Free preps

[jbrooks19]

I wanted to start a thread on things you can do to prep for FREE!!! Please respond with any ideas you may have on free prepping things..

Mine will be read, plan and think....They are free and valuable..

[Tachammer73]

Organize what you already have, bag tag box and label it.

Most people would be amazed at how much they already have on hand if they just knew where it was.

[jbrooks19]

Good point, keep them coming!

[Arklatex]

Practice making something from nothing: fire, traps, etc

[jbrooks19]

Practice making something from nothing: fire, traps, etc


I know i need practice on building fire (Without matches or a lighter, lol)

[Just Sayin']

Here's an easy one to do.

All the free condiments you would ever want, long shelf life and might even make most MRE's sort of edible.

748

Put them in a ziplock bag and stick them in with your BOB, stored food etc.

[Inor]

Traveling as much as I do, I find myself with a prefect supplier for free soaps, shampoos, and skin lotion:

752

I do pretty well on coffee and creamers too:

753

When I get home Mrs Inor will put the soaps into one of those big plastic under-the-bed boxes for storage. I think we have something like 12 of them full now.

With the coffees, she will give the packets of decaf to one of her church buddies. The regular will get vacuum sealed in a food saver bag and stuffed in a 5 gallon bucket. She opens the creamers and sugar bags and separates them and stores them in mason jars.

Traveling for business sucks. But once in a while it does have its benefits.

[OSFG]

Have you ever watched those coupon shows where the person gets $700 worth of stuff for like $2, and they get like 50 bottles of single serving mouth wash, or 50 individual bottles of something else? ass ton of Razors, or tooth brushes....etc. I used to wonder why in the hell do all that work to get a bunch of stuff you don't need...until I started prepping. Now it makes sense to me.

[Inor]

Some hotels give me still give me the tooth brushes, toothpaste and razors too. But those are getting more rare. When they put them in the room, I put them in my suitcase. But I do not go down to the desk and ask for them unless the airline lost my bags like they did this week. I do not take the razors because they cut the crap out of my face.

The other thing that is REALLY good are the little cloths that some hotels give you for polishing your shoes. They work PERFECT for cleaning your glasses.

[Just Sayin']

Traveling as much as I do, I find myself with a prefect supplier for free soaps, shampoos, and skin lotion:

752

I do pretty well on coffee and creamers too:

753

When I get home Mrs Inor will put the soaps into one of those big plastic under-the-bed boxes for storage. I think we have something like 12 of them full now.

With the coffees, she will give the packets of decaf to one of her church buddies. The regular will get vacuum sealed in a food saver bag and stuffed in a 5 gallon bucket. She opens the creamers and sugar bags and separates them and stores them in mason jars.

Traveling for business sucks. But once in a while it does have its benefits.

Now we know why you're such a soft and gentle guy!

[jbrooks19]

Another free form of Prep is to exercise, it can be done for free by simply going on a jog, bike ride, or walk..Its free and gets your physical prep covered, you don't wanna have a beer gut when the S hits the F and some zombie is chasing your fat ass... lol

[Coppertop]

I'm going to go with the knowledge and maybe a little A$$ kissing- but it's true. Being on here and seeing what you wizened people have to say, and show, makes me see where I may be lacking in not only my knowledge, but awareness and gear also.

In that I just want to say Thank YOU to everyone on here for putting up with my (sometimes stupid) questions and not treating me like an idiot.

Thanks

[jbrooks19]

I'm going to go with the knowledge and maybe a little A$$ kissing- but it's true. Being on here and seeing what you wizened people have to say, and show, makes me see where I may be lacking in not only my knowledge, but awareness and gear also.

In that I just want to say Thank YOU to everyone on here for putting up with my (sometimes stupid) questions and not treating me like an idiot.

Thanks

As I have been told by many wise people, one of them said "The only stupid question is the one you don't ask"

[Innkeeper]

Some hotels give me still give me the tooth brushes, toothpaste and razors too. But those are getting more rare. When they put them in the room, I put them in my suitcase. But I do not go down to the desk and ask for them unless the airline lost my bags like they did this week. I do not take the razors because they cut the crap out of my face.

The other thing that is REALLY good are the little cloths that some hotels give you for polishing your shoes. They work PERFECT for cleaning your glasses.

I still have my fathers old razor which takes the replaceable 2 sided blades I used it up until I got done with active duty, but I have it and probably a couple years worth of blades put away because you never know when you might need it. I think it will outlast me, they made good quality products back then.

[Innkeeper]

For those still in the Military Both Active and Guard, take every school that comes along and your unit will send you two. Over my Almost 21 years in service I garnered 5 MOS's and most of one, did the OJT program but it got scrapped a couple months before I was due to get it awarded, the Regular school itself was8 months long and I did not have the time to take from college for it. I also went to driving schools, repair schools( Basic operator for Gennies) BFT Training school I trained others in My Battalion and brought away a lot of knowledge, and many more to mention include leadership classes. Many help me in civilian life, but gives me knowledge that may just help when I least expect it to (plus you get paid for attending, better then free). For civilians take some time to look at programs in your state, which offer money for college and parlay those grants into classes you may be able to use elsewhere, Join the local volunteer FD or EMT , great training and most departments will pay for it, or you can find the above mentioned grants to pay for it, again great way to improve yourself.

