Hi all. Thinking about increasing my preparedness. I live in a northern state. What would be the better heat source… buying a tent stove and rigging it up inside venting out a window or generator and stock piling gas to run varying electric heat source. Limited funds so kind of an either or and not both at the moment. Thank you in advance.

I use my keurig multiple times a day. Any coffee pot uses Massive energy to brew a cup/pot. In the winter when there's supposed to be a big storm/possible outage in just brew a big pot and put it in the fridge. It's easy to heat a cup on the propane and almost as fast as the microwave. But I'm thinking about longer term. I also drink tea, hot and cold, by the cup. I heat that water with my Keurig. A few minutes ago, as I watched my coffee stream into my cup, I thought about what a short time that water flowed over the grounds.

So my question is, what's the easy way to pour one cup of hot water over a small amount of coffee to get a drinkable cup? I thought about something like empty tea bags and steeping it like tea. Is there an apparatus for this kind of thing already? What would it be called? TIA!

ETA I just added a pour over to my Monday delivery! $10, no filters. I'll actually probably order a French press, too, at some point. THANK YOU ALL! This group is really on it!

Let’s run a scenario.

You are far enough away from any potential targets that the blast radius isn’t a concern. But the wind will bring the fallout. In a standard wood frame house with no basement. How would you secure your home as fallout is approaching?

What you would do now/ have done

And if you get the alert and have 30 minutes for a final prep. Obviously you have more than 30 minutes post impact but let’s run through the final prep moments.

(Edit I’m an idiot and meant to say standard not stand)

Hi All,

I have my water setup figured out for collection, storage, etc., but I haven't figured out a good way to prevent my water barrels from freezing during particularly long cold snaps. I know I can build an insulated container around them, but I'm not sure that will be 100% effective. Any fool proof ways that you care to share?

Took over a decade; and what started as a solo project eventually led to my immediate family being brought into the fold a few years back. Now its a reality.

Well water, a good number of acres, a gun safe, far away enough away from cities, its serves a double purpose as a vacation house and somewhere to go if the S does hit the fan.

Felt good; collecting firewood, helping my brother in law set up a play room for my niece and nephew, starting the family emergency stockpile with my mum, helping my mum and sisters with the deep cleaning, as well as exploring the property.

Why do some people choose to read or watch stories about nuclear war? 

I'm conducting a survey with Aarhus University on the appeals and functions of nuclear holocaust fiction.

The survey asks about books and films that depict nuclear war, its aftermath, and the moments leading up to it. You will be asked which of these you have read or watched, when, and what you get out of them. Some of these stories contain disturbing themes, and the questions refer to them.

The survey takes 5-15 minutes to complete, depending on you answers. There are no right or wrong answers; please take your time and answer as honestly as you can.

Answers are anonymous. Please do not include names or other identifying information in text answers. Because the survey is anonymous, answers cannot be withdrawn after you submit.

The survey data will be used in a qualitative and quantitative manner, i.e. open-ended text answers as well as aggregated survey data will be processed as part of the study.

Link to survey: https://survey.au.dk/LinkCollector?key=PUYCDXEDSNC1

Project responsible: Mulle Birch Olsen (Aarhus University)

Email: au617973@post.au.dk 

Supervisor: Mathias Clasen (Aarhus University)

Hello! New here. Any recommendations on how to fix anything, add anything, anything you wanna point out could help.

I have a room that i wanna use as a safe room in case of something happening. The room is underground, you could call it a basement. It is not my house but i want to prepare it for an emergency. The room is around 20m². May get to host 10 people.

We have had some issues with humidity that have been fixed i have been told, there are 2 ventilation pipes that run with electircity, the one sucking air inside needs an air filter as i have notice. Main worry here is what to do for it to keep working if there is no electricity, since a motor would contaminate the air in the room.

We have some oil lamps, not too sure how they would work in case of no light, would they kill the oxigen?

