Odds ‘n Sods:

Video & Text: Obama’s FBI to hire firm to rate ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ stories about the agency – T.P.

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Camping Survival is offering free shipping on Wise Food through August 6. Don’t miss it!

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The Drought Apocalypse Approaches as the Colorado River Basin Dries Up. – P.M.

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Connecticut Supreme Court Says State Cops Can Detain You Simply For Being In The Vicinity Of Someone They’re Arresting. – B.B.

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This shot reminded me of the boat chase scene in JWR’s novel “Survivors”. It described how one of the characters practiced long-range pistol shooting such as this. Jerry Miculek 1000 yard 9mm revolver shot

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Of Law there can be no less acknowledged than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world. All things in heaven and earth do her homage,—the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power.” – Richard Hooker

Notes for Tuesday – August 05, 2014

August 5th is the sad anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana that took the lives of 13 firefighters, including 12 smokejumpers and one former smokejumper, in 1949. The intense, fast-moving forest fire took place in what later became the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The events of that fire were chronicled in the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean and immortalized in the haunting lyrics of the ballad Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 54 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. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  11. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  12. 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,
  13. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

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. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  9. Dri-Harvestfoods.com in Bozeman, Montana is providing a prize bundle with Beans, Buttermilk Powder, Montana Hard Red Wheat, Drink Mixes, and White Rice, valued at $333,
  10. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  11. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  12. 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.

Round 54 ends on September 30st, 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.

Food Less Fortified: Vitamins in a Time of Grid-Down Existence Part I, by PA Jes

TEOTWAWKI can take on many forms. This article is directed towards those who will transition (or already have transitioned) to locally-grown, seasonal, and non-processed (non-vitamin-fortified) food. This includes food produced as a result of homesteading, self-sufficient living, or surviving in a situation where trucks stop stocking supermarkets with vitamin-fortified food, multivitamins, Florida oranges, ocean tuna, and so on. Will America regress to a level of malnutrition typically seen in a third world county? This article is written to be a practical guide to surviving in a vitamin-deficient world, describing some of the key vitamins and their respective government-directed fortification in our foods, and what would happen if those fortification programs, including the delivery of such foods, were to become compromised.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that will be hard to come by after the bottled variety runs out. It is found naturally in only a few foods, such as fish-liver oils, fatty fishes like tuna and salmon, some mushrooms, beef liver, and egg yolks (in small amounts). Vitamin D is also synthesized by the skin during exposure to ultraviolet light. Research suggests it would take 15-30 minutes of sun exposure, twice a week, to the arms and legs or back to synthesize sufficient amounts of vitamin D. Also, people with darker skin pigments tend to synthesize less vitamin D.

Vitamin D is essential for good bone health, and it may help strengthen muscles and protect against cancer and diabetes. Furthermore, calcium absorption in the gut requires adequate vitamin D levels. In the 1930s, a milk fortification program was initiated in the U.S. to help combat rickets, which was a major public health problem at the time. Today, the program has helped ensure that rickets is now quite uncommon in the U.S. and Canada. What happens when fortification programs like these cease to exist in our diets?

Low levels of vitamin D can also lead to osteomalacia (the weakening of bones) in adults. Despite the success of milk fortification in children, many U.S. adults are currently vitamin D deficient to some degree. The current recommendation is that all individuals should receive 400IU of vitamin D per day.

So what happens when TEOTWAWKI and the multivitamin bottles run out? Humans will eventually readjust to getting our vitamin D from sunlight and unfortified foods. Listed in the table below is the vitamin D content in some of the better food sources of the vitamin. As food sources of vitamin D are scarce, access to these dietary staples will be critical, particularly in a situation where sunlight exposure must be limited.

Table 1. Vitamin D content in food: (400IU of Vitamin D is recommended for adults daily)

Food

IUs per Serving

Cod liver oil, 1 tablespoon

1,360

Swordfish, cooked, 3 oz

566

Salmon, cooked 3 oz

447

Tuna, canned in water, drained, 3 oz

154

Sardines, canned in oil, drained, 2 sardines

46

Egg yolk

46

Beef liver, 3 oz

11

In the SHTF scenario, breastfeeding will likely become a staple once again, once infant formula runs out. Despite the plethora of benefits, human milk is usually inadequate to supply the infant with adequate amounts of vitamin D. Current recommendations include giving exclusively breastfed infants supplements of vitamin D, although this liquid formulation may be difficult to attain in a grid-down scenario. The degree of vitamin D in breast milk is largely dependent upon the serum concentrations in the mother. Actively supplementing the mother with the right foods and sunlight will certainly help with this endeavor. Studies have shown that maternal intake of 400IU per day was grossly inadequate to produce effective vitamin D in breast milk. However, mothers who take high doses of vitamin D during breastfeeding (6000IU) were successful in maintaining their own vitamin D stores and producing adequate levels in breast milk. Campaigns to reduce skin cancer have lead to mothers either avoiding sun exposure or using sunblock and clothing to greatly reduce it. In a prolonged grid-down scenario, mothers will need to re-evaluate the risks and benefits of short duration sun exposure (15-30 min per day, without getting sunburn) when dietary sources of vitamin D are hard to attain.

