Preparations Update

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angie_nrs said:
Thanks. I've always wanted to get some body armor, but have been stuck in limbo on what to get. Would you mind sharing what you bought your wife and how you came to that decision?
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Sure.

An analogy that I often use is "Fire extinguisher vs Fire hose"

The idea being, some preps are a thing that you never use unless you need to in a rare event, others are something that you use all the time, in a professional manner.

A fire extinguisher is a cheap solution with a fairly narrow range of uses. A fire hose is expensive, difficult to use tool of professionals who use one all the time and which has orders of magnitude more capability if you also have a fire truck, SCBA's, training, etc.

AR500 armor is a fire extinguisher.

Its not what you would want to buy if you where wearing it for hours a day, patrolling for miles on foot or kicking down doors on a daily basis. Its too heavy for that and doesn't have the coverage of military soft armor with plates, neck collars, side coverage, groin flaps, etc.

However, its cheap, protects your 'center mass', has no expiration date, and can be hung on the wall and ignored until the 'enemy is at the gates' or thrown on before you try to run the blockade in your truck, etc.

What I got here was the "Veritas" bundle, which is on sale right now for $162. It's similar to my own armor which I bought several years ago. Front and back plates only, will stop most rifle rounds. Easy to throw on quickly over existing clothes, etc. A 'fire extinguisher' rather than a firefighters load out. I paid a little extra for curved plates instead of flat plates....you know...because of curves.
 
I broke open the tubs of MRE Lite meal replacement I brought in Peanut Butter Cookie and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie and the Peanut Butter Cookie is to die for!
The Oat Meal Cookie is good but boy if given a choice Peanut Butter Cookie is the pick of the two flavors I got.

The serving size is one scoop and I put that in 500mls of water and it was too thin and just didn't settle any hunger pangs so I used the same scoop and used it to add a full scoop of skim milk powder to give it some body.
It was the perfect thickener while adding minimal fat.

The peanut butter cookie mixed easily in a hand shaker into a smooth shake with no residual grit.
The Oatmeal chocolate chip took a long while to mix in and it was gritty.

Next go around I might swap out the Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookie for the fudge brownie or the strawberry shortcake.
 
Well, it seems I have another "prepper" group disappointment.

I left the first group because of the ratio of lame ducks to able willing and knowledgeable members was completely unbalanced.
This new group started out having a very good balance of knowledge and ability and they were VERY selective as to who was let in.
I was even a moderator for his message board.
AND THEN..........
it would seem the power went to the leaders head.
He started collecting more and more vulnerable divorced women like he was putting together a harem.
And you might think well he's just being nice right up until he started posting pictures of himself in various states of undress.
I refuse to have anything to do with sexual predators.

Also he has two children to two different mother's - both with federal family court orders.
If he takes these children and absconds with them, regardless of the fact it's a SHTF situation, a Amber Alert will be put out and the authorities won't be doing a casual search for a handful of citizens who've gone dark They'll be looking a abducted kids and their dad.
Do I want to be an accessory after the fact in a child abduction case?
Hell NO.

I'm back to square one and that's lone wolfing it and at this stage I'll be staying that way.
 
After the big remodeling and rearranging the local walmart just did ( and now I have to learn where everything is again *sigh*), they actually had canned meat.
I bought 8 cans of the roast beef and 4 cans of the pulled pork(bbq) for the pantry. They had plenty of each and the canned seafood was stocked too. Should've grabbed more salmon but didn't ( *kick myself*)
Also added more canned veggies ( although canned beets are missing)
More egg noodles and pastas
Tomorrow I go to the restaurant supply store. They have #10 cans of sweet potato quarters and pineapple tidbits on sale
Also some jars of soup bases ( beef,chick,ham,turk)

I can't get over how much olives cost at walmart. I need to get to the dollar tree and stock up on them again
 
I bought a few things for my shelves today. Now just have to make room inventory and put away.
50C9C912-ADE3-4EA6-9472-C74E91FBA2DB.jpeg
 
I hate to nitpick hasbrown, but you're looking a little light on the top shelf bottled beverages.drink buddy;)

Just kidding......It looks like you've got a nice set up there.:thumbs:

Your stew pot reminded me; today I cleaned out a closet and found an extra electric hotplate, and I got to thinking......I don't have one down in my pantry area in my basement where I'd hole up if I HAD to for a while. Then, I thought....I don't have a pan there either. I have lots of soup, pasta, sauces, veges, noodles, etc. but no way to cook them if I had to in a rather confined space IF I still had electricity. So, today I put the hot plate there along with a couple of pans. I already have the paper products and utinsils there. I certainly wouldn't want to hole up there for an extended period, but want to know that I could for a few days if it was necessary. I doubt that would ever be the case, but I had the extra hotplate and extra pans, so it cost me nothing to add it to my space.
 
Our kitchen pantry is only about 36 square feet but one of the bedrooms has been turned into the bulk food storage.
We did leave room for my brother to have a bedroom when he visits but the walls are finished in late model shelving. Wall mounts and moveable shelf brackets for 12" shelves.
 
Tank-Girl said:
Well, it seems I have another "prepper" group disappointment.

