Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“What people did not realize was that war had started.  By 1 p.m., a few minutes after Molotov’s speech, queues, especially in the food stores, began to grow.  The women shoppers in the gastronoms or grocery stores started to buy indiscriminately – canned goods (which Russians do not like very much), butter, sugar, lard, flour, groats, sausage, matches, salt.  In twenty years of Soviet power Leningraders had learned by bitter experience what to expect in time of crisis.  They rushed to the stores to buy what they could.  They gave preference to foods which would keep.  But they were not particular.  One shopper bought five kilos of caviar, another ten.

At the savings banks the people clutched worn and greasy passbooks in their hands.  They were drawing out every ruble that stood to their accounts.  Many headed straight for the commission shops.  There they turned over fat packets of paper money for diamond rings, gold watches, emerald earrings, oriental rugs, brass samovars.

The crowds outside the savings banks quickly became disorderly.  No one wanted to wait.  They demanded their money seichas-immediately.  Police detachments appeared.  By 3 p.m. the banks had closed, having exhausted their supply of currency.  They did not reopen again until Tuesday (Monday was their closed day).  When they opened again, the government had imposed a limit on withdrawals of two hundred rubles per person per month.” – Harrison E. Salisbury, The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 32 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 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 “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $400, B.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and C.) 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 32 ends on January 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.

365 Meals: What to Do With All That Dehydrated Food, by Kory M.

It all started while reading Survivalblog. In an article about providing charity during a pandemic and not getting sick, Jim talked about putting food out where others could get it and then retreating to keep a safe distance between you and other people to keep your family from getting infected. While reading this article, I had an epiphany.

Instead of handing out some rice, wheat, oats or a can of spam, I could concoct a “meal”, a Home-Made Meal (Almost) Ready to Eat (HMMARE?).  My first HMMARE idea was to dump 1 cup of rice, a chicken bouillon cube, ¼ cup of chicken TVP and a ¼ cup of dehydrated peas into a Ziploc sandwich bag. It would be easy, just add three cups of water and boil, viola, a decent meal!

I joyously told my wife about my great new idea. “Yuck,” she said, “we can do better than that!” So she sent me back to the drawing board (although these days ‘the drawing board’ looks more like a Google search engine than an architect’s table). I scoured the internet endlessly until finally I came across a web site where a woman had thoughts similar to mine, and had made what she called “365 meals”. She had taken the reserves that she already had on hand and combined them with a project that her church group had done in years past. They made “Soup in a Jar” meals to give as gifts during the holiday season. She adapted this idea and thought that if she could make 365 meals then she would KNOW that at least she had one decent meal a day for her family for an entire year.

This idea set my mind racing. My wife and I sat down and worked out a plan. We had several criteria that we wanted our meals to meet.

  • They had to be in a sturdy container (We live in earthquake country, so no glass containers for us.)
  • They need to be complete. You could add to them, but the recipe shouldn’t require any extra ingredients.
  • They needed to be simple – so that our children could make them, in case the adults were incapacitated.
  • They needed to be good tasting, hearty and nutritious.
  • They needed to be capable of long term storage.
  • And, If possible they needed to use the supplies of food stuffs we already had on hand.

We quickly worked out what we could do to make this a better option for our family. We learned from the (now extinct) 365 meals web page that the host had used the recipe book “Gifts in a Jar: One Dish Meals”. I turned to Amazon.com and discovered there were several books in the Gifts in a Jar series, and we purchased the ones that looked most applicable (like: Gifts From a Jar: Soups, Chilis & More). We wanted to start simply with items we already had on hand, and make a few meals in our kitchen. The first recipe we made was chicken soup. The recipe called for making a soup “stock” and adding fresh carrots, celery and chicken pieces. We adapted it with dehydrated carrots, celery and chicken TVP and more water than the recipe called for to rehydrate the vegetables. (TVP is Textured Vegetable Protein; it is a cheap and long term solution for dehydrated protein in meals. Real dehydrated chicken is also available on the market, but at 5 times the cost. Although Textured Vegetable Protein sounds unappetizing at first glance, chances are, you’ve had it without even knowing it. Bacon Bits are TVP!) [JWR Adds: I don’t recommend stocking storage foods that are heavy in TVP, because of the potential health consequences. Too much soy can be a bad thing.]

Now that we’d settled on a test-recipe, we had to figure out how, exactly, we were going to store them. We had a “Food Saver” vacuum sealer and that seemed like a good solution. Take out all the air and the meal should last a good long time right? So we gathered all the ingredients, had our children help with the assembly and made our first batch. The recipe said that the meal would feed 4 to 6 people and we had a family of six-two adults and four growing children, so we decided to double the recipe. Each meal was about the size of a 3lb. chub of hamburger (10” long x 8” in circumference). We made the meals until we ran out of ingredients, which yielded about 15 meals. After they were vacu-sealed we then set about to find another meal to make-we were on a roll!

Our next meal (Untested by our professional taste testing children) was Ham Hock Stew. My wife and I thought it sounded wonderful, but our children disagreed. As before, we altered the recipe to fit our storage needs and made a few. When we were sealing the soups we noticed that the dehydrated carrots that were called for in the recipe were poking through the Food Saver Bags! We were crestfallen-how had our brilliant plan been foiled by a dehydrated vegetable? Just then we remembered that we had recently been gifted with an impulse sealer  and 250 Mylar bags (A member of our church said he bought it, never used it and no one in his family wanted it, so he thought I would put it to good use-boy was he right!). It didn’t draw a vacuum, but we could overcome that by using oxygen absorbers; and the Mylar bags were much thicker than the Food Saver Bags (7 mils instead of 4). I knew that food stored in opaque storage containers kept food longer due to the deteriorating effects of sunlight, and these Mylar bags were sure to keep the sun out.

We decided that the bags were too large (11” x 13”) so we cut them in half length wise and that was a perfect fit. We then transferred most of  the Food Saver pouches to the new Mylar bags. After making 30 or so meals we decided to try one out. Our kids wanted the Chicken Soup but we wanted to know if they would like the ham hock stew…they didn’t like it…..THEY LOVED IT!

Since we had doubled the recipe we expected to have a little left over…boy were we wrong. There was enough to feed Sherman’s Army! We all had our fill, and there was enough left over for me to have lunch the next day, and freeze enough for dinner for our family again! (Guess we really didn’t need to double those recipes after all).

With this success under our belt we expanded, we ended up making about 12 different recipes and a total of 175 or so meals (since we doubled most of them we didn’t need as many). We took this idea to our friends and family and it was an instant success! After a few YouTube videos on the subject (Food Storage Secrets, 365 Meals or Making 365 Meals and others) we have demonstrated this method of food storage for over two years now, including several Church groups who have made upwards of 8,000 meals! (I guess we put that gifted impulse sealer to good use, huh!?) And I have had at least 50 other inquiries from individuals and groups wanting recipes and advice on how to make this work for them.

