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My grandparents didn't go from a life of ease & luxury to deprivation.  They got thru WWI, the depression and WWII as they always did in life by adjusting and making do. But today's society is living a whole different way. They have nothing to fall back on because they never did those things my grandparents did or know anyone who did. 

You are quite right- folks should know about these things.  Sadly, I think many prefer the ostrich method (head in the sand) to what’s going on and the possible ramifications. 
Even when we were renting and had only electric, we still kept a few rounds of good firewood- just in case. 
I also have a 1924 kerosene stove that works :-).  It was an everyday thing back then.  It also puts off heat which is nice in the winter.  It didn’t come to me all nice and shiny. I had to clean it up but am glad to have it. 
Food and heat are important to me- haha. 

The problem isn't just "other people"; it's my own family!

Unfortunately,  I live with ones who have to learn the hard way and even then it might not stick.

I do what I can on the down low and hope I'll be able to help if the time comes for serious adjustments. 

We are woefully unprepared when it comes to water storage, something I hope to rectify this month.  I plan to order 2 160 gallon emergency water storage tanks that can be connected, giving us 320 gallons plus the 20 or so we have already.  Over time I want to add to the storage, and to devise rainwater collection and purification, but for now, 320 gallons would get us through a month with careful usage, in an emergency.  But to set up the tanks we need to clear the weeds growing on the side of the house and lay down sand or decomposed granite, or have concrete put down.  I’m already considering how that little area can be a preparedness area.

We put the solar on the house last summer, and since then we have made enough for our needs every month, even with clouds and rain, except when the batteries have to drain and recalibrate themselves.  To get through the lean months we’ve learned to use much less electricity — I rarely use th oven in December and January.  Solar is our biggest prep, because our home would be unlivable without electricity, and also because we wanted to hedge against rising electric costs.

The cheapest gasoline near me is $5.049 per gallon and that is no-name gas.  We only get gas at the warehouse stores now as they are cheaper.  Tuesday we put gas in the van at $4.579 per gallon and by the time we finished shopping they had raised it to $4.699 per gallon — I’m sure the prices have gone up again as they are going up everyday.  Clearly we are being mindful of how much driving we do in the gasoline engine cars vs. the electric car.  I did fill the gasoline in the small car, just because I expected the gas to go higher and it did.  We don’t drive it often but realized we need to drive it more as once again the battery died from not driving it.  Gasoline is the area I think we might see shortages and rationing first, if this war brings rationing.  But all prices will be impacted, regardless, as the increased gasoline and diesel prices for transport are pushed to the consumer.

I have a propane cooktop in the campervan and have cooked with it many times.  One reason we chose an electric stove when our gas stove needed replacing was because we knew we would be installing solar.  When the time comes, we’ll put in an electric water heater and then eventually a heat pump situation for heating and cooling (or other options that only require electricity).  We don’t want to be reliant on natural gas at all, the prices can really fluctuate, it’s a non-renewable resource and could run out, and it would be easy for the supply to be attacked.  Natural gas also affects electricity generation by power companies, as more than 40% of electricity in the USA is generated with natural gas.

We still aren’t growing food, but I do buy the basics in bulk and store quite a bit.

I worry about my youngest and am trying to figure out how we might rearrange things if they can’t afford to live on their own anymore.  It’s hard to pay these gasoline prices and commute to minimum wage jobs, plus the utilities go up.  They were barely making it as it was.

The rest of us live a small life.  We live in a multigenerational household.  My oldest bikes to work, my husband and I are retired and don’t have to commute to jobs.  We live near our downtown in an area that is “very walkable” Walk Score and a “biker’s paradise” Bike Score.  If we wanted we could change our medical providers to some within a mile of our house.  Our dentist, post office, church, and library are all less than a mile away.  We have several grocery stores within a mile, a pet supplies store, and the pharmacy too.  The bike store is within a mile, the bank is exactly a mile away.  Within 5 miles we could realistically have access to every service we need.  We stopped shopping online and have found Walmart usually has what we need if we can’t find a local business that carries it.  But we did recently have a local hardware store open, and they have a lot too.  We all have bikes (mine is electric), so if gas gets too expensive, we’ll walk and ride and use the electric car.

