Rampant Recycling Fraud is Draining California Cash
C.D.V. suggested: FAQ for Hyperinflation Skeptics
Food Stamp Nation: What a Modern Day Bread Line Looks Like (Infographic)
Items from The Economatrix:
DeMark Sees S&P 500 Index Peaking ~1,480 Before Tumble
Fed Calls Economic Growth “Moderate” While Maintaining Bond Buying
Homes Sales Rising to Two-Year High Spur U.S. Growth
Euro-Area Recession Deepens as Manufacturing Shrinks Economy
G.G. flagged this article at Popular Science: Where Will The Next Pandemic Come From? And How Can We Stop It?
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Wade J. mentioned an interesting approach to dog training.
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F.G. sent: War Horses Fade Into History While Bayonets Still Linger
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Ron M. sent this: Homegrown revolution — Gardeners expand to tackle Alaska’s food insecurity
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H.L. mentioned this over at the excellent SHTFPlan blog: Murder, Rape, Robbery and Assault Skyrocket In Bankrupt Stockton, California. (Don’t miss the fascinating comments that follow, mentioning militias and one sobering prospect for gated communities.)
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.” – Revelation 13:11-18 (KJV)
Please pray for those who end up in the path of Hurricane Sandy when it makes landfall. It looks like it may be a bad one.
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October 27th is the birthday of Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (born 1858, died January 6, 1919). He was the 26th U.S. President (1901–1909).
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Today we present another entry for Round 43 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A $200 gift certificate, donated by Shelf Reliance.
Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, E.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).
Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) 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, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.
Round 43 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.
It is human nature to approach preparedness according to gaps that we see in our plans. Most of us make checklists (see List of Lists), have 72 hour bags (BOB), and cover the three B’s (Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids). We rotate food and water, learn new skills, and do anything we can to bridge the gap between our perceived lack of preparedness and what we consider as “sufficiently prepared”. We may get so caught up in building bunkers and buying bullets that we operate in an “out of sight, out of mind” mode. Sure, we should prepare for four-legged and two-legged predators, but what about our unseen enemies? I’m not talking conspiracy theories here, but about microbes. These microscopic enemies can penetrate your defenses and strike your entire group before you have time to formulate a response.
We’ve had several wonderful articles about bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites, but I thought it would be helpful to condense some of the information I have gathered and offer some advice on how to create a defensive strategy against our smallest enemies- a Pathogen Protection Plan (PPP), if you will. I will do my best to keep this basic. I usually have to scroll up and down on articles with lots of terms and acronyms, so I’ll try to keep it short and memorable. Get a pencil, just in case.
To help break up some of the cloud surrounding the microscopic world, let me give a little more background. We will get to the interesting part soon, I promise. Scientists use a classification system to identify organisms, using what’s called binomial nomenclature to assign them a two-part name. Humans are Homo sapiens, and the horrible antibiotic-resistant bacteria we call MRSA is actually Staphylococcus aureus. If these names are used at all in common parlance, they are often shortened. Staphylococcus becomes Staph or just S. Due to advances in genetic research, sometimes the names change as scientists discover that something they thought was similar to something else actually wasn’t. Enterobacter sakazakii (E. sak), a dangerous microbe in the infant formula industry, was recently renamed Chronobacter sakazakii. Different name, same bacteria. It’s confusing, but you won’t need to worry too much about that.
For the purposes of this article, let’s refer to all of the above named disease-causing organisms as Pathogens (Greek- producers of suffering). They all have their differences, but we can group them together as Pathogens because they have one big thing in common- you. The earth is filled with an unbelievable number of microscopic organisms, but most of them don’t thrive inside the human body. You’d be shocked to know how many viruses are in a milliliter of seawater, yet it’s unlikely you would get sick from any of them. Our focus in creating a Pathogen Protection Plan (PPP) is not to create a living space devoid of microbes, but to reduce the chances of exposing ourselves to the dangerous microbes. Some pathogens are easier to kill than others. Most things are killed with an alcohol or bleach solution, but spore-forming microbes must be treated more harshly, typically with high heat methods.
