Prudent Prepping: Seasonal Gear Check

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.

It has been raining and snowing at record levels in California, with parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains having a snow pack near 200% of normal! This has made Winter gear planning pretty easy: sweaters, rain gear, extra wool socks and the like.

Spring planning? Not so easy.

Spring Has Sprung
Things become a bit weird when we enter spring. Over the last three weeks it has been: sunny and 75°; raining and 50°; and clear and 35°! I've pretty much thrown my hands up and put a couple long sleeve t-shirts in a plastic bag in a corner of my trunk alongside the rain gear. 

Rain-X Latitude 

One thing on my car that has been getting a workout are the wiper blades. One of them cracked and the edge separated, and now it leaves a smear on the glass as it wipe. Do I really need to mention that it was the driver's side blade? 

I like the Rain-X brand; their Latitude blades seem to last as long as any other I've tried and are priced comparable to the other, 'better' quality national brands. I needed a set right away, so there was no time to order from Amazon and use the very handy Blue Collar Prepping link. While I was as the store, I also bought Rain-X Bug Remover washer fluid. (I don't need to buy the cold weather version, since I only have about 10-15 days below freezing or the frost point where I live.)

I can testify that the Rain-X fluid will treat your windshield so well that you can keep your wipers on the longest delay setting at night and have excellent vision in all but "fire hose" downpours.

Gear and Pantry Check
As I mentioned above, the gear in my Get Home Bag is as set as it's going to be until the rain actually stops. Which should be soon. (I hope.)

A notice popped up on my phone calendar to go over the Pantry checklist. It's a bit early for me to go all the way through my stores and my day-to-day pantry, but there were a couple things that were getting close to their sell-by* dates; the biggest was the instant oatmeal I have in my home stores. I like the Quaker Oats Variety pack that the warehouse clubs carry. I am a little disappointed that the packets are now loose in the big box, when previously they were more evenly divided by flavor and in smaller boxes which made putting them my prepping stores more convenient. However, all this is a minor irritant because I just place the individual packs into heavy duty zip lock bags instead of doing the same to the discontinued small boxes.

The only other item on my shelf that was even close to needing to go was 12 cans of chicken breast, also from Sam's Club. I like keeping chicken in my gear, since it is a nice change of pace from tuna, and at 13 oz. the can is easily shared with another person or mixed into pasta as an easy protein boost to the carbs.

The oatmeal is going onto my pantry shelf, since I take oatmeal with me every day. It's a nice and easy way to have something hot for my first break at 7 am. The chicken is going to the local food bank since I have cans on the kitchen shelf right now.

* I (and most of you) know that the sell-by date does not mean the food is spoiled or no longer safe to eat.

The Takeaway

• Plan for your weather, no matter how silly your choices seem to others.
• If you can't see the road, you are a hazard to everyone, not just yourself.
• Rotate your food to keep things fresh and help out those around you.

The Recap 

• One 19" Rain-X 5079276-2 Latitude Wiper Blade  and 26" Rain-X 5079281-1 Latitude Wiper Blade: 
• $19.99 and $25.99 from O'Reilly's; 
• $15.92  and $14.39 from Amazon.
• Six 13oz. cans of Chicken Breast: $10.38 from Sam's Club,

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If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.