Letter Re: T.P. for the Bugout or Get Home Bag

I’m constantly looking online at what people put in their bug out and get home bags. So far as I’ve seen their always missing one important item– toilet paper! I keep at least two rolls in every bag. Yes, they take up room but weigh nothing. All of my vehicles also have a couple rolls. An immediate dietary change, going from norm to survival mode, is going to have an immediate effect on one’s system (aka: bowel movement). Yet, as I review preppers/survivalist bag setups, good old TP seems to be never mentioned. So, load a couple rolls in a …


What Is It That Will Really Help You Survive TEOTWAWKI?, by Peter Martin

Many articles, TV shows, movies, and personal discussions concerning how to survive TEOTWAWKI usually revolve around food, water, medical supplies, transportation, fuel, and how to defend yourself during such a time. What I am about to communicate is perhaps too religious for some and maybe not religious enough for others, but here it goes anyway, my best shot. Yes, it is important to try and be prepared materially as best you possibly can be, depending upon what your means allow you to do. Some can be more prepared than others, because they have more means to do so, and others …


Letter Re: Moving to Michigan

I enjoyed MM’s article about moving to Michigan to become a corrections officer. I appreciate his sunny outlook on his job. Most of the COs I knew in over two decades in law enforcement described their jobs as “doing life eight hours at a time” and the danger, poor air quality, and lack of respect they felt in the prison. Happily, MM seems to have better working conditions than my friends and relatives in the field. Anyway, I just wanted to add that in regards to MM’s comments on concealed carry, he, like corrections officers in most locations, probably qualifies …


Letter Re: The Adjoining Canadian Redoubt

The editors/publishers of SurvivalBlog recommend an area in the western United States as the best place to find a resort for the time when the world comes to an end. They call it the American Redoubt, and it includes portions of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, which border on the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. This region has low population, low taxes, and lots of good land. It strongly tends to vote Republican. The irony, from a Canadian perspective, is that the adjacent provinces have a rather different political culture. Saskatchewan has a tradition of alternating government between the socialist …


Gastroparesis and Stomach Conditions in TEOTWAWKI, by APS

Disclaimer: Gastroparesis is a serious medical condition where the stomach shuts down or severely slows down. The Vagus Nerve to the stomach has been damaged or does not work properly. Seek immediate professional help and assistance from your doctor or pediatrician as soon as possible. There are a couple of causes for this condition, mainly diabetes and Post-Infectious Gastroparesis (PIGP). Type 1 Diabetics can get this condition over the years, and Type II Diabetics can also get it depending on complications to the disease. I want to focus on the PIGP, because that is what our family went through with …


Thoughts On An Often Misunderstood Caliber, by R.R.

I want to share some information regarding an often misunderstood and maligned caliber, which I recently began learning more about after coming across information on the Fort Hood shooting while studying the ballistics of the shooting. The FN 57X28mm What is FN 5.7X28mm? This is a round specifically designed for a class of weapons called PDWs– personal defense weapons. It’s intended for supporting troops to replace their pistols with something half the size of an M16 but with enough capacity and punch to defeat a helmet or soft body armor, and it’s a significant step up from a pistol or …


Letter Re: Buying Krugerrands

Hugh, With regard to purchasing Krugerrands as opposed to American Gold Eagle (AGE) coins or Canadian Maple Leaf (CML) coins results in some states such as mine (in the American Redoubt, thank God) not charging sales tax on collector coins, but they do on bullion. Since Krugerrands do not bear a (symbolic) monetary denomination (like AGEs and CMLs do), and only have a gold weight and fineness, they are taxed as bullion, which usually drives their cost above the others when tax is taken into account. – KW


Recipe of the Week: Barbecued Beef & Beans, by C.F.

Ingredients: 2 to 2½ lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes Salt and pepper 1 cup smoke-flavored barbecue sauce 1 cup beef bouillon 2 (1-lb) cans dry lima beans, drained Directions: Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Place in a slow cooking pot with barbecue sauce and bouillon. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Add drained beans and cook on high 15 to 20 minutes. Makes 6 servings o o o Useful Recipe and Cooking Links: Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. …


Letter Re: Buying Krugerrands

Hi, I know you don’t give out investment advice, but I started buying gold and silver bullion ever since I read the first Patriots book. What’s your personal opinion of the 1-oz krugerrand? Right now at mintproducts.com there is a special price. It’s going for less than the price of the 1-oz gold eagle. – F.R. JWR’s Comment: Krugerrands are fine, and they usually do sell for less than comparable weight American Eagles. But make sure that you have plenty of small barter silver on hand, before you branch out into gold.


Letter Re: What are Your Thoughts on Required AR Registration in California?

Gentlemen, I live in California. After 12/31/2016, no California resident may purchase an “Assault Weapon” (AR-15, AK, et cetera). Those who own them on that date may keep them, but we must register them on the California Department of Justice website by 12/31/2017. I am trying to decide whether to register or dispose of such weapons and buy something like a Mini-14, which is not considered to be an “Assault Weapon’ by the state. If I own such weapons, I will register them. Others may choose a different course, but I would not. I am planning to become a resident …


Making The Move To The Michigan Wilderness As A Corrections Officer, by M.M.

My wife and I are originally from the northeastern U.S. Our particular area, which had consisted primarily of farmland and small towns while we were growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, increased in population by about 20% between the years 2000 and 2010. The region had become noticeably over-developed, with many corn fields and woods being sacrificed for housing developments and strip malls, and it had become busy to the point that driving during daytime hours involved more waiting in line than actual driving. We like to experience the serenity of the outdoors, and I have always been a …


Letter Re: Easy Fire Starting

HJL: Once upon a time after the passing of my father, I told my wife I needed to go on a hike. Being the good woman she is, I went with her blessing. I loaded up early in March and went to a park near Silva, North Carolina, near a place known as Stone Pile Gap. I was drawn to the site because of that name and my fascination with the ancient custom of first building a cairn in the memory of a loved one and subsequently for travelers to add a stone and say a prayer. That people have …


Five Acres and Independence- Part 2, by D.C.

Get By With Little and Barter We slept on the floor on blankets for two years, used a Coleman camp stove to cook on, bought a $25 used fridge and a $50 yard sale clothes washer, dried our clothes on a line, traded a .22 pistol for a freezer, and hand dug and turned in a new garden with pitchforks. We have put many deer in the freezer that were taken off our land every year with no cost of a hunting license. We can everything possible from the garden. We stopped getting sick, because our food is simple and …


Letter Re: Fingerprinted To Sell Gold Coin

Hugh, In regards to this letter, I suspect that the ID is not so much an overt surveillance mechanism but rather a tool to prevent and or apprehend those who traffic in stolen merchandise. Locally, pawn shops are required to submit daily reports to the police department cataloging all incoming merchandise, and there is a “pawn shop detail” of officers whose function it is to review and compare those records to reports of stolen goods. Several well-documented arrests of burglars and others dealing in ill-gotten gains have resulted. – C.S.


Five Acres and Independence- Part 1, by D.C.

How You Can Do It- Getting Started Many of us find the prospects of individualism and self determination, on a level of becoming a self-sustaining individual or family or even maybe tribe or community, simply daunting. It is germane to contend in this day and age, some aspects of this are difficult to fully appreciate, where they are so foreign from daily life to be almost inscrutable outliers. Just where to begin can be an overwhelming situation. Don’t feel alone. There are a myriad of ways to begin, indeed, and the simplest answer is it all begins with each of …