How do you start?

[greenacres]

Well, I didn't sleep much last night. I have scratched myself to death now that I am thinking about the future. Stress kind of does that to me. So, here we are on one acre in the country. Our house is almost paid for. We have some goats. I am incubating eggs as we speak and hope to get some chickens. And, we are looking to buy some rabbits as well. We are a family of 5...me, my husband, and 3 kids (7,6, and 4). It is so overwhelming to think about how to start and prepare. I know that we are looking into some kind of hand pumps for our 2 shallow wells. I would like to get a wood stove for the house. Other than that, where do you start? Say that I go out and buy extra beans and rice and such. What is the best way to store this type of stuff? What if we bought a fuel tank to fill up slowly? How long does gas stay good? Our property backs up to my parents' 20 acres, so that is a good thing for livestock. Should I start getting all the jars I can get my hands on? What about dairy equipment or cheesemaking type stuff? This is new to me and I am worried. Thanks so much all of you.

[FalconDance]

Ok sweetie, slow down and take a deep breath.

You're on the right track already. Sit down and make a list of the things you can think of you might need in case of a tornado/flood/major disaster in which you might not have electricity or phone, etc. for a while. Then make a list of what you already have that would work in the place of those things. I.e. no electricity to cook, have propane grill or wood cookstove. No electric lights, have candles. Central heat off, have plenty of blankets, sweaters and woodstove. Then decide if you have the ingredients to make those solutions work (do you have propane for that grill or wood for that cookstove, for example.)

Take it in small chunks and it won't be so overwhelming.

Foodstuffs: grow what you can in season and then can or dehydrate the extra for later. If your family eats a lot of beans and rice, by all means, start buying extra of that (both of which can be stored in glass gallon jars or, in bulk, in 5 gallon buckets with tight seals). Keep an eye on your local craigslist for things like canning jars people might be giving away or selling cheap. Stock up on the lids for jars (you can reuse the rings). A water bath canner will suffice for many veggies and most fruits but you might want a pressure canner for canning meats and lower acid veggies. Haunt estate sales for such. Ask your parents and older folks if they happen to have canners, jars or anything handy for a farmstead just lying around they don't use anymore.

All you need for basic cheese is a big kettle (soup pot), fresh milk (well, not completely fresh ) and a bit of vinegar.

Many of us have been prepping for a while so perhaps we forget sometimes how overwhelming it can be to a 'beginner'. As I said, take it in small chunks - that way you're not stressing yourself needlessly and causing further hardship on the family. It *will* be ok, trust me.

[Cyngbaeld]

Start by taking inventory. What DO you have now? Break it down into categories. Water, food, heating/cooking, lighting, clothing, farm equipment etc are some categories.

Then decide how much food and supplies you normally use. Keep a food diary while you are doing inventory and getting a few things like a hand pump and oil lamps. Do you have camping equipment? What do you use for lighting when the power is off? You may be better prepped than you realize.

Do start asking for and looking for canning equipment and supplies. Jars can be rather pricey new.

When you go to the store, start picking up some extras. If you eat rice and beans, go ahead and buy a large bag or three. If something is on special that you normally use, get more than you normally would.

Try to not stress or panic. That can sidetrack your prepping and get you into financial difficulties.

[AngieM2]

Kerith - you're better off than many, so feel good about that.

And then take it easy, get a deep breath.
And AT Hagan has a site listed in his signature that has LOTS of information.

And most of the rest of the gang will be passing thru the forum and probably giving you their favorite bit of information.

I think if you sat down and wrote out what you KNEW how to do, that would help also. Knowing is a lot of being able to do, and take care of yourself.

Angie

[Marilyn]

Hi Kerith,
Please don't fret. Fretting is such a drain and it could all be for naught.

Instead, make note of what the others have offered.

-Make note of what you would need if you had no power for something like 3 weeks.
-Make note of the items that you already have on hand (see, you could already be half-way there!)
- I see that you live in Texas. Is it warm enough there to grow anything in the garden during the winter? If so, start a winter garden.
-Plan to learn to can if you haven't already done so. I agree with the others. There must be hundreds if not thousands of canning jars going unused, stored away in attics, garages, basements and sheds in your area. Let everyone know that you are looking for them and before long they will begin to show up at a price of little to nothing.
-Make a game of being frugal with the little ones. I still have the paper Christmas ornaments that mine made one year when their Dad was laid off. (We had plenty of ornaments already, but I guess our conversation about making do, etc. really had an effect on them, so they pitched in to do their part.
-Do you cook from scratch? It's healthier and less expensive. Staying healthy is VERY frugal
-Check in on the Frugal forum - there are some amazing ideas there.
-Stock up on things your family uses whenever you find them on sale. There is no point in stocking up on things they do not eat.
-As you start getting into long-term storage, remember that you need to guard against moisture, insects or rodents, and light.
-I think your idea of getting a hand pump for your shallow well is excellent. Our well is 225', a hand pump is not an option so I have been saving for a good water filter. We have two rain barrels (will double+ that number next year) and a creek at the bottom of the hill.

