Constantly moving

[2die4]

Due to the Army telling me where to live every 3 years I have to be crafty with prepping. I would love to store food, have rain barrels, and the whole nine yards but I can't.
My main focus is food,water and ammo. Mres of course are the main staple of my shtf kit. Right now I have a two month supply for General(wife) and me. (working on 6).
Water is different. Being a lot bulkier I have been focusing on the purification angle. Fire and chemicals. Matches don't take up space nor does a bag of powdered bleach or a bottle of purification pills.

With ammo I have a wide range of shotgun loads along with the different caliber bullets. I even have round to guns I don't own for bartering purposes.

Just wondering if any others are faced with moving and face the same situation. Still can't help that I'm forgetting something.

[GunnerMax]

alika2die4 Might I suggest varying your food stores with non-MRE components. Long term consumption is not healthy. I know it can be done, and some men are stubborn in this aspect. Freeze dried, canned, beans, rice, and stuff like that will be a blessing to your appetite and digestive system.

I myself am limited to what I can do, being military also. I cant get 100 acres and pimp it out like some lucky people here do.

I do like your ammo decisions. I am going to get a good base of calibers I use first, then mosey onto the popular ones I dont use. I wont get .375 H & H (rare?) but I will get .40SW, .380, .308, .22-250, and stuff like that.

[2die4]

Hell mres wreck havoc in my digestive track 2 days into a field training exercise. Lol

[Echo2]

any food...is better than no food.

supplement the main entree with dried rice. Rice with one entree can last all day and weight to calorie wise is minimal.

[mitunnelrat]

General would be HH6? If so that says housing vs. barracks, and plays into something I thought might help your water storage: Collapsibles.

A few of the 5 gallon jugs and a water bob would require minimal space when not in use, but give you something substantial to draw from given enough lead time and warning.

ETA: and they're light, which would work well when moving.

[bacpacker]

For water purification, I would suggest looking at a Backpacking style purifier (there are many brands out there). The other methods while providing acceptable results have some drawbacks. You have to replenish the supply and in certain circumstances may be impossible to get. Fire takes a while and could give away your position. Chem treatments leave (to me) a horrible after taste. Just my $0.02 on that.
I have some MRE's but they are more for a quick gotta go right now and probably keep moving for a while. I prefer to use freeze dried or just dried stuff like pasta or rice meals in a bag. Plus the weight and space is less. Longer term, rice, beans, and spices are much healthier and more nutrious.
In the end of it all though is you gotta do what fits your situation and taste. Thank You for your service.

[hank2222]

There is a couple of things you can do if it just two poeple in the on base housing set up .

1-Under your bed is a idea spot for two long rubbermaid tough storage totes filled with 30 .day supply of food items that can be made up in a small cooking stove pot by just adding water to the mix .Plus cans of the diff ready to eat type meals items that can be heated up in the can .

Those items can be stored in the two totes for a total of 60.days supply of food with a smaller tote holding the solo style single camp stove set with cooking pot and accessories items with extras items stored in that tote


2-Get those single large plastic one drawer type units and stack them up into you have a 5 or 6 high drawer unit to hold the supplies from cooking to first aid to food items and spices to hold those items as it need that might work for you

Also you can take a can of beef stew with a can of whole potatoes or package of instast mash potatoes mix and tape them togerther and you have a luch or dinner meal along with taping to the can a small plastic bag of a drink mix to make up a 1.qt sized drink as it need .

Also you can take a two packages of oatmeal and do a light tape job on them with f.d. fuits and a honey packet to make a breakfast meal as it needed

break down the meal items into small packaging for less space inside the tote as it need Also with the mre meals you can add thing to them as it needed to make up a better meal if need .

[realist]

Since you do not have a stable living situation I would consider looking at what transportation you have too. If I were you I would work toward your goals but I would also make sure I had a good reliable vehicle. I would also consider getting a good box trailer, it makes the next move easier and is a good thing to have to haul all you stuff. Hank is right, store you stuff in things like Rubbermaid totes. I like the boxes that are heavy duty with a one piece lids. There are some that will take up to 200 lbs which stack easy. It makes it much faster to pack. One good thing about moving a lot is you do not have all the crap like I have accumulated in my garage, I need a moving van.

[2die4]

I was looking into getting several of the jugs in the near future.

