Notes for Tuesday – October 07, 2014

Seed for Security is offering a great sale. Their Spring Security Collection is now 25% off. This collection includes five varieties of open pollinated, non GMO, cool hardy vegetables– a total of 2,100 seeds. This collection comes in a vapor proof pouch with a desiccant and planting instructions. The offer is for a limited time.

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Ready Made Resources only has about 50 Positive Pressure protective gas mask hoods left, and their supplier has no more. If you have a beard, wear glasses, or if you have to sleep while wearing a mask, then this is the unit for you.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 55 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hardcase to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel which can be assembled in less then 1 minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouseis providing 30 DMPS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448.95) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  7. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.
  12. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate– a $325 retail value,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  10. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.
  9. Montie Gearis donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack. (a $379 value).

Round 55 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Backup Electric Power Design Considerations, by Duliskov – Part 1

This article covers a complex area, and to keep myself focused I will break it into three sections. In the following I would like to share what I learned while researching and building an emergency power station. The content below assumes that the reader understands the basics of electricity (AC and DC), batteries, and solar power. I have no affiliation with any of the sellers of products I provided links to; the links are for your convenience only. I have no engineering degree and reserve the right to be completely wrong. However, I did build everything that I am writing about, and it works. It is possible to build the systems in many different alternative ways. My approach may not be the optimal one, but this should give you ideas.

General Advice

Building a flexible backup power station is an expensive proposition, and you would want to understand your power consumption and true needs, how the system is sized and configured, how to optimize its use, and how to build a low-maintenance system. You would benefit from building it yourself, because this will allow easy re-configuration, extension, and troubleshooting. Also, in the process of acquiring equipment, materials, and skills, you will establish valuable relationships with suppliers and professionals that could benefit your other projects as well.

You will be working with strong DC currents and high voltage AC, so be very careful and thoughtful how you approach your work. Plan ahead each step. If possible, have someone with you who can give you a hand or call help if you get yourself in trouble.

The most important decision you will have to make is what type of disruption you are planning for. It is unlikely that electronics in chargers and inverters will survive an EMP event, so prepping for that with any substantial power generating capability is basically out of question for an average person. You may wish to live off-grid, and then you need a self-sustaining system with renewable energy source. If you prepare for short duration outages, at most for a few weeks, you can make compromises and rely on a single source of energy to replenish your batteries or you may not even need a battery bank and just store enough fuel for a good quality generator. You may want to use the system only in an event or you may want to reduce your electrical bill by running your alternative energy producing equipment constantly. The easiest way to see how much energy you are currently using is to lookup your average daily consumption over a period of one year to account for AC and heating needs. I can assure you, you will not be able to generate that much energy on your own consistently! You will have to make choices. Also, do not count on the system paying for itself; emergency power backup is an insurance policy. You will be disappointed at the rate it can save you money. It may not be much, and it can be protracted over a long period of time. All those considerations are tough ones. If you have a set budget, whatever you spend on electric backup, you would not be spending on food, security, or other necessities. Make sure you have your priorities set right. You may also want to think about mobility, covering your roof with solar panels, or erecting a huge wind turbine, which will not help you if you have to abandon your compound.

Subsequently, you need to decide how much power you wish to use (power your entire house, just a fridge, or just your cell phone/radio) and what type of power (115 Volts, 240 Volts, multiple phases, or other). I do not think that very powerful generators are truly necessary unless you know for sure you will use their full power all the time. They are heavy, noisy, fuel hungry and costly. You can always add a second generator as needed, especially if they are of variety that can synch together. You can easily plot power consumption using computerized meters, that will allow you to plan for peak power (driving your inverter decision) and how much, on average, each appliance uses (determining useful capacity of battery bank).

Figure 1. Example of energy consumption of my Haier 1.5cft HLP23E Compact Pulsator Washer on Cycle 04 Quick Wash program. You could see that it only used 46 Watt/Hours, but the peak wattage was over 800 Watts. I also measured its water consumption (17 gallons on High, 9 gallons on Medium, and 5 gallons on Extra Low per each rinsing cycle).

There are on-line calculators as well, but best practice is to measure your own appliances you are actually planning to use.

The next question is how automated you want your system to be. There are transfer switches that will instantaneously engage a battery bank, in case utility power is gone, and in the meantime start your generator. When it stabilizes, the switch will transfer the load to the generator and start charging the batteries, automatically. This will ensure unattended, instantaneous failover. Alternatively, if you protect your sensitive equipment individually with an UPS, then you can get away with a manual transfer switch, because the beeping of the UPS will wake you up at night and give you at least 10-15 minutes to switch your loads to the battery bank and subsequently to a generator in the morning, or you can let your solar panels take over as the sun rises. A transfer switch is a must to protect utility workers who might be working on the lines. A transfer switch ensures that your generator cannot be fed back into the line, thereby hurting anyone. Please, never ever plug the generator/inverter into your home electrical outlets, bypassing a transfer switch. This is very dangerous. Even if you know what you are doing, you may not be around when someone else makes a mistake, costing a life. Manual transfer switches are relatively cheap. The outside power inlet box will let you connect your split phase generator to feed your critical loads safely with a single, properly-rated cable. Lastly, the budget will restrict what you can do. I suggest going slow on a tight budget but buying quality parts and tools. Start with the component you will see a return on immediately. For example, if you plan to lower your electric bill, start with solar panels, wind turbine, or hydro-power and an inverter, self-synchronizing to the grid. If you are primarily concerned about functional sump pumps and refrigerator, start with a battery bank and inverter that has a built-in transfer switch, and then add the ability to generate power later. If you want to survive a short outage but don’t have the skill to build a complex electric system, just buy a good inverter generator and focus on storing fuel and a transfer switch. Don’t forget to rotate gasoline and stabilize it. Propane can be stored indefinitely, and there are tri-fuel generators that will run on any fuel. Never store flammable fuel in the garage or basement; always store it in an outside shed, away from your living quarters.

