preparedness

Urban Survival: How to Live in Your Car

There are a number of unfortunate circumstances that could lead to a person having to abandon their home and live in their car, from financial struggles to a disaster scenario. In all of these circumstances, though, one common factor remains: living out of a car isn’t easy, and it certainly isn’t fun.

Nevertheless, there may come a day when living out of your car is the most viable option for survival. If that day comes, you’ll want to be prepared. In this guide, we’ll take a look at some tips to make living in your car safer, more convenient, and as tolerable as possible.

Before we get started, though, it’s important to note that every situation is different, and the strategies that would apply if you were living out of a car for financial reasons are going to be quite different than the strategies that would apply if you are living out of your car because society has collapsed and your home is no longer a safe place to be.

We’ll cover a wide range of tips that may or may not apply to the situation you are preparing for, so be sure to keep that in mind. With that said, let’s dive into the things you’ll want to consider if you have to live in your car.

Keep a Low Profile

Living in your car is not illegal, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to attract the attention of people passing by and, eventually, the attention of police officers. For a number of reasons, it’s best to avoid as much of this attention as possible.

Start by covering the windows of your car using car shades. These are common accessories that people place over their windows when parking their car to keep it cool and to keep the sunlight from fading their interior, so people won’t question a parked vehicle that they can’t see inside of nearly as much as a vehicle filled with supplies.

Related: 18 Tips For Bug Out Vehicles

At night, if you use a flashlight or other form of light inside your car, you may have to use an even thicker, darker shade to keep yourself hidden from view. You can use foam tubes and blackout curtains to make a shade that you can put up at night.

Another aspect of keeping a low profile is to be careful where you park. For starters, never park in the same place more than once in a given week. As for the places that are safe to park, apartment complexes are a good bet. People come and go from apartment complexes quite frequently, and most of the people living there aren’t going to be nearly as familiar with all of their neighbors and what they drive as the people living in a housing district. Large parking lots next to stores that are open 24 hours are another safe bet.

Have a Plan for Maintaining Your Hygiene

It’s easy enough to eat and drink out of your car, even if the meals that you can prepare are going to be quite limited. Likewise, using the restroom is as easy as driving to a gas station. However, regularly bathing is going to require a little more preparation.

If you can afford it and if you have the option available, joining a health club is going to be the most convenient way to maintain your hygiene when living out of your car. Health clubs have showers that you can use at any time. They’ll also provide you with a way to stay physically active, which is a huge plus seeing as living out of a car creates a very sedentary lifestyle.

If you aren’t able to join a health club, get used to giving yourself a sponge bath out of a sink in a public restroom. Just be sure to choose a location with a single stall restroom and a door that locks rather than a restroom that is built to accommodate multiple people at a time. Having someone walk in to see you unclothed, bathing yourself out of the sink will certainly attract the unwanted attention that you’re trying to avoid.

Keep Yourself Entertained

As you might imagine, living out of a car is not going to be great for your mental health. It’s going to be emotionally exhausting, painfully boring, and the constant confinement alone is enough to really wear on a person. To keep yourself sane, plan for as many entertainment options as you can.

Having a radio in your car is a good place to start. You can listen to music, news, talk shows, and anything else that you can tune into. Getting a library card is another good option. It won’t cost you anything, and you’ll be able to check out books and magazines to read, audiobooks that you can play in your car, and movies that you can play from a laptop if you have one.

Related: 27 Winter Survival Items You Should Have In Your Car

Having a library card will also allow you to use their computers and internet whenever the library is open. You can even charge your phone, laptop, and other electronics while you are browsing the internet if your library has outlets available for public use.

In addition to providing you with a place to shower, health clubs can provide you with some entertainment options as well. Working out can be a form of entertainment if you enjoy it. Many health clubs also have a swimming pool that you can use, a basketball court where you can join a game, and so on.

Spend time in places such as coffee shops. For the price of a coffee, you can spend hours in a coffee shop using their Wi-Fi and maintaining a degree of human interaction that will go a long way toward keeping yourself happy and sane.

However you do it, try to keep yourself as entertained and active as you possibly can. Remember, there’s much more to life than just survival, and human beings weren’t meant to sit in a car doing nothing all day.

Keep up Appearances

Like it or not, how you appear is going to play a major role in how you are treated. This applies to how you are treated when someone walks by your car and sees you, how you are treated when you walk into a business or public building, how you are treated when you interact with the police, and everything in between.

