Where to start?

This is going to vary a bit depending on your circumstances. Are you planning on bugging out and if so do you know where you are going? Are you going to be able to store items at your bug out location? I would start by digging around the site a bit and doing some research on each specific area and put together a plan. Once your plan is in place you can decide what your next step is but remember your plan may evolve over time. Personally I have no intention of bugging out however I plan on having a bag around just in case it becomes necessary, this is a decision I came to recently and was not part of my original plan. Once you decide what you're plan is post your questions in the appropriate sub forum and it'll make it easier to get answers to your questions in a timely fashion.

I'm not sure running out and buying a handgun would have been my first suggestion but you could have done a lot worse as far as your selection goes. I kind of swore off Ruger pistols as bulky and heavy with the P series but the new SR series of handguns is suddenly drawing me to them and I am considering an SR-45 as a 2nd floor home defense gun. I'm a firm believer in handguns in a SHTF situation simply for the fact that they are easier to have on your person every waking minute of the day. Spend some time at the range with that new gun and make sure you give us a range report. Welcome aboard by the way, there's a lot of good info and some very knowledgeable people here, I've learned quite a bit since joining.

-Infidel

Welcome from Illinois. It will take time. I saw the writing on the wall with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I took me a good year just to build up enough food for a month. Like some of the other people here, I put away the same foods I eat regularly, so help maintain s sense of normalcy (especially necessary with kids). It also allows me to rotate foods from my supplies to my pantry before the foods go bad and not have to waste money. Buy a little extra each shopping trip. I started with canned and dried foods. Don't think you have to spend money on MREs, even though they're handy. There is plenty of info available here and plenty of people to help. You can always send a private message to the people here for help. By understanding the need to prepare, you've already taken a big step forward. Some people get so frightened thinking of the situation they should prepare for, that they fall back into denial and never get started. Congratulations on taking the first step towards what I call "real life insurance".

First off let me say I'm against any kind of valance! I have a tender hart, I don't want to hurt anybody. I'm sorry I didn't make that more clear to begin with! The only reason I started of with a hand gun and was asking about other weapons, is he news out of Washington I have never felt the need to own one up to now. I'm of the idea if I (WE) don't start exercise my (OUR) 2 amendment rights soon they will be taken away! In the county / town I live in 22thousand people applied for their personal carry permit in December. I must not be the only person thinking the way I am.

That out of the way I think we (my wife and I)would be the bug in type of people, I don't know where we would go? We are not the most active people around. I'm wanting to do more walking maybe start hiking again? We have started getting a little extra at the store each week,I'm trying to combine prepping with Couponing the two seam to go togather. My biggest problem I think will be water, I have been filling gallon milk jugs as quick as I can. It will never be enough, and they take up so much room. I have been looking at 5 gallon containers I might pick up a few to help with storage. I was wanting to ask about our water stores, what keeps it from going bad /stagnant undrinkable? I haven't really gotten past this point in planning weapons, extra food and water in milk jugs. That's about as far as I've gotten, I know it's a lifestyle we'll have to get use to. I'm still shocked my wife is going along with me on this. It must be looking Grimm for her to give me the go ahead to start prepping. Thanks for all the help I will do my best to get started!

GOD bless you all!
GOD Bless AMERICA!!!!

Rigged for Quiet said:

I regret to have to say that milk jugs are the least best answer for water storage. It beats the hell out of nothing, but the plastic is prone to becoming brittle and it will leach chemicals from it's manufacutring process into your water if exposed to temps above room temperature for extended periods of time.

Two liter soda bottles are a better alternative. If you don't hapen to drink soda, which is a smart move, try asking close friends and family members to save their 2 liter bottles for you.
It soundls like space may be a problem so another alternaive is storing your water underneath your bed and any beds in guest rooms you may have. This also lends itself wel to buying the smaller water bottles if you can catch a case of 24 on sale for a couple of bucks. The best idea is to use plastic jugs or barrells specifically designed to store water or food grade products. They range is size from 5, 7, 15, and up to 50 gallons.
There are tons of water storage strategies out there.

Click to expand...

