Five Letters Re: Food Storage Extremes – Avoiding the Expensive Pitfalls

Dear Mr. Rawles:
First, thank you for the service and information you provide – it is invaluable.

Secondly, I’d like to respond to John L.’s letter regarding prepping in an urban/suburban location. Despite his condescending tone that immediately set my teeth on edge, I read the piece hoping to learn from it. Sadly, I only learned that John L.’s ideas of preparation do not coincide with mine. At first glance, I’m quite sure that John L would look at me and my situation and right me off as clueless and deluded.

I recently lost everything I owned – my house, my car, and my business. The blessing of this is that through it all, we never went hungry. We continued to go to church, tithe, and donate to the food bank as regularly as before. We learned so many valuable lessons throughout this – mostly that things are not important – people and knowledge are important. While I’d love to have relocated to some rural retreat in the boonies, that is just not in the cards right now. I’m a single mom. I have to work to regain some financial stability and the best place for me to earn a living right now is in a moderate sized city.

Lest John L. find me clueless or deluded, it is important to understand that many of us must make the best possible living decisions with the options that are available to us – these things are limited by jobs, affordability, family and so many other variables it wouldn’t be possible to list them all here. When I knew we were going to lose our home, I didn’t waste time on tears. I prayed for answers and I received them. I searched carefully for an apartment that we could afford that would meet as many of our prepping needs as possible. I chose an easily defendable upper apartment with only one entrance on the main floor. I stocked each end of the apartment with an emergency ladder so we could escape through windows if necessary. The apartment has a full attic for storage of preps. We have an enclosed backyard where we are allowed to garden. I don’t pay for heat, only electricity, so we are using electricity as sparingly as possible and learning other ways to do things that don’t require power. We didn’t wait to be escorted out by the police – for crying out loud – they give you the date they intend to evict you. Why would anyone want that drama and humiliation?

I purchase items when they are on sale, combined with coupons. I dehydrate fruits and vegetables when I find them on the clearance rack at the grocery store (last-day-of-sale markdowns). I have enough food at this time for about two months. I’ve learned to cook dried beans, bake bread and cook over a charcoal fire. I’m registered for shooting lessons at a local gun club and plan to purchase weapons once I take the required course to do so (I’m in Canada.) My daughters will accompany me to the shooting range, as well. I became a vegetarian for the sake of thrift and food that I could produce more easily. Better to make the change now than during a time of crisis.

The main change for me has been my attitude. Prepping has empowered me to learn everything I can. When I shop now, I go to thrift stores and yard sales and look for old, non-electric things like knife sharpeners, whisks, and grinders. I look for old how-to books, especially from the Depression Era. I have learned to do so many things for myself that I never thought about before. I have jump-started a car, repaired wiring on a lamp, baked bread from scratch, and picked a lock. It no longer crosses my mind that I might not be able to do something – I instantly look at a problem and figure out how to solve it. No, my situation is not ideal. When the SHTF, no situation will be. What I am gaining by figuring out how to evolve despite my challenges is something no one can take away. – Daisy

James,
I agree with the other writers who responded to encourage storing of grain. As you’ve said, wheat berries can be soaked and chewed. Another option is to make chapatis using coarse or fine ground flower (depending on the circumstances) and to invest in a fuel efficient steel wok to cook them.

Chapatis are a traditional Asian/Indian flat bread made with wheat flour, but can be made with any flour with little time or fuel. Here’s a recipe, and don’t forget the traditional long-term storage oil of India, called ghee. Here is a ghee recipe.

A wok is ideal because it is lightweight and therefore takes little fuel to heat up. It can fry, boil, steam, and even “bake” chapatis. Get an old fashioned one from Pier 1 or World Market that is durable and works over gas, charcoal, wood, and electric heat sources. The best kind is one that will rust but also absorb oils. – DL in Colorado.

Dear Readers:
I was in tears of laughter after reading this article. JWR and the other letters addressed my concerns fairly well, and I’m not surprised at the quick responses. How can he disparage wheat because it takes an oven to bake bread? Just where does he plan on cooking all of his brownie or cake mixes? And how is he planning on making pie crust for his pie filling? Also, I would hope that even the Deluded Urban Survivalist has a manual wheat grinder!

I just had to add a third archetype: The Doomed Packaged Prepper. He’s spent so much money on little packages of prepared foods that he’ll be out on the lawn being evicted with the other two, if he doesn’t suffocate from the mountains of packages he’ll somehow have to find room for in his house. If he avoids that pitfall and plans on hunkering down, we won’t have to worry about his long-term survival. He’ll be dead within the year due to malnutrition from his mostly-oil peanut butter (and mostly-oil packaged goods) with nary a veggie in sight. At least he’ll provide some additional ammo to kill off the golden horde that breaks into his larder – they won’t survive long on his food, either. – Pyrrh

 

Dear Mr Rawles,

Regarding “Food Storage Extremes” by John L: Rarely am I so incensed by any posting anywhere that I am moved to respond. I am far too busy, but the aforementioned article dated March 4th was more than I could bear.

When the Schumer actually does hit the fan, pseudo food storage expert John L. will likely suffer from a multitude of heath & dental problems due to his devalued junk food diet comprised of starchy Ramen noodles, Kraft macaroni & cheese, sugary cake mix and hydrogenated fat filled Skippy peanut butter, etc.

His disdain for tried and true, time tested, nutrition-rich foods stored and prepared in traditional ways pegs him as a newbie of the most reckless sort. His spoiled palate will be his ruination.=

His article is filled with snide comments denigrating some prepared individuals as well as his cardboard cut-out characterization of the “Clueless Yuppie”. Why even mention the “Clueless Yuppie” – why does he care what kind of car “Clueless Yuppie” drives or what condiments are in his fridge? His speculation is completely irrelevant to the article. “Clueless Yuppies” don’t even read SurvivalBlog!

He slanders the LDS Church (Mormon) basic one year storage plan which is easily multiplied to seven and has as its backbone hard red winter wheat, nitrogen packed in sealed five gallon buckets. Perhaps he is unfamiliar with grain mills. For the last thirty years, we have regularly used a Retsel electric stone mill. It has a hand crank that can be used during power outages. Before that, we used a small hand crank burr mill, with the whole family taking turns to produce fresh wheat flour, corn meal and rice grits. Perhaps John L. has never tasted whole grain bread straight from the oven. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that flat bread requires no yeast or that sourdough bread can be made from a little bit of saved starter. Maybe he doesn’t even know that bread can be baked in a Dutch oven on campfire coals.

He warns us not to buy “5 gallon pails of ANYTHING!” This is really amazing. If he can’t use it up before it spoils then he should consider dividing it into half gallon canning jars with a couple of oxygen absorbers in each. Ping! I can hear those lids snapping tight for a perfect seal that will keep a long, long time. Number 10 cans? It depends on what’s in them. If it’s freeze dried, divide it into quart jars or even pints. That will keep it from taking on moisture. By the way, those canning jars are 25 & 50 cents each at the Goodwill Store depending on size. Sometimes, we buy restaurant pack food at Sam’s Club in # 10 cans or gallon jars. It’s amazing how well black olives, relish & mayonnaise keep in the fridge.

