General home preparedness assets

[AndrewLewis]

I've been thinking about assets to buy that both hold some value and can be used if needed.

I suspect you have some experience in this, and it may be a good SS podcast topic.

Here's the list I've got so far.
-Chest freezer
-Generator
-Water collection/filtration/purification
-Canning equipment
-Guns
-Ammo
-Machining equipment
-First aid/AED
-Firewood
-Back up wood-burning stove and furnace

I'm not interested in hoarding, but rather, buying items that have both utility and can be sold.
Any other items you'd add?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Propane stand-by generator
The biggest propane tank you can afford to keep topped off
Air compressor
A selection of antibiotics
The best chainsaw you can afford, Stihl or Husqvarna, extra chains
Axes
Kerosene lamps and several gallons of supply
At least two wheelbarrows with solid rubber tires

[Laramie Hartmann]

Where does one obtain a selection of antibiotics?

[AndrewLewis]

Great additions. Thanks.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Where does one obtain a selection of antibiotics?

One cheats. One uses the "Canadian Pharmacies."

[Soule]

Cocaine. Lots of cocaine.

[Matt Jackson]

Great idea for a thread.

Water filters - you can mess up and spend a lot of money here. The Berkey-style filters might look nice in your kitchen and do a good enough job of filtering the city water, but if you had to rely on one, you need something with more grunt.

I recommend the Sawyer SP181 Point Zero Two. It does 170 gallons/day @ 0.02 Micron and will last almost indefinitely if you backwash it regularly and prefilter your collected water if its really dirty. I bought two food grade HDPE barrels (instead of buckets) to go with it, and replaced the included hose with food grade silicone tubing from Ebay. Kind of expensive, but really good - and still portable if necessary. I bought two and I've never used them in anger, apart from in testing, and I hope I never need to. I wouldn't skimp on this part of the puzzle.

Sawyer Take 2: Point Zero Two - YouTube

I would also get several Sawyer MINI filters (backpacking style filters. You can get multi-packs. They work great and are cheap. I trust them enough to use them with some very suspicious water in the highlands.

Plenty of hand-portable water containers (20L max), along with whatever massive container you're using for water collection.

One other game-changing, water related thing I would strongly recommend is a Kelly Kettle.

Kelly Kettle (R) - Boil Water, Purify Water and Stay Alive with Natural Fuel - YouTube

I would go with the largest "Base Camp" (56 fl. oz) model they do, in stainless steel not aluminium. I am constantly amazed by how well these things work. It's basically a double walled chimney with the water contained in the stainless steel jacket. You can feed this thing with tiny twigs, pine needles or cones, or pretty much any other flammable debris you may find - and within minutes you will have a rolling boil, even in the pissing rain and howling rain. I've got three - the Base Camp, a medium sized and a wee baby one. When storing the thing, you can fill the void with dry kindling and fuel, and a thing of Vaseline, cotton-wool and some rubber inner-tube scraps and you're good to go in a moment's notice. Don't waste your money on the cook-set accessories for it.

On that note, several inner-tubes which have been pre-cut into small slivers, some cotton-wool, Petroleum Jelly and a tray of Bic lighters is a small package to store away somewhere and forget about.

I would really urge people to think about the tedious reality of trying to reliably heat water in an emergency situation without access to a source of good, dry fuel. A good wood burning stove eats a lot of fuel and if you only need to heat water - you need to think about this.

Cooking

A good quality, stainless steel pressure cooker with a screw-down type lid. Any will do. Make sure it's big enough. If it's a solid one which can handle higher pressures, you can even pressure fry in it. You can cook pretty much anything in one, save time and most importantly fuel. They laugh in the face of rock-hard beans and pulses which have been stored improperly and would normally require soaking. Get a spare gasket while you're at it.