Talk to your friends, maybe they have skills you want to learn and would be willing to train you when they do it and will let you observe and help, like canning, meat processing, maple syrup...etc.

I am joining the Coast Guard Auxillary through the college I attend, I am going to teach Map and compass courses, and learn more about sailing( I have not done it for 20 years) and boat inspection, plus they asked me to be part of a S&R team due to my years as an Aircraft crew chief. I plan to learn all they will teach me, and they even offer schools I can attend.

Look around folks there is free info every where.

[Pauls]

Go to the library and get a book on knots. Practice tying the knots until you can do it blindfolded. Make things from scrap that is around the house or you find while walking. Get used to looking at what something can become instead of a piece of junk.
Ideas on what you can make:
fire pistons
Char cloth
fire starters from scraps of MDF (partical board) soaked in wax or waste oil
tin can stoves
tongs and forks from coat hangers
snares, triggers and traps
Learn to weave twigs into box traps.

The list goes on and on...

[survive-it-all]

My buddy, Jbrooks he referred me to your site. One thing I know he does is uses pallets for different things. He recently finished his basement and has built a couple tables out of them.

You can get pallets for free at a lot of places.

[Infidel]

I went through a period where I was downloading all the free info I could find. I have it all stored on my PC to be read when I get the time (I should start printing and binding this material). US Army manuals are a great resource and some are free for download. I also started working on skills I thought would become valuable. Knife making is one that can be done on the cheap if not free, leather work is another handy skill although not a free one due to the cost of the supplies but I've gotten to the point where it's paying for itself at the very least even if I'm not making a ton of money at it. Any profit from the leather work goes to my personal funds and are separate from the household funds. Making thing from paracord is another skill I've picked up, my boys think paracord bracelets are the coolest thing so I started making them for them.

Here's some links:
SAS Handbook (http://books.google.com/books?id=65-o2qppedcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Survival&client=firefox-a#v=onepage&q=Survival&f=false)
Army Field Manuals (http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/Active_FM.html)
Full list of Field Manuals (http://www.enlisted.info/field-manuals/)
Survival Library (http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1014)
Survival Downloads (http://www.truthistreason.net/16-survival-downloads-field-manuals-and-handbooks)

-Infidel

[jbrooks19]

My buddy, Jbrooks he referred me to your site. One thing I know he does is uses pallets for different things. He recently finished his basement and has built a couple tables out of them.

You can get pallets for free at a lot of places.

Just watch out for the ones that were used to transport chemicals or paint, they are not a good idea to build a table out of or burn..Don't wanna be eating dinner on a table constructed of chemical soaked wood..

[TJC44]

I see a number of posts about buying cases of water. Take that empty gallon milk container, wash it out, and fill it with clean tap water. If you need ice, freeze it. This will also help your freezer to Run better, and frozen stuff to last longer...and you have another gallon of water.

[Arklatex]

I see a number of posts about buying cases of water. Take that empty gallon milk container, wash it out, and fill it with clean tap water. If you need ice, freeze it. This will also help your freezer to Run better, and frozen stuff to last longer...and you have another gallon of water.
I've always hear you shouldn't store water in milk containers.

[Deebo]

Inor saved my ass with his sugar and coffee creamers, while we were in Oklahoma. We also do the packets from taco bell.
As far as Arklatex's question about water in milk jugs, I hear A LOT of people talking about chemicals leaching out, but really, I just drank that milk. I like the three liter bottles that soda cones in from the dollar store.

[Deebo]

Free stuff needs storage areas thou. Picked up two chain hoists at work yesterday. Tagged out, as not safe, but will be fine fir fence tightening, and small not critical lifts.
The reason I say needs storage areas, is becouse I used to get free scrapwood at work, but soon it took over the backyard.

[Arklatex]

It's more to do with the proteins left behind creating a high chance for bacteria to grow. Not the chemicals leeching out.

[Just Sayin']

If you want to reuse milk jugs, use a weak bleach solution before you put your water in it. It also won't hurt you if you put 2 drops of unscented bleach in the water you store.

[Inor]

This is just one man's opinion, but prepping water is something we absolutely HAVE to get right. You cannot live long without clean water. So that is prep that I never cut corners on. When I was looking to buy a filtration system, I bought the best I could afford. When looking at water storage options (for drinking water), we bought square blue plastic jugs specifically designed for that purpose. I will cut corners on a lot of things, even some of our guns, but not my water preps.

[Just Sayin']

This is just one man's opinion, but prepping water is something we absolutely HAVE to get right. You cannot live long without clean water. So that is prep that I never cut corners on. When I was looking to buy a filtration system, I bought the best I could afford. When looking at water storage options (for drinking water), we bought square plastic blue plastic jugs specifically designed for that purpose. I will cut corners on a lot of things, even some of our guns, but not my water preps.

I agree with Inor that if possible, your water needs to be as clean as possible. But you also have to remember that a pretty big part of the earths population regularly drinks water that most Americans would gag on. By all means, purify water as best you can, but in a survival situation, it is usually better to risk the diarreheal consequences of dirty water than face severe dehydration. Over time, your body can adapt to water that is quite a bit less clean than tap quality water.

There are many different methods to improve water quality and reduce the likelihood of waterborne illness. One that has seemed to been rather effective and easy is to take a clear water bottle and fill it, then leave it in the sun for several hours. The UV rays kill all the critters, just like the UV water purifiers. There's tons of info out there and it's must know stuff.