[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Prepper fatigue. (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 1/13/2015 7:20:06 PM EDT
| Man it sucks.. I've been prepping for at least 8 years now. I go through different stages of thinking I need to get everything over night to thinking I'm wasting my money. Today I was at a local sporting goods store and was looking at some new freeze dried food I was thinking about adding to my collection. A little voice in my head was trying to tell me to not buy them and that I'd be wasting money because nothing will ever happen. I eventually got them. Do any of you guys experience anything similar? |
I feel your pain. I have a lot of canned goods getting out of date now and I'm not going to replace them. I've slowly started using the water I have stored before it getts to old also. I will keep a small supply but will never let the crazy train off the tracks again.
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I feel your pain. I have a lot of canned goods getting out of date now and I'm not going to replace them. I've slowly started using the water I have stored before it getts to old also. I will keep a small supply but will never let the crazy train off the tracks again. That's kind of where I'm at. I might tone it down a bit. I'm already more prepared than most Americans. My goal was always one year of preps. That's expensive. Newly married with a kid on the way isn't easy on the wallet. |
| For me, prepping is a part of life. I prepare so I can continue my life the way I like to live it. I don't hoard for the end of time. I just live and stock what I need to survive and thrive if things go south. Stop buying freeze dried crap and learn to be self sufficient. |
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Man it sucks.. I've been prepping for at least 8 years now. I go through different stages of thinking I need to get everything over night to thinking I'm wasting my money. Today I was at a local sporting goods store and was looking at some new freeze dried food I was thinking about adding to my collection. A little voice in my head was trying to tell me to not buy them and that I'd be wasting money because nothing will ever happen. I eventually got them. Do any of you guys experience anything similar? Just on thermal stuff... 
But I usually control myself... |
| This is cheap 'insurance' compared to all the other insurances we buy. I believe there will be a continued economic decline but the truth is that a major event could happen at any time, it could be extreme and it could occur rapidly. Or it might not, maybe never, but such has happened in other countries. I'd rather have the preps and be 'safe than sorry'. |
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My problem is I focus on one aspect and get obsessed, spend a ton of money getting that aspect to comfortable levels then relax until the next thing pops in my head, then the cycle starts over. It works as you will end up well prepared but you may be a little lopsided for a while as far as preps.
Lately i have been focused on the smalls. Doing little things to finish off projects. A form 1 to SBR my M92, new sights on my .22 pistol, new scope for the wife's. 22, little parts to finish off projects. Makes me feel like i have accomplished something and takes a dozen things off my to do list so it doesn't look so overwhelming. Of course i can't do too much as I am still recovering from having 18cm of colon removed so all of my projects need to be small right now. |
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I learned a while back not to put myself in a position where I would feel like my money was wasted. And to me, tinkering with generators, flashlights, solar, communication gear is fun.
Some things I've learned to make me not regret it: After the basic are covered, treat preparedness like a hobby, and spend accordingly. Buy and rotate food you enjoy to eat. That way nothing is wasted Don't buy crazy stuff you really don't want to own that has no use outside of prepping Don't severely compromise your family's current lifestyle to buy preps. As many have said. I view it as a form of insurance. The bonus is that unlike my home and auto insurance, I get to keep the premium if nothing happens. |
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In 29 years of doing this, including leaving the city 15 years ago to live full time at my retreat, I can't remember a time when I thought anything was a waste of time/effort.
That being said, I could give a crap less about conspiracy theories, "date setting" and various other types of hype. I like living this way. I like having some control over our resources- power, water and food production. I like having cash reserves and food reserves for the inveritable tough financial times that sometimes come to everyone. I like being debt free for going on 7 years now as this gives us freedom. LIVE YOUR LIFE, the S is NOT going to HTF tomorrow, despite all the talk of that. However, it's irresponsible for a father and husband not to be able to provide for and protect their family. For me, that goes way beyond a firearm never shot and 2 weeks of canned goods from the grocery store. BALANCE. You might have a bunker, but don't LIVE in the damn bunker..... :) Lowdown3 |
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I am just going to quote my post from this thread
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_17/678861_discouragement.html Quoted:
I will throw my 2 cents out there... (not that its even worth $.02) While I haven't been as far as the loose it all divorce level I was close. Both living situation and relationship situation was on a downward spiral. We had our hopes set high on a new house and property. Old house and property had some issues. Had a buyer set to go on our old house without even using a realtor, when we found out there was a title problem. Everything stalled for about 6 months and we were even already packed up and ready to move. We didn't want to unpack everything because we had full intentions of moving ASAP and everything was always, another week or two things should be all set. Well all said and done we lived out of a suit case for just over 6 months and almost called it quits for a variety of reasons, one to include my bit of craziness when it came to "being prepared." I honestly feel there are common sense levels for all aspect of our lives, and myself probably like many on this forum probably tend to have an obsessive compulsive personality and dwell, and concentrate on whatever is in our sight picture. Some times you need