If a storm hits, especially a hurricane or tornado, you may be without power for a long time. You'll need to stock up on a few Streno cans. and a Streno stove (not a need but helps) It's a solid gas in a can that can cook food, keep a room warm with a terra cotta planter upside down over it. The cans are light weight and don't take up much room. A can actually fits in a jacket pocket. Also, if power goes out, every time the fridge is open the inside food compartment gets warmer and warmer until your food is rapidly rotting away. You'll need to learn how to keep your food cold and vegies keep longer. It's very easy to do.
I don't really consider myself as a prepper but more of a survivalist. When my girlfriend and I were much younger, we were boondocking up on some mountain late in the year and the campgrounds in the area were closed. We stocked up on our basic needs as groceries, water, propane, etc. Everything was good for the first two days, then a blizzard hit during the night, we awoke with 5 feet of snow, so we knew that we were snowed in for a while. We went serval days without food because we used it up. When we were able to drive down without getting stuck, we learned to buy enough supplies for a month for a two-week trip. I also learned to live off the land as what wild plants/roots/insects were edible and which were poisonous. Today I make sure we are stocked up on everything we need for boondocking since my daughter and I boondock most of the time whenever it's convenient. We have enough supplies for several month without worrying about our basic needs. Maybe a year if we stretch and near a natural water supply. Our only problem is the RV does have a maximum payload weight limit.
@@lifeform8170 That is great. You have it figured out. I grew up in snow country also and learned watching my parents how important survival skills are. Sometimes they can be life saving. My parents were also from the depression era so they new the imortance of how to find multiple uses for tools and supplies. Also sometimes simpler is better.
@@NormalPrepping Back when my daughter was much younger, we met an elderly woman, we became friends. She also grew up in the depression era. Whenever she had company, she'd feed them rather Hungary or not. One day she fed us bread pudding from the depression era. It was pretty good. She also told stories on how they survived the era. Back then, nothing went to waste. Today we live in a throw away era. If an item is not used in a year, throw it away. Just buy new if ever needed again. My brother lives this way. He also buys groceries every day enough for that day only, no more.
I grew up eating bread pudding. I loved it and still do. Yes, we do live in a throw away era. That is a topic that gets me riled up. Most people could live off the food that people throw away. Plus it seems like everything is designed to only last a few years so we have to buy it again. That is why I try to buy the best I can afford, but even after paying good money things don't last long. There is no such thing as a TV repair man anymore. We buy beef straight from the ranch and eat everything but the moo. I do think the 2020 lock downs opened a lot of peoples eyes. We have actually had people tell us that they should have listed to us about being prepared. Now they are actually working on it and asking us questions. As we mentioned in the video being a prepper/survivalist has been demonized and I think that is becoming less. We are also seeing more of the homestead movement, which I like. I call it farm life and it is good.
Growing up in a rural area where we would be snowed in for weeks at a time (winter of 78) we would start buying non-perishables & supplies in the fall. That way we knew we had enough to do until spring. If we were able to get out we were able to have more variety. We did that with Christmas shopping also. Even though I live in town now I still do it. I got caught up in a run on a grocery store once & I don’t want to do it again.
That is how I grew up. There were times we could not leave our home, even get out our front door because of the snow. We always had enough food and supplies to get us through. I learned young to be prepaired.
As you stated, there are forces in our society which prefer we not be prepared for various, probably nefarious, reasons. Do you believe this has affected Best By dates stamped on food, specifically canned food? In other words, are Best By dates purposely ultra-conservative in order to drive increased consumer purchases or even to discourage prepping? How does the Best By date fit into your purchases of food preps? When a person or family has stocked 6+ months of food, expiration of that food becomes very important to future planning and buying. What processes or planning do you use to rotate your food stock to ensure you are not losing or wasting funds on expired food which never gets eaten? How much food stock can a person or family prep? 1 year? 2 years? 3 years? New preppers obviously need to hit the more easily targetable goals of 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months, but once you have more than 6 months, what should the goal be? You also talked about national/international emergencies like 2020 and very individual emergencies like job loss. If a person or family has set aside emergency food supplies, when is the right time to begin using them? For instance, for an individual emergency, perhaps it is better to first restrict calorie intake or ask family for assistance before using emergency food supplies which may be needed, perhaps even in the middle of an individual emergency, for a regional/national/international emergency? All of these questions, of course, have very individual answers, but what are your thoughts on striking these balances and when do you feel at ease that you are prepped?
