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(Continued from Part 2.)

Cooking

Use a stove as long as you have electric power, natural gas, or propane. If you can find an old fashion wood-burning cookstove, great. This allows you to be able to cook when fuel or grid electrical power is gone. With a lot of gas stoves, the surface burners will work without electric power, but you will need to light them with a match or some other spark source. The oven will not work in modern models without electric power.

A camping stove, gas, propane, or charcoal grill can be used. However, you will need fuel supplies. And, of course, proper ventilation is a concern.

If you have a large propane tank then you can install a “wet leg” with this you can fill the smaller 15-20 pound propane tanks. This doesn’t go very fast, especially in the winter. In the summer, cool the small tank and it will fill a lot quicker.

There are also some cooking options with Sterno, in the short term. You can also cook in a fireplace. Even more basic is a and outdoor campfire. But leep it small as you don’t want to attract attention. Practice cooking with a Dutch oven with charcoal or hot wood coals. Anything you can bake in an oven you can do in a Dutch oven. Nothing beats cast iron. But you do need to practice, practice! Tongs to move charcoal or hot coals around, and leather gloves and a  lid lifter are very helpful. Cast iron does get hot, and stays hot. Dutch oven cookbooks are very helpful here. Again, practice! The base size is a 12 inch diameter,  6 quart. However, I would get the deeper 8-quart size, as you’ll find that it is easier to bake bread in it without burning the top of the bread. The range of available sizes includes 8 inch, 10 inch, 12 inch, 14 inch, 16 inch, and even a 20 inch. The size you want will depend on your needs. (Cast iron is heavy.)

Flaxseed oil (edible) is the best for seasoning cast iron. (See: Cooks Illustrated.) First, clean and dry and then warm the cast iron to 200 degrees to open the pores in the cast iron. Carefully rub the oil over the surface, then in 350-450 degree preheated the oven, put the cast iron upside down in the oven over some foil to catch the oil drippings and bake it for an hour. Let it slowly cool for two  hours or more in the oven to further season it. They say to repeat this five times. Avoid soap and water for cleaning at first to give it more time to get a good surface, scrape and dry it. Over time, oils from cooking will produce a stick-free surface and you can then use some soap and water. Don’t store with the lid on tight, but put a folded paper towel between the lid and the pot to allow water to escape, and decrease the possibility of rust. A lot of new dutch ovens are sold pre-seasoned.
Sources of cast iron include camping stores, Ace Hardware, Cabela’s, and Agri Supply.
Lodge cast iron cookware is the best, and made in the USA and they also have a number of dutch oven cookbooks.

Cast iron deep fry pans with fry pan lids – Cabela’s or Lodge are dual usage as dutch oven and frying pan. Agrisupply.com has old fashion cast iron cooking ware and cast iron pots up to the 90 gallon size, imported.

A Tripod stand to hold the pot or dutch oven over the campfire is very helpful, as is a grate, one source is Cabela’s. You can make your own tripod with three metal T-posts and a short chain or wire. T-posts laid side by side will make a grate with rocks or logs holding them over a fire.Continue reading“Some Basic Preparedness Information – Part 3, by C.I.”

(Continued from Part 1.)

Other foods

Baking powder (how to make) once mixed, it has a shelf life. However, each ingredient separately will last for years:

• 2 tsp of cream of tartar, source Bulkfoods.com
• 1 tsp of baking soda,
• 1 tsp of corn starch

Gravy (canned or dry) for food fatigue prevention. Bouillon cubes mixed with flour and water will give you a gravy, which will make bland foods more pleasant to eat.

Flour (white) will keep for 8-10 years.

Pasta, 1,600 cal per pound, great shelf life

Dried potatoes 1,700 cal/pound, good shelf life

Oil/fats olive oil keeps for 2 years, (USA, Greek or Spanish are best, as the Mafia has adulterated a lot of the oil from Italy). Coconut oil stores for 3-5 years. Oil or fats will make the difference between surviving or not. Without fat in your diet you will not live very long. (See: rabbit starvation). You can pressure-can lard or bacon grease and it will last much longer, for 10+ years in my experience. The best oils are lard, butter, olive, coconut, and canola oil( I know it is a factory oil but it has a low ratio in one part omega 3 to two parts omega 6), focus on the oils that are higher in omega 3 and lower in omega 6 which is inflammatory –causing more clogged arteries. Omega 6 is stored in the fat cells and it takes a while to replace it with Omega 3, but it is worthwhile in the long run. Western diets are way to high in Omega 6 fats, because they are inexpensive.

