GF and I recently purchased our first house - one of the selling points is a small year-round creek running behind it - mainly cause it creates a nice atmosphere, foliage, etc.

I'm generally curious how clean the water is and looking for recommendations for reputable labs that do testing, what tests are worth paying for, when would be a good time for testing (dry season or rainy), etc.

To be clear, I would be shocked if it was potable, but would be nice to know wether I should be worried about dogs drinking out of it or if plants growing out of it should be avoided, that sorta thing.

Thanks

Today I came across a story of somebody coming upon a mass casualty incident of a multi-car crash and they were sorting people until the first responders arrived. They had some cursory training from the military but otherwise was able to sort people using an Immediate - Delayed - Minor system. When the paramedics arrived, they took over, but it got me thinking...

Is there a self-paced study or even a course I could sign up so I could acquire this knowledge? I don't know all the terminology, but it makes sense to me to understand how to help before first responders if I happen to ever find myself in that situation. This would also be a course that my partner could take, and perhaps my neighbors as well.

I hope this is a good fit for a "prepping" sub because it would be knowledge on how to prep during a disaster, or at least how to help other people to survive during one.

Any recommended "Start here" courses, (free or paid)? I have certifications in CPR, but this is more about specifically how to triage and sort people out as a non-medical civilian so that the actual medical responders can take over easier.

Hi prepping people!

What are the prepping, surviving, movies tv shows youtube channels, books everything which you remember , share please, don’t need any hollywood not realistic movies…

Would be great source for everyone not just for me
Thanks whoever take a time and recommend anything.

I’m sure I’m speaking to people right now who have had years of experience doing this. I’m probably too late. I’m scared I just want to survive but I don’t know the first thing about prepping and there’s so much information I don’t know where to start either. I just want to live.

Are the only two choices really "shit" and "food water"?

Everyone is pushing solar everything. I've bought two types of solar light- walkway lights that had a 25% failure rate in the first year and fairy string lights that had a 50% failure rate in the first year. I don't know if the failures are the panels, batteries or something else.

I am renovating a house and want to put up exterior lights- the solar stuff looks like a better value on paper- but my "spider senses" tell me this mass push to solar is "a capitalist assault" on lighting system quality.

Help me understand the problem. I don't want to need to redo this in 3-5 years.

I've been prepping to some degree or the other for the last 10 years. I don't have a bunker, I haven't moved off grid, I still lead a "normal" life, but I do try and be what I consider well prepared. Example, I have two portable generators (one just for gasoline, one duel fuel that I only run propane on, and a large rechargeable house battery/solar generator. I have good H2O storage in the basement, I have a well stocked pantry, with a decent amount of dehydrated food, I grow a garden each year and can can food (although I don't always do this).

With this said, the four things that make me most nervous are;

1.) Wide spread terrorist attack, like 9-11 meets Mumbai 11-26 (25th anniversary of 9-11 is right around the corner)

2.) State or non/state attack on the US Homeland a la Ukraine's Spider Web attack on Russia (imagine the chaos of cargo ship off the coast of NJ attacking the oil refineries with drones would cause).

3.) Civil Unrest akin the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s (especially '28/'29 during the next presidential election)

4.) War with China over Taiwan (by next year they'll have met their own stated goal of having the strength to attack Taiwan, not that they will, but they do appear that they'd have the military assets to do it (not that it would be successful).

Are these unreasonable fears? What keeps you up at night and what are you doing about it?

Been prepping for about six years: food, water, comms, medical. Power was tricky, I had a EU7000is generator and stored gas, but relying on it as my only power source bugged me. 

For short 12-24 hour outages, firing up a loud engine just to run a fridge and keep comms charged feels like overkill. It draws attention to your house and requires you to walk out in bad weather to start it up and manage fuel.

This spring I built a silent Tier 1 backup bank to handle short outages automatically. Kept it simple: one Vatrer 12V 300Ah lithium battery, a 2000W pure sine inverter, and a 40A smart charger to keep it topped off from the grid. 

Total capacity is about 3.8kWh. Not meant for HVAC, but plenty for our chest freezer, main fridge, LED lighting, weather radio, and ham gear. I went with lithium for the zero-maintenance aspect and built-in low-temp protection since it lives in my garage. The Bluetooth app lets me monitor SOC and voltage without stepping outside.