After having personally been at these 8,000 meal making groups we have learned a few things to make this process fun and inexpensive. Here are the FAQs:

  • The cost of each meal varies due to the ingredients but they average about $4.00 each.
  • An impulse sealer isn’t required but makes it a lot easier. (We still have some Chicken Soup in a Food Saver bags and they are doing well.)
  • You will need to do some conversions to make sure you have the items you will need in bulk. This is the one that I used. But a good way to do it was to see what the FDA label said were in a package (Unit size vs. number in container.)
  • The more hands you have to process the meals the better. It’s easier to make two hundred meals for fifteen families, than fifteen meals for one family.
  • An assembly line makes it all work very easily.
  • It’s hard to tell exactly how long they will store, but most of the dehydrated items purchased say they will store for up to twenty years, and that sounds good to me!
  • You can tailor your meals for your dietary needs and personal tastes (No/low salt, gluten free, etc.)
  • With all your items on hand and with enough helpers you can make about five hundred meals in two hours.
  • Because of their light weight, they ship quite well. They are great for gifts.
  • A 16oz plastic picnic cup with its bottom cut out makes a great funnel/opener for the Mylar bags.
  • Go to the dollar store and buy a few sets of measuring spoons and cups, you’ll need them.
  • All of our now 200ish meals store under our son’s twin size bed.
  • Meals we’ve successfully made: Split Pea Soup, Chicken Soup, Ham Hock Stew, White Rice and Chili, Mac-n-cheese, Black Bean Chili, Pasta Fagioli, and Chicken and Rice.

Our food stores are varied and deep but our TEOTWAWKI 365 meal plan is to have a simple breakfast, of oats or grains, a hearty lunch/supper of our bagged meal, and a dinner of breads and snacks. I know that having one meal a day does not a full food plan make, but to know for sure that you have at least one meal a day for an entire year takes the guess work out of your planning, although the very best benefit is peace of mind.

I’m sharing this food storage concept with SurvivalBlog readers in the hope that it will inspire you to move ahead and get your meals set aside. If  there is enough interest I will be making “Meal Kits” in the future. If you’d like to contact me with questions, to purchase a full list of recipes and instructions for the soups mentioned here, or to purchase emergency preparedness supplies, please visit my web site: FrostCPR.com.

Practical Christianity for TEOTWAWKI, by J.A.G.

I suspect many today might think that the words ‘practical’ and ‘Christianity’ don’t seem to fit in the same sentence. In many minds, practical is what one does Monday through Saturday to get ready for hard times on earth, having to do with nuts and bolts and clothes and food and fuel and power and…well…things. Christianity seems to be what one does on Sunday, in a church. That may be the version of spiritual life that has emerged in our nation’s culture over the years, but it is certainly not the version of life the founder of Christianity had in mind—it fails to acknowledge the sovereignty and rule of God over all things, and it will certainly do no one any good in the times to come. So…permit me to share some rules for practical Christianity—something so elemental to preparation for the times in which we live that I would go so far as to say that getting this right is the single most important thing you should undertake—the first thing, the most important thing, and the best thing you should do. Everything else you might do to prepare depends and builds upon these foundational principles. If you get this right, your odds of getting everything else right skyrocket; if you get this wrong, you could get everything else right and still end up in a very bad place.

These practical steps are ‘denominationally neutral’—there is no plug for one denomination or another. In the days to come, true Christians will probably drop their denominational differences (persecution tends to have that effect). If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, if you believe the Bible is His Word to us, and if you strive to obey Him daily, then we will all be agreeing on much, much more in the coming days—whether we expect to or not.

1. Get the Cross Right: Understand what the Cross means and pick it up—every day.  This term ‘Cross’ can be sort of ‘church-speak’, and while it is the essence of Christianity, it doesn’t make sense to many people—many Christians, actually. I say this because of the current state of Christianity in the world; if it did make sense to most Christians, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in at the moment. And  ‘getting the Cross right’ does not mean simply going to church; too many people equate ‘going to church’ with real Christianity. Church is important, but it isn’t a substitute for spiritual life. Actually understanding the Cross is pretty simple. You can understand it by just looking at the life of the Founder. He gave up everything He had so as to obey His Father; He sacrificed His life so others might live. He put away what He was entitled to so as to set an example for us. The Cross involves a breaking; it means we come to a point in our lives when we really, truly realize to the depth of our soul that we have failed as a human being and can in no way succeed; that we have failed in some way that reflects such horrendous discredit on ourselves that there is no hope that we can continue to live unless God gives us His nature and lives His life in us and through us. This typically results in a dark night of the soul, accompanied by a cry of agony and desperation that cries out in remorse, anguish, and despair. If you have uttered such a cry, you will know what I am talking about; if you haven’t, you won’t. If you are lucky, you will see yourself as God sees you (and be affected by that understanding for the rest of your life). How will this apply to your preparation activities? Practically speaking—stop seeking to have things your own way; stop seeking your own ‘rights’, and look to find instances where you might help secure the rights of others (I mean really, after seeing what we look like through God’s eyes, no one could be prideful again). Recognize that before you can truly live in this life, before you can truly be productive in the sense that you will produce good for others besides yourself, before you can take the right steps to prepare for the coming fight, and before you can really do anything that pleases God, you have to come to the realization that you are not in charge; that you are not even capable of being ‘in charge’—of your life, or anyone else’s life; and that our natures are, in fact, such that if left to ourselves, we would muddy the baths of angels. And why, lastly, is all this important? Why is this eminently practical? Because we are coming into a time when warriors are required. The coming fight, however, is not about freedom, or constitutional liberties, or the right to own guns. No, the ground on which we’re fighting and will fight is spiritual—the enemy of freedom and liberty is also, coincidentally, the enemy of your soul. Every one of you who reads this blog feels this, deep down. Every time you read of another encroachment on freedom, an intrusion into previously sacrosanct rights, or some new abuse or trampling of human dignity, something in you twists in anger; you cry out against it. Why? Because the fight we’re in is spiritual, because these things affront your spirit, and no amount of political or prepping efforts will avail you if you have not prepared first spiritually. Not recognizing this is a spiritual fight, and just stocking up and learning skills (all quite important, mind) without first understanding and applying the Cross is like stepping into a boxing ring against a powerful (only once-defeated) opponent—he’s got a baseball bat, and you’re wearing a blindfold…good luck.

