We never made it to the bug-out place yesterday. We did this morning and I'll write about the trip after I get the rest of this off my mind.
After having 21 people here for Thanksgiving, and having 14 for dinner last night, the kitchen supplies have been put to the test. For an emergency situation I have 1000 paper plates in the garage. That would be ok for three or four people but now I know that I would need so many more. We didn't use paper, we used dishes. I have regular dishes with 10 in the set, old dishes with 8 in the set, and good dishes. My good dishes are a set of 25 Homer Laughlin pottery so they aren't china or anything fragile. We also have plastic plates. There's a set of 8 in the trailer, 8 more in the kitchen, and just before Halloween I bought 32 plastic plates - 16 orange and 16 black. I also have 16 plastic bowls. With as many people as we had we went through over 100 plates or bowls and about 80 glasses each day. This would mean my 1000 plates in the garage would last a week and a half. Not good.
I have several sets of silverware, probably enough for fifty people at one meal. I am probably ok there. I have plastic silverware also but maybe only 200 of each.
If people all showed up here if TSHTF they may bring food, clothes, and tools, but dishes probably aren't high on the list. We put the dishes in the dishwasher and also washed dishes by hand. There was complete kitchen clean up after each meal. But would the dishes last? Grandson was unloading the dishwasher and broke one container. How many would get dropped and broken? What about the glasses? Would we be using plastic only? I don't have any metal camping plates. Do I need to invest in that? Can I buy any that aren't made in China?
Our trip up the hill... Sister and three little ones went with me to see the bug-out place. Brother-in-law was still working on the gate opener (by himself). Sister liked the pretty drive and was very impressed when we got stuck behind a cattle drive down the middle of the road. We were stopped for about 5 minutes while the cattle moved a quarter mile and from one side of the road to the other. She didn't think that would be legal in San Diego!
She didn't like the property though. It was too far out of town. It would take an hour and 15 minutes to get to Home Depot. From my house it only takes 30. From her house to a Home Depot is about 5. Anyway, she liked the trees and grass. The buildings were not impressive, but then I have said I wouldn't care if a forest fire burned them all down. I'd like to put something else up if I was living their permanently. What she didn't care for was that the place wasn't built up. There were no fruit trees. The garden is about 10x10. There is no lawn. Just a house in the middle of the oak woodland. I explained that my house has 13 years of improvements to the property. This one only has renters who have just started clearing the brush. I was impressed by the amount of brush that has been cleared.
I forgot to bring up my chain saws so renter is stuck for a while because his electric chain saw can only go as far as the extension cord. The well has power but it's 220. Oh well. Next time I'm out there I'll bring the saws. He's got plenty of firewood so I don't think I could talk him into cutting the branches and brush by hand.
I spent 20 years in the military. I never went anywhere without at least a spoon and of course my pocket knife. But soon learned the simple mess kit utinsels were perfect. This is a spoon, fork and knife that interlock and can be easily carried together. One little trick is to simply sharpen the knife because is more like a butter knife then a steak knife. I cannot tell you how many times I have been on a military flight or some other transport and someone handed out food. If you have a spoon to eat with or a knife to butter your bread/cracker you just begin eating. If you don't you look around at the guys who carry utinsels with them everywhere they go wondering why no one ever told you about this.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about this. I've been doing this without even thinking about it. I have utensils in the door of my work truck and also chopsticks. I've got some in the family truck as well but I do like the idea of getting the kind that we had while in scouts that all clipped together.
ReplyDeleteI carry a pocket knife everywhere as well. I remember the time I was working at HQ in Sacramento and had grandkids with me. I promised if they were good then at the end of the day we'd go to the capitol building. As we were walking up I remembered the knife in my pocket. I knew I wouldn't get through the metal detectors and they don't hold on to your stuff for you. I told the kids we couldn't go in because I had the knife but we could walk in the door and peek in. As the kids peered in the door grandson announced that we couldn't come in because grandma was carrying a weapon. Great kid.