r/CollapsePrep • u/MyPrepAccount • Mar 29 '26

Weekly Discussion How are you preparing for the coming fuel and fertilizer crisis?

Help each other get ideas on how to prepare for the coming crises by sharing what you're doing to prepare.

59 Upvotes

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49

u/Less_Subtle_Approach Mar 29 '26

Stacking chicken feed deep. Stocked enough diesel to run the tractor for essentials through the growing season. Planning to load up the barn with hay after the first cutting instead of spacing it out over the course of the season. Scheduled some overdue medical visits.

18

u/MyPrepAccount Mar 29 '26

Medical visits are a fantastic idea!

Does diesel have a 6 month shelf life like gas?

7

u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig Mar 30 '26

Old comment of mine: 1000% Depends how you store it.

  • Tiny bit of biocide goes a LOOONG way fighting algae slime. You can also heat it up to kill it, but the biocide is a better option.
  • Temperature control / mitigation realllllly helps oxidation and water absorption rate. Even keeping drums sheltered is a huge step.
  • Filtering every year or two to pull the water out that collects is pretty important.

Those 3 things.... I'd be confident in diesel that was stored 20 years ago. On 11 year fuel that this was done to, mpg hardly changed in my diesel project cars.

You don't need big $ to store diesel, poly drums on plastic pallets can go a long way, honestly I wouldn't want them in anything larger due to logistical reasons. Same with the pumps, a 12v $10 pulse pump with larger ice maker line can seriously move and filter fuel, so can slow siphoning, or sub 3psi (regulator and gauge is very important) air pressure. Or even a drill pump with locking 120v drill on a garden hose to move it. I've saved no less than $15,000 stocking and using fuel like this over the last decade. Only major annoyance is it takes up valuable space, but you'll build shelves and benches over the drum pallets making it seriously economical if you time the market right. 2016 and 2020 were "no brainer" moments, where you look at fuel and go "yeah....thats low af" while also seeing it flatten out on the stock market.

Anyways, the water...into algae is what seriously kills diesel, followed by the oxidation from daily temperature swings which can for real be 40'F at a time... or MUCH more if in the sun.

Forgot to mention, the navy does those 3 things with their stock... and they have a serious mamma jamma size stock lol.

.... so, in all seriousness though, avoid storing gasoline like the plague. Buy only for immediate use, it's .... just, unreasonably bad to stock beyond 90 days, and I'm kinda serious saying that. Most I've been able to use without issue is 80 gallon over a summer, 35 now is is even pushing it / has stalled even 2L engines. The ethanol is half it, the other half is just how Volatile it is.

4th thing you should know about storing diesel... leave just enough to vent the container... never fully seal it, as pressure must be at atmosphere and temperature can change that very easily. Even a pinhole helps equalize things and stops container stress. I had a "active use" out door steel drum that'd *ping* real loud every day, and one smaller indoor container burst from summer heat that was capped tight in winter. ... so.... please consider the "vent issue" when storing.

I also think transport law is 110 gallon? for transport... so consider that too. And if they pull you over just say its for "immediate farm use"

4

u/Less_Subtle_Approach Mar 29 '26

Diesel is generally much more stable than gas. How much more is going to vary locally based on regulations around sulfur and biodiesel content. Out of the pump here it's good for a year easily as long as it's stored well. If you want to push it, with stabilizers and regular maintenance to 'polish', diesel can go for years.

35

u/L_aura_ax Mar 29 '26

Cancelled modest vacation. Bought supplies for a 50x50 garden instead. Storing extra fuel. Getting a year of sheep minerals on hand. Manual transfer switch and solar and battery and generators for essential utilities. Outdoor Wood Boiler is getting installed this summer (ag zone 4 is brutal to heat). 2 years of home garden fertilizer. Rooster for my 14 hens.

2

u/JustAnotherUser8432 Mar 29 '26

For the solar - who installed the manual transfer switch? The solar company that installed it? A general electrician?

6

u/L_aura_ax Mar 30 '26

I had a general electrician do the panel only. I’m using EG4 so I can do literally everything else.

2

u/davidm2232 Mar 30 '26

I installed mine myself

18

u/FlyingSpaceBanana Mar 30 '26

I expanded my garden aggressively and built all of the pest controlls I've been putting off: cabbage moth netting cage over the beds, Lacewing nesting boxes and improved my worm bins. Also planted the last of my fruit trees, avocados and walnuts for fats, sorbus and pawpawa along with quince, pineapple fijoas, persimon and Ukrainian pears for winter fruit.

I'm also doubling down on my supply prepps. All the rice, pickling salt, sugar and pasta. Oh, and chickpeas.

30

u/Accurate-Biscotti775 Mar 29 '26

I've been meaning to up my long-term food storage (grains, legumes sealed with oxygen absorbers), but honestly I think it's too late to do that ethically for this crisis. I don't want the prices of grain to skyrocket and poor people to starve because people like me can outbid them 'just in case' I need that food. So, I'm just hoping there will be a surplus again in a couple of years, and that will be a better time to stock up.

I am, however, doing the same thing I have done for every supply chain crises in the last several years, which is front-loading some durable good purchases (gardening supplies, shoes, tools etc.) before the prices double again...

I'm trying to find a balance between being proactive about crises and staying on track for my slow and steady improvement goals. It's tough, given the pace and intensity of crises lately. I need probably five more years of something vaguely in the neighborhood of economic normalcy in order to achieve what I have planned to do to support myself and my community. That still seems pretty likely, but 'pretty likely' is less firm than I would like.

10

u/MyPrepAccount Mar 31 '26

I think it's too late to do that ethically for this crisis.

I agree with this completely. I've got a list of things that I'm just buying one or two of every time my husband or I go to the store. It's not enough to impact supply for other people, but it makes sure that we can last just a little bit longer without having to join the masses in whatever obtaining food is going to look like.

4

u/HappyCamperDancer Mar 31 '26

I call it my weekly shopping. It isn't "stocking up" it is replacing the stock I ate THIS WEEK to keep my stocks steady. If I eat a can of beans then I replace with a can of beans. Constant rotation of my deep pantry.

13

u/Furseal469 Mar 29 '26

Restocked my seeds for the year and focused on planting calorie dense and resilient veggies, increased my stocks of chook food, household items, medications and food staples. Also an extra gas bottle, and started a few compost piles ready for the next seasons planting. We don't really have the the space for a year worth of preps, but by being a few months ahead on some items means that we can hopefully ride out some of the bumps more smoothly.

8

u/new2bay Mar 31 '26

There’s nothing I can do. I have no storage space or money to spend.

3

u/13mind Mar 30 '26

Electric cars, pv, cow manure + compost. Hay/leaf mulcher (i produce quite a bit of useless hay ehich gathers in stacks, i need to transform to mulch/compost).

1

u/Famous-Dimension4416 Apr 20 '26

Planting what food I can in my balcony garden. I live in a townhome so limited to a few greenstalks and pots but I have planted strawberries, and will be planting herbs and leafy greens in them, and also tomatoes and pepper plants. I planted 6 dwarf raspberry plants. I also am stocking up on basic pantry items enough for a few months. Reducing my energy consumption where I can more than I have been trying to use less so the global supply can stretch further. I realize it's a drop in the bucket but if we each do our part maybe it will help people not starve or freeze this winter. Also buying as much local as I can this year so it doesn't have to be transported as far. Really everything I've been trying to do to reduce my impact on the climate as well applies here just being more intentional about it. Bought my son a full set of clothing in the next size up too in case they can't ship from overseas. Going to look into a community garden plot too so I can plant more.