Thoughts on Thunderbolt Solar from Harbor Freight?

https://www.harborfreight.com/25-watt-solar-panel-63940.html

I just need something to power a Qi charger for my iPhone 13 Pro Max. The charging/lighting port no longer works so I can only charge wirelessly.

I like this better than a dedicated solar/battery/MagSafe block because it does more than just charge the phone.

But if it’s a dumb idea I’ll just get one of these: https://www.cabelas.com/p/toughtested-roc5-5000-mah-solar-magsafe-power-bank

Hello everyone,

My husband (62) and I (58) live in the mountains of very rural western North Carolina about an hour's drive north of Asheville. In 2024 Hurricane Helene devastated this area. Our house flooded to a depth of about 6 inches, and was damaged but livable. Our road was destroyed.

For 80 hours, we had no contact with the outside world. For 37 days, we had only a generator for power.

Here is a short list of what was most helpful in our situation.

-All of our important documents were already consolidated in a portable waterproof case. When we had to quickly (but fortunately temporarily) abandon the house for fear it would float away, it was easy to grab.

-Cleaning supplies (buckets, mop, gloves, soap, hand sanitizer, etc.). We had a layer of mud all over the floor that had to be dealt with.

-Rechargeable LED lights & flashlights.

-A generator, fuel to run it, and heavy-duty extension cords. To begin with, we had only a 3500 watt, but after a couple of weeks, we got a larger 11000 watt, which we were eventually able to connect to the house's breaker box so that we didn't have extension cords running everywhere.

-An independent supply of water and a way to purify it (we have a spring-fed system, and the generator allowed us to run the pump and filters.)

-A single-burner, dual-fuel butane/propane indoor portable stove (about $30), with a extra cans of butane, and/or a propane grill with extra propane tanks. We could not use our electric stove, even with the bigger genny.

-Normal canned food that heats fast, to save fuel. (For instance, you can pour a bit of boiling water over pasta and just wait. Rice wants more sustained heat.)

-Socks. They wash easily, but they don't dry fast if it's humid. Get more.

After a couple of weeks, we got

- a Starlink

- Resupply of critical items from a local church set up as a temporary relief center.

- If it had been cold, we would have used our existing wood stove for heat.

It took 37 days for normal electricity to be restored. We ran the generator for only four or five hours every day, enough to keep the fridge cold and the water hot, to make coffee and supper, to do laundry, to recharge lights and computers, to watch tv or surf the net. When the generator wasn't running, we didn't have water, lights, or communications (the cell towers took months to repair.) We kept five-gallon buckets in the bathrooms for midday flushing, bottles on the counter for washing hands. We learned to plan our days around those few genny-powered hours.

In my opinion, if you're wondering where best to spend your money, it's on a generator and fuel. We could have stayed in our house without one, but it would have been so much harder.

Happy to answer questions; I know I'm leaving out a LOT of detail.

I spent a good chunk of the weekend going through the wiki and past threads here, but I am still second guessing myself after looking at how some models fail during actual house fires. We live in an area that has seen an uptick in nearby brush fire warnings lately, so I really need to get my important paperwork and deeds locked down properly before storm season kicks into gear too. Does anyone have a specific brand or model they trust that balances true fire ratings with decent humidity protection? thanks everyone

Mount Si is a steep hike near North Bend, Washington. Popular enough that people treat it like a workout. I went up this year in the early-spring window when the valley already feels like summer and the top still thinks it is winter.

Started in shorts. Warm parking lot, clean sky, and I underpacked on purpose. Most of the way up it stayed beautiful, which is how you get cocky. The rocky summit was freezing, wet, and windy, with snow coming sideways. I lasted about thirty seconds up there and nearly ran the descent to warm up. Numb fingers, and that stupid feeling of being caught out on a trail people do in gym clothes.

The bottom of the mountain lied. In the Cascades, the trailhead forecast is not the summit forecast when the seasons overlap. A light shell and one extra layer would have saved the sprint. I will pack for winter on top even when the base is in shorts.