Canned goods, rotate. If the can is sealed, then genera=lly the expiration date doesn’t count as far as food safety. Taste and nutritional value may suffer. However, acidic foods will eat through the can more quickly than non-acid foods and not keep as long.

Peanut butter regular keeps for about 1-6 years depending on type.

Sugar, honey, and salt will keep forever. Sugar and salt need to be kept dry.

Candy, some will melt together over time, but will help brighten the day. You can make your own too.

Whole Coffee beans will last longer than ground. Tea for those that prefer it. Green coffee beans last longer yet, you need to roast them before you grind them, darker you roast them, will get you a more of french type coffee. Instant coffee is a good keeper. Ground coffee in metal cans will keep longer.

Food for dog or cat keeps for about 6 months. If you have to eat it, I am told the chicken flavor is best. In the manufacturing of dog or cat food some companies use same sanitary measures as they would do for human food, as they know that people are eating it.

Food fatigue is a very real problem so have lots of different spices on hand! Some in quantity. See Numbers 11: 4-6; Moses’s troubles with food fatigue. Some sources of bulk spices are Penderys, Sam’s Club, Costco, and Bulkfoods.com. As time goes on they may lose some of the flavor, so just use more of it. You also can grow your own: onions, garlic, etc.

Salt: Buy 40 pounds bags of solar salt crystals $5-6.00. Keep plenty of salt on hand — several hundred pounds or more — as this will be like gold. It will be really very very important as a flavoring agent and for food preservative by itself. A mortar and pestle is very helpful to able to grind the salt crystals. Salt has many other uses. A friend who was a child in Germany during WW2 would at times eat at a neighbor’s and the food tasted funny, it wasn’t until after the war he discovered that they had no salt.Continue reading“Some Basic Preparedness Information – Part 2, by C.I.”

Editor’s Introductory Note: Reader C.I. has compiled some solid preparedness information for SurvivalBlog readers, partly from tried and true and widely published recommendations that date back to the 1940s, and partly from her own experience and observations. A lot of the following will already be familiar to long-time SurvivalBlog readers, but it provides a concise review that is useful for consideration for “filling in gaps” in your preps. And it is quite important reading for anyone who is new to family preparedness. This lengthy article will be serialized into four installments. – JWR

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It is hard to be a Good Samaritan when you are in the same shape as the traveler or refugee. It is best to donate through your Church as you don’t want people of uncertain character at your door.

If you have two weeks of food and water at home then you are better prepared than 95% of the population. With the recent run on garden seeds and canning supplies, wise people are waking up and getting prepared. Also, firearm sales are up. I feel this is a red flag that says to get prepared!

It is generally thought that most people would have 3 days of food on hand and the stores another 3 days, however after hurricane Sandy people were out looking for food a lot sooner than Day 3, in spite of days of warning. So unless you are planning on sudden weight loss (and possible death), having food and water on hand is wise. The recent supply chain issues are another warning.

Water, food, shelter, and means of self-protection are the keys to surviving. Long term, also have a means of being self-sustaining, with a garden, fruit trees, and livestock. I would also add: Get out of large cities, and locate somewhere out of sight.

Water

Adding 2-to-6 drops of unscented Clorox bleach will purify 1 quart of water. Depending on the quality of the water and Clorox, give it 30 minutes or longer and add more Clorox if water is cloudy and iffy. But if you can faintly smell chlorine, then it is safe to drink. Over time, Clorox will lose its strength, so rotate every 6 months or use more. Iodine can also be used, 2 drops per quart, more if cloudy. But this method is not recommended for children or for pregnant women.

Plan on at least one gallon of water per person per day for drinking and cooking. In a pinch, one could survive on just 2 quarts for a while. If you include other uses, at least 5 gallons per person per day would be needed for hygiene, washing clothes, and so on.

A traditional tank-type water heater can be an emergency source of water, in the event that the pressure drops, on your utility-provided water.

Waer storage containers can be found in camping and hardware stores, and Wal-Mart. The large food-grade plastic “tote” cubes (275-gallon capacity) are great if you can find one and it hasn’t ever had anything toxic or odorous in it.Continue reading“Some Basic Preparedness Information – Part 1, by C.I.”