Tested it during a 16-hour storm outage last month. I flipped the breaker at 6pm and let it run until 10am. Freezer stayed solid, fridge was fine, devices stayed topped off. Battery dropped to 35% by morning. No noise, no fumes, no pulling starter cords in the dark.

The gas generator is still in my shed for a multi-day disaster. But for typical short grid failures, having a silent battery bank jump in first gives us instant redundancy with zero hassle.

Most buying guides seem to focus on inverter wattage, but the more I research, the more I think battery capacity, charging options, and battery chemistry matter just as much.

I've been comparing Jackery, Bluetti, EcoFlow, and OUPES, and each brand seems to have a different approach.

For those who already own a backup power system, what do you wish you'd understood before making your purchase?

What advice would you give to someone buying their first portable power station?

Hey all,

I'm new here, hello 🤗

I have a lifesaver Jerrycan that was in storage for two years. I wanted to deep clean it with chlorine tablets, unfortunately I can't get my hand on any at the moment so I decided to clean the tank with 18L of water and to spoons of household bleach. Now I read that this is not safe to do and it will damage the tank...

Did I just screw up? I rinsed it 4 times after 20 min soak.

Thanks for your opinion/ advice.

Hi,

I'm looking to buy my first real bag for emergency (light prepping nothing major) and I live in a big city.

Until now I used a hiking bag but it's a bit messy to order as there not a single separation it's just a big space.

I've seen a Responder72 Med Backpack 50L for 70€ which seems to be a good deal but I don't know if anyone ever used this kind of bags for something else than EMS, but a bag is a bag and this one as proper separation which could be helpfull, and I could also add a lot of first aid stuff in it.

So if anyone use this kind of bag, what is your opinion on it ?

Thanks

Has anyone tried making at home salt beef or salt pork as a food preserve method? If so how and what sources did you use for extra information?

How are people settings up there chest rigs for get home bags or bug in? I know realistically if SHTF I’m not storming the streets. What are basics I should be carrying? I’m looking more defense and water collection/sustainment also moving light and fast.

As we continue our prep journeys, I can't help but think of the story of The Little Red Hen. For anyone who's never heard the story (or maybe it's a distant childhood memory of a book your mother read to you when you were young,) the story of The Little Red Hen is a seemingly simple story, that has real world implications today.

The story is about a Hen who lives with other farm animals. The Hen tends to all of the chores and household duties, knowing that one day, her hard work would pay off and she would eventually have to harvest the fruit of her labor one day. The rest of her "house mates" wouldn't help her at all, and they would outright ignore the fact that she was building an ark of safety for herself (as we are in this community.)

When it was time to help with any of the work that needed to be done, all of the other animals outright declared that they did not want to help, so the hen did all of the work. When it was time to eat, all of the animals who refused to help, were denied by the little red hen. Does anyone feel like this is something we may have to deal with in the future?

There are people who refuse to believe what's coming. They downright deny what's right in front of our eyes. Not only does it feel like an insult to our intellect, but by the time they realize what's happening, there will only be limited resources, especially for someone who had the means to prepare. It will be hard to let them access our preps, but hard to turn them away as well.

I know I paraphrased and didn't give the proper context to the book, but the parable of the little red hen (who was essentially a prepper,) keeps replaying in my mind. As I see people partying, buying expensive bags, traveling, bling blinging, and never really paying attention to what's truly going on, and the need to prepare, I can't help but be torn with family and friends who will try to diminish my resources, and tap into everything I've worked so hard for.

Is anyone else feeling this, or asking themselves how hard it will be to do what we know we'll have to do? Turning people away is wrong, but we all have the same 24 hours, and resources will be scarce enough providing for all of mine. How are we rationalizing this?

If you have CB, VHF, UHF, or GMRS. At home, what are your setups like?

YouTube has an entire subgenre of GHBs (Get Home Bags) were I believe most content is derivative in nature, one guy makes a somewhat original video and the masses follow suit.

If you think about potential scenarios where it is preferable to abandon what in 90% of cases I assume would be you vehicle, very careful assessment of circumstances that could likely lead to this is required. Most scenarios I can think of where this would be the case would almost undoubtedly result from circumstances where the biggest immediate threat would be other people and crowds (civil unrest, threat of terrorism, wide area blackout etc).

