Letter Re: Water Storage and Crash Course Advice

Jim,
First off let me say I continue to enjoy everything you post on SurvivalBlog. I believe that, given, recent events, my extended family is coming around and is wanting to finally start getting prepared (let us hope its not too late).

Second, in reference to the WaterBOB that someone cited recently: what preferred method of treatment do you recommend in storing the water in the mentioned device for long term?

Third, what ‘crash course’ advice can you offer for those who may be too little too late in getting prepared for WTSHTF? Or for those recently converted who want make it through the tough times ahead?

And lastly, I am sure myself and others will continue to look for your insight and input in the days ahead, as events unfold and the Schumer really does hit the fan.
Please expect a long and very overdue 10 Cent Challenge voluntary] soon. God Bless, – Zach

JWR Replies: The WaterBOB is not designed for long term use. But it is food grade, so if you find a used bathtub (perhaps through Craig’s List) and can store it someplace dark (like in a basement), then a WaterBOB in a bathtub should work fine. About 2 teaspoons of plain (unscented) Clorox bleach would be about the right amount to add for that amount of water. Inspect it once every six months (visually, and a sniff test). The water should store for several years.

I may be biased, but I recommend that you get a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. Coincidentally, for the first time in nearly a year, it will be offered at 1/3rd off, starting on Monday. The course is centered around the concept of stocking up for a family, by making well-planned trips to a “Big Box” store.

Letter Re: Cheap is Good, But Free is Better

Mr. Rawles,

I’ve noticed there have been several letters lately about getting prepped on a budget, and several people have suggested watching Craig’s List for good bargains. I’m surprised that no one has recommended Freecycle as a place to find good deals, because everything listed is free. I’m sure it’s been mentioned a few times in Survivalblog over the years, but I think it deserves as much emphasis as Craig’s List, if not more.
I think there may be some misconceptions about what is found on Freecycle. There can be a lot more than just old baby clothes and blenders. It will depend on your area of course.
In the past 6 months, I have gotten through Freecycle:
* Enough wood framed windows to build a good-sized greenhouse
* Several car loads of firewood (I don’t have a truck)
* About 150 – 200 canning jars in various sizes
* Spare blankets and linens
* A small plate steel wood stove
* Window screening
* Chicken wire, several rolls
* Rolls of woven wire fence, with T-posts
* Loads of scrap wood, good for burning or building tables or shelving
* Lengths of garden hose
* Sleeping bags
* Air mattresses
* Many rolls of carpet (for garden and indoor use)
And my treasure from yesterday (which prompted me to write this), a used 30-quart canner. An All-American model #930. It’s filthy but appears to be in good shape. To buy this new would be over $200, plus some serious shipping costs due to its weight.
I have seen every possible kind of furniture and appliance being given away, as well as garbage bags full of clothing.

My point here is to illustrated that many very useful things can be found on Freecycle, if you take the time to watch your local sites. It may not be a frequent find, but worth a minute or two each day to check. I rarely post any “wanted” items, I just sit and wait to see what is offered.
The main site is Freecycle.org, and you can find local groups from there. Each site is run by volunteers, and certain areas may have more groups than others. I am member to several, even though they do overlap a bit.
Rather than take up more space here, I would refer you to a short article I wrote about using Freecycle. It’s not written from a prepping perspective, but does explain the posting process.
I’m a single mom thankfully just moved to a 5-acre mini farm. I can’t afford anywhere near all the “stuff” that I need around here, and Freecycle has really given me the chance to pick up some great things I would otherwise not have been able to get my hands on… like my beautiful new canner. 🙂
I hope these ideas are helpful to someone. Keep up the good work with the blog site. Thanks, – Terri, in Canada

Odds ‘n Sods:

Finally, the much-anticipated Kel-Tec RFB bullpup .308 carbine will begin shipping in December! If I were to buy a bullpup, then the RFB Carbine would be it. Looking for a hedge against a future ban? I recommend that you buy a couple of these before the White House changes hands. If a new ban is enacted, they will likely triple in value.