No canned soups, vegetables or bottled juices? What? When hurricanes Ivan and Francis came tearing up from the Gulf several years ago and hit Western North Carolina so badly that houses came sliding off mountainsides, part of Interstate 40 was washed into the river, and places that hadn’t been flooded in fifty years were flooded five feet deep twice in one month, power was knocked out in our area for over a week. That canned food came in mighty handy since water was in short supply because the well pump requires electricity. Oh, and those 2 liter bottles refilled with water worked out just fine for hand washing, etc. Toilets were flushed with pond water. Fortunately, we’ve since obtained a 3,000 gallon holding tank for back up.

Apparently there’s a problem with MREs too. Wrong! That’s what you pack in your vehicle. That’s what you keep for back-up, camping and barter (small space, full meal, sufficient nutrition — no empty calories, keeps 7 years)

He then parrots the adage found in nearly every book ever written on emergency food storage to “Store what you eat and eat what you store.” Attempting to live on the instant / convenience food diet this man has recommended for another twenty years will likely produce Diabetes, Atherosclerosis, and dental caries at the very least. The real clinker is his suggestion that we should include a few select vitamins once each week. A quick look at the back of those vitamin bottles should give him a clue. They are, for the most part, compounded to meet minimum daily requirements. That’s why you take them daily!

Of course there are multitudes of unprepared people and there always will be. Equally certain is that there are over-confident, arrogant, and hasty people who are bound to be smacked in the face with the harsh reality that they really didn’t know quite so much as they thought they did.

Sadly, John L may find himself begging to his “Deluded Urban Survivalist“ neighbors when his paltry 3 to 6 month reserve of stale, boxed, over processed, artificially flavored, artificially preserved starch runs out. I certainly hope not.

I would suggest to John L. that he settle down and read a few good books like Back to Basics , Stalking the Wild Asparagus , How to Grow More Food than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine, Ten Acres and Independence and then begin to explore a few things he hadn’t previously considered like grinding wheat and making bread, like foraging for wild Hickory nuts (couldn’t resist that one) and planting a garden.

Becoming as self sufficient as possible is a lifelong pursuit. Passing the skills and independent spirit on to our children is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. Living in fear of multiple calamities and imagining freak-out cut & run scenarios just isn’t productive; learning skills, gaining knowledge and systematically moving toward the goal is. Surviving isn’t enough, we should be thriving.

And if you should think that I know not of what I speak, think again. It’s been nearly two years since, due to the crash of the housing market, we had to close a very successful custom cabinet and millwork shop which supported our family and 12 others for over 23 years. With no public assistance or unemployment insurance, we have managed to keep our home and pay our bills. We should have stored more toilet paper and laundry detergent; it’s starting to get low. But because many years ago the Lord whispered in my ear that I should be like Joseph, we can easily go another five years and be just fine. Best Wishes, – N.L.B. in Western North Carolina

Economics and Investing:

Lynn G. mentioned this disturbing article about the bankrupt city of Vallejo, California: Broke Town, U.S.A.

John R. suggested this: Egon von Greyerz: “A Hyperinflationary Deluge Is Imminent”, And Why, Therefore, Bernanke’s Motto Is “Après Nous Le Déluge”

Utah House Passes Bill Recognizing Gold, Silver as Legal Tender. (A nice gesture and a good start, but what we need to do is abolish the Federal Reserve and reinstitute a Constitutional bi-metallic currency system for the nation.)

Reader C.D.V. sent several inks:

Investors Are Seeking Safety in New Harbors: Dollar, Once a Favored Refuge, Loses Ground to Yen, Franc

US Standard of Living in Peril From Dollar’s Weakness: Zell

Items from The Economatrix:

ECB Shocks Markets With April Rate Hike Hint  

Average Gasoline Prices Jump Another 4 Cents  

Drop In Jobless Claims Raises Hope For Hiring   

Bang, Bang, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer  

Inflation Watch:

C.D.V. sent this: The Future of Food Prices: What Will Food Cost in 2015. “The current prices in your grocery store don’t presage an approaching storm. But that’s exactly what’s coming, says Bill Lapp, president of Advanced Economic Solutions, a consulting firm in Omaha, Nebraska, and the former chief economist for ConAgra Foods.” 

Kory P. sent this update on his local chicken feed prices:

  • Nutrena Premium Layer feed last year was $9.99 per bag
  • Nutrena Premium Layer feed two months ago was $10.79 per bag
  • Nutrena Layer feed (no longer premium) is presently $12.49 per bag

World Food Prices Increase to a Record, United Nations Says. (A hat tip to Sue C. for the link.)

No Inflation? That’s Not What Food Prices Are Saying. Be sure to watch the included video clip with Peter Schiff. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.)

Odds ‘n Sods:

Kevin S. pointed us to this thread: CME Events, Loss of Electrical Grid, Ground Base Computers, & Satellites

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Tam at View From The Porch pointed us to an excellent essay by Oleg Volk: Collective punishment

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Mike S. spotted an article about an interesting device: “SiGNa Chemistry Inc. is launching a hydrogen-producing cartridge, the mobile-H2™, that will work with a portable, pocket-sized fuel cell charger to provide instant power for cell phones and other mobile devices. You simply add water to the cartridge, and the device will charge depleted batteries on the go. For further convenience, any water will do (even waste water). Unlike solar battery chargers, you don’t need to worry about getting enough sunlight. According to its press materials, these cartridges provide a steady level of power from beginning to end.”

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News from South Carolina may signal a trend: Gas thieves drilling holes into tanks of parked vehicles. (Expensive to vehicle owners, and of course very dangerous, both during and after the drilling.)

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File under Emerging Threats: FBI Jackets Not Authentic. Beware that criminals can use raid jackets and flashing dashboard lights. (Thanks to F.G. of the link.)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 33 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Acorn Pancakes, by Michelle

Everyone likes to talk about gardening and how it will greatly benefit not only your food bill, but also your health with fresh food. That’s great and all, and yes I do garden, but lets face it – a garden is a lot of work. Sure there are ways to make it less work, but in a time and effort spent to food acquired ratio: the scale is heavily tipped to the work spent side. That is only one of the reasons I have been putting my efforts into learning wild edibles: A garden that grows itself, and all I need do is harvest. I like to think of wild edibles as a free, organic, minimal work input food source. We have a 40 acre hobby farm that is 2/3rds wooded.

Here is a list of wild foods we harvest from our land: Daylilies, violets, thistles, milkweed, wild plums, acorns, hazel nuts, wild strawberries, bramble berries, dock, nettle, sun chokes, wild grapes, mint, chickweed, lambs quarters, maple (syrup), pine, elderberries, burdock, clovers, pineapple weed, dandelions (candy lions as my kids call them!), mushrooms: artist conchs, hen of the woods, and crown tip coral. These are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head, I’m sure there are plenty more waiting for us to discover. If we had to be quarantined to our property, I think we would do alright.