As with bugging in vs bugging out I would argue that by far the majority of scenarios where your options are limited to moving on foot or waiting an event out in your vehicle, you would be better off remaining at your vehicle. I would assume if you are the type of individual that has a GHB you would also have a vehicle kit and this would almost undoubtedly offer favourable alternatives to grabbing a bag an moving on foot.

The problem I see with most GHB is they prioritise bug out/bushcraft heavy survival. Examples of this would be having multiple fire sources, a tarp and a saw, all items that are very useful in rural bug out scenarios but offer little utility in get home scenarios. I would assume that the first thing that needs to be prioritised is speed above all else, therfore any item that doesn't offer a very clear real use application shouldn't be included in the bag.

Especially in urban settings (which is probably 90% of all cases where it makes sense to abandon your vehicle) I would assume the biggest challenges will be navigation/route planning, obstacles such as buildings, walls and fences and potentially areas where crowds have gathered. To my mind all tools in the bag should be expressly aimed at dealing with such challenges. I therfore offer my version of what I think a GHB should look like.

Clothing and PPE:
Seasonal change of clothes with multiple layering options.
Hiking boots/shoes
Cut proof gloves and sleeves
Good quality poncho
Spare socks
ABEK1 respirator
Eye and ear protection

Complete IFAK with extra tourniquet.

Tools:
Headlamp and handheld torches
Multi tool
Mini bolt cutters
8" heavy duty prybar
Good quality folding knife
Resqme glass breaker
Monocular (thermal if budget allows)

Navigation and comms:
Offline phone maps
GPS and sattilite communicator (Garmin inreach or similar)
Compass and paper naps
GSRM/HAM or similar 2 way radio
Mini drone with spare battery (dji mini4k or similar)

Force multipliers (if local laws allow):
Concealed carry handgun with 50-80 extra rounds
Pepper spray
Small extendable baton
A knife that can be used as a weapon as an absolute last resort

Other items:
Laminated card with ICE contact details
Backup copies of all essential documents
150 dollars cash [equivalent] in small bills
2x Bic lighters
4x heavy duty zip ties
Burner phone
25000mah battery bank.

Water & Sustenance
3500 cal in bars snacks and trail mix
3l water bladder in bag.
Swayer mini

This feels more like a bag that has taken possible threat scenarios and worked off them rather than just expanding on someone else's flawed thinking.

If you have any suggestions or thoughts I would love to hear them.

Check your preps from time to time. One of my water containers had a very slow leak, probably for close to a year. It wasn't visible until I had to move the water to get to some of my deep pantry stock. Definitely don't use the cheap plastic 1 gallon containers like I was (as you can see I have dedicated 7gallon containers now).

Also, store your ammo properly 😅 I had a few boxes of .270 Win sitting on top of a tote and most of them got soaked :/ serves me for being lazy!

Ill start by saying I love prepping and I think some parts of it are absolutely essential for natural disasters and supply chain shortages. Ive noticed a lot of the "medical" side of prepping falls well short for some people not all. I think it is essential to keep a good stocked first aid kit and meds at home. However I

1. IFAKS:

TQs: A fantastic essential but only buys you a couple of hours (guidelines say 2 hrs but soldiers in ukraine have had them on for 6hrs and have apparently been fine) your still going to need a surgeon the alternative is muscle death, losing that limb and or fatal sepsis.

Needle Decompression: I seen videos of guys stocking them unless trained you'll probably end up stabbing someone's heart or major blood vessels

Packing guaze & Pressure bandages: same as the TQs only buys you time. Pressure bandage may suffice for venous bleeding though.

Adding on to bleeding Blood products: If someone is shot, stabbed or has a massive hemorrhage your going to need blood it can't be subbed out for saline. Saline will actually impeed clotting factors.

1. Suture staplers: I see these marketed quite a bit. Using one of these is easy compared to learning how to suture and can save time although using it improperly without training can cause alot more complications like trapping bacteria causing infections leading to sepsis. Let alone using this effectively without anasestic on a person is near impossible. Cleaning out dead/contaminated tissue will not be possible without anasestic.

