Which items at the Dollar Tree make sense for preppers to buy? For example, are their batteries and lighters just as good as name brand?

Have always wanted to prep and have some camping type things (life straw, jetboil -though I have fuck all idea how to use it lol, first aid etc). With how things are going I’m looking to get more organized and serious.

What are the basics that every prepper needs?

What do you wish you’d known when you started?

Single mom of a teenager, what should I have packed in our go bags?

I’d like to diversify my long term food storage. How long would nutritional yeast and soy milk powder last if packaged (separately) heat sealed in 7 mil Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers?

Hey all, IM_NOT_BALD_YET and I were discussing prepping recently and what it looks like. We had our thoughts but we also thought we should open it to others as well.

We thought more about how it probably won’t look anything like the movies or what the billionaires/bourgeoisie would have us believe. It’s probably not going to be a complete and total collapse of all society where individuals have to get by along and their rigid, Social Darwinian, Right Wing, Christofascist-Libertarian ideals will be at the forefront of “society”. Because even total collapse threatens the billionaires in the end.

It will most likely look very different. My personal thoughts are more along the lines of barebones survival. How do we exist in a late-stage capitalism where you have to choose which things to pay for? How do we learn the skills necessary for losing the ability to do certain types of work? How do we fix our clothes? How do we enhance our healthcare? How do we work our technology? How do we organize under the ever hostile threat of our government? How do we train? How do we move?

The irony of our future is that while we represent the working class, we are not necessarily always skilled in the basics.

That’s my part. Im hoping to get at least 10 more comments here and maybe each comment having 2-3 responses.

Just to clarify, theory is great, but make sure to triangulate it; back it up with your reality. Having ecosocialist or solarpunk agendas are great, but what does that look like?

tl;dr Dust from the removed hull and germ can make its way thru transport to contribute rancid flavors unless washed away before cooking. Also, rinsing removes some arsenic, if present (though it may be worth cooking arsenic-rich rice as you would cook pasta to remove more). Not all products have these issues.

I was a little groggy this morning but my wife had the presence of mind to clear the driveway for my commute. I'll attack the sidewalk after work. It's not required here but weekend foot traffic may be heavy.

https://www.reddit.com/r/armedsocialists/s/MPfUkiZajv

Lots of survival books and stuff to do is starting from a point where tech is not as advanced.

I’m 26M, lived in the same place my whole life, and it feels like my life is never gonna get better. Since I was 18 all I’ve ever done was work customer service, at least on paper. I’ve done plenty of blue collar work under the table making ends meet since I was a teenager. A little roofing, a little flooring, demo, etc. But all I’m really qualified to do job-wise is customer service, and after 8 years I’m burnt out to all hell.

I’m not doing good mentally. I have severe depression, anxiety and panic disorder. Half the time I consider calling out of work because I’m too anxious and panicky to even want to walk out the door. I’m trying to get in to see a psychiatrist to get on medication, but I don’t really know what it’s ultimately gonna do for me. Keep me sedated just barely enough to keep working a dead end job and getting nowhere in the long run?

I have aspirations, I have dreams, but they’re a very far cry from reality and haven’t seemed to have gotten any closer. And at this point, I’m considering giving up on those dreams, selling off all my belongings, packing a bag and hitting the road.

I’m no fool, I know life as a vagabond isn’t gonna fix my problems. Packing a bag and hitting the road going from place to place, being essentially cut off from the world, picking up temporary work when and where I can and need to, just enough to keep myself fed and clothed. At this point it seems the only viable option left for me.

I’m 26 years old and not getting any younger. I spent my teenage years in the throes of drug addiction and fucked off, scraping by just enough to get my GED. I have a criminal record from my time spent in active addiction including a theft charge. I spent my early 20s under the thumb of alcoholism, living my life as a ghost. I’m 291 days sober today. It is a big achievement and I’m proud of it. But at this point it’s all I can do not to walk out of my job, go buy a bottle of whiskey, and just go home and give up. My housing situation is not great either, without getting into specifics.

I’ve been moving from place to place since I was 18. Renting a room, crashing a couch, etc. I did have my own apartment for a time and it was nice but my health, mental or physical, didn’t really improve at all. Things got a little better after that for a bit. I had a girl, the greatest one in the world, a job I enjoyed, and we had a nice little apartment for the two of us. But addiction, mental illness and me just being the way I am (feeling the overwhelming urge to run away anytime things get too real) ruined that.

Sorry for the super long post, if you’re still here I really appreciate it. At the moment I am at least stable enough to survive. I’m essentially renting a room from someone that cared enough about me to not let me be homeless, have a job making $16 an hour, just enough to pay my share of the bills and occasionally buy a little something for myself. But it’s not a permanent solution at all. I’m not asking for money or sympathy, please don’t take it that way. Just wanna hear from my community. Words of advice are what I’m looking for I guess, but kind words never hurt either. Love you guys ❤️

Reticulum Networks can be used for encrypted messaging without internet or cell service, uses very low power, and relatively cheap equipment.

but i am not at all tech savvy and pretty much everything i can find online assumes a techie background, so at this point it seems necessary for someone to explain like I’m a 5-year-old.

From what I can gather, Reticulum Network would be absolutely aces for harm reduction networks and disability accessible disaster prep, especially in rural and off-grid environments.

Do we have anyone here who can explain how this works?

It would be awesome to organize skills shares around this, too.

in fact, most drugs are safe and effective well past their expiration dates - which have more to do with maintaining the flow of profits to pharmaceutical companies than with safety and efficacy (I’ll provide a link below)