2. Men—Cowboy Up. Men need to be the spiritual leaders in their family. A man who needs to be nagged by his wife to lead spiritually will let down his side in the bigger battles to come (because remember, the fight we’re in now is spiritual, and will only get more so). This is important because this is the way God structured our society: it doesn’t mean men are more or less important, it is just that leadership in the home is the role God has assigned to men, so as to maintain the symbology He has put in place so we could know Him. Men—you need to lead your families spiritually by reading them sections of the Bible each day. You need to speak to them about what you read (which means you need to be able to hear from God what He tells you to say). You need to be able to handle the Word of God like a master re-loader handles his re-loading equipment; like some master gardener handles their garden; like some master electrician can whip up a DIY alternate power source. And I mean every man, not just some minister or pastor. This means, practically, that every man needs to be able to answer the tough questions, and every man needs to be setting the example for their family with their own life. And this means every man needs to know the Bible better than anyone in their family…and it means then that you need to humble out, and it means that if you are doing things you ought not to be doing, knock it off, ask God’s forgiveness, stop doing those things (that’s what ‘repent’ means), and start learning the things He wants you to learn and doing the things He wants you to do. You won’t make one lick of progress toward understanding the Bible unless you are willing to line up and do what it says to do. No one said this would be easy, but any home with a man in it who isn’t leading spiritually isn’t firing on all cylinders. Any family that hopes to prepare, led by a man who thinks this ‘spiritual stuff’ is just a crutch, or something not manly enough to deal with, will get rolled over when the enemy’s big spiritual guns are rolled out (remember the baseball bat and the blindfold). And remember, gentlemen…you can’t be the spiritual leader in your homes unless you have first executed step one, above.

3. Obey the Word. This phrase, ‘the Word’, is what Christians mean when they are referring to either what they read in the Bible, or what God actually tells them to do (yes, Virginia, God still speaks to people today). Typically God speaks to people through His written word, which is why it is so important to correctly handle it. If you were zeroing your battle rifle for 100 yards and you didn’t know how to ‘correctly handle’ the settings on your sight, you really wouldn’t make any progress with the exercise now, would you? If you were building an alternative energy source and you didn’t ‘correctly handle’ the principles of electricity, you’d suffer the consequences. Well, the Word of God is a tool He’s given us to be able to (a) obey Him the right way, and (b) live our lives so that we can benefit others. But you can read the Bible and talk about it and spread it around, but if you don’t actually do what God tells you to do, you’re wasting your time. Obedience is that actual thing that helps us understand what God is telling us in the Word; this is why people who have absolutely no intention of actually obeying God read the Bible and can’t make head nor tail out of what it says. Warriors need to obey their commander, and in this upcoming spiritual fight, God is the commander, and if you want to fight in this upcoming fight, you had better learn how to obey Him. Obey in the small things first, and soon He will give you more critical tasks. Obedience is critical—and that means you need to humble out and get a right sight picture of where you stand relative to God—and that takes us back to step one, above.

4. God is God. It seems that somewhere, American Christians have gotten the idea that waving a flag is tantamount to worshipping God…and I think that is because most people who might call themselves Christians are actually worshipping America (this is because it is easier than executing step one, above). At the bottom of that slippery slope one sees that there is the tendency to simply worship any construct or political system that provides them a required lifestyle or level of convenience or freedom to engage in a preferred activity. America should not be God, the Constitution should not be God, and I would even go so far as to say that one’s efforts to prepare should not be your God (and by ‘God’ I simply mean ‘that which is most important to you’). In any fight, one needs to see clearly whom you are fighting. In a dogfight, typically the first one who sees the enemy has an immense advantage; in any sort of combat, seeing your opponent clearly is critical. Not having a clear picture of God will keep you from clearly seeing the real opponent in these days. Our opponents are not ‘the Progressives’ or the gun control fanatics, or ‘the evil left’. No…our opponent is the enemy of souls, the deceiver of nations, the hater of your heart. Adjust to that fact and stop swinging at illusions. Accurately place God in the scheme of things, and you will accurately comprehend your enemy. But if you continue to worry about the restoration of constitutional freedoms and rights and all the other things ‘guaranteed by the Founding Fathers’ without first executing step one, above, then you will be playing into the hands of the enemy, swinging at moonbeams, and sooner or later, you’ll get that baseball bat in the head when the enemy rolls out his big guns and everyone recognizes the fight as spiritual. You’ve heard it said, “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.” Well, focusing on surface political and national issues is bringing a knife to a gunfight. Don’t be caught without the appropriate spiritual weapons.

5. Life isn’t the sine qua non of existence. If you are continuing in a relationship of obedience with God, then you should not fear death. Rather, you should fear He Who consigns souls to hell (that would be God). Death isn’t the enemy; loss of freedom isn’t the main threat. Denying God is that which we should most fear. Practically speaking, how might one deny God? Let’s put it in terms we can understand. Let’s say you have a Dad who’s the greatest Dad in the world. He’s taken care of you, raised you to be an honest, hard-working, true man or woman who knows what love and truth and beauty and obedience means. So one day someone comes along and asks you to engage in an activity that you know would upset your Dad, something which would be against all the principles for which he stands. If you go ahead and engage in that activity, such would be tantamount to denying your Father. ‘Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s.’ No man can force you to deny God if you have already come to that place in your mind where you would rather die than do so.  One doesn’t get to that place easily. You can only get to that place by realizing that your life is less important than your faithfulness to your Father in heaven (presuming, of course, that you have executed step one, above). Now, I am not advocating that you run upon the nearest sword that happens to present itself so that you can become an instant martyr. No…I am telling you that the product of a solid relationship with God in which you are obeying Him on a daily basis (after you have accomplished step one, above) will be a firm, unshakable determination to die or suffer hardship rather than to disobey Him, or be forced to engage in an activity or adopt a philosophy or adhere to any policy or principal that requires you to disobey God’s rules, nature, or commandments. Another product of that close relationship will be God’s hand on your life, shepherding you through the days such that when the time comes for you to perhaps give up your life before denying Him, it will be an instance that He has arranged, and it will be for His glory, not yours. This re-adjusted mindset may result in some dramatically different approaches to your preparations. Consider—how would your preparation activities change if you were to ask yourself, “How will God be glorified by what I am doing?” (this term ‘glorified’ can be ‘church-speak’: it simply means, for example, “How will God get the credit; how will God’s excellence and wonderfulness be made evident to people; how will the people affected by this thing I’m doing realize that God is the one who made it all possible, and thank Him and not me?”). Everything you do to prepare—every gun you buy, every food item you store, every balaclava you procure—needs to be done with the objective in mind that somehow, someway, people will sooner or later, because of what you are doing, thank God (not you).

6. Dropkick the World. Once upon a time, a man had two dogs, a Red dog and White dog. He would tell everyone who came to visit that he loved that White dog and really hated the Red dog. Oh, and how those two dogs would fight each other. The man would tell his guests that he always wanted the White dog to win, and sometimes that White dog did (usually when guests were around), but most other times that mean ol’ Red dog would just get the upper hand. Now, twice a day that man fed the Red dog a huge porterhouse steak and once a day he fed that White dog just three small garbanzo beans and a Ritz cracker. Well, pretty soon, you can guess who was winning the fights—yup, that mean ol’ Red dog. So the point of the story here is that those two dogs are in each of us. The Red dog is that thing in us—our human nature—that wants to do the bad stuff; the White dog—God’s nature (presuming again you’ve executed step one)—is that which is trying to get us to do what’s right. When we put into our hearts the garbage that comes from the world—the philosophies, the entertainments, the ethics, the value systems, and the general mindset the world has (the ‘world’ being those things opposed to God), we’re feeding the Red dog and starving the White dog. Better we starve the Red dog and feed the White dog; read the Word every day; dwell on what God is doing through His body on earth; associate with others who are accomplished in performing step one, above; read solid books that accurately and in an honoring way depict the wonderful things God has done in human history; stay away from movies and books that dishonor Him (Hollywood being what it is, that narrows the field down a bit). Now, you won’t be able to come completely out of the world—I’m not advocating you join some sort of monastery (you can’t have an M1A in a monastery, I’ve heard—that would cut it for me). You will need to have some familiarity with what is happening around you to make some sense of the days in which we live—but don’t starve the White dog in doing so.

