I agree that having several gallons of water and a few days worth of non perishables on hand makes sense. Having a flash light and suitable batteries is also a good idea.

I also keep extra litter for icy walkways and cat litter boxes.

Massive arsenals of guns and ammunition with a "bug out" plan so elaborate it looks like the pentagon planned it is just plain nuts.

Keeping a few days of emergency food and water is sane and doesn't really fall under what is currently termed "prepping".

Now is a good time to check/rotate your emergency supplies. I would think 3-days minimum, 3-wks would be good, especially in some areas of the country where storms have knocked out electric, roads, etc., for that long.

label them as "nuts"? Because they don't agree with your level of precaution? We all see different things and should be a little more understanding.

gallon of water that I stored for the Y2k disaster.Do you think that it's still good?

1) They're pretty damn heavy, and usually attached to a natural gas line. Having that fly around in an earthquake is bad.

2) It's 40+ gallons of potable water in every house.

I have all types of supplies in my house and car in case any situation arises.
I have water, food, first aid supplies, cash, batteries, flashlights, utility knives, etc. stashed.
A friend called me MacGuyver once. He said I was always prepared for anything.

I'd rather be prepared than not.

I'm not waiting for a zombie apocalypse or anything, but we've had hurricanes, severe thunderstorms, blizzards here in CT and I've gotten some good use out of the supplies I have stashed.

A prepper is someone who's "preparing" for the total and irrevocable collapse of society.

we depend on for our lives, we need to take back the word.

We're preppers of a casual but real sort. We have I'd guess roughly three months of supplies. The food's just extra stocks of things we eat anyway. Especially items found on sale when in the mood. Like a case of black olives. We have 4 very large cans of on-sale Mexican hominy waiting for the mood for pozole to strike. One time I didn't rotate the 40-pound bags of rice in a bin whose lid didn't want to come off for 5 years and we couldn't tell any difference in taste from new; it was a bit yellowed. (I recommend rice. Buy it, protect against insects, and forget it.)

Prepping does not require stocking a terribly balanced or enjoyable diet for what probably wouldn't last for more than several weeks -- or ever in any one particular area. I figure if around month 2 we got sick of pinto beans boiled up with a bouillon cube and canned veggies the problem would correct itself after missing a meal or two.

Water was my biggest, most critical stock in California. Here we have only a week or two of bottled water, mainly for convenience, flushing the toilet during overnight outages, etc. We have a well, a small generator to run it, and a large lake a few hundred yards downhill. Other supplies. Extra omeprazole and some SteriStrips. Someone around the neighborhood would need them.

We also have kudzu at various places around the area -- which is to say it's under attack by an out-of-control food supply that grows greens very, very quickly 6 months a year here and still has nutritious tubers the other ones.

This all started back in Southern California, though, in the middle of Los Angeles, when I was raising children and realized that they could die within a few days if the water stopped running. (Much, much faster if we were out shopping and unable to get home.) Getting water to several million people beginning to die of thirst within the first 2-5 days or so would be logistically impossible if it could not be restored to the taps in their homes. We had a reservoir about a two-hour walk away, but it would be guarded by armed guard against the many thousands who would be heading for it. Extreme heat, no air conditioning, little water could also kill my small children. No kudzu anywhere to be seen, either.

We're preppers.

... a prepper. Other than food, I have everything you list in my car as well, plus a tool box, rope, bungee cords, 50 foot extension cord, a compass, a change of clothes, a rain poncho, etc... I even have a machete.

I always thought that was just being prepared for the unexpected. Crap. Am I a prepper?

and I am a prepper too.
I was raised like that. No one considered it out of the ordinary when I was a kid - everyone had big gardens, chickens or other food animals and everyone canned. That was called common sense. Now it seems to me what separates prepper lite from prepper nut case are the weapons involved.
If your basement looks like an armory instead of a grocery store - you might be prepper nut.
I love it when wingers tell me I CAN'T be a prepper because I am not a conservative. Goes with not being Christian because I don't want to kill all the brown people.

