in the computer security world, there's the concept of a "threat model" - what security threats do you realistically face? a journalist or activist who may be targeted by nation-state actors has a...
in the computer security world, there's the concept of a "threat model" - what security threats do you realistically face? a journalist or activist who may be targeted by nation-state actors has a very different threat model than my mom does. security recommendations that make sense for one might not apply at all to the other.
I think it's useful to adopt a similar mindset when it comes to disaster preparation.
in that assumption, I don't need a "go bag", because I wouldn't be evacuating anywhere. I might get a minute or two of warning, but even that is questionable. that makes my "threat model" very different from someone who lives in Florida who has to worry about hurricanes, or someone who lives in rural California and has to worry about wildfires. in both those cases, they tend to have a few days or a few hours of warning, and in many cases will be ordered to evacuate their homes.
the main thing I have, that I would recommend everyone keep if they have the room for it, is a pair of 5-gallon (about 20 liters) jugs filled with drinking water. an earthquake could easily break water mains and cause the water faucets at my house to stop working. if that happened, I'm confident that I have several days worth of drinking water - without having to leave the house and possibly get in a fight over the last pallet of bottled water at the grocery store.
keeping several days worth of food in my pantry is much easier and pretty much happens without thinking about it. it takes a more conscious effort to maintain that emergency supply of drinking water.
The Threat Model is how a lot of survivalists do end up in these things. For reference, I'm in London. So 'bugging out' isn't viable. During Covid, my wife and I were in a good place as we've got...
The Threat Model is how a lot of survivalists do end up in these things.
For reference, I'm in London. So 'bugging out' isn't viable. During Covid, my wife and I were in a good place as we've got a pantry sorted in our attic that has around 4-6 weeks additional food stocks (which has now becoming a rotating 3 month backlog). This had started initially because my brain went "Hmm, Brexit MIGHT go very very wrong" and went from there.
We've got water collection going on in the garden, whilst not potable... we do now own a water filter that is good for rainwater collection. Also, this is the UK... it rains 95% of the time. I'm an avid gardener and really threw myself into it over Covid (because it's fun) and have been growing veggies almost all year round to add to the pile / meals we have. Keeps for sustainability, and the supermarket prices end up lower because of it.
So, we'll stay put if it all went to hell. We've then got two decent e-bikes (and a normal pushbike) to move around on if it got THAT bad and I've got enough equipment / tools lying around to ensure our safety and prosperity should the world actually become Fallout / Last of Us style madness... but that's just because I'm handy and own a variety of tools, rather than any dedicated prepping.
Firearms aren't a big deal in the UK, but I am an archer and have my compound bow and a crossbow that I bought five years ago that's fun to plink with.
So yeah. It's not a big thing in the UK, I'm a bigger fan of "Skills before stuff" any day of the week. Knowing the basics of gardening, rainwater collection, woodworking / maintanence, car maintanence or electricals can be mindbendingly good if it all went to shit. But also, they're skills you can train on the regular and in your day to day life, because they're just damn helpful!
I have a ton of emergency water in case of earthquakes, but please remember that up to 90% of the destruction from the 1906 SF quake was from fires that lasted several days. With gas mains leaking...
I have a ton of emergency water in case of earthquakes, but please remember that up to 90% of the destruction from the 1906 SF quake was from fires that lasted several days.
With gas mains leaking and water disrupted, it is worth while being ready to leave after an earthquake.
Ideally you should cycle out stored water, how often is a variable depending on the container, headroom, if you put any chemicals in it, and just testing periodically. How I would do it: empty and...
Exemplary
Ideally you should cycle out stored water, how often is a variable depending on the container, headroom, if you put any chemicals in it, and just testing periodically.
How I would do it: empty and refill 1 container a month + do a sniff test on the water to smell for any presence of mold or other growth, if no smell then a taste test. Wash each container every few refill cycles / as needed. Combine that with having regular store-bought filter-pitchers to filter the water through and you have a reasonable solution.
I would also store them in a location where I could easily glance at them to tell if there is water leaking onto the floor. If there is carpet, put down some kind of shallow tray - basically plan ahead for a container failure and set yourself up so you'll notice it happen.
Water itself cannot really spoil or degrade, so it's all about how you store it to prevent growth of other stuff in the water- picking the right plastic that doesn't leech or let a lot of light...
Water itself cannot really spoil or degrade, so it's all about how you store it to prevent growth of other stuff in the water- picking the right plastic that doesn't leech or let a lot of light through (algea growth likes light). Most tap water is already treated with the chemicals needed to keep it safe for moderately long-term storage, but you can read about adding the appropriate dilution of chlorine to really ensure it's sterilized before storage if you want to be certain.
Properly prepared water should keep more or less indefinitely, but as the other person says, changing it out peridocially while you have the option is a good way to reduce the risk even more.
One thing I have, just for safety is a "bathtub liner". You essentially just hook it up to your bathtub faucet and fill it up with water when there's a storm coming or something. Could keep the...
One thing I have, just for safety is a "bathtub liner". You essentially just hook it up to your bathtub faucet and fill it up with water when there's a storm coming or something. Could keep the house supplied with potable water for 5-6 days until water service is restored.
Suburban Michigan, US. Family of 4. We’ve had a go-bag in the past, but designed around an impromptu hospital trip than the zombie apocalypse. In our location we’re not at risk for flash flooding...
Suburban Michigan, US. Family of 4.
We’ve had a go-bag in the past, but designed around an impromptu hospital trip than the zombie apocalypse. In our location we’re not at risk for flash flooding or wildfire, so we’re more likely to bug in than bug out.
My preparedness plan is largely Costco. TP was on sale, so we but a couple. Next trip, I’ve forgotten how much we have, and it’s still on sale, so buy another. It was late 2021 before we used up our pre-Covid stock. And so there’s always a good bunch of canned goods or shelf stable food.
