Month: July 2017

Preparedness Notes for Monday – July 10, 2017

July 10th is the birthday of British novelist John Wyndham. (His full name was John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, but Harris shortened that to just John Wyndham for his pen name.) He we was born in 1903 and died March 11, 1969. Harris was a good friend of fellow novelist Samuel Youd (1922-2012), who wrote under several pen names, including John Christopher. Both men were famous for writing what are often called cosy catastrophies. Several of Wyndham’s novels and short stories have been adapted to film, with varying degrees of success. One of the best of these was a …


Taurus Model 85, Ultra Lite, by Pat Cascio

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Today, we are going to take a close look at the Taurus Model 85 Ultra Lite while I continue on with more all-metal handgun reviews, as requested by many SurvivalBlog readers. According to Taurus, which offers several versions of this model, the Model 85 is their best-selling handgun. Many people are so caught-up with polymer handguns, especially semiauto handguns, they are overlooking some outstanding firearms still manufactured out of metals. An Old Dog For quite some time, I only considered carrying a revolver for self defense. Yep, I’m old school but I’m not too old to be schooled! You can …


Recipe of the Week: Posole, by L.S.

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Posole notes: My husband and I developed a blend of my mother’s tomato-based posole (a hominy-meat soup) that she learned in Mexico and his sister’s red chili-based posole. Neither of those recipes was a written recipe but more a method. My posole is significantly distinct from the other two and is our own creation. I have never printed it before and have not had it copyrighted. I use a church cookbook recipe for the red sauce, but it may be copyrighted. (Use whatever red chili sauce or recipe you have available.) This is a two-day process. Posole Ingredients 1 large …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on Nickels. The U.S. five cent piece “Nickel” is the only currently minted U.S. circulating coin that has a metals content close to its face value.  It costs the U.S.  Treasury around 7.2 cents to produce each Nickel. (See the Tangibles section near the end of …




Harvest Right: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly – Part 2, by HJL

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The Ugly Yesterday, I talked about the changes that have been made to the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer in their new model that made it worthwhile to upgrade. We also reviewed some of the annoying things about the unit that make it difficult. Today, I’m going to review some of the “uglier” aspects of this unit. SurvivalBlog holds a high standard when it comes to product reviews. You’re going to get the bad with the good here. If you purchase this unit based upon our reviews, you’re going to know what to expect. I already covered the major changes that …


Letter Re: Food Storage Expiration

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Hugh, First, let me share a little background. I spent 20 years in the industrial labeling area, putting labels on everything from small engines to processed food. This experience has given me a critical eye on the expiration dates printed on consumer packaging. I can tell you that the production people, the ones sweating on the packaging lines, are very concerned about the safety of what they are working on. Most of them consider the dates they have to put on the cans, jars, boxes, et cetera as a joke. They know that the packaging they are sending down the …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods – a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Since today seems to be all about food storage and/or freeze dried food, we’ll lead with that. Freeze Dried Food in Your Luggage Mother Earth News ran a short info-article on some of the benefits of traveling with freeze dried food in your luggage. As today’s article talked about, it gives you the ability to have healthy snacks and meals that you actually like. No more living off of restaurant or …


Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ …



Harvest Right: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly – Part 1, by HJL

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Intro Three years ago I reviewed Harvest Right’s Freeze Dryer (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). Since then, Harvest Right has updated their freeze dryer with many improvements and new features. SurvivalBlog felt is was time to re-visit this subject and update the review based upon these new and improved features. We’ll also include many of the operating tips that we have learned along the way. We’ve been running the new model of the freeze dryer (FD) for almost a year now, right along side the old model. It made the comparison very easy on the new features. The …


The Editors’ Preps for Week

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To be prepared for a crisis, every prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We also welcome you to share your planned activities for increasing personal preparedness in the coming week. (Leave a Comment with your project details.) Let’s keep busy and …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods – a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Leading with a quote from Mike Rowe. Jobs There is a growing disparity in job outlook in the U.S. right now. For years, our pseudo indoctrination camps education system has hammered home the concept that a college education is mandatory and in many cases is refusing to grant diplomas for those who have not enrolled in a college. But there is a whole sector of high paying blue-collar jobs that continue …


Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: he hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir …