Hurricane Helene After Action Review

When Hurricane Helene hit the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) on the Georgia/South Carolina border, it retained Hurricane Category 1 wind speeds. The destruction was widespread, and many disaster preparedness plans were put into effect. This is what we learned.

Water

• You really can’t have enough water on hand for a situation like this. Being able to restock on potable water, or boil to make safe municipal water, is essential. If you run out of water all your other preps start to matter less and less. 
• We also keep a lot of “hydration salts” products on hand, as we do a lot of outdoor activities with our children's Trail Life troop, so we were well prepped to stay hydrated. 
• I would say a minimum is a 36 pack of 0.5 liter bottles per person per four days of use, at least in our heat conditions, but do your own math for your own situation.

Gas

• You’ll need a lot, and in two types: unleaded gas for vehicles and generators, and 2-cycle gas for chainsaws and pole trimmers. There's a lot of wood cutting that has to be done immediately after a storm passes in order to open roads. 
• When we needed to refill gas cans, we emptied the ones on hand into my pickup and headed east to Columbia, SC. It took 60 miles to get to a gas station without a waiting line, two miles off the I-20. 
• The 2-cycle gas needs to be ethanol free, or it can eat the plastic/rubber fuel lines in all the “made in China” 2-cycle engines that power tools these days. I just pay the premium to pick up a 1 or 3 liter bottle from Home Depot or Lowes when shopping. 
• Have funnels, because modern gas cans suck (never forgive the EPA for what they did to the gas can) and you may need a funnel to properly fuel a machine without spilling too much.

Tools

• The most commonly needed tool was a chainsaw, the second a pole saw. Get the kind that uses gasoline, as there is more work to be done than electrics will be able to handle.
• Have extra blades, bars, and bar oil to keep them running. 
• One friend of mine used a lot of bow saw and teenage boy labor to clear branches, but the chainsaw is going to be faster. 
• Pro tip: you need to know more than just the chain length, as different brands will have slightly different link sizes, so know what you need in case you have to have someone else do your shopping.

Cooking

• We cooked on a single burner propane stove, a cinder block “rocket stove”, and a campfire. Of the three, the rocket stove and propane burner got used the most. The propane burner was fastest to boiling water for coffee or soup, and the rocket stove was best for big family meals (but it does take a little longer to get going). 
• We tried to use a Coleman white gas stove, but the pump system froze up and needs to be replaced, which is probably a project for this winter. 
• If I had to recommend any one system, it would be the single propane camp burner and a two pack of 1 lb propane bottles. It's light, cheap, and doesn’t go bad like a white gas stove can. 
  
  

  

  Ozark Trail Single Burner Backpacking Propane Stove 
  

  
  
• If you have room on your shelter location to set up a cinder block rocket stove, absolutely do that as well. To speed up the rocket stove starting time, I used my plumber's torch to get the central chamber area hot enough really fast, which is cheating but uses way less propane than just cooking with propane.

Medicine

• All four of us in my family got the flu. Thankfully, this was early October not mid-August, and temperatures didn’t hit into the 90s except for a few brief bits on some afternoons. But having influenza in the south with no air conditioning is a miserable experience. 
• We didn't need to hit up a pharmacy as we had NSAIDs to bring down fevers, and expectorants to help clear lungs. A prepper’s medicine cabinet ought to be able to keep a family of four through a 7 day disruption of electricity and potable water.
• Those hydration salts really helped me get through the worst of the “man flu” that laid me out for most of a week.

Luxuries

• Generators and portable air conditioning units aren't a necessity to survive, but they do make “sheltering in place” more comfortable. 
• We didn’t use either, but we plan to get a Jackery and solar charging system for camping gear anyways, and that would have made this little “free Amish lifestyle experience” a little less spartan, and it would have allowed us to run our chest freezer enough to keep frozen proteins frozen.
• As it was, we lost maybe a few hundred dollars in groceries that could have been prevented with a small solar generator system.

Tribe

• We know our neighbors, they know us. When we would make the 120 mile round trip supply run to anywhere open, we made sure we had their needs and wants list. 
• When we were eating out our thawed chest freezer we came across a turkey breast, really too big for us as a family of 4, so we let our neighbor deep fry it and they made mashed potatoes and mac & cheese; we added green beans to make a little Thanksgiving meal a tad early.
• Build your tribe before there is a problem, because the worst place to meet for the first time is disaster response. 

Cell Phones

• The cellular network stayed up, but bandwidth was very clogged, dropping me from 5g down to LTE on multiple occasions as cable internet (the majority of home broadband in our area) was cut just as much as the electricity. 
• Group texts became the normal way for people to organize support for people in need, and it worked out pretty well. 
• Internet came back up in our neighborhood two days after electricity.

Final Thoughts

• We were incredibly blessed to be in the 50% of customers in our area who got electricity back after seven days. Other than not having a portable power solution to extend the useful food storage period of our chest freezer, we were pretty happy with the skills and resources we’ve built up as a family. We didn’t even have to open up any of our freeze-dried food stores, as our home survived the winds. 
• For those who lost their home to the storm, they may have had a different experience, and my wife and I discussed creating “prep boxes” that could be sealed long term and placed in a shed just in case we needed to direct a neighbor to resources if we weren't there to help with disaster response. 
• Resources can be shared, or can be destroyed in the disaster, but skills are something you keep with you. If you are new to prepping and have to choose between "stocking resources" and "building resilience skills" I'd recommend the skills building option.

Able, Differently Abled, Disabled

Many of the posts on Blue Collar Prepping over the years have addressed things such as Bug Out Bags (BOB), Get Home Bags (GHB), and the like. Several of us have also addressed physical limitations and pain management. However, one thing that hasn't gotten a lot of attention lately is actual disabilities and self-perception.

This was driven home to me recently when my doctor advised me to file for disability. I'm only in my mid-50s, and while I have health issues, I don't think of myself as disabled. One of the consequences of this image of myself is thinking I can manage more than I really can, frequently to the dismay of My Wife. One of the benefits of my doctor's recommendation is that I've started to take a harder, colder, and (I hope) more honest look at myself and my abilities: I'm not young, I'm not in very good physical condition, and my health limitations need to be taken into consideration when planning for disasters or emergencies.

I approached this self-assessment as if I was considering another person for a variety of jobs, mostly physical at different levels of exertion.

