Doomsday preppers...

[NSP64]

New show in NatGeo channel. Anyone besides me watch this? I thought it was informative.......I took what I could from their plans and talked with GF about ours.

[jcwit]

This issue comes up just about every generation. My generation had the Mother Earth News movement and going back to the land, worked for very few. The generation prior had the Bomb Shelter movement, thank God that didn't happen.

So far its only walnuts and acorns thats falling on chicken little and not the sky!

[EMC45]

Thought it was "OK", but me and ol lady hashed it out and figured out what could be done differently.

[Blammer]

DP'ers I thought were a secretive bunch as they didn't want anyone to know about thier stash. I wonder how they found out about them for a show?

I wonder what will happen to all of thier 50,000 pounds of food in a few years? I wonder if they have a pest control method.

My guess is, if there is a doomsday, all that food will contribute to rats and mice and then fleas and then the black plague.

[Doc_Stihl]

The first question that ran across my mind is, What do they do when they run out of food? Yeah even if it's 2 years later, then what?

Most seem like they know how to go the grocery store.

If I thought it important enough to prepare for the ending of things as we know it to go to the extreme some folks do, I wouldn't be in a residential area. I'd be north west of nowhere. Someplace where you could live off the land. In my area, a good woodsman would have a hard time finding enough game to live off for years to come.

[GRUMPA]

The mrs. and I watched one show about that, I think they called it one of those reality shows, YEAH RIIIGHT!!!! we were watching and picked it apart to no end. Talk about a show being scripted, we watched I think the first 2 episodes and at the beginning they were given shopping carts to go get what they would think they needed from some sort of picked apart old store. But they had bad guys there taking things from them while they were doing it and the only things that were exchanged were harsh words.

The wife and I looked at each other and in unison said I'd like to see them do that with me, there would be a few less thieves around. So after the second episode we both watched something else, that show and I'm sure like a lot more aren't even worth the power it takes to turn on the TV.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Several years ago when we were still living on 2-1/2 acres a family moved in next door along with five vans of food supplies. Along with the food they hauled in a large number of big ugly rats. I went over to his place one day when he was cleaning out one of the storage vans. He showed me where the rats had chewed into a box of dehydrated celery. It looked like ground up weeds to me. He said they bought it forty years ago. When they moved to Idaho they left large crates of canned food that had turned black in the jars. The property was trashed and the rats are still there.

[Trey45]

I watched it, couldn't quite figure out why these people were showing the entire world their stash. All it takes is some useless dirtbag to think "I don't need to prepare, I just need to know who did and take their stuff". When you go on TV and show the world your 50,000 pounds of supplies, it kind of takes the guess work out of it for the dirtbags to know which house to gang up on.

I guess it maybe served a purpose if someone who had no plan was looking for ideas, but in all honesty I saw a bunch of delusional people who have no clue.

[x101airborne]

I am recording it and just finished watching the first two episodes. I dont think I will be stockpiling food. Due to the rats, spoilage, etc. I do already have a small supply of seeds. Not very diverse, but plenty of the essentials. Soybeans, cotton, peanuts, etc. Mostly high protiene and high fiber plants. Lots of radishes and beets so the entire plant can be eaten and the fruits can be stored. Most of my eating is going to be fresh beef, deer, small game. I am not stockpiling any ammo other than 22 lr. It may not be the most effective for any situation, but will work in ALL situations. God only knows how many deer have been killed with a 22. And I do disagree with the show on one point. Someone on my land in that situation is a THREAT and will be dealt with as such. But having a bunch of different caliber weapons and trying to store all that stuff is heavy, bulky, and you will never have what you need at your fingertips. A 22 is a 22 is a 22. Cheap, effective, quiet, dependable, accurate. Like I said, not optimal, but effective.

[starmac]

When I was growing up everybody stored food, it was basically a way of life.
I have not seen the show, mainly because I figured it was just another reality show, but I don't know why they or anyone else would store food where rats could get at it.

[Reload3006]

if one really wants to prep for dooms day one would be much better served to learn gardening and weaving and other basic skills as even the largest horde will not last forever

[firefly1957]

If you remember the same nuts probably still have MRE's from Y2K that never happened! I worked with a guy had dirt berms built around his trailer and had a two year supply of MRE's and guns and ammo in 2006 he was still bringing MRE's for lunch! You are correct about these people not thinking ahead if there was a total break down seeds,animals and hunting in a off path place would be the only way to prepare. A warm climate will also be a plus.

[starmac]

I have always kept seeds from year to year, but they will not do any good for several months if you can't get food today.

