Helping your buddy who just got it

Tom Bombadil · #1 10/22/08, 09:17 PM

So the wife and I, we get it. We are subtle about prepping, but we prep. Our family preps. For us, we have seen good times and bad times and our family just prepares for the bad when its good. We are also realistic that if you have food and supplies and other people don't then those other people might come to take your stuff and you can't let that happen.

So a friend of mine admitted tonight that he thinks we are heading into a depression within the next few months and he wants to sudden start prepping now while he has a chance. He can't move from suburbia so trying to take him our route of having workable land to support yourself with your family out in the country isn't going to work for him.

His immediate concern appears to be weapons. He has NONE. I told him to get a 12 gauge shotgun first, .45 handgun with a hip holster second, and a decent deer rifle third. I also told him to get lots of ammo and reloading equipment and to get his butt to the range to practice.

He is looking into pre-packaged stuff for food and is looking at this stuff - four for each person so he has a year supply of food. I told him his still has to deal with water and sent him links to do research on storing and filtering water.

Any other advice for a guy who feels like he has 2 months or less to get ready and is literally starting from scratch? I would invite him to my bug out place but its already going to be crowded and quite frankly he doesn't know squat about raising animals or farming, so he's not much good to me.

sgl42 · #2 10/22/08, 10:02 PM

personally, i'm not too keen on pre-packaged food like that. that works out to $2k/person/year. i prefer beans, rice, lentils, etc. Far cheaper. Easier to match what I actually eat.

how long can he keep making the mortgage payment? How stable is his job? what's the crime rate in his neighborhood now? i believe these are far bigger problems for most people than guns and food. Cut all discretionary spending, and start saving.

i'd get a berkey water filter, and some camping gear (stove, tent, sleeping bag) for power outages and/or BOB.

--sgl

Tom Bombadil · #3 10/22/08, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgl42

personally, i'm not too keen on pre-packaged food like that. that works out to $2k/person/year. i prefer beans, rice, lentils, etc. Far cheaper. Easier to match what I actually eat.

how long can he keep making the mortgage payment? How stable is his job? what's the crime rate in his neighborhood now? i believe these are far bigger problems for most people than guns and food. Cut all discretionary spending, and start saving.

i'd get a berkey water filter, and some camping gear (stove, tent, sleeping bag) for power outages and/or BOB.

--sgl

The guy makes about 25% more than I make AND his wife works, so I would imagine his financial house is in better order than most, but I don't know for a fact. When the guy said he was thinking of spending $8,000 on pre-packaged food and another $2,000 on weapons and ammo without blinking, that told me something.

Spinner · #4 10/22/08, 10:13 PM

I don't think I'd want to try to survive on that stuff, but I guess it's better than nothing. I'd recommend that they stock up on foods they are used to eating. A sudden change in diet would not be pleasant.

You might suggest that they double their shopping for the next few weeks to help them get stocked up. They can order canned eggs, butter, powdered milk, etc. to use in place of the fresh perishable stuff.

Do they have alternative lighting, heating, cooking, water filter system?

The only thing I would add is that he might want to dig a shelter under his home. That would give him a safe storage space for his preps, and possibly for his family. It sounds like he has the money to spend, now he just needs to be sure he spends it wisely instead of panicking and blowing it on stuff he won't use.

diane · #5 10/22/08, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

The guy makes about 25% more than I make AND his wife works, so I would imagine his financial house is in better order than most, but I don't know for a fact. When the guy said he was thinking of spending $8,000 on pre-packaged food and another $2,000 on weapons and ammo without blinking, that told me something.

Well, here's hoping he isn't carrying a huge debt package. You can prep for several years and still be SOL in the barnyard if you are carrying a lot of debt. You might suggest a few books. I saw a really neat special on one of the newslines about this family in a suburban California home that had the cutest little homestead. Wonderful raised bed gardens, rabbits in the shed and fairly energy independent. If the guy has bucks encourage alternative energy source and solar powered source of communications.

radiofish · #6 10/23/08, 02:07 AM

Man, what I could do with 10 thousand dollars for prepping purposes!!! I wouldn't throw money towards high priced packaged prepping at that rate.. Do it yourself, and save at least 40% on the cost alone...

Has he thought about what it takes to shelter in place??? Tell him to buy cases of what his family usually eats. Canned goods, beans, pasta, easy to use foods. Don't forget multi-vitamins due to lack of some foods after a time has passed. Spices, sauces, etc to spice foods.. Hey some of those long term survivalist type foods are rether unappetizing taste wise.. I do like some of the military MRE meals, but some of the others - I would have to be pretty hungry before I would eat them. A few hand operated can openers might be a good idea. I would not want him to try and use a military issue P-38/ John Wayne opener to try and open a can...