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More economic news and commentary from Cheryl: Wall Street Fluctuates After Emergency Interest Rate Cut — IMF: World Economy Will Slow Sharply, Led By U.S. “Recession” — Asian Stocks Fall Again — US Economy Rapidly Sinking Into Economic Depression — Fixing The US Housing Market And Housing Prices — US Stocks Retreat As Recession Concerns Outweigh Interest Rate Cuts; Alcoa Drops 52% — Ford Will Triple Jobs Cut At Volvo, Slash 6,000 Jobs As Demand Slumps — Buffet’s Paper Profits On GE, Goldman Sachs Erased By Stock Market Plunge — MetLife Profits Fall Prompts Stock Sale — Japan Market Down 9.4% — Banks In For Ugly Quarter — Cramer: When Do You Need Your Money — The Strongest Banks Out There — World Markets Return To Selloff After Rate Cuts — 700 Auto Dealers Could Fail — Where The Pros Are Putting Their Cash — Morgan Stanley Plunges; Mitsubishi May Pull Out Of Deal — Legg Mason Downgraded — Fidelity, Vanguard, T. Rowe Price Joining Treasury’s Guarantee Program For Money-Market Funds — Stocks Zigzag, End Lower After Emergency Rate Cut — Pelosi Says $150 Billion Second Stimulus Needed — Central Banks All But Stop Lending Bullion (“Central banks have all but stopped lending gold to commercial and investment banks and other participants in the precious metals market, in a move that on Tuesday sent the cost of borrowing bullion for one-month to more than twenty times its usual level.”) — US Banking Losses Estimate $1.4 Trillion — ECB Sees “Crisis of Enormous Proportions” (“The European Central Bank has dramatically changed its tune over the last twenty-four hours as the credit freeze worsens, acknowledging for the first time that the world faces the gravest crisis since the Great Depression.”) — Asian Markets Plunge To New Low — China’s Billionaires Lose 1/3 Of Their Wealth — Severe Bull Market For Gold — Stock Market Crash: Where’s The Bottom? — UK Taxpayers Stuck With $1 Trillion Bank Bailout — Global Markets Dive Despite UK Bank “Rescue” Plan — Run On Royal Bank Of Scotland Knocks 10 Billion Pounds Off Share Price

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Reader KBF sent this from The Los Angeles Times: Plunge in markets brings another kind of depression

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Philip N. mentioned a follow-up article from Glenn Beck: What’s Coming. As you can see, Glenn is just as concerned about hedge funds as I am.

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Reader H.E.T. e-mailed me to ask for a recommendation for an inexpensive source for infrared (IR) filters for flashlights such as a Surefires. I recommend Trading Expert, in Hong Kong. Yes, they are in Hong Kong, but in my experience they actually (and quite promptly) ship what they sell. OBTW, they also have inexpensive white LEDs that are useful in constructing low-current 12 VDC retreat lighting systems.

Note from JWR:

The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $770. The auction for a large mixed lot that includes: A Special Mixed Vegetable Case-Six #10 Dehydrated Food Cans (Retail Price $105.95) This special Mixed Vegetable Case contains six #10 (96-ounce) cans–one can of each of the following: Mixed Vegetable Blend, Green Beans, Sweet Garden Peas, Mixed Peppers, Potato Dices, and Sweet Potatoes and a EZ-Towels 10 Pack Combo (10 bags of 50 towels. Retail value: $99.95). These items were donated by Jan at Healthy Harvest Foods. An assortment of world class loose leaf teas, and a box of Bellagio hot chocolate (25 individual packs), with a combined value of approximately $100. These items were courtesy of Charlie at CMEBrew.com. A NukAlert radiation detector (a $160 value), donated by at KI4U.com. And, a Katadyn VARIO water filter, donated by Ready Made Resources. (An $89 retail value.) The auction ends on Monday October 15, 2008. Just e-mail us your bid.

Like Something Out of a Novel–Some Predictions for 2009-to-2019

The economic headlines in the past couple of weeks have sounded like something out of a disaster novel that I once read wrote. The international financial and equities markets are spinning out of control, with seemingly wider and wider gyrations with each passing day. Since there are so many variables, the end result is difficult to firmly predict, but one thing is clear: It will be neither easy nor pleasant. My current prediction is that the governments of the English-speaking nations and Europe will co-conspire with the banksters to concoct the most grandiose Mother of All Bailouts (MOABs) yet. This will be even bigger than the MOAB that I predicted, early in 2008.