A food source that we have been utilizing and thoroughly enjoying is acorns. Acorns offer the great advantage of being easily identified and, often, abundant. We make acorn pancakes, and love them. Here is some of what we have learned and some of the “how to” with regards to acorns. First is the collecting of the acorns. We tried a number of methods for collecting… I enjoy simply sitting on the ground and picking up all the ones within reach and plopping them in the bucket. Once I’ve gotten all I can easily reach, I move over a few feet and begin anew. If the kids are helping we make a game of it and race to see who can fill their ice cream bucket first. My husband, who has an obsession with anything mechanical, got out the shop vac and let the kids race around sucking up acorns! That works well but it picks up everything else too. It then requires the employment of a fan blowing and you pouring the bucket of acorns and debris in front of the fan, (thus blowing away all the extras) and having another bucket under the fan to catch all the acorns. Make sure the bottom bucket is tall as the acorns will attempt to hop out. We also had a friend of a friend come over with a Baganut nut picker that picked up 25 gallons of acorns in 45 minutes! It probably would go much faster had the yard not been full of leaves that kept interfering. He uses his machine to collect the acorns to feed/bait deer. It is an amazing machine, but out of our price range. We did some searching on the web and found some much cheaper tools that are like wire cages that you roll on the ground and they pick up the acorns (www.nutpicker.com). This would be a good option for older folks or those who simply have a harder time getting up and down (from seated hand picking). Just do an Internet search for nut picker and you will find many options.

What type of acorns should you get? Any kind will work. We use red oak acorns because that is what is growing in our yard. White is supposed to be less bitter – but we find the red to be quite yummy. When selecting acorns – just do a quick glance at them as you pick them up. You are looking for ones that do not have any holes (which indicates that the worms have left), cracks (dirt can get in), or with the acorn “cap” firmly attached (the tree rejected it because it knew the nut was bad). Crack a few good and obvious bad ones, your going to crack them all open anyhow. Get used to feeling the weight of them. You will soon learn to tell the good from the bad.

Next comes the cracking. My husband built an acorn cracker for us that employees a 1 horsepower motor and 2 rotating circles with knobs on them that crack the acorns for us. But a low tech, sure way of cracking acorns involves an old towel laid down, put acorns on top of the towel, then fold the towel on top of the acorns. Hand a hammer to your 7 and 8 year olds and in no time at all you will have all the acorns cracked. If you choose to not use an old towel or blanket to sandwich the acorns in, you will spend time chasing them all over the floor. And bits of cracked acorn shells hurt on bare feet. The next step involves extracting the nut meat. Use the nut picks that everyone has for holiday nuts. These can be picked up very cheaply at thrift stores and garage sales. And you might as well get a bunch. How many people will be at you retreat? Get one for everyone. Picking out the meats takes time, but it’s a fun opportunity to work together, and even children can participate.

Now for the processing. This is where I differ from what many others recommend. Most sources will tell you to boil the nut meats in several changes of water, for several hours. I suppose you could do that, if you want to tend a fire and use all of those resources (effort in gathering and tending a fire), and time, that it takes. I should mention that for those who recommend boiling the acorns for a long time are using the acorns for a different purpose than I use them for. They are boiling the large pieces of nut meat and then adding them to stews and such, whereas my goal is flour. So, yes, our processes our different. Here’s what I do: Once the meat has been sorted (shells removed), put 1 cup of nut meat in a blender with 3 to 4 cups of water. Attach lid (do I really need to mention this step?). Turn on high for 1-2 minutes or until the contents have reached a slurry consistency. You are “grinding” the nut meat into flour with this step, so make sure the meats are finely ground. Next, take out a colander and line it with a cloth. No, not cheese cloth, the slurry would run right through it! A bandana works decently, I use an old shirt with a weave that is slightly thicker than pantyhose. Once the colander is lined, have a helper hold up the edges of the cloth, or clothespin the cloth to the top of the colander. Gently and slowly pour your slurry into the cloth. Allow the water to drain out the bottom. Over the next ten minutes keep a fairly continuous stream of water pouring into the colander. Water temp does not matter, hot/cold, it all works. This is the leaching process – the removing of the tannins (bitter part). Continue to let water percolate over the acorn mush until it passes the taste test. To test for bitterness/doneness simply dab your finger in and taste a small bit. If its still bitter, keep the water flowing over it. I find that using the water from the faucet, with fairly decent pressure, it take between 7-10 minutes to render the meat (flour) edible. Once the bitterness is removed it is ready to be used as flour. Ball up the flour inside the cloth and squeeze the cloth to remove remaining water. Unwrap the cloth and behold your acorn flour! You can immediately add it to any recipe. Or if you would like to use it latter, spread it out on a baking pan and allow it to dry. It will be clumpy (from drying) and need to be sifted or otherwise broken apart to be used as flour. Store it in the fridge.

1 cup of acorn nut meat equals just under 1 cups’ worth of flour. When you are first trying acorn flour – mix it ½ and ½ with your regular flour. Sort of “work your way” into getting used to it. It is quite yummy. It imparts a slight nutty flavor to the recipe, that our family enjoys. Acorn flour has no gluten and will not rise. You can make bread out of it. It will just be a denser, banana-bread like consistency. When we harvest our acorns, we put them into cleaned ice cream buckets and put them in the freezer until we want to use them.

For more info on wild edibles I like Wild Man Steve Brill’s book: Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places. But my favorite wild food books are by Sam Thayer: The Forager’s Harvest and Nature’s Garden. The latter book has a lengthy chapter on acorns stuffed with info. His web site is ForagersHarvest.com. He also has a DVD titled Foragers Harvest that goes through all the plants in the book with the same title. My kids enjoyed the movie. They recognized plants and begged to go harvest different ones that they knew the location of. Another good source of info is from Green Deane – he has lots of different YouTube videos – each featuring a different plant and how to use it. I also highly recommend going to the Wild Food Summit in northwestern Minnesota in June. It is a great event, with a good family atmosphere. There are lectures and workshops and foraging expeditions all day. The meals eaten at the event are comprised of the wild foods harvested in the classes.

This is not meant to be an “end all – be all” about acorns – but rather a glimpse at what our family has learned and experienced with the use of acorns. There are obviously other means of accomplishing the same things that we do. In a grid down situation we would allow the acorns to dry out for long term storage. We would not use a blender – but a mortar and pestle system, or other means of grinding/mashing. So have fun, and enjoy some Free, Organic, Low Effort, Delicious Food.