I’ve washed clothing in the big clawfoot tub and could do it again.  We already hang everything to dry.

Hideously frightening times indeed.  I have been stocking up and thinking ahead.  Also encouraging our grown daughters to make plans Both live in cities that could be targets. We need to fly to a big city this Sunday and we are feeling unsettled.  The most powerful urge is to have my grown ducklings and the baby ducks here home with us.  

 While  not trying to be partisan, I do want to express my opinion that, in addition to preparing at home for distressing times, it is vital to take part, in tiny ways or larger ones,  depending on your abilities, interests and stress, in letting elected officials know your opinions.Sometimes  they seem to forget who they are supposed to be representing.   It’s easy to feel that our own tiny voice has little impact, but joining together in our democracy is more important than ever.  It can also help combat feeling so overwhelmed. One thing I like to do is read books about women who made enormous differences during terrible times:  Francis Perkins, Jane Adams, and of course the amazing Eleanor Roosevelt. 

Thank you for addressing this apolitically. I, too, am concerned about the war. Gas prices are only going to get worse, but it feels like it's the least of our worries. 

My husband travels around the country for work, and I'm afraid something bad will happen and he won't be able to get home. Being separated without contact is frightening. 

We have plenty of food, but I only have a grill for alternative cooking. I need to work on this. The kids and I no longer eat meat for health and ethical reasons. That has helped the food budget so much!

A very thought-provoking post.  I've tried not to read the news very much but I do need to know what is going on and I am very concerned for myself and my family.  I live in a small 2 bedroom apartment in a senior building.  Everything is electric.  I live very near downtown in a mid-size city.  There is a small neighborhood grocery store, courthouse, post office, library, church and my dentist office within walking distance. My doctor is farther away but they provide transportation service for those who need it.  ( I don't, I have a car.). I am blessed to have a daughter 30 minutes away and a sister 1 hour away who both have fireplaces, gas cookstoves and large yards for gardening.  I know how to do lots of things that our ancestors did such as, sewing, knitting, and other needle crafts, make bread, butter and noodles, make soap and other toiletries.  I don't use my clothes dryer or dishwasher but I have no alternate heat or cooking source. (That is where my family would come in, I guess.). I am in the process of stocking up on non-perishable food and will start stocking up on water very soon.  My storage space is limited but I plan to make the best use of it that I can.  I will do my best to take care of myself and trust God for what I can't do.  This is a worrisome time, indeed.

It is indeed a worrying time.  Here in Australia for the last week we've felt the results of this turmoil.   Fuel is scarce - we only have so much in store for the entire country although the politicians would have you believe we have plenty.  This isn't so.  Already agricultural areas cannot get diesel fuel and petrol is being rationed at a lot of the service stations.  Travel is off the agenda unless close by.  The lack of diesel in particular is frightening as farmers need that fuel to operate their machinery, trucks need it to transport food and it's a follow-on effect - prices have already risen in the shops and people are preparing for drastic shortages some of which are already visible.  Essential services are being interrupted and it just goes on and on.  Heaven only knows where it will end - I certainly don't.  All we can do is make sure we ARE prepared as best we can - the big worry is that the power network will go down and then there'll be panic - no electricity, no power and we as mere homeowners won't be considered to be at the top of the list to have any supply, that will go to essential services first.

I'm canning. Mostly soups.

When I go to the fruit and vegetable store I search out reduced to clear or marked down goods. The other day I got 2 boxes of various fruits . $4 for one and $5 for the other. Ended up with 17 jars of bottled fruit. The equivalent of brought commercially canned fruit would be 2 cans in each jar and cost nearly $8 just for those 2 cans ..... It's a no brainer. 

Fuel.. not panicking.  Currently where we live around $12 gallon ( for the American readers)  We live rural. We cannot change what's happening by fretting. Am being careful and not going out any more than I used to. Everything done on one day per week. I feel for people who have to drive to their workplace or take children to school.

