Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Two Letters Re: Justifying Preparation

Hugh: Here in Georgia, a hurricane right up the middle puts power lines in the road and shuts down traffic for a minimum of 30 days. Evidence of that result can be found in the Connecticut Governor’s response to Hurricane Sandy, which was to shut down all state highways. There was no traffic and no grocery store resupply. Counting on FEMA to show up in three days is foolish. In the aftermath of Katrina, it was churches that carried the day rather than FEMA. My family up in New Jersey during Sandy was at the end of their rope after …


Letter Re: Home Brewing for SHTF

Thanks for providing the warning based on scripture concerning alcohol. Please make sure the readers know and understand that distillation of any alcohol product, without proper state and federal licensing will land them in the federal pen. I don’t think the writer of that post was clear enough on that. We call it ethanol now, but the BATFE still calls it moonshine if the producer doesn’t have his ducks in a row. – G.F.


LED Grow Lights for Indoor Food Production, by J.H.

Lighting products based on Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology continues to improve. Not only are lights getting cheaper, but the individual LED components are getting more higher powered and both efficiency and lifetimes/longevity are improving. Over time, LED technology is poised to replace the problematic and often loathed Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) as the preferred alternative to traditional incandescent light bulbs. However, this article is not about ordinary lighting applications but rather LED lighting specifically used for indoor growing applications. The benefits of LED lighting for plant growth, particularly as the technology advances, are truly revolutionary and will change the …


Letter Re: Storage Without a Basement

Hi, Mr. Hugh! I live in the hot, HUMID, deep South and have a couple of things to add to the conversation. 1) If you have a spring, dig it out and box it in with cypress wood or some other wood that should last in water. We did that back in ’75, and added shelving on the inside of the box, at just under water level. Our spring water is very cold and should keep milk and milk products nice and cool. I have to admit that we’ve never had to use it for that; we just pump the …


Home Brewing for SHTF, by C.K.

(Preface by HJL: SurvivalBlog neither condones nor condemns alcohol consumption. However, we stand by a biblical perspective that takes a strong stance against drunkenness. There are serious issues that must be weighed in regards to alcohol consumption and commerce, and each reader should measure them carefully to know whether home brewing is for you or not.) What is home brewing? I am not talking about brewing your favorite cup of coffee or tea; I am referring to the growing hobby of brewing beer, wine, and other spirits at home. There are many advantages of brewing in SHTF. However, like other …


Letter Re: Storage Without a Basement

I’m writing in response to the discussion about how to keep food in the Southeastern United States in the heat of the summer. My mother-in-law is in her 80s. I asked her how her parents and grandparents kept their food. For things like apples, potatoes, tomatoes, they would just store it above ground, sometimes packed in sawdust, usually in open air. For canned food, her mother had a little room off the house with shelves in it. It didn’t have a window, but it also got just as hot as the house. They would keep the canned food in jars …


Letter Re: So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After TEOTWAWKI

Dear Editor, I just wanted to add some thoughts regarding your recent article on starting a garden now. I grew up in the Midwest, and our family had one and sometimes two gardens. We grew a variety of vegetables, and we canned and froze whatever we didn’t eat. After I moved away and eventually moved into a city, I got out of the habit of having a garden. My travels took me from Iowa to Minnesota, back again, and eventually to Texas. This year my wife and I decided to grow a small garden. We have a home in the …


Two Letters Re: Storage Without a Basement

Hugh, I saw your entry and reply regarding the difficulty of maintaining preps and self in hot areas without electricity. You referred to Backwoods Home magazine, but you may want to just refer folks to “Zeer Pots” or “Pot in Pot” coolers: I’ve used them and they work pretty well, especially when you stack the deck, as in the second article above. I don’t know if anyone has tried to scale them up to locker/container size, but I’d be interested in reading about it if you put out the word and got a reply. – T.J. o o o Good …


Letter Re: Storage Without a Basement

Hugh, I cannot remember the source, but I read of a simple solution for storage of fresh fruits and vegetables. Purchase a galvanized trash can, and bury it to where there is about six inches above the ground. Pick a shady area with good drainage. In the winter, cover the lid with a little hay for insulation. We live in North Texas and have been using this for the past couple years with good results. – R.S. o o o Hi Hugh, Regarding cool storage, this will cost a bit of money, but it might work. You could buy 4×8 …


Two Letters Re: So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After TEOTWAWKI

Hugh, Finally someone has addressed something that has been on my mind for quite some time. Thanks Dr. Prepper for pointing out that gardening alone will be an insufficient means to provide adequate food when the SHTF! Your 2000 cal/day figure easily shows the shortfalls of relying solely on a vegetable diet, but under the high stress and increased activity levels that will be required when the SHTF a 3000cal/day requirement often is used as a more realistic figure. This would increase the required amount of the harvest by 33%! I wonder what the net caloric gain is with the …


Letter Re: So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After TEOTWAWKI

Hugh, Regarding the article “Starting a Garden After TEOTWAWKI”, Have you forgotten the most rapacious “varmint” on earth? I’m referring of course to the Insects. Although here in FL, where we have cockroaches that fly around and knock out streetlights, bird screening may work. lol Maybe screening should be added? – R.D. o o o HJL, Hello and thank you for this series. It was very useful, concise information. I would like to add, when space is at a premium for you (as it is for me) or advancing age is slowing you down, some things are better purchased than …


Apiculture, by Z.T.

I want you to think about the most expensive liquid per unit volume that you can. What different liquids came to mind? Gasoline or other petroleum based products? Sure. I am sure many of you thought of bottled water; as crazy it sounds, it is up there. Still, no, that’s not the liquid I am thinking of, though all of those are certainly expensive. This liquid is sweet. It’s extremely useful.  It’s fairly hard to come by. It is commonly referred to as “liquid gold”. Have you figured it out? It’s honey. Many of you are raising your eyebrows at …


Letter Re: Storage Without a Basement

Hello J. W., I wanted to write in response to the letter posted July 2, 2014 from MM. The writer asked for suggestions regarding an alternative to storage without a basement. The writer said, “Any suggestions will be helpful as a basement would have offered storage with automatic climate control in an off grid situation.” It was my interpretation that the writer was looking for advice regarding how to keep his preps cool in the southern U.S. in an off-grid situation if a basement/cellar was unavailable or even an impossibility. I felt he was trying to say that in his …


Letter Re: Harvest Right Freeze Dryer

Dear Mr. Latimer, Thank you for your in-depth review of the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer. You mentioned in Part 3, Operation, Section 6 “Working with Trays”, first sentence that you “used both the aluminum trays and the stainless steel ones”. I checked the Harvest Right website and found no stainless trays available for purchase and I have only the aluminum trays. My question is: Where did you get the Stainless Steel Trays? I have the Harvest Right unit prior to your review and would like to purchase the stainless tray for my unit as well. I don’t like aluminum for …


So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After TEOTWAWKI, by Dr. Prepper – Part 3

In Part 1 of this series, I discussed the preparation of a survival garden where grass used to be, amending the existing soil with compost, and the creation of rows or raised beds. In Part 2, I discussed the construction of an eight foot tall fence and gate with the intent of keeping out varmints. Specifically, and perhaps strangely to some readers, no mention has been made yet as to WHAT should be planted in the garden or how much and why. This is because many who are not familiar with subsistence gardening may be surprised at the true facts …