If you are just planning to build a retreat location, consider adding DC wiring in addition to AC wiring. This will afford flexibility to run your DC appliances without any intermediate conversion of energy.

Not all energy must be centralized. For example, having small, motion-activated, battery-powered lights throughout your house or headlamps will save you from running wires in each room. Battery-powered tools will allow you to work as long as you have the ability to recharge them. Make sure you have enough chargers to charge all your batteries simultaneously, if you go that route, because it makes little sense to run a generator for eight hours just to charge several sets of AA batteries. Also, make sure your chargers like the quality of the power from your generator. (I have more on this later.)

Before you invest in alternative energy, check the availability of U.S. Department of Energy incentives and other local programs that may help offset the cost.

Electric Energy Generation

The four basic forms of electrical energy generation are solar, wind, hydro, and thermal (internal combustion, not geothermal, which is not covered here). All of them utilize at least one transformation of energy, such as chemical into thermal, thermal into mechanical, and then mechanical into electric energy. Solar converts photon energy directly into electrical power. There is loss of energy starting with capturing the initial energy fully, then subsequently at each transformation, and lastly in the electrical wires connecting the source to the load. If the energy is stored and retrieved later, there is an additional loss. The electrical power is typically converted in the end into mechanical motion, light, and heat also with less than 100% efficiency. As you can imagine 95% of the wind power hitting the turbine or solar energy may be lost in the process.

From the perspective of preparedness, solar and hydro generation are the most “concealable”, while wind turbines are visible landmarks and gas/propane/diesel generators attract attention with noise.

Wind, solar, and hydro are renewable but are not available 24/7. Generators can run day and night, as long there is fuel. If you chose to use a gas-powered generator, make sure you store ethanol-free gas. Find stations selling it using “Pure Gas” in your iPhone or Android app, and then add a gas stabilizer. Store fuel away from house and rotate it at least annually. Note that the fuel components differ in the summer and winter versions of the same grade of fuel. I don’t know which is better from a long-term storage perspective, but I store fuel that I buy in autumn.

Operationally and to extend the use of stored fuel, it is best to have multiple energy sources. For example, solar can power utilities and charge batteries during the mid-day, and a generator can supplement that and charge batteries when there is less sun and the wind picks up. Larger generators, above 3KW, can simultaneously charge a large battery bank and supply energy to utilities. Generators run most efficiently near full capacity; they consume a bit more fuel, but the energy produced will require less fuel per kWh. Therefore, it is best to run them for a short period of time– at most for a few hours– but load them with charging batteries and powering the fridge/freezer, water heaters, lights, washer, power tools, and so forth to full capacity. Then, switch to battery power, and only use the minimal load to last through the next generator cycle or solar/wind opportunity.

For any significant solar power generation, plan to cover your entire roof with panels. Consider installing a few panels on the roof of a trailer, if you have one, that will give you mobile power and better concealment. If you make panels tilt or slide out from under each other, you can significantly increase the total surface exposed to the sun, while stationary. Alternatively, install the panels on ground support, for easy access and scalability. Make sure (by taking photos in different times of the day and during different months) that the selected location does not have the house or trees casting a shadow over it. If you don’t have the luxury of time, you can use an application to simulate where the shadows of each object will be at any given moment in time– summer or winter. One, for example, is “Light Trac”, an iPhone app.

The distance between the panels and battery bank is essential, especially in case of low voltage 12-24 Volt transfer to the battery charger. The cable will dissipate part of the current as heat, wasting it, and the cables will be extremely expensive. A better option is to use higher voltage, for example 96Volt, or install an inverter at the panels and send an AC current down the line to the battery bank. Another option is to install individual self-synchronizing inverters for each panel. These inverters will synchronize frequency with each other and the utility power, so you can simply plug them into your house grid via a transfer switch and feed your house simultaneously from solar panels and utility power at the same time. The battery bank will be charged from any outlet in your house. This will make solar contribute to your energy bill without re-arranging your incoming utility lines and will be transparent to your utility company. Alternatively, it is possible to isolate a few circuits to be only fed by solar.

Wind power is noisy. If you install wind turbine on a mast connected to the frame of your house, you will hear the grinding noise throughout your house, especially with larger turbines. Smaller turbines are not going to satisfy your power needs of a larger bank, but they can supplement a solar array or generator. Specialists in wind energy say, “Go big or forget about it.” They says this because wind energy is extremely inefficient in case of small scale generators. I have never installed a wind turbine but have read many books and distilled for myself the following– don’t do wind under 5 KW; for the cost of installation and maintenance, you could buy a larger solar system and have less trouble over time.