Firearms: With not owning any firearms at all now, is he the shakiest gun in the West?? Does he have any firearms training at all? Maybe have him get a single shot shotgun and 100 rounds of ammunition to start, so he isn't armed with just a steak knife.. Turning someone loose with firearms and them not knowing what end the bullets come out of, is a very bad idea! But 2 thousand dollars will buy a lot of firearms and ammunition, if they shop around...

Oil lamps, candles, glow sticks, or other alternative lighting methods?? Are they gonna sit there in the dark? How is he gonna make fire??? Or keep the house warm?? Maybe a generator, with extra fuel and oil? Battery operated radio with extra batteries. A few pocket knives, or swiss army knives for each member of the household.

Backpacks and sleeping bags/ tents for everyone in the househould. Stove, fuel, and cook wear, if they don't have any camping gear already..

First aid kit, and not the simple band-aid, aspirin, and ointment type either. Have him get a very comprehensive kit, and take a Red Cross 1st Aid class..

Does he have an idea of where he is gonna store everything he purchases at?? In tupperware totes? 5 gallon buckets? 40mm metal mil-surplus ammo cans??? Cardboard boxes??

stranger · #7 10/23/08, 05:43 AM

Not to anyone in particular but this in another one of those threads where many people are living in some dream world thinking that a depression is like the movie Grapes of Wrath and everyone will set around a dutch oven in sunny Calif eating stew and waiting for a job. That may have been ok when there were just 40 million people here and it was a big world, now there are 305 million and the world is small.
Having a pick up load of different guns is just a waist of money(buy food) and trying to carry enough ammo to use them will tire out anyone, how and where are you going to carry any food and water? have any of you gun people thought of that, Get one gun like maybe a 12 ga single shot with some #4s and slugs, stop watching the news from Iraq and Afgan where 4 people are setting in the back of a PU holding AK47s, A real depression in this country won't be like that, they have no laws, All kinds of terrorist groups are suppling them with food, ammo ect., Americans will be on their own. we will still have laws and they will be inforced somehow,just like they were in the depression. you can believe it or not.
we couldn't even get gas in good times, how are we going to get it in a SHTF situation to use a vehicle for your arsonal.Everyone here that leaves their home will be jammed up on the freeway just like N.O. so the vultures can just take what they want and the looters will clean out their homes. Buy food and and store plenty of water.
About 50 yrs ago when i first went in the Army, they sent me to texas, the second night a torrinado came thru and tore up things, us that never seen a torrinado ran outside with the idea off getting under the tanks for protection, that didn't work most of us were tossed up on roofs and smacked with garbage cans. the next morning the the first sargent was yelling, "when the hell is the matter of you &%^$#*& idiots, we have a little Texas shower and you run around like a bunch of *&%%$%% monkeys. the next time, i'll court-martial anyone that leaves the barracks." Stay Put.

sonofdet · #8 10/23/08, 06:14 AM

My first recommendation is a wood stove for heat and emergency cooking if they have access to wood. Access can be trees to pallets to scraps from furniture makers, etc.

soulsurvivor · #9 10/23/08, 06:55 AM

He has a family and all need to sit down together and come up with a "family plan" for facing disaster.
http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/basic_preparedness.shtm

as for getting together a quick food supply:
http://www.preparedness.com/mounhouscomf.html

Callieslamb · #10 10/23/08, 07:05 AM

If he actually has that amount of funds available, wouldn't he be better off to buy some land somewhere and a small shed if nothing else on it?

mamakatinmd · #11 10/23/08, 07:37 AM

He also needs to buy non-hybrid vegetable seeds. Then he can spend the winter reading gardening books.The family can make a plan on how to prepare the yard in the spring for planting. A good amount of food can be grown on a small lot if well planned.

OrganicCat · #12 10/23/08, 08:29 AM

How about get to know his neighbors better? If he's in suburbia, tell him to start a community prep center. You can't possibly hold back the numbers of people in your area no matter how much guns and ammo you have if you live in most suburb areas. Telling him to buy 3 guns is a giant waste of money when he'll be lucky to get off one clip. He has FAR better chances of survival if he knows his neighbors well, they know him, and they collaborate together. One gun should suffice, an easy one he can handle and knows how to use. The rest of his prepping should deal with talking to his neighbors, buying cheap food, water barrels and IODINE TABLETS. Filters are extremely expensive, require labor to use (good luck purifying bathing water) and need to be changed out regularly. They can also break. Iodine is VERY cheap, works fine in large or small quantities and doesn't break down.

Rural prepping is NOT the same as suburb prepping which is NOT the same as inner city prepping. You seem to be advising him on a rural aspect and he really needs the suburb outlook.

two_barking_dogs · #13 10/23/08, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

So a friend of mine admitted tonight that he thinks we are heading into a depression within the next few months and he wants to sudden start prepping now while he has a chance.