Regardless of your true financial status, you’ll be better off if you look and act like you are middle class. Wash your clothes regularly at a public laundry mat, bathe frequently, and overall try to continue maintaining your appearance as well as you can.

Another part of maintaining appearances that will be important when applying for a job, getting insurance, renewing your driver’s license, and more is to try and maintain a physical mailing address. You can do this by purchasing a private mailbox as opposed to a PO box at the post office.

Using the address of your mailbox when you fill out various applications will enable you to complete applications with accurate information without ever having to indicate that you are homeless. Fair or not, this may be the difference between you getting a job that allows you to get your life back on track and your application being denied.

Experience is the Best Teacher

If you think that there may come a time when you are forced to live in your car, practicing with a trial run or two is the most beneficial way to prepare yourself ahead of time.

Reading about how to live out of your car is a great place to start, but it pales in comparison to the lessons that you will learn within the first few days. You’ll find out what works and what doesn’t, what you will need and what you won’t, and what it is really like.

If you are able, set aside a week or two and live in your car. Seriously! You can think of it as both a learning experience and an adventure of sorts. Learn everything you can from this experience, then go back to the drawing board once the trial run is complete to assess how you did.

After you’ve lived in your car for a week or two, you’ll have a much better idea of the things you will need to purchase, where you will need to go, how you will need to operate, and more. This kind of knowledge will certainly be incredibly valuable if the day ever comes where living out of your car is a necessity rather than a choice.

Related: What To Do If You’re Caught In A Riot While Driving

This article first appeared on urbansurvivalsite.com See it here

preparedness

4 No Cook Meals For Surviving The Pandemic And Food Supply Shortages

When it comes to your food supply, you just can’t risk not having enough. These no cook meals will be a great addition to your food supply planning. Check out the recipes below!

No Cook Meals to Help You Through the Pandemic

As of the writing of this article, there are 20 meat processing plants that have been shut down due to COVID-19 infections. We have been worrying about these types of effects on our food supply for months now, and this is the first real sign of how infections can affect the food supply.

When you walk into a supermarket, you might not see all the choices you had in the past. An empty meat case is a humbling thing for your eyes to fall upon. It’s the shocking realization that the seemingly infinite supply of chickens, pigs, and cows that are butchered for us has begun to run dry!

To deal with this issue, we are going to present four no cook meals that will help you create dinners at home that will feed your family without worrying so much about what’s available, or unavailable, in the meat case.

1. Smashed White Bean, Avocado and Salted Pork Sandwiches

Smashed White Bean, Avocado and Salted Pork Sandwiches | No Cook Meals for Surviving the Pandemic and Food Supply Shortages

As preppers we get beans. There are a bunch of ways to use beans and this a great example of how you can pack a sandwich with great nutrition and protein.

Serving: Makes 4 sandwiches

Ingredients:

Can of White Beans
Olive Oil
1 Avocado
8 Slices of Whole Grain Bread
8 Slices of Salted Pork (Prosciutto, Ham, Virginia Ham)

Instructions:

Begin by draining your beans in a colander then smashing them up in a bowl add a few glugs of olive oil, salt, pepper. This little mix is delicious. If you add some minced rosemary, you can even turn this into a delicious dip.
Pit your avocado and cut it in half and then quarters lengthwise. Leave the skin on.
Lay the bread out on a clean work surface for assembling the sandwiches.
Spread your mashed bean mix onto one side of the bread.
Peel your avocados and slice 1 quarter for each sandwich. Spread slices over the bean spread.
Add a few slices of your pork to over the top of the avocado.
You can finish this sandwich with some lettuces, fresh sprouts, or just eat it as is.

2. Delicious Crab Salad

Canned crab is a protein option that will likely be around through much of this meat crisis. It does have to be kept in refrigeration, but it’s delicious and this chipotle mayo salad is great in the spring and summer.

Ingredients:

1 Can of Crab Meat
1 Bunch of Asparagus
Chipotle Mayo
1 Bunch of Green Onions
1 Bunch of Cilantro

Instructions:

Drain your crab in a colander and set it in the sink.
Slice your asparagus into 1-inch pieces. Throw them into a bowl.
Thinly slice your onions and your cilantro and throw that into the bowl, as well.
Gently toss in the crab meat.
Squirt on enough Chipotle mayo to coat everything and toss gently not to break up the crab meat.
Chill in the fridge and serve.

3. Simple Greek Salad

Simple Greek Salad | No Cook Meals for Surviving the Pandemic and Food Supply Shortages

The combination of simple summer ingredients makes for an incredible quick salad that you could add other proteins, too, if you wanted. These could be canned meats.

