In a previous post I wrote about my extra gasoline stash and how I like to keep my vehicles as close to full as possible just as good practice.  The basic theme of the post was that I always try to keep the prepping mentality somewhere in my mind, because even little things can make a difference.  According to many seasoned survivalists/preppers, it’s not only about having stuff but more importantly having skills.  I would argue that maintaining good situational awareness (even about how much gas I have) falls into the “skills” category, even if it is a bit of a stretch.

My extra gasoline stash isn’t much really, 11 gallons total stored in 5 and 6 gallon red containers.  If you think about a BugOut scenario however, where gas might be tough to find or long lines could be clogging up gas stations an extra 11 gallons on the back of my trailer becomes quite significant.  The 20 gallons in my SUV equals roughly 350-400 miles of distance that I could travel before needing more gas.  The extra 11 gallons that I try to keep full in the garage represents an extra 200 miles on the road, quite a long distance when considering possibly fleeing from a natural disaster or other SHTF event.

Now to the point of this post, my vigilance reference keeping my gasoline fresh and usable. In my motorcycles I use a product called STA-BIL to keep the gas in the tanks fresh through the winter months.  I could do this with the gas cans in my garage but I find it easier just to cycle through my supply.  I’ve read that gas can stay fresh and usable for 2 to 4 months in gas cans, so every couple months I dump the stored gas into my car and then re-fill the cans at the pump.  It’s a pretty simple scenario that only needs repeating a few times a year, but like I wrote about earlier it’s the little things that often get overlooked and end up being a big deal when the SHTF.