[Bret4207]

FWIW I watched the 9:00 show, the one with the older heavy guy and his wife and the shipping container castle. Yeah, they have 50K lbs of foods, but much was dehydrated and the canned in glass stuff was stored in the dark which helps. If they rotate it, which I think they had scheduled, then the food can last for a long time, a couple years anyway. And they did have chickens, hogs and goats, so there's the fresh meat and disposal for the food that's turning.

I don't know if they were "real", but I can admire the work they put into it. I wouldn't put myself on TV if I was a prepper, but the $$$ they got probably allowed then to do more work. Good for them.

[Rangefinder]

In my experience, knowledge is power. Most of my knowledge centers around 1800's technology and earlier. The rest is for me to know and others to shake their head at while trying to google it.

[FISH4BUGS]

I was putting away my hoard after buying the house my girlfriend had rented for 9 years in the country. I was setting up my casting and reloading shed. I realized that I had enough components to load 10,000 rounds of 223, 5000 rounds of 308, 10,000 rounds of 38 and 357, 10,000 rounds of 45, 5,000 rounds of 44 mag and 20,000 rounds of 9mm. Tons of gas checks. JHP bullets, FMJ bullets. I always bought in these quantities anyway because I shoot machine guns.
Cast bullets? I have about 2000 lbs of lead....that should last for a while anyway. It doesn't go bad.
Food? A freezer with almost 4 months of food....all organic chicken, burger, bacon, sausage and vacuum sealed vegetables. 100 gallons of gasoline for the generator. We are putting in a garden this spring and will can most of our vegetables. Enough cash for 30 days. Silver for a few more months. Canned food for maybe 6 months.
Sound far fetched? The ice storm of 09 left us with no power for almost 2 weeks. You want to see people's tempers frayed? Try going without power for 2 weeks....we had to drive 50 miles round trip to get gasoline for the generator. The veneer of civilization is very thin indeed.
I want to be as self sufficient as possible. I have already traded 2 boxes of 9mm to the organic farmer down the road for 30 lbs of tomatos last year. More to trade this summer when crops are in. He also wants 308.
If the SHTF, everyone out here will be hunting for food. The 27 turkeys that come around every day won't be seen at all. The deer will be decimated. Moose and bear will be gone. Anything that walks will be shot for food.
I just want to be self sufficient. Does that make me a prepper? Who knows. Rotating the food and using up the components will be OK with me for the rest of my life. If nothing happens my kids will inherit my stash of components and guns.

[looseprojectile]

when the children, grown adults, that go to the store for every meal are hungry.

The wife and I have a stash of canned foods that might last several months if just her and me are eating it. You can't just tell them no can you?

Love the B&M brown bread in a can.

Our kids don't have two days stash of food. Four of them and their kids.

I don't consider myself a hard core prepper but I lived through the forties and fifties and went through some lean times. Really taught me a lesson.
I know I can live off the land because I have done it but that lifestyle does not appeal to me in my old age.

Save your money cause it is going to take a lot of it. Quadforple inflation?
The Mormans have a plan. I wonder what kind of stash Mitt Romney has.


Life is good

[x101airborne]

I saw that guy with the 50,000 pounds of food. I dont really see it as an asset to be tied down to 50,000 pounds of anything. My seeds are set to grow a different set of crops year round. Even here in Texas in the winter, I can grow lettuce, celery, cabbage, etc. and it ALL goes great with deer. And for that matter, we may actually get the hog populus under control if it ever does happen. The hogs do eat!

[madsenshooter]

Oh, I get a kick out of all of it. Unless God came and told them how to prepare, as with Noah, they don't have a snow balls chance anyway. Fact is what's going to kill them is probably already in them, and they're too small a target to hit with a bullet. "He shall prepare for war, and there shall be no war", "Thus shall they all fall, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence". Read those somewhere.

[John 242]

if one really wants to prep for dooms day one would be much better served to learn gardening and weaving and other basic skills as even the largest horde will not last forever

I've thought about that for a while now.
Part of my belief system is to be prepared for unexpected circumstances as much as is reasonably possible. Gardening is something I always wanted to learn to do.
My mother used to talk a lot about the depression and WWII. They supplemented what little food they could afford with whatever could be grown, shot or caught.
Those were hard times.

My mother kept a "victory" garden while we were little kids, growing tomatoes, spinach and this and that. We were pretty bad off at the time and the garden provided at least a little bit of fresh food.

I guess I need to 'do it' and quit thinking about it.