Beyond that, we try to keep the cars at half a tank or greater, have some flashlights, external battery for phones, etc. basically enough to get through a few days snowed in.
Peanut butter is also one of those things to have. It'll last about 3 years and it's high calorie. If you eat peanut butter regularly, just rotate the jars.
Peanut butter is also one of those things to have. It'll last about 3 years and it's high calorie. If you eat peanut butter regularly, just rotate the jars.
Emma Beddington With more and more people prepping for Armageddon, the answers to this question are revealing – whether it’s Babybels, cash, crossbows or toilet paper //Trigger Warning//...
Emma Beddington
With more and more people prepping for Armageddon, the answers to this question are revealing – whether it’s Babybels, cash, crossbows or toilet paper
The author Lauren Groff has become a prepper. “I think everyone should have a go bag right now,” she told National Public Radio (NPR) in the US. “I think every household should have enough food to last through at least two weeks. This is just logical at this point.”
Groff lives in Florida, where dangerously extreme weather has become a fact of life – we’re lucky enough to be spared that in the UK, at least for now. But as a semi-professional catastrophist – one apocalyptic sandwich board short of full doom-monger status – am I missing a trick?
Should I have a go bag and what should go in it? Online recommendations include water – one of my least favourite fluids – cereal bars, first aid supplies, spare clothes, medication and paperwork. Practical, but short on bells and whistles (actually, they do recommend taking a whistle).
After asking around for inspiration, I have decided that the first kneejerk answer is very revealing. “Babybels,” said my friend T, instantly, as if he had waited his entire life for me to ask.
“Two layers of protection, mouldable wax to make effigies of lost humanity – and you can use the bag to catch fish.” “Dreamies,” said M, still in thrall to her cat and its treat demands come Armageddon. “And Côte d’Or caramelised salted almond chocolate.” F went for cyanide capsules and The Golden Bowl by Henry James (useful for both entertainment and kindling).
My husband looked genuinely thrilled with my question – a first for any work-related research I have conducted on him. “A pile of cash (to use for the first few days, before everyone realises it’s worthless) and all the weapons I can find.”
What you pack depends on whether you are prepping for a temporary displacement (toilet paper, paracetamol, passport) or the end of the world (whatever my husband is bringing; he’s looking up crossbows online as I write).
But for both scenarios I have decided on my essentials: an insulated flask of dirty martini and several of the big 70g bags of Hula Hoops I usually save for weekends. The apocalypse is no reason to cancel my aperitif. What’s going in yours?
//Trigger Warning//
Description of gloomy scenarios follows
This article is written in a lighter vein but seriously do we need a go bag or something much more?
With all the climate crises (rising temperatures, melting glaciers, warming rivers losing oxygen, shutting down of oceans currents, pandemics, rise of resistant fungal infections, wildfires, torrential rains, tropical cyclones/hurricanes, earthquakes, flash floods, species driven to near extinction, tropical insects finding their way north) and not to mention economical disasters, unstable markets, craze-imbued internet, extreme attachment to artificiality, threats of war/conflict/attack, incapacitated leaders, prevalence of nonsense, loss of value of life, rise of the ignorant, denial of commonsense....so on and so forth.
Are these just normal flow of events or are there some signs in them that we need to watch out for?
Not forgetting the quasi-apocalyptic like scenario of Covid-19 quarantine. With these in mind, it seems keeping a go bag is not so far fetched an idea or is it?
I live in a tiny terrace house with my girlfriend - I barely have anywhere to store my jackets, let alone 2 weeks worth of non perishable food. I think the light-hearted tone to the article, and...
I live in a tiny terrace house with my girlfriend - I barely have anywhere to store my jackets, let alone 2 weeks worth of non perishable food.
I think the light-hearted tone to the article, and most of the comments, is because (at least to a brit like me) there's something very American about having a stockpile of munitions and rows of canned beans ready to go.
Not saying it's not practical, but some, probably naive (probably European) part of me thinks there'll be some kind of systematic aid or societal goodwill to arise in a time of crisis that might just see me through.
This is where I’ve always stood with this. Like don’t get me wrong, having emergency things are important: I grew up in Florida so learned the importance of being prepared for hurricanes (because...
Not saying it's not practical, but some, probably naive (probably European) part of me thinks there'll be some kind of systematic aid or societal goodwill to arise in a time of crisis that might just see me through.
This is where I’ve always stood with this.
Like don’t get me wrong, having emergency things are important: I grew up in Florida so learned the importance of being prepared for hurricanes (because good luck getting supplies after they’re known about) and I live out west now in the mountains and keep an emergency bag in my car in case I get stuck out.
But these are “survive for a few days until help comes” kind of things. I definitely will not deny the possibility of societal collapse, but I feel comfortable enough with the odds not to worry about it.
Societal collapse happens in all sorts of small, relatively localized areas that you won't realize you're a part of until it was too late. Hurricane Katrina was a wakeup call. The feds can't be...
Societal collapse happens in all sorts of small, relatively localized areas that you won't realize you're a part of until it was too late.
Hurricane Katrina was a wakeup call. The feds can't be trusted to do what's right when the time comes. Having as many resources locally as possible goes a long way.
As a point of minor contention - Katrina is the poster child for failures at the federal level, but as the link notes, all kinds of other entities rallied rapidly and efficiently to deliver aid. I...
As a point of minor contention - Katrina is the poster child for failures at the federal level, but as the link notes, all kinds of other entities rallied rapidly and efficiently to deliver aid. I think when most people think "societal collapse," they're thinking "the end of the world, nobody is coming, etc." And I'm with @nny on that one - it's just not likely.
I've been in multiple countries devastated by either war, natural disaster, or both. I've never seen it get to that point - people are much more likely to help their neighbors than to steal their neighbors' stuff at gunpoint.
But, to your point, having resouces locally is a great thing.
