72 Hour Kits

Emergency kits for young school age children

• 15 Nov 2011
• ekim
• 0 responses

Like most preppers my family has 72 hour kits for each member of our family. We try to keep the consumable items in them rotated, work to ensure that the spare clothes in them are seasonal and fit, etc. Since my children are too young to be in school right now, I haven’t spent too much time considering how I will handle a “get home”, “bug out” or 72 hour kit for each child once they are spending a significant amount of their day in a state run education center. I also need to consider the restrictive policies in place these days regarding what is “dangerous” per current school policies. This begs the question, as a prepper, how do you handle emergency kits for young school age children when they are away from the home?
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Tags: 72 Hour Kits, BOB, EDC, Evacuation Kits, G.O.O.D. Bags, gear, Links, preparedness

Goal0 Guide 10 Power Kit

• 04 Nov 2011
• Jayce
• 3 responses

Recently I wrote a bit about my new toys, a varied set of Goal0 solar and battery products. One of the key pieces that I bought was their 7m folding solar panels. This well-designed kit provided 7-watts of peak solar power in a tiny kit that could easily strap on to my backpack and provide charging throughout the day for small devices. The kit I bought also included their ‘rockbox’ speaker set, a small set of speakers that that have a built in battery, but easily charge from this small panel.

As handy as the device is, there were some shortcomings.  First off, the device I most wanted to use on it is extremely finicky with what it allows to charge (yeah, it’s an iPhone), and the variability of solar electricity meant that the iPhone didn’t like accepting the charge.  Secondly, some of my devices simply take AA or AAA batteries, and I didn’t have a good charger that would run off the USB adaptor that the 7m provides.

Thankfully there is a relatively new product that addresses these shortcomings, their Goal0 Guide 10.  In short, it’s a battery charger, that doubles as a combined power pack for those devices you would most likely charge from the panel. (more…)

Tags: 72 Hour Kits, Battery, BOB, Evacuation Kits, gear, preps, Reviews, solar, solar panel

Post Japan Earthquake Notes

• 24 Mar 2011
• Jayce
• 3 responses

One of the most important skills as a prepper is the ability to learn from our experiences and mistakes. Additionally, examples of others doing the same can help us learn the same lessons without having to go through the experience. To that end, I’m posting in an email that was forwarded to me, second-hand from the source.  The email is from a lady whose family is currently stationed in Japan, and relates their experiences with the earthquake.  What I like best in this is her own analysis on her preparedness level, and what she wishes she could do better.

Email edited for screen readability only (spacing), and redacting names.

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Tags: 72 Hour Kits, Evacuation Kits, Food Storage, preparedness, preps, Survival, Water

Potassium Iodide (KI) and How to Protect Yourself From Radiation Poisoning

• 15 Mar 2011
• phil801
• 3 responses

With the current potential nuclear crisis in Japan, I have been inundated with questions about Fallout Survival, Nuclear Preparedness, General Preparedness and Potassium Iodide among many other things.  I realized that while a lot of these things are covered on Utah Preppers, Potassium Iodide is kind of glossed over.  This post is my answer to all those questions and should be a definitive post on KI or Potassium Iodide.  Please note: at this time, due to the crisis in Japan, KI is Sold Out pretty much everywhere.

Potassium Iodide or KI is a salt of iodine and is what the body uses to make thyroid hormones.  If you are exposed to radioactive iodine through fallout , your thyroid will quickly absorb it into your thyroid and cause serious problems.  By super loading your thyroid with safe iodine via Potassium Iodide you can minimize your bodies absorption of radioactive iodine.  It should be noted that Potassium Iodide is NOT a cure for radiation sickness nor will it prevent other problems that will occur from fallout or radioactive exposure.

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Tags: 72 Hour Kits, BOB, First Aid, Nuclear Survival, Nuke Preps

Starting a Fire with Steel Wool

• 04 Feb 2011
• phil801
• 0 responses

Continuing my Heat and Light Series, today we’re going to look at an alternative way to start a fire – with Steel Wool and Batteries.  Like I’ve said in previous posts in this series, this is probably something that every old Boy Scout and every long time Prepper already knows.  The point of this series is to get back to basics and cover things that new Preppers will need to get up to speed on – and to remind some of you about the skills and knowledge you have that you may have forgotten.  :) (more…)

Tags: 72 Hour Kits, BOB, Education, Fire, Howto, preps

Making Fire Starting Wafer Candles

• 31 Jan 2011
• phil801
• 2 responses

The next project in my Heat and Light series is Making Fire Starting Wafers out of reclaimed materials mostly available at home.  These wafer candles don’t have the same burn time (but it’s plenty long enough to get a fire going) as the egg carton candles but they have a much smaller footprint.  This project will again be familiar to most Boy Scouts and long term Preppers and Outdoorsmen.  However, the purpose of this series is to get back to basics and review how to generate light and heat with common household projects. As has been mentioned in the comments on the other posts in this series, you can use old candles or other wax sources instead of the new bars of paraffin I use in the demonstration.

