Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Hawkins Pressure Cooker, by Pat and Mary Cascio

We’ve owned several travel trailers over the years but hardly ever went out camping. We live in the boonies, and I sincerely love where I live. There is no need for me to go any place else to enjoy myself. Basically, we used travel trailers as mobile bug out retreats, if the time ever came, or as a spare “bedroom” for guests. Approximately a year ago, we acquired a newer 21-foot travel trailer that has everything I wanted, except a/c, which would have been nice. (I still might have it installed and spend hot summer nights sleeping in it in …


Response to Making a Final Run, by Jim Fry

I must confess that I haven’t had a chance to read every single post on “Making a Final Run”. A farm in winter can be a very busy place. So I hope I’m not just repeating someone else. In the main I agree with most posters, a final run is possibly/probably not a good idea, maybe. If you’re talking about a last run to Walmart, then maybe you run the chance of getting into the middle of where you don’t want to be. However, there are lots of other sorts of “final runs”, such as to the bank, the gas …


Letter: Rocket Stoves and Tiny Pressure Cookers

Dear Mr. Rawles and Mr. Latimer, I read with interest your recent article on rocket stoves and slow cooking. I would like to note that while rocket stoves do use less fuel, a person can also burn less fuel and save time with a pressure cooker. Many people are totally unaware that there are very small 1.5 liter pressure cookers for sale that use very little fuel to cook a delicious and healthy meal. If you are going to go to the trouble of using an efficient stove, it pays to use efficient cooking vessels. I recently made two YouTube …


Letter Re: Rocket Stoves

Hi Jim and Hugh, I have appreciated the rocket stove articles. If one has the funds and is less mechanically inclined or adept at welding, I have purchased a Stove Tek rocket stove and am very pleased with it. They have upgraded it some from the one I bought. I think probably from your website a few years ago someone suggested that a Saratoga Jack ‘slow cooker’ would work well with the rocket stove, and wouldn’t you know it does. There is an interior removable stainless pot that fits nicely on the rocket stove. I boiled water using leaves and …


Why You Need a Rocket Stove And How To Build Three Types- Part 2, by Charles Fockaert

How to Build a Rocket Stove From Tin Cans Prep Mode Two types of cans can be used for the main body of your tin can rocket stove– a #10 can or a metal paint can. I much prefer the metal paint can for two reasons. First, it has a lid. Secondly, it has a built-in handle. I will explain how to build a rocket stove out of a paint can. The process is basically the same for the #10 can. Let’s start by taking a look at what the finished product looks like. This is a photo of a …


Letter: Rocket Stove & Slow Cooking

Mr. Rawles, SurvivalBlog is one of our daily Internet staples. My family has gleaned far too much from the site to ignore. Today’s article on rocket stoves and a reader’s submission touting the benefits of a slow cooker were meant to go together, maybe even Heaven sent. We have a slow cooker, and we also have a rocket stove. However, in a hunker down crisis the slow cooker becomes almost useless without using an alternate AC source. But the rocket stove, grid down, becomes a wonderful item to have in your quiver of preps. It excels in heating items quickly …


Why You Need a Rocket Stove And How To Build Three Types- Part 1, by Charles Fockaert

It finally happened. You knew it would. It took longer than you expected, but the Schumer hits the blades scenario you knew was coming is here. It is now “Your. New. Reality”. To survive, you are going to have to cook food and heat water daily, for yourself, for your family, and perhaps for your friends but maybe without electricity, propane, or natural gas. All you have available for fuel is wood. Your New Reality The Federal Reserve Note, a fiat currency created out of thin air by the multiple trillions over the last 100 years, has been rejected finally …


Sarah Latimer: Unrealized Expectations – Part 2

In continuing with the idea of not relying upon others for the “sweet” wants and needs we have, here are a few more ideas that you can provide for yourself (and feel quite good about your independence in doing so!): Fresh and Dried Fruits and Vegetables– Want organic, highly nutritious fresh or dried fruits and vegetables year around, economically? Plant fruit trees and bushes and grow a garden as well as consider using a greenhouse for winter produce. Then, can, freeze, dehydrate, and/or freeze dry your excess produce for later seasonal use. We are still enjoying freeze-dried cubed tomatoes from …


Community Risk Mitigation, by T.P.