There's a term I learned recently learned, elite panic. Basically the wealthy in a natural disaster will panic and conclude that everyone is out to steal from them and loot their homes, and they...
I've never seen it get to that point - people are much more likely to help their neighbors than to steal their neighbors' stuff at gunpoint.
There's a term I learned recently learned, elite panic. Basically the wealthy in a natural disaster will panic and conclude that everyone is out to steal from them and loot their homes, and they will direct law enforcement to protect property at the expense of life. An infamous example:
Following the 1964 Alaska earthquake, the Anchorage Police Department suspended search and rescue efforts and hastily deputized a number of people as officers in order to act as protection from what they believed would be an inevitable increase in criminal activity, despite Anchorage residents largely engaging in emergency management.
The police were so concerned about looting that they handed "deputized" scores of random people, giving them hastily-prepared armbands with the word "police" scrawled on them. They then sent these scores of untrained "deputes" out into neighborhoods to protect against a nonexistent wave of looting that the wealthy feared. They didn't just suspend search and rescue efforts, but actively prevented people from rescuing their loved ones from collapsed buildings. The police didn't think they had enough reach to properly separate the people searching collapsed homes for survivors from those searching collapsed homes for valuables, so they just prevented people from digging through buildings at all.
Most people are good, kind-hearted, and seek to help their neighbors in times of disaster. But a lot of rich and powerful people see themselves almost as rich nobles surrounded by hoards of unwashed peasants. They think that the only thing keeping the masses from eating them alive are law enforcement. And when a big enough disaster occurs that law enforcement can't be everywhere they are needed, the elite panic and demand that law enforcement lock down entire cities. They will happily sacrifice scores of lives to slightly reduce the chance of their homes being looted.
Its true those things can and will happen. But they happen a lot quicker with a lot less rationing if everyone already has a few days or weeks of food and water to help. I'll admit that for super...
Its true those things can and will happen. But they happen a lot quicker with a lot less rationing if everyone already has a few days or weeks of food and water to help.
I'll admit that for super tight living conditions, it can be hard to store much. But a 5 gallon jug of water, a 10 lb bag of rice, and a 10 lb bag of black beans, with a pot to cook them in, is certainly better than starving.
If major supply chains ever break down, I strongly suspect we’re all kidding ourselves that friendly country folks with full larders will welcome us into their homes and communities. Any resupply...
If major supply chains ever break down, I strongly suspect we’re all kidding ourselves that friendly country folks with full larders will welcome us into their homes and communities. Any resupply that might happen will favor cities, simply because you can sell more product for more money in a city than some small town. Maybe people in the country wanted to help out people from cities 70 years ago when my parents lived in a war zone, but I would bet nothing on that happening today almost anywhere. If you take your “go bag” and go, you’ll mostly encounter people who are worried about their own supply chains and who have been told that city people are Bad and want to Take Their (resources, jobs, spouses, land…) for 2+ generations. Maybe someone somewhere will help you out, but it’s hard to come up with a realistic scenario where leaving our homes for another place not owned by our own relatives would be a good idea for most of us in any serious emergency.
European here too. I'm not expecting to live off the land for years, the aid will come - but it might take a few days to get organised. So what I do have is enough water and food to keep my family...
Not saying it's not practical, but some, probably naive (probably European) part of me thinks there'll be some kind of systematic aid or societal goodwill to arise in a time of crisis that might just see me through.
European here too. I'm not expecting to live off the land for years, the aid will come - but it might take a few days to get organised.
So what I do have is enough water and food to keep my family comfortable for a week easily available at all times. It's been used when we all fell ill and nobody could get to the store multiple times. Mostly it's just pantry staples we keep stocked with the idea of "two is one, one is none". When I buy some pantry item for a dish I'm making, I usually buy two and use one from my pantry.
I also hike/camp/cook in the woods as a hobby, so I have a few different ways of heating up food that don't require any public utilities. I also live within (European) walking distance of multiple lakes, so I'll practially never run out of water as long as I have the means to make it potable.
I like to think people would try and help each other out, but the cynic in me says if an event occurs that effectively upends how we live and makes it effectively impossible to return to previous...
I like to think people would try and help each other out, but the cynic in me says if an event occurs that effectively upends how we live and makes it effectively impossible to return to previous levels that people will simply fend for themselves. When there's no rule of law to make people be civil, that's when you find out who the real good people are.
I’m just voicing opinions here and not trying to say you’re “incorrect” or anything, but I think I disagree with your prediction here. Cooperation is always better than going solo, and...
I’m just voicing opinions here and not trying to say you’re “incorrect” or anything, but I think I disagree with your prediction here.
Cooperation is always better than going solo, and civilisation is just an extension of that concept. Hell, even thousands of years ago, well before any organised society that we recognise today, there are countless examples of people looking after each other even if the person couldn’t fend for themselves (e.g. disability or injury etc)
I agree that there will initially be upheaval, but I also think that people will pretty quickly form communities again (in some way or other) because the best way to protect yourself from people who want to steal your stuff is to have a coordinated bunch of people acting together.
I don't have a to go apocalypse bag, because that sounds a little silly. But I do have a backpacking bag, if shit hits the fan, that's probably what I use and bring. If it's good enough to...
I don't have a to go apocalypse bag, because that sounds a little silly. But I do have a backpacking bag, if shit hits the fan, that's probably what I use and bring. If it's good enough to backpack in the woods, then it's good enough for when I can just chill in the wood when apocalypse happens.
We had a chance to test this when a wildfire came through our neighborhood this spring. Our go-bag consisted of water, a few clothes, some irreplaceable photos, my laptop and important papers for...
We had a chance to test this when a wildfire came through our neighborhood this spring. Our go-bag consisted of water, a few clothes, some irreplaceable photos, my laptop and important papers for insurance, etc. When we looked around at everything else there wasn't much else we cared about saving.
