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Prepping for biological disaster

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
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Well honestly I feel pretty prepared. Not sure that it is really possible to prepare for a global pandemic but the wife and I decided to lay in extra food, cleaning supplies, etc.

Just finished unloading from a trip to Costco, the local preparedness store, + a grocery and a WalMart run too.

We bought stuff we normally eat and concentrated on shelf stable products. We did bring in some stuff that is new to us like cooked canned ground beef, canned chicken and some freeze dried cauliflower, etc. Bread mixes, soup mixes, etc. Some extra olive oil, vegetable oil, sugar, etc. A case or two of shelf stable milk and soy milk too. But mostly just stocked up on normal groceries. We probably have a 2.5 month supply of reasonably normal eating assuming there is no interruption to electricity and the freezer doesn't go down. There are no reports of that, even in Wuhan so I feel pretty good about the electricity. I do have 2 generators, one natural gas and one gasoline so I think/hope the electricity issue is a minimal concern.

We also have an additional couple weeks of spam, sardines and pickles :smileywac

Lots of toilet paper ... if I need to use it all in less than 3 or 4 months then I probably would prefer to die ... see the spam/sardines and pickles above!

Plenty of lysol, clorox wipes, soaps, shampoo, toothpaste, floor cleaner, etc.

Even found a couple more boxes of N95 masks at Walmart in the hardware/paint section of the store.

Extra motor oil, hydraulic oil, antifreeze, brake fluid, etc. None in non-normal amounts, just made sure I have enough to last a full season.

Medicines are always an issue. Most of my meds are on a 3 month refill basis. 1 of them is only allowed to be refilled for 30 days ... but I can live without that one. The 3 month refill items are blood pressure and arthritis meds, so those are far more important than a drug that helps me sleep through my own snoring. We have plenty of over-the-counter meds, buying in COSTCO quantities ensures that. The average bottle of virtually any OTC med at Costco seems to be 200 and I usually worry more about them going out of date before I see the bottom of the bottle.

Sadly all my guns and ammo were lost in that terrible boating accident a couple years ago.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I must admit that I passed through the grocery store a couple of days ago and picked up some bum wipe, cans of Spam and sardines, hold the pickles. I also went to Walmart for dog treats. There's no sense in the pups being deprived. Picked up some other stuff while I was there but the question is, "When is enough … ENOUGH?".

Next week, my back permitting, I'll get my fuel topped up and then I think I'll pretty much sit tight and watch what unfolds.

We do have a new outside cat so if the worst comes to the worst we can always eat Kung Pao Chicken. Don't get on me, that's a joke. :smile:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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...but the question is, "When is enough … ENOUGH?" ...

I think that is just an individual question that only you can answer for yourself.

Nobody can plan for every scenario.

China, even in Wuhan, there is still food & the utilities still work. So if you buy 9 years worth of food, if the virus is around in 10 years you are still screwed.

We have a few months of the food we actually enjoy. We have some of the food that I occasionally binge on or crave. The sardines are for me. I actually like them. But even I can't eat them daily. Ditto the Spam, I like it. But not every day. Pickles I could probably never get enough of. And I did not actually stockpile enough of those ... because I'd have to build an addition to do that.

Ordered a very modest amount of stuff like freeze dried cauliflower. Don't have any of the freeze dried pre-made meals. I've eaten them, I'd prefer not to subsist on them. But we picked up a few things like the cauliflower in very modest quantities to add to other foods or to supplement meals.

Like I said we decided that a few months was our limit. We also decided that the food should be basically what we already eat, or at least a close enough approximation to it that we will enjoy it. And we tried for a reasonable variety so its not the same 5 meals repeated over and over. We will run out of frozen meat and eggs. Not doing the powdered egg thing. And when the rib eye steak is gone we will go to stew and chili using canned meats but making the rest of the chili rather than buying cans of Hormel or Dinty Moore. Its what we chose to do. It may not be what others want, and that is OK. It may not last as long as others plan to last, or maybe it will last twice as long as we need it to? I just don't know.

My goal is to minimize contact with the outside world, not sure that I need to totally cut off my life. Maybe we do? If so we can, for a while.

I don't want to live in fear. Nor do I want to exist at the mercy of others.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
My goal is to minimize contact with the outside world, not sure that I need to totally cut off my life. Maybe we do? If so we can, for a while.

I don't want to live in fear. Nor do I want to exist at the mercy of others.

That's basically where we are. My wife is starting to take it a little more seriously. She did a quick inventory today and reckons that we're good for about 3 months. That should be enough for us. No doubt in the coming days and weeks we will pick up some other stuff. We identified a couple of things when we were talking about this over dinner.

