What would you do to prepare to horde & store a few years worth of diesel?

[TnAndy]

Not to mention a certain country would love to EMP us.

Yep....likely more than one. There are lots of things that could happen.....or things could stay the same for the rest of my life. My plan is to be covered for either. I own life insurance too.....and hope it never HAS to pay off.

 

[hutchman]

Better plant a garden and start canning.

JAMES WOOLSEY, PETER PRY: EMP, a Shariah-approved nuclear attack - Washington Times

 

[KiotiKowboy]

I think one can be easily overwhelmed when asking .. What do I need to have on hand to be fully prepared for a major disaster? Doing anything is certainly better than doing nothing.

Survival foods can cost a fortune, not to mention they're usually not what you would want for a steady diet. Instead, buy normal canned foods. The "best by" dates are not "throw away" dates. Many of your everyday canned foods will safely make up to 5 years on the shelf. I buy extra, sometimes by the case at big discount sellers like Sam's Club. I label the cans by date and donate them to food charities when they reach 3 years or so. This keeps my food stores fresh.

One area often overlooked is that of basic drugs. In a major disaster, you could find yourself with a minor injury that leads to infection and serious consequences if you have no antibiotics available. An easy way - at least for now - to get around prescriptions is to buy these for birds and fish. You can get them without prescription and they are exactly the same thing your doctor prescribes for you. Most of the major antibiotics are available, so stock up a broad spectrum and put them in your freezer.

I also keep a few hundred ounces of silver on hand, along with a few thousand dollars in cash.

Toiletries, water purification, a small solar generator, firearms/ammo, and a long list of other items can make your life much easier if tough times come our way.

 

[hutchman]

.. make your life much easier if tough times come our way.

I made that statement Biblically correct:

"make your life much easier 'WHEN' tough times come our way"

 

[Fallon]

The wife has a nice coop full of chicken's & turkeys. She's finishing the raised beds here in the next few weeks so she can get back to gardening (had one last year, but didn't get it going this year due to putting in the raised beds).

We are by no means going full prepper at all, but just trying to be prepared for a gnarly snow storm, tornadoes (a handful have touched down within 40 miles of our place in the past few months) or some of the other disaster we aren't necessarily expecting. Just want to make sure I've got the fuel & supplies on hand on my properly to weather whatever happens.

 

[TnAndy]

Better plant a garden and start canning.

JAMES WOOLSEY, PETER PRY: EMP, a Shariah-approved nuclear attack - Washington Times

Canning, gardening, and putting up food is simply a way of life here....been doing it 40 years. We raise 80% or so of what we eat.
Supper today was roast pork, baked potato, steamed broccoli, all raised here. That is a typical meal.

In addition to being able to can and garden, one must have the setup and supplies to put up food. We keep something on the order of 1,000 glass canning jars (filled or empty depending on the season), many thousands of single use lids, plus a lot of multiple use lids (Tattler brand).

One of my jar storage cabinets for empties:

Run of green beans:

Spaghetti sauce with meat. (we can beef stew, chilli, pre-cooked bacon, taco meat, etc)

One average deer:

Apples and pears:

We home butcher all our meats.....beef, pork, deer, chicken, catfish out of our ponds. Homemade walk-in cooler gives us the ability to butcher no matter what the weather.

Root cellar: (cut hole in block wall, dug space for 8x10 room)

Poured 6" reinforced roof:

20x40 greenhouse we used to extend gardening to almost year round. Solar vac tube +wood stove heated.

11kw PV solar supplies all our power needs + we sell excess back. System is battery backed up. Flip of a transfer switch puts us off grid.

There is a lot more....don't wanna bore ya'll..............

 

[Fallon]

Canning, gardening, and putting up food is simply a way of life here....been doing it 40 years. We raise 80% or so of what we eat.
Supper today was roast pork, baked potato, steamed broccoli, all raised here. That is a typical meal.

