The Prepper Thread

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Sludig

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Seems odd, I thought quite a few of them were destroyed in filing in practical effects.
 
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Oldbased

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Mountain House is the Chick Fil A of survival/camping food.
Only goes on deals like once a year though and unless I missed it not at all since Covid happened.
It lasts 30 years but only if you forget about it.
It's good enough to mix in at home dinner meals
 
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LachiusTZ

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Mountain House is the Chick Fil A of survival/camping food.
Only goes on deals like once a year though and unless I missed it not at all since Covid happened.
It lasts 30 years but only if you forget about it.
It's good enough to mix in at home dinner meals

All the shit I would want to buy was sold out.

Going to have to stick with my Tim pool sponsored food and body armor.

Jk, didn't buy his sponsored body armor, but fuck it blew my mind when he started pitching it
 

JonLancewood

Lord Nagafen Raider
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Mountain House is the Chick Fil A of survival/camping food.
Only goes on deals like once a year though and unless I missed it not at all since Covid happened.
It lasts 30 years but only if you forget about it.
It's good enough to mix in at home dinner meals
One thing with Mountain House is that it's loaded with salt (like, a lot) but is probably the best commercial offering you can get. They do contract for the military and make MCW rations too which are packaged down a bit more. They're extremely hard to come by though since they only make it out into the wild on overstock sales. One of the best things about Mountain House, though, is that they are heavy on the meats and protein in their meals. If you compare to something like My Patriot Supply, you're basically getting grain-based meals with no meat or protein. I think MPS is a good option for bulk backup but for long term storage and preps, I'd diversify with some freeze dried meat to mix into the meals and a scattering of Mountain Houses (either the pouches or 10 lb. buckets). Nutrient Survival is another one I'd consider as their whole thing is nutation-based rather than simply 'stay alive'. No first hand experience with these but itching to try some.

I'm a pretty hardcore backpacker and have been screwing around with these types of meals for a few decades. I typically don't take Mountain Houses with me anymore due to the salt and packaging bulk but they're decent meals. Good To-Go is another one I'd stay away from (taste like shit and is expensive) as well as Backpacker Pantry (never that impressed). I would check out Trailtopia which has been great for both cost and taste. I don't know the shelf life off-hand but think it's lower than Mountain House or similar.
 
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Bandwagon

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Lanx

Oye Ve
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i finally have packed my deep freezer w/ meats and more meats

question, i notice there is more frost build up since i moved. before i had my deep freezer in my sun room, this time i have it on my backyard patio outside, is this gonna cause any problems? my new place has no basement and my garage is already cramped.
 

LachiusTZ

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i finally have packed my deep freezer w/ meats and more meats

question, i notice there is more frost build up since i moved. before i had my deep freezer in my sun room, this time i have it on my backyard patio outside, is this gonna cause any problems? my new place has no basement and my garage is already cramped.

Defrost it, and open it less
 
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Guurn

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Looking at the prices for prepper food it's kind of stupid other than the 30 year shelf life. We usually have about 2 weeks of food easily on the shelves. I've got two questions, isn't there a place for a do it yourself prepper pack and how long is practical. Looking at the prepper stuff, other than the high end stuff, we are talking about sustenance stuff. Basically oatmeal, pasta, and rice with flavoring. Dried meats and vegetables supplements this. Water is easy if you are a camper but unless you have a well, and unless it is the dead of winter in the north, and you have to go out for that.

How long is practical? Is there a place that gives recommendations for DIY food kits.
 

JonLancewood

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I think people getting into this are thinking instant TEOTWAWKI levels of chaos so the freeze dried food makes sense. It's not cheap but it's easy and there's a low cost to entry compared to homesteading, freedom gardens, hunting, and/or maintaining a cistern or well. Re: your questions, are you looking for some type of ala cart service? If so, I don't know of anyone that does that (tailor made kits based on customer request). Places like MPS do sell those SHTF 30 day kits which might be what you're looking for? As for duration, I think it's highly subjective. IIRC it's typical within Mormon families to keep 6 months of food on hand for each member of their family. I don't think this is long term stores but enough in a pantry to live off if the world suddenly went dark and the supply chains broke down. No idea if this is accurate but something I seem to recall reading once and the idea seems reasonable to me. It is a significant investment of resources and is therefore more of a lifestyle choice than a purchase.
 

LachiusTZ

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Provided utilities don't go out, I have enough for my family to go at least a year.

That's our house.

The cabin is nearly self sustaining.

