Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Preparedness Lessons from the 1930s – Part 2, by J. E.

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(Continued from Part 1. This part concludes the article.) Twice a year the cabin was emptied of everything. The walls, floors, and ceilings were scrubbed with lye soap and a bristle brush. All the belongings were also cleaned before they came back into the house. This was pest control and it was needed until DDT became available. Even then, bedbugs, lice, ticks and other creepy crawlies were a fact of life and were controlled by brute force. Failure to do so left you in misery and maybe ill. Foods were stored in bug proof containers. The most popular was fifteen …


Preparedness Lessons from the 1930s – Part 1, by J. E.

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It’s one or two years after an EMP attack and you are safely tucked away in your retreat somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Your storage foods have mostly been used and your high tech electronics is useless. The really bad stuff is mostly past. Now it’s try to stay fed and alive and pray that civilization as you know it is coming back. You’re going to have to work your environment to live. Ever wonder what life might be like to Homestead? What would it really be like to have no running water, electricity, sewer, newspaper or Internet? No …


Our Path Towards Preparation, by SBC

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On our curious and sometimes convoluted path towards being prepared for TEOTWAWKI, I have sometimes impressed, often confounded and occasionally amused myself and family with our brilliance and stupidity. Here follows the outline of the story of our adventure in the hope that it will inspire or amuse or warn you and help your own journey be a bit easier and the load a bit lighter. We began our journey after Hurricane Katrina when FEMA so effectively demonstrated how inadequate the federal support system was dealing with large scale disasters. So what began as a ah-ha moment of “perhaps we …


Coping Without Fresh Meat, by S.A.

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Introductory Note: This article is not a recipe submission. It’s a feature article about how to cope without abundant fresh meat. It’s first-hand, based on a lifetime of experiences, all tried and tested over the years. I’ve divided it into three parts. Please read through to the end. Needless to say, “Your Mileage May Vary” and please eat sensibly and pay attention to calories, sufficient protein and fat and carbohydrates intake. Likewise, do not ignore adequate vitamin and mineral requirements (RDAs). I’m not a doctor, and no medical advice is implied. – S.A. PART 1 WHEN MEAT IS SCARCE Who …


Spices for Long Term Storage, by Upper Midwesterner

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This isn’t going to be just another food storage article. For excellent advice on that subject, start by exploring  the SurvivalBlog archives and the LDS web site. But there’s a related topic that I felt was worthy of discussion. It wasn’t that long ago that .22 rimfire ammo disappeared from shelves, and conversations about PMAGs in stock sounded pretty similar to claims about Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster – utterances viewed by most listeners with great skepticism. We live in a ‘just in time’-supplied world, where almost anything can quickly affect the price – or the availability – of …


Siege Stoves, by Pat Cascio

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Have you ever been out camping, hunting, or hiking, and you had a desire for a nice fresh-brewed cup of coffee, but you didn’t want to make a campfire to brew it? How about a nice warm meal, and I don’t mean taking an MRE and putting it in the heater pouch to heat it up. Yeah, me too. And, most of the time, there isn’t a need for a campfire if you want to cook something or make some fresh coffee. Consider getting a Siege Stove. Those are what I’m reviewing today. I was never a Boy Scout, but …


The Myth of Stored Food, by Pete Thorsen

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Many preppers think if they merely store food then they are done–that they have saved their family. And that might be true if they experience a natural disaster in their area which does not allow shopping for a week or so. They have their stored food and just use that during the emergency. Later–if they remember they buy replacements for the food they used–they made their family much more comfortable during that emergency by having that stored food. Plus one for the prepper family. But what about a long term nationwide disaster? What if it is a total economic collapse, …


From the Deep South to Northern Rockies: Pt. 1, by GritsInMontana

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Redoubt Relocation – From the Deep South to Northern Rockies: A Move to Self-Sufficiency Gentle Reader, the purpose of this article is to share with you my first-hand experience of moving my family from a balmy Southern locale to a small mountain town in the Redoubt. I believe many of my homesteading experiences, regarding everything from critters to cabbage, may provide practical and helpful insight to anyone envisioning a new life in the Northern Rockies. For those slow-talking, sweet-tea-sippin’ Southerners who may be contemplating such a move, I have also included some of the learning curve I encountered regarding cold …