If you are lucky enough to have a creek or river flowing through your property, you can tap into hydro power. Obviously, in summer the creek may dry up, and in the winter it may freeze up; otherwise, it is a constantly available source of power. Be mindful of the ecosystem of the creek, when deciding how much water to divert to your project. Also, make sure local regulations allow for what you are planning to do. The water/energy of the river flowing through your land may not be legally yours. Check with local authorities, before you invest in hydro generation.

Generally, there are two most important considerations in selecting the micro-hydro turbine. First, consider how high is the water column; this depends on the steepness of the terrain or the height of the dam. Twice the height gives you twice the energy the water will produce. Second, note the volume of water you can divert to turbine. Again, power output is proportional to volume. This will drive to either go with an impulse turbine, which is optimal for the high velocity low volume, or with a reaction turbine, which is low velocity of water but high volume. Unfortunately, I don’t have direct experience with hydro myself. Interestingly, the 5KW rule seems to apply here as well, based on literature; forget about it if you can’t go big.

Gas/propane generators sometimes have a 240V split phase output. It is best to load both sides equally, otherwise you will only be wasting half of the power of your generator. Be careful buying cords; the majority incorrectly only tap into one side of a 240V outlet. Buy something like this to optimally use generator power. Also, when wiring into your house using a transfer switch, ensure that the circuits you wired to one side or another are about equal under normal conditions.

Propane has indefinite shelf life versus gasoline, which has a short shelf life as mentioned earlier. Keep in mind that in winter the propane tank will have less pressure inside. If the propane is used at a high rate, the expansion cools the tank further. You may end up having access to only about half of the propane in the tank, unless you warm your tank while using it with something like this, for instance. The 120Volt heater with magnetic head does not make good enough contact with convex surface of the tank to transfer enough heat to keep it warm. I tried two 400W versions attached to a 20lb tank, and they barely raised the temperature by few degrees– not sufficient. They work well on flat paramagnetic surfaces though.

When selecting the solar battery charger make sure you pick an MPPT (maximum power point tracking) type . They will allow for fluctuation in the input voltage, while flexibly adjusting the voltage conversion ratio, so they utilize the full power of the solar panel, not wasting any energy; in other words, their peak conversion efficiency is close to 100% no matter how much sun is hitting your panels. Here is a good technical explanation of PWM vs MPPT technology. The same goes for wind turbines. However, many wind turbines come with a built-in battery charger; pay attention to what is built in, as not all are equal.

Lower quality generators may not operate at exactly 60 Hz (50Hz in other countries) and can cause clocks to run slower or faster; electronics to misbehave; or UPSes to switch to internal batteries, due to low quality of current produced. You may want to consider protecting sensitive equipment with an isolation transformer.

If your batteries have multiple types of posts, it is usually cheaper and more secure to use the ones with holes in them to connect wires. Cover the car-type posts with short pieces of garden hose that are just a bit longer that the post itself; this will prevent shorting, if you accidentally drop a wrench onto the battery.

Cover battery posts with pieces of garden hose, and use shrink tubing on cables to reduce the risk of shorts.

Some battery manufacturers provide a max torque rating for screws attaching cables. Be careful and measure because you can ruin your battery by twisting the soft lead post with excessive force. Apply shrink wrap to cover as much of the exposed conductor as possible to prevent shorts.

It is a good idea to install a 12-volt outlet right next to your batteries, for instance where you connect them to the inverter, so that you can power a 12-volt tool or light directly without power conversion back and forth.

A 12-volt outlet can be used without powering an inverter. If you have power tools, it is useful to have a car charger to recharge your tools without running the inverter, which can use as much power as you deposit into batteries.

Letter: Rust on a Stainless Steel Colt XSE Government Model

Mr. Rawles:

I am an avid reader of your books and site. I purchased a stainless Colt XSE government model, per your recommendation and your use of the Gold Cups. After 3 1/2 months, I began having rusting issues under both grip panels. The unit is on the way back to Colt for repair. The pistol has been stored properly and cleaned after each range session. I think the manufacturing process was flawed, as there have been no issues with my blued model. Have you ever encountered this? If so, what precautions do you take to prevent the issue? Do you use lube under the grips?

HJL Replies: I have seen this on many occasions. Stainless steel is not impervious to rust; it’s just more resistant to it. In most cases, it is caused by sweat from a concealed carry holster and sometimes from coastal air that is high in salt content. Once in a while, I see cases where there just doesn’t seem to be any reason for it. The fix is to make sure that the gun is well oiled, just like you would for a blued gun.

Due to Browning’s design, considerable soot seems to make it into the mag well during use. When I was attending gunsmithing school, we were taught to take the pistol down as normal and remove the grips. The frame was then cleaned under running, hot water (as hot as you could stand it); also, a toothbrush helped. The heat from the hot water helped clean out stubborn deposits and helped the the pistol air dry quickly. If you live in a high humidity area, you can also help the process along with a hair dryer. After the pistol dried, we would give it a light squirt of a water-displacing oil and wipe it down. A heavier lube was used on contact surfaces.

Following this procedure, I have never had any pistol (blued or stainless) develop any rust. Browning’s designs like to run somewhat wet with lube (contrary to many modern plastic guns). If you run a metal gun as dry as the plastic ones, you will end up with issues.