The multi-trillion dollar multinational MOAB will inject liquidity–in the form of magically-created Dollars, Pounds, and Euros–in such enormous quantities that it will calm the markets, at least for a while. But the by-product will be consumer price inflation that has never been witnessed in modern times except in the region north of the Limpopo river and south of the Zambezi river. In the long run, the fractional reserve banking and fiat currency regimes used today are doomed to failure. Both are lovely fictions that can only persist in expanding markets and when guided by the most altruistic managers. Any serious contraction of the underlying economy will inevitably bring both to a crashing halt. Perhaps, in the aftermath of te ongoing credit collapse, wiser heads will prevail, and private credit clearing circles will develop, instead of re-creating the same government-sanctioned fractional banking scheme that created the current crisis.

What Happened?

The last few years have been an anomaly. Led by Ben Bernanke and his predecessor “Easy Al” Greenspan, the Masters of the Universe that headed many of the central banks in the First World attempted to forestall a recession by artificially reducing interest rates, thereby creating bubbles in both real estate and equities valuations. All their meddling has made matters worse. They have formed mountains of debt that is classic malinvestment of the worst sort. This debt creation was like winding up an enormous clock spring. Debts were taken on by unworthy borrowers that never had a hope of repaying them, and then those same dodgy debts were re-packaged and re-sold to unwitting dupes–like pension funds in Denmark. This explains the umpteen foreclosed and abandoned tract homes that stretch from around the DC Beltway to the heartland of Ohio, to southern California. Inevitably all debt–whether good or bad–must be un-wound. And the more malinvestment there is, the uglier and protracted this unwinding process gets. Instead of a recession, we will probably witness the worst economic depression since the 1930s.

That is the big picture. Now for some predictions on the next 10 years with some possible implications for prepared families. Note: I don’t claim to be a prophet. These are just logical extrapolations of trends, based on previous swings of the macro scale market pendulum. So don’t gather up stones for the event that things don’t play out exactly as I predict:

Simultaneous Deflation, and Inflation
As I’ve previously posited, we are likely to see a wave of asset deflation at the same time that we have consumer price inflation. How is this possible? See the article that I posted back in February for an explanation. The bottom line is that leverage works both ways. The multiplier effect on fractional deposits works in reverse whenever bank deposits decrease.

Derivatives

I’ve been warning SurvivalBlog readers about derivatives, since late 2005. The multi-trillion dollar derivatives “casino” may soon be in crisis. Thursday Is D-Day: For Derivatives, as billions of dollars worth of contracts on defaulted Credit Default Swap (CDS) derivatives from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual (WaMu) are settled. On Thursday, we’ll find out what a CDS derivative contract is worth in the real world! Something tells me that these once-touted “assets” are going to suffer quite a haircut.

Bank Failures and Bank Runs .

As I’ve said before, more bank failures seem inevitable. There may also be more bank runs–most likely invisible ones, where banks get cleaned out by their creditors via margin calls by large depositors via wire transfers, and by small depositors via electronic banking. There may not be a a line of customers in front of the banks doors. If you wait for that as an indicator, then you will probably be too late. I’ve written this before, but it bears repeating: Be sure to check your bank or S&L’s safety rating at least once a week. If it drops below a “C” rating, then transfer your funds to a safer bank, ASAP. And, needless to say, never keep more than the FDIC limit in any one institution. Thankfully, the FDIC just raised the deposit insurance limits substantially, as did their counterparts in much of Europe.

Hedge Funds

I’ve discussed hedge funds at length in SurvivalBlog articles for more than a year. Suffice it to say, the risk with hedge funds is huge. I expect large quarterly waves of hedge fund redemptions–and redemption suspensions in the next few months.

Real Estate

The real estate market–both residential and commercial–will very likely continue to decline in the US for several years. The market will be flooded with more and more foreclosed properties, in a downward spiral. One downside to consider is that the thousands of abandoned houses will become nests for criminals.

