My husband and I have always wanted a small humble farm that could sustain us and become a multigenerational homestead. I’ve always been the paranoid type, so I’m very much so into prepping.

With that in mind, we’ve been talking about this idea a bit more and we’re considering buying a plot of land & saving up to build on it.

Obviously we’re in the saving stage, but if you had an unlimited budget, what are the main “reasonable” (so no bears trained with assault rifles) things you’d consider when building your multi-generational homestead?

At this stage a blue roof seems like a must lol.

We’d plan to get a few acres, start up a new garden (shout out sqft gardening), and then start with some basic livestock (chickens, ducks, maybe if we’re lucky a cow).

Many of us remember the devastating Ebola outbreak in West Africa a decade ago. Despite its scale, the virus remained largely contained within three countries, with only a handful of cases reaching the U.S. and Europe. Unfortunately, the latest outbreak(s) raise concerns that this time could be far worse.

The first confirmed outbreak follows a familiar pattern—it emerged in an isolated village in rural DRC. Such locations, with limited travel and few potential victims, tend to make containment relatively straightforward. Contact tracing is manageable, and while healthcare services are scarce, the disease often burns through a village before it can spread further.

What’s alarming, however, is the recent case of an Ebola-positive nurse in Kampala, Uganda—1,400 miles from the initial outbreak. It seems unlikely that she traveled that distance from the original site. A more plausible scenario is that she contracted the virus from a separate, unidentified outbreak. Kampala, home to four million people, sits at the edge of the densely populated Great Lakes region, making it a high-risk location for further spread.

Several factors could accelerate this crisis:

1. Conflict in the region – The M23 rebel group recently mobilized and seized Goma, a city that has previously experienced an Ebola outbreak. Civil wars create prime conditions for disease transmission, and while Goma is 400 miles from Kampala, trade and travel between the two cities are far more frequent than with the rural outbreak site.
2. Limited international response – During the West African outbreak, the U.S. and Europe played a crucial role in containment efforts. USAID and the 101st Airborne provided critical logistical support, particularly in Liberia, which was accessible by air and sea. Central Africa presents far greater logistical challenges, and given current global priorities, the willingness of Western nations to intervene at the same scale is uncertain.
3. Seasonal disease confusion – This time of year (December–July) is peak season for other hemorrhagic fevers in Central Africa, complicating Ebola detection. Just as Americans struggle to differentiate between the flu, COVID-19, and other respiratory illnesses in winter, healthcare workers in the region may have difficulty distinguishing Ebola from similar diseases—delaying diagnosis and containment efforts.

Taken together, these factors create a dangerous situation with the potential for a far more widespread outbreak than we saw a decade ago.

Do I need to do anything in my house before I leave. I’ve shut windows, put items up higher, I’m just not able to think clearly.

If you could only buy one, maybe two....which, and any recommendations on make/model:

Compass

Emergency radio

Personal water filter

I have some other things I still wanna obtain, but these are the three biggest voids currently. However, any input is welcome.

I’m currently in a flood zone that is under prepare to leave direction. I am trying to remain calm and stay in my home as I haven’t got anywhere to go with my cat. However I have my go bag, my cat carrier and my cat emergency kit ready at the door. I have power banks for electronics, torches and I’m feeling so much more in control than the last time my area flooded.

This community is helpful for getting into the practice of getting prepared and I’m pleased that I took the motivation to do so.

Thank you

Has anybody tried freeze dried tomatoes? I have freeze dried tomato powder but I've heard you can get diced. Nothing is as good as fresh but I'm wondering if it's worth it. Does anyone know of a good brand they like? Lehman's had sliced freeze dried avocado but I'll pass at over $100 a can. Some people are starting to ask me about freeze dried food after the tariff announcements that have never done much prepping before. Especially one uncle who is addicted to pico de gallo.

No matter where you live, it might be time to start prepping for digital apocalypses.

By this I mean your country throwing up digital walls and blockading information. New anti piracy laws, authoritarian governments, media company lobbying. There are a lot of scenarios where your access to the web is disrupted but the rest of life goes on fairly normally.

Imagine what happens if your country makes it's own version of "Great Firewall of China". What if suddenly you can't download stuff freely?

It's a part of prepping that I feel is often overlooked. Consider buying a few dozen terrabytes of storage drives. Fill them with books, music, films, traditional survival documents, games, hell even porn if you like. Whatever your day to day media consumption is and anything that would hurt you not being archived or available. Plus some survival and technical pdfs. Save it. Store it.

There's loads of ways to do this but a couple of external hard drives and a cheap $100 dollar laptop that you don't put online (not even once) to access it on could be invaluable to you one day if the freedoms of the internet are taken from you.

Sure there's tons of backdoor options to get around these things but that still relies on you being allowed any internet access and being more tech savvy than your government.

Not to mention you can apocalypse proof your archive by setting it up with a solar charger. Meaning you can access survival manuals even without grid power.

Just something to think about I guess.