Food and Sundries Storage – Pt. 3, by Pete Thorsen

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(Note: This is the third and concluding part of this article.) Garden seeds should be included in your preparations. So in theory, unless you live in an apartment you can then grow at least some of your own food, in desperate times. Garden seeds are very inexpensive and take up very little storage space. And if you select non-hybrid (“heirloom”) seeds then you can harvest the seeds from so you have some to plant the next year again. At a dollar store, you can often buy four packages of seeds for a dollar. Growing a large garden takes a lot …


Food and Sundries Storage – Pt. 2, by Pete Thorsen

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(Continued from Part 1.) Keep in mind that if there is no grid power, there will be no refrigerator or freezer to store that meat. [JWR Adds: That is, unless you have an alternative power system.  A generator is only viable in a short term disaster.  For a situation lasting months to a decade or more, then photovoltaic power or perhaps a micro-hydro system is what you will need to provide power for refrigeration. An old-fashioned Spring House can also provide refrigeration, in some climates.] And how are you going to be cooking everything? Plan ahead. If you have an …


Budget Food and Sundries Storage – Pt. 1, by Pete Thorsen

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(This is the first part of a three part series.) Food storage is a very important part of any preparedness, and thoughts on food storage vary widely. Some people store buckets of wheat, corn, beans, and rice. For many people, they would only know what to do with maybe the rice. With the prepper/survivalist fad right now many companies are selling long term storage (LTS) food. Some of these LTS foods are just as is, so to speak, like beans or wheat. Some are dehydrated, and some are freeze dried. And of course, some is your standard canned goods. Advice …


Making Flour From Mesquite, by Pete Thorsen

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My goal this past year was to make flour from Mesquite pods and I did meet this modest goal. To do this I planned ahead and I was able to purchase an old hand crank meat grinder and a hand crank grain mill. Both were used but appeared to be in excellent shape. The all-metal grain mill looks much like the old-style meat grinder but has two flat plates between which the milling takes place. New hand meat grinders and new grain mills like what I bought are still made and readily available. Many can be found on eBay and …


JWR’s View: Storage Space Planning for Your Stuff

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As a survivalist since age 14–and now 58–I’ve reached the stage of life where I’ve accumulated a deep larder and a lot of stuff. Just writing can’t help but remind me of the classic George Carlin stand-up comedy routine on “A Place For Your Stuff.” (Be forewarned of Carlin’s foul language.) But seriously, every well-prepared family has mountains of stuff. Storage space planning presents three major challenges: 1.) Where to fit it all. 2.) How to keep it safe from deterioration. 3.) Keeping it organized, so you can quickly find, retrieve, and replenish it. I will attempt to address all three …


Letter: A Recent Test of Stored 2008-Vintage MREs

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Dear Editor: I am always interested in the viability of stored supplies, and am amazed at how quickly expiration dates are reached when one becomes a prepper. I’m the fellow that sent in the report of long-frozen yeast some months ago, and recently conducted a taste-test of an MRE purchased in August, 2008. I thought our brother and sister readers may be interested in my findings. The MRE was packaged by the MRE Star company, out of Hollywood, Florida. It was purchased in a case lot from a Brigade Quartermaster “brick & mortar” store in August, 2008. Though I have …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on MagPul PMAG magazines. (See the Gear & Grub section.) Books: Nation of Cowards: Essays on the Ethics of Gun Control. o  o  o Complete Works O. Henry Authorized Edition 12 Volume Set   Movies & Television: The Korean War – 60th Anniversary Commemorative Documentary Collection o  o  o The second season of the very cleverly-crafted parallel universe television series Counterpart began airing last month on Starz, and will wrap up on Sunday, February 17, 2019. Most of …