(Pictured: Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy of DoomAndBloom.net)
This article was written and originally published by Activist Post.
Editor’s Comment: These things go beyond the basics you might put together in a 72-hour bug out bag. If you have the means, these might be items well-worth investing in. In the long term, while you must be prepared for bugging out and making do with little-to-nothing, the most ideal survival plan would be one that overlapped neatly with a self-sustaining, off grid homestead. If it were properly set-up, and well-away from the beaten path of major urban populations, it could remain sustainable during a collapse scenario, though every effort would be needed to conceal and downplay the niceties that you enjoy while the rest of the world endures hell on earth.
These items could keep you going, and maintain a decent level of comfort, perhaps in spite of it all. A major financial investment is not, alone, enough to survive, of course. One must be mentally-prepared, trained and grounded to the earth as well as the people who will be mutually-supporting survival. Start where ever you can, and be as ready as you can.
14 Items You Need to Survive the Apocalypse In Style
by Activist Post
Disaster prepping and homesteading have gone mainstream. Because of the growing uncertainty in the world, post-apocalyptic themes seem to be everywhere. The massive popularity of books, movies and TV shows about the zombie apocalypse, disease outbreaks, or economic collapse reflect the growing concerns of millions.  In the real world,  the exploding desire for self-sufficiency gear has inspired the innovation of some awesome products.
Want to survive a potential Apocalypse in style? Or maybe you just want to have the best tools for your homestead? Either way, here are 13 super cool items that will help you survive anything in comfort and style.
1. The Groundfridge
The Groundfridge is a super useful item to have for homesteaders or preppers seeking to survive grid-down scenarios in comfort. It’s basically a prefabricated underground root cellar about 20 times larger than the standard refrigerator. Similar to the root cellars that our grandparents utilized before modern refrigerators came to be, the Groundfridge uses no energy and keeps its interior temperature based on the temperature of the ground surrounding it. Prices start at $9,900. Learn more here.
2. Deluxe Wine Making Kit
Making your own alcoholic beverages is super easy when you have the right equipment. The wine making starter kit by Master Vintner is by far the most comprehensive kit to start making wine, mead, ciders and even beer. The large fermentation carboys allow for homestead-scale production. The kit only costs $145Â with free shipping and comes with an instructional video seen below.
3. Golf Cart with Solar Charger
Once the dust settles from the Apocalypse and the last drop of fuel is gone, you’ll still have transportation with a solar-charged golf cart. This is a perpetual energy vehicle and it is quiet to drive. While others fight over oil and remain stationary, you’ll still be able get around. If you already have an electric golf cart, there are solar charging kits for under $1,000, or you can have a custom off-grid cart made for less than $10K.
4. Wood Cook Stove
When the power dies out and the propane dries up, you’re still going to need to cook food.  Most survivors of the Apocalypse will cook every meal over an open fire. You, on the other hand, will have read this article and spoiled yourself by getting a modern wood cook stove.  The designs of these stoves have gotten much better in recent times. They cook evenly and efficiently while also warming the kitchen. You can even find some nice models on Amazon for under $2,600 with free shipping.
5. Cast Iron Pots and Pans
If you get a wood cook stove, or even if you don’t, you’re going to want a good set of seasoned cast iron pots and pans. If there’s even the slightest chance that people will be cooking over wood fires, cast iron cookware will be a highly valued tool worth their weight in gold. You can get the kit in the image above on Amazon for only $150 with free shipping.
6. Greenhouse
Onsite food production will be a necessity to thrive during the collapse of society. A greenhouse allows you to extend your growing season and control the environment for your most vulnerable crops. Â You can buy a fancy climate-controlled greenhouse, a DIY greenhouse kit, or you can build your own greenhouse for around $50.
7. Sun Oven and Food Dehydrator
In the spring, summer and fall when it’s too warm to always cook with the wood stove, you can still bake bread, slow roast casseroles, or dehydrate your harvest with a passive solar oven.  The Sun Oven may be extremely valuable if the survival situation is dire and you don’t want to reveal wood smoke during cooking.  Baking temperatures up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Under $300 on Amazon with free shipping.
8. Solar Chest Freezer
Having a DC-powered chest freezer attached to a solar panel is the ultimate survival treasure chest. The temperature of these freezers can be adjusted so they can serve as a highly efficient refrigerator. Â The SunStar Solar Freezers come with 4.5-inch-thick insulation and are designed to work on a variety of off-grid settings. Cost for this set up is much less than the Groundfridge; around $1,600 without the solar panels.
