Category: Food Storage & Cooking

Letter Re: Some Steel Canning Possibilities

Mr. Editor: I read SurvivalBlog about once a week and thought you might enjoy this. Someone commented on using their home canning machine for items other than food. I can a lot of different things up to the size of a spaghetti can. Above that takes a number #10 canner and I haven’t found one reasonably priced. If I have to I go down to a store and buy some new/never used paint cans and go that route. Spare parts for firearms are heavily greased (sometimes placed in vacuum packed plastic, depending on size and function of items). Radio parts, …


Letter Re: Show Caution When Dispensing Charity

Jim– Some years ago, we enjoyed a power outage when we were living near Tacoma, Washington. It occurred on Thanksgiving day, so everybody’s turkeys were slowly cooling in their ovens. Our next door neighbor, knowing we were into preparedness, called over (land line phones were okay) asking to borrow our Coleman stove so they could heat up water for coffee. I sent one of my girls over with the stove. After about 15 minutes, the neighbors called again asking for help in lighting the stove. It was an old stove and I was embarrassed that it might have given up …


Letter Re: Recovering Salt from Hickory Chips

Mr. Rawles: Your suspicion was correct. Boiling hickory chips will not provide quantities of salt sufficient to be detected by human taste senses. It is not feasible to use this method as a means of acquiring salt for consumption. Hickory chips are used in the curing process for pork and other meats only when they are heated to the extent that they start to emit smoke. Normally the chips are wetted to prevent them from rapidly burning. The benefits of the process are as follows: 1) The primary benefit of the smoking process is that it coats the meat (most …


Letter Re: Source for Bulk Grains and Legumes in Southern California

Dear Jim, I live in the Los Angeles area. I have been searching for the best place to purchase several hundred pounds of grains and legumes. I have read your course and all the SurvivalBlog article (I think). I have searched for a local place where I can pick up the product in person. The local Costco has all the White Rice and Pinto beans I need. However, I am at a loss to find a place to purchase Hard Red Wheat, Black Beans, Kidney Beans, Lentils, etc. I have found several businesses on line, including the SurvivalBlog advertisers, but …


The Demise of the US Dollar–The Handwriting is on the Wall

The major news outlets have finally started shouting about the collapsing value of the dollar and the bull market in precious metals. (Looking at the charts, $820 per ounce seems to be the new floor for spot gold.) Just as I predicted, it was a move by China that precipitated the latest drop in the dollar. Thanks, BTW, to the five readers that all sent that link. I should mention that several SurvivalBlog readers mentioned that article. Reader Mike the Blacksmith noted: “The remarks by Cheng on world currency status is the most important point in this article.” The currency …


Letter Re: Living Off The Land

Mr. Rawles, My Survival Group was having a discussion the other night, and we got to talking about “What if / Worst case” stuff. One of the situations involved the old “Lost in the wilderness with nothing but your knife and your lighter”. (you do carry a pocket knife and a lighter with you, right?) That got us to thinking…what would you eat? Most of us tended to think of ways to snare small game, but then we got to talking about wild plants. Before long, it became clear that not only is foraging for wild plant potentially more efficient …


Letter Re: Nutritional Supplements and Preparedness

Jim, There is one thing that I think that would be very helpful to also stock up for WTSHTF, that would be supplements there are several out there and other products just for general health like protein powers / Met rex formulas and so on. I have some experience with these things from the Army – to helping my father fight cancer. Most of these added to a meal would help your body with many things like extra calories, to repairing muscle, blood pressure, vision, heart, to just good general heath. I really do not know of a shelf life …


Letter Re: Wheat Price Inflation and The Importance of Buying in Bulk Locally

Hi Jim: Last year I bought some wheat from Walton Feed: about $8 for a 50 lb. bag. Called then yesterday: $15.50 for the same 50 lb. bag: But inflation is running at only 4% right? Luckily I found an organic grower of wheat an hour away who will sell for $800/ton and avoid the $500+ shipping fee. Not many wheat growers in Massachusetts. It pays to shop locally. – John


