Honda EU2200i generator with a propane conversion kit. I use 20# propane tanks as the only fuel source.

I am trying to understand how best to utilize the generator to run the following three appliances during a power outage that is longer than 48 hours.

1. Side-by-side refrigerator
2. Upright freezer
3. Mini refrigerator

Kill a Watt meter calculations:

Side-by-side refrigerator 18.5 total hours measured 1.22 kWh 1,220÷18.5=65.94 watts

Upright freezer 26.5 total hours measured 1.13 kWh 1,130÷26.5=42.64 watts

Mini refrigerator 24 total hours measured .50 kWh 500÷24=20.83 watts

Based on my calculations, all three appliances use 129.41 average watts.

Are my calculations accurate?

I just returned from a vacation to Acadia National Park where we stayed in an Airbnb. The power went out briefly during our stay. Thankfully I had a headlamp but we had no other lighting options. The water was via a well system so no power = no water.

Thankfully it was a very brief outage and we could have gotten in the car to go get anything we needed. But it got me thinking: what if I were traveling in a place where a disaster hit or there was a prolonged power outage or road blockage? What if my rental car broke down or I had an accident? In a situation where I don’t have my normal supplies at hand, what would I most wish I had?

I think I’d plan to have my hiking daypack as a mini “go bag” and keep it packed with my headlamp and batteries, small power bank, a water filter (I have a Katadyn bfree for camping that is easily packed), a small first aid kit, a few snacks, etc. I’d also want to keep my water bladder filled at all times and make sure to pick up some paper maps of the area in a local gas station.

What other suggestions do y’all have?

so i survived hurricane helene and one topic came up for the next natural disaster. What is everyone using for a cook top that can be used for pots and pans? I have a charcoal grill already and while it worked for this, controlling heat was an issue, as well as physical space when grilling too. I know about a Coleman camp stove but it has some limitations in terms of size and total BTU output. What i was thinking about were options around a two burner setup hooked to propane. Something simple and cheap and packs small. Any suggestions?

Like the title says, I've been asked to give a talk on MAGs to a local prepper meetup group, I have a general outline in mind along with my own personal experiences, but thought I might find some more ideas or good questions here in this sub.

We've already covered many of the basics (prepping basics, food, water, shelter, security, first aid, etc), so those topics will not be included in this talk unless it's about considerations to take in the MAG group setting.

So if you were going to give a talk on MAGs what would you include OR if you were attending, what questions would you have?

Is the tyt md-uv390 plus a good radio for preparedness?

I just moved into a new house. I have food storage (oats, rice, flour, sugar, etc) in sealed mylar bags and then in plastic totes, as well as water in 55 gallon barrels, is it safe to store them in a crawl space under my house? The crawl space is 7ft tall, 5.5ft of that is below ground level, and has 5 vents that measure 5"x10" (with wire mesh to keep it critters). I'm not yet sure what temperatures are like down there during the summer or winter; I'm in Utah so we get all 4 seasons. Thoughts?

I assume this group has several members that own vehicles don’t get a lot of daily use.

I’m looking for recommendations on a new set of all-terrain tires for my F150. The truck is going to get a lot of use and then will likely sit for months (years?) before it gets put back into service. Any suggestions for/against?

Edit: I’m not going to have access to the vehicle while it’s parked so I can’t guarantee it’s going to be moved, started, etc on a regular basis. I also can’t store the vehicle on stands because it’s going to need to be moved from time to time. Just trying to hedge my bets by picking a brand/style of tire that can stand up to neglect.