Last month, a tree took out the power lines on my street for 16 hours. I had candles and canned food, but no way to cook the beans without a gas stove. My neighbor fired up a camp stove, and I realized I never bought one because I thought it was 'extra'. The worst part was my phone died by hour six and I had no paper map of evacuation routes. We also found out our hand-crank radio only picked up static in the basement. What do you folks keep on hand for cooking during a long power cut, and how do you test your backup gear before you actually need it?
Been stockpiling bottled water for years, figured a pallet of cases in the garage was enough, then last August in Austin my garage hit 110 degrees and the plastic bottles started tasting like chemical soup. Turns out I never rotated the stock or checked the dates, so half of it was skunked from sitting in the heat. Anyone else build a proper rotation system with a spreadsheet or stickers, or am I overthinking this?
I used to just throw a box of band-aids and some aspirin in my go-bag and call it good. Then last year my buddy sliced his hand open on a broken jar at a campout, and I had nothing to stop the bleeding properly. Now I carry a trauma kit with gauze, a tourniquet, and gloves after watching a 10 minute video on wound packing. Anyone else completely overhaul their medical gear after a specific scare?
3 years ago I moved out to a patch of land near Asheville and started digging a root cellar under my shed. My neighbor saw me last month and asked if I was burying a body lol. But here's the thing: I'm not just storing potatoes. I've got a whole setup with Faraday cages for radios and backup drives. Some people say EMPs are overblown and the grid will bounce back in a week. Others say we'll be back to the 1800s for years. Where do you land on the EMP threat vs. just stocking water and ammo?
I always put them directly on the concrete floor of my basement until a friend pointed out the temperature difference causes the plastic to degrade way faster. Has anyone else had their preps fail because of a stupid storage mistake like that?
Last week I cracked open a can of pinto beans from 2022 and they were mush. The seal was fine, but the texture was shot. Three years ago I swore by canned goods for my bunker stash. Then I watched a YouTube guy in Montana show how his 10 year old freeze dried meals still looked fresh. I tested a few pouches I bought last month and they actually held up. So now I'm slowly swapping my stockpile over. Has anyone else found a brand that doesn't crumble to dust when you rehydrate it?
I traded her a couple packets after the sirens went off last Tuesday in Omaha. Hers had this weird chemical taste, like licking a battery. My Mountain House tasted almost normal after 8 months in the dark. Has anyone else noticed a big quality gap between brands or am I just picky after eating MREs in the Army?
Last summer when the power went out for four days in Portland, I realized my expensive store-bought water filter was useless without electricity. A neighbor showed me how a clean cotton t-shirt layered with charcoal from a campfire can filter muddy water almost as well. Has anyone else found low-tech fixes that work better than the high-end gear you stockpile?
Last summer during a storm the power went out for almost three days straight. I had about 20 gallons of water put away but my family of four burned through it in less than a day and a half. Filling up the bathtub after it was too late is not a fun lesson to learn. Now I keep 55 gallon drums in my garage and rotate them every 6 months. Anyone else ever run out way faster than they expected?
Last month I was at a big hardware store in Des Moines loading up on extra plywood and tarps for storm prepping. A older guy stocking shelves told me he keeps a smaller backup chainsaw in his trunk because his main one broke mid-cleanup after a derecho two years ago. That never crossed my mind, I always just bought one big gas saw and called it good. Has anyone else run into a single point of failure situation like that with their gear?
We lost power for 72 hours in Austin last summer during that heat wave. My big gas generator was useless because the stations couldn't pump either. Swapped it for a solar setup with a battery bank this week. Anyone else have issues relying on gas when the grid goes down?
Last summer I spent a week at my buddy's cabin in northern Minnesota to test out his survival setup. He had all the gear, a well, solar panels, the works. But three days in his water pump broke and we spent a whole day fixing it with parts he had to drive 45 minutes to get. Meanwhile my cousin who lives in a small town just stocked up on extra supplies and helped his neighbors when things got rough. In my experience, being part of a community in a rural small town is way more practical than hiding alone in some forest. Anyone else think community prep beats solo off grid living?
I was rotating my emergency food stash last month and realized I had a bunch of open mylar bags with no way to reseal them. Tried using a regular clothes iron on low heat and it actually worked way better than I expected. Just put a thin towel over the bag and pressed for about 10 seconds. Has anyone else tried random household items for sealing food storage?