I've always grouped my errands together so of course will continue to do that and will continue to accomplish as many errands in one outing as I can. I rarely if ever drive somewhere just for something to do. I can go a week before I need to go anywhere. 

I will be reorganizing my pantry and freezer so I can make a list of needs.

There's plenty to do to stay busy and not fret.

Thanks for another insightful post! It is sad that not many people want to learn how to prepare for hard times. I think it was a good thing during the Cold War when the government encouraged individual citizens to build their own fallout shelters. They provided plans for many types of shelters and told people what to put in them and how to prepare them. I think being prepared prevents a lot of worry. I started prepping many years ago when I lived out in the country in Wyoming. In the winter, you couldn't be sure about when you'd be able to get to town, so you had to be stocked up. I learned how to cook on a wood cookstove and how to heat with wood. We had two large gardens and raised poultry, rabbits, and pigs. I learned food preservation skills, including pressure canning and dehydrating. I had many, many jars of food stored in the basement. 

At one time, I lived in Minnesota in a 16 x 32 cabin with no running water, electricity, or phone, with 3 kids. You learn how to make do. We used oil lamps and had a hand pump for water outside. We used an outhouse. This was in the days before the internet and cellphones. It should really be much easier now, since you can have a solar- or gas-powered refrigerator and freezer. There are also many solar lights that don't cost much. I use my solar lights every day to help with my electric bill. I also have a non-electric washing machine that I can use if needed, and, of course, clotheslines to dry the clothes. I also have a clothes rack for drying clothes in the house. I live close enough to town to walk to the Post Office, grocery store, Dollar General, etc., if I needed to. I have a composting toilet and a treadle sewing machine. I have three 7-gallon water jugs, one 5-gallon water jug, and 40 gallons in my water heater. This came in handy recently when I woke up to no water. I had a five-gallon jug of water already on the countertop, ready for just such a situation, so I was fine. I have a water Bob to go in the bathtub for extra water storage for emergencies. I have a lot of home-canned food stored up, probably 200 - 300 jars, as well as food in the freezers and refrigerator. I keep plenty of jars, lids, and rings on hand so that, in an extended power outage, I can can the food in the refrigerator and freezers before it spoils. My kitchen stove is powered by propane and doesn't even have an electric cord, so I should be good there as long as I have propane. I heat with wood, so a tank of propane could last me over a year. I want to get a solar oven and a rocket stove for cooking outside. I don't use AC at all, even though I live in southern Missouri, where it gets quite hot. It is something that you adjust to each year. I used to make soap, but haven't done it for a long time, since bars of soap are so cheap at Dollar Tree or Dollar General. I have thought about setting up a leach barrel since I have so many ashes from the stove. Then I would have free lye for soap making. I do some gardening too. However, I find so many good deals at the salvage grocery store where I shop, so that is where I get the food for canning.

I have done sponge baths since I only recently got a water heater after being about 6 years without one. However, I found that I like the disposable washcloths in Dollar General's dollar aisle. They are like baby wipes, but much bigger and stronger. You get 18 wipes in a pack for $1.00, and they last about 9 baths. They are good for a go bag since you can freshen up anywhere with them.

Our gas went up .70 a gallon in one week, so I am restricting how often I drive. I am trying to only go to town if I have packages to mail from eBay sales or if it is for religious purposes. Other than that, I'm staying home. If the gas goes up too much, I'll walk to town. I also put a sign in my car to remind me. It says: Is your trip necessary? 

Hints for water:  when you open a canning jar to use the contents, when the jar and lid are washed, fill jar with water and put on your canning shelf.  If you want sterile water, process in your canner.  I typically reuse canning lids for this and if they seal, fine, if they don't the water is still safe in the jar.

If you have the space, any empty juice, milk or soda bottle can be washed and filled with water for storage.  Milk cartons will deteriorate over time and leak so be aware.  I have an unfinished basement so don't worry about leakage.  Older stored water is not discarded but saved for washing and flushing.  New water is for food prep and drinking.  Old water can be boiled to make it safe but that depends on availability of fuel.  