We try to write the best by dates on our cans, but to us that is the best time for us to buy them. They go on sale the closer they get to that date. We do try to rotate them when we use them but I am from the camp where if I open it and it smells and or looks bad then I don't eat it or taste it, other than that it is fair game. My mom always told us to just scape off the mold and eat the good part. So in other words I am not concerned about those dates and feel they are there so people have to throw them away and buy more. I do like your thought about not wanting us to save. I can believe that. We have a very good supply of canned food considering we have a small house. We know that we have friends and family that we will take care of in exchange for work. I have made spreadsheets calculating the amount of calories I need and how that works into our supplies. We also have freeze dried food. As we said, we used our food during covid and when my bride was looking for work. We do this for three reasons. 1. to save money 2. to rotate our supply 3. to practice our survival skills. If you look in our about section you will see the training I have had and I am one to do scenarios and drills. My friend calls my place the FEMA camp. lol That is why our friends and family kept bugging us to do a TH-cam channel. I think they may get a bit tired of us going on about it all the time.. I guess I got side tract like always on my response Great Question. What are your thoughts on best by date.
@@NormalPrepping I am from the same camp as you - your senses will tell you if the food is bad or good, if you see any signs of bad, throw it out, don't risk consuming any. I believe Best By dates are mostly marketing designed to stimulate buying the product more often than you would if you had either the Production or Expiration date. Over the years, I have watched a lot of TH-cam prepping videos and no one ever covers rotating supplies or offers a process to do so. In general, I think most people including preppers do not practice any rotation. I have worked as management in the food service industry where rotation is a highly stressed by corporate as it greatly reduces food waste in the long run and allows for better ordering logistics as no one is suddenly ordering a massive amount of one product or not ordering a product for an extended period of time. Rotation almost eliminates the need for Best By dates on canned and processed foods as you almost always use the supplies far in advance of the date. For instance, if a family of four (mom, dad, two kids) built up a 6 month supply, then began using their emergency supplies as part of their normal routine, say 1 day a week they eat MREs and 1 day a week they eat prepped supplies which require water/cooking, they can save money on weekly groceries and use that savings to purchase fresh emergency supplies as well as ensure they enjoy the food they have prepped or make notes to switch out products they find they do not like, plus practice their survival skills. I like your practice of using spreadsheets for calorie counts because you can build in new goals, for instance increasing by 10% to account for possible spoilage. Keep up the great videos!
If a storm hits, especially a hurricane or tornado, you may be without power for a long time. You'll need to stock up on a few Streno cans. and a Streno stove (not a need but helps) It's a solid gas in a can that can cook food, keep a room warm with a terra cotta planter upside down over it. The cans are light weight and don't take up much room. A can actually fits in a jacket pocket. Also, if power goes out, every time the fridge is open the inside food compartment gets warmer and warmer until your food is rapidly rotting away. You'll need to learn how to keep your food cold and vegies keep longer. It's very easy to do.
If you have car or home insurance your preparing for what could go wrong so in some ways were required to prep 👍
I don't really consider myself as a prepper but more of a survivalist. When my girlfriend and I were much younger, we were boondocking up on some mountain late in the year and the campgrounds in the area were closed. We stocked up on our basic needs as groceries, water, propane, etc. Everything was good for the first two days, then a blizzard hit during the night, we awoke with 5 feet of snow, so we knew that we were snowed in for a while. We went serval days without food because we used it up. When we were able to drive down without getting stuck, we learned to buy enough supplies for a month for a two-week trip. I also learned to live off the land as what wild plants/roots/insects were edible and which were poisonous.
Today I make sure we are stocked up on everything we need for boondocking since my daughter and I boondock most of the time whenever it's convenient. We have enough supplies for several month without worrying about our basic needs. Maybe a year if we stretch and near a natural water supply. Our only problem is the RV does have a maximum payload weight limit.
@@lifeform8170 That is great. You have it figured out. I grew up in snow country also and learned watching my parents how important survival skills are. Sometimes they can be life saving. My parents were also from the depression era so they new the imortance of how to find multiple uses for tools and supplies. Also sometimes simpler is better.
@@NormalPrepping Back when my daughter was much younger, we met an elderly woman, we became friends. She also grew up in the depression era. Whenever she had company, she'd feed them rather Hungary or not. One day she fed us bread pudding from the depression era. It was pretty good. She also told stories on how they survived the era. Back then, nothing went to waste. Today we live in a throw away era. If an item is not used in a year, throw it away. Just buy new if ever needed again. My brother lives this way. He also buys groceries every day enough for that day only, no more.
