Have a Plan: Where are you going to meet?

If the zombies come, you and every one in your family may have to drop everything and run.  

A Mass Evacuation

So, if everyone is your community suddenly has to run, there's a good chance that all the phone and cellphone circuits are going to be jammed up.  If the cellphone circuits are jammed up, how are you going to tell your loved ones where to meet? That's a tough one.  That's why the best thing to do is make a plan! Tell your friends and loved ones where to meet ahead of time.

Zombie Prepping: Get A Kit

Once the Zombie out break occurs, you are going to have to be ready.  You have to be ready to run, you have to be ready to fight, and you have to be ready to take care of yourself for the duration of the crisis.  When the shit hits the fan (SHTF), you don't have time to run around gathering everything you need.  The zombies are coming and you need to have everything available at your fingertips.  That's why you need to get a kit!

A Japanese Earthquake Survival Kit - Photo By David Pursehouse (Flickr: Earthquake Survival Kit) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

What should be in your kit?  You'll need supplies for food, water, shelter, medical needs, self defense, communications, and gear maintenance. 

You should even consider having multiple kits.  One for your person, one for your vehicle, and one for your home.  The personal kit should be enough to sustain you for a limited time away from your group.  The vehicle kit should sustain the vehicle and passengers for an evacuation.  Since the vehicle is doing the lifting, it can carry more gear.  The home kit is for sheltering in your home for a long period of time.

Zombie Evacuation Planning: Gas in the Car?

If zombies are forecast to come to your neighborhood, do you know what you need?  Gas in the car.  With gas in the car, you don't have to be home when the zombies come knocking on your door or pushing through your windows.  You can bugout to a safer location. far, far, away.

Land Rover Commando - photo by Alf van Beem (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

The car blog jalopnik put together some great tips on prepping for an evacuation by car.   In the world of prepping, people can get wrapped up in all sorts of fantastic measures and fancy bugout vehicles.  But, these vehicle evacuation tips for hurricane evacuation simply make sense.

In the event of a Zombie evacuation, you'll need to add a few things to your list of evacuation items.  For example, you'll want to have some capability for self defense during your journey.  Knives or spears might be good choices for defending against zombies that break windows and try to get into your car.  Something like the KA-BAR US Marine Corps Fighting Knife shown below can give each passenger the ability to defend themselves against zombies that may be in close proximity to your vehicle.

What Do Real Scientists Think About Zombies?

Zombies are fictional.  But, they are an interesting and publicly accessible scenario for people to understand and reference when thinking about more complicated disasters such as civil unrest and contagious diseases.

Photo by Arno roca' s eyes [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

But, what do real scientists think about Zombies?  A recent article in Maxim Magazine looks to a bona fide scientist, Dr. Tara C. Smith, "a microbiologist and infectious disease epidemiologist" at Kent State University to get an opinion on the question: Just How Bad Would A Zombie Apocalypse Really Be? A Scientist Explains, You can read her tongue-in-cheek paper here.

Last year, Cornell University researchers created an online tool called ZombieTownUSA to show how a Zombie outbreak could spread.  It was covered by this Fox News article.  You can access their tool here at ZombieTownUSA.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a blog, posters, and several other interesting items related to Zombies.  They use Zombies as an example to inspire preparedness for less glamorous epidemics and disasters.  You can visit their zombie page here.

When it comes to zombies, disasters, epidemics, and communicable diseases, it never hurts to -

Get A Kit

Make A Plan

Be Prepared

Chainsaws versus Zombies!

If the Zombies ever come, you'll have to choose a weapon!   These Navy Seabees are wielding chainsaws!

U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Ja'lon A. Rhinehart

 Of course, the U.S. military has to go with a high tech solution.  However, there are plenty of practical anti-zombie weapons.  If you want to read more about sensible anti-zombie weapons, check out this article:

Weapons for the Zombie Apocalypse 

Toilets and Toilet Paper for the Zombie Apocalypse

If a zombie apocalypse ever comes, it will cause a radical shift in lifestyle for millions of people.  Obviously, much of the population will shift their diet from fast food to human flesh and brains.  But, the survivors will have to live without most of the amenities we have long been accustomed to in our daily lives.

 

For example:  toilet paper.  In the event of a zombie apocalypse, will you have enough toilet paper to maintain any semblance of civilization?  Switching from soft premium toilet paper to rough cheap toilet paper is bad enough.  But, the transition from toilet paper to leaves is going to be even worse.

Photo by Brandon Blinkenberg [CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

If you are prepping for the zombie apocalypse, you might want to stockpile some toilet paper.  Even more importantly, you may want to have some portable toilet supplies to help your family retain some basics of civilization.  

There are three basic aspects of toilet civilization that can be carried with your party of zombie apocalypse survivors:

1. A Portable Toilet
2. A Toilet Shelter
3. A Portable Shower

The Portable Toilet.  Portable toilets run the gamut from sophisticated composting toilets to buckets with an installed toilet seat.  These will allow your survivors to sit down to take care of basic bodily functions.

The Toilet Shelter.  The next element of toilet civilization is the restoration of privacy.  Fortunately, you can get an inexpensive toilet shelter tent to help in that regard.  The tricky part will be placing it within the defensive perimeter of your camp.  You don't want party members wandering off into the woods by themselves to use the bathroom.  That's just tactically unsound.

The Portable Shower.  You don't have to be dirty, smelly, and unwashed in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.  You can keep a stiff upper lip, dress well, and be clean for your close encounters with the undead.  Boaters and campers have enjoyed solar showers for years.  You simply harness the heat energy of the sun to warm up water and enjoy a shower from time to time.


These little conveniences making camping out more civilized during normal times and will help maintain your morale during a full-blown zombie apocalypse. 

New Years Resolutions for Zombie Preppers

If you are going to prep for Zombies, it's time to make some New Years resolutions.

Photo by Joe Mabel [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

1.  This year, I'm always going to have food in the house.  Those with an extra few days, weeks, months, or years of food in the pantry don't have to go foraging among the zombies during a disaster.

2.  This year, I'm going to keep a healthy stockpile of water on hand.  If you think you need food, you'll really need water.  Without water, you won't get skinny; you'll die within a few days.

3.  This year, I'll have a weapon ready.  When the zombies come, you'll need some way to defend your home.  Whether it's a bat, a gat, or a bow or a boar spear, or a big ass knife, you need something.

4.  This year, I'll keep extra blankets on hand.  Zombies have a nasty habit of turning out the lights.  Without electricity, you'll need to keep warm somehow.  That's where extra blankets or a subzero sleeping bag come in.  A good cold-weather sleeping bag can help you avoid hypothermia if you have to sleep outdoors or face a winter without electricity.

5.  This year, I'll make sure I have a working Radio and Batteries.  Somewhere out there in the midst of a zombie apocalypse is a voice.  That voice will tell you where to find safety.  But, you won't hear it unless you have a radio and batteries.

This list of Zombie prepper resolutions could go on and on, but five is a good start.  What are your resolutions?