Letter Re: In Praise of Productive Dumpster Diving

JW,R:  
Ever since I was a young’n, it has been hard for me to pass a dumpster or trash heap without investigating it.  I quickly learned that folks throw out a lot of good stuff, thinking it is worthless (someone said “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”); e.g. I’ve found appliances which only need a new electrical plug!  Nowadays, the same habit has greatly enhanced my prepping inventory, and best of all, it’s free, leaving more of my tight budget to buy store-bought items.  If you collect more things than you can use, the extras can be bartered, sold, or given/lent.  

I’ll start with some common-sense cautions: 

1) Avoid climbing on or in dumpsters.  No sense getting injured, even before the SHTF.  Or, you can get trapped inside a high-walled one.  If you have to, carry two ladders with you.  Also, it’s common to meet up with nasty critters inside. 

2)  Unless you’re starving, stay away from food garbage dumpsters.  Although, I must admit, I’ve gotten perfectly good food items from behind grocery stores which were discarded on the sell-by date. 

3)  Watch for nails and other “sharps”.  Wear gloves. 

4) To be safe (legal), seek permission beforehand.  In my experience, checking with the site guys always resulted in a friendly “sure, go ahead!” 

5)  Do not touch the charity bins, such as those owned by Goodwill.  

I’ve personally gotten my best finds from construction sites.  Obviously, there’s mostly wood, but hey, I’m a woodchuck anyway, and have made many projects out of scrap lumber.  Also a good source for kindling.  I’ve found plenty of other goodies, though:  tools which only needed a new handle (often you can find a tool with the handle bad and another one with the steel part bad, and swap the parts).  The best thing I’ve been getting lately by far is scrap copper, as #2 (not shiny) is fetching $2.80/lb. 

You’d be surprised at the number of short lengths crews throw out.  Plastic buckets are very common, as are pallets (both have multiple uses)   Some of the best troves can be found when a company is going out of business (nowadays, imagine that!).  It just isn’t worth their time to try and sell a lot of their office and shop stuff.  Good furniture, filing cabinets, pads of paper,  buckets of nuts and bolts, cleaning supplies, etc.  

Obviously, you’re going  to have to do a bit of investigating in order to find the best dumpsters.  Once you do, you can visit the same ones every few days or so and get more of the same stuff you previously found.   The biggest drawback a lot of you will have is the attitude of “wouldn’t stoop so low”, or “that is just too embarrassing”.  Well, over the years I’ve come to realize just how right my late mother was when she always told me “pride goeth before the fall”.  Maybe not a direct quote, but now I understand it. – Bullet Bob

Economics and Investing:

Surprise, surprise: Fed aid in financial crisis went beyond U.S. banks to industry, foreign firms

B.B. sent this from the Des Moines Register: Why farmland is skyrocketing. (I’ve been telling folks to invest in productive farm land, for many years. I told you so!)

How muni bond bust could do big damage

Foreclosure mess could threaten banks, report. (A tip of the hat to Kelly D. for the link.)

Elitists Leading On An Odyssey Of Economic Ruin. (An excerpt from Bob Chapman’s weekly International Forecaster) Our thanks to frequent link contributor John R.

I told you so: Spot silver hit $30 per ounce on Monday, and meanwhile gold briefly touched $1,420.

Items from The Economatrix:

“Shock and Awe” in Precious Metals  

Strange Events At The Comex … Gold and Silver Continue to Advance  

Bernanke Warns on Long-Term Joblessness

Job Growth Weak for November in Setback for Economy  

Confronting the Devils of the Financial and Sovereign Debt Crisis 

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBloggers will consider this well-trodden ground, but since it is a concise summary, so it might be a good link to forward to Pollyanna relatives: How To Prepare For The Coming Financial Apocalypse.

   o o o

V.L. flagged this: Hoarding more than just a little clutter. Unfortunately everyday preppers may get ensnared in new regulations designed to stop compulsive hoarders.

   o o o

OMG That’s OTT Department: SureFire “Quad-Stack” AR Rifle Magazines. The word “impractical” doesn’t begin to describe this product. Prone shooting? Forget it!

   o o o

Ghost Towns: Ciudad Juarez Residents Flee New Homes to Escape Drug War Violence

Notes from JWR:

Just one week left! The Rawles Gets Your Ready Family Preparedness Course is only rarely offered at a discounted price. Until Monday December 13th, the publisher is running a special sale. Don’t miss out on the chance to get a copy for yourself, or to give one as a Christmas gift.

