Survival and Emergency Preparedness

I’ve been a long time lurker on several gun/prep forums and finally decided to dive in and post. Worked LEO for years, finally hung it up after a job related accident messed up my left shoulder badly and my left hand.


I am in the beginning stages of building a homestead type property log cabin style home on a little more than 200 acres. Big garden, I have several Springs and a creek on site, the nicest dog and the sweetest woman on earth. What I am not sure of is how to store all these prepper items. I have several old freezers that no longer run. I was thinking of storing my gear in those? Potentially in a cellar? Can anyone give me any hints as to how to store blankets, sleeping bags, extra food, first aid kits, ammunition etc?

Welcome to the forum.

You may have a lot in common with a couple of members (Mac and Bmeyer) that also have set up homes on a good amount of property. I'm sure they'll be along to chat with you about it. I've been very impressed with what they've been doing.

Retired LEO after 29 years.

I would think those old freezers would be ideal to store quite a bit of gear in. Air tight and keeps out moisture. Toss in some desiccant packs to absorb any moisture in the freezer. I would think that in the cellar it would keep the inside cool, or at least 'not hot' so gear and ammo would last a lot longer.

I think for blankets and sleeping bags I'd put them in a large bag and then use a vacuum cleaner to suck out the air which shrinks them a bit. Take up less space.

Food can be dehydrated or freeze dried in many cases which adds to shelf live. Look down in the 'Food' section and you'll find a lot of ideas including the 5 gallon bucket method which is what I use.

Yes... freezers would be great and can keep out any possible critters.

I would look to a ac powered dry rod for humidity issue if possible like used in a gun safe ( esp if in basement which can be humid ). Simple to drill thru for power.

Like this type;
https://www.amazon.com/Lockdown-220-vol ... f3ty101-20

Greetings and welcome to the forum!

For most storage humidity is your enemy. For me sleeping bags are stored in their loose cotton storage bags in one of my closets. For ammo my preference is the good old military ammo can. A lot of food items will work nicely in 5-7 gallon food grade storage buckets. For these Lowe's and Home Depot are your friend. Get Gamma Seal lids for the buckets. A lot of different stuff can be stored in these buckets and the Gamma seal lids allow for easy access. And they are stackable.

I am on the verge of buying a vacuum sealer. My son recently got one because they buy meat in large quantities. Using the vacuum sealer greatly reduces freezer burn and lengthens storage life. You can also vacuum seal more than just food stuffs.

You have now embarked on an interesting journey. Glad to have you along!