Prepper literature has often mentioned the risk of toxicity in some fat-soluble vitamins. Vitamin D toxicity is highly unlikely from dietary consumption, even with fortification programs. Sunlight will not lead to toxicity, as the body naturally reduces synthesis as adequate levels are achieved. However, excessive supplement usage certainly can lead to toxicity. Toxic levels are possible in infants taking greater than 1000IU per day, kids taking greater than 2500IU per day, and adults taking more than 4000IU daily on a chronic basis. In adults, 10,000 IU daily markedly increases toxicity risk.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in some foods. Humans cannot synthesize vitamin C, so it must be consumed. It is required for the synthesis of collagen (making it critical for wound healing) and is an essential component of connective tissue. Also, it is an important antioxidant, as vitamin C plays an important role in immune function. Most adults and teens should consume 50-90 mg per day, although women who are breastfeeding need approximately 120 mg per day, since vitamin C is passed through to breast milk.

A lack of vitamin C causes scurvy, which is historically associated with pirates. This disease was problematic for centuries, particularly for campaigning soldiers and for sailors who would go several months at sea, eating exclusively salted meats and grains (sound familiar to some preppers out there?) as opposed to foods containing vitamin C. In the 18th century, more British solders died from scurvy than from enemy engagement.

Scurvy usually begins within one month of vitamin C deficiency and progresses so quickly that death can occur just a few months later. Scurvy symptoms begin with extreme fatigue. Next, spots appear on the legs and the gums begin to bleed. As the disease advances, open wounds develop, teeth fall out, extreme muscle weakness occurs, and ultimately, it results in death.

Most vitamin C is available in the American diet through fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits, tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes (see table 2). Breakfast cereals are sometimes fortified with vitamin C, although grains do not naturally contain vitamin C. Prolonged storage and cooking reduces the vitamin C content of food. Steaming may lessen cooking losses. Cow’s milk has very small amounts of Vitamin C, and this amount becomes negligible during the heating involved in pasteurization.

Table 2. Vitamin C Content in Foods: (most adults require 50-90 mg daily)

Food

Mg per serving

Sweet red pepper, ½ cup

95

Orange juice, ¾ cup

93

Orange, 1

70

Broccoli, cooked, 1 cup

51

Tomato juice, ¾ cup

34

Baked potato, 1 medium

17

Spinach, cooked, ½ cup

9

In a TEOTWAWKI, canned fruits and vegetables, as well as supplements, can provide necessary vitamin C for quite some time. However, as one transitions to a local food commerce, regional variations will emerge. Oranges and orange juice will become a rare commodity for northern inhabitants. Colder-climate winters without canned fruits or vegetables will likely result in regional scurvy symptoms. The prepared family would learn about the fruits and vegetables that can be harvested in their local region and develop a way to harvest and store these items over the winter season. When prepping for a prolonged grid-down scenario, pantry items to consider stocking include both canned tomatoes and potatoes. In warmer months, dandelions are also a great source of Vitamin C. Be sure to remember that breastfeeding will provide infants with adequate vitamin C (if the mother consumes enough herself); evaporated milk and cows milk, however, lack vitamin C and would not serve as an effective substitute for human breastmilk.

Vitamin A

Are carrots really good for eyesight? During WWII, British propaganda indicated that fighter pilot John “Cats’ Eyes” Cunningham thanked a steady diet of carrots for his nighttime flying prowess. (In reality, the propaganda was meant to conceal the use of radar.) Carrots won’t help to make one’s vision better, but the lack of vitamin A is certainly harmful for eye health. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is important for maintaining normal vision, balancing the immune system, reproducing, and preserving healthy organ function.

