I wrote my winter preparedness post a month ago and I figured I’d give you guys an update. As with all my ‘update’ posts, I’ll be following the original post’s format so that you can more easily follow along. Let’s get to it.
Checklist
Water. My end goal is twelve gallons, and I’m currently at 7.5 gallons. Target carries these awesome 2.5-gallon water jugs that I’ve been grabbing every other week. These things are propelling me rapidly towards my water goals.
Shelter. Still have a house. Count it.
Heating/Cooling. I’ve got about a days’ worth of firewood drying out on my back patio that needs to be broken up, sorted, and stacked on the side of my house. It’s all I’m going to get and I don’t think it will get me pretty close to 3-days of burn time. Maybe a day and a half. I just don’t have time to do more.
Food. My food stores have not improved, though I’ve received a lot of good ideas. I got turned onto these Mountain House 72-hour packs that I’m planning on picking up a few of. I might get one and break it open early to see what it’s all about before I buy 2 more.
Dog Food. I have a little bag of dog food that I’m keeping in reserve for emergencies. Check.
Ammo. Haven’t changed from the 206 of .223 and the 50-100 9mm. I need to get this squared away.
Emergency Money in Bank. We’re coming up pretty close to this goal. We have a solid medical bill that will take some time to recover from, but we should be at the goal by the end of November.
Emergency Money in Cash. Coming pretty close to this one as well. I expect to have this one taken care of pretty soon.
Battery Power Banks for Electronics. This one is complete. I found the perfect solution one day while I was walking around Sam’s Club. It is two 5,000 mAh chargers, 2 to a pack, and pre-charged. $35. Couldn’t have asked for better!
Lighting. I still need a few more candles. Now that it’s the end of summer, the fall scents are coming out and it’s prime time for good candles.
Gasoline. Still need to buy a gas can and fill it.
Medical. Still woefully unprepared, though I’ve started to do some looking around. I’ve found some 72-hour ’emergency’ medical kits on Amazon, but I’m not ready to pull the trigger on any of them yet. When I do, I’m going to be getting an RMT from V Dev Group. The ratcheting action of the TQ greatly interests me over other options, and it was recently TCCC approved.
Fire Extinguishers. Lowe’s still has them for $20 a piece. I still haven’t got one. I still feel bad about it.
Radio. I can’t believe I missed this on the first list! Battery powered radios are the best way to get info when your power is out. WiFi is out, TV won’t turn on, and using data is slow and battery-draining. A battery-powered radio is an optimum solution, and is on my list.
Sources
Honestly, I’m just picking stuff up from Target, Amazon, & Wal*Mart when necessary. I think Readystore.com (thanks Matt!) is an interesting non-Amazon source for stuff I can’ t get in person, but other than that it’s pretty much just normal stores.
Oh, and Chinookmed.com for medical stuff. These PAKs they’ve put together are very interesting.
Conclusion
I haven’t made a lot of progress, but it’s only been a month. I’m moving forward at a good pace and I feel comfortable with where I’m headed. One issue I hadn’t considered until I began was where to store this stuff! My current organization philosophy of ‘on the floor’ is quickly coming to the end of it’s usefulness. I just need to whip up some shelves. I’ve honestly got the space, I just need to utilize it
I did some quick math and I’m going to have 200 lb of water alone! Granted, water is going to be the heaviest supply I’ll have, but the rest ain’t exactly feathers either. The issue is the same as I’ve always had: time. I’ve got a toddler AND a newborn. I don’t have time to do anything, and I can’t exactly run saws and drills while they sleep. I may have to dedicate an entire weekend visit to Grandma’s to the task of making storage. If I do, I’ll try to document the process and post it here to show you guys. I could use the content 🙂
Stay prepared, and I’ll see you on Friday.
Pro-Gun Millennial 
Good stuff, keep it up!
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I had this post as a tab to reply to on my iPhone all month, but realized I had way too much to say.
I’m very much in the same boat as you. Millennial, married, with toddler. I’ve been dealing with similar preparedness items for the family over the last year and figured I could add some of what has worked for my situation. Hopefully it can help you and yours.
Water – Those 2.5 gallon jugs are great, but if they are like the thinner skinned plastic that I see near me watch out for seam splitting. More so if you stack them (stupid mistake on my part). I’ve ended up grabbing the Ozarka 3L jugs for my needs every trip to the grocery store. They are smaller, but the plastic is noticeable thicker, they stack well, and are easy to move.
Heating/Cooling – I have a limited amount of firewood as well. I ended up grabbing a Mr. Buddy propane heater, a few small tanks, and hose that lets me use my grill’s propane tanks. That heater can get a room warm quick during a power outage and take the chill out. We are in Texas, so I also have a few D and AA powered fans. When the power is out in the summer, having the windows open and fans going near (especially when sleeping) you makes it almost bearable.
Food – I shied away from Mountain House and MREs. It made more sense to go with rice, pasta, canned veggies, canned, fruits, canned meats, etc. Shelf stable staples. Things we are already eating, just with more tucked away now. You would be surprised of the number of full meals you can whip up by just having a deep pantry.
We have an allergy kid so we also stash shelf stable soy milk because our kid lives on it. Don’t forget the kid staples and other things they like to eat.
Money – We throw money at savings every chance we get. Its the biggest help for us and what we use the most out of our preps. Hit your goal then set a new one to work for it again. You’ll never not need it.
Shelves – Trust me as a fellow dad, you will NEVER have the time to go build that sweet 2×4 shelf. And even if you do have the time, you’ll want to spend it with the fam. Hit Home Depot, grab one of their $40 heavy duty plastic shelves, and call it good. I ended up with their HDX 36x72x18 shelf with the 150# capacity for each shelf. I use it to store ammo on and it has been great.
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Your warning about the thin skin of the Ozarka jugs is spot on. I found that one of mine had a small hole poked in it from something I set it on top of. I’ll look into the 3L jugs.
I’m going to see about those Lowes shelves. I had all last weekend toddler free and didn’t even get to start on it.
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