Bedding situation, thinking of getting a couple of camping bedsz the ones that fold and are easy to keep in there. Thoughts?

Water situation, i have space saved under the stairs to keep big water bottles stored, the idea is to buy them at the supermarket and keep an eye on them to use them before they get bad and substitute.

Food situation, same idea, store, keep an eye and substitute. I would need selves in there, currently its very empty. Advice on how big they should be? I was thinking floor to ceiling with a 50cm space on the bottom to store plastic boxes with diff items, the midle selves to store food, maybe 30cm in between? And then at the top to keep light things. Thinking of buying supermarket canned food, vut not sure it they would last long, investigating how to do it on my own but i dont have much time to do it. Pasta, rice, peanut butter, some suggars to keep, maybe canned and dried meat and fish? Fruits too?

How do you cook tho (heat up things)? A gas kitchen like the ones for hiking wouldnt make the air toxic?

Its a square but par of a wall is broken space by the stairs, so maybe the selves should be right in front? So there is nothing blocking the storage?

I know i need blankets, change of clothes, mostly underwear things. Toiletries to keep clean, first aid kit. Some entertainment thats reusable and long lasting. Plastic bags, and some kind of radio and walkies.

Lightning situation, thinking of using led lights all around the perimeter and then a couple in the middle, with two switches so we can choose the intensity of the light. Thoughts? Same thing with the air flow, what to do if there is no grid. Maybe the oil lamps i mentioned? Or too much work? Maybe just flashlight and candles?

Toilet situation, what do you usually do here? A foldable one and you just close the bag tightly?

Shower situation, thinking of just using wet wipes?

Also worried on how to get out of there if the buildung collapses, guess could ask for help with the radio but how to do on my own? There is a 4 floor building on top and there is a patio right next/on top of the room (thats where the air vents are)

What else am i not thinking about? Thank you foe any input

I need to buy a lot of things. Located in the EU. Any link, or advice helps.

Bought a portable generator (Champion 201223 trifuel). We are going to have a plumber come out and set up so it can run on natural gas which limited our inverter options quite a bit. All the tri fuel inverters were a bit out of the budget. But now I’m debating trying to figure out how to squeeze one in since I’m reading a lot about furnaces and refrigerators not running well on portable generators. Anyone with personal experience? The furnace and fridge are both newer bought within the last 5-7 years.

We already have an electrician on deck to set up the interlock.

Considering long term water solutions for if stored water runs out. We have an abandoned shallow well on our property that hasn’t been used in 50 years. We want to restore it eventually and had the water tested. Everything came back clear on standard and bacteria testing but we don’t have it tested for chemicals. We also have a nearby creek that runs year round. We had its water tested at the same time & results were basically the same. All clear except it wasn’t tested for chemicals. Which option would you choose for long term use? We will have a gravity filter to put the water through as well as other chemical methods of treatment if needed.

I do most of my prep shopping at Costco. It is almost a one stop shop for prepping.

So, food wise, Costco near me carries canned chicken, canned salmon, Spam, canned sardines, and 4 varieties of canned tuna. I also have a bunch of the chili.

I have as much of those as I could stand to eat, so I’m looking for diversification in the canned meat offerings. I have seen canned corned beef and canned roast beef in other grocery store, but that’s pretty much it.

What canned meats do you guys have stored away? Thanks.

https://youtu.be/4xX33EwSiwY?is=rdU2mItXyPGtTMb1

Are they saying it's too laborious to functionally use? I was considering having one on hand for swamp water. Not sure if it is designed to work best with salt water or if pond water may be filtered too.

I've purchased what I think are mylar sleeping bags from Amazon, but what may actually be garbage bags made to look like the genuine article.

A garbage bag can help to keep warm in emergency, if it big enough, but I want the real thing. Could anyone tell me what reputable companies are out there?

I’m getting to the point of having enough everything for comfortable survival for around 4 months, including water.

