Testing My Grid Down Preps in the UK, by Culian

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I live in the UK and have been prepping for twelve months. Two things worry me: Brexit and Grid Down. I’ll mention Brexit, but this article is about testing my plan for Grid Down.

Brexit is the plan for the UK to leave the European Union (EU). Most of what we consume comes from Continental Europe and we are told that the UK government has got effective contingency plans to cope with leaving the EU. There is nothing in place, however, to import food. Panic buying will empty a supermarket within hours and the distribution hubs only hold food for 5 days. Day 6 could see us very hungry.

Since the fiasco of March 2019, it is estimated that a third of UK households have stockpiled three months of food, just in case. As a committed Prepper, I have gone beyond just three months of food: I have a few basics for water filtration, security, hygiene etc. We also practice meals based on dry and tinned food, with minimal washing up.

The UK has one National Grid, built in the 1960s. It is maintained, but has not been upgraded. We get power failures every few years, usually for about 24 hours or so and it is this scenario I wanted to test. Our last significant power failure, when we lost power for three days, was five years ago. For my wife and I, and two teenage daughters, it was an unmitigated disaster. As soon as my daughters realised that they couldn’t wash their hair or charge their phones, they left! I wanted to do better next time.Continue reading“Testing My Grid Down Preps in the UK, by Culian”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on the new Ghost Gunner 3. (See the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

Reader Steve R. suggested the book Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History, And of the Outbreaks to Come, by Richard Preston.

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Blue Moon: A Jack Reacher Novel. JWR’s Comment: This one has had better reviews than his last two.

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Food: What the Heck Should I Cook?: More than 100 Delicious Recipes–Pegan, Vegan, Paleo, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, and More–For Lifelong Health

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The Pocket Guide to Prepper Knots: A Practical Resource to Knots That Can Help You Survive

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — October 29, 2019

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October 29th is the birthday of fighter pilot Vermont Garrison, an American who fought in three wars– WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. He was born in 1915 and died on February 14th, 1994, in Mountain Home, Idaho.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical 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,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  7. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 85 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Guest Article: Gold, Credit and the Coming Financial Collapse, by Hubert Moolman

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Since 2016, the US Monetary Base has declined by about 23.68%. This is the deepest and longest decline since the Federal Reserve was formed. This should not be ignored.

The last time there was a decline close to this magnitude,there was a sharp deflationary recession. That was the one that occurred from 1920 to 1921.

Below, is a long-term chart of the Monetary base that goes back to 1918:

During the 1920-1921 recession the decline in the monetary base eventually made it into the broader money supply and this caused a significant drop in price levels (between 13% and 18%) during the recession, with wholesale prices dropping as much as 36%.Continue reading“Guest Article: Gold, Credit and the Coming Financial Collapse, by Hubert Moolman”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on the Wexit Alberta campaign.   (See the Region-Wide section.)

Region-Wide

SurvivalBlog reader TZ sent this news about our neighbors to the north: Wexit: Will Alberta Ditch Canada? Here is a pointed quote:

“The term ‘western alienation’ has entered the national lexicon, becoming just as Canadian as ‘grab your toque’ or ‘a kerfuffle at the hockey rink.’

Despite being rich in resources and contributing a great deal to the gross domestic product, this part of the country feels disrespected, shunned, unequal, and underrepresented. From the perspective of westerners, the frustration is warranted; Ottawa seemingly concentrates primarily on the economic juggernaut of Ontario and the sensitive vote-rich province of Quebec. From the vantage point of other provinces and territories, the sentiment is: What about me? There is a reason people joke that Toronto thinks it is the only city in Canada, as well as the center of the universe.”

JWR’s Comment: If the Wexit Alberta campaign is successful, then I’d be happy to see them join the American Redoubt!

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Over at the Spokesman-Review newspaper web site: Your Outdoors Photos: October 2019

Idaho

Ada County sees nearly 23-percent increase in registered voters since 2015

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Oh, Boise!  Public university tells professors not to grade based on merit. (Thanks to reader TZ for the link.)

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Over at the KBOI television news web site: Wild horses to be captured in central Idaho to reduce herd. Quoting the brief article:

“Officials say they plan to use a helicopter to capture 365 wild horses in central Idaho in early November to reduce the number of horses to about 185.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management in a news release Friday says the roundup in the Challis Herd Management Area near the town of Challis will begin on or about Nov. 5 and take up to nine days.

