Practice

[OtterbatHellcat]

Decided to take today and do a dry run of utilizing what I have on hand when the power goes out for an extended period of time. Yes I'm on my laptop typing this, not the point right now.

Maybe folks are better organized than I am, but I thought I had stuff pretty well set up. Wrong.

Since it got dark, I've been operating on candles and oil lamps. When I went to look for something I needed, I used an oil lamp...they suck to really see anything. Under the crawl space trying to find the little sterno cooking furnace thing, no luck. Did eventually find it in another room, all with a shitty oil lamp output. (Seriously, you should try this)

Found out that the Sterno Safe Heat 2 product when used under the cooking apparatus only lasted about 30 minutes. Not enough time to prepare the freeze dried meal that was split in half due to using travel cooking gear size restrictions. Irritated with that, I started another can of Sterno 2 sitting on the stove and it's been burning for one hour and forty minutes at this time, of an advertised two hour burn time. No idea why the other can burnt out in 30 minutes under the travel cooking set I have.

I'm not a Wise Foods rep, but the couple of times I've eaten it......the stuff ain't bad at all.

[Great-Kazoo]

1st item is a dual fuel generator


#2: Do you have a gas or electric stove or water heater?. If gas you don't need electricty to operate them

3: power goes out (for us) we go to already cooked and vacuum sealed frozen items.

4: You might consider replacing the sterno and oil lamps in favor of battery and or solar LED lights. Not do away with, but as a secondary / plan B use. Those cheap lawn solar lights make great in home emergency lights.

4: take those empty water bottles,fillthem 3/4fullthen freeze. They are great for keeping pershibles cold, then use for drinking.

There's more you can do, already discussed in past threads.

[OtterbatHellcat]

There's more you can do, already discussed in past threads.

Yes, I should scroll further back than I did. I know you guys have more than likely covered most of this stuff.....it's just that today I wanted to force myself into using the stuff I have on hand right now. The cooking thing was sterno because I wanted to use the travel gear, I have other methods of heating and cooking if I was confined in the house. Sucked that the packaging was more plentiful than the gear could cook at one time. That was more of an "out on the road" test drive with that....I.E. get home bag or bug out bag.

I'm going to do this more often though because I need to have it down, and know what it is that works good. I can live without a lot, but I don't want to miss out on stuff that I can have when everything goes shitty.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Try refilling an oil lamp........using candle light. That's effed up.

[brutal]

Glad I have the camper parked next to the house.

I try to keep plenty of propane on hand with not only what's in the RV, but a couple spare bottles for the grill.
I also have a dual fuel coleman stove if needed and both white gas and unleaded on hand.
If I had to pick the top thing I'm lacking, I really don't have enough gasoline to run the genset for an extended period unless I siphoned the car which I tend to always try to keep at least 1/2 full.

I also don't have the house setup to tap from the genset so I'd have to rig power to the furnace if needed.

[ray1970]

Try refilling an oil lamp........using candle light. That's effed up.

Sounds dangerous too.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Sounds dangerous too.

I know. I did do it at the kitchen sink, but 1 candle power output really does suck. I had other oil lamps ready to go but I wanted to do it.

[hurley842002]

My wife has enough candles to likely provide light to the whole forum, but I've got a couple LED lanterns that work quite well and last a long time, those are what I prefer, but having the candles as backup is comforting.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Glad I have the camper parked next to the house.

I try to keep plenty of propane on hand with not only what's in the RV, but a couple spare bottles for the grill.
I also have a dual fuel coleman stove if needed and both white gas and unleaded on hand.
If I had to pick the top thing I'm lacking, I really don't have enough gasoline to run the genset for an extended period unless I siphoned the car which I tend to always try to keep at least 1/2 full.

I also don't have the house setup to tap from the genset so I'd have to rig power to the furnace if needed.

I've got a metric shit ton of propane on hand, I know that the fire department wouldn't be happy if they knew about it. Just the prep shit I have under the stairwell storage area would probably blow this house all over the neighborhood.

Gasoline is a big deal to have, I've thought about having a few 55 gallon drums on hand. Yeah you're going to have to use it and refresh it, but that's not hard to do. Sucks there's some stuff I can't (shouldn't) do now because I'll be moving. When I do get where I'm going, I'll have a lot of gasoline and water in storage for sure....solid plans for that.

