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Americans are looking to stock up on gas masks, emergency meal kits, and power banks as anxiety builds
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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I have a slight tendency towards paranoia and over-preparedness, it's something I know about myself and keep in check, I don't want to be the weirdo living in a bunker full of spam and guns. I keep it to a reasonable level of preparedness, a little extra food, a battery backup for my sump pump, some tools, blankets, water, etc. in the trunk of my car, etc. I'm seldom caught unprepared for anything that might come up, but I'm not actively stockpiling for the end of the world.
My wife tends to fly by the seat of her pants a bit more. I remember when I ran out to buy the backup battery for the sump pump before a big storm she asked if I really thought we'd need it. We ended up losing power for 16 hours, and while that battery didn't last the whole time, it at least bought us a few extra hours of not having to bail out the sump pump with buckets to keep our basement from flooding.
So I definitely took notice when a couple months ago she started wanting to buy some rice and beans and such in bulk to vacuum seal so we'd have a bit of a stockpile on-hand if things started getting rough. If she's starting to get worried like that, it usually means things are already pretty damn bad.
So I've been kicking my usual casual emergency preps up a notch, still holding myself back from becoming a full-on bunker weirdo, but fuck if that's not starting to look kind of attractive.
Just remember to keep stuff cycling; batteries need charging, iodine tablets need replacing, and even the food and water need regular refreshing.
There are very few goods that don’t go bad if left unattended for over 3 years, for instance.
I've had my noodles stocked for over 3 years before i ate them, and they still tasted good. Just my experience.
Keeping them in ideal conditions (no heat, no direct sunlight exposure, no moisture) is essential, however. Do mind these things.
Also on iodine, there was a product out there called "Polar Pure" that I fucking love
Unfortunately, it was basically just a bottle of pure iodine crystals, so they got caught up in some new anti-drug regulations and got shut down because iodine can be used to make meth.
But it was a great product, and if you look around you can still find new old stock. It has an indefinite shelf life (iodine crystals don't go bad) and one bottle was enough to treat something like 2,000L of water.
You filled the bottle up with water, some of the iodine would dissolve into it, and you'd use a capful or so of that concentrated iodine solution to disinfect your drinking water. It had a special bottle design to keep the iodine crystals trapped inside when you poured the liquid out.
Pure iodine crystals aren't exactly an easy thing to get your hands on, but if anyone is able to that's probably a good way to go.
One nice thing about being old, I don't need to buy potassium iodide tabs any more. They say not to bother if you're over 50, the cancer won't catch up to you in time.
So I guess I'm on the radiation cleanup crew if it comes down to it.
But don't stockpile iodine for water purification, household bleach is cheap and doesn't permanently fuck up the flavor of the water
I'm "lucky" (Also I'm overall very pro-nuclear, don't let those sarcasm quotes give anyone the wrong impression) that I live in the evacuation zone for a nuclear plant, so my county distributes potassium iodide for residents in this area (for anyone paying enough attention to put their name on the list to have it sent to you or to stop by the office to pick it up) so that's one thing I don't really have to put any money or effort into stockpiling.
I'm not particularly concerned about the plant, and I'm not in an area that's likely to get nuked if WWIII really gets going, though I may need to worry about fallout depending on the wind.
Definitely good advice and we are cycling things.
Our plan is focusing on dry goods that probably would last a couple years (maybe with some loss of nutrients/quality) just sitting in your pantry as long as it's reasonably clean, dry, and no bug or rodent issues. I can't say that I've ever had things like flour, rice, or beans go bad on me, and I've definitely pulled some out of my pantry that have been sitting there for a couple years.
And we're further hedging our bets vacuum sealing them in mason jars with moisture and oxygen absorber packets.
For anyone doing the same, a paper cupcake/muffin wrapper in the top of the jar allegedly helps keep your vacuum sealer from sucking up any dust from your food. It didn't seem like that was a major issue when we were doing it without, but I figure it can't hurt either.
The thing we struggle with is cycling emergency water supplies. We don't tend to use any sort of bottled water, water quality from our tap is actually pretty good (if a bit hard) and we put it through a filter anyway, so we never really think about cycling out whatever jugs or bottles we try to stockpile. I may have to bite the bullet and order a couple cases of that stupid blue can water or something.
Wait what's blue can water?
Pretty much exactly what it sounds like, water that comes in blue cans. The manufacturer claims it has a 50 year shelf life or something.
It costs several times what regular bottled water does, and it's literally just water, not flavored or sparkling or enhanced with any vitamins or electrolytes or anything, just water in a can. It's kind of a stupid thing to buy, and arguably you'd be better off just filling up some sturdy jugs from your tap and treating it with a couple drops of bleach and dumping it down the drain every so often, but I can also see the convenience of a buy-one-cry-once set-it-and-forget it prep like that.
Everyone is on their own now. This hurricane season should be a wake up call for some. Prepare, plan, build communities.