Our go-vehicle has always intended to be our 40' bus type RV which is quite literally a house on wheels, fully self contained and able to take us 1800 miles without refueling, but that dang thing was in the shop at the time of the fire. Very disconcerting as it would've been a nice little vacation while we waited for two weeks for the all clear to go home. Instead we were stuck in a hotel room with two large dogs that were not used to being inside.
A party hat and whistle. Seriously, as a backpacker, i have mostly what i need. I could live off what’s in the pantry for a few days, and my hand filter is good enough to turn sewage drinkable...
A party hat and whistle.
Seriously, as a backpacker, i have mostly what i need. I could live off what’s in the pantry for a few days, and my hand filter is good enough to turn sewage drinkable (but not much volune). I have small stove and gas. I have energy bars electrolyte packs. I could probably last two weeks at reduced calories.
So, I've been a 'prepper' for something like... 20 years now? I had a lot of roots that led me to the preparedness mindset - I was in the boyscouts back in my childhood, my father is a history...
So, I've been a 'prepper' for something like... 20 years now? I had a lot of roots that led me to the preparedness mindset - I was in the boyscouts back in my childhood, my father is a history professor and history shows that, simply put; yes, bad things do keep happening. There was also a time (also back when I was a kid) that our family had death threats against us because my father was publicly decrying some of the white supremacist groups in the US - he was on Donahue and some other talk shows of the time.
Anyway, for years in my 20s I would semi-joke that I was 'preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse, or any of those other, lesser apocalypses'. I really enjoyed ZA fiction back then. But I was quite serious about the mindset. I kept up with martial arts for about 15 years total, went through a wilderness first responder class at my local college which got me into medicine and kept my interest though EMT-B and then through Paramedic school. I never did get a job as a medic, but also never regretted going to school for it.
My poor car trunk at the time was a burden on my suspension, sagging down with all the stuff I had in there, largely roadside assistance stuff like a 5-gal can of spare gas as well as oil, coolant, a jack and stuff for tire changes, tools, etc... I stopped for a lot of people on the side of the road to help out and stay used to dealing with those kinds of minor emergencies.
Some of these preps became useful when COVID hit - completely practical things like financial preps, being ready for loss of income and work did indeed dry up for a year or so at the start of COVID. I already had a stocked pantry as that was a long-kept habit. I had 3M half-mask respirators with P-100 cartridges which were very useful to have when I found work and didn't want to be exposed (I forget if this was just before the vaccine came out or if it was out but not quite in high enough production to easily access yet). This was particularly helpful as my partner is immunocompromised and I could not risk getting sick and bringing that home to her.
Now I'm a general tech contractor and have a giant high-roof van that makes my inner maximalist squee with all the available space to put stuff.
I do have a 'go bag' I suppose though I don't really call it that, nor do I label it as a bug-out-bag. It's just, in my view, an overnight / general preparedness kit in a backpack. There's a full change of clothing for cold and hot weather each, extra underwear and socks, a toiletry kit, a mini-toolkit for general utility, a little case with a good quality Anker battery bank and adapters so I can charge my phone or whatever else if there's no power, and some other generally useful stuff like a headlamp, some cash, a couple of non-perishable snacks (no large amount of food or water, just some granola bars and dry beef sticks), my old swiss army knife and so on. It was useful when I recently house-sat for my father as he and my stepmom needed some vacation time and wanted me to look after their cats.
While there is no medical component or major food/water component in the bag, that's mostly because the bag lives in my van which also has my medical bags (the smaller roll can strap on to the bag bottom if needed) and I keep a mini-pantry of drinks and food in the van, so if I needed those components I could pick and choose, plus that means the food and drinks I keep accessible get rotated as I use them and I keep stuff I like eating and drinking.
I prefer to spend more time prepping on things that pay off - like roadside assistance capabilities since those get used all the time, or tools that end up also being useful at work or day-to-day.
I do have a 'pantry' so to speak in my van with different foods and lots of liquids (gallon water jugs, sugar free sports drinks, canned coffee) - I just learned from past experience that if I...
I do have a 'pantry' so to speak in my van with different foods and lots of liquids (gallon water jugs, sugar free sports drinks, canned coffee) - I just learned from past experience that if I store liquid in my backpack then it will absolutely leak onto everything and the food will get ignored for longer than it should and be very stale - so I switched to keeping most of my mobile food / drink in my van in an area where I go through it at work and always have at least semi-fresh food/snacks and liquids instead of stuff I forgot about for 3 years.
With this setup, I could grab whatever I wanted for food/water and put it in the backpack if needed since I keep both in the van.
Here's what my province suggests for your emergency kit and grab-and-go bag! For context, British Columbia is in the North American pacific northwest which, as another commenter described, will...
For context, British Columbia is in the North American pacific northwest which, as another commenter described, will soon [1] be blown asunder in an earthquake the likes of which modern civilization has never experienced! Also most of the province is rural forest which catches fire every summer, and it's getting more intense year over year, so advice is also geared towards helping folks that need to relocate rapidly.
The idea is that -- if a major catastrophe were to strike -- everyone capable of preparing to take care of themselves needs to do so to give our emergency responders the chance they need to help everyone that can't.
I'm not a prepper, nor do I think we should take apocalyptic talk and prep seriously imo, but in case something ever goes down (it won't), I make my own arrows and gear in my garage to get my own...
I'm not a prepper, nor do I think we should take apocalyptic talk and prep seriously imo, but in case something ever goes down (it won't), I make my own arrows and gear in my garage to get my own meat.
Preparing for an apocalyptic scenario is probably a bit overkill, but I do think it's good to have a decent stock of supplies in case of an emergency, if only for your own convenience. In the past...