[2die4]

Since you do not have a stable living situation I would consider looking at what transportation you have too. If I were you I would work toward your goals but I would also make sure I had a good reliable vehicle. I would also consider getting a good box trailer, it makes the next move easier and is a good thing to have to haul all you stuff. Hank is right, store you stuff in things like Rubbermaid totes. I like the boxes that are heavy duty with a one piece lids. There are some that will take up to 200 lbs which stack easy. It makes it much faster to pack. One good thing about moving a lot is you do not have all the crap like I have accumulated in my garage, I need a moving van.
I eventually want to look into getting a trailer for such a thing. Because of the cost factor right now I rather spend it on stuff that I could used to bug in or gear to evac to a safer site by walking.(assuming roads will be clogged and a moving vehicle will invite unwanted trouble.)

There is a couple of things you can do if it just two poeple in the on base housing set up .

1-Under your bed is a idea spot for two long rubbermaid tough storage totes filled with 30 .day supply of food items that can be made up in a small cooking stove pot by just adding water to the mix .Plus cans of the diff ready to eat type meals items that can be heated up in the can .

Those items can be stored in the two totes for a total of 60.days supply of food with a smaller tote holding the solo style single camp stove set with cooking pot and accessories items with extras items stored in that tote


2-Get those single large plastic one drawer type units and stack them up into you have a 5 or 6 high drawer unit to hold the supplies from cooking to first aid to food items and spices to hold those items as it need that might work for you

Also you can take a can of beef stew with a can of whole potatoes or package of instast mash potatoes mix and tape them togerther and you have a luch or dinner meal along with taping to the can a small plastic bag of a drink mix to make up a 1.qt sized drink as it need .

Also you can take a two packages of oatmeal and do a light tape job on them with f.d. fuits and a honey packet to make a breakfast meal as it needed

break down the meal items into small packaging for less space inside the tote as it need Also with the mre meals you can add thing to them as it needed to make up a better meal if need . Never thought about the containers. I basically have all that stuff in the cupboards but it would be a hell of lot easier to transport if we had to bug out in a hurry. Thanks.


For water purification, I would suggest looking at a Backpacking style purifier (there are many brands out there). The other methods while providing acceptable results have some drawbacks. You have to replenish the supply and in certain circumstances may be impossible to get. Fire takes a while and could give away your position. Chem treatments leave (to me) a horrible after taste. Just my $0.02 on that.
I have some MRE's but they are more for a quick gotta go right now and probably keep moving for a while. I prefer to use freeze dried or just dried stuff like pasta or rice meals in a bag. Plus the weight and space is less. Longer term, rice, beans, and spices are much healthier and more nutrious.
In the end of it all though is you gotta do what fits your situation and taste. Thank You for your service. A purifier is next on my prep list. I haven't had a chance to really research it yet but I assume there is a filter that would need to be changed after so many gallons?


any food...is better than no food.

supplement the main entree with dried rice. Rice with one entree can last all day and weight to calorie wise is minimal. I just bought two 5 gallon buckets and filled them with rice. it didn't take up to much room. With an airtight lid would I still need an oxygen absorber or something to ensure the rice keeps over the years?

[bacpacker]

The purifiers do need filters replaced after a given amount of use. They will last longer if you use a prefilter (bandana, t-shirt, coffee filter) to remove most of the larger material. That way the purifier only has to remove the small particles.

I just picked up some information about a brand of purifier I hadn't been aware of before. I do plan on researching them more and may well get one of them as well. Here is a link.

Sawyer® Products - Water Filtration, Insect Repellent, Sunscreens and More (http://www.sawyer.com/water.html)

[ladyhk13]

If you have the money you can get a Katadyn filter and I think one filter will go for 13,000 gallons. Buy an extra carbons. You can filter water right out of a stream or pond and drink it. It's a really good filter, buy the best you can from the beginning or save up for it. I would suggest at least a level 2 (1 is better). If you get one of those and are near a water source you won't have to store so much water since you can get it from outside or even rainwater.
If you don't have a Food Saver type machine consider getting one of those as well. You can sucky all kinds of things which takes out all the air and compacts things which will make them last a very long time.
Buy canned food. The military pays you to move so it doesn't really matter how much stuff you have. Move yourself since they pay according to weight and you'll make money on the deal (unless you have to go overseas, then I guess it would be better for them to move ya).
If you live on base how are you getting away with having weapons and ammo? It's against the law and you could get busted. I would seriously reconsider that one. If you are off base then it's not a problem.
Just some ideas.

[GunnerMax]

ladyhk, when I lived on base in Florida, all I had to do was register my gun with the base police, and promise it would stay locked and unloaded. Now since I have more guns, I would NEVER even consider living on base due to my constant open carrying/concealed carrying.

