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Do we dare tell what we have done to store fuel? Does anyone want to share what kinds of fuel they store, how they store it?
We're all talking about how smart it is to have food stored to buffer us from rising prices. I was just thinking the same thing yesterday about our fuel, stored when prices were around $2.60/gal.
I have a few month's worth of propane bottles (a few week's worth if it's winter and I'm using it to run our heaters).
I got 5 five gallon gas cans that I rotate every general conference.
I live maybe 5 miles away from a wood supply, but all of it is owned by someone else.
That's about it. On my list is a kitchen oven that burns both wood and coal, and a ton of coal buried in the back field.
LM
There is a product called Stabil that will keep your fuels good for a long period. You can get it at Walmart (cheapest), and auto supply stores.
We have:
1) Five -5 gallon containers of gasoline stored with the additive Pri G (rotate ~ every year).
2) Two 55 gallon barrels of kerosene with the additive Pri D (for cooking and heating).
3) 12- 21lbs bags of charcoal (for cooking).
4) 10 - 16.4 canisters of propane (small emergencies).
We have lots of wood--about 3 cords already cut and dried and 4 trees that have died and need to come down. We have about 1.5-2 acres of woods. And a woodburning stove, of course.
We have a propane heater/stove and 3-4 25lb tanks. We learned (the hard way) that the big (what is it? 100lbs) tanks are not so efficient. They run out of pressure when they are only 2/3-3/4 used.
We bought a fuel tank at an auction for $15. It's divided into two 60-gal sections. We have a handpump for that that. It gets rotated every fall. I dread to see how much it will cost this fall. And then another 15 or so 5gal tanks. If we use our Geo exclusively, we have about an 8wk supply of gas to get us into town, to work, etc. For those that have the space, I encourage you to look to buy a tank at farm auctions. For one thing it take a LOT less space than 5gal containers.
We also have a dual-heat furnace so if power goes out we can use the oil. We have 200 gal of oil.
11 yrs ago when we had the worst flooding in written history, we had a 2 day ice storm that left us without power for 10 days. It showed us how much we needed to do to be prepared. So that summer when we wired the garage, we also put in a double-throw box. So we can plug in the generator in at the garage and then it goes into the house through the main power line. That way we can run both 110v and 220v appliances. We really put our preparedness planning to the test when another ice storm left us without power for 3 days. We did really well--only lacking batteries for a couple flashlights.
Planning to pick up two 5 gallon cans to store kerosene for oil lamp. Should last for a year. Here in Florida, even though we have several nights below freezing during the winter months, heating isn't really a big concern. We have a fairly large propane tank that we're keeping filled. With prudent use, it would probably sustain us for for cooking and canning for at least a year and a half, maybe more.
I have some cast iron camping kettles that I would use for cooking outdoors, and we are getting the material to make solar ovens and fireless cookers. I say "we" because we have a sort of "family compound" on this forty acres. Plenty of oak and pine trees here. We have quite a wood supply already cut up, and we could move into the "big house"' with its great fireplace if we had a prolonged cold snap. Today Chuck brought home a load of heavy plastic barrels--food grade--with the wonderful screw-type lids in which we can store grains, etc., and even bury them to keep them safe from confiscation or theft. He's going up to get another load of water barrels and some more of these in a few days. Also has an order in for a steel shipping container, at least 8 X 20 feet for underground storage. Could conceal it in small hillside. We're considering another larger one for a safety bunker.
We're also looking into building a gadget that will produce a light diesel from wood that will work in either our diesel truck or gas car. A friend had the device, but had given it to someone in the next county before he learned that we were interested in it. We're going over to look at it soon. Not a complicated device, and the friend's family used it to make their fuel during all of his years on his family farm near here. Also are planning on installing a windmill and waterpump soon. Irrigation is crucial this year. Wildfires all around us from drought and lightning strikes.