For most people, in most circumstances, it makes more sense to bug in, rather than bug out in the face of a disaster. Granted, there are always exceptions to that, such as when there is flooding or wildfire. The people of Paradise, California sure wouldn’t have done well to bug in, when their entire town burned to the ground in November of 2018.
It can even be argued that it doesn’t make sense to bug in, when faced with rampant lawlessness from a breakdown of law and order. Staying home in that case just might make you a target.
While living anywhere in the midst and aftermath of a major disaster is sure to be challenging, trying to survive in the wild would be nearly impossible. Without getting into all the problems associated with trying to live off the land, let’s just say that unless you have a prepared place to go to, stocked and equipped for survival, you’re better off staying home in most circumstances.
That doesn’t mean that bugging in is going to be any bed of roses either. If we assume that electric power, municipal water, gas service, sewage and the supply chain will all be down, there’s not a lot to be said for staying in the city. The only good thing about bugging in is that we’ll be in our homes, with all our possessions available to us.
But that doesn’t mean that any of us are automatically prepare for bugging in. We can have a stockpile of food and other essential supplies and still end up in trouble, when things go to pot and we’re trying to survive. The problem is, there’s just so many things we need, that it’s extremely easy to forget something critical. Let’s look at some possibilities.
Securing Doors and Windows
This isn’t so much a thing to stockpile, as it is a thing to do. We preppers have a bit of a tendency to count on our guns for safety. As a fan of firearms myself, I really don’t have a problem with that.
The problem I do see though, is the risk of more than one assailant attacking our home at once.
It’s just as important to properly secure your doors and windows, as it is to make sure you have enough ammunition for your favorite gun. I’m not talking about the “home security” that they typically talk about either. A deadbolt won’t stop someone from getting in, if they really want to. Nor will a locked window keep anyone out. You need to up your security game, making it as hard as possible to get into your home. That will give you time to react, before the shooting starts.
That is why I’ve set up these traps and alarms on my property against looters and intruders. Most of them won’t be able to get past these defenses. And if any looter somehow gets onto my property, I will have known about them long enough to prepare.
Sewage Disposal
Few preppers have a ready plan for dealing with human waste in an extended emergency. All we have is a vague idea of what we’re going to do… something about digging a hole and building an outhouse.
The problem is, that human waste is one of the most toxic substances on the face of the earth. If we don’t have a good plan and the wherewithal to implement it almost immediately, then we’re putting our family and our neighborhood at risk. Better make sure you can get that outhouse in place in no more than a couple of days. In the meantime, you can collect your waste in a five-gallon bucket.
Why not just use the five-gallon bucket as your answer then? Because you’ll still have a disposal problem. Once the bags are full, you’ll need to take them out of the bucket and replace them. Then what are you going to do with the bags of waste? Unless you have a hole in the ground to bury them in, you’re going to have a problem.
Lime
Lime is a useful substance to go with that outhouse, as it can be sprinkled in on top of the waste to help deep down the odor of decay.
While a fairly inexpensive item, it can be hard to find; especially since most of us don’t use it regularly. Add a couple hundred pounds to your stockpile.
Sufficient Water Storage
I’m a big fan of rainwater capture, like many preppers are. But I’ve come to recognize one big problem with it, especially for those of us who live in more arid regions. Where I live, there’s enough rainfall for my wife and I to survive, assuming we can capture and store it all. But because it all comes in only a few months; we can’t store enough water to get us through. We will likely run out of water, before the next rainy season comes.
For us, the other option is to haul water from the lake, which is 3.5 miles away. That’s not an ideal option, especially when we reach a point where we don’t have gasoline and I have to haul that water manually. I’m working on increasing my water storage capability; but we’re talking about thousands of gallons, not just a few rain barrels.
Given these challenges, it’s clear that having the right knowledge and tools is crucial for anyone looking to live more independently and sustainably. The Self-Sufficient Backyard provides just that—comprehensive guidance on a wide range of homesteading topics, including water collection.
This guide offers detailed insights on creating efficient and cost-effective water collection systems tailored to your needs. Whether you’re dealing with limited rainfall or aiming to reduce dependence on external water sources, the strategies outlined can help you maximize every drop.
Power for the Fridge
Most of us act like refrigeration is going to go by the wayside, in the event of a serious disaster. Okay, I get it, with the power out, how can any of us expect to run our fridge, right? But wait, just how much electricity does that fridge consume? Is there any way we can keep it running through the disaster?
Modern refrigerators are extremely energy efficient, only using a few hundred watts of power per day.
That means you could actually generate enough electricity to run it off of solar panels, if you had enough solar panels.
So, just how many do you need?
For the average home refrigerator, three to four 100 to 120 watt solar panels would generate enough power to keep the fridge running.