A month of food, water, batteries, etc is a good idea for everyone. If you roate stock, then all youre doing is consuming normal groceries with a more longterm replenishment interval. A reserve of cash, a gun, a generator, and some boardgames aren't a bad idea either. For me, things viewed as prepper materials are just normal items that are in use in my daily life anyway. I don't care if someone thinks zombies are coming for them, as the supplies people would have on hand for their make believe scenario are more or less the same which would be beneficial for a natural disaster. When a winter storm advisory is issued, everyone in the area becomes a prepper. The only difference is that some aren't driving through an ice storm to punch some lady in the face for Walmart's last jug of milk.

The kind of "prepping" we are talking about here isn't the kind you and I would do to be ready in case of a winter storm or a hurricane. These guys very sincerely believe our entire society is on the verge of collapse.

In their fetid imaginations, four things are going to happen in very rapid succession.

First, the world's "fiat currency" system will fail because dollars are not backed by gold. (That dollars haven't been backed by gold since 1933 and the world hasn't collapsed yet is immaterial.)

After the monetary system fails, the governments of the world will fail shortly thereafter.

Next, all private businesses will collapse.

And finally, the citizens of the world will devolve into total anarchy.

There are three communities that overlap - preppers, redemptionists and sovereign citizens. I better start an original thread on the three, and will as soon as I get back from doing some business.

the loudest, because their rhetoric is sensational enough to put on the Natioan Geographic Channel's (of all places!) Doomsday Prepper* nutso show. Most are not the crazy type that believe that foolishness. Most are preparing more for natural disasters. Some are concerned about government or monetary collapse, but it's not like they haven't seen examples of exactly that. In my experience with them (I am not a prepper, but I make my living selling a product they want), most cite Katrina and 9/11 as the major reasons they are prepping, not because they believe in the things you mentioned.

But, just to play devil's advocate on a small matter, we're currently being threatened with yet another government shutdown by the nutsos in Congress. Who can not see how something like that might get out of hand and get away from the TPTB, under the right circumstances. Sure, we can blow it off as "never going to happen", but preppers know that, if it does, they have done and are doing the best they can to be prepared for it.


* I learned that the people they put on that Doomsday Prepper were assigned their doomsday events by the producers of the TV show. So, you can't base you're entire opinion of preppers on what you saw in that show.

North Idaho is full of these crazy fuckers.

And your long term survival plan involves hunting for food, then yes, you're nuts.

That said, I have a garden, a well, a 10kw welder/generator, lots of canned foods, tools and repair materials, and enough fuel to last for the period of a normal (think earthquake) emergency.

On the sister site, I read a post suggesting that "liberals are an unfortunate consequence of civilization" (the premise is that liberals in zombie movies don't know how to cope )

The truth is the opposite. Civilization is a consequence of liberals. Without the civilizing influence of liberals, people would immediately descend into anarchy run by warlords. They're preppers because they can't understand why life is any other way.

I'm young enough that I'm gonna be part of the first wave of people who get to see the real effects of runaway global warming. For me, it'll just be a return to subsistence - I used ot live i nthe hinterlands of Alaska, so hunting and gathering ain't exactly foreign. canned goods ain't gonna cut it at that point.

Then game animals won't be exempt. All the stuff that makes life untenable for us has already made life untenable for them. Further, all the preppers for whom guns play a primary role in their emergency planning are going to strip the woods clean the first couple of weekends.

Pope. Is he Catholic?
Sky. Is it blue?
Cheney. Fascist or Sociopath?


Fascinating questions, all.

earthquakes, fires, floods, mud slides, blizzards, riots, being cut off from civilization in each and every one of them for various periods of up to 6-10 weeks, I would say no, they aren't nuts.

We've stockpiled shelter, food, water, medical supplies, pet supplies, and have amassed enough tents, stoves, water purification equipment, heaters (both air and water), generators, fuel to last us a year on our own, if necessary.

Having lived through a series of disasters that have left others begging us for help, I think this is just prudent contingency planning. Anything less would have left us at the mercy of the elements before any help would have reached us.

My wife knows, since she's a former Red Cross/FEMA shelter manager and retired paramedic, and knows that we can't count on help reaching us quickly.

"you're nuts"...but the folks that think the government will save them (most here) are not? Katrina anyone?

I toyed with prepping, homesteading, etc. I was fortunate enough to "check out" at age 40, still in as good as shape at 45 as I was at 19 in the Army (Actually weighed 152lbs in 9th grade and now weigh 154). At the end of the day I have settled into being a "minimalist"/wanna be hippie vs prepping/survivalist/homesteader.

