Do they make freeze dried beer?

Plague is a bacteria and more easily treated these days than a virus.

The plaque and rabies are both deadly, and the plague is a walk in the park compared to rabies. The plague is easily treated with antibiotics. Hantavirus and rabies are more of a worry than the plague.

I just do not see a total breakdown of laws happening. I rank that right up there with an invasion from China. Very unlikely.

yeah, but it's pointless since freeze drying by definition also removes the alcohol.

The taste after rehydrating is unlikely going to impress anyone.
Nor can you drink more of it and hope to stop caring bout the taste SmileWavy

I have a month and a half of food from here: https://readywise.com/

If we have water issues the river is about a 15 minute walk from the house.

In the 5th book in The Expanse series, Nemesis Games, there is an encounter with a survivalist.

Unless you are prepared to shoot first and ask questions later, you are likely to lose the supplies you have. I expect the military guys have been in actual combat will do better than anyone else.

A river, in most cases isn't the greatest source of water
On a basic level they are natures sewers.

How much flow on that river? What will happen when cadavers end up in that river you want to use as water source?

How likely is that river to pollute?
What do you have in terms of industry upstream that can pollute if left unattended after shtf? or from natural disaster?
Anything Nuclear upstream?
Chemical?

How many people upstream will use it to wash their bumhole after they ran out of TP?

So really : How much filtration /boiling capacity do you have?

For the OP

The most important thing is a plan. Start with what scenarios are likely to occur that will cause supply disruptions.

For "most" of us, this would be some sort of natural disaster. Usually, the disaster is localized. A federal response takes about 2 weeks. So, you need 2-4 weeks of supplies (Food, water, shelter, fuel) until help arrives. Everyone should have this level of planning. For me it is hurricanes.

It is insane that every time a hurricane comes near, the first things gone are bread, milk and bottled water. First hurricane I was back in Houston, I bought two 55 gallon plastic barrels and plastic liners. I put them in the upstairs showers and filled them up with over 100 gallons of water. Tap water is perfectly safe before the storm!

I examined the "likely" scenarios for beyond this and thought that some sort of pandemic (I thought an Ebola variant!) is the most likely scenario. So I had enough N95 masks for my crew and food to feed them. I learned I was short of toilet paper...I had plenty of chlorine (pool) for making COVID cleaner.

Civil unrest is my most likely next level, and that requires a bit more preparedness and training. The best plan is to not be where the civil unrest is likely to occur. So don't live in a area like Portland or Downtown Seattle. Or Austin, etc. Then be prepared to defend what you got.

Civil War? Nuclear war?

So think through what you are trying to solve then solve that one.

On Bug out bags, what will that do for you? I do keep a few things in the truck mostly to make sure I can get home. The issue with food in the truck is the summer heat here will kill just about everything.

For us the only natural disaster I can possibly imagine taking my house is a tornado. Tornadoes are actually pretty rare, or at least the F4 or F5s and my 88 year old MIL has never seen one in person and she was born and raised in Oklahoma.

We have a tornado shelter, that will keep us safe in any tornado. It is registered with the city, so they know to come find us if debris covers the shelter. Once we are out, civilization is just a few blocks away. A bug out bag is pointless unless you have some place to bug out to.

I just do not believe civil unrest is any more likely around here than a meteor strike.

Hurricanes, volcanoes, mudslides, floods, tsunamis, massive earthquakes, and forest fires are simply not likely at all. Wildfires or grass-fires are possible, but pretty low chance and there are no forests around here.

I really don't ever foresee a situation where there would be a need for us to "bug out". Civil unrest, stuff like that? I'm not leaving my house. Where am I gonna go? I'll stay put and defend my home. If anything was really that bad, you're effed no matter what. Any major "national event" same thing. Look at how a virus event trashed the supply chain of basic items. Think you're gonna go someplace and find things? Ain't happening. The last year brought out some of the worst in people, because of it.