—

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 copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 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.

Budget Survival: The Ins and Outs, by J. Lewis

  1. Where to Begin

First, take into account how many mouths you have to feed, what resources you currently have available and what resources will be available if SHTF in your current location.  Figure out a monthly budget that includes money coming in, bills going out, and what you have left over.  This will give you an idea of where you can trim the fat. (We will cover more on this later.)  Next, take an inventory of you already have that will be useful if SHTF, such as lighters, matches, wool clothing or blankets, canned food.  If you have camping gear, include this.  You will want to find or prepare your own “wish list” of items you are in need of.  List items from most to least expensive, and put them in categories of “must have” (food and water) and “nice to have” (spices or a generator).

  1. Research

Study books and web sites to help fine tune and add to your list.  Good research will help you to avoid costly, inappropriate purchases.  None of us know exactly how much time we have for preparation, but many of us see that time is short.  Adequate research will play a major role in helping you cover all your bases with a limited budget and time frame.  Building a library of books and other materials that you can refer back to while preparing for and being in survival situations is a good idea.  During stressful times, it may be hard for you to remember all of the information that you have learned.  Further research will help you find what works and what doesn’t in survival situations. 

2. Necessities

The obvious necessities will be food, water, and shelter, but you will also need to consider adequate clothing for multiple seasons, hygiene supplies, pet supplies (if you have pets).  You will also need multiple forms of fire starting devices (magnesium striker, lighters, matches, etc.), water purification (Steri-Pen, tablets, filter, etc.).  Don’t forget batteries for devices like the Steri-Pen that are useless without them.  At the very least you will need a .22 LR, but if you can acquire a variety of calibers (pistols, shotguns, rifles), that would be even better.  I recommend a pistol that is 9mm or higher, a 12 gauge or 20 gauge shotgun, and a rifle such as a .223, a 7.62x39mm, or a .308 etc.  Each gun will serve its own purpose.  Pistol=defense, shotgun=defense/hunting, rifle=long range defense/big game hunting.  You need to get an adequate supply of ammunition for each gun you plan on using.

3. Trimming the Fat

Once you have put your finances and budget under the microscope, you should be able to find areas that you can “trim the fat.”  For example, if you have a student loan, consider deferring if for a few months or paying minimum payments on your credit cards and using those payments to get aggressive on stockpiling your supplies.  You might consider not putting much money, if any, into your 401k or other retirement accounts until you have accumulated adequate supplies.  Now, don’t skip payments on your mortgage or car and get yourself into a bind, but be creative about where you can feasibly trim the fat on your budget.  You could treat yourself to that $80 steak dinner, or you could use that same $80 to purchase a week’s worth of rations for your family.  Part of trimming the fat is making sacrifices now (budget meals at home, brown bag lunch) in order to adequately provide for your family if SHTF.

4. Making Your Dollar Stretch Farther

As nice as it would be to be able to have a year’s supply of # 10 cans of food, MREs, Mountain House foods, etc., a year’s supply of any of these for a family could cost you upwards of $3,500 just for food.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t have that laying around.  There are many items out there that don’t have as long of a shelf life, but they can feed you if SHTF.  Dinty Moore soups, Spam, condensed soup, powdered milk, potted meats, powdered Gatorade, a variety of nuts, home-made preserves, honey, peanut butter…  there is a huge variety of foods that have a 3 to 4 year shelf life.  All of these foods are readily available, and they are often on sale. 