A thermal cooker. Thermal Cooking with Thermos Shuttle Chef: Lamb Shanks - YouTube

Old timers may have put their Dutch oven in a haybox or wrapped it with blankets - but now you can get a fully insulated unit which comes with its own stainless pot and can cook soups, stews and grains, given enough time, with the absolute minimum fuel. They're pretty popular with the Asian market. They use them in their apartments to save having a stove running during the summer temperatures. The Thermos brand "Shuttle Chef" ones are the best and most expensive. The bigger ones are good for soups, etc. and small ones work for rice/grains. Got mine on Ebay. Likewise, several large insulated flasks are worth having.

A rocket stove. You can buy one or just make one out of bricks. Worth looking at. Eats wood like its nothing, though.

A multi-fuel stove. Probably a bit too expensive if you're not going to be camping and getting regular use out of it. Fantastic things, though. Run it on anything from white gas, gasoline/diesel or even aviation fuel.

A hand-cranked, cast iron coffee grinder (used on Ebay) or a Mexican-made corn grinding mill. Combine that with a 25kg sack of whole wheat berries, or even field corn from the farm supply and you have a lot of options while everyone else frantically empties the shelves at the supermarket.

Copied from elsewhere:
"a pound of rockahominy. This traditional backwoods meal could be—more so even than pemmican—said to be the fuel of exploration and settlement, especially in the Southern Highlands. This is simply parched corn, that is then ground together with some sugar, and stored in a bag or pouch. You can eat it dry, by the spoonful (seriously…DO NOT TRY AND EAT AN ENTIRE HANDFUL! In fact, I HIGHLY suggest you not eat more than one spoonful, the first time you try it, and then on an empty stomach, and wait several hours before you try eating more…trust me on this…or don’t…), or you can mix it with a bit of water and make a porridge out of it. This was the foodstuff of choice of the longhunters who explored Kentucky and Tennessee, in the 1700s. I’ve read accounts in original source literature, that claimed a handful of rockahominy, and a stick of dried venison would keep a man moving, with a load, for a week. I’ve not tested that myself, but this has become my go-to “emergency” ration. I keep a pound of it in the GP pouch on my fighting load, and I keep a pound of it in my ruck now as well. (Seriously, this stuff is amazing. It takes almost like popcorn. I mix some raw cane sugar in with mine when I grind the parched corn, and the stuff tastes like caramel corn.)"

This is such a deep topic, but what you said about not "hoarding" is key. With a relatively small amount of hardware you can go a long way if you adjust your expectations accordingly. You can also get a supply of antibiotics from the aquarium store. No shit. "Fish-mox" is amoxicillin, and is made in the same factory.

[Nockian]

Scrap, high content silver coins.

[Will Still]

Great topic,

Its interesting that I really began thinking about such considerations as I began to get stronger and more useful. Perhaps it was a combination of that factor and the realization that this country is devolving into a giant pile of shit that made me start consider, and begin to stockpile, assets necessary to protect and provide for my family once our institutions break down beyond repair. So far, I have acquired:

a gas generator
a large freezer
a pellet stove (wood stove on the way)
firewood
canning supplies
meat

Perhaps most importantly, I assembled a firearm, which I have become proficient with and continue to gather ammo for. I do need a larger caliber than 5.56 for hunting, but I am in the research stages for that project. Admittedly, I still have a long way to go, however I feel much better and am more prepared for the shitstorm that's coming. Its curious that up here in Comrade Cuomo country, doing such things tags me as a survivalist nut-job by people that I once considered reasonable and thoughtful. I see all of these dependent lemmings ready to go over the cliff because of this indoctrination process that made them believe they can, and should rely on the government and society to provide care, feed and protect them. They are completely oblivious creatures. Thanks for this thread.

Will

[Gerald Boggs]

I'm not a prepper, but I do believe in being prepared for that which can come one's way. If your question is a round about way of asking about how to prepare for the breakdown, temporary or long term, of modern infrastructure: The most important item you can acquire, is self-sufficiency and the skills that make that possible.

Not intending to pick, but rather as an example; You listed canning equipment, but other then lids, there is no shortage of pots, pressure cookers and mason jars. The real value is the ability to can. And on the subject of canning, one of the most valuable items you can stockpile for use and trade is salt, followed by sugar.