Well I have learned a great deal from everyones input so far. I have nixed the spaghetti due to the long cook time. I would like to hear some input on mac-n-cheese for the kids. Candy says it takes as long as spaghetti so I am thinking about cans of chef-boyardee raviolis and similar things. Let me know and keep the ideas coming, puuuuhhhllllllllllease.

RE Planning on shelter in place - yeah, in this case, it was the wrong choice - but sometimes, it's the RIGHT choice too. By storing food - and doing it with afore thought - I can CHOOSE to stay, or grab, say a weeks worth of food/water, load it in my truck and "Be gone" - empty 5 gal buckets are GOOD for this - pack say, 2-3 days food in each - grab 2-3 buckets, which are watertight and vermin resistant, and your partly ready to go (water, clothes, documents, etc - you do have those too, I hope)

My basic "Hardship" 72 hr kit (aka, I'd live, but be one miserable cookie) is in my truck 24/7 - My families kits are in the house, simply because they are not usually with me

Based on experience with camp cooking, the main problems with pasta, unless you know a different way of cooking than I do, are:

A. It takes a large amount of water, that you have to drain off. Unless you drink the pasta water (yuck) you are using up the one thing you really need to conserve. I supose that if you are short of water, the pasta water could be added to soup or something.

B. Normally you heat water to a full boil and cook at a full boil for 8-10 minutes (depends on the pasta). That takes a good source of heat. I can do that on my old fashion Coleman stove (and have done so on camping trips where water was not an issue), but really doubt that you could get it done with Sterno. I have used Sterno to heat water, but it is slow.

My kids like the canned stuff and in a pinch it would be safe to eat without cooking. Kraft Easy Mac is an "instant" mac-n-cheese product that you just add water and microwave for about 3 minutes. It only uses the amount of water that is actually absorbed so there is no waste. It is a little more expensive than the regular mixes, but tastes about the same. My kids like it. I have not tried this, so do not trust me without a field test, but I think you can make it by just adding boiling water and letting it set for a few minutes.

You were thinking about putting together a box(s) of meals and mentioned adding fork/napkin packets. Also, consider paper/plastic cups, bowls and/or plates. With a shortage of water, they are easier to store than the water it would take to wash regular plates.

I am reminded of the Holiday Inn commercials. I am not a survival expert, but I have spent the night in the woods with cub scouts.

I recently bought a JetBoil. These things are amazing.

You realise that many of what to bug out with you now. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yes -- for bug out, I like those big blue plastice tubs with the snap on lids. Can carry a lot of stuff in these.

tro

Good advice, P-man.

I'd also add bleach to the kit -- but store it away from food.

tro

I basically use Randjack's method for bob, 72 hr and car kits. My home storage (now being replaced, since it was lost in flooding recently) is "bulk" in bags (wheat, oats,) buckets and cans. Get HEAVY trash bag liners and boxes of powdered bleach - you can use these with 5 gal plastic buckets for waste containers.

Do NOT plan on filtering in a situation like this. You NEED stored water - there are too many chemicals to be sure you've filtered all of the bad stuff out (I'm talking chemicals here.)

In a "longer term: situation, a still may be a good choice, but with a fuel trade off, just storing water my be more effective.

In places out here in the desert, where you will probably still have a dry fuel source, the still becomes more realistic.

Fortunately, I live here in Mormon land (Utah) and know that a pretty good number of neighbors are prepped.

I also serve on the local LEPC just to keep up with all of the local plans and folks…

My choices for evac for me and my family range from 2 hours (10 hrs by dirt roads F-350 with two tanks) to Tucson, more than 10 hours away.

Stuff not important, only life important… (stolen and twisted from 5th Element)…

I've never given too much thought to bugging out. I have a bunch of stuff here at home and could probably get by for quite a while sheltering in place. Katrina has made me rethink that. Here in the middle of Colorado I really can't imagine a large scale natural disaster that would mandate bugging out. A forest fire for some parts of the state, but I'm suburban.

But if this site has taught me anything, it's to be prepared for anything. A disaster created by man in Denver could very well send a wave of lawlessness my way that I'd want to bug out from.

So I think I'm going to repackage my preparedness stuff into waterproof container buckets we could grab-n-go with if need be. I'm looking at a pile of empty "Scoop Away" kitty litter buckets sitting in the basement (man, those cats sure burn through a lot of that stuff!) I knew there must have been some good reason for keeping those things all along (the buckets, not the cats), and I just now figured out what that reason might be.

man, I have dozens of those buckets too. I was always wary of putting food in them though, don't know how the litter dust may affect it. Any suggestions on how to get them cleaned out real good?