The First 30 Days: Survival After the Fact

It has happened, the Doomsday scenario has happened and you find yourself holed up in your home, shelter, apartment.. etc. You need Water and Food. If you have been planning for this day you will probably have them stored and ready, if not you need to get them.

Water:

Water is one of the most important items in your check list for survival. But what if you don't have any stored?

Get a garden hose and attach it to the tank output spigot of your hot water heater. Open the spigot and fill a pan with the water, try to pass the water through a strainer with coffee filters lining it. this will filter out most of the big crap that has settled at the bottom of your hot water tank over time.

If you have the ability to make fire, boil the water to kill any nasty bugs that might be in it, or better yet, if you have a pressure cooker distill the water.

You now have some source of water, you can do this to water from a stream, river, or to snow if need be. Also, as gross as it may sound the water tank on the back of your toilet will have anywhere from 2 to 5 gallons of water in it also. Do the same treatment as the water from the hot water tank.

Food:

Anything in a can that you can open, if it is a small can like 15.x oz size, eat it all and eat 3 cans a day. Doesn't matter what it is as long as you get food into your gut!

If it is the 60oz Size, #10 size can, get some resealable freezer bags and dump the leftover from the can into the freezer bag and eat it over the next day and a half. It will be boring to eat and even bland, and selection will be lacking, but that is not the issue right now. You need to survive so you need to eat.

Don't be afraid to eat the cat or dog you see running around, most of us live in a city where deer and other like animals are not around. Learn to Field dress each animal beforehand.

Also you will have very little time between seasons to gather and store food for the winter months. Make the most of your food gathering time and plan well into the future.

Make a garden and plant lots of different vegetables and fruits. Potatoes and onions last awhile but most of your stuff will need to be canned to last through a winter.

City Life:

People will leave the Cities in droves, try to search empty homes for food to eat, just watch out for the gangs that will eventually start coming out also. Do a lot of your work at night via cover of darkness, shutoff your flashlight, get a flashlight that has a red lens so you are not spotted 7 miles away.

In the city you will have to deal with roving gangs out to either kill you and then steal your food, or steal your food and leave you for dead.

GET A WEAPON if you do not already have one.

Most people will die in the first 30 days of starvation, this will leave the groups of people that banded together and planned or that raided others to get their food.
If you Prep and stored food, enough for 30 days, try to lay as low as possible, or better yet get your stuff together and move out after dark to better locations, like out to the country side, BEYOND the suburbs.

Find a high vantage point and a pair of Bino's and search around the neighborhood during the day, and look for flash lights at night.

Be Prepared to move around as you make your way out of the city, plan where you will go next as you make your way to the country side.

Be mindful of the season, if it is End of winter, beginning of spring you will have some time to plan and gather food for the next winter. If it is summer, fall you may have to stay put and collect food for the winter in the city. Just keep in mind in winter you will need warm cloths and a source of heat to keep you warm during the cold days and nights.

Country Life:

Lay low; if anyone comes to your door tell them to go away. Board up your home as much as possible on the lower levels. Barricade your doors on the inside and add in as much security as you can. Build yourself an underground bunker, Root cellar, and storage locations on your property. Houses can be burnt down, you need to make something underground to keep you and your loved ones safe.

A great portion of people will be heading your way form the cities and you will want to be able to defend your home and supplies.

Like in the Cities there will be roving gangs, not as many but just as tough and ruthless.

DO NOT FALL FOR ANY SOB STORIES... they can get you killed.

Band together with your surviving neighbors, you lived next door to them, so you know them, but don't trust them completely, and they have the same agenda, keep their families alive also.

It comes down to surviving the first 30 days and planning ahead. Start now putting food aside for when you need it most, like when it is not available to buy and eat.


Article Source: Donald M Combs