I am a combat vet, things can get ugly really quickly....but most here would never understand that. I'd say that 80% here lived a coddled life living in their little nests...again Katrina anyone?

What does a person really need in life? Food, shelter, water, a strong family? The rest is just corporate America telling you that you need and deserve all the shit they peddle and that you should go into debt to obtain it. Heck I drive a 1986 Toyota 4x4 with 300K+ miles....I don't need a penis extension to drive around and if mine does break down I can fix it (truck, other works perfectly fine and I contribute that to all the exercise I get). Or If it's beyond repair I could walk into a dealership and buy 20-30 new ones for cash...but keep on laughing at my old truck that helped me to retire so young.

Most should put down the remote and get that couch off their back, providing for yourself in the form of a garden, canning, bees, chickens, etc is not only enjoyable but the benefits to ones health are amazing. But, most will keep on keeping on with Katelyn Jenner,Honey Boo Boo and Dancing with the Stars while I'm out back working in my garden...who needs a gym membership?

You know who I feel sorry for on DU? Anyone with more than a few thousand posts, get off your ass and grow a garden, enjoy the outdoors, take that child of yours or family member fishing or something, pass a fucking baseball with some kids....you'll be dead before you know it...you can't take that post count with you and just think of the difference you could have made in your life or someones life with all that time spent on something constructive.

In closing:

jrandom421- Even though I replied to you, my lil' rant was not directed at you besides for the first line.

Some are out of their mind and they really think civilization is on the brink of collapse.

Some like the idea of living "off the grid" or having the feeling of being able to sustain themselves or defend themselves.

If you live in an area that could suffer from a natural disaster like earth quake, volcano or hurricane I don't think there is anything wrong with having a 3 month supply of food on hand. I live in Oregon and have about 30 days in canned goods that I rotate through over a year plus have plenty of drinking water. I don't consider myself a prepper just don't want to be like some of the people who suffered during Katrina. Now if you are prepping because you believe you are going to have to fight off the Government, yeah you are nuts.

That's just common sense.

"Prepper" has taken on an entirely new meaning after the Y2K breakdown of society crap was pushed and never happened.

i do stock up more for winter. not tons more.

the question for me why did i buy some of the odd cans of stuff in the back of the pantry and
how desperate would i have to be to crack some of that stuff open.

Today is it, I'm on strike!

Member of our household and immediate family (parents/kids) who loves lived in the county, and he provided cases of MREs for that.

His philosophy was that if there was any sort of disaster he wanted us to be able to go out and do our job for the community without worrying if our families were having basic needs met.

I'll admit, having that reserve gave me piece of mind and I have kept more or less the same kind of stick around but mostly canned goods and stuff I have canned. I also have the same at my dads house, with him in his 70's now that piece of mind that if something happens he has what he needs until I can get to him is worth it.

I also keep a basic emergency kit in my car- food, water, sleeping bag, etc and think everyone should.

I know some end of the world survivalist preppers who I think are nuts, but I also know a lot of homesteader type preppers who consider themselves preppers but are more of a "back to the land" homesteader type- one of them is going with me next month to look at the land around the house I own and plan to retire to do e can help me design a permaculture setup to raise a lot of my own food, and I will start planting it in the spring so that in 5-10 years it's mature and producing for me.

He didn't force you to stockpile 3 years of food and water as well as an arsenal greater than the local National Guard Armory. He made a sensible requirement.

It's something interesting to do.

did not believe in drinking alcohol went to their local Sam's Club and stocked up on booze.

They kept shelf after shelf of booze stockpiled in their cellar and they didn't believe in drinking.

When the apocalypse came their plan was to use it for fuel and bartering.

Alcohol has been a form of barter since the first man (or woman) found that the long-forgotten pot of water in the corner that had been previously used to cook grain now had a somewhat tasty, wonderfully warming and cheering liquid in it.

If you know how to make alcohol, along with some basic farming and "maker" type skills, you will be a prized member of whatever community is left over.

Haele

Ain't happening.

