Sanitation Concerns and Procedures Post SHTF | The Survivalist Blog

Cleanliness is an essential trait to maintain good health, in good times and bad. Sanitation is the most important precept of cleanliness on a societal level. Poor or absence of sanitation is a major killer worldwide today, and has been throughout recorded history. Improper or absent sewage disposal and unclean drinking water are the two bubonic heralds throughout history, and are just as serious today.

Even when things are at their bleakest, you must be completely committed to maintain proper sanitation, else crippling or fatal disease will surely follow. In today’s article, we will be examining sanitation in the context of a SHTF-level event, as well as best procedures and practices after an event in case public services remain compromised. We will also take a look at the grim consequences of no or lacking sanitation.

So grab the bleach, don your rubber gloves and let’s begin.

Sanitation as a Universal Concern

Sanitation is and has always been of major importance the world over, no matter the circumstances. Even in wartime, a lack of sanitation and the resultant diseases are often greater killers than rockets, shells, bombs and bullets.

Consider the American Civil War (YouTube link): Dysentery, the great unclean scourge, killed more than 70,000 soldiers all by its lonesome. That same affliction killed more combatants than combat action in the Spanish-American War. That’s a seriously nasty way to go.

Dysentery is often inflicted through lack of sanitation like we are discussing here, and is an inflammation of the intestines. It always results in ghastly, life-changing diarrhea, wracking abdominal cramps and possibly fever. A bunch of poo-borne bugs can inflict it on you, including bacteria, viruses and parasites. Dysentery always causes serious fluid loss from constant watery bowel movements, and the resulting dehydration and electrolyte shock can produce severe complication s on their own.

Worldwide, more than 2 ½ billion, billion, people live without toilets or drains classified as “adequate.” This means they are all easy pickings for diseases that are practically unheard of or academic here in the more fortunate West. We may not stay that way, though, as it will only take one really bad turn to compromise or destroy our fragile infrastructure that ferries away sewage and furnished clean water.

Let that happen, and now suddenly coping with human waste will be very, very high on your survival to-do list. A lack or even interruption of basic waste service can rapidly result in an epidemic of disease ripping through an already tormented population of survivors.

Sadly, like so many other primal and necessary survival skills, modern life has bleached them right out of people thanks to technological prowess and an affluent culture.  This mentality and disconnection from taking care of our “business” will come back to bite us in the rear eventually.

Taking Care of Business

Ok, the next section is not for the squeamish. In it, we are going to be talking about the dirty truth of dookie: numbers, specifics, the works. These are all things you need to know if you want to be planning with any kind of achievable goal in mind. Like anything else, you cannot prepare for what you do not know.

An average adult will generate anywhere from ¾ to 1 pound of feces a day, and two to three pints of urine. Now, assume you have a family of four and the toilets don’t work or you have no toilet. You now have 4 pounds of crap and over a gallon of wee to deal with. Nasty. Now imagine you cannot leave the confines of your house or shelter to do that. Oh. God.

Right. Stay with me. This is completely disgusting, smelly and intolerable, but the worst is yet to come. If this waste is not properly disposed of, flies and other animals will make tracks toward it and get into it, or eat it. This includes your family pets. Nasty, but true. Now that critter, whatever it is, is a vector for biohazardous pathogens. Everything they touch their filthy paws and disgusting mouths on will be contaminated: your bedding, that freshly opened food pouch, your cup, etc.

The resulting sicknesses are never anything less than devastating, and will compound both your suffering and the difficulty of your situation geometrically. Young and old are especially vulnerable to diseases of this type.

Now, the above payload is the result of just one day. Imagine 2, or 3. Imagine a week. It takes little imagination to see how bad things can get, and how fast. Lucky for you, you will have a multitude of plans for dealing with your leavings after you finish this article.

Field Expedient Toilets and Improvised Waste Storage

Your options for dealing with waste after the, well, shit has hit the fan (note: don’t deal with this issue using an actual fan) are many and varied and most need only a little thought, a few components and some work to make viable. Some are workable for outdoor use and others for indoor use.