Letter Re: Calculating Bulk Storage Food Quantities

Shalom Jim: I was visiting Geri Guidetti’s Ark Institute web site and she has posted on there that for just one adult male the following is the minimum food storage requirements for one year: 1.) 350 lbs. of wheat (actually for a family of four it is close to 1,200 pounds of wheat alone) 2.) 155 lbs. of various grains 3.) 55 lbs. of beans, etc. My question for you is do you agree with these numbers? And are you storing quantities like this or do you use a different system? I am getting ready to make some large purchases …


Letter Re: Rolled Oats Versus Steel Cut Oats for Storage

Dear Sir, I love your blog and read it every day. I have a background in chemistry. I believe that the fat content, per unit weight, of rolled oats is essentially the same as cut oats. What is different is the density. I agree with the point that the cut oats store more densely. More importantly, the access of oxygen to the oil/fat is faster in the (thinner) rolled grains relative to cut, and faster in cut oats relative to whole oats. I would bet that the rolled oats will go rancid faster in a warm climate. Other than that, …


Two Letters Re: Rolled Oats Versus Steel Cut Oats for Storage

Mr. Rawles; Regarding the steel cut versus rolled oats discussion, I too love the taste of steel cut oats. The easy, low energy way to prepare them is on the McCann’s steel Cut Irish Oatmeal (box, not the can). It is: Boil 4 cups of water. Add 1 cup oatmeal. Stir, cover and leave overnight. The next morning cook over low 9-12 minutes. This is very easy. Using a microwave to re-heat the oatmeal in the morning is even faster. Just my $0.02 worth. Love your site, – Steve in California   Hello Mr. Rawles, I was surprised and disappointed …


Letter Re: Eating The Food That You Store

Mr Rawles, First off, let me start by saying, I loved “Patriots” Kudos to you. The thing I’m writing to you about is an idea I came up with after reading one or the suggestions for single survivalists using # 10 cans of foodstuffs in their preps. The reduction of waste is a serious subject. I think it would be a good idea for all of the folks that use these food stores, to invest a bit of their survival funds on a vacuum sealer system, and kitchen scale. The cans could then be opened, divided into individual portions, [labelled] …


Letter Re: Eating The Food That You Store

Sir: I currently store many foods which I routinely eat, none of which has the long shelf life of many of the ‘survival staples’. I’m ready and willing to buy several thousand dollars’ worth of hard wheat and other canned supplies, but I have one problem: I don’t know if I will actually eat them! Is there anyone out there that has a sampler pack, that allows one to try various offerings to make sure that we and our families will eat those staples? Thanks for all your hard work in helping us prepare! Warm Regards, – Rich S. JWR …


Letter Re: Rolled Oats Versus Steel Cut Oats for Storage

Mr. Rawles; Here is another thing that readers should be aware of: steel-cut oats require substantially more cooking than the more processed varieties. I buy #10 cans of steel-cut from Honeyville Grain, mostly because I like the taste of this product. Compared to “just add boiling water” instant oats, steel cut is much slower to cook, requiring about 20 minutes of boiling to become sufficiently soft. As a preparedness food, it requires too much fuel and preparation time to be a first-line food of choice. On the other hand, a pressure cooker could probably make short work of preparing any …


Letter Re: Recommendations for a Storage Food Vendor in Canada?

Hi Jim, I live near Ottawa, [Canada] and have no idea where to buy wheat, whole corn, etc. The only place I can think of would be the feed and seed store, but don’t know about whether these are human consumption quality. I went to a huge local farm and asked them, and they said “I’m not sure where to buy it…” Thanks, – Chris R. JWR Replies: I have heard positive reports about FC Surplus, a storage food vendor in Ontario, Canada. At last report, they carried Mountain House freeze dried foods, the Canadian “Freddy Chef” MREs, and a …