And some of my friends still nag at me to get finish the home renovation and get the workshop fixed up so I can start distilling the beginning of summer lavender oil I used to make. A 2 oz. bottle at the job site can last someone a year, taking care of headaches and the general pissyness of work politics. Of course, where I am now, the bottles don't last so long.
I'm down to my last two bottles from the last batch three years ago, when I cut back all the lavender bushes I had planted before we moved and made around 20 bottles. (The owner informed us that when we moved, they were going to re-landscape, and take out anything that was an herb or vegetable, or wasn't a rose bush or something decoratively similar.) I gave out 15 bottles of oil then. As soon as we get another planter bed fixed up and the sun room re-built, I'll get another still going.

Maybe I'll get into the craft distillery movement. Make and bottle my own vodkas and gins - we have a juniper break between us and next door, with lots of juniper berries...

Haele

to a certain extent. Although I tend to dry most of my herbs, I do enjoy making my own home cleaning products, hygiene products and soaps. SOOOO much better than store bought - SOOOO much cheaper!!!

I don't find fantasizing about the end of the world to be all that interesting.

But is kind of an exciting lifestyle for them. They can immerse themselves in their causes and build their prepper places. And some are really into guns and conspiracy theories and stuff.

It's a lot more interesting than just working as a mechanic or automobile line worker somewhere.

I'm not saying that they don't buy into it. They do, I guess. But it's also fun to dress up in fatigues and run around in the woods playing soldier.

When I was growing up it was bomb shelters and commies and all about surviving a nuclear Holocaust. This really isn't so different. People were really crazy into that shit back then.

She's got her little homestead and is working on making it wholly self-sufficient (no, not for the environment but for when the government takes over). She's got her guns, her food supplies, she's got livestock, she's got a bug out plan and everything. She thinks Obama is a Muslim and that gays are going to ruin the world. Bat. Shit. Crazy.

Why is it so easy to call people nuts, based on their beliefs?
Who really gets hurt? The "preppers"? In what way?

Glenn Beck sells survival food to scam these nutters.

Don't buy Beck's crap...problem solved!

If you care about the people being scammed, calling them "nutters" is an odd way of showing it.

Got it.

So when the roof scammers take an elderly woman for thousands of dollars, it doesn't harm me so why should I care.

I get where you're going.

buy the stuff they buy and store in case of some disaster. WTF??

Did you happen to go to the regions damaged by Katrina or Rita? I did. I went down there to begin the rebuilding process. Our team consisted of 60 people. 10 of those people were charged with guarding the two flatbed trailers that carried our pallets of water. ALL of them were armed. When we got to Gulfport, there was no running water for 100 miles around. Food was hard to find. People were begging for water.

I tell the above to say this: Those who prepped in that region already had water. And food. And everything else they needed to get through those rough times. But, apparently according to you, they had been victimized by scammers!

Are preppers nuts? I'm sure some are. But most (and I know because I often deal with them because I happen to be one the alleged "scammers" they buy stuff from, in my case an energy solution) are preparing for actual disaster eventualities. A good friend of mine lived in an area in Virginia damaged by Irene and had to go two weeks without power. He told me he would be better prepared than he already was using the 3-day rule touted by the government. ALL preppers are prepping for these types of disaster, natural or man-made disasters, not the end of the world as we know it.

So, how are preppers being conned by me? We have a product they believe is vital to the disaster preparedness and we sell it to them. Am I a con man, too?

3 weeks with no home ( our apt building was condemned) no food, no gas, no power.

I learned how important is to move out of the city, live in a house, and have all the supplies I need.

...scammed and conned by the merchants who sell you the stuff with which you seek to be prepared!

I paid 10x the price for everything in mom & pops stores ( no electricity, cash only ) after Wilma hit!!!
They have no idea what they're talking about. Scamming happens after the disasters hit, when one has no choice but comply. ( been there ane done that ).

but are "preppers" being conned any more than the rest of the country is being conned when we buy a product because of a crazy commercial?

The real question is simple - if a huge disaster did occur (regardless of whether Zombies are involved or not), will the supplies sold serve as promised? Are people buying 3 months of supplies and getting 3 weeks worth instead?

It's one thing to point out a con, it's another thing to call people rude names just to make yourself feel superior, 'cause then you're just conning yourself.

