Biggest Mistake I've Made So Far for Coronavirus Preps

I can't believe this idiotic mistake I made in regards to Coronavirus Preps. While I have everything I think I need in my apartment, I never kept any kind of Inventory, running or otherwise. I'm not out of anything but some of my closet spaces are so cluttered with stuff, it's just a major pain in the neck to look for things. I may be ordering extra supplies online that aren't necessary though other than my bank account, this can't do any harm. It just never occured to me to do any inventory as in the beginning I could visually see how much of an item I had on hand but when I started accumulating more resources, I no longer could do this. Won't make the same mistake next time if hopefully there is a next time. Oh yeah, it also never occured to me to have Lysol and Clorox Antibacterial Wipes on hand and while I have them now I had to greatly overpay online to get them online.

 

I don't see a question, but will point out that inventories have been mentioned often enough that it would be hard to miss if you spent some time reading before posting initially. Sympathy, I fear is in the dictionary.

Now it's time to make the inventory, room by room, closet by closet, and cabinet by cabinet. I very highly recommend that you write each item down on it's own line and DO NOT RELOCATE IT until the scribbling is over and done. If you MOVE anything, it will screw you up permanently by getting it missed or duplicated.

Gad. All the time wasted. Well, you now have an excuse to play hermit for as long as that chore takes.

 

@ED GEiN Yep, inventories are important as you have come to learn. Also organizing products together so you can physically see the holes. Also laying it in an organized fashion also helps you notice things you have in stock but are not using and probably should be .. like those 10 cans of lima beans. Maybe instead of eating one of your favs, throw a can of a slow mover into the next meal instead.

 

Having An Accurate Prepper Pantry Inventory

16 Inventory Lists Every Prepper Should Use

Prepper Inventory: 16 Printable Lists to Organize Your Preps | Survival Sullivan



Add to What? How Many? and Expiry, by including item size/volume / unit of storage (packet/can/bottle/case/barrel) and LOCATION and a remarks column

Why reinvent a wheel already invented, and put into effect by others?

 

Makes us think about our priorities. Good masks, dust, germs, smoke from fires, God help us if a volcano goes, that ash is deadly without a good mask, wood working, gardening, use in greenhouse when working with planting mixes, some chicken manure has things that are bad for you to breathe, mildew and mold, some dusts in desert carry lung diseases that are almost impossible to cure, in extreme cold can frost bite lungs without protection, etc. I consider 200 per person as minimum, of the n-95 type and procedure masks, dentist gave a hundred a couple years ago. Have N-95 masks with exhale valve, hospital type face masks, face shields for wood turning and working with lead in reloading, cartridge face filters for fiberglass work, some paints, some chemicals in greenhouse, pull over wool mask for extreme weather and blowing snow. Real life sometimes makes you appreciate the little things.

Gloves, protection against germs, protect from solvents, dyes , etc, keep hands clean when working on tools with old dirty grease, prevents infections from cuts when working with meat, or garden soil, prevents chapping from detergents when washing things, other styles prevent cutting, stainless mesh, from getting cut or blisters, leather palm type, from getting things dirty and leaving skin oils that prevent finishes from giving a smooth finish, blueing of guns for example, or working with fine finishes on wood, keeping hands warm and dry, protecting hands from cable or rope, both have fibers that can stick in skin, and a rope slipping thru your fingers can give you a nasty burn, protect your hands from slivers when handling wood, and the list goes on.

Have no problems with lists, but x pair of gloves may well hide the real elephant hiding in the next room. Love Jerry Young's stories as he often does an excellent job of showing why we need things that we might ignore. With the Covid panic, real or not, it is a good time to sit back and rethink things, perhaps need gloves, masks, bleach, hand sanitizer, short term survival food, rotated in and out, place to go if you have to bug out, etc, a little more than that 3 rd AR15. Real world as we know it, cash for food, some food, wood for the next winter, solar lighting, greenhouse, etc, have been very comforting the last few months, could have got along without preps, but they have both a help and a comfort.

 

The only thing worse than not making an inventory, is making an inventory and then misplacing the list. Still, you have time to do it again...and while you're at it change batteries, rotate, check expiration dates, make repairs, etc.. This is one of those slow emergencies where you have the time to correct any short coming that you discover in your plans.

 

Some people with OCD flick light switches 3 times and count cracks in the sidewalks. I make lists. LOTS of lists. And I still end up with 96 boxes of mac & cheese and no bandaids.

yes i have bandaids i have lots of bandaids it was a joke settle down ye kings of corrective advice

 

Got to keep yer stuff in order and organized. (Blurred this one intentionally)


I do a running and rotating inventory on a 3 year rotation. Oldest to front and newest to the back.






Put yer beans, rice, cornmeal, pasta etc in jars and use the air sucker to seal them and toss a Oxygen absorber packet in each jar. No vermin or bug problems that way. I grow a 150' long 30' wide row of each type of bean and pea and the neighbor hit them with his combine bean head on and I give him a 1/3 of the beans in return for his time and trouble. I put them in quart and pint jars because that is the two sizes we use regularly.