• Can they regularly lift twenty or more pounds multiple times a day? Yes, I can still do that.
• What about fifty? Probably not, or at least not as frequently.
• Are they able to carry a fifty pound pack for several hours? No, I'm no longer able to do that due to medical issues.
• What about a twenty pound pack? Possibly, though I'd likely be in considerable pain at the end of that time.
• Can they walk five miles? Maybe, but depending on the pace there would be a certain amount of health risk.
• Can they cover broken ground at a reasonable pace? No, I can't do that.
• Could they carry another person a short distance? As long as the person wasn't too big and the distance wasn't too far, probably. But there's a good chance I'd require medical assistance after.
• And so on.

Based on this assessment, at this time bugging out is pretty much off the table for me, especially on foot. I can no longer carry a significant quantity of gear, and I can't carry it very far. While physical conditioning may improve this to some degree, that's countered by my deteriorating health. I'm not planning on dying any time soon, but part of aging is accepting that I need to live within my limitations.

Moving forward, more of my preps will focus on bugging in and making sure our home can be maintained in adverse conditions. This is never a bad plan, but it's even more important now. 

I also plan on seeing what physical therapy can do with regards to some of my medical limitations. Of course, that will also be limited by my finances. 

I strongly recommend that all of our readers take a dispassionate assessment of their own health and abilities, then work at tailoring their disaster plans and supplies to that reality. No matter how mentally uncomfortable it is, it needs to be done to ensure optimum survivability.

Stay safe and good prepping.

The Lessons of Israel

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

If you're like me, you've spent the last few days aghast at what happened over the weekend, and is still happening now, in Israel. 

It is not my intent to talk about international politics, or the history between the Israeli people and the Palestinians. However, I hope we can all agree that kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder is obscene behavior regardless of who does it, and that civilians must never be targeted like that. If you disagree, then be advised you are endorsing several Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions -- in other words, the literal definition of War Crimes -- and as such your comments will be deleted and you will be forever banned from commenting on this blog. With that said, let's take a look at what is happening in Israel through a prepper's lens. 

Firearm Ownership

The private ownership of firearms is so highly regulated in Israel that it makes California or New York look unrestrained in comparison. For a comprehensive listing of those laws go here, but here are the highlights:

• A license is required to own any firearm. 
• To possess a license you must have lived in Israel for three years, pass a series of tests including physical health, mental health, and a criminal background check, and an in-person interview.
• You must have a "genuine reason" to own a firearm, such as needing it for a job or wanting it for self-defense. 
• If for self-defense, you are permitted to own one pistol and only 50 rounds of ammunition for it. It's my understanding that you can buy more to replace what is expended at the shooting range, but you can only possess 50 rounds at one time. 
• You need to renew this license every three years. If your license is not renewed you must surrender your firearm(s) to the police. 
• Only around 60% of all license permits are granted, which is odd in a nation that has mandatory military conscription for all citizens, male and female alike. 
• As a result of these attacks, the Israeli Minister of National Security has announced that he will loosen these restrictions... by doubling the amount of ammunition allowed, reducing the requirement of an in-person interview to a telephone interview, expediting the license process, and so forth. More information can be found on Stephen Gutowski's article on The Reload. 

With all this said, you can see why the civilian losses (over 800 at this point) were so horrific: once Hamas made it past the border, they had soft targets with few weapons. In fact, as my friend Jay Peterson says:

If the attack on the Tribe of Nova Music Festival alone was a mass shooting in the US, it would already be more deadly than the Las Vegas, Pulse nightclub, VA tech, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde, Ft. Hood, Columbine, Aurora, and Buffalo shootings.

Combined.

They're still finding bodies.

And that's just the festival. It doesn't include the rest of the attacks on Israel that began Saturday morning.

As of this moment, that death toll is at least 260. 

The lesson to be learned from all of this is just a reiteration of what I and other bloggers have been saying since we started this almost a decade ago: if you can at all do so, buy firearms for home and  self defense, learn how to use use them, get a concealed carry license when possible and carry whenever and wherever you can. You never know when someone will decide to kill you, so make it as difficult for them as possible. 

First Aid Kits

In a similar vein, carry a trauma kit with you so that you can treat the wounds of others, or even yourself. Take classes like Stop the Bleed and Red Cross First Aid so you know how to use these materials. This is another topic on which we've talked extensively; use the First Aid and First Aid Kits tags on this blog to learn more. 

Emergency Supplies

Finally, the Israeli Defense Force spokesman has told people to get 72 hours of supplies, pack them in a bag, and have an evacuation plan; essentially, "Build a Bug Out Bag and have a Bug Out Plan." When people started panicking at this, the government explained that they were just emphasizing something that's been a recommendation for years. As of this moment that link will result in an "Access Denied" unless you have a VPN that is set to show your location as Israel, likely to ease the traffic load and possibly make cyber attacks more difficult. 

Having read the site, it's pretty similar to our government's website on preparedness, www.ready.gov. I tend to forget that September is National Preparedness Month, because for me and the other bloggers here, every month is Preparedness Month. It's still a great resource for getting started, involving the kids, and perhaps even convincing recalcitrant adults to get involved ("The government says we should do this.")

And, much like over here, I know of at least one Israeli whose mother considers the idea of having an emergency stockpile of food and water "as if it was some kind of silly survivalist notion. You would think the distant rumble of artillery and the howl of fighter jets coursing overhead and the actual government recommendations to please get the food and water would be some kind of hint."

So please, Please, PLEASE learn these lessons of Israel:

• Be prepared to defend yourself and your family from harm. 
• Be prepared to render medical aid to yourself or others. 
• Be prepared with 72 hours of essential supplies. 
• Be prepared to evacuate. 

I would much rather have these preps and never need them than to need them and not have them. I hope you feel the same way, too. 

Care Home Planning

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

I needed to ask some questions at the Care Home where my Mom is staying:

• What sort of Disaster Plans are in place?
• How will you evacuate if there is a fire?
• What about really sheltering in place, with no going out at all? 
• How much food and water is kept on hand? 

I was surprised and reasonably satisfied with the answers.

Ready To Go

State-licensed homes are required to have a plan in place before opening. Listed in a file kept on the premises, and available for viewing, were detailed answers to my questions. 

