3 Things I Discovered During My Prep Inventories

It’s easy to buy stuff and shove it in the basement and quite honestly that’s what most of us probably do.  What happens when a few years pass and it becomes difficult to remember what exactly you have on hand though?  Is there a need to buy more or are you good to go, this is a question best answered by conducting a targeted inventory.  I used the term targeted because I do have reference sheets on hand for most of my static supplies (freeze dried food, medical stock).  Yet for the stuff I rotate through it’s anyone’s best guess as to where I stand, shame on me for not being more diligent in keeping track.  Here are 3 things I discovered while conducting my inventories.

I have enough ammo.

I try to shoot as much as I can while keeping to what my budget will allow.  This year I have a range plan drawn up which has me expending 700ish rifle and pistol rounds combined per visit, multiply that by 2 range visits per month and you see what the round count looks like.  Sure I’d like to shoot more but I don’t have a wealthy financier of range ops…yet.

With the M855 ban looming and the possibility of that trickling over into other ammunition purchases (panic / shortages) I had to conduct a count of all of the ammunition I had on hand in the various locations I had it stored.  Once complete I was able to let out a sigh of relief.  While I won’t disclose my round count I’ll just state that for now I’m good to go.  Previous stockpiling in addition to an effort to start reloading a few years ago have left me in a nice position.

I need more tampons (no really).

If you know me and have followed this blog for more than a day you’ll know I’m pretty honest.  I have a wife and daughter which means feminine hygiene products are near the top of the list when it comes to preps.  Recently my wife and I were traveling and there was a need for such products and a trip to the store was not possible.  Thankfully in my BOB I had some pads stashed but no tampons.  Better than nothing I suppose but not optimal.  Combine that with the fact that they often go down to the basement to “re-stock” without telling me and we are left in a position of shortage and potential feminine crankiness.  I’d better get on the ball and stock up ASAP!

MRE’s.  I need another case or two.

I’ve recently been thinking about my food storage plan.  I have quite a bit of canned food, some MREs and loads of dehydrated/freeze dried food in buckets or #10 cans.  The problem with these cans or buckets is this: they require WATER.  I thought about my canned food stash and it seemed to be sufficient but my MRE stash needs some work.  After all, while expensive and although they have a relatively short shelf life (5-7 years) MRE’s are king when it comes to portability and meals which are edible with no prep required.  How many MRE’s did I have on hand???  I had no idea so I needed to conduct a count of what I had in my basement and what was staged at other cold storage locations.  The result was around 40 MREs, not particularly impressive but definitely enough to sustain us in the short term.  I still feel the need to snatch up a few more boxes (12 per box) just in case.

The bottom line.

There are times when a targeted inventory might be necessary.  Dedicate a few hours to conduct one of your own in order to see where you need to bulk up, you’ll feel better after the fact!