I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 27 years, disabled daughter, college-aged son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!I've been reading a survival blog for about a week or so. It's by one of those people who are preparing for the end of the world as we know it. It's been interesting reading, especially in light of what has happened on the East Coast this week. I imagine in some places it really has become the end of their individual worlds, especially for those who were not prepared for the wrath of Sandy.
It's definitely made me think about how prepared I would be to handle a similar emergency. Although we don't get hurricanes here, there is always the chance of one of the volcanos blowing again. Depending on the wind, we could get hit by ash from Mt. Saint Helens. Mt. Baker is a constant steamer, if it ever woke up we could get hit by more than ash. And of course there are always earthquakes living here in the ring of fire. Though we are most likely to be stuck at home due to a Nor'easter blizzard than anything else.
I think the longest I've ever gone without power was five days. But we had the wood stove and we had water and ice and a good store of canned goods. We had kerosene lamps and candles and I could charge my laptop off the car battery.
I decided to inventory what we do have if the power fails. We have enough canned goods to get through about a week. More if you count all the jam and tomatoes, but I'm talking more canned meats and vegetables. I think that is something I should probably rectify. I have plenty of food in the freezer but that does not help me much if the power fails.
I also need to set in a store of water. I mean we have the rain barrels, three of them, but any water from them would have to be boiled, so I think I should get in several gallons of drinking water. I also need to work on canned meat and canned fruit and a bit more canned veg. Pineapple is my number one priority for fruit as it would hold off things like scurvy or vitamin C deficiency. But we should have more green beans on hand. I'd like to keep a fairly balanced diet and that would help.
I have been watching videos on how to can your own beef, chicken, or venison, so as I get a surplus going I may do that. I'd rather know where my meat is coming from and can it myself, but meanwhile I have 12 cans of beef, 2 cans of chicken, and four cans of tuna.
I'd really prefer to be able to survive more than a week without a grocery store. In the case of a disaster it could be several weeks before we got our infrastructure back.
How about you guys? How long could you survive without power?
I've Been Thinking About Survival
November 1st, 2012 at 07:52 pm
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November 1st, 2012 at 11:42 pm 1351813364
Baselle--I know. Really the only thing that doesn't use a pressure canner is fruit, and even some of that you have to add lemon juice to if you do water bath can.
November 2nd, 2012 at 02:23 pm 1351866198
As I mentioned on the forum, my family would be good in an emergency for a relatively long time. DH is into survival as a hobby, so we're pretty prepared for whatever might come (both if we stay home or have to evacuate). That being said, you really don't know how prepared you are until you get into a situation that requires you to put your supplies and skills to use. Still, I think we'd do pretty well.
We have chickens, too. If they weren't killed in some sort of disaster we could have chicken meat, though it wouldn't be easy to kill them because the kids consider them as pets.
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1st step, no cost, have a 'call in emergency' person in an other city to keep communications going.
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November 9th, 2012 at 11:51 am 1352461886
For me the biggest challenge would be heat, if something happened in the winter. I have no fireplace and the oil furnace requires electricity to start, so my pipes would freeze.
Aside from food provisions, i think filling up the gas tank before a big storm is a VERY good idea (there were gas lines a mile long in NJ after Sandy) and also keeping a fair amount of cash on hand. Batteries for a radio would also be ideal, since once you lose power, communication and finding out what's happening becomes very important but difficult if you're stuck at home.
One thing I found during my recent outage that no one really talks about is the boredom. Once it gets dark, you're reduced to illumination by flashlight, and you can't really read by a flashlight; with all electronic entertainment out (Internet, TV, etc) your options become really limited. I didn't bother bringing in my outdoor solar lights, but that would also be helpful to put in different rooms, provided you don't get too many consecutive cloudy days which would drain the solar lights.
November 9th, 2012 at 09:03 pm 1352495018
I always had kerosene lamps and they were bright enough to read by. WalMart sells them and the lamp oil, or at least that is where I got mine many years ago.
November 21st, 2012 at 05:59 am 1353477592