To replace toilet paper, most people wouldn't have corncobs and Sears and Roebuck catalogs, but the Romans used a sponge on the end of a stick and rinsed it to use over and over. When we have had our electric go out for a week from an ice storm the pond came in real handy in that I got water from the pond and kept the toilets flushing. We heated the house with a Franklin wood stove and cooked our food on it. I had two decorative but working oil lamps mounted on the walls we used for light.
So when you think of being a prepper think of no electricity. Turn your electric off for a couple of weeks and that will tell you how prepared you are. Think of having no gas for your vehicles, chain saws or automobiles. Do you know how to build a root cellar to store you food. I have plans from a guy in Scotland that serviced rural people's 12 volt systems in there home using a home built windmill and generator. I've made my own wine which could be used for trading and use. For years I read the original Mother Earth News before the couple that started it sold out and it wasn't anything like it used to be. I think where the prepper's fall short is they think there are going to be food in tin cans to be stored away in a real crisis. The cans are made in a factory and the food is grown in field and harvested by laborers and process again in factories. You can see the chain of events that will collapse in a real crisis. I'm not a prepper but a realist.
New battery that's interesting for self sustained electric.
http://www.computerworld.com/article/291...m-for-3500.html 
