A survivalist guide to the end of the World…maybe Part 2
The Apocalypse waits for no one. Part 2 In A 6 PART Series
Posted by: Steve Lindsey | September 13, 2021
What’s stopping you? Did you mention it to your family and was met with skepticism, laughter or even derision? Did they call you paranoid? So what? If you believe that having a little extra food, survival gear and a plan to deal with an event is the correct thing to do… why let anyone stop you? Believe me when the SHTF they’ll think you a genius, not a fool.
In the first article of this series Are You Prepared I discussed planning for an event.. I also discussed some items you need to be thinking about including in those plans.
So here are some guidance rules and as before nothing here is written in stone. I have said it before, you can try and be prepared for the Walker/Zombie Apocalypse and then have an asteroid land on your house. It sorts of negates all that planning doesn’t.
No one can be ready for everything
Rule #1 You have to Eat...
Ok here you have a thousand options. Everything from the old stand-by Military MRE’s to 5-gallon buckets of prepared meals. All shelf stable, all will keep you alive. Some are expensive, so here are a few options that will help supplement your “STASH”.
1. GrapeNuts and Granola
Yep the old standby cereal. This stuff is great. You can get the “Great Value” brand for under $2.75 per box. Each box yields approximately 8 individual servings of around 6 ounces each and can provide 30% of your nutritional needs. For a “on the run” quick energy boost this stuff is great.
Another advantage is its portable.
If you must leave your home you will need to take food with you. Five-gallon buckets are hard to carry unless you have a vehicle and it’s accessible with roads that are passable. Pre-prepared packaged portions will make it easy to carry and eat on the run/go.
What If:
What if everyone is trying to leave at the same time...? Roads will be blocked, and you might have to abandon most of your food. Then you will need to pack out small compact meal supplements that either requires little to no preparation.
2. Ramen Noodles
Ramen noodles are another often overlooked emergency food source. It’s lightweight, compact and needs little in the way of preparation. Water (1 cup) and heat and you have a hot meal supplement that is high in sodium, which would be normally bad, but in a hot or very cold environment, it can replenish lost salts from sweat.
3. Beef Jerky
Jerky has been used since man first hunted an animal and cooked it over a fire. It is a great source of protein very portable and since it is already cooked and preserved will last a long time.
Rule #2 You have to drink..
You can live without food for a couple of weeks... You can live without water for a few days.
You MUST have a source of water either potable or water that can be made potable.
Water must be on the top of your survival list. If you are in a static location, you can stay only until you run out of water.
If you are on the go... you will be limited by how much you can carry. There are some commercially available products which will help you obtain water from local sources. The Lifestraw or other similar devices will allow one person to filter several gallons of water per day from almost any source.
These products are used while on the move. There are others that allow you to filter water into storage containers.
In an emergency you can also create your own water filtration system from charred wood from your fire, some sand and a cloth like a T-shirt.
Simply layer the charred wood, sand and cloth pour your sourced water through it and then boil it for several minutes. The filter media will remove some of the spores and some of the chemical contaminates and other microorganisms while boiling it will kill the rest.
WARNING Chemical contaminates are the hardest to remove. Your makeshift charcoal filter will neutralize some chemicals but if the source water is even more than slightly contaminated it will not be enough to make the water safe to drink. So, know your source. If it’s a pond near farmlands or pasture lands chemicals like herbicides and pesticides may be present in the water. This source should only be used in an emergency.
Life Hacks
Similarly like the show “Doomsday Preppers”, I dislike the show “Life Hacks”. Not necessarily because they’re wrong but because they give people a false sense of security that everything has a simpler way of doing things. One such show was about survival. The premise of the show was the host suddenly finding himself in the forest needing to start a fire.
Ok how do you “suddenly” find yourself in the forest? I suppose Alien abduction, or a severe case of sleep walking might explain it. The host wanted to make a fire. So of course, he had no lighter so he took a 9volt battery and some steel wool and viola you have fire. Now yes, you can start a fire with a battery and steel wool. You can also start one with two sticks, flint stones, parabolic mirror etc... but why? First if you “suddenly” find yourself in the forest, how is it you have a battery and steel wool? Wouldn’t it be easier to just carry a lighter?
Here is a real “life Hack” for starting a fire.
If you don’t have a Food sealer, buy one. It has many useful purposes besides just sealing and preserving food.
Fire starter kit.
First gather the materials:
Ø Strike Anywhere matches.
Ø Fireplace log, fire starting brick or paraffin wax cubes
Ø Tinder material
Strike Anywhere matches are the type of match that can be struck on almost any hard material and the match will light. Cut the fireplace log, the type you light the paper and the whole log burns, into 2”-3” pieces and add tender material from any good source. I use a Typha plant that grows in huge quantities where I live it has a brown cylindrical “flower” generally about 4-6 inches and when opened has a fine cotton fiber that holds sparks and builds fire easily, but any good tender will do.
Combine the matches, a couple of pieces of the cut log and tender into a vacuum quart bag and seal. You now have an airtight vacuumed sealed Firestarter kit for one or more fires. Even damp wood will burn when using the kit to start a fire. You can use the paraffin wax or pre-shaped fire starter bricks, but they are costly, and one fireplace log will yield enough material to make a dozen or more kits. But hey, if you have a battery and some steel wool go ahead and use it if you want.
A real-life hack… Cotton balls in Vaseline kept in old 35mm film containers works too.
Besides Fire kits a food sealer is a useful tool for creating “kits” for your bug out bag.
Meal Kits- Premade trail kits with protein bars, trail mix etc.. it will keep them fresh and dry.
Dry Bag- One thing I have learned is a dry bag isn’t always dry. These are bags used for keeping your staples, clothes or other items dry if you get wet. Sealed bags are always dry, of course, they are not reusable but you can be sure the item is dry the first time.
You can also seal spare ammo, food items, spare socks, underwear etc.. anything you need to keep dry should you get caught out in the rain or must cross a river.
The point here is this... do something. Don’t just sit there thinking about it.
Events will make that decision for you and not in your favor.
It can be a hurricane, flood, pandemic, X-Class Solar Flare etc.… anything can and will happen, so are you prepared to ride out the storm and survive or will the storm carry you to the rocks?
The choice is yours to make…… until it isn’t.