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Emergency Bug Out

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6 hours ago, Scorpio64 said:

Go bags are fun to put together.  It's amazing how many essential items one needs for SHTF.

This is pretty much why I went to the bug-in model instead.  As mentioned before, just too much shit to have to manage, and all you're doing is putting yourself into a resource scarce and high competition environment, where civil norms are at or beyond their breaking point.  The idea of being stuck someplace in some make shift refugee type camp trying to fight with 10,000+ people for a fucking bottle of water, does not appeal to me.

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4 hours ago, sota said:

I have a well established average load of about 2000W in the house (that's over an entire year period, mind you, so it covers all usage.) 
as mentioned my fuel consumption is 5 gallons of gas over a 16.5hr period (which would suggest a 1666W load)
i'm definitely running in the sweet spot on my genset.
one of the things I've done in the past is study the load on each circuit, and try to balance the loading on each half of the phase.

These are good points. My suggestion is that people really need to have a plan on what's important to keep powered up versus what's a luxury to have running. Knowing loads of the necessary items that have to stay running is key. Making adjustments now is also important, like changing to LED bulbs and knowing what to unplug on circuits that are normally powered up to save on overall power usage.

Plus, refriges don't need to be powered on constantly. If you keep them closed, they can go multiple hours without needing to be run. What I did knowing Sandy was coming, was to fill all extra space in the freezer with water bottles. These all ended up being frozen before we lost power and helped to keep the fridge cold. Plus, before the storm hit, I turned the fridges to their coldest setting, to get everything as cold as possible.

When I fired up the genny periodically during the day, it was just stabilizing the fridges, as they were holding a lot of the cold already.

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3 hours ago, Sniper22 said:

Plus, refriges don't need to be powered on constantly. If you keep them closed, they can go multiple hours without needing to be run.

They can go multiple days without being run when it's 25 deg outside.

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2 hours ago, Sniper22 said:

Is it 25 degrees inside your house?

No.  I've put freezer items in 5gal home depot buckets and put them on the deck.

5 hours ago, Sniper22 said:

When I fired up the genny periodically during the day, it was just stabilizing the fridges, as they were holding a lot of the cold already.

The more full a fridge and freezer are, the less they need to be run.

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Under what circumstance would one need a bug out bag? Unless your house is on fire, why leave? If you live in a flood zone would be the only reason to have one in this state I think. Any SHTF situation I can think of except a flood I would rather hunker in place.

A fridge at temp will keep temp easy over night if the doors kept closed. More then likely 12 hrs. Like Scorpio64 said, the more stuff in it the longer it will keep. I had to put a piece of duct tape over the fridges door to keep my step son from opening it every time he went past it. :facepalm:

A "hack" for the fridge is freeze a plastic cup half full of water. Put a penny on top of the frozen water and place in the freezer someplace out of the way. This way you'll always know if the power has gone out for any length of time while your away. You can do the same thing with a half full bottle. Freeze it standing up then lay it down. You'll see if any water has melted.

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I just want to point out that for people like us, all of that "emergency food" or whatever you see in buckets, vacuum bags, and MREs is purely a waste of money IMO. Just look at your pantry on a regular day.

Right now I've got cereal, oatmeal, nuts, tuna, canned tomatoes, beans, corn, pasta, whey protein (GTL baby), canned chicken and I'm not even prepping, I'm just grocery shopping. Not including the vegetables and meat in the fridge, sauces and spices, etc...No idea how much you eat or how many people in the house but it would take us a couple weeks to plow through all that food...Some dude's going to be home during Sandy 2.0 trying to stomach some freeze dried meatloaf bullshit out of a vaccuum pack. I'll be eating some bomb ass homemade tacos or a nice spaghetti dinner. Hey I better not gloat, I don't want the zombies to come and take my Barilla! 

Also a funny anecdote, when my wife and I moved into our house we didn't have a fridge for the first few days. BUT we had a foot of snow on the ground outside. We made a big pile and stashed our pizza rolls and frozen ravioli in there for those first couple nights, we still laugh about it to this day. It worked!

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Once again, I have to concur with what @mossburger is advocating in his post above.  Most of us do not need to spend a lot of money for so-called "Prepper food supplies".  All it takes is a sensible visit to a large scale food super market, such as Walmart and select 6-12 (one case) of canned vegitables, fruit, tunafish, etc.  Realistically, you can ignore the printed expiration date on these canned foods since if they are stored in a cool and dry place they will last almost 10 years.  The important aspect of many of these canned foods is that they also contain water which can be used to cook the contents, heating them up, as well as providing dependable potable water as part of your meal.  I also have purchased some canned water that I intend to keep in case of an emergency.  Most of us are aware that water in store bought plastic bottles will over a lengthy period of time, leach some of the chemicals used to create the plastic into the water, possibly making the water potentially hazardous.  That is why it is more dependable to store water over a long period of time in either glass or metal containers, with metal less prone to breakage and lighter weight.  

