Lessons learned from food storage

Posted on August 4, 2018 by BigDuke6

Storing food long term is not easy. There are many things that will go wrong and ruin the things you saved, it’s so aggravating to pack then away only to find a big mess later. Here’s a list of things I’ve found that help the process:

Always use Ziploc bags on EVERYTHING.

It doesn’t seem to matter what you are storing, it will be affected by moisture in some way. Putting each group of like items or individual item in Ziplocks keeps moisture out, prevents odors from permeating packages, and keeps any packaging failure localized. I’ve had things rupture and ruin an entire 20 gallon Tupperware bin, bagging it would have stopped that from happening. This is addition to a Tupperware bin, or cases of #10 cans in boxes. Put one of the 20 gallon bags around any cardboard boxes, as they will absorb moisture and deteriorate.

2. Don’t rely on desiccants, and NEVER use Damp-rid!

I made a few mistakes early on, the biggest was using Damp-rid inside containers. That stuff turns into a soupy mess of water and is highly corrosive. It ends up putting pools of water in your storage bin, which is exactly what you didn’t want. It’s far better to seal everything, and try to store in a low humidity environment. Silica gel may work, but I suspect it also gets saturated.

3. Be very careful with canned goods.

I have had soup rust through from the inside in only a few years, modern cans are not the same as the old tin plated soldered versions. People claim canned food will last decades, but that has not been my experience. I have no canned good in my storage as a result, it’s all dry mix.

4. Don’t store flour or corn meal unless there is no alternative.

They have very short shelf life, and can be made up from canned popcorn and wheat berries. You could repack flours, but the taste and nutritional value is just not there.

5. Buy items packed in metal cans or glass jugs/jars whenever possible.

Believe it when people say plastic is permeable. Same goes for paper, foil, or cardboard. It doesn’t seem hold up to storage and picks up funky smells. Many staples can be purchased in cans, from places like Emergency Essentials or Rainy Day Foods. I switched over to cans on dried corn, baking powder/soda, cocoa, sugar, powered milk, drink and soup mixes, and spices. I got really tired of replacing stock. Example: I had a brand new plastic bottle of aspirin stored, the pills started growing whiskers and clumping together. I can only assume this was moisture getting in, but in any case it didn’t hold up.

6. Buy powder vs liquid.

This is a shelf life and volume issue, the powders weight less and seem to keep longer than liquid versions.

Filling in the preparedness plan gaps

Posted on July 26, 2018 by BigDuke6

I’m sort of done with the big picture planning, and now I’m going back to see what sort of gaps exist in my 1 year plan. I did this by creating a master Excel sheet with every plan item listed, with the quantity/storage location/justification for the amount. Once I did that, it was apparent which things were either missing or short. For instance, I had toiletries and hygiene items but had missed on the amounts and type. Toothpaste and floss was short, and the wrong type (need powder for long term storage). Toilet paper was another. Once you get it all on paper, you can mentally run through everything you use regularly and see the issues. Calculating your usage is a must, and can be done within the sheet which is handy. One thing that tripped me up is my kid’s needs, when I first started they were preschool/elementary age but now are teenagers. That add two adults to the list, with different needs.

I am getting close to finishing up the 1 year prep plan, most things are in place and it’s a good feeling. There is the question of how long to plan for, there’s nothing magic about a year but LDS uses it and it is a reasonable time frame. Anything longer than that would either have to be dealt with by going full homesteader or going nuts on the amount of stored items. I just can’t see a reasonable scenario where I’d need 3 or 5 years with no outside supply or ability to grow food.

As a note, it’s time again to purge and check stock on my 2005 and 2013 items. I had socked away some things long ago that weren’t really meant to last, but they seemed to hold up OK externally. I’ll be sampling things and reporting back, stay tuned for that….

The Big Gas Crisis of ’16

Posted on September 19, 2016 by BigDuke6

We are in the middle of a gasoline shortage, caused by a POL pipeline leak. It had to shut down for repairs, which causes a hiccup in the supply but should not cause a total lack of delivery. Turns out the news media started running stories about how prices were going up, which caused everyone to rush out and fill up, which then led to stations running out and so on.

Now there are very few places in the state that still have fuel, and it’s a crisis. As I posted long ago, I store 10 gallons of gasoline in sealed jerry cans so we are OK for a few weeks, plus I have 50 gallons in my pickup that I can drain out if needed. This was another wake up call, I didn’t anticipate the need for that much fuel to be stored. I figured if something happened I’d just need enough for a few car trips and then the generator for battery bank charging. Based on this event, I think I need at least 25 gallons stored plus truck tanks for 55-60 total.

