Practical Prepping Protocol even if Poor

Hello and thank you, Wind sage, for a terrific post that covered a great deal of territory in short order!

Hey sorry that was me who was asking. Forgot to sign in. How much food could you carry in a bug out bag is kind of my point, keeping in mind that your travelling with it and its heavy and takes up space. I'm just curious how far does each persons bug out plan go and how far should it go? For example, if you live in a city, whats the point in having more than 2-3 months worth of food if you're going be gang looted anyway. Wouldn't it be more advantageous to buy a tent for example.

Wouldn't it technically be better to plan for wilderness?

I really enjoy learning about survival skills. This thread is great, Since it started I've learned about water filtering and sanitizing, tin can ovens, rocket ovens, keeping a fire going, building a fire, chopping wood, sawing wood, pemmican, army biscuits, alternative energy, chlorine bleach, building a shelter, , designs for shelters, configuration for firewood and contemplated lots of "what would I do ifs". Reading about these things is really interesting and educating.

This might be one good thing in your BOB, taking up little space and helping you keep going. Mix with other items, for sure.
[link to www.ebay.com (secure)]

$50 is a lot...
$12.99 for a dozen on ebay, not sure if they can be had reliably at that price

[link to www.ebay.com (secure)]

this was me, got logged out

sorry duplicate
post

Last Edited by godblessya! on 02/11/2019 01:42 AM

Why the either-or, better or worse way? The problem about a SHTF scenario is that there's just no way of telling when or how it's going to affect you personally and sure as hell if you're all equipped for A, then B is going to happen first! Try to cover all those bases, as much as your circumstances allow you to do, even just a little, for a little is still better than not at all.

IMHO, the most important resource you need to stock up on is your flexibility, mental and physical. The relaxed muscle can always strike much faster than the tight one, the quiet mind can think much faster than the over-burdened one. We can drive ourselves nuts with all the what-ifs because jumping from one concern to another in our minds not only makes us feel powerless, since we can't cover them all, but it ruins our ability to focus when we need it most.

So whilst you're packing, work on the one thing over which you do have control: you, for you are your most important resource and the one thing you know you can depend upon. Get into the best physical condition you can and start lightening your footprint by taking only what you need. For many Americans, I'd say that's an automatic 20 lbs. of body weight you're going to drop.:)

Teach yourself how to live 'with one foot out the door,' so to speak, as if you're staying someplace from which you might be evicted any day. If you can think yourself into that role, you'll discover that you then know quite well which resources you have to put where and in general, how to cover your ass - because if you were actually in that situation, you wouldn't be caught with your pants down, would you?

Do you know that's the most dangerous thing to people in emergencies: the shock of instability, a sudden strict diet from slim rations they're not accustomed to playing hell with their nerves, the stress of being rootless making them dither in their decisions when they can least afford it? If you've already begun living that way before trouble hits, you're going to be out there with a clear head.

Even if you had 60 of them, thats 2 months, then what? Unless you know how to hunt and forage, build fires and shelters, own a rifle, etc... You are just denying the inevitable. Somebody stated that only the country dwellers would survive. I tend to agree. And even they, at some point. would run out of ammunition. Im just thinking why would anyone want to exist in that kind of world.

Most of us would not be willing to give up - the instinct for survival and self-preservation is the major factor in every living being. To lay down and give up isn't in most of us - I am in poor health and older and if it were up to anyone to give up the ghost, it would be me, I would think, yet I will not.

One of the great things happening in this thread is that people are learning what they might do, could do, need to learn how to do, need to practice doing.

There has been and will be more, discussions of hunting, trapping, fishing, water collection & purifying, fire starting, gardening, wild salad collection, herb collection, how to be prepared for antibiotics - this is a PREPPING thread, about both items and knowledge, not a "Well, it's gonna get tough out there so I quit" thread.

We also write about and link to videos on building shelters with simple tools and supplies. We write about self-protection methods and tools, obfuscation methods - we are about everything possible in preparing for the poop to hit the woodwork!

I like to bring up faith in God, who will see His people through, one way or another. Without Him I might not even be about trying.

People who at one time or another in their lives might have been in such straits that they contemplated suicide know that when the dark clouds of life lifted, they went on to know joy again. Therefore, why give up now, or out in the forest? We don't know how soon things will be joyous again!

This may be the perfect concept for some! Think - eviction - no money for a storage unit for your "stuff" so it will be left behind - all furniture and knick knacks and every other useless item. Going to move into your vehicle because you already asked for couch space from best friend, Mom, brother, sister, everybody you know well enough to ask and some you didn't know that well but asked anyway. YOur vehicle it is. You know you can find places to use a bathroom and wash yourself.