Let’s start our PPP with the most basic of needs – water. We know that a water filter is necessary to prevent gastroenteritis caused by Giardia lamblia or Cryptosporidium cysts. Ceramic filters (the best on the market) have pore sizes down to 0.3 micrometers (or microns), but they are ineffective against Hepatitis A virus (often found in tainted water), with a size of 0.028 microns (approximately 1/10th of the pore size). I don’t know offhand if silver impregnated filters are rated to “kill” viruses (viruses aren’t technically alive)-most filters say that they prevent growth of microbes when not in use. Using unscented bleach to treat water takes the guesswork out of it.
The next item would be food. Most of us are familiar with using a pressure canner to kill C. botulinum spores. In the food industry, a concept known as HACCP is used to identify and minimize risks associated with ingredients that are likely to be contaminated. HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, and is a system originally developed for NASA’s space food. In the home, we are taught to cook food according to a dumbed-down version of HACCP. No mixing vegetables and raw chicken, wash your veggies, wash your hands- things like that. HACCP gives us a more organized approach to preparing hazardous food (raw chicken, etc) that is easy to teach through SOP’s (you do have SOP’s for your group, right?). Let’s go through the seven principles of HACCP:
1. Conduct a Hazard Analysis- What is in the area that can contaminate the food? Raw meat, engine coolant, and metal shavings are all possible hazards. Identify anything that could harm you if it made it into your meal.
2. Identify Critical Control Points- What can be done to reduce/eliminate the hazard, and at what step should you do it? Is all of your meat fresh? Do you refrigerate it? Do you cook meat all the way through?
3. Establish limits for CCPs- How bad does the hazard have to be before you give up and start over? Is that chicken fresh? If not, does it smell “off”? If the dog won’t eat it, it might not be safe, even after you cook it. How long can the fridge be above normal temp before you consider the food inside “no good”?
4. Monitoring CCPs- How can you tell that the CCP is working? Do you have a thermometer in the fridge? You should! If you like meat pink, do you check the temperature? Temperature is the easiest way to monitor after TEOTWAWKI. Glass thermometers are plentiful online. Some laboratories change them yearly to maintain calibrations. That’s how I get mine.
5. Corrective Actions- What will you do if your CCP limits are not met?
6. Verify- Check that the system is working properly. The best way to do this is to have someone else prepare a hazardous meal following your SOP word for word. If you are skeptical of the result, you have some work to do!
7. Establish record-keeping procedures- You should have records like garden logs, weather events, and vehicle maintenance already. When you use an ingredient that smells or looks odd, you should write it down somewhere. If someone gets sick, write it down! Tracking what you ate will help you identify latent food allergies (some people get migraines from certain foods) as well as problems associated with the food (was your home-grown chicken diseased?). You don’t need to keep industrial logs- 100 kilos of x ingredient and 200 kilos of x product. You might have something like that for inventory maintenance, but it’s not going to do much good for a Pathogen Protection Plan.
Not everything about a HACCP plan is tied to chickens. Potato salad is often the cause of a bad day. Potatoes contain Bacillus cereus spores, which activate upon cooking and grow if the salad is not kept cool. The toxins they emit can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
In a situation without medical assistance, we can convert a pressure canner to act as a sterilizer for medical equipment. There are sterilizers for sale that are designed for use on a stovetop. Quality examples can be had at AllAmericanCanner.com. If TEOTWAWKI comes and you don’t have a sterilizer, adding an anti-siphon tube to the vent stack will allow you to use it to sterilize surgical equipment and dressings if you’re really in a pinch. An anti-siphon tube is a tube typically installed on pressurized gas tanks (most often CO2) that are stored horizontally. The tube prevents liquid from coming out of the pressurized tank when we want the gas. A quick image search will give you a diagram of what I am talking about. We want the tube opening just above the surface of the water. The reason for a siphon tube is that hot, dry air is a poor sterilizer, while hot steam is a great sterilizer. Because steam is lighter than air it will move to the top of the pressure canner and exhaust out, leaving the air untouched. The tube forces the air to move out of the canner first, leaving the steam behind to effectively sterilize items. To remove the guesswork of a DIY system, buy a stovetop sterilizer .
