Month: October 2025

LifeStraw Go 22 Ounce Water Bottle, by Thomas Christianson

By combining water purification and storage, the LifeStraw 22 Ounce Water Bottle provides a simple, convenient and practical solution for providing potable water in the field. With the LifeStraw Go, safe, pleasant-tasting drinking water is close at hand. The specific model that I tested is no longer available at LifeStraw.com. A slightly different but similar model cost $32.71 at the time of this writing. Or, if you are fast enough, you might be able to still get the discontinued model at rei.com for $25.73. Replacement filters cost $24.95 at LifeStraw.com. Lifestraw products are manufactured in South Korea, the United States, …


Recipe of the Week:

Reader K.N. sent us her recipes for Black Bean Brownies and White Bean Blond Brownies. She writes: “I use: 1 box dark chocolate brownie mix, 1 can low-sodium black beans, rinsed, drained, pureed/creamed til smooth. Add 1 small egg, 1/3 cup of any oil, 1/3 cup water, dash of vanilla. Pour mix into greased baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 Degrees. Let cool completely before cutting into squares. If adventurous, substitute a spoonful of peanut butter for the oil, or add some crushed peppermint candy cane. You can use a variation of this recipe to also make Blond …



The Editors’ Quote of the Day: 

“You can take all the guns in America and put them in a pile on the Mall in Washington DC, and those guns will stay there and will eventually rust and decay. Not one gun will crawl out of that pile and shoot or harm anyone. It takes a human being, and a human heart bent on evil, to pick up a gun, load it, and pull the trigger. The problem we have in this country is sin. We have a government that has taken God out of society.” – Franklin Graham


Preparedness Notes for Sunday — October 12, 2025

On October 12, 1823, Charles Macintosh of Scotland began selling his trademark raincoats. (Still called “Macintoshes” or “Macs”). — Today, in 1492, after sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sighted a Bahamian island, believing he had reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The …


Parkerizing at Home – Part 2, by S.A.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Most of the time the barreled receiver is treated as one part. Normally, a rifle barrel is not removed from the receiver during parkerizing since it is difficult to remove and reinstall without damaging the new finish. In these cases it is not uncommon for issues caused by trapped solution to show up sometime in the future where the barrel shoulder meets the receiver face. One way to mitigate issues caused by trapped solution is to use compressed air after the part comes out of the parkerizing solution but before the final …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: A Qatari Air Force Training Base In Idaho? What Is Next? A Chinese Infantry Training Base In California? News Links: Qatar is Getting an Air Force Facility in Idaho: What to Know. WSJ: Qatar Facility at U.S. Air Force Base in Idaho Sparks Controversy. Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks! Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.  


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — October 11, 2025

On October 11, 1923, the hyperinflated German Mark issued by the Weimar regime fell to 10 billion per British Pound and\ 4 billion per U.S. Dollar. — October 11, 1138: A massive earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, killed an estimated 230,000 people. — Today is the 75th birthday of novelist William R. Forstchen. He is best known for his survivalist novel One Second After. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used …


Parkerizing at Home – Part 1, by S.A.

Parkerizing is the trade name of a chemical reaction process that uses a mild acid solution to deliver manganese or zinc to a steel part and thereby coat that part with either manganese or zinc. The generic name for this process is “Phosphate Coating”, but most folks use the familiar name, Parkerizing, and often use a lower-case “p” when writing about it. The purpose of parkerizing is to provide a protective finish on steel parts. The resultant phosphate coating will hold lubricants and rust preventatives. One common use is to coat and protect steel firearms. Compared to bluing, it has …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — October 10, 2025

October 10, 732: The Battle of Tours. The Umayyad army led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi was defeated by the Frankish Aquitainian force led by Charles Martel. — Today is the birthday of the late singer-songwriter John Prine (1946-2020). — And this is also the birthday of composer Giuseppe Verdi. (Born 1813, died 1901.) — On October 10th, 1913, the Panama Canal officially linked the Atlantic to the Pacific. — Today’s feature article is a guest post by A.C. of the Stakeholder Prepping Podcast. Since he is a SurvivalBlog advertiser, this article is not eligible for our writing contest. — …


Involving Children in Emergency Preparedness, by A.C.

The following is a summary of a Stakeholder Prepping Podcast. — Something that a lot of us overlook is the idea that preparedness is fundamentally a whole-family-unit endeavor. The effectiveness of any emergency plan hinges not on the dedication of a single individual, but on the cooperation and understanding of the entire family. When emergencies or disruptive events occur, a family unit operates at its most resilient when every member, including children, is an active participant rather than a passive bystander. The core challenge for parents is shifting the family’s mindset away from visualizing doomsday scenarios and toward fostering confidence, …


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, more coverage of the bull market in gold and silver. Precious Metals: On Thursday, spot gold was at $4,076.10, and spot silver hit $51.42 per Troy ounce.  This eclipsed the record high price set in January 17, 1980, when the Hunt Brothers attempted to corner the global silver market. When I last checked, it took …