What are some good uses for liquor in a prep situation?
Posted by NectarineOk340@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 46 comments
Obviously other than drinking the despair away. I sometimes receive free liquor from work and being someone who doesn’t drink I usually just give it away.
Can liquor be used for sanitizing wounds or disinfecting items? Or what can we do with it?
Kitchen-Hat-5174@reddit
Making friends with blue collar guys. Networking is the ultimate prep. Be that guy that gives away free booze.
jericho@reddit
Trade.
And don’t discount the value of trade. You might think you’re prepared, but if shit drags on, there will be things you need. Liquor also has the nice quality that if someone wants it, they probably really want it.
Kind_Man_0@reddit
Liquor has extremely high trade value to alcoholics. Wouldn't be a great commodity for the short term, but long term, it would be as valuable as gold, albeit not as expensive. Even to the non-alcoholics, after a few months of living in the shit, a good bottle of vodka to ease a night or 3 would be great.
Homemade shine would make a decent enough antiseptic.
melympia@reddit
Ouch. Very on the nose.
TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit
Trade, primarily. Cooking. Disinfecting if the proof is high enough, as a painkiller as needed. But in a true SHTF scenario....largely trading.
An account from a survivor of the Balkan Wars details how they secured 500L of hard spirits, and that helped sustain them via trade.
"I don t know about other people on this forum, but I have lot of alcohol stacked now.
At the beginning of war tank grenade smashed front wall of small distillery (alcohol factory) close to my house, so we took something around 500 liters of rakia (it is something like bosnian whiskey, I guess, it made from grape, very strong)
It was great stuff for trading, people used alcohol a lot, desperate times i think, we also use it for disinfection."
https://prephole.com/surviving-a-year-of-shtf-in-90s-bosnia-war-selco-forum-thread-6265/
Spiley_spile@reddit
Drinking alcohol as a painkiller... please dont do this.
TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit
"As needed." I'm not saying it should be a first, second, or third option. But in a true SHTF scenario, it's AN option.
RowBowBooty@reddit
Yeah definitely better than not having anything
TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit
Pain management is a massively overlooked area of preparedness. I've been in a situation where the OTC stuff barely touched it- and that was in a time of stability and where I had options and got it taken care of. I can't imagine having a more serious injury and only having Tylenol and ibuprofen to hit the pain.
RowBowBooty@reddit
Exactly, this is a huge life saver in these cases, in extreme emergencies (which will be more likely) and without emergency services or prof. medical care (which will be more likely) you will be fucking screwed without pain alleviation. Imagine breaking a leg and having to walk around, amputating something, or even regular things like giving birth or passing a kidney stone, without pain medication you are going through something terrible in all of these very likely scenarios.
TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit
Exactly. Pain management can't be underestimated. And if nothing else is available, alcohol works. Long-term it can obviously cause issues, but it's a lesser of two evils at that point.
Spiley_spile@reddit
Amputation is an option too. But Im not going to recommend it to a person who doesnt know what to do with it.
Alcohol might inebriate pain short term. But it can cause complications that extend the duration of the pain-causing condition.
A common hollywood trope is people drinking alcohol in winter to warm up. Alcohol is a vasodilator. That is, our blood vessels expand. This can temporarily make our painfully cold bodies feel warmer, as heat moves outwards, to our skin. But that loss of internal heat can drop our core body temp, increasing risk of hypothermia and frostbite.
Movies also show people combining alcohol and painkillers. This can cause overdose and death.
Movies show people consuming alcohol before surgery. Alcohol on can cause both blood "thinning" (and rebound "thickening" iirc) . Platelets are essential for wound healing. Too few platelets and you don't heal. You bleed to death or slow healing at greater risk of infection. Too many platelets and you can get deadly blockages.
An option is just an available choice. Not all choices preserve life.
Triglycerine@reddit
This is why stocking Ether should always be part of the plan.
factory-worker@reddit
I keep stacking it and it keeps disappearing?
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
Also to make extracts of various plants for culinary or medicinal purposes. Not that I have any knowledge in the medicinal area but you checked off everything else.
TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit
Also very good points.
Lou_Nap_865@reddit
Prep situations?
Drink.
Cooking, both as an ingredient and as a fuel source. Trade. Firebombs/molotov cocktails. Cleaning. Sterilizing.
If it's free, and you have the space... keep it instead of giving it away. Trade it out now, instead of when shtf, for things you want to have then. Gear, edc, ammo, tarps, green propane bottles, water, etc. Who cares? Offer them a couple of bottles for x(desired item). Stack it, get more.
Mysterious_Touch_454@reddit
Alcohol holds quite a lot of calories. I would prolly put it in tea or soups.
Malumeze86@reddit
Beer will eventually get to a point where you won’t wanna drink it.
Best to rotate your stock frequently.
Spiley_spile@reddit
Im very much not a chef. But I enjoy beer battered fish. I was under the impression that cooking with alcohol retains the flavor, but that the actual alcohol cooks out. Are the calories retained somehow?
Mysterious_Touch_454@reddit
Yes, cooking evaporates alcohol away, but beer has other calories in it. Id rather add it afterwards, but havent really tested other than teas and meatfood.
Spiley_spile@reddit
Thanks for the reply!
factory-worker@reddit
Bottle or can beer. What would you stack?