Vitamin A is found in meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based products. The most common type of vitamin A in foods and dietary supplements is beta-carotene. The FDA has established a vitamin A Daily Value (DV) of 5,000 IU from a varied diet of both plant and animal foods. Vitamin A is added to some foods, such as milk and cereal. Common sources of vitamin A include:

  • Beef liver and other organ meats,
  • Some types of fish, such as salmon,
  • Green leafy vegetables and other green, orange, and yellow vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, and squash,
  • Tomato products,
  • Fruits, including cantaloupe, apricots, and mangos, and
  • Dairy products (cow’s milk has some vitamin A, but it is also fortified).

Vitamin A deficiency is currently rare in the U.S., although it is quite common in third-world countries. The most common symptom of vitamin A deficiency is an eye condition called xerophthalmia, which begins as night blindness and can cause complete blindness if untreated. Moreover, a vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of blindness in kids.

What happens in a prolonged TEOTWAWKI? In the absence of fortified foods (primarily fortified milk and cereals), a vitamin A deficiency would be rare, if there is still access to meat, diary, and vegetables. A deficiency is most likely to occur in people who use grains as their diet’s staple. People at highest risk for deficiency are infants, children, breastfeeding moms, and anyone with chronic diarrhea. Therefore, preppers should ensure their preps contain more than just grains.

As a fat-soluble vitamin, vitamin A is harmful if taken in excess, although it is dependent upon the quantity and rapidity of the intake. Overdose typically occurs in the setting of excessive vitamin A supplements. It has also been reported following sudden, yet excessive intakes of the natural vitamin, as with Arctic explorers who ate polar bear liver. Chronic intakes of excess vitamin A lead to increased intracranial pressure, liver damage, dizziness, nausea, headaches, skin irritation, pain in joints and bones, coma, and even death. Therefore, when you slay the neighborhood polar bear, leave the liver for the birds.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that is an important antioxidant found in many types of food. As such, deficiencies are very rare. Most deficiencies occur in people with digestive tract diseases where they are unable to absorb fats. Many advocate that vitamin E supplements are good for heart disease, immune system, cancer prevention, and dementia. Research studies have largely debunked the heart disease claim, and the other conditions have variable results with inconclusive data.

Vegetable oils, like wheat germ and sunflower oils, and nuts and seeds are among the best sources of vitamin E. Corn and soybean oils also provide some vitamin E. Green vegetables, such as spinach and broccoli, provide some vitamin E. Many of our processed foods are fortified with vitamin E, but vitamin E deficiency is not as likely in a SHTF scenario, when compared to other vitamin deficiencies.

In Part 2 of this article, I’ll continue to go over the essential vitamins and their sources and wrap it up with a summary that includes the “Top Ten Food for Thought”.

Letter Re: Disinfecting Your Drinking Water

2

Hugh,

I have noticed over the years that when I read about water purification during bad times that Calcium Hypochlorite is mentioned as the way to go for storage and use. Typically, it is suggested to buy an abundance of the material so one can be charitable and pass out small plastic bags of the chemical with instructions for its use to purify water. I’ve never before seen simple and concise instructions that ANYONE could understand for treating drinking water with Calcium Hypochlorite.

Using what I’ve gleaned from the Internet, with numerous revisions, I believe I have the information that one would need to properly use the Calcium Hypochlorite for water purification all here. “Calcium Hypochlorite” is one of the best chemical disinfectants for water, much better than household bleach. It destroys a variety of disease-causing organisms, including bacteria, yeast, fungus, spores, and viruses and is much more stable than liquid chlorine.

How to Disinfect Water Using “Calcium Hypochlorite”

Using granular Calcium Hypochlorite to disinfect water is a two-step process. “Mix only in a Plastic or Glass container, NOT METAL!!”

  • To make a stock of liquid chlorine solution: dissolve 1 heaping teaspoon (about one-quarter of an ounce) of high-test (70%) granular calcium hypochlorite for each two gallons (eight liters) of water. (This liquid mixture is the stock that you will use to treat your drinking water.)
  • To disinfect water, add one part of the liquid chlorine solution to 100 parts water to be treated; stir thoroughly with clean wooden or plastic spoon until hypochlorite crystals dissolve.
  • Example: 6 oz of liquid solution treats about 4.75 gallons of water in a five gallon bucket. (4.75 gal = 608 oz. of water)
  • Let the mixture sit at least 30 minutes or more before use.

Be sure to ration the dry granular calcium hypochlorite, since once it is made into a liquid solution, it will begin to degrade and eventually become useless as a disinfectant. This means you should make your liquid chlorine solution in small batches, enough for just a few weeks at a time.

An advantage of using calcium hypochlorite to disinfect water is that a little goes a very long way. A 1-pound bag of calcium hypochlorite in granular form will treat up to 10,000 gallons of drinking water.

