Beyond the Bugout Bag: Prepping for Spring

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Spring brings a critical transition period for anyone concerned with self-reliance and emergency preparedness. The warming weather signals it's time to reevaluate your supplies, update your plans, and reconsider your approach to personal safety in an increasingly uncertain world.

The warning signs at local grocery stores can't be ignored—shelves with growing gaps, eggs priced at $11 a dozen, increased security measures for everyday items, and fewer staff. These aren't reasons to panic, but practical indicators that thoughtful preparation now can prevent hardship later. As one prepper wisely notes, the goal isn't to hoard 500 packages of toilet paper, but to methodically build resilience through careful planning.

Power solutions deserve special attention, with more preparedness-minded individuals shifting to solar options that avoid the storage challenges and noise signature of gas generators. Food preservation strategies gain importance during power disruptions, with innovative approaches like utilizing medical-grade ice packs to extend refrigeration capabilities. The hierarchy of emergency food consumption (refrigerated items first, frozen foods next, and dehydrated supplies last) maximizes resources during extended emergencies. Don't overlook the importance of seasonings—spices like black pepper, cinnamon, and cayenne not only make survival food more palatable but also offer medicinal benefits.

Perhaps most significantly, the philosophy of preparedness continues evolving beyond political boundaries. The lone wolf survivalist model gives way to community-based resilience, recognizing that diverse skills within a prepared network provide greater security than any individual could achieve alone. As one preparedness expert bluntly observes, "You may have 10,000 rounds of ammunition, but if you break your leg and nobody helps you, you're going to get gangrene and die." True resilience comes from balancing self-sufficiency with strategic community connections.

Ready to strengthen your preparedness posture this spring? Check out resources like the Happy Prepper's "37 Foods to Hoard Before a Crisis" and consider which skills your personal preparedness network might be missing.

Links:
37 Foods to Hoard
16 Spices for Preppers

Harper's Ice Cream
Food Handler Card Info

Top-Rated Ice Packs- Amazon
& a Shout out to Luigi's Hot Dog Cart outside  Blackbird in Phoenix

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got the clocks reset and the holidays behind us
.
Now we've got some work to doas we move into spring.
Come on in, let's talk about it.
Hi everybody, I'm Bill Bateman,part of the team here at Refuse

(00:22):
to be a Victim PersonalProtection Training.
We are located in theMedford-White City area of
Southern Oregon and located at6800 Kershaw, where Kershaw and
Corey I call it at theconfluence of Kershaw and Corey,
at that elbow curve out thereby the sports park, we invite

(00:46):
you to come on out, get familiarwith safe and ethical shooting.
We've got all kinds of classes,all kinds of lessons and, yes,
those things are still happening.
There has been no change at therange that I am aware of, and
please stop by the website andconcealed carry classes are

(01:07):
still happening.
We've got all the non-ballisticself-defense classes are still
happening.
One note my bug-out bag classesare going to be booked out.
Actually, we're done withoffering them until August.
So if you want to take that,think August.
A lot of folks have realizedthat now's the time to start

(01:31):
thinking about prepping, andwhat makes this really
interesting is spring is thetime I tell my regulars and my
new guests that it's the timeyou need to switch over, that.
It's the time you need toswitch over.
Look at your supplies, look atyour loadout, look at your
everyday carry plans and look atyour locations if you're going

(01:51):
to be making any kind of move inthe event of a difficulty,
because the weather's going tochange.
The weather is changing.
We're at that point right nowwhere you have to, in fact, have
a coat in the morning and by byafternoon you're looking for
the sunscreen, so it won't belong until it's just extra
crispy.