to take a step back and look at the big picture and re-evaluate reality. Reality is you need to live your life the way you want to and do what you enjoy. IF you don't enjoy emergency preparedness, wilderness survival, or whatever, but still want to be prepared put some extra stuff back just in case and call it good. For me I enjoy the though process and act of being prepared right down to the EDC. I consider "survival" not only a hobby but a lifestyle. I did however put my preps in check and while I don't damn any one who stores buckets upon buckets of rice I say to each is own. I had a reality check when I finally moved and my Jeep was almost bottomed out with just ammo an guns, and why the heck was I storing extra food in big bins in my tool shed? At that time and again recently I realized, at least for me, that I was over the top and NOT being REALISTIC with what I was doing. I strongly believe, and enjoy a good level of preparation and skill set. What is that level for you? That's something you need to figure out on your own. For me that's a couple months while enjoying some what of a "homesteading" lifestyle or as much of one that is obtainable while working a regular full time job. If there is some type of situation that is causing me to shelter in place for two months with no outside trade or barter, and requiring me to live of everything I have for more then a month or three then its time for me to move on because where I am is apparently not working. I have skills to trade, and I could probably trade away half my gear and still get by without any issue. I don't have a bunker and don't want one. I think it would be cool but unrealistic for me. A full pantry, extra storage freezer, a bucket of freeze dried, a bucket of rice, more gear then I will ever use, generators x2, enough gas to re-fill every gas guzzling item I have, a good country home I can run and keep warm off grid etc. But the fact of the matter is those things don't just lend themselves to "preps" for me they are a way of life, one my wife and I enjoy.... Chickens, harvesting my own firewood from my land, canning our garden goods, fixing everything myself or with help of family and friends, all that for me is a way of life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. We enjoy a yearly vacation, and we do our best to save money. We are working on our debt, and probably better of then most. Its one of those, six to one half a dozen the other. You need to do what you want to do. If you want to prep then prep, but just because you want to prep doesn't mean you need to become a "dooms day prepper." IMO most of those preppers popping up on TV are bat shit crazy and make an honest common since prepared individual also look crazy. Don't get down on yourself but if you are feeling unsure about what your doing, step back, take a good long look, and think in terms of reality. Most likely first and least likely last. I don't know many people around me that actually prepare to be prepared, my family has horses, a ton of food in their pantry's, guns, etc... but they don't do it to be "preppers" its just good ole fashion country living and the norm where I am from. Out of every one I work with in my "division" I bet there are two or three out of twenty who are actually prepared for more then a power outage. Not counting any one from this forum I personally know one other hard core prepper w/ full on ARs chickens and ham radios so don't get down on yourself. Do what you feel you need to do but don't forget to take one table spoon of realistic every day. Short of an economic collapse or EMP the chances of a severe weather event, or localized disaster situation in your AO forcing you to temporarily relocate has as significant higher probability then a mad max or walking dead type situation. Again most likely first, least likely last.
That was a lot of typing  |
| I have to agree to a certain point with the "what if's", but then again my area has been hit with a couple of floods that have trapped us for a week or two at a time. So with that always in the back of my mind my wife and I set a monthly budget and keep preparing for the "what if's" of the future. |
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Think of it like an insurance policy.
Do you ever wish your house burned down so you could justify the homeowners insurance? Hell no. Be happy that food and supplies are just collecting dust. I'd just assume all my preps were a waste of time but if shtf I'll be glad I invested in the insurance policy. |
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For me, prepping is a part of life. I prepare so I can continue my life the way I like to live it. I don't hoard for the end of time. I just live and stock what I need to survive and thrive if things go south. Stop buying freeze dried crap and learn to be self sufficient. |
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Quoted:
Man it sucks.. I've been prepping for at least 8 years now. I go through different stages of thinking I need to get everything over night to thinking I'm wasting my money. Today I was at a local sporting goods store and was looking at some new freeze dried food I was thinking about adding to my collection. A little voice in my head was trying to tell me to not buy them and that I'd be wasting money because nothing will ever happen. I eventually got them. Do any of you guys experience anything similar? I would suggest buying and storing more of what you already eat anyway. IN my case its rice, lentils and dry pasta. I eat it all the time, I store it too. I'll throw in lots of vegetables, mostly frozen, but also canned which I have plenty of. Focus on what you'll be using, disaster or not. FerFAL |
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I've never gone into the deep water. No buckets of freeze dried stuff.
I pretty much just run a decent sized pantry at the house, enough to go for some months. I garden and can some of the proceeds. I raise a few chickens. I have back ups to heat, cook, light, sleep, etc. I have tools for repairs and maintenance, I have some lumber and hardware, and a bit of plywood and tarps for the oh shit house damage. I have a generator to run some limited things in the house; well, furnace even though I have a wood stove. I have my bills paid and limited exposure through loans. The other side of the coin is knowledge. I am sure I could do more but I can grow food (but could learn more for sure), I have a tractor I can do a bunch of stuff with for gardening, snow removal, landscaping, burying things in holes  , I have a limited education in emergency first aid.
