Apocalypse Be Damned: Survival Kit from Sam's Club

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Yeah, I think I would rather be among the first to go rather than live in a post-apocalyptic world with no energy sources, no supplies of purified water, roving bands of thugs robbing, killing and terrorizing and domestic animals gone feral. I understood the lament of Ashley Wilkes in GWTW when he said that the world he had been trained to live in had vanished. This would be much worse. Today the "veneer" of civilization is about one molecule thick, like the coat of paint sprayed on the walls in a new apartment. People who have no respect for the law or knowledge of how to behave in public when there are societal structures and law-enforcement authorities present can be sure to quickly sink to the worst behaviors possible.

Unless you get a thrill out of having to fight adversity every step of the way and want to have to continually defend your life and possessions against society's worst, it's not what I call living. I don't want to be in my house when anyone breaks in. I don't want to see them burn as firewood the case of the 235 year old tall case (grandfather) clock or other wooden pieces so loved by my family. I will gladly take what I was given a glimpse of close to 26 years ago and let hell reign on earth.
 
Well for us on the coast, either East or West, I think we have a better chance of the states breaking free and drifting out into the ocean......so in preparation I have a "floating buddy"...just some one who's big enough to float, and feed to the sharks as I swim to safety......then I'll worry about survival.....turn it into a mini-series.....and win a million bucks....lol

but you have to admit with ideas like these survival packages.....theres something for everyone.....just ticked because I didn't think of it first.....and most likely if you go to order it when needed, it will be out of stock!...or backorder.....could you hold off the apocalypse until they replenish
 
Mormon (cult) members do this, they have for years.  They are "encouraged" to have one year of food stores on hand and buying this package from Sam's is a simple way to do this.  I remember Mormon families in our neighborhood that had a very strict and organized system for using and replenishing food in their supply.   Before you run out looking for Mormon friends, just in case,  think again.  Their religion teaches that only other Mormons are worthy of help in time of need, others are turned away.  There are also social-service networks all over the world that are solely intended to help their members.  Most outside the religion don't even know they exist. 

 

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I've been learning that the Mormon community isn't to be ignored or taken lightly. They have insinuated members in all levels of government and society. To my mind, they present a slightly insidious threat, although live and let live always seems to be a prudent practice. Their form of "Sharia" is less threatening to most Americans, but probably no less treasonous and no less dangerous. Not bad for a con-artist slacker who saw religion as his ticket to the "big time". Living proof that religion is a potent narcotic.
 
Actually, Martin, we on the East coast have a very real threat from the Cumbre Vieja Volcano on the Island of La Palma in the Islas Canarias. The structure of the volcanic peak allows water to seep into vertical hollows in the rock. Heat from magma rising in the mountain would turn this water to steam, blasting away the west-facing flank and sending it surging into the ocean creating a tsunami that would inundate our Eastern seaboard. This is more probable than the East Coast breaking off from the rest of the continent if anyone is looking for a disaster scenario.
 
I am no Mormon..

I am no Mormon, because I find their intolerance of 'difference' intolerable (LOL).

However, I DO volunteer at their cannery. They do a lot of donation of food to charity. Their cannery is also used by United Jewish Appeal, Foodbank of the Rockies, The Salvation Army to can food for charity.

I also do know that their official doctrine is to help anyone who asks. People who aren't Mormons can buy stuff at their food storage centers.

So while I do not agree with their philosophy, I also know that their tenets do say that Christian charity means that they need to help anyone in need.

They DO occasionally ask me if I am interested in joining their Church and I just say 'no thanks.'

Your mileage may vary.

And, uh, lots of Churches have their own networks of "stuff," like the Roman Catholic ones. And it isn't much different than (say) the gay community buys services and goods from 'gay businesses.'
 
What happens when the food gets close to its expiration dates?  Do you and your family then have to stuff yourselves before it all goes bad? Do you give it away to the neighborhood?  I remember a food bank around here was encouraging people to donate food they had stored for the Y2000 chaos that never happened.  It seems like a waste of 3000 dollars if you end up giving it away or worse yet, ends up in a landfill.

 

I saw a show on History channel about the bunker for the US Congress at the Greenbriar resort.  To keep the bunker ready at any time, they had to keep food in it.  One employee said "sometimes we would get better food in the employee cafeteria and the reason was they were rotating the food out of the bunker". 
 
In California about 1980 I once bought a years worth of food stuff and it was about 500 bucks. That was a trade show special price, I had to pick it up in the bowels of LA at some warehouse. Before expiration I ate up some, but not as much as the great looking brochures food looked like. There was this booth babe who hypnotized me at some finance expo how hawked theses survival foods.

In Hurricane areas many of us here stock up on canned foods for the summers worry and then deplete and use them up in the off seasons of winter and spring.

Having enough water is where many folks fail to plan, without water one cannot survive.

Having gone thru Katrina, ones plans still if prepared can go afoul. One stores extra water in an unused bath tub the house floods to 500 year plus levels and one gets crud in ones water. Thus those 5 gallon jugs one had up higher helped. City water worked after Katrina then died for about a day then again worked when backup generators refilled the water tower.