Two Letter Re: Our Experiences with Raising Meat Chickens

Mr. Rawles:
I had to respond to the article about meat chickens. We have raised laying hens from chicks many times. Last year we too decided to try Cornish Cross chicks. The company we chose only gave “straight run”, so we couldn’t choose their sex. We got 16 and filled out our 25 chick minimum with new laying hens. One died the day after we got them. We brooded them in a large black poly water trough with paper covering the litter in the bottom. And we had a heat lamp over the top. Plus even though it was also in our shop, we covered it with wire just in case. After about two weeks we used a fence panel covered with chicken wire to board off about half of the laying hens 12′ x 12′ stall in the barn and they moved out there. We didn’t follow the food suggestion of removing the feed for 12 hours. They had chick starter and water 24 hrs a day. When we ran out of starter they went on the same high protein feed the hens used. When they were about a month old we took down the separation and they went in with the other layers. They are always locked in the stall at night. During the day the door is open. We do not have a pen, they are all free range. It was funny to see that a couple of them buddy up with the new layer babies and they would try and keep up with them. Most of the meat chicks stayed inside but they would go out and lay in the grass and sun themselves when it wasn’t too hot. But to watch the ones following the layers was funny. They really looked like Baby Huey on the cartoons. But with our experience, we never lost another chick. We went through three 50 lb bags of food after the starter. And we took them to be butchered. $3.50 a bird was cheap as far as we were concerned. We could do it if we needed to but at this point it was just easier. The hens finished out at about 4 lb and the roosters were 5 lbs. But we took them in when they were 56 days old. We have been told if you go too long they will literally outgrow their organs. Ours weren’t as big as those in the article, but we had no loses other than the first day. – Toni T.

Dear Sir,  
Thank you as always for your outstanding work. SurvivalBlog is a daily must read.   Though I do not yet raise poultry, I am doing my homework, and Pat O.’s article illustrates why I will never raise single-purpose specialty breed chickens or other livestock. There are many older breeds of animal that are well-suited in all ways to fend for themselves, be intelligent and resourceful, and still supply us with high-quality eggs and/or meat. Most heritage breeds of chicken are quite capable of foraging, thereby greatly saving on purchased or raised feed costs, and they have enough sense to know where they live. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is working to save over 180 rare and endangered species from extinction; there are many dual-purpose heritage chickens available that are better meat than egg birds, for example. When selecting breeds for your farm or retreat, please give a thought to helping maintain the genetic diversity and long-proven character qualities these animals represent, and are important to retain. Thanks again and best wishes, – Burne

Two Letters Re: Hunting for Food

Mr. Rawles,
I read the recent post on hunting for survival. The author didn’t mention some of the most nourishing parts of the deer, the bone marrow! Full of fat and very tasty, it should be removed from the bone and eaten or mixed with some salt, dried berries and dried meat, pounded into a flour, made into Pemmican, it keeps well and is light to carry and very nutritious.

The tongue, head meat, kidneys, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, leg bones with their marrow are also fine to eat or added to stew. When food is short you cannot afford to waste good food. Even the brains are good eating [in regions where CWD is not found] or can be used mixed with water to tan the hide.

Deer bones can be made into arrow points and digging tools.

There are many other things out there that are edible: rodents, birds, scorpions, reptiles insects and grubs and of course, cattail roots, thistle stems and many other plants.

You have a great site that is full of good information. – Sheila from the Coast of Oregon

James:
Recently, Conover wrote to explain why hunting for deer and large hoofed animals won’t work for the long term. I agree with him completely.

My father was a child during the Great Depression living on a farm in the then very rural Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. For some years my grandmother’s adult brothers lived with them before starting their own households. They were all legendary shots and hunters. The family saying was: “A [20 cartridge] box of .30 Remington had better well equal 20 deer.” That wasn’t for bragging rights. Rather, that simply was the way things were in those desperately cash-strapped days.

One summer (yes, if you wanted meat the strict rules of hunting seasons went by the wayside) my grandmother cooked 17 entire deer. She said the smell of venison started to make her sick but being of good stock she persevered. My father told me that by the middle of the Depression his father and uncles had to drive over 20 miles before they could even start hunting since all deer were gone from the local area (our county has huge areas owned as state game lands, a saving grace).

By the time I came to age in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the deer were once again plentiful. And now they are even a nuisance. But like Conover stated, that won’t last long once the hunting pressure is applied.

Far better and more stable results can be obtained from raising rabbits in outdoor hutches and maybe a few chickens in the garage. For myself, in semi-rural Virginia, I’m preparing for the possibility of joining my wife in vegetarianism since beans simmering in a pot require a lot less expendable energy and are a lot easier to hide then animal husbandry or moving about attracting the notice of others. Perhaps an occasional piece of Smithfield smoked ham (no refrigeration needed, shelf life forever?) to chase around the bean pot might have to do for as long as it takes.

Three Letters Re: Food Storage Extremes – Avoiding the Expensive Pitfalls

Jim,
Although John L.’s article brings up a lot of interesting points, I think his definition of only two archetypes of persons, the clueless yuppie and the deluded urban survivalist is a little over the top.  I truly hope he was using hyperbole to make a point.  The truth at least from my perspective is that there are a lot of prepared persons that don’t fit either of his stereotypes.  Perhaps it’s because I live in a rural community where most of my neighbors could go weeks to months without a trip for groceries if the need arose.  That just comes natural to most country folk when the nearest grocery is a 15 mile round trip, and the nearest big box grocery (Kroger, Wal-Mart) is twice that distance.

I also found it interesting when he tells us the classic “Store what you eat, and eat what you store” and then proceeds to tell us what we should be eating and avoiding.  JIF peanut butter with it’s partially hydrogenated oils does not enter our home, but the “organic-health peanut butter” that is actually just ground peanuts and salt is what we eat (and store).  We have wheat in both buckets and cans, and have both electric and hand-powered ways to grind it.

“Canned Tuna – (preferably in oil)”, yuck!!!  We prefer the flavor of tuna, not the oil and then there’s “Macaroni & Cheese – Buy Kraft brand, do not try to “save money buying a cheaper brand.  The quality/edibility of other brands is terrible”.  There actually are some good store brands, or you could make your own with macaroni and a little cheese.  Neither of these are things we eat, so storing them would not be useful.  A well stocked pantry and a little experimentation can yield an enormous variety of meals.

In short, he got the “Store what you eat and eat what you store” part correct, but he makes many assumptions that don’t appear to have been well thought out.  If he’s right and I’m wrong, then I’ll just have to live with it, hunkering down on our rural retreat with its well, creek, garden, and livestock, and make the best of whatever comes. – LVZ in Ohio

Jim,
I think that John L. is making some very broad generalizations about “Deluded Urban Survivalists” that paint an inaccurate picture of many people who would like to relocate to less-populated areas but who for various reasons are “stuck” where they’re at. I live in a county of about 100,000 people in the Midwest, but the raw population numbers don’t give an adequate picture of why a lot of us in this area consider it to be “home” and where we feel comfortable settling down.