7. Love what God loves (hate what God hates). Imagine a little boy who looks up to his father and wants to be ‘just like his Dad’. Well, what do we see in little boys who have this desire? They do what their Daddies do; they love what their Dad loves, and if their Dad somehow expresses distaste for something, you can be sure that little boy will walk right up to it and give it a kick as well. What does God love? God loves truth, and justice, and righteousness (another ‘church-speak’ word that simply means doing what is right in God’s sight—which means that to do righteousness you need to know what God considers right, which means you need to understand His Word, which requires executing step one, above); He loves mercy, and a humble and contrite heart—this means a heart that knows where it stands in the great scheme of things, and owns up to and is deeply sorry for the rotten things it has done in its past. He loves compassion and He loves defending those who cannot defend themselves. He loves protecting the innocent and the weak. He stands against evil and does not give way before it. And God hates, too (oh yes He does, absolutely, positively, make no mistake—you can read it in Psalm 5 and elsewhere). He hates sin, and He hates those who sin; he hates injustice and tyranny and murder and rapine and all the evil things men do…and evil men. And He will one day come back and His robes will be dipped in blood from all the death and destruction He will deal out upon men and women who are opposed to His rule (my suggestion is to be on the right side of that coming fight). So in your daily life, begin to make a habit of doing what your Father in heaven does; uphold truth and justice and do righteousness and hate those who do iniquity. Keep yourselves from idols—that is, keep yourselves from anything that might get to be more important in your life than obeying God.

– – –

And so…

Do you want to be a warrior in this fight? Do you want to take up arms with your heavenly Father, to do what you can to fight on His side? Do you want to identify with others who have a devotion to a mission so intense that they would be willing to die for it? God is not so concerned about restoring the Constitution; He is not so concerned about restoring the principles of the Founding Fathers. He is concerned, though, about individual hearts being so tuned to Him that every person functions as if they were part of His own body here on earth. It may be that the outcome of this coming conflict results not in some rejuvenated American nation but in a completely new world, with God actually ruling and reigning on this earth (which might impact your food storage plans a bit). Prepare well—God says that those who see danger and prepare to avoid it are prudent. But remember the most important aspect of preparation. Warriors in this fight will know how to use these practical steps (for they are weapons); they will know how to take orders; they will know where and how they fit in the grand scheme of things (for such is the true definition of humility); they will know the voice of their Commanding Officer, and they will do what He says—regardless of cost.

The Twisted World of Jared Lee Loughner

The tragic news on Saturday of the shooting of a congresswoman and a Federal judge in Arizona was quite troubling. (At last report, six dead and 13 wounded.) Chief Judge John Roll of the U.S. District Court for Arizona was killed and Representative Gabrielle Giffords was badly injured but is expected to recover.

Who is the suspect? Jared Lee Loughner, age 22. His YouTube channel makes him appear to be a certifiable flag-burning lunatic, and possibly a mind control subject. His list of favorite books included: “Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard Of OZ, Aesop Fables, The Odyssey, Alice Adventures Into Wonderland, Fahrenheit 451, Peter Pan, To Kill A Mockingbird, We The Living, Phantom Toll Booth, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Pulp, Through The Looking Glass, The Communist Manifesto, Siddhartha, The Old Man And The Sea, Gulliver’s Travels, Mein Kampf, The Republic, and Meno.” Somehow, I expected to see: “The Catcher in the Rye” on the list.

So what is he? A communist? A neo-Nazi? Or is just your basic Looney Tune? And what about the name Loughner? (Loner? Lone gunman?) Or Lugner? (That is German for “liar”.) This whole episode is surely going to prompt plenty of Conspiracy Theory style speculation.

The sad truth is that we live in a world where there are loonies and radicals (and looney radicals–the most dangerous sort) wandering the streets. The world is a dangerous place.

One part of the Arizona tragedy that will surely be overlooked by the mass media is that the outcome would have been much different if we had a better-armed citizenry. If there had been several private citizens present armed with guns, then the assassin might very well have been stopped before he had the time to shoot so many people. At least Arizona has reasonable gun laws. (Open carry is legal, as is Vermont style no-permit concealed carry.)

I suspect that Mayor Bloomberg and his band of fools will try to use this tragedy as an excuse for more so-called “gun control”. Most likely they’ll ask for another magazine ban (a la the idiotic 1994-2004 ban), since the shooter reportedly used a pistol with an extended magazine. They might also use this to denigrate Vermont-style concealed carry.

Economics and Investing:

T.&.P. sent this item: Legislation proposes Utah adopt a gold-based system. Similar legislation has been introduced in several other states.

Blame the U.S. Mint for Lack of Silver, Don’t Blame Customers (Thanks to Alec N. for the link.)

Reader M.E. sent this: Seven Reasons Food Shortages Will Become a Global Crisis

Richard S. recommended this piece at the Economania blog: UK Preppers.

Siggy like this one: America’s 10 worst years start right now

Items from The Economatrix:

Regulators Close Florida Bank; 1st For The Year  

Slow Growth In Jobs Shows Challenge Ahead   

Bernanke:  4-5 Years To Reach Normal Unemployment. Does Helicopter Ben honestly think that we will print our way to prosperity! 

EU Plans For Bondholder Haircuts Unsettles Debt Markets  

Permanent Student Loan Debt Bondage Racket

Odds ‘n Sods:

For anyone who is grumbling about the cancellation of the BBC television series Survivors, there is now a petition to get Season 3 reinstated.

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Another reason for OPSEC: Cop Slain for gun collection. (A hat tip to David N. in Tennessee.)

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SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson sent a useful article with relevance to EMP protection: Bonding and Grounding C4SIR Facilities.

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I recently got a lengthy heartfelt letter from a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) employee that I’ll quote just briefly: “The number one lesson I have learned [as a DMV employee] that I want to share is that GDP really does mean, General Dumb Public.  When TEOTWAWKI begins, the collective mental breakdown and anguish of those still living huddled in the corner of ‘the box’ is going to be horrible and unimaginably destructive.  I don’t pity them in any regards, just the distance we have fallen morally as a nation.  Seeing the rampant stupidity in my fellow constituents and the stocked pantry/hidden blunder busters at home, I can’t help but feel a little dead inside.  I grew up in a different America and I’m not sure if we can ever return to that.  And as controversial as it sounds, this nation is ripe for the judgment.  America is a rebellious house and a catharsis of Biblical proportions is at our doorstep.”