I do not see the need for me at this time to fill my house with 2 tons of dried and canned goods. It's not practical knowing I'd never rotate through it before expiration and don't really have the money to buy a pallet of food to give it away to the city mission at expiration. Most stuff I won't keep beyond expy either. I've seen bubbled tomato paste and sauce cans. It happens sooner than you would think even in a climate controlled home. Unless you're using your freeze dried food up camping every summer or hunting season then I wouldn't go nuts on the stuff. If you don't use it, then it may be a touch of a waste. I still keep a couple MRE's around stuck under the seat of the truck for those oh shit, you're broke down off in the woods type events. Funny thing is you seldom need that stuff when you start thinking in preventing the personal crisis events and think like a safety officer all the time. I would suggest obviously take a mental break from dwelling on this beyond being aware of any immediate winter storm threats. Cheer up, go watch a movie or go fishing. Maybe skip the mountain house and instead expand your storage of knowledge, get some books on raising small farm animals or growing food. Kind of like prepper humanities education.  You don't have to go buy goats or sheep but you can learn how to raise them.
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For me, prepping is a part of life. I prepare so I can continue my life the way I like to live it. I don't hoard for the end of time. I just live and stock what I need to survive and thrive if things go south. Stop buying freeze dried crap and learn to be self sufficient. Anyone who has put any serious effort into food production knows not everything goes according to plan all the time. Weather problems, insect infestations, soil issues, etc. all add up. To not have food storage, even if you are producing a good portion of your own food is simply foolish. In the dead of winter, what do you have growing RIGHT NOW that you could eat DAILY? Right now. If you had to leave right now, you couldn't reasonably carry 10 steers, a dozen chickens, goats and bees with you now could you? EVERYONE that's remotely serious about their family surviving needs adequate food storage. Where people eff up is getting to much into WET PACKED GROCERY STORE canned goods. Shorter shelf life, heavier weight (PAYING FOR WATER) and not designed for long term storage. Less "leeway" for room in rotation. The freeze dried "crap" as you called it LOL, has a HUGE WINDOW of rotation time- 25-30 years. You'll rotate your WET PACKED grocery store crap easily 10 to 15 TIMES during the time period one #10 can of Mt. House or other quality long term storage product will store. When you sit and factor in that you are largely paying for WATER when you buy WET PACKED grocery store crap, then you further see it's not really any savings. Further, when you "find" a few cases of wet packed grocery store crap you forgot to rotation and have to toss them (or for you types that think it's somehow charitable to give OLD FOOD to charity, give it to charity), then it's a total loss. Serious survivors always have and always will put up food storage. Whether they are in Egypt putting up grain 3-4,000 years ago, or a smart Ukranian farmer hiding a few sacks of wheat for his family during the Holodomor, or just Joe Blow survivalist today who doesn't want to worry if/when he's laid off work for six months. |
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Anyone who has put any serious effort into food production knows not everything goes according to plan all the time. Weather problems, insect infestations, soil issues, etc. all add up. To not have food storage, even if you are producing a good portion of your own food is simply foolish. In the dead of winter, what do you have growing RIGHT NOW that you could eat DAILY? Right now. If you had to leave right now, you couldn't reasonably carry 10 steers, a dozen chickens, goats and bees with you now could you? EVERYONE that's remotely serious about their family surviving needs adequate food storage. Where people eff up is getting to much into WET PACKED GROCERY STORE canned goods. Shorter shelf life, heavier weight (PAYING FOR WATER) and not designed for long term storage. Less "leeway" for room in rotation. The freeze dried "crap" as you called it LOL, has a HUGE WINDOW of rotation time- 25-30 years. You'll rotate your WET PACKED grocery store crap easily 10 to 15 TIMES during the time period one #10 can of Mt. House or other quality long term storage product will store. When you sit and factor in that you are largely paying for WATER when you buy WET PACKED grocery store crap, then you further see it's not really any savings. Further, when you "find" a few cases of wet packed grocery store crap you forgot to rotation and have to toss them (or for you types that think it's somehow charitable to give OLD FOOD to charity, give it to charity), then it's a total loss. Serious survivors always have and always will put up food storage. Whether they are in Egypt putting up grain 3-4,000 years ago, or a smart Ukranian farmer hiding a few sacks of wheat for his family during the Holodomor, or just Joe Blow survivalist today who doesn't want to worry if/when he's laid off work for six months. Quoted:
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For me, prepping is a part of life. I prepare so I can continue my life the way I like to live it. I don't hoard for the end of time. I just live and stock what I need to survive and thrive if things go south. Stop buying freeze dried crap and learn to be self sufficient. Anyone who has put any serious effort into food production knows not everything goes according to plan all the time. Weather problems, insect infestations, soil issues, etc. all add up. To not have food storage, even if you are producing a good portion of your own food is simply foolish. In the dead of winter, what do you have growing RIGHT NOW that you could eat DAILY? Right now. If you had to leave right now, you couldn't reasonably carry 10 steers, a dozen chickens, goats and bees with you now could you? EVERYONE that's remotely serious about their family surviving needs adequate food storage. Where people eff up is getting to much into WET PACKED GROCERY STORE canned goods. Shorter shelf life, heavier weight (PAYING FOR WATER) and not designed for long term storage. Less "leeway" for room in rotation. The freeze dried "crap" as you called it LOL, has a HUGE WINDOW of rotation time- 25-30 years. You'll rotate your WET PACKED grocery store crap easily 10 to 15 TIMES during the time period one #10 can of Mt. House or other quality long term storage product will store. When you sit and factor in that you are largely paying for WATER when you buy WET PACKED grocery store crap, then you further see it's not really any savings. Further, when you "find" a few cases of wet packed grocery store crap you forgot to rotation and have to toss them (or for you types that think it's somehow charitable to give OLD FOOD to charity, give it to charity), then it's a total loss. Serious survivors always have and always will put up food storage. Whether they are in Egypt putting up grain 3-4,000 years ago, or a smart Ukranian farmer hiding a few sacks of wheat for his family during the Holodomor, or just Joe Blow survivalist today who doesn't want to worry if/when he's laid off work for six months. Lol. I have lots of food storage but hardly any expensive freeze dry crap. I have lots of stuff i use daily. My "wet pack" stuff is part of what I eat. |
Neither position is wrong......until life proves you wrong. I don't have a mountain of mountain house and I'm ok with that. SHTF long term and I could regret that choice.
