40 Items to stock up on before a SHTF situation

[wyoDreamer]

Just a note on stockpiling foodstuffs - especially flour - make sure to rotate that stuff out - use and replace. Flour can and will go rancid - not good eats!
My freeze dried foods are about at the end of their "best by" life, so I am starting to use them up and replace them.

 

[Hinotori]

On the freeze dried stuff.

Their portions don't actually meet what a true portion is on the emergency ones. Just look at the nutrition information on the back. Under 1000 calories a day is not good in a survival situation. Usually you need more than the 2000 recommended. So you have to read the nutrition label and and buy by the calorie count, not their "days".

Also most the companies who make "survival" freeze dried stuff have had issues with the moisture not being below the required 19% in their containers. The FDA has been on some of them about this repeatedly.

If you want quality freeze dried you have to buy the hiker's stuff. It will also run more expensive. You get what you pay for. It also will be meals that real people will eat. Only hikers use freeze dried on a regular basis so look to them for what's best. Easy enough to google search a hiking forum.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I need to add parchment paper and waxed paper to the list.

 

[baymule]

I will mention fish antibiotics. They are the SAME as people antibiotics. You can order them online or buy them at the feed store with no prescription. In a SHTF situation, a good stock of antibiotics could save a life.

 

[Hinotori]

We mostly prep for emergencies. Like power out for days. When another earthquake hits here. Or when the Cascadia Fault decides to knock out services for a while

If the stupid mountain starts smoking or bulging funny, we're going to listen and pack up to visit family.

 

[Marianne]

Oh, the other night, I thought that for soapers, a good stash of bar soap would be a good barter item and wouldn't take up too much room. Also, any bar soap will last a lot longer if it's unwrapped and allowed to dry. The longer it dries, the longer it lasts.
Back to basics son and I have made simple lard soap, tallow soap, hamburger/bacon grease soap (yeah, really. He saved about 9 pints of it then we boiled it with water/cooled/removed fat/repeat). It's just as good as the tallow soap. My favorite is coconut oil soap that I also use as a shampoo bar, hubby likes the olive oil bar and he also uses that for a shampoo bar.
I'd be okay with either the lard/tallow/bacon grease soap if son hadn't put tea tree and eucalyptus in them. I can't stand tea tree. But in India, where he lived for years, that and eucalyptus is used as a bug repellant, so he thought he'd get double duty out of his soap. He's going to use it for laundry, as well.
My mother told me that she remembers her mother grating soap into a bottle w/ water for shampoo. That would have been in the early 1900's.

 

[Mini Horses]

That's a serious amount of ground beef per day!

I have lard canned from piggies butchering, for cooking. Also a stash of goat milk soaps, various combinations of oils. None are made with the lard but, could be. Grandma used lard and the lye she made with wood ash and rainwater. I buy food grade lye for my soaps -- easier & safer if selling, for strength, purity etc.

Yeah, talk bad and you can wash out your mouth with my soaps -- . I use it, my daughter and a couple friends. Used to make & sell at markets and seasonal fairs/festivals. Had to give that us a few years back with mom here & her care took time demands. BUT -- with retirement in the future, I do plan to start that back up again. It's fun and profitable.

TSC has a couple fish antibiotics in stock at my local store. Generally I get them from Jeffers OR some amounts from my vet, where I also get some banamine, and couple stronger antibiotics for "on hand" that are just for animal uses. Been with same couple vets over 20 yrs.

 

[Marianne]

So after you wash the fat, how do you make soap?

I make sure the clean tallow from the burger grease is dry. It's solid from being in the frig or freezer, so I just pat it with some paper towel. You have to melt it so you don't want it splattering from moisture. Then follow any basic soap recipe - fat, lye and water.
Son made a wooden mold that holds his batch of lard or tallow soap (60 oz of fat), so we just wrote the ingredients on the lid of the mold. Sorry, I can't remember where I got the recipe, but Mother Earth News rings a bell.
We talked about doing the wood ash for the lye, then decided not to mess with it.

 

[BarredBuff]

Fire extinguishers aren't a bad idea

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hey - wine is ESSENTIAL! However, I would barter the cheap wine, lol. The good stuff I'm stockpiling for ME!!!!