[hurley842002]

Sucks there's some stuff I can't (shouldn't) do now because I'll be moving. When I do get where I'm going, I'll have a lot of gasoline and water in storage for sure....solid plans for that.

Where are you moving to OBC?

[OtterbatHellcat]

My wife has enough candles to likely provide light to the whole forum, but I've got a couple LED lanterns that work quite well and last a long time, those are what I prefer, but having the candles as backup is comforting.

Gotta have candles around for sure. The ones I used last night did pretty well, and I forget where I got 'em. Four and a half inches tall and an inch and a half wide dripless candle and after about seven hours of use it's still near half. I have a shit ton of those little votive candles too.

Moving to central AZ, brother. This Cat doesn't want to deal with blizzards and arctic temps no more.

[hurley842002]

Gotta have candles around for sure. The ones I used last night did pretty well, and I forget where I got 'em. Four and a half inches tall and an inch and a half wide dripless candle and after about seven hours of use it's still near half. I have a shit ton of those little votive candles too.

Moving to central AZ, brother. This Cat doesn't want to deal with blizzards and arctic temps no more.
Oh yeah, I think I remember that. We are planning to move, and Anthem AZ is at the top of our list as of now.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Having ordered Wise food products a few times already, there has been a noticeable delay in getting my most recent order delivered. I know that they only make stuff as orders come in.

I believe that they are raking in some serious cash with this north korea horseshit going on, just my guess.

[brutal]

I prefer Mountain House or Augason farms...

I consider the price/calories, as well as the taste.

[Great-Kazoo]

I've got a metric shit ton of propane on hand, I know that the fire department wouldn't be happy if they knew about it. Just the prep shit I have under the stairwell storage area would probably blow this house all over the neighborhood.

Gasoline is a big deal to have, I've thought about having a few 55 gallon drums on hand. Yeah you're going to have to use it and refresh it, but that's not hard to do. Sucks there's some stuff I can't (shouldn't) do now because I'll be moving. When I do get where I'm going, I'll have a lot of gasoline and water in storage for sure....solid plans for that.

While not hard to fill then draw from. It's difficult if not impossible to utilize them if one had to move real fast from the area. 2.5 & 5 gal containers are easier to transport as well as fill your vehicle from.

After travelling around the country over time i will say this. WE are not going anywhere IF something were to drop. Everyone and their (insert gender) relative will be clogging the roads, it's bad enough when traffic is barely movingnow. Why would we want to deal with gridlocked , possibly never moving again traffic, forced to go it on foot.

[OtterbatHellcat]

I prefer Mountain House or Augason farms...

I consider the price/calories, as well as the taste.

I remember searching reviews a while back....I seem to remember that Augason Farms stuff was rated super salty, though I've never tried it myself. It would do good to sample those companies products as well for sure.

[OtterbatHellcat]

While not hard to fill then draw from. It's difficult if not impossible to utilize them if one had to move real fast from the area. 2.5 & 5 gal containers are easier to transport as well as fill your vehicle from.

After travelling around the country over time i will say this. WE are not going anywhere IF something were to drop. Everyone and their (insert gender) relative will be clogging the roads, it's bad enough when traffic is barely movingnow. Why would we want to deal with gridlocked , possibly never moving again traffic, forced to go it on foot.

Moving fast to anywhere is not my plan when shit goes bad, I'm going to stay put and protect and defend. The gas would be for vehicles when needed, but mostly for the generator. I made a cool "quite box" for it, you can barely hear it from the street if you know it's running, I think someone walking down the street wouldn't notice it. I have some solar charging stuff that does a different range of rechargeable battery sizes.

I meant to address your frozen food supply you mentioned. That food is probably super good quality, but you do have to keep it frozen, I really don't know if what minimal resources are still available after shit storm, are worth keeping food frozen. I'm trying to learn and be prepared, and do the best I can to maintain some quality of life when shit goes bad.

And I want to keep practicing with stuff.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Another thing I noticed last night, was when I walked outside and across the street, you couldn't tell that there were lamps and candles lit. I wanted to know.

[OtterbatHellcat]

There is no time when inconvenience fits in your schedule of stuff you gotta do......or to survive.

I might have too much of the wrong stuff, or not have it organized well enough, or in the market for getting some more stuff, but I'm going to do these dry runs with some regularity from now on. I learned a few things last night that were helpful. Know where your stuff is, and be organized about it. I have many plastic tubs that are not identified and looking through them with a shitty light source isn't the funnest thing to do.