Personal choice thing, how deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Personally I'm staying in the shallow end of the pool for now. I understand the risk exposure and benefits either way. My hat is off to the folks that have pallets of dry goods in a personal warehouse. I figure I'm set for a personal economic hardship and moderate duration natural disasters. |
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Neither position is wrong......until life proves you wrong. I don't have a mountain of mountain house and I'm ok with that. SHTF long term and I could regret that choice.
Personal choice thing, how deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Personally I'm staying in the shallow end of the pool for now. I understand the risk exposure and benefits either way. My hat is off to the folks that have pallets of dry goods in a personal warehouse. I figure I'm set for a personal economic hardship and moderate duration natural disasters. +1 Very good points Steel Honestly, IMO stockpiling food, water, and money is the easy part when it comes to this stuff. A few weeks or months of this plus a few other essentials will cover 95% of emergencies you'll likely face. Right now I could weather nearly a year of unemployment w/o seriously changing my lifestyle and maybe 9 months w/o utilities. That should cover most stuff. What's fatiguing is chasing the White Rabbit down into the Wonderland of "Rawlesian" fantasy that is that last 5%. Long term sustainability/self sufficiency for a lasting event is a real pain to plan for. I have a wood stove, but lack the acreage to sustainably harvest wood We have chickens for meat/eggs, but would like to add dairy, wool, leather, and maybe even down or honey. We'd need more pasture and a whole host of more animal husbandry skills for that. We have a decent vegetable garden, but not enough land for meaningful grain production. If we had all that, we'd probably look into the land/equipment requirements for growing sunflowers to run this place on biodiesel. Might turn some of that corn into whiskey too. 
What happens if the tractors break down? Would be nice to have a forge and a decent machine shop in one of the outbuildings, maybe even some draft animals. Where do you even buy draft animals??? See what I mean? There's always something more and I'm sure I'll think of plenty of more things I'd like to have after posting this. To those of you that do this homesteading kind of stuff successfully full time, you have my deepest respects. We're doing the part time "hobby farm" thing and it's hard even during the best of times. I'd hate to have to rely on it during a disaster. |
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Neither position is wrong......until life proves you wrong. I don't have a mountain of mountain house and I'm ok with that. SHTF long term and I could regret that choice.
Personal choice thing, how deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Personally I'm staying in the shallow end of the pool for now. I understand the risk exposure and benefits either way. My hat is off to the folks that have pallets of dry goods in a personal warehouse. I figure I'm set for a personal economic hardship and moderate duration natural disasters. Well that's exactly what I was saying- I've thrown out so much wet packed grocery store crap years ago. I.e, "life (experience) proves you wrong." That's why I don't bother with it any more for storage. The point was how hard it is to rotate a real quantity of wet packed grocery store crap. Miss a few cases within their short rotation time and your tossing them or playing "ain't I so great for giving this old food to charity" game. Miss a few cases of true long term storage food and so what? With a longer WINDOW FOR ROTATION (20-30 YEARS) versus maybe 20-30 MONTHS for wet packed grocery store crap, you have more leeway. Also as mentioned and documented, the fact that your paying for WATER in wet packed canned goods, usually isn't as good a "deal" as you think it is. To each their own. But LONG TERM EXPERIENCE proves the truly easier and more cost effective approach is with using real long term storage products, not just some crappy food you found at the convenience store. |
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Well that's exactly what I was saying- I've thrown out so much wet packed grocery store crap years ago. I.e, "life (experience) proves you wrong." That's why I don't bother with it any more for storage. The point was how hard it is to rotate a real quantity of wet packed grocery store crap. Miss a few cases within their short rotation time and your tossing them or playing "ain't I so great for giving this old food to charity" game. Miss a few cases of true long term storage food and so what? With a longer WINDOW FOR ROTATION (20-30 YEARS) versus maybe 20-30 MONTHS for wet packed grocery store crap, you have more leeway. Also as mentioned and documented, the fact that your paying for WATER in wet packed canned goods, usually isn't as good a "deal" as you think it is. To each their own. But LONG TERM EXPERIENCE proves the truly easier and more cost effective approach is with using real long term storage products, not just some crappy food you found at the convenience store. Quoted:
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Neither position is wrong......until life proves you wrong. I don't have a mountain of mountain house and I'm ok with that. SHTF long term and I could regret that choice.
