The Poor Man’s Prepping

[HackHack]

...... I'm beginning to think about what I can grow on my tiny balcony with only morning and way early afternoon sun. Please. Anybody. Give me some suggestions here!

I'm getting ready to do some experimenting with sprouting to suppliment my canned and dehydrated foods in an Event. Please. Anybody. Give me some suggestions! ..........

First off I like to say that I truly appreciated reading your post. It had a lot of good points. Apartment living and prepping is defiantly a challenge for me as well, and all I can say you must be pretty great in playing Tetris in order to pull that off.

One thing you didn't really get into is medical supplies. Are you storing that as well?

To your question about what to plant on you balcony. Have you considered Radish's? they can be harvested in about 30 days and don't take up a lot of room. Plus they have great nutritional value.

Nutrition Facts (1/2 cup fresh sliced raw red globes)
Calories 12
Protein 0.35 grams
Carbohydrates 2.0 grams
Dietary Fiber 1 gram
Potassium 134.56 mg
Folate 15.66 mcg

Now to the dehydrated foods. I love to dehydrate my food. As a Tip think LEFTOVERS
- leftover Tomato Sauce, dehydrate it in a fruit roll-up dehydrating sheet, then break it up and put in in the blender make a power out of it. Vacuum Seal it and store in Freezer. Then you can add a little hot water to make paste, medium hot water for Soup/ Sauce or Juice. Or add the powder in a bag of instant rice or Ramen. When camping/Bugging out just add Hot water for a meal.
Its easy to get creative with dehydrated foods. and the more you dehydrate foods the more you want to get a professional $300ish Dehydrator. I started off with the $30 Walmart brand which I loved, and literary used until it fell apart. Now I Upgreated to the Excalibur. What a great fast and easy to use dehydrator.

Enjoy and keep up the great posts

[duodecima]

Long post back at cha!

Right! I'm a low low income prepper too, who also lives in a tiny 5th floor apartment.

Yep, I'm impressed too already. And that's before we get to the bit where you've got more days of water stored than I do in my (relative to yours) barn of a house. And you've practiced doing your laundry (tub, I have. Washboard, not so much...) Which goes to show that money and space may be helpful or make some things easier, but they're neither necessary or sufficient unto themselves.

I simply have no place I can think of to go, on a bicycle or otherwise.

Well, like you said, you're preparing to bug in and keeping an eye out for places to go. The only other things I can thing of are (relatively) cheap - acquire skills and "network". If you're forced to bug out without a preplanned destination, the skills may help you find a place with one of your networked contacts, or provide a respectable point of entry into a new community. (To me, network means, do stuff and have fun with people you share some interest with. No power lunch required.)

Then I stumbled onto the ZS thread "Mom's Journal of the Zombie Years" and began reading.

I lost so much sleep when I found that story. <3<3<3. OK, back OT...

455 sq. ft. doesn't readily offer up suggestions. But it is a lovely apartment and I want to focus on keeping it as lovely as I can while keeping in mind my prep needs.

A bunch of the food storage blogs have stuff on making your preps into furniture, but it's not my style of furniture either.

I'm working on alternate ways of cooking if electricity isn't available. [snip] The apartment building has 'rules' about using the balcony for storage so I'm currently disquising the pine cone fuel as balcony decoration. [snip] I'm trying to organize a solar stove.

I made my own solar panel cooker this summer - asked a furniture store to save me a big piece of cardboard, but there are plans out there for using many smaller pieces of cardboard and hinging them together. I'm still working on solar box oven. Husband is getting annoyed about collection of cardboard boxes and cans in basement...

The only thing I would add is the "magic box" or "hay box" oven. (description and pattern) Saves fuel on 1 pot meals and lets you make bread. Strikes me that the insulator "bags" could be stored empty if you had a beanbag chair for sitting on. I have the thrift store cotton material, but I haven't managed to thrift a bean bag chair yet - I can't claim to be poor but I'm cheap and occasionally stubborn, and I'm not paying that much for polystyrene pellets...

Could you get something like bamboo for your balcony decorations? And my other thought, is try to make sure your furniture is wood or otherwise burnable. Not what you'd want to do, but in a true emergency you'd have an option.