I'm fortunate that I'm retired, have an established pantry so only shop monthly and usually only purchase gas every second or third month and then it's half a tank most times.  We do not have a grocery store in town but do have dentist, eye doctor, medical clinic, bank, library, post office and a Dollar General (not nice but there).  I do not know if I could walk the six blocks to everything except Dollar General a mile away.  I'm old and although blessed with good health but walking 12 blocks to and from would likely not work for me.  

Lady L -- do you have an oven for your kerosene stove?  I've seen the Coleman camping ovens used on them.  My mom had a kerosene stove when I was quite young, and I recall she had an oven she put over two burners.  BTW she hated that stove and got a bottle gas stove when we moved to town.

I have pepper plants under grow lights and will be planting tomato seeds within the next few days.  My garden will be smaller this year with the hope I can keep up with it better than I did last year.

I keep aware of world/national events, inform myself about candidates and vote.  Beyond that I can do nothing beyond preparing my home.  I've been prepared for many years and keep rotating my preps and adding when I find holes.  I do not watch media news reports as I find them more propaganda and fear mongering than news.  I do not worry or fret about what ifs because I've already done all I can to prepare.  Since that is taken care of as best as I can, I trust in the Lord to see me through whatever comes. 

Hello from Australia :). We have been preparing ahead for many years and live in a small country village and have to travel anywhere from 45 mins to an hour one way to get to a larger grocery store. In our village we do have a little corner store, post office, pharmacy and a pub and takeaway store.

Our home is operated mostly on rain tank water as well as a little town bore water. We have 2 x 2000 gallon rainwater tanks and a 5000 gallon one too so we have heaps of water as they are all full at the moment and we back onto a canal that we could pump water from too. We put in solar panels a couple of years ago and just recently added a 24KW battery backup to the system so the home currently runs off the battery power from the sun as does the hot water system that is connected too.

As we get flooded in here we have always kept a good supply of food and all other items we need here in case we can't get to town. We also keep 4 months supply of fuels here and use a fuel preserver to make it last a year. This is a blessing at the moment as the 2 villages closest to us have run out of fuel altogether but we do go to a larger town that still has fuel supplies. We are alternating using fuel at home and filling up our two cars once a month in town at the moment to make fuel supplies last longer.

Here we cut our own firewood and have a wood stove for heat in the winter months and have a good supply of that as we do sell some to others too. We know how to start fires and cook on a fire too.

We grow our own fruit trees being lemons, oranges and berries being mulberries and also have a grape vine here too. Currently we are revamping our vegetable gardens so they are higher and will soon buy in the soil to fill them and replant them after winter. The water we use in the home goes into a grey water tank and then that gets pumped out on to the fruit trees once a week to keep them watered if we have no rain although we can use town water too.

I know how to sew and repair clothing and also have a back up supply of clothing in vacuum seal bags and also have a supply of sewing materials here.

Lorna.

I have been thinking about the higher gas prices lately. At home, we don't really go anywhere outside of our very small city, and we could walk or bike to most places if we had to. Even though I personally don't go far, my online orders have to do quite a bit of traveling to get to me! And that can mean higher prices. I am preparing for that.

A new dairy farm started a home delivery service that we get. Today I used a turkey baster to siphon the cream off of the top of the milk and I made butter. It's easy to do in a blender. Since I bought the milk to use as milk, I consider the cream and butter to be free. :) I made a fettuccine Alfredo the other night and used the turkey baster to squirt the cream into it. It's pretty handy that way! 

I got my Ancient Grains brand whole wheat stoneground einkorn flour today and mixed flour, yeast, salt, and water together for a dough, and it's in the fridge having its 18 hour ferment. I had to guess at the dough consistency, since this is my first time making einkorn bread. I doubled the yeast from 1/4 tsp for 3 cups flour to 1/2 tsp because of the less gluten. It seems to be bubbling up fine in the fridge. 