Any solution will either be a disposal option or a storage option. The difference being the former is more or less the end of your worry over your movement, just like going on a normal day. The latter is a temporary solution that you will need to empty or dispose of periodically or perhaps at the end of the crisis.

I have separated the improvised toilets into two groups for ease of use, indoor and outdoor. Both have their own special considerations discussed in the relevant entries. For either of them, you ideally have a ready-stashed supply of TP and baby wipes for just such an occasion. Right? Right?!

If you don’t, you can consider some of the following options for wiping your butt that you can probably find close at hand.

Indoor Toilet Options

Your indoor bathroom options are fairly limited, but definitely workable, even if they are not sustainable without periodic disposal of your waste by other means.

Bucket Toilet

Those hardware store 5 gallon buckets with the sealing lids have endless uses don’t they? This is another one. You can line one of these buckets with a pair of heavy duty can liners or bags (heavy as you can, you don’t want leaks) and use a purpose-made snap on toilet seat or improvised seat made from a couple of boards to add a little comfort when you sit, and voila: a new indoor toilet, just like the chamber pots of old!

You can add a little crumpled newspaper, sawdust, kitty litter, wood ash or store bought chemical toilet additive (like used on RV or camp toilets) for absorbency and you are all set. Seal the toilet carefully with the lid to keep odor down, and don’t be afraid to spray some cleaner or disinfectant behind when you are done. When the bag is getting a little to full for comfort or prudence, tie it off and remove it or dump it into a larger sealing trashcan (similarly lined) until it can be disposed of properly.

Keep a supply of strong bleach solution or other disinfectant and ash or quicklime near your disposal can if you are dumping your bucket’s contents directly in. Add some cleaner and then a layer of quicklime or ash to each addition to help control odor and pestilence from getting too overwhelming. Once the crisis is over, you can safely empty the contents into approved disposal sites or the sewer system.

Existing Toilet

Wait, what? The only reason we are going over this is because we don’t have access to our normal throne, right? Right, but there will be situations where your toilet will still be operational, but perhaps just won’t have water. This method will be dependent on two things: first, you’ll need to be sure that your locale sewer mains are unbroken and functional, else you’ll be contributing greatly to outbreaks of disease in your town. Second, you will need a supply of water to feed the toilet in order to flush it.

Simply pour a suitable amount of water in the bowl, do your business and then flush as normal. If for whatever reason the toilet is still non-operational, you can make use of it as the handy seat it is by duct taping a strong double-bag in the bowl and then doing your business normally. Once the bag is modestly full, untape it, tie off well and then put it in your disposal can as above.

Note: do not let the bag get too full. You will rue the day you had to tie off a small bag sloshing over with poop and pee.

Outdoor Toilet Options

With a shovel and a little sweat, you can produce an outdoor potty fit for a king. But you must know the water table in your area before using an in-ground toilet! Raw sewage will easily contaminate underground water supplies and wells, or above water supplies like rivers, lakes springs and creeks. If at all possible, you must locate any and all outdoor in-ground toilets well away from these water sources; consider 200 feet to be the absolute minimum safe distance. If that is not achievable, use the bucket method above and simply keep them outside.

Any outdoor toilet options will have two other major considerations for placement:

Depth – Any in-ground toilet should be at least 12 inches deep. This will be easier or harder depending on the hardness and type of soil in your area.

Drainage – This goes hand in hand with the contamination issue above. Any major rain or other source of water will saturate and then inundate your in-ground deposits, and the resulting sludge will travel with the flows and runnels to contaminate other water sources. Place your toilet with a strong eye toward minimizing harmful drainage.

Additionally, depending on the situation and proximity to other people and family members, you might want to set up an opaque tarp, screen, boards or something similar around any of the following toilets to increase privacy and ease the strain and stress of pooping and peeing in a strange place. A simple curtain rigged from cordage and a tarp or sheet can suffice in a pinch.

For the following options, as with our disposal container above, keep a supply of ash or quicklime near your toilet to cover the leavings. This will make it less attractive to pests of all kinds and help control odor.

