Ebola: changing your preps for it?

Started by cockpitbob, October 15, 2014, 09:40:17 AM

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cockpitbob

My wife has been slowly getting more on board with the whole concept of prepping.  Ebola has her spooked, with good reason I think, and for a bug-in situation she's jumped ahead of me  :D . 

This morning she told me she want's 3 months of food in the house in case we need to bug-in and wait out the worst of an epidemic.  She also wants a get-home-bag for her car.  She's on some meds so she's refilling her 1month prescriptions after 3 weeks and banking the excess in the basement fridge until she has a 3month supply.

3 months of food!?!?!  We have 2 teen age boys with hollow legs.  Figuring 2,000 calories/day for them and a little less for me and the wife, a 3 month supply is over 600,000 calories!  For context, that's 400lbs of rice.  I've got over 100,000 calories stashed in long shelf-life items.  Getting that up to 600,000 will take some effort and $.  Fortunately, we go through a lot of rice, olive oil and peanut butter in this house, so we'll eventually eat most of the things on my list once the scare is over.  We're also going to put a big bottle of multi-vitimins in the basement fridge.  Living off prepper food long term can leave you lacking in vitamins.

kablooie

since this is the current topic of discussion, what are some good ideas on long term food items to store?
i like the idea of rice, beans, etc (staple kind of items).  time to get the garden going again, i guess.
-louie

cockpitbob

Getting the 2,000 calories/day is tough.  You need food dense in calories.  Our main staples are rice & beans, oil (olive), peanut butter.  We buy 2lb sealed bags of rice.  All rices except brown rice have a shelf life of many years(5yrs to indefinite, depending on who you ask).  Brown rice's oils limit its shelf life to 6 months.  The 2lb bags make rotating the stock easy.  Though not dense in calories, spaghetti sauce can make rice and beans less boring so we have jars of that which we rotate through.  Honey lasts forever.  I like deviled ham and like most canned foods its published shelf life is about 4 years which means it's good for 5-10 years.

cockpitbob

Freax, I like the idea of rice pudding.  :)   Sounds high in calories and yummy.  Hmmm, if calories are what I'm concerned with, maybe I should focus my preps on desert foods ::)

Joe

The fear of Ebola has not sent me on a spending spree to up the preps, but what could happen because of Ebola has me evaluating where I am at with preps.

I have played out scenarios, If people quite going out and spending money at the movies, malls, stores, sporting events, etc. there is no money going into the system. People are in quarantine then nobody is doing there job, be it restock store shelves, fill prescriptions, repairing utilities, or pushing the button on the computer to pay everyone. I also went a step further with recent events and being a firefighter as long as I have it wouldn't take long to have half the fire department, police department, and ambulance service to be under quarantine and the equipment they use.

Our economy as we know it will grind to a halt and cause a crash. The criminals will also take advantage of this scenario with limited law enforcement out, forcing you and your neighbors to fend for your selves. No medical services because the hospitals will be hot zones means minor issues you will have to take care of yourself.

So things I have focused on are food, water, security, medical supplies, shelter, barter items, communications, mental health items such as games, puzzle books, decks of cards, etc., things to do to help eliminate cabin fever that don't require electricity. For me these are my main prep items as it is. So I have just gone through everything looking for weak spots and prioritizing a list of things to buy.

73
Joe

cockpitbob

Quote from: Joe on October 16, 2014, 09:29:50 AMSo things I have focused on are... things to do to help eliminate cabin fever that don't require electricity.
Anyone know the shelf life of box wine?

Joe

Quote from: cockpitbob on October 16, 2014, 11:20:27 AM
Quote from: Joe on October 16, 2014, 09:29:50 AMSo things I have focused on are... things to do to help eliminate cabin fever that don't require electricity.
Anyone know the shelf life of box wine?

I have never seen one last beyond a week!!  ;D

cockpitbob

Quote from: Joe on October 16, 2014, 01:44:43 PM
Quote from: cockpitbob on October 16, 2014, 11:20:27 AM
Quote from: Joe on October 16, 2014, 09:29:50 AMSo things I have focused on are... things to do to help eliminate cabin fever that don't require electricity.
Anyone know the shelf life of box wine?

I have never seen one last beyond a week!!  ;D

Luigi

I have used Bota Box wine for a while. It lasts a long time. I am a light drinker, and the only one in my family who drinks red wine. I have had this wine sit around for 1-2 months with no problem at all. You can also used the empty bag later on for water storage.
Luigi

cockpitbob

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to relax about this Ebola thing.  Only 2 cases contracted here in the U.S., and no new ones in several weeks.  I now think we'll have a few more cases, or a few dozen over the next 6 months, but from what I've seen I don't think it will excalate into a SHTF situation.

Joe

Quote from: cockpitbob on October 21, 2014, 06:38:01 PM
I don't know about you, but I'm starting to relax about this Ebola thing.  Only 2 cases contracted here in the U.S., and no new ones in several weeks.  I now think we'll have a few more cases, or a few dozen over the next 6 months, but from what I've seen I don't think it will excalate into a SHTF situation.

At least not until the mid-term elections are over.  ;D

cockpitbob

Quote from: Joe on October 21, 2014, 08:22:05 PM
Quote from: cockpitbob on October 21, 2014, 06:38:01 PM
I don't know about you, but I'm starting to relax about this Ebola thing.  Only 2 cases contracted here in the U.S., and no new ones in several weeks.  I now think we'll have a few more cases, or a few dozen over the next 6 months, but from what I've seen I don't think it will excalate into a SHTF situation.

At least not until the mid-term elections are over.  ;D
That thought actually occurred to me.  There is nothing I would put past this parliament of whores we have in D.C. (Repub. or Dem.)