(02:12):
Consider that in your preppingNow, a few of you may be looking
around going where's thepictures?
That is very much laborintensive.
It's hard to do, quite frankly.
I'm going to do it some more.
I do like it.
I like the effect it has.
It's just right now.
I am jammed up with stuff to do, so I thought it would be

(02:35):
better to get the informationout and we'll put in the
pictures the next time around.
So that's what's going on withthat.
Let's look at restockingrestoring the biggest thing I'm
seeing in the weather reports.
The aftermath of all thedisasters happening is that

(02:56):
power is the big problem.
More and more people are movingto solar.
This is only because of thedifficulty of storing gasoline
and the fact that, with thegasoline generator, everybody
within a three block radiusknows you've got power.
That's a worst case scenarioviewpoint and we'll talk about

(03:18):
that in just a second.
But it is a good idea to makesure you've got all those little
cables and all those littlewires.
Decide where you're going toset things up in advance.
Look at your things you arecarrying in the car.
Look at the things you arestocking up in your home.

(03:39):
Look at those expiration dates.
It's all common sense, but theyaren't selling common sense
anymore.
So I'm going to mention it andI think it's important.
We all be aware of it.
I've been guilty of that myself.
I went to a water filtrationsystem packet just doing the
update.
Oh, look at this.
Yep, this is fine.

(03:59):
One of the feed tubes wasmissing.
I found it, but in an emergency, looking for something like
that can be really, reallystressful.
Also, let's look at what's goingon around us.
Let's take a look at simpleeveryday activities and see what
kind of clues they might have.

(04:20):
We talk about havingsituational awareness, being
aware of what's going on aroundus.
Well, it doesn't take a rocketscientist If you've been to the
grocery store lately.
First of all.
We go to several differentgrocery outlets and,
interestingly enough, we usuallygo during the day.

(04:41):
Well, my wife and I had a busyday and said well, let's just
stop in in the evening.
Totally different landscape Now.
First of all, grocery stores arepopping up with vacancies on
the shelves.
We're starting to see largeholes on the shelf.
Now, I realize it's beforeEaster, but I was amazed to see

(05:02):
just two packets of eggs thelast time I went to the store
and they were $11.
Two dozen eggs $11 a piece.
We didn't dye any colored eggsat our house this year.
Also, self-check is the norm.
It didn't appear to be anycashiers.

(05:24):
They were all clustered aroundthe self-check and a lot more
things are locked up.
Now.
I know that, like Walmart andTarget and some of the bigger
stores have gone to locking moreand more items up because,
quite frankly, people come in,grab them and run out the door.
We found an instance of that.

(05:45):
Not only did we need batteriesand the batteries were under
lock and key, we had to get thebattery police to come and help
us out, but one of the doors wasclosed and locked.
You couldn't exit one way out.
Okay, these are signs of thetimes.
People are getting desperate,money is getting tight or

(06:08):
tighter, prices are continuingto rise and supplies are going
to start dwindling.
We have been quacking aboutthis.
I hate to be the I told you soguy, but yeah, this is what
we've been talking about.
It's starting to happen.
Be alert, don't panic, buy.

(06:28):
Don't go out and buy 500packages of toilet paper.
I mean, come on.
Careful planning, carefulbuying is going to help you be
effective in the months ahead,months and years.
Remember your emergency food isjust that it's for an emergency.

(06:48):
That's when you run out ofeverything else.
The first thing you don't wantto do is open up your dehydrated
food.
Some of that stuff's prettygood.
I kind of like the stroganoff.
Quite frankly, it's not bad atall.
But if you're looking at longterm, if you're looking at that
30-day minimum window, you'regoing to want to use up the food

(07:10):
that you have both in thefreezer and in the refrigerator.
I've often been an advocate ofhaving a backup.
We have a mini fridge and wekeep it full of ice packs so
that if the power goes out, wedon't have enough solar power to
do a refrigerator, but we dohave enough solar power to do a

(07:32):
mini refrigerator That'll work.
And the ice?
Instead of putting all the foodin the mini refrigerator, we're
going to put ice in the icepackets actually, and not the
regular kind.
Look for those you would findin an MRE.
Meals on Wheels delivers andthey have a special ice pack.

(07:53):
It's a little bit thicker, itdoesn't break as easily.
It lasts longer.
You'll also find it at medicaloffices.
I had good luck.
I happened to have a connectionat a medical office.
When medicine arrives it comesin on these ice packets and they
give these packets away.
So this is a good brand.