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Kevin S. suggested this: How To Completely Erase Your Hard Drive

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“1) David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, Richard Speck… 2) what about them? 1) Serial killers. Serial killers only have two names. You ever notice that? But lone gunmen assassins, they always have three names. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, Mark David Chapman… 2) John Hinckley. He shot Reagan. He only has two names. 1) Yeah, but he only just shot Reagan. Reagan didn’t die. If Reagan had died, I’m pretty sure we probably would all know what John Hinckley’s middle name was.” – Mel Gibson, in the movie Conspiracy Theory. (Screenplay by Brian Helgeland)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 32 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 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 “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $400, B.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and C.) 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 32 ends on January 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.

Storing Fats and Oils, by Dave The R.N.

Fats are in important and often neglected part of the diet, especially when it comes to the typically carb-heavy foods typically stored.  Grains like wheat berries and rice along with beans are a cornerstone of any preppers dietary thrust. This provides an overabundance of carbohydrates and some proteins. And when it comes to animal-based protein, I often see information on how easy it is to raise rabbits for protein, and with good reason. They propagate quickly and are easy to butcher and don’t take up much space. The problem with rabbit is that it’s almost devoid of fat. In fact, if you eat solely rabbit, you will eventually die of “rabbit starvation” no matter how much you gorge yourself, due to rabbits lack of fat. The point is, we need fat to live.  

But if I Eat Lots of Fat, I’ll Get Heart Disease!
While the mainstream dietary advice for the last 30 years (the governments food pyramid for example) tells us to eat low fat, and that eating fat makes you fat, and that eating fat will “clog your arteries”,  this is patently false. This all started back in the 1950s with Ancel Keys’s Seven Countries Study. Dr. Keys sought to make a connection between saturated fat and heart disease. The problem with that famous study  was that he had data from 22 countries, he just took the data from the countries that agreed with his hypotheses.  It’s on this faulty study that the Lipid Hypotheses was born, and we started down the low-fat trail. Likewise false is that eating fat will raise your triglycerides. In fact, eating a diet high in carbohydrates like grains raise your triglycerides. I eat a diet very high in fat and no grains whatsoever, and my triglycerides at last measure were just  44. Dietary consumption of fat has little to do with your cholesterol level. In fact, your cholesterol level has little to do with heart disease. And here’s another little fact: about half of all heart attack victims have completely normal cholesterol measures.

Eat the Right Kind of Fat
But first, what kind of fat should we store? Well, we could stock up on vegetable oils like canola or corn oil. They’re plentiful and cheap. The problem is, the polyunsaturated fatty acids in vegetable seed oils are the bane of human health — they actually cause cancer, diabetes, obesity, aging, thrombosis, arthritis, and immunodeficiencies. Fats that keep you healthy are natural animal fats. Some of the benefits are: Improved cardiovascular risk factors, stronger bones, improved liver health, healthy lungs, healthy brain, proper nerve signaling, and a strong immune system. Fat is required to assimilate vitamins A, D, E, and K. So throw away the canola, corn, and soy oil. Stay away from anything that contains polyunsaturated fats. These oils are very unstable, and have almost no shelf life. Once ingested, they bind with cells and interfere with every chemical reaction in the body. The results are hormone imbalances, inflammation, and all kinds of illness.  As heart disease rates increased the last 50 years, the consumption of saturated fats was going down, not up, but the consumption of vegetable oils was increasing.  I stopped eating vegetable oils about  years ago. So let’s get reacquainted with pasture-fed butter, lard, and tallow products, and other traditional saturated fats like coconut oil. But can we store high quality animal fats for later consumption?  The answer is yes. Here are some  ways to preserve fats (and your health).

Coconut milk/oil
One of the simplest ways to store fat is canned coconut milk. Coconut milk is full of medium chain fatty acids. I mix it 2:1 with water and use it as a substitute for milk in protein shakes when I’m out of my raw goat milk (frequently in the winter months since that’s when the goats are dry).  Coconut oil has a long shelf life of two+ years.  And besides being able to cook with it, Coconut oil is medicinal as well.  It has  renowned and powerful antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial effects. In fact, it’s been shown to be effective against the “superbug” MRSA.  Recent experiences in wound care show that coconut oil worked well in healing wounds where other methods had failed.  It’s also being used to improve the cognition of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. It’s full of beneficial medium chain fatty acids the body needs. Lauric acid, the major fatty acid in coconut oil, is very beneficial and rarely present in the human diet, except during breast feeding. Breast milk is full of Lauric acid. And let’s not forget that breast milk is about 43% saturated fat. This highlights the fact that saturated fat is good for you, not bad. Coconut oil also makes a great skin conditioner.  I get mine from Nutiva. It’s organic and of very high quality. Shipping is free too!

Ghee
Ghee is pure butterfat, and can be stored for up to 10 years if properly prepared. In fact, 100-year-old Ghee is highly valued in India and fetches a very high price. Such ghee was often kept in Temples in large vats and families often pass on aged Ghee to their next generation to be used as medicine. Ghee is rich in easy-to-digest short chain fatty acids and vitamins A, D, E & K. It also contains 3% linoleic acid which has anti-oxidant properties.. It is about 65% saturated fat and 25% monounsaturated fat with about 5% polyunsaturated fat content. Its saturated fat is primarily (89%) made from those easy-to-digest short chain fatty acids and it contains 3% linoleic acid which has anti-oxidant properties.  It has a high smoke point which makes it great for cooking. That high smoke point means that it does not produce damaging free radicals. Ghee is suitable for people who are sensitive to lactose as the heating procedure used to clarify the butter removes the lactose content. You can buy Ghee, but it’s easy to make your own. Simply take a couple of pounds of butter, heat you oven to 250 and place the butter in a pan (I use an old fashioned iron skillet) and let it cook for 2 hours. At the end of the two hours, carefully take the pan and spoon out the golden-clear liquid, leaving the milk proteins behind. As you are spooning it out, strain though cheesecloth. Mason jars make a good storage container for your ghee.