AVB-AMG

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14 minutes ago, xXxplosive said:

What's wrong with leaching plastics...the ocean is full of it.

BPA (Bisphenol-A) maybe I spelled it wrong. The body thinks it's estrogen, in large enough quantities can lead to "feminine" symptoms such as man breasts, crankiness, lower testosterone which makes it harder to build and maintain muscle, puts you at risk of prostate and testicular cancers too. Same reason I personally avoid all soy products (phytoestrogen) and anything with high-fructose corn syrup (stimulates hunger and blood sugar spikes, aka the perfect storm for fat gain). Yes this means I don't eat half the food in the grocery store. 

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As I previously stated, in order to avoid the potential leaching of detrimental chemicals into the water inside typical store-bought bottled water, I prefer to have canned water stored for an emergency use.  The canned water that I was referring to in my last post that I have purchased is called Blue Can Water.
Here is a link to their web site:
https://www.bluecanwater.com/

AVB-AMG

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On 4/11/2018 at 7:54 PM, 1LtCAP said:

even(when you get desperate) one of those commercial propane heaters.

Never run a propane heater (of any type) indoors or even in an open garage.  CO kills silently.  

On this topic, make sure your CO and smoke detectors are always working and have spare batteries.  Running a generator near your house for hours at a time requires good CO monitoring.

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On 4/20/2018 at 1:15 PM, AVB-AMG said:

As I previously stated, in order to avoid the potential leaching of detrimental chemicals into the water inside typical store-bought bottled water, I prefer to have canned water stored for an emergency use.  The canned water that I was referring to in my last post that I have purchased is called Blue Can Water.
Here is a link to their web site:
https://www.bluecanwater.com/

AVB-AMG

$2/can  :o

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On 4/11/2018 at 9:19 PM, sota said:

Reading the western rifle shooters has me shaking in my proverbial boots. And I'm only part way thru it.

Still playing catch up here, so much to try to weed thru!

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2 hours ago, 345Sire said:

Reading the western rifle shooters has me shaking in my proverbial boots. And I'm only part way thru it.

Bracken is pretty accurate with his writings. When the next melt-down hits, and it will be coming, 100% guaranteed, plan accordingly. One thing Bracken is absolutely correct on, if you're planning on the local LEO's to help and protect you, you're dead meat. They WON'T be coming...

Plan accordingly...

 

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shit goes down in NYC area, sum1 should blow up the bridges/tunnels and keeping those f*ckers (NYers) on the island.   dont need anymore liberals bullsh*t in NJ.   hopefully, they can float off into the atlantic forever. 

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25 minutes ago, CageFighter said:

shit goes down in NYC area, sum1 should blow up the bridges/tunnels and keeping those f*ckers (NYers) on the island.   dont need anymore liberals bullsh*t in NJ.   hopefully, they can float off into the atlantic forever. 

Pennsy & Delaware are saying the same about NJ....

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4 hours ago, siderman said:

Pennsy & Delaware are saying the same about NJ....

can't blame 'em really.

6 hours ago, Sniper22 said:

Bracken is pretty accurate with his writings. When the next melt-down hits, and it will be coming, 100% guaranteed, plan accordingly. One thing Bracken is absolutely correct on, if you're planning on the local LEO's to help and protect you, you're dead meat. They WON'T be coming...

Plan accordingly...

 

 

8 hours ago, 345Sire said:

Reading the western rifle shooters has me shaking in my proverbial boots. And I'm only part way thru it.

Still playing catch up here, so much to try to weed thru!

I'm going to say they read with what I feel is a remarkable level of possibility, enough so that I too was affected by the "when the music stops" one as well.

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18 hours ago, Sniper22 said:

Bracken is pretty accurate with his writings. When the next melt-down hits, and it will be coming, 100% guaranteed, plan accordingly. One thing Bracken is absolutely correct on, if you're planning on the local LEO's to help and protect you, you're dead meat. They WON'T be coming...

Plan accordingly...

 

I'm not a fullblown "prepper" but I was a Boy Scout and am a dad to an Eagle Scout, so "being prepared" has always been something I have been into. 