(08:15):
If I can find the link to it,I'll put it up.
So the basic idea you keep theice packets frozen.
Something happens.
You take the ice packets andput it in your lower part of
your refrigerator.
The upper part of therefrigerator is going to stay
cold.
With the frozen food it willbegin to gradually thaw, but as

(08:37):
you're using the food at thebottom, you can then start
moving.
The food at the top.
Down Gets to be an extendedsituation.
You keep those ice packets coldand you keep them on the food
in the freezer.
The idea is food is going tospoil a lot less slowly if it's

(08:59):
kept cool and if you need tocook it and then keep it cool,
you'll have the ability to getmore value and more utilization,
more use, out of the food.
Remember there's somethingcalled the three-hour rule.
After you cook something, youneed to let it cool down and you
need to keep it uh, free from.

(09:22):
I usually put cheesecloth overthe top of it.
Sometimes you don't want allthat condensation building up on
a food product.
There's a whole lot of things,in fact.
You know what I found reallygood.
Take a food handler'scertification.
You can do it online.
Jackson County has a goodprogram.

(09:42):
A food handler's certificationis going to talk about a lot of
the basic food storage and foodhandling ideas that you are
going to need, especially in anemergency.
Since we're talking about foodand food handling and what to do
with this stuff, I go to a sitecalled the Happy Prepper I'm

(10:05):
going to include a link to thatsite and they have a list of 37
foods to hoard before a crisis.
What is a good source forprotein?
What are ultimate survivalfoods available at your regular
grocery store, at least so far?
Well, some of the top listedare number one distilled and

(10:28):
seltzer water.
Number two canned liquids andjuices.
Number three dehydratedpowdered milk, whey, w-h-e-y, no
whey, and eggs, yum, yum, don'tcare for it, but it's better
than nothing.
Hard cheeses that come encasedin wax and plastic.

(10:50):
They still make them andthey're still a good thing to
have.
They're going to last a lotlonger.
Protein bars and protein drinks.
Canned and dehydrated meats.
Poultry and seafood Drink mixes, coffee, oh my goodness.
And seafood Drink mixes, coffee, oh my goodness.
By the way, coffee I've beenfollowing.

(11:11):
With the increasing price thing, coffee is going to be hit hard
.
So is chocolate, wine andcheese, just saying.
And also things like oil,butter, lard, especially olive
oil, and some of the better oilsfor shortening.
There's a list of 37.

(11:32):
I'm going to include the linkfor that, rounding out the top
10,.
Whole wheat flour bread andpancake mixes can't go wrong
with a little bisquick andcereal like shredded wheat, corn
or rice.
You can not only eat it, butyou can use it as an extender
when you're cooking.
Also on the food list and I'mgoing to also give you a link, I

(11:56):
call it a man for allseasonings, little
tongue-in-cheek there spices.
Now, spice is an essential itemto have if you're going to run
off in the woods and you'regoing to want to have some spice
.
You're also going to want tomake sure you have fresh spices

(12:17):
at home in the event of becausespices do go bad.
Pepper is time sensitive,cinnamon is time sensitive.
So the top.
There's 16 important spices forpreppers.
Whether you're bugging in orbugging out, if you've ever been
out in the wilderness cookingand realized you didn't have

(12:40):
your salt and pepper shaker withyou and didn't know which plant
leaves to pick to drop into thestew, you can have some pretty
bland tasting stuff.
Yes, it doesn't have to begourmet.
The goal is to survive.
But yes, seasoning is going tomake it just that much better.

(13:00):
So what are your top 10 spices?
Well, I'll give you a coupleBay leaves.
They really go good in stew andin soup.
Black pepper Peppercorns aregoing to last indefinitely.
Ground pepper has a clock on it.
Peppercorns in Egypt wereactually worth their weight in
gold.
And chili powder Chili isreally good.

