It’s difficult to not repeat yourself when you’ve been blogging on a fairly narrow topic for over fifteen years. But, I have to remember that not everyone has been here since Day One. Thus, something I may have said ten years ago might seem like a new idea to someone who has only been following along for two years.
Case in point: I’m sure the longtime readers recall me saying, on more than one occasion, that I believe one of the signs you’ve matured as a survivalist is when you start getting as enthused, and spend as much money and effort, on food storage as you did on guns.
Guns are, after all, the sexy part of survivalism. They are also, probably, the least used prep that any of us have. We’ll wind up using a good chunk of stored fuel, medical gear, food, batteries, and toilet paper before we even make a dent in the M855 sitting in the barn. But..when someone gets ‘into’ preparedness the guns are usually the first thing they get worked up and excited by.
Nothing wrong with that, of course. But go ask a cop which one he uses more..his gun or his pen. If there’s anyone who went through Hurricane Katrina and used more than 20 rounds on shooting at people, I’d be surprised.But, we tend to focus on the gun stuff because its fun.
When someone tells me that they’re interested in ‘being prepared’ or ‘having some things just in case’, almost always the first thing I bring up is food. Sometimes money, but more often than not its food. Then fuel. Communications. Consumables. And eventually we get around to the gun stuff.
Is this to say the gun stuff isn’t important? No, of course not…when you’ve taken the time and expense to lay away thousands of dollars worth of supplies that may literally be all that is standing between you and a very unpleasant future it is natural that other people are going to want those supplies. And, sometimes, their level of insistence cannot be dissuaded by anything less than a pistol or rifle. But look at all the disasters and emergencies you’ve had in your life thus far…I’d bet that the overwhelming majority were ones that were remedied with greenbacks rather than green tip. Unemployment, transmission failures, broken water heaters, medical emergencies, etc, etc… all things that, broadly, were remedied with things other than a case of Wolf.
I mention this because I think its worth repeating… the big End Of The World will happen sooner or later, but not before a boatload of smaller, personal End Of The World happens to you. Put away the AR’s and Glocks, but expect to use all the other preps, esp. money, long before the AR’s and Glocks become needed.
Sound advice, Zero. I suggest that you acquire necessary items evenly. Do you have a defensive weapon and enough ammo to get you through a small local emergency? Don’t revisit that further until you have the beans, band-aids, and bucks put away at an equivalent level. A bad storm can do a LOT of damage. As long as you can keep the looters at bay, you’re going to need the food, batteries and CASH to get your situation squared away. Add to each preparedness category in a balanced, measured approach.
Cash, both bank and physical $$$ on hand are high among the most useful survival tools out there.
The same way that we don’t find ourselves burning up cases of 5.56 shooting at looters we don’t end up using the ton of wheat that’s in the basement often. A wad of money to pay a plumber, fix the car, etc is far more relevant and realistically useful.
Why not buy when prices are low and supplies are high. TP on sale? stock up,food crop failure imminent? stock up,Ar lowers on sale?stock up. When your neighbors want to buy some TP and the sale of a few rolls pays for most of your supply it will be a good position to be in,just learn to be reasonable.
Zero
Sage words. Sometimes I try to convince myself of that as I lust for another cool gun ( like the 43 I have aren’t enough; and I know you have way more ) but as you say guns and shooting are fun, fun, fun! But future prep additions are tilted towards meds and food. Sometimes you have to slap yourself and say enough.
“….when someone gets ‘into’ preparedness the guns are usually the first thing they get worked up and excited by.”
Certainly true for me. But I honestly think that’s because when a socio-political-economic crisis ‘hits’, firearms & ammo are the most threatened commodity in the world. I’m well beyond worrying about such things now, but when I was stuck in the suburban morass with thousands of malcontent hoodies running around at night, guns & ammo we’re #1 on my list.
Now I’m more interested in the health of my well pump, the diesel supply, firewood, and food. Oh, and guns are up there, too. Did I mention that?
When I talk to people I I rank things
1. Water
2. Stove and fuel
3. Food
4. Soap, TP, basic medical
5. Defensive items and I note that a big can of 🐻 spray is, like, $40 and will take care of most situations.
For amounts I say take care of 24 hours, then 48, then 72 and so on.
