Author of The Blackout Book and the online course Bloom Where You’re Planted
Back when the New Year rolled around, did you ever expect you’d spend months in lockdown, unable to go eat at a restaurant or visit with friends? 2020 has been full of surprises, but more of the “angry clown with a chainsaw” variety than “here, have some flowers.”
As the time for this lockdown to end draws near, spend some time reflecting on what you learned about preparedness and what you need to do before the next lockdown rolls around. (It’s almost inevitable there’ll be a next lockdown – more on that in a moment.)
There will probably be another wave of COVID-19.
The COVID-19 virus is not just going to vanish magically after we’ve stayed in our homes for a certain number of days. The virus will still be out there when the lockdown is over and people will still get sick from it.
At some point, the dreaded “second wave” will occur. Some experts think this will occur almost immediately after lockdown ends, while others believe there’s a seasonal link and it will strike in the fall. To be perfectly honest, at this point it’s too soon to know. There are a few muffled reports out of China about a possible second wave, but accurate information from China has been impossible to get since the very beginning.
We also don’t know whether the virus confers lasting immunity to those who have had it – some reports suggest there is no immunity while other reports say antibodies in the plasma of those who had it can help treat others fighting the illness.
We have no real data on this and no point of accurate comparison. We don’t know if the second wave will be worse than the first, or milder, or affect fewer people. But just consider it extremely likely that it will happen in some way or another, at some point or another.
When the second wave starts, expect another period of lockdown.
As I mentioned above, there are reports out of China about a previously unaffected city of 10 million people, Harbin, which has just been locked down in the past two weeks. We’re likely to see the effects of opening up several states here in the US over the next couple of weeks – either for better or worse.
If it turns out to be seasonal, the second wave would be most likely to begin in October. And now, health specialists know what to look for so it’s likely the re-emergence will be identified fairly quickly and lockdowns could occur by November.
Whenever a surge occurs, whether it’s next month or next fall, expect another round of lockdowns. Several experts have said we could be looking at periods of lockdown “until there’s a vaccine.”
In his wildly popular March 19 article in Medium, “Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance,” Tomas Pueyo correctly predicted the national lockdown, which he called the hammer, and said it would lead to a new phase, which he called the dance, in which essential parts of the economy could reopen, including some schools and some factories with skeleton crews.
Every epidemiological model envisions something like the dance. Each assumes the virus will blossom every time too many hosts emerge and force another lockdown. Then the cycle repeats. On the models, the curves of rising and falling deaths resemble a row of shark teeth.
Surges are inevitable, the models predict, even when stadiums, churches, theaters, bars and restaurants remain closed, all travelers from abroad are quarantined for 14 days, and domestic travel is tightly restricted to prevent high-intensity areas from reinfecting low-intensity ones.
The tighter the restrictions, experts say, the fewer the deaths and the longer the periods between lockdowns. Most models assume states will eventually do widespread temperature checks, rapid testing and contact tracing, as is routine in Asia. (source)
It’s just like the things mentioned above, however – we’re basing this on models and educated guesses, but we don’t know for sure what will happen or when it will happen. But we’re pretty sure something will happen.
So what you need to do is get ready for it. You’ll have an advantage next time around. This won’t be your first rodeo and you are of a preparedness mindset, so you will use what you’ve learned.
What do you wish you’d done differently?
It’s easy to play quarterback after the game is done, but this exercise isn’t about beating yourself up. It’s about learning from your experience.
- Is there anything you wish you’d done differently?
- What food did you run out of the fastest?
- Were there non-food supplies you didn’t think to buy?
- Was there anything that broke and you didn’t have the necessary tools or supplies to repair it?
- About what item did you think, “Dang, I wish I had XXXXXX?”
- Were there people who hunkered down with you who made things difficult or unpleasant? How can you make it better with those folks in the future? And will you even want them to come over next time?
- Are there things you could have prepared to keep your kids or other family members more content?
Ask yourself these questions while you’ve got some time to sit and contemplate the lockdown. The things you wish you’d done differently are going to be very important things to address for the future.
What are the things you were satisfied with?
Luckily, we all probably had more successes than failures in this lockdown, so think about the successes. Here are a few examples of some things that may have worked well for you.
- You had enough in your emergency fund to cover any shortfalls.
- You were able to make tasty, nutritious, and filling meals from your supplies.
- You didn’t need to leave the house for X amount of time for groceries.
- You and your family bonded and enjoyed spending this time together.
- You discovered your group worked really well together.
- You did something productive with your time at home.
So for you, what were the things that worked and how can you replicate those things in the future?
Make some notes.
Go over the two lists you’ve made and start a third list of the things you either need to buy or need to do before the next time there’s a lockdown. Using the examples above:
- Get more ingredients for favorite meals.
- Restock your pantry so you can hunker down for a couple of months.
- Get a larger quantity of the things you ran out of first.
- Get any needed tools and repair materials.
- Grab multiples of the things you may have forgotten like shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, etc.
- Get some things to stash away for future entertainment purposes.
- Figure out how to extricate yourself from partnerships that didn’t work.
- For partnerships that did work, make sure they’re on the same page for next time around.
- Do an inventory of supplies so you can replenish the things you used.
This is something that will take longer than 15-20 minutes at the kitchen table. Really spend some time being thorough with regard to this self-analysis.
Look at your budget.
Millions of Americans saw dramatic changes in their incomes over the past months. This is an important factor in future preparations.
If you’re just barely managing to pay your bills, you may have difficulty stocking up for Round 2. If this is the case, you’ll need to take a close look at your budget.
- Be sure to take advantage of whatever the government is offering in the way of financial assistance. (Get more information on that right here.)
- Talk to your creditors and see if they’ll work with you.
- Try a month of flat-broke eating. to put aside some cash for stockpiling.
- Add just a few extra things per week. You might not want to bother waiting for sales – a lot of companies are not planning on doing promotions any time soon.
- Don’t spend frivolously. I know it feels like we’re just about to get out of prison, but if you go and spend hundreds of dollars eating at restaurants, you’re really going to regret it when the next lockdown rolls around and you don’t have enough supplies.
- See if there are any fixed expenses you can cut.
This is the time to reduce your output as much as possible so you can replenish your home for the future.
What should you get for the second wave?
Aside from the things you’ve determined above that you need, there are some other things you may want to get for the second wave of lockdowns. Think about the things that ran out first and the things that had purchase limits. when you see them back on shelves, do some stocking up:
- Toilet paper (the gold bars of the coronavirus pandemic!)
- Paper towels
- Lysol wipes
- Paper plates
- Hand sanitizer
- Disinfectant cleaners
- Bleach
- Flour
- Yeast
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Meat
- Canned goods
- Dry foods like pasta and rice
- Cough medicine
- Cold and flu medicine
- Ibuprofen
- Tylenol
- Vitamin C
If you store them properly, all of these items will serve you well in the future even if this article is totally wrong and there is never another lockdown. They’ll help you to be ready for all manner of emergencies, not just mandated self-quarantines.
When should you start getting supplies for the second wave?
Think back to when the outbreak began to come to the public eye. It only took two days for the shelves to become nearly bare. Here are some pictures as a reminder. It would be pretty foolish to wait until the rest of the country becomes aware and there’s another run on things, leaving the media to scold preppers for hoarding.
Of course, it’s not preppers doing the “hoarding.” We already got our stuff weeks, months, or even years ago.
So my advice is to start replenishing your supplies immediately. Take a look at your lists and begin fulfilling them as soon as you can.
You don’t have to buy these things all at once. But as you see them re-emerging on store shelves, grab a couple of items and put them back. Do this every time you are out. If money isn’t tight, buy one of everything on your list that you might reasonably need when you’re out.
Mentally preparing for the second wave
Something that is potentially even more important than your physical preparations is the mental ones.
Did you find yourself reeling in shock that it happened? Were you depressed or anxious? Lonely or isolated? Understand first that all those feelings are completely normal during a time period of dramatic change. You’re human and you’re allowed to have feelings. When there’s so much uncertainty, it can be difficult to prepare for the future. It’s the ability to move past these feelings and still accomplish the things that need to be done that is important.
Think also about the personalities you encountered within your group. Obviously, you’re not going to kick your bratty teen out of the house the next time there’s a quarantine but the involvement of certain people is optional. Some folks really surprise us (unpleasantly) with the way they behave under pressure.
If you got together with your preparedness group to hunker down, you may have identified some personality conflicts. It’s up to you to decide whether those personality conflicts are worth working through or if you should sit this next wave out with only your immediate family.
Other things you may want to do before the next lockdown
The following items are miscellaneous tasks you may want to undertake. Most of them will be effective not only in a lockdown scenario but also during other types of emergencies.
You may have also noticed things in your outer circle that were unsettling. I wrote more about the different kinds of people you may have encountered – friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc. – during the lockdown. You should take some of the time you have between now and the next lockdown to assess these folks a little bit more closely. Pay strict attention to the things they say and do once this is over. Do they “joke” about coming to your place? Are they spending frivolously? Did they learn a lesson and decide to get better prepared? This will tell you a lot about them and let you know if you need to begin quietly distancing yourself from them.
If you weren’t happy with where you took shelter during this period of lockdown, examine the reasons why. We are in an apartment that shares ventilation with the neighbors. (It’s an old house turned into a duplex.) That was okay for us because the neighbors were also self-quarantining carefully, but if they moved out and someone else moved in, would it be okay then? We also don’t have a place for a garden here, and there are a few issues that would make the house fairly easy to break into if someone was interested in doing so.
When you examine this, you may need to make a major decision – is it time to relocate? Or you may simply need to make some adjustments to the place where you are like a padlock on the gate, a new fence, security film on the windows, etc. This article has some tips on home security.
If your home needs some repairs, do it while there isn’t an active virus floating around. Our dryer died during the lockdown but we weren’t crazy about the idea of some repair person stomping through the apartment, spreading his germs, and potentially seeing our stockpile of canned goods. If you have an appliance giving its last gasp, this might be a good time to replace it. The better maintained your home is, the less likely it is that you’ll have a repair emergency during the lockdown.