JWR Adds: I’d like to chime in with one other important point– never use a mild steel brush or mild steel wool on a stainless steel gun. This is because these will leave microscopic particles of steel that can rust in the pores of what is otherwise fairly rust-resistant stainless steel.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“It is amazing to think after all that has happened in this country in the last few years, the last few decades, that so many people have this blind faith that government is our friend and therefore, we don’t need protections against it.” – James Bovard

Notes for Monday – October 06, 2014

October 6th is the birthday of Thor Heyerdahl (born 1914, died April 18, 2002). Although his east-to-west theory of Pacific Ocean transmigration was later disproved by genetics studies, his many adventures were still remarkable.

Today, October 6th, is also the birthday of science fiction author David Brin, who was born in 1950. He wrote The Postman, which was very loosely the foundation of a movie by Kevin Costner.

Staff Article: Rotation, Rotation, Rotation! – Effective Food Storage Strategies, by L.K.O.

“If you don’t use it, you lose it.”

As any realtor will tell you, at least those who recite the cliché, the three most important factors in real estate are location, location, location. The three most important factors in effective and economical food storage might just be rotation, rotation, and rotation. Of course, there are other considerations, but rotation is often overlooked, and it can have consequences for both your budget and your body; spoiled food is not only costly economically, but it can make you and your family sick, or it can even be lethal, in some cases. It is worth your while, in more ways than one, to implement a rotation system, and it really doesn’t take much, if any, additional effort with a little forethought and a disciplined attitude toward applying common sense best practices.

Any perishables– food, beverages, fuel, pharmaceutical drugs, or any other commodity with a finite shelf life– need to be rotated and replenished regularly and systematically in any viable storage program. Rotation works for tires and soil nutrients for growing specific crops, too, but we’ll focus on food rotation, in the refrigerator, in the freezer, and of course in the pantry in this article.

FIFO, Quality, and Minimized GIGO

Electrical engineers that have used digital signal buffers for delaying signals will be familiar with the term FIFO (First In, First Out), but we can all benefit from a more macroscopic application of the FIFO principle in our pantries and fridges; ideally, the first item bought should be the first item eaten, not only within a specific type of food item but across one’s entire pantry and food storage system as well. By devising a method to systematically rotate perishable items, benefits will accrue to your budget and your family’s health and longevity. Another acronym many are familiar with is GIGO– Garbage In, Garbage Out. It goes without saying that storing sub-standard, tainted, marginal, or spoiled food or food with negligible nutritional value is not only silly but potentially dangerous as well. It’s essential to store the highest quality food AND to rotate those stores using the FIFO method. A maxim you can use if you’re not an engineer, or you just prefer something other than FIFO, is “Buy it first, eat it first.”

Shelf Life Savvy and Safety

Another vital aspect of an effective rotation system is knowing the shelf life of the foods you are storing. A few items, when stored properly, have such a long shelf life that they may be considered relatively exempt from the best practice of rotation (although it’s still a good idea), or at least their shelf life is measured in decades rather than years; among them, you will find such things as water (depending on the container), honey, salt, wheat berries, rice, sugar, maple syrup, corn starch, distilled white vinegar, pure vanilla extract, liquor, and wine. Here’s a list of eight of these items and another list of nine items with long shelf life and tips on their storage.

As for most everything else not explicitly mentioned in the paragraph above, consuming any purchased item that is used past the printed “use by” or expiration date is ill-advised. It’s an exercise in mediocre nutrition and often in mediocre enjoyment as well, since the flavor usually declines along with the nutritional value, at best; it’s a game of culinary Russian roulette, at worst. If an item is properly stored under optimum conditions, it might be okay to “push it” just a little, occasionally, but you should always do a visual examination and a “sniff” test, and use both your common sense and intuition to make the final determination, along with the maxim, “better safe than sorry” if there’s any significant doubt. Why take chances with your health? If the food has a funky or “off” odor, appearance, or texture, it’s best to toss it. Medical (or funeral) expenses are far more costly than replacing a spoiled item. Here’s a guide to 77 expiration dates, a chart with the shelf life of common foods, a table with the Shelf Life of Pantry Foods, and Good Housekeeping’s advice on the subject. If you plan to stock up on a particular perishable item, do a web search and study the storage and shelf life best practices beforehand, particularly from those who have first-hand experience (e.g. seasoned growers) as well as other authoritative sources. Don’t buy significantly more than your family is likely to eat of an item within its shelf life, even assuming perfectly disciplined rotation habits. If you do happen to over-buy (or your garden or orchard produces) more than you can consume and store, given your anticipated usage, make sure you barter, donate, or sell the excess ASAP, and definitely well before the expiration date is looming nigh. Also, don’t forget to make regular inspections, just as if you ran a restaurant and had an independent inspector; why not make an annual calendar item for your household food inspection in early autumn and perhaps another in the spring?

Commitment to Re-stocking and Un-stocking

Having a simple, easy-to-follow process for both unloading store-bought groceries or bulk food items, either from one’s own kitchen, garden, grower’s market, or elsewhere is essential, as is having a simple, easy-to-follow process for using items for consumption from one’s inventory. Both “ends” of the process need to be addressed to make your food storage system work and keep it both viable and vibrant, in terms of the health benefits to your family. Remember to keep it simple and make sure everyone in the household (including guests) knows the process and is committed to following it; this shared willingness will make it work. A well-thought out AND implemented (that means ROUTINELY PRACTICED) rotation system will minimize waste.