His immediate concern appears to be weapons. He has NONE. I told him to get a 12 gauge shotgun first, .45 handgun with a hip holster second, and a decent deer rifle third. I also told him to get lots of ammo and reloading equipment and to get his butt to the range to practice.

You might have taken it too far with the suggestion of reloading equipment. It appears the friend is worried about a depression and not TSHTF. A couple of thousand rounds of ammo would be more then enough to last through any depression even with the occasional gunfight thrown in.

Shotgun, handgun, deer rifle all make sense for a non prepper. All of which are acceptable and won't scare the sheep.

A couple cases of Mountain House while basically not useable under normal times do provide a sense of security.

For a depression I'd suggest having the friend start overbuying items which are normally bought. If you normally spend $50 at the grocery store spend $100. Buy a freezer. Buy extra clothes and boots. Since he lives in the burbs I'll assume he has some type of yard. Suggest he start a garden. So he'll need hand tools to work this garden. When a depression comes you won't be able to buy fresh veggies ,only canned/frozen ,so a garden will help that out. Add rain barrels to the downspots. Get a good water filter which will allow you to filter and drink the roof runoff collected in the rainbarrels. Get extra soap, TP, all the other things which might be in short supply but make life a little easier.

Keep the suggestions focused on a depression where the problem is the poor economy and the conditions that it brings. If you start going too hardcore and start talking TEOTWAWKI the friend will become overloaded and most likely do nothing other then to think of coming to your place if the need arises. And coming to your place is the last thing that you want.

michiganfarmer · #14 10/23/08, 09:35 AM

tell him to tear his lawn up, and plant a garden

**Terri** · #15 10/23/08, 11:07 AM

I think that the kits of food are very expensive.

For my family, I would instead invest in what we like to eat. Rice. Packages of instant oatmeal with cinnamon-apple flavoring. Ramen noodles. Cans of tuna. cans of fruit cocktail. Dried apricots and raisins. Canned ham. Canned green beans. Mac 'n cheese.

Etc.

And, I would pick up the items as they game on sale.

After all, even during the Great Depression, I have heard, unemployement was only 25%. If he does NOT lose his job, he will be stuck with a lot of food that nobody wants to eat, AND he will have paid $8000 for it.

OUCH!

Cyngbaeld · #16 10/23/08, 11:09 AM

You might suggest he take a few minutes to figure out how many calories he will be getting in the package. Ask him if he and his family can live on appx 600 cal per day per person.

All the survival food places have been backlogged so he also needs to make sure the food will actually ship when he orders it.

I would suggest he take himself to Sam's or Costco or someplace and get a few 50# bags of rice and beans and some fats in addition to his cases of Mt House.

Most folks will get positively sick of the freeze dried meals REAL fast, even if there were enough calories in them.

unregistered29228 · #17 10/23/08, 11:49 AM

I wouldn't buy a packaged case of anything that someone else selected and packed. Chances are someone (or everyone) won't like one or more of the selections.

I focus on stocking only the things my family likes to eat every day. We do have a few Mountain House entrees in the pantry, but it's not something I'd fix daily except in a pinch. If he's not into wheat berries and rice and beans from scratch, at least have him get boxed meals like hamburger helper and canned meat, tuna, Zatarain's beans and rice, mac and cheese. Everyone can manage oatmeal, self rising flour, and canned fruits and veggies. A good dehydrator and vac sealer, plans for a garden (even a container garden on a small patio), water barrels and a way to filter water, medications his family might need. It seems overwhelming when you first start, but at least he's got the OP to help.

AR Transplant · #18 10/23/08, 12:45 PM

the only thing I would (did) purchase from emergency essentials was butter, (need the fat) freeze dried broccoli ( very nutritious and family eats it and freeze dried fruits ( to help with food fatigue).

Other than that we mostly bought cases of canned goods from aldies and beans and rice from asian grocery stores. It is not a perfect system but this is what we think was best for us.

hope he finds a different plan than the preplanned stuff that would probably go to waste.
And I strongly agree, get some kind of water filter and at the very least get a rain barrel ( maybe he has a swimming pool?)

ar

mj1angier · #19 10/23/08, 12:47 PM

When it comes to food I think a mixed stock is best-
1.can stuff they normaly eat -40%
2.beans, rice, dry milk, dirnk mixes -30%
3. Mt. House type food- 20%
4. MRE-10%

Good stock of seeds and tools to use them
Canning supplies
Guns you listed sounds good to me
Hold off on reloads for now- just buy more ammo
"camping" gear- sleeping bags, stove, heater...
Books to help him learn what he does not know and does not have time to learn

Calico Katie · #20 10/23/08, 02:26 PM

Tell him to buy the book and the video, Square Foot Gardening. If he hasn't gardened before, this will help him get going.