Emergency Preparations over at Peter's - Prepping on a Budget

"I've had a few inquiries from readers of earlier articles in this series, commenting that they're on a very limited budget indeed (some have lost their jobs), and don't have spare disposable income to begin building up their emergency supplies.  They ask what can be done by people in their situation.

In this article, I'm going to address a 'bare-bones' approach to putting together your emergency stash.  It won't involve very tasty or varied foods, or high-quality items, because such things are likely to be too expensive on a very limited budget.  Nevertheless, if you can't spend more than an absolute minimum, these suggestions will equip you to survive at a very basic level for a few weeks."

For low cost preps, you need to read Peter's post first.  I can and will expand on his post.

Food:

Peter covers it pretty well, however on the Multi-vitamins condiments and can openers.

Buy the largest bottle of multi vitamins as you can, buy several.  In a emergency situation of only a few days to a week if you have a modest pantry they won't really be used, but in a situation such as Katrina or Rita where you have lost most of your pantry, eating just what canned goods you have left, you need supplements

Condiments, many condiments require refrigeration after opening.  In an emergency situation of a day or 2 that's not really a problem.  Longer term situations it does become a problem.  Lack of refrigeration leads to nasties growing in your condiments.  If you have a Sam's Club or Costco Card, buy a box of food service condiments for the condiments you prefer.  Catsup/ketchup packets, mustard packets, the whole gamut.  I even have peanut butter and jam/jelly packets.  As long as they are stored in a cool dry place they will last several months.  In fact at my house we rotate them, buying new as we use the older stuff.  VERY IMPORTANT!  Taco Bell Hot Sauce packets will be worth their weight in PLATINUM in an emergency situation.  trust me.  I have hundreds of packets of them.  Sinuses backed up?  Eat a packet or two of Taco Bell Hot Sauce.  Eating plain dull white rice add a packet of TB Hot Sauce to spice it up if i don't have any packets of sweet and sour sauce or soy sauce.  The advantage of condiments are two-fold first they do improve the taste of food so you are more willing to actually consume the necessary calories to keep your body healthy and second they offer psychological support.  If you have nothing to eat but bland dull food how much enthusiasm would you have for even taking basic steps to ensure yourself and your family even eat or maintain hygiene?

Can openers, buy several manual can openers not the El-Cheapo one from the dollar store that might partway open 1 can before the teeth are too worn to work ever again.  Buy the good ones, they run from $4.99 to over $12.00, but they are built out of heavier/thicker metal, the gears are wider, the cutting wheel is thicker, and they work much better.  Also go to the military surplus store or mail order place and buy a dozen or so p-38 or p51 can openers.  If you have arthritis they are a bear to use but in the absence of anything better they will get the job done.

Water:

Peter writes about using 2 liter soda bottles and they will and do work, they are a bit flimsy.  3 liter soda bottles have a thicker side wall and base making them more resistant to damage, plus they hold an extra liter of water.

Make sure you fully rinse them out, we use diet soda 3 liter bottles as the sugar in regular soda can leave residue which is hard to remove and can feed algae and microbe growth in your water.  After they are rinsed out put a pinch of baking soda in the bottle and 1 cup of HOT water, and cap it.  Shake the bottle thoroughly for a minute or so, then loosen the cap and flip it over allow the water baking soda mix to drain through the loosened cap.  This neutralizes any remaining acids from the soda.  Allow bottle to fully dry before filling.

Treat any water you do store with unscented bleach.  I over bleach my stored water, 1cc of bleach per 3 liter.  Now normally this would be major overkill but it sets up a precedent in my head so if there is an emergency situation I will make sure I treat any water properly.

Filling those bottles.  If you don't have a water filter on your faucet, use a funnel and a disposable coffee filter to fill your bottles.  Add the bleach to the bottle before filling so it mixes properly as the bottle is filled.  Even with tap water there are some small solids in the water so filter it and treat it.  Fill the water up as much full as you can, leave as little air in the bottle as possible.  The presence of air allows for the breakdown of nasties that did survive the filtration and bleaching.  As they breakdown they have byproducts which can make people sick. So try to eliminate as much air in the bottles as possible.

Cooking:

As Peter wrote, in an emergency situation you probably won't have electric or gas to cook with so you need another way to do so.  Peter mentions cooking with wood and while it can be done it also presents a hazard.  Plus if you are in a major flooding situation as New Orleans experienced I doubt you would find much wood which you could safely burn for cooking.  Start hitting garage sales and thrift stores for camping supplies.  I have an old Coleman white gas camp stove I got at a thrift store for $5.00  It was missing it's fuel tank with it attached gas generator.  A quick trip to the sporting goods store and I purchased as propane converter for $14.99 which allows for the use of disposable 1 lb propane tanks, or with another purchase from the sporting goods store of a bulk hose for a Little Buddy Heater I can use any 20lb or larger propane tank to feed it.  And at a garage sale I picked up another Coleman camp stove that uses white gas/coleman fuel or ordinary gasoline for $20.00.  The propane adapter works with it also so I can use it with either stove.  You can also purchase propane only single or dual burner stoves for less than $25.00 and you can refill the smaller tanks from a larger 20lb tanks with an adapter.

I also make, as a hobby of mine, Alcohol stoves, that I can use 91% rubbing alcohol, denatured alcohol, Gas line dryer additive and a few others as fuel. To make these small stoves all you need is a couple of aluminum soda or beer cans, a nail and my pocket knife.  Search out Zen Stoves on google and you can find out how to make them yourself.  A small alcohol stove will run for 20 minutes or so with 91% rubbing alcohol and boil a quart of water in about 4 minutes.  The rubbing alcohol is rather sooty so your pot will be dirty but you can cook.  The other alcohols burn much cleaner and hotter lasting a bit longer per fill and boiling water much quicker.

Heating:

Peter stresses it and so will I.  DO NOT LIGHT ANY TYPE OF FIRE WITHOUT ADEQUATE VENTILATION!  YOU CAN DIE, YOU CAN KILL YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY!!!  DO NOT DO IT!!!  Even a Catalytic heater can kill you.  It burns fuel and requires oxygen to work, so do you.  So make sure you have a way to get enough air.

There are many different ways of heating.  Once again hit garage sales, I picked up 2 old Coleman catalytic heaters for $5.00 each.  The require white gas only as fuel which can be expensive but they will heat a 12X12 room if you are careful about maintaining proper ventilation and watch the drafts.  It does have to be lit outside as it gives off about a 3 foot flame when first lit and it is difficult to put out without the snuffer which one of mine didn't have.

Propane heaters, there are several propane heater on the market from Coleman, LittleBuddy and other but they require propane.

I will also tell you to search for the Cooking oil heater, it uses large ceramic flower pots as heat sinks and cooking oil to provide hours of heat.  However it too need to be adequately ventilated and it will only heat a room about 8X10 as it is a radiant heat.


Lighting:

Once again hit garage sales and thrift stores.  You can get oil lanterns, coleman lanterns running either white gas or propane, LED lights and in extreme need candles.  I really don't recommend candles as they have a rather low light output and are a very high fire danger.if you do use them please use votive candles in a glass holder or mason jar and do everything you can to ensure the aren't knocked over.  Even Tea candles can start a fire so be careful.


Other stuff:

Pots and pans to cook with, utensils to eat and cook with.  Sleeping bags and blankets.  All of these things can be purchased at garage sales and thrift stores and stored for an emergency situation.  One thing though I will cover in a separate post.  Sanitation.