Pandemic prep self critique.

[Justin///M]

About a year into this, how would you rate yourself on being ready for something like this pandemic? What changes are you making?

Overall, I am pretty happy because I began prepping due to swine flu, so I had a ton of N95 masks and other pandemic supplies such as hand sanitizer, wipes tyvec suits/gloves/tape/tarps, etc, in case I had to make a clean room for something much worse than this virus.

What I didn't plan for was giving away most of my masks to my mom and sister, and I'm struggling with how to handle that in the future knowing they will never prep. The challenge I have to solve is how to not feel the need to give things away to family, but it's hard not to when it's your mom and sister. I suppose I can just double or triple my stash as I restock.

I was happy I didn't need to rush out and buy paper products when the shelves were bare, or food.

However, I was close to having to dig into my long term food storage which I always thought would be for real SHTF, not just in response to panic buying. I'm going to have to make changes to my short and midterm food plans to cover for these panics that's aren't driven by real long term food shortages.

Because of this forum, I did add communication supplies to my preps which I didn't have before.

I also now have full face respirators but that was driven by the potential to be gassed in Richmond last year, plus, it now seems we need to be ready to be gassed at any rally we go to.

I have a ton of ammo, but I admit that I worry about now rationing it for recreational shooting to prevent running out while it's in limited supply, buy really, I have so much for me personally that that's not likely. It's a mental block since I can't easily replace it now. Maybe I should have taken up reloading. Haha.

[Walleye Hunter]

Got me a gas mask (Mrs doesn't want hers) and upped my reloading capabilities. I also have physical capabilities of long distance defense. Now I just need the skills. Other than that, not much.

[God's Country]

I didn't have masks. Still don't have n95. I may grab a few at some point. I'm not overly concerned about super bugs. If it's that bad I won't go out. If that isn't enough what else can I do?
I will give it some thought moving forward. The biggest concern still is government and it's intense reaction to everything, IMO.

Food was no issue. Not even close except for some perishables, like eggs.
Dog food was where I slacked. I knew I had to do it, and fortunately I was paying enough attention in January and February to stock up ahead of the mobs. Still there was plenty available, especially if I had to buy just anything to have it. Specialty brand food was an issue.

Ammo no problem. I invested heavily in reloading the past few years. Wish I had another 8lbs of rifle powder, but it's not critical. Obviously I can't shoot 1,000 rounds a month, but I never do.

Coms I'm mostly ignoring. I can't involve myself with everything. It becomes too cumbersome for me.

It's the small stuff that gets overlooked. Like having suitable non electric hand tools, lots of nails and screws, maybe some basic lumber, roofing materials to fix a leak, seeds for the garden, etc, etc.

[Justin///M]

I didn't have masks. Still don't have n95. I may grab a few at some point. I'm not overly concerned about super bugs. If it's that bad I won't go out. If that isn't enough what else can I do?
I will give it some thought moving forward. The biggest concern still is government and it's intense reaction to everything, IMO.

Food was no issue. Not even close except for some perishables, like eggs.
Dog food was where I slacked. I knew I had to do it, and fortunately I was paying enough attention in January and February to stock up ahead of the mobs. Still there was plenty available, especially if I had to buy just anything to have it. Specialty brand food was an issue.

Ammo no problem. I invested heavily in reloading the past few years. Wish I had another 8lbs of rifle powder, but it's not critical. Obviously I can't shoot 1,000 rounds a month, but I never do.

Coms I'm mostly ignoring. I can't involve myself with everything. It becomes too cumbersome for me.

It's the small stuff that gets overlooked. Like having suitable non electric hand tools, lots of nails and screws, maybe some basic lumber, roofing materials to fix a leak, seeds for the garden, etc, etc.

Excellent point about the hand tools and construction supplies, I hadn't thought about that. I'm good on the tools, but yeah, I think I need some basic materials on hand. Thanks!

[Justin///M]

I bought 3M Aura masks when they were 20 dollars for a box on 20 on Amazon years ago. It appears that won't be possible again for some time. I'm going to restock with these from an American small business even through they're twice the price I paid back then. 2 bucks or so per mask seems ok these days.

https://medicalgearoutfitters.com/co...or-mask-qty-20

[God's Country]

Excellent point about the hand tools and construction supplies, I hadn't thought about that. I'm good on the tools, but yeah, I think I need some basic materials on hand. Thanks!

I actually need to take some inventory, myself.

ETA:
Do you have a brace and bit?

[Noah_Zark]

. . . Do you have a brace and bit?

Two, with sets of bits from 1/4" up to 1-1/4".

I also have two gear-drive hand drills which used standard round shank bits, and a large and small Yankee screwdriver which use proprietary shank bits, but I have a couple sets of those as well.

Noah

[TechAlG]

Wife & I were discussing this most of the weekend. The one area well fell short in was seeds. We tried a garden plot in a wooded lot for 2020, and what do you know, the woodland creatures ate well. Only problem is, we have no seeds to start for this year. Luckily, it's not toilet paper, which everybody seems to need months and months of stock of, and seeds are still relatively easy to come by. But, we will be getting two years' worth (with the mindset of likely not even using the second set, because we should have a good harvest this year and be able to gather seeds from that).

We have also decided to push harder to get a homestead away from the city, and get permanently settled there.

[streaker69]

Wife & I were discussing this most of the weekend. The one area well fell short in was seeds. We tried a garden plot in a wooded lot for 2020, and what do you know, the woodland creatures ate well. Only problem is, we have no seeds to start for this year. Luckily, it's not toilet paper, which everybody seems to need months and months of stock of, and seeds are still relatively easy to come by. But, we will be getting two years' worth (with the mindset of likely not even using the second set, because we should have a good harvest this year and be able to gather seeds from that).

We have also decided to push harder to get a homestead away from the city, and get permanently settled there.

Garden centers start putting out seed displays in March. Get them early when most people aren't thinking about the garden.

[Justin///M]

I actually need to take some inventory, myself.

ETA:
Do you have a brace and bit?

Yes I do, the only things I've ever inherited were my grandpa's tools.