I'm getting ready to do some experimenting with sprouting to suppliment my canned and dehydrated foods in an Event. Please. Anybody. Give me some suggestions!

Sprouting is easy! I had never done it before,I followed directions on a food storage blog, (using an old nylon stocking over mason jar with wheat in it, turn upside down in bowl in kitchen cabinet.) Worked like a charm! No fancy sprouting racks needed.

Along the line of simple, cheapish skills - can you make bread? If not that's an easy, cheapish thing to do, and may save you even more money if you substitute it for store bread. (Also a cheap but classy thing to bring to potlucks & group meals). I started out with the 5-minute artisan bread here (viewtopic.php?f=50&t=40324&hilit=artisan+bread) and was later gifted some sourdough starter, followed the directions, and ended up with sourdough bread. I think bread's made out to be more complicated than it is.

Keep going, I am sure I will learn more from what you figure out.

[zombiepreparation]

One thing you didn't really get into is medical supplies. Are you storing that as well?

Allright!

Number One: Big thanks to the posters who are responding here with ideas! I am reading and trying to absorb/understand everything being shared. Some things for me will be slower going than others, some things offered here will be scooped up and immediately used.

Number Two: Since some posters are responding to this thread I am now putting on my learning cap. I will learn better, at least at the beginning while I'm getting my sea legs here, start with just this one question and use it as an exercise for my prepping.

This is a little haven for me because I'm not yet ready for the big leagues out there in the other ZS-land threads.

[zombiepreparation]

Thanks for the tips so far.

[zombiepreparation]

I made my own solar panel cooker this summer - asked a furniture store to save me a big piece of cardboard

Ohhhhhhh. With a real solar panel? So how does that work? Just this past week I heard about using, I believe it was, a 20 watt solar panel just to begin with for small things like LED lights and recharging computer battery and I would suppose a cell phone. I looked up the 20 watt panel. It looks like a reasonable future (with long term saving $$) purchase.... however, THEN there was the battery to purchase, right? arrghh. THEN an inverter or some such which looks like more $$. Daunting. Maybe more things to purchase like cables/cords/more $$. But ohhhhh, I want one. And it does look like a size that can be incorporated in this tiny place. I think it does anyway, having never really seen one. But, please, tell me about the cooker you made!

The only thing I would add is the "magic box" or "hay box" oven. (description and pattern) Saves fuel on 1 pot meals and lets you make bread. Strikes me that the insulator "bags" could be stored empty if you had a beanbag chair for sitting on. I have the thrift store cotton material, but I haven't managed to thrift a bean bag chair yet - I can't claim to be poor but I'm cheap and occasionally stubborn, and I'm not paying that much for polystyrene pellets...

This has gone on my list for a Must Have!

Along the line of simple, cheapish skills - can you make bread? If not that's an easy, cheapish thing to do, and may save you even more money if you substitute it for store bread. (Also a cheap but classy thing to bring to potlucks & group meals). I started out with the 5-minute artisan bread here (viewtopic.php?f=50&t=40324&hilit=artisan+bread) and was later gifted some sourdough starter, followed the directions, and ended up with sourdough bread. I think bread's made out to be more complicated than it is.

Interesting you would mention bread making. Now, I simply do not eat more than a loaf of bread every six months, however..... I have started learning to do so. Just to learn the skill. You can make bread with flour, water, and oil if you have nothing else.

Keep going, I am sure I will learn more from what you figure out.

Keep teaching me and offering suggestions. I realize some won't work or fit me but some are gonna.

[zombiepreparation]

The only thing I would add is the "magic box" or "hay box" oven. (description and pattern) Saves fuel on 1 pot meals and lets you make bread.

Hey! I just had another idea for emergency usage of this thing. The site also said it can be used for keeping cold stuff cold so in an emergency (when all else is failing of course) it 'could' be used for cold storage for a few hours like a cooler.

Yup. I see I'll be on the lookout for a bean bag chair. They do frequently show up at thrift stores. Now if I can just find one with the recommended 1/8 in pellets for around $3.

[ZombieGranny]

You can oil or wax wood and it brings out the grain beautifully.
Even cheap plywood looks lovely sanded and oiled or waxed.

