Avoid Detection, Gathering Supplies Under The Radar

It is quite obvious that when you are gathering your preps you don’t want to make a show about it. Having a delivery truck stop by your home unloading multiple boxes that say ‘long term storage food’ is going to let people know what is going on. So how do you get what you need without letting everybody and their brother know what you are doing? The answer is in one phrase. Spread it out. What I’m talking about is, say you walk out of your local grocery store with a case of bar soap for bathing under your arm, it is going to make people wonder what is going on. Have you decided to bring your child’s soccer team home to bath after their game before they go to their own home? Was there a really good sale like buy 5 bars of soap and get 20 free? Either way it raises questions. Those questions won't be a problem now, but when everything starts to run short, people WILL remember what they saw. They may start out to your place intending to just ask for a spare bar of soap, cup of sugar or whatever they need but before they get to your door they will be wondering what else you might have more of than you currently need. To be sure most people in the beginning are going to believe that the government has it all under control and these hard times are only temporary. Once things get back to normal they will happily pay you back for whatever borrowed. What happens when normal never returns? They are going to come for more later on.

As I said, spread your purchases out. Nobody thinks a thing about someone who normally buys one or two bars of soap suddenly getting three or four, especially if you have children or grandchildren in the summer. Now after you bought a bar of extra soap today, buy one or two tomorrow from a different store. A couple of days later do the same from a third store. And so on. Nobody thinks a thing about a little extra of anything, soap, meat, canned veggies or whatever bought at the same store you always use. But large purchases for no apparent reason get you noticed. If you have weapons and suddenly buy 1,000 rounds for your rifle, shotgun or pistol at one gun shop, that attracts attention. Buying 100 here and another hundred there spread out over a couple of weeks, nobody notices. Another idea is that if you simply must buy a certain item from a certain store, make the purchases on different days but also buy some during the morning shift one day and more during the night shift a few days later. The whole idea is get what you need a little at a time from different stores and you stay off the radar and your neighbors know nothing about it. Are you going to your local home improvement store? A few packages of seeds for growing food when you can no longer buy it because it has gotten too expensive or just isn't available, attracts no attention right now. Later, when other people are starting to get the idea that home grown is the way to go, the seeds may not be available. A couple of packs here and a couple of packs there isn't noticed. And if you happen to ask the friendly staff there for a few hints on how to raise your first garden, they will be happy to tell you what you need to know, mostly in hopes of selling you more things that you may or may not need. All of this is very innocent and quickly forgotten.

This holds true for everything. It doesn't matter if it is tooth paste, salt and pepper, aspirin or anything in between. Small purchases done over a wide area and over a period of time go un-noticed. And you don't have large deliveries being made to your door to let the neighbors know you have what they don't and they want or need in difficult times.

A little time on-line learning how to grow food indoors during cold weather will also be useful, if you don't want to attract attention and later on invite trouble by building a green house. Face it, green house = food = raids by hungry people when food is in short supply. I can't say I would blame someone for raiding my green house (if I had one) in times like I'm talking about. Hunger makes people do crazy and risky things just to fill that empty spot in their middle. But I don't want their lack of foresight and planning to create an empty spot in my middle or that of my wife. Again, a little at a time, some from here, some from there stockpile fertilizer. You'll need it later on.

While I'm sure that most people know this already I'll just say it to remind you. Cooked meat stores longer than raw meat. When it is needed it is easier to prepare for eating. In a bug out situation, a frozen cooked stake will last longer than a raw one if you have to be on the road for a day or three before you can stop long enough to heat it up as opposed to cooking it. And that cooking meat won't bleed all over everything while it is in the bug out bag after it defrosts.

At this point I will ask in advance for you to pardon my language but something my drill sergeant drilled into our heads during basic training deserves to be repeated. A tip of the hat to Staff Sgt. Mitchell, U.S. Army;

"Prior planning prevents piss-poor performance."

Jul 30, 2019