We’ve been iced-in a few times. My ammo situation didn’t change, but we went through a lot more food than I expected. And a couple of lengthy power outages showed an insufficiency of candles, Coleman fuel, and batteries.
For those who don’t want to be tagged with the “survivalist” or “prepper” label, you can maintain a pretty big supply without comment as long as you refer to it as “camping gear.”
Our bottleneck is my wife’s prescription meds. Her doctor has been helpful; when the drug salesmen come by, he accepts “free samples” and passes them on to her. Her modest stash gives us some operating time if something serious were to happen near a refill date.
Neither of us use insulin, but the situation for people who do is pretty grim at the moment. I note that Wal-Mart has a “private brand” insulin for $25 per vial, and it is an inexpensive over-the-counter medication in a neighboring country. For a lot of people, that’s cheaper than the co-pay on their insurance… some brands of insulin “expire” in 30 days; others in a year; some people claim it’s good far past that. You’ll have to read up on the subject and make your own decision on how long to keep it. And don’t forget to rotate your stock…
Good advice. In a previous life I was an EMT. With that history I keep a very well stocked medical bag in my vehicle.
I’ve needed that medical bag many more times than I’ve ever needed my carry gun.
Please be sure you have a well stocked medical kit. In a SHTF situation you may be the only “doctor” accessible to you. Beans, Bullets. Bandaids.
There are books on DIY medical care, oriented toward people working in shithole countries, mountaineering, sailors, etc.
No, some things you can’t diagnose or treat without Modern Medicine. But there are still many things you *can* do something about.
MDs used to hold the keys to advanced diagnostics and the pharmacopia. They still have control over a lot of the pharmacopia, but there are still some things you can get. Look for “veterinary supplies.” And since most hospitals have outsourced everything from urinalysis to MRIs now, it turns out you don’t even need a referral for many modern diagnostics; they take credit cards.
As the quality of medical care continues its steep decline (at least in my area) I’m having to learn a whole lot more than I really wanted to know about a lot of things, starting with “build our own medical records.” Which I started doing three years ago, after glancing through a printed copy of a referral and wondering if I had someone else’s paperwork. It didn’t match my notes *at all*.
I started getting copies of every referral and outside test result after that, but last week I got bitten hard *again*; a cardiology referral from not long before I started keeping my own records, where the cardiologist claimed he’d “advised” me about a fairly serious problem. Which he hadn’t, and apparently the “Primary Care Physician” didn’t feel he had to go over it with me since the cardiologist’s report said he had…
As Gomer Pyle used to say, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”
You don’t have to wait for SHTF. Unless you’re part of the healthcare system, you’re probably already in trouble…
I had a practical example of this a few years ago, when I was facing possible open heart surgery. Did I have enough food in the freezer and cabinets for 4-5 months? Did I have enough money to cover the mortgage and other bills for that time? The answer to both was yes. There was only a week from first feeling the chest pains to having to answer those questions. Fortunately, I only needed a stent, and was only out a week.
99%of medical procedures are simply “open walletectomies” and are better and more effectively handled by other methods.
I see a lot about physical things, but remember, not all things you need can be bought. I think “Tribe” is also very important. Those you can count on when SHTF. You gotta sleep sometime. Someone or someones’ to watch your back. Now that is a prep worth having.
The real problem with guns, ammo, and mags has to do with feeling like you have enough as the gun grabbers rev up for another exciting Presidential run. Every time I feel like I’m set, they make serious advances in taking our rights away. Case in point, I live in eastern Washington state. Western Washington voters managed to pass a couple of unconstitutional initiatives that the rest of us now have to abide by as of 7/1. With any luck, there will be a judicial reckoning and these outrages will be rolled back. But I’m not counting on it. So I keep buying guns, ammo, and mags.
People need to be putting more effort into building Tribe/Communities because it will be just as much of an asset as all their supplies…
Besides being sexier, guns and ammo are easier.
They don’t take up much space and they don’t expire.
I was helping some relatives move last month and ended up hauling quite a bit of long term storage food out of their basement. They had purchased it when they bought the house 25 years ago and it was now VERY expired.
That’s not a good reason not to do it but it makes the purchase harder. I hope I never NEED my guns or my freeze drieds but my guns are going to get used regardless.