Take the opportunity to get any services performed that were needed before or during the lockdown. If there is a medical procedure you require, go ahead and get it before the next wave. Many patients saw their treatments delayed for months to prevent them from possibly coming into contact with COVID patients. Get everyone a dental exam and get your pets to the vet if necessary. If you need to have your house sprayed or gutters cleaned, get all of that stuff done as soon as you can.
Work toward greater self-reliance. Get those chickens you’ve been thinking about. Plant a garden and set up cold frames to extend your growing season. Get yourself well-positioned for an uncertain future.
Prepare your family
Your family may want to live in a rosy world in which this was a brief, unpleasant interlude and now it’s over. It’s tempting to let them have that happiness, but it’s a mistake not to add at least a small dose of reality. If it has never even crossed their mind that the future could hold more lockdowns, it’s going to be a stunning blow when (or if) it happens again.
You also don’t want to meet pushback when you try to replenish supplies. Consider reminding them, “Remember the toilet paper apocalypse? We don’t want to run into that problem again!” or “Weren’t you happy we had this when we were stuck at home?”
If you see the situation is beginning to look like you might be facing another lockdown soon, casually mention it to family members. Don’t terrify them but begin gently making them aware that the situation could change quickly.
On the other hand, you may find that family members who previously thought you were a little bit nuts are now far more on board with preparedness. This might be a great time to start teaching them more.
What are you expecting?
Do you expect to see a second wave of COVID-19? Do you think it will happen soon after the lockdown is lifted or in the fall? How are you preparing? Are you making any changes? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
About Daisy
Daisy Luther writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper. She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and runs a small digital publishing company. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
If there is another lockdown, I will actively protest it on the streets, and not comply with the edicts. There is no “one size fits all” treatment in medicine, and my area had practically zero cases, but we were still locked down like NYC. Many other areas were the same.
Never again.
You could be in a hard hit area next time…It is best to prepare as well as you can for self quarantine. Your life could be on the line next time…The experts say that the lockdown was effective in controlling the spread of covid 19. I, for one, am willing to put up with the inconvenience if it keeps me and those around me safer.
Security over freedom, right? Quarantine is supposed to be for sick people. House arrest is for healthy people.
Question: How long can you afford to stay locked at home? One month? Three months? A year? What about your neighbors and friends?
And exactly how safe are we if the entire economy is broken beyond hope because everyone was forced to stay home for several months? Take a look at Venezuela (there are other examples as well) as to what happens to people who have no money or food. Desperate people do desperate things. There’s nothing safe about that.
lol…..The Perfect Dupe
‘The experts’?
Expert liars
Eggspurts, indeed: The Wuhanhiddenhan scam, the hoax virus, did I mention, is a Marxist Bolshevik scam, none dead nor dying, but plenty of asheep, spraying and praying, and wearing that muzzle, day and night, lest those around take fright, Big Brother just loves it when the proles fail to understand the simulation drill puzzle. And did I mention, a non-existent disease means it’s safe to shake and sneeze, unless, of course, irrational fear is your staple diet, incarcerated and locked down via your own mental keys!
… and the sheep went “baaaa”…
OMG—My husband and I were target practicing with my new Ruger and we got hungry; went to Mennonites sandwich shop in the country!!
Sign on door–only 2 at a time–I lost it and will say special prayer for words spoken at that shop door!!
The couple in shopping needed cart they had so much!!!! Who shops at a Mennonite sandwich shop???
Patri – you are spot on. It is not about science…it’s all about politics. Stay prepped but do not comply with unconstitutional “orders”…
AMEN!! It starts w/Fauci!
Prepare anyway. Being happy you don’t need it is far better than being stuck without it.
A voice in the wilderness. I am with you, I have not acquiesced to this lunacy as will not be forced to submit to the nwo. Buy toilet paper? Get ready to be locked in my personal cell? From the article and posts seems it may just be you and I in the streets. Ga. 5:1
Well, then if you ever decide to go outside, get yourself into nothing less than a hazmat suit! That’s what you need! And you can’t go out for nothing, none of that bs grocery shopping bit, you learn to grow a garden! Most preferable an indoor garden. You stay in ALWAYS…..only if there is a fire hazard in your home are you permitted to leave it then to go outside
Yes, I believe there will be more rounds of lockdowns for at least another year. Being in the over 65 crowd with other respiratory issues already, we will continue to use masks, gloves and maintain a distance from others.
Need to get eyeglasses & exam updated & ordered. Need a few more horse panels and tposts for fencing projects. Need at least 3 more rainbarrels.
On the plus side, our 2020 hurricane season preps are pretty much already taken care of.
The garden is planted and going well, chicken coop and resident hen raising a nice bunch of biddies. Have planted some things just for livestock feed. Will be dehydrating veggies and fruit each week for later use. Will be trying my hand at pressure canning too. Will teach grandkids when we can see them again.
This site is the gold standard for all things food preservation–canning included. https://nchfp.uga.edu/ Last year I bought Daisy Luther’s book about canning and I have really enjoyed several of her recipes. They are all safe by the standards at the site above.
I’m sending this timely article to my family/extended family who are dispersed across the globe. If they are ever going to heed advice, it will be now.
We all still have to go out for essentials, food, medicine trips to the hardware store. You need to practice drawing your EDC pistol with Nitrile gloves on your hands. I carry a Ruger EC9s and found that the gloves change everything. I ended up spending hours out in the barn re-learning things that were second nature.
You have some good ideas here. Unfortunately, where I live, none of the items you listed are available to buy except small amounts of meat and toilet paper. With a family of seven, I am looking for alternatives rather than stocking up on what I can’t get anyway. We were pretty well prepared, but our state will be closed until late May, so we will definitely be needing to resupply. I’m so glad we all hunt, and prep.
I’ll be writing more about alternatives soon. I’m sorry you are having such restrictions. May I ask which state you’re in? No worries if you don’t want to share that information.
Loved your words “2020 has been full of surprises, but more of the “angry clown with a chainsaw” variety than “here, have some flowers.” LOL.
Agreeing with you that a second wave of lockdowns is inevitable.
This “dress rehearsal” was a valuable exercise for me. I was able to test a lot of things that I had read about over the years but didn’t really practice. My top 3 biggest takeaways: “Situational Awareness” “Trust your Instincts” and “Don’t Procrastinate.” Back in January, reading between the lines I was able to get ahead of the curve and purchase some of the items I needed to top off before the Panic (like more yeast!) That was a good thing. There were other things that I “talked myself out of” or just procrastinated about and wished I would have gone ahead and purchased when my gut was telling me to buy them. I found one of my running lists from last summer and what was on there that I didn’t ever get to: N95 masks at Harbor Freight. I had no idea why I wanted to buy them at the time and kept them on my list all summer, but I procrastinated and eventually forgot about them. Lesson learned. There were a few other items that I had an inclination to purchase without a good reason, just an instinct. The ones I followed through with have become a good thing, the ones that I knew I should have bought but didn’t , are a source of irritation to me. I’m seeing the value of tangible items more and more everyday.
One thing I would add to the list of vitamins: Zinc.
HEY speaking of ZINC, I didn’t know the importance of it until I read about it. I went to our local GNC store and they were open (not sure they were supposed to be) but they were. Anyway I was able to buy 3 more bottles of Silver Solution liquid (which I was out of) and it’s an immune system booster, however the store clerk informed me they had NO zinc…SO it’s really the only place I think to get it b/c Walmart as far as i know doesn’t sell it, they didn’t have any when I looked. As for stocking up, been doing that for along time so we were pretty well set. I am just running out of milk, bread, eggs and all of my produce, but as for the rest of it I nailed it months in advance. I always buy more than what I need b/c my mindset is that one day in the future something will cause me to NEED all of what I have. Even extra bags of dog food for my furry baby. I think we will have another round or more. The vaccine however is being rushed, and I have a feeling b/c it’s an election year that it may be out way before it’s completely texted to be effective and totally safe, so that does bother me. I had polio as a kid AFTER my mom got me the shot. Therefore I m leery of taking vaccines of any kind. I haven’t had a flu shot in years. Had no cold, no virus, and no flu except for 1 week in 2017 since 2007 and haven’t gotten the covid-19 yet either so knock on wood. My gut is strong, my immune system seems to be good to (thanks to the SILVER) and now if I can locate some ZINC I should be even better. I bought vitamin C at the GNC store that day…BUY whatever you can today, b/c it’s at today’s price, but 3 or 6 mos. from now it will be higher, so we can save AOT by buying today. Got gas for $1.49 on a Mon. On Wed. it had dropped to $1.44. SO gas seems to be (right now) the ONLY thing that is going down, however ALL food is going up. Walmart lettuce was $1.19 it’s up now to $1.39 a head…Take care everyone and keep prepping.
Silver doesn’t exactly boost your immune system, as in building it up. It’s for using when you may be coming down with something, to grab onto the germs and flush them out. I think it’s only effective for as long as it takes to go through your digestive system. It doesn’t really add to your health other than that, like vitamins and minerals do.
Wandakate – Commercial silver solution is so expensive! You might want to Google building your own battery operated silver solution generator. I bought one many years ago– I don’t remember what it cost but it was under $100. It is basically two pure silver wires, alligator clips and a couple of 9 volt batteries. You put the wires into a glass of distilled water and plug into the battery – you can see the silver particles being removed from one of the wires. The particles are nowhere near as small as what you get in commercial silver solutions, but I think it is better than nothing in a scenario where you may not be able to buy a commercial solution. When I first feel that I am “coming down” with something, I take a glass in the evening before I go to bed and a glass in the morning for a few days. Most of the time I’m able to fight off whatever it is that I felt coming on. Of course, this is not medical advice and your mileage may vary.
Zinc needs copper to work, at a ratio of 1:15. Most multivitamins have enough copper to do the job if you are taking extra zinc (as I am!)
I’m amazed how few people saw this coming in January, you’re an exceptional one. Probably everyone with their heads up and eyes open fared better than average. Well done.