A standard sterilizer cycle is 121*C (which translates to approximately 18 psi on the gauge) for 15 minutes. Pressure canners typically have a max safe operating pressure of 15psi, so it would be wise to process items for at least 30 minutes. Because the stovetop varieties lack the special purge cycles of larger, modern steam sterilization equipment (autoclave), processing time is lengthened beyond the standard 15 minute cycle. Follow the directions. A supply of sterilizing pouches will allow you to sterilize medical equipment and bulk surgical dressings for storage and emergency use. This way you won’t have to run a 30 minute cycle while someone is waiting for you to pull a bullet out. Typical prices I have seen for the larger pouches are $15 for a pack of 200. That’s 200 sterile cotton bandages you could make and store, just with a bolt of cotton or muslin cloth and a pack of pouches. Put a date on these and rotate them every other year or so (again, follow the directions). If you lay in a couple hundred dollars worth of supplies, you could have a booming SHTF business bartering sterile dressings and the like. I would not advise bartering your bandages if you are using a DIY sterilizer. You’re responsible for the product you market, even after a collapse. Repackage and re-sterilize if the pouch is damaged in any way.
Another great thing about sterilizing pouches is that they have chemical indicators to let you know if sterilizing conditions were met when processed. Keep in mind when sterilizing to not crowd your equipment. You need ample room in the pouches and around loose items to allow the steam to circulate and contact the items. You can’t cram the pouch full of metal instruments and expect them to come out sterile! Do not put soiled items into the sterilizer! Clean and disinfect them first with soap and water, then a soak in a bleach solution. Sterilize after rinsing with clean water. I must reiterate that this is only for a worst-case scenario. Don’t practice medicine without a license. Having said that, it is not illegal to prepare for an emergency in which you are unlikely to have access to professional medical care. As always, something is better than nothing.
So you have clean water, safe food, and sterile medical equipment after the collapse, but you still have to worry about communicable (contagious) diseases. Once you’re in your permanent location, your PPP must include methods for isolating, controlling, and removing pathogens carried by people or objects. This may mean a “sick room” for a person who has diarrhea (you don’t know what’s causing it), with a plan for sanitizing the living quarters afterwards. How will you handle the waste? How will you sanitize the bedding, clothing, and other items that won’t fit or you don’t want to put in the sterilizer? A simple way to sanitize the room would be to use a hand-pump garden sprayer with a bleach solution. We use these at work to sanitize floors. It’s 20 to 30 times faster than mopping with a sanitizer. Make sure what you’re spraying won’t eat the floor if you spray it and let it dry. Some quaternary ammonia solutions dissolve floor wax and make it gummy. Epoxy floors are about the best I have found for chemical resistance.
You must have a plan to deal with all possible contaminants. How will you treat someone in your group that has contracted a blood-borne pathogen (Hepatitis B,C) just before the collapse? What will you do with surgical instruments that get covered in their blood? What will you do with your clothes that are now covered in their blood? How will you clean the room to prevent other patients from contracting the disease? How will you prevent yourself from contracting the disease? You must create a method for dealing with these scenarios. Although disposable items are not ideal, they are a quick and easy solution. Gloves are almost entirely necessary. Although more expensive, nitrile gloves are hypoallergenic and more resistant to puncture. Don’t buy these from big-box stores. Nitrile gloves made for medical or laboratory applications are thick, while consumer-grade nitrile gloves are very thin and tear easily. Surgical masks are also a must if your group plans to conduct surgery post-collapse (I’m assuming you have someone who is trained and competent). One word of wisdom on surgical masks- the blue masks you see on television shows will not protect you from a sick person. Look at who is wearing them in the OR. Not the patient. They are designed to catch aerosols created from talking, coughing, and sneezing. They will only protect you if the infected person is wearing them, not the other way around. The easy rule of thumb is that if it doesn’t form an airtight seal, it doesn’t protect you from the environment.