9. Non-circulating Hydroponics
Mike Adams of Natural News has developed an innovative self-contained unit for growing a wide variety of vegetables using non-circulating hydroponics which doesn’t need pumps or electricity to grow healthy food. These turnkey systems are affordable at around $99 and several of them can fit on a balcony or porch. Adams also provides full plans and video instructions on how to make these yourself. See more at FoodRising.org.
10. Berkey Water Filters
You should already have an awesome water filter because public water is appallingly bad and feral water isn’t much better. In a survival situation, clean water will be crucial to being healthy and living comfortably. If you’re going to invest in a household filter that doesn’t require electricity, you might as well get the best. Berkey Water Filters come in many sizes from a sport bottle up to community-sized units.  The luxury Crown model costs $357 with free shipping. They get less expensive down the line.
11. Traditional Archery Gear
Hunting with a gun during a collapse of society can be dangerous. Gunshots can be heard from miles away. So even if you are in your isolated bug-out location, your gun shots may give you away. Learn archery. Long after the bullets disappear and the compound bows break, traditional archers will thrive. Traditional recurve bows or longbows are a fun part of survival preparations. You can find quality starter bows for around $180 with free shipping.
12. Foot- or Hand-powered Laundry Washing Machines
Pedal-powered laundry machine: Drumi
Hand-powered clothes washing machine
No one wants to think about doing laundry without power and running water because it’s too painful to imagine. Luckily, there are two excellent options to avoid scrubbing clothes on washboards in the river with hunched backs.  The pedal-powered Drumi machine above is a brand new design that requires no electricity, has over 3 gallons of water capacity, and cleans up to five pounds of laundry per load. It’s in presales now for $239. The next one is a $50 hand-cranked washing machine that also doesn’t require electricity.
13. Gerber Apocalypse Survival Knife Kit
Last but not least on our list of must-have gear to survive the Apocalypse in style is Gerber’s Zombie Apocalypse Survival Knife Kit. Not only is it practical to have a good set of blades and hand tools, this set is also super cool. During an Apocalypse, you might not have to fight off zombies but you’ll likely use sharp blades throughout the day for many tasks.  This kit is $325 with free shipping.
14. Homebiogas Backyard Compost Biogas System
If you want to make your own cooking gas and fertilizer after the apocalypse, HomeBiogas is the most advanced, efficient, and user-friendly household biogas system on the market. HomeBiogas fits perfectly in any backyard, converting household food scraps and animal manure into clean cooking gas and liquid fertilizer daily. The HomeBiogas system costs just over a thousand here at their website.
Whether or not the Apocalypse ever arrives in full, the items above are must-haves for anyone looking to maintain a solid level of preparedness in their day-to-day lives. Even during small-scale disruptions due to natural disasters or economic conditions, acquiring useful tools and the skills to employ them will give you a feeling of confidence to meet whatever challenges might come.
Do you have a favorite must-have survival item? Please share your advice and help others prepare in the comment section below.
This article was written and originally published by Activist Post.
One big sales infomercial!
How about a piece on a sustainable lifestyle that is based around the premise of being a prepper.
Oh yeah, go with Bottles of Red Wine, like a good Cabernet vs. beer. Beer is an energy hog and maintenance pig, which requires refrigeration or ice. Also keep in mind when the electric goes out you can cool a few beers in the Toilet Tank cold water. I used that trick on a few ski trips out west. Not too shabby for some cold “Fat Tire Brew”
As Hurricane Sandy approached the North East I was appalled to see an interview on the nightly news about a guy going out just before the storm hit to buy beer.
I was horrified, what a fool.
Buying beer that is best served refrigerated, and no ice?
Obviously the man was not an experienced prepper, or he would have been buying a good red wine best served at room temperature. Or even a good rose’ that is best served at slightly chilled temperatures like were found outdoors, when Hurricane Sandy struck. Oh, the horror.
As callus as it may seem, I think it more important to build a good wine cellar than a good bomb shelter……. It’s all about what is said on the building permit?
“Gunshots can be heard from miles away. So even if you are in your isolated bug-out location, your gun shots may give you away.”
Everyone should have a suppressor for your hunting weapons, or make ’em yourself. Plastic soda bottles work but I would think there are better uses for the bottles. 🙂
Sky is Falling. Sky is Falling. End is near.