I just need to do a bit of tweaking. I would say get more seeds when you can. For us, razors was something needed. For my husbands work he has to be clean shaving for safety reasons. He is an essential so will continue to work no matter what. Same with my son. Something I am having to deal with is the limit on what you can buy. Before shopping was a once every one r two months. Now I have to make more trips for what used to take one. I expect a second wave a of lock downs and have spoke with others who expect the same. This would be a good time to get any medical issues taken care of. Plus hobbies like sewing that are not necessarily hobbies. If you are a crafter, get more supplies while you can. You may find that the blankets and clothes you make are no longer hobby but needed. Seeds for growing both indoors and outdoors. Looks at what you can grow in different seasons in your areas. If you have pets, continue to prep and train them as well. My dogs respond to both voice and hand commands and I they are one of my levels of security. As a runner, I have been able to continue to run as I am a distance runner. But anytime I run, I have my German Shepherd running with me.
I’ve been preparing for a long time. Felt kinda foolish at times and had to rein myself in sometimes. So anyway, it wasn’t that difficult to stock up. I have a list of things I look for every time I go to the store. Alcohol, lysol spray, zinc, meat especially bacon. I read the latest natural health news to see what is the best natural antiviral being tested and find it online then buy as much as I can. Anything I like now, I look for it in long term storage form,like oj, eggs, milk ect. Home is my refuge so I like it here.
Yes, it is difficult to not “lose your mind”, and to allow your thoughts to wander to “people think I’m crazy; preparing for the apocalypse”. When I start to feel awkward or judged, I just say “it is good to make certain you and your family will be comfortable until things get back to normal”. I’ve also taken to just doing what I want and I hope I never have to feel smug that I was right. Plus, you can always use the stuff and with prices likely to go up, you saved money AND didn’t have to endure crowds and the horrid dystopian masks and arrows dictating direction you can take on aisles – it is very difficult for me to not rip off my mask and go up and down aisles as I please.
Yeah as I was walking the aisle I had one guy tell me, hey didn’t you see the arrows ?
I said no I didn’t even see the Indians 🙂
Executive orders don’t apply to “civilians”- that is, they are not law, but only apply to state functions. Therefore, I have been ignoring these orders (in IL) completely.* It has affected me, in that I cannot go to closed places such as Church, Hobby Lobby, Joanne Fabric, Salvation Army, and Marshall’s. Next week I may drive to Iowa to shop.
*Since seeing the gene sequence results indicating that it was a bioweapon, I have been self-quarantining since early January. I watched the case numbers constantly, and have contacts in the [empty] medical center. I can only imagine the shock in January when I had to pick up my brother at the car repair shop, dressed in a BSL3 bunny suit.
It was also interesting to hear from someone who searched the Chinese deep web. There, people were wondering back in December why the army was rounding up all Vitamin C shipments and storing them in lock and key at military bases. They knew what they had done.
I ordered up chicks to be coming in July. Too late for this year,but prepared for Fall/Winter. Established connections to keep receiving fresh hatched eggs in the meantime. Put in irragation system for gardening,planted seeds,put up greenhouse. Planning on getting solar panels to keep my well working if the grid goes down. Last,but certainly not least,inventory of ammo and ordering anything I may be short of. With all that said,I don’t believe Americans will put up with another lockdown. Too many lost too much. I expect violence in the streets. God help us if that starts.
We were very concerned about well water pump (deep well, which was drilled to over 400 feet, but with a current water level at around 250 feet). I looked into what could be done and because the pump draws on a 220 line, we finally decided to buy an 8000 watt generator that is dual fuel (gasoline or propane). This cost about $750 at Costco, two years ago. Then we had an electrician create something like a cut-over switch that would route the generator output to it’s own panel with a tie -in to the well pump and a minimum additional outlet(s) for running a fridge or freezer. We have tried to come up with non electric alternatives for everything, including cooking, laundry, lights, radio, etc. We even have solar photovoltaic but in Connecticut, this is grid-tied and does NOT work in a power outage. The inverter on our solar panel set up is a “SUNNY BOY” from Germany and it was specially ordered at our request from the solar installer but despite the claim that it could supply electricity through a special outlet add-on during a power outage, it would have not begun to be sufficient for the well pump. Now, this is just my understanding and I could be wrong. Anyway, the cut over switch set up for the generator was a pretty neat and FAST solution. It took a couple hours and cost $1100. So adding in the generator, the overall cost was $1850.
I forgot to point out in the above message, that we would only use the generator for pumping water, maybe once every few days and save it in our blue water barrels. It would not be practical to leave a generator on for any length of time.
Might I suggest looking into a deep well solar pump. I live in Italy and have 2 wells …one shorter and one deep well. We had a few all day power outs and unfortunately I had no water. Our home uses only well water.
Since we are strapped for cash…I thought of trying to get a generator and have an eletrician friend do the auto switch…BUT then I thought if I cant get any fuel for generator.. I’m sunk. So I started to look for alternative methods and found a solar pump…but are costly and are not found here in Italy. Will need to start saving and try to piece by piece it together from the states.
You may want to look into it.
Because next round might get worse…no fuel…no electricity…no water..at least not for me.
Stay safe…
Beth-thanks for the information about your well. We have one, too, that we use for irrigation (house has city water), but the water quality is excellent, so drinkable. We’ve looked into hand pumps installed along the well pipeline, which are expensive. I like your generator solution, which could also run a deep freeze in a power outage. We’ve been practicing with our solar oven and enjoy cooking with it.
What we did well: food, TP, medicine, hygiene/Lysol/clorox were not issues. We had been working towards putting a gate/opener on the property and completed it. We found a great source for fruit trees grown from seed and sold for next to nothing and planted 8 fruit trees. I began keeping a binder of articles that shared data about effectiveness of different types of treatment and UV sterilization of masks and built a sterilizer, and also tried my hand at kombucha and sourdough starter. We did plant starts from seeds gathered from last year’s crops and planted those this weekend. Next, we need to do hoop houses to extend the growing season. I had ordered more shelves in January for my prep room and they just came in, so am reorganizing everything. I reordered mason jars/lids as I know there will a shortage this summer with all the new gardens going in.
What we still need to do: Figure out an off-grid well solution (solar pump is pricey, as is a hand pump), learn to butcher a pig (our sons are raising 2 pigs) and put up the meat, gather, cut ,and split more firewood, use all those frozen veggies I bought early on, and restock dried items.
We bought a stand alone hand pump about 10ish years ago in the event the power goes out for a prolonged period. We have animals who need gallons per day. Our hand pump brings up 5 gallons per pump. It was $75 when we purchased it and the price is double now. It is worth the investment. Solar is not an option for us. Winter is gray and we need something very reliable. Do some research and pick the best option for your location. Keep in mind even sunny Texas had a fail.
Thanks for the reminder Daisy, timely message to restock. We are on day 51 of lockdown. I know that the official order came much later. But I saw this coming and self isolated March 11, 2020. Living in a large metropolitan area we don’t have the luxury of chickens or small livestock. Fresh eggs are the only thing that we have run low on. We have a Harvest Right home freeze dryer, so have put up dozens of freeze dried eggs, and meals ready to rehydrate and enjoy. We have a small garden, and I grow salad greens in rain gutters hung along the backyard fence.
Our Governor is not ready to open up the state yet, but there could be an easing of restrictions soon. We are going to keep isolated for a few more weeks just to be safe. Luckily Amazon delivers dog food to the door. Doggie is on special diet, do to allergy.
Thanks again Daisy for all the great information, keep safe and well.
I’ve been swooning over the Harvest Right for several years now. Do you feel it’s worth the cost? Thanks!
This is a great article. I also read the one you wrote about different kinds of people and strongly identified with that. I had to keep reminding myself that I was literally dropping bombshells on people with trying to get them more prepared early since I had been following this since January and started topping off our supplies then. Some thought I was nutty and it couldn’t happen. My adult children although startled, listened and stocked up. For us personally the only thing I was concerned about was having fresh milk and eggs because we have our grandchildren staying with us for the duration due to their parents jobs. Thankfully we were able to start a dairy service and that is taken care of. In the future that may not be available and we will have to figure something out or do without. Another area I didn’t do as well at was beverages. We drink a lot of water and I thought that would do fine. It started getting old pretty quick and I made a note to myself to start stocking beverage mixes and will can more juices this summer. We did find a container of a lemonaide when we did our first post stay at home order last week and our little grandson was so happy! We stocked up on seeds and canning lids early on, so that isn’t a problem. What was a problem was finding elastic for masks, still waiting on that order. Another thing we didn’t anticipate difficulty with was buying a bike for our grandsons birthday. Apparently bikes are currently the new toilet paper. So, I will start looking now for any other gifts we will need thoughout the year and Christmas in case there are supply issues. I want to take a moment to give you a heart felt thank you Daisy Luther. We have only been learning about preparedness in the last few years and I have learned so much from your writings. We haven’t lacked for anything important and your work is largely to credit for that because of the incredible detail and common sense approach you teach.
I’m so very glad that I could help. Thank you for sharing your story. Happy birthday to your grandson!
Thank you! Another thing I forgot was things to make tacos! My husband was sad when he realized it. Your fried bread taco shells came to the rescue! I will never buy taco shells again.
You said you were having trouble with elastic. I finally decided on a mask pattern that ties instead of looping over the ears with elastic. Shoe laces, twill tape and double fold (narrow) bias tape all work well for the ties. So does ribbon. I also decided to use some iron on interfacing just to give a little more stability and maybe increase the filtration of the mask a little. No evidence to back that up but “it might help, can’t hurt”.
Since there are no Lysol or disinfecting wipes to be found anywhere I had had to start using a mixed bleach solution for disinfecting. TP and other household things along with food is really hard to come by here, but when I do find something I get it.
I would not be in this somewhat difficult situation of finding things had I listen to you Daisy about stocking things that would be hard to get. You have been one hundred percent right on everything you said when it would be a pandemic and things that would happen during the pandemic. I keep kicking myself for waiting after you warned us to get ready.
Thanks
Hi, Jean – don’t beat yourself up. This is the kind of thing that seems absolutely impossible…until it happens. There are things I considered buying that I regret not getting, but all we can do is focus on the future. We’ve had a dress rehearsal and learned some very valuable lessons, all of us.
Hang in there – you’ll get a chance to stock up before Round 2.
We were pretty prepared with food and medical supplies for wound care but lacking in sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and cold/flu symptom relief. We had also not thought much about sanitizing things coming into the house.
Also did not have powdered eggs or canned butter so we still had to make some trips to the store for dairy and fresh vegetables. All in all we were a lot better off than most people.
