South Africa, prepping in South Africa and Sout African preppers.

[Deimos]

1. Do i have sufficient ammo? (i cant afford a million rounds so realistically?)
2. I plan to buy an AR but not sure if i should concentrate on some other prep first.
3. Where should i start medicine ?

Any other input is greatly appreciated

Money is a problem so have to go at this slow

Thank in advance

[thatGuy]

Short answer is No, because your looking at a social unrest situation in what amounts to a 2nd world country on a third world continent.. there will never be enough ammo, community or opportunity to use any of it..

That said you're doing a lot better than a lot of folks on the ammo/weapons side.

No need to tip your hand but how about food and daily consumable like paper towels and toilet paper? It's pretty standard practice in the preping community to advise a person to stock 2 months of all essentials for the family as a first step before really stocking up on guns and ammo. I would share that advice with you as all the bullets in the world won't mean a thing if you're starving to death..

As to medicens

[thedigininja]

Deimos, I agree with TG.  Guns are great but you can't eat bullets. And food preps don't need to cost an arm and a leg. I personally put a few Rand into my initial stock and now I just make sure that every time I get groceries I throw in a few long life items. Also growing your own can not only help you out in a SHTF fan scenario but it will help to supplement your current food supply leaving more cash for preps.

As for meds they could do more harm than good if you don't know what you're doing. If you or your family have any specific needs make sure you get those first, next look into doing some first aid training and basic first aid supplies. In your training you'll learn what you need. I would recommend getting an empty first aid bag from Dischem and then adding to it as you have cash.

[Nemo]

I hope you have some level of food stored.  If not, work on that prior to anything else in the closet or cabinet.  After that and probably more important is to find back up.  That is an extremely important thing.  You can have all the food and ammo you can imagine but if 20 gentlemen want to take it from you, you will lose out.  You may take out 17 on their approach but the other 3 will in all likelihood be in a position to wait you out.  As in you do not see or hear from them for 9 days and take a peek outside. Nothing.  A walk around the yard and 2 rounds from a rifle on their side comes out from over there somewhere.  Leaving the rest of the clan somewhat weak on defense.

That idea needs some serious consideration.

Nemo

[JohnyMac]

Deimos,
you have received some good advice so far.

I was coaching a couple last year who were starting on the long road to prepping. I explained to them that you needed to chip away at the challenge - Rome wasn't built in a day.

Keep in mind the three B's to prepping: Beans, Band-aides and Bullets.

First you and your wife need to agree in advance of what you are going to put away as insurance against in an uncertain future. Will the future bring a minor local collapse that will last two to three months or a TEOTWAWKI scenario, where no help will be coming in the foreseeable future.

Once that is determined then come up with a list of what you will need for each scenario. I have an excel file that I have given out to new preppers as a starting point. If you would like me to email it to you, let me know. If others here on the forum would like me to post it, I will do so and sticky it. AGAIN...IT IS A STARTING POINT ONLY!

Next to last you put aside a set amount of money each payday to work on buying your 3B's in equal amounts: 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. Again you chip away at your goal. Someone asked me once, "how do your eat an elephant?"

Show content

"One bite at a time."

Last, once you reach your goal reevaluate your current and future situation. You and your wife may want to increase your insurance past your initial assessment - We did.

With all that written, I highly recommend that you put away one months worth of cash for household expenses for when the ATM machine does not work or the bank is on holiday. Then maybe a second months worth of expenses in barter form. .22LR's are always a good barter item along with vice items, e.g. tobacco, cigarettes, chocolate...You get the idea.

I also recommend that you do some surfing in UP's archives. There are some true gems just sitting there waiting to be discovered written and shared by forum members.

Have fun...

[Nemo]

Post that excel.  I have read some of those things and they all made me think, evaluate and consider what I had, what I needed, what was not so good and what was great.

Another new list to compare is always great.

Nemo

[thedigininja]

Your idea of using your pool as a water reserve could come in handy and using resources that are already at your disposal is always good thinking but you would need a good purifier. There are thousands out there to choose from but speaking from a limited budget point of view I can recommend the Sunbeam mineral pot. Not top of the range by a long shot but you can pick one up at Game for R250. It's a 6 stage gravity feed (so you can even use it when Eskom is being a little bitch) filter with a mineral deposit to replace lost nutrients. It has an 8 litre capacity in it's main reservoir and 4 litres in the prefeed (don't believe the packaging that says 15 litres, I don't know where they find the other 3). I've been using mine for several months and it works great, I'm actually looking at buying a second just I'm case something happens to it and we'll be getting another for our BOL.

