Originally posted 2018-10-09 02:38:03.
Hello everyone! Hope you have all been well. If you’re guessing, I have been playing through Ubisoft’s newest entry into the Far Cry series of games, Far Cry 5. This is actually the first of any of the series that I have had the chance to play so it’s all been quite the new experience for me. For those of you unfamiliar, the Far Cry games are generally known for their large open world sandbox style game play, set in exotic locations around the world. Far Cry 5 is a little different in that regard, as it actually takes place in rural Montana in the US. That’s where this game instantly started to get interesting to me.
The basic premise of the plot of Far Cry 5 goes as such: A violent doomsday cult known as the Project at Eden’s Gate has slowly but surely taken hold in rural Hope County, Montana. First by purchasing up real estate and then through more violent means, they have claimed the county as their own and are hurriedly collecting both supplies and people in order to prepare for what the cult’s leader envisions as a great collapse on the horizon. Now, some of their methods have involved violence, kidnapping and forcing people to use hallucinatory drugs to force them to join the flock – and you, one of the county’s sheriff’s deputies, has been send to arrest the leader Joseph Seed. When you attempt to do this, all Hell breaks loose in Hope County.
The setting and overall feel of Far Cry 5 is a little eerie and unsettling, and that’s because it’s here in the US. The game mildly touches on modern day politics and tensions between government, religious groups and the every day citizen. One thing that stood out to me in game were the presence of many Far Cry 5 Preppers within the game – and I thought it would be an interesting experiment to discuss what the implications are of the portrayal of preppers and general emergency preparedness.
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You don’t have enough freeze dried food
Turns out, fictional Hope county Montana has a lot of underground bunkers. And as you might expect in fallout shelters, the far cry 5 preppers have them stocked to the gills with generic brand freeze dried foods. Now, this would have been a great product placement for a company like Mountain House, but since the game is fictional, all the brands are fictional as well. I also know that freeze dried foods such as these are extremely expensive and not the easiest thing to obtain on a budget, but you have to admit they outshine almost all other long term food storage options when it comes to shelf life. As far as “set it and forget it” goes.. this stuff is almost impossible to beat.
There’s a lot of different brands out there, so if you’re going to commit to buying these, get a few different types to see what you actually enjoy eating. Then, place it in a cool dark and dry place, and you’ve got one less thing to worry about in a disaster.
2. Learn how to can your own food.
One thing that really brought a smile to my face while exploring the giant world of Far Cry 5 was to see that almost all the houses had what looked like home canned fruits and vegetables in them. Canning is something that has become more of an obscure hobby in modern day America, but it’s something that all of our grandparents did with regularity.
Back in the day you couldn’t go to a super market and find in season produce year round, so people would routinely pickle and can their own food and store it in a root cellar to enjoy through out the winter months. Honestly, canning is something that I only recently got into but I absolutely love it – and I promise you once you get the method down the home made pickles, sauerkraut and more that you can create are far tastier and healthier than what you can get in the super market.
Another upside is that you can home-can virtually any kind of food, from vegetables and fruits to eggs, meats and more. Of course, you have to take extreme care to sterilize everything and practice safe canning methods to avoid getting nasty sicknesses such as botulism. However, there are a plethora of tutorials and it’s really all just common sense to be safe. Even better, canning is relatively cheap to get into, as you only need some basic equipment and a stock pot large enough to get Ball jars into. You can also go a little more expensive and buy a pressure canner, but it’s really not necessary.
3. Get to know your local farmers
Throughout the game play of Far Cry 5, you spend a lot of time liberating residences and properties that the cult has taken control of. Among these properties are many small locally owned pumpkin farms and apple orchards. Many of the characters throughout the game lament that their favorite farmer’s land has been stolen and talk about the delicious produce that they used to obtain there. In the real world, if you have the ability you should be buying your produce as local as possible. For starters, it tastes better and has to travel less distance to get to your dinner table. Also, it gives you the ability to have a relationship with the people that actually grew your food – and this is invaluable because if times get tough you may need to have a good local source of food.
Consider signing up for a CSA program with your local farmer. Community Supported Agriculture programs are a win win for both farmer and customer (you pay a fee for the year at the beginning of the season, and will get produce throughout the year) CSAs help small farmers to buy seed and equipment and you will receive some of the freshest vegetables around! To find a local CSA program, check out the USDA search engine. Of course, you should also be trying to grow your own food at home if at all possible. Gardening is not something you learn in one season, and in fact can take a lifetime to master. Still, there’s no better time to start than the present!
4. Far Cry 5 Preppers Stashes – your stuff is only good if you can get to it!
One of the many sidequests you can participate in during your Far Cry 5 adventures is seeking out the various “prepper stashes” that dot the landscape. Often times you will find out about these once you have rescued one of the townsfolk. One thing I find interesting is that none of the people that prepared all this stuff are to be found when you uncover their goodies – they’ve all been killed or fled from their stashes. I guess that brings me to the most important note about this game.. is that all the preperation in the world is for naught if you haven’t got a plan to get to your stuff. Then again, sometimes the best plan for preparing for a disaster is to get as far away from it as possible.
So, those are my thoughts on Far Cry 5 preppers. Did you play the game? What did you think of it? Are there any other good lessons that can be taken in regards to real world disaster preparation? Let me know in the comments.
Cheers!