First of all, I have dozens of friends and family members in this area who are willing to pitch in and help in the event of crises. We all came together a few years ago to help each other after a historic flood devastated much of the county, thankfully with no loss of life. While a county of 100,000 people might seem too large to some people in a post-Schumer-hits-the-fan situation, it’s the character of the people that matters more than the number of people. On top of that, while the city proper has 60 percent of our county’s population, at least 50 percent of the land in the county, maybe more, is farmland and quite a few people live on and work around those farms.

Second, my family has to live inside the city limits and be near bus lines and medical facilities because of my wife’s disability. Living half an hour away or more would put us farther away from our jobs and would make our commute much more cumbersome. We bought this particular house because it has a totally enclosed basement where we could not only store our preps but all we have to do to conceal the door to the basement is put a piece of carpet over the basement door and nobody knows it’s there (although we’ve also piled boxes on top of the door as well to further conceal it). We live just a few blocks from a secondary road that we can take several miles straight south into farm areas and meet up with other family members if the situation warrants it.

Which brings me to my next point. John L. also doesn’t seem to think that “Deluded Urban Survivalists” have pre-positioned any gear or food or that we’re not stocking up what we eat anyway! Yes, my wife and I have several hundred pounds of rice and beans in our storage pantry, but we also have several dozen quart-sized mason jars full of spices that we’ve been using to experiment with literally hundreds of different soup recipes using rice and beans as our base. We’ve found soup-recipe downloads on eBay and other sites for just a few dollars each and we can have soup every night for the next three years and not use the same recipe twice. That’s not a bad deal for “only” rice and beans! And we’ve also pre-positioned much of our storage pantry several miles away at the more-rural location where another relative lives, so just because we happen to live in the city doesn’t mean that we’re “deluded”!

John L. also derides the stocking up of canned goods and bottled water, stating that with regard to canned goods, “water is very heavy, very bulky and the enemy of food enzymes and longevity.” As I’m typing this I’m glancing over at my secondary pantry in my kitchen (my main storage pantry is elsewhere) and quite frankly I’m glad that I’ve got several cases each of canned tomatoes, carrots, spinach, chicken and salmon on hand just in this one room (and many more cases elsewhere)! And while John L. has a point that water degrades food enzymes over time, that’s exactly why foods should be rotated first-in, first-out according to the expiration dates stamped on the cans, but even those expiration dates are conservative, as studies have shown the nutritional content of canned goods to be good for much longer. My family doesn’t complain that we “only” have canned food when I incorporate each item into “only” soup that we have for quite a few tasty meals!

And as for stocking up on bottled water, why do stocking up on bottled water and having a water purifier have to be mutually exclusive? We just added another 24 gallons of bottled water to our storage last week and have enough water on hand for two people for a month if the tap were to run dry. The one thing that John L. doesn’t mention is that water purifiers only work if you have water to purify! When my wife and I moved into our house last fall, there was a glitch in transferring the water service into our name so we were without running water for almost two days. I was very happy to have bottled water on hand!

And something else I noticed was that John L.’s reference to “five-gallon pails of anything” mentions a couple things that nobody except restaurants buys in five-gallon pails, in this case pickles and mayonnaise! We’ve got several hundred pounds of rice and beans in mylar bags sealed up in, yes, five-gallon pails, but all of our spices, condiments and other such items are in quart-sized jars, not five-gallon pails. We have more than five gallons of spices, but we put such items in much smaller containers because we aren’t going through mayonnaise at the same rate that we’re going through rice and beans.

And with regard to rice, beans and other bulk items, I find it curious that John L. is advising people to stock up on “Rice-A-Roni” instead of buying bulk bags of rice, storing smaller quantities in individual bags and making their own rice dishes or other such items. Besides the fact that boxed items such as Rice-A-Roni will absorb moisture over time and leave the contents tasting less-than-pleasant, buying pre-packaged, prepared foods is a lot more expensive! I can feed my family for a few months with a 50-pound bag of rice and beans and copious amounts of meats and vegetables we’re dehydrating on our own. I don’t think Rice-A-Roni, Hamburger Helper or other such pre-packaged foods will deliver anywhere near the food mileage for the money. Likewise with John L.’s advice to buy only the Kraft brand of macaroni and cheese, why not instead buy bulk bags of store-brand macaroni, vacuum-seal them in mylar and get a lot more food for the money?

And speaking of money, John L. seems to think that the money that the “Deluded Urban Survivalist” spent on stocking up on food would be better spent paying off the mortgage rather than having “several tons” of food and no place to put it. I won’t deny that there are probably people who are pouring so much money into their preps that they’re neglecting the obvious and most important things. But to lump all “urban survivalists” into that group is an insult toward those of us who for whatever reason have to stay where we are but are making the best of the situation. My wife and I might be living in the city, but we’re not just sitting here piling up our preps to the exclusion of all other necessities. We’re also paying 15 percent more on our mortgage payment each month and having the extra applied directly to the principle so that we’ll have our house paid off several years earlier because we love where we live and all things being equal we could see ourselves living in this house for the rest of our lives, which given our ages could be another 50 years. We love where we live and we’re growing the relationships with our neighbors while not tipping our hands about our prepping. For all we know, some of our neighbors may also be preppers–our neighbor across the street is in her 80s and grew up during the Depression, so she might be on the same page as my wife and I with regard to food storage and other things.

So while John L. is probably right about the survivalist-wannabes out there who are overdoing the wrong things and ignoring the most obvious things that they should be doing, he’s overlooking the thousands, maybe even millions of us who are living in the city but quietly prepping and trying to gently encourage other people to do the same. – C.S.

Dear Jim,       
After reading the article written by John L., I couldn’t help but to give my head a little shake at the reasoning of some of his ideas. At first read, when I came down to the food storage recommendations of what to buy and what not to buy, I thought he was joking until the article ended and I realized that he was serious.  I’m totally for the idea of that everyone should have their own ideas and should implement them after researching thoroughly which sometimes involves trial and error over a period of time, so with that In mind I won’t be harsh, however, let me correct a number of John L’s overly presumptuous assertions and ideas with that of correct principles based on tough lessons learned.  

Firstly, I agree with you Jim, that one should be doing everything he can to immediately  get out of Dodge now, before the scenario John L played out on paper in a population high zone. Get Out, folks otherwise, you can expect some version of John L.’s scenario’s or worse yet will visit your front door.  

Secondly, I would like to announce myself as the “EX” Food Saver king of North America. Years ago I thought Food Saver bags were the ultimate!  Boy was I wrong and boy did it cost me an arm and a leg! Through what I like to call the process of “Survival Evolution” which many of us  survival/ prepper vets can relate to, we tend to figure out what works/ what doesn’t over time and what to stay away from. Often we look back on our history and laugh a little at what we may have once thought was good or where we were at in our preps. I do this quite often. Food Saver bags is one of those things I tend to look back at and wonder why I ever spent that kind of money on a system which was never designed to take me and my families preps for the long haul.  