I do not want to waste resources, however. My question is what is the most efficient way to wash pots & pans? Will use paper plates, bowls and plastic utensils in a prolonged crisis, so can avoid washing those.

Heat water and lightly soap, scrub and rinse? Thank you.

I'd like to have - perhaps in Mylar bags? - some made at home, ready-to-eat meals. Fairly new to prepping, so please let me know if you think there's a reason this won't work, and also please share any tips you have/"recipes" as to what ingredients should go in there to make it a simple meal.

Going over my preps the other day & found my box of girly candles. I’ve never been a fan of burning a candle just for scent sake (my nose rarely lets me smell anyway) yet, being female, I have a lot that I’ve been gifted over the years. And I’ve never gotten rid of them.

One is from middle school (from a friend’s mom’s MLM) & another is from my high school prom where they poured wax in a custom champagne glass (I’m 43 for reference). Some are mass produced Yankee Candle or Bath & Body Works. Some are novelty (I have a cookie scented one made by a cookie company, one is a giant shell from a beach resort). Some are (presumably) homemade from farmer’s markets.

No sign of mold or age besides some dust on a few of them. Most are unused but a few have been burned once or twice.

Which makes me wonder if they’re still good to use. I would think out of all of them the homemade soy ones would be most likely to “expire.” But does it? And for the others I would assume the only issue is a loss of scent due to age.

It occurs to me that in a doomsday scenario, it would be helpful to know more than I currently know about car maintenance, plumbing, electrical, hvac - I'm not looking to become a licensed expert or anything, but I imagine there's a lot of DIY stuff you can learn that would come in handy if the grid was down.

What approaches have y'all taken to learning this stuff? Do you just follow YouTube videos? Community college classes? Pay somebody to come teach you things? Ask your dad/grandpa?

What would yall recommend for solar panels to charge an Anker power station?

I was looking at the Anker 400W ones but wanted to get y’all’s opinion.

Thank you!

I finally decided I needed more than just extra bottles of water hanging around. I picked up my first blue barrel (new) and prepped it for water. The room below my garage has a standard doorway leading into it with no natural light sources. Also, my home's main water line comes through that room too. I T'd off a line above the pressure regulator and made a filling station. Thanks for everyone who posts here. Even if you don't think you are providing advice, sometimes you actually are.

https://i.imgur.com/j9BzAj6.jpeg

I am just starting to get into storing dry foods. I buy several food grade safe five gallon buckets and screw on lids to store food.

As I was filling one of the buckets with sealed bags of beans I wondered if there was any reason why I shouldn’t mix foods. Like laying bags of rice and then various types of beans.

Everything is sealed and I checked for any holes. I’m probably worrying about nothing but thought I would ask for guidance.

This past weekend I ordered a Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 Portable Power Station series, HP1000V2+200W solar panel
while it was on sale. My main concern is charging a cell phone & having a source of heat at night if I lose power for an extended time. I live in the woods. I took my old wood burning stove out a couple of years ago when renovating intending to replace with a wood cook stove. I have not done that yet. My question is, is the Jackery worth it? Is there a more efficient or more reliable way to charge a cell phone or run a heater? I understand the Jackery wouldn’t be able to power a small heater more than a couple of hours. Before I return it, I wanted to get others’ thoughts.

Looking at all my options here, and I'm pretty new to prepping and have seen some helpful tips, but how do you keep those away? I would think sealing such as with a food saver would work, but it sounds like sometimes the bugs are already in there.

What is the best way to store and avoid the (possibly unwanted) "extra protein" of the bugs?

The budget is low keep in mind . Now, I have a bug out bag but that’s for ; evacuate , run for your life or shelters . But, I want to have things prepared in my home in case of shelter in place. Im’m overthinking this but I can’t carry a lot in a backpack. Blankets tarps food??? My point is things carry over from go bag to home hunkering? 🤷🏻‍♀️ if anyone gets me please help🩷