In my estimation, the only thing that will stop te decline in nominal dollar figure declines will be the eventual mass inflation of the US Dollar. Hence, it will appear that real estate prices have “stabilized”, and then “turned around” in a couple of years. By in real terms (adjusted for inflation), the genuine bottom of the market probably won’t be for another five years. By that time, American homeowners will have lost an average of 60% of the “coulda-woulda” value of their homes. I expect he declines to continue as long as the credit drought persist, and until the massive glut of inventory is purchased. For the next few years it will be a buyer’s market, and cash will be king. Anyone sitting on cash will be able to buy up assets at ridiculously low prices–as the economic pendulum swings beyond the point of logical price neutrality. Sit tight, watch the listings closely, and buy at the bottom. You can find distressed properties–including some good rural survival retreat properties–at Foreclosures.com. If you plan to do some “bottom fishing”, a subscription to this service is money well spent.

Unemployment and Dislocation

Large corporate layoffs are a fact of life in any recession. Be ready for them, by minimizing your debts. A family food reserve is insurance for unemployment just as well as it is for natural disasters. If the recession turns into a depression, we can expect some huge layoffs. This will mean lots of families will be moving–either to seek work elsewhere or because they can no longer meet their monthly house payments. This however, might create some opportunities. Storage companies, estate auction firms, relocation services, rental property managers, home security companies, locksmiths, relocation specialists, and contractors that specialize in home renovation might all prosper. (After all, someone has to refurbish all those abandoned houses for the bankers.)

Stocks

It has been said that “a rising tide lifts all ships.” Sadly, the inverse is true, as well. I expect substantial further declines in stock prices. Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratios might drop to as low as 7-to-1. (Where many manufacturing stocks have traditionally bottomed in major recessions.) In my estimation most of the current P/E ratios are still much too high for these troubled times. When I last checked (after the recent 800+ point two-day drop in the DJIA), I found the following P/Es quoted, in a quick, quasi-random sampling of big names that jumped out at me:

Amazon — 42.56-to-1
Apple Computer — 17.43-to-1
Caterpillar Inc. — 7.78-to-1
Coca-Cola — 19.95-to-1
eBay — 43.31-to-1
Google — 22.73-to-1
Lockheed Martin — 13.06-to-1
Microsoft — 12.44-to-1
QQQ (which is like buying the entire NASDAQ) — 19.79-to-1
Real Networks — 81.73-to-1
Unilever — 14.24-to-1
Xerox — 13.17-to-1

Do the math. It isn’t a pretty prospect, but many stock prices have a lot farther to fall. My advice is to sell on the market rallies, and buy tangibles with the proceeds.

Cars and Trucks

Again, like real estate, you’ll have the opportunity to buy at the bottom of the market, perhaps in five of six years. Have you ever wanted to own a classic car? This may be your chance, especially if it is a gas-guzzling big block classic car. I predict that in 2015 you’ll be able to buy a fully-restored late-1960s Muscle Car for perhaps 1/8th of its current price. (Well, in dollars adjusted for inflation, that is.) But of course to make that a practical tangible investment, you should instead get a classic military vehicle, such as a Dodge Power Wagon. (Or, for our european readers with a retreat in North Karelia, make that a Unimog DOKA.)

Cash Will Be King, and then Cash Will Be Trash

Once inflation starts to kick in, it will be absolutely essential for you to parlay all of your remaining dollar-denominated investments into durable and liquid tangibles. Do do before the dollar evaporates. If you haven’t done so already, now would be a good time to start.

Letter Re: Males – 15-25 Will Be the Most Dangerous Segment of Our Population in TEOTWAWKI

James,
I believe in a TEOTWAWKI situation the most dangerous segment of the roving gangs will be the displaced teenage men. After all those are the ones that are warriors in other countries, not the fat 40’s couch potatoes. They are strong, tough and smart. In essence, we will be fighting our own neighbor’s children. Consider this news article from Arizona: Suburban gang’s rise unnerves authorities. Respectfully, – Robert O.