The last major disaster we had here in NY/NJ area was Superstorm Sandy. That woke a lot of people up to the need to be prepared ahead of time. I'm gonna say close to 90% of the populace was nowhere close to being ready. Even something as simple as a two day blackout, freaks people out.
I've always been somewhat of a "prepper". We always have a large supply of food in the house. Have a house generator plus backup generators , that are always ready to go, with a load of gas cans always filled.
and yeah plenty of ammo... :p

Glen, civil unrest is after Pandemic but before Civil War. I'm just trying to show that you start with most likely and work on that first. THEN go back and prioritize the rest.

This thread reminds me of an adult version of when my best bud in fifth grade & I would plot in the early '50s what we'd do "when the Russians came." We lived in a small town in a mountainous area and stashed some "provisions" in the nearby hills. Among other things, we had a couple of cans of tobacco and cigarette papers.

I'm not going to be transient in an emergency situation, that heaps the vulnerability on your shoulders for your entire family, and increases the likelihood of terrible things happening. Where we live, the most likely disaster is a tornado, but I haven't seen one myself in 55 years. If I can't defend my farm, I will die trying (both my wife, and I are fine with meeting God, are you). I won't go out easily, without taking some with me however.

We keep 10,000 gallons of mostly clean (depending on the season) water in our pool, we have chickens, a greenhouse, 2 full freezers, piles of dry goods, and lots of building/fixing/homesteading skills.

Exactly the way i look at it.


.

It'd probably be this portion of the family that did most of that work.

https://images.immediate.co.uk/produ...ie-9cb6894.jpg

The only reason I personally have a bag is in case my house is unsafe to occupy after fire or earthquake. It's basically clothes, some basic first aid, power bars, cash in small bills and equipment to keep the night at bay and not die of exposure in my backyard during a storm in the middle of winter. Batteries are not stored in the headlight or flashlight, but kept in a bag with the headlight and flashlight.. A spare set of keys so I can move cars and unlock doors. I also have a USB jump drive with insurance and utility information, (this is also on paper in what I hope is a fire-and-flood proof location). There's a crowbar in the yard that's in a place where nothing will collapse on it in case I need to pry something heavy off of something else. I have a gas turnoff tool hanging on the outside wall directly by the meter - it will also turn off the water supply at the street.


Someone here mentioned a tarp, that is a great idea - that and a little paracord and you have a tent. There's a youtube vid on how to make a tent with a floor out of one tarp.

All my camp gear is located near a doorway, water to last at least a week. Food to last a while. I'm sure I'll wish I thought of something else, but for basic basic needs I have at least taken some steps. And I have a six month reminder on my phone that prompts me to check stuff - batteries, numbers, refresh the water in my totes, make sure my clothes still fit and are sound.

If it's a zombie event, all bets are off. Plenty of thought has been given to different scenarios. There's oodles of dystopian entertainment in books and movies to fuel the imagination.

Herr, for you, the bug out bag makes sense

Here's a interesting tid-bit.

Generally ofter 96 hours there is nothing a mother or father won't do to feed their children. Legal or illegal. Has something to do with the sound of crying hungry babies, drives folks to irrational acts.

This has been observed time and time again and should be planned for. That's why a 72 hour kit for food and water is so preached by the government. The government is hoping they can get disaster aid to you before the magic 96 hour mark. They use the 72dhr kits to delay that.

I base a lot of my actions on this. Sure folks have been without power for longer than that, but that's not the same as hungry babies. We generally as a society step in here and there and help. But what if there is no food for over 96 hours? Especially in this country.-WW

having lived through long term civil unrest where all emergency services were unavailable for days, i have to say it changed my opinion on what happens when all civil order collapses. i always knew prepping was kinda bull**** (no way to live a normal life in an insane world).

my advice is get to know your neighbors. all civil and governmental order will fail, but contrary to action movies, its not the purge, its not every man for himself. new communities rise to enforce normalcy. and those communities start with your neighbors, and your friends.

i know, i know, the fantasy of loan well equipped man coming over the hill to enforce truth justice and the american way is powerful. but its not really true. having supplies for more than a few days or a week is really nothing more than a fantasy fulfillment tool.

Well that went sideways fast....

Straight from the mountains no upstream industries, and if bodies start ending up in it, we’ve got bigger issues.