Preparing for an apocalyptic scenario is probably a bit overkill, but I do think it's good to have a decent stock of supplies in case of an emergency, if only for your own convenience. In the past few years we've seen some panic buying, supply chain disruption, riots, and even some water supply issues. It's made it pretty obvious that things can go a little wrong suddenly (even if not on an apocalyptic scale) and it's really nice to be prepared for these temporary disruptions. Of course, I think you're better off with a well stocked pantry and some water jugs than a backpack full of "tactical" gear from aliexpress.
People vastly overestimate the amount of meat that is available in the wild. I've heard all the wild animals present in the US represent something like 6 months of US meat consumption. You might...
I make my own arrows and gear in my garage to get my own meat.
People vastly overestimate the amount of meat that is available in the wild. I've heard all the wild animals present in the US represent something like 6 months of US meat consumption. You might be able to make your own arrows, but there are more than enough guns and bullets lying around to kill every wild animal long before the bullets run out.
This was actually one of the details that I remember liking about the original World War Z book. The zombie apocalypse wasn't just a human disaster, but an ecological disaster. The zombies themselves took out some wildlife, but the vast majority was consumed by people fleeing the cities and trying to live off the land. There was one chapter discussing a family who tried to live off the land in a remote lake in northern Canada. And while it started out fine, it didn't end well...
Ultimately, we can't feed our numbers without industrial agriculture. If everyone tries to "live off the land" tomorrow, it would only take a few months before the land is picked bare. It would start with the deer and other larger game, but it wouldn't take long for even the edible plants and eventually the roots and tree bark to be picked clean.
In a true collapse scenario, there's also no government who can prevent you from wandering into a forest preserve and killing endangered wildlife. In the face of mass starvation, what penalty can a government even impose to prevent such poaching? You going to arrest a starving person, put them in prison, and give them three square meals a day? That sounds like a gift, not a punishment. Even if you enforce protected nature areas with lethal force, again, if the alternative is literal starvation, people will happily risk it.
Partner uses an electronic wheelchair, we live on a college campus. We're not going anywhere so I don't have a go-bag. Also not in a hurricane or typical earthquake area of the country. Our...
Partner uses an electronic wheelchair, we live on a college campus. We're not going anywhere so I don't have a go-bag.
Also not in a hurricane or typical earthquake area of the country. Our emergencies are short term.
Yup. Being prepared is never a bad thing. The paranoid old guys were never wrong. It's just they seem that way in good times. You prepare for the bad times during the good times. Its like nobody...
Yup. Being prepared is never a bad thing. The paranoid old guys were never wrong. It's just they seem that way in good times.
You prepare for the bad times during the good times. Its like nobody knows the grasshopper and ant fable.
I'd kill to use that justification here in the UK. Meanwhile, we get turfed off land in England because we're not allowed to camp unregulated. Endless laughter.
I'd kill to use that justification here in the UK.
Meanwhile, we get turfed off land in England because we're not allowed to camp unregulated. Endless laughter.
Oh aye I know. There's a big push for it in England at the moment, one I am sorely hoping gets through. Though we have a lot of rich people who think they're better than everyone else.
Oh aye I know. There's a big push for it in England at the moment, one I am sorely hoping gets through.
Though we have a lot of rich people who think they're better than everyone else.
I think a lot of people conflate 'preppers' with 'survivalists'. Survivalists are the real deal, preppers are just posers, the kind who buy up all the toilet paper at the store.
I think a lot of people conflate 'preppers' with 'survivalists'. Survivalists are the real deal, preppers are just posers, the kind who buy up all the toilet paper at the store.
in the computer security world, there's the concept of a "threat model" - what security threats do you realistically face? a journalist or activist who may be targeted by nation-state actors has a very different threat model than my mom does. security recommendations that make sense for one might not apply at all to the other.
I think it's useful to adopt a similar mindset when it comes to disaster preparation.
I live in the Seattle area. the most likely disaster I face that would require emergency supplies would be a "megathrust earthquake" in the Cascadia subduction zone. (from 2015: The earthquake that will devastate the Pacific Northwest, archive link)
in that assumption, I don't need a "go bag", because I wouldn't be evacuating anywhere. I might get a minute or two of warning, but even that is questionable. that makes my "threat model" very different from someone who lives in Florida who has to worry about hurricanes, or someone who lives in rural California and has to worry about wildfires. in both those cases, they tend to have a few days or a few hours of warning, and in many cases will be ordered to evacuate their homes.
the main thing I have, that I would recommend everyone keep if they have the room for it, is a pair of 5-gallon (about 20 liters) jugs filled with drinking water. an earthquake could easily break water mains and cause the water faucets at my house to stop working. if that happened, I'm confident that I have several days worth of drinking water - without having to leave the house and possibly get in a fight over the last pallet of bottled water at the grocery store.
keeping several days worth of food in my pantry is much easier and pretty much happens without thinking about it. it takes a more conscious effort to maintain that emergency supply of drinking water.
The Threat Model is how a lot of survivalists do end up in these things.
For reference, I'm in London. So 'bugging out' isn't viable. During Covid, my wife and I were in a good place as we've got a pantry sorted in our attic that has around 4-6 weeks additional food stocks (which has now becoming a rotating 3 month backlog). This had started initially because my brain went "Hmm, Brexit MIGHT go very very wrong" and went from there.
We've got water collection going on in the garden, whilst not potable... we do now own a water filter that is good for rainwater collection. Also, this is the UK... it rains 95% of the time. I'm an avid gardener and really threw myself into it over Covid (because it's fun) and have been growing veggies almost all year round to add to the pile / meals we have. Keeps for sustainability, and the supermarket prices end up lower because of it.
So, we'll stay put if it all went to hell. We've then got two decent e-bikes (and a normal pushbike) to move around on if it got THAT bad and I've got enough equipment / tools lying around to ensure our safety and prosperity should the world actually become Fallout / Last of Us style madness... but that's just because I'm handy and own a variety of tools, rather than any dedicated prepping.