My son made banana blueberry muffins with some Italian pastry flour I bought. We didn't eat them because I put them in the freezer for Sunday morning breakfast. 

In a supply chain shortage, our water comes from a local spring, our milk, eggs, and beef from the local dairy, we grow most of our own vegetables and fruits, we know a chicken farmer, and we buy online products from family farms that probably wouldn't be affected by commercial shortages. 

I want to learn how to make cheese. If the grid got hacked and went down for an extended period, I could still get milk from the local dairy, but I would need to turn it into cheese to keep it from going bad from no refrigeration. My solar generators would power my instant pot and we were given a camp stove this winter that I promptly bought a whole lot of canisters of fuel for, so I could heat the milk for making cheese. I suppose I could even use my ceramic grill (Big Green Egg) for that too. I could make cultured fresh cheese or maybe rub butter on hard cheese to keep it like Ma did in Little House on the Prairie. I've been thinking about keeping cheese cultures on hand. The cheese and some eggs would make a good protein source if we couldn't keep meat. Of course, this means I need to get busy and can some meat for my pantry! But the cheese and eggs would be available all the time, where the meat would last only as long as I had jars of it. 

Hi everyone,

I live in The Netherlands and as you know there is also a war in Europe still going on with everything that brings with it. We are being hacked and hack attempts are being blocked, but still, we feel it too. Now with the war in the middle east and a marine ship of ours being sent there, many people here are afraid of attacks on our country too.

We have never had to prepare, because there has been peace. Now we don't know who our friends are anymore and where the attack will come from.

My husband and I have always lived a simple life. We don't take vacations, we don't have a modern kitchen with all kinds of electric appliences. If it comes to cooking, I still have petroleum cookers which can run on lampoil. I have oil lamps too. I know how to bake and because of the stories of my parents, who lived through WW2, I know about other ways to cook.

I know how to bake bread, knit, crochet, sew, I want to learn how to can, because I know how to cook soups and jams and make chutney and pickled veggies.

I hope it will not come to the point where I have to use these things, but I am preparing and trying to learn new things.

I have put a picture in this post of the cookers which I use as plant stands at the moment, but they can be used. Maybe it is upside down.

If you click on the picture it is correct.

Hello everyone. It is Autumn down under and I went out this morning and purchased, peas, carrots, leeks, onion, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower seeds. All of there things will grow here in winter for us and I am truly grateful. I must admit I had forgotten about water as something to put away, thanks for the reminder Grandma Donna. I think we would all benefit from concentrating on the survival of our home and loved ones more then listening to the unsettling news on TV. This winter might be a good time for me to start knitting again. I stopped when my kids were little because wool became so expensive and you could buy a ready made so much cheaper. I always felt calmer when sitting knitting does anyone else feel like that? Thank you Donna for another wonderful post.

Oh my goodness Lady L that is the most gorgeous stove!!

Monique E, I love that setup you have! It's beautiful but also very practical :)

Around here we're not even allowed a decorative firepit, nevermind an actual fire. So there goes that. However we do have our barbecue and we have decided that will be our emergency source of cooking as it has been in the past. I have a document set up and I call myself 'the Safety Warden' to make it a little more lighthearted. But I got us fire blankets and fire extinguishers so every floor of the house has at least one way to put out a fire.
Before any major storms come through, we check all of our power banks/lanterns/etc are all charged up and working. We have the radio still going, and of course extra batteries on hand.
Working on getting the emergency food store back up and running. I underestimated how much peanut butter we (don't) use. I really need to make a list of what we have in our pantry, and then put those things downstairs.
One day I will get a pressure canner... When I have a job and can afford to buy it! For now I have our little garden which is in fact, very tiny. I see it as gaining experience for the future, where I will have my own space with a bigger garden. Whether in pots or the ground, we shall see.
I am itching to start seeds, but that comes at the end of this month.
For now I need to start eating through the store of peaches, as I have some left from 2 years ago. Also some jams, pickles, and other goodies in there. And pie filling, lots of pie filling... 
I've just been holding on, everyday I do the same types of things. Baking something tasty, probably some cooking, language practice, read books, talk to friends, and hopefully get back into my mending. I put it away for a few days and I need to pick it back up again.

knitting is so calming. When I feel stressed out I start knitting. At the moment I am test knitting a sweater with long sleeves and a wonderful lace pattern border.