These homes have very detailed plans that must be updated if the needs of the residents, or their number, changes. For example, if there are wheelchair-using people, how will rescue personnel know where they are? On-site staff will likely have to get people out, as the generic "Go out your window and meet at the mailbox" doesn't apply here.

From what I found out, getting folks out of the building, while potentially a challenging, seems to be covered. If the building is too damaged to return to, arrangements have been made with a close-by motel. Transportation for those that can't walk will be handled by a private ambulance service.

I'm truly blessed my Mom is in this particular facility, as the woman in charge -- the State of California licensed Administrator -- is known to you all as the Purple Pack Lady. This fact made the transition out of the house my parents built and where I was raised somewhat easier for her.  

 

Food

This also a State of California requirement. Depending on the specific needs of the clients, there has to be a certain amount on hand of basic food (milk, bread, cereals) and whatever is required for specific diets, though I'm not sure if there is a requirement for X number of days. I have seen enough of the basics (rice, beans and other dried items) to last quite a few days, and if there is an extended power outage, a gas grill is available for cooking.

Water

This, however, is something that concerns me: I would like to see quite a bit more water stored, possibly twice as much as is on hand now.

Every time I've visited, there are multiple cases of half-liter bottles on hand, so that isn't where I see a problem. The extra water that is on hand is in 5 gallon bottles, and right now there is one per person. That isn't out of line for normal requirements, but for older people a bit more water could be needed to keep everyone cool, especially when inland California weather is considered. It regularly reaches 100 degrees here, but not for as long as in other places around the state. It is not my place to tell the owner how to run their business, but I have mentioned my thoughts to PPL. If something changes, great; if not, I may set aside some extra water in the Administrator's Office, just to be safe. Assuming she agrees, of course. 

Medications

This isn't state-mandated, but my Mom (and I think others) has a 1-2 month supply of prescriptions on hand in a locked cabinet. This makes keeping track of what's needed, and when to reorder, a low stress chore. 

What is mandated, however, is a clear listing of what medications are to be given at what times and to whom. All pills are in their original pharmacy bottles with Doctor, contents, and refills clearly visible. They are also set to be easily scooped up quickly, if needed. 

Recap And Takeaway

• I'm happy to see clear rules that make sense for this business. This only touches on what is required to operate a care home in California, as the Administrator is the only person to have a license. I could own a care home, but there has to be a state certified operator in place before opening the doors. As such, Purple Pack Lady has all the day-to-day 24 hour headaches, staffing responsibilities and stress, without the big payout at the end of the month. She loves it, though.
• Nothing was purchased this week and I don't plan on buying anything right now. 

* * *

Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

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.

Why I Bug In

My city, like so many other cities across the USA, experienced rioting this past weekend. The overall scale and destruction were less brutal in mine than in larger cities, but it remains a terrifying event that occurred only five miles from my doorstep.

While discussing these events with Erin and the BCP staff, the question of bugging out has come up and how this may differ from a natural disaster. Considering the circumstances, in these events, I'm almost mandated to bug in.

My biggest consideration in how to handle unrest is familial. My mother-in-law lives alone, about 2 streets over from us, and my brother-in-law lives about a quarter mile further away. In a natural disaster, we could round up my mother-in-law and the dogs and head in a safe direction, and let my brother-in-law and his wife do similar. However, in a time of unrest when strength comes from numbers, there is no way my mother-in-law would leave her son to fend for himself, nor should she. I'm plenty happy to have them along in any case; he has skills and tools and they're both smart and capable, so in a time of emergency he's one of the best people I could have around.

In an evacuation, though, they also bring a headache. They've got three dogs, which added to mine brings us to 5 humans and 6 dogs, and this is a huge issue for transport and lodging. My brother-in-law's wife is also going to be reluctant to leave without her father, stepmother, and sister, who also has a dog. That raises the count to 8 humans and 7 dogs, three of which are large and very energetic. Moving that many beings necessitates an entire convoy, which is something I'd rather not attempt during an uprising.

The other issue with bugging out is where we would end up. My brother's house is too small to house that many people, and my parents are renting their home to some family friends. They could probably accommodate myself and my wife, but the rest of the mob would make it an unreasonable request. I could possibly call in favors from extended family on the other side of the mountains, but again, it's a massive request to bring the whole clan.

If the neighborhood is quite literally burning down around my ears, I'll have no option but to leave, call in any favors I have, and make do, but short of smelling the smoke I'm pretty much anchored. My people are here and hard to move, my supplies are here, and I'm able to hold things down at least as well as anywhere else.

Don't go looking for trouble. Actively avoid it if you can. But don't go running from it without a plan and serious thought to all your options.

Lokidude

Quarantine

I'm not going to get started on the Wuhan Flu, Corona virus, COVID-19, or whatever they're calling it this week. The amount of actual information available is too sparse and unreliable for me to make many recommendations, so I won't be writing much about how to deal with this particular nasty.
Today's post is about my thoughts on one aspect of the spread of this disease.

There are some basics that are almost universal to preppers, the main one being “Stay away from crowds”. This is good advice for a lot of reasons, but slowing the spread of disease is an important one. One method of avoiding crowds is quarantine. People on cruise ships, in hotels, and even entire cities are being locked down with nobody being allowed in or out. Some travelers are keeping themselves apart or away from the public as a form of voluntary quarantine, which sounds to this cynical old man like a good reason to take a vacation from work. Two weeks of no people isn't a punishment for some of us, and I've paid good money for less.

Whichever way it happens, quarantine outside of a hospital or government facility is going to be a form of forced bugging in. You're going to be unable to restock food supplies for around 14 days, although water and electricity should still be available. If you get stuck in such a situation, treat it as a test run for your food preps. Do you have two weeks worth of food on-hand right now? Are you ready to spend two weeks in close proximity to your family or roommates? I pity those who have young children that don't understand why they can't go outside or visit their friends, and I pray that their internet and cable don't go out.

I happen to live within an hour's drive of one of the few infectious disease isolation facilities in the US. They treated Ebola patients, mainly medical staff returning from Africa, a few years ago. The dealt with SARS before that, and have a good reputation of doing their job well. That level of quarantine is close to an extended stay in an intensive care unit, and the patients are only going to be vaguely aware of what's going on.