What goes into the vehicle that is going to be your only home in this world for a while? If you have a pet, obviously you will not leave your pet behind nor with someone else because you are a decent human with a conscience and a heart. So first you take what pet will need. Then you start on yourself - what MUST you have to survive?

[link to besurvival.com (secure)]

Create a bag for work, tools to get you safely home or to your rendezvous spot.

EMP Survival

[link to www.outdoorlife.com (secure)]

I'm thinking about purchasing this crank and solar flashlight.
Reviews are great and so is the guarantee, as well as price.
[link to www.amazon.com (secure)]

I'm also researching a cree flashlight with rechargeable battery. Haven't made up my mind on which yet. However the crank and solar variety makes a great deal of sense if one is going to be "evicted" and live in a vehicle or on the ground somewhere. Battery type would soon be useless as a person can only carry so many batteries, whether vehicle or backpack.

I have some experience with it, Pooka, so I had to learn to get used to it early in life.:) You made an interesting point in your earlier post when you talked about faith. As I think I've made clear enough, I am in no wise conventionally religious; nonetheless it is in similar rootless circumstances, when one is standing right on the edge, that one finds faith. When I was most alone is when I realized I was not, if that makes any sense.

So, if we take that into a prepper way of living, how are 'the faithful' generally taught to live? To be ready to be snatched up at any moment! 'The thief in the night' can spring upon us at any moment - and catch us in no end of embarrassing situations. Now, that is some serious flexibility required of us, don't you think? lol

Of course, the animals must come first for I sure don't want to be anywhere where they are not. That was the deal I made with that 'thief:' 'I'll care for those you put right in my lap and you shall see to it that I have the means to do so. You'll give me friends, you'll give me power to manipulate (giggle) you'll give me cash, whatever it takes.' So far, it's worked out.

There's an ancient (1400s or so) little rhyme in Greek I always loved that illustrates my ties with my animal brethren that I'll transcribe as well as translate, because it's pretty cool and you'll like the sound. The Greek 'delta' BTW is pronounced like the 'TH' in 'this' or 'that' so I'll write 'tho' - to see - instead of 'do.' The hard 'B' has to be written like 'mp' together.:) weird, huh?
Sti borta tsi paratheiso
tha steko n'anameno
ki'an then se tho na mpeis kai 'si
meite ki'ego then mpaino
At the door of Paradise, I'll stand and wait. And if I don't see you going in too, I won't go in either.

I do like that rhyme, thank you. It reminds me of a little story. A man died and he and his dog were walking toward heaven. The man was thirsty as it was a hot, dry, dusty road. They walked and walked and finally saw a long long driveway off to the left. Waaay down the driveway the man could see another man standing. The newly deceased hollered "Can I come get a drink of water?" The other man responded "You can, but you can't bring your dog." Okay, I'll tie him up here to this tree" and he did so. Man walks waaay down this long driveway hoping to come soon to the well. A curve in the driveway suddenly revealed a beautiful pearly gate with a mighty angel standing before it. "Is this heaven" the dead man asked, and "Can I come in?" The angel replied "Yes, this is heaven, and no, you cannot come in. You were going to have a drink of water, but you left your tired and thirsty dog behind to get it. You are not welcome here."

You did not tell the story of the "thief" as far as I know, so your explanation of your ability to manipulate and have whatever you wish, I am not able to understand. Sorry. Perhaps you will explain?

Regarding "faith" in the prepper life, I believe you are thinking of those who believe in the "rapture", who expect to suddenly be lifted away from the world. I am not among those, after studying the Bible for some time, researching it. However, it would be delightful indeed to be removed from what is to come, so I have no argument with those who so believe - and I hope they are correct in their faith.

How to build a dollar store dental kit for your BOB
[link to www.theorganicprepper.com (secure)]

Good idea, with no dentist in sight for perhaps years!

Repair lost fillings and caps:
[link to www.amazon.com (secure)]

Following the trail of teeth, so to speak, I just found these:
[link to www.amazon.com (secure)]
Much better than a tube of toothpaste squirting open all over your backpack contents!

Scrolling down from that, there are sheets for everything! Shampoo, soap, everything! So much more convenient than carrying bars of soap, which of course get wet in use and need special handling to put back in something, no bottle of shampoo to burst when you sit on your backpack or drop it hard - so many great ideas!