Always the same. Change name from SHTF to SSDD. Same ____ Different Day.
Here is the insanity: Pushed here and elsewhere.
-Put Trump in office. “America First.” “Make America Great.” Rah rah rah Trump.
Reality: Maybe Trump meant. “Make America Glow.” Trump is about to get your family NUKED. War War more war. All the same as before. What happened to staying out of Syria? What happened to PEACE with Russia? Trump Lied.
-End is near. “Buy gold buy gold.”
Reality: You can’t eat gold. Your family would rather have a bag of rice and beans instead of a gold brick. Get rice-beans. Trust me on that.
And shotgun shells deter trouble makers better than gold bricks. So I’ll get more 00 buckshot instead of gold.
-End is near. “so give me all your money,” says preacher man.
Reality: Tell me if end is here, then what good is money. And why do you need that new car preacher man? I thought you said “end was near”?
I think sun will come up tomorrow. Next month? Who knows? Trump seems hell bent on FULFILLING the Hillary Clinton agenda of WAR with Syria, War with Russia, getting America nuked into stone age.
This web site makes me tired. Very little Useful-Actionable info for the common man anymore. Just doom gloom and “buy more overpriced junk.”
Let’s see if this critique is sensored too. Most honest comments are nixed.
move on dot org might be a better site for you, john.
BCOD,
I think we are seeing an interesting psychological thing happening in people like “John”, with Trump in the White House we aren’t seeing political attacks on Americans and our rights on a daily basis. With Obama there was always another shoe falling. A way to back doors gun control, create ammo shortages, regulations that choked business and jobs etc.
People like John I suspect, have lost that edge of constant fear that provided a certain degree of immediacy and excitement to prepping. Sorry, but I just don’t see Trump declaring martial law and tossing Americans into FEMA camps. I still believe if Obama could have pulled it off, he would have.
I will continue to prep, it’s a lifestyle. After seeing how fast Obama could cause shortages of ammo, firearms, and long term stored foods, I think only a fool would say it’ll never happen, because it did.
The right situation could cause the political pendulum to swing the other way. Obama has educated the left on exactly how to do many things, we once thought couldn’t be done.
a few thoughts
a REAL axe, 5 pound sledge, and splitting maul will serve you better than that gerber kit.
you can make your own berkey, for a LOT less by buying filters and using two 5 gallon buckets to make your own, with more capacity….one bucket on bottom with lid cut so the filter you put in bucket #2’s bottom sits on top and drips into it.
And if one is going to get a “real” Axe and splitting maul, since one’s life truly depends on it, go for the real deal; Gränsfors Bruk…Vikings have a tradition of making the best tools/weapons that money can buy. No one comes close, no one.
https://www.gransforsbruk.com/en/
Contrary to others opinions, thanks for this article. I just ordered the hand cranked washer from your link. I’ve been looking for something like this. Thanks Again !!
Doubles as a butter churn.
I have a concrete mixer that can double as a small washing machine: only $500. That’s the current price. I bought it new at $400. 🙂
I was seriously considering one of these little barrel washers until I started reading reviews; sometimes they leak or have other problems…
Fortunately I discovered a great alternative: The “Breathing” Mobile Washer —
http://breathingwasher.com/
A few years ago I bought three of these ($20 each) and consider this to be an excellent option for emergency situations. Lightweight, compact, inexpensive, simple… and it really works!
(BTW, our military personnel who have been stationed in remote locations in the Middle East, wearing the same filthy clothes for weeks on end, with no laundry facilities at hand, just LOVE this thing!)
Yum Yum look at the Hooters on the blond in the tent at the top of this page.
You know ‘Old Guy’, what you saw caught my eye as well. And more or less the same reaction. But, my next thought was if she thinks she can dress like that and stay 1. alive; 2. not be violated; 3. not causing her partner there to be assaulted and/or killed; ……. and more…. a vast expansive of target area for every no-see-um, mosquito, black fly …. to aim for, she’s nuts. It “IT” as in S’H’TF does happen I caution all women to cover up ‘ass’ets and live longer, freer or with less unwanted attraction/attention being brought about by flashing cleavage or any other feminine exposure.
So true,I’ve lived through a societal breakdown,and women are just another commodity for the taking. Take a look at any war zone. Even if she’s armed and aware,she is still a target,perhaps more so. That’s why in certain eastern countries where women are culturally less appreciated they have to cover themselves up,and cannot go outside without a male family member chaperone.Its often religiously enforced and for good reason. Its for their own safety.
