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Urban Prepping — Emergency Preparedness in the City

Although I haven’t been camping in years, I’ve always kept my various Coleman lanterns and stoves. Some run on the small propane bottles while others run on the Coleman fuel. They have come in handy a few time that our house has lost power during stormed. Also, don’t forget the little things. You can pick up oil lamps and lamp oil for a few dollars at Kmart or a similar store, no batteries required.
 
I remember reading an article by someone who was in Katrina but not New Orleans. The gist of the article was that her family had a generator and the neighbors didn't.

The neighbors started out expecting the generator family to provide water for bathing and ice for coolers and laundry facilities and ended up demanding it.

There was also a blogger named Xavier Breath who went through the same thing. He said the sound of a generator carried for miles when every other house around you was silent and dark.

He also said if you're going to have a generator you'd better have a guard on it.
 
If we can make it till October we will be living at the Goat Ranch 30 or 40 miles from the nearest city and seven miles off the nearest paved road. It's already off grid. Our plan then will be to OPbug in.

My biggest concern for now is that we live in an apartment so our fate is tied to our stupid neighbors.

We have an Ecoflow solar generator that will run our refrigerator, freezer and stove. It will also keep our phones and camping lanterns charged
 
The Night Rider said:
I remember reading an article by someone who was in Katrina but not New Orleans. The gist of the article was that her family had a generator and the neighbors didn't.

The neighbors started out expecting the generator family to provide water for bathing and ice for coolers and laundry facilities and ended up demanding it.

There was also a blogger named Xavier Breath who went through the same thing. He said the sound of a generator carried for miles when every other house around you was silent and dark.

He also said if you're going to have a generator you'd better have a guard on it.
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Hence why the hand pump for the well is going on the spare house where the well head is inside. As for generators, last weekend proved one thing. I was virtually the only one here who needs to invest in new generators. :ROFLMAO:

$700-ish for a 6 circuit box with a transfer switch and a locking 30 amp outlet. Hundo on the 10/2 to get it to the outside back wall, $1500 budget for the 10,000 watt ( minimum) dual fuel generator I'm going to buy and I got no worries for water, fridge, lights, etc. Then another $1000 for a unit that mounts to the wall with a line going out to my 100lb propane tanks and I got no worries for heat.
 
The Night Rider said:
If we can make it till October we will be living at the Goat Ranch 30 or 40 miles from the nearest city and seven miles off the nearest paved road. It's already off grid. Our plan then will be to OPbug in.

My biggest concern for now is that we live in an apartment so our fate is tied to our stupid neighbors.

We have an Ecoflow solar generator that will run our refrigerator, freezer and stove. It will also keep our phones and camping lanterns charged
Click to expand...
Is it an inverter type ? I am under the impression you shouldn't use a regular generator to charge phones or computers.
 
I put in General 24kw three years ago. Best money I’ve spent. Power drops and 3- seconds later life is back to usual with everything running. You never even notice when power comes back on. Been a rock solid investment for us. We’ve run computers, TV’s etc just as usual. If you’re concerned, a “Back- power supply” will feed you stuff smoothly while it is being recharged from any generator
 
Shibadog said:
I put in General 24kw three years ago. Best money I’ve spent. Power drops and 3- seconds later life is back to usual with everything running. You never even notice when power comes back on. Been a rock solid investment for us. We’ve run computers, TV’s etc just as usual. If you’re concerned, a “Back- power supply” will feed you stuff smoothly while it is being recharged from any generator
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Hi,

The only problem with a generator is, running out of fuel, in a grid down situation. If the SHTF and we lose the power grid, there won't be any fuel left after a while. It's either solar or wind generator that will make it any easier. But there again, any light in darkness, will draw attention to your BO location. When we lose power during storms and it takes a while to get it back, I run a generator to run the refrigerator and freezer. If it's going to be a long while, I hook the wind turbine to the camper and use it's refrigerator/freezer.
 


The video above is very informative. This is the only "Prepper" I follow.

Since this discussion started we have moved to the Wide Open Spaces and we've learned some things.

You can't get to where we live without driving on State Highway 24. They close 24 a few times a year.

As a result "prepping" is a normal part of life out here. Everybody has a big pantry because the nearest grocery store is 40(ish) miles away. Almost everybody has livestock or at least chickens because we can.

I think I've mentioned this before but my daughter has 10(ish) chickens and they produce 50 or 60 eggs a week. Our chickens 30 or forty a week and I don't know how many her daughter (our granddaughter) gets but it's enough that daughter's husband sells fresh eggs at work at a significant profit.

The house we live in is the next thing to off grid. Stove and furnace are on propane and the water heater and Refrigerator/ Deep Freeze are electric.

300 plus days of sun, our back up electric is a solar generator and we have three solar energy banks for recharging our phones. We have solar lanterns for power outages and as mentioned in the video above our porch and barn lights are solar so if needed we can bring them inside.
 
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Hmmm lots of info here. As for lights in a dark neighborhood, how'bout covering the windows. Its not like youll be partying with a mirror ball. Im guessing you can limit the lights. Id be more worried about cooking smells and generator noise. Both can be mitigated

As for neighbors wanting to benefit from your power offer a ONE time gift but tell them the next will come at a cost NOT money but trade or service (food frozen food is melting anyway, shoveling snow, pulling weeds from the garden...etc) Elderly neighbors can help doing wash or home schooling kids. Teens and adults can certainly be put to use even if its only going door to door to check on neighbors and watching for looters

Nothing is free not even friendship when someone want to take advantage of you.

I had a brother in law that was more worried about his lawn then his family's survival. You know the guy that walks on his lawn with special spiked shoes to make it greener; but wouldnt invest in a home defense shotgun. I knew my wife (at the time) would insist we "do something" for them. So I found a cheap single shot 12 ga for $40 that came with a box of mixed shells. That was my brother-in-law give away gun.

When neighbors stop being neighborly they are no longer neighbors.
 
I’m glad I kept all my Coleman camping items. Several lanterns that run on propane and the Coleman fuel. I also have a few candle lanterns, where the candle is spring loaded to keep it in the proper position. Each candle can last for about two nights and is bright enough to move around the house without being to obvious to outsiders.

I also have two different Coleman stoves for cooking, again one with propane and the other with the Coleman liquid fuel. Also, don’t forget that for about twenty bucks or so you can get two mantle lanterns with fuel from many local stores, no need for batteries and a bottle of lantern fuel lasts for a very long time.
 
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