High Tech Assistance: Pantry/Fridge Inventory/Barcode Scanning/Menu Planning Apps

With the proliferation of barcode scanning apps on smart phones, it would seem like there’s some great potential here for automating and optimizing home food inventory systems. Here are some examples that have varying capabilities, such as barcode scanning, nutritional and/or dietary analysis, integrated food inventory (specific items, food categories, quantity added, quantity on hand, quantity removed), location data (pantry, refrigerator, freezer), expiration warnings, etc. You could use Grocery Shopping List – out of milk; Rotation Diet Assistant; Fooducate – Healthy Weight Loss, Diet Tracker & Food Scanner; OurGroceries; Pantry Manager; Prep & Pantry; Fridge Pal; FreshBox; Best Before; GroceryHero; ShopWell – Healthy Diet & Grocery Food Scanner; Kezeen; Whaz in the fridge; and there’s undoubtedly many more and more to come. A quick google search while researching “home food inventory app” showed over 7.2 million results at the time this article was written.

Optimizing Environmental Parameters for Storage Longevity

For optimum longevity most foods, depending on the biochemistry of each particular item, have an optimum temperature range, humidity range, and usually do best with minimum oxygen, sunlight, and vermin. Here’s a rhetorical question: Do midnight snackers fall into the latter category? 🙂 Here’s an article that addresses these five parameters. Here are the FDA’s recommendations on Safely Storing Food, a related article: “Food Storage 101: Where and How Long to Keep Your Favorite Foods” and “7 Simple Rules for Effective and Hygienic Dry Goods Storage” from Food Safety Magazine. A quick summary of these rules are:

1) Rotation: Of course! Most foods don’t improve with age; keep ‘em rotated.

2) Temperature: 50 degrees (or cooler) is optimum for dry goods; the shelf life is cut in half by every 18°F (10° C) increase. This would recommend root cellars or other cool, dry locations, particularly in warm climates.

3) Humidity: 15% or less is ideal. Moisture impervious packaging can be helpful, too.

4) Sunlight: Avoid direct sunlight, which promotes oxidation and spoilage. This goes doubly for locating refrigerators and freezers, since refrigeration systems work harder to remove solar heat gain that could be avoided by analyzing seasonal sun patterns through windows, skylights, and so forth. If you have the luxury of designing (or remodeling) your home, don’t neglect this consideration, especially if you use an off-grid and/or alternative energy system to power your refrigerator and/or freezer. If you don’t have the aforementioned luxury, there are plenty of ways you can position furniture, close drapes and blinds, or make other changes on a seasonal and/or daily basis to minimize the direct sunlight that falls on freezers, fridges, and pantries. Here’s a related article on energy efficiency.

5) Store to reduce risk: If possible, store in the most interior spaces– those furthest away from exterior walls– to minimize heat, humidity, and exposure to infestations; those areas at least 6” off the floor, 2’ from the ceiling (to avoid hot spots), and 18” from external walls is recommended.

6) Vermin: Make doors and windows rodent- and insect-proof and keep them closed whenever possible. If culinary discipline is an issue with desserts and snacks intended for longer-term storage, putting them under lock and key might work for “human vermin”, but this only works if the key-holder(s) exercise restraint themselves! 🙂

7) Size: Pre-packaged foods (rather than bulk items) typically require significantly more space and have correspondingly greater impact on both your budget and the environment, due to the higher packaging to usable content ratio. Use smaller containers for actively used items in the fridge and pantry, and use larger containers for longer-term storage to optimize efficient use of space.

Proper containers

The impetus for this article arose recently when visiting a friend and discovering their food storage and water storage had been seriously compromised, rendering almost all of their garage-stored food and water useless, and in fact, potentially quite hazardous. It actually provided an optimum rodent sanctuary for several years! Water– hundreds of bottles for this home storage system– was stored in (mostly) plastic 1-liter soda bottles that rats had no problem gnawing through (their water problem solved), and other food stuffs (powdered milk, mashed potatoes, dried grains, etc.) stored in gnawed-through plastic 5-gallon storage bins provided their essential food reserves for what it was– evidently for several years– a burgeoning rat population and infestation. The remaining metal and glass containers of food, which otherwise might have been suitable containers, were heavily soiled with rodent feces and urine. These garage provisions were also mostly decades past safe expiration dates and, therefore, unsafe and completely unusable. The intention, naturally, was good, but the neglect for a disciplined inspection and rotation program turned what could have been a successful food and water storage program into a possible rodent-related disaster waiting to happen. Fortunately, the cause of the problem in this particular instance was addressed, the massive cleanup completed, and that particular hazard removed. Here is some advice about cleaning up after rodents.

Meal rotation

Variety being the “spice of life”, don’t neglect another aspect of rotation– cuisine choices. This will obviously vary tremendously from person to person, family to family, and year to year, as tastes and dietary needs, family size, ages, and preferences change. There are plenty of other excellent articles on this site that address this issue, such as this one entitled Lessons Learned the Hard Way About Food Storage, so we’ll just mention this in passing.