[zombiepreparation]

Ho! Just confirmed something I read somewhere sometime that everyone probably already knows, but just in case, and it's a tip for Poor Man's Prepping spending. It has to do with having a way to start fire with you all the time.

Empty lighters that no longer make a flame but still make a spark.
Empty lonnnng nosed lighters for fireplaces, grills, and such that no longer make a flame but still make a spark.

If they still make a spark they can still make a fire! I tried it today with a kaput long nose lighter. Got a small piece of napkin, rolled it loosely, held it to the lighter, made it spark by clicking it to light. The spark caught the napkin immediately! For me it was like I had created fire, like when Tom Hanks was in that Castaway movie after he finally made fire.

So this is how I'm applying it to my own Poor Man's Prepping: I will start a small collection of used up lighters in addition to usable lighters in a grab n go situation because I cannot yet afford the steel match or flint stick. If the lighters still spark, they still have usable flint and still work for an emergency situation fire starter.

I also try to keep thinking of a way to make myself useful to a group I may need to align with for at least a short time in BO or relocating for whatever reason in an Event. This may be one opportunity; keeping my eyes to the ground for discarded lighters. I could possibly offer them to my fire-less momentary companions, and teach them how to create fire too.

Poor Man's Prepping. No cost fire starter. Spent lighters.

[KnightoftheRoc]

Ho! Just confirmed something I read somewhere sometime that everyone probably already knows, but just in case, and it's a tip for Poor Man's Prepping spending. It has to do with having a way to start fire with you all the time.

Empty lighters that no longer make a flame but still make a spark.
Empty lonnnng nosed lighters for fireplaces, grills, and such that no longer make a flame but still make a spark.

If they still make a spark they can still make a fire! I tried it today with a kaput long nose lighter. Got a small piece of napkin, rolled it loosely, held it to the lighter, made it spark by clicking it to light. The spark caught the napkin immediately! For me it was like I had created fire, like when Tom Hanks was in that Castaway movie after he finally made fire.

So this is how I'm applying it to my own Poor Man's Prepping: I will start a small collection of used up lighters in addition to usable lighters in a grab n go situation because I cannot yet afford the steel match or flint stick. If the lighters still spark, they still have usable flint and still work for an emergency situation fire starter.

I also try to keep thinking of a way to make myself useful to a group I may need to align with for at least a short time in BO or relocating for whatever reason in an Event. This may be one opportunity; keeping my eyes to the ground for discarded lighters. I could possibly offer them to my fire-less momentary companions, and teach them how to create fire too.

Poor Man's Prepping. No cost fire starter. Spent lighters.

FYI, if you have a WalMart near you, you can get a magnesium bar for about the same price as a 4 pack of new Bic lighters. But, I do like the thinking outside the box you are showing, I'm just not sure how "marketable" a skill being a used lighter finder would be- but it's a start!

[duodecima]

Sprouting is easy! I had never done it before,I followed directions on a food storage blog, (using an old nylon stocking over mason jar with wheat in it, turn upside down in bowl in kitchen cabinet.) Worked like a charm! No fancy sprouting racks needed.

You now have my full attention. Give me one, only one, seed I can start with and I'll begin. You mentioned wheat. Should I start there? If so, please, tell me what 'kind' of wheat I look for. Thanks.

Here are the directions I used. I did not use the fancy sprouting tray, like I said, I used a mason jar and put an old nylon over the opening. I turned it upside down in a bown and put in in a kitchen cabinet, except for the intial overnight soak. You could use any glass jar and a rubber band and nylon if you didn't have a spare mason jar. (Heck, I wonder if an old plastic bottle would work.)

I did use wheat, but since this is Poor Man's Prepping, I'd go with lentils like they did in the directions - they're less than a buck a pound, and you can use the rest for something else. Or go someplace with wheat in bulk bins so you can buy just a small amount.

(And the cheapest place I've found for Mag bars yet was Harbor Freight.)

[blackbelt]

Here on the homestead we are self-sufficient for the most part not off the grid yet but working on it. I find have livestock and my garden provides me with what I need, oh and my smoker. I really do not have to do any of that, but I love doing it and it's a healthy lifestyle . I earn from my home, anyone can do it.