We got rid of our breadmaker a few months back because we never used it anymore but she says that she can bake bread from scratch. I also know from our camping that she can make a wonderful Eggbeater omelette. I can pop a deer in the front yard most nights not to mention the cattle running on the farm.

If this thing does get totally out of control and we have to raise the drawbridge, we can do it. We won't want to do it but we can do it. Lord, I'm glad that I don't live in an apartment in a city.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
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Bob - Sounds like you're in good shape on food and household items.
How are you set for things like alternate cooking? Do you have things for cooking outdoors?
Over an open fire - Rome pie irons, Mountain man grill
Coal - a hibachi or similar
Grill - extra propane and grill parts

Don't forget other items for all the outdoor cooking:
Pam spray oil
grill cleaning brushes
scouring pads
skewers
welding gloves
meat thermometer
infrared thermometer
propane torch
...
 

bczoom

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Staff member
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PS. Don't forget comfort foods/snacks as well as everything you would need for the dogs.
 

m1west

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
That's basically where we are. My wife is starting to take it a little more seriously. She did a quick inventory today and reckons that we're good for about 3 months. That should be enough for us. No doubt in the coming days and weeks we will pick up some other stuff. We identified a couple of things when we were talking about this over dinner.

We got rid of our breadmaker a few months back because we never used it anymore but she says that she can bake bread from scratch. I also know from our camping that she can make a wonderful Eggbeater omelette. I can pop a deer in the front yard most nights not to mention the cattle running on the farm.

If this thing does get totally out of control and we have to raise the drawbridge, we can do it. We won't want to do it but we can do it. Lord, I'm glad that I don't live in an apartment in a city.

Same here feel like I have everything I wold need to hunker down at home for 6 months if I had to. I Have enough canned food for 3 months then there is the MRE and the local wildlife after that. I live on 6.5 acres in a rural are so I can stay here as long as the electricity holds out, then if it were to get really bad I can go to the work cabin on the mountain in 4 hours on less than a tank of gas. For now just paying attention. Marty
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Bob - Sounds like you're in good shape on food and household items.
How are you set for things like alternate cooking? Do you have things for cooking outdoors?
Over an open fire - Rome pie irons, Mountain man grill
Coal - a hibachi or similar
Grill - extra propane and grill parts

Don't forget other items for all the outdoor cooking:
Pam spray oil
grill cleaning brushes
scouring pads
skewers
welding gloves
meat thermometer
infrared thermometer
propane torch
...

I don't know about the rest of you but my answer is Yup!

We used to spend most of the summer cooking outside and still do quite a bit and when camping in the RV. Besides we have a natural gas cooktop in the house and an induction cooktop in the RV.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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Brian, to answer the outdoor questions: YUP YUP YUP YUP and YUP



On a much more serious note:

I just got done talking with my sister. She lives outside of London, in the county of Surrey, England.

The local news announced another Coronavirus case in the UK, the case is in her county. She said she went on line to order groceries and the store is being picked dry. Everything she normally orders is a "high demand" item and delivery of her items cannot be confirmed.

She has LOTS of dry goods. They are (mostly) vegetarian eaters so beans, rice, lentils and spices are common meals. She stockpiled dark chocolate too. The one thing they will miss will be their fresh veggies. She did not stock up on any dehydrated or freeze-dried veggies, that may make their diet a bit bland, but at least they have plenty of food.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
There you go again Bob. Just when I was thinking we can muddle through this thing you bring up something else. I better pick up some veggie seeds just in case. I haven't had a garden in a number of years but it is still there and just needs a little TLC. Hell, I may plant a small garden anyway. I miss it.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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This is a fun article. She encourages prepping. But then talks about bat shit crazy preppers. Still it makes some good points about just being prepared and how being prepared is never a bad thing.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/preparing-for-coronavirus-to-strike-the-u-s/

I am not going to quote this article here, simply follow the link and go read it. If anything, prepping may be good for your neighbors, and the general public, because it will reduce the load on the supply systems during any sort of a panic.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Most masks are useless unless they are the kind that have an adhesive seal around the mouth and nose.

Kind of like these: https://www.healthrangerstore.com/products/readimask-with-eyeshield-adult

That being said, keeping your hands clean and avoiding crowds is the best prevention.

I just traveled to Toronto and Boston, lots of people like me wiping down their seats on the plane with sanitizing wipes. A few masks in in the Newark airport but to be honest none of them looked useful for anything other than preventing a carrier from spreading the virus.


But I guess I have a couple of weeks to wait and see if I get sick or not.

