I have a question for everyone.

[Trekbike]

Like the frig, we used the toilets for the first 24 hours...then shifted to our portajohn...lesson learned, we need a bigger stock of liner bags. First day we used the bbq grill for cooking and shifted to a rocket stove...we now have a set of cast iron to use with the rocket stove.

We number one thing that appeared to help our attitude was lighting. The second thing was being creative with the food. Set aside some prep reading material and several board and card games.

My big purchase resulting from the experiment was a robust solar panel for recharging batteries. My biggest comfort purchase was a solar hot water bag (hang it in the sun light even on a cold day and you will have warm water to wash). These bags can be found on boating supplies web sites.

Last lesson, inventory your survival gear with location...we spent a lot of time and batteries looking for minor items that were stashed in random locations.

The best part is that I now feel that my family has been exposed to the process and will be able to better cope with a number of scenarios. Thanks for asking about our experiment.

Thanks for the info. As clarification, is your current plan mainly focused on getting through a short or long term event?

Obviously a short term event can turn into a long term event but my main worry is being able to sustain things long term. Planning the food, water, hygiene, and security for a long term event is kind of a daunting task to say the least.

One of things you mentioned you learned was to have more toilet liners so I assume you are using one of the toilets were you sit on a bucket type arrangement and replace the bags as necessary but please confirm. What do you do with disposal of the bags for example?

During your cold weather tests, what are you using for heat?

[MemHeli]

what size panel did you get?  What kind of power will it make?

solar panel for recharging batteries.

[MemHeli]

I just happen to be lookin here and would suggest that ya keep some super glue around.  For those who severed in Vietnam know what I'm talkin about.  It will stop bleeding in an emergency until a person can be stitched if needed.   It saved many in nam from bleeding to death.

 

I've used cyanoacrolate to glue up several nasty cuts from x-acto blades.  It's awesome, and fast!  I don't have any of this in my bag now, but will be adding this to the inventory asap.

Edited January 12, 2016 by MemHeli