Yes, I have a few very powerful flashlights and some other stuff, but I wanted to run through that with basics. That might be all you have left, if you have that.

[TheGrey]

Man, when the power goes out here, it gets DARK. I hear ya about the kerosene lanterns. We have a bunch of flashlights, and we also have a bunch of fire exiguishers. They're on sale this month- stock up.

Have you thought about dehydrating or canning your foodstuffs?

[OtterbatHellcat]

Looking at freeze dryer options lately.

[OtterbatHellcat]

I think that sterno can burned out in 30 minutes because it got super heated under the cooking utensil, it was stupid hot. The other can burned for over the two hour rating I found.

BTW, you might want to put a couple of cans of sterno in your car with your winter emergency gear.

[TheGrey]

A good reminder TheGrey. If things go bad you will be the fire department. Be careful with your fuels and be ready with extinguishers.

I think the only reason my spouse and I are here today is that we had fire extinguishers next to the bed. 3 am is awfully dark when an electrical fire starts up. Between flashlights and extinguishers, we were able to hold things until the fire department arrived! Ever since then, we have flashlights and fire extinguishers in every room.

[hunterhawk]

For backpacking i use jetboils to heat up my meals. It doesn't take long at all to get to a boil and i have used the same canister (the big one) for 3 seasons and its still going strong..i just bought another incase it goes out and have a few extras in storage...but might want to check those out

[OtterbatHellcat]

Tonight, another "no power" test drive.

:)

[ray1970]

Post some pictures this time OBC.

[OtterbatHellcat]

I am way too used to always having electricity and all the other comforts that are available every day.

Speaking for myself, putting some effort towards going without those things with some regularity is going to be beneficial to me. Might not be for others.

[Great-Kazoo]

I am way too used to always having electricity and all the other comforts that are available every day.

Speaking for myself, putting some effort towards going without those things with some regularity is going to be beneficial to me. Might not be for others.

Try minimizing your tp use. Cut back on water consumption. If you relocate to a place that has a well, you'll see real quick how much one takes for granted. When you rely on your own water supply instead of someone else.

[OtterbatHellcat]

When you rely on your own water supply instead of someone else.

That actually is part of these exercises, and, I get what you're saying. The more often I do it, the better off I'll be.

[ray1970]

I hope you have a plan for keeping your internet running. A person can survive for a while without food or water but going for more than a few hours with no internet could drive you to insanity.

[rondog]

Saw these on the 'net somewhere recently. It was an article about using a #10 steel food can (think tomato sauce at a pizza shop) as a stove, this was the heat source.

A tuna or cat food can (or similar), cut a strip of cardboard and roll it up to fit tightly in the can, then fill it with hot, melted parrafin wax. Use as a heat source for cooking or a candle. I'm sure they'd store well and last forever.

[gnihcraes]

Made candles just like that in Cub Scouts - 1970's.. they work well.

[OtterbatHellcat]

They look like they would, and I'd like to make a couple of them just to see. ...and thanks for the links, Driver...I'll hear those out.

[OtterbatHellcat]

I hope you have a plan for keeping your internet running. A person can survive for a while without food or water but going for more than a few hours with no internet could drive you to insanity.

We're all hooked on the damn net, I admit it. Aside from the cool stuff I've learned from you guys over the years, and friends I've made here.....the net is an available encyclopedia X infinity it seems. Everything at the finger tip at a moments notice. Search, buy, learn, listen, read, interact.

No question this venue is an asset, (among the other things that it is not) and will be missed when accessing it is no longer a reality.

[Grant H.]

We're all hooked on the damn net, I admit it. Aside from the cool stuff I've learned from you guys over the years, and friends I've made here.....the net is an available encyclopedia X infinity it seems. Everything at the finger tip at a moments notice. Search, buy, learn, listen, read, interact.

No question this venue is an asset, (among the other things that it is not) and will be missed when accessing it is no longer a reality.

Hence my latest fascination with storing hard copies of useful information.

As I have been working on setting aside/storing some comms gear, I have been making quick start guides, and then laminating them and storing them with the gear. That way, I don't have to remember how to do something, or if I am incapacitated, someone else can operate the gear.

It's a valid idea for anything that isn't straight forward and simple to use or do.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Those are some good ideas, Grant. Thank you.