You’d need at least 100 amp-hours of battery backup to go with that, so that the solar panels could charge the battery and the battery could power the fridge. The big question is, do you have that much? Most preppers only have one or two panels, not enough to keep the fridge running.
First-Aid Supplies
Everyone has a first-aid kit; but just how good is that kit? Most first-aid kits you buy, even the more expensive ones, just have enough supplies to take care of one injury. Not only that, but that’s assuming that the patient will be moved to a medical facility, where they will have many more supplies to use.
Related: 10 Medical Supplies to Stock Up on Before it’s Too Late
The truth is, one injury can use up a lot of supplies, if you can’t get your injured team member to a medical facility. Bandages need to be changed and wounds cleaned. That will have to go on for several days, making each injury use as many first-aid supplies as a dozen or so. Your kit probably doesn’t have that much, and even if it does, what about the next injury?
Fuel for the Fire
How much firewood do you have? How long will it last? Most of us have at least some firewood; but probably not enough. People who heat their homes normally with a wood fire, generally go through four to six full cords of hardwood firewood per winter. Most of what is sold today is “face cords,” rather than full cords. Those face cords only have one-third the amount of wood that a full cord does.
Unless you have six full of cords of hardwood firewood stacked in your backyard, I’d say you probably don’t have enough. Don’t count on softwood firewood to do the job for you or even wood that you can scavenge out of abandoned homes. That’s going to be softwood as well. It just doesn’t store enough heat energy, burning away rapidly.
Additionally, I’ve learned that under no circumstances should you burn these types of wood in a wood-burning stove.
A Means to Haul Firewood
Speaking of firewood, how are you going to replenish your firewood supply, once you’ve burned it up? Do you have someplace near your home, where you will be able to cut your own wood? Do you have a means to haul the wood home, once you cut it? With as much wood as you will need, you’re going to need a good plan for this.
Paper Goods
Paper towels and toilet paper are going to be worth their weight in gold in the face of a major disaster. Remember the great toilet paper shortage of 2020? That will be nothing compared to the shortage that will happen when there won’t be any resupply. At least during the 2020 shortage, there was TP in the warehouses. The problem was getting it into the stores.
We may as well figure that once the power goes out, we won’t see any more TP supplies for years. What we have when that happens, is all that we’ll have. With that being the case, it seems to me that there’s no such thing as having too much.
Disposable Plates, Cups and Forks
Speaking of paper goods, have you thought about using disposable plates, cups and forks, rather than washing them?
Water is likely to be in short supply, so if we can cut down on the number of dishes we have to wash, it will really help. But that means stockpiling them, along with everything else.
Normally, those plates and cups are a disposal problem; but they shouldn’t be during a crisis.
If we’re cooking and heating with wood fires, we can always burn those plates and cups right there. Just think of them as emergency fire starters.
Cleaning Supplies
Speaking of washing dishes, how’s your stock of cleaning supplies? Cleanliness is an essential part of preventing the spread of disease. If you can’t keep your home clean, then you’re probably going to be sick a lot.
This doesn’t mean that you have to have a lot of fancy products. It really just means that you need to select good products that you can get cheap; then stock up on them. Take a look at commercial cleaning products. They’re generally multi-purpose, very effective and available in five-gallon buckets, making them much cheaper to buy.
Pest Control
Speaking of disease, expect an invasion of bugs and other pests in the wake of any disaster. We can see from past disasters, that any disaster ends up causing an increase in the population of both insects and rodents. They feed off of the problems that we’re having, allowing them to grow and reproduce faster.
Here again, you don’t necessarily need to have fancy products. Better to find what the professionals use and try to buy it in bulk.
Plastic Bags
Finally, most people don’t have enough plastic bags. Those bags are useful for a host of things, from taking care of our food to taking care of our waste. This is another category of things where there’s really no such thing as “too much.”
Stock whatever you can, in a few standard sizes that will meet your needs. Considering that we’re talking about using them in a time of crisis, I’d recommend going for better quality, so that they don’t tear at the wrong time.
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This guide is in physical format, ensuring you have access to this vital information even during extended blackouts or an EMP event.
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No matter civilian, military, prepper or other, we are never going to be 100%, we will be prepared for most events or situations coming. It also depends on our age groups, as we age certain things need modifying to fit our situation. What we did in our age 20+ is not the same in our 70+ years on earth.
We got the elites bankrupting our economy, selling out our America to the highest bidder as in Chinese CCP buying up American farmlands.
We got Soros, Gates using their wealth to corrupt what is left of our country and open borders, illegals flooding our America to vote in November 5th election.
It is up to us to decide our American fate in these next few weeks. Our sports NFL, NBA, Soccer sports are going toward international global standards. Even motor sports has gone the way of globalism than being American grounded.