I grew up eating bread pudding. I loved it and still do. Yes, we do live in a throw away era. That is a topic that gets me riled up. Most people could live off the food that people throw away. Plus it seems like everything is designed to only last a few years so we have to buy it again. That is why I try to buy the best I can afford, but even after paying good money things don't last long. There is no such thing as a TV repair man anymore. We buy beef straight from the ranch and eat everything but the moo. I do think the 2020 lock downs opened a lot of peoples eyes. We have actually had people tell us that they should have listed to us about being prepared. Now they are actually working on it and asking us questions. As we mentioned in the video being a prepper/survivalist has been demonized and I think that is becoming less. We are also seeing more of the homestead movement, which I like. I call it farm life and it is good.
Growing up in a rural area where we would be snowed in for weeks at a time (winter of 78) we would start buying non-perishables & supplies in the fall. That way we knew we had enough to do until spring. If we were able to get out we were able to have more variety. We did that with Christmas shopping also. Even though I live in town now I still do it. I got caught up in a run on a grocery store once & I don’t want to do it again.
That is how I grew up. There were times we could not leave our home, even get out our front door because of the snow. We always had enough food and supplies to get us through. I learned young to be prepaired.
As you stated, there are forces in our society which prefer we not be prepared for various, probably nefarious, reasons. Do you believe this has affected Best By dates stamped on food, specifically canned food? In other words, are Best By dates purposely ultra-conservative in order to drive increased consumer purchases or even to discourage prepping? How does the Best By date fit into your purchases of food preps? When a person or family has stocked 6+ months of food, expiration of that food becomes very important to future planning and buying. What processes or planning do you use to rotate your food stock to ensure you are not losing or wasting funds on expired food which never gets eaten? How much food stock can a person or family prep? 1 year? 2 years? 3 years? New preppers obviously need to hit the more easily targetable goals of 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months, but once you have more than 6 months, what should the goal be? You also talked about national/international emergencies like 2020 and very individual emergencies like job loss. If a person or family has set aside emergency food supplies, when is the right time to begin using them? For instance, for an individual emergency, perhaps it is better to first restrict calorie intake or ask family for assistance before using emergency food supplies which may be needed, perhaps even in the middle of an individual emergency, for a regional/national/international emergency? All of these questions, of course, have very individual answers, but what are your thoughts on striking these balances and when do you feel at ease that you are prepped?
We try to write the best by dates on our cans, but to us that is the best time for us to buy them. They go on sale the closer they get to that date. We do try to rotate them when we use them but I am from the camp where if I open it and it smells and or looks bad then I don't eat it or taste it, other than that it is fair game. My mom always told us to just scape off the mold and eat the good part. So in other words I am not concerned about those dates and feel they are there so people have to throw them away and buy more. I do like your thought about not wanting us to save. I can believe that. We have a very good supply of canned food considering we have a small house. We know that we have friends and family that we will take care of in exchange for work. I have made spreadsheets calculating the amount of calories I need and how that works into our supplies. We also have freeze dried food. As we said, we used our food during covid and when my bride was looking for work. We do this for three reasons. 1. to save money 2. to rotate our supply 3. to practice our survival skills. If you look in our about section you will see the training I have had and I am one to do scenarios and drills. My friend calls my place the FEMA camp. lol That is why our friends and family kept bugging us to do a TH-cam channel. I think they may get a bit tired of us going on about it all the time.. I guess I got side tract like always on my response Great Question. What are your thoughts on best by date.
@@NormalPrepping I am from the same camp as you - your senses will tell you if the food is bad or good, if you see any signs of bad, throw it out, don't risk consuming any. I believe Best By dates are mostly marketing designed to stimulate buying the product more often than you would if you had either the Production or Expiration date. Over the years, I have watched a lot of TH-cam prepping videos and no one ever covers rotating supplies or offers a process to do so. In general, I think most people including preppers do not practice any rotation. I have worked as management in the food service industry where rotation is a highly stressed by corporate as it greatly reduces food waste in the long run and allows for better ordering logistics as no one is suddenly ordering a massive amount of one product or not ordering a product for an extended period of time. Rotation almost eliminates the need for Best By dates on canned and processed foods as you almost always use the supplies far in advance of the date. For instance, if a family of four (mom, dad, two kids) built up a 6 month supply, then began using their emergency supplies as part of their normal routine, say 1 day a week they eat MREs and 1 day a week they eat prepped supplies which require water/cooking, they can save money on weekly groceries and use that savings to purchase fresh emergency supplies as well as ensure they enjoy the food they have prepped or make notes to switch out products they find they do not like, plus practice their survival skills. I like your practice of using spreadsheets for calorie counts because you can build in new goals, for instance increasing by 10% to account for possible spoilage. Keep up the great videos!