The agency says balancing herd size with what the 260-square-mile (675-square-kilometer) management area can support will help protect habitat for wildlife species such as sage grouse, pronghorn antelope, mule deer and elk.

The agency says mares released back into the management area will be treated with fertility control.

About 240 horses not released back into the wild will be transported to the Bruneau Wild Horse Off-Range Corral facility southeast of Boise for adoption.”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the Blackout: Two Million Californians will intermittently be in the dark.

Blackout: Two Million Californians in the Dark

Linked over at the great Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Millions face power cuts as California fires spread.  A brief excerpt:

“The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., said it expected to cut off power to 850,000 customers — a precautionary shutdown that local media say would affect about two million people.

“The weather event could be the most powerful in California in decades,” PG&E said, with dry northeast winds forecast to gust up to 70 miles per hour…”

Without Food, You Are Dead

The latest from our friends and fellow bloggers Frank and Fern:  Without Food, You Are Dead.  Here is a pericope:

“So, food. What do you have? Is it enough for everyone you need to feed? For a while? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Can you replenish the supply on your own without any outside assistance?

Food has always been used to control people. Always. Think of Joseph in Egypt. His father and brothers had to come and beg for food. They had the money to pay for it, but that didn’t mean they would receive any. It’s no different today. Look around the world. Look at how interdependent everyone is. Some countries have oil. Some have water. Some have the type of land and soil that will grow food, some don’t. If any one thing goes wrong, one spoke of the wheel breaks, all systems fail. No water, no food. No oil, no fertilizer, no commercial farming apparatus, no food. No transportation, food rots in the field. No workers, no food. “Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Monday — October 28, 2019

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I was recently passing through Bonners Ferry, Idaho and stopped by to visit the Redoubt Surplus & Tactical store.  While chatting with store owner Warren Campbell, I learned that he recently obtained a small quantity of scarce U.S. Army surplus woodland pattern Goretex over-pants. He sells them brand new at $34.95 per pair.  I was impressed with their quality, so I went ahead and bought a pair. I like the fact that they have 2/3-length zippers, so that they can be put on or taken off without removing your boots. I spent quite a while looking through the shelves of Warren’s huge inventory. I also bought a couple of U.S. Army surplus extra-tall mortar illumination round ammo cans with airtight seals. These are the perfect size for caching an assembled AR pistol, an AK with a folding stock, or an AR rifle that is broken down into upper and lower halves. Just pad up the parts and a dozen magazines in bubblewrap, throw in a bag of silica gel desiccant, and it will all be safe and dry for decades. I also spotted a big box of O.D. wool WWII mummy bag liners. He sells those for just $30 each. I hadn’t seen any of those in any surplus store since back in the 1980s. Where does he find this stuff? Amazing. Redoubt Surplus & Tactical also does phone orders that are mailed out, for many of their items. You can phone them at: (208) 772-4007 to ask if they have what you are looking for.

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Today, another product review from our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.

Kimber Ultra Carry II Two-Tone 9mm by Pat Cascio

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Today, we’re taking a close look at the Kimber Ultra Carry II Two-Tone 1911, chambered in 9mm. I’ve always felt that, the 1911 was made for the .45 ACP, so you’ll have to excuse my bias on this – buy I’m learning, so be patient with me. More often than not, I can be “caught” packing a handgun in 9mm these days, so like I said, I’m learning. I think!

I get this question all the time, and there really isn’t any pat answer I can give to folks, but we’ll try once again! “What is your favorite gun?” And, when folks use the term “gun” it can mean any number of different types of “guns” – to include revolvers, semiauto pistols, shotguns – in any number of variations, bolt-action rifles, semiauto rifles, etc. I do have as my one and only firearm, if it ever came down to it, and I could only own one handgun, it would be the good ol’ 1911 in .45 ACP. However, these days, I’m leaning away from it for a number of reasons, more on this, later.