JWR Replies: Sadly, I have to agree with you. OBTW, our friends in England refer them as “Yobs”, “Yobbos”, “Townies”, or “Chavs”.

Letter Re: Getting Started with Home Canning

James,
I am acquiring the equipment necessary to pressure can (in jars) meat and produce. A bumper crop from a home garden or a freshly killed animal will be lost quickly if not frozen, dried or canned. I don’t want to make jerky stews, casseroles or burgers, so I’m going to add canning skills to my quiver. After doing some reading, I’ve discovered that nearly anything can be canned! I’ve found people canning burger patties, meatballs, butter, cheese, and bacon in additional to all the normal things you’d expect to see in jars.

There are tons of books out there with terrific recipes and instructions, but the USDA has a basic instructional e-book online. This same book sells for $10 on Amazon but the electronic version is free.

Also, for those who are thinking about it but have never done any canning, an important stocking-up reminder: The jar lids are not reusable. The metal band can be reused (it is removed after the jar has cooled), but the lid is single-use only. I’m planning to buy several dozen metal bands and several hundred lids. – Matthew R

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader FLS suggested this article: Here comes $500 oil. “If Matt Simmons is right, the recent drop in crude prices is an illusion – and oil could be headed for the stratosphere. He’s just hoping we can prevent civilization from imploding.”

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Our prodigious Economic Editor sent us a fresh batch of news and commentary: Fed To Buy Massive Amount Of Short-Term Debt — Stocks Fluctuate After Fed Corporate Debt Plan — UK Bank Shares Dive Again As Panic Spreads — Smaller Banks Still Making Loans — UK Gov’t Takes $100 Billion Stake In Britain’s Top Banks — Pakistan Facing Bankruptcy — Pope Says World Financial System “Built On Sand” — BofA Profits Drop 68% — Russia and Brazil Crumble As Commodity Prices Crash — LIBOR OIS Spread Signals Credit Crisis Earthquake — European Governments Panic Triggers Stock Market Crash — Iceland teeters on the brink of bankruptcy — Gold prices climb amid financial uncertainty — Dow Dips More Than 500 On Financial Worries — Analyst: Retirement Accounts Have Lost More Than $2 Trillion — Brown Orders Massive UK Bank Rescue — US Mint Halts Some Am Eagle Production — Iceland Gets $8 billion Russian Loan As Banks Fold — Icelandic PM Warns Nation Of Bankruptcy — Troubled BofA To Raise $10 billion in Capital — Dow Slump Threatens Global Markets — Ron Paul: Bailout Was The Wrong Thing

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Thanks to Jack B. for flagging this: Forecast: US heating costs to jump 15 percent this winter.

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British savers denied cash as chaos hits Iceland bank. (A hat tip to Scotty for the link.)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another Retreat Owner Profile, which will be added to Profiles static page. BTW, we still have room for several more international profiles (outside the US). I am saving the last few slots in the US profiles section for people that have very unusual home/retreats. (Perhaps someone that lives in an underground house, or someone that lives aboard a houseboat or a blue water yacht.) If you decide to e-mail us your Profile, please closely follow the same format used in the the others. For your privacy, be sure change enough details so that your neighbors won’t recognize you. (You can even change the locale to another state with a similar climate).

Retreat Owner Profile–Mr. & Mrs. Tico in Costa Rica

Present home : Farm in Northern Costa Rica
Ages : 54 & 57
Two sons 30 & 32, who are living in North Carolina.
Income $50,000 USD/year secure (many diverse overseas investments) and a tourism business currently at $120,000 or so per year ( I own a botanical garden) .
Additional income from fruit groves and tilapia ponds $15,000/year.

Profession : Gunsmith, nursery grower, waterscaper, fish farmer .

Vehicles : Two 1970s Toyota Land Cruiser BJ40’s with 2.4 diesel engines, kept in top-notch condition and a 2 cycle Ez-Go golf cart set up [with tires and suspension] for all terrain.