Thanks for continuing to share good information.
Al though we need to be prepared for such a thing as another lock down from this Pandemic or another one. I see a disturbing trend here.
1) Buying into the Media nonsense.
There is NO evidence to support a second wave theory.
In fact new studies are showing that the “pandemic” was a panic by medical officials and the death toll may be less than a bad Influenza year.
This is even after they label any “disease death” or old age deaths as COVID 19 related.
The medical community plays games with these numbers anyway. If you might have flu( or Covid 19) symptoms and you die of something else it is ” complications” from that disease. But if you have, say, Cancer, and die of something else you did not “die of complication from cancer”.
The system of reporting certain categories of deaths is Biased, in order to create FEAR and sell vaccines.
Other studies are showing that herd immunity may have kicked in in California, which is why their numbers were so low. A lot of people who never knew that they had it, yet testing positive for antibodies.( showing that they got a mild case of it)
2) The medical community and the Media have deceived us.
It is a well known medical fact that N 95 surgical type masks or cloth masks DO NOT stop the Virus.
In fact there are some question if a N- 95 respirator mask will either, as it is only rated stop 95% of 3 micron sized particles, but the virus is about 1.2 micron in size. Far smaller that the specs the mask is rated at. Supposedly it has a higher efficiency at smaller than 3 microns, but that flies against all logic and know principles.
There are procedures that must be followed in wearing gloves and (the proper masks) and in changing them often. But they kept that info from us. As there are not enough masks to provide for everyone, let alone if they all followed protocol.
Then there is the 6 ft rule, but ALL the medical community knows that a cough or sneeze can easily travel 20 ft.
A breath can travel 6 ft or more and that wearing a N 95 surgical mask will not stop the virus from escaping around it. If it can get in around the gaps in a mask, it can certainly get out through there also.
So we have been lied to from the beginning.
So as part of your “preps” , don’t believe anything the Media or the Government tells you. Research it out for yourself.
3) In a SHTF scenario, One if the most important things you can do is stay positive and have hope.
I see a lot of Fear, a lot of Panic, but very little positive attitude and hope.
If those things are driving your actions now, it is time to re access your mental preps and get a better attitude, because SHTF will be a lot more stressful and scary than this supposed “pandemic” was.
So while you prepare for another potential lock down, prepare to be deceived by the Government and the Media. Also prepare your self mentally for the stress and other problems a real “pandemic” or SHTF scenario will present.
There’s a lot I agree with in your comment, but there’s some important things that I think you (and I know many think similarly) should consider.
The Stanford study is what you’re alluding to for the conclusion of herd immunity in California has been completely discredited. They used test kits from China which have been proven to be the absolute worst at correctly testing people, and the way they setup the study created an inherent bias, advertising on Facebook an social media as a way to verify if they had Covid-19. Basically, anyone who thought they had it but had been unable to get tested at that time signed up, as opposed to a randomized study that would have been a statistically more accurate representation of the population. All-in-all, the methodology was so poor as to make the study beyond useless. But it’s been very useful for people who want to think the worst is behind us. Don’t be led astray by bad science.
I actually have a family member who contracted the virus. I also know of a few people who were sent to the hospital and, unfortunately, one person who died of it. Yes, it’s true most of them had some long-standing health issues, but hospitals don’t get suddenly overwhelmed in hot spots because everyone suddenly has a heart attack at the same time. They go to the hospital because they can’t breathe! People with health issues are more susceptible to the virus, but the virus is real. I’ve seen it myself, it is not a media creation, although it is being used by the media to manipulate people, which I think we can both agree on.
I most certainly agree proper prepping needs to be done when this comes around again. I started following this in January, so I was ready to help the person in my family when she got hit with it and saved her a trip to the hospital, which is not where you want to be. This blog is a little light on prep info for this virus, and that’s something people need to be ready for (over 45% of Americans have at least 1 chronic disease/condition, so many of us are targets for the virus). Putting this off as a hoax is just as dangerous as believing everything the MSM is telling us. Both will prevent you from being prepped when it comes around again (truthfully, it will never leave, it isn’t really possible to develop immunity to corona viruses, which is why we keep getting colds, also corona viruses).
A meta study that was done showed that there were no patients for this virus who had high levels of vitamins C and D in their bloodstream. There were, however, plenty of patients with the virus who had very low levels of both. Thus I would recommend stocking up on as much vitamin C and D as you reasonably can. Do it now. When it’s sunny outside, get out in the sun as much as possible. Your liver will store extra vitamin D for later, and you’ll definitely need it later.
There are also many good herbals that are excellent anti-virals, immune system boosters, and lung support. Especially also look into medicinal mushrooms, particularly Reishi and Chaga. Eucalyptus essential oil can be a life saver when the lungs clog up, especially if you can load it into a nebulizer.
Having said this virus is real doesn’t mean there aren’t entities out there ready to use it to advance their agendas. Study up and decide how you will respond when they insist you do certain things. The second wave will be much, much worse than the first, which means more people will be frightened. Frightened people are much easier to manipulate than those who can calmly assess the situation. The real prepping is to make sure you’re part of the latter group, not the former.
Dealing with mental stress: I have been a strong believer in subliminal tapes/CDs for years. My preferred source is Eldon Taylor and his “Inner Talk” but there are many other sources for positive self-talk/attitude with music/nature/ocean fore-ground sounds and many other options.
CenterPointe is another that I have used.
I know that after listening to the CDs both when I was going shopping for tools/equipment/repair parts, or food I was less stressed, and at home I also relaxed more easily.
Give it a thought.
Not into subliminals? Consider inspirational speakers to listen to…
Bread flour is impossible to find now, got plenty of regular which I’m sure will work in a pinch. And I watched silver sit at 14 bucks an oz for 3 years without purchasing. But as I observed, the most precious metal on The Walking Dead is lead for bullets.
You might find this article and related information useful: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-05-21-8702070654-story.html. Cornell Bread Recipe
An excellent article!
Guns and ammo Trump everything on your list.
You make a great point. It’s the shortage no one is talking about. I was stunned to find everyone sold out of 9mm a few weeks back.
Can’t find 380 either. I’m on several waiting lists for when both back in stock.
And still check some sites daily just incase.
Shotgun shells are also getting hard to find all gauges.
Yep! I don’t talk too much to others because of the joking before from friends who would say, “oh, I know where I will go if anything happens!” Uh, no you won’t in my mind. But for now, decided to spend some money on new washer and dryer since current ones are from 1980! Easy to repair but harder to get parts. Already moved to new location 2 years ago in preparation but forgot to put up drying racks. Getting those now. Also more box gardening to avoid conflicts with wildlife eating produce. Not depressed at all, enjoying the peace and quiet!
Hello All- Im in Az and we are on lockdown until May 15. Its always another 2 weeks…another 2 weeks. We believe that this was a bio weapon and a practice run. To see how the sheeple would react. We also believe while a nasty virus that the numbers are akin to a flu year and that the media definatly lies about evetything. We are seeing MORE required mask wearing in our area and more lines to get into home depot and some grocery stores. I have been able to buy 1 4pk of toilet paper at a walmart. Still no paper towels or toilet paper to be had that i have seen. We have started making ghee with frozen butter to get it out of the freezer and we have been canning meat. We have tomato and pepper plants and potato plants all growing nicely. We are waiting for the next shoe to drop and fully expect more lock downs and war. Have a blessed day everyone!
This article offers a very good blueprint for how and what to think about for preparing for the next round. I found that we fell short of entertainment issues (my husband found a new hobby but who knows how long that will last). So I’m looking for ways to improve that area as well as restocking other supplies. We really didn’t run out of anything so that was a blessing. Anyway, thanks for this useful article.
Daisy, your articles are always so timely! I really appreciate all the work you are doing to help us keep on task for taking care of ourselves and our families. Your list of questions was especially helpful–I even copied them into a notes app on my phone and pondered thru each one. I now have added to my shopping list at food, more cold remedies and a rain barrel.
Fortunately I have been able to go shopping regularly and most everything I need I have been able to find. One thing I miss is the bulk section at my favorite grocery store. I have had to pay more for the same things in packages because I did not stock up well enough there. AND the prices are going up on those things too!
One question I have for you: can my “group” include people whom I don’t shelter in place with? I have a cousin who lives 30 minutes away and I was wondering if we could treat them as if they were part of our household if we know they are being as cautious as we are.
Thanks again for your website and all your awesome advice!
That was supposed to be cat food!
Hi 🙂 – really your group can consist of whoever you want, in whatever living arrangements you guys have. In California, my group was neighbors out in the boonies where I lived. Here, we hung out with the people in the upper part of the duplex where my daughter lives because we share a backyard and we knew that they were also staying home. This is really a judgment call. The only thing I’d caution you about is that if the next lockdown is more strictly enforced there could be a ban against visiting other households. Now, while I find this ridiculous, it depends how it is enforced whether it’s a worthwhile risk. So for that reason. be sure that each household has the important things in case sheltering strictly in place is the only option.
Thank you for all you do Daisy! I really appreciate your articles. I have been prepping for quite some time and so I did not really run out of anything. I have also been able to go to the grocery store and buy more stock up items. The toilet paper thing cracks me up – I started telling people at work to buy TP back in January. My kids have always made fun of me for prepping, and my son has scolded me for spending money on too much stuff – but they don’t make fun of me anymore and have gotten on board with preparedness.
I live alone in an apartment and thank goodness I have a nice sized balcony. I have started a five gallon bucket garden and so far my seedlings are doing well.
I do wish I had more crafty stuff. and the thing I miss the most is my FAVORITE THRIFT STORE!
I also wish I had purchased a small freezer – I am thinking about it now.
Thank you for making this a little more bearable.
Excellent article, and thank you for putting all the helpful links in it! I bought an N95 mask 5 years ago at a prepping store that is now out of business. I wish we had bought more, but it seemed a little like overkill at the time. We didn’t know anything about masks and didn’t know you could only wear it a few times at best.
I would also have some fabric on hand, that I could have made masks from, and may need in the future for something else. Also, clothes and shoes. I hadn’t been shopping in a long time before this happened, and now my best and favorite shirt has holes in it and my shoes are falling apart. All I have left is things that I don’t like wearing due to fit, comfort or it’s too unflattering. It’s hard for me to find a proper and flattering fit so ordering clothes is unproductive. Oh well! You expect people’s clothes to start looking ragged a year after a collapse, not two months after a lockdown, lol.