Cat Hole

Exactly what it says on the label.  Dig a small round hole about 12 inches deep. This is enough for several bathroom visits. Squat over it, do your business, cover it and done. If you cannot stand to squat you can construct a seat or improves some type of chair over it to ease the strain.

This is a proper in-ground toilet that can support a family or multiple people. These take more effort to dig and create, but can go for a much longer time before you need a new one. Dig a trench about 12 to 16 inches deep, 4 feet long and a foot or foot and a half wide. Then squat and relieve yourself as above, no fuss, no mess.

A good tip for either of our outdoor models is to add a post or some kind of improvised assist handle or rope that will help you to maintain balance when you are squatting over it. This will improve both comfort and accuracy when doing the deed.

Post-Visit Clean-Up

Just like everyday life, hand washing is a crucial part of maintaining health and preventing the spread of disease after you use the bathroom. Only now the stakes are so much higher should you take ill. There is no rocket science here: wash your palms, fingers, under your nails and wrists thoroughly with soap and water same as usual, then rinse with clean water.

If water is hard to come by or too precious to use on hand washing, you should keep a giant bottle of waterless hand sanitizer on hand for just such an event. Put a generous dollop of it on your hands the rub briskly all over just like you were washing. When it is dry you are done.

If you have neither water to spare for serious washing or hand sanitizer, you can make your own hand wash disinfectant tank with our favorite prepper standby, chlorine bleach! A 6 percent solution in a deep bucket or bowl will work for this task, but you need to measure carefully. One tablespoon of bleach to a gallon of water should do the trick, but the key is to make sure your bleach-water smells strongly of bleach. It evaporates into the air right out of the water and if you cannot smell the bleach you aren’t getting any disinfection.

Also make sure you change the solution regularly, don’t keep adding bleach to a cloudy, nasty bowl of water. Dip you hands in the bowl and rub briskly all over for at least thirty seconds, then shake hands dry.

People get very lazy about hygiene and sanitation when things get rough and modern life disappears. Don’t let that be you and make sure you stay on top of family and kids. Should you get lax on this you will all suffer mightily.

In any prolonged survival scenario, especially one where you are remaining in one place for any length of time, it is sanitation, not raiders, invaders or anything else that will be your most persistent health risk. Without clean water and proper sewage disposal, disease will light you up and rip through your group, weakening and incapacitating you, making you all vulnerable to death from a host of other concerns. Avoid this ignominious end by learning and practicing good sanitation procedures for tough times.

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Cold, Hard, Survival: Why Cold Frames Are Essential for SHTF Food Gardens

Toward the end of summer or early fall, it may seem too
early to start thinking about winter. And it may be too late to start thinking
about a solid harvest. But when it comes to survival, you’ll need to consider
the importance of surviving through winter and what you can do now to survive
long-term.

Sure, hunting or fishing might get you by if you’re skilled enough. And food stores might help to supplement any fresh kill or frozen meats. But the real challenge is providing yourself and your family with access to fresh food in the dead of winter that can not only get you through winter, but also springboard your garden next summer.

This is where the cold frame comes in.

What is a Cold Frame?

For the purposes of gardening, a cold frame is a transparent-roofed
enclosure that is used to protect plants from cold weather. The transparent top
of the enclosures allows sunlight into the box while preventing heat from
escaping.

This simple device is a proven method for growing fresh food
through winter and priming summer gardens earlier than weather permits. They
take less space than a traditional garden, require less maintenance, and have
the potential to provide far more food than the empty produce section at a
supermarket.

The Benefits of Cold Frame Gardening and Food Growing

Cold frames are essential in every long-term survival skill
set. These simple, yet effective exoskeletons help to extend the harvest
timeline well beyond the first frost of the year. This means an early or late
winter doesn’t impact your food supply as much as it does other people. During
times when food is scarce and access is limited, a cold frame can provide fresh
produce essential to survival. Valuable spices and herbs aid in adding flavor
to otherwise bland foods. They can be dehydrated or serve as barter items. Plus,
you and your family can have access to natural fiber, vitamins, and minerals
essential to a healthy diet.