It’s not the supply itself, rather the panic buying that causes the issue. I can see how any little disruption in fuel/food/supplies will get amplified by the media, so it’s best to have plenty on hand of whatever you may need. It will be interesting to see how long this lasts, in a actual crisis things would take forever to recover due to the lack of backups and people’s behavior. I can totally see rioting happening, it probably wouldn’t take much esp. if food was involved. Case in point: 22 LR ammo. Back in 2012 there was some talk of tightening up gun laws, which somehow led to a run on 22 ammo. It took over a year for the supply to get to above zero, but in 2016 we are still on allocation with high prices in place. Unbelievably, people are STILL trying to amass 10-20K rounds which is just killing the supply chain.

Spring update

Posted on May 29, 2016 by BigDuke6

It’s been a busy spring, not much time to post and just working on getting all the plants pruned/in/maintained. I have two gardens, one at work and one at work so they’ve kept me hopping. I’m still on the path of planting all the various crops I’d need, and then getting them to yield and produce seed for the next season. And figuring out how to store and process them.

Here’s the highlights:

Berries

I have blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries all in big pots. This is working well so far, the only difficulties are keeping them watered in the summer and protecting them from pests. Everything else is well-documented on the web, the need for fertilizer and pruning, and various diseases (all which I’ve encountered). The pests are a big issue, I had to build a wood frame with plastic bird mesh to keep the catbirds out. They take every single mature blue and blackberry, but don’t seem to care about raspberries. That worked for the birds, but I had squirrels wiggle under the mesh and trample one of plant’s canes. I added a 48″ fence, but they raised that up and did it again, unbelievably. So, they had to go the hard way which I’ll leave to the imagination. The far left plant has yellow leaves due to the broken canes, grrrrrr…If you look closely, you can make out the black mesh but it’s nearly invisible.

Berrypatch

Since using fruit fertilizer, all the plants have borne a heavy crop of berries and I’ve been able to eat them every day as well as freeze enough for cobblers. It is very satisfying, and I’d say if I had room for nothing else I’d grow berries.

Potatoes

Recall I had a few fall plants growing from seed, those all croaked BUT one produced a 1″ diameter tuber than ended up sprouting. This dude is doing well in the wet, cool weather:

It’s a lot leggier than the reds I have at work, but we will see how it yields. I started it in 3″ of soil, then added the rest as it grew. I will probably just see how this one fares before going nuts with the potato tower idea. Work spuds are rocking, the 8 I planted overwintered and came up in April just fine. In fact they are everywhere, so with luck they yield and I can try to finally save ’em in a mini fridge for fall. I plan on packing them in moist dirt at 40 degrees, that seemed to work great last winter.

Garlic

Last summer I had some grocery store garlic that was sprouting, so into the dirt they went. Big hit, they came right up and overwintered and are huge. I’m anxious to see how the bulbs form, it can be hit or miss but they sure look healthy. There’s bunching onions and Valencias mixed in, those all did well too. The fence is to keep out the rabbits, which ATE THE ONIONS.

Garlic

Seed production

The chives finally bloomed (beautiful purple flowers), I got a small quantity of seed which I’ll fridge for the fall. Oregano and celery are forming, so those ought to be ready soon. I think that was everything I planted, it all went to seed but took 2 years in some cases.

Corn

I have 32 Tophat sweet corn plants at work, I got them in early this year and they are about 2 1/2 feet tall. I’m hoping they will produce fully formed ears, I hit them with shots of nitrogen at sowing and again recently. That seems to the be the key, it definitely made the wheat head out.

EMP, blackouts, and traffic jams

Posted on August 28, 2014 by BigDuke6

Someone I know recently asked me about EMP-proofing a vehicle, and the first question I had was “where are you planning on going after an EMP event, exactly?” I always assumed that vehicles were going to be worthless in any sort of crisis, but it made me think in more detail about why.

