Make do with what you have

[spokewrench]

A couple of days ago as I prepared a favorite summertime recipe, I turned the handle on the faucet and nothing came out. I didn't know how long the water would be off. For decades, I'd kept half a gallon of water in a bottle on a shelf, but I'd thrown the bottle away in case the water was past its expiration date. Then I remembered filling the toilet with more than a gallon of fresh water that very day. I dipped the four cupfuls the recipe called for, and there was plenty left in case I wanted to make more.

 

[6zfshdb]

The wife fills the bathtub every time severe weather is predicted in case we loose power. We now have a standby generator that will power the well pump, but she still fills the tub anyway.

Before we got the generator, when we lost power, we used to bring our solar walkway lights inside in the evening.

Lots of ways to make do during an emergency if you think about it. Simple things, like putting your frozen food outside during a winter outage can save $$.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Really not that clever... My dog has been doing that since forever

 

[PCeBiker]

Lots of ways to make do during an emergency if you think about it. Simple things, like putting your frozen food outside during a winter outage can save $$.

You can store coldness in homemade energy cells for your fridge and freezer,..

My mom was born in the 1930's

When she was a child, the ice guy came by once a week to deliver ice to their icebox.

The ice was cut out of the river in blocks during the winter and stored underground surrounded by sawdust to insulate it.

The ice in storage would last until the next winter.

 

[Gionnirocket]

I go to Thermal Mass every Sunday

 

[Chargeride]

This forum is full of wild mountain men and preppers

 

[PCeBiker]

I've always got water, and gas, and the electricity has never gone off for more than hour or so.

Making a few cheap "cold packs" for your freezer just makes sense unless you don't have the space.

Putting freezer packs in your fridge keeps the fridge cold.

A freezer full of cold packs is cheaper than gasoline.


I watched a documentary about people living off-grid.

Lots of simple things to do like stocking up on dry goods "sundries"

 

[spokewrench]

You can store coldness in homemade energy cells for your fridge and freezer,..

I'm thinking of dew points. When I run my AC, it's often because of dew point more than temperature. Without significantly cooling a room, a 65 F block could reduce the dew point to 65. You could vary the formula for a higher or lower melting point, and maybe refreeze it in a hole in the ground.

 

[PCeBiker]

This forum is full of wild mountain men and preppers

You don't need to be a survivalist.
It's in the instructions that a freezer is more efficient when it's full.

Filling up your empty freezer space with "frozen energy blocks" is cheap and easy, and saves energy.

 

[6zfshdb]

Right now, I don't have to use my smoke house. I can just hang my food on the clothesline with all the wildfire smoke.

 

[kevinmccune]

You can store coldness in homemade energy cells for your fridge and freezer,..



View attachment 212873

My mom was born in the 1930's

When she was a child, the ice guy came by once a week to deliver ice to their icebox.

The ice was cut out of the river in blocks during the winter and stored underground surrounded by sawdust to insulate it.

The ice in storage would last until the next winter.

apparently the climate has changed a bit even here in the mid Appalachians there used to be icehouses along some stretches of rivers and you used to be able to hang meat in the shade for long periods of time after butchering time was done,the rivers very seldom ice over in winter these days( not going to say global warming-oth something has happened in a short period of time-as the "oil people say"drill baby drill and I say "burn baby burn"!)

 

[kevinmccune]

apparently the climate has changed a bit even here in the mid Appalachians there used to be icehouses along some stretches of rivers and you used to be able to hang meat in the shade for long periods of time after butchering time was done,the rivers very seldom ice over in winter these days( not going to say global warming-oth something has happened in a short period of time-as the "oil people say"drill baby drill and I say "burn baby burn"!)

 

[kevinmccune]

You don't need to be a survivalist.
It's in the instructions that a freezer is more efficient when it's full.

Filling up your empty freezer space with "frozen energy blocks" is cheap and easy, and saves energy.

dissolving "saltpeter" in water will make the solution cold.