Cold frames help to promote an early growing period. Regions
that have late frosts have to delay planting much longer, which creates a much
shorter growing season. But with cold frames, starts can begin much earlier
without the need for a giant greenhouse. Transplants from a cold frame have a
greater potential to produce than if you were to wait until the last freeze of
the year.

Beyond the dangers of early or late frosts, some of the
benefits of a cold frame include less stress on plants, protection from wind, less
erosion, fewer weeds, and easy access. If properly oriented and built with care,
these units can keep plants alive longer, allow sowing sooner, and generate
food during the darkest days.

The Harvest: What you can grow in a Cold Frame Enclosure

It’s possible to harvest leafy plants like lettuce, kale,
and chard well into the depths of winter and produce hearty starts in early
fall where direct sowing is too risky. Plants like potatoes, carrots, radishes,
and beets are also good candidates for cold frames, along with bulb plants. The
greens and root vegetables available through proper maintenance and care can
easily supplement a protein- and carbohydrate-rich diet for those who fall back
on food stores to get by.

During the winter season, when no one has access to fresh
vegetables from their own gardens, supermarkets generally pull from frozen
stockpiles or other regions of the world to fill their produce sections. But
when supply chains fail, or when thawed vegetables reveal latent bacteria, food
recalls and food-borne illnesses become more prominent. Some fresh foods become
more expensive, or in some cases non-existent.

By taking what’s left of your seed stock, or rounding up the
end-of-season bargain seeds, you can easily supplement your fresh vegetables
instead of relying on what’s left on the shelves. Instead, you can trudge
through the snow, open a cold frame and pluck what you need right out of the
ground as if it were mid-summer. No chemicals, no bugs, no weeds. Just fresh
food that is homegrown and ready to eat after a quick rinse. This ease of
access and redundancy helps by reducing the need to tap into canned food. Your canned
food stores will have greater longevity and could serve a dual purpose as
barter if needed for other time-sensitive supplies. Meanwhile, you’ll be able
to replace your supply behind the scenes.

The Build: How to build a Cold Frame Garden Box

The frame itself is dirt simple. The concept centers around
retaining heat in the soil to allow plants to grow despite snow, frost, or even
frozen ground nearby. Frames retain heat by absorbing sunlight in an enclosed
space, much like a greenhouse. It can be as basic as a 2-liter bottle over a
plant, or as complex as a conservatory. The most effective form for small-scale
home gardens is a rectangular box about 2’ wide by 3-4’ long.

To create a cold frame, first locate a piece of un-tinted, single-pane glass such as an old wooden window or aluminum storm window. Anything before the era of vinyl windows will work well. Double-paned windows often contain Argonne gas or tinting that may interfere with natural sunlight, heat gain, or heat loss. If you’re handy in the shop, you may be able to build your frame out of wood and order up the glass to fit from a glass shop in your area. Clear corrugated plastic also serves the same purpose – let light in and keep the cold out.

If you are looking for something that will hold up better than glass, I suggest cheking out Lexan — this stuff can be shot with a .22lr bullet and not break!

The glass, Lexan, or clear plastic goes on top of an exterior framework. The framework consists of a simple, low-profile box that can be made of 2X6 studs or even plywood. Wood is joined and secured at the corners to provide a box that rests directly on the ground. Just remember – the thicker the wood, the better the insulation will be. Alternatives to wood frames might include brick, foam, or insulated metal siding. Regardless of the materials used to create the framework, you’ll want to build it to match the size of the window or glass frame you intend to use. You may be able to add hinges to lift the glass for access or install a repurposed sliding glass window.

You should have a rectangle of wood framework with a glass
panel or frame on top that can be lifted or opened for access. Now, orient the
glass to where the longest side runs parallel to the equator. You want to
capture as much sunlight as possible and if snow or rainwater is an issue,
adding a slope to the frame will make snow removal and access much easier. The
orientation and a good slope will garner the best results possible.