We also had a few dozen US citizens brought back from China placed in quarantine in a National Guard (NG) base nearby (they all went home after their stay). Government-funded quarantine would be like staying in a 2-star resort for vacation: not much to see or do, but your meals and shelter would be provided. The NG base was fairly close to an airport, had good access control, and the barracks weren't in use at this time of year, so it made a good low-threat quarantine site. If COVID-19 blows up to full pandemic-scale disease outbreak, I doubt the authorities will even try to move people to quarantine sites, because it's much cheaper and easier to simply lock them in their own homes, towns, or cities and control the traffic going in or out.

I've seen stories coming out of China of people in high-rise apartments relying on their upstairs neighbors lowering food down in baskets to stay fed. Do you know your upstairs neighbors? Do you have a good enough relationship with them that they would be willing to help you? What about the neighbors below you, are you willing to help them if you have the supplies to spare or aren't part of the quarantine? Do you have a basket/bucket and a piece of rope long enough to reach their window or balcony?

Most diseases have an incubation period where people have been infected but aren't showing any symptoms, allowing them to spread the disease as they travel. I've seen a range of possible incubation periods for this bug (that “sparse and unreliable” part I mentioned) that vary from 9 to 21 days, with 14 days seeming to be the default number. Your 72-hours kit isn't going to be quite enough, so you might want to set aside some extra supplies while they're available. I expect to see regional runs on canned foods and other supplies soon if things get much worse.

I'll be keeping an eye on the reports of how this outbreak unfolds and may write more about it in a few weeks. The levels of hysteria and misinformation at present may make some people a pile of money, but they do nothing to help people actually get through it. Panic and fear are often used as tools to steer people towards a desired purchase or action, so be aware that there are plenty of folks out there who will use any crisis to enrich themselves. We are not here to spread fear; we aren't selling anything, and we write this blog to pass on information and help you, our readers, prepare for bad times. 

Blizzards (not from Dairy Queen)

Up here in the northern plains we have a weather condition that most of the country doesn't have to deal with: blizzards. The definition of a blizzard is “a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds of at least 56 km/h (35 mph) and lasting for a prolonged period of time” and I've seen more than a few. 

• 1977 was a nasty one, with no school for a week and the Interstate highways were closed for three days; secondary roads didn't get cleared for a week and some of the country roads were buried for three weeks. 
• 1986 was a sudden blast that surprised a lot people. I was visiting my parents and couldn't make it to the highway for two days. Power lines went down in both of those storms, adding to the experience. 
• 2010 gave us a 12 hour storm that shut down all travel for a day and slowed everything for another three days. If you have a spare hour to watch a documentary, here's one about a blizzard that hit shortly before my time (1949).

We don't normally see the huge snowfalls that occur in the mountains, measuring our normal accumulations in inches rather than feet. We do however see at least one good blizzard up here every year, with the bad years giving us one or two a month from December to March. The natives are used to it and tend to be prepared, but the transplants from the warmer states need to experience one or two blizzards to get the hint.

Snow

We're not talking about the Christmas card type of snow! Blizzards tend to hit hard and fast. Wet air from the Gulf of Mexico meeting cold air from the North Pole is a recipe for snow, and fly-over country is where the two like to dance. Thunder and lightning during a snowstorm is usually a bad sign, since they're indications that there is a lot of energy built up in the storm clouds, so thundersnow is a warning that you need to check your supplies.

A typical blizzard for my area will have 12-20 inches of snow over a day or two, which is enough to cause “white-out” conditions, which is when you look out the window and don't see anything but snow. Falling and blowing snow can cut visibility to less than 10 feet, so travel is not an option.

Wind

The dangerous part of a blizzard is the wind. Once the snow stops falling, the wind pushes it around into drifts that reform as soon as they are cleared. The winds coming down out of Canada have few natural barriers, so anything that sticks up more than a couple of feet will create a drift.

For those of you who have never seen much snow, think of sand dunes and how they shift and form; snow drifts form from the same action of wind, but being made of smaller particles they form faster and have a higher angle of repose which allows them to build to higher, steeper, piles. Sustained winds will reform drifts over roads almost as fast as a plow can clear them, and I've seen this happen many times.

Preparation

How do we prepare for weather like this? The basics don't change: food, water, shelter, and heat are the priorities. There are plenty of articles in our archives that cover these areas, so use the search box in the upper left corner if you want to see them.

Blizzards are a good reason for "bugging in" because "bugging out" is no longer an option. I keep a stocked pantry and more warm clothes/blankets than I really need on hand to stay fed and warm. Water isn't much of an issue as long as it's snowing and my house has a steep roof to shed snow. I also have a good library to keep me entertained, and I can read by oil lamps if the power goes out.

The one abnormal thing that we have to deal with is other people. I live near an Interstate highway, and the DOT installed gates on it a few years ago. When the weather gets too bad, they close the highway and force all of the traffic into small towns. We have limited motel rooms available, so the local community center and high school get turned into emergency shelters for stranded travelers. Society has evolved past the point of people taking strangers into their homes, but if there is any shared relationship or good common friends, it can still happen.

Here's to hoping we have a quiet winter, but preparing for whatever comes our way.

A man, a Can, a Plan: Canned Corn as Survival Food

(Note: this article is an homage to a rather excellent book that I recommend as a gift for young adults leaving home for the first time. It even comes in board book format, so as to be durable enough to handle dorm life.)
Being a prepper, I am always trying to figure out my best options for emergency supplies. Having a background in accounting, I am inclined to literally make spreadsheets and compare the various options, sometimes exhaustively and late into the night. (We all need hobbies).

There are a lot of survival foods out there. Many of them are basically compressed pucks of shortbread that will keep you alive but not happy (through personal experience , I recommend drinking lots of water with it), although some survival foods can be fairly high-end freeze dried meals that are easy to prepare and taste about as good as a public school lunch: edible and surprisingly tasty at times, but not recommended as a primary diet.

With that in mind, I think I have found a good compromise between "tasty" and "cost effective" for survival food: canned corn.

No, really.