Have not gotten all the mac n cheez, beans, cake mixes, sugar, flour and cornmeal into jars yet. Don't forget sauces, spices and just nice to have things in the preps.

I do enough business with my wholesale distributor to get real nice discounts on bulk. So I use that for Fish, Flour, Cornmeal, Sugar, rice, yeast, corn starch and baking powder. And 1/2 and 1 gallon jars of pickles, green and black olives. We end up with usually 110-120 empty 1/2 and 1 gallon jars every year from the Chuck Wagon and keep them, clean them up, air them out and put the Pasta, and bulk things like flour and corn meal in them.

Keep the weaponry in several small caches aside from the main locker. This is the gun and ammo cabinet I have under the counter in my wood shop. A Galil in a long thing cabinet underneath of the cabinet pictured. There is a hidden weapons stash in every building and every room on this property with the correct ammo for each weapon in each stash. LOL that gets a little dusty from the saw dust. Hate to sound cliche but knowing what is where and how much may save yer life one day. Went on a Rock Island 200 buying spree, I really like those little .38s they make and at a couple hundred bucks per they make good reliable and cheap stash guns. The Galils not so cheap but without question good and well I just have a Galil Fetish.


Use stacking totes with running inventory sheets taped on and when you take one out update it and when you put a new one in update it. Real nice to glance at the inventory sheet to know what is in each tote instead of having to dig through each one.


If you can learn to can well worth the effort and if done correctly VERY long shelf lifes.



OK I might be a little extreme on my egg storage but I keep them at a constant 34 degrees and they are still very good at 8-10 months out assuming you candled good and remove any with hairline cracks. Very little increase in the air pocket size in the eggs if kept cold and the door not opened and closed all the time.


A bit extreme on the meats as well, I have a dozen 30 Cubic foot freezers and 9 24 cubic foot and those freezers are emptied and refilled usually Monthly. I am a meat broker among other things so it is business storage but I almost always have at least 15,000 pounds of pork, beef, poultry, fish and lamb on hand. LOL No point in trying to have any OPSEC there because only 500-600 customers know I have large volumes of meats on hand all of the time. But if you don't keep each freezer organized and inventoried it turns in to a real mess real fast. Want to see me go ballistic let a hired hand put a chicken in one of the beef freezers or a case of catfish in with the lamb. That is how the mess starts one misplaced chicken and the next thing you know every freezer is a mixed bag of everything!!!!


I realize yer in an apartment Ed but same principles I use work just as well at a smaller scale. Organize, inventory and keep the inventory list updated and accurate and you will always know exactly what you have and where it is. LOL I fill a 40' shipping container up with food for the long mass storage and move the rotate out inventory into the 12x32 building by the cabin. Freezers and fridges have their own 14x46 building as I have to be in compliance with the meat broker and the warehousing rules and regs. but do keep one 30cuft freezer in the 12x32 building that is strictly personal use.

In yer case a walk in closet would be yer version of my shipping container and yer kitchen cabinets my 12x32. Instead of 3 years you probably have the space for a solid 1 year reserve. No real viable way for you to have hidden weapon caches scattered around either and one sidearm and adequate rifle or shotgun with a smallish stock of ammo would be more in order. But I can give a quick look through each building clip board and tell you down to the last tampon what is in each building and where

 

So yer a Mac N Cheez hoarder like me

 

Yeah and the Mr would trade them all to you for those cans of Spaghetti-O's.

 

Paw,Is that you Paw,I'm hungry Paw,Can I come stay with you Paw?

Extremely proficient set-up,+10,000

 

When you are in it for the money, you gotta get it right. (Never mind, retiring now means he'll NEVER have to go to the store again. Good thinking.)

 

LOL and my MRS Would trade those Spaghetti O's for the Mac N Cheese LOL. Just about everything you need to survive nutritionally in a can of Spaghetti O's and they are pretty tasty as a bonus

Always room at the table for a friend, when times get hard though is the wrong time to decide you want to be friends

