SHTF side thoughts evaluation

[6mm Shoot]

I don't plan to go any place.

Yes fire is a problem. No I have no plans for if the house burns down other than fighting it with a couple fire extinguishers.

I do have a barn that we could move into. It would take some work to get it livable. Then that is what is planed for if we end up with more people than can live in the house and trailer.

Oh, yes we have the travel trailer if we have to bug out. Then I have no idea where we would bug out to. I mean I know all sorts of places we have been and liked but we stayed at a trailer park and were on vacation. To go some place and start all over, I don't know of any place to do that.

 

[the1kidd03]

Good 5 gallon buckets with good lids are resistant to a lot. I may or may not have some supplies buried in 6" sealed PVC tubes, and some in metal ammo cans.

What I learned from my house fire is to not have everything concentrated in one spot. Mine was a total loss, but luckily I have several outbuildings that had tools and other supplies. I now have things in multiple redundant locations with some off-site as well. This winter we picked up 5 acres in Kentucky and will be working on a small house there as well since we go down there all the time.

Packaging things in grab and go containers is also a good idea, as is having each container have a little of everything instead of grouping all containers as bulk storage only. Our staples containers have some rice, beans, sugar, cooking oil, matches, salt and pepper and a few other durable spices and a cooking pot. Many of them have a few other things as well, but it's a better strategy than having just one bucket of rice and one of beans.

This got me wondering; how do you "multi-pack" your buckets? Do you have a standard list of items you pack into a single bucket, or simple rule to follow when packing? Looking around on more details to this method and it's not easy to find. Most people seem to just fill large amounts of long term items in a single bucket such as you previously did.

 

[HavokCycle]

rule of threes -
three days
three weeks
three months
three years - this is survivalist, relocation, etc, true SHTF extreme scenarios.

 

[shibumiseeker]

This got me wondering; how do you "multi-pack" your buckets? Do you have a standard list of items you pack into a single bucket, or simple rule to follow when packing? Looking around on more details to this method and it's not easy to find. Most people seem to just fill large amounts of long term items in a single bucket such as you previously did.

I don't have any hard and fast rules, I just try to throw in a few extra things with any bulk storage, and try to make the bulk storage have more of a balance. Say I go out and pick up 50lb bag of beans. I'll look at the last time I picked up rice and sugar or wheat and pack a few more buckets. I always keep my eye out for pots and pans at goodwill I can get for a buck or less, or I'll throw in a couple of tin cans of something (the tin cans can be cooked in). I have a bulk container of hypochlorite, so I'll throw in a small glass jar of pellets. I usually try to add a pack of matches or some way of starting a fire, and some various comfort things (a few feet of TP, some cordage I might have otherwise thrown away) or spices as I happen to have on hand. I usually put in an MRE as well because it's nice to have some food inside you can eat immediately, boosts morale if it were truly an emergency. Add a hand-warmer (oxygen and moisture absorber) and viola! A kit. Many of my kits have a small jar of Maple Syrup as we make it, or a small jar of honey we trade some folks our maple syrup for.

I try to make it so any one bucket could be lived out of for a few weeks if necessary.

Once every couple months or so I break open a bucket and we add that into our meals for a while until the staples inside are consumed.

 

[the1kidd03]

I don't have any hard and fast rules, I just try to throw in a few extra things with any bulk storage, and try to make the bulk storage have more of a balance. Say I go out and pick up 50lb bag of beans. I'll look at the last time I picked up rice and sugar or wheat and pack a few more buckets. I always keep my eye out for pots and pans at goodwill I can get for a buck or less, or I'll throw in a couple of tin cans of something (the tin cans can be cooked in). I have a bulk container of hypochlorite, so I'll throw in a small glass jar of pellets. I usually try to add a pack of matches or some way of starting a fire, and some various comfort things (a few feet of TP, some cordage I might have otherwise thrown away) or spices as I happen to have on hand. I usually put in an MRE as well because it's nice to have some food inside you can eat immediately, boosts morale if it were truly an emergency. Add a hand-warmer (oxygen and moisture absorber) and viola! A kit. Many of my kits have a small jar of Maple Syrup as we make it, or a small jar of honey we trade some folks our maple syrup for.

