Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Letter: Sassafras FDA info incorrect

HJL, The information from G.G. that referenced Sloan Kettering’s info on FDA banning Sassafras, is incorrect . In fact, Sassafras is used in food and can be purchased as a tea online from Pappy’s in Ohio. The food safe version is Safrole free; it is the oil that is carcinogenic. – Annie in Amish country Sassafras Still brewed the old fashion way from sassafras root bark (Sassafras albidum). Pappy’s Sassafras Tea is also very healthy for you as it is Safrole Free, Caffeine Free, Sugar Free, contains 0 Carbohydrates and Less than 1 Calorie per serving! From Pubchem: PubChem CID: …


Letter: Grain Milling Muscles

JWR and HJL: We bought a grain mill—the Wonder Mill Junior to be specific–from one of your advertisers and we are pleased with the purchase. However, I must warn my fellow readers that if you have bought one of these and just threw it on the shelf alongside your the stack of #10 cans and food storage buckets, then you made a mistake. Unless you regularly start your Ford Model T with a hand crank, then you are in for a morning-after surprise. This is another example of the importance of “practicing your preps.” A seven year old cannot turn …


Letter Re: Sources for MRE Rations

Hello Hugh, I’ve been reading SurvivalBlog for many years and have had a few of my articles posted in the past. This is the first time I’ve written since you took over as editor. You’re doing well, Hugh. I am in the market to buy Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs) as a source of Bug Out Bag (BOB) food storage, along with pre-positioning some at my intended retreat locations. There are so many options and it is difficult to determine what is best, or even which are the best value for the money. Amazon is flooded with all manner of brands and …


Reality Checks for a Grid Down Scenario, By Blueleader

I sometimes hear misguided individuals who repeat the statement going around that if the grid goes down we will be thrown back to the days before electricity: The 1880s. The prevalent thought is that folks back then did fine so it wouldn’t be so bad for us to simply revert to that level of technology. Well, what if we examine your day in a post grid failure scenario? Here is a reality check for you to consider: Let us say you get up ‘the day after’ and you’re cold. Bummer. Well, in the 1880s if you got up and you …


Letter Re: Sources of Vitamin C in a Post-SHTF World, by Okie Ranch Wife

Sir: There are a couple of sources of Vitamin C that are not common knowledge. If you are an oldtimer like me you may remember the name Euell Gibbons, the spokesman for Grape Nuts cereal. His catchphrase was “Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.” He wasn’t kidding. The inner bark of a pine tree is a great source of Vitamin C, Thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin A and other beneficial properties like Protein and fat, yes fat one of the things everyone needs to survive. How to get it? Take a branch the size of your little finger (this …


Letter: Using What Others Throw Away

Dear SurvivalBlog Editors and Readers,The last few days have shown me the wastefulness of others but have given me opportunities to gain from it. I now have apples, corn, and pork sausage that I didn’t plan on getting. Here is what happened: My own apple tree only produced seven apples, because the blossoms were destroyed during a storm. But a friend has a tree in her yard, but didn’t want the apples. She offered them to me. I picked ten five-gallon buckets full of apples. I am now canning applesauce and pie filling. My neighbors chopped silage, which leaves a …


Letter Re: Freezers

Hugh, One advantage of freeze drying is you pay for the electricity once, and have something light which you can store on a shelf. But while reading the reply about EMPs and freezers at a local restaurant, I happened to notice an old Zenith (yes, Zenith) freezer. It might be older than me. My immediate thought was that I could probably offer to buy them a new freezer and take this antique (it might be older than I am) off their hands. One other caution, the older freezers use Freon – R12 – which is more expensive and harder to …


Letter Re: Thoughts for Frozen Food Storage for SHTF

Hugh: I sure would like to hear what Prepperdoc has to say about the conclusions of G.D. on the resilience of the simple freezer in the event of an EMP. It would be nice to know brand name. I have looked at Sundanzer products (24vdc) but was not encouraged by reviews and troubled by the exposure to EMP. It is preferable not to wander in the wilderness. – R.V. Prepperdoc Responds: Great question, made me do even more study. My personal plan has included household freezers just as contributor G.D. is using. Are these susceptible to EMP / solar flares …