Mysterious_Touch_454@reddit
Well i have 8% beercan 2 case stacked and couple whiskeys. I would stack glass bottles, if i would be seriously go for alcohol prepping.
demwoodz@reddit
Grain alcohol has many uses; tinctures, lantern fuel, camp stove fuel, sterilizer, wound care and can (should) be diluted for drinking. Also used in making shellac but who’s finishing furniture at a time like that
TronkJonk@reddit
Only cause I’m not seeing it elsewhere here, plain spirits like vodka is excellent for use in the fermentation valves. I use vodka to fill the bubblers and it keeps mold and other unwanted bugs out of the end product. It is also good for sanitizing glass carboys and mason jars if water is in short supply. While Hollywood loves to portray the “pour some whiskey on your bullet wound” its effectiveness would be far outdone by clean gauze, iodine, and sterile instruments. Whiskey is better for trade to be honest, and as many have pointed out here already.
johndoe3471111@reddit
I always stock some 190 proof grain alcohol. I use in my alcohol stove, disinfecting, cleaner hand sanitizer, and sparring add it to a beverage.
banmeagain42@reddit
Disinfectant and a fire accelerant if the proof is high enough
churnopol@reddit
Making limoncello would be my WSHTF hobby.
A bottle of Sangiovese would be touted as a meal replacement, but it’s to help with loneliness.
If you can distill alcohol, you can barter for anything.
Tree resin and herbs steeped in vodka can help with food borne illness and parasites.
Solvent.
I would never, but you can distilled alcohol can be used as fuel.
All those flavored liqueurs; theres a chance you may never get to taste bananas, pineapples, cherries, etc, after society collapses. It’s nice to have those flavors preserved.
Lethalmouse1@reddit
Fire, pain killer, sanitizer, "sterile water."
Wine comes in good and is one reason it was used as a wound wash, it is sterile water effectively. Without the same waste of using full on liquor/burn factor.
Spiley_spile@reddit
If you plan to do wound care, get trained in wound care. Don't hollywood your first aid supply cabinet.
Yes, high proof alcohol can help sanitize things. It can also damage healthy tissue and inhibit wound healing. When should you use alcohol on a wound? When should you not? The answer is: let the people trained in wound care do the wound care.
This is part of why community prepping is a huge advantage. In hollywood, the protagonist is jack of all trades at a professional or semi-professional level. That's not going to be reality for the majority of 8 billion people.
A community, however, is a skill library of people. If we prepare our communities to survive, rather than just ourselves, we help preserve access to those skills.
slinkimalinki@reddit
Trade, preserving fruit, as a cooking ingredient, and I’m sorry to say it but in an emergency situation where no painkillers are available, as an emergency last resort painkiller. In the days before when they cut someone’s leg off or dug out a bullet, alcohol was the painkiller they used.
And I would add this: if you ever need to get someone to sit down and talk with you, or you want to create a friendship, alcohol is a great way to do that. Food is too, obviously, but there’s something about telling someone “I’ve got a bottle of whisky, why don’t you come over and have a drink with me?” When alcohol is scarce, that will be a tempting invitation for a lot of people.
HamRadio_73@reddit
Barter
Overall-Tailor8949@reddit
A high proof (>75.5% or 151 proof) neutral spirit like vodka or Everclear would be best for a quick wash of a wound, it will NOT disinfect or sanitize it other than briefly so you can bandage it and get to proper care/treatment.
You can use it as trade goods or fuel in an alcohol stove as well an impromptu painkiller.
melympia@reddit
Warning: When you put it on an open wound, it's not a painkiller. Instead, it results in killer pain.
Overall-Tailor8949@reddit
VERY true! I suppose I could have put that caveat in my original comment LOL
Equivalent-Ad-8259@reddit
TRADE GOOD FRIEND but also consider it makes you a valuable target
HappyGarden99@reddit
Sterilizing and a pain killer. Trading. I like what someone else said, keeping it on hand for "community building."
More_Dependent742@reddit
Unless your space is limited, hold for trade. As drags on, people will accept worse and worse quality. This notion of "saving the good stuff" does not hold as people increasingly just want booze as time goes on.
It therefore follows that you trade the good stuff for a lot when the shit has only begun to hit the fan, citing its usual dollar value. Then trade the terrible stuff for a lot once "dollar value" is but a distant memory, as is "good stuff".
IlliniWarrior1@reddit
if anyone suggesting trading booze during a severe SHTF - ignore them - they are trying to get you killed >>> won't be any collective of people more dangerous to deal with than addicts - junkies willing to kill in normal times for their next fix - 10X when they see their future in a SHTF .....
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
This is the reason I would only trade it with family and friends if anything.
More_Mind6869@reddit
History doesn't prove out to validate your paranoia.
Moonshiners and wine makers, and brewers have always been appreciated in hard times.
In the settling of the American West, liquor was sold in the wildest of places. They even sold liquor to the "hostile savages"...
People know, if you mess with the moonshiners, the liquor stops flowing. Then everybody's pissed at that idiot that stopped the flow.
More_Mind6869@reddit
Yes it can be used for that.
Also for extracting medicinal herbs for home remedies.
Doc_Hank@reddit
Trade. Alcohol is a bad disinfectant for wounds, besides being painful as hell.
smsff2@reddit
If I were you, I’d give it away and call it ‘community building.’ Yes, liquor with low sugar content can be used to sanitize wounds; however, it evaporates quickly. It’s only useful as a temporary solution to stabilize a casualty before transporting them to a better-equipped facility. Purpose-made iodine tincture is more effective and remains active for many hours.
pandabeers@reddit
Trade