I only now see that you're considering an AR and even though they're a preppers staple and I would love one myself I know what they cost and in my opinion you could do so much more with that kind of money.

[thatGuy]

Good work gang!

I was gonna type, 'as to medicines keep it real simple at first, band aids, gauze, tape and OTCs simply because without further training you're not going to be rewarded by owning IV fluids and the like.'

But doing this on a smart phone ain't always easy

[crudos]

Some great advice being given. Beans, Band-aids, and Bullets, isn't that how it went? 

[Nemo]

crudos you have 3 of the important 4.  Beans, Bullets, Band-aids.  But you must add Backup to the plan.  That is IMHO serious important also.

Nemo

[Deimos]

Thanks for all the info guys, digi the water purifier is clever i was just planing on boiling the water but if its just a plain purifier no electricity then thats the way to go i reckon. As for food we buy for the month so we are usually stocked really well for the month but not for any longer, have done some research and seen some really clever ideas. Just not sure where you could possibly get oxygen absorber for when i start to put some food away in buckets. I work about 1 kilometer away from where i work which happens to be a filling station and a fast food outlet, so i am pretty much covered for fuel and some quick food items if there was a problem. The toilet paper got me laughing not something that you really think about untill you need it. The spreadsheet would be great if you could send it to me i would really appreciate it my email is kalkoen@telkomsa.net

My family members all live close by so in case something does go wrong we have the numbers and the guys are good shooters but they only have handguns better than nothing i guess.

Thanks for the suggestions

[thedigininja]

For oxygen absorbers check out www.rosenmeyer.co.za they have the best prices I've found locally but only do seriously bulk orders so maybe find a few other people to go into a purchase with you.

The old school survivalists will usually scoff at any mention of stocking up on bog rolls and personally in my group we have several hundred baby wipes instead as they are also useful for waterless "bathing" and a number of other uses even once they dry out but if you've spent any amount of time at communal camping grounds or festivals you would have heard someone refer to bog rolls as "white gold". I have found that many people are willing to trade just about anything for some when the need arises.

[Nemo]

Something for all who read this to consider would be another item as valuable as "white gold".   I have been informed by persons who would know such things (women) is tampons and pads.  Ask your wife about such things.  If not for her they are amazing barter items.  Cost is low, necessity is high and storage size and requirement are almost minimal.

Nemo

[Kbop]

Something for all who read this to consider would be another item as valuable as "white gold".   I have been informed by persons who would know such things (women) is tampons and pads.  Ask your wife about such things.  If not for her they are amazing barter items.  Cost is low, necessity is high and storage size and requirement are almost minimal.

Nemo

Good idea - make great emergency bandages too.

[thatGuy]

And diapers.. dudes got a baby girl

[thedigininja]

Something for all who read this to consider would be another item as valuable as "white gold".   I have been informed by persons who would know such things (women) is tampons and pads.  Ask your wife about such things.  If not for her they are amazing barter items.  Cost is low, necessity is high and storage size and requirement are almost minimal.

Nemo

Good idea - make great emergency bandages too.

Don't forget tinder, they're awesome for getting a fire started and even come in individual waterproof wrappers. And as Nemo mentioned storage requirements are minimal, once they're out of the box you can fit them anywhere.

[Kbop]

I have never, ever heard a group of people cheering on the awesome and varied qualities of feminine hygiene products before.

what else did we miss?

[thatGuy]

You can stuff a tampon into a gunshot wound or any other deep wound if you don't have a proper packing material. Sanitary napkins make great throw away sweat bands for helmets and bump caps and could probably be used to dress a wound in a pinch..

And all your 'all natural organic' douches are great on a salad..

[thedigininja]

Can also be used as the final stage of a makeshift water filter.

[Deimos]

Thanks for the help guys i really appreciate it. Been thinking of the about my plan firstly to either leave the city or bunker down and there are lots of ideas on this. I think that i have decided to bunker down which means i have lots to do. I think the first place to start is with a generator that can power my fridge and freezer that way i can have some meat frozen and power always helps i guess. I need to win the lotto lol. I hear people saying that its never too late to start prepping well i hope so for my family's sake. Going to get some buckets this month end for some food storage 

[Nemo]

And all your 'all natural organic' douches are great on a salad..

You are not serious about this are you?


But like I noted, white gold for their purpose should the atmospheric oscillator be impacted with fecal matter.  So I have been told by several female preppers on other forums.