Firearms : 2 Mossberg Maverick 8 shot 12 gauge shotguns (best pump gun ever made, never saw many broken in my 30 years of repair work ), Stainless Ruger 10/22, Stainless .223 bolt action in a custom bullpup stock, 2 Security Six 357 4-inch Rugers.
Ammo. 2,500 of each caliber and have reloading equipment-supplies.

Fuel : 235 gallons of diesel and 55 gallons of premium (stabilized)

Water : Gravity fed springs and 18,000 gallons of storage tanks, year round river, roof water capture system, 25 foot deep well

Improvements : 4,800 square foot main house, all high efficiency lighting and appliances.
Full wood and metal working shop.
Canning room, meat grinders, corn grinders, shrink wrappers, dehydrator etc.
One bedroom cabin with full kitchen near the main gate.
Rancho (like a tiki hut) seats 30 with a huge concrete smoker / barbeque and baking oven.
Another cabin with views down to the river and pasture below.
These structures are located so armed men can take out anyone entering the farm with ease. Big Iron gate out front surrounded by Bougainvillea (thorny flowering shrub-vines.)

Property tax: $90/year (Sorry guys, you’re paying for imperialism)
Gardens: extensive. One of the largest collections of exotic fruit and vegetables anywhere.
Livestock. 1,000 lbs of Tilapia and 500 lbs of Pacu at any given time. Five Goats. (2 milk goats, 3 goats for slaughter), 15 chickens at all times and 4 egg laying hens. 6 rabbits (so far..LOL)
Cattle are not sustainable. Too big to store the meat and use way too much water and acreage per head. I have one good trail horse.
There’s plenty of wild game and fish here but no need in harvesting.We all have livestock and many folks have ponds
Dogs: 2 American bull dogs that will shred anything I tell them to.

Security : Various cameras and motion detectors throughout the property with an early warning to me before the sirens alert. Its a full perimeter system with indicators so I can know precisely where the target(s) are.It has full battery back up
Food storage: Maybe one year for us and the critters but not really necessary here.

Communication : Cell phones, full intercoms throughout the farm.

Hobbies : Taking care of my exotic plant collection and building everything I need.

Next project. We have good, strong year round wind here, so I am working with the boys from Southwest on setting up a Skystream 3.7 [grid-tied wind generator]. Once that is done I’m doing an underground walk in freezer.

Background : Grew up in semi-literate southwestern Virginia, escaped 25 years ago to semi-literate rural Miami. I got tired of the political lies and (designed) ignorance of the average American voter and bailed to a truly free country that has no Nazis running it or nuclear weapons pointed at it. This is the most mellow, real place I have ever experienced. It’s like Fiji without being so remote. I first came here in 1986 for an orchid show and I knew this was my escape spot.18 years later I sold everything I had, put my money in real currencies, and took off! A one way trip. Pura Vida! (pure life)

Side note : When living in any Latin American country the rules are [essentially] the same as up there [in the US]. Even Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala are no problem provided you find the right spot and immerse yourself into the culture.
Stay far, far away from large towns and beaches. Get in the mountains in a small farming community. Where I live there is very little poverty since everyone has a chunk of land and most are craftsman and farmers. There are many Costa Rican and South American medical professionals here and many are retired but own farmacias and even make house calls! My neighbor is a cardiovascular surgeon with a huge macadamia farm.

Another plus down here is there is no need for heat or air conditioning, and nearly all of the water systems are gravity fed. No need for electric!
Fish, chicken, rabbits ( small meals) and fruits and veggies. No refrigerator required.

Letter Re: Buying Just One Gun?

Mr. Rawles:
I’m a survivalist newbie. I’m thinking about purchasing a gun. I don’t know anything about guns, but I have had a negative opinion about them for a long time. But [now] I’m thinking I might need to get one. What would you recommend for a total novice who would prefer to not have to own more than one?

JWR Replies: Owning one gun is like owning one carpenter’s tool, and expecting it to handle all of your construction and repair needs. What single tool would you choose? A hammer, a pair of pliers, a saw, or a screwdriver? That may be oversimplifying, but I’m sure that you get my point.