How do you manage the project of prepping?

What tools do you use for lists?

Do you set periodic goals or do a review?

I'd like to start a discussion of how you manage this... I use notes on my phone to keep track of things, I put next steps in my to-do list app, and use calendar reminders for rotating supplies. But it doesn't feel sufficiently organized or strategic. I'm curious to learn specific processes and systems that work for you?

Israel made gas mask that had a normalized/standard filter thread. Meaning that it’s comparable with both NATO and Gost filters. The gas mask are still functional and work just as good a modern gas mask. And they have a drinking apparatus and a voice diaphragm. By the way the gas mask I’m talking about are the M15 and the 4A1.

Edit: after doing some more research the 4A1 gas mask is a one-size-fits-all gas mask so you don’t have to worry about me measuring your face.

How do you prioritize power preps? I'm not new to the hobby, but I know power has been one thing lacking, and my wife agrees it's time to evaluate this prep to add it to our supplies. I have batteries, and a small solar panel to run small electronics, but that's about it. I'm torn between investing in some sort of whole house backup, and a small solar power station.

Thing to note for my specific situation:

We have solar, just no batteries. If the power goes down (normal outage) we also lose power. The power company doesn't want that power flowing back into a downed line, endangering the techs. I get it, but that means I have no prepping advantage to having this solar. I guess if S really HTF, I could take apart the wiring and MacGyver the solar panels to charge things, but that's not realistic.

I think my wife has more of a gas generator in mind. I'm not completely against that, but 1. OpSec is shot. 2. I don't want to have to refill gas every day few hours, especially in inclement weather 3. Noise 4. Keeping stable gas on hand is hard and runs out quick. This is where I'm looking at a solar inverter. No noise and renewable. Solar or not, these options will only power a few things. Maybe a fridge or two, and a couple lights.

How you you prioritize smaller units over a whole house system. Solar inverters can be stacked to the point of backing up a whole house, but the price gets up there real quick. I would much rather DIY a home battery if I'm going to spend that much, but you can't take it with you, at all or nearly as easily as something small.

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

Final Edit: After reading some of the comments, it's apparent I had the wrong thought process for storing items. Thanks for the advice about rotating ALL stock, not just food items. I'm new to this sort of supply system and I'm happy I got great feedback from you all. I'll keep the post the same for future information seekers, but please read the comments as well for the advice others gave me.

Some of the items I keep a separate stock of:

Toilet Paper Paper Towel Tissues Toothpaste Shampoo Deodorant Ziploc and Garbage Bags Batteries Lightbulbs Tape Rice Soup Canned fruits and veggies Water Jugs (I also have 3 carafes in my fridge that I rotate through with two always staying full)

These are emergency stocks that will not be touched until (hopefully never) the time comes. Or if something is about to expire I'll use it, of course. I'm sure there's more items I could add to the list so feel free to post any ideas.

Edit: The formatting didn't make the list correctly on my screen for mobile. Apologies if it looks bad for you too.

I have a well. Would it be a good idea to buy a hand pump well fixture. Is it possible and if so how easy is it to convert an electric pumped well to a hand pump. Ive had to manually replace the pump before so I'm fairly familiar with how it works. This isn't something I'd do normally only if excrement hit the oscillator, I'd probably have it somewhere to store long term what would I do to prevent corrosion, cosmoline?

I got a couple large water containers for free, and was wondering if anything special needed to be done to them to keep the water from going bad. I've heard some people say to paint the outside of it black. Any insight? Pic of one of mine is in the comments. Located in the ohio valley.

In my home country of Romania, part of the European union nonetheless, many hospitals have declared a sort of state of emergency due to lack of specific medicine including physiological serum. Mainly because of the latter, all many non urgent surgeries have been postponed. Everything is being rationalized.

Myself I've just been 6 months ago through a gallbladder removal and I am shocked to see only Chinese medications being administered to me. In my country we had most common medications produced locally. Now, everything is Chinese.

And now a deep shortage of physiological serum, paracetamol and other.

Thoughts?

Mine is: “You never know what might happen.”

Whenever I’m out for a simple walk throughout the neighborhood, I still carry water, light snack, flashlight, notepad, pens, lighter, just to name a few things. The only thing I might actually use is the water, so why carry the extra weight? I’ve gone on many many walks in my lifetime with no problems. Doesn’t mean it’s gonna be like that all the time. Maybe you get injured, or a sudden change in weather has you sheltering under the pavilion at the park for a short while. It’s better to have it and not need it than the vice versa.

Looking for something that won’t degrade in the sun 10x10 and cheaper 20-30USD

We have accumulated a lot of extra 3ML syringes and 23G x 1 inch needles for use with intramuscular injections, from out previous medical needs. Is there any medicine that would make these needles useful?

Otherwise, I'll donate them back to the doctor's office for their needs.

Title pretty much explains it. We have the funds to invest in a freeze dryer to make our own MREs. Just curious if anyone else has tangled with them.