Tallow/Lard
Tallow is rendered from beef. Lard is rendered from pigs. While I have no experience with Lard (other than the bacon fat I save for cooking eggs), fat from beef suet is a method I do use. I buy high quality beef suet (the fat from around the kidneys) from my local grass fed beef supplier for $2.00 a lb, (although at times you can get it free). To render to tallow, just chop it into cubes of about 1/2″ square and put it in a slow cooker. I do this outside because it can smell up the house a bit. Periodically scoop the clear liquid from the top. Mason jars or food grade plastic buckets make a good storage medium. I used a large bucket that used to have coconut oil in it. I was told by the butcher that it would store frozen almost indefinably.  If thoroughly dry and in a sealed container, can keep as long as 30 years. Tallow can also be used to preserve meat. Just fry the meat and pack in a container, like a mason jar. Then pour enough tallow over the meat to seal it in, much like pouring wax over freshly made preserves. This can preserve the meat for at least 6 months. Another great way to store fat is to use your tallow and make pemmican.  Pemmican is what the plains Indians lived on during the winter and on long hunting trips. It consists of lean beef (or buffalo), beef tallow, and sometimes berries mixed together in a one to one ratio of beef and fat. A great thing about pemmican is that you can literally live on it for very long periods of time. Although conventional wisdom would tell us that a lack of vitamin C causes scurvy, it is in fact caused by a lack of fresh meat. The “limeys” who avoided scurvy by eating limes at sea, were actually on a very heavy processed grain diet with no meat. This is a controversial point to be sure, but it explains the Inuit Eskimos, who have no access to fruit and are scurvy free.

There are many good sites on the ‘net for learning how to make pemmican. You can also buy grass-fed pemmican from US Wellness Meats.  Pemmican can be stored for up to 20 years!  It’s storability makes it the ultimate survival food. So, as you are making your preparations for food storage, don’t neglect fats. They are necessary for survival and should form a central part of your food storage plans.

One Retreat’s Rules, by T.N.P.

The following is a document that I have developed for our retreat. Obviously your mileage may vary. These guidelines are based on our area, family connections, our previous preparations and many other factors. Feel free to use them as a starting place for drafting rules for your own group.

Retreat Rules
It is not the goal to have a burdensome and complicated set of rules. However, there must be some rules so that everyone is on the same page. In the event of “Retreat Activation”, the survival of any one of us depends on the survival of the rest of us. We should act accordingly at all times.
Rules will be altered, added and deleted as needed to keep things as simple as possible while maintaining order and cohesiveness. If you feel a rule needs to be added, deleted or changed, please let me know. All suggestions will be taken under advisement. Some may be accepted, others may not.
The purpose of the retreat and the preparations are to strive to survive a disaster or a breakdown in society.
While we are not a religious group, the Ten Commandments will be our guide in dealing with others. As far as the first three commandments go, your soul, your God, your choice. Choose carefully.
It is expected and demanded that you do not talk about the retreat, our plans, preparations, activities, etc. with anyone outside the group. Our lives may depend on others not knowing about us.  If the retreat is compromised, you could go somewhere else; I have no choice but to stay here.
If you decide to leave the group, we expect you to still not discuss the retreat with others. To do so would be potentially putting our lives in jeopardy.
If you are asked to leave the group (very serious thing) you will take your provisions with you. We also expect you to honor your pledge to maintain our privacy.
I will make all final decisions. It’s not that I don’t trust you, you wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, but this is my home. Please respect that and I pledge to make decisions that are in the best interest of all involved.

Admission
Admission to the group is by invitation only.  Individuals or families may be suggested and recommended by any other member. Operational security must be observed.  Not everyone will be accepted. All recommended people will be considered for an interview. Most interviews will be informal and most people will not realize they are being interviewed. Most interviewees will be asked to come and “camp” with us for a weekend. Everyone will get to meet them and make an assessment.
There is no one qualification to be admitted but rather many traits that are desired. Skill sets are a large, but not primary, factor in the acceptance of someone. The ability to get along with others and respect others even when they do not agree is a large factor.
Race or religious beliefs will not be a factor in selection.
People will only be selected that we would trust with our lives.
The ability to get along with everyone else and willing to carry their own weight and then a little more are traits that we are looking for.
Again, the final decision to admit anyone to the group will be mine.

Retreat Activation
The retreat would be activated in the event of a national emergency such as nationwide or regional power failure, major earthquake, war, extreme civil unrest, etc. It is not a vacation home or a place for you to go to if you lose your job or your spouse kicks you out.

Banned Activities
This should not even need to be said but in order to make everything clear, the following items are banned:
Nothing illegal is allowed. We can’t take the chance. Penalty: Immediate dismissal! Law enforcement will be contacted if necessary.
No firearms, ammo or weapons are to be brought to the retreat that are deemed to be illegal by the state, local or federal law enforcement. While you may or may not agree with the law or the interpretation, it is still the law and you must abide by it.
No racist, skinhead, Nazi, religious zealots or the like will be allowed.
Illegal drugs are not allowed.
Alcohol consumption is not allowed. You could need to use a firearm at any time. Everyone depends on everyone else being in full control of their facilities at all times.
Tobacco smoking will not be allowed once the retreat is activated. Use caution until then.
Fighting or heated “discussions”. Respect the opinion of others.
No talk or plan of subversive activities will be tolerated.

Water conservation
Once the electricity is out, water conservation will be very important. While cleanliness and health go hand in hand and are very important, there will only be a certain amount of available water. Use it sparingly.

Sanitation
Expect to use an outhouse or latrine. Feminine products and toilet paper is not to be placed in the pit of either. Place it in the proper container for burning or other disposal. Other times, when away from the retreat, on patrol or any other situation, feces must be buried and a large rock or rocks placed over it.

Food
Food will be prepared in a central kitchen or camp area, by those listed on the duty roster. All food at the retreat, or acquired later, when the retreat is activated, will be available to the cook staff to be prepared for everyone.

Clothing
Clothing should be selected with an understanding of the jobs that will need to be done. Please consider that weather can be hot, warm, cool, cold, dry, wet and several combinations. Prepare accordingly. Clothing shall be modest at all times.

Lookout duty (LO)
Everyone should be prepared to stand lookout. The number of lookouts and the schedule will change depending on the situation. Some will be excused from LO duty for physical reasons, trust issues or other jobs needing their attention. A schedule will be posted ahead of time, again depending on the situation.
Lookouts are expected to report on time and be alert throughout the entire shift. No other activities should be preformed while on lookout duty.  No Exceptions!

Jobs/chores
Jobs will be assigned by me or the person I appoint. While you may request a particular job or request not be placed on a certain job, the person assigning the jobs has the final word on the matter. You are expected to do all jobs to the best of your ability. All jobs are important. The pay is the same!

Light discipline
In times where we expect to be harmed in any way, light discipline is of utmost importance. If a light must be used, do so in an interior room with the door closed. It would be very important for light to not give away our positions and activities.

Noise discipline
Any noise could give away our location and be detrimental to all of us. Depending on the situation, total silence may be required.

Training
Training weekends will be regularly scheduled. These weekends will consist of a variety of exercises and sometimes jobs (like building bunk houses) that need to be done around the retreat. Prepare to camp for these weekends.
Three consecutive training sessions missed will be grounds for dismissal from the group. Exceptions and makeup sessions may be allowed depending on the situation.

Marksmanship minimum
80% hits in the following positions
Standing – 24 moa
Sitting – 12 moa
Prone  – 6 moa
Age 12 and up will be required to qualify. One year will be allowed for an individual to meet these standards. Everyone will re-qualify every year. While bipods are welcome, qualifying will be done will only a sling.
Ammo used for marksmanship training will be in addition to the amounts listed for storage.