Being indoctrinated by paranoid parents preparing for the apocalypse is not going to hurt kids?

And not all of those that do, "prep" in such a way that it affects their kids.

And if it does, what would you suggest we do about it? Call CPS because people have stocked too much food? Too many weapons? A plan for dealing with zombies?

Are any of those things reasons to call the authorities?

If not, what is it that you would suggest?

There may not be a good solution. Does that invalidate my answer? I don't think so.

But calling people "nutters" isn't a solution either, which was my original point.

Was the government crazy? it's better to have and not need, than need and not have...


Who really cares....I don't, it's not my money they're spending.

Unless you're healthy and live isolated, you're toast no matter what you've spent, if there was a major "event".


It sure doesn't hurt to have supplies, and a plan to survive a week or two, beyond that you're going to NEED the government.

It was in a can about the size of a 5 gallon bucket with a coffee can size neck at the top. Said something like 5000 pieces.

I saved an unopened one as a keepsake but my mother tossed it out at some point and time, I searched for it after her death in 05.

Many preppers don't know squat about seeds so they don't realize that the bag of seeds they have been storing in the basement for the last 10 years is not going to be worth anything when the SHTF. If they are actually growing the seeds and saving seeds from year to year, okay. Also, some are focusing on non-GMO when of course it is not non-GMO they want but rather non-hybrid seed - in other words, open pollinated seed. Those are the seeds they can save from one year to the next.

You can extend the storage by carefully keeping them in a freezer, too. You must be careful not to jar them while they are frozen as you can destroy the embryonic tissue doing so.

But the single best guarantee for many viable seeds is to do as you suggest.

Based on my admittedly limited experience with them they appear to be clueless about such things. As well as the difference between hybrid and open pollinated seed, which is crucial if the intent is to save seed.

One lot of seeds to cover all hardiness zones. So you are paying for stuff which might not even be adapted for your zone. Not to mention a lot of other stuff you might not even want. And no growing information - you have to go to the website for that - WHICH OF COURSE WILL BE INSTANTLY AVAILABLE WHEN THE SHIT HITS THE FAN!

It is a good idea for people to learn to grow their own food but this is certainly not the way to do it.

will be able to somehow defend their goods from the 100 or 1000 people (many of them also armed) who will storm their compound to take things... yeah, they're nuts. Paranoid nuts.

Wouldn't you like to be a prepper, too?

Be a prepper, stockpile yer weapons.

Not just for self-defense (most firearms could double for that), but for gathering game or in trade. I think a .12 ga shotgun would be best as the ammunition is most common and in most varieties (small, mild loads for birds & squirrels; buckshot and slugs for hogs & deer). If one chooses to live in big urban areas, and if LEOs are still viable, then a handgun for SD may be best to meet concealed-carry OR open-carry laws (we're assuming few will hunt in a city). Don't forget fishing tackle and lots of good-sealing jars.

Some want to bug out. Why? If you are in a city, and have no facility in the country where you have no land, then stay put and COOPERATE with your neighbors; exchange commodities, share facilities, establish a commons, most important share different know-hows, and keep in touch with folks who DO have land and structures in rural areas.

I live in the center of a million pop. urban area with a river/lake less than a half- mile away, have a house with a fireplace, and have neighbors who can do it all!

Having no gun is best if the grid goes down, because the grid will come back up and there is no need for a gun in such a situation.

I have about a month's worth of camping-type food (+ MREs) on hand, quite a few gallons of potable water along with a really good purifier, rechargeable batteries + a solar charger, a pretty extensive first aid kit, several backup ways to make fire, and other basic survival needs. I live in Portland, Oregon, and not only is this region overdue for a really, really big earthquake, but I also live pretty much right on a faultline.

This stuff isn't for a zombie apocalypse or even real-world stuff that could happen but probably won't (like societal collapse and so forth). Surviving serious disasters that aren't localized (like a big quake would be) in which no one's coming to help from the outside is a matter of cooperation and maintaining community, not "lone wolf" Hollywood bullshit. Long term planning is where most preppers seem to fall down, in that they think in terms of having lots of stuff for months or even years of individual or family survival, not in terms of creating a sustainable community. The latter is how you'd actually survive a collapse scenario. But my stuff is intended for short-term survival after a quake or suchlike, for all that it could be used to "get the hell out of Dodge" in the unlikely event something worse happened.