Ingredients:

2 Large Tomatoes
1 Cucumber
1 Red Onion
¼ Cup of Feta Cheese
A Few Sprigs of Fresh Mint
½ Cup of Kalamata Olives
Balsamic Dressing

Instructions:

I like to cut the tomatoes in large chunks and have them kind of be the main course in this salad. Peel and slice your cucumber in half. Remove the seeds and either dice or slice in half-moons.
Peel and slice your red onion in half. Julienne your, or thinly slice, your half onion.
Add all these ingredients to a bowl. Finely slice your mint.
Add your olives, crumbled feta, and mint to the bowl and add enough dressing to coat everything.
Stir it up and allow this to chill for at least an hour for the flavors to really blend.

4. Mediterranean Tuna Lettuce Wraps

Mediterranean Tuna Lettuce Wraps | No Cook Meals for Surviving the Pandemic and Food Supply Shortages

Using some similar ingredients and adding a protein like tuna, you can create some delicious lettuce wraps. The key to a good lettuce wrap is to have most of the items around the same size. So, consider that when you are preparing this dish.

Ingredients:

Iceberg or Butter Lettuce
Canned Artichokes
Canned roasted Red peppers
Fresh Cucumber
Feta Cheese
Minced Olives ¼ Cup
2 Cans of Tuna
Green Onions
Basil

Instructions:

Start by peeling all the full leaves from your lettuce. Set them on a plate either cover them with a wet paper towel or put them back into the fridge.
Dice the peppers, artichokes, and cucumbers into cubes. Go no larger than ½ an inch.
Thinly slice your green onions and basil and add them to a bowl with your diced vegetables. Add your loves to this bowl and mix them thoroughly.
Crumble your feta cheese over the mixture.
Drain your tuna thoroughly and then add that to the bowl, as well.
Gently toss this mixture. Try not to break up the tuna and the cheese too much but incorporate it thoroughly.
If you want, you can add some olive oil to the mix or a few glugs of balsamic vinegar. It’s also delicious just how it is.
Scoop a few tablespoons into a lettuce leaf, wrap it up and eat up!

These no cook meals should help lessen the stress you feel when thinking of what to feed your family. If you don’t have the specific ingredients, use your creativity, and use what you have. You might discover a new recipe while you’re at it!

What’s your favorite no cook meal recipe? Please share it with us in the comments section!

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This Article Was First Found at survivallife.com Read The Original Article Here

preparedness

Billionaire Whistle Blower: Wuhan Coronavirus Death Toll Is Over 50,000

Exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui recently revealed leaks from Wuhan crematoriums. He claims based on the number of bodies their furnaces are burning, the death toll could be as high as 50,000.

A Chinese billionaire and whistleblower who lives in U.S. exile says Wuhan crematoriums have burned 50,000 coronavirus victims. | Credit: Chinatopix via AP

The official coronavirus death toll in China is a little over 800. But an exiled Chinese businessman says crematoriums are leaking the real figure.
A billionaire whistleblower alleges Wuhan has crematoriums working 24/7. He claims they’ve cremated some 50,000 coronavirus victims.
Guo Wengui is a Chinese billionaire living in exile in the United States.

The official coronavirus death toll is some 800 people in China. The current official death toll worldwide, outside of China, is 774. But a Chinese billionaire with a history of blowing the whistle on his former government says the real figure is much higher.

Exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui recently revealed leaks from Wuhan crematoriums. He claims based on the number of bodies their furnaces are burning, the death toll could be as high as 50,000. Wengui made the bombshell allegations in an interview with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

Whistleblower: 1.5 Million Coronavirus Cases In China, 50,000 Coronavirus Deaths In Wuhan

He also claims to have inside information that there are 1.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases in China. Wengui is emphatic that these are not merely quarantined or “under observation” but confirmed cases of coronavirus infection:

China has struggled to contain the coronavirus. But it has also struggled to contain public outcry against censorship and tight control of information. Dr. Li Wenliang, who sounded the alarm about the disease, succumbed to an infection and died this week. The Chinese government arrested him for blowing the whistle.

Then officials tried to suppress news of his death. Afterwards, millions of Chinese citizens saw the hashtag #IWantFreedomOfSpeech on Mandarin language social media. But the Chinese government censored that too.

Are Wengui’s Crematorium Claims Credible?

Watch VICE’s 2017 profile on Guo Wengui. At the time, he published bombshell documents alleging corruption in the Chinese government. He got the attention of the media and reportedly the U.S. State Department.

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