Visibility – Invisible foods spoil quicker! 🙂

Keeping items in plain sight helps usage and rotation; it allows you to quickly assess your inventory– what you have and what you need to restock. There are numerous approaches, gadgets, shelving systems, and more that can assist with your particular storage system. For example, there are “Lazy Susan” or carousel-type rotating shelves, often employed in more active usage areas, such as in kitchen cabinets and pantries rather than in longer-term storage locations. There are also full circle types, such as this example, and 3/4 circle types that allow doors to close when oriented properly, and corner drawers that roll out at 45 degrees to their neighbors. These latter types are commonly employed in corner cabinet areas that otherwise would have significant wasted space where it’s hard to reach. Here’s an example of a decorative pantry that maximizes storage and access and leaves space in the middle for the fridge, and more compact designs that optimize efficient use of space with movable shelves within a pantry.

For medium and longer storage durations, where you store more than a few items of a given size and shape container, there are a variety of systems available as well. Thrive Life has free-standing and shelf-by-shelf food-rotation systems in varying widths that provide loading and unloading from the same side, by loading cans (or other cylindrical containers) from the top and unloading (the oldest item) from the shelf immediately below that. For most pantries that don’t have the luxury of enough room to allow walking around to the back of the shelf (think grocery store refrigerated deli shelves with glass doors) this idea seems to offer practical advantages. Their “Cansolidator Pantry Plus” system is modular by shelf and could be added incrementally, if needed. If you have access on the sides of shelves but not necessarily from the back, here’s a slanted shelf system that might be a viable solution for some items and locations.

Labeling and Dating Individual Items and Containers

If you aren’t sure how old an item is, even the best food storage system isn’t going to work with rotation, and therefore won’t ensure that you’re using up the oldest item first, and getting the best economy by wasting the least amount of food.

You might want to consider using a date format that can’t be easily misinterpreted. For example, if you put 07-07-07, it’s a fairly safe guess that your can of whatever was marked on July 7, 2007 (unless it’s really ancient and is from 1907). However, it gets a bit less obvious if you use 01-05-12; is this from Jan 5, 2012, or Dec. 5, 2001, or some other date? I recommend using an unambiguous date system, such as an ISO 8601 European date format, (YYYY-MM-DD); it’s also Y3K-safe! 🙂 or perhaps better yet, a variation that uses a 3-letter abbreviation for the month, e.g. JAN, FEB … DEC. I use this for just about any place a date is needed. So when I write 24Jun2014 or 2014-Jun-24, either way, it’s not likely to be misunderstood. If you want to leave off the day of the month, then the format written as 2014-Jun, for example, gets you in the ballpark for when something was stored, without excessive detail. In any case, date and label the contents, if it’s not obvious what is inside, of every container. There are lessons one can learn and simplify from more industrial food storage systems, such as pre-printed labels and your home office computer and printer might suffice nicely for dating and labeling bulk items. Just make sure that label adhesives have good shelf life, too; otherwise, an indelible black marker might win out over the long haul.

In summary, keep in mind that there is a shelf life of specific foods, regardless of what you store, where and how you store it, so rotating it is just as important, and a little forethought and ongoing effort will pay handsomely for your food rotation system.

– L.K.O. (SurvivalBlog’s Central Rockies Regional Editor)

Scot’s Product Review: Blastmatch

Fire is cool stuff, though I may have said that before. Much like a nine-year-old boy, it needs to be carefully controlled, but when it is, it is indispensable. Getting fire when you want it is pretty easy when you have access to store-bought matches that have been kept dry along with nice dry tinder, kindling, and fuel. The problem with fire is how to get it when you lack matches.

All the tinder, kindling, and fuel on the planet won’t do you a whit of good, if you don’t have something to make the tinder hot enough to burn. The aforementioned matches are a delight as are cigarette and grill lighters. Matches get wet, and we run out of them. I’ve seen people carefully split matches so they have two instead of one, but that leaves you with two weak matches rather than one strong one. I fret over that. Lighters run out of fuel, usually as quickly as nine-year-olds find them, but sometimes they turn empty just out of spite, usually when you need them the most.

There are a lot of other ways to make the heat we need to ignite a fire. A good magnifying glass works really well, although the best ones are glass and, therefore, breakable. The big problem with them is that they don’t work when it is dark or cloudy. We often most need fire in the dark, so the magnifier is, at best, only a partial solution.

I’ve seen some amazing people who are a lot better than I am with this stuff start fires with friction by rubbing sticks together or by using a bow or hand drill. The idea is that you can get enough heat to create a coal that is transferred to tinder, and you then blow on it until it bursts into flame. These techniques work well, but they take time to learn to do with proficiency. I hope to do a more thorough investigation of some of them in the future and will report back. My efforts in the past were not pursued long enough to really learn how to do it. I have a patience issue at times.

What I have settled on these days for fire starting without matches is a fire steel made of ferrocerium. This stuff is a man-made metal that acts like flint, giving off sparks when struck on with a piece of steel. They are shaped like rods, usually about three inches or so long, and generally come with a little bit of steel that you scrape against the rod to produce a shower of sparks. You aim the sparks into a pile of tinder. If you have good tinder, say some natural fiber lint from the clothes drier or some tufts of cotton, it will burst into flame quite nicely. The Instafire stuff https://survivalblog.com/scots-product-review-instafire/ I reviewed recently will do this too, though not as readily as lint or cotton. Other alternatives that may be more available are things like dried grass. You build a nest to catch the sparks, and when the nest begins to smoke you start blowing it into a fire. This is the part that takes practice.