Last Edited by Pooka on 02/11/2019 05:21 AM

That is a cool story about the man and his dog! It's exactly the way it should be! No, the idea of a 'rapture' never entered my mind at all! As I said, not 'conventional' and I would surely be called Pagan by those who are.:) What I mean is that we cannot take even life for granted and if we were suddenly to lose it, for those who believe there might be an accounting of our behavior, we would naturally try to live in such a way that we wouldn't have too much crap on our slate if we had to go suddenly.

Living 'light' of heart, with a clear conscience seems to go well with also living light when it comes to material attachments. Otherwise, our 'stuff' can get too massive and own us intead of us owning it. It's completely individual: we can judge what we need personally but of course we can't say what another person needs because we're all unique and our circumstances are different too. Nobody else can pack our 'bugout bag,' metaphorical or literal.

Thief in the night got into American vernacular honestly enough, mainly because of these two passages:
Matthew 24:43, “Understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into,” and 1 Thessalonians 5:2, “You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
So it doesn't matter what creed one has, less still what denomination, it still makes some sense to any reader. Be flexible and be prepared for just about anything.

P.S. Why did I put a giggle with the word 'manipulate?' Because I lobby the State Legislature for animal welfare every year and have done for a long time - it feels very long right now, because I'm starting to dread the long trip in March. If the art of politics is not manipulation to get something done, what is it? It's too much to expect that politicians are going to 'do the right thing' just because it is right.

I prep at home hopefully for 30 to 60 days but when and if you have to bugout, you need to prepared with the right gear and also practice and testing.

I know this for a fact. You need to have what you want and try it all now to survive and thrive.

I practice for a week each year and fail miserably but love it.

I posted a lot of my gear through the thread

Here is something not posted.

Water

You are going want a water container with a handle so you can carry it, I have one that is designed for "all the water you need for a day" theme too

I have something like this I would carry all day, this is a must have for each person

[link to www.amazon.com (secure)]

I got mine at the Dollar Tree for a dollar during the summer, I should have gotten a couple too. Looking again this year.

I have this site bookmarked and go to for pretty easy viewing that some will find helpful.

[link to www.brighteon.com (secure)]

On wild lettuce - while it's probably an individual thing, it does work for me. It's not as strong as an opioid, but once you get the dose figured out it's at least as good as ibuprofen.

I have hundreds of seeds ready to go in the ground. I gathered plants just as the fuzzballs were ready to fly and preserved the seeds. I did NOT process the plants, themselves, since they came from a well-traveled roadside and who knows what leached into them.

I use Hawaii Pharm wild lettuce extract and know it works and have bought locally extracted product at the local farmer's market, which was also good.

May not work for everyone, but I can heartily recommend it.

There are several varieties (if not many). Our local variety is not the Latuca virosa that you'll see in many online videos, but rather Latuca serriola, which may be slightly less potent, but still WORKS.

Denholm, I had no idea there is such a thing as "water for a day" containers! What a terrific idea! And that you found yours at a dollar store is even better, as long as it wasn't made in China and having all the yuk that can leach into the water.

What a great idea that is - of course that doesn't account for cooking or hygiene, but just to have enough to drink could save a life, for certain! Thank you very much for the idea!

I agree that practice is required for whatever we plan to do - and you are certainly diligent at it! You are in many ways more ready than most of us, as you have actually been out doing it while we have only been getting ready to do it, or just thinking about what to acquire to do it!

Good job, Denholm - thank you very much on both accounts!

This site seems to have nearly everything! Thank you for this reference, KTee! This can help many!

Kamchatka, do you by chance know if the lettuce or extract also reduces fever? That's something many will need if caught with no medical care - and it would be great to know something we could find at a moment's notice to keep a fever down, no matter the cause.

Glad to know it helps you - and surely it can help many when they run out of what they are accustomed to.

Not that I know of, but white willow bark CAN be used for fever reduction.

ETA - That said, most of the time it may be better to let a fever run its course as long as you're able to drink and urinate and you're not delirious.

For some reason, that made me think of this:

Stinging nettle tea for allergies (natural antihistamine). I make it really strong, add a shake of organic fennel (tastes good and has some antihistamine action), a drop of lemon juice and a bit of stevia (because I like it better sweet). This has REALLY helped when my seasonal allergies get bad.