Personal choice thing, how deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Personally I'm staying in the shallow end of the pool for now. I understand the risk exposure and benefits either way. My hat is off to the folks that have pallets of dry goods in a personal warehouse. I figure I'm set for a personal economic hardship and moderate duration natural disasters. Well that's exactly what I was saying- I've thrown out so much wet packed grocery store crap years ago. I.e, "life (experience) proves you wrong." That's why I don't bother with it any more for storage. The point was how hard it is to rotate a real quantity of wet packed grocery store crap. Miss a few cases within their short rotation time and your tossing them or playing "ain't I so great for giving this old food to charity" game. Miss a few cases of true long term storage food and so what? With a longer WINDOW FOR ROTATION (20-30 YEARS) versus maybe 20-30 MONTHS for wet packed grocery store crap, you have more leeway. Also as mentioned and documented, the fact that your paying for WATER in wet packed canned goods, usually isn't as good a "deal" as you think it is. To each their own. But LONG TERM EXPERIENCE proves the truly easier and more cost effective approach is with using real long term storage products, not just some crappy food you found at the convenience store. Long term in shtf says storage is a joke. Homesteading and learning to be self sufficient is key. I can't afford to put up mountains of mountain house. I do have rice and wheat berries in quantity. Your storage is only to help transition from one type of life to another. We use what we store so it doesn't need to last 25 years. If we don't use it it doesn't get stocked. |
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as in all things in life balance is the key, you need to enjoy living, having some preps adds some security to many peoples lives, how much prep? that is an individual choice, as far back as i can remember someone was saying that the collapse was just around the corner at least since the 1960's. you have not seen a massive evacuation by all the financial people from wall street have you? they will get the news first. prep to you level of comfort, don't cash your 401 k this is also a method of prepping and you will very likely need this at some point. take a vacation, spend time with friends and family live life. prepping is not the be all end all, it is just an insurance policy, and like any type of insurance you choose how much coverage you want to by to let you feel comfortable.
alex |
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Long term in shtf says storage is a joke. Homesteading and learning to be self sufficient is key. I can't afford to put up mountains of mountain house. I do have rice and wheat berries in quantity. Your storage is only to help transition from one type of life to another. We use what we store so it doesn't need to last 25 years. If we don't use it it doesn't get stocked. Quoted:
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Neither position is wrong......until life proves you wrong. I don't have a mountain of mountain house and I'm ok with that. SHTF long term and I could regret that choice.
Personal choice thing, how deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Personally I'm staying in the shallow end of the pool for now. I understand the risk exposure and benefits either way. My hat is off to the folks that have pallets of dry goods in a personal warehouse. I figure I'm set for a personal economic hardship and moderate duration natural disasters. Well that's exactly what I was saying- I've thrown out so much wet packed grocery store crap years ago. I.e, "life (experience) proves you wrong." That's why I don't bother with it any more for storage. The point was how hard it is to rotate a real quantity of wet packed grocery store crap. Miss a few cases within their short rotation time and your tossing them or playing "ain't I so great for giving this old food to charity" game. Miss a few cases of true long term storage food and so what? With a longer WINDOW FOR ROTATION (20-30 YEARS) versus maybe 20-30 MONTHS for wet packed grocery store crap, you have more leeway. Also as mentioned and documented, the fact that your paying for WATER in wet packed canned goods, usually isn't as good a "deal" as you think it is. To each their own. But LONG TERM EXPERIENCE proves the truly easier and more cost effective approach is with using real long term storage products, not just some crappy food you found at the convenience store. Long term in shtf says storage is a joke. Homesteading and learning to be self sufficient is key. I can't afford to put up mountains of mountain house. I do have rice and wheat berries in quantity. Your storage is only to help transition from one type of life to another. We use what we store so it doesn't need to last 25 years. If we don't use it it doesn't get stocked. In terms of SHTF/TEOTWAWKI, the only real purpose for long-term storage is to be able to sit on the shelf until Day Zero. After that it becomes more or less academic; very few really have the resources to store much over a year's worth of food, so it doesn't really matter if that pack of Mountain House would have lasted another 24 years or not... you're going to eat it that morning, because you're hungry. In a year, unless you've learned to be self-sufficient (which takes longer than a year...), you're going to be a lot hungrier. If you do learn to raise and store your own food, there's no need to have most of it last 25 years. You replenish the supply every year with fresh food, and you can continue that indefinitely... unlike those who just popped open their last carton from Emergency Essentials. I think "survival food" has its place. I've got some MRE's and a little freeze-dried stuff in our vehicles, because that doesn't get swapped out very often and it's not particularly convenient to store Mason jars of home-canned chili in there. . But I also have peanuts, and tuna, and peanut butter... decidedly not ultra-cool survival rations, but they store a long time in less-than-ideal conditions, and they'll keep you alive.
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Long term in shtf says storage is a joke. Homesteading and learning to be self sufficient is key. I can't afford to put up mountains of mountain house. I do have rice and wheat berries in quantity. Your storage is only to help transition from one type of life to another. We use what we store so it doesn't need to last 25 years. If we don't use it it doesn't get stocked. Quoted:
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Neither position is wrong......until life proves you wrong. I don't have a mountain of mountain house and I'm ok with that. SHTF long term and I could regret that choice.