Pros

• Canned corn is inexpensive. Like, really cheap: my local grocery store had a sale on it for less than fifty cents a can last week. Even at full price for a name brand, bought from a family dollar store it's less than two dollars a can. 
• The corn itself can be eaten straight, which is nice in a canned good. Yes, you can eat canned soup without heating it, but it gets old real quick. 
• If you happen to have rice on hand (another cheap survival food) the added nutrition from the water in the can is actually not a terrible addition. Use the drained water to cook the rice and then put the corn on top. Voila, instant side dish, allowing you to ignore the burned out remains of the city you are in and pretend you still live in civilized times. 
• Soup or stew isn't that hard to make from scratch, and having canned corn on hand makes it that much easier. 
• The corn can be used as bait for other food. Carp are by no means my favorite fish to eat, but they sure do love corn used as bait, and are a darned site better than nothing if you need protein. Heck, squirrels tend to love canned foods, so with a simple snare you can turn a can of corn into several meals. 
• The can itself can be used to make simple tools, a stove being my personal favorite. Emergency cooking pots can be done, but try to make sure of what the can is lined with first; some of those liners are toxic. I have a tendency to save my cans and use them as small parts containers. And if you must, you can make a cutting edge out of the metal from the can; it's difficult, but possible. (I'm not counting the lid as you take it off.) 
• Heck, it even makes a decent thrown weapon in a pinch: metal, compact, and heavy enough to do some damage... 

Cons
...which leads to the biggest con: it's heavy. There is no question, it will cost you in weight. so you may not want to do this if your plan is to bug out with a backpack. That said, if you plan to bug in, or if you plan to bug out in a vehicle, a few cans of this are probably not a bad idea.


In short, canned corn is cheap, easy to get hold of, and has a variety of uses. Not recommended for backpackers.

Good luck, and don’t forget to practice.

Keeping It Bottled Up

I don't normally write about “bugging in” as much as “bugging out” due to the nature of where and how I live. In the mostly rural area that I call home, the low population density and ease of travel make bugging in less of a probability (there are fewer things that could prevent me from reaching safer areas) than if I lived or worked in a large city. I realize that the majority of people live in cities, so I've been giving some thought to how their circumstances differ from mine and where the similarities are. Let's start with water.

Water Sources

I grew up drinking water pulled from a deep well. A deep well is one that is drilled to a point below the first layer of impervious rock, which means that the water it produces has been trapped underground since before humanity started playing with chemistry. This helps ensure an uncontaminated source of water, as long as the top of the well (the “head”) and the piping is kept clean and secure. The water is clean, clear, and has a taste that varies with the local geology. Ours tends to contain a lot of iron and calcium (“hard” water), while a town well 15 miles away has more manganese than iron; slightly different taste, but still safe to drink. Water softeners are very common around here, because they make water heaters and washing machines last longer than a few years.

Some small towns, located away from rivers or large streams, pull their water from shallow wells that are susceptible to pollution from chemicals leaching through the soil. It doesn't matter if the chemicals are fertilizer, pesticides, fuel spills, or industrial residue; the water can have a distinct odor and taste that may affect how people use it.

Most cities and larger towns will source their water from rivers or other surface waters, which means they have to treat it before it is “potable” water. This treatment can require a lot of energy and manpower, and the distribution systems are complicated. The infrastructure is also deteriorating due to age and mismanagement, so we end up with places like Flint, MI having tap water that is no cleaner than a common mud puddle. Add in the fact that once potable water gets to a tall building, where it has to travel through hundreds of feet of pipe before it reaches a tap, most office and apartment buildings don't truly have “cold” water. This means that many buildings have a “modern” appliance that most of us wouldn't consider a prepper item.

The Water Cooler

Courtesy of Amazon.com

I work in a small shop with people from five different towns, so we are all used to slightly different water. We have a water cooler in the office to give us a neutral-tasting water that we can all drink, and since the tap water is hard it makes the coffee maker (a vital piece of equipment for us) turn out drinkable coffee. We have a company that drops off 5 gallon bottles of water, normally a half-dozen every other week, for a cost of about a dollar a gallon. Lifting a 40 pound jug of water may be a challenge for some, so the home-sized water coolers are designed to take 3 gallon (about 25 pounds) jugs as well.

https://tinyurl.com/y8lwjvx8

If the delivery company won't come out to your house, every grocery store and Wal-Mart in the area has a machine that filters water and refills jugs for less than half the price of delivered water if you have your own containers (which they sell).

The filtration methods vary a bit, with reverse osmosis and ozone treatment being common, but they are going to give you water that is safe to drink and will store for a few months. Think of it as bottled water, but in larger bottles and at a fraction of the cost.

Prepping Applications

How does this fit into prepping?

• It's ubiquitous. Nobody is going to pay much attention to a water cooler, let alone think you're some kind of nut for storing a few extra jugs of water.
• It's cheap. A dispenser that can give you cold, hot, and room-temperature water can be found *forless than $100. The hot and cold options will require electricity, but they are handy as long as you have it. No need to boil a pot of water for a cup of tea or instant soup if you have near-boiling water on tap.
• It doesn't require power. When the power goes out, you will still have a source of water. You may need to insulate it to keep it from freezing, but you'll have water.
• It's safe. The water coming from a commercial vendor is going to be cleaner than what come out of a tap. Check the labels or give them a call to find out what system of filtration they use, and if they don't want to tell you, that's a sign you should be looking for another supplier. A primer on the various technologies can be found here.
• It's easy. The standard of storing a gallon of water per person per day includes water for sanitation and food preparation, so a 5 gallon jug should be enough for one person for a week. The bottles store easily, and many places sell racks designed to hold them, or you can make your own. Since the jugs are clear plastic (the glass ones are long gone), checking your water supply takes just a glance.
• It's for bugging in. You're not going to be lugging a full 5 gallon jug of water around on your back as you traipse through the woods. Traveling requires a personal filter system; this is for sheltering in place. FEMA recommends having 3 days worth of food and water on hand, so a family of four could get by with 2 full jugs and a partial on the dispenser.

As I said at the beginning, I don't think about bugging in very often but I know there are those of you who may not have any other option. I'll see if I can come up with some more ideas in the near future.

Bugging In: Fuels and Storage

If you're going to heat your house in the winter, you'll need fuel. And if you have fuel, you'll need to store it.

Here are the different ways I store my different fuels.

Bugging In and Staying Warm

If you're bugging in up north, your first consideration is staying warm in the winter. In this video, I demonstrate my various options for efficient and low-cost home heating.

Bugging In: the Long Road Ahead

Last week I mentioned that people would be best served by finding a locale where bugging out is unnecessary except in extreme circumstances.