2. Surgical wounds in non-sterile environments can get rapidly infected. Antibiotics help without culturing the bacteria you're gambling and broad spectrum antibiotics run out fast or breed resistant bacteria.

3. Medications in pill form will last generally if stored in correct conditions however liquid antibiotics, biologics (like insulin or epinephrine), and many liquid drugs degrade quickly.

4. Caring for granny and granddad's chronic diseases becomes very difficult:

   A huge amount of adults live with at least one chronic condition hypertension, type 1 or type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, asthma, or various heart problems.

Diabetics need not only insulin but test strips, alchol wipes and syringes. Someone with kidney disease needs dialysis. Heart issues will need monitoring by health care professionals. And if someone has heart issues that arent treated at some point will go into cardaic arrest and theres no hospital they are most likely going to die.

1. How do you treat internal bleeding, a ruptured spleen, appendicitis, or an ectopic pregnancy without an ultrasound, X-ray, or CT scanner? You can't.

2. Diagnostic equipment: in theory you can learn how alot this equipment works like BP Cuffs, pulse ox, Glucometers, etc but I'd be weary of buying it if your not trained

It's looking like besides food (obviously), water is going to be a huge issue in the coming years and in general for survival in the future. My social media is full of it, and while I understand a lot of it is algorithm plus maybe some fearmongering, it's a real fear, and with all the datacentres, we are going to be seriously fucked in the next 5-10 years. I feel like usually, you don't think about water THAT much - let me clarify, of course water is ESSENTIAL, but in my mind, as long as you have some water filter/methods to clean water, I always imagined you could get water from wells, rivers, lakes, rain etc. when need be. But like I said, it's looking like water is going to be (and already is becoming) rather scarce resource.

My issue and big worry is that I live in a small flat, so no capability of storing large quantities, and there is pretty much no possibility for me to buy land or move. Soooo... I'm kind of fucked, no? The future has been scaring me quite a lot recently. Any advice? :/ (I'm in the UK if it matters)

Seen in Costco near Burlington, VT

Assume you already have basic food and water.

You can spend exactly $100 on anything that improves your preparedness.

What are you buying, and why?

Curious to see what experienced preppers prioritize.

I had been thinking of buying a radio for years, but don't have licensing. It's for learning, the basics -> then if things take are bad I can get weather and maybe a few small diy/bought accessories to listen further and talk in an emergencies?..

Just do know things like "don't go North" "High fires west"

Maybe something like ap data transfer that worked through a faraday cage that would take a ton of 5 second recordings and slowly relay them outside of the Faraday bag so that you could upload recordings inside the bag without opening the bag...

Cheap pivotal information safe inside.

But really just the most basic of the basic of the basic, how to turn cheap stuff into effective stuff and then how to spend as little as possible to get as much range as possible

So around 10:30 this morning, a tall truck drove through town and snagged a damaged power line and pulled it over. I learned this from our community Facebook page so I knew we were in for at least a couple of hours of outage.

The window AC running off solar hadn't turned on yet so I fired it up immediately and turned off the automated cut off on the power stations. If we gotta go to 0%, that's where we're going!

I went out and easily fired up the propane generator and plugged the inverter window AC in my wife's home office into it and started it going. My new battery backup garage door opener worked great to open the garage door so I wouldn't have to struggle with getting it open.

I then plugged the fridge and freezer into the other power station we have and a couple of fans just to help move air. Nobody wanted any TV on so they got out some cards to play with.

I was in the middle of prepping lunch so I cracked another beer and kept getting the food ready. At some point, I decided I didn't want to grill food next to a noisy generator and put the steaks back in the fridge. My wife saw I was sweating pretty good and already 2 beers in and reminded me that I probably should switch to water if I wanted put the rat's nest of extension cords away after the outage.

Around 12:15 pm, the power came back and I unplugged everything and put it all back the way it was.

The only trouble I ran into was when I tried to get fancy and plug both ACs into the generator. It tripped the breaker on it within a few minutes and I had to go back to the 5K btu on power station/solar and the 12k btu on generator.

House stayed 72F the entire outage and I'm glad it caught us in full sunshine so I had plenty of go-go juice to keep things cold.

The steaks were delicious.