Ha Ha I was just being mean. your correct if the two males are not queer, They would be fighting over that buxom lass. let alone other really bad folks. I a shtf she needs to appear more like a male. cover up cut off that hair and appear as ugly a possible.
she looked a little chubby to ME….just y’all remember, no matter how good lookin’ she is, there’s some poor SOB that is sick and tired of putting up with her sh*t.
My wife stated that the gay wad couple in the tent aint a bit interested in all that booty.
That bandage on the doods fore arm looks like a dog knot?
Old Guy, that picture above has “Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy” in it, aka Dr. Joseph Alton and his wife Amy. They advertise on this site and have their own website, http://www.doomandbloom.net. They wrote that book listed on the left-hand side of the page, “The Survival Medicine Handbook”, and it’s worth every penny. I met them at the survival expo/gun show that was held here in Memphis back in March. They impressed me as being some really sharp people and the right kind of people to have on your side in any SHTF scenario. I bought a copy of their book and a few medical supplies from them.
So What? I don’t give a rats ass who she is. A picture is worth a thousand words. and she is for whatever reason showing excessive cleavage or boobage whatever you want to call it. If she is half as smart as you claim she should know the response it generates. There is a reason likely she thinks sex sells products? I was being a curmudgeon and funny mean. Don’t like it so what your opinion don’t matter to me.
Check out the headlights on Mom. I want her in my bunker.
Ruckus and Heartless, read my post to Old Guy about who that lady is. Let’s have some respect here for her.
No offense intended. But, I stick to my words – and I don’t care if she is the next cure for cancer embodied – she needs to think about ramifications for her actions and presentation. Too, if she is planning on being a medical provider, it merely means more bad-guys will know of her and where she is. Finally, a web-site and/or being ‘successful’ in prepper circles does not give any priority of one person over another. Nor does writing a book. Or a diploma on the wall. What we all do in a crunch, in reality, will tell all there is worth nothing. I’m as guilty of arm-chairing in my own field of expertise as anybody; but, I have to get my tail out there and solve the problems as well. Only actions in the long the long run mean a thing. But….. I don’t know the lady or her husband and ……. well, no offense to her personally.
I just loaded up me mini van for me next trip to me kins place in Georgia. Bought all this stuff for my BOL that my cousin is watching for me cause when I can’t gets out of Memphis my kin going to need all this stuff. She said yessum you can bring all the stuff you gounsta need here and we will watch it for you. I said sheet, thank you cousin, cause I gots to stay at my $20k a year job and suffer in Memphis, when I could be living at my BOL. I ain’t gots no credit, no checking account and I feel they need me at the security company cause who is going to make sure the mall is safe. Sheet, I been working for da same man for 30 years and he dun give me my nickel more an hour every year.
Nofilter78, f#$% you! You don’t know my family so STFU about them, go take a flying leap.
Why would you think this is about you? No mention of you at all.
come on, wwti, leave the guy alone. you trolls just can’t quit, can you?
Jerk! An arrogant jerk. Wwti, Zeus….get a life! Why do u attack?
10 grand for a root cellar?!Anyone have a backhoe I can borrow,really,can be done much cheaper!I am surprised we do not have a video of Genius making his post apocalypse home made paint thinner!
Touch day in this countries history including it’s birth with Lexington/Concord,the insanity of Waco and the inevitable insanity of Oklahoma.
to add to this Hognose(Kevin),host of the Weaponsman site died today,was a great guy and writer,the world is a sadder place with his loss.
Ita a lame advertizment for high dollar stuff that you can survive without.What good is that clothes washer without soap? a scrub board will do just as good and is much cheaper and will last longer than that plastic piece of crap.
Lehmans has a double wash tub and the plunger type clothes washer, way cheaper and the tubs are galvanized steel,,,or as you say, washboard and a good hand roller wringer
The solar-powered golf cart is just silly. I’ll just walk or ride a bicycle and pull a wagon if I need to haul something. I have a big plywood cart with reinforced metal edges and bicycle tires that’s easy to move loaded.
Depends where you bug out,and upon yr skills and health. Personally I prefer horses.No electronics,no unobtainable batteries to replace ,nor tyres, they are reasonably quiet,all terrain,they can follow a single path track unlike an ATV ,and best of all they can multiply. Remember they can also draw a light buggy. A good horse will be worth its weight in gold….literally. A perfect trading commodity.