One of the first things you need to do is decide what your possible and probable disaster events are in your home, city, state. If you live in Iowa, the probability of a tidal wave is on the small side.
As far as water, due to taste and radon in my water, I buy spring water by the gallon from the big W. I maintain 24 gallons on hand, and as we need them for drinking, I consume the old ones (3 to 4 months old). The bottle actually have a best used by date (don't confuse with expiration date) which is about one year. The first time I bought them, I kept them in the original cardboard box and stacked them 4 high as specified on the box. With in a few months, I had a large puddle from the bottom 6 bottles crushing. I began storing the bottles in plastic milk crate, 3 high. With in a few months, I had new puddle from a jug that just started leaking for no apparent reason. The water jugs are thicker than milk jugs(measured a whole 0.002 inches). I can only guess that milk is used faster so they aren't prone to just sitting long enough to leak????? Don't forget that you house hot water heater is a good source of emergency water. You can buy an emergency storage bladder for the bathtub at this web site: WaterBOB Emergency Drinking Water Storage 100 Gallon With Siphon Pump FDA Approved Bladder. You fill it when you need it. If you have a basement with an sump pump for ground water elimination, it can be a source of water to be purified.
There is a tremendous amount of info available here and on the Internet, but remember a lot of it is OPINION, if something doesn't make a whole lot of sense, research it and then make up your mind. Because of my background, I thought I knew a lot about preparedness. Boy was I wrong.

Little Bob said:

..We're new to prepping, and don't really know where to go from here?...

Click to expand...

A small 'Basic Five' stockpile like below should tide you over for a few weeks depending what Emergency hits us, for example if there's street riots or no electricity or running water you can hole up safe at home living off your supplies until the Govt hopefully get things fixed.
The radio is to listen to news broadcasts to know what the hell's going on out there-



After creating your stockpile the next step is where the prepping fun comes in by adding gadgets and stuff to it,
But as always it depends what hits us, here's my 'Doomsday List' in no particular order, hopefully it'll only be a short-term type of disaster lasting just a few weeks, but others might last months or years-

1- Chernobyl-type nuclear plant accident, but on a much bigger scale, poisoning an area as big as the USA or the whole of Europe and Asia.
2- Massive meteor or asteroid strike wiping out millions with blast and tsunami, and kicking up enough dust to black out the sun for years like what wiped out the dinosaurs.
3- World War 3 exchange of nuclear weapons poisoning virtually the entire planet.
4- A plague wiping out most humans on earth after accidental release from a bio research lab, or a deliberate release by terrorists to wipe out the population of a specific country, or perhaps a virus naturally evolves that has no cure.
5- EC Event (Economic Collapse) triggering total breakdown of law and order resulting in looting gangs etc.
6- EM pulse (from a solar flare or nuclear bomb) blows out the electricity grid and electronics, it'll be bad but hopefully the govt will have contingency plans to get it fixed and relief food and medicine convoys up and running.
7- Mega-earthquake bigger than anything the earth has experienced before, demolishing a whole bunch of cities across countries or continents.
8- Mega-tsunami triggered by gigantic quake at sea, wiping out coastal areas for a hundred miles or more inland.
9- Runaway volcano that carries on spewing out dust and ash for months, throwing a grey wind-carried shroud around the planet blocking out sunlight and triggering subzero temperature drops.
10- Haywire weather (nonstop storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods etc) caused by global warming, pollution, ozone depletion etc
11- City Lockdown by the Authorities where citizens are ordered to stay indoors for whatever reason such as a terrorist manhunt or whatever which could last days/weeks

If you are staying in place you MUST find a natural source of water, there is no way you can store enough. This will mean digging or drilling a well or having the means to get water from a well without the power grid functioning. You may have a source available in the neighborhood which means you will need some way to haul it, maybe a heavy duty wagon or cart, don't assume your automobile will be available. Don't assume open water sources will be drinkable, if that is your plan get a Berkley Water Filter.

If you cannot get water plan on bugging out to where you can, you don't want to end up 4 weeks into a collapse being forced to move. If you plan on bugging out now you can start working on packs and sleeping bags and all the other travel related items.

Next what is your sewage system? If you are on a public system you need to plan on plugging the toilets and any floor drains to eliminate backups as they will happen. Bugging in will be miserable with raw sewage in your house, also you need a shovel to dig a latrine. Disease and disintary will be huge killers in a collapse, make plans now to avoid these threats. Also make a garbage disposal plan to either burry or burn trash.

I'll be retiring in 4 years. We will be moving to wife's family farm where we eventually hope to own 150 acres. We will be digging a well with a manual pump backup, enlarging an existing pond to 2 acres and raising catfish, installing solar panels, raising chickens, goats and a couple of cows and buying two saddle broke ponies for transportation should we ever need it. I plan on several food plots for game as well as a large garden for herbs and vegetables.

Right now we are buying guns, ammunition and high capacity magazines. I have about 10 guns. I also have a Parker Tornado crossbow and lots of smaller items. I think the best thing you can invest in is a Katadyn pocket water purifier. I know people say "what if the water is all contaminated?" Well, being here in Tennessee I can find fresh water from springs, creeks, rivers and ponds within a few minute walk of my home anytime. A handheld purifier is essential. The one I referred to has an extremely long filter life too.

Right now I live in the suburbs and can't wait to leave. No bugout bag for me.