Other than that, we’re doing great!
A VERY cogent and thought provoking article.
Allow me a few thoughts on this topic:
Who knew that the majority of A holes in this country thought that @$$ wipes were a first priority in a civilization ending catastrophe?!? Give me a break!
That alone shows just how weak and malleable our society has become. Truly a Nation of sheep! Literally too stupid to know how to wipe their own @$$es without Government assistance! “Where TF is MY toilet paper!?!”
Jesus wept.
Progressing from there, we’re currently in the process of wasting entire herds and flocks of meat bearing animals because people are “afraid” to get them to market?
Do such craven cowards even deserve to live when they shite their own pants in fear of life itself? I think not.
The larger question is…where do we go from here when the Government so obviously wants to enslave us in fear and dependence upon them?
Do we just lay down and suck it?
Well, I, for one, will not.
And IF you think for one instant that this is a “one off” and will never happen again? You are an abject moron. Forget the “next wave” of coronavirus. They will unleash a much more virulent strain upon us next time…complete with more stringent demands and harsher penalties for non compliance.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
There IS NO SUCH THING as “coincidence”. This was ALL planned, and it WILL happen again.
You all…as individuals…can either swallow the BS being forced down your throats,
OR, you can make a principled stand based upon your deeply held religious and/or Constitutional beliefs.
The time to decide is NOW.
I am not participating in the virus brainwashing and am not going to live my life in isolation. Agree with the other poster about home made cloth masks. It’s a joke. There is ample evidence the virus numbers were fudged. Yeah, there will be a ‘wave 2’ whether it’s true or not so they can mandate worse restrictions. The ultimate goal is to scare you and make you miserable enough to want the vaccine. What I continue to do is stock up on good quality grass fed meat because meat restrictions will only get worse. Aldi’s limit is 2 and you can be assured in the next wave it will go down to one if you can even find it. I keep only a minimal amount of high carb food (flour, rice, beans, pasta etc). in my preps. For myself it’s all about the meat.
God bless you, Marie, for seeing the truth!
We’re all being herded into the ultimate cattle chute. You and I are cats. We can’t be herded!
I’ve got 55 acres with deer, turkey, quail, rabbit, squirrel and fish.
I wish us all the best, but no matter what comes… I DIE FREE !
“Let not your heart be troubled…”
Marie, I support your position that after the initial “unknown”, the lockdown should have been removed. We do know that the virus isn’t going to exterminate the entire human population and in fact has shown itself to be a nasty virus that will kill some just as the flu does. We are all subject to the random disease, bacteria, virus and natural disaster.
HOWEVER, the consequences of the response are real and they will affect you. Prepare and resist in the ways that you can. That’s what I am doing. Looking forward to our Mother’s Day gathering, I come and go as I please and get what I need in public. Protect yourself and object when you can.
Everybody keep Title 18 Section 242 in your pocket NO deprivation of rights under color of law.
Thank you for all the thought-provoking questions, Daisy. It really is a good time to review. It’s been really hard for me to pierce through all the countless “calculated” opinions out there. Everything was so very surreal in the beginning — Can this really… finally… be happening? Even as I prepared for Y2K way back when, it was enough of a wake up call to show how fragile and discombobulated our country could be over any kind of real or perceived threat to our way of life. It’s almost impossible to get to the bottom of the layers that cover or gloss over the truth — which we may never know — which is why we prep. If we wait around for answers before we do anything definitive, we will find ourselves behind the eight-ball. As one lady commented, she wish she’d followed her instincts better when she had the opportunity.
One older survival author, Cody Somebody, said there are the basics of being able to breathe first, keep warm second and keep hydrated third. Everything else is gravy. That helps me keep a baseline to know that I’m actually doing quite well considering. There are just a few things I was putting off that turned out to only be an annoyance but long-term would be detrimental. Getting new prescriptions for all my lenses was the first one. That was going to be an expensive cash payout. The other was an overdue haircut. But with some trepidation, I walked DH through it and it actually looks great!
The most difficult places dealing with CV19 are the closed shared air places like apartments, cruise ships, airplanes, hospitals, nursing care facilities, churches, businesses, office buildings, schools, meat packing plants, etc. So, places that rely on shared air are going to be potential places to pick up the virus. It’s sad to me that sunny, wide-open places are being closed off to the public. That’s nonsense.
Those places with conditioned air are also prime places for seeding of virus variations. If this truly is a bioweapon, then, I also suspect that vulnerable places could easily be primed through the shared air. Lots of people in those places. Even though summer may well be a detriment to the virus, air conditioning will still be going on in a good part of the country.
Lockdowns really do have a way of making the People vulnerable to losing their rights in the name of health and safety. The results being the economy tanking is really bad for all of us even if we’re prepped. We were set on a slippery slope which many saw coming. I suspect most of us are not skilled enough to negotiate these skids that look steeper at the bottom. Sounds awfully gloomy.
With most of our perceptions and information coming through MSM and alt-medias, we are at a great disadvantage if we are being played. Just kind of writing out loud here . . . .
I respectfully disagree, Debbers.
The Truth is never hard to glean. God didn’t make it so. If the Truth is hard for you to find or see, it is because the Adversary (Satan) has clutched an influence on your way of thinking.
I don’t mean this as an accusation. Satan works in all things, and in all ways to deceive us. He is far older and wiser than we are…being that his First Estate was in Heaven in the very presence of Almighty God. He knew the ways and thought patterns of Man when Adam was created. He witnessed the Act of our Creation!
To know the Truth, you MUST rely ONLY on the Word of God. Without that, you are nothing but a ship without a rudder on an angry sea.
Peter walked upon the waters with Jesus…until he doubted. Never doubt the Word of God, sister. He never lied. He is merciful and forgiving to those who believe His Word.
To love this world is to be at enmity with God. We have to let it ALL go.
Well, you really have proved that men are from Mars, ol’ thing. My point is that the truth is not discernible in any of the news coming from the power structures and their mouth-pieces who are also rife on the internet. At the risk of speculating about their motives and their level of intelligence, I made a sweeping generalization. The first two hours of my day are spent in the word of God. Would I do that every day if I doubted? This is what has taught me not to trust what I’m being told — most places. Daisy here has a good amount of discernment and so I keep coming back for good information and thoughtful analysis.
Discernment. Love the truth when you find it. Hate falsehood when you hear it. Discern the difference!
Black Friday could be very interesting this year!!!
Reminder: next (or continued) lockdown may occur during WINTER. Please consider how your family eats, clothes, medicates/supplements, uses appliances & the home during fall and winter and look to fill in these gaps.
I’ve been prepping for 12yrs, and saw this comming late January .Before the lock down I had not bought any toilet paper and had about a month supply.. had never counted on a large supply it as it takes up to much space , instead I had a 2 yr supply of baby wipes .The there were only a few things I regret not thinking of having . One was comfort food, no pudding, cake mixes, or treats. We do have plenty of baking flour . We did have dehydrated butter, sour cream, some veggies and Eggs . We never ran out of anything, just wished I had more long term storable food . We live in a rural area of Arizona and have a 1/2 acre . I had wanted to get a chicken coop for a few years ,but really did not have the funds for it. … just ordered last week with the stimulous check . We have already restocked what was used and added another few months worth of meat and canned goods. We have always kept about 6 mo worth of pet food set aside, I would like to add more .
As for a second wave of shut downs , I think that this was just a test run . There will be more and probably more restrictive.
“As for a second wave of shut downs , I think that this was just a test run . There will be more and probably more restrictive.”
i’m a man of modest means, but I’d bet my life on that statement! In point of fact, I already have.
The worst is yet to come, but come it must and come it will. Our Government has already turned on us.
There’s no going back from here.
May God bless His children!
May I ask you a quick question? I too have a can of dehydrated eggs and another of butter. Once they’re opened, do you know the shelf life? Any recommendations for storage? I’m fortunate to be able to live in an area where dairy farms are delivering but if I lose this option I’m unsure how to use my stored items. I’m anticipating a 2nd wave, and unsure if this 1st wave is truly going to “let go” first so I’m trying to plan. Thank you for any information.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but this really was a very-very good article , thanks !
Indeed. It is a mile marker on the path to oblivion. A small truth on the way down the drain to a much larger cataclysm.
I’m personally excited to be witness to how this ends! Praise Jesus!
Before February of this year, I had always assumed that our food storage would be used for economic purposes such as a job loss or our adapting to living on retirement money. Little did I know, I was actually preparing for a pandemic.
I only needed to stock up on chocolate for this round of lockdown and we are out so that will need to be replenished. I would like to pick up a couple bottles of hand sanitizer and a refill bottle of liquid soap. If I can’t find those, we will be OK for another couple of months. There are only 3 of us so it doesn’t go down as fast as people with large families.
I did get a large pack of toilet paper at Sam’s club when things started to sell out. However, we were out and needed it on normal basis. While we aren’t quite to that point now, I want to pick up a pack to prepare for the second wave. Although I think by now, most people have figured out that this is not a pack of toilet paper and case of bottled water emergency.
We weren’t as happy with the variety of meals in our food storage, so I want to start finding and trying new recipes.
I’ve been home since March 7th and unless it’s urgent, I won’t be leaving until the virus numbers are in the single digits for about 2 weeks. I am in a very high risk group and don’t want to get this virus until there is a reliable treatment.
This prep might fall under a different category (as opposed to food, water toiletries, toilet paper…) but I wish I had gotten an eye exam and new glasses. I am long overdue and kept telling myself “I’ll go soon.” My vision hasn’t changed terribly but it’s one area of my health and well being I have to stay on top of better.
And thank you for another great article Daisy!