Just remember:

  • 1 cup or 1/2 pint=8oz;
  • 1 pint=16oz;
  • 1 quart=32oz;
  • ½ gal=64oz;
  • 1 gal=128oz;
  • 12.5 gal=1600oz

– Yukon Jon

News From The American Redoubt:

Any qualified church pastors who are considering relocating to the American Redoubt should do some searching at ChurchJobFinder and similar web sites.

For example, some churches in the Redoubt that are looking for full-time pastors include:

River of Life Christian Center, Payette, Idaho (Youth Pastor)

Cody Bible Church, Cody Wyoming (Associate Pastor)

Three Lakes Community Bible Church, Troy Montana (Pastor)

First Baptist Church, Boardman, Oregon (Worship Arts Pastor)

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Community paramedic program helps reduce 911 calls. – RBS

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Man charged after police see YouTube video

Odds ‘n Sods:

Change you can believe in: More Companies Closing Than Opening in USA… Why It’s Worrying That U.S. Companies Are Getting Older. – G.P.

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Video and text: Former Border Patrol agent warns what’s coming– UPDATED – D.A.

An interesting premise that the Ebola outbreak in Africa is being used to distract the U.S. populace from what is going on at the U.S. border and something far more dangerous entering our country, including other infectious diseases and criminals and why our government is helping and hiding these dangers.

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Man admits he stuck needles in fresh meat at Belleville supermarket. – T.P.

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An interesting concept on planting a garden: The Secret to Building a Salad Keyhole Garden. – G.C.

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Southwest Fresno leaders criticize hiring of white teacher for Gaston school’s cultural studies. – P.M.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Aggression is simply another name for government. Aggression, invasion, government, are interconvertible terms. The essence of government is control, or the attempt to control.” – Benjamin Tucker

Notes for Monday – August 04, 2014

I tried something new this time. SurvivalBlog received a CD in the mail with an audio recording about sharpening, and I discovered a few things: Namely, transcribing is a whole different skill set than editing. My apologies to the author; I did the best with formatting that I could. I hope I got it right. Let’s stick with written articles from now on.

Guest Article: Assorted Tool Sharpening, by C.J.

(Article transcribed from a CD sent in to SurvivalBlog)

I have been sharpening now for about 15 years. I started out small, because I didn’t want to get too much invested; so, I started out with small machines, mostly hand sharpening. Our emphasis is on hand tools for sharpening, if you consider we may not have any electricity to work with.

Steps for Getting Started:

  1. Decide what tools and blades you want to sharpen.
  2. Buy several books on sharpening and get some initial knowledge.
  3. Study the angles on the blades and tools you want to sharpen, make notes on these, studying the degrees of set for the blade clearance on these various blades and tools.
  4. Decide on the tools and jigs you want to purchase for your type of sharpening.

For my bug-out vehicle, which obviously has a limitation for weight and bulk, let’s get into the most popular things that need sharpening and what tools I would take with me.

Knives

For hand sharpening knives, I would find a coarse and fine sharpening stone and some WD-40 spray lubricant for lube and cleaning of my stones and my sharpening. Also have a rag. Now, I would also take my hand-crank grinder. It’s very small and requires no electrical power, and this would be used for re-pointing knife blades; I would have a 100- to 120-grit wheel on this little grinder. As far as power-sharpening, I have a definite preference here. I picked up a Carver’s Friend, and this is a adjustable grinding machine for knives. It puts a good working edge on any knife I send through the machine. It’s quick, and it’s fast and it’s a real money-maker. I’m sure there are comparable machines out there, but this just happens to be the one I have.

Chainsaw Chains

This will be something that will be used a lot in survival situations. For hand-work sharpening, get a round file to fit your chain, and if you can find an aluminum file handle with the proper angles cast into the handle, this will allow you to sharpen your chain on your saw. If you have a vise that you can mount on a table or workbench, this is handy to grip the saw while you’re filing. Now, as far as power sharpening the chains, I like the Harbor Freight Chain Sharpening machines. They’re very inexpensive, and once you get them tuned up and set up right, they do a real nice job of saw sharpening. I use one of the older models in my shop and I am very happy with it. Another advantage of this little machine is it will work with a square-wave inverter, if your inverter’s about 650-700 watts.