Same thing for those who think "survival planning" is largely a matter of accumulating a huge arsenal. If your long-term survival strategy requires tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, you're Doing It Wrong. Even if you're a Navy S.E.A.L. level fighter, you get into that many firefights, the odds are going to catch up with you. If anything you should be more inclined to avoid conflict in a survival situation that in normal life (given the likelihood that you won't have access to serious emergency medical care). This holds true even in the sort of short term disasters that actually might happen, like the quake I mentioned. And if you do have to fight (a certain percentage of humans seem to turn feral in disaster circumstances), once again a community is how to do it. Banding together to drive off looters works...

You will quickly be seeking out your friends and neighbors who stocked more.

3 days is typically the lowest amount recommended by FEMA.

Areas that are at high risk for major hurricanes or earthquakes come with different requirements.

3 days is what you want in an area that can be hit by tornadoes or floods as that is about the longest time before FEMA can get into such a disaster.

3 days is also the minimum you want if you evacuate prior to an event.

Three days works for a relatively small disaster, but isn't particularly useful in a large one unless your plan is simply to evacuate the damage area.

One from being a victim. Prepping for Zombie Hords is just nuts

People have a choice to be a victim or not be a victim I choose to not be a victim

It's common sense.

I have at least a 3 month supply of all necesities , close to 6 month of supplies if stretched out for everyone in my household.
To each their own, but... On which door do you think those unprepared will be knocking on if a disaster hits?? Probably not on yours!

Good luck with your 3 day suply!! Hopefully you won't ever need more than that

Especially given can goods etc. in the cupboard.

3 days is the minimum recommended by FEMA.

I do not live in a hurricane area.

Do you ever get those? Or what about a major failure of the power grid? Unless you're self sustained, you really need more than 3 days of supplies.

Power has never failed in the twelve year we've lived here. Not even an outage of a few minutes. It helps that we live right next to a major part of the grid, I guess.

If I went to our cupboard and refrigerator on a day when we are low on food prior to going food shopping, combined with our camp food, we'd have enough to eat for at least ten days, probably two weeks. This takes into account moving the frozen stuff into a cooler and putting the refrigerated stuff on top and insuring we eat that food first.

The last time a tornado did damage in this area, emergency supplies were on scene the following day.

EDITED TO ADD: FEMA recommendations for emergency supplies vary based upon what types of disasters are normal for an area.

And to label those that choose to have an abundance of supplies as 'nutters' is pretty damn offensive IMO.

At least not in the post Y2K sense of the word.

Having three years worth of food and an arsenal the National Guard would envy because you expect civilization to crumble at any moment is what is now considered "Prepping", and that's completely nuts.

Again, FEMA recommendations vary depending upon natural disasters that are prone for an area. 3 days is the recommendation for my area.

Some fear EMPs and financial collapse, some fear catastrophic climate events.

None of my business how they prepare for either eventuality.

the climate is changing. The next storm season may be different than the last. Considerably different, in fact.

flush where all the stuff inside the house gets washed away or destroyed

how do you plan to keep all that stuff dry.

not trying to be funny or rude. just curious

All the supplies, documents and firearms are in sealed containers.
I'm not in a Flood prone area, but flooding can happen anywhere here in FL, considering the ocean levels are rising.

It's when it becomes a lifestyle based on paranoia of the government coming for your guns, coming race war or other civil wars, and so on that it becomes crazy. Otherwise nothing wrong with being prepared to have food and shelter in case of some kind of disaster man made or natural. Hell, having a lot of food stocked up that could supply me for years would be pretty great even if there was another major economic problem like 2008.

Those who own firearms, tend to be more prepared ( a lot more ) with basic necessities , in case of a disaster, than those who don't own a firearm. But to each their own I guess

J T Ready, and such.

To each their own. Just don't come knocking to my door asking me for food or protection if the worse comes to happen.
Like I said, to each their own. Good luck and all the best

the right wing survivalists, and go my way. I'll be darned if I am going to sleep with one eye open and live prepared to shoot my neighbor or starving poor, who might come knocking on my door.

they usually dont stick around long, tho.