I suppose that some could get by with two guns, namely: one shotgun (for both big game and bird hunting and self defense) and a .22 rimfire rifle (for small game hunting). But you’d still lack having a compact gun for concealment, and you’d also lack a long range rifle to defend yourself or hunt at long distance. (Shotguns don’t “reach” beyond about 80 yards, even with slug shells.)

Letter Re: Becoming a Food Warrior

James:
I appreciate your web site. It suits me right to the ground. I’d like to be an occasional contributor. Congratulations on your fastidious maintenance of this meaningful site. Just like farming isn’t it.

Guerrilla food shopping (part one)
I’m no conventional warrior, I couldn’t force myself to take a life, but I am a survivalist. Not to put too fine a point on this: I am a food warrior. As I write this, one of our battles is escalating food prices, isn’t it? What can we do as individuals to protect ourselves? Plenty! We aren’t hostages you know. Not yet.

I think we all agree that inflation has dug its claws into us. We know from experience that this ongoing dilemma never reverses itself. What was two dollars yesterday will be three dollars soon. Looking ahead to the prospects of mega-inflation of our commodities with flat-lined wages, lay-offs, firings as potential results; these trends will likely reduce our present life-style options. Let’s cover this in chapters beginning with our second greatest threat: the grocery store:

All other survival issues aside, our grocery dollar has been attacked and bloodied greatly. Before we can successfully protect our family food stream, we must understand just what’s happening. Many unrelated issues combine to make our food needs imperiled and, at this same time, our dollar’s buying power is shrinking. This is a War.

It might interest you to know that not that many years ago, food was the responsibility of the family. Here, in New England, families produced most of their needs at home. They only bought or traded for a few food basics: flour, salt, some grain products, spices, cocoa, molasses, baking soda, cream of tartar, some white sugar, extracts, salt-peter. This short list was purchased by the season, month, or year depending on how a family’s trading goods harvested or how other amounts of currency came to them.

The general store was small. It offered little choice in any of these necessary products. A bag of flour was just that: a fifty-weight of pure flour packed in a colorful sack, which would become a daughter’s new dress when empty. Sugar was weighed into the bags customers brought with them. How absurdly simple the shopping experience was. (At home the daily routine was infinitely more complicated.)
Packaging, advertising, transportation, handling and storage were minimal. Things arrived in large barrels and bags aboard a freight wagon and were handled by the family that owned the store. Licenses, inspections, salesmen callers, employees, FICA, Social Security withholdings, health insurance, 401(k)s and other issues to burden the grocer, hadn’t been invented then. The dollar was backed by a gold standard. Buyers could predict, within cents, what their future costs would be. They could plan their cash crops according to their anticipated needs. Everything made sense.
In a hundred years the entire American mentality has changed from near total family independence to near total dependence on industry, business, and government. Buddy, that is more scary than anything else happening in this country today. However, I don’t find it hard to understand why this gradual shift occurred considering the tough, committed life-style my grandmother lived.
Today, most of us aren’t equipped to produce all our products, so guerrilla shopping is our recourse.

The battlefield is our grocery store. Consider now the terrain: Blind row upon row of six-foot-tall gondolas crammed, presently, with so-called food. Our mission is to determine what foods have real value. Our trophy for winning this battle will be life-sustaining human fuel: real food.
In order to win this war we must know what is actually real food. The other stuff: decoys, useless, non-issue, and costly, empty-food-value-just-packaging. Today, most shoppers’ carts carry little or no food of substance. (Example: a can of chicken broth, presently $.89. is water, salt, a bullion cube and a glob of chicken fat. The can takes up valuable storage space where more important articles could go. Chicken broth is a simple by-product of cooking a chicken. How tough can that be?)
Going into this battle will require training, equipment, planning and the will to survive, so before we go on the attack we must ask ourselves important questions:
Am I willing to make the commitment to reduce my grocery bill, or will I continue to shake my head, complain and continue to support this fufu industry?
What part of my family’s needs can I or will I be able to produce?
What can I successfully introduce to my family?
What do I know about food values?
How much of what product do I need, to ensure that my family will be well-fed?
What can I afford to accumulate immediately, against continually rising prices.
How much space can I dedicate to this most important effort?
Where will my food reserves be in one year? Think through: Space, place, amounts.

