Category: Frugal Living

The Art of Meal Stretching – Part 1, by Nurse Michele

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Meal stretching is the learned art of taking simple, low-cost ingredients and turning them into not just one appealing meal for your family, but with some careful planning and a few adjustments, several meals to meet your family’s needs. This is a subject I expect that most of us, at least SurvivalBlog readers, have already acquired a fair bit of knowledge. Sometimes it’s easy to assume then, that the ability to make one meal become three is all but ubiquitous. But recently something happened, making me re-think my assumption that folks at large are familiar with ways to help keep …


Home Water Storage on a Budget, by KC Seven

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There is really no reason why one can’t store a considerable amount of water. If you have access to food grade containers and some potable water from the tap or better, a modest water filter, then one can store copious amounts of water. It just takes a little time. We are retired and living that “fixed income” lifestyle. Fortunately, we learned to prepare at a fairly early age and spent a little time to store important tools and supplies when we could afford to do so. Then, later in our careers, we found ourselves acquiring a broader array of tools …


Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 3, by Marica Bernstein

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(Continued from Part 2.) Now, I’d like to address the who, what, when, where, why, and how of building a prepper library of old books. First… WHO? You. A prepper or survivalist who is convinced that your shelter-in-place needs a library of old books preserving Western Culture, but who don’t know how to begin. What? Books serving as ornaments, tools, and friends now, and especially when the lights go out, my term for everything from short- and long-term power outages, to TEOTWAWKI; “hard times” as JWR calls them. What is an “old” book? In this context, old does not necessarily …


Never Waste An Opportunity To Buy Good Stuff Inexpensively!, by Old Bobbert

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When there is an opportunity, we don’t waste it. We preppers are very good at nearly everything we do, once we finally start down the road to project completion and timely success. The few things we do poorly are generally the foundation for our poor public image. Some of these are our poor selections, among the millions of printed pages concerning “being prepared” to live through a disaster. Our most glaring and dramatic procedural mistake is also the main reason non-preppers also fail at an alarmingly high percent of starts. Yes, we still have much in common with our non-prepper …


Letter: Washable Cloth Toilet Wipes

Dear Editor: I have a suggestion, prompted by my reading of the recent two-part SurvivalBlog article titled: “Sew and Grow, Save and Recycle Your Way Into Preparedness“: Why go to all the trouble to cut and sew toilet wipes when you can simply use mass-produced bathroom washcloths? They are already the right size and will clean you up better than smooth cloth will. I already have a large stash of thick washcloths that I bought at a thrift store, along with a case of rubber dishwashing gloves in various sizes. When all the toilet paper is gone, each family member gets …


“Recycle, Repurpose, and Reuse”, by Regan and Hawk

My husband and I fall into the category of people known as “preppers”; we store food, weapons, supplies, and money for when it will be needed in the not too distant future. We track our stores and make sure that we won’t be caught short on many different things. However, one thing both of us have found is that all this prepping is not really enough. What do you do when something breaks or wears out and the stores are closed or it just can’t be found? What happens when you need something out of the norm for a project? …


How to Use Old Cooking Oil: The Floating Wick

A few months ago, one of my consulting clients mentioned that she had over-stocked her supply of vegetable oil. She had also neglected to store it in her freezer, to extend its storage life. The result after four years was 10 quarts of corn oil and two quarts of olive oil that had gone rancid. She asked if there was anything she could do with the oil. (She bemoaned the fact that that olive oil was particularly expensive.) My reply: Buy some floating wicks, and burn up that oil as a source of light and heat, during power failures. Floating …


Energy, Efficiency, and Frugality, by Redoubting Thomas

There are many considerations when worrying about a “grid down” situation. Here are some thoughts worth considering: Frugality “Black Friday” is coming shortly, so you might want to make a wish list and maybe even store it in the “saved for later” section of your Amazon shopping cart; you will get a notification for price changes. Sometimes an item will drop 30% for a sale or no known reason. Do the same with your “prepper wish list” but also have a budget and price point in mind. If things fall apart soon, this might be a last chance to stock …


Low Budget Knife Selection for a Novice, by S.G.

I. The World of Knives On the top of all new “prepper” lists is a good survival knife. The knife is a low-tech, multipurpose tool that has served humankind since before the dawn of civilization. To these early men, the side of a chipped flint could butcher an animal carcass for food and clothing. To the modern man, however, there is a dizzying array of choices when it comes to knife selection. This article documents my ongoing journey of knife selection, with my own frugal, low budget perspective. Now, when talking “low budget”, I do not mean cheap. When I …


Prepping On A Budget, by VRP

I once worked with a woman who only gave her dogs bottled water to drink. When asked if she could drive a vehicle with a manual transmission, she replied, “Oh no! I’d rather walk!” Seriously? There was no pioneer spirit there! In post SHTF, people like this may find it difficult surviving, much less finding bottled water for their dog. Preparing for emergencies or post SHTF can be overwhelming and expensive, but there are many ways to prep on a budget. Two years ago when a derecho (Editors note: a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm) came through our area, the …


Little Things WILL Become Big Things, and Food Will Be Everything!, by L.T.

When everything falls apart there are plenty of plans for “bugging out”, “bugging in”, and so forth. Whatever path you choose, things won’t return to normal soon and quite possibly never. Much has been written on beans, band aids, and bullets, but there will also be a huge demand for little things that we take for granted. Of course, there will be an even bigger demand for fresh food. Decent food is a major issue; you can’t live forever on storage foods, and most people can’t live forever in the woods. The following is information from our experiences to help …


The Skills of Spotting, Scrounging, and Scavenging

The best prepping will only take you so far. Just like when folks go on a vacation, things are forgotten, not anticipated, or broken. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, having a plan and stocking is great, but there needs to more after that, as well. Think about: What if you’re mugged or carjacked for your BOB and equipment? What if you’re away from home when it hits the fan? Although you thought you had everything, what things escaped your prep lists? Your last spare broke, now what? A TEOTWAWKI situation will likely last years, if not decades or longer. Your thoughts …


Learning Prepper and Barter Skills at Your Local Dump, by N.J.

Everyone these days is trying to budget and spend their hard earned money wisely. One place I found that I was able to spend a very limited amount or get items for free is at the local dump. It is a great place to accumulate items you could use in a SHTF situation. This may relate only to individuals living in suburban or city areas. There may be one in your county; it is important to find out if there is. If you have not been to your local recycle center or dump, you owe it to yourself to check …


The Poorboy Version: Prepping When You’re on a Tight Budget, By N.S.

Awhile back my husband and I happened to both lose our jobs within a two-week period. (I was doing in-home care and the client decided to enter a Home. Meanwhile, the factory where my husband worked went bankrupt and closed its doors.) Due to some peculiarities of our situation (my work being part-time and his factory neglecting the paperwork) neither of us could get unemployment. So we had literally zero income for around six months of job search. We sold some things, the truck got repo’ed, etc… During this time we learned a lot about frugality, what true luxury is, …


Using Auctions, Goodwill and Second Hand Stores to Stockpile Prepping Supplies at Bargain Prices, by Chris M.

I was unexpectedly laid off two years ago.  Although I eventually landed another position after months of searching, losing my job was perhaps the most humbling and painful experience I’ve been through in recent years.   Truth be told, I was also bitter.  The frustrations of hunting for a new job in a tough market, starting up a sideline family business and wondering where in the world my family of six will end up really began to take their toll.  I sorely needed a distraction and an excuse get out of the house! On a whim, I started going to auctions. …