I use drops yarn, which isn't very expensive and knits very nicely.

Wars and being prepared are two major topics in the Bible. There will always be wars, until the Son of Hashem returns. Wars, sadly, cause pain. Nuclear attacks cause long term destruction, maiming and death.  Nuclear attacks destroy everything and the ground is not fit to plant food.

We have practiced preparedness for three decades. I have not been well and neither has my husband, so doing trial runs has ceased. Yet, we have plenty of stored supplies for us and our children. We have a wood burning cookstove and plenty of wood, plus two propane stoves, one with an oven. Propane, stored correctly, is wise. We only have one fireplace in this house, sadly. In our former home we had four.

We have gardened for 40 years, but can no longer do it at the amount we have done before. We have plenty of big pots to plant in, if we would choose to do a simpler method, plus we put in the large galvanized watering troughs for bigger and spreading plants. We still have all of the large garden beds, if necessary to use.

 I have perennial herbs all over the yard for seasoning food. I dehydrate and vacuum seal the herbs in glass canning jars for future use. I have opened 10 year old vacuum sealed jars of herbs and seasonings and they smelled fresh as day one. A few years ago, I planted lovage, which is an excellent celery substitute for cooking. It is a perennial that is strong each year. I focus on herbs that can withstand -20 degree temperatures. Each area has a zone and plants that will grow well there.

Perennials are a wise investment and can be started from seed indoors and transplanted outside after the weather is frost free. Herbs that don't perform perennially here I purchase in one pound bags and vacuum seal in glass canning jars as I do the homegrown herbs.

Dehydrated food is a good longterm keeper for storage. When we find frozen organic vegetables on sale I will dehydrate those, also. The fact that they are already blanched saves alot of time and effort. We prefer to keep six months of good storage at all times. I have been a bit lax due to pain, but this article was a good reminder.

Thank you, Donna.

In some ways, we are prepared. We have a well, though no hand pump. We aren't affected by public water supply issues, but we would be affected if the grid went down. We have a propane stove that doesn't use any electricity (most new ones have an electric pilot light, but ours doesn't...not even a clock!) That could be used for a long time until we ran out of propane. We heat with a woodstove and live on 5 acres, most of which is trees. We could cut and split wood by hand if necessary. My grandfather actually built our woodstove and it has a large flat top. We could cook on that. He also built an oven that sits on top of the stove so we could bake (I have invested in oven thermometers to make sure we keep the temperature fairly steady.) We keep a stockpile of food, though not as much as we used to due to increased costs. Some of that is in the freezer. If we lost power, I would need to pull out my pressure canners and preserve things that way. The hardest thing for us is water. There are 9 of us still at home, and my oldest is here often, sometimes with his girlfriend,  too. We store some water, but their is no way we could store enough for more than a few days. We do live withing walking distance of a creek and the river is only a couple of miles away. We could boil water and we have several life straw type filtration devices. We do have 2 rain barrels as well. That would at least provide some water. We have learned a lot of skills, but are always trying to learn more. For instance, we garden a good bit, but we would like to learn more about saving our own seeds. This year, we are only planning to grow very basic crops. We don't need fancy broccoli that is hard to grow here. Kale, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, green beans...they all grow well and can provide a lot of food in a small space. 

Living in hurricane country I tend to always have short term preparedness items on hand. I already have stored water for drinking but I also have a hand pump/pitcher pump for my well much like the photo in the article. One problem we have here is that we in Florida are in severe drought, a drought which started over a year ago. “Severe” is the official designation, not my opinion. We are on voluntary restriction now but mandated restrictions are coming if we don’t get more rain. Storing up lots of water would be hard on the aquifer right now and my rain barrel has been useless. 