I was kind of hoping for a few weeks quarantined in an army barrack somewhere with no internet. I could use the vacation.
 

m1west

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Most masks are useless unless they are the kind that have an adhesive seal around the mouth and nose.

Kind of like these: https://www.healthrangerstore.com/products/readimask-with-eyeshield-adult

That being said, keeping your hands clean and avoiding crowds is the best prevention.

I just traveled to Toronto and Boston, lots of people like me wiping down their seats on the plane with sanitizing wipes. A few masks in in the Newark airport but to be honest none of them looked useful for anything other than preventing a carrier from spreading the virus.


But I guess I have a couple of weeks to wait and see if I get sick or not.

I was kind of hoping for a few weeks quarantined in an army barrack somewhere with no internet. I could use the vacation.

What a blessing it is to live in a rural area.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Just a few local observations. Went to run some errands today, also talked to my brother:

Local large grocery store was fully stocked. Life continues as normal. No panic buying. No hoarding. Although the Campbells soup inventory seemed to be a little low.

Aldi discount grocery store was fully stocked. Life continues as normal. Also no noticeable panic buying happening there either.

Dollar General Store: Wife stopped in for some craft items. Said that in the 15 minutes she was in the store literally EVERY customer who walked in the store asked the clerk where the Hand Sanitizer was located. The store was sold out and is not sure when supplies are arriving.

My brother is in purchasing for a hospital and clinic chain. He says he cannot get enough face masks. Also the sanitizing wipes used by hospital and doctors office staffs are in very short supply. Said the they will transition to bottles of diluted bleach solution as a back up.​

FWIW, Melen came home last evening. She is off school for a few days. She will be flying to North Carolina tomorrow, return flight is Sunday. She will be taking 2 packs of antibacterial wipes on the airplane. One pack for each flight. Plans to wipe down her area, offer wipes to the flyers immediately next around her too. She is aware that this is her last flight for a while, I told her as things heat up then I'm paying for her to take risks. She agreed that it made sense to minimize risks like being stuck in an aluminum tube with strangers.
 

Melensdad

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EastTexFrank

Well-known member
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Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Having read all the advice I still don't know what "Stock up for a prolonged period" means. Just how long is a prolonged period? That's not very helpful.

Agreed

It said stock up on meds but I didn’t see anything about food. Thought maybe I missed a link as I was going through the website?
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Just a few local observations. Went to run some errands today, also talked to my brother:
Local large grocery store was fully stocked. Life continues as normal. No panic buying. No hoarding. Although the Campbells soup inventory seemed to be a little low.

Aldi discount grocery store was fully stocked. Life continues as normal. Also no noticeable panic buying happening there either.

Dollar General Store: Wife stopped in for some craft items. Said that in the 15 minutes she was in the store literally EVERY customer who walked in the store asked the clerk where the Hand Sanitizer was located. The store was sold out and is not sure when supplies are arriving.

My brother is in purchasing for a hospital and clinic chain. He says he cannot get enough face masks. Also the sanitizing wipes used by hospital and doctors office staffs are in very short supply. Said the they will transition to bottles of diluted bleach solution as a back up.​
FWIW, Melen came home last evening. She is off school for a few days. She will be flying to North Carolina tomorrow, return flight is Sunday. She will be taking 2 packs of antibacterial wipes on the airplane. One pack for each flight. Plans to wipe down her area, offer wipes to the flyers immediately next around her too. She is aware that this is her last flight for a while, I told her as things heat up then I'm paying for her to take risks. She agreed that it made sense to minimize risks like being stuck in an aluminum tube with strangers.


Went to a Walmart in Hood River, OR yesterday. No hand sanitizer, the toilet paper aisle was almost empty. They did have big jugs of aloe vera on display so I guess people are down to making their own.

Apparently, the local Costco was out of toilet paper.

I suspect the panic is relative to your distance to the nearest hot-spot. They are panicking in Seattle from what I hear.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
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If there's no hand sanitizer, check for rubbing alcohol. Hand sanitizer is basically gelled alcohol.

Took stock yesterday. I still have 400 gallons of alcohol and 150 gallons of hand sanitizer. ;)
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
It seems that the internet has been busy with recipes for making your own hand sanitizer. So much so that Tito's Vodka put out a statement NOT to use its vodka in your home recipes as it's only 40% alcohol and hand sanitizer has to be at least 60% in order to be effective. Somehow that struck me as funny.
 

m1west

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Went to a Walmart in Hood River, OR yesterday. No hand sanitizer, the toilet paper aisle was almost empty. They did have big jugs of aloe vera on display so I guess people are down to making their own.

Apparently, the local Costco was out of toilet paper.

I suspect the panic is relative to your distance to the nearest hot-spot. They are panicking in Seattle from what I hear.