Here in the south of Italy…lockdown has been a carnival ride. The north was hardest hit..us less so.I had read where someone was impressed upon by the Lord that another heavier wave was to hit around fall timeline. So your article was interesting when you mentioned October…because this woman said same months. Anyhoo…around Christmas I had bought 96 rolls of TP….amazon brand…glad I did. So I might repeat just to be sure that I will have a years worth. TP can be used in place of kleenex…napkins…
Another thing ….I HIGHLY suggest….flour and yeast. Italians on lockdown went back to the old days…baked baked and baked…so flour sugar and yeast was worth their weight in gold. Bread…focaccia…cakes…and pasta…
Learn how to make lievito madre…mother yeast …perfect your technique now while things are subtle…because when the hammer comes down again …welllllll…. not a good time to learn something new.
Things were starting to get real bad here…people not having anymore money..therefore no groceries…the govt gave out one time only food vouchers for groceries. Wasnt alot but helped take that edge off. We got about 180 euros..for my son and I it got us by…eating light. Even soup kitchens were running into problems.. too many people. Food banks got overwhelmed as well.
Price goughing for masks…up to 20 euro for those simple masks…sanitizers and bleach were just a vague memory. Gloves as well.
I have been reading a bit on a serious shortage of food starting…globally. Add in a virus/lockdown…not good. Do some canning…bake extra bread and freeze, spices, extra meds, medicinal herbs, milk….we have UHT milk and I have seen it in the states back in the day. Its standard milk that needs no refrigeration til opened…see if you can find..great to have on hand. Each cntry will have different problems..I can only speak from an Italian experience. Lets just consider this a blessing…a trial run of checks and balances so if it happens again…you’ll be humming a happy tune because you got all your bases covered. I have no way to defend myself…no guns allowed here…so I’ll be sleeping with a meat cleaver under my pillow…????????????
Stay safe y’all…blessings… arm yourselves well…a bible and a weapon of choice. ????
Thank you for sharing this update from Italy! Stay well!
Well, what did we lack? Well, the usual perishables—milk, eggs, cheese, fresh fruits. That’s about it. Only a couple of times did we actually run out of one of these.
We’re not preppers, not really. But whenever we opened a package of a non-perishable, we made sure there was at least one in the pantry waiting to be opened. We ended up having a couple of months worth of non-perishables, at least, and we have much left even after this “lockdown”.
What if the SHTF lasts a year or more, like what Selco went through, whose preps will last that long? What then? Do you have a skill or product that you can barter for what you need? Perhaps Selco can give us an idea about what products or services were enough in demand that people were willing to barter for them. It’s hard to believe that all you had were consumers among the survivors.
https://www.swansonvitamins.com/minerals-zinc
we’ve ordered vitimins & minerals from swanson for 4 years.
zinc has 68 items listed..
we appreciate them for being able to find what we want.
at a reasonable price..
delivered to our PO box PDQ.
anne
one thing i hear a lot is not being able to get a hair cut..
i’ve cut my own on & off for years using a plastic thingie i found at a woolworths.. (remember those?)
anyway, my husband orderdered two of the body toolz which are sturdier & with a longer handle.
it uses a double sided razor blade that you can still find at many places.
now he’s cutting his own also.
https://www.bodytoolz.com/Double-Sided-Hair-Styling-Razor.aspx
The one thing I wish I hadn’t put off when this hit was to zero my Black Rifles. Still need to go to the range once they are open again to do that.
As for food/meat, picked up 20 pounds of chicken quarters and 5 pounds of bacon this week. Still have lots of canned goods, soaps, TP, pet food, gas, powdered eggs, Bisquick, Jiffy corn bread mixes. Will need to resupply the few meds the DW and I take. Might even have of bottle of adult beverage of two stashed someplace, who knows?
Stay safe all and God Bless.
ive been a prepper for years and i didnt see this coming!! i mean food fuel tools bullets guns and having to listen to the know it alls laugh and tell me how crazy i am!! well they arnt laughing now.what am i doing different? more specific vitamins…..D3 VC and zinc and lots of it.the wife knowes how to sew and she has been making masks for co workers.we are also preparing to garden again.i also believe sheltering inside for a person not sick lowers their ammune system and opens them up to catching every bug going around when they step outdoors. i stopped wearing a mask unless required by a business.good luck everyone!!!
I’m in my 70’s and last year (2019) I decided to have cataract surgery. After this you need a whole new prescription for glasses. I plan to get a second pair in a couple of weeks after my annual exam. I also decided to have all my teeth pulled and now have dentures. This is NOT FUN, but I was looking at some significant dentist charges that I just couldn’t afford, and probably more problems in future years. Now I have no need of dentists. Total cost for dental, including dentures – about $5500. Toothaches and possible needed extractions will likely be even more painful in an SHTF. (Think Doc Holliday!) I had bought a small set of emergency dental tools which can be used by local dentists in my development (several) if it is ever not possible to go to their office. I won’t need them now, but they are available if others are in need. The dentists I know do NOT have tools at home, and we live outside the city limits in a quasi-rural area. Anyone else remember those old belt-driven drills?
Good article.
I am having a great deal of trouble stocking up on comfort food like chocolate and anything sweet. I think a pantry lockbox might be necessary to maintain control.
I hide that stuff. Of course, I really need someone to hide it from me 🙂
Any thoughts on how to store chocolate? That seems to be the most temperamental thing to store. Old sweets are yucky!
I keep my chocolate in the freezer. I get the huge bars of dark chocolate and take one out to dole out a square at a time for a little treat. 🙂
Do you break up the squares ahead of time so the bar doesn’t shatter because it’s frozen?
This might just work with chocolate chips — those special dark chocolate ones.
I pull the bar out and let it thaw in the fridge – then it breaks apart like normal. 🙂
Okiedokie then! I’ll give that a try. 🙂
Spices and more spices. Didnt realize how little I had. Also allergy meds, and gourmet comfort food. The little splurge to make things comfortable. Beans, rice and gourmet raw honey.
Actually we’re still stocked abundantly. Just one item I will be getting more of as I’m able. Sinus pain medication. Not terribly expensive and just a generic over the counter life saver if you need it. The two boxes weren’t enough. I used three with an infection that got out of hand. Now I’m on the second full week of antibiotics trying to kick it.
Some antibiotics would be good.
you can get them at your co-op for animals they are the same as used for humans and you dont need a script!!!
Will we get another round of stimulus payments? If Demoncraps want your business or your livelihood to shut down they OWE you.
Not that I want another stimulus payment but we gotta eat and you haven’t forgiven debts (practice Jubilee years) so the debtors haven’t forgiven us.
This seems relevant to today’s topic:
11 Tips on avoiding prepper burnout, April 30, 2020
https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-04-30-11-tips-on-keeping-prepper-burnout-away.html
And then a little humor sometimes goes a long way, such as this tidbit found on FreeRepublic.com:
Jordan Rachel: Having a 10 person limit for gatherings is not fair… that means Joe Biden can have his rallies but @realDonaldTrump can’t
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3840931/posts
–Lewis
I believe there will be a second lockdown not long after this one is over. I hope we will have time to replenish our supplies but the stores have not restocked the items we are close to running out of. About 4 years ago we started stocking our pantry so we would be able to weather any bad times that might come, so we would be able to go several more months if needed. We are older and in the at risk group so we will continue to follow the guidelines and go out only as needed for supplies.
Of course this will be back in the fall… can’t let a crisis go to waste, when it can be used to keep Trump from being re-elected, right? Anything to discredit the election again, or cheat by demanding all mail-in ballots.
Really don’t believe another wave in fall. This virus will burn out slow or fast, but it will burn out.
Really was prepared for lockdown, could have used another container of wipes, discovered some under sink didn’t know we had which was helpful. Still can’t find any in store. Keep well so should stock when available. Good to have lots of canned goods, and some frozen meat and vegetables. Was able to have variety of meals without any panic buying. Had masks for nuclear fallout, but glad had stocked up years ago. My wife made some too that numerous people are still using and may use more when out and about. Best thing I found was to keep up with the routine stuff before hand– car oil changes, inspections, toiletries, canned goods. Had time to mow grass, etc did not have to go hunting for needed items, had enough of everything to be secure and safe. Tried to go several days without any shopping. Waste of time looking for some things so very good to have lots of necessities.
Had pretty bad storm with a tree down. It was good to have working chainsaws with spare chains etc
Again keeping stocked in good times to be ready for bad. Stocking Ritz crackers in freezer. Crackers plus some kind of soap makes a good meal, quick and easy. Lemonade mix also handy. Easy to store and gives lots of variety to meals. Found frozen berries good, smoothies, desert toppings snacks, also healthy variety that keep well.
“Crackers plus some kind of soap makes a good meal…” Had me stumped for a few seconds. Sure it was a typo and you meant soup. Happens a lot to me, between auto-correct and dyslexic fingers.
Excuse me, but has anyone studied whether colloidal silver used as a propylactic medicine is effective countermedicine for corona virus?
Yes Ronald…I believe I had the virus in mid December (about a 7 on a scale of 10), and since I’ve been solely holistic for 42 years now, I immediately starting using colloidal silver thru a nebulizer (inhaled) (bought on Amazon), and heavy dosing of vitamin D3, and C. I was back to normal in 3 days (even though I’m a cigarette smoker)!! The secret to getting/using silver is to be sure you get a TRUE colloidal silver…not ionic silver which nearly all home generators produce, and most in the market sell in disguise of being true colloidal silver (because the advertising laws don’t require them to prove they’re true colloidal silver). I have been getting mine from purestcolloids.com/mesosilver for decades!! They are by far the best, and also the least cost for the quality you’re getting compared to others out there! The website has comparison charts vs others that were performed by an independent lab for you to compare, and the website is loaded with specific and detailed info about silver products in general. Check them out…hope this helps you and others interested in using (true) colloidal silver!!
While I had been watching the emerging virus since January, my specific situation was difficult as I was transitioning from being a “nomad/world traveler” back to living in one place again in the US. So I bought my home and moved to it in March. I was somewhat behind in prepping due to this but I had already been stocking up on what i considered “essentials” and am an experienced prepper.
I wish I had snapped up the awesome deal on a freezer when I saw one but as the house closing hadn’t happened yet and I was unsure where it would fit I didn’t. Now I’m on a long long list for a freezer. Likewise, I was waiting to purchase a gun and ammo until after the home sale as it would have been difficult to have a gun and be traveling as I was. The hordes have hit the gun shops here and bought out all of the affordable stuff as well as ammo. I’ve got pepper spray! I’m hoping some will need to sell their barely used guns back to the shops and may decide to do so given the lack of any civil unrest. I will try to pick up a gun and ammo if this happens.
