Grounded and Ready for Whatever

Practical Preps When The Grid Fails

• Shay • Season 1 • Episode 3

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We break down a simple, real-world plan for grid-down moments, focusing on light, food safety, medical readiness, and the skills that keep families calm and capable. No fear tactics, just practical steps you can start today on any budget.

SPEAKER_00:

Peace, peace, all my good people out there. Welcome to Grounded and Ready for Whatever. In this episode, we're gonna talk about if the grid goes down, what to do. Now, this isn't a comprehensive list in any form or fashion. It's just stuff to think about, just in case you don't have any power. Or it's spotty at best. Um, and also we're briefly gonna talk about uh things that you can keep and what's not the good to keep. Not the good to keep, not good to keep, um certain things that are important in order to be mentally and equipment prepared for, and also certain things that you should stockpile just in case you have the opportunity to do such. And um, as always, I will give the caveat, these are just my opinions, they aren't any type of official things to do or things to buy or any of that good shit. This is just me giving my opinion on what I think is dope shit that you might want to have, just in case shit goes a certain way. So when I say if the grid goes down, I mean like if you're out of power and you need to get uh you need to have certain things uh at the place that you're you're you're gonna bog down for, whether it be your house, whether it be your mother's house, your grandpapil's house, your whomever. Um, you want to have some stuff available. And if you're looking at it from a prep perspective, um you want to get stuff that you actually know how to use and actually will be beneficial to not just your survival, but your comfort. So if the power goes down, of course, you need the batteries and you need the flashlights or reverse, you need the flashlights, but you definitely need the batteries, and then you need different um types of batteries. You need a couple of A's, a couple of B's, a couple of C's, a couple of D's, double A's, triple A's, all of those. You need some batteries, uh, the little circle ones, even the triangle ones and the square ones, and the fat you need all of those kind of batteries just in case, because if you have those things that you have to power your flashlights or your generators or your remotes or your whatever's, you have those batteries available. So, my suggestion would to be would be do an inventory on the things that you have in your house and then make a list on things that you need. If you need flashlights, put that on the list. What kind of flashlights? Get the batteries for those certain particular flashlights, and then get at least a pack to put in the flashlight and an extra pack just in case those batteries don't work right. Get different types of flashlights, meaning different sizes, uh different voltages, different purposes. You know, you have the lantern, lantern types of flashlights in order to illuminate a larger space. You have your pocket flashlights just for a quick check a flash, check a corner, check a room. You have all types of different flashlights, but if you ain't got no battery or no way to power for power it, it's just something to throw at people. That's it. Um okay, flashlights. If you're not gonna go the flashlight route, you can get candles. Be very cautious with candles. If you know that you have little kids running around and might knock the candle over, that's a stressor you don't need in a situation where there's no power. So try not to use the candles, go with the flashlights. If you're gonna go with the T lights, the fake ones, like the battery powered ones, make sure you get batteries for that. Um, if all you really need is just power and like you have electric something, not electric something, but if you have battery-powered like blankets or anything, heat isn't a concern if it's the winter, or a fan isn't a concern in the summer, like you can take care of those things. If you can't, put that on the list. When it comes to food, if you don't have power, your refrigerator, as long as it stays cold or closed, it'll stay close. As long as it stays closed, it will stay cold. But as the second you open that refrigerator, that's when it starts to um lose the insulation. So if the power goes out and you just went to the store, it's time to figure out what with what you can cook and what you can't cook. Now, with that being said, if the power goes out a lot in your area and you know it'll come back on in an hour or two or whatever, that might not be something you're willing to do. But if this is a situation like a hurricane or tornado or something of that nature, and you don't know when the power is gonna come up back on, it's better to eat the food now and have it waste away later because then you'll be mad. Also, when it comes to food, if you choose to cook with one of those uh propane-powered sterno grills, be aware of the area you are in. If they emit certain kinds of gases or smoke, you don't want to be in an area that has you know, you're