[ladyhk13]

ladyhk, when I lived on base in Florida, all I had to do was register my gun with the base police, and promise it would stay locked and unloaded. Now since I have more guns, I would NEVER even consider living on base due to my constant open carrying/concealed carrying.

Interesting...did you drive freely on and off base with it all the time? Dh retired in '07 and even though didn't live on base no weapons were allowed on. Even now when we go to base in AL we aren't allowed to bring our guns and there is no place to leave them at the front gate either (we asked).

[GunnerMax]

the gun never left the closet. this was when I was 20 years old, young and dumb.

[tc556guy]

If water is your identified "weak point", why not get a few of those blue 50 gallon water barrels from some place like Nitropak:

Water Storage - Water - Food Storage Product (http://www.nitro-pak.com/products/water/water-storage)

and ship the empty barrels with the rest of your household goods when you PCS. Obviously you refill them upon getting to your new post.

The gov't ships the rest of your goods; why wouldn't they ship a couple of empty water barrels

[2die4]

The purifiers do need filters replaced after a given amount of use. They will last longer if you use a prefilter (bandana, t-shirt, coffee filter) to remove most of the larger material. That way the purifier only has to remove the small particles.

I just picked up some information about a brand of purifier I hadn't been aware of before. I do plan on researching them more and may well get one of them as well. Here is a link.

Sawyer® Products - Water Filtration, Insect Repellent, Sunscreens and More (http://www.sawyer.com/water.html) Thanks for the info.

[2die4]

If water is your identified "weak point", why not get a few of those blue 50 gallon water barrels from some place like Nitropak:

Water Storage - Water - Food Storage Product (http://www.nitro-pak.com/products/water/water-storage)

and ship the empty barrels with the rest of your household goods when you PCS. Obviously you refill them upon getting to your new post.

The gov't ships the rest of your goods; why wouldn't they ship a couple of empty water barrels The lack of room is my concern. I don't live on post but the surround areas I may end up in an Apartment. I don't get paid enough to keep a big storage locker every month. Plus it would prove useless if I couldn't get to it. I like the idea of having enough collapsible containers and a water purifier on hand. Once I settle barrels and rain catchers galore!

[izzyscout21]

check these out. Affordable, and collapsible

http://www.shtfready.com/f13/rethought-my-water-storage-1365/

[2die4]

check these out. Affordable, and collapsible

http://www.shtfready.com/f13/rethought-my-water-storage-1365/ I'm going your route Izzy. Much easier for my living conditions. What is your water treatment per bottle? 1-2 drops of bleach?

[izzyscout21]

I'd have to go back and look. I dont remember off the top of my head.

Somewhere on this site is a dosage guide, IIRC

[tc556guy]

The lack of room is my concern. I don't live on post but the surround areas I may end up in an Apartment. I don't get paid enough to keep a big storage locker every month. Plus it would prove useless if I couldn't get to it. I like the idea of having enough collapsible containers and a water purifier on hand. Once I settle barrels and rain catchers galore!

Gotcha. If space is an issue as far as storing water, look for alternate places to store and containers to store it in, like the waterbrick that can be stored under a bed

Waterbrick 3.5 Gallon Portable and Stackable BPA Free Water Container (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&tok=lcUYmKURMkjUyru1zL9-_w&cp=15&gs_id=2c&xhr=t&q=stackable+water+containers&safe=off&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1245&bih=623&wrapid=tljp1340193126820038&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=13749166927306076754&sa=X&ei=cbnhT6-nAenw0gHSwomvAw&sqi=2&ved=0CHMQ8wIwAA)

[Sniper-T]

Further to the barrels... There is always an open top option, like this:

PLASTIC DRUMS OPEN-HEAD NESTABLE - PLASTIC BARRELS DRUMS OPEN TOP (http://www.bayteccontainers.com/15galoppldr.html)

When you're moved in, they contain water, and they can be small enough to be movable, and they're stackable. But when you are moving, empty out the water, and pack your possessions in them. If anyone asks, just say that they are the ultimate 'dry-box' for moving, as you don't want your stuff to get wet.

[Grumpy Old Man]

I'd have to go back and look. I dont remember off the top of my head.

Somewhere on this site is a dosage guide, IIRC

It's right here courtesy of....

http://water.epa.gov/aboutow/ogwdw/upload/2006_09_14_faq_fs_emergency-disinfection-drinkingwater-2006.pdf

[izzyscout21]

outstanding. Thanks, Grumpy

[2die4]

You guys are awesome.

[izzyscout21]

we try;)