In addition to being able to can and garden, one must have the setup and supplies to put up food. We keep something on the order of 1,000 glass canning jars (filled or empty depending on the season), many thousands of single use lids, plus a lot of multiple use lids (Tattler brand).

One of my jar storage cabinets for empties:

There is a lot more....don't wanna bore ya'll..............

Nice setup. Solar panels are going on this fall. It's strictly a grid tie system for now, but they are going to be putting in a disconnect & outlet for a generator. I suspect I might be able to use a 500 watt generator to spoof the inverter into thinking it's connected to the grid when I'm disconnected. I figure my power bill will basically end up going to pay off the mortgage for the solar system for the next 12 years then it will be mine free & clear leaving me with a $30 a month basic connection fee.

The wife recently got her first batch of canning gear & will be hitting up some friends to assist them & learn on the canning front here at some point when she has some free time.

 

[TnAndy]

I suspect I might be able to use a 500 watt generator to spoof the inverter into thinking it's connected to the grid when I'm disconnected.

Maybe....maybe not. Grid tie inverters require utility grade power before they will work (UL 1741), and my guess is a small generator might not do that. (although I understand Honda EU models are pretty good)

But even it if did, you'd have the problem of not having batteries and a battery based inverter in the mix. Cloud goes over, you have a power brown out without batteries to even the load. (the grid is your 'battery') Then you have to add charge controller(s) in the mix to supply the batteries. Being able to use a grid tied system without the grid isn't a simple thing.

Mine is a hybrid of a hybrid....ahahahaa......6kw of it uses Outback inverters (2), Outback charge controllers (3) and a 1200amphr @24v battery pack. Once I saw how much that would do, I added another 5 kw (the ground mount in the photo, showing only 1/2 of it....I added another 10 panels after this pic) that are grid tie only using Enphase micro inverters. Like you, I "think" I could fool that 5kw side into thinking it was getting grid power from the Outback side with some re-wiring, as Outback inverters actually produce a cleaner power than the grid. I'd have the battery side to work with, and the grid tied side as additional power....I have a real good 120v 50amp battery charger I'd simply connect between that 5kw and the battery pack, using the power directly AND letting the excess when available go to charge the battery. I "think" it would work. (I installed my system, am NABCEP certified, very familiar with PV systems)

 

[Garycw]

She'll need lots of free time, especially to halfway catch up to TnAndy. Wow, that's a lot of work and perseverance.
We've got the solar panels and batteries, but just using the batteries and inverters right now. Mostly to keep the freezers and has furnaces going. Hopefully panels will be mounted and ran to charge controller by fall. Totally off grid for now.
30 cases of green beans, 15 cases of tomatoes/ juice, apples and a beef. I'd like to can beef and bacon.
Lots of wild deer and turkeys here for now if all else fails.
TnAndy, can you give more details on how you set up your greenhouse?

 

[TnAndy]

Gary,

Well, we've been at it nearly 40 years.....33 years at our current location. It's a work in progress.

Got into canning bacon couple years back. We kill a couple pigs/yr, and end up with 40-50lbs of bacon. Keeping it in the freezer, it tends to get rancid by the time we use it all, so I turned to canning it.

The first I canned was raw....which works fine, BUT falls apart when you take it out and cook it. Makes good 'crumbles', but not strips. So then I learned the trick was pre-cook it to about 90% done, THEN can it. That works !

I have a BIG cast iron fry pan, and do it out in the yard.

Then using parchment paper, I roll enough for two meals for 2 of us up, and stuff it in a wide mouth pint jar. Process for 60minutes @15lbs.

When you open a can, fry it for about 5 minutes to crisp if you like it crisp, or merely heat/eat....it's cooked between the pre-cooking and the pressure cooking. My guess is it will last several years in the jar, but I have no proof....because it's GONE by the next pig killing....


On the greenhouse, go look at this thread from couple years back, and it may answer most of your questions:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/298493-greenhouse-recommendations-pictures.html?highlight=hoophouse

If not, post away......

andy