Let’s assume, for argument’s sake, that just the power grid in a region goes down during the day (no other EMP effects). What is the reaction to that? Well, we know all traffic signals will be off, and the existing traffic will be forced to follow the 4-stop rule. People don’t seem to comprehend this (when’s the last time you saw a 4 way stop?), so most if not all intersections will become bottlenecked or gridlocked. And that’s just the people already on the road. If it’s between 7 AM and 7 PM, those at work will get in their cars and leave, causing total mayhem on the surface streets and feeders. Major highways will not be able to offload the traffic due to blocked side streets, and ramps will back up. Interstates in rural areas will probably continue to flow, until the first vehicles run out of gas and start blocking lanes. If traffic is stopped for long periods, anywhere, some will run out of gas and will block the lanes, causing more delays and potentially a locked up road. Remember, we are talking about ALL power being off in a wide area, with no easy way to pump or transport fuel. Things may take a very long time to sort out, if they do at all. I believe a person in a city has a very short time to take action and get on a major roadway before being caught in a jam, anywhere from a few minutes to 15 or so at most. On the freeway, things will take longer to slow down but figure on a 10-15 minute window to reach the outer parts of the city then a few hours to reach the next major metro area or a roadblock.

On the other hand, if it occurs late at night/early AM, things are a bit better and you may not have an immediate jam up although travel will probably be slow due to the lack of signals. But, if this was a deliberate act it’s unlikely to occur at night (maximize the damage).

We can also assume the authorities will ban non-emergency travel in the immediate aftermath, to preserve any hope of keeping military and police transportation operating. You can count on the police and FEMA being in total full bore crisis mode, and they will likely initiate a curfew as well as some sort of local roadblocks to keep people contained. So your travel is soon going to be limited no matter how you slice it.

As a side note, all this assumes no vehicles are being affected by EMP, and it was just a power blackout. If even single digit percentages are disabled, they will probably immediately block all the roads even if if not many people are out and about. People generally don’t skillfully head for the shoulder when the engine dies, on the remaining inertia. They coast to a halt right there, seen it many, many times.

Hence, my discounting any value in having a vehicle after the fact. It may be useful long after the crisis has passed, but to run post-EMP errands, no. Travel will need to be by foot or bike, and my plan is to take the railroad tracks home if I’m at work. Nice clear path, no panicky jackasses harassing me. I can make it in home in about an hour and a half, I should be fine but things will get real interesting after that. I really don’t think the EMP thing has a high probability of occurring, but it’s educational to think about what would happen if it did. Sure hope I’m not on far away vacation, because getting home is going to be damn near impossible.

Cookin’ with gas….

Posted on November 9, 2013 by BigDuke6

Finally got around to testing out my heating and cooking gear.

This is a Harbor Freight single propane burner, it’s the shizz. Nicely made, perfect flame etc. I used this one long ago to make coffee, but on a 12 oz bottle versus the 15 lb cylinder. The hose to the right I got at Home Depot, it has a regulator with the gas flare fitting. Gotta have that…

This is the main cooking surface, you can get fancy and go two burner but I’m not Paula Deen. It will also kick out a fair amount of heat if it gets chilly or you are too lazy or cheap to buy a Heater Buddy.

This is the oven.

I got it at St.Pauls Mercantile, along with other cool third-world stuff. This little oven is so awesome, it got to 500 degrees before I realized it and will run at 325 at the very lowest stove simmer setting. Note the oven sits on top the HF burner, it’s not one piece. It’s 10×11″x13″ internally, and will hold quite a bit if you get pans that fit. Normal loaf pans may be too big to put 4 in at once, so you have to make sure to measure them before buying. Same thing with cookie sheets.

Shot of the internal temp and burner, the front thermometer is for amusement only.

The Butterfly Kerosene stove

Also available at St. Pauls, so cool! You fill the tank with K1 (diesel would probably work in a bind), let the wick soak, and light it off. It burned a lot cleaner than the heaters I’ve owned, nice blue flame with no yellow tail. As with the oven, will put out a ton of heat and will get a pot roiling quickly at full tilt. You can adjust the flame a lot, and use it as a heater. The beauty of this is the fuel, 5 gallons of K1 will go a long way so pound for pound this is the way to fly. It does smell, and will smoke like a bitch when you fire it up and shut it off due to the way the chimney heats up and cools off. All kero burners do that, so nothing new there. What impressed me was the simplicity of the design and how well it worked, there’s something to be said for one moving part. One caveat: the burner ring has to be level or the flame will not be equal nor will it get very hot:

Notice how I cleverly ignored the big font in the instructions about making sure it’s level. I though it was referring the tank, but it’s the burner. The liquid K1 needs to fill the wick evenly, if it’s slightly off kilter the wick will run dry on one side and then not make enough heat to vaporize the fuel.

Heater Buddy

Another cool item, it’s a small ceramic element heater that can run from a 12 oz bottle or a tank. This is a non-regulated adaptor hose, it has a male bottle thread on the heater end. Small, efficient, and flexible. Even has a pilot light.

