Partial Transcript: Episode 24 (Preppers)

Virginia: I was the one that came up with this topic.  To be honest, I’m not really sure why it came to me.

Andrew: Probably because my camping bag has sort of morphed into a bug-out bag.

Virginia: We probably have enough food to last a month.

Nick: Really?  That’s a lot of food.

Andrew: A lot of people aren’t that prepared.

Virginia: We wouldn’t be eating steaks.

Nick: I doubt that. Even if you stockpiled Rice’A’Roni, that’s a lot.

Andrew: Soups and stuff like Ramen are the best for that type of thing.

Nick: I doubt if you could survive on Ramen.

Andrew: You might get sodium poisoning.

Nick: I’ve gone on extended Ramen.  I have to mix it up.

Andrew: We should find the line between someone who is prepared for a natural disaster and someone who has gone over.

Virginia: Katrina was one of those events where you might have been better off having a gun around.

Andrew: I know people who have a whole safe of firearms.  They have more guns than people in their family have arms.

Virginia: That’s an interesting observation.  If you have a gun or two for everyone in the house, is that enough?

Andrew: No.  If it’s a hobby, it’s never enough.

Virginia: What about for the “big event”?

Nick: I’d say the difference between a stockpiler and a hobbyist is when they only buy 9mm and rifles that only shoot one type of ammo.

Andrew: That’s sort of me.

Mike: But you don’t have crates of guns…

Andrew:  What Nick’s getting at is that it’s not the ammo.  If you have two or three of the exact same gun, then you’re probably stockpiling weapons.

Virginia: The idea being that the guns are interchangeable?

Nick: Exactly.

Virginia: What about water, food, and shelter?

Andrew: That’s a tricky one.  My parents actually had a lot of water in their house due to their water cooler at home.  From an outsider’s perspective, it looks a little weird.

Virginia: Yeah, but that’s explainable.  If you happen to live in a bunker with a thousand cans of tuna, you might not be a prepper.

Mike: The real preppers use MRE’s.

Virginia: I think we’ve stumbled on a good metric.  If you have MRE’s, you’re a prepper.

Nick: For anything other than a joke.

Andrew: They were interesting to try.  There are some that are good for snacks if you’re really hungry.  But, yeah.  There’s no taste there.

Nick: Anything that can cook itself…

Andrew: You just pour in the water, and it starts heating up.  It’s pretty ingenious. It is idiot-proof.  It tastes terrible, but it’s amazing.

Virginia: What do most people eat for MRE’s beyond the military?

Mike: They’re handy for camping.

Andrew: I’ve actually thought about putting one in my car.

(everyone laughs)

Andrew: I have two water bottles in my car and some granola bars.

Mike: First aid kit too.

Andrew: They’ve come in handy so often that now I feel stupid not having them in a car.

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