Day: December 25, 2023

Preparedness Notes for Monday — December 25, 2023

To those who are celebrating the Advent of our Lord and Savior, our little team at SurvivalBlog wishes you a peaceful and meaningful Christmas. For those who choose to celebrate our Lord through the biblical feasts, stay safe out there during this holiday season. Our prayer is that each and every one of you enjoy the family time. Be safe on the roads. — Today’s feature article is a review written by SurivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson. — We are seeking entries for Round 110 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $850,000 worth of prizes have been …


TOPS Fieldcraft 154 Stainless Fixed Blade Knife, by Thomas Christianson

BLUF The TOPS Fieldcraft 154 Stainless fixed blade knife is a rugged tool for use in the field or around the yard. It has a 4.75 inch, full-tang, Scandi-grind blade made of 154CM stainless steel. With a price of $295 at the time of this writing, it is not cheap in terms of either price or quality. It has earned a place among my gear as my go-to camping knife. Background A little more than a year ago, I tested the TOPS Mini Scandi Folder 4. The resulting review was later published in SurvivalBlog. I liked the Mini Scandi Folder …


Recipe of the Week: Baked Peanut Butter Apple Oatmeal

The following recipe for Baked Peanut Butter Apple Oatmeal is from SurvivalBlog reader M.M..  She writes: “This is a great ‘throw together’ recipe that uses what you have on hand. The key here is to be flexible. If you do not have a fresh apple, dried would work or even apple sauce. While I did not use nutmeg in this batch, that would make a nice addition, as would some raisins. Or you can swap pecans for walnuts, if that’s what’s in your pantry. You can even substitute part or all of the brown sugar with some maple syrup or …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the risk of a recession or an economic depression, in 2024. Precious Metals: The gold-to-platinum ratio continues to further escape reality. When I last checked (Thursday, December 21, 2023), with spot gold at $2,057.80 and spot platinum at $982.90, the ratio stood at 2.093-to-1.  Historically, platinum has sold at a premium above …