All in all a very satisfying afternoon, things actually worked as expected and I have “Operation Eagle Toast” behind me.

Mid-term emergency planning

Posted on October 26, 2013 by BigDuke6

We’ve discussed short term planning and prep in a previous post, the next phase begins roughly 20-30 days after the event and lasts until you can achieve sustainability. Recall that the short-term will be covered by a relatively moderate amount of preparation and supplies, augmented by whatever you have on hand or can grab prior to the depletion of local stores. That will represent the last link to normal and familiar existence, after that runs out you will need to shift to a much more labor intensive routine. Most of us take advantage of prepared foods and many modern conveniences, none of which will exist. There are a number of categories to consider:

Heating
Power
Cooking
Water
Food
Sanitation
Self-defense
Shelter
Fuel
Transportation
Human interaction

It’s sort of a “OK I made it this far, now what?” scenario. Up to that point, chances are it will seem like a camping trip or the aftermath of a hurricane; not a lot of work just consuming supplies. The next phase will need to last long enough to get things ramped up to allow existing on what you can grow and collect in and around your dwelling. That’s the Day366 idea, maybe it’s Day183 but same principal. At some point, no matter how much stuff you hoard you will run out. That will be primarily food related items, the rest is less critical and beyond the scope of this blog. To a large extent, other things will become available as people move on (both figuratively and literally). For instance, say 5 months later you need some nails. The local Home Depot will probably have lots of them, you can’t eat nails and they are useless to looters.

I’m going to cover the last item of my list first, Human Interaction. This might be the most important one, since your survival could depend on who shows up at your place.

Human Interactions

There’s a new movie out called “American Blackout”, I don’t plan on watching it but the plot revolves around a cyber-attack on the power grid. It covers the first 10 days, but I’m not sure if it assumes the blackout lasts longer than that. This made me think (again) about how people would respond in a crisis, and how my planning would be affected. Frankly, I have a very tough time imagining what others will do. We all tend to assume people will behave in a certain fashion, either like us, helpless incompetents, or as criminals. That’s the sense I get visiting prep sites, maybe that’s correct but no idea, really. I’m going to try to be open-minded and think this one through.

Neighbors

These folks are, by virtue of proximity and familiarity, going to be the first to come a ‘knocking. I expect them to be out and about and seeking help and information from the start of the crisis, it’s only natural but begs the question of how to respond. On one hand, if outsiders cause trouble you may want to band together for protection. On the other, chances are they will only drain what limited resources you have and expect you to help even if you can’t. My position is to offer guidance, information (you may be the only link to the outside), and assistance defending against outsiders. Say nothing about what you have, that will create a terrible problem later. I’d like to be able to function as Farmer Bob and feed the subdivision, but that’s not practical. So, the only reasonable path is to defer food requests and make them find it themselves. I could probably provide clean drinking water, assuming they bring it to me for filtering and treatment. I could also give them a few seeds, if they can plant and maintain a garden. You have to force people to shift for themselves, otherwise they will do nothing and expect to be taken care of. Sound harsh, but there’s no other way to handle it. It’s the old saying about teaching someone to fish rather than giving them one…

The exception to this is block defense, if strangers begin roaming and looting houses you may need to form a team to repel them. I suppose it would be like a tiny version of the Minutemen, those who own firearms respond to the call. That assumes your neighbors are not royally pissed off at you and/or are the ones doing the looting.

What I’d really like to do is organize the nearby homes, pool resources, and get cranking on the gardening/farming/wood cutting/improvising. Whether or not I can convince people to follow that is a big question, but they’d have few options. Beats me if this is feasible, or it breaks down and we end up in Mad Max mode after all.

Outsiders

This is the land of pure speculation. I’m not sure if too many outsiders would show up, given the difficulty of travel and resupply. If they did, I would stay quiet and wait until they left. If they caused trouble, warn then dispatch. I don’t see how you could tolerate any form of looting, that defeats the whole purpose of prepping and would cause you to lose everything you worked so hard to put in place. ‘Nuff said there. One complication would be cops and armed forces, if they started commandeering private property under some bullshit law it would put you in a real bind. I could just see the local doughnut eaters trying this, although I doubt it would be successful. If the armed forces do it, maybe better equipped but still facing resistance from heavily armed homeowners. Same approach, hide then attack if they persist.