Behind every prepper I've ever met, there is always some scary, unnamed boogieman out to get them and take all their stuff. I taught food preservation classes on canning and the people who attended were either young folks trying to go green and get the chemical additives out of their family's food, and a few yuppies who just wanted the bragging rights over the occasional batch of homemade jam.

But the largest group by far were the preppers who subscribed to some conspiracy theory about a Sci-Fi post apocalyptic disaster that would end life as we know it. They were seriously determined to outlast the zombies, lizard aliens, Commies, or the overlords of the new world order... pick any bad guy from popular Hollywood movie themes. They bought food in bulk, 25lb sacks of sugar, rice and dried beans, 20lb buckets of coffee, lard, powdered eggs, dried milk, and stocked up on freeze dried food packets, and 5lb tubs of peanut butter.

Sometimes peppers would ask me weird questions like where to best store their jars of canned food to prevent various type of scary "waves" -- radio, energy, magnetic, thought, etc -- from damaging their horde. One time a woman came up after class and wanted to know if canning temperatures were high enough to kill off alien spores... and she was straight-faced serious! I tried to look sincere as I told her earth spores -- oh yeah, fersure! -- would be killed, but without knowing which specific planet the alien spores came from, no one could be certain.

I wanted something that would be helpful for surviving a big earthquake along the west coast. You know, just a list of helpful items, some tips that might be useful, etc. I think I've thought of everything, but I've never lived in an area that's been hit, so I wanted additional information.

Every single book result that popped up was written by the wing nuts with tin foil hats. Ugh.

Are, in fact, nuts"

Thats some broad brush accusation you make there. Shame on you.

Thats your opinion, and it does not make it right! As a hurricane survivor , I can tell you that prepping is not "nuts". It's a logical thing to do , for anyone who can afford it!
I'm not spending your money, I'm spending my money to buy the supplies!
I'm not calling you names for what you do with your own money and in your own house, and I would expect you don't call other people names for what they do with their own money! ( especially when all they do is to buy supplies)!!

Not in the post Y2 K sense of the word, any way.

It is not your business, not my business , to judge what others do with their OWN money.
Maybe I want to buy supplies for 3 years Maybe I'm that welthy that I have my own atomic surviving bunker
Does that make me "nuts"??? Hardly so!!

Live and let live, OP. To each their own. Stop stereotyping and calling names, when none of your freedoms or liberties were infringed upon! What people do with their own hard earned money is their business and theirs alone!

I have a basic human right to y own thoughts.

Calling people names, when no wrong is being done to you, is pretty wrong in my opinion.

Live and let live, OP.

BFEE made man is in the luxury lifeboat castle business...

The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles

The stinking rich are planning billion-dollar luxury liners that keep the land-based Americans they've plundered at a safe distance.

AlterNet / By Mark Ames
June 1, 2010

What happens when Americans plunder America and leave it broken, destitute and seething mad? Where do these fabulously wealthy Americans go with their loot, if America isn't a safe, secure, or even desirable place to spend their riches? What if they lose faith in their gated communities, because those plush gated communities are surrounded by millions of pissed-off Americans stripped of their entitlements, and who now want in?

The first such floating castle has been christened the " Utopia"--the South Korean firm Samsung has been contracted to build the $1.1 billion ship, due to be launched in 2013. Already orders are coming in to buy one of the Utopia's 200 or so mansions for sale- -which range in price from about $4 million for the smallest condos to over $26 million for 6,600 square-foot "estates." The largest mansion is a whopping 40,000 square feet, and sells for $160 million.

SNIP...

Both Thiel and Milton Friedman's grandson see democracy as the enemy--last year, Thiel wrote "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible" at about the same time that Milton Friedman's grandson proclaimed, "Democracy is not the answer." Both published their anti-democracy proclamations in the same billionaire-Koch-family-funded outlet, Cato Unbound, one of the oldest billionaire-fed libertarian welfare dispensaries. Friedman's answer for Thiel's democracy problem is to build offshore libertarian pod-fortresses where the libertarian way rules. It's probably better for everyone if Milton Friedman's grandson and Peter Thiel leave us forever for their libertarian ocean lair--Thiel believes that America went down the tubes ever since it gave women the right to vote, and he was outed as the sponsor of accused felon James O'Keefe's smear videos that brought ACORN to ruin.

