THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

DigForVictory · 18 June 2017 at 1:50PM

As a techie, quite a lot of folk have met me first literally under the table. They have pretty much given up getting me out of boots & trousers (appearing as a witness I asked if there was a dress code & was told flatly yes, but that it was handy for funerals later) so the fanny pack on one leg looks like my best option. An across the body bag on the bigger chested is an 'invitation to comment' - I just want to be able to get the heck with minimum comment. A chain into a pocket actually sounds brilliant - I can configure a key pouch that will keep them silent & not in the way of other pocketed stuff.

Huge thanks all & hear hear to not trying to unplug the young. Fruitless, senseless & generally not teaching them to cope in a bad situation by making it worse. If they haven't learned not to yell "we're being shot at!", they deserve an educational bullet. Not necessarily a fatal one, mind, although the collateral damage potential should always be considered.

Meanwhile this week I am mourning selling my figure 8 when I pretty much quit caving. That plus several hundred foot of rope would give me a (foolish unto only just rational) sense of calm faced with tall buildings. Ah well. Where there is Enough rope, & a safe anchor, some kind of figure can be improvised.

Anglea · 18 June 2017 at 2:12PM

Hi everyone, hope it's ok to join.

I've only just spotted this thread, been into prepping on/off for years. I have lived off the grid when I was a child/teen (spent summers with relatives overseas who had no water or electricity/gas) so lived off their crops, foraging, their own livestock - surrounded by huge forests but I have forgotten most of the instinctive ways and methods so am relearning everything eg the latest project is identifying all the trees locally and learning as much as I can about them in terms of potential emergency scenario use.

Instead of an emergency tin, I have found it easier to use number small freezer bags rolled up and tied with elastic bands, one for each category of items and keep them in my handbag as I found opening the tin and finding things without them all falling out a nightmare. Plus I'm able to keep longer items than usual and it's lighter as I can put them into different bag compartments.

I also carry a long key ring with all sorts of gadgets and cords which can be a nuisance but will be good in an emergency.

A female friend that is also into prepping and carries far more things than me around, once had a problem getting locked into a pub toilet (with very few ladies present on that occasion) and she had left her rucksack with emergency items including her phone in the bar so was stuck there quite some time -I never go anywhere without my keys.

mardatha · 18 June 2017 at 4:34PM

I like that idea Anglea, I have a big shoulderbag with loads of junk rattling around all the wee compartments, putting it all in small polybags would help a lot

GreyQueen · 18 June 2017 at 5:14PM

Hi Angela, welcome to the thread. Good to have you with us.

I use a variation of your idea which involves using zipped pouches, some of which are pencil cases, some of which are make-up pouches and some of which had toiletry gift sets in. I get them from chazzers and boot-fairs for pence.

Many are see-thru plastic which enables me to check their contents without opening them. Within a pouch, I might further contain items using small bank bags (like for coins) which are sturdy and easily available; banks will even give them away free and heaven knows it's not like you can get much out of those beggars for nothing.

The pouch which lives in the main body of my daily carry (aka the work bag) is actually not transparent, it's a rather fetching makeup pouch. Excellent op sec because if you see such a thing in a lady's bag, would you question it? Nope, not even an unladylike and non-cosmetic wearing lady like myself.

Said pouch contains; small ziploc holding a 'complimints' tin with a travel soap in it, and a section of a jeye cloth (soap-and-flannel). Another small ziploc contains; fold-down toothbrush, mini tube paste, mini floss, lip balm, half-a-comb, a lens-polishing cloth, a shampoo sachet and two sachets of brush-up toothpastey type thng. Also, in another small ziploc are some plasters and some sterile wipes, plus some of my life-saving meds and some ibruprofen in case of migraine. There are other pouches in other pockets containing other things, and the SAK is on one of those doglead clips on a curly cable and clipped to the bag's lining, with the knife in a pocket in the bag's lining. Idea being it's handy but can't be separated from the bag without a conscious effort.

I find pouches suit the varied bags I take about with me, they're easy to find, silent in use and don't attract attention. Of course, I won't be able to use the inside of the lid of my pouch to bounce the sun into the eyes of a pilot, should I need to alert them to arrange rescue, but you can't have everything.:rotfl:

DigForVictory · 18 June 2017 at 5:26PM

I think you underestimate the complimints tin, which with a bit of toothpaste should buff to near mirror finish passably quickly. A bit of foil blanket might suffice if you need a larger area but pack small capability & I usually carry the odd CD or two [classic emergency signals kit], one of archive data one blank to write onto... Which reminds me, I should dig out a sharpie & sketch the Morse alphabet & any comms shortcuts onto the archive disk for reference.

pennib · 18 June 2017 at 5:59PM

Nearly 60 years ago I must have been ahead of the prepper game....I used to carry around a bit of lipstick and piece of paper. Why you might ask? I used to read a lot of adventure books and children in them all got into some sort of scrape so it was in case of me being kidnapped, although the kidnapper would have been onto a loser as we didn,t have two pennies to rub together :rotfl:
A stub of lippy and I could write help on just about anything

I hasten to add that I have since up dated my go-bag :T

Anglea · 18 June 2017 at 6:53PM

Thanks for the welcome.

DigForVictory wrote: »

I think you underestimate the complimints tin, which with a bit of toothpaste should buff to near mirror finish passably quickly. A bit of foil blanket might suffice if you need a larger area but pack small capability & I usually carry the odd CD or two [classic emergency signals kit], one of archive data one blank to write onto... Which reminds me, I should dig out a sharpie & sketch the Morse alphabet & any comms shortcuts onto the archive disk for reference.

I used to cram everything imaginable into my tin (SAS list items and even more) but if I had to dig something out eg I was always getting asked if had a plaster or headache pills etc - I found it a real palaver to locate the items I needed - especially with people waiting and I'm trying to remove things without them seeing the tin and getting into long explanations. That's why I use the plastic bags now. And I keep painkillers and other medical related items in bank cash bags so I can find them easier.

CD boxes are also a good idea, I've used them for other bags.

pennib - did you ever have cause to use the lipstick?

pennib · 18 June 2017 at 7:07PM

Angela - No I didn't. Not sure whether I was relieved or disappointed!

Everybodies thanks button has disappeared so cant do thank yous, sorry.

pineapple · 19 June 2017 at 9:49AM

Here we go with another vehicle attack. Personally I wouldn't file it under terrorism but at the very least it means the likes of ISIS are winning. To me the issue is not so much the possibility of being a direct victim - because the odds are still quite low - but escalating tensions between different communities. I'm glad I moved to the depths of the countryside - even if it does mean you have to do a 50 mile round trip to buy a decent pair of knickers

southantrim3 · 19 June 2017 at 12:43PM

Ok, so how many "terror" attaacks have we had in the last couple of months - along with a malware attack which affected mainly the NHS along with others. Also not forgetting the BA computer meltdown issue...

What is going on, I'm surprised this thread is quiet(sih) compared to what is was a few years ago - there seems to be something going on and we still haven't reach the apex of whatever that is or am I just being a drama queen....

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THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

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