Wood Handsaw

You will need a saw vice that clamps to the workbench. You will need the appropriate saw tooth setter. I have a Stanley, which works very nice. You will also need several 6-8 inch triangular metal files. I like the Nickolson brand. There are other good ones. You will also need an adjustable guide to mount and position the file for the proper tooth angles. Count the file strokes, and remember, more set for soft woods. If you’ve got power, get a Foley or Foley-Belsaw power saw filer. This is a great machine and will save you a lot of work and a lot of headaches. I wouldn’t take one of these in your bug-out vehicle, though, since they are large and they’re heavy.

Circular Saw Blades

I use steel hand-sharpening for these. I use a AB Mech Bernie hand filer. Use a triangular file. It’s a triangular file guide made of steel and aluminum. It does a decent job but is slow for up to 12-inch blades. It is one of the best little hand saw filers I’ve found. For power, a Belsaw sharp-all works well. Also, you can use the motorized saw filer made by Foley-Belsaw for this type of blade. Now for carbide saw blades, and also on steel, Foley-Belsaw makes a machine that uses a diamond wheel to do an excellent job. For setting all circular saws, the Sharp-All has a setting attachment mounted on it, or I like to use the Sears-Roebuck hammer setter in a vice on my workbench, and you strike it with a hard rubber hammer, and you set your saw that way; it works very nice.

Assorted Tools

I also have other assorted tool sharpening devices, other than the tools that we’ve mentioned, including a small 110-Volt angle grinder and half a dozen metal disks to go on it that work very well for sharpening many kinds of tools, especially garden tools. You can even dress up a pick with that little tool. I’ve also seen picks sharpened in a blacksmith’s forge, and that’s quite an art to do that. Then, you have to re-quench the tip. Assorted files and handles are very handy in sharpening. I think we mentioned the 1- and 2-inch belt sanders. In a bug-out situation, I would probably take the little 1-inch belt sander with me, because it’s compact, small, and light. My 2-inch sander, which was made in LA in a school shop, is a very good machine. I like it because it doesn’t burn the steel, but it’s large and rather cumbersome. A machinist’s vice is another nice thing to have for sharpening. Vice grips come in handy when you have to hold something small, like a drill bit or other small blade that you’re sharpening. A drill-sharpener jig is very handy, and these are quite common at swap meets. A bench grinder with a wire wheel and about a 120-grit sharpening metal wheel is handy. Now, how much can you make by doing sharpening? In 15 years, I have found that some things sharpen rather slowly and some things sharpen really quickly and are big money-makers, but your wages will run somewhere between 10 and 20 dollars per hour for your sharpening, which isn’t bad for an old fella or for a person that is out of work and needs something to do to fill his time. Keep prepping! That’s what it’s all about. Remember, this is copyrighted 6/12/14, but SurvivalBlog does have permission to use this.

Scot’s Product Review: SUNFLAIR Solar Oven

I think I’m on to something– solar cooking. I’ve been interested in it for a long time but never got around to doing much about it. Writing for SurvivalBlog gave me an excuse, actually a duty, to check this subject out. I plan to do at least two reviews on solar cookers and hope to do more since there are a variety of them on the market. You can also make your own, and I’ll look into that, too.

Why solar? Well, being able to cook without requiring fuel is huge. Not only can you cook, you can make water safe and dehydrate food for preservation. If you wish, you can work it into your daily life, which is a pretty good idea as you will then be ready to use it, should things go north (I’m Southern, going “South” is GOOD.) What I’m saying here is that if you have a solar cooker, you can store less fuel and gather less firewood. Neat, eh?

There are roughly three types of solar cookers I’ve discovered so far. The panel style, which consists of reflective panels that catch sunlight, may be the most common. They are usually the most economical. They are best used with a glass bowl around a cooking pot, which helps trap the heat so you can get faster cooking. Then, there is the box type solar oven that had a clear cover over a cooking box to help trap and retain heat. There are reflectors that usually fold up that catch more light and heat. Finally, there are parabolic ones that look like satellite dishes covered with mirrors. They focus the light onto the bottom of a pan, and their proponents say they are hot enough to fry with. I haven’t been able to try one yet, but I expect they are right about being able to fry.

One comparison I’ve heard made about the styles of cookers is to consider the parabolic ones the equivalent of a stove-top burner, while the panel and box style ovens are kind of a cross between a crock pot and conventional oven. The temperatures you see in the panel and box styles range from 200 to 350 degrees. For a point of reference, a crock pot usually cooks at 200 degrees on low and 300 degrees on high. Conventional ovens generally go to 500 degrees or higher and usually have a broil setting that is even hotter and browns meat nicely. The inability to brown meat in the panel and box style ovens are a shortcoming, but you can still cook things through and through.