Otherwise I’d say I did pretty good given my situation. I will use this time of hopefully relative quiet to earn some money, work on my garden, can/dry/root cellar given lack of freezer space, stack my firewood and get ready for the next round.
shop on Armslist.com looking at your state and location within your state. You may be able to find what you need there in both a firearm and in ammo.
Ani – I was in much the same situation after selling my furniture and most of my clothing and heading to Europe for the past while. I stayed with my daughter, who wasn’t working due to the virus, and was able to look after the bills for her. I managed to put together a pretty respectable stockpile over the last half of February and the first half of March before things went sideways.
I think you did great! Hopefully, you’ll be able to get that freezer during the lull. 🙂
@ Daisy L
And interesting that we both got ourselves back here in time! Being a nomad right now wouldn’t be a lot of fun!
No, it sure wouldn’t! But I do look forward to the next adventure 🙂
Henry Kissinger said that with the right crisis we will be able to usher in the New World Order. People, we are in the fight for our lives. This “Chinese Virus” very possibly has a
“Made In America” sticker on it. We have been involved in bioweapons for decades.
Remember, a false flag is an attack on a country that you pin the blame on someone else. China has denied from the outset that the virus started in their country. Many brave doctors and nurses have come out and said that the lockdowns were not necessary. They’re easy to find on the internet. Is Covid – 19 a false flag designed to usher in the New World Order?
Please remember that those that did not prepare for this situation will NOT prepare for the next wave of this COVID19 situation. They will like most college kids party with Uncle Sugars money during the almost normal times and when misfortune occurs blame YOU for their not having enough.
Ants are ant’s they prepare, Grasshoppers don’t. BUT Grasshoppers VOTE and Yell a LOT.
Politicians and Governments only job is staying in power. They WILL use Ant’s preparedness as a distraction for THEIR Failures to provide and protect the people. And thus they will Appease their noisy voters by “Attempting to be FAIR” about “Hoarders” and make them “Share”.
A plan to hide most of your preps is better in my opinion than dying in a pile of hot brass as some proclaim. Better for your family to be alive and OUT of Prison with your hidden preps than…
Revenge is God’s job. My families survival is mine. Once the Mobs destroy the faithless Politicians then the survivors can restore the Republic if we have anything to restore.
Hi Michael – I wholeheartedly agree with most of your comment. 🙂 But I’ve been very encouraged by the new folks who are starting to prep – this is the biggest group of preparedness newbies I’ve ever seen in my nearly-10 years in this business. There will definitely be some folks who continue to be grasshoppers but this was a wake-up call for a lot of Americans and that is one good thing which has come out of this. When we look back, we all have a moment that inspired us to prepare. For many people, this is the moment.
Best wishes!
Daisy,
Just a heads up…was watching a youtube video that seems to have plagiarized this article.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K3YTKQSs-s
God bless.
Thank you for letting me know. I’ve filed a copyright infringement claim with YouTube. You wouldn’t believe how often “content creators” are just thieves.
There is a sickness going around and it doesn’t have anything to do with a coronavirus. It’s a sickness of the mind. It’s the people actually helping the government destroy themselves. Can you imagine being so sick in the head that you would actually help the government financially destroy you by shutting your own business and putting yourself on house arrest? Can you imagine being so sick in the head that you would be afraid to leave your house without a mask and gloves on and be afraid to come within six feet of someone else? My God man, this is the same government and media that has lied to you over and over again throughout your entire life. What will it take for people to wake up and realize that if you don’t take a stand against these psychopaths now then there will be nothing left to save. How long will you stand there and watch them destroy this country in the name of “keeping us safe”? Will you submit to their digital immunity certificates and their vaccine that they will tell you that you need to have when they try this again in the fall? Papers please? Sound familiar? Tyranny and the police state is staring you right in the face. Where is your line in the sand?
At our house, we need to re-stock things like work gloves, empty spray bottles (for DIY concoctions), belts for the riding lawnmower, epsom salt for the garden, etc.
Our food & household supplies are okay. We continue to order a little curbside grocery pick up & some things on Amazon. We are in rural TX & there are still limits at the small grocery chain store as well as unavailable items (example – no TP). We’ve heard from city dweller friends that they are able to buy items, such as TP again. We order what we can as we believe it would be a mistake to let our supplies dwindle down too far.
Another comment mentioned how timely your articles are, Daisy. I have felt that way for years as well. Thank you.
We made the call on 4FEB. Stocked up, more so than usual, on dry and non-perishables.
Other than I am totally rocking big 80s hair (Daisy has seen it), for the most part, it has not really impacted us . . . yet.
Now, next years wood (we heat with wood) and hay for the livestock over the winter, that is something of a worry for me.
The loss of social-distancing from the neighbors is something of a downer.
As this drags on, I am expecting more to pop up and will have to adjust accordingly.
Semper Gumby!
Daisy,
We did well with water, food, gas & propane, topping off when things started to look dicey in early March. When Texas shut down schools spring break, having both college sons home put real pressure on perishables like milk, eggs, peanut butter, bread & snacks. Kids got water fatigue, but then made sweet tea daily for with all kinds of flavor from fresh oranges, lemons, limes. Got caught without yeast, fresh garden seeds and hand sanitizer. Needed way more canned soup, eggs, box baked goodies. Had plenty of canning jars so I water canned lots of jam for P&J sandwiches. Husband got a deep freeze last summer & we stocked up on meat at the butcher. They didn’t have deer so we bought exotic wild game to fill it, which turned out pretty good. We have a 500 gallon elevated, gravity water tank fed from our well so no issues with water. Our generator can run the pump, but it sure is loud! Ditto for gravity gas tank. Family worked on a 1,000 piece puzzle, topped off groceries every week or two. The garden center had a steady stream of customers seeking a little piece of normal. Kids swam in the pool, I planted herbs and we thank God our business has stayed afloat. Thanks for another great article.
Gosh. We’re not out of lockdown now really. AZ has till May15 although some restrictions have loosened but not all businesses are open now. Stocking up on something’s is still difficult because of less on grocery shelves than before our first lockdown
Doing pretty well all in all.
The biggest assault is to our freedom and constitutional rights. Another lockdown will not be warranted in the case of this virus. It likely was not warranted in the first place but we didn’t know until we knew so okay, better safe than sorry. We must prepare but we must also become aware of the ways in which government (especially local) officials are usurping power and we must stand up and say “NO!”.
In the meantime, we will all suffer the consequences of this shutdown for quite some time so yes, continue to be prepared for any eventuality to include power outages and reduced access to water.
DO NOT agree to another “lockdown” for this virus. Life includes risk, we cannot hide under our beds and expect to survive – it will not happen. Six of one, half dozen of the other – our odds for survival improve when we are able to provide for ourselves and family and that requires freedom of movement.
It’s been a pretty good test run of supplies, except that I’ve still been going to the grocery store for fresh stuff every couple of weeks and kind of trying not to use my long term storage if I can find what I want in the store still.
For me, the thing it seems I need to prepare more of is the creature comforts. I think because we can’t go anywhere, but life is largely unaffected otherwise, I find I’m into the treat food, in particular, more often. It’s kind of funny because I can usually leave that stuff alone…typically I end up pulling out the girl scout cookies the next year when I start to see them being sold again because we haven’t eaten them yet (I keep them in the basement with the food storage, so out of sight out of mind). So we don’t usually go through a lot of snack/treat stuff and I don’t typically buy a ton. It’s been different lately and I’m realizing we (or maybe just me since the BF never explores the food storage) are more reliant on comfort items right now than I expected. I suspect it’s partly because it’s one of the few ways we can treat ourselves right now…we can order out but so much of what we might usually do for fun is out.
For those of us that live on the coast, hurricane season starts in June. Need to consider power outages, water, fuel, window protection, etc. Let’s hope it’s a quiet season.
Love you large, Daisy but (don’t you hate the butts?) the fact of the matter is, one can never prep enough. Not possible. I call it my “earthquake kit” and it can suffice for up to 6 mos but after that, nada.
The most important prep you can do is to get your spiritual house in order and get right with God in Christ. That is it. The entire Christian eschatology is pointed to where we are, here and now. No need to fear – we know how the book ends. We win.
Prepping will allow for being a blessing for people in need, as well as taking care of family in the beginning of some harsher times. I am thankful we will not be here for the worst of it – that is a promise. Amen!
“The virus will still be out there when the lockdown is over and people will still get sick from it.” ??
It’s all planned out. Of course it’s coming back. We’re going to have to force government to remember where our rights come from. If we’re not willing to do what it takes, our freedoms will be gone.
We went for 45 days before running out to get milk and a few odds and ends. We could have gone another couple of months but we wanted to top off before the summer cottages start filling up with city visitors. I really can’t complain about anything, life here is like one long weekend and we’ve been busy. Miss my kids and grandchildren but this too shall pass.
I’ve been a prepper for many years so we were prepared for a long stay but it’s not just about the food. I have backups for all of the routine products we use. We heat with wood most of the time. We didn’t spend on a ton of vacations and fancy clothes, we have an antenna instead of a Dish, we always paid extra on all of our debts and emergency fund. Worked well for us – we sleep at night!
I know now the few things I could have stocked more of but it’s mostly because I’ve given people some stuff like yeast and flour that they didn’t have. I’ve always harped on my kids to pay extra on debt and save for emergencies, and they’ve done alright for themselves. It has been one thing they’ve listened to and taken to heart. The prepping stuff hasn’t really sunk in until now with some. Some were ready. Win some, you lose some. They are all wonderful caring people though, I couldn’t have asked for more.
I hope people start to realize that they have to work to take care of themselves. I have a coworker who lives from paycheck to paycheck but spends like a drunken sailor. Always whine whine whine about how poor they are and then turns around to show us the latest subscription item she got from Stitch Fix, or Bark Box, or some healthy treat box, and her husband brings her an almost daily lunch from local restaurants. I’m talking $15 lunches. I wonder how she is doing through this but I’m not calling or they’ll invite themselves over! My guess is that they will be ready for their next bankruptcy after this is done.
Let’s hope this Covid-19 gets wiped out in the heat of the summer. Good Luck to all.