Once the frame is built, oriented and set in place on the ground, you can remove dirt a few inches down and either direct-sow your plants or provide a layer of compost to help get the seedlings started. By starting in late summer or early fall, you’ll have better luck with a regular harvest in mid-winter. By sowing in late winter or early spring, you’ll have heartier plants to transplant into your survival garden during summer.

If extreme temperatures or limited sunlight prevents the
cold frame from heating up, you can add a light, heat tape, a heating mat, or
additional insulation around the frame to aid in heat retention. Zones 1
through 5 will likely need more insulation and lighting than zones 6-10.
Additional insulation can be obtained through foam, additional wood, or even
organic insulation like grass clippings or seedless yard waste.

Unlike a greenhouse, a cold frame allows for a heightened level of discretion. The low-profile design is easy to disguise with shrubs or debris to prevent theft in times of chaos. This means that even in an urban setting, with limited space and relatively high visibility, you could still maintain a solid level of security and still have access to fresh food.

If you’re just getting started, and want to test the concept out before comitting to an entire cold frame system, you can pick up premade frame systems for under $75 — here’s a decent one to get you started.

For something more permanent, that really blends into your landscaping, we suggest going the extra step and using a brick frame or building your system into an existing retaining or privacy wall.

The History of Cold Frame Gardening

Cold frames have been around for centuries, but only recently
have they been re-introduced as a viable resource for small-scale winter food
production. With the advent of the supermarket, people gained access to foods
not typically available year-round. Before supermarkets, home and community
gardens served to feed people year-round as a result of proper gardening
practices and preservation techniques.

The cold frame origins date back to the Greeks, who used
translucent mica sheets to produce a greenhouse effect for growing vegetables
year-round. Mica was later replaced with leaded glass to create the greenhouses
we’re familiar with today. But while greenhouses and conservatories evolved and
served their purpose through the ages to the wealthy and powerful, cold frames
became the standard for the backyard gardener who needed to survive no matter
what.

Now that food quality, freshness, and preservation are being
questioned in supermarkets, more and more people are seeking alternatives. The
cold frame provides even the novice gardener an opportunity to grow food with
limited resources in the harshest conditions. With limited supplies and a
moderate level of skill, anybody can install and sow a cold frame in almost no
time.

Stockpiling food and resources prior to an emergency or
catastrophic event will help you survive. But being able to provide for
yourself when grocery stores are no longer available is a survival skill worth
its weight in gold.

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How The State Will Strip You Of Your Rights When SHTF

Editor’s note: This article was written by Maybell Nieves, a professional physician and oncologic breast surgeon from Venezuela.

Dealing with this subject has been quite difficult for me. Both the concept of the state stripping you of everything and the SHTF concept have as many backgrounds as diverse interpretations, so trying to approach this from a single point of view is a complicated task.

In my country, Venezuela, after 20 years of “revolution,” we have bottomed out and learned to live in situations we never imagined (so much so that I was able to write an article on survival techniques I never imagined myself using on daily basis).

It’s not that the governments before Hugo Chavez were much better. But there was a much more stable political and economic situation with access to the international market.How the State Will Strip You off Everything When the SHTFIn 1999, when Chávez’s government was instated, oil prices were the highest in Venezuela’s history. The newly born Communist policy in the country was hardly felt and had very few repercussions on the professional citizens who lived on a monthly salary.

That’s probably why those first few years didn’t really feel like something was taken away from us. In addition, the newly elected president had a 60% popular approval rating and promised endless opportunities for the neediest people.

One of the first economic policies was the implementation of exchange control, currently in effect. Any operation with foreign currency was managed by the state. Later came the control of the prices of basic products, which caused the disappearance of those items and initiated a black market that is also very much in force to this day.SHTFThe real problem began in 2004 with the accelerated decrease in oil prices that translated into a lower income for the government. Remember that we are talking about an oil-reliant country.

The decay was soon seen in many aspects. There was no longer maintenance on public roads, and public services failed often until reaching the point of constant failures of electric service, even for days.

The public health situation is also getting worse and worse. As a health professional, I have seen this deterioration for the last 10 years.