Firearms aren't a big deal in the UK, but I am an archer and have my compound bow and a crossbow that I bought five years ago that's fun to plink with.
So yeah. It's not a big thing in the UK, I'm a bigger fan of "Skills before stuff" any day of the week. Knowing the basics of gardening, rainwater collection, woodworking / maintanence, car maintanence or electricals can be mindbendingly good if it all went to shit. But also, they're skills you can train on the regular and in your day to day life, because they're just damn helpful!
I have a ton of emergency water in case of earthquakes, but please remember that up to 90% of the destruction from the 1906 SF quake was from fires that lasted several days.
With gas mains leaking and water disrupted, it is worth while being ready to leave after an earthquake.
How do you keep the water potable?
Ideally you should cycle out stored water, how often is a variable depending on the container, headroom, if you put any chemicals in it, and just testing periodically.
How I would do it: empty and refill 1 container a month + do a sniff test on the water to smell for any presence of mold or other growth, if no smell then a taste test. Wash each container every few refill cycles / as needed. Combine that with having regular store-bought filter-pitchers to filter the water through and you have a reasonable solution.
I would also store them in a location where I could easily glance at them to tell if there is water leaking onto the floor. If there is carpet, put down some kind of shallow tray - basically plan ahead for a container failure and set yourself up so you'll notice it happen.
Really useful, thanks!
You're welcome.
Water itself cannot really spoil or degrade, so it's all about how you store it to prevent growth of other stuff in the water- picking the right plastic that doesn't leech or let a lot of light through (algea growth likes light). Most tap water is already treated with the chemicals needed to keep it safe for moderately long-term storage, but you can read about adding the appropriate dilution of chlorine to really ensure it's sterilized before storage if you want to be certain.
Properly prepared water should keep more or less indefinitely, but as the other person says, changing it out peridocially while you have the option is a good way to reduce the risk even more.
One thing I have, just for safety is a "bathtub liner". You essentially just hook it up to your bathtub faucet and fill it up with water when there's a storm coming or something. Could keep the house supplied with potable water for 5-6 days until water service is restored.
Suburban Michigan, US. Family of 4.
We’ve had a go-bag in the past, but designed around an impromptu hospital trip than the zombie apocalypse. In our location we’re not at risk for flash flooding or wildfire, so we’re more likely to bug in than bug out.
My preparedness plan is largely Costco. TP was on sale, so we but a couple. Next trip, I’ve forgotten how much we have, and it’s still on sale, so buy another. It was late 2021 before we used up our pre-Covid stock. And so there’s always a good bunch of canned goods or shelf stable food.
Beyond that, we try to keep the cars at half a tank or greater, have some flashlights, external battery for phones, etc. basically enough to get through a few days snowed in.
Peanut butter is also one of those things to have. It'll last about 3 years and it's high calorie. If you eat peanut butter regularly, just rotate the jars.
Emma Beddington
With more and more people prepping for Armageddon, the answers to this question are revealing – whether it’s Babybels, cash, crossbows or toilet paper
//Trigger Warning//
Description of gloomy scenarios follows
This article is written in a lighter vein but seriously do we need a go bag or something much more?
With all the climate crises (rising temperatures, melting glaciers, warming rivers losing oxygen, shutting down of oceans currents, pandemics, rise of resistant fungal infections, wildfires, torrential rains, tropical cyclones/hurricanes, earthquakes, flash floods, species driven to near extinction, tropical insects finding their way north) and not to mention economical disasters, unstable markets, craze-imbued internet, extreme attachment to artificiality, threats of war/conflict/attack, incapacitated leaders, prevalence of nonsense, loss of value of life, rise of the ignorant, denial of commonsense....so on and so forth.
Are these just normal flow of events or are there some signs in them that we need to watch out for?
Not forgetting the quasi-apocalyptic like scenario of Covid-19 quarantine. With these in mind, it seems keeping a go bag is not so far fetched an idea or is it?
I live in a tiny terrace house with my girlfriend - I barely have anywhere to store my jackets, let alone 2 weeks worth of non perishable food.
I think the light-hearted tone to the article, and most of the comments, is because (at least to a brit like me) there's something very American about having a stockpile of munitions and rows of canned beans ready to go.
Not saying it's not practical, but some, probably naive (probably European) part of me thinks there'll be some kind of systematic aid or societal goodwill to arise in a time of crisis that might just see me through.
This is where I’ve always stood with this.
Like don’t get me wrong, having emergency things are important: I grew up in Florida so learned the importance of being prepared for hurricanes (because good luck getting supplies after they’re known about) and I live out west now in the mountains and keep an emergency bag in my car in case I get stuck out.
But these are “survive for a few days until help comes” kind of things. I definitely will not deny the possibility of societal collapse, but I feel comfortable enough with the odds not to worry about it.
Societal collapse happens in all sorts of small, relatively localized areas that you won't realize you're a part of until it was too late.
Hurricane Katrina was a wakeup call. The feds can't be trusted to do what's right when the time comes. Having as many resources locally as possible goes a long way.
As a point of minor contention - Katrina is the poster child for failures at the federal level, but as the link notes, all kinds of other entities rallied rapidly and efficiently to deliver aid. I think when most people think "societal collapse," they're thinking "the end of the world, nobody is coming, etc." And I'm with @nny on that one - it's just not likely.
I've been in multiple countries devastated by either war, natural disaster, or both. I've never seen it get to that point - people are much more likely to help their neighbors than to steal their neighbors' stuff at gunpoint.
But, to your point, having resouces locally is a great thing.
