as of today......

**sinopa27** · 08-30-2011, 02:33 AM

As of today, how many days, months or years do you think you will last without power.....or lets say....the ____has hit the fan!!
I keep reading about people being without power,etc for 4-5 days or so. But they have gas stove as opposed to electric.....etc. So, I want to know, if there is a complete breakdown in systems that we are used to, how long will you last?
thank you in advance. I am just beginning and have so much to learn.
Sinopa

**thefrug** · 08-30-2011, 05:30 AM

I could go indefinitely. I've learned the skill to cook and bake on an open fire if I have to. We have both solar and wind generators to use in case shtf. I can make an evaporative cooler to keep a few things cool. It won't keep things like a fridge but it'll help a little. I have learned and use a solar oven to cook with.I have enough food stockpile for the hubby and me and I have to know-how to grow and preserve our foods. I also know how to keep the seeds for the next planting season. I have the means and the know-how to hunt for our meat if necessary.I know how to harvest some wild foods and are working on learning more on the subject. I'm learning to grow and use medicinal herbs and plants.
I have the means to filter and use harvested water from different methods.
I have the ability to defend myself against whomever or whatever if need be.
Surviving doesn't just mean having food and water. You need to have the skills to survive and the mental muscles to do so.

**sinopa27** · 08-30-2011, 06:44 AM

Originally Posted by thefrug

I could go indefinitely. I've learned the skill to cook and bake on an open fire if I have to. We have both solar and wind generators to use in case shtf. I can make an evaporative cooler to keep a few things cool. It won't keep things like a fridge but it'll help a little. I have learned and use a solar oven to cook with.I have enough food stockpile for the hubby and me and I have to know-how to grow and preserve our foods. I also know how to keep the seeds for the next planting season. I have the means and the know-how to hunt for our meat if necessary.I know how to harvest some wild foods and are working on learning more on the subject. I'm learning to grow and use medicinal herbs and plants.
I have the means to filter and use harvested water from different methods.
I have the ability to defend myself against whomever or whatever if need be.
Surviving doesn't just mean having food and water. You need to have the skills to survive and the mental muscles to do so.

Now that's what I am talking about!!!! Real skills!! Not this....."i survived without power for 3 days...." mess!!! Thank you! Now I have an idea what I need to be doing.

**l8eebugg** · 08-30-2011, 07:07 AM

Wow, I thought I was doing good going into Irene. Guess I need to think again.

**freebs** · 08-30-2011, 08:09 AM

I could go a longtime if i had a running river or the likes close. I have a hard time with the very high heat and start having asthma problems. As long as i have something that i can turn into like a vapor cooler I can pull thru it.

**daylily** · 08-30-2011, 08:20 AM

What the frug said

.

We have a wood cook stove, a wood-fired water heater stove, cast iron cookware to use with the wood stove, gravity water from a spring and a 600 gallon reservoir, vegetable and herb gardens, fruit trees and bushes, knowledge of wild edibles and medicinals, etc.

I also have a treadle sewing machine that works and spare parts for it.

Do your favorite hobbies require electricity?

Don't underestimate a good hobby if the world has turned upside down. Mine are reading, birding, and gardening. I also like to knit. DH does woodworking and has many hand tools that he used as a young carpenter or inherited from his dad and my grandpa.

**Trishagirl** · 08-30-2011, 09:10 AM

We have a camp stove and lantern and oil lamps,water and a kerosene heater lots of candles,matches just need to stock up on food more and petfood also.

**Ceashels** · 08-30-2011, 09:26 AM

I would outlast Greebo since he would die from electronics withdraw. Though we don't have a lot of tested skills, Greebo and I do have a good bit of knowledge which would take us further than our surrounding urbanites.

**nodmicks** · 08-30-2011, 09:33 AM

We are not huge stockpilers but I have no doubt we would be fine. We fish down the road. Dh hunts and also ice fishes. We have a garden along with fruit and berry trees on our property. We have a wood stove we never use but could. We have all the camping equipment to cook over an open flame. We have chickens for eggs and heaven forbid~ meat.

Anything we don't know we could learn from our Amish neighbors. Where we would likely get stuck is snow removal! We have a long wide open driveway in the country and it is common to get thigh high drifts. We need gas to plow!

**Greebo** · 08-30-2011, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by Ceashels

I would outlast Greebo since he would die from electronics withdraw. Though we don't have a lot of tested skills, Greebo and I do have a good bit of knowledge which would take us further than our surrounding urbanites.

Objection.

Empirically we've seen that in a power outage, you get injured and I take care of you while doing lots of little jobs around the house.

**mommy4ever** · 08-30-2011, 10:01 AM

Interesting.

We have a woodburning insert that could provide us with a cooking surface. We currently have nearly a winters worth of wood, if we run the furnace nights. I run wood all day. Now it could go longer if we weren't heating the whole house, meaning putting up barriers to the upper floors to keep the majority of the heat on that one floor. We'd be ok, prevent pipes from freezing through the house, but it would be cool on those levels.

Food wise, well we'd need more than I have on hand. Winter we'd be ok, as the freezers are full, and we could put it outside to keep it. Summer, it would be food lost then.

However, we're learning more skills. We have started growing more food. I know how to preserve, I just don't care to do it.

Plus the kids went to a historical camp this summer and have an appreciation for simple foods like my parents grew up on. We could make it work.

I know how to snare, but I don't own a rifle to hunt.

I think if it came down to long term, we'd have several houses merging into one. MIL FIL would be with us, they are both tough and would jump in. My parents, if it was wide spread, we'd find a way to get here. My dad can hunt. We all know how to fish, including ice fishing. Dad has traps as well. I imagine it would be our house, as ours has the best heating system.

Need to look into other survival type skills. These are the times I would want to be on an acreage again..lol

**Contrary Housewife** · 08-30-2011, 10:17 AM

Depending on the time of year, we'd be good for a week or two, possibly three. We live in the city, not much hunting or foraging going on here unless it was going to be raiding the local gas station. I have a garden, but we don't grow enough to live self-sufficiently.

The two most likely scenarios here, one of which we already lived through, are a major ice storm in winter or a tornado any other time of year. That would leave us 3-10 days without power, and a very slim chance that the house is damaged by the tornado and we become homeless.

**Dancing Lotus** · 08-30-2011, 10:42 AM

Power isn't all that necessary for survival. Yes I'd miss the TV and the computer, phones too but after a while those things would become less and less important. I'd be just fine if I had to live without it.

**krbshappy71** · 08-30-2011, 11:09 AM

I would last until I ran out of thyroid pills. After that I have 2 weeks tops and its shut down time. Not knowing how to manufacture them myself, I'm screwed. Unless its zombies, then I could possibly break into a pharmacy that was already robbed and hope that no one already stole the thyroid pills.

I would sell myself on a street corner for thyroid pills. ha!

**Ceashels** · 08-30-2011, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by krbshappy71

I would last until I ran out of thyroid pills. After that I have 2 weeks tops and its shut down time. Not knowing how to manufacture them myself, I'm screwed. Unless its zombies, then I could possibly break into a pharmacy that was already robbed and hope that no one already stole the thyroid pills.

I would sell myself on a street corner for thyroid pills. ha!

Any plan is a step in the right direction.

WTG! lol