When SHTF what material item will you miss the most?

With Hurricane Sandy, almost all the gas pumps were out in Northern New Jersey. The few that were open had lines of 200 plus cars. there were state troopers there to make sure nobody went crazy.
I live in Pennsylvania, to my west the storm didn't cause that much damage and I could always get gas. I work in New Jersey and it could take upwards of 20 minutes just to pass by a gas station that was opened.
Could you imagine what trouble there would have been if the power was out for months instead of weeks?

Every time I get into a nice hot shower I pre-miss it. Just to stand in that almost unending pouring of hot water...nothing like it.

Salt.

Back in the day, salt was like money. But it's dirt cheap to stock up on all the salt you will need for a lifetime. And it never goes bad. 1 55 gallon drum full and you'll have all you need and some for trading.

My solar can run a window unit, so I'll be cool in the summer.

I did stock up on about 5 years worth of mineral fertilizer for the garden. I still make compost, but you gotta make sure you get your trace minerals.

food

This. And ice cubes for my scotch.

This is why games, cards and books are so important in your preps. Good preppers have them. The Foxfire book collection is great for dealing with the "olden days" thinking and planning.

It is important to have the tools put away to be used later. Like brewing equipment, candle making stuff with books. Hair cutting stuff...garden tools, even wood to build an outhouse are things to get NOW. Learn to use later.

Haha, how sad. Why don't you try being positive and cheerful and help some folks instead of being rude to a total stranger. I guess that's just the typical response by some folks due to the anonymity of the Internet. I'm rather embarrassed by your response, mostly because it's a useless insult that accomplishes nothing.

Country folks are not like that to strangers in general. In fact we go out of our way to help all kinds of people on a regular basis.

If anyone needs some prepping, you might look in the mirror, because I sure see some deficits. You're likely a decent person in person, but one could hardly see that from your post.
...

Yes since a lot of people will have generators but no gas to power them for very long, a sustained power outage from an ice storm can definitely be a big problem.

One way to cope is to become resigned to losing what is in your freezer and refrigerator. I've recommended for folks to instead use the ice storm as an opportunity to throw a block party and feed everyone with food that is going to spoil unless it's used up. It's also a chance to build some community as you can ascertain skill levels in your neighbors, determine who is cheerful and helpful, who works well by themselves or in groups, who is good at organizing, cooking, gathering firewood, etc.

Some people will have abilities like teaching, pastoring, medical skills, etc. In a sustained emergency then many elderly folks could have issues. A parent could get sick and need help taking care of their children. That can easily happen with single parents.

Those kinds of SHTF scenarios are very realistic and can be chances to work together and shine. Then if it's sustained then several guys can perform secure checks of the neighborhood, haul water and purify it, and make sure things get done. That's not meant to be sexist either as a woman or women may be able to fulfill any of those jobs too.

If an ice storm was over a very broad area, then this kind of community spirit could be the difference in some of the fragile neighbors making it. Small changes in having heat or lighting or being able to cook can throw the mental state and normal coping of elderly folks. That's why someone who's a prepper who has skills can be enormously helpful.

Then if worse things happen as it's sustained (which has happened in Canada historically), then even things like some kind of schooling can continue as well as practical ways of housing people who might have issues like a fallen tree (from the ice) breaking through into their living room or bedrooms.

If you can learn how to manage those SHTF scenarios, then if we did have a long grid down situation, then your neighborhood would do far better.

Formula 409 for cleaning my fan.

I like to think the stuff I have hidden away will be found someday by someone. Maybe 30 years from now someone will dig up those tampons packed safely away in plastic jugs and wonder what in the hell are these for? They might chew on a few before they decide they are for starting fires.

I can just imagine digging down to put in a garden and finding a plastic Pepsi bottle of Jelly-Bellys. It would be like finding a gold nugget nowadays.

Even a pop bottle filled with Sour Apple Jolly Ranchers.

Yup...got that too.

Boy, I hope you are right.

But what if you are not right?

What if one bottle of water you had stored away could keep you alive until someone found you and gave you a cup of soup?

I store in the mindset of handing out that cup of soup.

Maybe you could be just a little more understanding. No one is going to be hurt by storing a few things. It would be sad to watch my kids die of thirst...crying for just a drink of water when I could have put just a few bottles under the bed.

Being realistic cuts both ways.

And of course... toilet paper.
Imagine when there is NO toilet paper anymore.

Many people will miss their daily lines of coke.

Meat and cheese.

Step away from my Jolly Ranchers!

We actually buy rice/beans/sugar/flour in 25# bags and keep it in 5g buckets. We do a lot of cooking from scratch so it's just easier on us to do it this way. While we take from it almost daily, we also restock it @ about 50% so we don't run out at an inopportune time.