As survival preparedness has become more mainstream, the cost has risen greatly on foods such as MREs, whereas checking weekly grocery ads will commonly find you great sale prices and coupons.  Last week, our local Wal-Mart had the big cans of Campbell’s Chunky soups for $1.25 each.  We bought in quantity.  One can could easily feed 3-4 people in a survival situation and the shelf life is 3-1/2 years.  We also found 7 gallon water containers for half the price that I have seen on survival gear web sites.  Stock up when you find the good deals.  I have learned through experience that often I can find the same or comparable product for less money at a store like Wal-Mart.  Also their camping gear goes on clearance every fall as well as sporting goods stores.  

Signing up for store buyer’s clubs or store credit cards can earn you rewards and give you big discounts on merchandise. [JWR Adds: But keep in mind that using buying club cards or a credit card leaves a paper trail, whereas traditional purchases with greenback cash do not.]

I hope this helps you, it comes from trial and error experience.  Stay strong and focused, be prepared.

Letter Re: Confusion on Food Grade Buckets

Mr. Rawles:
I’m befuddled. My husband says that the new orange 5-gallon buckets they sell at Home Depot are the same as “food grade” buckets, because they are made of the same plastic. But my sister says they aren’t food grade. Who is right? Thanking You in Advance, – Lena in Indiana

JWR Replies: This has been discussed before in SurvivalBlog, but it comes up so often that it bears repeating: As I explain in the Rawles Gets Your Ready Family Preparedness Course, determining whether or not a plastic bucket is truly food grade can be a challenge. I’ve had several readers and consulting clients who have mistakenly been told that the the number 2 (with the number 2 inside the “chasing arrows” recyclable plastic symbol) refers to Food Grade HDPE, but that is not true. Not all “2” marked plastics are food grade!

Here is the distinction: The “food grade” designation is determined by plastic purity by and what mold release compound is used in the injection molding process–not by the plastic itself, since all virgin HDPE raw material is safe for food. For paint and other utility buckets, manufacturers sometimes use a less expensive (and toxic) mold release compound. For food grade they must use a more expensive formulation that is non-toxic. Unless the buckets that you bought are are actually marked “food grade”, (or, marked “NSF”, “FDA”, or “USDA” approved), then you will have to check with the manufacturer’s web site to see if they make all food grade buckets.

For more details, see the information at this barbecue and brining web site. (BTW, the same web page has some great advice on removing odors and stains from HDPE buckets.) If in doubt, then mark the suspect buckets to strictly non-food item storage, such as for storing cleaning supplies, clothing items, or ammunition.

Letter Re: Recommendation for the Surviving Disaster Television Series

James,

I’m writing to recommend the Surviving Disaster series. It was a simulation of real life disaster situations produced by Spike. Hosted by former Navy SEAL Cade Courtley, each episode retells situations in a worst-case scenario and what viewers can do to survive them. There have been ten episodes aired to date. The series was not picked up for a second season.

Spike TV has the entire season available online.

I have found this show to be quite helpful should you ever be caught in any of those situations.

Enjoy, – KJP

Letter Re: Cooking & Canning Beans and Meat

Letter Re: Cooking & Canning Beans and Meat

Mr. Rawles,
Thank you for all of your efforts to share such useful information that can be used in our daily lives and in the times ahead!   I would like to compliment Marie H. for sharing much useful information on pressure canning beans and meat. However, there is one bit of information that scares me big time: using a tongs to remove the pressure regulating weight to decrease the pressure quickly. Even the thought of doing this sends shivers down my spine.   As a multi-generational food producer and processor, with 2 decades of pressure canning experience, I’d never, ever consider such a thing. First, not one food processing book I’ve ever seen recommends dumping the pressure quickly. On the contrary, they warn against it and recommend the the pressure canner be allowed to cool and lose pressure by removing it from the heating unit. Second, from personal experience, removing the weight at low pressure creates a geyser of scalding steam. I’ve never tried it at high pressure. This high temperature steam would be incredibly dangerous.   