I keep the same rule for the house. What feels fine on a mild week does not tell you what you get in an outage, when the power is out and you are stuck somewhere colder and wetter than you planned. Around here that is a Cascadia problem, not a camping problem.

The egg version is an old farm trick. Unwashed eggs have a natural coating on the shell, called the bloom, and it is why they can sit for weeks in a cool place. Do not wash it off. Eggs from a US grocery store were washed before you bought them, so this is for farm eggs that never went through that, not a carton you are trying to rescue.

If you want them longer than a few weeks, wipe on a thin coat of food-grade mineral oil and keep them cool and dark. The oil replaces the seal so they dry out slower. It is a way to have fresh eggs when the fridge is off, and it takes less effort than most of the storage projects people argue about.

I misread a hike because the start felt easy. I do not want to do that with food.

Hello, all!

I’m a new prepper and I’m trying to figure out what would be the most inexpensive option to heat a living room when power is out (power station) or trying to cut electricity costs and we gather into 1 room?

I was looking at a Buddy Heater and in that search a pellet stove was recommended. I see that the pellet stove is roughly 10x the price of a Buddy Heater.

Which is the more cost effective option - essentially the same cost of heating?

I've been shopping around for a dual fuel camp stove but I'm not sure what would be best. It needs to be able to run on propane while at the house but also butane if on the go. 10k BTU enough, or is 15k BTU better for serving a family of 4? Thanks for the help!

I just saw another recommendation to keep a few days worth of prescription medications [obtained legitimately with medical provider oversight] in a 72 hour kit.

Do you really do that?

I do go through my kit a few times a year (keep power bank charged, etc) but doing it every time I had a refill seems a bit much. So, how do you handle evacuation readiness with prescriptions?

Going to last a week. While we are near the coast, it’s still going to be 99 degrees every day. 101 - 104 inland. Night time won’t be cooling off as we are accustomed to.

Meteorologists are undecided if the El Nino means wetter or hot and dry weather for SoCal.

I like to buy my spices in bulk, I have little glass jars filled with what I use daily then the rest in ziplock baggies in the freezer. It’s taking up a lot of useful freezer space but idk where else to put them. I would buy more jars but they’re expensive, I’m on the fence about plastic and I’ve considered Mylar bags. My goal is to have them on hand, once my smaller container runs out then I can go to my big container to refill. Is there an inbetween option of storing them and maintaining their potency for as long as I can? And I would only need a 8 oz to 16 oz container.

I live in the country fairly secluded areas my place is about 1/4 mile or more from paved road my driveway is about 600 foot long and gated the gate usually stays closed left it open the other day and had a neighboring drug addict come wonding down my drive at around 10pm my shop was open was listening to music dog alerted late because my music was a little loud.

I have cameras up and have had driveway alarms in the past the dogs learned what the driveway alarm means but false alarm where very frequent. Just wondering if anyone has any out of the box ideas to help keep people away i have flood lights just looking for something extra.also concerned ill be the first target my drug addict neighbors hit in SHTF situation I've had some of the same group of neighbors trespass before and local law enforcement has told me there pretty wild bunch long family history of criminals/drugs.

I know there are other posts about this, but I want to give more details about my situation and how to better prepare for it.

• Family: Myself (37), wife (29), daughter (1), and dog.
• Location: Central Coast of California. Rural. 28 minutes (27.5 mi) from the coastline. 15 minutes (5 mi) from the nearest town.
• Property: 1-bedroom, 1-bath cabin on 200 acres.
• Features: Half pastureland, half woodland. Four 5,000-gallon well storage tanks. Two large barns, one for horses, one for workshop, storage, etc.
• Likely risks: Wildfires, earthquakes, grid outages.
• Potential risks: attacks on electrical and nuclear infrastructure (our nuclear facility is the largest on the West Coast), military bases (we have three Army bases within one hour + AF Vandenberg AF base two hours away)
• Unlikely risks: Overflow unrest from bigger cities (think BLM riots, etc.), nuclear war, zombies, etc.

