Power outages are supposed to be quite common and widespread this summer. (My power is out now).
All that meat you so diligently stocked up will spoil in your freezer within 2 days without power.
Power outages combined with food shortages means meat and other food that spoils will be thrown out by the tons creating even more demand for food in short supply.
Get a generator. I suggest one that can be charged with solar panels.
Keep one thing in mind, and i"m not being funny. Stocking up without having weapons means you're just building a bigger supply for the biggest dude on your street.
And people who are normally law abiding citizens will turn into thugs when they can’t pay for basic necessities. It’s gonna get rough if Q don’t make some changes quick.
And learn self defense. Literally any body size or age will benefit. A year of striking and grappling will put you ahead of most people. And don’t just own weapons, learn how to use them responsibly and correctly
One year??
Things are starting to get hairy, and you think we still have a full Year??
IF things do go south, it'll be sooner rather than Later, and People who need to train to Fight should have already been trained....
Imagine if…SHTF including a countrywide blackout after weeks of food and gas shortages.
It’s twilight and it’s 20 below outside.
Lights on, smoke coming out of the chimney, nice smells lingering on the cold air around your house.
Yeah…You better have ammunition up the wazzo, great shooting skills, and nerves of steel.
You don’t need to run the generator constantly. Pretend you are in vacation in Mexico. Run the generator a few hours per day, one or two hours in the morning and one or two hours in the evening. That will keep the meat frozen. You can make 5 gals of gas’s last a couple of weeks.
thanks great tip
I personally had to do that when Edison shut off our power in SoCal due to possible fires.
Yes that works also. We did that after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake for 3 nights. Everyone cleaned out their freezer. Power was restored by the 4th night.
We bought a generator after a hurricane in the summer. We lost everything in the frig and freezer. We hooked it up to only the frig/freezer, the well pump and a few outlets. We have never turned it on. Our electric was out for about 2 weeks after an ice storm. Our biggest problem was drinking water. Food was fine. I build a camp fire and melted ice and strained it for use in toilets. My kids thought it was great fun. I learned that you can wash and rinse your body and hair in 3 quarts of water.
Not my hair. It take about 3 mins in the shower just to get it wet. And thats with out a flow restricter
Lucky you. I wish I had that problem!
Cant decide if I want solar or gas. Solar great to be completely self sufficient and not rely on getting fuel, but if the sun is gone for days (think winter snowstorm) then it won’t do me much good.
Sorry to hear. Hope you get through.
Dude right - diesel is conveniently SIX DOLLARS a gallon in the Philly area right now. It's insane.
Canned venison is actually pretty good.
I humbly disagree. My mother was as good a shot as my dad. Two deer, bottled for winter. Much better than being hungry, but a very long way from being a porterhouse or prime rib.
Well then I will compare backstraps and prime butterfly steak cuts to your porterhouse or prime rib.
Unless you are comparing canned venison to canned prime rib or canned porterhouse it isn't a fair comparison imo.
The idea was to let people know you can can meats, not just veggies.
You and I are on the same page. Though, when he says "canned meat" he really is just talking about meat in an actual can I think , like corned beef and tuna and spam. When I think "canned" meat my mind goes to meat that you canned/put up yourself, in jars. no freezer or refrigerator required.
For all these people planting gardens, planning for the coming shortages, they are going to eat real good in the summer, but without knowing how to can/pickle/preserve they are going to have a rough winter.
Yes learning to can is one of those things as a kid when you are forced to participate sometimes you hate it, then over the years of family/community canning events you learn how to do it, and then 25 years later on your own, decide to start doing it yourself, guess I'm projecting though lol.
Long story short, learn to can your food.
Might consider tuna in olive oil instead. Most seed oils become rancid very quickly and cause inflammation.
Whats an entry level system to keep stuff going for like a family of 6. A 1200 sqf house. Maybe I can start assembling pieces here and there. But it's tough on a really strict budget and all these mouths o feed :(
harbor freight also has 5000 W inverters that you can hook up to solar panels.
Jackery is a good brand for portable power stations, which would be the easiest.
watch some 'vanlife' channels, they have many ideas for living off grid.
Also, get a really good cooler and an icemaker, won't take up much electricity.
I used my 1000 watt Jackery to make bread with a bread maker. It still had 60 percent charge after it was done. I also used it to cook with a small electric burner. What sucks is days with no sun.
What really saved my ass during a 4 day outage was a small korean gas cooking stove with butane. Those small butane cans last awhile. That in combo with alot of wood and a fireplace during the winter.
I got a gas/propane generator as well.
For summer I have a porch with misters and shade. I would probably pop my gas propane generator every so often to keep the refrigerator going.
misters are a great idea/need to get some. sounds like you'll be fine:) also thanks for telling me about the jackery and bread. just bought a breadmaker, so good to know it's doable off grid.a lot of fun can be had with the challenges/all about mindset
Ya you can get a huge bag of flower at costco and you really dont need much to make french bread. Flower, water, salt and yeast and you got bread.
For me it is we stay in the basement with solar lamps where it is nice and cool.
And even though they’re expensive, the inverter type work MUCH better with modern electronics.
Yeah, and generally use far less fuel because unlike cheap generators that must run at a constant speed, inverter generators can throttle down when the load is reduced.
When fuel is precious, you need an inverter generator.
Food in a freezer is self sustainability... It is not SHTF ready.
SHTF Ready is very simply;
1 Bulk dry goods stored air tight with an oxygen absorber
2 Canned (store bought tin or glass jar method)
3 Dehydrated & Vacuum sealed
What a horrible time to be down bad financially.
