Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Lessons in Survival: Family Innovation and Industry in the U.S. Great Depression by W.J.

I have always been fascinated with history and might have become a history teacher if there had been any possibility of making substantial money at it.  Growing up in the 1950s and ‘1960s in rural Texas the lessons of the U.S. “Great Depression” were still fresh in the memories of my family, so our frequent family get gatherings produced many stories from those days, some of which were “not so good old days”.  I want to relate some of this story for the benefit of those preparing for possible future, harder times: There was no money.  For a few years …


Letter Re: A Busy LDS Cannery–People are Sounding Anxious

James, In addition to all the other hats I wear I also am the cannery coordinator for my local LDS congregation. Last night was our canning night — though I am usually the only LDS member to show up and the rest are non-member friends of a similar mind set as we have. Last night was a madhouse at the cannery. Panic has already set in amongst those who are following all the news around the world (and not just fixated on the reactors in Japan). My group is normally around a dozen people. There were three other groups of …


Letter Re: Preparedness at Your Workplace

Mr. Rawles, As a regular reader of your blog, I have seen little mentioned about one obvious “bug in” solution that most people overlook, which would be their office or work site. This will not work for everyone but please allow me to provide you with my own experience. We have a small warehouse/office operation of about 2,000 square feet. There are 2 offices, a basic bathroom, and a small room previously used as a lunch room for the employees of the other tenant. These rooms take up about 400 square feet of space from the total 2,000 square feet. …


Preparing for the Inevitable Collapse of Society–The Birth of a Prepper, by D.C.

I’m not a skilled writer but I’d like to share my story. I’m currently 35 yrs old and am located in the upper Midwest. There’s no real threat where I live of flooding, hurricanes, forest fires, or earthquakes. My only major concern is a food crisis brought on by a hyperinflation of the dollar, nuclear EMP or a solar flare catastrophe. I work an average of 50 hours per week at a factory. My pay is meager. However – I don’t waste money like most people do (cell phones, cable/satellite, full coverage car payments, dining out, etc, etc)  and so …


Two Letters Re: Pomona Universal Pectin

Sir: I asked my cousin to respond to the Pomona Universal Pectin article. She is the  production manager and head nutritionist at a commercial jam manufacture. Here is what she had to say: “Pomona Universal Pectin is a low methoxyl pectin.  This means that it will gel without the presence of sugar if a salt (monocalcium phosphate) is added at the critical time.  If the salt is added at the wrong time, the resulting products have an “applesauce” type consistency.  The biggest problem with this type of pectin is that it is inconsistent across different fruit and different degrees of ripeness …


Letter Re: Some Woodstove Experience

Mr. Rawles: I would recommend that your readers get a copy of the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.  Many of the breads in the book use a high-quality, half-inch thick baking stone, much like the types used for pizza.  Also shown is a pizza peel. The book has many recipes using many types of grains to make  peasant loaves, rolls, baguettes, flatbreads and pizzas.    Another suggestion from an outdoor cookbook is to use a large Dutch oven and put small stones or nails in the bottom, then set your baking …


Some Woodstove Experience, by C.V.Z.

Being without electricity in the middle winter is cold. We didn’t have any heat during an ice storm. With that winter in mind, we finally purchased a wood stove for heat and cooking opportunities. As the wife and mother, I had this horrible image of an old black pot bellied stove belching smoke and catching the roof on fire. I could hear the neighbors complaining about the smell and my kids going to school smelling like they had just burned down the house. Images of black walls and ceilings and truck loads of firewood haunted me with every winter wind. …


Letter Re: Lakeside Foods Outlet Store

Mr. Rawles;   My family lives in southeast Minnesota.  We are fortunate to have a Lakeside Foods processing plant and distribution center nerby in Plainview , Minnesota.  Lakeside Foods is a private label food processor.  Its Plainview operation is quite diversified. Their operation at Plainview has an interesting program for people looking to stock-up and save money on vegetables.  It has an outlet store that sells damaged cans of vegetables inexpensively.  These cans range in size from family size to one gallon.   For example, a case of 24 cans of corn, in family sized cans, sells for $6 and …


Letter Re: Pomona Universal Pectin

Mr. Rawles, I recently discovered Pomonas Universal Pectin, for home canning. It stores indefinitely. It’s also very versatile: it makes regular, low-, or no-sugar jams, jellies, fruit spreads, gelatins, freezer jams, etc. (The other pectins I researched have about a 1-year shelf-life. It will work with sugar, artificial sugar, honey, stevia, or fruit juice as a sweetener. It will also gel things that don’t have any natural pectin, to make things like hot pepper jelly. Their web site is PomonaPectin.com. It’s also available on Amazon. I’m not affiliated with them in any way. – Texas Sunflower


Letter Re: Essential Fats and Oils

Hello Mr. Rawles; It was about a year ago I stated reading SurvivalBlog. Over the course of the year, I have noticed in your advice for preparation not to forget oils. This caused me to remember a Biochemistry Class that brought up the subject of essential dietary oils. These Three oils are required in the diet. Like the essential amino acids they are not manufactured by the body and are need in the diet. These oils are Alpha-Linoleic acid (ALA), Linoleic (LA) and Oleic acids. This writing is meant to be more for introductory information not as a detailed paper. …


Five Letters Re: Food Storage Extremes – Avoiding the Expensive Pitfalls

Dear Mr. Rawles: First, thank you for the service and information you provide – it is invaluable. Secondly, I’d like to respond to John L.’s letter regarding prepping in an urban/suburban location. Despite his condescending tone that immediately set my teeth on edge, I read the piece hoping to learn from it. Sadly, I only learned that John L.’s ideas of preparation do not coincide with mine. At first glance, I’m quite sure that John L would look at me and my situation and right me off as clueless and deluded. I recently lost everything I owned – my house, …


Acorn Pancakes, by Michelle

Everyone likes to talk about gardening and how it will greatly benefit not only your food bill, but also your health with fresh food. That’s great and all, and yes I do garden, but lets face it – a garden is a lot of work. Sure there are ways to make it less work, but in a time and effort spent to food acquired ratio: the scale is heavily tipped to the work spent side. That is only one of the reasons I have been putting my efforts into learning wild edibles: A garden that grows itself, and all I …


Three Letters Re: Food Storage Extremes – Avoiding the Expensive Pitfalls

Jim, Although John L.’s article brings up a lot of interesting points, I think his definition of only two archetypes of persons, the clueless yuppie and the deluded urban survivalist is a little over the top.  I truly hope he was using hyperbole to make a point.  The truth at least from my perspective is that there are a lot of prepared persons that don’t fit either of his stereotypes.  Perhaps it’s because I live in a rural community where most of my neighbors could go weeks to months without a trip for groceries if the need arose.  That just …


Food Storage Extremes – Avoiding the Expensive Pitfalls, by John L.

There are two extremes that you should avoid: 1. The Clueless Yuppie – The Yuppie typically has one jar of olives and half a case of Diet Pepsi in his refrigerator on average,e at all times. He has no Cash/Silver/Gold in the house, relies entirely on credit/debit cards, eats out all the time, and does not know how to cook. He would face instant starvation in normal times if he could not rely on restaurants or if the power went out and he could not use his cards. If he has a medical condition that requires prescription medications, he refills …


Food Storage Options for Vegetarians and Vegans, by Amy B.

As I have started my basic food stash, I have noticed that many plans do not have any options for vegetarians or vegans. I have been vegetarian for over 23 years, and while, in a true long-term emergency I would have to eat meat, it would require me to start slow, as to not make myself ill. It’s pretty difficult to go from eating no animal products to eating meat overnight. My body would need time to get used to it and develop the enzymes I have lost over the years to digest the meat protein well. With this in …