SNIP...

While neither Bush nor the Bin Ladens are principals in the Frontier Group, its founding director, Frank Carlucci, is a name they know well, and you should too. Carlucci ran the Carlyle Group as its chairman from 1989 through 2005, right around the time that the wars started going undeniably bad, and floating castles started to look like a viable plan. But Carlucci's past is much weirder and scarier than most of us care to know: whether it's his strangely timed appearances in some of the ugliest assassinations and coups in modern history, or serving as Carter's number two man in the CIA, and Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense, if Frank Carlucci (nicknamed "Creepy Carlucci" and "Spooky Frank&quot is the founding director of a firm that's building floating castles, it's a bad sign for those of us left behind.

I'll get into Carlucci's partners in the Frontier Group in a moment, but first, let's reacquaint ourselves with Frank Carlucci. From an early age, Carlucci learned the importance of getting to know the right people in the right places. He studied at Princeton in the mid-1950s, where as luck should have it, Carlucci roomed with Donald Rumsfeld. Both Carlucci and Rumsfeld shared a passion for Greco-Roman wrestling at Princeton, and both went on to serve in the Navy after Princeton. Their paths would split and merge several times over the next few decades, even as they remained close personal friends throughout their lives. In the late 1950s, Carlucci briefly served as an executive at a lingerie manufacturer, Jantzen (the Victoria's Secret of its day), but quickly left to join the State Department.

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/story/147058/the_really_creepy_people_behind_the_libertarian-inspired_billionaire_sea_castles

An emergency go-bag, or some stocked supplied for inclement weather is never a bad thing. But when it's gets to the level of Survialism (see below), I'm compelled to place them on the same plane of rational thought as I do Scientologists, Holocaust and Moon Landing Deniers.

Survivalist as I mean it-- preparing for the fantasy of going at it alone in a post apocalyptic landscape, often inspired by badly-written, hack-authored science-fiction novellas; i.e., testosterone and self-validation for the slide-ruler crowd.

Preppers aren't nuts, rather extremely misinformed.

and fear that POC and poor people will take majority control of the federal government in a democratic society.

Those who oppose majority rule are already living in the End of the World. Like the Afrikaaners as Apartheidt came to an end, it's largely just paranoia.

Yes, they're nuts, and a lot of them are heavily armed. But, most of them will get over it.

Big difference

As you mention, people who pack some supplies in the case of a natural disaster, on the other hand, are smart.

But I don't consider those "preppers". I do that for hurricanes. It's just common sense. But I'm no prepper.

I had asked a question similar to this one three years ago.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11351335
I hope the link works!

have come in VERY handy in 2 MAJOR situations and many more small ones.
In 1986 I was suddenly caught in a blizzard about 20 miles from nowhere, and rolled my jeep.
Buried that sucker good in a ditch + snowdrift. If it had not been for the supplies in my car, they might not have found me for a few days. But since I had the supplies, the dog and I were able to sleep comfortably in the car over night and hike to main road where we were picked up the next day.
In 1990, I was hiking with another dog who cut her foot severely. Thank goodness I wasn't too far out, I was able to stop the bleeding with my 1st aid supplies and get her to a vet in time. The vet told me those supplies saved her life.
In 2005 Tulsa experienced the worst ice storm in its history: No electric, no gas, no water, no emergency vehicles on the roads, and the roads clogged by dead cars. Houses burned from people trying to stay warm. Old people died without food and meds. Power lines were down and starting fires, there was no gas because there was no electricity for the pumps.
Our section of the city was down 11 days, some went longer than 2 weeks.
Sure, we would have made it without extra supplies, but it wouldn't have been easy. With the supplies, it was a PITA but no more. While most people threw out everything in their refrigerator/freezers we new enough to take advantage of the ice and built a small igloo outside our back door. We busted up chunks for the ice chest in the house to save non-frozen food. We lost nothing.
Being a prepper is not JUST about supplies. Its having knowledge and being able to adapt to the circumstances.

Between "preppers" and " doomsday preppers ".

"MohRokTah

12. Preppers = doomsday preppers
The terms are synonymous.
Anything else is just being prepared for what usually happens in a given area."

I can't help them there

The other kind of preppers...not so much.