And you can eat that horse if you run short of food. I have burros. they are tougher and eat less than horses. I don’t ride them. pack animals I walk and they follow.
Actually I think that Oxen will be the dominate draft animal. The yoke can be hand hewn. they don’t need grain or special feed, and they are tougher and can out work horses and mules. It was Oxen that pulled the covered wagons west.
You are not going to be able to raise enough food to eat in those minifarm grow boxes. You would be better off learning how to identify edible wild plants. There are so many; opossum grapes, blackberries, dandelions. lamb’s quarter, day lilies, kudzu, etc. My yard is full of wild strawberries and wild carrots. Lambs quarter grows everywhere and is very nutritious. I don’t use any chemicals on my yard and enables a lot of plants to grow. My sons land is so virgin, that where they were throwing the waste from their vegetables they had tomatoes, and pumpkins come up voluntarily. There was a strip of tomatoes that measured approximately 4 foot by 20 foot. My son doesn’t know alot about farming and the tomatoes were up and baring before he realized. The only thing on the 110 acres he was harvesting was the hay on part of the acreage. My Dad, M SGT, was a farmer in
Braggs bottom before he entered the military. Even though his career changed after the war, we still had a small acreage of 3 1/2 acres. My Dad planted one acre and we kids planted, hoed and picked. We canned and froze our food. I’m trying to get my son to plant vegetables to put up for hard times. I’ll probably have to do the planting and harvesting by using his three boys…..it will be a miracle if I can elicit the boys help. I wish I knew how to drive the tractor,
waiting:
Great post.
Tomatoes are one of the only foods that is more nutritious when exposed to heat. Cooking tomatoes into tomatoe sauce and canning them in glass jars is easy and smart. Lycopene, in tomatoes, carrots, and some berries is essential to good health.
Garlic loses it’s power from heat. Honey has enzymes which are destroyed by heat, but tomatoes just get better. That’s why Mediterranean people eat many dishes using tomato sauce. Although sugar in excess is very unhealthy, one half teaspoon of sugar added while simmering causes the sugar in the tomato to crystalize and improves flavor.
Keeping your yard free of pesticides and allowing the excess leaves and other debre to naturally decompose and feed the earth worms makes for easier gardening. Bees need to eat chemical free pollin or they die.
When it comes to ladies bare breasts, I can think of only one thing, breastmilk. There is probably no better way to ensure the health of the next generation. The research is in. In Countries like Sweden and Norway who are much more sophisticated and educated about their health than Americans, breastfeeding is 100%. They don’t force vaccines and flu shots either. Americans have a very, sad to say it, warped attitude toward motherhood, female sexuality, and the female exposed breast. In Sweden and other European Countries, except for outsiders, the men of these Countries see women feeding their babies, and the incidence of rape is zero. Only refugee scum would rape a woman for display of her assets. So, you guys who drool every time your eyes come in contact with a handsome pair of mammary need to grow up and be men. One can appreciate beauty without becoming an animal. For those who can’t, when SHTF, they are going to be hanged by men who have women and have no qualms about using as much force as the situation requires, up to and including termination.
Be safe all.
__
There was a young rich man who wanted to marry. He was dating 3 beautiful women. Theying to decide wich one would make the best wife he devised a test. He gave each one $5000 dollars to see what the would do with it. One invested the money. Another bought him presents . the third spent all the money on clothes and spa treatment ect. He pondered and studied and married the one with the biggest tits. Admiration of large boobs is as much a part of American culture as baseball and apple pie. We don’t care about what they think in Europe. Twiggy wasn’t a bit sexy .
My motivation for going as extensive as this in my prepping would be to attract multiple MILF’s who’s husbands didn’t prepare, so I could have a harem of hot 35 year old to 45 year old hot moms that I could bang whenever I want.
I think I am far enough in my prepping that I could lure in 1 or 2 MILF’s. 200 bars of soap, 50 bottles of shampoo, a few hundred packets of water purification tablets, 600 or so canned foods, 2000 packets of sugar, couple dozen vegetable oil bottles, three 1 month buckets of food, 6 or 7 buckets of lentils, potatoes, black beans and a few others from Augusons farms, a #10 can of salt from augustness farm 2,000 rounds of 7.62 by 39 rounds, AK-47 VEPR, 2 M92 PAP AK’s, a micro AK. A berkley water filter, about 30 of those little mini stove fuel pods.
I’m doing ok right? I mean that’s enough to lure a couple 7’s maybe.
