<Gloat>

True enough..and as many millions of people have found out over the years, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and so forth take down the credit card and ATM machines...so if you are counting on plastic..you may well be one rich sumbitch..but unless you got a blanket and some chow on hand..you are gonna be cold and hungry for some time. Let alone buying gas...unless you got some cash tucked away in your emergency bag.

And since so many people depend on Vericheck...also landline based..they are not likely to take your check either....

Most folks have on average...4 days groceries in their pantry. Another day or so maybe..maybe, in the fridge. Power goes out..you got at most..about a day and a half before the fridge is at ambient. Eat it first. Then the stuff in the pantry. And if you dont have cash..you are now called a Refugee.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

After being unconscious for five days in the middle of an Ohio winter from the flu I try to keep a minimum of two weeks worth of canned food on hand. I lost over 20 pounds, and was so weak I couldn't walk when I woke, so it was another couple days before I could get to the store. I only had two cans of tomato soup in the house when I got sick. The defense plant I worked at fired me for being off more than two days, claiming that I would have been in the hospital if I was really that sick. I had laid down, not feeling good and only woke for a few minutes when someone I worked with managed to rouse me to ask for a ride to work. I told him I was too sick to drive, and asked for him to report me as sick. They refused to accept it from anyone other than a family member. You never know what can happen in just a few days, or even hours. I went from a full time job and service contracts with three school boards to no income in a week, and ended up losing everything I owned before I was well enough to work again. I was denied any help because I was a "Young, single white boy", while the parking lot was full of fairly new cars from people on welfare.

BTW, I have the food stashed in several different buildings on the property, in case one or more are damaged during a storm. I buy canned goods by the case, and make sure to rotate them to keep them as fresh as possible. You can drop a can in a black sock, or wrap it in a dark colored piece of cloth and lay it on the dash of a closed vehicle to warm it enough to eat out of the metal can, rather than choke it down, cold.

Mike, sorry to hear about your bad experience. We have a lot of various food stashed also, I would estimate it at 500-700 lbs of food. Also a couple of cases of beer.

I had a bad experience in 1991, when food was difficult to buy at all in Moscow, hence my pack rat behavior when it comes to dry or canned food.

Been there, done that. Btw..putting the canned foods on the engine or under the hood for 30minutes can make em nice and toasty.

Growing up on Lake Superior, doing oil field work and lumbering and so forth, we always made a "cooker" on an exhaust manifold somewhere.

Gunner

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Oh for the days when the fireman could cook (somewhat gritty) eggs and bacon on his shovel :-)

Mark Rand RTFM

I know that trick too, but all the gas stations around here have no backup generators, and the few that had electricity had already been pumped dry so I had to fall back on solar heating after the hurricanes so I had to conserve what little gasoline I had on hand.

I used to take a couple layers of aluminum foil, a pound of ground beef, and add pieces of carrots, potatoes and onions, then some spices. Wrap it up and cook it on the engine while driving, or stick it in the coals from the camp fire.

Thanks. I've been through crap like that three different times, and started over every time. I'm about 6 years from paying the house off. Luckily, I finished most of the repairs and changes before I became disabled. I buried plenty of conduit, upgraded the electrical service and installed a new chain link fence before I started losing so much strength. I was ready to put a new roof on the shop the day I was laid off I had bought some of the materials, but it still needs to be done. My benches and tools have been covered with plastic for three years now, and I don't seem to be able to make any progress in making it usable again.

I have to do some work on one of the outbuildings to reinforce it before stockpiling more food. I have the old 12' * 12' pump house that is made of concrete block. I am going to build a plywood building inside to make it stronger, and replace the roof with a stronger design. The biggest job is removing trees that are too close to buildings.