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Tags: 72 Hour Kits

Making Fire Starting Candles

• 28 Jan 2011
• phil801
• 3 responses

Continuing my series on Light and Heat, today I’m going to talk about making Fire Starting Candles.  There are a variety of ways to do this, today we’re going to cover using cardboard egg cartons and dryer lint or cotton balls.  This particular project will likely already be familiar to experienced Preppers and Boy Scouts.  This post is aimed at those new to prepping who have never been exposed to this kind of thing.

Being able to start a fire is absolutely critical in many potential situations.  It can literally mean the difference between life and death.  Knowing many ways to be able to start a fire is an essential survival skill, practicing and maintaining those skills is just as essential.  (more…)

Tags: 72 Hour Kits, BOB, Fire, fire starting, heat, light, preparedness, Survival

Bug out/Camping/Utility Trailer

• 17 Aug 2010
• ekim
• 5 responses

I’ve been wanting to get out camping more often, but I suspect like many have had trouble convincing my wife to give camping a try. For some reason, sleeping on the hard, cold ground doesn’t appeal to her.

Buying a dedicated camper, pop-up tent, RV would be nice, but they are generally more than I want to spend, are single purpose and often require separate registration here in Utah. I often find a need for a small utility trailer for hauling mulch, compost, etc. and here in Utah, smaller trailers under a certain weight and size don’t need to be registered. When I obtained an old home built utility trailer recently, I decided to jump head first into a home built adventure trailer build.

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Tags: 72 Hour Kits, BOB, Camping, DIY, Evacuation Kits, G.O.O.D. Bags, gear

What we are doing this Spring

• 31 Mar 2010
• ekim
• 3 responses

Courtesy Marin Magazine

If my allergies are any indication, Spring has sprung. This means it is time for Daylight Saving Time, spring cleaning, starting gardens and other activities.

What are the UtahPreppers up to?
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Tags: 72 Hour Kits, BOB, Community, Food Storage, Gardening, gear, Networks, Preppers, preps

Losing your storage to disaster

• 04 Feb 2010
• Jayce
• 1 response

Photo Via Flickr User un_photo

Recently we had a reader ‘Lonnie’ write in with the following excellent question, that I’ve heard asked in other forms too;

Was thinking about the earthquake in Haiti, and if that happened along the wasatch front. I live in Utah county in a 2 story home with a basement. My food storage is in my basement. What if the earthquake totally destroys my house and my food storage is buried under the rubble of what was my house? It won’t do me any good when I can’t GET TO IT! Any suggestions on mitigating that problem?

Well Lonnie, it looks like I’m finally going to get around to addressing your question, and hopefully in a helpful manner. (more…)

Tags: 72 Hour Kits, Earthquake, Food Storage, preparedness

Preparedness Christmas: 25% off on Sanitation Preps

• 10 Dec 2009
• phil801
• 5 responses

Coupon Code: prepxmas

How are your Sanitation Preps?  Do you have a bucket toilet lid sitting around?  Or one of those portable toilets?  That’s what I had until recently.  A few weeks ago I learned about a set of sanitation products that, when used together, provide preppers with a toilet solution that equals no mess, low smell and biodegrades all your waste for you!  Through a set of fortuitous events, I was in a position to arrange a group buy of 25% off all of their products and offer it to all preppers for Christmas.

Their system is called the GottaGo Toilet system.  It’s basically a cardboard disposable (after about 100 uses) emergency toilet that uses biodegradable bags and a microbial sand.  Once you’ve filled up a bag you can dig a hole and bury the bag – yes, bury it – within 30 – 90 days it will be completely broken down.  You can also burn your toilet once you’re done with it.  Basically you can go on a family campout and have everyone use this toilet system and not have to carry any of it home to dispose of it. (more…)

Tags: 72 Hour Kits, preps, Sanitation

Prepping for Work Disasters

• 17 Nov 2009
• Joseph
• 4 responses

We had an emergency at work today, involving a critical server that was not properly cared for by its department. Due to the severity of the situation, I was called in to help recover the server. I had to go pick up the server from the data center and bring it back to to office to work on it. It was important enough that my boss offered to let me take his car, a 2006 Cadillac CTS. I think he was a little surprised when I declined, in favor of driving my 1998 Corolla instead.
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Tags: 72 Hour Kits, BOB, EDC, G.O.O.D. Bags, preparedness, preps