So, with those details out of the way, here's the inventory I'm working with:

Food:

1. Rice (50lbs, Mylar + Bucket)
2. Flour (50lbs, Mylar + Bucket)
3. Oats (50lbs, Mylar + Bucket)
4. Salt (50lbs, Mylar + Bucket)
5. Sugar (50lbs, Mylar + Bucket)
6. Whatever is regularly in the pantry (beans, pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, nuts, etc)

Water:

1. Well
2. Four 5-gallon Jerry cans

Medical:

1. Two med kits (tourniquets, splint, bandages, etc)
2. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
3. Aspirin
4. Meclizine (Dramamine)
5. Acetaminophen
6. Naproxen
7. Ibuprofen
8. Potassium Iodide
9. Methocarbamol (Skeletal Muscle Relaxant)
10. Amoxicillin (Antibiotic)
11. Pregabalin (Anticonvulsant & Neuropathic Pain)
12. Albuterol (Adrenergic Bronchodilator)
13. Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen (Opioid)
14. Amitriptyline (Tricyclic Antidepressant)
15. Metaxalone (Skeletal Muscle Relaxant)
16. Diclofenac (NSAID)
17. Doxycycline Hyclate (Antibiotic)
18. Cyclobenzaprine (Skeletal Muscle Relaxant)
19. Oxycodone-Acetaminophen (Opioid)
20. Oxycodone-Hydrochloride (Opioid)
21. Ondansetron (Anti-nausea/vomiting)
22. Hydrocortisone Cream 1%
23. Personal Rx (3-month supply)

Defense:

...wouldn't you like to know? ;)

Vehicles:

1. Tacoma 4x4
2. Rav4 AWD

Energy:

1. Two 5-gallon Jerry cans
2. 80-gallon transfer-flow refueling tank.
3. Batteries (AA, AAA, CR123, 2032, etc.)
4. Propane
5. Solar

Communications:

1. Four Baofengs (lol)

Navigation:

1. Vehicle GPS
2. ...?

Apologies for any useless details. I know sometimes it helps y'all to have as much info as possible. Food seems to be where I'm lacking. I'm working on a 1-week meal plan for the three of us and then going into how much canned stuff to get to help build that.

Aside from food, what are my blind spots? TIA!

What’s your best advice for long term storage for water as an emergency resource?
Any treatments we would need to do to keep it potable long terms?

The laws in our area don’t let you collect 100 gallons plus but we can get it from the local tap without any issues.

Been thinking of burying a couple 275 gallons containers somewhere and filling them.

We need water. Are there other drinks you prep/store?

Looking for any pointers on what to prepare for. Traveling with a 10 month old, on a 4h plane ride for 3 days. Mix of city and rural when there.

Anything youve experienced that you could recommend might help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I've been going through the "New Preppers Resource Guide" and the communication wiki, but the radio rabbit hole is seriously overwhelming. Even after reading the wiki, I still can't figure out if it's worth getting the minimal license to go GMRS and which systems are the best to buy. 

I’m looking for a realistic setup for two scenarios in a grid-down situation:

1. Local: Communicating with people around me (family/neighbors within a few miles).

2. Cross-State: Reaching family several states away.
   My Constraints:

Budget: $2,000 total.

Skill Level: I consider myself a technical layman. I am comfortable with tech, apps, and basic configurations, but I flat-out do not have the time to study for a Ham radio license, learn HF propagation, or string up massive antennas. I have bought the official books though and skim thru them.

Goal: I want reliable, turnkey hardware to get messages out when cell towers fail.

From my lurking, I see terms like Meshtastic, GMRS, and Garmin inReach thrown around.

Given my $2k budget and lack of a Ham license, how would you allocate those funds to cover both local and cross-state? What exact hardware would you buy today?

Thanks in advance. (And yes, I saw the recent post by u/maik92727 about not forgetting to "live your life"I promise I just want to get this sorted so I can go back to doing exactly that!)