Letter: Thoughts for Frozen Food Storage for SHTF

Tonight I ate a rib eye steak that was a little over two years old. It was tender, juicy, and just as good as the day I bought it. It was vacuum packed and frozen at -14 to 0 degrees for the entire time. I see no reason to believe that the steak would not be just as palatable for at least another year. I believe this to be a viable consideration for food storage for, if not the long term, an intermediate period for SHTF situations. If this is to be considered for a food source for a few …


Letter Re: A Year’s Supply of Food on a Budget by J. H.

Dear Sirs, Regarding a recent letter mentioning the use of rapeseed as a cooking oil, care must be taken in finding the right cultivars as natural rapeseed is not suitable for food uses. Wikipedia describes this in depth. In a long-term survival situation over many grow seasons, I’m not sure I would trust the use of rapeseed to remain safe for consumption of the oil. -Mike


Letter Re: A Year’s Supply of Food/Cooking Oil Alternatives

Dear Hugh, With regard to the discussions about a renewable source of cooking oil, bio-diesel, and perhaps lubricating oil as well, I’ve often thought peanuts (aka, “goober peas”) may be a viable option for those of us who live in the south. Obviously, they’re not as visible as sunflowers, and statistics at this website seem to suggest that they produce a higher yield of bio-diesel than rapeseed. I’ve read bits and pieces about backyard peanut growing, but I suspect large scale cultivation may be necessary for meaningful oil production. At any rate, their obscure growing nature, nutritional value (including protein), …


Learning How to Grow Food in the American Redoubt, by AJ

What happens when our food preparations run out? This question has kept me awake more nights than I care to remember. Whatever your scenario– economic collapse, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), pandemic, a nuclear attack, or another devastating TEOTWAWKI situation– there will be a point when food becomes scarce. Learning to grow and preserve our own food will become necessary at some point, and the time to learn these essential skills is now. I literally “woke up” one day, after months of digging deeper into the alternative media in an attempt to explain why I had this feeling that something was incredibly …


Letter Re: Growing and Storing Our Own Food

Dear Hugh, Tennessean wrote a very useful article regarding providing your own food, but I wanted to point out one remark about choosing Yukon Gold potatoes. One lesson from the Irish Potato Famine was that most farmers had gone to planting only one variety of potatoes, the Irish Lumper. Other countries had a variety of potatoes, some more resistant to the fungal blight that hit Europe and so the blight did not hit them as hard. The lack of potato variety was only one contributor to the famine but nevertheless an important factor. I humbly submit that it might be …


Our Experience Growing and Storing Our Own Food- Part 3, by Tennessean

Farming Equipment Farming equipment is useful in various functions of gardening, particularly when growing a large garden for a family’s self-sustenance. Mechanical Seeders Two months ago we were on a UT field trip visit to a farm several counties northeast of us. I was extremely impressed with “Farmer Bob”. He demonstrated a Jang Clean Seeder. it actually worked! Two other push hand seeders we have tried have been about as useless as a screen door in a submarine. This gizmo is NOT inexpensive, but it does the job. We bought a fertilizer attachment, a row marker attachment, a rough soil …


Letter Re: A Year’s Supply of Food on a Budget by J. H.

HJL I’d throw in that the rice and beans need to be stored in a ratio of 10 lbs. of rice to 6 lbs. of beans. Together, in that proportion, they provide the essential proteins according to smart people with credentials to whom I am related. Fats and oils are important as PW asserts. Check out Piteba Nut and Seed Oil Expeller Oil press. It is important that you not just buy it and put it on the shelf. There are expendable parts, and the instructions include direction to a video to figure it out. Also, I understand it takes …