Personal choice thing, how deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Personally I'm staying in the shallow end of the pool for now. I understand the risk exposure and benefits either way. My hat is off to the folks that have pallets of dry goods in a personal warehouse. I figure I'm set for a personal economic hardship and moderate duration natural disasters. Well that's exactly what I was saying- I've thrown out so much wet packed grocery store crap years ago. I.e, "life (experience) proves you wrong." That's why I don't bother with it any more for storage. The point was how hard it is to rotate a real quantity of wet packed grocery store crap. Miss a few cases within their short rotation time and your tossing them or playing "ain't I so great for giving this old food to charity" game. Miss a few cases of true long term storage food and so what? With a longer WINDOW FOR ROTATION (20-30 YEARS) versus maybe 20-30 MONTHS for wet packed grocery store crap, you have more leeway. Also as mentioned and documented, the fact that your paying for WATER in wet packed canned goods, usually isn't as good a "deal" as you think it is. To each their own. But LONG TERM EXPERIENCE proves the truly easier and more cost effective approach is with using real long term storage products, not just some crappy food you found at the convenience store. Long term in shtf says storage is a joke. Homesteading and learning to be self sufficient is key. I can't afford to put up mountains of mountain house. I do have rice and wheat berries in quantity. Your storage is only to help transition from one type of life to another. We use what we store so it doesn't need to last 25 years. If we don't use it it doesn't get stocked. Well hell, I've been living at my retreat for 15 years now, produce our own power and a good portion of our food including 95% of our meat, vegetables and fruit. We can 300 or so quarts a year, the freezer is full of venison right now, rabbits, chickens, goats and bees. 150+ fruit trees, a couple ponds, a few hundred pecan trees, over an acre in vegetable garden area, dozens of grapes, brambles, etc. And yet I feel need to have a fair amount of food storage. Go figure... :) I can't afford to put up mountains of mountain house. I do have rice and wheat berries in quantity. That's good, no where did I say "mt house or nothing." Hell dude, I'm the one that showed people how to properly pack their own storage food years and years ago on youtube! Most of my youtube videos are about food self sufficiency. The BULK of our food storage is rice, beans, wheat, salt, sugar, lentils, etc. PROPERLY PACKED these WILL last easily 20 years or more. I know cause we regularly rotate food that is from the 90's. I put up food for 12 people (all my extended family) and I have three people rotating it. A further reason not to mess with wet pack stuff. The longer leeway in rotation has helped me quite a bit. I think we are saying the same thing just in a slightly different way. |
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I had some mountain house variety packs from back when we had group buys. Between car camping or me just wanting to see what something tasted like I ate em all. Never did really try to replace me. I still buy some now and then for car camping and what not. I like storing food I eat. For really stretching it I will get into the rice and beans I have stored, also playing with lentils and what not as well. Rice, beans, lentils, and similar stuff keeps very long and is easy to store. And I do eat some rice and beans and lentils as it is. But they keep long enough I am not worried about them going bad. On canned goods or pouches of tuna or stuff like that, I eat em and keep em rotated just fine. I did eat a bunch of my stuff up without replacing it before moving last year. Slowly building it back up and gonna expand when spring gets here. |
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I'm totally screwed in this department. I used to think survivalists were a bunch of fruitcakes (some are) but I have had the whole "prepping" thing save the day for me on more then one occasion. Got my car stuck in a snow storm... Had a shovel, warm clothes, food, all ready to go in a bag in the trunk of my car. Bought a generator, bunch of flashlights, storm radios, batteries, food, water, fuel, and thought "okay well now that I bought all this shit it's guaranteed the power will never go out".... Couple of months later a big Hurricane came along and knocked out power for weeks. This lead to a fuel crisis.... The guys on this forum had brainwashed me into buying NATO Jerry cans which meant that I had all that covered.
I distinctly remember looking at the ammo fort I had going on and thinking that it is at least a little crazy to have tens of thousands or rounds stacked up. Then the area I lived in at the time banned online ammo sales and there was a nation wide ammo shortage. Right at the moment my ammo fort reached the ridiculous stage, you couldn't buy ammo and what I had was selling for 3 times what I paid for it. Part of me agrees with what a lot of people are saying and that "prepping" fear + consumerism. It's just that prepping keeps paying off for me. I don't think I will ever really need NVG's or a bunch of food and water stored up. But I didn't think I would need all those flashlights either until the lights went out. 