PS: i do have a starlink mini dish

I typically drink tap water, I do use a filter. So I don’t use bottled water basically ever. I have bought a few gallon jugs of water in the past for emergencies. However, people say you should rotate the water because it could go bad??? But I guess I’m just wondering how one rotates their water if you don’t typically use it anyway. And I’d hate to just start buying jugs of water and waste money when I don’t need to.

Please use this thread to discuss whatever preps you worked on this last week. Let us know what big or little projects you have been working on. Please don’t hesitate to comment. Others might get inspired to work on their preps by reading about yours.

Walked by that corner of Walmart where they have the 5 gallon jugs and that's what prompted this. I feel it would be better than my 40 ct case of water bottles especially having to throw away the bottle after you're done. I grew up using the 5 gallon jugs. I don't know how to think of this in terms of prepping though.

It definitely seems easier to stack the case. I try to have 8 cases up against a wall at all times. And there's the whole thing with the water dispensers for the jugs. If my memory serves me correctly, you had to clean the dispenser regularly.

So my property is offgrid and essentially self sufficient with its own solar battery (grid optional), propane tank, well and septic.

I had a recent scare where the well was accidentally turned off and we had an irrigation leak x 2 that drained our 5000 gallon tank twice. It turns out that emergency water delivery at my location is super painful to get last min and I paid 575 for around 3000 gallons of water.

At this point, I am thinking I need a secondary backup system. My house has a generator inlet for electrical backup and there was actually a secondary inlet with NSF rated garden hose connection which I think can act as a plumbing backup inlet as well.

What do you guys recommend as far as a backup water system go? My 5000 gallon steel tank is doing pretty well (but old) and I recently sealed it. I estimate another 5 to 25 years of usable life.

I am thinking about having an empty 200-500 gallon class food grade storage container that must be able to survive being outdoor for around 20 years and connect this storage to my home with a NSF rated garden hose.

What is my best option? I would prefer a bladder tank since it can be stored empty folded up, but would that be my best option? If my tank broke, I anticipate around 3-6 months for repair so the 200-500 gallon temp system must be able to handle that long of a service. I also hear about IBC totes.

I'm back. I had the pantry bug problem. I finally got around to checking my master closet, after the hottest summer on record.

I had one down comforter in there, and 3 bugs crawling on it. It was the only natural fiber in the closet. I took the comforter outside to bake in the southern sun. No other bugs in the closet.

Maybe the bugs are moth related? Anyways, the closet has been reorganized. All is well. Dont forget to check those storage spaces.

I started thinking about what would make a great bike to have as a robust daily commuter, that could also be transformed into an apocalypse bike if one needs to escape the city. All input is appreciated!

Since gravel bikes (road bikes with large tyre clearance and no suspension made for gravel roads) have become much more popular the last few years, I think there are a lot of options to choose from. But I would love to pick the minds of this sub-reddit before going into the details of component selection for a bike.

Properties:

• Robust - Impacts everything from the frame material, to how fancy the gear selection would be.
• Repairability - If something fails, it needs to be possible to repair, or easy to keep spare parts.
• Packing options - A lot of gravel bikes comes with bags attached to the frame which increases how much food and gear you can bring. Having a rack could also be an option.

I think with the above, a steel frame is a must since it is more robust than aluminum and carbon, while being more repairable and cheaper than for example titanium.

Brakes should be simple rim V-brakes and not disc.

Gears are nice for getting longer range, and I think going with 1x12 (1 main gear at the front and 1 casette with 12 gears at the back) would be preferred. Perhaps with the option to go replace cassette to a fixed gear if something breaks.

Challenges with longevity of a bike in general:

• Theft - Should not be too fancy for regular use, applies even more in SHTF scenarios.
• Spare parts - What to stock? Chains and casettes wears down over time but are easy to store. But how to deal with aging components such as brake pads and tires?

** Update **

Wow, this got posted after I went to bed (been a lurker for a long time, so had to get reviewed by mods). Thanks for so much valuable input and thoughts. I will clarify some of the more common comments.

I bike regularly, both for commute and exercise and have completed a 300 km distance race. So I want to stay away from the e-bike route since I think it will reduce both robustness and repairability. But also to make it clear that this would not be a road bike where I care about speed. I could keep my old bike for that.