Another angle to consider is combat. What happens if an enemy punches through the perimeter, is killed, and now you have to dispose of the body? What precautions will you take to be sure you don’t catch something he may have? Although it seems paranoid, I feel the best course of action for a group in a fortified location is to treat all outsiders as though they are contagious. That means full coveralls, respirators, dedicated shoes, and dedicated shovels and equipment, all of which will either be kept in a designated area outside the main living quarters and away from food storage and preparation areas, or sanitized/destroyed by flame or other sufficient, non-destructive processes. If your group adopts this method, it would be wise to designate only two people to do the disposing in order to limit the quantity of disposable/dedicated items required. More than two people would make things faster, but the waste of protective materials increases. It is easier (and cheaper) to use only two sets for the entire excursion, then dispose of them.
In order for a PPP to work effectively, all of your group members must have a general understanding of aseptic technique. Let’s skip the classical definition. This means, generally, that there is a hierarchy of cleanliness. I would set it up as follows:
1- Sterile – Item contains no pathogens or other foreign materials that can cause illness. Example use -extensive surgery, dressings for 3rd degree burns.
2- Sanitary – Item has been treated with a chemical or other process that makes it unlikely to carry pathogens. Example use- minor wounds (stitching, minor burns)
3- Clean – Item has been cleaned to remove soil and possibly sanitized at some point. It has been stored in a place where it is unlikely to come in contact with pathogens. Example use- food preparation (no raw meat or eggs) and consumption.
4- Unsanitary- Item is stored in an area thought to contain pathogens, or is used in handling objects that may contain pathogens. Example use – gardening, preparing raw meat/eggs. NOTE: Although a garden shovel and an egg whisk are on two opposite ends of a traditional “dirty” spectrum and would not be used for the opposite task, we are only focusing on microbes that will certainly cause illness. A compost-laden garden is unlikely to make you sick, even if you eat some of the dirt (I don’t advise it).
5- Contaminated- Item is known to be used for cleaning or removing infected materials, and/or is stored in a place with other contaminated items. Example use – burying dead outsiders, digging cat holes, sanitizing a quarantine area.
The general purpose of aseptic technique, for our discussion, is to prevent transferring a pathogen from a known or possibly contaminated object or area to an area that is unlikely to be contaminated. This means that items higher on the list cannot be used for a task lower on the list and then re-used for an item above the first task. If you were to use a Class 1 (sterile) item to perform a Class 3 task, you could not use the same Class 1 item for a Class 1 or 2 task without proper treatment of the item (sterilization in this case). I find it easier to change the classes to colors, a la, white, yellow, blue, green, black, respectively. This way, you can turn it into a game of “tag”, where when an item of one color “tags” an item of another color, the item higher on the list changes to the other color. Whatever system works for you is best.
Hopefully this article has given you some tools to develop a plan for minimizing your risks associated with disease-causing microbes. Stay safe, stay healthy!!
Disclaimer: Do not perform medical procedures on yourself or others while you have access to professional medical care! It is illegal in the US to practice medicine without a license. The views expressed are not those of a medical professional. You are solely responsible for the consequences of using any information contained herein.
About The Author: J.R.M. has Bachelor’s Degree in Biology/Microbiology, and several years of experience working with microbes in a laboratory environment.
James:
Huey F. makes some excellent points in his article. I would just like to add the caveat that not everyone who claims to be a Christian really is one. We have been burned twice in the last several years by people who we thought were Christian brothers and sisters who turned out to be wolves in sheep’s clothing. Due diligence is necessary, especially if you’re going to be living with someone. Just because a mouse is in the cookie jar, it doesn’t make him a cookie. And thanks, JWR, for all you do. Sincerely, – Barbara in Tennessee
G.G. suggested this: Fed considers upping QE3 size and language
The ultimate tangible? Here is an asset that isn’t “created” by a Federal Reserve and US Treasury collusion: Iowa Farmland Sets Sales Price Record. (Thanks to Dan T. for the link.)
Jim Rickards – Currency Wars Simulation. (Thanks to Rick A. for the link.)
J.B.G. sent this news item: Bundesbank slashed London gold holdings in mystery move
Items from The Economatrix:
Fabian Calvo: Massive Foreclosures After Election
Storing Spare Radio Gear – Preparing for Long Term Storage
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Geoff S. was the first of several readers to send this: Big Brother’s New Toy: An EMP Cruise Missile
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Reader Denise G. wrote to mention that it in some states it is illegal to fail to report to arresting police officers that you are carrying a concealed handcuff key. In Florida it is a felony!
