Emergency Prep Tips
Depending on the gov to bail you out can be very risky as we've seen with New Orleans and Puerto Rico. I agree "preppers" go to the extreme, but I also believe everyone should be prepared for emergencies. Many of the emergencies could be prevented if people put in a little effort to help themselves.
Note: None of the links are affiliate links.
There's really no excuse not to have 2-3 weeks of food and water. Medications can be a bit more trouble, but ask your doctor if he/she can give you an extra couple of weeks supply. If not, ask if there's any medication you can skip one day a month to help build an emergency stockpile.
Water - You need a gallon a day per person. There's a couple of gallons in the back of your toilet that is safe to drink. You probably have another 20-40 gallons in your hot water heater. Learn how to access it.
If you have a little warning you can fill your bathtub. Just be aware that bathtubs often leak and the water will evaporate. For $26 you can get 65-gallon emergency bathtub water container. That's enough water for 3 people for 3 weeks.
https://www.thereadystore.com/65-gal...ater-container
You should also have a way to purify water, such as tablets you can get at any camping/outdoor store. You can also use bleach or iodine. Even better is "pool shock" which is the dry bleach used to treat swimming pools. It lasts longer and is cheaper than regular bleach. With pool shock, you'll also have enough to give away to neighbors in need. Most consumer water filters like Brita will remove chlorine. If you don't have one, you can pour the water from cup to cup as chlorine will evaporate pretty quickly.
Another option is to get a "survival straw" or other water filter. Note that these only remove organic bugs and won't remove chemicals. You can get a pretty good water filter like the Sawyer Mini for $25.
https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Produc.../dp/B06XVV54DF
To repeat, remember filters and bleach/iodine/pool shock only work on organic bugs like bacteria, and won't remove chemicals.
If you must deal with chemicals and there's no other choice, and you can boil water, using a pressure cooker to capture the STEAM. You'll need to fit some tubing to the relief valve of the pressure cooker and have a container to condense the steam back into water. When boiling, let the steam blow for a few minutes as very few chemicals have the same boiling temperature as water and many chemicals will evaporate before the water boils into steam. Same with the last bit of water. Don't use it either, stopping the collection of steam before all the water is converted to steam.
Another option is to use filters to remove chemicals.
Let contaminated water sit still over night. Very few chemicals have the exact same weight as water. Given time, they will either float to the top or sink to the bottom. After sitting over night, gently scoop off the top of the water and discard. Gently extract the water in the middle and don't use the water at the bottom.
Take the "middle" water and run it through filters made of activated charcoal and sand, alternating layers of each, with a coffee filter at the bottom. Plastic two liter bottles are great for making these filters, just cut off the bottom and turn it over and fill with layers of sand and charcoal, using the coffee filter and tape to seal then end. You can get activated charcoal in the fish/aquarium department for a few bucks.
Food - dried Beans, rice, legumes and nuts and seeds are great as survival emergency foods, although you'll need a way to cook rice and beans. A mixture of walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews, pistachios, along with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and pine seeds fulfill all your nutritional needs, and they don't need to be cooked.
A propane grill can be used. Heat the water for rice/beans on the grill to a boil, then add the hot water and rice/beans to a thermos bottle to save your propane. Make sure you always have at least a full tank of propane.
Look at how you can make a solar oven on Youtube. You can make them really cheaply using cardboard, black spray paint and foil. You can also use them to pasteurize water. You can also make solar cookers using satellite dishes and foil. Again, Youtube has plenty of videos.
Power - Get a solar panel or two. Not the best or cheapest, but the easiest is probably the solar panel kit from Harbor Freight. It won't power your home, but it's more than enough to keep a couple of cell phones and radio going.
https://www.harborfreight.com/100-wa...kit-63585.html
Get some solar outdoor lighting and in emergencies put them out in the day time and bring them in at night for night time light.