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I haven't ever felt like it was a waste. I guess that's because I enjoy it. It's fun, it gives me something entertaining to work at besides my music. And, when the food is a good 5-7 years out of date, and I eat it and find out it's still great, I don't worry too much any more about shelf life
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Lol. I have lots of food storage but hardly any expensive freeze dry crap. I have lots of stuff i use daily. My "wet pack" stuff is part of what I eat. And I have NONE. Wel, one pouch of food Wise sent me for free
I have sealed up a bunch of rice, lentils, beans, peas, pasta, etc., in mylar bags though. And I used that stuff all the time, so it's not like I wouldn't use it eventually if I got tired of keeping it around. And since the wet pack stuff is infinitely cheaper than the freeze dry stuff, doesn't require water or preparation, and is good for many years after expiration date (I'm the king of this, I KNOW it's good for a long time), there isn't much of a downside in my avoiding the freeze dry stuff. |
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And I have NONE. Wel, one pouch of food Wise sent me for free
I have sealed up a bunch of rice, lentils, beans, peas, pasta, etc., in mylar bags though. And I used that stuff all the time, so it's not like I wouldn't use it eventually if I got tired of keeping it around. And since the wet pack stuff is infinitely cheaper than the freeze dry stuff, doesn't require water or preparation, and is good for many years after expiration date (I'm the king of this, I KNOW it's good for a long time), there isn't much of a downside in my avoiding the freeze dry stuff. Quoted:
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Lol. I have lots of food storage but hardly any expensive freeze dry crap. I have lots of stuff i use daily. My "wet pack" stuff is part of what I eat. And I have NONE. Wel, one pouch of food Wise sent me for free
I have sealed up a bunch of rice, lentils, beans, peas, pasta, etc., in mylar bags though. And I used that stuff all the time, so it's not like I wouldn't use it eventually if I got tired of keeping it around. And since the wet pack stuff is infinitely cheaper than the freeze dry stuff, doesn't require water or preparation, and is good for many years after expiration date (I'm the king of this, I KNOW it's good for a long time), there isn't much of a downside in my avoiding the freeze dry stuff. Talk to me after you see some cans of wet packed tomato based products pop and spew crap all over the kitchen. |
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Talk to me after you see some cans of wet packed tomato based products pop and spew crap all over the kitchen. Quoted:
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Lol. I have lots of food storage but hardly any expensive freeze dry crap. I have lots of stuff i use daily. My "wet pack" stuff is part of what I eat. And I have NONE. Wel, one pouch of food Wise sent me for free
I have sealed up a bunch of rice, lentils, beans, peas, pasta, etc., in mylar bags though. And I used that stuff all the time, so it's not like I wouldn't use it eventually if I got tired of keeping it around. And since the wet pack stuff is infinitely cheaper than the freeze dry stuff, doesn't require water or preparation, and is good for many years after expiration date (I'm the king of this, I KNOW it's good for a long time), there isn't much of a downside in my avoiding the freeze dry stuff. Talk to me after you see some cans of wet packed tomato based products pop and spew crap all over the kitchen. We will let you know. The flats of tomato paste, sauce, diced tomatoes, and crushed tomatoes get rotated every few months as it gets used. We don't have huge storage in those things but enough for several months to a year. |
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I refuse to buy a single item of Long Term Storage/Freeze Dried/etc until my short term food supply is beyond 1 year. I have been working toward that but it is a waste of money to run before you can walk.
Jack Spirko says, "Eat what you store, store what you eat." Rotate things through Prepping should just be something you do small steps at a time. Pick 1 project a month and focus on JUST THAT. You can replenish a food supply pretty quickly, so it doesn't hurt to neglect that for a few months and focus on your energy, water, or shelter preps. You'll get overwhelmed if you try to focus on everything all of the time. |
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It's very common, and a good leason to learn. The things we tend to get ouselves pumped up about tend to fizzle. Leason, don't get as pumped up next time. I've been prepping since before 2k. seen alot of people freak out, burn out. The more you make prepping a part of your lifestyle, off grid, grow/roll your own, the better return on investment you'll get. The guys that are buying stuff, sticking it in the basement and not using it are getting the least return on their investment. That said, some stuff is ment to sit for decades, that's okay, learn to use what you have, you'll be happier.
Someone had a good idea, go shopping for prepps specifically, and keep the receipts. When stuff you haven't use get close to what you feel is a "going bad date" take it to the local food pantry and let them distribute it for you, then write of the gift to cherity. use what you keep, unless it is super long term storage stuff.... my2cents. |
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I probably have 3 months worth of freeze dried food. Thats great for once in a while, but the fact is I dont really use it. It's really just feel good insurance for the long term.
I have lots of other food though, I could probably eat 6 months, just like I eat today, with the other food I have. I don't get people who store wheat and sugar in pails. If you already have 2 years of food and rotate i though, great get some more long term solutions, but the fact of that matter is most people take a "buy and forget" approach. The problem with this is you don't rotate it. Store what you eat and eat what you store. It really is that easy. Rice and beans just make sense because you can buy and store 6 months of food cheaply and easily. I have a bunch but I'm not excited to eat it. If you get a year into your food supply and you haven't made contingency plans to breed and grow your own food, you need to rethink your strategy. I'm not really concerned about the end of the world, if that happens I'm going to have bigger issues in 2 years than not having enough freeze dried food and having to eat a can of pasta sauce that expired yesterday. 
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I started targeting the big things that I knew were an issue the first time we went thru a hurricane and got power knocked out for 5 solid days (and we were lucky 3 weeks in some places near here). So, I started saving up for a generator, power chords, portable A/C units, along with enough food of various types to cover a 2 week period where we couldn't re-supply. Then we shifted over to making sure we had enough "regular" things like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, TP, paper towels and tissues to last a couple of months. (Oddly enough, one of the triggers that started that was when they closed several of the border crossings to Mexico. I noticed, guess what, my toothpaste and shampoo both were made in Mexico.) Eventually I started to think about making sure we had an appropriate amount of guns and ammo along with putting aside some actual cash at the house. Somewhere along the line, we started buying some silver and gold fairly regularly. We bought one of those can rotator things that keeps us from burying canned food (that we find long after it's expired or tastes like crap). We now have enough food on hand of all types (wet canned, MRE, and freeze-dried) to last almost 2 months.
