Gerald Celente with Chris Waltzek of Goldseek (March 2010) discuss the economy and the crash of 2010, terrorism, and the preparedness mentality (interview below):
The message of this story is, during these volatile times, in an anything goes scenario, do you have a survival plan?
Whether its economic survival, whether its a natural disaster, or whether it’s terrorism.
Why A Survival Plan is a Good Idea
Whether it’s natural or man-made, if the SHTF you better have a plan. Most families have about three days worth of food in their pantries, maybe a week if they stretch it. After that your bellies will be empty.
The first thing to go in the onset of an emergency is the food and water.
We’ve discussed basic emergency planning before, and if the examples from just the past three months aren’t enough, then there’s probably nothing we can suggest that will convince you to take responsibility for yourself and your family and stock a reserve supply of essentials.
Emergencies and disasters don’t just happen on TV, in the news. They happen to real people just like you:
- Hawaii Tsunami: Supermarket, Gas Lines as Pacific Rim Braces for Tsunami
- Chilean Earthquake: Is it Looting? Victims Search for Food, Water, Gas, Emergency Supplies, Ingredients for Bread
- UK Snowstorm: Winter Panic in UK: Store Shelves Stripped
- Haiti Earthquake: Red Cross Out of Medical Supplies in Haiti
- East Coast Snowstorm: Snowpocalypse: Why Being Prepared is a Good Idea
- Venezuela Currency Devaluation: Venezuelans Scramble to Buy Goods as Chavez Devalues Currency 50%
Some Reserve Food Tips
One of the issues that many people have about prepping is a lack of funds. While this is certainly an important consideration, preparing a ten to fourteen day supply of food should not do too much damage to your budget.
For those first two weeks there is no need to go crazy with freeze dried goods or MRE’s, though these are excellent supplements to dry goods storage (especially the eggs & ham combo and some freeze dried meats). Simply make a list of dry goods that your family consumes regularly – our kids are big fans of mac & cheese, nuts, crackers and cereals. Incorporate this into your two week reserves along with things like rice, pinto beans, dehydrated milk, and canned meats (vienna sausages, chicken, tuna, salmon, ham).
For food selection when preparing a reserve food supply, most of the foods should be those that your family eats regularly so that you can rotate it right into your existing food preparation. As you use up rice or beans, or soup cans and crackers, just add them to the next grocery list. Doing this makes your reserve food supply a one-time cost.
And be sure to have water. This is even more important than food and you can stock 25 gallons for under $35 (Run down to the Home Depot and pick up five x 5 gallon spring water today and it’s one less thing to worry about).
Finally, if you are storing dry goods that require cooking, consider preparation methods. Do you have a gas grill or charcoal grill? Stock up on some extra fuel today.
Don’t have a grill? Consider a Rocket Stove for under $50. You can boil water in about 15 minutes with some twigs from the backyard or charcoal if you have it handy.
It’s easy to create an SHTF Plan. Consider those items critical to survival first, and go from there. (Suggested Reading: Survival Priorities: The Rule of Three)
For under $200 you can feel comfortable knowing that you do, in fact, have a survival plan, albeit a basic one.
Evacuation
You’ll of course want to make preparations for evacuation routes along with evac checklists in the event of something like a hurricane, tsunami, earthquake or terror attack. Don’t underestimate the power of panic – when the SHTF everyone in your household, including you, will probably be stressed out. Having a checklist (they take maybe 10 minutes to put together) will make it easy for you to get all of your important belongings packed into the car and get your family out the door while the rest of the city is rushing grocery stores full of empty shelves.
Finally, in regards to evacuations – remember the gas. If you don’t have reserve gas stored, or it is prohibitive because of cost or safety, then just keep your car(s) filled.
In the case of gasoline, the tank is empty if it is on the halfway mark. So go tank up if you hit 50% on the fuel gauge — make it a habit. If there is an emergency and your primary vehicle is low on gas, consider emergency steps like siphoning from your secondary vehicle (anti-siphon technology in some cars may prevent this, in which case you can always pop a hole in the secondary vehicle’s gas tank and use that to fill the primary).
The tips listed above are just a start and are the most basic considerations that should be made by those who have, up to this point, taken no steps to create a survival plan.
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