If you don't know what a "prepper" is then let me give a quick explanation - it is a person who prepares for an end of the modern world scenario or disaster.
My own family has called me this, but I always just giggle. I do think we should be ready for ice storms, tornadoes or the possibility of a major homeland war. But, I do not seek to stock pile tons of ammo and food for such reasons.
A SOLAR CHARGING LANTERN THAT LASTS FOR 8 HOURS ON HIGH:
I think that living frugal or paycheck to paycheck has just caused me to buy when deals happen, learn to store my food long term, and gather what I always thought could be useful knowledge to save a dollar.
He did get me to think, though. What if a storm came in today and knocked out our power and water for 48 hours? I live in a small town and in an apartment. I decided to shut off the lights, look around and figure if the five of us could survive stuck for 2 days (worse case for a natural disaster is longer, but they say FEMA should be in by that point).
First problem I came across was bathroom. Shutting off the water to the toilet would mean no flushing. If you have a few gallons of water to pour down (assuming the sewers aren't backed up like in a flooding situation) then you are fine. I do not have a place to store this and it is supposed to have happened suddenly. So, I thought of the nasty thing: I would drain the water from the basin and duct tape a garbage bag into the toilet. Could also turn our large sealable boxes of kitty litter into a makeshift loo (then be able to shut the lid to keep the stink down better). A hand sprinkle of litter to help hold the smell at bay. Okay, bathroom issue complete. Hand sanitizer for hand washing and a scented candle for light and minimize the stink.
Second issue then came up: fridge and freezer have no power. Crap! Then I remembered something I read once about an African soil fridge! Taking the soil left over from my potted plant garden and huge pot I had my tree die in this year, a smaller pot to fit inside, surround with soil, wet the soil and use my son's Captain America shield as a lid. Voila! Poured what was left of my milk into jars, took my eggs into wash cloths carefully, and decided we would eat the lunch meat ASAP. I don't keep much in my fridge anyway that has to stay cold or be kept in a power outage. The freezer was just a matter of hoping for power again in 48 hours. I took large and small blankets and finished filling the freezer fast with them, shoving the food into the bottom. The blankets store the cold and hopefully would keep things frozen for a while.
Lights was easy since I love my oil lanterns and candles. Sometimes I turn off all of the lights in my place and just go by the flicker of a flame. The ambient light always has helped keep my migraines at bay and the softer light helps sooth me before bed.
In the summer we would be fine, but I live in freezing Minnesota. We would not survive some days here for three hours without a heat source, let alone 48. Last winter my sister's heater went out and we scrambled to heat one room sufficient enough with two small base heaters plugged in. Our first winter here we hung blankets up to isolate the rooms, the living room and the kitchen from each other. I also already stuff and plastic cover my "window" air conditioners that are shoved into the walls in the living room and the back bedroom. These things leak horribly. I also am lucky to have a grandma who sewed some thick curtains that I double tape to the walls to seal the windows (which every winter never fails to have ice seeping into my apartment through due to the insulation and installation being horrible). We would freeze quickly in January when our highs are usually negative 20. I have decided that we would seal up the bedrooms the best we could and just have to heat our main rooms. I found this nifty heating trick a while ago where people make small heaters out of planting pots (clay and not plastic). I have some on hand already, but I don't want to kill my herbs for some heat (I will if it happened right now and today). I have decided that this week instead of buying my Hello Kitty Halloween shirt I want (yes, I save for frivolous things like that) I am going to buy enough supplies for a terracotta planter heater. I will make it and test it out next weekend to see if it works. If it does I will make two or three more for emergency or even supplement heating this winter. Last winter we reached a lovely negative 46 degrees and my electric heaters the apartment has didn't keep us comfortable at all. I had to bundle my kids up and use heating pads to keep them warm all day. We were miserable. Maybe these planter heaters will help a lot with that.
Now I started to think we would get bored or hungry. It is after harvest so I have a ton of food on hand. I also happen to have cast iron pot and flat pan. They would work lovely sitting on the terracotta heater, I think. I would have to let them heat up well to cook in them, but it is an idea. I wonder if I could heat my oven well enough with a plant heater to bake bread? It's another thing I might try for fun when the kids are gone one weekend.
Water should always be on hand for every household. Even during everyday living your water can be shut off by the city for sudden repairs or breaks. General rule is a gallon a day per person. Rotate out your water often (use water from your stores every day to cook and drink instead of straight from the tap). If you keep even more than that, then you will have enough for a wash cloth bath or washing soiled clothes.
So, we have food, are warm and dry, bathroom working, light, and water. Now we are just bored. If you are alone you could read a book or nap. If you're like me, then you suddenly have four kids stuck in a small space beside dangerous candles. What do we do? Games, playing with sit down toys, and even school work will hopefully help.
Now that I have it all planned out, I think I might even try this. One full weekend where I turn off the water to the apartment and hit the main breaker for my place. First I am going to see if those plant heaters work and could they heat my oven sufficiently for baking a loaf of bread? I will let everyone know.
Maybe I am a bit of a prepper? Or, at least, I am not far from it. Does this make me upset? Nope! I am prepared and that is fine. I am also not fanatical about it, which is also good.
A LARGE STORM BROUGHT LIMBS DOWN AND IN SOME PARTS OF TOWN BROUGHT DOWN TREES IN THE SUMMER OF 2014:
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