Food

Learning from my storage experiments, here’s what I recommend as the food options:

Freeze dried entrees, veggies, fruits. This stuff is reasonably priced, stores for up to 25 years, and has enough variety to prevent food monotony. How much is up to you, but I suggest at a minimum three meals a day per person for 3 months. This, added to the short term stock plus things I list later, should get you to the 6 month or beyond mark. http://www.beprepared.com is a good source of these items, I’ve been very happy with them.
Freeze dried basics. You will want to augment the entrees with some staples, like potatoes, soy protein meat substitutes, powdered eggs, powdered milk/butter/sour cream/tomato paste, etc. These allow you add in simple sides and also make things like pasta sauce from long term stores. This will stretch out your entrée selection and use things like rice, beans, and pasta in normal dishes rather than prison camp fare. What’s for breakfast? Beans. Lunch? Beans. Dinner? Get ready….RICE! Yay! Need to avoid that trap. http://www.rainydayfoods.com/ is a good source for all this.
Grocery Store items. You don’t need to buy everything in sealed cans, here’s a sample of what can be safely stored in Ziplock bags and boxes:
1. Pasta.
2. Rice
3. Baking powder
4. Yeast
5. Salt
6. Sugar
7. Spices
8. Cocoa
9. Dry soup mix
10. Potato flakes
11. Canned meat. Note: this needs to be stored separately, rotated and checked. The cans do corrode and the result is a disaster.
Grains and legumes. Sold as a kit by BePrepared, contains a years supply of misc grains. Highly recommended, but note requires a grain mill for the wheat and oats.
Oils. I’m still working on this, but so far the leading candidate is coconut oil. It’s almost fully saturated, is a solid below 75 F, and is said to keep for 6+ years if kept cool, dark, and unopened. Plain corn oil is OK if you check it, but this is a work in progress. BTW you MUST have some kind of fats and oils in your diet, plan on looking like the Olsen twins without it.
Powdered drink mix, coffee. This falls under the monotony rule, it is said that drinking just plain water leads to dehydration, esp. with kids. Packets and jars of Koolaid and chocolate milk store well and are easy to make.

Heating and Cooking

Really the same thing, you probably will be using the same item as a heat source and for cooking. The best approach is a propane burner, this can be run indoors with no smoke. Downside is the need to stockpile gas, but some quick ciphering leads you to about 8-10 15 lb cylinders as a minimum. That’s not bad at all, and highly recommended. Using a Coleman camp oven on top the burner gives you a small volume stove.

Alternately, you can purchase a cheap wood stove and pop for the Lehman’s Amish oven. This is a lot more hassle, you have to run a chimney, cut and season wood, and will create a giant signal that says “go here to pillage”. It’s totally non-stealthy, and really belongs in the Day366 section but thought I’d mention it.

Stay tuned for more when I get motivated to finish this post….

Realistic preparedness plans, some guidelines and specific information

Posted on June 23, 2013 by BigDuke6

So after all the introduction and argle bargle, here’s the start of the relevant material. I’m writing this for the person who may not know much about the subject, may be they are interested but not sure where to start or even if it’s practical. If you are already deeply involved with it, it may be of limited usefulness but might expose some gaps in your own plans.

How to begin

I recommend starting small, with a specific length of “off grid” time in mind. This is the whole idea of prepping (I hate that word but it’s terse), if something happens how can you and your loved ones survive if not be comfortable. When I started, I picked the following goals:

30 days
3 months
6 months
One year

I have since added “indefinitely” to the list, it’s the Day366 thing but a much more intense and long-term exercise. It may be good to add two weeks on the front, this is a more realistic time frame for common emergencies and doesn’t require the same level of effort and expense. Let’s walk though that first….

TWO WEEKS

We will assume a standard scenario for most of the timelines, i.e. you’ve lost electrical power, utilities, access to most if not all outside facilities. This one doesn’t include any self-defense, as 2 weeks will likely not lead to unrest.

Water

You will need one gallon per person per day, so 14 gallons each. Family of four, just under 60 gallons. Distilled water is a buck a gallon, cheap and keeps a long time. Buy these 4 at a time, and cache them in a cool place. You can stack 3×3 or 4×4 in a small area, 4-5 high on plywood and bricks so there’s 36-125 gallons. This one is non-negotiable, you can exist without a lot of things but water ain’t one of them. Notice I’m not recommending a purifier, too expensive and a hassle to dick with collection. You can supplement your cache with the hot water and toilet tanks, they contain clean water but will probably have some sediment. Use that for washing or a reserve. The hot water tank will have a drain at the bottom, just open the valve and gravity will force it out. Toilet tank (not the bowl!) is accessed by lifting off the lid, dip it out.