I got my first 1911, a full-sized Government Model, in .45 ACP during a trip to visit family down in Kentucky. For years, I didn’t even realize I had family down there, until my grandmother – who raised me – took me on a train trip to meet those folks, and there were plenty of aunts, uncles and cousins that I never knew I had.  Keep in mind, that this was long before the Gun Control Act of 1968, and buying firearms across state lines–without paperwork–wasn’t a problem. It was on my second solo trip down to Kentucky, that one of my cousins took me to a fellow who bought and sold firearms. No FFL paperwork was required at that time. I found a 1911 Government Model in .45 ACP on his table of handguns and did a deal – traded him something for it, along with some cash. My first, but not last 1911, was mine. To this day, I don’t know what happened to that 1911, but its been a lot of years since then.

For those new to firearms, or to the 1911, just a little bit of history on it: It was adopted in 1911 – and was designed by John Moses Browning. He is still a legend, when it comes to many of his gun designs. It wasn’t until 1985 that the 1911 was replaced by the US military, with the Beretta Model 92 (M9 in military form). And, to this day, there is still controversy over the 9mm replacing the .45 ACP. And, also to this day, there are still a few military units who use the 1911 – mostly SpecOps guys. They know a good thing when they see it. So, the 1911 is still the longest-serving handgun in US military history. And, we can’t even begin to count the number of makers turning out 1911s these days – probably a hundred or more to choose from. The number of variations? Who knows, one can’t keep track of this, but its probably safe to say, the 1911 is the most customized handgun in history, bar none!

As I’m rapidly approaching my 70th year on this earth – only a few more years to go. So I have found that my daily Kimber Ultra Carry II in 9mmcarry needs have changed. I used to love carrying full-sized handguns, especially the 1911 in .45 ACP. I was younger and dumber – but I loved carrying the 1911 police duty and during private security work. There was just something reassuring about that big old .45 caliber bullet, and the 1911 – they were made for each other. I don’t feel the need to carrying full-sized handguns these days, so I carry some sub-compact and even micro-sized handguns concealed, and I ALWAYS carry a spare magazine, no matter what semi-auto handgun I might be carrying.Continue reading“Kimber Ultra Carry II Two-Tone 9mm by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Amy’s Baked Chicken and Rice

Reader “Amy in Militigan”  kindly sent us her recipe for Baked Chicken and Rice. You may substitute the same volume of turkey, in place of the chicken. This recipe makes seven servings.

Ingredients
  • 2 C regular white rice (not the instant type)
  • 1-3/4 C milk
  • 1/2 cube of butter, melted (optional)
  • 2 cans of cream of chicken soup
  • 2 Cups of boiled-down chicken soup broth (or, substitute 2 C hot water and 3 or 4 dissolved bullion cubes)
  • 4 or 5 raw chicken (or turkey) breasts, cut chunked to large bite-size
  • 1 C grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 C mushrooms, sliced fairly thick (optional)
  • Salt, to taste
  • Pepper, to taste
Directions
  1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.
  2. Coat with cooking oil (or spray PAM), a 9″x13″ Pyrex casserole
  3. Spread the uncooked rice in the bottom of the casserole dish.
  4. Mix together the milk, melted butter, cream of chicken soup, and the broth
  5. Pour that mixture over the rice.
  6. Stir until well-blended with the rice.
  7. Sprinkle on 1/2 C Parmesan cheese.
  8. Sparingly add some salt and pepper.
  9. Add the chicken and the mushrooms (optional) in the pan, layered.
  10. Sprinkle on the remaining 1/2 C of Parmesan cheese.
  11. Add some more salt and pepper, to taste.
  12. Cover with aluminum foil
  13. Bake at 350 F for 2 hours.
  14. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes, again at 350 F.
Variations
  • You may substitute the same volume of turkey, in place of the chicken.
  • You may substitute other types of rice.
  • Mushrooms are optional.
  • The butter is optional.
  • You may substitute onion salt, if you like onion flavor in your food.
  • You may omit the salt, if you are on a low-salt diet.
  • Can be garnished with parsley or a just bit of chopped chives, after baking, for color.
SERVING

Serve hot with any green vegetable side dish.