[zombiepreparation]

You can oil or wax wood and it brings out the grain beautifully.
Even cheap plywood looks lovely sanded and oiled or waxed.

I like this idea. Thanks! Am filing it for future possible need.

[zombiepreparation]

Poor Man's Prepping. No cost fire starter. Spent lighters.

FYI, if you have a WalMart near you, you can get a magnesium bar for about the same price as a 4 pack of new Bic lighters. But, I do like the thinking outside the box you are showing, I'm just not sure how "marketable" a skill being a used lighter finder would be- but it's a start!

I do live close to WalMart, and it's there! Thanks.

Re: emergency "marketable" skill in a situation I need to temporarily align myself with a small group. How about adding to my teaching-to-use-a-spent-lighter-to-make-fire-for-those-caught-unprepared the skill of repairing cloth and cloth-like things? I could expand my sewing kit without much bulk or cost at all to be prepared to assist 'others' who didn't prepare for tears/holes/etc.? It's another small skill I could develop with no cost, just effort in learning, and practice the mind-set of being prepared to offer when I see something cloth needing repair to make me seem 'handy' when I'm wanting to temporarily attach myself to people.

[zombiepreparation]

Sprouting is easy! I had never done it before,I followed directions on a food storage blog, (using an old nylon stocking over mason jar with wheat in it, turn upside down in bowl in kitchen cabinet.) Worked like a charm! No fancy sprouting racks needed.

You now have my full attention. Give me one, only one, seed I can start with and I'll begin. You mentioned wheat. Should I start there? If so, please, tell me what 'kind' of wheat I look for. Thanks.

Here are the directions I used. I did not use the fancy sprouting tray, like I said, I used a mason jar and put an old nylon over the opening. I turned it upside down in a bown and put in in a kitchen cabinet, except for the intial overnight soak. You could use any glass jar and a rubber band and nylon if you didn't have a spare mason jar. (Heck, I wonder if an old plastic bottle would work.)

I did use wheat, but since this is Poor Man's Prepping, I'd go with lentils like they did in the directions - they're less than a buck a pound, and you can use the rest for something else. Or go someplace with wheat in bulk bins so you can buy just a small amount.

(And the cheapest place I've found for Mag bars yet was Harbor Freight.)

I have SPROUTS!!! I did it! I followed your lead, used a small bowl and a stocking. Works beautifully. I went to the URL you gave me and am following directions. I have bulk (small) quinoa just sitting in the fridge and pulled out 'just a little to give it a try' after reading it's a good sprouter. And I have my first sprouts ever! They will be ready for greening tomorrow. I just noticed I have bulk (small) barley too so I went to the site to see about sprouting it. Yup. It's a sprouter too. Today I will give barley a try.

Thanks!

No Harbor Freight around here. I'll check online.

[vetvet]

Thank you Grumpy; this has been a wonderful read. We are similar and different in many ways, but have the same goal in mind. I make good money in my job, plus my military pension (pathetic as it is). Im not rich, but comfortable. But I have a wife and in laws that are not supportive of my prepping ideals. In some ways, that is worse than having no money. You are correct that prepping is a 24/7 endeavor. but prepping (in my humble opinion) is also using your imagination. Every day, and everywhere you go, you should be asking yourself questions. What if disaster struck right now, what would I do? What resources are available, and what liabilitites are nearby. Dont buy an item or tool unless you can imagine multiple uses for it. Spend your money on the basics first. Food, Water, Shelter, medical and defense.
Now you must also train yourself. Have you ever put stitches in a cut, give an injection, baked bread in that easy bake (solar)oven? Just like shooting someone, talking about it and doing it are two entirelly different games. Practice on a piece of meat to find out what works and what doesnt. Bake that loaf of bread. Start a fire with flint or two sticks. Leasure learning time is over when that disaster strikes. Im not talking ZOMBIES, Im talking Wildfires, Flooding, Hurircanes, tornados and earthquakes. And yes even those untimely and inconvenient home accidents.

I would love to see more posts like this one. Thank you for all who have posted here.

[HackHack]

May I assume they will grow decently with the morning light available for them on the balcony? If they would then I can certainly set myself to acquire more than the only passing taste for them I have at this time.