I left the first group because of the ratio of lame ducks to able willing and knowledgeable members was completely unbalanced.
This new group started out having a very good balance of knowledge and ability and they were VERY selective as to who was let in.
I was even a moderator for his message board.
AND THEN..........
it would seem the power went to the leaders head.
He started collecting more and more vulnerable divorced women like he was putting together a harem.
And you might think well he's just being nice right up until he started posting pictures of himself in various states of undress.
I refuse to have anything to do with sexual predators.

Also he has two children to two different mother's - both with federal family court orders.
If he takes these children and absconds with them, regardless of the fact it's a SHTF situation, a Amber Alert will be put out and the authorities won't be doing a casual search for a handful of citizens who've gone dark They'll be looking a abducted kids and their dad.
Do I want to be an accessory after the fact in a child abduction case?
Hell NO.

I'm back to square one and that's lone wolfing it and at this stage I'll be staying that way.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like some of the women were just as bad as the 'predator'. :peace: You don't happen to live in The Villages do you?:oops:
 
Went to the local town today and bought everything to make a hoophouse/greenhouse. I will be using 16 ft cattle panels to make the "hoop". It will only be 8x12. Had to order the plastic cover so I ordered enough to do it twice.
Don't know if I will set it up in the early spring or just keep it in storage as a prep item.
 
hiwall said:
Went to the local town today and bought everything to make a hoophouse/greenhouse. I will be using 16 ft cattle panels to make the "hoop". It will only be 8x12. Had to order the plastic cover so I ordered enough to do it twice.
Don't know if I will set it up in the early spring or just keep it in storage as a prep item.
Click to expand...

That should be a strong one. Our first was made out of just PVC except for wood aroud bottom to staple poly to.Then lean to now a metal and wood.
 
Tank-Girl said:
Well, it seems I have another "prepper" group disappointment.

I left the first group because of the ratio of lame ducks to able willing and knowledgeable members was completely unbalanced.
This new group started out having a very good balance of knowledge and ability and they were VERY selective as to who was let in.
I was even a moderator for his message board.
AND THEN..........
it would seem the power went to the leaders head.
He started collecting more and more vulnerable divorced women like he was putting together a harem.
And you might think well he's just being nice right up until he started posting pictures of himself in various states of undress.
I refuse to have anything to do with sexual predators.

Also he has two children to two different mother's - both with federal family court orders.
If he takes these children and absconds with them, regardless of the fact it's a SHTF situation, a Amber Alert will be put out and the authorities won't be doing a casual search for a handful of citizens who've gone dark They'll be looking a abducted kids and their dad.
Do I want to be an accessory after the fact in a child abduction case?
Hell NO.

I'm back to square one and that's lone wolfing it and at this stage I'll be staying that way.
Click to expand...

Sadly, this is an old and common story. I would estimate that 9/10 people who call themselves preppers are real pieces of work. I don't know why but this lifestyle seems to attract a lot of scum. I think it has to do with the fact that if you have a mind open enough to accept prepping in the first place, you often have a mind open enough to accept a lot of other....less honorable stuff as well.
 
Added a 20 pack of tp. That added to the one I bought earlier will get us past the Inauguration easy. Have to wait and see what comes after and maybe have to add more if its around
 
Aerindel said:
Sadly, this is an old and common story. I would estimate that 9/10 people who call themselves preppers are real pieces of work. I don't know why but this lifestyle seems to attract a lot of scum. I think it has to do with the fact that if you have a mind open enough to accept prepping in the first place, you often have a mind open enough to accept a lot of other....less honorable stuff as well.
Click to expand...
I think sometimes it’s thought of as a money-saving lifestyle so can draw those (like you basically said) that aren’t worth 2 cents. Another reason I appreciate these folks 😁
 
I'm buying prospecting equipment this pension.

I need a way of making money when SHTF and it'll be a way keep myself occupied in a positive way.
It's the reason why I want to install the security cameras. I need that piece of mind to know that the house has overwatch while I'm out for an extended period of time.
 
I brought a roof bag for the car but not any prospecting gear.
Money was tight this pension so something had to give.

I did, however buy a lockable fuel cap for the car.
I filled the tank 2 days ago and did zero running around and this morning I jumped in the car to find it on almost empty.
The crackheads next door have obviously syphoned the tank during the night.
The sooner I install and set up my cameras the better...hence the shortage of funds.
I've had to increase my data plan to factor in the camera's wifi usage.
OUCH.
 
Aerindel said:
Sadly, this is an old and common story. I would estimate that 9/10 people who call themselves preppers are real pieces of work. I don't know why but this lifestyle seems to attract a lot of scum. I think it has to do with the fact that if you have a mind open enough to accept prepping in the first place, you often have a mind open enough to accept a lot of other....less honorable stuff as well.
Click to expand...
I don't know, but you could be right. I have often thought that it would be good to have a group of people who would work together to develop a bug out location, with living quarters, community spaces, gardens, fields, barns, equipment, etc. But I have come to realize that some people would love to join something like that, and sit on their duffs and watch others work, while they complain about anything and everything. If we could live harmoniously with such a group it could benefit us. I guess the closest thing to this would be a Hutterite or Mennonite community.
 
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