I’m home and retired now. I use much less gasoline and I am using less electricity where I can. For instance, I sweep daily after the dogs instead of vacuuming. I wash small loads by hand. I have all LED bulbs but I still turn off lights as much as I can. I turned the heat down this winter and will turn the air conditioner up once the weather gets and stays hot. I can deal with 78 F in the house in the summer as long as I have fans running. 

I always put up some canned foods, especially broths from chicken carcasses and other meats. I have fruit trees planted but this winter’s deep cold snaps hurt some of them. Still, I hope to get some fruit this year. 

I also have a kerosene mini cook stove and a limanual clothes washer and a wringer. 

I would find it hard to get wood to cook or heat with. I can’t cut it myself and although we are surrounded by woodlands, very little is sold as firewood and much of the woods are privately owned by hunting camps and tree farms who don’t want people cutting their trees. 

I have looked at solar panels but I’m really torn. The panels, I read, are often made in places like China and are an environmental problem when they have to be replaced. I don’t like the idea of them being on the roof and compromising my roof, but the two companies I talked to were uninterested in putting them on stand alone panels in the yard, something which I saw a sustainable farm has done. Also, the backup batteries are hideously expensive to replace.  My final concern is that so many retired people I know, including me, have been approached by solar companies, which makes it feel almost like a scam.  In fact, one consumer organization warned about them as being possible scams when aimed at the elderly.  So I was wondering, since there are a number of readers here with solar and obviously happy with it, if you could share some information about it.  I’m not asking for company recommendations, as I’m not sure GDonna would want that here, just general info.  How long have you had them, is cleaning a problem, have you replaced batteries, how reliable is it, etc.  Thanks!

My husband travels all over, too, and that is worrying. He drives brand new big rigs to their final destinations. If fuel continues to rise in price, I expect that he will be even more hard-pressed to find work. We have felt the pinch since tariffs began, even though supposedly it's gotten better.

What was the standard diet like during this time for, say middle class folk? Would they have a little bit of meat, but heavy on whatever veggies were available? Was there some sort of bread served with every meal? I'm sure sugar was not as prevalent then as now, right? 

Given those items above, how committed are you to eating like that lifestyle, even though it may cause weight gain? I'm probably not wording my question correctly, but the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet. LoL

Judi M.

I go to a knitting group once a week. We knit blanket squares and various clothing items for Missions Without Borders. It truly is my very happy place. Lots of laughter and chat and we all get on so well with each other. At home I'm knitting beanies and socks for our Grandsons.  I sit in a comfy chair by the window in our sun porch with the windows open and listen to the birds singing .... To give you a visual .

I brought a vacuum sealer for jars that I'm yet to use and felt encouraged by what you shared Glenda H_2. We have a canner,  camp stove and cannisters, no air con or heat pump but are so blessed to have a freestanding beast of a fireplace that is cast iron and I can cook on the top of that PLUS we have an open fireplace in our 2nd lounge that I'm thinking of getting a swing arm for to use my Dutch oven or a kettle. Even though my husband has Huntingtons, God to His glory, has kept him stable mostly and he has harvested years of firewood for us off the farm where we live. Sometimes storms have a plus side :-).    We have indoor lamps that use a fuel that doesn't smell or smoke for lighting.

While water is pumped into our tank from a bore on the farm it is gravity fed into the house.

This is a good reminder that we need to keep preparing for the unknown.  We have canned water for years.  When we first started I called Ball information line and asked how long to can water.  It is not in the books.  The woman had to look it up and she said to can it as long as apple juice which in my Ball book is 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.  Ball no longer has their information line.  We have just canned water in the canner, but if I am canning and have extra space I will put in a jar(s) of water to fill the canner.  If I feel the water is not safe I can run it through our Berkey.  We have a creek that runs through our property although I am not sure about drinking from that.  I do have some jugs from the store too.