Morning light should be enough. Because i grew mine in a shady place in SW FL its tought to compare. I do know that it does not take a lot for them to grew. So maybe just give it a try with a couple, and see if you see results in a month.

I do not know what a fruit roll-up dehydrating sheet is.

This is the kind of sheet i was talking about. you would have to order it for whatever model dehydrator you are using. All it is, its a plastic casing that hold liquid in the dehydrator. I am sure there is a home made version you can make out of parchment paper or something. Might want to research the Web a little more before going to try it.

And I would certainly like to hear more about what you dehydrate and how long they keep and how to store since you love, therefore, have a certain expertise on this subject.

I try to dehydrate everything, and then make changes to the recipe. With fruit and vegies the thinner you slice the better and faster it will dehydrate.
Some ideas:
Apples - Sprinkles with Powered sugar and cinnamon mix
Bananas - with brown sugar
Mango or Squash - with a drop of lemon juice.
(a little will go a ling long way, so just dabts of surag and spices will do.

Now to the shelf life of the Dehydrateed foods. When i dehydrate i will go a little extra in the time, to make sure most of the water has evaporated. then i vacumseel it and store it in the freezer. Most Dehydrating Sites tell you it has a shelf life of a year, depending on what it is as well as the sugar and water content left in it. Well I ate something that I dehydrated 2 years ago and completly survived and it tasted pretty good.

[zombiepreparation]

Bamboo. A good thing.

[duodecima]

Poor Man's Prepping: Find free lidless food quality 3-5 gallon buckets, use as bio-matter storage for hobo and such camp stoves, disguise as planter tiers for editable gardening, use emptied buckets for rain catchment holds as a secondary duel use.

You are doubtless aware that some stores in some AO's will sometimes just give you the icing buckets with the lids? I get 2-4 gal buckets, (5's are more rare) free, for the washing out of icing, by talking to the bakery manager. (If store washes, they charge a few bucks). If this is not true in your AO, yeah, go lidless.

If needed these also make emergency toilets, in addition to emergency rain catchment/water storage, can be turned into charcoal/sand filters - viewtopic.php?f=39&t=89327. Or there is a filter that can be bought (approx $30 so not "poor man" exactly but not like getting a big berkey) and installed into a 2-bucket system.

The uses of 5(ish) gallon food grade plastic buckets are endless, any system you have to use them now and have them available seems good!

[KnightoftheRoc]

ZP- you might want to give Gamma Seal Lids a look-see. This is just the first link I found with decent pics, so shop around: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/plasti ... _lids.aspx

As to storing things on the balcony- before you load that balcony up, get a quiet conversation in with your building maintenance person, and find out what the recommended weight rating is- it would really suck to have your balcony and all it's preps make a sudden departure on you, not to mention what possible liability issues it could raise on it's way down. Be sure to factor in YOUR weight to that load limit, or it might be YOU that is the proverbial straw on the camel's back, which would have all the suck of just the balcony collapsing, plus the additional suck of taking the ride with it.

Also, if you decide to go with the original bucket lids, check out the opening tool for paint/drywall compound buckets available in the paint department of most box stores- it's an inexpensive plastic thingy that is worth it's weight in gold! Example: http://www.acehardwaresuperstore.com/23 ... 71286.html

[zombiepreparation]

Have you ever put stitches in a cut, give an injection, ....Practice on a piece of meat to find out what works and what doesnt.

Brilliant. I will practice some stitches on a piece of meat, maybe in the spring. I don't often afford myself any, but if it has a duel purpose I can rationalize it easily.

baked bread in that easy bake (solar)oven? ...Bake that loaf of bread. Start a fire with flint or two sticks.

Practice. Practice. It's actually quite entertaining too.

Leasure learning time is over when that disaster strikes.

I will take this to heart.

Morning light should be enough. Because i grew mine in a shady place in SW FL its tought to compare. I do know that it does not take a lot for them to grew.

It sounds like radishes are going to work!

I do not know what a fruit roll-up dehydrating sheet is.

Might want to research the Web a little more before going to try it.

Will do.