I hate it when I see statements on prepping site that make assumptions of our fellow citizens that are overly broad and frequently demeaning. You know the things I’m talking about. “They assume the government will save them.” “Sheeple.” “They refuse to prepare because of their narrow mindedness.” There is certainly a small subset of people who fit that mold. Most however are of the “ignorance is bliss” variety. They simply haven’t woken up to the risk. Prepping is simply a form of risk mitigation. It’s insurance. When my family woke up to the risk, we didn’t suddenly realize the …


Letter Re: Low-Carb Paleo and Primal for Preppers

Dear Editor, Regarding the article “Low-Carb Paleo and Primal for Preppers, By T.Z.”, there are a few points of this article that should be clarified. The low-carb diet can be used to great effect, however you need to be aware that you can overdue it and cause yourself harm. Symptoms of harmful ketosis are thirstiness, feeling tired, peeing a lot, feeling sick to your stomach, belly pain, throwing up, dry or flushed skin, trouble breathing, confusion, and fruity smelling breath.  The main benefit of the ketosis diet is the lack of hunger your body feels when on the diet, making …


Letter Re: A Lesson from Fasting for Preparedness

Dear Editor: I enjoyed the post by J.C. regarding Fasting for Preparedness. It was well written with lots of info for those who may wish to explore further. I am a 55 year old male. I am 6’3″ and weigh 190 lbs. I’ve been blessed with a strong Christian upbringing and was familiar with the concept of fasting for spiritual reasons most of my life. The Bible is chock full of fasting references, from short duration to supernatural fasts such as Jesus Christ in Matthew Chapter 4. So back in the 1990s when I began fasting, it was for spiritual …


A Lesson from Fasting for Preparedness, by J.C.

First off, let me tell you a little bit about myself and experiences. I am a thirty-four years old, six foot tall, and an active male who enjoys long distance trail running, running mountains, and competing in mud obstacle races and triathlons. I have been married fourteen years and have two pre-teen sons. I currently work out of town as a carpenter and commute three hours each day and work ten-hour days five and sometimes six days a week. During the warmer months, I train nearly every day, mostly running on stairs, hills, trails. During the winter, I am running …


Letter: T.Z. Answers Some Questions on Paleo Prepping

HJL, As to getting rid of accumulations of prepper storage carbs, find some livestock that naturally eats such things. Maybe a local beekeeper could use the sugar over winter. Maybe some chickens can turn it into good eggs or meat. As to storage, I already mentioned good, organic vitamin and mineral supplements and protein powder, which you can put in bug-out bags. If I have fat on me, I’ll be burning that for a while as I’m bugging out or assessing the local area for wild food, barter, or what I’ve stored. Since I’m not hungry all the time, I …


Letter Re: Prepping for a Paleo Diet

Hugh, TZ’s article on the Paleo diet vs. the more usual heavy-on-carb diet that preppers typically prep for was exciting for me to read because it addressed many of the issues my husband and I are dealing with. We’ve been formally prepping for the past six years, storing up wheat, rice, beans, etc. Then two years ago we found a great doctor, a Functional Medicine Doctor, who emphasizes the health model vs. the pathology model. He started with extensive blood tests, then based on the results starts you off on a series of supplements and a strict non-carb diet. We’re …


How to Use Old Cooking Oil: The Floating Wick

A few months ago, one of my consulting clients mentioned that she had over-stocked her supply of vegetable oil. She had also neglected to store it in her freezer, to extend its storage life. The result after four years was 10 quarts of corn oil and two quarts of olive oil that had gone rancid. She asked if there was anything she could do with the oil. (She bemoaned the fact that that olive oil was particularly expensive.) My reply: Buy some floating wicks, and burn up that oil as a source of light and heat, during power failures. Floating …