@scout59 I haven’t read it yet. I’m really weird about my books and I need the whole trilogy to be complete before I read something (if it’s going to be a trilogy and by the time I heard of it, book 2 had come out.) I get hooked in and then I need to read it all. I’m SO bad with cliffhangers -_- (I’m the same way with TV shows.)
One of my favorites. I actually read it for the first time in AP English. Never read a more depressing book.
I refuse to see the film. The whole idea behind the book is that you don’t know really anything about the two main characters. It cannot, IMO, be adapted into a film and hold any of the original essence.
I have to be honest, any stocking of food I have is just based on whatever I got the best price on at Sam’s. I have not given the idea of a mass disaster or uprising where I need to hold in my house for weeks one single thought.
Words of wisdom from our county Hurricane Preparedness memo. None of this would help in an unpredictable zombie apocalypse. But if you live in hurricane/blizzard prone areas, you probably already know all this:
don't forget a manual can opener. (That electric one is useless if there's no power.) I would add: make sure you can find your corkscrew.
Have cash on hand. When the power is out, that debit card is useless.
Make sure there's gas in your car. During the days right after Sandy, getting gasoline was a HUGE problem on Long Island. It brought me back to my college days during the "energy crisis" when you would wait an hour in a line for a gas station to open, because the rumor was that they were getting gas.
Make sure you have baby formula on hand if you'll need it. That one's easy-- simply keep a rotating case in the pantry, so the expiration dates are current. But remember: you'll need water for all that powder.
Make sure you have a first aid kit. We have one in the basement, where it's been since shortly after 9/11.
-Make sure you have copies of prescriptions. If the forecast is dire, fill them.
Make sure that important documents-- wills, insurance papers...-- are in waterproof bags/ storage.
I’d guess that many of us in the snowbelt area probably are somewhat prepared for a winter emergency. We had horrible storms (including Sandy) three years in a row where we were without power for a 3 - 10 days. After the first experience, I immediately bought an external power pack for phones/tablets/laptops and a battery powered lantern. I also put aside a few gallons of water.
I like LED “puck lights”. They are shaped like hockey pucks and meant to be stuck to the inside of closets or wherever else you might need some extra light and don’t want to wire for electricity.
They run on AA or AAA batteries and these are much easier to find when a storm is coming and everyone is buying C and D batteries for their flashlights. Depending on their size, you can fit them in your pocket. And if your power goes out, it’s easy to leave them here and there, flat on a counter, providing light.
FWIW, we don’t prep for survival incidents. This is just the way we live out in the country. The only thing we do differently if a storm is coming or something similar is make sure our extra gas cans are filled so we can power the generator longer.
I have a hand cranked radio. It also takes AA batteries if you don’t want to crank. Every time I buy AAs, I put the new package with the radio and take the one that is there.
I have eaten a lot of Mountain House as a backpacker. Remember that it can require some cooking, and you need water to rehydrate.
I try to buy extra of canned items when something is on sale, and just put the newer ones in back on the shelf and rotate the older ones forward. In a true emergency, that can be eaten out of the can. Same with snacks like granola bars, applesauce, snack crackers, etc.
People stocking up ‘just in case’ are called “Preppers”.
Normally this student newspaper has articles more relevant to our university and to state government so this one caught my eye given this ongoing 9 page thread (zombie survival gets a mention in jest).
We don’t prep/plan for disasters but we usually have a few weeks worth of non-perishables on hand. We have less right now since I got S to clean out the pantry and throw out a whole lot of expired stuff.
One thing not mentioned so far is knowing what supplies your neighbors have. If you know which neighbor has a chain saw, for example, you know where to go when a tree lands on your driveway.
I will tell you from 15+ years of working in the food industry that expiration dates on non-perishable goods are for the most part a bunch of nonsense. Unless something is evidently spoiled (which you can tell by sight / smell / taste), all that will happen is that the taste will degrade slightly past the expiration date, which is no big deal unless you’re a princess who can’t possibly have anything in your mouth that isn’t perfect-tasting.
We tried one MountainHouse entree (that supposedly provided two servings) and decided that 1. The taste was pretty awful, and 2. It was two servings only in someone’s dream, especially if you’d spent the day backpacking.
Since none of our disaster plans involve backpacking, I’ve instead chosen to acquire foods we already eat, like tuna, chili, canned fruit, baked beans, soups, coffee, tea, sugar, oatmeal, grits, sardines, … and stock that in emergency supplies. I went through the supplies earlier this summer and pulled everything with an expiration in 2015. New purchases are all 2017 expiration or later. It is easy to rotate the stuff since it is, except for coffee, the brands we buy anyway. Between that and our regular pantry staples, we ought to be pretty good on the food front.
Funny that you mention that, @Pizzagirl – we’ve also found the expiration dates to be pretty useless. My doctor told me years ago that most OTC medication expiration dates are also pretty meaningless as long as we’re talking pills and not liquids, and the storage is not in the (humid) bathroom.
Nice to hear that ya’ll agree about expiry dates! My in laws keep things for decades which really is too long, but my mother is religious about checking expiry dates and wanting to throw away perfectly good food.