I am an oncologic breast surgeon. In Venezuela, breast cancer is the main cause of death from cancer in women. However, in the hospital where I work, the most important hospital in Caracas, there are no basic services for this issue. No chemotherapy, the radiotherapy equipment has been inoperative since 2015, and surgical procedures are suspended every week.

For me, as a doctor, it is frustrating not to be able to help my patients in any way. Just last week two breast cancer patients who were going to the operating room were suspended for the fourth time in a row. This time the anesthesia machine was failing.

The purchasing power of the Venezuelan citizen also decreased. It seemed to have happened from one day to the next, but if you look at the political situation since 1988, the decline took a long time; all that was left was to hit rock bottom.

Finding ourselves in extreme situations makes our defense system act in a primitive way. This means activating the fight or flight response at any time within any context—and yes, the state takes advantage of that.

The state will rip you off, but it doesn’t happen all of a sudden. There are a lot of logistics; it takes a long time to develop the kind of policy that makes citizens totally dependent on the state.

You start by losing something unimportant, like some kind of monetary bonus now given to you as government-run grocery store credits, and you end up losing your freedom and all kinds of rights, including freedom of speech and protest, but these issues are so extensive that they require an article of their own to explain them properly.

The state has taken charge, with great success I must say, and you are now living in fear of the so-called public authorities, meaning police and military police, since they serve as pro-government forces of repression.

Many of us have lost the incentive to go out and protest. We did it for more than 10 years. However, I have seen the evolution of the manifestations before and now.

I remember 2003 when repression was minimal, almost non-existent. Today many friends who still have the strength to continue have gotten gas masks in order to defend themselves from the hundreds of tear gas grenades used by the authorities that should be defending people.

In any public protest, savage repression is a constant. That violence is what we Venezuelans have become used to.SHTFWhen there is no public or social security, when the devaluation of the currency is occurring on a daily basis, and when you don’t know if the bakery on the corner is going to be broken into tomorrow, at that moment, the debacle has already occurred.

Defending oneself from these kinds of problems is as difficult as trying to explain them. Many have chosen to leave and seek a future in other countries. That way the state even strips you of your own country by causing you to become self-exiled.

I don’t blame them. We all have more than one family member or close friend who has been kidnapped or stolen from violently, and sadly, all we can say is “You should be thankful you weren’t killed”.

Personal security becomes a problem of epic proportions, to the extent that going out on the street is considered a risky activity—a risk to which, unfortunately, you have to get used to in order to live a normal life.Living in that state of continuous stress in which your rights are violated, in cities where, despite paying high taxes, everything seems to be in ruins, is part of that hopelessness that the state achieves in the individual.

Living in a place where a good monthly salary fora top executive, for example, does not reach $100 a month, is not easy, especially taking into consideration that a basic shopping list for a family of four can cost up to $140 monthly.

So the mismanagement of incompetent and corrupt civil servants results in the deep separation of three social classes: extreme poverty, which represents more than 80% of the population and is totally dependent on the government; the working middle class, which manages to subsist through one or two basic incomes plus the economic help of family members abroad; and those who do business with the government and can live in a very comfortable, ideal world that has nothing to do with reality.

Of course, there are exceptions to this, and some people have high incomes without being involved in dubious businesses.

It is sad to see how fourth-level professionals, trained in the country, must leave in order to provide for their families.

I know it is not a unique situation in the world—it has happened and will continue to happen—but it is very different to read about it than to see it sitting in the front row or even being the leading character.

Nowadays it is the common denominator, and more and more qualified professionals and technicians step into the international airport in search of a better quality of life.That’s why there is a whole generation that has no kind of roots in their country and only waits for the opportunity to leave.

I think the worst part of all this is the desolation sown in all of us. It seems to be an endless story, with the political disqualification of opposition leaders, political prisoners, and many more vexations.

Writing all this is not easy, but it makes me reflect. It is an exercise in introspection. Without a doubt, the state strips you of everything in its eagerness to stay in charge. That’s the way they do it.