Here is what I found – My wife and I spend lots of time dehydrating food in our Excalibur 9 tray dehydrators. We own four of them. Currently, they are full 24/7 thanks to the hard working hands of my dear wife and six children.  Hands down, they are the best, in my mind! (Once again, we had to literally “burn out” a couple of the standard round style dehydrators before we realized  where we needed to put our coin.) Dehydrating food properly for long term storage requires that you remove ALL of the moisture from the food item until that food is crispy or “Snaps” when you bend it. If you do not remove the moisture you will find yourself in a situation where your entire family is dealing with botulism and likely there after multiple funerals.  When you put truly dried foods into food saver bags and attempt to remove the air by vacuum sealing them, you will poke holes into the bags from all the sharp edges of the dried food. Rarely did I ever not pop a bag thus allowing oxygen and moisture back into the foods which then rehydrates the food over a period of time thus leading to rot and botulism.  

If you’re lucky enough to not puncture the food saver bags, then you need to place the bags into a Rubber Maid storage style bin to further protect the bags from being poked or popped. Food saver bags are terrible for long term storage and are a very poor investment. They are however good for many other things which is why I haven’t sold my “Food Saver – GAME SAVER TURBO PLUS” model yet. By the way, when I did buy one years ago, I called the Food Saver corp and asked them which model they have had the least amount of returns/ warranty issues with and they indicated that the model which I just named is by far the best unit they have had in respect to warranty issues. Naturally, this model tends to be one of there most expensive. Go figure. In the end, after throwing away thousands of dollars worth of punctured Food Saver bags and replacing them with #10 tin cans and oxy packs, we should have simply avoided the Expensive Pitfall of attempting to use a Food Saver vacuum sealer for our long term food storage plan.  

What we eventually replaced the Food saver unit with was a hand-cranking Can Sealer model 1502 purchased from the ALL AMERICAN Can Sealer Corporation. It was a small investment, however, we now purchase empty #10 steel cans (same as the cans from Mountain House), oxygen absorbers, extra snap on plastic lids and cardboard cases from the LDS Church canneries who sell these items and many others to anyone, church member or not out of their storehouses at cost or close to which can be found in almost any region across North America.

One might think that these cans are costly and out of reach financially, but you would be surprised. Before I “dumped” my food saver bag system for proper long term storage, I worked the costs out down to the penny between food storage bags and # 10 Cans. Here is what I found : We were using a 15″ food saver bag off the roll. The exact cost including taxes when I purchased them worked out to $ 1.02/ bag. A #10 tin can with lid, oxygen absorber, label, cardboard boxes (holds six cans each) cost me $ 1.32 total. For us, it was a no brainer, our valuable food was now totally protected, sealed up, watertight, airtight and in Marked and labeled cases. Also, a # 10 tin can holds more than a 15″ food saver bag. All this for only 30 more cents, and I can sleep better now, knowing that my preps are safe and stored properly.  

The #10 size steel cans and Food Grade plastic pails with airtight gasket lids are by far the most superior way to store all your bulk foods in such a manner that you can egress and bugout quickly. I have looked and searched and prayed and pondered all the many ways egress could be made easier and I have found no other answer other than to be where you need to be first off and then to have your needed supplies stored in such a way that if you had to bugout into the backwoods, you could do it hopefully over a short period of time or have caches stored in the water and air tight methods discussed above. There is a reason that the LDS use and sell at cost, #10 cans to their members and anyone else who personally needs them. This is simply because these storage methods work and cannot be easily refuted as one of the best methods.  

Any person that has not purchased and stored properly larger quantities of bulk staples as described by John L. and has not learned to cook and use these types of whole foods, will no doubt find themselves rationing hard in the long run where there is no food at best. At worst, they will find themselves mentally and physically depleted from the lack of nutrition due to eating mac and cheese and peanut butter and Nutella (LOL) for the last couple of years. Learn and store now the very foods John L has advised you not to buy and store. Store them in the exact methods with oxygen absorbers that John L has told you not to store them. I think its safe to say that the vast majority of “hard core” preppers have come to the final conclusion that these are the most sound ideas for long term storage and until there are other better options, these are the best foods and methods to store them. – M.B. in Alberta Canada

Economics and Investing:

“I Get It Now.” A beginners to guide to investing in physical silver. (A hat tip to CRW for the link.)

In Price of Farmland, Echoes of Another Boom

J.B.G. sent this from from The Daily Mail: Petrol prices could hit £2 a litre if Libya turmoil escalates, warns Government minister. (At the current exchange rate this works out to about $13 USD per gallon.)

Items from The Economatrix:

As Silver Touches $34.90 US Mint Runs Out Of Bullion Blanks, Halts American Eagle Silver Coin Production  

Silver Still In Backwardation / Small Silver Deliveries  

China “Attacks The Dollar” – Moves To Further Cement Remnibi Reserve Currency Status  

Odds ‘n Sods:

Frequent content contributor Kevin S. sent this: Vegetable gardening: Raising the bed improves your odds.

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Britons! Time to Vote With Your Feet. Court Rules Christian Beliefs Harmful to Children. (Our thanks to J.M.B. for the link.)

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Chester sent us a link to a fascinating YouTube clip about a high-power air rifle that was used by the Lewis and Clark expedition. (OBTW, there are some modern high power air rifles. But unless you reside in a country with draconian firearms restrictions, an air rifle should be considered an adjunct rather than the centerpiece of your survival battery.)

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Russians prepare for konéts svéta: Survivalists stock up for End of Days.

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Hoping for a groundswell of public support: Nathan Fillion and Firefly‘s writers are ready continue the show. And here is a related article with some other details, over at Wired. Go, Joss, go!

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World’s sixth mass extinction may be underway: study

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

Thou [art] my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” – Psalm 32: 6-8 (KJV)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 33 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Lessons From Christchurch: Urban Earthquake Preparedness and Survival by Alex F.

Let’s be honest. Thinking about the end of the world is kind of fun. If it weren’t, there wouldn’t be so many post-apocalyptic novels, movies and television shows. Preparing for a relatively slow-moving Armageddon like a civil war or pandemic demands a lot of shopping which is an enjoyable pastime.

However, as the grieving citizens of Christchurch, New Zealand attest, the most likely threats are also the most sudden, the least glamorous, and not fun at all. TEOTWAWKI may or may not happen in our lifetimes, but almost everyone has to deal with a natural disaster at one time or another.

While all natural disasters can be intensely destructive, none gives less warning than the mighty earthquake. Even such terrifying Acts of God as tornadoes and volcanoes give some signs of their impending arrival; earthquakes do not. According to a friend at a local university’s Geology department, the most sensitive seismic instruments currently in use give no more than five minutes of warning of a major earthquake: enough time for the Geology department to seek cover, but not enough for them to warn anybody else.

Like most people who live on “the coasts” of North America, I live in an earthquake zone. In my city, it’s not a matter of “if” an earthquake hits, but “when.” Troublingly, we’re actually several decades overdue for a major quake. Under normal circumstances, it’s easy to marginalize this threat, but the devastation in Christchurch underscores just how vulnerable those of us in metropolitan areas are to a severe seismic event.

