Water Nightmare

There are some folks near me that do not prep as much as I would like them to. I'm not willing to allow them to starve either, so I have been buying extra rice and beans. A ratio of 5 parts rice to one part beans is a complete protein and will sustain life. It will be a bland boring diet, but I can't afford to carry their weight in the style that they are accustomed to having.

 

Graywolf already stated just what I was going to suggest. Stock up Heavy on the rice and beans on the 5 to 1 ratio. Beans, don't buy those little bags. Buy pintos in 50 pound bags. You should be able to get both beans and rice in bulk for around 50 to 66 cents per pound. I use 1 gallon bags, and put 2 quarts bulk in each bag. These I can cycle thru my freezer to kill bugs (added protien .... lol ..... joking aside, you gotta be sure to kill them, or they will devour your storage, and you have killed you or your loved ones), then I pack the bags mixed 5 to 1 ratio rice to beans in 5 gallon buckets. 250 pounds of rice + 50 pounds of beans will fill out 12 buckets or so thus packed for around $200 total. That's cheap insurance #1. It will keep for decades easily #2. It is peace of mind for having some sort of food to share with the masses that you might not have the heart to turn away (family and friends who haven't prepped) #3.

 

Welcome to the Site nort

Yours is an interesting problem, and I dare say that in essence, there are probably a number of other members here that are in the same boat as you. Your dilemma is worthy of a thread of its own, for there's much meat to the problem, and an avalanche of responses may distract from the OP's issue.

It would be interesting to know why your sisters are not on board with prepping? Do you all live on your 3 acre allotments...or are they a vacation / visiting mum and dad place to stay? If you are uncomfortable about sharing that in general forum...am happy to accept a PM.

 

North,

Check out this video it might help you prep for your extra family members....
How to buy 200lbs of food for $25 - YouTube

 

we always get dried beans in bulk from other farmers
55 gal drum for like $20. just have to clean them
before packin them away
i grow kidneys and green beans, soys cowpeas and navys i buy

 

Thanks Sapper John. That's a good plan. I think I may go in that direction. I think right now, I'm being considered the familiy extermist or even a little crazy. Oh

 

If your family thinks that you are "crazy",then you must be doing it right.Keep it up and good luck.

 

Some info on giardiasis:

Appalachian Mountain Club's Equipped: Giardia in Backcountry Water Sources: How Real is the Risk?

Probably not exactly relative to your situation since giardia mainly affects hikers, but still something to be aware of if city water suddenly becomes untreated and you have to find it elsewhere.

 

Put yourself into a terrorist's mind for a short time--you would poison/contaminate/pollute water basins or destroy the pumps, EMP hits would eliminate most computers thereby shutting down food distribution and a world of other things like fuels, transformers will be easily knocked out by simple small arms fire. In effect we would be cast back into 18th century living for a long time. If they mix all this with a chem/bio/nuke attack you can see what kind of mess we would be in. Having relatives/friends who come to "mooch" will place a death sentence on your family. Hard decisions will have to be made-heart breaking as it will be they may need to be turned away. What if they have one of the bio bugs-you cannot allow it into your home/retreat.
On your preps: We use our 2&3 liter drink bottles with a few drops of unscented Clorox added for our E water supply. Even with two wells, ponds, springs, and a creek nearby we save some water. You can "secure" flats for your bottles so they will stack nicely. Do not use milk jugs as they will NOT last long. A container of pool shock (HCL) will make thousands of gallons of "Clorox" type solution for cleansing, washing, and purifying your water supply. We have a 500 gal tank standing by that we can roll into place beside the basement and "plumb" in easily.
We have several 55 gal containers but 20 gallon ones can be transported so much easier. Fives easier that that.

 

We are coming into ownership of 10 - 55 gallon water barrels, never used. Will be nice not to have to clean anything out.

 

More than just rinsing it out and putting clorox bleach in it?

 

Okay... it's not like I'm pulling the wool over my husband's eyes or acting in defiance of him, but obviously I've got to take the bull by the horns and just act. I'll figure this out. Thanks a million! I love reading everyone's stories.

edited... this is 2 of about 30 bookshelves.

 

UrbanFool,my kind of lady...I think that you and my wife may be related...

 

Don't know about everyone else, but I'm a Mormon. We're taught to deal with ourselves so we're able to help out other people. Yeah, it might be better to be selfish after TSHTF, But what our church teaches is to be able to share.

Kelly

Oh.. and THANKS Sapper John!

 

i didnt say you couldnt share
make them think you wont

 

IMO stored water will only go so far in a long term loss of services situation. I think it's best to store water and also buy a filter like the Berky filters that purify and filter. Two of the black filters will filter 6,000 of water or 109 55 gallon drums.

In order to save a years worth of water for two people and animals would take a massive amount of storage that most people don't have. Even a bare minimum of 3 gallons of water a day would take 20 drums.

As far as family that doesn't store food, I would have to share my food with them even if it means I may die sooner, I don't fear death. There is no way I could watch them starve while I have food to eat.

I do do everything I can to encourage them to buy some food and store it though.

 

I can see that, try to get it through their mind that they need emergency stuff or they will be in trouble, if they think they can just rely on you then they are a lot less likely to take it seriously.

 

I agree completely. It took about 6 months to get my wife on board. I just trudged along, a little bit at a time. Life got measurably better when she joined in. Two smart heads are always much better than just one beating their head against the wall!