Even if it could be done without injury, the extreme change in pressure makes if far more likely to have a canning jar break or the lids to fail. The liquid inside the canning jar will boil violently with the fast change in pressure possibly warping the lid if it is tight, getting food particles under the seal causing it to fail or if you are lucky, just force a portion of the liquid out from under the canning lid.    My family and friends all use two or more pressure canners during canning season. That way, as pressure canner is processing, the second one is being filled. Then when the first one is taken off the stove to allow to cool, the second one is allowed to cool. We have been known to pressure can 60 or more jars in a longgggggg day using this method.   I’ve used  Presto brand pressure canners for years with no problems other than replacing the rubber gasket on occasion. I like the tall ones as I can get 18 pints in them at one time using a second shelf above the first layer of pints.    May your Light continue to shine! Steven S.

James:
I can, that is “jar”, quite a bit, using the boiling water bath, as well as a pressure cooker.   Based on experience, watching my mother as a child, I personally find it easier and safer to wear heavy duty Bluette latex loves with cloth-linings, for handling the hot jars.  I rarely use the canning lift tool.  Just reach in the boiling water with gloved hands and grab the jars.  And for washing jars, they decrease the likelihood of a broken jar cutting my hands.  And always, always, no matter what the temperature is in the summer, wear a long sleeve shirt, long pants, and real shoes [not sandals] to be safer from scalding splashes. My local True Value hardware is my source for Bluettes.  My the local food cop sells the Atlas brand — a similar glove.

On SurvivalBlog, everyone’s efforts sharing knowledge is an outstanding display of the best in people. Thanks to everyone. – Timothy R.

Economics and Investing:

America Bails Out A Thankless World  Here is an excerpt: “Turns out the Fed had over a dozen emergency programs operating beginning in 2007-08, one of them lending close to $9 trillion to Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and other troubled institutions, often at the comical interest rate of 1%.”

John R. suggested this insightful piece by David at Deepcaster: Profit-Lessons from The Ongoing Europe/USA Crises

Reader Davis sent flagged this: Mounting State Debts Stoke Fears of Looming Crisis

Bob G. sent this item: The Patriotic and Moral Imperative for Owning Gold and Silver

Items from The Economatrix:

FDIC Takes Gloves Off for Failed Bank Losses  

Euro Slide Gathers Pace on Debt Crisis Fears 

Holiday Shoppers Came Out to Spend in November  

White House Presses Congress for Jobless Benefits  

Fed May be Central Bank of the World After UBS  

UK Banks Borrowed More than $1 Trillion from Fed  

Fed Reveals it Dished Out Trillions to World Banks to Aid The Crisis   

Inflation Watch:

I got a bit of a shock when I dropped by my local coin shop, planning to buy some pre-1965 non-numismatic (“junk”) U.S. silver coins for Christmas gifts for Rawles family members. Their asking prices was 21.1 times face value! I was also surprised to see a few minty-looking 1964 proof quarters mixed in with the dealer’s tray of junk silver coins. He said that the spot price of bullion silver has galloped up so quickly that it has completely overshadowed any numismatic value for the 1964 proof Washington quarters. These are strange and exciting times for the coin bourse! The next coin show that I attend should be wild.

Rice May Triple in 18 Months As Supplies Tighten  

Reader G.W. mentioned: “I buy Nutivia Organic extra-virgin coconut oil. An 8 pound tub (1 Gallon) was $43.99 January, 2010. But it was $49.99 with my last purchase in late November, 2010. (A 13.6% increase.)”