This week is just a quick outline if what's to come; for the remainder of the year, each episode will be an in-depth exploration of an aspect of bugging in.

GunBlog VarietyCast #162 - South Florida Knows How To Hurricane

That's "be prepared for a hurricane" and not "make a rum cocktail."

• Have you ever attended a Friends of the NRA Banquet? Are you curious about what it’s like? Beth shares her experience so you can decide if it’s something you’d like to do.
• A man is accused of robbing three Charlotte businesses, but Sean finds out that his conviction record isn't the worst part of the story.
• Barron is on assignment and will return soon.
• In any situation you’ll get groups of people who have different skills and levels of preparedness. How prepared was Coral Gables, Florida for the long term loss of electricity? They apparently had their lawyers on speed dial. Miguel tells you what he thinks.
• Our Main Topic is "Dry Fire Practice: Is It Boring?"
• Tiffany finishes her three-part segment on the NRA Carry Guard Expo by talking about the good things she encountered within the Expo itself, especially the programs made for “the laaadieeeez.”
• Back from her Evacu-cation, Erin has some tips and tricks for you to make your evacuation plans easier.
• Now that the Brady Campaign’s Dan Gross  has been fired, Weer’d bids a farewell to Dan in the best way he knows how.
• And our Plug of the Week is for the Pocket Pro II shot timer.

Thank you for downloading, listening, and subscribing. You are subscribed, right? We are available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, and Google Play Music!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here.

Thanks to LuckyGunner and Remington for their sponsorship, and a special thanks to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support.

Blue Collar Prepping Transcript -

 Evacuation Tips and Tricks

This was the second year in a row that I evacuated for a hurricane, and I’d like to think that I’m pretty good at it. So let me share with you some tips and tricks that I’ve learned. 

1) Know the order in which you want to load your stuff
For me, this is pretty simple:

1. First I load my bug-out bag. Even if I can’t load anything else, that and the Get-Home bag I already have in my car will enable me to be a pretty comfortable refugee for several days. 
2. The next thing I load are my guns and just enough ammo for them to fit inside their cases. Now, most people are wondering why I don’t load clothes next, and there’s are multiple reasons for that:
• Clothes are cheap and easily replaced, while guns are expensive and a pain in the butt to replace. Besides, I already have changes of clothes in my bug out and get home bags. 
• I don’t want my guns to fall into the wrong hands if looters get to my house before I can return. As a gun owner, I feel that I have an ethical duty to make sure my firearms aren’t used by criminals. 
• In a worst-case scenario, I can trade a gun for something necessary, like food or shelter or transportation, because guns have intrinsic value. Clothes, not so much. 
3. Then I add whatever gear isn’t in my bug-out bag but which would be useful for an extended absence (like camping supplies) or for sorting through wreckage, (like tools or protective clothing). 
4. Next up are whatever portable electronic devices I can fit into a backpack, like my tablet computer and podcasting gear, along with recharging cables and docking stations. If I have the time, I’ll remove the hard drive from my desktop and put them into a protective waterproof box, like a Pelican Case.
5. All of these have been items which are expensive and difficult to replace, going in order form “most useful” to “least useful”. If you’re making a list of your own, this is where you should put valuable luxuries like expensive jewelry, or irreplaceable sentimental items like heirlooms. 
6. Then, and ONLY then, do I pack extra clothing. This is where your “nice to haves” go - things which would be nice to have with you but can be be replaced easily. 
7. The last thing to go into my car are snacks and drinks. 

2) Have duplicates of your toiletries
I don’t know about the rest of you, but having a repeatable, reliable bathroom routine goes a long way towards making me feel normal and comfortable.

I recommend against packing up your toiletries as part of the evacuation process, because this will slow you down and you will probably forget things, like your favorite loofah sponge in the shower.

Instead, build an “overnight bag” complete with duplicates of all the things you use when showering, brushing your teeth, etc, and then grab that bag along with others in step one. That’s one less step to worry about and one more thing on your list that’s already packed.

What’s more, you can use this for things other than evacuations. If you’re going on vacation, or need to take a business trip, you can grab your overnight bag instead of having to pack, then un-pack, then re-pack your toiletries for another trip.

3) Have wonderful friends
Both times that I’ve evacuated, I have been blessed to have really great people volunteer their homes for me to stay in.

This hospitality is amazing, because not only does it save me the cost of a hotel room, but it also means I get to meet great people in real life and enjoy their company.

I’ve said this before, and I will say it again: if you’re a prepper, you can’t do it alone. You need people to help you out. Friends, extended family, other preppers in your group - all of these people constitute your Tribe, and you should cultivate those relationships. Go out of your way to help people, and they’ll be more willing to go out of their way to help you when you need it. 

Bug Out? Bug In!

The ultimate Forgetful Frugal Friday series starts here.

Guests when TSHTF

Whether it's due to hurricane, fire, flood, or economic disaster, it's worth planning for the problem of how to deal with house guests. When TSHTF, not everyone is going to be prepared or able to bug-in, and some will be caught flat-footed with no plan. If they are strangers knocking on your door, you should have a defensive plan in place. If they are family or tribe, they may end up staying with you for a while, and that can create a set of problems that needs to be prepared for.

Family is a mixed bag. Some families get along well and help each other out on a regular basis; other family dynamics more closely resemble the Cold War theory of MutuallyAssured Destruction. You need to look at your family members now, before TSHTF, and decide how much aid you're willing to give each of them them. Personally, I've seen:

• Families move in with parents after losing their house in a fire.
• Family members move in with a sick sibling to take care of the house/kids until the illness was eliminated.
• A father adopt his grandson when his daughter proved to be unable to care for him (medical bills and treatment).
• Another father adopt both of his grand-kids after his daughter was found to be unfit to raise children.
• Adult children moving in with their parents after losing jobs. This is becoming quite common.
• Adult children moving in with their parents after a divorce. This is also becoming quite common, since divorces usually mean the loss of the house to one or both parties.
• Parents moving in with an adult child due to medical issues.
• Families bouncing from relative to relative, looking for a place to stay after losing their house in a flood. This can be a sign of inflexibility or incompatibility on the part of the migrant family members.
• Adult siblings living together for a week or two following a nasty blizzard. Blocked roads and downed power lines can make it difficult to get to and from work.