Toilet paper - Be sure to keep a supply on hand. Another option is to use one of those garden sprayers as "bidet". You can get one for $7 at Walmart:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/RL-Flo-Ma...WVkNXnd3HyO9pI
Note: None of the links are affiliate links.
There's really no excuse not to have 2-3 weeks of food and water. Medications can be a bit more trouble, but ask your doctor if he/she can give you an extra couple of weeks supply. If not, ask if there's any medication you can skip one day a month to help build an emergency stockpile.
Water - You need a gallon a day per person. There's a couple of gallons in the back of your toilet that is safe to drink. You probably have another 20-40 gallons in your hot water heater. Learn how to access it.
If you have a little warning you can fill your bathtub. Just be aware that bathtubs often leak and the water will evaporate. For $26 you can get 65-gallon emergency bathtub water container. That's enough water for 3 people for 3 weeks.
https://www.thereadystore.com/65-gal...ater-container
You should also have a way to purify water, such as tablets you can get at any camping/outdoor store. You can also use bleach or iodine. Even better is "pool shock" which is the dry bleach used to treat swimming pools. It lasts longer and is cheaper than regular bleach. With pool shock, you'll also have enough to give away to neighbors in need. Most consumer water filters like Brita will remove chlorine. If you don't have one, you can pour the water from cup to cup as chlorine will evaporate pretty quickly.
Another option is to get a "survival straw" or other water filter. Note that these only remove organic bugs and won't remove chemicals. You can get a pretty good water filter like the Sawyer Mini for $25.
https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Produc.../dp/B06XVV54DF
To repeat, remember filters and bleach/iodine/pool shock only work on organic bugs like bacteria, and won't remove chemicals.
If you must deal with chemicals and there's no other choice, and you can boil water, using a pressure cooker to capture the STEAM. You'll need to fit some tubing to the relief valve of the pressure cooker and have a container to condense the steam back into water. When boiling, let the steam blow for a few minutes as very few chemicals have the same boiling temperature as water and many chemicals will evaporate before the water boils into steam. Same with the last bit of water. Don't use it either, stopping the collection of steam before all the water is converted to steam.
Another option is to use filters to remove chemicals.
Let contaminated water sit still over night. Very few chemicals have the exact same weight as water. Given time, they will either float to the top or sink to the bottom. After sitting over night, gently scoop off the top of the water and discard. Gently extract the water in the middle and don't use the water at the bottom.
Take the "middle" water and run it through filters made of activated charcoal and sand, alternating layers of each, with a coffee filter at the bottom. Plastic two liter bottles are great for making these filters, just cut off the bottom and turn it over and fill with layers of sand and charcoal, using the coffee filter and tape to seal then end. You can get activated charcoal in the fish/aquarium department for a few bucks.
Food - dried Beans, rice, legumes and nuts and seeds are great as survival emergency foods, although you'll need a way to cook rice and beans. A mixture of walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews, pistachios, along with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and pine seeds fulfill all your nutritional needs, and they don't need to be cooked.
A propane grill can be used. Heat the water for rice/beans on the grill to a boil, then add the hot water and rice/beans to a thermos bottle to save your propane. Make sure you always have at least a full tank of propane.
Look at how you can make a solar oven on Youtube. You can make them really cheaply using cardboard, black spray paint and foil. You can also use them to pasteurize water. You can also make solar cookers using satellite dishes and foil. Again, Youtube has plenty of videos.
Power - Get a solar panel or two. Not the best or cheapest, but the easiest is probably the solar panel kit from Harbor Freight. It won't power your home, but it's more than enough to keep a couple of cell phones and radio going.
https://www.harborfreight.com/100-wa...kit-63585.html
Get some solar outdoor lighting and in emergencies put them out in the day time and bring them in at night for night time light.
Toilet paper - Be sure to keep a supply on hand. Another option is to use one of those garden sprayers as "bidet". You can get one for $7 at Walmart:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/RL-Flo-Ma...WVkNXnd3HyO9pI
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