America’s Leading Export: Inflation

Is QE2 the Road to Zimbabwe-style Hyperinflation? Not Likely

Global Food Prices About To Break An All Time High

Odds ‘n Sods:

Is there a SurvivalBlog reader who lives offshore that has some available server space? My goal is to set up both a public access mirror (or multiple mirrors) and a closed peer-to-peer set of torrent files of SurvivalBlog, to keep as a “worst case” situation back-up. These back-up files will be automatically be updated daily. Please e-mail me if you have some server space available in a country that is not reflexively obedient to the U.S. government. (Preferably somewhere like Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Andorra, Sealand, or Tonga.) Alternatively, is there a scripting guru out there that can create a script that will automatically create a Torrent of all the archived SurvivalBlog posts, on a daily basis?

   o o o

Donald S. mentioned this sign of the times: Backwoods Home magazine has announced that they are now offering the option of selling annual subscriptions for $1 in pre-’65 silver coin.

   o o o

New East Palo Alto license plate readers will run all plates through crime databases. JWR Notes: FWIW, back at the turn of the century I worked as a technical writer for Oracle Corporation. By geographic necessity I commuted to Oracle’s Redwood Shores headquarters via East Palo Alto. At that time the city had lots of illicit drug dealers and a very high street crime rate. I suspect that situation hasn’t changed much. These license plate scanners are a troubling development. The erosion of our liberty is most noticeably felt in the big cities, but we are all suffering for it.

   o o o

I heard that Mountain House now has a four week order backlog on their storage foods in #10 cans, and they’ve stopped taking any new direct purchase orders from the general public on their canned foods. They are also now strictly rationing their distributors. Buy now, while there are still fairly ample supplies in the pipeline. As I’ve noted in SurvivalBlog before, the long term food storage industry is very small, and it doesn’t take much of a macro level event to completely overwhelm their production capacity. OBTW, for a limited time, Ready Made Resources is still offering a free U.S. Mint Silver Eagle one-ounce silver coin with each full case order. (These must be full cases of six cans, and the same variety.)

   o o o

Fire and ice headlines: Fire in Israel, and Bitter Cold in Europe.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 32 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. Anyone that has ever considered using lesser-known caves beneath public land (or private land–by ownership or permission) as fallout shelters might find this article of interest. The many challenges and special safety considerations have been previously discussed in a previous SurvivalBlog letter and in follow-up letters.

The prizes for this round of the writing contest 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 copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 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.

Surviving in Caves, by Caver X.

I got hooked on spelunking in the early 1990s in Tennessee. It was an adventure that would last for about 5 years and take me in several different caves including one that I went in between 35 to 40 times. There are basics to know when planning a cave trip and you need to have a good plan up front before starting out on your journey. I can’t say that I had them all right when I first started but I think my guardian angel kept me safe.

Leave an Itinerary

  1. Make sure to get plenty of sleep the night before so you are well rested .
  2. Eat a good breakfast before you go but don’t eat heavy after you come out until you are close to home.
  3. Leave word of where you are going and when you expect to be back.
  4. Leave a map of the directions to the location.
  5. Have phone numbers for the local police and emergency teams in the area.
  6. Let someone know a time of when they should call emergency teams.
  7. Make sure to leave cell numbers of phones you will have on your trip
  8. Never go with less then two people and three to four is preferred   Making sure to leave the five above will ensure that if there would be a problem that you know at a certain point, someone would be looking for you and would know where to start.  

Clothing

Clothing plays an important role in being prepared as well. Most people that I have ever seen get rescued from a cave, had no idea what they were getting into. When they were pulled out they would have a t-shirt and shorts on with a cheap plastic flashlight and no food or water. So getting back to clothing, 53 degrees is not bad when you are moving but when you stop in a cave it can get cold quickly. I suggest these items of clothing on your trip:

  1. Jeans, pants, not shorts. You will be crawling on your hands and knees and sometimes even your belly so you will want that protection on your legs. Also they will help keep the heat in when you are not moving.              
  2. A t-shirt and a hooded sweat jacket. Again, a t-shirt is good if you are moving but when you stop you are going to want something that will cover your arms and give your body some warmth. Also if it is a hooded jacket it will help keep the heat from escaping out the top of your head.  
  3. Gloves. I prefer those weight lifting or riding gloves with the fingers cut out because the padding on your palms gives you protection when you are crawling but you want your finger tips exposed so you can feel  what you are grabbing hold of when you are climbing.
  4. Shoes and socks. Your feet are probably one of the most important parts of your body when it comes to these times of adventures. They have to be working well in order to get you in and out safely. I have used hiking boots and tennis shoes. I prefer a good high top tennis shoes or a light weight hiking boot. As far as socks go, I always regular tube socks but I always took a spare and a pair of thermal socks.