Firearms required
Each member of 12 years of age or older should have the following:
Battle Rifle in 7.62×51 or 30.06 or 5.56 or 7.62×39 (I know, this standard is not true standardization!)
Pistol (and holster)  in 45 ACP
Shotgun in 12 ga. or 20 ga.
Rifle in .22LR

Realizing new members may not have all firearms when joining, the following procurement schedule is required:
1st year – Battle rifle and .22
2nd year – Pistol
3rd year – Shotgun
Additional guns in other calibers and gauges are allowed and welcomed, but these are our standard.

Physical requirement
While I don’t intend to have a “Physical Test”, I do expect everyone to be in the best physical condition possible. Some of the drills we do will be very strenuous. It’s a long way to a medical facility. In the event of activation of the retreat, a person that is not physically able to carry their share of the load is a liability to everyone else. Don’t be a liability!

Supplies Required
It is not the goal of this requirement to cause a hardship on anyone. Most of these items you should already have. (If not, this retreat idea may not really be what you are looking for) This is not to say that you should not still be prepared at home. In order not to cause a hardship all at one time, the supplies have been broken down into three stages.  The first stage is required to join the group. The second stage is required at the beginning of the second year and the third stage is required at the beginning of the third year. With the exception of firearms and ammunition, these items are required to be positioned at the retreat. They will remain your personal possessions until such time the retreat is activated. If you decide to leave the group or join another group, you are certainly welcome and expected to take your supplies. If the retreat has been activated and you have not been heard from for a period of 6 months, the supplies will be considered common property of the group. These items are to be in addition to what you would arrive with. Certainly you may store all three stages at one time if you are in that position. If you need clarification on some of the items, please ask. With many of the items we may want to make a group buy for cost advantages and uniformity.
The below list is per person. Children under 12 should stock ½ the listed amount and not all items would apply.

Stage 1 (year one)
Clothing – 4 sets of clothing – ½ of which needs to be camouflage 
Underwear and socks
pajamas
Cold weather gear (Caps and coats)
Boots – 1 pair (Hint: find a pair you like and buy two or three pair then. Models seem to change by the time you wear
Extra boot laces
Rain gear
Gloves
Back pack
Laundry detergent – 40 loads

Ammo– (Newcomers will be allowed to catch-up as they purchase a particular firearm)
Battle Rifle – 500 rounds
Pistol – 500 rounds
Shotgun – 25 defensive and 200 small shot
22 – 1000 rounds
All properly sealed (think ammo can)

Toiletries
Toilet paper – 48 rolls
Paper towels – 24 rolls
Soap – 18 bars
Shampoo – 1 year supply
Shaving supplies
Deodorant – 1 year supply
2 tooth brushes
Tooth paste
Q-Tips – 1 box
1 – bowl to wash in
12 wash cloths
4 bath towels
Mirror
Feminine supplies – 1 year supply
Condoms – 1 year supply
Nail clippers and files
Dental floss
Hair brush and comb
Scissors
One year’s worth of other toiletries you normally use.

 

Meal prep (please, no Styrofoam. It doesn’t burn well)
Nonstick skillet
Sauce pan
1000 paper plates
100 paper bowls
100 Plastic cups
2 metal forks
2 metal spoons
Kitchen knife
Spatulas and large spoons
Can opener
40 quart freezer bags (good ones)
1 stainless bowl
Dish detergent – 32 oz

Bedding
Sleeping bags are preferred
A cot
Pillow
Additional blankets
Additional pillow cases
Camouflage tarp is recommended

Personal items
A strong pocket knife
Sharpening stone
Wrist watch
Spare eye glasses
Sun glasses
 5 Large Bic lighters (other brands don’t hold up)
Axe
Bow saw
Hammer
Assortment of nails
Pliers
Other tools you think you may need
Misc. cord and rope
2 flashlights and 4 sets of batteries
Compass
Recommended – 1 cap light and spare battery
Note pad and pencils
2 boxes of Strike Anywhere Kitchen matches
1 box of large garbage bags
4 small propane bottles
Playing cards, games and books

Medical
2 boxes of band aids
1 – Ace Bandage
1 bottle – Hydrogen Peroxide
1 tube of athlete’s foot ointment
1 tube of antibiotic ointment
1 bottle of aspirin
Other over the counter medications you use
350 multi vitamins
Insect spray
* Prescription medications are not to be stored at the retreat, however, one should prepare to stock up on them.

Food
Food and some of the other items should be rotated on a schedule depending on the item; to assure the freshest possible is in storage. In other words, once a year or so bring new items and take the old home to use. Store things you already eat. If you eat store brands, store them. If you eat name brands, store them. The idea is to store one year’s supply of food for each of the first 3 years of membership. Some food requires special storage. One of our group activities will be preparing this food for storage.

Grains: (All chemical free)
Wheat – 100#
Rice – 50#
Oatmeal – 6 #
Dried beans – 50#
Shelled corn – 50#

Oils
2 gal. of vegetable or olive oil (small containers are best)
2 – large Crisco shortening

Condiments
1 – Ketchup
2 – Peanut Butter
1 container of black pepper
3 boxes of iodized salt
Spices you normally use
25# white sugar

Canned goods
25 Canned vegetables
25 canned fruit
25 canned soups
25 canned meats (Spam, tuna canned chicken and such)
1 case of bottled water (plan to reuse the bottles) Spring and well water is available.
Coffee & filters
Tea bags

 

Stage 2 (year 2) in addition to stage 1

Clothing – 4 sets of clothing – ½ of which needs to be camo
More Underwear and socks
More Cold weather gear (Caps and coats)
Boots – 1 pair
Extra boot laces
Rain gear
Gloves
Laundry detergent – 40 loads

Ammo– (Newcomers will be allowed to catch-up as they purchase a particular firearm)
Battle Rifle – 500 rounds
Pistol – 500 rounds
Shotgun – 25 defensive and 200 small shot
22 – 1000 rounds
All properly sealed

Toiletries
Toilet paper – 48 rolls
Paper towels – 24 rolls
Soap – 18 bars
Shampoo – 1 year supply
Shaving supplies (No canned shaving foam) for 1 year
Deodorant – 1 year supply
2 tooth brushes
Tooth paste for 1 year
Q-Tips – 1 box
12 wash cloths
4 bath towels
Feminine supplies – 1 year supply
Condoms – 1 year supply
Dental floss

Meal prep (please, no Styrofoam. It doesn’t burn well)
Heavy pot
Well seasoned cast iron skillet
1000 paper plates
100 paper bowls
2 metal forks
2 metal spoons
40 quart freezer bags (good ones)
Dish detergent – 32 oz
Large roll of aluminum foil
Welders gloves

Bedding
Additional blankets
Additional pillow cases
Camo tarp is recommended

Personal items
5 Bic lighters (other brands don’t hold up)
Other tools you think you may need
Shovels, mattocks, picks and rakes
Misc. cord and rope
4 sets of batteries
Recommended – 1 cap light and spare batteries
Note pad and pencils
2 boxes of Strike Anywhere Kitchen matches
1 box of large garbage bags
4 small propane bottles
Playing cards, games and books optional
2 rolls of duct tape
1 gal of Clorox

Medical
Advanced 1st aid kit
1 tube of athlete’s foot ointment
1 tube of antibiotic ointment
1 bottle of aspirin
Other over the counter medications you use
350 multi vitamins
Insect spray

Food
Food items should be rotated on a schedule depending on the item, to assure the freshest possible is in storage. In other words, once a year or so, bring new items and take the old home to use. Store things you already eat. If you eat store brands, store them. If you eat name brands, store them.The idea is to store one year’s supply of food for each of the first 3 years of membership. Some food requires special storage. One of our group activities will be preparing this food for storage.