I try to dehydrate everything, and then make changes to the recipe. With fruit and vegies the thinner you slice the better and faster it will dehydrate.
Some ideas:
Apples - Sprinkles with Powered sugar and cinnamon mix
Bananas - with brown sugar
Mango or Squash - with a drop of lemon juice.

For my 'files'.

Now to the shelf life of the Dehydrateed foods. When i dehydrate i will go a little extra in the time, to make sure most of the water has evaporated. then i vacumseel it and store it in the freezer........ I ate something that I dehydrated 2 years ago and completly survived and it tasted pretty good.

Good info for me. And I've been thinking about this vacuum-sealing. I think I'll try a Ziplock freezer bag using a tiny hole and duct tape and the deflater setting on the deflater for my air mattress. Just to see what it does. Two years, huh? Fantastic.

[KnightoftheRoc]

Good info for me. And I've been thinking about this vacuum-sealing. I think I'll try a Ziplock freezer bag using a tiny hole and duct tape and the deflater setting on the deflater for my air mattress. Just to see what it does. Two years, huh? Fantastic.

If you're already going to use zip-loc baggies, try shoving the bag into a pot of room temp water. it squeezes the air out of the baggie for you, which you can then seal as normal while the bag is submerged. I do this to pack clothing for my pack to conserve on space, and still leave some flotation to each package from the air trapped within the weave of the cloth- for foods, there isn't the airspace available within it.

If you're going to vac seal, tho, your best bet is to get the actual vac sealing stuff- the bags are designed for this, where the zip-locs are not. Duct tape is also not air-tight to the level that food preps would need. If you HAVE to use a tape, I'd suggest the vinyl electrician's tape instead. Duct tape also dries out over time, becoming a crinkly, crumbly mess that I'm pretty sure you don't want in your food.

[zombiepreparation]

You are doubtless aware that some stores in some AO's will sometimes just give you the icing buckets with the lids? ...If this is not true in your AO, yeah, go lidless.

Too large a demand. They now (now that I finally undertand their usefulness) charge. Lidless-no charge. I just have to get dibs first. btw, what is AO?

If needed these also make emergency toilets,
in addition to emergency rain catchment/water storage, can be turned into charcoal/sand filters viewtopic.php?f=39&t=89327.

Toilets. Good idea. The charcoal/sand filter... I waaaaant it.

ZP- you might want to give Gamma Seal Lids a look-see. This is just the first link I found with decent pics, so shop around: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/plasti ... _lids.aspx

Will do.

I ate my first personally grown sprouts tonight. Or should say gobbled them. I mixed them with a bit of drained tomato & jalapenos, some white rice, dried parsley, dried chives, olive oil. ahhhhhhhhhh. I only sprouted a few... just to see. Now I've seen. Tonight I am starting another and larger quantity sprouting.

Thanks everybody who's helping me.
Poor Man's Prepping for extra nutrition during an Event: sprouting some of the seeds, grains, and nuts you have for cooking and snacking. Some of them can be sprouted if you're bugging out too in a little hemp bag! No extra cost. Rinse water would be used for cooking. Duel use for seeds, grains, nuts, and water. Extra nutrition in a crisis.

[KnightoftheRoc]

You can also troll construction sites for the buckets AND lids- drywall guys toss them into the trash all the time. The compound washes out easily with some hot soapy water from both buckets and lids, and the dried-on parts will soften up fine with a night's soak in that same soapy water. The buckets are the same material as the food grade as near as I can tell, and I've used the drywall compound buckets for all sorts of thing, including drinking water to no ill effects at all. I'd be a bit more hesitant about re-purposing paint buckets in this way, as the number of chemicals that could have possibly leeched into the plastic is much higher. For the number of safer alternatives gotten as easily, safely, and cheaply, why take chances?

[ruralranger]

well i also got caught up in the op's story ...you my friend ,are what its all about,you show what made this country great ( you are using your mind ) ,something that a lot of people seemed to have lost. your creative side along with using resources available ( this forum ) are what will get you through a disaster. an open mind & common sense two good traits to have. my hats off to you & i hope to add to this thread when time allows...keep up with your work & others will follow [to be fore warned is to be fore armed] [a nods as good as a wink to a blind horse]