That's the day that asteroid YR4 2024 will obliterate life as we know it on Earth. Ok, no. I'm teasing. That's the day it has a 1.4% chance of hitting earth at all, and if it does it could at worst take out a medium sized city on the tiny chance it happens to land right on one.

But 1.4% odds is way higher than many of the events preppers here prep for, and you have a solid 8 years to prepare. So what's the plan? Show your work!

My plan is to purchase an ACME umbrella. I have noticed that Wiley E. Coyote rarely had good prep outcomes, but he always survived large rockfalls when he put up one of those umbrellas. Tried and true!

(Yes, I know the 1.4% is an early estimate and is expected to go down. I know there's no good way to predict where it would hit anyway, as tiny measurement errors produce drastically different outcomes. My money is on the southern Pacific, but I'm not ruling out the Maryland/Virginia border. And really I'm just here to beat the rush of the fear-porn sellers who want you to buy three months of freeze dried carbs in case the asteroid lands on you. Do I really need to add the /s? Fine. /s)

(Mods, leave this up. The sub could use a little light humor.)

Deepseek really has my nerd self dreaming up cyberdecks. Offline AI prepper computers. Any other nerds in the house thinking about this stuff?

obligatory cyberdeck

Hi, I have a Big Berkey.

I use Black Filters and need to use fluoride filters. But because Berkey keep giving the same 'we're still fighting in court' response and deny any plans to release a certified version in future, I need Big Berkey-compatible or new countertop non-plastic filter system that doesn't need replacing every 6 months and doesn't take as long as Doulton for filtered water to be available.

My Berkey filters were advised to be replaced after 5-7Yrs based on their usage calculator.

Any suggestions?

Hej there

I'm sure this has be asked before, but I have a hard time finding useful information. So here I'm asking again.

Lately I'm looking into gravity filter for home use. I think water from rivers or the sky is an option for me, and these filters just seem really smart to have around, or at least better than a life straw in the long run. But I'm a bit confused about the options, they all seem to be kind of the same, but still there are preferred brands. Anyway, I do not get the market and would like to hear recommendations from people who have some experience with these things.

Have a nice day

I know there’s a couple spreadsheets floating around this subreddit, but I wanted to add one that I think would be good for new peppers to keep track of their inventory. It’s intuitive and easy to use. Feel free to download and change it to fit your needs. Let me know if you have questions.

Best of luck!

Edit: highly recommend opening on computer only, mobile is harder to use.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ojH-fzbIAkkqUT3T5mGzfjJduEA6DDQx3mo_peIEWuE/edit

Hi! I am planning my garden for this year. I am also interested in purchasing a "seed bank" type package if i can find one that is pretty compact to add to my stash. Probably the size of a child's lunchbox or smaller. I am in the southern USA if that effects recommendations.

Any suggestions? Does anyone also prep garden items along with the seeds? I'm just starting out on my preps, I have a decent amount of food ready but I like the idea of being able to grow things to fill in the gaps and get fresh stuff so I'm not Sad. At the very least I want to start growing more herbs, but I am also interested in tomatoes, beans, etc. I also work with animals that love fresh produce, so I like to try and grow some items we can't always get from the produce company at a good price, like mini tomatoes or peppers, fresh herbs, berries. I want to also start a fresh blackberry patch. Thanks!

Interested in buying walkies for my family but not sure if there are any that would work in a city.

I've seen the nationwide ptt kind but they seem to still rely on cell service

Also seen people online speaking about the ranges not even being accurate in a field/the woods, much less so with buildings

Does anyone have experience with or know of any that might actually work? Or any other means of communicating across longer distances in a highly populated area if phones went down?

I fear that the recent sabre rattling in North America may be a sign of an impending military conflict.

Set aside your thoughts on the likelihood of that happening...

Hypothetically, how would one protect their savings and assets in the event of a military occupation?

How would you prepare if you believed there is a chance in the next few years that your government could be overthrown or pushed into exile, and your financial/banking system could collpase?

Looking for wrist watch suggestions. Most importantly it has to work forever (or 274 years) with no battery changes. I would also like for it to have a compass. Suggestions? Any other features i’m overlooking?

Would it be a bad use of 30k to just buy prep gear,food, and training or should I toss that into investments of some short? I really rather get all my prep gear but not sure if that’s the smartest thing to do

I live in tornado alley and it is a very real possibility that I could lose anything above ground in a storm. I keep food and emergency supplies in my shelter, but I’m having issues with water storage. I used to buy gallons of water, but this past winter the temps got cold enough to freeze and bust the containers.

Any ideas on storage? I can’t take the water out during the winter because we regularly have storms during the winter months as well. Should I buy gallons on water and pour an inch or so out? Any ideas welcome!

Would it be possible to use the connecting cord https://www.anker.com/products/a17u4 then splice it to connect to a large secondary battery pack instead of the Anker BP1000?

Or is there more to the connector than just battery power?