It is up to us to decide what America will become in these waning days.
Hi Lisa, this is Lisa
You are right about never being 100% ready, that even if you survive whatever happens. You might go see your god sooner than later.
If American Farmland is being sold to the Chinese, maybe you should ask the farmers why they are selling to them?
Gates and Soros are doing what you voted for, corporate America. And no, illegals are not flooding into America, regardless the fox propaganda network. (still the same ol playbook) If you are so concerned about illegals flooding into this country, then why did the orange criminal tell them to vote against their own bill? And no, Illegals cannot vote, they never could. Stop the nonsense and read something other than a mythical book.
No one cares about the NFL, NBA or Soccer. Hell, the right gets their knickers in a twist over Obama wearing a tan suit, a red Starbuck’s cup and a beer can. I mean really. How petty is that? More things for the right to be mad at.
Oh well, have a wonder fall season, for me its canning season.
And its really cool we have the same name.
Lisa Blake (Alaska)
What a freaking psycho, responding to your own post. You seem to have multiple personality disorder. Either way you are still suffering from TDD. You aren’t a prepper. You are a plant in this forum. Wonder what your opinion will be as soon as you’re sexually assaulted by one of these scum bags coming across our border.
The real survival skill is what we do when all our preps are gone, exhausted and no more stores to resupply while the elites watch and laugh at us fighting each other for the last few crumbs.
Have we all been misled to the end of things?
What will we do?
By that time you should be growing your own food and preserving it. If you don’t have those skills now, best be starting on them as there is a steep learning curve with the growing portion. Also, remember, depending on what happens a LOT of the population will be gone. If the power goes out we’ll enter into ‘a dying time’ where those medically dependent on electricity or meds like insulin (which has to be refrigerated) won’t survive. Then with the sewage system disrupted, water borne diseases like cholera will rear their ugly head and take out even more. The crime and fighting for limited resources will happen in the cities right off the bat because most people don’t have more than 3 days of food. Most of those people will die from violence or starvation. This SHOULD all be over by the time we run out of stored food.
Sewage system? Always lived in the country, i have a well and septic system. Hand pump backup at the well.
Eat the elites!
I like the way you think!
Posted a meme a while back, “if we just kill and eat 1 billionaire, I’m pretty sure the rest will fall in line”, another one was, “it is our duty to seal off the air vents while they hide in their bunkers”.
We have the mindset if I’m going down I’m taking a few of them with me.
I made pretty accurate predictions over who would get jabbed. I know for a fact most in our small town have next to nothing stored to eat. Heck, we were at a neighbours for supper and afterward the power went out, she couldn’t even find her candles. They didn’t have flashlights that worked or spare batteries.
We practice fasting as well, know how to and what you need to get through the fast comfortably.
Mindset is huge.
Getting calcium carbonate or even calcium hydroxide is not so difficult. Getting calcium oxide (i.e. lime) is a challenge – especially in large quantities.
If there is limestone in your area just dig a pit, fill it with chunks of limestone and hardwood firewood in alternating layers and fire it up. Lime is still produced that way in rural Mexico.
Almost every big box home improvement store sells lime in 50lb bags. Look by the bagged concrete mix.
You can find 50lb bags of hydrated lime aka calcium hydroxide, slaked lime, or barn lime at building supply and feed stores. It’s what you use in outhouses. Regular aglime won’t work.
So how do they think crypto will work if there is no electricity or there is a cyber attack? Both are likely.
In reading things on being prepared over the years, I have not read anything that states how long it will be till things get back to where we can once again go to a store to resupply tings. Will it be six months or six years, or what. How long will water, sewer, gas and electricity be off?. How do you fight off a hundred people who come to your house to get your supplies? Not a single one on one attach and what happens when you fall asleep? We can not stay awake for years at a time. Our body’s won’t let us. What do those who are prepared and their supplies run out do? Join the mobs? At times I laugh when I read how a lone man can go live off the land and run and hide. How are elderly couples going to do that or a man who has a family? Plus how long would game or fish last in an area if thousands of people are hunting or fishing? Sure, there is a lot of good advice out there and I have spend money buying some of it. Good luck to us all for what is coming in the future.
If there is an EMP or CME which takes out the huge transformers then we’ll be out of electricity for probably a decade or more because you have to order those things 6 months in advance and it takes no less than a year to build along with the fact that they are not built here but overseas. From what all the ‘experts’ say that have studied this, 90% of the population will die within a year from violence, starvation, lack of medicine (especially those taken for diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.) lack of power for c-pap, or other machines, pacemakers failing, then comes the water borne illnesses like cholera and dysentery from lack of sewage systems, rodents spreading diseases from lack of sanitation (in the cities)
Here’s a good website with a man who lived through the Bosnian war (in the city) who gives his insights about what works, what doesn’t, how to do and what not to do, etc. ENJOY!
https://www.theorganicprepper.com/category/prepping-survival/selco/
On YouTube one can listen to a well written series of books. The author goes into detail on what life may be like after an EMP. Look up, A Second After, A Minute After, A Year After, and 5 Years After. These are written by (an expert on EMP’s) William Forstchen. One can also buy the books. There are other audible survival books on YT, too, and they are free.