Lighting

Now let’s talk about lighting. Lighting is very important and you want to know what is out there because it has changed allot since I was going  but none the less there is still the basics. As far as what I used it was MagLite, the best handheld light for the job.  I have had one fall about 30 feet and land on solid rock and when we picked it up, the only thing wrong was the button was stuck. Once we fixed the button which was just moving it with our finger, the light turned on. Here are a few others I would look into. 

  1. Petzl Explorer Light System ($299 from Karst Sports.) This is more for the hard core spelunker but would out of reach for the average person.
  2. Petzl E69 P Duo 5 LED ($109 from Karst Sports.) While this is a little more affordable it still expensive.
  3. Petzl Tikka Headlamps from RescueResponse.com
  4. I suggest these series of Petzl lights as they start around $20.00 and go up from there. I also suggest checking the web sites as I found better prices while I was looking. As far as Petzl headlamps go I would rate the as one of the best for caving. I have researched them and talked to people who have used them and they had nothing bad to say about them.  
  5. (4) 8 hour glow sticks.

First Aid Kit

Now it is time to talk about first aid. When planning for a trip like this, you may want some basic items that are just common place. Remember that you are going to be crawling around and getting you hands dirty. You don’t want to be treating an open wound with dirty hands so think about the list below as getting prepared.

  1. Hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes (This allows you to clean your hands and to clean up the area that is injured.)
  2. Exam gloves
  3. Splinter forceps and EMT shears
  4. Razor blade
  5. (20) Ibuprofen tablets
  6. (20) Aspirin
  7. (4) 12” long pieces of wood to use for splints
  8. 1” Medical tape
  9. Duct tape
  10. (2) ACE bandages with Velcro
  11. (1) small paper bag
  12. Roll, 4.5″ Kling gauze
  13. (4) 4×4″ gauze bandages
  14. (2) Instant Cold Packs
  15. (20) 1″ Band-aids, cloth
  16. (10) butterfly Band-aids
  17. (2) finger splints
  18. (1) 2oz tube of TF RenewAll ($22.95)
  19. (1) 4oz spray bottle of Cedarcide
  20. (2) gallon size Ziploc bags
  21. Glucose tablets                                

Beyond reliable light, food and water is probably the most important items on these trips. You must remember that even though your plan is to go in and come out in the same day, you can’t always rely on that. So for each person that is on your trip you should plan on a 3 day supply of food and water to sustain you if there should be a mishap. Those foil bags of tuna is ideal and it is good for you. Also, a hard candy like Jolly Ranchers are good to keep your mouth from getting dry. Other food items I have taken is beef jerky, trail mix, sunflower seeds and nuts. You can be creative in this department and pick things you know you love to eat.   Last of all, there are some other things you may think about carrying but these are more for the advanced adventurer, like climbing rope, ascenders, harnesses, carabineers, chalks, and a figure eight.

Plan on having a good and safe time and when you plan it out ahead of time, and you will always start out in the right direction. One thing I do want to add. You really need a book like Caves of Tennessee that I listed below. It will give you useful information about the cave or caves you want to go to. If it describes a “major breakdown” then I would say scratch it off your list because if you look at the dates of when it was explored it was probably more the 50 years ago and it is probably not safe now.

Useful Web Sites and Reading

Caves of Tennessee – This book is excellent! I owned it and most of the caves that I explored were out of this book.

An Introduction to Caves and Caving – This web site will give more in depth information about caving.

These vendor web sites will give you an idea of what is out there and prices:  
Inner Mountain Outfitters
Gonzo Guano Gear
4Bobandbob  
Karst Sports  
Rescue Response