Please know that you are not alone. Even people that you wouldn't expect are pinching pennies. The woman that cuts my hair (about every 3rd haircut) lives in what must be a million dollar home on the water. She had her husband build a beauty shop off the side of their garage - she hangs all of her laundry out to dry, etc. We exchange different ways of saving money whenever we see each other. It's such fun.

I wish you lived closer. We could get together over coffee and brainstorm. Just to share where I am in my quest:
I have always lived where blizzards are a possibility, so ever since I started a family, I have stocked up food/water that we might need and enjoy if we got snowed in. Over the years, we added a woodstove, canning equipment, a vacuum sealer and a grain mill. Our winter's supply of emergency food and supplies has grown to probably a year's supply of grain, fruit and vegetables, nearly that in meat. I am saving for the water filter and an Aladdin lantern, our next major prep purchases.

It's a process, Kerith. Don't knock yourself out trying to do it all at once, but please PM me if ever you need an "atta girl" or just want to bounce ideas around. I love talking with other people that try to be more self-sufficient.

[Sonshine]

One thing we did, in addition to what others are mentioning is when we go to the store, we pay with the next denomination up. For instance, if you owe $7.00, pay $10.00. Everything left over goes toward prep items. It adds up quick. That's how we got a lot of our stuff, like our pasta machine, dehydrater and soon to add our fourdog to that list.

[TundraGypsy]

I started writing dates on items I purchased to see how long they would last. For example it takes me three months to use up my soap for washing clothes and six months to use up dishwashing soap. I now have a year's supply of those items. Same with plastice garbage bags, etc. Do the same thing with your food items; then you will know how much to stock if you want a year's supply of that item.

Don't let it overwhelm you; make lists of items you usually eat; and only store what you will eat too.

[greenacres]

I know we are better off than a lot of people are. I cook from scratch and garden when I can. It is just overwhelming to think about sometimes that the way we do things might really end up being a way of life for a lot of other people too. I have taken a deep breath. I will be okay. Thanks for the support!

[Callieslamb]

It looked to me that you already have a good start!

Ditto what everyone else said. Twice.

[wogglebug]

Prep for the most likely things first. Imagine your husband (or you) got injured, and you couldn't get out of the house for a week or two. What would you need to have stored to manage within a hobble-and-limp range of say twenty paces at a time, without getting out to a shop? Now let's say it's hubby, and he's gimped-up, and the vehicle gets gimped-up for a couple of weeks as well. What should you have saved until some pay comes in? Put that back. Then start extending things different ways, a week at a time.

A lot of it doesn't need shopping or storage, but gardening. Buk choy, pak choy, Daikon radishes (eat all -leaves as well as roots), kale, chillies, tom-thumb tomatoes, mesclun-mix of pick-a-leaf lettuces. You can feed a family greens on a garden the size of a double-bed. During winter (or emergencies) you can grow sprouts.

[Freeholder]

A lot of good advice. I prioritize like this: the essentials for life are

air (can live 3 minutes without it)

shelter (depending on weather, 3 hours without shelter of any kind could do you in)

water (3 days)

and food (3 weeks).

So, do you need to do anything about air? In your location, probably not. In a big city I'd have face masks of some kind, preferably (if I could afford them) Israeli chemical/bio masks. Hospital masks, otherwise.

Shelter -- you already have a house (you said it's nearly paid off -- if there is ANY way you can finish paying it off -- a loan from your family, perhaps? -- this is probably the most important prep of all.). Then it would be a really good idea to make sure you have camping gear -- a tent and good sleeping bags.

Water -- put a hand pump on at least one of your wells. Hand pumps for shallow wells such as you have can be purchased pretty inexpensively, and having water is crucial. You can't live long without water.

Food -- it sounds like you are well on your way in this area. Keep going. Watch yard sales for canning jars and a good canner. Build a food dryer (solar).

You should probably also get a wood stove in, as I imagine you can get some cold weather in the winters there, even if you are in Texas. But with plenty of warm clothes and bedding, you COULD survive without heat if you had to. Get the mortgage paid off and then the hand pump on the well before you do the wood stove. But put the stove ahead of the canning supplies.

Kathleen