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Instructables gets practical: Firearms for Catastrophic Disasters
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Law Enforcement Looking To Create A Searchable Database Of Everywhere Your Vehicle Has Been.
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” – Ecclesiastes 9:10 (KJV)
Today is the birthday of Robert D. Maxwell, another one of America’s few living recipients of the Medal of Honor. He was born October 26, 1920.
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Today we present another entry for Round 43 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A $200 gift certificate, donated by Shelf Reliance.
Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, E.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).
Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) 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, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.
Round 43 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.
When I think of Dutch Oven cooking I usually have visions of campfires and Scout Camp, of apple cobbler and savory stews. But as I further my preparations for TEOTWAWKI I realize that I want my Dutch ovens at my retreat.
Any heavy pot with lid can be used and called a Dutch oven. But when I say Dutch oven I am referring to the three legged cast iron (or aluminum) covered pot that is normally used outdoors.
Much of the information I give you is basic and you may wish to explore these topics in depth. One of the best sources of information would be your state’s Dutch Oven Society. There you can find classes, recipes and knowledgeable people.
My first introduction to the outdoor art of Dutch oven cooking was at a Boy Scout Leader Introduction to Outdoor Skills class.
The aromas coming from the cooking fires on that autumn morning are still in my memory.
I purchased my first Dutch oven soon after returning home from that training weekend. Years later my collection has grown to fourteen Dutch ovens and now I usually teach that class at the training once or twice a year.
Not only does food taste better cooked outdoors, it tastes better yet when cooked in a good quality Dutch oven.
Let me help you avoid some mistakes and perhaps some disappointments in buying and using a Dutch oven.
As I said earlier, I definitely want Dutch ovens at my retreat. You can bake bread, pies, cakes, and biscuits. You can make stews, casseroles, and other dishes. A Dutch oven can act as a type of pressure cooker to tenderize tougher meats.
Buying Your Dutch Oven
Like any tool, quality counts!
If I could have only one Dutch oven I would buy a quality, name brand, twelve inch cast iron, three legged oven with a rimmed lid. By rimmed lid I mean a mostly flat lid that has a raised rim around the edge. This rim helps to hold coals during the cooking process. FYI, some Dutch ovens have a domed lid, some with points on the inside which helps in self-basting. While these have their place and use, I would stick with the campfire style oven.
There are many brands of ovens on the market. The most common is probably Lodge. They are US made and excellent quality. My first oven was a Lodge.
Camp Chef also offers ovens in a variety of sizes and styles. I believe that they are now all Chinese made. I do have some and like them very much.
Cabela’s offers Dutch ovens under their own name. Like everything from Cabela’s, they are great. Also they have one of the best Customer Service Departments anywhere.
There are other brands out there, some custom made, and some junk. I have one of those junkers and use it fairly often. It just doesn’t cook evenly or retain its finish. It is however expendable and that matters when teaching Boy Scouts how to cook in one.
You should be able to purchase a good quality twelve inch Dutch oven for less than $80 USD. It would be frugal of you to pick it up at the store if you can versus having it shipped, as they are quite heavy.
Your New Dutch Oven
After you have unpacked your Dutch oven you will notice one of two things:
If the former, all you need to do before using is to wash it, as it is already seasoned. More and more ovens are coming seasoned from the manufacturer. NEVER USE SOAP ON A SEASONED DUTCH OVEN! I suggest you use warm water and baking soda. Rinse with hot water, wipe out with a paper towel, and let air dry.
Once your oven is clean you may use it, or put away for later use. If it is going to be several days before you use it, or you live in a humid area, I suggest you oil it. You may use any good grade vegetable oil. I prefer olive oil spray like Pam. Lightly oil the oven and lid inside and out. Take a clean paper towel and make sure the entire oven is covered, removing excess oil.
Store your oven with the lid ajar or the oven setting on the lid in a dry area. Many manufacturers also make storage bags for their ovens.
If your oven looks like raw metal then it probably has not been seasoned. Many of the lower end ovens are raw. Also many people prefer to season their ovens themselves.
Seasoning a New Dutch Oven
Seasoning is basically taking oil and baking it onto the metal giving it a slick (almost Teflon-like) finish (patina).