I was initially disappointed with many of the fire steels I tried, but I discovered that my problem was more with the striker than the steel itself. I usually get better results with the back of my pocketknife than I do with the little striker that comes with most steels. The saw teeth on the back of some knives, like the Glock Field Knife or the Air Force Survival knife, work really well. I’ve also had good luck with sections of a hacksaw blade.

Good technique helps, too. You are scraping it down the rod hard and fast. Just letting the striker rest on the rod won’t make as many sparks. Experiment with the scraper. They generally have an up and front side that works, while the other sides won’t. They can also wear out. All that scraping eventually makes them smooth, and they need some roughness to make sparks,

I’m not always the most dexterous of people, and all too often I use poor technique in scraping. Another problem is aiming the sparks into the tinder. I frequently produce a shower of sparks in the wrong direction that don’t fall on my waiting tinder. There are also times that it would be really nice to have a hand free while making sparks so you could shield the tinder from wind.

Since I have all these problems, I got pretty excited when I came across the Blastmatch. This is a fire steel for klutzes. It comes in a plastic case. You pop one end off, and it rotates to the other end out of the way. A spring loaded rod pops out. There is a tab that you press in to hold the striker against the rod. The very cool idea is that you put the end of the rod in the middle of your tinder and then, while holding the tab with the striker firmly, you give the plastic case a vigorous push downward. You get a nice shower of sparks, if you push hard and fast enough with enough pressure on the striker. Meanwhile, your other hand is free to hold the nest of tinder in place or shield everything from wind or rain. It helps greatly if you have a hard surface to do this on. I can easily see driving it into the dirt if you don’t.

I had great luck with it, but my nine-year-old had some problems. He had to raise the thing up, off of the tinder on the ground, and smack it down. Since we were working on a concrete surface, this started breaking pieces off the end of the rod. I could see this seriously shortening the life of the Blastmatch.

Overall, I really like the Blastmatch, but it does feel flimsy. I am not sure how long it will hold up, but I do realize that my son, who spent a couple of hours making sparks with it probably did the equivalent of a year’s worth of fires in one day. If the spring mechanism does break, you should still be able to use it with a knife and keep starting fires.

The Blastmatch can be found for between $15 and $20 in orange or black but not in camo, to the disappointment of my son. They say that it is assembled in the U.S. with some foreign components, but they don’t specify where they come from.

The same company that markets the Blastmatch, Ultimate Survival Technologies, also sells a number of other fire starting supplies, including several types of tinder. I decided to try one that promised it would work when wet– Wetfire. The stuff comes in the form of white lumps that are a bit bigger than a sugar cube, and each cube is wrapped in an airtight plastic wrap. It is a waxy material, and the idea is that you scrape off bits to start your fire. I had no problems getting it going with some sparks from the Blastmatch, and it had a good burn time. A single cube could easily start several fires, if you have some natural tinder, like dried grass and good kindling to add to it. The nice thing about it is how easily it ignites into a nice flame. I did try wetting it, and it still worked. It is necessary to convert it into shavings to get it to start easily. I managed to get a cube going, but shavings were a lot easier to ignite.

A 12-pack of Wetfire cubes goes for about $8.00. They say the stuff will store for up to five years, and the package advises that it is “processed and packaged in the U.S.A. from foreign material”.

I also tried the Blastmatch with some homemade tinder from jute twine. This was a new trick for me. You unravel a piece of it into fuzz and make it into a nest to catch sparks or a coal. It works pretty well. I’ve always used cotton or dryer lint, but this could be a good substitute. I think cotton and lint are a bit more flammable, though. One trick I have not tried is dipping the jute nest partially into wax and then storing it in an airtight container for future use. This works pretty well with cotton and adds some burn time and heat to the fire. You want to leave some of the fibers free of wax, though, so they can ignite more easily from the sparks. Vaseline can also work, but I prefer to add that just before trying to get the fire going.

I like the Blastmatch and look forward to using it on a Cub Scout campout.

SUNFLAIR Solar Oven Update

I’m planning on providing occasional updates on the products I’ve chosen to keep after the review. I always like to hear how things are faring in the long term, and I hope our readers will, too.

We are still enjoying using the SUNFLAIR solar oven. I am still plagued, at times, with intermittent cloud cover which has a bad effect on cooking temperatures in the oven. I had the idea to borrow a scheme I saw on a homemade oven to see if it would help with the SUNFLAIR. The idea is to put your cooking pot inside a large, clear, glass bowl and cover it with a clear glass plate. This creates a tight containment area for heat around the pot. After checking it with a thermometer, I found that it does work. The cooking area does not get any hotter than the oven (and takes a bit longer to heat up), but if the sun goes behind a cloud for 30 minutes, it stays a lot hotter inside the glass bowl than the oven interior stays. This evens out cooking nicely. On the other hand, proving that there is always a price, the glass bowl and plate are heavy, bulky, and fragile and completely defeat the portability of the SUNFLAIR. If you are using it at home, that’s not a problem, but if you are camping and on foot, it isn’t going to work. The SUNFLAIR does work well without the extra parts, but it can help you cook faster on a less-than-ideal solar day. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor, Scot Frank Erie

Two Letters Re: Starch in ACUs

JWR Wrote: “By the time the U.S. Army reached the ACU-issue period, starching was not allowed. You can be relatively certain that none of the OCP (“Multicam”) uniforms that you buy surplus have never been starched. Best Regards.”