Family dynamics can be a can of worms. There are college-level courses covering the subject, but here are some highlights that I have witnessed.

• Most parents have a difficult time accepting their children as adults, no matter how old the children are. Grandchildren help alleviate this to a small degree.
• In-laws can be easier to deal with than blood relatives. Less history in the relationship means fewer opportunities for problems.
• Siblings tend to treat each other the same way they did in high school (some folks never progress beyond their teenage years).
• Some family members are emotionally toxic and not worth sharing a home with. Pay to put them up in a cheap hotel before you let them destroy your life. A tent in the back yard is also an option.
• “My house, my rules” becomes a cudgel to some families.
• Unresolved issues will come up. They only have to be unresolved on one side to become a problem.

Tribe is a bit better than family, because we get to choose who is a member of our tribe, and this ensures a minimum of shared interests and goals. For many folks, it is easier to get along with a roommate than it is a sibling; this makes it much easier to accept a tribe member as a house guest. I have tribe members that have offered me a place to live (not just stay) if I ever need it, and I have made to same offer to several of them. Some I've known for a few years, others a few decades, and one I've known most of my life. These are the people I trust with my life, and living with them would be pleasant. 

If there is a chance you may have family or tribe living with you after a disaster, be it natural or man-made, there are a few things to consider when making plans.

• Have a clear set of rules that apply to everyone. Nothing fosters animosity quicker than preferential treatment. If lights-out (or quiet time) is 10:00 PM, then it has to apply to everyone. Little Debbie doesn't get to stay up watching TV until midnight, just because she wants to.
• Depending on circumstances, share and expect everyone else to share food, funds, chores, and materials. After a fire or flood they may not have much more than the clothes on their backs, but they can still help out around the house.
• Set an end date or conditions as soon as you can discuss it. Unless you're dealing with TEOTWAWKI, house guests will eventually leave. Make sure that is agreed upon as soon as possible.
• Compatibility of pets might be an issue. If your sister brings four St. Bernard dogs to live with you and your three Pekingese, someone is likely to get sat upon. Exotic pets (snakes, fancy rats, etc.) may be seen as food to your pets, so plan accordingly.
• Sleeping arrangements. Spare beds, couches, and inflatable mattresses are all good options for guests. Try to provide as much privacy as possible for your guests; it will be appreciated.
• Make sure your expectations are clear. If you expect your guests to do their own laundry, they need to know that.
• Good guests will try to avoid being a burden but some may have trouble making the shift from “head of the household” to “guest”. Major decisions are up to you to make, not your guests. Remember, they will leave eventually.
• Don't be a doormat just because they're family, you need to keep your household running and they may not always see or do things your way. This is another good reason for privacy and separate sleeping (and living) quarters when possible. Keep reminding yourself, they will leave eventually.

With the flooding in Baton Rouge, the riots that seem to pop up every week or two, and the various personal disasters that can strike out of the blue, we all should be willing to help out those we love and trust. Planning now will make things go a lot smoother later, which is one of the tenets of prepping.

Bugging In: Skills Roundup

The last things to discuss about bugging in are skills: those you have, and thoseyou learn. Skills are the one prep that can't be taken from you by disaster, economic hardship, or any other environmental concern. Some are free to learn; even more can be learned very inexpensively, and all of them are an investment in your survival and well-being.

Gardening
Raising your own food is a useful skill even in the best of times. The specifics of what you grow and how will depend on your location and space available; your local nursery, greenhouse, or farm store can provide valuable insight. Even if you're limited on space, square foot gardening techniques will allow you to make the most of the space you do have. If you plant using heirloom seeds, you can use seeds from each year's crop to plant for the next season.

First Aid
In a situation that requires you to hunker down for an extended time, help may be a long time coming. I've mentioned the need for basic medical training before: when you're effectively cut off from help, you are the help. Avail yourself of any first aid training you can get and and make sure your family does the same. And remember Murphy's Law -- if only one person has medical skills, they'll be the one who gets injured.

Handyman/DIY Skills
We've talked about having basic tools around. If you're planning on hunkering down, you need to expand your knowledge of how to use those tools.

For basic home maintenance and repairs, your local hardware store will very likely conduct classes once or twice a month, often for free. They'll cover common home repairs, seasonal maintenance, and other vital things to keep your home running smoothly.

For automotive and equipment repairs, start by reading the owners manual. Haynes and other companies also produce an extensive line of vehicle-specific books, with step-by-step instructions and a wealth of illustrations and pictures. Courses are frequently available at your local trade school or community college, sometimes for a very nominal fee. Practice maintaining your gear yourself in good times, so that you're comfortable running the wrench when you don't have options.


There are many other skills to learn that will make bugging in easier, more comfortable, and more successful. They cannot all possibly be covered in one list, so please comment with other skills that folks should learn, and where they can be learned.


Lokidude

Bugging In: Security

So, you've acquired quite a collection of supplies by now, and you've even found a way to keep the lights on. However, if you don't have a way to protect all of your stuff, you don't really own it. As a friend of mine is known to say "If you have 10,000 gallons of potable water, and I have an AK-47, then I have 10,000 gallons of potable water and an AK-47."

Security is a matter of compromises and trade-offs, all with a single goal in mind: buying time. Whether you use this time to get help, get positioned, or get out is entirely dependent on the situation at the time, but any action you take will need that time.

The two easiest ways to buy time are being alerted to danger earlier and slowing that danger down. Early alert is the realm of security systems, alarms, and other devices, while slowing threats down falls to "hardening" your home and property. These take place at a couple areas of your property and buildings.

Perimeter Security
Good fences are said to make good neighbors. They also help to keep the less neighborly out of your property and out of threat range. A fence designed for security purposes needs to be tall enough to be hard to climb, and stout enough to prevent forced access. Eight foot tall chain link works well, as does 6-8' wood or vinyl slat fencing on smaller properties. Use strong, lockable gates at any access points.

Motion sensors are handy for providing advance notice. They can be placed on any access point and can provide several methods of alert. Alerts can be as basic as a simple doorbell chime, or as advanced as activating a camera and beyond. The doorbell chime alert is actually not uncommon in rural farm areas, and is quite inexpensive and easy to set up.

Homes and Outbuildings
This side of the equation is more about hardening and less about notice. Door and window alarms still play a vital role, but when intruders are that close, alerts can only buy you so much time. Hardening doors, windows, and other weak points will grant you time that you would otherwise not have, and may entirely deter a less-determined intruder.