There are, since life is two-edged, some limitations to all this. God doesn’t give us a free lunch, as we don’t deserve it. First, it really helps to keep these things aimed at the sun. That means every thirty minutes or so, one should check them and re-aim. You can aim them at a mid-point and leave it alone, but they will cook faster if you keep aiming it. The less efficient the cooker, the more critical this becomes.

Second, the panel and box oven styles take longer to cook than using a conventional stove. I mentioned crock pot, and you probably know those take longer too. On the other hand, many foods come out far better when cooked in a crock pot, so this trade-off is pretty much a wash.

The real issue, however, is that you have to have sun. Well, duh. Cloudy, rainy days won’t work. With my perfect sense of timing, I started this endeavor while the local weather has featured midday cloudiness followed by thunderstorms. Midday happens to be the peak time of day for solar cooking, so this has been a major bother and has slowed down my testing.

Location does matter with solar cooking. CantinaWest, a solar cooker dealer, has a map that shows the best locations. The main idea is that the farther south you go, the better it gets, though I’ve seen accounts of using them successfully in Canada during the winter. A big key is that the more sun a location gets and the fewer clouds, the happier you will be. I would bet that a northern desert would be better than a southern rain forest. That makes me, for once, jealous of my friends who live in the desert.

Although midday is the prime time to gather sun, I discovered that it is very smart to get the cooker out early. Preheating, just as with a regular oven, helps cooking. I got a lot more heat at 9 AM in my location than I expected and by waiting until 10 AM, I lost a lot of cooking time. I finally figured out that it worked best to get the oven out at 8 AM and start cooking at 9 AM. This also helped me beat the midday cloudiness and early afternoon thunderstorms that have been plaguing me.

As with any cooking, you have to watch the cooking temperatures. Foods must reach a certain temperature to be safe to eat; the temperature varies from food to food. I decided I needed a thermometer to measure what was happening to the food inside the oven. Since opening and closing them makes you lose the precious heat your cooker has collected, I found one that has a probe on a wire, so the delicate LCD display could stay outside while the probe is on the inside stuck in the food.

There is also the matter of a safe cooking temperature. If the temperature in the oven were to dip too low, bad things could start growing. I am very paranoid about food poisoning and like to keep the temperature in the oven above 200 degrees when cooking meat. It should be perfectly safe to dip a bit lower, but I want it to cook quickly enough to be sure nothing can spoil. This obviously means you have to pay attention to your oven and requires that you have a thermometer in the cooking area as well as one measuring the temperature of what is being cooked.

The first cooker I got my hands on was the SUNFLAIR Solar Oven. It is available in two versions, the $140 one I tested and a $100 version that has fewer accessories.

When I opened the box the SUNFLAIR folks were kind enough to send me, I was really surprised at how compact and light the oven is. It is made of a material that is similar to the sunshades you can buy for your car’s windshield. It is shiny aluminum on one side and covered with a sturdy green fabric on the other. It has a layer of insulation in between the two sides. The oven itself folds up into a 2? x 15.5? x 19? package that slips into a carrying bag. There is a sturdy clear plastic panel that zips shut to hold the heat in when you refold the oven into its cooking form.

You also get two racks, two flat pans, a thermometer for the cooking area, along with three pots. One of the pots is a steel Granite Ware 3-lb. roaster with lid, which should hold a chicken. The others are made of silicone, and what’s very neat about them is that they fold flat. They are smaller but big enough to be useful.

The silicone pots will hold a quart, but that makes them very full. Remember that they fold and you can accidentally fold them with food in them, so be careful. The lids fit reasonably tight. The Granite Ware one will hold two quarts with a bit of space to help avoid spills. The oven will hold two of the silicone pots and one of the Granite Ware.

The cooking thermometer is very helpfully marked in zones, indicating the temperatures for safe cooking, water pasteurization, holding food warm, and the temperatures where food can go bad.

They also sent me a WAPI, which I’ll write about a little later.

The component weights (in ounces):

  • Oven inside its carrying bag- 20.0
  • Rack- 13.3
  • Pan- 8.0
  • Granite Ware Pot- 21.5
  • Thermometer- 1.5
  • Silicone Pot- 8.0
  • WAPI- 0.3

My first thought was how great this would be for backpacking or camping. I would leave the steel pot behind for hiking, mainly because of its bulk. The rest of it will fold up quite flat and could easily be bungee corded to a pack. Very slick. I would carry the oven, the rack and pan, two of the silicone pots, the thermometer, and the WAPI for a total of less than four pounds. All of this would fit into the carrying bag, which is 15”x20”x3”.

