Making the Best of Powdered Milk, Part 1, by J.R.

Editor’s Introductory Note: This article is a compilation from several articles in J.R.’s Prep School Daily blog. Because of its length, it will be posted in three parts.  It is re-posted with permission. – JWR Introduction I love including powdered milk in my food storage plan for my family.  I love it because nobody else does.  Nobody wants it, now or ever.  People who have had it never want it again, and people who have not had it are not that into eating healthy or storing food anyway, so there are no worries from them either. But still, powdered milk …




JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on our advertiser BattlBox. (See the Gear & Grub section.) Books: Illustrated Cabinetmaking: How to Design and Construct Furniture That Works (Fox Chapel Publishing) Over 1300 Drawings & Diagrams for Drawers, Tables, Beds, Bookcases, Cabinets, Joints & Subassemblies o  o  o Serious bayonet collectors and investors find themselves a copy of this book: Bayonets from Janzen’s Notebook. (Used copies can sometimes be found on eBay for less than $75.) o  o  o I was not surprised to see …







Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — July 2, 2019

On July 2nd, 1937 aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator. — I just signed up for affiliate advertising with EMPShield.com. Please take a minute to look at their web site. They sell effective EMP-protective circuitry for your vehicles and your home–whether you are on-grid or off-grid.




The Other Transceiver Import Ban: Hytera

You’ll probably recall that last week I mentioned the upcoming import ban on Baofeng UV-5 series handi-talkies. This was because of a 2018 FCC ruling that banned sales of transceivers that can transmit in both the FRS band and in ham bands. That ban goes into effect on September 30th. But you may not have heard about the other transceiver import ban: This one is on Hytera brand encrypted Digital Mobile Radios (DMRs). DMR is an open digital radio standard that combines voice and data together–often with 128-bit or 256-bit encryption features. The reason for the import ban? Some of …




SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. Today, we focus on plans to create a 12th Circuit Court. (See the Region-Wide section.) Region-Wide Crapo Seeks to Create 12th Circuit Court. JWR’s Comments: This will at least palliate the situation, and hopefully even allow President DJT to appoint additional conservatives to the bench of this new appellate court! o o o Reader Mitch X. wrote to ask: “I was in Grangeville …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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 “JWR”.  Today, we delve even further into the growing threat of internet surveillance and censorship. Fed Up With YouTube Censorship? If you are fed up with YouTube censorship and content steering, then I recommend getting the LBRY app. The app (spoken “Library”) also includes its own cryptocurrency. So I’ve found that getting someone started viewing videos on LBRY is a good way to teach them the fundamentals of how crypto coins operate. And it …







Preparedness Notes for Monday — July 1, 2019

July 1st, 1863 is the anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg. — We’d like to welcome our newest advertiser, Harvest Guard. Their re-usable canning lids are made here in the United States. They are offering us a special 5% discount coupon code:  “SURVIVALBLOG“. Thanks! — Palmetto State Armory — one of our affiliates advertisers — just started their big annual Fourth of July sale. Their advertised sale prices last until July 8th. One noteworthy item on sale is a complete M4 upper and parts kit with 16″ barrel, a mid-length gas system, Picatinny rail, and M-LOK …




SIG-Sauer P365 9mm, by Pat Cascio

It is not often that a gun company will first build a magazine for a handgun, and then design the handgun around that magazine. However, that is exactly what SIG-Sauer did with their new 10+1 shot P365 9mm pistol. Many gun makers will build new handgun designs, and then slightly alter the magazine design it takes, from a very similar handgun. This is done on purpose, I believe, so gun owners have to go out and purchase more spare magazines for the newly-designed handgun, instead of being able to use magazines from a very similar handgun that the company makes, …




Recipe of the Week: M.N.’s Oatmeal Pancakes

Reader M.N. sent us this recipe that is a good way to use your stored rolled oats, your stored wheat (or whole wheat flour), your stored powdered eggs, and your stored powdered milk.  Of course, fresh ingredients taste best, but long term storage ingredients are still palatable. This recipe serves four people, or two teenage boys. (About 12 pancakes). Note: Doubling the recipe is too much for the capacity of a blender, so make separate recipes. Ingredients 2 Cups rolled oats (oatmeal) 1 Cup of whole wheat flour (can be hand-ground, but if so, grind it twice) 2 1/2 Cups …




Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news 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 SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, in a special issue of this column I’m foregoing the regular news column items to look at investing in rare modern Colt 1911 variants. Tangibles Investing (Rare Modern Colt 1911 Variants): Today I’m focusing my attention on the fairly arcane specialty of investing in fairly rare modern …