It was reading One Second After that changed things for me. I went from being casually interested in prepping to deciding its time to get off my butt and do something. I store food ( an amount I am comfortable with), water and water purification (several methods), more hand tools, and most of the stuff in this article. I highly recommend his books for a look at what could come to be after a EMP or even other similar disasters.
Assuming the worst which is a solar cme that takes out power world wide it may take decades. Even an emp will take many years depending if Europe is okay and how much they help. In either situation the us death rate is expected to be close to 90 percent. Until that happens society can’t be rebuilt. You will either die in the 1st year or be set to survive. The worst will be when people resort to cannibalism.
If society collapses, I am prepared with several kinds of booby traps that will help protect me against violent moms who might choose to attack my home. One of my favorite is flower planters, all around the yard that have within the dirt hidden below loads of Tannerite that all I have to do is shoot the pot from my bedroom window. That will take out several attackers with one shot.
I’ll check it out I look at patents for one of my jobs.
That is very dystopian sounding patent. The Microsoft patent checks out on patent searches. Thanks for the heads up I’ll keep it in mind.
Well, I’ll be 70 next year. My husband I have decided we really don’t care if we live through an apocalypse. Frankly, life is hard right now. I’ve gone back to work because I needed to….We will protect what we have, but we won’t scavenge our neighbors. When it’s time to go – God please come.
I grew up in a military family. My mother always kept at least 2 months of food stuff that required little or no cooking, held up to no refrigeration and was nutritious. I realize this is not enough for a real disaster but it taught me to always consider the what if. Now that I am old, I still keep a supply of paper goods, food that needs little or no water, protection, and a water supply and a means of replacing the water, wood for burning and a full medical kit including
Medical needles, iodine and lots of gauze pads, splints and burn dressing. My medical kit is a suitcase not a small box. I know how to put up food from a garden, cut and preserve meat, dry food. I also know how to hunt. Hopefully these skills will help me if ever I need them. I also know how to use the medical supplies I have. I grow herbs that can be turned into medicine and know how to do it.
Wish we were friends and neighbors
Short term, bugging in is an option, but I don’t think it is doable long term. Even if you are lucky enough to survive the first 2-3 weeks, then what? Your preps will be low, and trying to maintain a garden, even an indoor garden, will be next to impossible. Water for your plants will be a sacrifice you will not want to make. Being outside, tending a garden, will eventually get noticed. Do your neighbors have preps equal, or better than yours? If not, that will be another disaster in the making. What happens when your neighbor turns violent trying to take a few more days worth of food from you? Are you going to shoot him? Are you going to share and reduce your available time in your bug in location?
After the initial bug in period, how safe will it be for you to bug out? Will you have enough supplies and ammo left to make it to a safe location?
The article states that you will be “in your home, close to all your possessions”. I HOPE he meant preparations, because if the author is implying TV’s, pictures, heirlooms, etc., then that would be a very poor reason to bug in. We all have things that are important to us that we want to keep, but through the course of time, those sentimental possessions lose their sentimentality and are easily discarded.
Whatever your decision, bug in or bug out, stay safe and alert. Only time will determine if you made the right decision.
In a pinch, wood ash can be a substitute for lime.
It is alkaline and has been used in making soap for centuries.
One could poop in a garbage lines 5 gal bucket. When filled, tie the top, drive to your nearest Democrats’ home, and toss it onto their porch.
Note attached could say, gee thanks a lot for this problem… Now it is YOURS.
Need gas when SHTF? Take gas can and hose to any car that has any kind of elect (a Democrat) bumper sticker on it. HINT….
Food for thought! LOL
Good reminder on the bug-in items of importance.
The list could go on forever I suppose.
Lighting is a morale booster on long cold winter nights.
Consider several three way lanterns.Dynamo charging or
Solar charging and battery power all in one unit.They
are in the forty to fifty dollar range and will not start an
accidental fire as candles or oil lantern might.The solar
side walk lights work well also.
So, how will solar panels work if skies are darkened by meteor or volcano activity? Wind is probably a good back up. An older automotive generator would be nice to have, even if hooked up to a bicycle. I believe having more than one plan is the essence of prepping. Yes guns are good but ammo runs out, arrows break and get lost, bow strings are hard to replace, nice to store oil lamp wicks in the oil reservoir. Most of what I have mentioned is easily available now, but not later.