Hand pump well, a few more fishing poles lines and hooks is about all we need there to go almost indefinitely
 
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Arbitrary

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Looking at the prices for prepper food it's kind of stupid other than the 30 year shelf life. We usually have about 2 weeks of food easily on the shelves. I've got two questions, isn't there a place for a do it yourself prepper pack and how long is practical. Looking at the prepper stuff, other than the high end stuff, we are talking about sustenance stuff. Basically oatmeal, pasta, and rice with flavoring. Dried meats and vegetables supplements this. Water is easy if you are a camper but unless you have a well, and unless it is the dead of winter in the north, and you have to go out for that.

How long is practical? Is there a place that gives recommendations for DIY food kits.

So the quick and dirty is like this -

You buy a bunch of five gallon buckets at your local Home Depot whatever and gasketed lids (gotta be gasketed, the little rubber seal) and then order yourself oxygen absorbers and food grade mylar bags from eBay or Amazon. For a five gallon bucket you want to add up to around 2000cc worth of absorbers. You put the bag in the bucket, fill the bag, add the absorber, seal the bag with a hot iron, put the lid on, rubber mallet it into place and forget about it.

This is your "holy fuck we're fucking fucked" long term food storage backbone kind of thing. This isn't the canned goods you have more than you need that you rotate properly. Things that will last longer than you will when properly stored include sugar, salt, dried beans and white rice. You can get minimum ten years out of wheat berries (flour doesn't last as long), pasta and a few other things. You can bank on soy sauce, baking soda, corn starch and honey all outlasting you if you can store them properly.
 
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McQueen

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Looking at the prices for prepper food it's kind of stupid other than the 30 year shelf life. We usually have about 2 weeks of food easily on the shelves. I've got two questions, isn't there a place for a do it yourself prepper pack and how long is practical. Looking at the prepper stuff, other than the high end stuff, we are talking about sustenance stuff. Basically oatmeal, pasta, and rice with flavoring. Dried meats and vegetables supplements this. Water is easy if you are a camper but unless you have a well, and unless it is the dead of winter in the north, and you have to go out for that.

How long is practical? Is there a place that gives recommendations for DIY food kits.

The easiest place to start is just buying more of what you’re eating now. Stock your pantry with one month of your staples, and expand from there. Aim for 5-6 months of canned meats and vegetables, dry beans and rice, instant potatoes, pasta, sauces, and seasonings. Apples last ~8 weeks in the fridge, onions and garlic last months on the counter. Fill your freezer with meat, vegetables, and butter. Always keep it organized so you can rotate first in first out. After that, start looking at long term freeze dried foods.

If you don’t already have one, get a vacuum food sealer.
 
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Guurn

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I'm stuck on the freezer ATM. Stock is low everywhere and I can't get an upright. Garage ready chests are hard to find ATM. The frugal side of me won't pay more than I have to and the practical side of me says just buy it already. Once I finally get one (14ish sq ft) I'll have it filled inside a week.
 
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BrutulTM

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Defrost it, and open it less

This. If it's not a frost-free freezer you should expect to defrost it once a year. Sucks but the frost free ones have a fan in them which I've been told will cause your meat to freezer burn more so there's no free lunch. It's not that bad. Pull all the shit out and put it in boxes and throw a blanket over it (or better yet put it in coolers if you have enough of them), then go at it with a heat gun and a hammer if you're impatient (just don't melt/break the plastic) or bowls of boiling water if you're more laid back.
 

Tmac

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Do the mormons know something we don't? I mean, other than magic underwear?

Apparently mormons started buying up water rights in the 1940's and own more water than anyone in the country.

So, to say they can see shit coming a decade away isn't an understatement.
 
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Flobee

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Anyone have any book recommendations for traditional homemaking stuff? Wife is starting to get interested and I, being the good husband I am, like to encourage her urges in that direction! Thinking older books for like:

Housekeeping
Cooking
Homesteading
Canning

We're gunna be running a couple cattle next year its looking like, so anything related to that would be helpful/useful as well. Picked up a book on butchering which I plan on doing myself with the beef (God help me). Fully processed deer before, but this seems like a whole other beast. Basically trying to speedrun learning how to be real humans rather than pod-people.
 

LachiusTZ

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Use a butcher...

Unless you have a walk in cooler to hang dead cows for a week.

And industrial vacuum sealers.

And a few years of experience cutting

Etc etc

Use a butcher. Lol
 
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Big Phoenix

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Use a butcher...

Unless you have a walk in cooler to hang dead cows for a week.

And industrial vacuum sealers.

And a few years of experience cutting

Etc etc

Use a butcher. Lol
This. Id invest the time into a garden growing vegetables you eat. Will be 100x more rewarding as theres a huge taste difference from anything you can buy at the store v what you pick from your garden.
 
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