(13:24):
Cinnamon this is good for allkinds of things.
That includes medicinal things.
It can help diabetics overcometheir problems.
And it's the second mostpopular spice, right up there
with black pepper in America.
And number five on the list,cayenne red pepper.
That is the king of spices andextremely useful in prepping.

(13:49):
It even has some healingproperties and you'll have an
entire list to check out on that.
Let's start planning what we'regoing to purchase while it's
still available to purchase.
Let's watch your prices.
Things are going up and up andup.
Maybe now is the time to makesome purchases, not of a

(14:10):
hardware nature, some practicalfood and first aid type supplies
.
One final thing there was agreat article in the Guardian
and it was about prepping, andprepping has really spread, and
I've talked about this before.
It's no longer a left or aright, a political item because,

(14:31):
let's be frank, everybody herewants to survive.
So there are new philosophiesbeing espoused, being shared by
preppers, and somebody had areally interesting point.
They said it's great to bewell-armed, it's great to be
prepared for a disaster, but youneed to be prepared as we're

(14:53):
talking about now for the food,for the medicine, things like
that, because you may have10,000 rounds of ammunition, but
if you break your leg andyou've got nobody to help you,
you're going to get gangrene anddie Simple fact.
So let's look at a more overallapproach to prepping.
The idea that we're going to runoff in the woods and be grizzly

(15:15):
atoms has been debunked, theidea that it's all going to
break down and it could.
Let's be realistic.
It could happen, but it's goingto take a while.
Let's hold it together as longas we can.
Look for connections in yourcommunity.
Look for ways you can cement,especially if you're bugging in.

(15:44):
I'm in a mobile home communityand we're a natural to support
each other because each of ushas different skills, and that's
the whole thing.
In your prepper community,there should be a doctor.
There should be somebody whocan tell one plant from the
other.
There should be somebody whoknows survival and defense
skills.
There should be somebody whocan handle the radio.
There's somebody who can keepthe power going and get the

(16:05):
water back on If it happens.
You and I, ladies and gentlemen, are now in the position.
We need to be self-sufficient.
We need to take care ofourselves, of each other.
Put the politics aside, put thelabels aside.
You don't have to get togetherfor Christmas.
You just have to make sure yousurvive till Christmas.

(16:28):
So let's keep that idea in mind.
And finally, something I wantto try in the spirit of
community.
There are two places in I livein Phoenix.
There are two places in Phoenix.
I need to send a shout out toOne is Harper's Ice Cream.
They're right now by Ray'sMarket, over there in that plaza

(16:50):
, over in the back on the left,but they're moving.
Harper's Ice Cream is moving tothe foodery and that's going to
happen, I think, very, verysoon if it hasn't happened yet.
But excellent, it's Kraft icecream.
It's not just ice cream rightout of the freezer, they make it

(17:12):
there on site you can sample.
They've got some wonderfulflavors.
They had peanut butter egg.
A springtime favorite is back.
It's bursting with real Reese'speanut butter and dark
chocolate.
It may be gone because thosespecial flavors go quick.
Check out Harper's Ice Cream.
They are in the foodery.

(17:36):
I think If they're not theretoday they should be there real
soon.
They're on the web, give them acheck.
And the other place, and I wantto call it Luigi's we have a
Blackbird here in Phoenix andright out in front of the
Blackbird is Luigi's Hot Dogs.
I am a hot dog aficionado, mywife and I like hot dogs and, by

(17:57):
the way, these are notcommercials, these are just
townspeople that I find justreally nice to be around.
I'm old school, I like hot dogsfrom the cart.
So, yes, luigi's Hot Dogs.
They're out there in front ofBlackbird.
Check them out.
I think you're going to likethem.
So that's it.
A little high five to some ofour neighbors.

(18:18):
Some thoughts on food.
We'll have some links for youand we hope we'll see you again
in the coming weeks.
I'm going to be in and out.
I've got some projects I'mworking on, so don't be afraid
to go to the website.
I've got to go deal with thedog.
You all have a good day, besafe.

(18:48):
The preceding program was apresentation of Retired Guy
Productions.