Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Letter Re: Canning Food in a Grid-Down World

Dear JWR, Regarding the article Canning Food in a Grid-Down World, by Christine C., I have a question for your readers. I have only pressure canned over bottled gas or electric heat. Is it possible to pressure can over wood heat? I have cooked over wood outdoors. My dad used to cook Christmas ham on a Buck stove in the family room.  I have never had a wood cook stove. Or, am I going to have to stock pile bottled gas for my camp stove? I want to thank Christine for the information about the gasket-less canner brand. I need …


Canning Food in a Grid-Down World, by Christine C.

We all know how possible a grid down scenario is.  While we have been stuffing our pantries and freezers with food to sustain us, what happens when there is no electricity to run that freezer?  If it is winter time in a northern place then it would be fine and we could use Mother Nature.  But what if you live in a southern area where the temperature does not remain below freezing? One solution would be to home-can your food. Also home canning is a very inexpensive and frugal way to add to your food stores.  Not to mention you …


Letter Re: Food Storage in Two Liter Bottles

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have found storing food in 2-Litre soda bottles (an idea I first read about on SurvivalBlog) a convenient and cost effective element of my long-term food storage plan. I have used both oxygen absorbers and dry-ice in the bottles and have found if packed properly the oxygen absorbers create a vacuum pack, shrinking the bottle down around the food; and using dry-ice, if a bit is left in the bottle before sealing, creates positive pressure, the condition the bottle is designed for.  Assuming that the dry-ice method is used properly and there is no risk of …


How the Average American Can Prepare for the Coming Collapse, by R.M.

It is very difficult for the average middle class American to prepare for the coming collapse; those that recognize the need still see it as maybe too late to do anything or there is too much to buy and prepare to be completely prepared.  Unless you are independently wealthy, that may be true, it is nearly impossible to be 100% completely prepared for all eventualities. The first thing you need to do is to prepare your soul and your family, they have to understand and be on board.  Your family and yourself must first get right with God if you …


Profitable Homesteading: How to Thrive in a TEOTWAWKI World, by Dusty

The idea of homesteading is not a new one.  As a species, we humans have mastered the art of living off the land better than any other species, learning along the way to capture fire, clothe ourselves and even preserve food that we grew to later nourish us. We weren’t content to stop there though.  Mankind “evolved” to reassemble natural materials into unnatural materials such as plastic and combine countless ingredients produced or grown by man into processed foods such as Twinkies, which we figured we might as well wrap in plastic.  Although the modern age has brought many possibilities, …


Six Daughters in Camouflage: A Father’s Legacy by Michelle S.

From all appearances we are a typical family in our white trash, low rent neighborhood in the suburbs. Normal for our family of 9 has been living the last twenty-odd years on much more love than money. Scraping by, scrounging, bartering, repairing and repurposing things constantly in order to keep the home fires burning, gas in the tank, peanut butter and jelly on the table. Good times were relishing the pure gold of fat laughing babies, silly kids, and slow paced days when everyone was reasonably content at the same time. What even our blatant survivalist solar panel/gun collecting/FedEx-bringing-cases-of- MREs- …


Two Letters Re: Lessons From an Ice Storm

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have been a daily visitor to your site for about three years now. I want to drop you a line regarding our experience in the big Pacific Northwest ice storm–wit effects still being felt. I live with my wife in a suburb of Tacoma, part way between the city proper and the farm country. The television and Internet news sites all warned of a “massive” and “record breaking” storm that would move into our area this past Monday. We are on PSE power and have our own water well. We consider ourselves pretty well prepared (we …


You May Not Get a Second Chance to Prepare, by Larry E.

I have been guilty for years of talking about preparing verses actually putting forth the effort and taking the necessary steps to prepare for my family.  I began my prep life back pre-2000 Y-2K bug times.  I began to read about the potential time bomb that was ticking as it pertained to the technology crash back in 1995.  I had subscribed to a homesteaders magazine called Countryside (highly recommended) and began to study what impending danger that our nation and world was faced with.  As did many, I did not want to face the facts that this could actually happen …


Alternative Foods in Famines, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

Several future scenarios include or produce famine on a very large scale. The goal of a famine feeding strategy is to get people from the beginning of the famine to the end alive and not permanently damaged. In extreme circumstances this may call for unusual measures… Preparing for famine. We can be reasonably confident that any future crisis will include food scarcity. From EMP to pandemic, from war to drought, food is a critical resource. (The projected death rate from an EMP, including death from a variety of causes including famine, is 9 out of 10 Americans!) The sooner we …


Five Things Every American Should Do But Won’t by Dennis E.

We’ve all seen him on the news: The guy who is buying sheets of plywood, beer, potato chips and other survival essentials as the approaching hurricane can be seen over his shoulder in the distance. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans aren’t much better when it comes to being prepared for emergencies. However, recent disasters have proven that the sheer magnitude of an event can overwhelm relief efforts, coupled with cutbacks in personnel, budgets and equipment, place the onus squarely on our shoulders. Many citizens don’t see the need for preparedness, and that’s their prerogative, however a relatively small investment now …


Letter Re: Holly as a Substitute Caffeine Source

James, Many people in North America wonder how they would survive in a world without caffeine [since coffee and cocoa are both imported].  An alternative to coffee could be Yaupon holly tea.  The Yaupon holly is used as a tea by various Indian tribes, and it has been studied as a commercial herbal tea drink. According to my local colonial history book, colonists also raised Yaupon tea leaves for trade. It is related to yerba mate, a holly used to make a caffeinated tea in South America.   The Wikipedia article is rather confused on this point, but it is believed …


Getting Prepared For a Disaster on a Tight Budget, by L.G.W.

In a perfect world, if something went wrong, my family and I would get in our off-road vehicle and travel to my fully stocked large retreat cabin, that sits on a thousand acres of farm land, complete with it’s own water source, (a spring fed creek and stocked lake), its own vegetable garden,  surrounded by plentiful game and its own moat. Our six-bedroom cabin, with it’s own array of photovoltaic (PV) panels, charge controller, and battery system, along with our solar hot water system, and fireplace, and it’s stocked pantry with several years worth of food and ammunition- would be …


Letter Re: Budget Prepping in the Suburbs

JWR: Kevin’s article on budget prepping touched me to the core. We all began the journey, at the begriming, with all the problems/challenges of those young or older and the common denominator of the demands of family/job/time/location and the most important limiting factor: fiscal resources.   Please bear with me while I lay the groundwork for this subject, throughout my prepping learning curve of about 55 years which started when I was about five years old,  began with my parents trying to spoon feed me information as a young child, with their own prepping experience, which they never thought of themselves as being …


Budget Prepping in the Suburbs, by Kevin from Tennessee

Even though the idea of prepping “on a budget” or “in urban or suburban areas” may be common themes, it seems (to me, at least) that more often than not, the lovely people that contribute their knowledge, advice, and expertise to the topic of prepping seem to, somehow, have more capability than most when it comes to logistically and financially supporting these ventures. They may have lived on a farm for most of their life, they possibly inherited land from a relative, they may be able to work from home and have time to spare, they may be older and …


Letter Re: BPA in Steel Canned Food Linings

Cpt. Rawles, A recent article was cause for concern and may be of interest to many of your readers: Soaring BPA Levels Found in People Who Eat Canned Foods.  I personally will be minimizing canned goods from the store and focusing on glass and dehydration for my own stockpile.  I have been told a very small list of companies have began to ship in BPA free cans, but I am not aware of who is on that list yet. They claim the same thin plastic lining is used for almost all canned foods and leaches BPA, if true this is …