I went with rainwater because the well drilling quote was $8,000 up front, but now I'm wondering if I should've bit the bullet with summer droughts coming... anyone else deal with this choice and regret it later?
I started prepping back in 2018 and bought 300 cans of mixed beans from a bulk store in Denver. Stacked them in my basement and felt like a genius. Fast forward to last week when I grabbed a can for chili and the lid was bulging. Opened it and it smelled like a dead animal. Turns out I had cans from 2013 mixed in with the newer ones and the whole system was trash. I spent the weekend pulling every single can, checking dates, and organizing by year. Now I have maybe 60 cans that are actually good and a new rotation method I stole from a grocery store. I wrote the purchase date on the top with a sharpie and put the newest in back. Anyone else learn this lesson the hard way after a big stockpile?
I bought a countertop reverse osmosis unit last fall, figured it'd be great for bugging in during a grid-down scenario, but when I tested it during a 3 day outage the pump wouldn't run without AC power. Now I'm stuck with a fancy paperweight and a bunch of filters I can't use. Has anyone found a gravity fed filter that actually works well for long term without electricity?
I dug out my emergency stash last weekend and found half the cans were bloated from sitting in 100 degree heat for 8 months. The USDA says canned food lasts years but they mean in a cool basement at 70 degrees. How do you guys store bulk food without climate control?
I pulled out my 6 month old stockpile last week and found rust spots on the bottom cans because moisture seeps up through the slab. Just put down a layer of those cheap plastic pallets from Home Depot and it fixed the problem, has anyone else dealt with damp floors ruining their stores?
I was at this big flea market in Portland last summer, just browsing old tools and junk. Found a guy selling military surplus packs, and he showed me his old army ruck from the 90s. He pointed out how my fancy new camping backpack had thin straps and no frame for heavy loads. I thought I had a solid grab-and-go setup, but after talking to him for twenty minutes I realized I was carrying about 30 pounds of stuff in a bag built for 15. So I swapped to a surplus Alice pack with a frame and metal buckles. Now I can haul a solid 50 pounds of water filters and canned goods without my shoulders screaming. Has anyone else had a random stranger completely change how you prep?
Talked to my neighbor's dad who was in New Orleans during Katrina. He said all those cases of bottled water people stored went bad or got contaminated anyway. He pointed me towards getting a Berkey filter and a 55 gallon drum instead. Now I feel dumb having 40 gallons of plastic bottles in my garage that taste like plastic. Anyone else ditch the bottled water approach for a filtration setup?
I cracked open a 2015 case of MREs yesterday and the main course had turned into this weird paste, but the 2025 ones were totally fine - has anyone else noticed a big drop in shelf life with the newer packaging they started using around 2018?
I was trying to pack oats for 5-year storage and my heat iron broke halfway through. Tried using a regular clothes iron on low and it melted through three bags in a row. Then I grabbed my wife's flat iron for hair, set it to 300 degrees, and pressed for 5 seconds per inch. It sealed perfectly every time, no burn through, no leaks. Tested two bags by dropping them from waist height and they held. Anyone else use weird household tools for sealing long term food?
So I've got about 30 gallons of water in my garage for bugging out, stored in those blue 5 gallon jugs. Last week I grabbed one to wash my car and noticed the water tasted like plastic and had this weird slimy feel to it. Turns out you're supposed to keep them out of direct sunlight and rotate them every 6 months, not just let them sit. Anyone else make this mistake with their water stash or am I just dumb here?
I spent the last week debating between buying another 55-gallon drum or going with a bunch of 5-gallon jugs instead... ended up grabbing four 5-gallon jugs because they're way easier to move around. Stacked them against the wall and they fit perfect next to my canned goods shelf. Has anyone else found that mixing container sizes works better for your setup?
For years I just bought those big buckets of freeze dried meals from a company in Idaho. Dropped like $800 on a three month supply back in 2021. But after eating that stuff for a week during a power outage, I realized it tastes awful and gives me stomach issues. So last fall I borrowed my neighbor's pressure canner and put up 40 pounds of ground beef and 20 quarts of chicken soup. Cost me about $150 total including the jars and lids. The meat tastes way better and I know exactly what's in it. Anyone here do a mix of both or just stick with one method?