Letter: Advice on Oxygen and Moisture Absorbing Packets

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Reader C.A. wrote to ask: I was wondering if you guys had an answer to this or could direct me to the answer: Those oxygen absorber packs that you get inside of food like beef jerky and medication / pill bottles. Can those be re-used for food storage, etc.? Also, who would you recommend as suppliers for these? Thanks. JWR Replies: There are two quite different types of packets. They usually have identifying markings. The two main types are: 1.) Most of the pill bottles and many electronics come packaged with a silica gel (moisture absorbing) packet and those CAN …


Recipe of the Week: One Meal Stew

This week’s recipe is for One Meal Stew — a beef stew recipe. It is a recipe excerpted from the scarce book Nine Hundred Successful Recipes, by Lulu Thompson Silvernail. This book, from my own book collection, was published in 1923. A recent change in U.S. copyright law now puts most pre-1925 books in the public domain. Lulu Thompson Silvernail’s emphasis in this book was recipes that included hard red winter wheat flour. This entire recipe book will be just part of the more than 4,000 pages of bonus content that is being added to the SurvivalBlog archive waterproof USB …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at natural gas production (and waste.) The photo at the top of this column is a satellite photo montage of the lights of North America, at night. The swarm of dots seen in western North Dakota are not city lights. That is actually light created by extensive natural gas flaring. …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 5, 2020

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Today is the birthday of actor Robert Duvall (born 1931.) His roles in Open Range and Apocalypse Now are unforgettable. — January 5th is the birthday of the late John Pugsley (born 1934, died April 8, 2011), libertarian and economics author. Pugsley was well known in preparedness circles as the author of The Alpha Strategy. (The book is out of print, but a PDF is available for free download.) — It is also the birthday of General Courtney Hodges (born 1887 – January 16, 1966). Kicked out of West Point for low math scores, he enlisted as a private but …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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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”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the newly-minted U.S. Space Force. US Space Force to Take Over Florida Bases Linked over at the great Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Patrick AFB, Canaveral fall under new US Space Force. …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — January 4, 2020

January 4th is the birthday of George Hyde. His surname at birth was “Heide”, but it was later anglicized. He was born in 1888, in Arpfingen, Germany. He was the chief gun designer for the Inland Division of General Motors (GM) in Dayton, Ohio during World War II. Hyde was best-known as the co-designer of the M3 “Grease gun” SMG and the Liberator pistol, but he also designed the Bendix-Hyde Carbine and the M2 Hyde submachinegun. He immigrated to the United States in 1927.


Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish. A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones. The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — January 3, 2020

On this day, in 1521, Martin Luther – the father of the reformation and founder of Protestantism – was officially excommunicated by Pope Leo X from the Roman Catholic Church. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the heavy truck market, as an economic indicator. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: A fascinating piece by Lyn Alden, over at Gold-Eagle: Gold Price Forecast: A Weaker Dollar Is The Easiest Path To $2,000 Gold o  o  o Gold Price Forecast: Gold To Rise On Fed …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight. If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose. If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of …



Annual Reminder: The Ten Cent Challenge

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Each year, I only post one reminder, encouraging voluntary Ten Cent Challenge subscriptions, and this is it. Hopefully, some readers appreciate the fact that SurvivalBlog is one of the last of the daily “Old School” blogs without any of these annoyances and intrusions: Annoying pop-up ads Opt-in pop-ups to generate e-mail lists E-mail list spamming Auto-playing media Paid placement pseudo-articles Instant surveys “Are you sure you want to leave?” messages Animated graphics or animated/blinking ads “Top 10” slideshows Cheesy stock photography “Members-only” exclusives Keyword stuffing Sporadic posting SurvivalBlog is not sporadic. I’ve only missed two days of posting in nearly …