Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Letter Re: Experience Canning and Dehydrating Tomatoes

Dear Captain Rawles:  Each year we dehydrate and can a lot of tomatoes.  In past years we used a “Squeezo” device to separate the skin and seeds from the pulp.   A better way is to slice each tomato into about 8 slices, from top to bottom.  Then (over a sink) with one’s fingers strip out the seed pulp and seeds.  This also removes the water surrounding the seeds and pulp.  Put the slices into a blender.  Liquefy for a couple of minutes.  Pour the homogenized tomato into the stockpot to heat for canning. The homogenized skin in nutritious.  By removing the …


Back to Prepping, by J.D.F.

We are never completely prepared, we either are unprepared, or prepared to some degree. So I want to review the past year and see what or how far I’ve come. For those new to the game, they can find it a bit overwhelming, and do little to nothing to prepare. Then there are those that are part time preppers and those that are full time preppers. I fall into the former, but a meeting with some friends 8 months ago re-ignited the drive it takes to prepare. So my one-year odyssey in review. First order of business is get your …


Encouragement for the Prepping Wives of Non-Prepping Husbands, by Sharon in the Midwest

I’m writing this article to encourage you, if you’re in a similar situation as I am.  I may be writing it also, to encourage myself.  I want to say that it is possible to prepare for emergencies to some extent, even if you aren’t exactly doing it as a team.  I will share some of my story in order to give you some ideas. I am a happily-married woman living with a wonderful husband and my four children in a Midwestern state, in a town of less than 5000.  I have been increasingly concerned about an economic collapse, and have …


Letter Re: Getting The Most Out of Ethnic Markets

JWR, I just thought I’d pass the word on some shopping options people might not think about too often. My wife is originally from Vietnam and we often go to an asian market for food supplies. I assume the following is true for other non-western stores, but you might want to check out what is within driving distance. These places are a preppers oasis. There are a few major advantages to shop at these stores. Please note I am talking about small stores, not a place like the asian mega-marts in California. First is money. Not just that they are …


Buying Inexpensive Groceries in Small Towns, by Sarah in Texas

The “extreme couponing” movement is fascinating. In larger communities than mine, people can combine coupons, sales, and store policies (like double- or triple-coupon days) to walk out with free or dirt-cheap groceries, hygiene items, and other goodies. When you’re trying to build a survival stockpile, every dollar matters; it’s great to get a years’ worth of toothbrushes for the entire family for just a few dollars, for example, and to stock up on canned vegetables for twenty cents apiece. However, I live in a small town. This rural part of Texas includes a Wal-Mart Supercenter, a local grocery store, and …


Letter Re: Prepare to Share

I have been reading your articles for quite a while now and I have a comment on the article Prepare To Share. This has been a difficult subject to deal with. I have been prepping for 2 1/2 years. At times my wife thinks I’m going a little over board. Last winter when we had such mild weather ( I work on heaters) we lived off the food I had stored due to the lack of work and income. This was eye opening and it has set my resolve to store more for the coming problems while I have work …


Preparedness Essentials, by F.M.H.

I found myself in a rather uncomfortable and vulnerable position. Hurricane Frederic hit Mobile, Alabama in September 1979. I thought it was going to be exciting. In fact several friends of mine had a party the night before Frederic made landfall. There was no preparation made on my part for this hurricane. I had no anxiety and could have cared less. At the time I didn’t even have a gun. I had barely a quarter of a tank of gas in my car. I did not have a battery operated radio or a flashlight. There was very little non-perishable food …


Food Storage on a Budget, by N.T.M. in Nevada

When it comes to food storage, people that I have talked with have almost always made the comment that they can barely afford to feed their family now much less afford to have food storage.  I am currently working with a few people and teaching them how to feed their family and still put food up for TEOTWAWKI.  There are three things that I tell people to always do, (1) gardening, (2) couponing, and (3) food co-ops. (1) Gardening.  When TSHTF, you don’t want to be changing the way that your family eats because then you could be facing worse …


The Adventures and Misadventures of the Newbie Texas Prepper, by Patty H.

Well I must say after prayer and a heart to heart with the Almighty and many undisputable news about our economy I have felt the need to start prepping.  Oh and where to start? Wow was I ever overwhelmed at the prospect of starting prepping for an economic collapse or other unfortunate event. First, telling the hubby. I got laughed at. Yes, I was down. But I found SurvivalBlog.com, where I got started with baby steps. So off to the grocery store I went. I started a little bit at a time, buying rice and canned items on sale.  Then …


Letter Re: A Low Cost Source for Fresnel Lenses

Jim: By coincidence, I just opened Saturday’s post to find the link to the Fresnel lens YouTube video.  What are the odds? On Friday I went yard sale shopping.  (A rare day of freedom for me since I normally work that day.  We are down for two weeks for factory work and in preparation of the new potato crop.)  At this sale was the Fresnel lens from a scrapped out projection television set on the front lawn. It was leaning up and in the open.  I told the lady that is not a good idea an explained to her the …


Now Entering The Red Zone, by Don H. in Tennessee

We are now entering what I call the Red Zone. Society as we know it is like a high performance race car. It  has many moving parts and some of them are very delicate. Right now that race car is in the red. The RPMs are being pushed to their max and it’s just a matter of time before something has to give or break. The greedy are the ones that are pushing the pedal and they show no signs of slowing down. The incident that just happened in Greece is like the check engine light coming on. Instead of …


Letter Re: Beginning and Maintaining Family Survival Stores

Mr. Rawles, In our family I’m responsible for the obtaining and tracking of the beans, seeds, band aid , and child-schooling portion of our preparation. My husband is responsible for obtaining the bullets, fuel, agriculture and security supplies and all other aspects of our preparedness and training everyone how to use them, however I’m responsible for inventorying and usage tracking all of these supplies also. As a former analytical CPA and auditor-before I became a wife and mother, I fully believe that accurate regular inventory of your supplies is the life and death of your survival, just as it is …


L.K.O.’s Product Review: Rainy Day Root Cellars

Rainy Day Root Cellars in Castle Rock, Colorado offers a variety of sizes of root and combination storage cellars using pre-cast concrete components. I had the chance to inspect one of their installed cellars, and I was quite impressed. Their rugged designs are optimized for safe food and water storage, self-sufficiency, security and other ‘backyard’ or remote site access. In addition to food and water storage, these shelters provide excellent climate-controlled safe-keeping for important papers and sensitive files, firearms, ammunition, batteries, emergency medical supplies, and much more. Standard sizes range from 8? x 8? Single Room to 8? x 24? …


TEOTWAWKI is Now — Prepping Drama Queen Style, by Laura H.

As a theater teacher and director I am primed for drama.  I hunger for it.  But what to do while waiting for the aliens to land, the dollar to collapse, the bombs to start flying, or Yellowstone to have its say?  I have always told my actors, don’t rehearse it, do it.  After all, preparation is important, but performing is better.  Act as if you have an audience now and do it the way you will perform it.   I am new to this “prepping” phenomenon.  It can be an overwhelming, and for some of my friends, an inexplicable thing.  So …


Letter Re: Storage Life of Brown Rice

Hello, First, thank you for all that you do. You have made a huge positive impact on a lot of people in my life. Second, I have been doing some pretty careful observation of our long term brown rice supplies. This started with me doing quite a bit of reading in books and on the internet about long term storage of brown rice. Most sources say that brown rice starts to go rancid around 6 months. I was disapointed with this number and so I decided to test it out for myself. In February of 2010, I put brown basmati rice into two food grade five gallon buckets lined with …