I was pleasantly surprised to find I had tucked away a lot of toilet paper in various cupboards and under a couple sinks over the years. TP was no problem during this lockdown but paper towels were. I had stocked away three packets of eight paper towels in a pack. That went fast during a lockdown. Fortunately the grocery store always had packets of paper napkins for a reasonable price and Kleenex which I used for household cleaning, lining the bird cages, etc until I figured out the distribution system of paper products in my area. I know what days of the week and what time I have to get to several stores (grocery and pharmacy) to get house brand towels at a reasonable price.
I’ve been prepping for months. Still have a tiny amt of TP left in the case I ordered last year. Ordered more off Amazon, twice it went to someone else. Hopefully the next shipment will make it to me. Need more canned veggies, got some meat when it was on special but it won’t last long with my big family. Need to get more but no freezer space right now. I can’t even imagine this continuing but I know it will. I worry about getting covid, my roommate had it. I worry about my granddaughter and other family members too. All I can do is keep buying food and tp by the case and pray I don’t run out as I take care of my family.
Coronapanic is far more threatening than coronavirus. COVID-19 is a common cold and seems less serious than most. It does have SARS characteristics threatening one’s oxygen use, so it is important to keep up zinc, selenium, and vitamins C and D.
Masks lower oxygen intake and rebreathe CO2, which killed two Chinese boys the first week of May 2020. Masks also concentrate any virus you have–COVID, flu or whatever, and send it to the brain, which increases your risk of death. They are how the monsters-that-be expect to raise the death rate so as to make COVID scarier and keep up the lockdown until Bill Gates and Fraudy Fauci can make tens of billions of dollars on a vaccine.
Both masks and (anti-)social distancing are unnatural and frightening in themselves. We did not evolve that way, or if you prefer, G-d did not make us that way. WHATEVER made us deserves more respect than it is getting these days.
We did really well so far. Didn’t know if I could give a comment using a brand name so here goes. Please delete if you need to. We are really into vitamins and have been for yrs. We have been using ProfessionalBotanicals and love them. Also, Balance of Nature. Also, please remind people to check the dates etc. on Fire extenquishers When you need them you can’t have an empty one handy they need to be usable. When we are on lockdown things still happen. Thank you for all you do to help us in so many ways.
The “powers that be” can only suppress the value of hydroxychloroquine accompanied by azythromycin for so long. I don’t thin there will be another Covid wave, I think those that can will continue to milk this for as long as possible but the public will eventually get on board with a total reopen.
There are a surprising number of compliant this chaps out there – it is disconcerting how readily many citizens have jumped on the “lockdown – slow the curve – find the cure” bandwagon. They will eventually be ignored and brushed aside.
The problems that were in the works prior to the “pandemic” and which have been exacerbated will be what remains and what we must contend with and overcome. Food shortages will likely escalate before they begin to ease and hopefully food supplies will return to normal. Perhaps many will continue to grow food when/where they can thus “flattening” the food shortage curve.
The election will determine the road we on which we continue. Either we will have seen enough and absorbed the truth sufficiently to re-elect our President who recognized the folly of extreme globalism and will guide us efficiently to a sustainable economy, one that improves the standard of living for all and reignites the “American Dream” as a goal and an attainable standard OR the slackers and fear mongers will push us further onto the slippery slope we’ve been skating on which embraces dependence, loss of personal freedoms and ends in self destruction.
As one of my friends told me, when the shut down became inevitable in early March, “don’t be afraid, you’ve been preparing for this your entire life.”
I’ve been a gardener and home food preserver for all of my adult life as a response to my desire for high quality food despite my relatively low income, especially in my youth. As I once lived off the grid, with limited resources for such essentials as gas for the car for shopping trips, I tend to keep about 6 months of supplies on hand. I did feel silly and crazy when stocking up even more at the grocery store until I realized how much safer I feel when I open my pantry.
I’ve always shopped garage sales and grabbed cheap canners and garden tools to give to friends. Snagged a $10 vacuum sealer with jar sealer a few weeks ago. Jar sealers have been out of stock for weeks, or super expensive. Giving my old vacuum sealer unit to a friend who managed to score a jar sealer ahead of this mess. I’m keeping myself supplied and helping others as I can.
I’m saving more seeds than ever this year to grow and share. I’m also saving seeds for sprouting…extra radish and broccoli from the garden as those plants are so prolific.
I’ve tried to look ahead to other supply chain disruptions. Got new tires for the car. Bicycle is tuned up. Set up rain barrels. Built raised beds with upright framing for becoming winter cold frames (and grabbed a big roll of greenhouse plastic when the garden center still had some.) Some of this has been the creation of home infrastructure as I relocated last year to a slightly more conservative and rural area. (So far, we only have very small peaceful protests and a little BLM graffiti.) I found a newer, affordable house in a neighborhood (with fast internet for my home based business) on .33 acres. Not a huge place, but I’ve got fruit trees and berries in. Next will come bees and mushrooms.
I’ve burned through a lot of savings to set all this up, but I feel satisfied so far. My boyfriend of just less than two years moved in with me. This has been a huge test for us. He’s amazing. He’s the builder. And the reassurer when I start doubting all my preps.
I can’t tell if the virus is as dangerous as it is portrayed but I am happy to wear a mask, keep my distance and coat myself with hand sanitizer. I have asthma although I am otherwise healthy. I once had pneumonia. I lost four months of my life and racked up medical debt that took years to pay off. I don’t want to repeat that! I’ve been reading up on herbal medicine including fire cider, watching free videos and considering taking a paid herbalism course.
In general, I don’t expect a lot of help from others, including “authorities.” I try to take personal responsibility, live well and help others. I believe no one is coming to my rescue so I better do what I can so I have a better ride through this life.
Include some proper defensive weapons and a stock of ammunition for each weapon… and, make certain they are maintained and work and everyone in the house knows how to use them.
When the SHTF, weapons and ammunition will not be available to buy, except on the black market, and those available will be very, very expensive.
excellently researched and written. I just moved to manassas va from idaho. life is SO different here. we moved during covid. went from owning to renting. way way too many changes. we ran out of cream of wheat, but we won’t run out again for a long, long time. lol Nido whole powdered milk tastes really good. Idaho dried mashed spuds are good. don’t forget dog food and water and a water filter. charcoal for cooking and activated charcoal for healing. and can be used in masks for cleaning the air.
Daisy you are a gift from God, Just sayin
lol…Gotta love the lockdowns. My life went on as always, and loved the ’empty-everything’, everywhere. No one at the airport, empty planes, No more traffic, NO COPS! They were all guarding the beaches to keep people awny from spreading the virus by walking!
Hey – that’s what the stupid and gullible people believe, anyway!
~ Occams
Vitamin C, Vitamin D (and/or D3) Zinc, magnesium are necessary for good health. There are more so do some research in this area.
What a disappointing article. Basically buys into the Covid BS 100% and then recommends we do what we did in March. Nearly everything on that list was useless – after 5 pages of more Covid hysteria such as implying “many think the lockdowns are preventing the second wave”.
we have been totally prepared for any eventuality since 1999. except for a temporary shortage of M&M’s covid didnt affect us at all.
Way too many ads.
As always, an outstanding article. I also appreciate you providing links to related back articles as reminders. In So Cal we are still in semi-shutdown. We ‘opened’ for 2 weeks in late Spring & went right back into another shutdown as our numbers surged. The first couple of months showed me my weak areas, as did the empty shelves and I have been working on them the last few months.
It is also informative reading through the comments for others’ real-life experiences. That you for your work – I have learned so much!
One day the “next” lockdown will be different.
Everyone will comply because they have been trained to.
Everyone knows what to expect from the lockdown as they’ve been conditioned.
….but this one will be different. Prior to it there will be a lot of calls for mandatory vaccination by politicians, businesses, etc but your government (no matter where you are on Earth) will say:
“No, mandatory vaccinations aren’t called for yet. Maybe if things get worse, but certainly not now.”
Once it starts, the ‘next’ lockdown will have a new *feature* for public safety. Checkpoints on all major roads will prevent travel outside of your district. It will be the military and police enforcing them. You will not be allowed to leave your district.
This ‘next’ type of lockdown will happen between July and September of this year (depending on where you live) and it will happen after the vaccination is made mandatory for your military.
You’ll know it is the ‘next’ lockdown when the power goes out during it. I’ll repeat that. YOU WILL KNOW IT IS THE ‘NEXT” LOCKDOWN WHEN THE POWER GOES OUT.
When the power goes out they will go block by block (and at all the checkpoints as you try to pass). You will be given the option of taking the vaccine or boarding the bus. They will lockdown block by block with the military and enforce the ‘now mandatory’ vaccination program.
Once your district has been fully vaccinated (or you are in an isolation camp for your safety) the power will be restored and the next phase of your death will begin.
The good news is that this will take an incredibly long time to administer. That’s why the power goes out. They can’t force vaccinate even a small percentage of the population. They can’t have people in district 12 warning those in district 9. You won’t hear that the ‘mandatory vaccination’ has gone live until the guys with guns show up at your door.
So you have until July to prepare your escape. You’ll either have to escape by vehicle prior to the military checkpoints or hope you can outrun (literally) the forced vaccination program when it starts. The shot is a kill-shot. The isolation camps are rendering facilities where you end up cremated in these new mobile crematoriums that look a lot like old school steam trains (that’s the first impression you will get if they are visible from your penstock).
Once the checkpoints are up vehicles are a right-off for most people. They will be at the sideroads.
During the blackout, once your city is surrounded, there will be no escape. They will be on the sideroads. They will be checking the sewer system. They will also being using a large truck mounted antenna to detect hidden people. You will not be able to hide.
Pray. Plan accordingly and NEVER lose hope, cache food/seeds to outlast the purge and remember:
If I was on a train destined to Auschwitz I’d REALLY appreciate it if someone DERAILED the train. I’d rather die on that train (and know the next one wasn’t delivering my friends) than die in the camp.
When something works really good you do it over and over. That is why they said you have to wear a mask permanently and why they keep saying this virus is evolving giving them the excuse to, yes, keep you in permanent lockdown by the Satanist ruling America and the world because as (creatures of God) you are NO DAMN good to them.