I try to make it so any one bucket could be lived out of for a few weeks if necessary.

Once every couple months or so I break open a bucket and we add that into our meals for a while until the staples inside are consumed.

My original thought was to pack bulk items in them, but since fires, floods, etc. are the most likely scenario I like your tactic. I figured filling them with a good mix of items is a good idea.

I was playing around with my packing yesterday. I was able to pack a single bucket with:

1 gallon of water, 5lbs of dry beans, 10 servings of rice, canned tuna, canned salmon, canned chilli, can of baked beans, some canned green beans, a variety of canned fruit, canned soup, some spices (brown sugar, sugar, salt, pepper, etc.) Roughly, it's enough for us to live on for 30 days in one bucket if we had to.

Yes, the canned items are a little bit redundant for storing in a bucket, but like you said it's food that's ready to eat and it can even be mixed with the longer term dried staples for variety. I will still plan on throwing in a pack of matches, some TP, and maybe some other miscellaneous items if I can get it to fit. I may need to reduce the amount of bottled water in the bucket to make room for others though. I figured 1 gallon would be a fair amount for prepping the dried goods in the bucket and it's also great in case you had to just grab one or two buckets and get out.

 

[shibumiseeker]

The only criticism I would make for yours is the green beans. Canned green beans have almost no redeeming value other than the can. Very low caloric value, and other than fiber and a few minerals they don't do much for you. There are other canned goods that have higher nutrition and more caloric value. Not that I am against them totally, we have several cases of them, but if I am planning a grab and go bucket I'd drop the green beans unless you find them a strong comfort food in which case, go for it. I also don't bother with water in my buckets because in Indiana water is pretty much everywhere, so I just add a means to make it safe to consume.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Oh, one more thing you might consider adding to a bucket is a couple of pages printed up with survival tips or recipes. I have a little "how to catch and prepare a fish along with identification (because I don't fish), how to catch and prepare various animals (because my partners don't all know), and some common easy to identify plants (same issue with my partners), along with some tables of how much hypochlorite to add to how much water for how long, etc. We also have printed maps of caches on the way to our bugout location and alternate routes and identified potential choke points. Our family are all EMTs so we don't have any medical stuff in ours, but it's easy to customize something for your particular situation, and a few pages printed up along with a pencil add nothing to each can and at the least the paper can be used as TP or firestarter.

 

[the1kidd03]

The only criticism I would make for yours is the green beans. Canned green beans have almost no redeeming value other than the can. Very low caloric value, and other than fiber and a few minerals they don't do much for you. There are other canned goods that have higher nutrition and more caloric value. Not that I am against them totally, we have several cases of them, but if I am planning a grab and go bucket I'd drop the green beans unless you find them a strong comfort food in which case, go for it. I also don't bother with water in my buckets because in Indiana water is pretty much everywhere, so I just add a means to make it safe to consume.

Agreed. Water filtration and purifying are parts of all my bags, including those that remain in our vehicles at all times so I don't know that I would need to put them into buckets too. I only include the green beans in all honesty because I am NOT a big veggie guy. It's one of the very few veggies I can stand, lol. My wife loves them though. The same could be said for corn. It's good food, but it has little nutritional value. Pretty much everything that is a nutrient rich veggie I'm not a fan of by any means. Of course, if you're starving and that's what is immediately available things change.

 

[the1kidd03]

Oh, one more thing you might consider adding to a bucket is a couple of pages printed up with survival tips or recipes. I have a little "how to catch and prepare a fish along with identification (because I don't fish), how to catch and prepare various animals (because my partners don't all know), and some common easy to identify plants (same issue with my partners), along with some tables of how much hypochlorite to add to how much water for how long, etc. We also have printed maps of caches on the way to our bugout location and alternate routes and identified potential choke points. Our family are all EMTs so we don't have any medical stuff in ours, but it's easy to customize something for your particular situation, and a few pages printed up along with a pencil add nothing to each can and at the least the paper can be used as TP or firestarter.