A HUGE failure mode is your neighbors plan for nothing, then you as the turtle/saver are asked to lend items post disaster. Even worse is when your next door neighbor drives 400 plus miles to Knoxville for Katrina, then returns post storm and wants to borrow Toilet paper, and one has just one soggy roll that one is drying in sections and nursing. This was probably a 12 hour drive due to traffic and issues, one would think that somewhere along that 400 miles they would have brought some food or paper products before entering a disaster area. On lends ones best siphon tub to a neighbor and they lend it to another and then one cannot get it back for 2 weeks. I had 15 gallons of gasoline in 5 gallon cans and about 20 in a truck. I was just running a generator for about 2 to 3 hours a day to power a freezer; where all my cold refridge foods were placed. While running the generator I used electric chain saws to cut out the trees blocking/covering the road in front of my house, plus trees piled up at the rear

Gobs of folks basically are ill prepared; or not balanced. ie they have a 4000 watt generator and assume Man from Glad will parachute in with cans of gasoline.

Post Hurricane one is often with no local electricity and sleeping in a hot humid house with the windows open. One covers ones body with DEET to not get eaten alive, about 2 days after the Hurricane one has about 100 times the bugs hatch. If one works one's self to exhaustion, the neighbors loud generator gets ignored.

Post disaster one has looters, once one removed the sogged sheet rock they will enter and try to remove the copper pipes and wires. Thus some of us used a simple shotgun since there were no police at all. The first police I saw were from Indiana.
 
That made me smile...i remember in 1993 the flood in Des Moines, IA. I was new to the city (having moved there in May) and wasn't having a great time (I was originally renting a house from a second cousin who, on the day the movers arrived, announced that she had a buyer for the house and that I had 30 days to vacate). Anyway, we'd had buckets of rain all summer. I went to Kansas City (3 hour drive) for the weekend to a friend's wedding. Sunday afternoon I headed back to Des Moines. Tuned to KMBZ (news in KC) which mentioned a boil order in DSM so I detoured to the supermarket in Overland Park, KS to buy some water. Started out, then thought a little more and got to Liberty (NE side of suburban KC) and turned off the interstate to get a couple more gallons of water. They'd been completely cleaned out. Drove for about another hour before I could get Des Moines radio (WHO) and they were completely war-zoned because the city had flooded. We had no water for 18 days.
 
So, what hapened to the house? I cannot imagine what it is like to go through a disaster like that and want no first hand experience. I hope you fared well.

Can anyone tell me if there are still rapids at Cedar Rapids or have they disappeared behind a dam like at Muscle Shoals, Alabama? When my father's mother was alive and living in West Union, we used to hear Cedar Rapids mentioned often, but we never went there.
 
As I recall, Costco periodically has five gallon buckets of survival rations for sale, for about $90. I think it was good for 90 days or something like that. I looked closely at the labels - most of the stuff takes a lot of water and cooking to reconstitute, and it didn't sound all that appetizing anyway. And yes, it was made in Utah. I traveled there for about a decade on business related stuff, and got to know some of the people there. I'm told that there is a vast bomb shelter under the center of town at the Temple, big enough to hold all the faithful. And of course well stocked with provisions. I don't know if the Mormons believe in "Rapture" but is sounds similar.

My own take is that since these survival rations have a shelf life, it would probably be better to buy canned, dried, and otherwise stable foods that have a relatively long shelf life that one would normally consume - and then rotate the stock as you consume them so that there is always a reasonable supply for emergencies and it's food you actually can eat. I keep beans, rice, canned foods in stock, as well as a few five gallon bottles of water. Gotta do that in earthquake country. Also bought a small 2 stroke 800 watt generator ($80 at Harbor Freight) which is just enough to power the chest freezer. It's 110 only, so it couldn't power the well pump, but the well water isn't potable anyway, I just use it for irrigation.

Back when we had the big quake in '89, one of the first things I did was take my car and truck to the local gas station to fill up. There wasn't any line, but I felt that if things got bad at least I'd be able to get away. As it turned out, there was no need - people really teamed together and I don't recall any instances of looting or rioting.
 
Re dinky 2 cycle generator

RE

"Also bought a small 2 stroke 800 watt generator ($80 at Harbor Freight) which is just enough to power the chest freezer. It's 110 only, so it couldn't power the well pump, but the well water isn't potable anyway, I just use it for irrigation. "

I have several generators. Post Katrina I bought a Homier tent sale 1250 watt peak, 800 steady 2 stroke generator at a local tent tool sale about in 2007.

It is basically the same generator as Harbor Freights; but mine has an extra 12 volt output and different paint scheme.

The generator may of may not start a 5000 to 6000 BTUH AC unit, the units peak current is such that often one cannot start one of these units. Sometimes it will start up a small AC unit then if the unit cycles the generator cannot restart it in 5 minutes It will start most fridges and will run a skil saw, but the saw takes time so spool up to full speed.

With this little unit I usually fire it up every few months to avoid carb issues. The unit will not start my 1976 westy's AC motor.

A bigger 4 cycle 2000w/ 2300 peak 120 volt tri fuel unit here is radically better to start a 5000 to 6000 BTUH AC unit; its generator is a much stiffer source. This generator "looks" like the 4 cycle Harbor Freight 95189 or 98452; but can use Natural Gas, Propane or gasoline. It has a gas regulator and a venturi ahead of the carbs input. it is the Phoenix XR Tri-Fuel CDY2500L Portable Generator in the link; but family go karts has not had any in about say 3? years now.

An even bigger 4 cycle 4000 watt / 4500 peak 120/ 240 volt unit went through Katrina under salt water and was just washed off carb bowl emptied and used for several weeks

 

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