Have you answered these questions? Good! Put on your “game-face” and let’s attack.
As you survey the landscape, you’ll see hundred-foot-long isle of cereals. Okay, we’ll begin with cereal. Consider that the decorator cereals cost more per-pound than meat! Why would you turn your hard-earned dollar into puffed oats that have been processed so many times that the food value, if ever there was, is gone?
As you warily survey this isle of worthless kid-incentives, several small items, concealed on high shelves, come to your eye. Farina: a solid hot cereal with good food-value. It requires cooking. Old-fashioned rolled oats: they are better than the dusty quick oats being that the heavy oats are the premium while the quick oats are what is left after the premium oats have been selected. Cream of Wheat, another solid cereal that can be used as hot cereal or cooked, formed, cooled, sliced and fried for an add-on to other meals. (Grits are a good choice too, but I’ve never acquired a taste for them.). Corn meal makes a fine cereal and can be as useful as the Cream of Wheat as an add-on fried. Add raisins and other dry fruits to any of these for an enticing, substantial meal. Recipes and cookbooks are available for any one of these cereals. You’ll be amazed at the versatility of just these four products.

Note: Cereal: flakes come in all kinds. The food-value is questionable. Pick a generic brand. If your family won’t settle for something different, camouflage these flakes in the family’s favorite-brand box. I’ve known children that wouldn’t eat anything that didn’t come in some kind of familiar package.)
Our trophies from the vast cereal isle: corn meal, old-fashioned oats, farina and Cream of Wheat will cook up to multiples of their dry weight. They all store reasonably well. Here are four cereals from the 100-foot row of decorator cereals, and these all have other uses besides breakfast. Do you see why it is important to review your grocery habits with a critical eye? With just these four cereals you’ve now wisely increased your inventory, increased your savings and greatly increased your per-pound-nutritional-food-values.
Every isle has its story. Every isle is designed for eye-appeal rather than solid nutritional choices. Marketers play on convenience, on price, on low-this and high-that, and popularity to move their product into your kitchen. Don’t buy into the marketing game. Chances are the best products are not at eye-level, do not have fancy boxes or gimmicks. The food containers that we are looking for will probably have dust on their tops.

If grocery food is our second biggest threat, then what is the first? : As a nation, we are so ill-equipped to handle today’s events. Few people can really cook, fewer can garden, and still fewer know even the basics of animal husbandry, farming, logging, wild-crafting all the wonders that I, as a child, took for granted. All these amazing things I learned, as a child, from my parents, and grandparents. These incredible people are gone forever, taking much of their knowledge and wisdom with them. Boy-oh-boy do we need them today!

I’m much older than most of you reading this. In the four decades since I reached adulthood, I’ve kept to the old ways, in spite of the ridicule I’ve endured from family and friends. Practicing and learning the old ways has given me much quiet joy, a feeling of accomplishment beyond measure, and a great appreciation for my ancestors who made do with very little while enjoying good, long happy lives. I’m sure they would say they wanted for nothing.

For a number of years now I’ve felt guilty about not being able to share my experience and knowledge. Each time I shared, my listeners wanted me to do their home-work for them. I wasn’t making a dent in the ignorance that would one day founder this nation.

Side note: Dozens of books are offered to make you an instant expert. These books are written by authors who read someone else’s book, digesting major points then spit them back with great color photos. No good. The knowledge you need isn’t available in a condensed “how-to” volume for $20 plus $3.99 shipping. In fact, these books can be dangerous. I once read a rather well-appointed field guide to wild edibles. It pictured a fern; they called it an edible fiddlehead. This furry fern was no more edible than the tires on your car. Please beware of these knock-offs in fancy formats.
Well, here we are in rocky times with a future in the fog. Now, finally, folks are showing some interest in becoming independent. Reminds me of college days when if it weren’t for the eleventh hour rule, little would have ever been done. Unlike academics, this isn’t about passing mid-terms. This is about survival of the human race. Does this frighten you at all? It should. The learning curve to self-sufficiency is great with many backward steps. And we are, indeed, into the eleventh hour.