Over the past few weeks I have been working on a project to better organize my gear. This is still a work in progress.
A few weeks ago an article was posted about Storing SHTF Survival Gear, this is a follow up to that article.
The concept revolves around grouping similar items together. Such as the canned goods being grouped together, the fishing gear on the same shelf, or close to each other, cold weather items stored in a box, which is close to other clothing or ALICE gear.
To keep the grandkids safe, glass jars are stored in the closet. We do not want small children picking up jars of pickles and then dropping the jars on the floor. Not only would we be wasting food, but the broken glass poses a risk to the grandkids.
The shelves have been secured to the wall with 2 1/2 inch long wood screws. A 1/8 pilot hole was drilled into the stud in the wall, and then a screw was ran into the pilot hole.
Mountain house #10 cans and 7 year pouches are stored in a location close to each other.
One shelf is dedicated to fishing gear – lures, trotline string, hooks, extra spools of monofilament fishing line,,, stuff like that. The fishing gear is stored in a closet to keep it away from small children.
To make first aid supplies easy to find, a first aid kit for Red Flare Kits and other loose items are kept in an easy to access wire basket. The idea of keeping the first aid supplies in a wire basket is to make them easy to grab and go. In case someone gets injured, someone in a rush does not have to look for gauze or other first aid items.
Heavy items go on the bottom shelf – tubs full of mylar bags, water and Homemade Superpails.
Water bottles and canteens are giving me the most problems. I like to keep a stock of canteens and 32 ounce water bottles for hiking and camping trips. The problem with canteens and water bottles – they take up a lot of room for their relative size. I think I might a plastic tub and store the water bottles and canteens on the top shelf.
MREs are some of my most least used items, but when you need to grab and go, a MRE is perfect. Because the MREs are not used very often, the cases of MREs are kept in the closet.
The plans for the MREs are individual meals during a SHTF situation. The family will hopefully be cooking and eating together, but for plans to be flexible, I plan on each person to have “snacks”. Even though the unit may cook as a unit, not everyone (especially small children) may not be hungry at the same time. As a result, a lot of food might be wasted.
Miscellaneous gear – over the years (like most people) miscellaneous gear just seems to build up. Whether its tent stakes, hammocks, rope, cord,,,, things just seem to build over.
Ammunition is stored out of reach of children, but since its heavy it has to stay on the floor.
Can rotation system
One of the problems with stockpiling food for SHTF, the food needs to be rotated. You can either build your own rotation system, or buy one. A buddy of mine built a can rotation system in his pantry out of peg board. I do not have a pantry large enough to build a system like my buddies, so I am using wire racks on a shelving unit.
The wire racks are marketed as dispensers for 12 ounce soft drinks, but the racks work well for most canned products. Depending on can size, I am able to fit either 11 or 12 cans per rack.
I am hoping to dedicate 2 shelves for can gods – one shelf for meat or protein based products, and another shelf for fruits or vegetables.
To load the racks, up the new can in the top, the cans roll down the wire rack, and are dispensed out of the bottom.
Water Filters
One water filter is at the Bug Out Location, one filter is out on loan to a buddy of mine, and we have 3 hand held water filters at home.
The BBC posted an article about how people turned violent 24 hours after the water was shut off.
There are 2 things that define modern society – electricity and availability of drinking water. We can live without electricity, we can not live without safe drinking water. As water goes, so goes society.
There is a river about 4 – 5 miles from my house, but the water has to be made safe to drink. In a worse case situation, we could use a bicycle to reach the river, use a hand-held filter to filter the water into the water bottles, and then carry the water home in backpacks.
At the bug out location we would filter creek water through a Royal Berkey.
I need to figure out a way to keep my water filters and water bottles organized together, because on hiking and camping trips, the filters and bottles are used together.
A few weeks ago an article was posted about Storing SHTF Survival Gear, this is a follow up to that article.
The concept revolves around grouping similar items together. Such as the canned goods being grouped together, the fishing gear on the same shelf, or close to each other, cold weather items stored in a box, which is close to other clothing or ALICE gear.
To keep the grandkids safe, glass jars are stored in the closet. We do not want small children picking up jars of pickles and then dropping the jars on the floor. Not only would we be wasting food, but the broken glass poses a risk to the grandkids.
The shelves have been secured to the wall with 2 1/2 inch long wood screws. A 1/8 pilot hole was drilled into the stud in the wall, and then a screw was ran into the pilot hole.
Mountain house #10 cans and 7 year pouches are stored in a location close to each other.
One shelf is dedicated to fishing gear – lures, trotline string, hooks, extra spools of monofilament fishing line,,, stuff like that. The fishing gear is stored in a closet to keep it away from small children.
To make first aid supplies easy to find, a first aid kit for Red Flare Kits and other loose items are kept in an easy to access wire basket. The idea of keeping the first aid supplies in a wire basket is to make them easy to grab and go. In case someone gets injured, someone in a rush does not have to look for gauze or other first aid items.
Heavy items go on the bottom shelf – tubs full of mylar bags, water and Homemade Superpails.
Water bottles and canteens are giving me the most problems. I like to keep a stock of canteens and 32 ounce water bottles for hiking and camping trips. The problem with canteens and water bottles – they take up a lot of room for their relative size. I think I might a plastic tub and store the water bottles and canteens on the top shelf.
MREs are some of my most least used items, but when you need to grab and go, a MRE is perfect. Because the MREs are not used very often, the cases of MREs are kept in the closet.
The plans for the MREs are individual meals during a SHTF situation. The family will hopefully be cooking and eating together, but for plans to be flexible, I plan on each person to have “snacks”. Even though the unit may cook as a unit, not everyone (especially small children) may not be hungry at the same time. As a result, a lot of food might be wasted.
Miscellaneous gear – over the years (like most people) miscellaneous gear just seems to build up. Whether its tent stakes, hammocks, rope, cord,,,, things just seem to build over.
Ammunition is stored out of reach of children, but since its heavy it has to stay on the floor.
Can rotation system
One of the problems with stockpiling food for SHTF, the food needs to be rotated. You can either build your own rotation system, or buy one. A buddy of mine built a can rotation system in his pantry out of peg board. I do not have a pantry large enough to build a system like my buddies, so I am using wire racks on a shelving unit.
The wire racks are marketed as dispensers for 12 ounce soft drinks, but the racks work well for most canned products. Depending on can size, I am able to fit either 11 or 12 cans per rack.
I am hoping to dedicate 2 shelves for can gods – one shelf for meat or protein based products, and another shelf for fruits or vegetables.
To load the racks, up the new can in the top, the cans roll down the wire rack, and are dispensed out of the bottom.
Water Filters
One water filter is at the Bug Out Location, one filter is out on loan to a buddy of mine, and we have 3 hand held water filters at home.
The BBC posted an article about how people turned violent 24 hours after the water was shut off.
There are 2 things that define modern society – electricity and availability of drinking water. We can live without electricity, we can not live without safe drinking water. As water goes, so goes society.
There is a river about 4 – 5 miles from my house, but the water has to be made safe to drink. In a worse case situation, we could use a bicycle to reach the river, use a hand-held filter to filter the water into the water bottles, and then carry the water home in backpacks.
At the bug out location we would filter creek water through a Royal Berkey.
I need to figure out a way to keep my water filters and water bottles organized together, because on hiking and camping trips, the filters and bottles are used together.