Letter Re: DIY Food Storage Packing

Sir: I am an avid reader of your blog. This particular article touched a chord and I’d like to suggest one place for a great many staples this person will need to store. I am a Mormon.  The LDS bishop’s storehouse is available to me – however, this same resource is also available to non-members.  I have regularly taken my close non-Mormon friends to the local storehouse in the Sacramento, California region.  The prices I think are on-par with Sam’s Club and they have things that Sam’s Club simply won’t carry. (Wheat is one of those).  Here is a link …


Letter Re: An Adequate Bug Out Vehicle (BOV)

Hello JWR, I have a comment for the recent article by Ed in Kentucky. He listed several good points that include: debris passage, water passage, off-road ability, range, and tow capacity. I’ve seen some great pictures of School buses, Trash trucks, work vans built up to be livable and what I call “sleeper” vehicles. Imagine an ambulance in the exact same scenario. Instead of using the more common Ford E-150, and then build it up (with shelves, extra fuel tanks, interior stuff, etc.), get an Ambulance and build it down. Run through Ed’s list again – scroll down now and …


Letter Re: Limitations of Square Foot Gardening

James; I like Square Foot Gardening. It’s a great way to get started for newbies, with its recipe approach. I think it’s great for busy individuals. But it has several severe TEOTWAWKI limitations; the author assumes access to building materials for raised beds, hard-to-find vermiculite and peat moss shipped from thousands of miles away. I live in a large (one million plus people) city and had to call all over town for vermiculite, and then I had to buy it in small bags. I can’t imagine the difficulties of obtaining this limited material in a grid-down situation. And forget about …


Letter Re: A Strange Assortment of Weapons in Rio

Dear Editor: In a 28 November post in Survival Blog, you observed: “Rio de Janeiro shaken by fresh gang violence. There were 15 deaths in one day. Notice that one of the photographs shows a policeman carrying a scoped FN-FAL. Things must be serious. Please pray for the city’s residents.” As a journalist I encountered a wide variety of weapons in use by the Rio de Janeiro Policia, including Imbel FALs, Ruger Mini-14s, various M16/M4 family weapons, Kalashnikovs and many examples of handguns. If the equipment–including tracked and wheeled armoured vehicles–tactics and appearance of the policia appears to be that of …


Economics and Investing:

John R. sent this: Currency Crisis! So What Happens if the Dollar and the Euro Both Collapse? [JWR Notes: I predict that both will collapse, but that the Euro will tank first. This will mean a brief upswing in the value of the U.S. Dollar. As I’ve noted before, that brief interim will likely provide a window of opportunity to buy precious metals.] Number of the Week: 492 Days From Default to Foreclosure. (Thanks to John R. for the the link.) Another from John R.: Starve the Beast: Just Bull, not Good Economics. World at a Boil with War and …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The 25 Most Dangerous Cities In America. Note how population density creates an inverse relationship with my Recommended Retreat Areas. These are the proverbial “Opposite ends of the spectrum.”    o o o RFJ mentioned that Murphy’s Laws of TEOTWAWKI from the Survival Cache gear site got re-posted to Lew Rockwell’s site.    o o o The Rawles Gets Your Ready Family Preparedness Course is only rarely offered at a discounted price. Until Monday December 13th, the publisher is running a special sale. Don’t miss out on the chance to get a copy for yourself, or to give one as …



Notes from JWR:

Today I’m posting the first column written by my new bride, Avalanche Lily. — I’m also presenting the final two entries for Round 31 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include: First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur …


The Truth About Your Local Grocery Store, By Jay M.

I’ve been reading your Blog for a little over a year now and find it very interesting.  Not long ago there was an entry about trying to convince your family about the need to get prepared.  I to have the same issue when trying to get others on board.  They always seem to give me the “RCA dog look” — like I’ve lost my mind. However, I do have the advantage of some work experience that helps.  I’ve worked for a major grocer / big box retailer for the last 25 years.   In that time things have changed an unbelievable …


The .357 Magnum: An All-Around Survival Cartridge

As an avid reader of SurvivalBlog I know that most preppers like the .45 ACP round as their standard. That’s a great choice and an excellent round. It has a long and solid history as a combat round. It falls short in the arena of woods carry and most don’t consider it a hunting round. This report is not to compare the .45 to the .357 Magnum as it is an overdone conversation. Instead, I would like to outline the facts about the .357 Magnum and discuss some of the misconceptions as well as the viability of this classic as …


Avalanche Lily’s Bedside Book Pile

This new column is where I will list–and sometimes include short reviews–the books, periodicals, web pages, and catalogs that I’m currently reading. There will also be occasional mentions of DVDs that we’ve watched. We don’t own (or desire) a television, but we do have a Netflix subscription. (We watch DVDs on our laptops.) Our evenings here at the Rawles Ranch are very quiet, especially in the winter months. We’re all voracious readers. Here are the current top-most items on my perpetual bedside pile: Or Perish in the Attempt: The Hardship and Medicine of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Dr. David …


Letter Re: A Veteran Policeman’s Observations on The Golden Horde

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James,   A lot has been written warning us of what will happen when the City Dwellers find their homes are untenable and vacate [en masse as The Golden Horde] for “the country”, but I haven’t seen anything on what the make-up of these hordes will be. The generic term “city dwellers” encompasses a lot of territory. Who will they be,what kind of shape will they be in, how will they be armed…all of these need to be examined. One category needs to be examined, I feel, more closely than others. Since I have seen posts on your site lately …


Letter Re: Relative Costs of Food Storage Approaches

Hi James,   First and foremost thank you for all of your efforts and wonderful guidance in the art of survival.  I am currently about 70 pages into your novel Patriots and I love it!   I have a quick question that I can not seem to get great advice on with regards to food storage.  Is it better (cost effective, overall nutrition, and space saving) to purchase pre-packaged “kits” like eFoodsDirect’s one-year or six-month supply of dehydrated foods, or build your own storage?  I know that most may say get all you can or do both…but if you had …


Two Letters Re: Tactical Movement in a Post-TEOTWAWKI World

Sir: The author mentioned odor control: Do not use deodorant or “foo foo” water. Use rubbing alcohol to deal with odor-causing bacteria. it evaporates leaving no scent. It can be used as an antiseptic and as a fire starter. My family carries a quart of isopropyl alcohol in each of our “git kits” Keep the Faith. – Bill in North Alabama James: The writer has some great tips but I have to disagree with one thing he says. As for sleeping in old tractor trailers and old railroad cars, I say nay. These may be dry enclosed places, but they …


The Wikileaks Backchannel Fiasco

It will be years before the full implications are felt from the unauthorized release of 251,287 U.S. State Department cables. (Of these, 15,652 of the cables were classified Secret or Secret/NOFORN.) In the end, the Wikileaks fiasco might even destabilize a number of governments, including those in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, the U.A.E., Egypt, and Turkey. The most immediate effect may be seen in Saudi Arabia. Starting in the 1930s, a status quo developed there through tacit agreements between the House of Saud, its rival princes, and the Wahabbist clerics. In essence, King Abdulah ibn Abdul Aziz’s ruling faction is …