We have several varieties of solar lights.  I like the Luci light.  These are very inexpensive and you can just put them in a sunny window to charge.  I have ordered from Walmart and Amazon and another company too.  I have given this to my children for Christmas gifts.

We have a wood burning stove although I don't like to use it because I would have to carry the wood down the steps to the basement.  We have used it in a power outage and I have cooked on the top too.  We do have a small fold up Sterno stove that uses green Sterno which you can use in the house.  I have a set of light weight pots that I use with this so it heats quickly.  This is mostly for heating things up like water for a drink or soup.  I have scrambled eggs using this too.  This uses the fuel quicker than what is advertised.

We have a small solar generator which will run small items and charge things.  I would like to have a larger one that would run the freezer and refrigerator, but cost is a factor.

I do keep paper plates for when the power is out, but if the power was out over weeks I would run out and have to find a way to wash the dishes.  I do wash my dishes by hand and I can use minimum water, but when you don't have running water every drop is precious.

I like hearing other peoples preps and need to make a list to try to work through in the next weeks and months.  One thing I would and is if you can start buying lids.  It might be like during Covid, so many people were gardening and canning it was hard to get lids.  

Our pear tree was in full bloom and we had frost last night so I am afraid we have lost our pears.  This will be the 3rd year in a row.

Hello from Germany!
Fuel costs have also risen very quickly and significantly here. Diesel costs €2.20 per liter ($9.56 per gallon) and more.
I've kept a good supply of food in the cellar for a long time and rotate it regularly. I can my own prepared meals. They taste better, have better ingredients, and aren't as expensive as store-bought canned goods. We have fruit and berries in the garden. My vegetable garden was quite successful last year. I'm slowly developing a strategy for dealing with all the pests. (I don't want to use chemicals.) All winter long, we had kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, herbs, and scallions in the garden and in our small unheated greenhouse. I'm really happy about this small degree of self-sufficiency.
We have about 60 liters of drinking water in the cellar and about 3000 liters (≈ 792 US liq gal) of rainwater in the cistern.
If the power goes out, I can cook with gas and also cool a few small things with gas. I always keep a few bags of charcoal at home. I follow the recommendations given by the German Civil Protection Agency.
I can cook and bake, sew a little, knit a little, and embroider.

Yes, there's a war in Europe. No bombs are falling in Germany (thankfully!), but cyberattacks and sabotage have increased significantly. Prices for everything have also risen sharply. I'm glad that I can do a lot on my own and don't necessarily have to rely on supermarkets every day and pay for every service.

Hello everyone

Ici en France les prix augmentent aussi très rapidement. J'habite dans une ville de taille moyenne et je suis en centre ville donc j'ai la chance d'avoir presque tout à côté de chez moi : épicerie, marché, pharmacie , et je peux prendre les transports de la ville pour aller chez le médecin ou à l'hôpital si besoin.

J' ai eu la chance d'avoir des parents qui m'ont appris à cuisiner, bricoler, coudre etc...car j' ai été élevée sur 3 continents et en brousse où on ne trouvait pas tout.

Hélas j'habite en appartement sans jardin ni terrasse, donc je serai tributaire des approvisionnements.

Néanmoins je garde confiance. Je vous envoie toute mon amitié à toutes mes nouvelles amies.

Grandma Donna,  I have been meaning to mention this for years but keep forgetting.  I used to sell Mary Kay cosmetics.  I had women buying their extra emollient night cream for psoriasis and swore by it.  You may want to give it a try for Charles.  It smells yummy.  I hope it works for him.  Take care.  

Monique, I love those lamp oil stoves!  Does anyone know if they're available in the US?

Judi, I too am a knitting nut!  I always have something on the needles.  Right now I'm knitting a cover for a hot water bottle for my daughter then I'll make one for myself.  It is very relaxing for me and it keeps me away from the online games.  ????

My whole wheat einkorn bread is a success! It's got a soft, springy texture perfect for sandwiches, and my family loves the flavor. We had slices spread with my homemade butter. :) It's going to be perfect for buttering and then dipping into hot soup where the butter melts and blends with the soup. Yum!