Nemo

[Deimos]

Hi Nemo yip im serious. Given my current situation that i have a newborn baby. If it was just me and my wife i would get out as quickly as possible and head to some remote part and make a go of living in the bush. My problem is that can you imagine trying to run around with a baby the endless shit that could go wrong, a storm and you in a tent the baby is screaming and you need to heat water to feed her ? I have a 70 000 litre swimming pool so water shouldnt be a problem for awhile. I have gas bottles which i use for my fire place that i can use for cooking plus i plan on getting fire wood and charcoal so as too have a good supply to cook and boil water with. Staying at home gives me shelter my bed and high walls around my house. Our homes here are made of bricks so bullets are not going to go through them and yes windows are a problem will have to close them somehow if something does happen. a generator would keep the freezer running for a good while keeping meat frozen and i get the fact that i wont have an endless supply of fuel or if the generator packs up but it will help for  awhile at least and definately help now as im sure the power cuts are coming as people come back from holidays and consumption goes up. I need to stock up on food rice beans and that type of stuff. So food and water will be ok for awhile hopefully by then the major chaos is behind us our baby should be on solids and i can make a plan to get away. I read an interesting article about heading for the bush if something goes wrong and it made alot of sense. I cant find it now flip, but it said something like this that after the power goes out most people will head for the bush, now if you are not the first one there and some one has setup a perimeter do you think that they are going to welcome you with open arms to share their water that they have found. There was alot to it and i think that the best plan might be to wait it out for as long as possible then head out as many people that head for the bush will have no experience and will probably be dead hopefully we dont get shot while trying to find some place to setup and farm. I could write a crap load on what the guy said but i think the idea comes across. There are pros and cons to both senarios staying and leaving but if you are just leaving because everyone says so without a place to go or know for sure that you are going to bump into others that are scared and think that you are trying to steal their stuff ? Its better the devil you know then the Devil you dont know. I know the area that i live in the streets the closest place to find food, water and so on but im not sticking my nose out if chaos is running rampant. Just my thought

[Nemo]

No, Deimos, I understand exactly where you are coming from and a good idea (better now) of you situation. 

 I meant thatGuy's idea of organic douches as salad dressing.  Tough to wrap my brain around.

Nemo

[thedigininja]

Deimos, just keep in mind that generators are NOISY! Now I can't say that I know the purchase and running costs of a generator off by heart but I do know that the price has come down considerably in the last 3 years. However, have you considered solar? The initial outlay is likely to be more expensive but keep in mind that you'll never need to pay for fuel and it's not a massive audio beacon screaming to all those for miles around saying "listen here, I have power. why don't you come check what other supplies I have stashed away!"

[JohnyMac]

Deimos, I understand your situation. Here are some thoughts for you and others who may be following this discussion.

> Like what thedigininja wrote, "The initial outlay [solar]is likely to be more expensive but keep in mind that you'll
    never need to pay for fuel and it's not a massive audio beacon screaming to all those for miles around saying
   "listen here,..." Again there is a lot of great stuff on this site. Just check the archives. Here is a article I wrote
    awhile back on how I brought solar to our BOL.

    Once I get a bit more money I am going to add one more solar panel and another bank of batteries. This will
    give us enough juice to run most of what we need in the cabin, e.g. radio's, ceiling fan, TV, a few lights, etc.

    With that written, I would also suggest a fuel powered generator to use in an emergency, e.g. charge up your
    solar batteries IF there isn't enough sun to do so, use electric tools, etc. If you can do this in SA get a propane      carburetor for your generator.
    Then you will have multiple methods to feed it.
> The days of using your dwelling as a castle is over. It has been over for about 150 years now. If I wanted your
    dwelling I would just sit outside with a scoped rifle and wait you out. It may take awhile but I would win. The
    same outcome would happen no matter how many folks are in the castle.

    To have a half way descent chance of  you and your family surviving you will need to send patrols out beyond   
     your 24/7 manned LP/OP's which watch approaches to your BOL. Your patrols will hopefully intercept any
     threat before that threat reaches your LP/OP's and ultimately your BOL.

    This will all be happening while other people are farming, gathering water & fuel, making meals, taking care of
    the kids and sick, etc, etc, etc.

     I hope I have painted a picture that clearly illustrates that unless you have a lot of people involved you and
     your family will not last if it is a true TEOTWAWKI situation. Now is the time to make alliances with your
     neighbors, family and friends. To plan out what will be done of A, B or C happens to your world (s).

Just some food for though :-)