After messing with it in the house, I took it outside to try. I decided to do something simple for my first effort. I cooked water. Seriously, cooking water has a serious purpose. It kills whatever bad bugs might be lurking, hoping to make you sick. One of the nice things I learned from researching solar ovens is that you only need to hold water at about 160 degrees Fahrenheit to sterilize it. This is called pasteurization (after the inventor of the process, Louis Pasteur). I had thought that water had to be boiled for several minutes, but it turns out the reason they say boil it is to make sure you keep it hot long enough to make it safe. Boiling does that and provides a visual indicator, but you can achieve the deed without boiling. For this, a solar oven works quite well.

How, however, does one make sure you got it hot enough without the telltale bubbles you get from boiling? Well, there is a cool gizmo called a Water Pasteurization Indicator (WAPI.) The SUNFLAIR folks were nice enough to loan me their version of the WAPI. It is a little vial that has wax in it that melts at the correct temperature. Once the wax melts and flows to the other end of the little vial, the water is pasteurized. I do need to point out that it still may not be safe. You have killed the bugs, but there could be chemicals or other things in it that are bad for you. Filtration may still be necessary.

Something I really like about the SUNFLAIR WAPI is that it is attached to a wire with weights on each end. This allows you to easily suspend it in the center of a container of water so you can be sure it reflects the temperature at the core of what you are pasteurizing. You can also make sure the end with the hardened wax is at the top so you can be sure when it has melted and shifted to the other end.

I started using the pots to treat the water, but then settled on canning jars. They aren’t the most efficient for absorbing the sunlight, but they do work, and you can put the WAPI in one and watch for it to melt.

Once I discovered that I could cook water (which may have surprised my wife), I decided to try something else really simple– yellow rice. That’s a staple here. I got a reasonable amount of sun that day (though there were clouds), and it cooked in about three hours. I didn’t do it quite right though. I should have used the flat black pan under the pot. It probably would have cooked a bit faster that way. Nonetheless, it was fine for dinner.

Baked potatoes have been a big hit. On a day with very intermittent sun and some thick thunderheads going by, I managed to get four of them almost done in about five hours. I had to dash to bring the oven in, though, so a thundershower didn’t get it. We finished the potatoes in the microwave with about two minutes of cooking and the consensus was that they were better than ones that were cooked completely in the microwave and possibly better than oven cooked. My wife, who is a seriously good cook and appreciates food a lot more than I do (it’s just fuel, right?) pronounced them quite fine and really liked how fluffy they were.

On another day, which also had a lot of clouds interrupting the sun but no thunderstorm, I managed to completely cook four potatoes in about seven hours. If I could just get a day with continuous sun, I am sure they would cook completely in far less time. Again, they were much nicer than microwaved potatoes.

I also cooked carrots and turkey breasts in the oven. By starting early, I managed to raise two breasts to 189 degrees in two hours. This is well above the safe cooking temperature for turkey. They were in the Granite Ware pot and came out moist and tasty, having cooked in their own juices. The carrots, surprising to me, took a couple of hours longer, but I cooked them in one of the silicone pots, and I don’t think they are as efficient as the metal Granite Ware ones.

I wasn’t very happy with macaroni and cheese, but a common complaint about solar ovens is how hard it is to cook pasta. I’m going to keep trying as some insist it can be done and done well. My first effort produced a kind of pasty goo. My son rejected it, though I had it for dinner and the chickens loved the leftovers. I’ll report back if I manage more success.

I aimed the SUNFLAIR by its shadow. It has two flaps that stick out from the sides, and by keeping their shadows even it seemed to keep it aimed. I also tilted it back a bit when the sun was high at midday. You have to be careful when you do this as you can tip things over inside the oven. Keeping it aimed helped keep the oven temperature higher and more consistent.

The highest temperatures I saw inside were around 275 degrees, but it was very hard to keep it that hot. It was more commonly a bit over 200 degrees, which puts you at crock pot temperatures at the low setting.

SUNFLAIR says that crock pot and Dutch oven recipes adapt well to solar cooking. I found that to be true. It’s great for stews, which my family enjoys, though my son says not to put peas in it. Sigh. If you do add vegetables over the protests of the children, add them later as they take less time to cook. The Granite Wear pots stack, so if you get an extra, you can cook the peas separately and the adults can add them to their servings, so everyone is happy.

I was very surprised at how much moisture is released in cooking. You can see it as it condenses on the inside of the clear cover. Solar Flair suggests slipping your hand in and wiping it off with a rag. I think this helps keep the temperature inside higher. Although opening the cover does release some of the trapped heat, I think the moisture is blocking the sunlight, so the tradeoff is worth it.