Last Edited by Kamchatka on 02/11/2019 03:19 PM

Your welcome!~

Looking into the information world before it's too late.
Not that I would ever ever want it to come to that however knowledge is our freedom to live fruitful lives~

Feverfew. A tincture I never run out of in case of migraines - sometimes brought on by bad eye strain, a strained neck muscle - especially when I lug around something too heavy - but stress does it too, or diet or just because a migraine feels like jumping on me. I mean the kind so bad that you're seeing little kaleidoscopes in the corners of your eyes just before it hits you. This little flower works to drive it off. It's in the Daisy family, pretty too. A few drops in a shotglass of water is my favored way to get it down quick. Here's an article:
[link to www.herbwisdom.com (secure)]

Valerian. A plus: cats love it. Original source from which valium was synthesized. General pain reliever and mild sedative. I've had success with it when I had, for instance, a painful internal problem and was afraid to add insult to injury by taking any OTCs or prescriptions for pain. An article:
[link to healthfully.com (secure)]

A combo of valerian and passionflower is very good - and not hard to find because that's a popular mix. You can grow valerian all over the country but passionflower, being tropical, only grows well in the Deep South. The extract can be found at most herb and health stores. It's also good for insomnia and anxiety. Natural News has an article on it:
[link to www.naturalnews.com (secure)]

White willow bark. Original source of aspirin and used for the same reasons you'd take an aspirin. Safe for everybody. I always keep some of this around and it's not expensive. If you have some white willows growing in your area, here's an article from Mother Earth about preparing your medicine from the bark:
[link to www.motherearthliving.com (secure)]

Catnip. All-time favorite! One of the best, safest, antispasmodics, analgesics and carminatives in the world. It's in the mint family so if you can get it started, it'll keep coming back and keep spreading every year. Of course cats love it but you will too. When I had nothing to offer but what was in my garden, I've given strong catnip tea to a few heavy drug users, who shall remain nameless, who were suffering from 'the shakes' when they couldn't get a fix. Catnip knocked them out and when they woke up they felt better. This herb is a blessing!
Some internal and external uses:
[link to www.nutrinews.com]
[link to www.organicfacts.net (secure)]

If I'm out of feverfew, I do a half and half of chamomile and catnip tea, very strong, for those migraines. It works and generally calms me down from any stress. Back later with more about chamomile. Oh, I wish I could have a whole lawn of chamomile but I'm in the wrong part of the country to manage that, too much dry wind here.

How much food could you carry in a bug out bag is kind of my point

--------

Not much...but some just to keep you going.

I have some granola bars, a pound of dry noodles and some chicken bullion cubes...as long as I have to boil water it may as well be chicken noodle soup :)

But I also keep some cash & silver in my BOB so as long as something is open...I can buy food.

If I have any time at all during the bug out I will be taking more food with me.

Not to mention...the body can live for 3 weeks without food. But you can freeze to death in 3 hours.

Sometimes something will break down & I wont get it fixed for a while, just to see how it is without it.

A bizare form of prepping...I know.

My AC broke down & I didn't get it fixed for 2 years. I had the money to get it fixed...but I wanted to learn to live without it.

The toughest was when my hot water heater broke down...I didn't replace it for a month.

Cold showers are a bitch!

But I learned ways to minimize the shock of bathing in cold water.

Things like that sure make you appreciate the little things in life!

There are a lot of small things you could purchase to give you plenty of nutrition - like the one I posted from eBay the other day. Tablets or squares that are packed full. I'd put in a number of those, along with "regular" foods. However, nothing you could carry in a BoB is going to last very long so you have to plan on another way to get food very soon, whether fishing, hunting, foraging.

How did you minimize the shock of cold water bathing? Asking for a friend.:) I'm a Wim Hof fan, the Iceman; that's not to say I adhere to all his recommended regimens, yet:

Yours is not a bizarre kind of prepping, it's a very sensible one. You had a hot water heater. So you have a bathtub, running water and all that? How about a range? Did you never heat up some water on your stove in a pasta pot and add it to some cold in your bathtub or were you just doing the exercise to become tougher?

Not being either facetious nor snarky in my questions: I've spent a lot of years hauling in every drop of water I used, heating my bathwater on a woodstove and bathing in a washtub next to it. I know lots of people who live the same way, and still manage to get online (I did) so you never know.

In summer I didn't bother to heat the water or I'd take a dip in the dirt tank a mile from my house too, since I didn't have air conditioning either. With enough solar power, when I finally got two 120watts, I might run a big water fan for a few of the hottest hours that was just as good. Even I thought that a bit extravagant but in summer in AZ, it was sometimes 100 degrees in my house and I did it for my animals too, who'd lie in front of the fan. Staying in the dark and quiet is the only way to get through heat like that. A small desk fan with a mister and keeping the room dark helps too; you can do that with a 40watt panel.