Grains: (All chemical free)
Wheat – 200#
Rice – 100#
Oatmeal – 8 #
Dried beans – 50#
Shelled corn – 50#

Oils
3 gal. of vegetable or olive oil (small containers are best)
3 – large Crisco shortening

Condiments
1 – Ketchup
2 – Peanut Butter
1 container of black pepper
6 boxes of iodized salt
Spices you normally use
25# white sugar
½ gal honey

Canned goods
50 Canned vegetables
50 canned fruit
50 canned soups
50 canned meats (Spam, tuna canned chicken and such)
1 case of bottled water (plan to reuse the bottles)
Coffee & filters
Tea bags

Other supplies
1 oil lamp
2 gal. kerosene
48 canning jars (24 pints & 24 Quarts)
Solar calculator
½ set of 2 way radios
Sewing kit
1 roll of barbed wire
White board and markers

Stage 3 ( year 3) in addition to the previously stored items

Clothing – 4 sets of clothing – ½ of which needs to be camo
More Underwear and socks
More Cold weather gear (Caps and coats)
Boots – 1 pair
Extra boot laces
Gloves
Laundry detergent – 40 loads

Ammo– (Newcomers will be allowed to catch-up as they purchase a particular firearm)
Battle Rifle – 1000 rounds
Pistol – 1000 rounds
Shotgun – 25 defensive and 200 small shot
22 – 2000 rounds
All properly sealed

Toiletries
Toilet paper – 48 rolls
Paper towels – 24 rolls
Soap – 18 bars
Shampoo – 1 year supply
Shaving supplies (No canned shaving foam) for 1 year
Deodorant – 1 year supply
2 tooth brushes
Tooth paste for 1 year
Q-Tips – 1 box
12 wash cloths
4 bath towels
Feminine supplies – 1 year supply
Condoms – 1 year supply
Dental floss

 

Meal prep (please, no Styrofoam. It doesn’t burn well)
10 or 12 inch Lodge Dutch oven with legs and rimmed lid and lid lifter
1000 paper plates
100 paper bowls
2 metal forks
2 metal spoons
40 quart freezer bags (good ones)
Dish detergent – 32 oz
Large roll of aluminum foil

Bedding
Additional pillow cases

Personal items
5 Bic lighters (other brands don’t hold up)
Other tools you think you may need
Shovels, mattocks, picks and rakes
Misc. cord and rope
4 sets of batteries
Recommended – 1 cap light and spare battery
Note pad and pencils
2 boxes of Strike Anywhere Kitchen matches
1 box of large garbage bags
4 small propane bottles
Playing cards, games and books optional
2 rolls of duct tape
1 gal of Clorox

Medical
1 tube of athlete’s foot ointment
1 tube of antibiotic ointment
1 bottle of aspirin
Other over the counter medications you use
350 multi vitamins
Insect spray

Food
Food items should be rotated on a schedule depending on the item, to assure the freshest possible is in storage. In other words, once a year or so, bring new items and take the old home to use. Store things you already eat. If you eat store brands, store them. If you eat name brands, store them.The idea is to store one year’s supply of food for each of the first 3 years of membership. Some food requires special storage. One of our group activities will be preparing this food for storage.

Grains: (All chemical free)
Wheat – 200#
Rice – 100#
Oatmeal – 8 #
Dried beans – 50#
Shelled corn – 50#

Oils
3 gal. of vegetable or olive oil (small containers are best)
3 – large Crisco shortening

Condiments
1 – Ketchup
2 – Peanut Butter
1 container of black pepper
6 boxes of iodized salt
Spices you normally use
25# white sugar
1 gal honey

Canned goods
50 Canned vegetables
50 canned fruit
50 canned soups
50 canned meats (Spam, tuna canned chicken and such)
Coffee & filters
Tea bags

Other supplies
Spare wicks and chimney
3 gal. kerosene
48 Ball Quart  canning jars
100 Ball jar lids
1 roll of barbed wire

Economics and Investing:

World Bank to Manage Food Supplies?

John R. recommended a Forbes article by Daniel Oliver Jr.: Soon The Economic Deluge: With the dollar in freefall, the monetary system is breaking down.

Items from The Economatrix:

The New Gold Rush  

What are They Up To?  

Good-bye US Dollar: World Bank Issues First Yuan Bonds in Hong Kong

In The Future You May Not Be Able to Provide the Basics for Your Family Even if Everyone in Your Family Has a Job  

Odds ‘n Sods:

John B. flagged this: The federalization of local law enforcement

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“Wolverines!” It now seems there is renewed hope for the completed-but-yet-shelved remake of the movie Red Dawn. The latest news is that it will get released in 2011, after all, assuming MGM’s “exit from bankruptcy” goes well.

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The publisher is again offering a 10% discount for SurvivalBlog readers on the DVD Food Production Systems for a Backyard or Small Farm.  This is a comprehensive DVD tutorial on home food production available showing you how much water you need, how much land, highest efficiency gardening systems, home butchering and small livestock, orchards, and more.  SurvivalBlog readers will get a 10% discount off the regular $28.95 price. Avalanche Lily and I both greatly enjoyed this no-nonsense DVD. We highly recommend it!

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Snipers report high job satisfaction: study. (Thanks to F.G. for the link.)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“They think we might be better off holing up and waiting for the government to save us. But Jerry and I both know better. We’ve seen enough failed federal disaster responses to know that we’re better off walking into a future of our own choosing.” – Terry DeHart in “The Unit“, a post-nuclear war survival fiction novel.

Letter Re: Storing Fats and Oils

Dear Editor:
There are many in the medical field who will dispute Dave the R.N.’s assertions in his recent post on fats and oils.

A recommendation that is more in line with the mainstream thinking is to store 3 liters (three quarts or approximately 90 ounces) of oils or fats for each person-month of preps.

The assumption is that everyday life will become intensely physical and a per-person calorie budget of 2,500 Calories (or more!) will be required.  Three liters of oil will provide 30-35% of calories-from-fat which is consistent with mainstream wisdom.  Other stored foods and supplementation with produced food might make some of the stored fats and oils a surplus.  The surplus will be a valuable barter or charity item. – Joe H.