There's a term I learned recently learned, elite panic. Basically the wealthy in a natural disaster will panic and conclude that everyone is out to steal from them and loot their homes, and they will direct law enforcement to protect property at the expense of life. An infamous example:
The police were so concerned about looting that they handed "deputized" scores of random people, giving them hastily-prepared armbands with the word "police" scrawled on them. They then sent these scores of untrained "deputes" out into neighborhoods to protect against a nonexistent wave of looting that the wealthy feared. They didn't just suspend search and rescue efforts, but actively prevented people from rescuing their loved ones from collapsed buildings. The police didn't think they had enough reach to properly separate the people searching collapsed homes for survivors from those searching collapsed homes for valuables, so they just prevented people from digging through buildings at all.
Most people are good, kind-hearted, and seek to help their neighbors in times of disaster. But a lot of rich and powerful people see themselves almost as rich nobles surrounded by hoards of unwashed peasants. They think that the only thing keeping the masses from eating them alive are law enforcement. And when a big enough disaster occurs that law enforcement can't be everywhere they are needed, the elite panic and demand that law enforcement lock down entire cities. They will happily sacrifice scores of lives to slightly reduce the chance of their homes being looted.
Its true those things can and will happen. But they happen a lot quicker with a lot less rationing if everyone already has a few days or weeks of food and water to help.
I'll admit that for super tight living conditions, it can be hard to store much. But a 5 gallon jug of water, a 10 lb bag of rice, and a 10 lb bag of black beans, with a pot to cook them in, is certainly better than starving.
If major supply chains ever break down, I strongly suspect we’re all kidding ourselves that friendly country folks with full larders will welcome us into their homes and communities. Any resupply that might happen will favor cities, simply because you can sell more product for more money in a city than some small town. Maybe people in the country wanted to help out people from cities 70 years ago when my parents lived in a war zone, but I would bet nothing on that happening today almost anywhere. If you take your “go bag” and go, you’ll mostly encounter people who are worried about their own supply chains and who have been told that city people are Bad and want to Take Their (resources, jobs, spouses, land…) for 2+ generations. Maybe someone somewhere will help you out, but it’s hard to come up with a realistic scenario where leaving our homes for another place not owned by our own relatives would be a good idea for most of us in any serious emergency.
European here too. I'm not expecting to live off the land for years, the aid will come - but it might take a few days to get organised.
So what I do have is enough water and food to keep my family comfortable for a week easily available at all times. It's been used when we all fell ill and nobody could get to the store multiple times. Mostly it's just pantry staples we keep stocked with the idea of "two is one, one is none". When I buy some pantry item for a dish I'm making, I usually buy two and use one from my pantry.
I also hike/camp/cook in the woods as a hobby, so I have a few different ways of heating up food that don't require any public utilities. I also live within (European) walking distance of multiple lakes, so I'll practially never run out of water as long as I have the means to make it potable.
I like to think people would try and help each other out, but the cynic in me says if an event occurs that effectively upends how we live and makes it effectively impossible to return to previous levels that people will simply fend for themselves. When there's no rule of law to make people be civil, that's when you find out who the real good people are.
I’m just voicing opinions here and not trying to say you’re “incorrect” or anything, but I think I disagree with your prediction here.
Cooperation is always better than going solo, and civilisation is just an extension of that concept. Hell, even thousands of years ago, well before any organised society that we recognise today, there are countless examples of people looking after each other even if the person couldn’t fend for themselves (e.g. disability or injury etc)
I agree that there will initially be upheaval, but I also think that people will pretty quickly form communities again (in some way or other) because the best way to protect yourself from people who want to steal your stuff is to have a coordinated bunch of people acting together.
Just my two cents
I mean, everyone should have a go bag. And a "stay" box.
Here's a good start
I don't have a to go apocalypse bag, because that sounds a little silly. But I do have a backpacking bag, if shit hits the fan, that's probably what I use and bring. If it's good enough to backpack in the woods, then it's good enough for when I can just chill in the wood when apocalypse happens.
We had a chance to test this when a wildfire came through our neighborhood this spring. Our go-bag consisted of water, a few clothes, some irreplaceable photos, my laptop and important papers for insurance, etc. When we looked around at everything else there wasn't much else we cared about saving.
Our go-vehicle has always intended to be our 40' bus type RV which is quite literally a house on wheels, fully self contained and able to take us 1800 miles without refueling, but that dang thing was in the shop at the time of the fire. Very disconcerting as it would've been a nice little vacation while we waited for two weeks for the all clear to go home. Instead we were stuck in a hotel room with two large dogs that were not used to being inside.
A party hat and whistle.
Seriously, as a backpacker, i have mostly what i need. I could live off what’s in the pantry for a few days, and my hand filter is good enough to turn sewage drinkable (but not much volune). I have small stove and gas. I have energy bars electrolyte packs. I could probably last two weeks at reduced calories.
So, I've been a 'prepper' for something like... 20 years now? I had a lot of roots that led me to the preparedness mindset - I was in the boyscouts back in my childhood, my father is a history professor and history shows that, simply put; yes, bad things do keep happening. There was also a time (also back when I was a kid) that our family had death threats against us because my father was publicly decrying some of the white supremacist groups in the US - he was on Donahue and some other talk shows of the time.
Anyway, for years in my 20s I would semi-joke that I was 'preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse, or any of those other, lesser apocalypses'. I really enjoyed ZA fiction back then. But I was quite serious about the mindset. I kept up with martial arts for about 15 years total, went through a wilderness first responder class at my local college which got me into medicine and kept my interest though EMT-B and then through Paramedic school. I never did get a job as a medic, but also never regretted going to school for it.
My poor car trunk at the time was a burden on my suspension, sagging down with all the stuff I had in there, largely roadside assistance stuff like a 5-gal can of spare gas as well as oil, coolant, a jack and stuff for tire changes, tools, etc... I stopped for a lot of people on the side of the road to help out and stay used to dealing with those kinds of minor emergencies.