Wind is a problem. This cooker somewhat resembles a sail. I only had it blown over once, but I was using it in a fairly sheltered area away from wind. SUNFLAIR suggests using rocks to weight it down, and that’s a good idea. It also occurred to me that rocks might help retain heat when a cloud passes over the sun. I would probably wrap them in something to protect the oven, as they might abrade or damage it. I also suspect that wind could lower cooking temperatures.

I’m not sure about operational security with a solar oven. They reflect light. I think that you can reduce how visible they are to people at ground level by being careful. If you use it inside a fenced area or in a clearing surrounded by trees and bushes, it would help. If someone is above you, however, there will be angles from which it is highly visible. You have to consider what you are dealing with.

After spending some time with this, I want it for several reasons. First, it is fun to use. Second, it is going to be a hit with my Scouting community. Third, it is a way to help my family, should there be a disaster. It would reduce the amount of fuel we need to store, and it means we can purify water from the lake we live on. We can carry it with us if we ever had to evacuate on foot. If we leave by car, it takes up very little room, so we can carry more supplies.

I did a lot of research on solar cooking, and some of the websites I found useful are:

– SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor, Scot Frank Erie

Recipe of the Week: Leftover Chili, by L.H.

Let’s face it, one cannot make a small batch of chili. There are always leftovers. Here are some ideas for recycling your favorite chili recipe into a whole new meal that your family will enjoy.

Chili Waffles– Prepare your favorite cornbread mix or recipe, adding 1 tbs. cooking oil to the mixture. Pour onto waffle iron and cook till crispy and done. Serve waffles topped with hot chili and shredded cheese.

Chili Cornbread Casserole – Heat chili to boiling, then carefully transfer to casserole dish. Top with your favorite cornbread mix or recipe, spreading all over to cover. Bake according to cornbread directions.

Cincinnati Chili – Serve heated chili atop cooked spaghetti, and sprinkle with shredded cheese and chopped onions if desired.

Chili Size – Prepare one hamburger patty and one slice toasted Texas toast per serving. On each plate place a patty atop a toast and smother with chili.

Chili with Cornbread Dumplings – Mix one box (8.5 oz.) Jiffy brand Corn Muffin Mix with 1 egg and ¼ c. water. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into boiling chili. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10-15 minutes.

Chili Dog Burritos – Wrap hot dogs (along with some shredded cheese, hot peppers etc., optional) in taco-sized (small) flour tortillas. Place in greased casserole dish and smother with chili. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or till hot and bubbly.

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

Two Letters Re: Two Thousand Miles Into the American Redoubt

Hello!

Seeing that title I was very interested in reading the author’s take on the area. I’ve lived here six years and visited often before that. I like his suggestions of places to live. But, I hope he makes another trip in the dead of winter before he decides where to locate. Some of those places have extremely harsh winters, and some do not. Some roads are plowed regularly, and some are not. So, it is good to linger and get to talking with folks. Does the author have a good truck with a snow plow on the front? Is he prepared to chop 12+ cords of firewood per year? We have found that many families, after locating in the redoubt, have relocated within five years to a different home more to their liking. He’s on the right track, just make sure before signing on the dotted line! – J.D.

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HJL,

I have been an avid reader for several years now. My wife and I had our awakening a few years ago after meeting what would become a lifer of a friend. We had a cozy little plot (1/2 acre) of land near the north coast of Oregon and had dreams of retiring there. When the realization hit us that our place was not defendable and did not have the resources to sustain us, we yanked ourselves out of the comfort zone and started looking.

We determined that the American Redoubt was the only choice of locations and started looking for work there. Our prayers were for the way to be paved. We just about got run over by the paving equipment! We are now more than a year relocated to a wonderful area within the Redoubt, have good work, and own 40+ acres with water, timber, pasture, and no restrictions on their use. In Oregon we had a year-round creek on the back of our property that we could not use for hydro, fishing, or irrigation. Our current location provides us with inherited water, timber, and mineral rights.

My point in writing today is to caution those looking for locations in eastern Washington and Oregon. I am familiar with several of the locations listed in the referenced article; they are still governed by areas west of the Cascades and by very statist mindsets. Until such time as the Redoubt could claim some sort of independent government, there will be watchful eyes on all but the most remote areas. We moved for the reasons listed above and to stop paying taxes to states that we felt did not well represent our views.

I know this is a balancing act for everyone; it’s too late to fix things and too early to fight them. We have found good community and good people all around us. Godspeed in each of your own efforts. – NWD