I can prepare the live animals and fish. I'm gradually working on teaching my wife those skills too, in case she were to ever need them. I plan to include some recipe documents and such though. I have the maps, routes, etc. handled already. Satellite cache locations are an issue for me though. Between our home and our BOL we don't know anyone with any property and I don't know that I like the idea of using public land for such a thing. We are planning for the purchase of our own "recreational" property in a few years. Depending on its location our plans will change accordingly then.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Oh, I wasn't saying you should add the specific information I have in mine, just that it's a handy place to have cheat sheets for information you may find useful which is hard to remember stored which don't take up any space and packs in real well. I also write a lot of stuff on the inside of the lids with markers (writing on the inside of the bucket tends to rub off if it is transported much).

 

[the1kidd03]

Oh, I wasn't saying you should add the specific information I have in mine, just that it's a handy place to have cheat sheets for information you may find useful which is hard to remember stored which don't take up any space and packs in real well. I also write a lot of stuff on the inside of the lids with markers (writing on the inside of the bucket tends to rub off if it is transported much).

Yeah, I do the same. I'll probably write on masking tape on the outside of the bucket for contents so I don't have to open to find out as well. I actually just happened to stop in to Menards last night and they had the gamma lids for $6.xx each. I haven't found them anywhere else that cheap, so I picked up a few. I'll primarily use the regular snap on lids though most of the time to save money.

 

[NathanJefferson]

And referencing the other thread - if you want a self contained bucket with info - you can get a couple of gigabyte USB or Micro SD for only a couple of bucks to throw in too .

 

[the1kidd03]

And referencing the other thread - if you want a self contained bucket with info - you can get a couple of gigabyte USB or Micro SD for only a couple of bucks to throw in too .

Eh....personally, I find it hard to believe that if it was to hit the fan bad enough to drive my family and I from the safety of our home that things like electricity, much less computers will be easily accessible to me. Of course, I don't live in the middle of a downtown metropolitan area either. So, it's situational dependent. That is why I made that suggestion of an E-reader with a portable charging capability.

 

[NathanJefferson]

Eh....personally, I find it hard to believe that if it was to hit the fan bad enough to drive my family and I from the safety of our home that things like electricity, much less computers will be easily accessible to me. Of course, I don't live in the middle of a downtown metropolitan area either. So, it's situational dependent. That is why I made that suggestion of an E-reader with a portable charging capability.

Understood but there are android/blackberry/iphones in every inch or this country and charging them wouldn't be too hard. Just a thought, I'm working on creating a 'good' survival library and I'll make a bunch of copies and put all over the place...

I really like your ideas and the others in this thread! lots of learning to be had.

 

[Goodcat]

Why does everyone like bugs so much?

 

[Enkrypter]

I don't subscribe to the 72 hour bag. My kit is designed to survive and forge a living in the sticks like a caveman. I do carry enough food to last us 72 hours, but it's only until we can acquire more.

I'm staying home until I feel the need to get out. Then I'm looking for one of many options to travel to. Have a bugout network, not a single location. The idea about bugging out is to adapt and overcome. Not to sit at home and protect the pantry. Bugging out is a last resort. If your kit is done, in what my opinion is the the right way, you should be able to go anywhere and if all else fails live in the woods for a considerable amount of time.

 

[the1kidd03]

I don't subscribe to the 72 hour bag. My kit is designed to survive and forge a living in the sticks like a caveman. I do carry enough food to last us 72 hours, but it's only until we can acquire more.

I'm staying home until I feel the need to get out. Then I'm looking for one of many options to travel to. Have a bugout network, not a single location. The idea about bugging out is to adapt and overcome. Not to sit at home and protect the pantry. Bugging out is a last resort. If your kit is done, in what my opinion is the the right way, you should be able to go anywhere and if all else fails live in the woods for a considerable amount of time.

That is essentially my thoughts. I have a specific BOL, but it's relatively secure/safe/hidden.