But if you go all out like above, you’ll have a harem of 10’s going down on you daily.
Can rent em out!
Getting served will be the last thing on your mind when the balloon goes up. ?
Be careful of Milfs. There’s always a wall looking to jump out and hit them.
Funniest goddamn comment ive see on shtfplan. None of the jokers have a sense of humor worth a shit. I feel bad for anyone stuck with them after shtf..let them hit the wall. Then bang em in pairs…
Then tell em to make me a sammich…lol
I would add a bug bath tub and hot water to the list of things that women would desire. possibly a wood fired hot tub? however ive alredy got a nice buxom lass. been married well almost 5 decades. And I have no desire for another. If something happened to her. That’s it never another. Ive beed bitches at and heard enough griping for two lifetimes.
STDs people. STDs. The enemy in your camp. Nothing to joke about w/o cillins in you medical bag.
azcats…they will tie you up have some fun with you then cut off parts of you then run you through with a sharp object killing you and live happily ever after
WTF was that?
I have the hand crank washing machine and have put I thought the test. You will use this exclusively in a emergency, on mine the top got striped and now it doesn’t work anymore. It’s a great product and worked very well when the top was tight. The manufacturer should make a stronger version of this item. If I relied on this item to stand up to the rigors of a emergency I would have a tough ride …..
I am profoundly glad the preppers focus on everything but mental preparation for SHTF/WROL. God help them that they might go into this KNOWING BETTER about people and psychology and these huge events they could not possibly foresee the carnage and suffering to come. I mean if you cannot envision how people MIGHT be acting because they don’t even see how people ALREADY ACT and the SHTF/WROL hasn’t happened yet. These preppers don’t focus on how people are effected mentally by the overwhelming disasters we have seen already the past 20 years, but they are experts as to how they THINK people will be after a SHTF event.
So let me ask this question. Have you ever seen how people react mentally if a family member goes down and needs an ambulance to get to the hospital? Complete panic and fear focus on the situation and that’s just a run of the mill day kind of thing, never mind they have a family member that gets swept away in flood waters, burned alive in a fire, mangled in car wreck…but magnify that HORROR by a city block vaporizing in fire, or a riots where an ANTIFA RIOTER MOB / BLACK LIVES MATTER TERRORIST GATHERING attacks people ruthlessly, or a Transformer underground explodes, Train derailment and explosion or MASCAL in their neioghborhood…nevermind much bigger disasters.
AND YET STILL preppers think they have it all figured out..ignoring the mental/psychological impacts these events have on the victims nevermind the witnesses/ bystanders who watch it all unfold..
Never mind the impact of the same witnesses/ bystanders who watch it all unfold ONTO people who were completely unattached to the disaster at all, unaware. Yep, prepper are a study all right, got it all figured out, it will be like a camping trip that bug out situation / bug in situation…will be. No problem..we got this…..SURE they do, they don’t have a clue. But the survivor SERCO does, and he constantly talked about how unprepared they were to envision the times they lived through to. You know who has a clue as to what to expect? IED survivors, military urban combat survivors who were in IRAQ. they know how unreal it can be, how the perception get all weirdly twisted up, and nightmarish the scenes are can be…all the sights smells tastes and REACTIONS that they had and others had that they can never escape in their own minds. They know…but preppers don’t, not even a sniff of a clue.
Neal,not all folks have been in combat/worked as a city paramedic ect.They just do the best they can with what they have and try and learn new skills including med.Nobody with a mind says living in a total meltdown will be a easy camping trip ect.,but,preparing anyway they can with limited time/monies ect. better then sticking ones head in the sand.
I would also say any little creature comfort like a book/deck of cards/clean skivvies will go a long way towards keeping a little mental sanity in challenging times.
What do YOU have to offer to get folks better prepared that doesn’t cost a lot of monies?!
well said, warchile.
like i always say….offer something worthwhile, or STFU…..welll, i always WANTED to say that…..
Last summer one evening I get a coffee mug full of hot water and Epsom’s salts and am soaking a cut finger that’s a bit red and oozing.
My wife looks perplexed and asks what I’m doing. I tell her I’m soaking my finger in Epsom’s salts because it’s preferable to amputation. She instantly freaks, and is like, you should see a doctor!
Thus why my finger is soaking. 20 minute on 20 minutes off for a couple hours and I’ll be fine. It was. My wife grew up in the city and her family wasn’t very self sufficient.
