Getting started.

[Wombat of Doom]

For the moment assume guns, ammo and knives are fine in this equation.
For an absolute newbie to prepping, where do you start. My wife is really wanting us to have some go bags and a disaster preparedness space.

Where do you even start? I presume water, food, toilet paper and batteries, and medications. A small water purifier would be gold obviously. But I know some of yall know what the heck you are doing. Right now if SHTF, I'd be in real trouble in a couple weeks.

So assuming you are dealing with someone new to building up an earthquake kit / general mayhem preparedness, where do you start?

Read More

 

[Kruel J]

Lots of guns so I can take what I need from the sheep.

 

[USMC1911]

Easy way to get going is start a pile of the things you use EVERY day. Then get yourself a bag to put it into and as you get more stuff you add or subtract base on your needs. My truck bag to get me home is much different then my shtf go bag that is at home. One at home is much larger, heavier and much more inclusive.

 

[E4mafia]

lengthy read but I think it sort of is relevant and provides an insight.

View attachment 466045

 

[2Wheels4Ever]

The best place to "go" in a SHTF scenario is your own home. In reality if it comes down to that type of situation, the streets and public roads will likely be unusable. On top of that, the woods are a horrible place to try and set up a defensive perimeter.

I'd start with food, water, stabilized gas, a generator, reinforced doors and available window barricades.

 

[GOG]

You start with beans, bullets and band-aids and build from there and always remember that "Two is one and one is none."

Are you starting out from scratch? Are you urban, rural, suburban? Can you bug in securely or will you have to evac?

 

[Koda]

For the moment assume guns, ammo and knives are fine in this equation.
For an absolute newbie to prepping, where do you start. My wife is really wanting us to have some go bags and a disaster preparedness space.

Where do you even start? I presume water, food, toilet paper and batteries, and medications. A small water purifier would be gold obviously. But I know some of yall know what the heck you are doing. Right now if SHTF, I'd be in real trouble in a couple weeks.

So assuming you are dealing with someone new to building up an earthquake kit / general mayhem preparedness, where do you start?

Im not clear if your prepping on going or staying. If your staying start with 30 days supply of food and water long term storage.

 

[Glock Jock]

I would start differently than I did with mine and get a really good backpack. I went a little cheap and now need something much better.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

Im not clear if your prepping on going or staying. If your staying start with 30 days supply of food and water long term storage.

Suburban and where I live is probably safe as anywhere. My wife and I are both RNs so our skills are barterable.

Assume we are just starting out, though food supply of 30 days could be scrounged in my house. We do have a good stock of some food items and I have what I will call enough ammunition for this purpose. I know I would need water, but I am less than a block from a known spring. The city bricked over it, but frankly in case of emergency, don't care, would reopen it. I know of another smaller one as well, a little further off.

Bandages tend to just appear in our house for obvious reasons. But water is the big bugaboo. Do you guys store much actual water, or do you rely on springs and purification? What is the best play here? I hope to buy some out of town land that would enable a true bug out, but for now, I would have nowhere to go.

 

[jordanka16]

We do have a good stock of some food items and I have what I will call enough ammunition for this purpose.

I'm not sure it's actually possible to have enough ammunition.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

While true, I have some, and know how to lay that away. It's everything else I need to deal with.

 

[Jamie6.5]

I'm not sure it's actually possible to have enough ammunition.

It is if you have to carry it.
but if all you wanna do is store it, buy a 40' container and start filling it up.

 

[GOG]

I suggest getting water filtration handled immediately. You can find it, so you need to make it safe. Pick up a few life-straws or similar and keep a couple in the vehicles and in your packs. Home filtration can be fancy like a Big Berkey or you can make your own for about fifty bucks.

If you're in a house, set up rainwater catchment. (Beware eco-nazi water laws.) If you have a bathtub, buy a "Water-Bob" it's a big baggie you place in the tub and fill. They're dirt cheap and hold a tub's worth of water in clean storage. (I currently don't have one, I keep giving mine away. )

There's ton's more but just being where you're at is a leg up on the majority of society.

And one more thing, OPSEC. Play your cards extremely close to your chest.

 

[Koda]

Suburban and where I live is probably safe as anywhere. My wife and I are both RNs so our skills are barterable.

Assume we are just starting out, though food supply of 30 days could be scrounged in my house. We do have a good stock of some food items and I have what I will call enough ammunition for this purpose. I know I would need water, but I am less than a block from a known spring. The city bricked over it, but frankly in case of emergency, don't care, would reopen it. I know of another smaller one as well, a little further off.

Bandages tend to just appear in our house for obvious reasons. But water is the big bugaboo. Do you guys store much actual water, or do you rely on springs and purification? What is the best play here? I hope to buy some out of town land that would enable a true bug out, but for now, I would have nowhere to go.

I wouldn't count the food you have on hand for daily cooking, a lot of that is mostly ingredients that don't nourish well on their own and half needs your fridge which you can assume the power will be out and will perish in a few days.

figure on 2000 calories a day food preps per person basic staples food set aside for long term storage. Figure on 1 gal of water per day per person. The food wont take up that much space but water storage will.... you have to determine what you are willing to invest based on your place and extra space you have.
one 5 gal bucket of rice or beans will yield about 19 meals and initial cost about $43 (see details) and will store for like 30 years. Multiply this by how many people you need to feed and for how long.... I wrote up details on how to do this in another post a while ago you can read it here: Food Prep, long term storage, Pt2: 5 gal buckets

I wouldn't rely on your bricked over public spring access, hauling water every day is a chore and leaves you and your home exposed. I started a discussion for a water solution here that will yield a gallon a day for about 28 days: water storage system

 

[CountryGent]

If some reading guides would be helpful, I created a couple in the past. (And am working on a Cascadia one this evening.):

• General
• Nuclear Survival

 

[Certaindeaf]

.one 5 gal bucket of rice or beans will yield about 19 meals..

A 5 gallon bucket of uncooked beans every 6 days? someone's gonna be tootin

 

[Heyjoe]

1) Food (90 days) and water (as much as you can store) arms for protection.

2) toiletries/hygiene

These above are an excellent start.

I'll add that that the bishop's storehouse run by the LDS is an excellent resource for good tasting, inexpensive canned goods and other necissary provisions-honestly, the LDS have "prepping" down pat.

To locate storehouse near you is normally as easy as finding your local Deseret Industries hub.

 

[GOG]

Don't forget the Band-Aids part of the Beans, Bullets and...
So you'll need disinfectants, antiseptics, dressings, pain meds, antibiotics, etc. and definitely a portable first aid kit.

Don't be discouraged. It's like building a bridge a piece at a time.