Based on what happened in New Zealand (which, unlike Haiti, had fully developed, modern infrastructure), I have attempted to glean as many useful lessons as possible about the realities of urban earthquakes, and to factor those lessons into my overall disaster preparedness planning. Since an earthquake represents somewhat of a worst-case scenario, I believe that my conclusions would be useful for anyone interested in preparing for a situation that might leave him or her cold, wet, hungry, thirsty, injured or in the dark.

First, a disclaimer: I am not a veteran survivalist. I’ve lived through a major hurricane and its aftermath, and I’m highly motivated to do everything I can to ensure that my loved ones and I are at least in a better-than-average position when the next unpleasant event happen. But, when it comes right down to it, I am a moderately well-informed, largely untrained, middle-class, city-boy, living with a wife, two (soon to be three) kids, a dog and two cats in a 900 square foot home. I don’t have the cash, space or know-how to implement much of what is suggested by preparedness experts. I’m learning fast, but I’m not there yet. Therefore, since I have no reason to believe that the Schumer will wait until I’m ready before flinging itself at me, I have developed a somewhat unorthodox approach to preparedness. I don’t claim that it’s better than anyone else’s system, only that it works for me, and that it might work well for some others. More about that in a moment.

First, let’s look at the bad things that happen during a severe (Richter scale 6 or higher) earthquake:

– Collapse of numerous buildings, roads and bridges, as a result of shaking and liquefaction (soil with poor drainage can basically turn into soft mud during an earthquake);

– Multi-car accidents, bus crashes, etc.;

– Immediate spread of uncontrolled fires, as a result of damage to electrical and natural gas lines;

– Severe flooding caused by tidal waves and cracked water/sewer pipes;

– Large dust clouds from destroyed buildings.

During the actual quake, there’s not much you can do, aside from try to get under a table or doorframe if you’re inside. [JWR Adds: Tables get squashed. As my friend Paul pointed out, the current advice is that the best survival location is to lay next to a non-compressible object. Stacks of paper or books are good–anything that is truly solid.] Or pull your car over, if you’re on the road. The host of “Man vs. Wild,” when asked for advice on earthquake survival was quoted as saying “The truth is, a lot of it is luck.”

The worst-case scenario would be that this would happen in a coastal city, during a weekday, in winter, at high tide. It is especially important to teach your school-age children to ignore a fire alarm, and get under their desks until the initial quake ends. Getting detention is better than being crushed in a collapsing stairwell because some idiot pulled a fire alarm.

The immediate after-effects of a major quake would be as follows:

– Loss of utilities: water, sanitation, electricity, possibly telephone;

– Stranded and separated family members stuck at work, school, etc.;

– People buried or pinned in rubble;

– People with concussions, fractures and crush injuries;

– People beginning to experience hypothermia;

– People in respiratory distress from smoke and dust.

In this scenario, you and your loved ones would likely not be together, and you might not be able to reach them, either physically or by phone. Furthermore, unless you happened to be near wherever your emergency supplies are stored (and they weren’t buried under a collapsed building), you would only have access to whatever you had on or near your person.

Now, if you survive the initial quake, and you’re not trapped, you need to get outside before the aftershocks hit, preferably to some open area with solid ground where nothing is going to collapse on you, and you’re not going to fall into a fissure. To me, that sounds like the middle of the nearest parking lot.

Of course, it goes without saying that any type of medical/emergency response knowledge is wonderful, if you have it. One doctor in Christchurch saved a pinned man by performing a double leg amputation, using only a Leatherman and a hacksaw.

The training question has been well covered by other writers, so I’m not going to get into all the many things we should all learn how to do, except to mention that, in Christchurch, 14 people escaped from a high rise building with a collapsed stairwell because one of their number happened to be a mountaineer, and happened to have enough rope on hand to belay his compatriots the 60 feet to safety. Belaying isn’t usually high on the list of survival skills, but you can learn it in a day, and if you have the opportunity to take a class at your local park or climbing gym, it’s definitely worth it.

Once the earth stops moving, the aftermath begins. Almost immediately, burglary and looting will begin, including by criminals posing as government employees. As if this weren’t bad enough, the following 24-48 hours will add the following risks:

– Dehydration from lack of potable water;

– Onset of shock from injuries;

– Disease from spilled sewage, garbage, and flood water;

– Infection of wounds;

– Premature births and heart attacks;

– Hypothermia/frostbite;

– Overloaded or triaged police, fire and medical services.

During the initial 24-48 hour window, your first priority must be to secure your own safety. If you’re bleeding heavily or otherwise walking wounded, you’re not going to be much help to anyone else. Crush injuries are particularly dangerous, because they can easily become infected, shattered bones need surgery to repair, and bone fragments can migrate to other parts of the body and cause additional problems. If you’re seriously hurt, you need to realize that this is the kind of situation in which you might actually die. Don’t be a hero; you need to drag yourself to the nearest hospital. Even though you might be standing outside for several hours, it’s your best chance at surviving.

If you’ve patched yourself up, and you have a family, your next priority must be to locate and rendezvous with your loved ones. Based on the geography, distance, road condition, and people involved, this may mean walking (running) or using a bicycle to get where you’re going. Having an established meeting place already decided on is a good idea. If you have young children, you may want to plan on meeting your spouse at the kids’ school, since that’s where you’ll both probably head anyway!

Speaking of spouses, I think it’s important to make preparedness accessible for family members who may not be particularly interested in it. Packing a small emergency kit for a spouse and putting it in the trunk of his or her car “just in case” is neither invasive nor pushy, and if you are separated from each other by a disaster, it will give you piece of mind to know that they won’t be completely unprepared.

At this point, I’d like to introduce my general approach to kit preparation, which is threefold: first, I apply the Pareto Principle; second, I categorize supplies by priority level rather than by type; and  third, I minimize redundancy.

1) The Pareto Principle. Also known as the “80-20 Rule,” this pops up in all sorts of unlikely places. In 1906, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population, and that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. Since that time, the ratio of 80:20 has been applied to every imaginable relationship, with varying degrees of success.

In my case, I estimate that approximately 80% of the time, I only use 20% of my gear. To put it another way, the classical approach to “being prepared” is to prepare for every possible situation; my approach is to prepare for only the most probable situations, with the understanding that what I lose in potential preparedness, I gain in mobility and compliance. I simply cannot carry around everything I would need to survive every conceivable disaster. I can, however, keep a small Ziploc bag of high-priority supplies in my satchel, along with my papers, laptop, etc. The farther afield I’m going, the more supplies I carry, but in every circumstance, I’m taking only what I am most likely to need.

2) Grouping Supplies By Priority Invariably, emergency supply lists are broken down into categories like “medical” and “tools.” That’s fine for shopping, but it doesn’t work so well when it comes time to actually pack things into kits to carry around.