Some of these preps became useful when COVID hit - completely practical things like financial preps, being ready for loss of income and work did indeed dry up for a year or so at the start of COVID. I already had a stocked pantry as that was a long-kept habit. I had 3M half-mask respirators with P-100 cartridges which were very useful to have when I found work and didn't want to be exposed (I forget if this was just before the vaccine came out or if it was out but not quite in high enough production to easily access yet). This was particularly helpful as my partner is immunocompromised and I could not risk getting sick and bringing that home to her.
Now I'm a general tech contractor and have a giant high-roof van that makes my inner maximalist squee with all the available space to put stuff.
I do have a 'go bag' I suppose though I don't really call it that, nor do I label it as a bug-out-bag. It's just, in my view, an overnight / general preparedness kit in a backpack. There's a full change of clothing for cold and hot weather each, extra underwear and socks, a toiletry kit, a mini-toolkit for general utility, a little case with a good quality Anker battery bank and adapters so I can charge my phone or whatever else if there's no power, and some other generally useful stuff like a headlamp, some cash, a couple of non-perishable snacks (no large amount of food or water, just some granola bars and dry beef sticks), my old swiss army knife and so on. It was useful when I recently house-sat for my father as he and my stepmom needed some vacation time and wanted me to look after their cats.
While there is no medical component or major food/water component in the bag, that's mostly because the bag lives in my van which also has my medical bags (the smaller roll can strap on to the bag bottom if needed) and I keep a mini-pantry of drinks and food in the van, so if I needed those components I could pick and choose, plus that means the food and drinks I keep accessible get rotated as I use them and I keep stuff I like eating and drinking.
I prefer to spend more time prepping on things that pay off - like roadside assistance capabilities since those get used all the time, or tools that end up also being useful at work or day-to-day.
I do have a 'pantry' so to speak in my van with different foods and lots of liquids (gallon water jugs, sugar free sports drinks, canned coffee) - I just learned from past experience that if I store liquid in my backpack then it will absolutely leak onto everything and the food will get ignored for longer than it should and be very stale - so I switched to keeping most of my mobile food / drink in my van in an area where I go through it at work and always have at least semi-fresh food/snacks and liquids instead of stuff I forgot about for 3 years.
With this setup, I could grab whatever I wanted for food/water and put it in the backpack if needed since I keep both in the van.
Here's what my province suggests for your emergency kit and grab-and-go bag!
For context, British Columbia is in the North American pacific northwest which, as another commenter described, will soon [1] be blown asunder in an earthquake the likes of which modern civilization has never experienced! Also most of the province is rural forest which catches fire every summer, and it's getting more intense year over year, so advice is also geared towards helping folks that need to relocate rapidly.
The idea is that -- if a major catastrophe were to strike -- everyone capable of preparing to take care of themselves needs to do so to give our emergency responders the chance they need to help everyone that can't.
[1]: geologically soon
I'm not a prepper, nor do I think we should take apocalyptic talk and prep seriously imo, but in case something ever goes down (it won't), I make my own arrows and gear in my garage to get my own meat.
Preparing for an apocalyptic scenario is probably a bit overkill, but I do think it's good to have a decent stock of supplies in case of an emergency, if only for your own convenience. In the past few years we've seen some panic buying, supply chain disruption, riots, and even some water supply issues. It's made it pretty obvious that things can go a little wrong suddenly (even if not on an apocalyptic scale) and it's really nice to be prepared for these temporary disruptions. Of course, I think you're better off with a well stocked pantry and some water jugs than a backpack full of "tactical" gear from aliexpress.
People vastly overestimate the amount of meat that is available in the wild. I've heard all the wild animals present in the US represent something like 6 months of US meat consumption. You might be able to make your own arrows, but there are more than enough guns and bullets lying around to kill every wild animal long before the bullets run out.
This was actually one of the details that I remember liking about the original World War Z book. The zombie apocalypse wasn't just a human disaster, but an ecological disaster. The zombies themselves took out some wildlife, but the vast majority was consumed by people fleeing the cities and trying to live off the land. There was one chapter discussing a family who tried to live off the land in a remote lake in northern Canada. And while it started out fine, it didn't end well...
Ultimately, we can't feed our numbers without industrial agriculture. If everyone tries to "live off the land" tomorrow, it would only take a few months before the land is picked bare. It would start with the deer and other larger game, but it wouldn't take long for even the edible plants and eventually the roots and tree bark to be picked clean.
In a true collapse scenario, there's also no government who can prevent you from wandering into a forest preserve and killing endangered wildlife. In the face of mass starvation, what penalty can a government even impose to prevent such poaching? You going to arrest a starving person, put them in prison, and give them three square meals a day? That sounds like a gift, not a punishment. Even if you enforce protected nature areas with lethal force, again, if the alternative is literal starvation, people will happily risk it.
Partner uses an electronic wheelchair, we live on a college campus. We're not going anywhere so I don't have a go-bag.
Also not in a hurricane or typical earthquake area of the country. Our emergencies are short term.
If the zombies hit I have other worries.
Yup. Being prepared is never a bad thing. The paranoid old guys were never wrong. It's just they seem that way in good times.
You prepare for the bad times during the good times. Its like nobody knows the grasshopper and ant fable.
It's quite literally what was meant by "a well regulated militia" in the 2nd Amendment.
I'd kill to use that justification here in the UK.
Meanwhile, we get turfed off land in England because we're not allowed to camp unregulated. Endless laughter.
Oh that's true in the USA as well. Sleeping in your car on the side of the road is potentially a crime.
Go to Scotland! They have the Right to Roam, including wild camping; it was one of my favourite discoveries after I moved there.
Oh aye I know. There's a big push for it in England at the moment, one I am sorely hoping gets through.
Though we have a lot of rich people who think they're better than everyone else.
In Canada, as long as you don't wreck the place and take all your trash with you, it's legal to camp for free on Crown land for short periods of time.
I think a lot of people conflate 'preppers' with 'survivalists'. Survivalists are the real deal, preppers are just posers, the kind who buy up all the toilet paper at the store.