trying to cook and then the gases end up killing you. Carbon monoxide is a real thing, and we don't want that type of poisoning when it comes to stressful situations. Um, on the flip side of it, um, you want to learn, and I say learn like don't feel as though it's something that you have to do in order to survive type shit. If you have people in your circle that know how to create to start a fire, or someone who knows how to tourniquet uh a wound, or someone who knows how to cultivate food or whatever, that's good. Those people can have those skills, and if you're in a community with them, they can share it and you all can thrive together. That's dope. But if none of those people exist, consider yourself that person. So it would behoove you to learn a little something here and something there. Granted, you don't have to be the expert on everything all the time, but if you know how to start a fire, that's a step up from somebody who don't. If you know how to stitch up a wound, that's a step up on somebody who don't. There are YouTube universities, there are books, there are seminars, there are classes, there are all these types of avenues for people for you to get the skills, basic skills of things of how to survive when shit goes left. Because I'm gonna tell you, if you don't already know, it's when a situation that's an emergency happens, like a natural disaster or something of that nature, the emergency services become flooded. Because everybody goes there, everybody goes to the same hospital, and the way the cuts are happening and hospitals are closing down and clinics are closing down, and all of that is happening, it's gonna be really hard pressed for you to find help if you really need it. I don't want to fearmonger, but I'm just being real with you. Especially if you in a rural area and it's already 30-45 minutes for you to get to a doctor or a hospital, it's gonna be even more difficult to find help. So I would I would hope that if you know that's your situation, you have resources to make sure you take care of you and yours, whether it be a book or the self-knowledge or another person who has the skills to make sure you thrive. And those skills could be learning CPR, learning how to learning plants in wilderness that can help you, versus a pill or a potion or whatever, learning how to stop bleeding properly, and different types of bleeding, whether it's an artery, whether it's a gushing, a gusher of a wound, or if it's a slow trickle, the color, all of those things are important, but they're not all important to know at the same time. Now, if and when you're thinking of stockpiling or not stockpiling, that's a bad word. If and when you're thinking of stocking up on your own uh preps when it comes to medical stuff like antibiotics or um medication of that sort sort, be careful because medications like antibiotics tend to lose potency after a long shelf life. Doesn't mean they still won't work, but they won't work as well. That's the key. I didn't know that until I researched it. I thought antibiotics were good forever, but they tend to lose their potency after a certain amount of time, depending on the antibiotic. So be wary of that if you're stockpiling that in any type of not stockpiling, procuring certain sorts of things into your um your preps. Additionally, if you have chronic conditions like diabetes or asthma or something that you have to inject medically, make sure you have lots of that. And that is just a life thing at this point because you know how long it takes sometimes for the CVSs or the Walmarts or the Target pharmacies or whatever to have things? Imagine if they're not getting it on a regular basis. The other day, I had to go to CVS to get a prescription for my daughter, their whole system was out. Like they said it took a crap and they didn't know when it would be back, and they couldn't give anybody prescriptions, and that's like crazy to me. Because what if somebody had a life-threatening thing going on and they needed the medication and it was just sitting right there behind the counter, but CVS couldn't get it, give it to them because their system was down and they couldn't verify the shit. You see, you see what I mean? So please don't put anybody else's, don't put your life in anybody else's hands or any machine's hands or any system's hands. Get your stuff, put it away so when you need it, you have it, and you don't have to rely on going to CVS or whomever to get it for you. Um, and that's all I got. So feel free to take any of these tips and um suggestions or any of my opinions and do with them as you will. The overarching um idea is just prep for the things that you can prep for in your control. Everybody can't get all the things all the time, but you can get a pack of batteries, you can get an extra flashlight, you can get a tourniquet kit, you can get an extra um some extra aspirin or neosporin or alcohol, alcohol for rubbing, not for drinking. And that's all I got. So I appreciate each and every one of you for hanging out with me today on this episode on the grounded grounded, but ready for whatever uh podcast. I will catch you on the next episode. Stay ready, everybody. Peace.