Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Learning About Food Safety, by Tom T.

I have heard many preppers talk of the massive food supply that they have.  Some have months supply.  While others have a year plus of food.  All of this food will do no good if it isn’t prepared safely.  I have been in the food industry for twenty plus years.  In that time we have all seen the news of the mass explosion of food borne illnesses.  We have seen the recalls of thousands of pounds of beef and the closure of several chains of restaurants.  In a SHTF scenario I doubt we will be living in the best of …


Letter Re: Lentils: The Super Food of the Prepper

Dear Mr. Rawles, I’m a fan of lentils from way back.  Some things I didn’t see in the article and the follow-up letters are: 1. Lentils can indeed produce intestinal gas like beans or most other legumes. However this can be significantly reduced by introducing a single peeled whole carrot into the lentil dish when cooking.  Remove the carrot before serving the lentils.  No, I do not know why it works.  I just know that it does. 2. Brown/Green lentils have the same cooking time and temp as brown rice. 3. Red lentils have the same cooking time and temp …


Three Letters Re: Lentils: The Super Food of the Prepper

JWR: I have a couple of comments on the recent lentil article. Brad mentioned: “Mannaharvest.net sells 25 lb. for $24.70” Restaurant Depot (which I learned about on SurvivalBlog) sells 25 lb bags for about $13. They also have 25 lb bags of many other beans for similar prices. JWR mentioned: “Lentils can harden in long term storage, just like beans. This limits their practical shelf life to about eight years.” Since we store what we eat and eat what we store, using up lentils before they harden is not a problem. We empty the large bags into quart canning jars …


Lentils: The Super Food of the Prepper, by Brad H.

This article is about a food that I have become familiar with just recently.  The nutritionist at my chiropractor’s office has me on a detoxification program.  One of the things I am “allowed” to eat during this detox is a portion of lentils each day.  I had never had lentils before this detox, but became a fan rather quickly.  The more I looked into the details of this small but mighty food, the more impressed I became that it would be a great addition to my emergency stockpile.  The lentil is a cousin of the bean, and both are in …


Where are You in Your Preparedness? , by B.L. the Texican

I hope that what I have to say will help someone that is just getting started with their survival preparedness situation, SurvivalBlog has helped me in streamlining our preparations, and I believe in giving back some of what I have received.  I have read many different blogs and forums, and come away with the impression that most of the blogs are for the arm chair survivalist that do not try anything for themselves, but only go on what they have read or heard.  SurvivalBlog.com is one of the few that have individuals that seem to have tried what they say …


The Snowball Effect, by Sarah B.

There is a certain amount of “snowball effect” when someone decides to invest in survivalist, TEOTWAWKI, or prepper knowledge.  The initial decision is not a light one, nor is a “set it and forget it” for the type that bounces from one fad to the next.  There are many different types of survivalists.  But all survivalists have one thing in common – a beginning.  Whether it is your views on the ever changing political arenas or natural disasters that have piqued your interest or even steered your choice to the survivalist lifestyle, the initial influx of information can be a …


Letter Re: Grain Mill Comparisons

Hi Jim One thing that our family is fond of is bread – especially whole wheat bread.  I read Pat’s review of the Family Grain Mill from the perspective of someone who’s been-there done-that.  Our grain mill journey began with an attachment to the Champion Juicer – it does grind wheat but the flour is fairly coarse and the resulting bread is not what I had come to expect from the bread that typical (store bought) whole wheat flour yielded. We wanted a mill that offered the user the ability to grind flour by hand if needed.  After a long search we opted …


Pat’s Product Review: Family Grain Mill

I learned to cook out of necessity – I was raised by my grandmother, and she was one of the worse cooks, ever! However, she managed to raise 9 children and myself, but her cooking ability was lacking. So when I was quite young I started experimenting in the kitchen and learned to cook on my own. Of course, over the years, I learned a lot from other folks along the way. And, being from Chicago, and being Sicilian, I learned to cook some great Sicilian style Italian meals. My pasta sauce is next to none. Now, with that said, …


Getting On The Bandwagon — 30 Steps For Mainstream Preppers, by Boreal C.

People who are interested in preparedness seem to love lists.   So, I have compiled a list of 30 steps that may be useful for average families who don’t necessarily have a hideout in the mountains (yet).  This list is by no means all-inclusive and it presumes a basic background in preparedness.  In other words, I hope you have been reading this blog for a long time already!  I am a proud military wife and mother of two grade school students.  I have a master’s degree in chemistry.  We are just an average family trying to get by in uncertain times. …


Do-It-Yourself Rocket Stoves, by E.B.

I live and prep on a tight budget – at least for the time being. I am lucky to have a fireplace in my home, not a woodstove, nor the room for one, but at least a fireplace. It’s better than no fireplace, but rather inefficient for heating or cooking. It would do in a pinch, but a rocket stove would greatly reduce the amount of wood needed to cook a meal. On my budget even $100 is a lot right now and I began looking into building my own rocket stove. The knowledge is out there, and “improved stoves” …


Letter Re: A Flooded Basement and Rusting Canned Foods

Hello Mr. Rawles, Regarding the man who found his canned food rims rusting in his basement. I can recommend OSPHO, which is a liquid which will upon application changes the rust to a more stable compound. I was in the Merchant Marine and we used it on the ships and it works very well. You can get OSPHO through Amazon.com or at a ACE hardware store. It is basically phosphoric acid [suspended in a coating.]   He may also want to invest in a tabletop buffer or wire wheel to quickly remove surface rust before applying the OSPHO which improves the …


Letter Re: A Flooded Basement and Rusting Canned Foods

Greetings Jim, I hope you can help me figure out if much of my preps are imperiled. I had water leaks in my basement a few months ago after major storms overran my roof’s gutters and caused water to seep down into the front half of my basement. So I turned on the dehumidifier I keep in the basement and let it run until the basement floor was dry, then let it run an extra 24 hours just for good measure. Well, there appears to be a bit of residual moisture in the air in my basement, and when I …


Navajo Corn, by Rachael E.

When people stockpile food they like to stick to the basics; beans, rice, and pasta. The one crop I would like to include to this list is corn. The corn I will be talking about is fresh corn and not the canned corn you can buy all year round. Unlike rice and pasta, many people have the ability to grow more corn if they run out. With beans you have limited ways to prepare it. Corn on the other hand can be used in many different ways.  From one ear of corn you can collect enough seeds to grow enough …


Save Yourself, One Week at a Time, by Kelsie A.

Most of the citizenry in the United States has seen at least one of the movie theater box office hits “Armageddon,” “Deep Impact,” or “The Day After Tomorrow.”  Those are just movies, but the human brain not in touch with reality doesn’t entertain the thought of these scenarios actually happening in this day and age.  But one day, one or several of the things displayed in those movies will. Experts say that so many apocalyptic events we preppers expect have a very low chance of happening; but nothing is a 100% certain, anything could happen at any moment.  Experts set …


Letter Re: Halfway Preppers

Dear SurvivalBloggers: What is a halfway prepper? Some people think it is a lazy prepper. Well, if you’re lazy you’re not getting prepped. A halfway prepper is someone who gets things done slowly but isn’t going to let life pass them by. Is prepping worth losing friends (I try to make them see the light), missing date night with the wife, missing out on your favorite sports, living as a recluse? When SHTF things will change but I don’t want to miss those things.We have to continue to live in the world as we prepare for the future. I know …