Food

I recently read the average family has just two days of food on hand. Judging by the duct cleaning young-uns comments on our modest pantry, I’d say that’s about right. My parents went through the Depression, and always had plenty on had. They weren’t hoarders, just of a different time when food wasn’t readily available. You will need 3 square meals a day, per person, plus snacks. This food will not be low-cal. It needs to have lots of calories and protein, and be tasty so everyone feels like eating. No one wants crap food in a highly stressed environment, just ask combat vets.

Speaking of vets, one very easy way to meet this need is to buy MREs. Uncle Sammy spent a lot of money and time on these, and they are the shit in an emergency. I’ve eaten aircrew versions, they were pre-MRE but had lots of the same stuff. They were great, I’m not a food snob and think people like to bitch about the grub no matter what. If you are wise, just buy MREs from a reputable supply house and you are done. Kinda spendy but if you store them in a cool area they last 8-12+ years. They are also a building block of the longer term plans, those incorporate MREs as variety to the stored food and grains. And, you can get the chemical heaters that make the entrees hot without flame. VERY HARD TO BEAT.

Other food options

If MREs just can’t be had, be prepared to spend a lot of time and space on the alternative, plus rotating stock to avoid spoilage. And, you will need ways to prepare said food. Keep this in mind, the last thing you want is to have to run an oven all day to eat. Everyone is different, but here’s some ideas of what and what not to buy:

Yes

Peanut butter
Pilot crackers
Jelly
Canned meats
Chili
Cereal, esp granola
Mac n cheese (the fattening, in a cup kind). Requires boiling water but not pots full.
Ramen noodles
Any “add boiling” water foods, including freeze dried. Those really belong in the longer-term category but will work fine.
Instant drink mix
Powdered milk.

Canned soup. Salty and heavy as hell, needs a stove, and no nutritional value.
Pasta, flour, cake mix, or anything needing cooking.

So if you want to be cheap, eating will not be much fun. Kinda like real life.

Cooking

Notice how you needed boiling water for most foods? You might also need it for other things, like coffee and tea or to sterilize water. A heat source is needed, here’s some options:

Jet Boil. This company makes climbing stoves, these have an insulated chimney that can boils 16 ounces of water in a minute. Pretty much the bomb for freeze dried grub and hot water. Uses little cans of butane, very light and portable. Spendy but like MREs, hard to top.
Harbor Freight or Coleman burner. A single gas burner, runs on small propane bottles. Less than Jet Boil, heavier and bigger, sprays BTUs everywhere. Can double as a small furnace, which is tres handy.
Kindling burner. A glorified camp fire in a can, uses wood so fuel isn’t a problem. Outdoors only, not really recommended.

Heat

Heat Buddy. Runs on the same small propane bottles as the stoves, will keep you from freezing. Anything else is seriously not recommended, for the price this is the way to go.

Fuel

Either cases of the small propane bottles, or 1-2 cylinders. The bottles are a whole lot less to carry, and don’t need complex adapters and hoses. Get enough to last the whole time, both cooking and heating. You can follow the consumption rates listed in the instructions to add up the amount needed.

Light

You don’t need to go nuts with this, although I have found just a flashlight really blows for illumination. Coleman and others make nice dual fluorescent lanterns, they take a wad of D-cells and can be run off 12 volts. I’d consider that a minimum, along with a few LED flashlights. Stepping up from here is a regular lamp, using CFLs. They use 7-8 watts, but need an inverter and battery bank. This option feels more normal, you can read and do regular activities with that much light.

Power

A couple of options here:

Dry cells. This assumes you run everything from AAA-D cells. Not a bad choice, just make sure you buy lots of name brand cells and keep them current. You are limited to lanterns and portables.
Deep cycle or SLA battery with an inverter. Ahh, now we are talking. Costs a lot more, but can be set up to run larger loads like a lamp or laptop. I won’t digress on the details, but expect to spend 300 bucks for a decent setup. More than that for a small solar array to charge it. This may not be practical for the 2 week’er, but electricity is sooooo nice.

Sanitation

You will need the following:

Toilet paper
Paper towels
Plastic ware, cups
Soap. Good old Ivory bars, nothing fancy
Two buckets. One to wash up, one to..you know.
HD trash bags
Feminine hygiene accoutrements
Disposable razors
Travel shampoos
Kleenex

OK, I think that’s everything. If you have everything on the list, you are good to go for the duration barring any medical crisis.

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Emergency prep on a small scale

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