Wash your Dutch oven with HOT soapy water. Okay I know I said to never use soap on your oven, but yours is not seasoned yet. Soap will remove the patina on your seasoned oven and will leave a soapy taste in food.
Scrub your oven thoroughly with a plastic scrubber. Wash it inside and out. You need to remove the oils used in manufacturing and those used in protecting from rust during transit.
Rinse well with copious amounts of hot water. I will fill my oven with water and place it on the stove bringing it to a slow boil. Drain your oven, towel dry with paper towels (I always use paper towels with my ovens to avoid previous odors including fabric softeners on dish towels). If the water was hot enough the remaining water will soon evaporate.
With the oven still warm lightly coat your oven with a quality pure vegetable shortening like Crisco. Make sure the oven and lid are thoroughly covered inside and out.
Place the Dutch oven upside down on a rack in the kitchen oven. Place the lid right side up on a rack. (Place foil under the oven to catch dripping oil). Bake your oven at 350 degrees F for at least an hour or until smoke quits coming off the Dutch oven. I usually try to do this when my wife is away from the house. I also try to open a window or two to help eliminate the aroma and smoke.
You can also do this outside on your gas fired grill, although I don’t personally think it does as good a job.
Cleaning
One of the secrets of Dutch oven cooking is to keep your oven very clean.
Some people will line their ovens with ready made foil liners, parchment liners or aluminum foil. I too sometimes use these items, but usually only when I am making a desert with a lot of sugar which tends to burn onto the bottom of the oven. Using liners does help in the cleanup, but it does change the taste of many foods.
After using your oven scrape out any remaining food. I always use wooden or plastic utensils to avoid digging into the patina. Using a plastic scrapper is very handy at this point. Remove as much food as possible.
Wipe the oven with a clean paper towel, adding a little warm water as necessary. Wash the oven with another paper towel and warm water. DO NOT USE SOAP AND DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE ELSE TO DO SO EITHER!!!
You can use a plastic scrubber if there is a spot or two that needs extra cleaning. Sometimes I will use table salt to scrub the oven. Make sure that you rinse it very well as the salt will corrode the oven.
Rinse well with hot water, wipe out with paper towels, and oil with a high quality vegetable oil (again I prefer spray olive oil).
Note on storing: If you use too much oil on your oven it will thicken as lighter materials evaporate leaving a gummy mess. The oil will also turn rancid (although that doesn’t really hurt anything). This is why I use the olive oil cooking spray. It leaves a thinner coating of oil.
When you heat your oven for use the rancid oil will cook off enhancing the patina.
Refurbishing
Sometimes you may put your oven away with moisture inside and it will rust. If it is very minor just scour it with a plastic scouring pad or table salt and a paper towel. Rinse, dry well, oil and use or properly store.
A friend of mine once brought me a beautiful fourteen inch Dutch oven that he had been storing in an outbuilding. The roof must have leaked and filled the oven with water. The outside was perfect but the inside totally rusted.
There are several ways to treat this, but my method was to get a plastic pan large enough to put the oven in. Then I filled the oven with Classic Coca-Cola. In about two days it was totally clean. I washed it in hot water, dried it well and treated it as a new raw oven.
Storage
Storage is particularly important, especially in a humid environment. Always make sure the oven is clean, dry and oiled. Store with the lid askew or separate from the oven. Storage bags are helpful.
I take 3-4 pieces of electrical wire about four inches long. I bend them first in a “U” shape. Then I take one leg of the U and make a second bend about halfway down, at 90 degrees out. I place these over the rim of the oven with the straight part inside. Then I place the lid on, place in the bag and store. This keeps the lid from settling in and making a seal, trapping moisture.
I also will place a folded paper towel in the oven to absorb moisture and/or excess oil.
Aluminum Dutch Ovens
I have not mentioned anything up till now about aluminum Dutch Ovens. Some people do not care for them, but I feel that they have a place in Dutch oven cooking.
There are several manufacturers who make aluminum ovens, including GSI and Camp Chef.
Warning! Do not preheat an empty aluminum Dutch oven with the lid on. It can weld shut, destroying your oven.