Old school kerosene lights and camp stoves,are a cheep way to go.
yeah the no jab no job didn't help
Igloo cooler, Ice and a thermometer. You're going to have a bunch of cookouts to adjust for the fact that you don't have power. Better to eat it than to throw it away. What you can't afford to lose, store it in the Igloo cooler because an Igloo cooler is more efficient than Chinese made refrigerators.
Signed, A multiple hurricane survivor who's gone for weeks without power.
Here's what we did in the south when the power went out due to a storm and it would be awhile before it got back - hurricane party and bigass BBQ. Used to love that as a kid. Go to every house and eat. Feeling a little emotional about it.
While we may fret, know the kids will be having a blast. Swimming all day, eating until they fall asleep on the plate at the table.
Sound like heaven.
Can someone familiar with solar panels guide me to a good place to purchase them in place of using a generator? Any tips?
Solar panels can be used for power for real time energy production with an inverter that converts 12Vdc to 120Vac. Newer tech uses microinverters, one for each panel. Older style used one large high power inverter, big/high power components and expensive. Another option that i am using is lithium iron phosphate batteries charged with an MPPT tracker charger from the solar panels. The battery output is put into a pure sine wave inverter to produce 120Vac to power the fridge and lights. There are tons of websites that can provide details, as well as, youtube videos. It seems complex, but it is fairly simple with modern technology. So far, everything is still available. Big systems can cost a lot, but you can scale the systems to fit your energy needs
I live off grid with a stand alone solar system and 6kva backup generator. Only once have ever had to use the backup genset when a fuse blew in the system and I had to wait to get it replaced. The main thing is to adjust your lifestyle so you are running appliances like washing machines ,dryers etc when you are getting a full charge from the sun. Don't have stuff with a big power draw running at night.I only have limited appliances running like fridge ,light,TV and modem during the evening.These things draw 0.4kw. I have a monitoring system on the setup so I can tell exactly what is drawing the power. A kettle boiling will bump it to 2.4 kw so I use a kettle I can put on the stove during the evening. I live in Australia and we have weeks on end of 40c and over temps and I don't have an Aircon. My house is double insulated so consider insulation for cooling and heating. It's amazing how much it drops got inside temp down. Lots of things you can do if you're prepared to change your lifestyle a bit.
If you're counting on being able to use a generator to freeze food then you're planning wrong. You'll have to keep the generator running constantly. How much gas do you plan to have on hand? How many days would you need to run it to work through all your frozen food?
I consider my modest frozen stockpile a nice to have rather than a need to have. It's more for storing large quantities of affordable hunted meat than disaster prep.
My disaster prep is based around good quality canned and dry food that I enjoy eating regularly. That helps me cycle through and keep it fresh.
Edit: and yes I do own a generator! 😂
I finally invested in a decent generator in the last year: https://www.duromaxpower.com/products/duromax-xp12000eh-dual-fuel-portable-gas-propane-generator I like the propane fuel option and it powers nearly the whole house minus large amp appliance circuits..
I just bought 2 Honda EU2200i's, 2 Generac iQ3500's, 6 100Watt solar panels. MPPT solar tracking charger, 2 300AH LiFePO4 batteries. Getting power setup for a bit of rough times. Blew some savings, but the dollar keeps getting weaker. The gas will only last for a while for emergencies, but they will support the solar and batteries. Also picked up 2 2k pure sine inverters. My house is the last house anyone would want to try and rob. Fat robbers will get turned into biodiesel.
I've done it. Frozen freezer guaranteed will go 5 days without power. Make sure to separate all the wet packag6 before you referee it. F n nightmare
I have a nice generator,and if you can't do that they make nice "battery" generators good for a few lights and charge phones and computers. You can even buy a cheep car jump battery that has built in USB ports at harbor freight for about 50.00
I take it 614 means you're in Columbus OH. That's close enough to PA's energy grids too to have me concerned. It will suck when it is 100 degrees here.
Yes, even without the threat it's a wise thing to do. If you have any specific knowledge on brands or types, 614Patriot, please share that info. Thanks.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07H8S6L5G?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
Generac iQ3500. Probably the quietest 3kW inverter gen you can buy right now. At $999, it isn't cheap, but it will power most of your lighting (LED) plus fridge and freezer. The newer refrigerators only draw between 3-4 amps when running, older compressors are power hogs and can be more than 10 amps. If you can buy 2, you can spend an extra hundred or so for the parallel kit and produce 50 amps. This will power a lot. It won't do well on house AC's, but you can power window units. This one in particular is incredibly quiet and works extremely well... https://www.homedepot.com/p/Midea-8-000-BTU-U-Shaped-Inverter-Window-Air-Conditioner-WiFi-9X-Quieter-Over-35-Energy-Savings-ENERGY-STAR-MOST-EFFICIENT-MAW08V1QWT/315241074
Available at home depot for around $360. The install is easy and the end product is actually attractive. The cold air output is great with an excellent long distance air stream. High pulls 8.75 amps and startup inrush current is 18amps. Even a 2200 watt small portable inverter generator can power this window unit without stress.
Thank you fren, great info. Appreciated.
If you need any advice, I can help choosing the right sized energy requirements depending on your goal of energy production and budget. I also hate to say this, but if everythings breaks down, pay attention to where you see solar panels installed in commercial sites without a serious need. Not from Private residences or private property, but like mobile lighting systems and temporary traffic devices. These may be salvaged if things get crazy. Salvaged Lead acid batteries from golf carts and deep discharge batteries are old tech, heavy, should only be discharged to 50% of their capacity or they can be damaged, and have some safety handling requirements, but they can be used to store energy from generators and solar panels.