Prepper Storage

Prepper Storage

After the WTC experience, I realized there was no way I could predict the type of disaster.  I never in my wildest imagination (wild at times) could have dreamed that one up.

Suicidal maniacs hijacking airplanes and flying them into office buildings?  With me inside?  No way!  

As a result, I decided to try to prepare for generalized disasters, starting with short term disasters and then pushing out the time frame to handle longer term stuff with not much thought to the type of disaster.  Realizing I had a really big group, most of whom have no money, pushing out the time I was prepared for has been, and will be, an expensive long term project.

One issue was easy

This area is wet.  Water generally comes from reservoirs built in the 1800s and the resulting systems are driven by gravity.  I’ve been told that gravity will still work after an EMP!  The problem with water that you may have in other parts of the country, will be significantly less in this area.  Just don’t buy a house on the top of a hill.  😊  and you thought the most urbanized state in the country was a poor choice!

Here in the suburbs you might have a large enough home to store a lot of stuff, e.g. food, but you aren’t going to grow much on a suburban lot.  In addition, the northern part of New Jersey was at the bottom edge of the glacier pack during the last ice age.  In other words, as the glaciers moved rocks along and dropped them at the edge, where the glaciers melted, New Jersey became a large pile of rocks. 

The “Garden State” starts about 20 miles south of here.  The only garden around here would be a rock garden.  A half-acre, or less, suburban lot composed entirely of rocks, isn’t going to be a place to raise chickens or tomatoes.  On the other hand, even if this was a good farming area, one would still need to get through the first year or so, before a crop would come in.  This set of circumstances caused me to focus on stored food to last the first year.

Consumption examined

If a person consumes 2 five gallon buckets per month of food (one beans, one rice) then you need 24 buckets for one person for a year.  (Okay beans and rice will be boring if that’s the only thing you eat, but you gotta start somewhere.)  With 20 people that means 480 buckets need to go somewhere.  If each bucket is about 2 cubic feet, then I need 960 cubic feet of temperature controlled storage.  (and that is just beans and rice!) 

Aisle space?  What’s that?  So my special circumstance of 20 people just turned into a huge storage problem.  Then there is the cost.  If beans and rice for one person is going to cost $1,000 for one year, then for 20 people I need $20,000.  Double it for a nice varied diet.  Hmmm.  Obviously the 20 people were going to be a challenge and were going to compound issues like cost or storage.  (Does paranoia alleviate this problem?  No.)

I will have the combined problems of storage, or cost, . . . or storage and cost, at every turn.  Also in NJ there are no barns.  A little garden shed at the back of the lot to store the lawn mower perhaps, but a barn?  No.

Attics and basements

Fortunately, houses in NJ generally come with attics and basements.  My attic wasn’t floored and stepping between the joists was a problem, so I floored the attic.  This added about 500 sq. ft. of storage and I began to rearrange what was where so that temperature controlled stuff went to temp controlled storage, and stuff that could live in a hot attic went there, like toilet paper.  100 degrees in the summer won’t destroy toilet paper.   BTW, a year’s worth of toilet paper for 20 people, . . . is a lot.  😊

For a storage problem, consider BOBs.  We have BOBs in the immediate family’s cars, but what about all the folks who show up who didn’t put together a BOB, or lost it on the way here?  Or left it in their house and came straight here from wherever they were when disaster struck?  Or just put dumb stuff in the BOB instead of what they really needed?  I need spare BOBs and a place to put them.  That empty shelf in the basement is now dedicated to BOBs.  Storage problem momentarily solved.

Cost issues

For a recent example of my cost problem, I decided I needed a good multi-tool for my BOB.  I don’t know what I need a multi-tool for.  I work behind a desk with a computer.  A typical day goes by without me ever needing a pair of needle nose pliers or a two inch saw tool, but hey I am a prepper and preppers need multi-tools in their BOBs! 

So, I went out and bought a nice Leatherman, black, very tactical!  $100.  The paranoid in me was feeling good.  As I was sitting there opening and closing every one of the 4 gazillion tools on my new Leatherman, it occurred to me that I now needed 20 of these to outfit my whole team of children and grandchildren, who are mostly broke, and have no more use for a multi-tool than I do, . . . that’s $2,000 worth of multi-tools  ☹ 

I decided to check out multi-tools that are less of a dent on the wallet.  I found a nice looking multi-tool from some Chinese company on Amazon for $9.98.   I’ll try out one of those next.  If the pliers will pull the cotter pin out of an AR bolt carrier group, they’re good enough.  After all we need to clean our ARs, even in NJ!  (More on that in future columns.)

Preppers find solutions

Preppers, even paranoid preppers, always find solutions.  My niece, who is in my group, but doesn’t know it, (OPSEC: you can’t tell 20 people you’re a prepper because the whole world will know.   Therefore, you can’t tell the people in the Mutual Assistance Group (MAG) that they are in the MAG!)  decided to hook up with a very nice young man who works in a trucking company (he gets in the group with my niece) and is responsible for a yard full of semis, so when I need storage, I’ll just ask him to bring over a semi.  I’m sure the neighbors won’t notice it parked on the street in front of my suburban NJ house.  😊

From this whole train of thought I have concluded that I am going to prep for 20 people for a year, but not more.  I’ll run out of money and storage if I go further.  Actually, I’ll be lucky to live long enough to achieve that, so no problem.  That is my goal.  I’m not prepping for the rest of my life, or TEOTWAWKI, but for any disaster up to a year in duration.  It would be nice to be prepped for longer, or for more people, but that goal will be left for my children and grandchildren.  My goal is to prep for a year for 20 people, and instill a culture of “paranoid prepping” in my progeny, without actually telling them that is what I am doing.

Do you think my two year old granddaughter is old enough to take a watch?  She can start at 6am.  😊  I better get her a multi-tool.