As a guardsman of four years, I have seen starched and pressed ACUs at least a handful of times in direct violation of AR670-1. You would think these were being worn by old timers of the BDU era, but it’s a mixed bag. I have seen these on specialists trying to impress as well as Majors.

They are not common by any stretch, but they are out there. The best thing to look for is a telltale crease of any kind. ACU and OCP do not have any natural creases. If you see creases (especially in the pants and arms) move on. Apparently some soldiers think looking sharp is more important than following regs. – A.S.

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JWR,

Are you sure starch is more visible with FLIR? I fool around with FLIR for fun now and then inside and outside and I’ve never seen anything except a mirror (which shows your own reflection in the FLIR viewfinder) display any characteristics except its temperature. I just looked in a couple closets where there must have been some starch sometime and saw nothing regarding any non-temperature related showing.

Of course, we all know that starch (and scorpions) show up bright under ultraviolet light or even near ultraviolet.

JWR Replies: Even with just standard light amplification (“starlight”) night vision equipment, starched uniforms definitely stand out. See the photos and discussion here, for some examples: http://www.m4carbine.net/archive/index.php/t-9141.html

Because FLIRs can differentiate between temperature differences as small as 2 degrees F, there is no guaranteed method of completely disguising yourself from them when you are outside of a vehicle or shelter.

OBTW, I describe in detail how to counter FLIRs in my upcoming novel, Liberators. (Therein, I discuss Nemesis Suits, aka Turkey Suits, and their homemade equivalents.)

Starched uniforms are definitely a no-no when you are up against opponents using active IR and NVGs, and ALL standard, one-layer, fabric uniforms are vulnerable to FLIRs, once the fabric warms up toward your body temperature. That just takes a few minutes. Wearing a starched uniform only adds to that vulnerability, since it also makes you more visible to NVGs–especially when you are “painted” with an active IR emitter.

Recipe of the Week: Turnip Greens Soup, by OkieRanchWife’s

I confess I would not have eaten this soup about ten years ago, but since I moved south of the Mason-Dixon Line and west of the Mississippi River I really like this soup. This recipe is also very pantry/emergency-cooking friendly. The only fresh and easily-grown food is the onion. Also, to save on the quantity of chicken broth, drain off the liquid from the beans into a measuring cup (usually about 2 cups) and then add the correct amount of chicken broth to get to 6 cups.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb Hot Pork Sausage (or 1 lb thin sliced Polish Kielbasa)
  • 1 medium Onion, chopped
  • 1 package Onion Soup mix
  • 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
  • 2 teaspoons Cajun Seasoning
  • 6 cups reduced sodium Chicken Broth, store bought or homemade
  • 2 cans (27 ozs) Turnip Greens (I use a Southern Seasoned type)
  • 1 can (15 ozs) Blackeye Peas or Purple Hulled Peas, drained
  • 1 can (15 ozs) Pinto Beans, drained
  • 1 can (15 ozs) Cannellini Beans or Great Northern Beans, drained
  • 1-2 teaspoons Habanera Hot Sauce or a milder sauce, if desired. (We like it hot around here.)

Directions:

  1. Brown meat in a soup pot or Dutch Oven over medium high heat. Don’t use any added oil if using the pork sausage. Use a teaspoon of oil if using kielbasa.
  2. Add onion; cook until the pork or kielbasa is no longer pink.
  3. Stir in the onion soup mix, garlic powder, and Cajun seasoning. Add chicken broth and all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.
  4. Cook for 1 hour.

Thank you very much.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlogreaders? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Economics and Investing:

I’m not usually one for conspiracy theories, but I have to admit, this is certainly one way to cope with an impending economic collapse without declaring war. Do these ten pieces of evidence prove the U.S. government is actively encouraging an Ebola outbreak in America?

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Those not in the labor force but looking for a job now rose last month: The funny numbers behind the unemployment rate.

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Labor Participation Rate Drops To 36 Year Low

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What to Hold When the U.S. Economic Blimp Deflates

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Gold Manipulators “Should Be Embarrassed”

Odds ‘n Sods:

Some insightful commentary by Ol’ Remus: The Ebola Farce.

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Citizen journalists don’t need “Press Credentials” — but that badge may help

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If you raise ANY TYPE of animals for food, this should SERIOUSLY get your attention. Make no mistake, complete government control of your animals IS the end game here. Animal cruelty is now a group A – FELONY. – T.P.

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SurvivalBlog reader K.B. sent us this message: “Just FYI, the crowds at my local Market Basket grocery store in Metro Boston were huge yesterday. The cashier said he sees this type crowd only when a hurricane or Nor’easter is predicted. There is no adverse weather here; clearly folks are skittish, and stocking up.”

Yep, the panic has started.

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G.P. forwarded some decent How To Links on prepping.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.” – John Stuart Mill