Where possible, exterior doors should be metal or solid wood. Large glass panes are very pretty, but present a security nightmare. A small peep hole in the door allows you to see folks while maintaining a hardened door between you. 

Good locks are key to keeping the uninvited out, but locks are only as good as the jamb they're securing. Step one is to get a good deadbolt, and step two is to reinforce the jamb itself. A deadbolt is a mighty latch, but if your jamb is soft enough that it can be kicked in, the bolt does you no good.

Windows should have latches or other stops, and factory installed spring-loaded catches are a nice feature on many new window installations. If your windows are older, a simple piece of doweling -- cut roughly to the length of the track your window slides along -- works wonders to keep the pane from being forced open. This same method is ideal for sliding glass doors.

Solid, all-metal padlocks are the tried-and-true method of securing outbuildings, and for good reason: they're inexpensive and they're moderately difficult to defeat. Unless someone is a rather determined or motivated thief, your things will still be there in the morning.

As stated above, alarms on the house or outbuildings are still a useful thing. This is a good starting point, and is expandable to cover all your doors, windows, and other access points. It's also compatible with a siren, if you desire that feature.

A Note on Security "Systems"
A fully integrated, monitored security system (ADT, etc.) is a very nice thing to have, and provides many benefits. However, they can be very expensive, both in initial cost and monitoring fees. Many of the same benefits can be derived from a user-installed system and at a far lower cost. None of the security system references in this piece call for a monitored system, and honestly would likely not draw much benefit from the added expense.

Be aware, be warned, and be safe.

Lokidude

Bugging In: Trash Disposal

A commenter posed an interesting question in a previous post in this series, asking that we cover trash disposal. To be entirely honest, I hadn't even considered it previously, but it definitely bears consideration.

Humans create waste. It is endemic to how we live. The amount of waste we create can and should be minimized, but even the most aware folks can't eliminate waste entirely. How waste is disposed depends on the nature of the waste and the conditions in your area.

Fire: Burning trash is a time-honored method of disposal. Paper, cloth, and similar items can be easily burned, reducing their footprint to virtually nothing. Fire is also a historical method of disposal of contaminated items. Be careful burning plastics and other synthetic waste, however, as they can produce toxic fumes. Smoke from fires also give away your location, which is an important consideration if you want to avoid detection.

Compost: Plant material can be turned into useful compost.

• Store it in large, open bins or piles, away from dwellings. 
•  Add earthworms if they're available, and keep the pile moist. 
• Turn or stir the pile weekly with a shovel or pitchfork. 
• In time, it will begin to turn to a dark, rich soil that is wonderful on a garden. 
• The compost will smell terrible during part of this process, thus the directive to keep it away from dwellings.

Directions for a variety of compost bins are here.

Storage/Burial: This is the least favorable of the disposal options. For off-grid living or short-duration emergencies, simply store your waste on site until a trip to a waste-disposal facility can be made. For longer term disposal, dig a trench deep enough that waste can be covered by roughly 2 feet of dirt. As the trench fills, extend an end and continue it in a line. Mark the location of your trench, so that you don't try and plant or build there.

Hopefully this helps. If anyone has any other innovative disposal methods, please share!


Lokidude

Bugging In: Provisions

The first area of bugging in to discuss is provisions. What will you eat, drink, and otherwise consume in an emergency situation? How will you store everything so that it is ready and safe to use when you need it? How much do you need, and are there ways to obtain it that don't require long-term storage?

The easiest way to approach this is to break down the consumables themselves and discuss them individually. Storage and acquisition can then be discussed for each group.

Water
Water is one of the basics of life; we've discussed it at length. Adults need roughly one gallon per person per day, and pets need roughly the same amount. That's fairly easy for short term, but two people require over 700 gallons for a year of very basic subsistence, which is highly impractical.

Long-term survival requires a water source, and very likely a way to filter it. If you have enough property, a well is a worthy investment to consider, as would the equipment to draw from a river or spring if one is available. Catching rainwater is also a viable plan, if you live somewhere that gets enough rain. No matter what you use to get your water, you'll definitely need to plan for filtration. We've covered that quite a bit, and made some educated recommendations.

Food
Food is another provision that we simply cannot work around. You should consume at least 1500-2000 calories of the stuff per person, per day. Canned food is great for some things, but it's expensive and takes up quite a bit of space, and is also quite often nutritionally lacking. When planning for long-term storage, raw ingredients very frequently store just as well (if not better) and carry far more nutritional value. 

 Dried rice, beans, and other items can be bought in bulk and store wonderfully. Dried meat and produce also store for a decent length of time, and can be rehydrated to use in a great number of recipes. David has become our house expert on buying and storing food, and much of the stocking for long-term can be done simply by expanding the scale of his plans. 

 The only other advice for food storage is to buy foods that you actually eat, and rotate your stock by using your storage as your pantry, and replenishing it regularly. Eat the older foods first, and put the new stocks in line at the rear. Be sure to also include salt and oil in your storage plans, as they're needed for survival and are very often overlooked.

Seed is also a food stock to consider.  If you garden, or have the capacity to do so, keep a stock of seeds handy, so that you can plant each year and keep sustaining yourself.  Look for "heirloom" seeds, which allow you to take seed from each year's crop and plant it for the next season.

Medical and Health Care
If you have medicines that keep you alive, see if you can order them in a 90-day supply instead of 30. This way, you're far more likely to have at least a month of medication on hand at any random time. Investigate alternatives that may be more available in a pinch. 

Keep your first aid kits fully stocked. Since you're not carrying the kit, you can stock larger quantities than you might otherwise have at hand, and keep bulky items that you would pass on in a carried kit.

Miscellaneous Gear
This group of provisions is the hardest to lay down a plan for, because it is so individual. Look around your house, taking inventory of consumable items you need to keep everything running. Some things to consider:

• Pet food
• Lubricating oils (spray and liquid, both have their benefits)
• Gasoline (treated with a stabilizing agent)
• Bleach (remember, it breaks down over time, so keep it rotated)
• Other cleaning and disinfecting agents
• Tools - we've assembled a couple basic lists

This is by no means an exhaustive list.  Take stock of your situation and your needs, and stock up on the things you need.

Lokidude