My wife like most people would just sit there and watch the infection grow, swelling redder, until the green puss shows up. Then run to a doctor for a heroic save. In the SHTF, do you have some Epsoms salt and the where with all to use it before a minor infected cut goes septic?
On another subject and a brighter note. I’ve been upgrading the last of the lights in my house to LED bulbs, I told you it was a brighter note. I do have a small 5KW, 6.5KW surge generator that in an emergency, can run refrigerators and furnaces. Lighting is a luxury that costs extra gas, but LED bulbs use so little power, the extra load is insignificant compared to Edison bulbs.
Then I hit my garage where I wanted a lot more light power and those 100 watt equivelent LED bulbs are like two for $15 bucks I was really annoyed. At the big box hardware store, I bought a whole contractor box of ten 60 watt equivelent bulbs the same price as those two 100watt bulbs, for $1.44 per bulb, they draw 9.5 watts. And the light in my head flashed on. I was driven by primal instinct, back to that self same big box store where I scored about ten “Y” lamp fittings that let you screw two bulbs into one porcelain ceiling fixture. BINGO, for $2.88 per fixture I have 120 watts equivelent light.
My garage has three fixtures that used to have only 75 watt bulbs. That’s 225 watts of light. I used my “Y” adapters and six 60 watt equivelent bulbs. I now have the equivelent of 360 watts of light that only draws just 57 watts of power. Fixing cars is easy under good lighting. The basement has two lighting circuits with 7 lights total. Everywhere it’s like freaking daylight now, at a fraction of the cost and previous power use.
With the “Y” fitting I can mix soft white, warm white, or day light bulbs for the effects I want, that work best with my vision. Cool!
Consider an extra box of super cheap LED bulbs kept in an EMP proof box for after the SHTF and stuff calms down.
No cost study in psychiatry and Human sociology. Study the available video of disasters. Google up survivor stories. Studying human beings doesn’t require money, it requires patience and OBSERVATION, it requires that you ask survivors how they felt what they felt when the emergency happened. IF you can get a vet to talk about their experiences in combat or specific instances where fellow soldiers were blown up by IED’s and get their recollections of what happened, tough part is not only would it be cathartic for them to share it, but MOST vets WONT do it so they don’t have to actively RE-LIVE those events that haunt them. the history and military channels had a few programs where cameras were given to soldiers and they recorded their tours somewhat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and also one for an air medevac team in Afghanistan, and Rangers in Iraq and Afghanistan. They opened my eyes, the video was very gritty and hard to watch, the injuries were very gruesome, but it was VERY educational and had very unbiased insights 9as seen through he camera) of HOW they reacted and emotional dealt with their captured experiences, plus some of the program had soldier interviews as well.
Preppers need to prep not just physically and equipment wise and SKILL wise, but they ignore the mental preparedness that they will need to steel themselves for HOW PEOPLE ACTUALLY act, and will act (especially the UNPREPARED people who think that the government services and military will SAVE them from the event.) None of my suggest cost anything BUT time and awareness and OBSERVATION of people.
I would also suggest a couple things that focused on the psychology of people in WROL/SHTF. They are fiction by I feel presented in a way that best demonstrates how people LIKELY will act when they come faced with SHTF events.
The Going Home book series by A American
Reread SERCOs stories on surviving in Bosnia / Croatia AO during Clintons War on them. I have personally been in Macedonia and those dirt poor people would ACTIVELY PIMP THEIR PRETEENAGED daughters to the UN personnel on the OPs and in Skopje (and some sick fuckers in the US military would take them up on it without a second thought). It was nothing for pre teens and young teens to be in the drinking places in Skopje the UN personnel frequented when they got passes to be off base. I had no interest in seeing for myself but many younger soldiers went whenever they could for easy pussy while deployed.
“The Road” movie (again the portrayals of how desperate people act)
“the Book of Eli” movie for portrayals of how in general people act in desperation
“the Last Ship series” (yes I know its “love your government” propaganda but at least consider the portrayals of the general population in season one.
but lastly, when you go out to eat, just sit and just LISTEN (yes eavesdrop just to get an idea of mindset of people) listen to others around your table when they talk, and WHAT they talk about and how mercenary and shallow and self serving their conversations can be (and this is not after a SHTF scenario, but think about HOW they would be if things were much different) or just watch them at the library or anywhere their is free WIFI.. you want an inexpensive education in Human behavior, this is how you get it, with your own eyes and ears. Pays huge dividends because you learn peoples blinds spots and values both expressed and “hidden”.
