Remember TEOTWAWKI?

[Fuzzyliz]

I always thought it sounded rather like a South Pacific Island!

I was thinking of this today when an advert popped up about a book about survival - the right sort of foods to stock up on, the way to store things, the way to keep safe. He was saying about the possibility of widespread food shortages from natural disasters, from financial disasters (rapidly rising food prices from the economic problems), and from further things like the end of the world prediction for December 2012!!

Obviously he didn't give away any of the information in his book. However, I did find it interesting in the way he was saying that food shortages were almost certain to happen and it was important to be prepared. It only takes a few hours to empty supermarket shelves but days/weeks to fill them up again.

There do seem to be more natural disasters - hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis etc. Over here when there is just rumours of fuel shortages - strikes, blockading refineries in protest at the huge taxes we pay on fuel etc. - then the queues at the gas stations immediately build up and restrictions come into place.

So maybe it would be a good idea to at least find out what would be the best foods and types of foods to put aside, and how best to safely store them.

I was thinking dried foods in tupperware type containers (packages packed together - not taking them out of the original packages just storing the unopened packs in big boxes - to protect against rodents eating them!). Maybe seeing if I could buy some of those water purification tablets.

Batteries, torches, candles, matches. We have a few gas canisters for when we go camping - we could work on keeping them full with our gas bbq.

Also a bag to carry essentials in the case of evacuation - what should go in there?

What do you all think? You are more used to extreme weather there, but lately we have had elements of it here - it could get worse. And whilst I don't for a moment think that the end of world is happening in December this year - I think there are signs that there could be increased disasters - my brother believes that it is possible that the earth's axis could be moving - I have heard of this from other sources, apparently it has happened before - this would cause immense upheaval along the earth's fault lines.

May all come to nothing - but the bible does suggest we be prepared, we look at the signs of end times which include natural disasters increasing.

Any ideas on things to prepare for and how?

[RobinS]

Oh dear. I need to get my website up again. It kinda crashed and burned when we split everything up in the divorce. I still have all the html etc...just need to find a place to host it.

[Jean]

Didn't there used to be a forum on the swap full of that sort of information? It seems to have disappeared, too, alas. There must still be some sites out there somewhere, though.

[RobinS]

Jean, you have to understand, I have basically 100+ pages (condensed in a Word document, as I was also prepping it for publication at one time) of info. There was nothing on living in the wilderness or choosing a gun (which there is a lot of info about if you go to the 'survivalist' sites Pretty much all of it was about the stuff that Liz was talking about: how to choose and use basic foods--how to store them, how to cook with them (incl. recipes), and so on.

In a nutshell, I would say a week or two of canned/convenience food that needs no heating or refrigeration, and then anywhere from 3-12 months' worth of more basic supplies--pasta, oats, beans, etc.


Water is a must--if you live near a river or something then water purification tabs will be fine, but if it's more than a mile it would be hard to haul the water that far. Note--I live near a lake but it's one where they dump the mostly-treated water from the water treatment plant (it has to go through the lake and a series of smaller ponds before it connects back to the main waterway)...and I know, having analyzed it for my research, that the chemistry is a bit weird. I would not drink that water if I could avoid it...water purification tabs only kill microbes! One of these days I should run in through my water filter and analyze the output...

[Fuzzyliz]

We have water all around. I live on the edge of the River Thames - where we are it is sea water! So what is the best method of making sea water drinkable?

I was kinda thinking that probably there might still be tap water but it might be contaminated and the water purification tabs might help - then maybe one of those water filter jugs? Would that help? Water is my main concern.

[RobinS]

To purify sea water you need a still. Basically, you need to boil it and catch the steam--the salt gets left behind. (This is how sailors get fresh water in the middle of the ocean--on the ships I've been on, the heat of the engines is what boils the water.) There are plans online for how to do this using a pot and a piece of plastic, I think...google it and see. (Google 'emergency still' or something like that so you don't get beer-making equipment!)

As far as tap water goes, yes, water purification tabs followed by a water filter jug would be great. Or you can get a backpacking water filter which will kill two birds with one stone--that's what I have for emergencies, along with a fair amount of fresh water in storage.

[robin]

Robin,
Your site was awesome. Yes, bring it back when you have spare time.
Don't forget when you store long term storage food it has to be in a cool place. So basement is best. Even 20 year lifespan food can be good for only a year if stored in a hot area.
http://www.longtermstoragefood.com/#aftertoc
I have been out of work for almost 9 months and never could have made it without food I had stocked up on. I had a small savings acct. and still have made it fine because of it. I am running short now but have hopes of selling my house in the next few weeks and then will be fine for years if I am frugal. Everyone should have food stored. It is easy to do if you give up junk food and buy extra of sale items that you use.

[Jean]

Everyone should have food stored. It is easy to do if you give up junk food and buy extra of sale items that you use.

We also have a couple of 5 gallon jugs (and some smaller bottles) of drinking water stashed away. Don't forget that the water in your hot water tank can be used in an emergency, also.

[Ruth]

We purchased 5 gallon water containers from this store: http://www.lexingtoncontainercompany.com/index.html. We have 10 of them filled with water stored in our garage.

[Fuzzyliz]

What do you do to preserve the water that you store? Back in 1999 I had loads of bottled water, and bottles that became empty we refilled from the taps, but everyone was saying about them going off!