After reading Ted Koppel's book "Lights Out" I became more determined to try to have at least the beginnings of a plan, and have been working towards being ready. 

Not having any relatives in the Rockefeller family, it's been a little slow funding the plan to build up the supply inventory, but I'm working on it.  Meanwhile, information has been a little easier at least  to come by .

A number of other writings, fiction and otherwise, have also helped. Someone mentioned the trilogy beginning with "One Second After", I enjoyed AND learned from it, and David Crawfords' "Lights Out" was another that did a good job of putting forth scenarios we ought to be doing as you said,,,"plan accordingly" !!  :o

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18 hours ago, CageFighter said:

shit goes down in NYC area, sum1 should blow up the bridges/tunnels and keeping those f*ckers (NYers) on the island.   dont need anymore liberals bullsh*t in NJ.   hopefully, they can float off into the atlantic forever. 

Ummmm, they say the same thing in Pennsylvania on the Delaware river.

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This discussion has come up on here from time to time on here, and I have said that I can't imagine a scenario where it would make sense to bug out vs. staying put in my north Jersey suburban location.  I have a couple of bug out bags packed, but mostly, I fret over all the pricey gear in them that I am unlikely to ever need to use.

As for escaping NJ, it is frequently said that PA and DE will prevent us from exiting across their bridges.  Even if that's true, unless my knowledge of geography fails me, can't one escape NJ without any river crossings by heading north?

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13 minutes ago, Old Glock guy said:

As for escaping NJ, it is frequently said that PA and DE will prevent us from exiting across their bridges.  Even if that's true, unless my knowledge of geography fails me, can't one escape NJ without any river crossings by heading north?

Geographically, yes.  But not infrastructure wise. Those land-only routes aren’t set up to handle the flood of people as they’re siphoned from water-locked areas.   Can you imagine a large segment of the population of the state funneling north between the Hudson and Deleware Rivers?

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4 hours ago, 345Sire said:

I'm not a fullblown "prepper" but I was a Boy Scout and am a dad to an Eagle Scout, so "being prepared" has always been something I have been into. 

First, congratulations on having an Eagle.... That's a HUGE accomplishment for a teenage boy!

I know exactly what you're saying, it becomes a mindset. I'm a former Scoutmaster and have two Eagle Scouts, so the "being ready" mindset is always there. My wife always says, "if she ever gets lost in the woods or gets caught in a natural disaster, she hopes one of our sons is with her, and she'll have no worries".

4 hours ago, 345Sire said:

After reading Ted Koppel's book "Lights Out" I became more determined to try to have at least the beginnings of a plan, and have been working towards being ready. 

 

4 hours ago, 345Sire said:

Someone mentioned the trilogy beginning with "One Second After", I enjoyed AND learned from it,

Two great books that help people wrap their heads around what will happen. Everyone has been too complacent about being able to flip a switch and power going on. Not having power for an extended time is a game changer for MANY.

I've been through multiple power outages over the years, but the biggest test was Hurricane Sandy. I was prepared, so it wasn't a big deal for us, but we went without power for like 8 days, it came back on for a few days or so, then we had the snow storm that knocked it back out for like another 4 days. Living through that helped me to refine my overall plan for the next one and longer one.

I've always believed there is only ONE person that will take care of me and my family, and I see that guy every morning when standing in front of the sink in the bathroom.

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Our new house has a built in NG backup genny, so huge upgrade over the gas one we have, though we kept it as a backup. 

Even when i buy my own place and move out, i want to install one... down here outages seem to be more of an issue apparently. This house is in the middle of some pretty open land and the 2nd floor offers a great view of most of the property for defensive purposes. Front would have to be guarded from the ground though.

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26 minutes ago, Lambo2936 said:

Our new house has a built in NG backup genny, so huge upgrade over the gas one we have, though we kept it as a backup. 

Even when i buy my own place and move out, i want to install one... down here outages seem to be more of an issue apparently. This house is in the middle of some pretty open land and the 2nd floor offers a great view of most of the property for defensive purposes. Front would have to be guarded from the ground though.

study of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. You'll notice that North Jersey had trouble with gasoline, but South Jersey had a problem with natural gas supply. Either way, whatever you do make sure you have a backup to your backup.

 

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15 minutes ago, sota said:

You'll notice that North Jersey had trouble with gasoline, but South Jersey had a problem with natural gas supply.

That's why you go with propane.

15 minutes ago, sota said:

Either way, whatever you do make sure you have a backup to your backup.

My philosophy... one is none, two is one, and three is where you need to be.

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