STORAGE

Left-overs store for to three days refrigerated, if kept covered.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the breakdown in the global diamond market. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

Is it the global credit market instability, or just recession fears? Germany Increases Gold Reserves In September For The First Time In 21 Years – IMF

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Video: Gold’s entire investment thesis can be summarized by this one metric

Economy & Finance:

At Zero Hedge: “There Is A Global Crisis” – Israel Diamond Industry Collapses Amid Faltering Demand. The article start out with this:

“Macroeconomic headwinds are developing across the world. At least 90% of all countries are experiencing a slowdown in growth that has stumped central bankers and policymakers. No one at the moment can figure out how to restart the global economy. With the risk of a worldwide trade recession soaring for 2020, if not has already arrived, consumers are pulling back on spending, which has contributed to a collapse in the global diamond industry, something that we’ve been documenting this year.

The latest stress in the global diamond industry is emanating from Israel. Ynetnews is saying the country’s diamond exports have plunged 22%, a sign that consumer demand from Asia is faltering.

Trade data showed for the first three quarters of 2019, Israeli exports of diamonds were $2.62 billion, down from $3.32 billion during the same period last year.

In 3Q19, imports and exports of diamonds by Israel plunged 28% YoY. “

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Here Is The Real Reason The Fed Restarted QE

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At Wolf Street: Dual-Track Economy: Slowdown in Industrial Sectors Hits Truckers & Railroads. But Consumers Are Still Buying Stuff

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Reader C.B. was the first of several readers to send us this: Crisis could claim third of big global banks: McKinsey

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Running a Gun Show Business – Part 3

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(Continued from Part 2. This installment concludes the article.)

Legal Issues

I’d be remiss if didn’t go over some of the statutory legality issues, liability issues, and tax issues associated with running gun show tables.

As most folks know, when they walk into a gun show they will be seeing two types of sellers with guns on their tables:  Professional dealers with FFLs, and casual unlicensed sellers. The FFL holders can buy and sell both new and used guns. Legally, they must display their license. Casual sellers like me can only buy or sell guns that have already been “papered”, or ones that never were papered (pre-1968 guns.) These can still be “new in box”, but they must be secondary market guns. Folks like me are mainly there at shows to trade, with the goal of upgrading and.or expanding our collections.

Casual secondary sales of firearms do not require a license or any background checks, in the 37 still free “private party sales” states. But there are sadly now 13 states that require background checks on the sales of ALL post-1898 guns. Gun shows in those states are now require the rigamaroll of selling through “transfer dealers”, complete with a “Mother May I? ” phone call to the FBI. In my opinion that is unconstitutional. But until that law gets overturned by the courts, it is still the law.

Applying for a FFL is not required under Federal law, unless you are “engaged in the business” of selling modern guns for your principal livelihood. Whenever the ATF is asked to define how many guns per year or what percentage of income constitutes “engaged in the business”, they are always evasive. They don’t want to go on record as doing so. I consider this a fear tactic, and it troubles me. But I cannot see any rational jury ever convicting someone of being “engaged in the business” if their weekend sales make up less than 20% of their annual income. For the record: I am not a “gun dealer” as my profession. I’m a novelist and blog writer.  Those are the sources of 95% or more of my income.  If I sell or trade guns occasionally at gun shows, that does not make be a “dealer.” This simply is not my principal livelihood. And remember, it is only sales of seriaiized, modern (post-1898) guns that count toward the “engaged in the business” percentage. Sales of any other merchandise (including pre-1899 guns, assorted parts, and 80% complete receivers) are not regulated under Federal law. So they are outside of Federal jurisdiction.Continue reading“Running a Gun Show Business – Part 3”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the new B.O.A. Tourniquet.

New Army Technology to See Through Walls

Regular content contributor G.P. send this item: The Army is eyeing new tech that would let soldiers see enemies through walls. A pericope:

“The winner of an Army competition searching for innovative technology for troops would let soldiers see their enemies through walls.

The second Expeditionary Technology Search (xTechSearch) came to a close last week at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting, when Lumineye, Inc., was announced as the winner for its radar technology.

Lumineye has created a “wall-penetrating radar” that would help soldiers “identify people and potential threats through walls,” according to the Army’s press release.

As the winner of the competition, The Army awarded Lumineye $250,000. Mike Howard, spokesman for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology told Task & Purpose that the cash prize doesn’t necessarily mean that the Army will purchase the radar.”

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”