So, I’ve made lists that I call: Level 1 (everyday carry); Level 2 (day trips); Level 3 (overnight trips); Level 4 (camping/established emergencies); and Level 5 (home storage – the only level at which I separate the list into “medical supplies” and “non-medical supplies” for the sake of clarity).

As an example, the Level 1 kit lives in the bag that I usually carry with me wherever I go. Level 2 stays in the trunk of my car. If I’m taking the kids to the park, I’ll throw the Level 1 bag and the Level 2 bag into a backpack and carry it around with me. If I have to stay overnight somewhere for work, I’ll put the Level 1, 2 and 3 bags into a duffel bag, and I’m almost entirely packed. If we’re going camping, I pack the 1, 2, 3 bags into a large backpack, along with the Level 4 supplies. If we were to G.O.O.D., then the Level 4 would be my bugout bag, and I would load as much of Level 5 into my car as I could.

3) Redundancy is great in theory, and a real hassle in practice. Not only is it expensive to have duplicate sets of gear in various places, it’s difficult to keep track of what’s where, what’s missing, etc. Therefore, my kits are modular: Level 2 does not include anything that is in Level 1, Level 3 does not include anything that is in Level 2, and so on. Is it a little scary to have all my eggs in one basket? Yes, but it’s a calculated risk. I’d rather know exactly what I have and where it is than have a disorganized mess with too much of what I don’t need, and not enough of what I do. (I speak from experience here: when I went to organize my existing kits into my new system, I discovered that I had 30 reusable Ace bandages and 1 bottle of water. Less than optimal.) Of course, I do have duplicate items, I just put them in separate kits. So, for example, my wife drives around with a small bag in the trunk of her car that contains a Level 1 and Level 2 kit, and my sister-in-law has a Level 1 kit in her backpack along with her college textbooks. That way, if my family is separated when something bad happens (say, my sister-in-law is watching the kids while I’m out of town for work and my wife is out with a friend), we all have the items we’re most likely to need, right then and there.

Without further ado, here are my lists, as they stand now.  Please note that these lists are in a continual state of flux. I add, subtract and move items around as I gain experience and knowledge, so by no means should these be taken as anything other than a point of departure for your own efforts. I hope that they will be useful to you, whether you live in an earthquake zone or not, and I welcome any feedback or constructive criticism.

Modular Packing Lists

Based on the premise that 80% of the time, you only use 20% of the gear you’re carrying, I’ve come up with these lists for modular groups of supplies. This list bears little resemblance to typical “emergency” lists, because those lists try to take into account every possible situation, and are generally sorted by type (e.g. clothes, toiletries). These only take into account the most probable situations, and are sorted by levels of portability/importance. Furthermore, I think it’s important to use the same kind of stuff during emergencies as you do normally, so that everything is familiar to you.

Level 1 – Daily carry. These items (aside from the water bottle) can easily fit into a ziploc bag, which can be transferred from briefcase to backpack to coat pocket, as the situation warrants. This will suffice for most issues that arise in day-to-day situations. If traveling by commercial aircraft, omit “contraband” items, such as the pocket knife. Otherwise, this small packet will give you everything you’re likely to need to get through a situation that leaves you moderately (but not severely) cold, wet, dark, hungry, thirsty or hurt. Bottle of water Snack bar/granola/beef jerky Flashlight (LED bulb) Pocket knife/multi-tool Cash (approx. $100) Band-aids, assorted sizes Antibacterial ointment (Polysporin, Bacitracin, etc.) (small tube) Athletic (“Ace”) bandage with velcro closure Hand sanitizer (small bottle) Wet wipes (individually wrapped in plastic, not paper) Napkins/paper towels Matches (small box in a ziploc bag) Folding poncho Emergency “Space” blanket Dust mask Deodorant (Why is this on my Level 1 list? Because realizing you forgot to put deodorant on definitely could constitute an emergency.) Individual needs: e.g. sanitary products, prescription medicine

Level 2 – Day pack These items can easily fit into a light backpack. This will suffice for trips to the beach, day hikes and hunting trips, etc., as well as for urban/suburban stranded-overnight scenarios. If you are responsible for others (e.g. children), adjust accordingly. Additional Water Sunscreen (small tube of SPF 30 or higher.) Bug spray (small, non-aerosol container.) Calendula ointment (for stings or burns) Light sticks More snacks Dry pair of socks and underwear in ziploc bag Hat Camp Towel Rolled gauze Cohesive bandage Athletic tape Israeli Battle Dressing (“IBD”) Vinyl “exam” gloves Small bag for trash

Level 2B – Car Kit If traveling by car, you may wish to pack the following items: Jumper cables Can of “Fix-A-Flat” Extra pair of work boots/hiking shoes Cooler containing: ? 5-10 lbs of ice ? Bottled water ? Bottled/boxed juice ? Fruit (berries, sliced apples, etc.) ? Hard-boiled eggs ? Sandwiches

Level 3 – Overnight Travel Aside from the clothes, these items can easily fit into a ziploc bag or standard “toiletry” kit bag. Toothbrush Toothpaste (travel-size tube) Mouthwash (travel-size bottle) Dental Floss (small canister) Soap (Ivory, 1 bar) Shampoo (travel-sized bottle) Razor with extra blade Talcum powder (small bottle) Complete change of clothes (1 set) ? Underpants ? Socks ? T-shirt ? Long-sleeved pullover ? Hooded sweatshirt ? Jeans Sleep clothes (1 set)

Level 4 – Camping/Short-Term Emergency These items can be packed into a plastic tub or large backpack. Again, items are not duplicated, so you would also pack the Levels 1, 2 and 3 kits. Tent (ultralight, or “pup” style) Sleeping bag or blanket Toilet paper (biodegradable) Mess kit Canned/dried food Water Folding “Sterno”-style camp stove with fuel Disposable plates, cups, cutlery Roll of paper towels Handgun with ammunition Duct tape Hatchet Large trash bags

In addition to portable kits, it is advisable to prepare two larger kits for storage at home.

Level 5A. Medical Supplies Lots of band-aids Steri-strips Hydrogen Peroxide Antibacterial ointment (Neosporin, etc.) Alcohol swabs Disposable vinyl “exam” gloves (several boxes) Extra-strength Advil/Tylenol Children’s Advil/Tylenol Antibiotics Gauze (lots) Alcohol Wipes Cohesive bandages Israeli Battle Dressings (IBD compression bandages) Medical Manual (Merck Manual or equivalent)

Level 5B. Non-Medical Supplies Cash money Canned food/emergency rations Candles & Matches in waterproof bag Heavy duty flashlights with extra batteries Gasoline (approx. 5 gallons) Laundry soap More Water More bar soap More wet wipes More light sticks More trash bags Portable toilet (toilet-seat-bucket lid, etc.) More biodegradable toilet paper Basic hand tools Folding shovel Chainsaw Shotgun with ammunition Handgun with ammunition Rifle with ammunition Passport Gold/silver bullion coins