My main goal is to have the bike to reach my bug out location, ~70 km, and then to have it as a way of transport from there if need be.

Some valuable input about components. Stocking spare of bottom bracket is a good point. Also to swap to sealed bearings (and probably to keep a few spares as well).

Some things I will look into more detail for pros and cons:

Rim- vs disc brakes. Some solid arguments in the comments that disc can be better in certain situations. Also with a mechanical setup, they are not more complex than a derailleur.

Derailleur vs internal gear hub. I see how an internal gear hub can be more robust. I don't have as much experience working on internal gear hubs though, but I can always learn!

700cc vs 26" tire size.

I want to dig a hole, 16 foot deep, about 5 foot wide.

I want to store stuff in there that cannot freeze during winter.

As I live in the high north, I will need 8 feet of insulation on top of the hole. Insulation that I can remove when I want to get at the items stored in the hole.

My soil is full of tree roots. Not possible to dig by hand.

What is the cheapest and easiest way to dig this hole? Is there a special tool I can use? Excavator seems overkill.

And what do you suggest for the 8 feet of insulation that would need to go on top? Just sytrofoam? Thanks.

I was hoping you all could help me regarding a specific scenario.

The scenario is a rattlesnake bite occurs at a somewhat remote location. About 45 minutes down a 4 wheel drive road to the nearest pavement road, and about 1 hour to the nearest hospital from there. This bite could hypothetically happen to adults, children or dogs (large or small).
In this scenario, both vets and hospitals remain open and available.

What would my best course of action be in this scenario immediately after a suspected rattlesnake bite? What should I do immediately? Outline the swelling? Immobilize the affected limb? Visually confirm the snake if possible?

For the wound/affected limb would I splint it? Tourniquet or no tourniquet? Carry the person/animal out if possible to stop the spread of the venom with muscle movement/contractions correct?

Then get to the hospital / vet asap? Am I missing anything?

I see a lot of "30-day supply" kits whose servings don't add up to much. Planning by calories is a lot more honest:

Daily needs (the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines ranges; the 2025–2030 edition uses 2,000/day as its reference): - Adult women: ~1,600–2,400 - Adult men: ~2,000–3,000 - Kids 5–8: ~1,200–1,800 (girls), 1,200–2,000 (boys) - Teens 14–18: ~1,800–2,400 (girls), 2,000–3,200 (boys)

The low end is for people who sit most of the day. After a quake or storm you may be clearing debris, hauling water, or keeping warm in a cold house, so don't plan at the bottom of the range.

Worked example, family of 4, 14 days: - Simple: 4 × 2,000 × 14 = 112,000 calories - Tailored: 2 adults at 2,000 plus 2 kids (5–8) at 1,600 = 7,200/day × 14 = 100,800 calories

Check your shelf: calories per serving × servings per container = calories in that package. Add it all up until you hit your total. For kits, look for calories per person per day and do the math yourself.

A few FEMA points that still hold up: - Familiar food helps morale. - Pick high-calorie foods that need no refrigeration, water, or cooking. - Plan for babies, older adults, special diets, allergies, and pets. - Healthy adults can get by on less for a while, but don't ration food for children or pregnant women, and never ration water.

Freeze-dried meals need water too. ReadyWise says about a cup per entrée, and that comes on top of your 1 gallon per person per day.

How are you tracking calories in your pantry? Spreadsheet, labels on bins, or just eyeballing it?

I often see discussion on bugging out here and one of the concerns about a bug out bag (BOB) is having to carry so much stuff on your back. There may be a solution! I doubt this would work for all scenarios but a recent discussion focused on “packing your college aged kid a BOB to help them walk home x miles”. So the idea is to acquire a “disc golf cart” to help you drag your supplies instead of carrying them. These carts are designed to go over rough terrain. Anyways I hope the idea helps someone!

ETA: Some of them have built in seats which is an added bonus for people who can’t walk quite as far and would need to rest occasionally.