I think the Mental stress will be very hard to cope with. And those who think that their group will get along in Harmony have another think coming. Many people cannot ever admit to being at fault. The constantly try to place blame on others. Or build themselves up by tearing down someone else. And that’s in the present. Wait until it all goes to crap. The will quickly become unraveled. How do you deal with a unreasonable denialist?
There will be two kinds of people after the WROL/SHTF event. Those who take care and responsibility for themselves and those who will DO NOTHING about taking care of themselves or show ANY responsibility for themselves and expect everyone else/govt to do it for them. Toss in mental UNPREPAREDNESS and the whole equation gets 100 times more bloodsoaked, both from needless unwarranted TRUST/ALTRUISM and those who will do anything to take and steal from those who prepared and magnified by their shedding any silly notions of civility because they will be cold tired sick and hungry but otherwise wont lift a finger to actually do for themselves. Once you learn and imprint that measurement on your brains, you might have a slight chance of surviving WROL/SHTF. You must also jettison morality, because the latter class of people will not have any or show any and will take advantage of those who prepared, keeping theirs because the fundamentally fail to understand human psychology much less WROL/SHTF event skewed behavior.
Apparently the BEHAVIOR and LACK OF CIVILITY AND VALUES MORALS of ANTIFA are going ignored for failing to understand the psychology of WHY they are that way. IRRATIONAL MOB MENTALITY AND GROUP/HIVE THINK is easily manipulated and swayed (SEE ANTIFA girl who got her face rearranged, MOST DESERVEDLY) Sadly these domestic terrorists were not taught any principled lessons aside from they bleed a little bit too, but they learned NOTHING ELSE.
See also “world war Z” and ” I am legend”….You don’t know what you are dealing with or the psychology REQUIRED to survive them.
Just watch Black Friday videos of people fighting over toilet paper… And that’s on a good day in America with pushing and shoving!
ONE old cast iron dutch oven would be the minimum to have….OLDER is better than new when it comes to cast iron….remember, “made in china” is a warning label!…and start NOW learning how to use it.
I would add a big bath tub and hot water to the list of things that women would desire. possibly a wood fired hot tub? however ive alredy got a nice buxom lass. We have been married almost 5 decades. And I have no desire for another. If something happened to her. That’s it never another. A woman is a critter I only want to have one of. Ive been bitched at and heard enough griping for two lifetimes.
I love my hubby, too. But I’ll never train another. 🙂
how do you know there aint a BETTER one out here?……just askin’…..
i am currently looking for a good woman. i’m ALSO looking for a black cat in a dark room, that aint THERE….
I play whack a mole regularly. Haven’t hit one in weeks!
Washing machines? Wait ’til Spring and jump in the crick fer a while. Ain’t nobody messin’ with my BOL.
Hi everyone – I’ve recently become interested in prepping, so I’ve decided to focus on the culture surrounding prepping for a school project. I’ve always been one for being prepared for whatever may happen, but I wanted to learn more because I discovered how complex and systematic prepping for the future can be. There is so much information on the internet, but I want to know what true preppers believe, rather than just what people say about them. I would really appreciate it if you would fill out this short survey I created (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DV7TVHB) and give me any other feedback on your reasons for prepping and how it affects your life. All of your responses will remain completely anonymous and will be used solely for academic purposes. I hope to use this information to learn more about preppers and to hopefully change some of the negative views people have about preppers through educating them about the culture. Thank you.
Don’t drink the water. Did you ever notice during natural disasters the first thing they do is shut off the water. and urge folks to not drink their own water. The government then brings in big tanker trucks of (potable water) ? Beware of that Free water! Many times that tanker water is laced with sedative drugs to make folks easier to manage. The spiking could happen anyplace along the chain of cusody of that water. When SHTF you can bet that every drop will have something extra added. When I Drove semi Truck I carried plenty of my home water with me. I never trusted anyone to prepare my food or so much as a cup of coffee. I cooked all my meals on the exhaust manifold. With the mentality of many folks today I would be foolish to wear my Red Make America hat and order any kind of food or drink.
I was interested in the groundfridge, but disappointed the link didn’t work. Wasn’t expecting the article about wine.
As far as the pedal or hand cranked washing machine, its a great idea to a degree, but a I went and purchased a washing wand, a couple of buckets and insured I had places to hang my clothes and it worked out just fine.