Thats right and when a few die in your area the same will happen to the food to. They are haven fist fights over toilet paper in Australia right now. It doesn't matter how bad it turns out, it just has to be bad in everyones head to lead to panic.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
Three underlying conditions will put people at the most risk.

1. Heart Condition
2. Lung condition such as COPD, Asthma
3. Diabetes

I would love to see the media do their homework and give us statistics on how many people with these three conditions are the ones succumbing to this disease instead of their typical fear mongering.
 

m1west

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Another thing to prepare for is cabin fever if locked down for months. Myself I am blessed to live on 6.5 acres where I can go outside do projects yard work whatever and if thats not enough there is the work cabin. I don't think it would bother me that much except the loss of income and thats a another discussion. For those stuck in a densely populated area I am truly sorry for you if mandatory quarantine happens here in America.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Not so much "prepping" for anything as it is just what we normally do and the way we normally shop. But we are keeping the freezer full. We eat through something and we replace it. Buying in bulk, breaking down & vacuum sealing. Still, if we are ever in a situation where we either CAN'T or just DON'T WANT to go to town to get groceries we have plenty here. Always try to keep plenty here, perhaps now we are a bit more aware of the 'inventory' level. But we do our best to make sure we never have a reason to be too concerned about food.

Today I broke down 3 bulk packages of chicken thighs that we bought yesterday. We ran out of them since it is Chicken Soup season and we prefer making chicken soup with thigh meat instead of breast meat. We've had chicken noodle soup a couple times in the past 2 weeks. Love it!

Each package I broke down started with a minimum of 10 thighs. Broke those down into packages of 3 or 4 thighs, ran them through the vacuum seal machine and tossed them in the freezer. So there are 30-ish thighs in the freezer, but repackaged into meal size (or meal & leftover) packages.

Took an 8# Pork Shoulder Roast to the cutting board next. Trimmed about a pound of fat away and then sliced it so it could be divided. 4 packages weighing about 1.75# each were vacuum sealed and went into the freezer. We like them coated with Shake & Bake BBQ flavor. It's the basis for a simple future meal. Looking at it all, we probably should buy another big Pork Shoulder and break that down.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
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For the pork, we find it easiest to buy the whole loins then have them cut it into pork chops right at the store. We then repackage to meal size. When the loins are on sale, they're 99-cents/pound. Last time Mrs. Zoom saw it at that price, she literally bought 100 pounds.
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
If there's no hand sanitizer, check for rubbing alcohol. Hand sanitizer is basically gelled alcohol.

Took stock yesterday. I still have 400 gallons of alcohol and 150 gallons of hand sanitizer. ;)
One cannot eat or drink either of those to survive.

Prepping isn't about hoarding or "stocking up" as is so often told to City folks who honestly have no idea how to survive when the SHTF.

Gold, bullets and TP. Stock up on those. When the world comes to it's end,,,; They will be the difference.

Bullets because Gold will be worthless to you unless you can keep it. Without TP life wouldn't be worth living.

Me, I have 80 acres of knarly Ozark mountainside. Five clear springs, a small pond, and small critters to shoot and eat. Plenty of standing oak and space for a garden. Gold buys nothing there so bullets and TP are all I need.

And some wind to run the generator.
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
Three underlying conditions will put people at the most risk.

1. Heart Condition
2. Lung condition such as COPD, Asthma
3. Diabetes

I would love to see the media do their homework and give us statistics on how many people with these three conditions are the ones succumbing to this disease instead of their typical fear mongering.


I have the COPD/Asthma. I take Advair which now costs $660.00 a month without insurance. Fortunately, I do not need it daily. Just during winter months. I have no idea why.


So I have been saving the extra for years. Just in case the SHTF. There are about twenty disks in my hall closet ready for when I'm broke, or Medicare falls into bankruptcy.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I see that some of you guys shop like us, wait for it to go on special and buy a bunch, cut and vacuum seal it at home and into the freezer with it.

We have 3 freezers outside (and the beer fridge), not counting the ones in the house. It's not that we are preppers but back when we raised cattle we would cut one out and raise it for our personal consumption. When the time came we would take it to the packing plant and have it butchered and cut to order. We also had friends in Dallas who used to buy a buffalo every year (mail order) and we were in for half. It was raised and butchered in Colorado and the meat was shipped. That much meat takes up a bunch of freezer space. We don't do either of those anymore so there is a lot more room in the freezers these days. My wife did swing by the packing plant on Monday and pick up some choice steaks, filet and strip, so we're not going to starve anytime soon.

And yes Franc, I have the bullets if need be.
 
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