What to do with friends and relatives?

People say that there is no way that they could turn some one away in the event of a disaster or whatever.
If theser same people showed up at your door and wanted to be ivited for dinner every day day in or day out you would turn them away after a short time. If they came to your house and walked in and took your food you would call the police and have them arrested for stealing.
People who will show up uninvited or unprepared are doing the same thing. Stealing from you.
Every one has been advised to prepare it is covered to one extent or another in the media for amy years. If they refuse to accept responsibilty for their own actions why should you do it for them. This is the reson so many don't prepare. They are so use to someone else providing for them. They eat out and can't cook, someone else is taking care of them. Paying for the meal doesn't change the fact that they are not self-sufficient. They are followers and not leaders they constantly have some one else to look after them for what ever reason.
I have provisions for my family and that is all. I have made it plain to the four others in my family that no one else under any circumstances are welcome.
We have two grandsons that live out of town ages four years and 5 years they would be welcome but not thier mother or stepfather. They have been advised but don't care to plan, the boys don't have a choice.
I will not risk denying my family to provide for idiots too stupid to prepare. I will turn them away without any guilt at all. I know this may sound harsh to some of you but think of how you would feel sitting there watching your family doing without do to lazy individuals who just want to mooch.
I have offered to include others but no one wants to contribute any money to by supplies or provide food and supplies.

 

It's family, you CAN NOT turn them away!

I took in my neighbors and people from the neighborhood I didn't even know during the floods this spring...

Either we ALL make it, or it's not worth living with myself if we don't...

 

For me the cost of turning people away is too high. There's no chance in the world we'd turn away our own family-- regardless of how prepared they are. I'd want to help as many as I could while being reasonable and having enough for our own basic needs.

 

having run a way station for folks for several years and not turning any one away in those years we have had to change ur policies about people coming and staying. In order for them to come for anything over a three days stay , one must bring their food and supplies enough to take care of them and who ever else they bring along. If it looks like it is a long term thing they must bring atleast 6 months worth of supplies.

Our reasoning is ... we grow about 90% of our own food supplies. We have enough growing for ourselves and one or two others at all times. We have gardens enough to raise what we eat, store and sell or barter away for money. By bringing extras to the table it means our resources are depleted. It will take us about 6 months in order to beging harvesting enough products in order to sustain how ever many extra mouths that are here. We can not afford this in this type of economy.

Few people will put the effort that you put into gardens/ animals etc if they are not theres. Mothers with small children attached to there hips are not going to pull the weight of themself and the kiddies. If a man is with him this all falls upon the man. More often than not it still is not enough to sustain that extra family. Even simple things such as milk. We raise just enough goats for ourselves and our needs with the goats . An entire extra family changes that entirely. Are you willing to take that on? We have chickens that prduce about what we eat in eggs . An entire extra family changes those needs and we cant pull an extra five chickens out of a magic hat over night. This is for all animals produce etc.

Then think about where you are going to stick these entire families. Do you have the facilities to ramp up everything you will need to ramp up... Think bout canning supplies, food storage, garden space, extra barn and critter space. Do you have a means to put these folks up in a warm place or is a whole new domicilie going to need to be built.

It sounds harsh but folks need to look at things realistically here. Is sounds great to think that we can take everyone in unconditionally(we have done it) but the truth is in order to do this, more often than not it is you and yours that will be the ones having to sacrifice and give up what you have worked for in the end to have it all come collapsing down around you because you didnt have the infrastructure and the means to sustain he people you took in for long term.

 

LOL yummy!

Michael

 

have you posed this exact thing to your wife then lol... As i said it is a luvly idea to think we can take everyone in need in but reality has to be the key thing here.. and for many looking at things realistically is difficult when it comes to family. But it could very well mean your own survival or not in a bad situation...

If folks are knocking on your door then one must assume they are having major finanical issues. Are you in the financial position to absorb all the costs that would be associated with taking extras in long term?

Of course we come from the self sufficiency mind set. Eating all meals out and not cooking or growing our own food is totally foreign to us and for these same reasons we dont have much contact with most of our families.

One lil suggestion to ya though ... increase that amount of food supply you have set back... 40 days isnt much ... Even if its just beans n rice n simple foods , i really suggest it if you can ...

 

Personally, I consider a six month to one year supply minimal, but obviously you're already better off than 90% of Americans when it comes to preps. While I've felt well prepared for myself and my GF for a while now, lately I've been stashing more food just for the neighbors. While I know I can't look after all their food needs, I would love to be able to contribute with soups or stews to help them get by. If you belong to Costco, 25# of rice is $10-11 right now. That's roughly 40k calories for the cost of a couple lattes. While I think people have a responsibility to look after themselves, if they can't or won't, you have to do the best you can. We are our brother's keeper. Canned beef is less than $3.50 a pound and is great for adding some heartiness to stews if you can't provide local wild game. Dried mashed potatoes are good by themselves, but they can also be used to thicken a stew and add calories.

I'd say store the extra food at your place, but insist on cooking at one of their places, even if it's a logistical headache. Offer to bring over dinner every night in exchange for something that you might need, like gas, batteries, blankets, or some labor-intensive task. Otherwise, you're setting yourself up to get taken advantage of in the future even more.

 

Yep, we're only slightly better than my GF's hayburner horses. I figure a year's worth of food takes up around 40sq.ft. from floor to ceiling and that's without getting fancy. With your small square footage, I understand the constraints. My only advice would be to consider a cache at either a climate controlled storage locker or buried somewhere out in the sticks, but within biking distance (I know boston is one of the least bike-friendly cities in the US now, but if things get really bad, folks won't be able to buy gas, so there will be a lot fewer cars on the road).

I'd temper your guns and ammo collection with the number of firefights you think you can win if you're really lucky. The best gunfight is the one you avoid entirely.

 

I have 4 relatives I care about,the rest can talk to the shotgun.

 

Hmm...

Probably let them in for the most part I reckon. Situations can very, duration, severity, available additional support etc.. I like to think of ways to keep them busy while contributing. I would like to hear other folks ideas on this.

Operating the manual grain mill
cleaning
counting and inspecting ammo
telling/reading stories
tending the garden
keeping watch
assigning them to help neighbors
Operating the bicycle powered generator
counting and rolling pennies

Charley