There comes a point at which the only thing in your mind is to know if you will return home alive. Everything else is secondary. At that point, the state has already massacred you internally. You can never be the same again. I’m sure I am not.

Even if you are a person who is not involved in politics, an “apolitical” citizen, in this state of anarchy, you have to fix your position.

As Desmond Tutu said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Source: askaprepper.com

Read also:

 6 POTENT NATURAL PAIN RELIEVERS FOR PREPPERS

OFF GRID ANTIBIOTICS – FOR WHEN THERE IS NO MEDICINE

 A MEDICINAL PLANT MAP THAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR SURVIVAL KIT

Recommended Books

-All Medicinal Plants and Lost Cures of North America
THE LOST WAYS-Learn the long forgotten secrets that helped our forefathers survive famines,wars,economic crisis and anything else life threw at them
EASY CELLAR-AMERICA’S NATURAL NUCLEAR BUNKERS: FIND THE CLOSEST ONE TO YOUR HOME
THE LOST WAYS 2-This lost super-food will bulletproof you against any food shortage or famine
BLACKOUT USA-EMP survival and preparedness guide
DIY HOME ENERGY-Follow the step-by-step guide from A to Z and you will have a working system to reduce your electricity bills and save energy
MY SURVIVAL FARM-This hidden survival garden will keep you well fed when SHTF
MEAT FOR LIFE -THE REAL HOMEMADE AND HEALTHY MEATY TREATS OUR GRANDPARENTS USED TO MAKE…

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Armed Responses to SHTF Threats

John J. Woods
Magnolia Outdoor Communications

ARMED RESPONSES TO SHTF THREATS

Are you really prepared to shoot somebody? To kill them? The proposition is certainly a whole lot easier to talk about than to actually do. Really folks, this is super serious stuff and nothing to be shrugged off or joked about. When the worst case scenario SHTF comes along, you may well be confronted with this very decision and it will likely be instantaneous.

In every issue of the NRA’s magazines you can find a column section entitled The Armed Citizen. These are actual reported accounts of common everyday people defending themselves from a variety of life threatening assaults. It may be a home invasion, a store robbery, an assault, rape, carjacking or a host of other real threats. These citizens were ready and prepared as necessary to respond with deadly force to save their own lives. Could you do it?

A friend of mine always jokes about the “black helicopters” coming over his house and that likely one day a team of ANTIFA hooligans is going to knock on his front door to take over his house. He always portrays himself as a Ready Eddie with his AR loaded to the hilt and how he is going to take out the entire bunch of thugs. I just laugh.

Then I remind him of the scene in Open Range when Charlie Waite (Postelwaite) played by Kevin Costner, as the street gunfight initiates, he pops the hired gunslinger Butler in the forehead with one round from his .45 Long Colt Single Action Army. I tell my friend that those hooligans in black garb will likely take him out in the first exchange. Easier said than done.

Regardless, we have to be ready in case our lives are threatened and there is no other way out but to defend ourselves. You have to be ready for this likelihood. How? First, and likely foremost, you have to have a mindset to defend yourself with deadly force. Once you decide that, then you have to gear up and train up for that possible scenario.

At home, a bug out, or in travel, at all times you need immediate access to a firearm(s) that you know how to use and use well. You should take formal training with that weapon(s) and feel 100% confident in their use. Then, when or if the ultimate threat comes your way, you will be as prepared as you can be to defend yourself.

Image is courtesy of Shutterstock

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Rationing strategies you NEED to know when SHTF

Rationing strategies you NEED to know when SHTF

Whatever liberals like to say about our country, the FACT is that we’ve never had it better. Under the current administration, more of us are employed and earning a really decent living. The idea, then, of rationing is a strange – if not surreal – topic, even among us preppers.

Sure, you can argue that you’re a survivalist and have prepared for the worst. You may be right, in the general sense. However, most preppers stockpile on nonperishable items like guns, ammo, and the like. Little emphasis is placed on what you can eat or how much you should when the brown stuff hits the fan.

Do you know how to properly distribute food when you have a limited supply? Who should be prioritized? Does everyone get an equal share?