Some advantages to aluminum ovens are the lesser weight, faster heat-up, and ease of cleaning.
Just wash your aluminum oven like any pan, in hot soapy water.
Also you do not need to season your aluminum oven although you may if you wish. If you do then treat it like cast iron and do not use soap in it.
I have taken one of my aluminum Dutch ovens backpacking…try that with a cast iron oven!
Using Your Dutch Oven
You can use your Dutch oven in a variety of ways.
It can be used for browning meats and for frying. This is a good time to mention that the lid is slightly curved. If you invert it and place in on some coals, top down, it becomes a shallow skillet. I usually place 3-4 small dry stones under to make it level. Do not use wet rocks, especially from a creek bed or lake as the water inside the rock may turn to steam while in the coals and explode.
The oven may be used like a kettle, even suspended by the handle over a fire, to heat water, cook soups or stews or any other use a kettle might have.
And finally it can be used to bake.
The main difference in cooking and baking is how you use the coals. For this point of instruction we will speak of charcoal briquettes.
A simple way to figure how many briquettes needed is to take the diameter of the oven, multiply by two, and then divide by three. To cook put two thirds of the coals beneath the oven and one third on top. To bake put two thirds on top and one third beneath.
Here is an example:
You have a twelve inch Dutch oven. You want to bake a cobbler. Twelve inches times two is twenty four briquettes. Divide the twenty four briquettes in thirds, or three piles of eight. You want to bake and so you want most of the heat on top. Take two of the three piles and place on top evenly, including around the rim. Evenly place the remaining pile of eight briquettes under the oven.
By following this formula the interior temperature of the oven should be close to 350 degrees F. Of course that can fluctuate because of ambient temperature, wind, and ground moisture and temperature.
You can adjust the temperature 25 degrees by adding or subtracting one coal top and bottom.
When baking, I usually rotate the lid 45 degrees clockwise and the kettle 45 degrees counter clockwise every fifteen minutes to ensure more consistent heating and to avoid hotspots. Try not to lift the lid when rotating to avoid letting steam escape. Otherwise your food may dry out. It is actually the steam that cooks the food.
In a TEOTWAWKI situation or just for economy you may use coals from a fire. I will get a campfire going well, add larger logs and allow them to burn down to coals. Then using a small shovel place the coals on and under the oven. Usually they will not burn as long as charcoal and so you will need to keep replenishing them.
If you are using two or more ovens at the same time you can save charcoal and space by stacking the ovens, one atop the other. Place the largest oven on the ground with the next larger and so on. Usually 3-4 ovens are as high as I go. You must have level, firm ground to do this.
You are using the top coals of the lowest oven as the bottom coals on the second oven and on and on…
Accessories
There are many accessories that make using a Dutch oven easier or more convenient.
Probably the most important tool needed is a lid lifter. These are sometimes included with your oven. Basically they are a piece of heavy wire bent to a shape handy to slip under the handle of the oven’s lid. With it you can lift the lid off the oven with the coals still on top. That way you can add seasonings, stir, or just check on the food.
Usually the lifter can also be used to move the oven such as rotating on the coals, or moving to the table to serve.
Some people prefer tongs or pliers such as Channel locks to lift lids and move the oven.
Next most important tool in your Dutch oven toolbox would be a part of long tongs. I use them mainly to arrange the coals on top of the lid. They can also be used to turn meat while browning or to serve.
Another useful tool, if you are using charcoal is a charcoal chimney. This is a sheet metal tube used to “start” charcoal burning. This is done by placing charcoal in the top of the chimney, adding a sheet or two of crumpled newspaper in the bottom and setting the paper on fire. In about 15-20 minutes you will have nice red coals.
A lid rack or rest is nice when you are cooking outside and need to remove the lid for a moment. These are just a rack made of bended rod that keeps your lid (and coals) off the ground.
The final tool I wish to mention is a Dutch oven table. This is a steel table with removable legs and a windscreen. This allows you to cook at a level that requires less bending, and keeps the danger of fire at a minimum.
Finis
As I think of the prospect of life after TEOTWAWKI I can’t help but think that feeding ourselves could be a major event each day. With a Dutch oven or two and some experience before hand using it, I expect we will take a lot of the work and worry out of preparing meals. Furthermore, we will be more likely to enjoy baked breads and sweets.
