Totally agree with this. Plus, I don't think I want to live in the post-SHTF world anyway, so hoarding a couple of bullets would work for us.
We are in the same situation as the others here are , who would not be able to (or want to ) escape into the wilderness and try to survive. Since we are near the Redstone Arsenal, it would likely be a first attack target, and we think we would not have to worry about anything after that happened. However, if it were an economic collapse, then we would be in about the same situation as most everyone else would be, and just trying to get by as long as we could with what we have. I have beans, rice, powdered milk, and a few other basic foods like that stored, but not anything that would last long term. Medications of any kind are pretty hard to stock up on; so about all I could do would be to cut down on the amount I take and make the heart meds last as long as possible. I am definitely thinking about checking out that natural thyroid extract that @Don Alaska shared, and i saved the website.
I probably wouldn't use the thyroid supplement in place off the prescription stuff unless you really need to, or have a way to check hormone levels. I think this natural stuff is similar to the Armour Thyroid that many including my wife take, but Armour is somewhat standardized, while the OTC stuff is not. You could go by the way you feel, but in @Ken Anderson's case and others with no thyroid of their own, it could be dangerous...but better than nothing in an emergency.
It said the potency was 130mg, and that is about what i take. I am going to read more from the website and then decide what i will do. My new medicare insurance is saying that the Armour thyroid is not covered for the 3 month supply like I have been getting, but for some reason, they said I could get a month supply at a time from a local pharmacy. That does not make sense to me, and I have to check out more about that, too. Edit to add: I just now opened my facebook page, and I already have an ad there from Forefront about their desiccated thyroid……. That was FAST !
An interesting video by an electrical engineer and what he learned after the Texas power outage a few years ago. If you are a techie, you can watch his video about doing a black start of the grid.
I have a lot of prep ideas. I can't do much about the grid. But, to be sure, my biggest problem will be a grumpy, slow husband. The good news is that if I start barking commands, he usually heaves to.
Another thought about prepping. Do you have enough anti freeze for pipes? I keep asking hubby. He keeps grumbling 'yes' but I have yet to check garage and farm.
We don't use antifreeze for pipes here except for winterizing RVs. You can use it when you leave the house for extended periods, but we never have because we always have a house sitter. Some people use heat tapes for the DWV systems, but not us.
I don't know if you're talking about heating pipes or water pipes. I think I'd opt not to have antifreeze in my water pipes, so I'll assume you're talking about heating pipes, but maybe I'm wrong. We have had antifreeze in our heating pipes since we had a major pipe freeze several years ago, but there's a downside to that. When there is antifreeze in the pipes, there is a detrimental effect on the amount of heat the heating pipes will carry, thus it will require more heating oil to heat the home. I forget the percentages, but there is a balance that has to be struck between the ability of the antifreeze to prevent the pipes from freezing, should there be a failure in the heating system, and the ability of the pipes to carry sufficient hot water to heat the home.
Yes but I always worry about goose necks under sinks, toilets, floor drains etc It's always sumpthin.
She may be talking about the DWV system. There is a story about a town in bush Alaska in, I think, 1976 that had a terrible time with frozen pipes. I don't think I've told this story before. Ted Kennedy came up with the Alaska Congressional delegation to tour rural Alaska as the Alaskans were trying to get support to improve things out there. Ol' Ted Kennedy was absolutely appalled at the third-world conditions and decided to spearhead a program to build new houses. I think the houses were built or pre-fabbed in Arizona and shipped up on barges to be places on special foundations due to the permafrost underneath. Christmas came and the operators of the diesel power plant that supplied the town had a party. Everybody got drunk, including those who were working, and somebody tipped something or left something on that shouldn't have been left on.... Anyway, the power plant caught fire and completely burned to the ground a few days before Christmas. The town was left powerless in December in a cold part of Alaska. Needless to say, things didn't go very well. It was totally dark then, and the airport was shutdown without lights, ATC, radar, etc. No backup generators in town at the time were large enough to operate the airport, much less the rest of the town. Most of the housing in town had auxiliary heat of some kind, drip oil heater or seal oil burners...except the brand new Federal housing development. All the plumbing in the new houses was in the exterior walls, and it completely froze solid. After a bout a week of dark and cold, the Air Force found a way to land in the dark with a shipment of generators and the fuel to run them, so the town now had power. As soon as the power was on to the town, the heat came on in the new houses and all the plumbing burst and spewed water flooding the brand new houses. The outside walls then froze into sheets of solid ice, as the heat no longer worked in the flooded houses. Everybody had to be relocated, so the already-crowded town housing had to stuff yet more people in until spring. All the houses had to be rebuilt--stick-built this time I think--and more Federal money was spent to do the job right. They needed antifreeze....
If you are just getting started with prepping, or don't know where to start, here is a 20-minute video with things you might not think about. It doesn't cover food really, but it provides some ideas based on Wal-Mart items. I don't agree with everything on here, but most of it is OK.