Category: Food Storage & Cooking

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 …


So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After TEOTWAWKI, by Dr. Prepper – Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, I discussed the need to start a garden sooner rather than later, the pitfalls of starting a garden where grass has been cultivated, the creation of your gardening beds (whether rows or raised beds), and the use of composting for amending the soil. In Part 2, I will continue with discussing the structures of the garden with emphasis on fences, gates, and varmint control. Fence Basics Maybe you are one of those fortunate few where there are very few varmints– an undesired animal in an undesired place. (Some would ascribe the term to certain …


Letter: Storage Without a Basement

Hugh, After much prayer and house hunting, it would seem the Lord is leading me to relocate about 40 miles from where I currently live. This was never my plan, as I had intended to move much further west. My area does not have basements due to the water table. I am now having to rethink how I handle my storage. The house will be renovated to my specs and has over 2600 SF with about 10 acres. I will be having a safe room built outside the home for hurricane threats. Any suggestions will be helpful as a basement …


Letter: Confiscation of Stored Foods

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There is quite a bit of “buzz” going on that the DHS will come in and take stored foods. What might you know about this and what are the odds? I know, with this admin anything goes, but I think it is certainly worth addressing. – P.W. Hugh Replies: That is the whole point of OPSEC, but practically speaking, the DHS isn’t who you will have to worry about, unless you are a grocery store or warehouse. Anything smaller than that isn’t worth dealing with when you factor in the manpower and risks to personnel. The danger for individuals comes …


Letter Re: Harvest Right Freeze Dryer

Hugh, Great Harvest Right review! It’s incredibly informative and well written. Thank you. I’m currently about to pull the trigger on purchasing one of their machines. I was hoping you might be able to share some wisdom on your experience with ice cream. You mention cream content below 1/3 worked well. Did you try various brands and something “light” like this worked best? What was the drying time? Was this one of the high liquid foods that required you to defrost in the middle of the process? Any insight is incredibly appreciated. Hugh Replies: That ice cream will work just …


Letter Re: The Pachamanca: A Survivalist’s Feast

One alternative to the pachamancha pit is the “haybox cooker”. My experience involves only foods cooked with lots of liquid, but the idea is to get the food to a rolling boil, then pack it away in a well-insulated environment for six hours or so. Traditionally, people used a box filled with straw, but modern alternatives exist, typically in the form of a simple metal pot and an insulated larger pot with a tight-fitting lid. Amazon should turn up several examples under the search term “thermal cooker”. – EQR


The Pachamanca: A Survivalist’s Feast, by J.C.

Sometimes, in survival situations, it is in one’s best interest to avoid detection when possible. However, this can be difficult to do when food preparation comes into play. Fire is often a necessity, when it comes to cooking outdoors, but fire creates smoke, which can draw unwanted attention. There are alternatives to open fire cooking, namely solar ovens, but these alternatives often require special conditions, like minimal cloud cover, to work effectively. Camp stoves are also a possibility. However, they can be bulky; often require a scarce, non-replenishable fuel source; and sadly, not everybody is going to have access to …