I figure if I can scratch out a honest living from the farm and still live life the way I want all is good. I do have to make some compromises like folks knowing where their food comes from and it makes me much happier when they come here to get it than me taking it to them. Helps that 90% of my Customers are more conservative leaning and at least semi to well prepared in their own homes. Most of them buy 1/2 or whole butcher hogs and 1/4 or half beefs or 50 chickens at a time. Biggest hassle and compromise I have to make is the Government and all of the licenses, inspections, Permits and Accounting I have to do to satisfy Local, State and Federal Agencies. I have a 5 acre tract of land adjacent to the farm that is totally separate from the business side. I keep all of my personal stocks on the 5 acres and all the inspector and compliance types are forbidden to enter that 5 acres. LOL the electrified coiled barbed wire powered by a Bull Zapper high Joule Charger and the Pits and pit mixes that roam free inside that fence deter them pretty well. Last meat compliance officer wanted to inspect the pole barn inside that fence to see if I was storing meat or poultry illegally inside of it. She touched the gate before I could say don't touch that, to go in and it lit her up like a Christmas tree. I guess she missed the big yellow sign on the gate that says "WARNING ELECTRIC FENCES AND GATES IN USE" LOL You gotta open a switch box on the opposite side of a tree and pull the lever down to cut the electric to the gate That Gal was even funnier than MRS T5R the first year after she moved in here and would forget to flip the switch. Hopping around yelling F F F F F WTF WAS THAT! LOL Switch on the other side of the gate as well and flipping either one kills the power to the gate. Anyway she says "I have the absolute right to inspect inside any building on the business property!" I said "too bad that is a totally separate parcel of land and not connected to the business property other than by the property line. And if you want to Search and inspect there you will need to bring LEO and have a Warrant." My private space is just that and I defend that privacy relentlessly. Guess she did try to get a search warrant and LEO to assist here but I hear the judge told her she lacked any probable cause to go snooping through some ones private larder. LOL she was just another in the long line of State Compliance officers that have quit in under 3 Months on the job.I am supposed to be inspected 3X per year by the State Meat and Poultry and am going on 3 years now since my last State inspection. Not because I evade them.... but because they can't keep anyone in the job for more than 2weeks to 3 Months. Does not stop them from sending the letter every time they renew my Meat Broker License though telling me I need to arrange for inspection ASAP or I will not be in compliance and risk fines and my license being revoked. So I do the ritual call and try to arrange for the Compliance Officer to come and inspect only to learn that they don't currently have a compliance officer for the Southern Region and to disregard the Letter. SMFH

 

OH Something else ED don't prep foods that everyone else says you should. Prep shelf stable food you actually like to eat that have good nutritional value. Folks laugh at my stock of Spaghetti O's but they are Nutritionally a very good food and full of carbs you will need when engaging in the long walk out of LA A single can of the O's will keep ya going all day long.

 

Nice!

 

what I find lacking most of the time when the inventory & tracking discussion comes around >>> OPSEC

well-organized pantry shelves is hard to hide from obvious observation by some service guy, relative or neighbor >>> it's also not an egregious violation of OPSEC - it's your regular usage items and just expanded to a degreee (4X) ....

but many preppers get buzy with their labelmakers and every tote and bucket is openly item content displayed ....

since you have a comprehensive inventory list - deceptive labeling and a secretive labeling & coding system isn't that hard >>> nobody including raiders aren't going to bother with "Christmas" high on the shelving ....

 

This is a picture of my secret room.









As you can see it is secret.
Dry goods are portioned in small bags with oxygen absorbers then placed in larger bags with oxygen absorbers and then put in 5-gallon buckets with oxygen absorbers.
I started to use totes but then I realized what they weigh, and if I had to move in a hurry It would be too much to carry and load so the 5-gallon buckets it is.
I may even get more 5-gallon buckets to handle the canned goods in the event of an emergency.
Canned food is not so frail so that can be boxed for shipment fairly easily.
Medical supplies currently are all in one large chest of drawers that has expanded to the point of needing to organize things into tote around toolboxes like I have done with tools in my solar battery bank shop trailer, and label for specific needs, along with prescriptions and such. Because I have housing-challenged friends that are diabetic and other issues, I store their meds in the house refrigerator along with other sensitive things, but it may come down to setting aside a special frig for this issue alone. So far this is a mild winter here which usually translated to a hot summer Tripple digits. Medicines are no casual issue.

 

Spaghetti-O's give me the WORST acid reflux, how do you people eat that crap? I'd have to stock a lifetime supply of pepcid to go with it.

 

Tums works, too. Yes, I KNOW this.

 

My Covid prep went pretty well. The Mrs. was gone 2+ months for the birth of our first grandchild. I ended up taking a bunch of my PPE over to the hospital, and then giving my local post lady some (new grandbabies in her house), dropping off more at the PO and then giving some to the local police dept. I kept a few masks and rubber gloves, but by-in-large was unaffected by the panic buying. I did buy a couple of items to fill open spots in my freezer. Had done the plan for avian flu with no known human resistace as a FEMA instructor trainer.

The thing it validated for me was the plan I had worked. I was a bit light on hand sanitizer at first, but that was because I gave some to friends. Still had a gallon and several to carry in the vehicles. I could stay home and not worry, as I had close to a year's worth of food if needed. I've since replaced and added to the wipes and sanitizer. Believe it or not, our local stores are putting the stuff on sale...just got 4 bottles to carry in vehicles with 100% rebate. (Menards)

I have the food inventoried, other than that which we keep in the pantry and routinely...the long term dried stores and dehydrated stuff stays in the cool basement, along with the ammo. Ammo inventory is on the side of the locked cabinet (OK, the excess is stacked outside it...really need to get a bigger cabinet. Our pantry is there as well. Two dedicated freezers in the garage and two refrigerators as well. Non-perishible supplies like propane, camping stove, water filter, water storage bags, a year's worth of paper supplies, and my EMP locker are in the garage.

Could I track items better? Yes, I think so. Right now I'm probably the only one who knows where all of the stuff is, but my wife knows where the stuff we'd readily use is located. Other things like the propane camping stove would only be used if the power was out and our natural gas grill was out. We'd have more issues than that, if nat gas was out, as I'd be using propane to try to keep the pipes from freezing (catalytic heaters).