While it won't feed us for 10 years if all hell broke loose, we would be able to provide basics for us and a few close friends to get us through a week or 2

bullets, without them your life is at the mercy of the one that does have them.

If you can extend that for another 2 weeks you'll
greatly increase your chances of making it to the
other side.

my army tank.

It's not material - but I think I will most miss being able to sleep and travel with relative security.

I'm not looking forward to the additional stress of having to "stand watch" over my family at night and always having to wonder if I'm going to get robbed or killed when I step outside my house. (I mean, obviously I do that to some extent now, but no where near what would be required in a SHTF scenario)

That, and hot showers. And ice.

Last Edited by PirateMonkey on 08/22/2013 03:41 PM

I won't miss anything only clean drinking water, il only be concerned about feeding my kids,

I will miss the internet a LOT. We have a well for water with a hand pump in place along with a 50 gal. per day capacity water filter. If you don't have water, you are fucked. It will be difficult to revert to hand washing of clothing, especially in the winter. Get at least a washtub and a washboard from the Leyman's non-electric catalog. Food, obviously, is a challenge. But, with the garden, chickens, and rabbits - we can survive. Don't know how much we could water the garden with if we have to haul the water by hand, though. Can make shampoo, laundry soap, toothpaste, etc. from simple ingredients stored up. Lots of rags on hand that can be used for toilet paper and Kotex pads. Have to wash them, though, and hang them up to dry. Yuck. Will need to use a composting bucket for toilets, if you don't have a septic system. In short, most of the time will need to be spent doing water-related stuff. Will need to organize maybe neighborhood trips into town with people who have horses or bicycles. New business? Rickshaws. Heat and light will be limited unless you have solar and lots of wood to burn. We have a years worth of propane, but after that is used up..

On the bright side, we will no longer be troubled with 24/7 surveillance, celebrity gossip, "baby bumps," "wardrobe malfunctions," and propaganda from the pharmaceutical companies. Get the stuff to make colloidal silver for an anti-biotic. Kelp and iodine for low thyroid and protection against increased radiation levels. Need to get this stuff NOW. Once the grid goes down, it will be too late.

ANother important item to me, is a photo of my family. If we have no access to power, an old fashioned photo of my family for me to carry will be a big thing.

we have all that we need:

Thread: Amazing Christian Revival in Guatamala... must see front lines of true spiritual warfare

NONE of this shit existed as little as 100 years ago. Like the entire history of the world.

HOW did they ever LIVE without electricity? It's IMPOSSIBLE.

Back in the 1800's people lived closer to the Land. most people lived on farms or small towns. People had spinning wheels, they made their own cloths. People had gardens and knew how to can. Without electricity and indoor plumbing it was a lot easier to build houses. People were a lot more self sufficient back then.
Today not that many people's have those skills. Even in third world hell holes lots of people depend on hand outs more and more.

My pocket pussy.

Nah, nothing really.

I agree. I have friends who are Italian and their parents came from a very small village in Italy. They have told stories of not having electricity or running water. They smoked their meat, made home made pasta, had a garden.
I am still privileged to eat some of those home made goods. This was all done with out electricity.

I would miss Hubby's antiseizure medicines. He has a fair amount of scarring on the brain from a traumatic brain injury sustained in childhood that causes misfirings of the neurons. Without his medicines keeping these misfirings from triggering others, he ends up with kindling seizures within twenty-four hours. One seizure tends to trigger another and then another unless he gets something to slow the neurons down.

If something happens, and we loose access to his medicine for six weeks or more, chances are I'd loose him to a chain of seizures, either partially because of brain damage or fully thanks to either injury or suffocation. That's the worst thing about them. He stops breathing during the seizure itself, and there's nothing I can do to help except protect his head until it passes.

And it doesn't take an ELE. We had those five F4 and F5 tornadoes that came through back in 2011. Thousands lost their homes. Nearly half the state lost power for well over a week, and every gas station ran dry before noon that first day. Lots of folks lost water. Stores ran out of food within a day and a half too. Bacteria and viruses got kicked up everywhere, and mold ran rampant in the hard hit areas. Almost everyone who helped with the clean up got sick for months afterward. There were who knows how many miscarriages in the weeks following the storms?

Of course, then there was a massive baby boom in the area twelve to eighteen months later!

Having stocked our pantry with nonperishables the months before helped us tons, and we were able to aid Hubby's parents, who lost their home in the fourth tornado that day.

Outages in the winter are easier than those in warm weather, especially if it's near or below freezing outside. Perishables can be kept in plastic containers outside, and extra quilts or layering clothes works for warmth. It's what we did back during the 93 blizzard and ice storms of 98. Kerosine heaters are lovely, and you can cook or heat water over them if you take the grill off the top.