Dutch oven cooking, now before hard and desperate times, can be fun and delicious. Don’t wait until disaster hits to enjoy a wonderful outdoor cooking skill.
Bonus Recipe
As a bonus I am going to include my own favorite dessert recipe…Pineapple Upside-down cake.
Ingredients:
One can drained Pineapple rings (save the liquid)
One can crushed Pineapple
About one cup Brown Sugar
One yellow Cake mix (or the dry ingredients for one)
One stick Butter
Maraschino Cherries (optional)
For ease of cleanup line your Dutch Oven with foil or Parchment liner
This recipe is sized for a 12” Dutch Oven
Instructions:
Place your lined Dutch Oven on 12 coals. Allow to heat for a few moments.
Place the stick of butter in the Dutch Oven to melt.
When the butter is melted arrange the drained Pineapple rings in the bottom the Dutch Oven.
If you are using the Cherries place them in the center of the Pineapple rings (color and flavor).
Sprinkle the brown sugar over the Pineapple rings and cherries.
Empty the cake mix into a bowl and add the crushed Pineapple.
Add enough of the saved juice from the rings to make a batter.
Pour the batter over the rings cherries and brown sugar.
If using foil fold the foil inside so that none sticks out of the oven.
Place 1/3 of your coals under and 2/3 of the coals on the lid of the Dutch Oven.
Bake for an hour, rotating the lid one way 45 degrees while rotating the oven the other way every 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and allow to stand a few minutes.
You can serve out of the Dutch Oven or remove it.
To remove the cake I take a piece of heavy cardboard and cover it with foil. I lift the cake out of the oven by the foil or Parchment and place it on another piece of cardboard. Take the foil covered cardboard and place it on the cake, foil side down.
With help (it may still be hot) we flip the cake over and place the foil covered cardboard on the table with the cake above it.
Carefully remove the foil or Parchment liner to keep the rings and cherries intact.
You should have a beautiful and delicious dessert.
(Aside: I usually put about ½ teaspoon of cinnamon into the batter, but then I really like cinnamon!)
JWR Adds: Coincidentally, SurvivalBlog reader Kyle T. wrote to mention: There is currently a big sale at Fred Meyer stores on dutch ovens. I picked up a 7 quart cast iron dutch oven by Lodge Logic brand for $40. It’s regularly $75 (traditional non-enamel). Fred Meyers has two separate coupons equaling 30% (10% bonus coupon, 20% household coupon) that can be combined. Also, picked up a large rectangle cast iron reversible griddle with the same 30% for $35.”
Jim:
To follow up on a recent post: According to canning sources, it is the Vitamins A, C, B1, B2 that are the most susceptible to degradation over time with 33%- 50% losses immediately upon canning and additional losses of 5-20% per year (based on storage conditions). Let us look at best (33% loss at canning and 5% per year ) and worst case (50% loss at canning and 20% per year) losses per year for five years.
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Percentage of Remaining Vitamins:
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| Storage Period | Best Case | Worst Case |
| Year One | 62.7% | 40% |
| Year Two | 59.5% | 32% |
| Year Three | 56.6% | 26% |
| Year Four | 53.7% | 20% |
| Year Five | 51% | 16% |
Thus, under best case conditions, five years of storage. yields about a 50% loss.
Under worst case conditions a near total loss of 84% with only 16% of these vitamins remaining.
Consider these losses in your storage planning. Regards, – S.F. in Hawaii
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Readers in Australia will likely find this company of interest: Outback Watertanks
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An interesting podcast: What Homeschoolers and Homemakers can learn from Preppers.
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Don’t miss out on the Ready Made Resources sale on Mountain House long term storage foods. They are offering 25% discounts and free shipping for Mountain House foods in #10 cans. The sale ends on November 5th.
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The PlayStation handset that fires mortars and the world’s deadliest catapult: Lethal ingenuity of outgunned Syrian rebels. (Thanks to F.G. for the link.)
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Matt P. wrote to mention his new product: Concealable Backup Universal Handcuff Key
“If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else’s expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves.” – Thomas Sowell