Note from JWR:

By coincidence, both Ready Made Resources and Safecastle just started their last 25% off Mountain House sales of the year. Both companies offer free shipping, a wide selection and competitive pricing, so you might want to place your order with the closest company, just for the sake of shipping efficiency. (Ready Made Resources is in Tennessee and Safecastle is in Minnesota. I suppose anyone west of the Rockies should just toss a coin!) Note that because of the large volume of orders expected and the upcoming Christmas shipping rush, please allow up to thirty days for delivery. Both companies are …




Pat’s Product Review: U.S. Tactical Supply

For much of my adult life, I’ve lived in rural areas – and I prefer it that way. Even now, I live halfway between two small towns in Oregon, and I don’t especially enjoy going to town for much of anything. I prefer to do a lot of mail-order shopping for many things I need or want. Over the years, I’ve been disappointed in many mail-order companies, their products and their customer service. I’ve done a lot of mail-order shopping from one particular company for the past 15-years or so, and that company is CDNN Sports and they have excellent …




Letter Re: Proof of Staple Food Price Inflation

Captain Rawles, First, continued thanks for your blog; I regularly read a number of web sites and in my opinion Survivalblog.com is ground zero for preparedness and socio/political/economic intelligence information. Second, I thought I’d pass on some additional proof (as if it wasn’t already obvious) of significant inflation in food prices.   We shop at the local Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) cannery near Denver for wheat, pasta, nonfat dried milk and other bulk items. For those who didn’t know, the Mormon canneries are open to non-members (at least for now) and the prices for bulk …




Letter Re: Staple Foods Storage By The Numbers

James: I love seeing articles that talk about the nutritional balance in diet.  Paul B.’s “Staple Foods Storage By The Numbers” is a good start, but I want to jump on and point out a few more details.  Daily caloric intake recommendations depend heavily on activity.  Yes, the recommendation is 2,000 calories for an adult male with moderate activity (note – *not* exercise!), and 3,000 us reasonable in a survival situation given the need for hunting, planting, building infrastructures and defenses as well as defending.  However, if your plan is simply to hunker down and depend on your stocked resources, …




Letter Re: Guns and Combatting Home Invasion Robbers

Hello Captain, Greetings from one of your neighbors in the American Redoubt. I couldn’t help but be bemused when I read the article about the elderly couple being beaten and robbed of their gun collection. Not because they got hurt or robbed of course. But because of a couple other points:   She yelled for her husband to "Call 911!" I guess that goes to show that wisdom doesn’t always come with age. Were that scenario to happen at my home, my wife wouldn’t answer the door. And I can’t remember the last time I answered the door without my …




Two Letters Re: Electric Garage Doors as a Point of Entry for Burglars and Home Invaders

Jim – I read with interest Dave in Oregon’s letter. This happened to a friend and co-worker: He had parked his pickup truck on the street, locked. Thieves broke into his truck, accessed the garage via the opener he had above the visor in the truck. Thankfully, this was in the morning when all were home, and the thieves were scared off by family members, but not before they stole his truck. I would also add that many electric openers have a rope attached as a release if the power fails. However with a larger overhead door, say a standard …




Economics and Investing:

SurvivalBlog’s G.G. sent this: Chinese ratings agency threatens US with new debt downgrade C.D.V. sent this: Eurozone collapse ‘will send continent into depression’ G.G. sent this: Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Save: The economic collapse of Italy will destroy the euro. (Nouriel Roubini) Items from The Economatrix: Rate on 30-year Mortgages Below Four Percent for Second Time Big Banks Plead With Customers No to Move Their Money Death of the Euro




Odds ‘n Sods:

Joseph L. sent a news item to file under “Emerging Threats”: Police impersonators carry out string of robberies: Crimes involve robbers posing as plainclothes officers, immigration agents.    o o o Camping Survival (one of our loyal advertisers) has just announced a great new product. It is a combination flashlight, electric firestarter, magnetic tool, and wound cauterizer (The latter by qualified medical personal only.) Since these are just past the prototype stage, the price tag is fairly high.    o o o SurvivalBlog readers in Norway will find this of interest: A paramedic in Norway, offers advanced emergency medical training …