In an emergency, one’s nutritional intake may very well be cut in half, or more, depending on the severity of the emergency. This means that you need to learn how to survive on a diet that consists of around 1,200-1,500 calories.

Create an inventory

When SHTF, you need to know what food you have. Gather all of your supplies and create an inventory of them. Group foods into categories in order to determine which ones you’d have to eat first. Consider separating items into these categories:

  • Fruits and vegetables
  • Dairy products
  • Meats
  • Canned, cured, and dried goods
  • Grains and pasta
  • Baking and/or cooking supplies
  • Miscellaneous

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Highly perishable foods like fruits and vegetables need to be consumed first, followed by dairy products, meats, and so on.

How to distribute

How many people are you rationing for? This helps give you a general idea on how long your food supply will last. The smaller the portion, the lesser the calories, and the longer your supply will last. As a rule of thumb, men need more calories than women, and the elderly need less calories than younger people.

It helps to have a comprehensive food chart so that you can estimate how much food you can give to each person. The Food Nutrition Chart posted on What’s Cooking America is a good example. Here are some basic guidelines:

  • A cup of white rice is 686 calories;
  • An egg has around 100 calories;
  • 100 g of ground beef has 164 calories;
  • 100 g of chicken has 200 calories;
  • A cup of oats has 147 calories, etc.
  • Adult male: 1,700
  • Adult female: 1,328
  • Elderly male: 1,475
  • Elderly female: 1,100
  • Teenage male: 1,655
  • Teenage female: 1,486
  • Youth male: 1,230
  • Youth female: 1,165
  • Baby/Toddler: 500-1,000

How long are you rationing?

After determining how much food you have and how many people you need to feed, you have to figure out how long you need to make the food last. This can be done by considering what one meal would look like. Will it be for two adults? One kid? Several elderly people? You can then count the calories you would need and how much of each food group can be consumed. The total of that will tell you how much food you would lose from one meal.

Divide the food total by that meal total. This will tell you how many meals you have.

Start now

We can never really prepare for everything, but we can definitely try. As preppers, we encourage everyone to take simple steps to raise, grow, and store their own food. This way, even when the doodoo flies, you’ll have a sustainable way to feed yourself and your family.

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Surviving SHTF Without Technology

My own child can hardly make it through a single day without her iPod. Just imagine the adjustments to make if a full scale, widespread SHTF event wiped out the use of all technologies? This could very well be the most difficult aspect of survival for many of today’s preppers that were raised and have lived all their lives with a host of electrical powered devices.

A variety of SHTF events from tornadoes to hurricanes to earthquakes and more can take down the grid for extended periods. An EMP electric pulse event could fry and destroy every electrical device we have from communications to lights, to medical equipment, to travel vehicles to cooking appliances and creature comforts. Just think how much tougher this would make survival.

For this reason, all preppers should begin to think of planning how to survive without the use of these devices. Just stop to think about all of the devices that you rely upon now or are virtually dependent on. How will you continue to get the same jobs done without them?

Think in terms of anything that requires a constant and uninterrupted power service. Plan now to work around them as best you can. Some things will be really tough to do without and this also varies according to where you live. If you reside in hot, humid climates like the south with air conditioning every day, can you open those windows that are sealed now? If it is cold where you live, consider alternative heat sourcing away from an electrical or gas heating furnace to an available wood heating stove.

Cooking can be done easy enough with a variety of fueled cook stoves or even over an open campfire. Even so, these still need a fuel source. How will you supply these resources? When you run out of chainsaw gasoline, do you have saws, axes, and hatchets to cut wood for cooking and heat?

Once car gas is gone even temporarily, how will you get around? You can store up some emergency gasoline supplies, but they only last so long. Mileage can be increased by using an ATV or UTV for limited local travel. Perhaps having a good bicycle on hand is not a bad idea. Otherwise you will be walking, which is OK so long as you are fit and safe.

Obviously, this only barely scratches the surface of this topic. Basically we all just need to learn to become more self-sufficient with the skills, and tools available to get tasks done without technology.

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