Interestingly, the wife and I both appreciate having supplies of things at the house, particularly soap and shampoo - when we run out in the shower, we can just reach over and grab another one. Also, the last time a hurricane blew thru and wiped out power for 2 days, we didn't lose any food, we slept comfortably cool, could watch OTA digital TV, and the extended power outage was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. The amount of "prep" stuff I buy now is much less than when I was trying to get started. This is mainly because we have the basics covered so I only have to replace what we use and maybe add a little now and then. There's always something else to get but I'm not nearly as far behind the 8-ball as I used to be. Long-term SHTF/TEOTWAWKI? Not really prepped to be self-sufficient here in the city. Economic collapse but society otherwise intact? Probably could weather the storm. Short term issues? Not really an issue at this point. |
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In 29 years of doing this, including leaving the city 15 years ago to live full time at my retreat, I can't remember a time when I thought anything was a waste of time/effort. If you haven't made a mistake in 15 years you haven't been trying hard enough
I agree with the rest of your post, though. |
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I would suggest buying and storing more of what you already eat anyway. IN my case its rice, lentils and dry pasta. I eat it all the time, I store it too. I'll throw in lots of vegetables, mostly frozen, but also canned which I have plenty of. Focus on what you'll be using, disaster or not. FerFAL Quoted:
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Man it sucks.. I've been prepping for at least 8 years now. I go through different stages of thinking I need to get everything over night to thinking I'm wasting my money. Today I was at a local sporting goods store and was looking at some new freeze dried food I was thinking about adding to my collection. A little voice in my head was trying to tell me to not buy them and that I'd be wasting money because nothing will ever happen. I eventually got them. Do any of you guys experience anything similar? I would suggest buying and storing more of what you already eat anyway. IN my case its rice, lentils and dry pasta. I eat it all the time, I store it too. I'll throw in lots of vegetables, mostly frozen, but also canned which I have plenty of. Focus on what you'll be using, disaster or not. FerFAL Yeah, this. Store what you eat and eat what you store. I have no freeze dried stuff at all, never have. I consider it overpriced yuppie backpacker food. Closest thing I have is a case or so of MREs. Crap I won't eat unless it's a serious emergency. |
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Its easy to fall into the mindset you need to prep for the end of times. And while thats more expensive, its also a "one time" thing. A big change is to start moving from a "high tech" mindset to a "way of life" mindset.
By that I mean why buy the MREs and freeze dried food when you could grow a garden and just can the produce? Thats a far more sustainable and repeatable direction than trying to buy enough Mountain House to feed you for a year. Granted it takes more work, but its far easier to do as a way of life. Its interesting because I know some people who grow incredible gardens and can gobs and gobs of food and they dont do it at all from a survival mindset but rather because the food tastes better and is cheaper. Try to think of prepping as a way of life, not a goal or endpoint you need to reach. 
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If you haven't made a mistake in 15 years you haven't been trying hard enough
I agree with the rest of your post, though. Quoted:
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In 29 years of doing this, including leaving the city 15 years ago to live full time at my retreat, I can't remember a time when I thought anything was a waste of time/effort. If you haven't made a mistake in 15 years you haven't been trying hard enough
I agree with the rest of your post, though. The reply was in relation to the OP's comment roughly regretting preparedness. I.e, the process of preparing, the whole "is it all worth it" BS There was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THERE that said "I didn't make any mistakes" Quite the flipping contrary, I've detailed dozens of my mistakes so others might not fall into the same pit. Suggest you re-read and see what I actually wrote versus reading something in that was simply NOT THERE. |
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Always extremes???? No balance huh?
If someone stores food then they aren't PRODUCING food? That's really stupid. How much food as a % of what your FAMILY eats do you produce yourself- i.e, on your own land, via your own hands, put up via your own hands. The two cutesy 4x4 raised beds in the backyard of suburbia will NOT allow you to grow enough vegetables to eat fresh AND can enough to last to the next season, I don't give a damn what any organic gardening book tells you, EXPERIENCE tells you otherwise. Does that mean I'm saying don't grow food? HELL NO. Any and all food you can grow/raise yourself the less dependent you are on the system. And personally we grow and raise a helluva lot of food. In year's past it's been the majority of it. Does that mean cause you think "I got this" cause you grew tomatoes a couple years that you shouldn't store food? That's stupid and very poor planning. BALANCE guys, BALANCE. Own the factory but also own the warehouse.... The factory is your PRODUCTION, it can replenish and supplement the WAREHOUSE (your storage). If you just have a warehouse, then eventually it will dwindle down to nothing. If you just own the factory, then breaks in production can leave you hungry. You need a FACTORY and a WAREHOUSE. FWIW, 15 years on the land MAKING MISTAKES in what we do- as everyone that will admit it does- and it was 6-7 years just getting the soil in a reasonable state to grow a lot of vegetables, took years for the fruit trees to start producing well, a couple years for the fish in the ponds to grow, etc. Next will be beef on a slightly larger scale for both our meat and for $$$. If you are not producing a significant quantity of your own food now, the idea that you will suddenly start doing so IMMEDIATELY after an emergency is as ridiculous as the savior of the subdivision fantasy. If we didn't have food storage the first 6-7 years we were on the land getting the soil in shape, etc. we would have starved to death. |