I KNOW MODERN NOMADS who carry large quantities of supplies with them. Enough to last months. Boxes, bins and bags of it, with a little space for themselves tucked in between. Or they haul a trailer of provisions. They are of the pack train school of thought.
I can’t live like that. I gotta travel light. I’m more like the old trappers who would leave caches of supplies in strategic locations. Except my caches are called markets. I let them hang onto all that stuff for me. I let the stores store my stores.
So which type are you? And why?
Light is the way. Traveling light is a big part of the attraction to the lifestyle.
It depends on what your fear/faith ratio is.
I’m of the faith side of the spectrum. Faith the market will have it when I need it and I’ll let them store it for me until then.
I bought a bunch of emergency food from one of those companies and I bought enough so that if something like winter in Austin happens again at least my adult children won’t starve.
I like to be able to stay somewhere for a few days.
I have a 5-gal bucket of dried food, just add water and you have a meal. That is for emergency situations. Otherwise I prefer going to a market every few days.
For clothes and other supplies I only carry what I need right now. Otherwise you end up with totes full of stuff that you can’t even find when you need it.
Tami, I do likewise @ my bricks & sticks, make IT simple; add fruits, some veggies & H2O & make life uncomplicated !!
Most people looking at my van would say I’m a minimalist but when you’re a full timer it still adds up to a lot of necessities.
I don’t like visual clutter, so everything has a designated out of sight storage place, which also makes it easy to break camp.
Judy S, I love your style of carrying your ‘ musts ‘ !!
As our economy is purported to slide off the side of a mountain and crash how can we be sure stores will have what we need down the road? I hear lots of talk about being prepared for the worst from all over the internet but nothing from the nomadic community. Makes me second guess the internet as fear mongering. Any thoughts?
I bought several week’s worth of food then stocked up again when I got down to just a few day’s worth. I hate shopping so prefer to only do it once a month or so.
as a kid there were times when dinner was JUST cornbread or elbow mac with margarine, no cheese.
I keep a larder,… it is just as easy and just as smart as going around with the fuel tank full.
Use out of and replace, if you can’t replace you slow down.
In our ExpeditionVehicle, we carry food for two adults and three dogs for at least two months.
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We boondock exclusively, so we supplement with hunting and fishing, plus foraged foods such fungi, vegetables, fruits… fresh local seasonal organic.
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I trained as a Combat Medic.
My med kit is way over the top, gear I will never use in a hundred years.
And we carry four (4) yuge extinguishers… nor will we use them, either.
Nor the two (2) spare tires.
If you try to talk me out of anything, I can rationalize each item with a hundred good justifications.
I keep my fresh water topped off, carry several gallons of purified water and always a small pantry of shelf stable foods along with enough dog food to get by a couple of weeks in the event of an emergency.
You never know when a natural or man made disaster might stop you in your tracks for at least a few days, so being able to carry for yourself until help can hopefully arrive is important.
Fresh and thrifty is our way. In the season and cheap eat lots. Can goods for back up and change of pace. fresh water will be the worry for the masses that have zero nomad skills.