Tag: Food Storage

Posted on

An Easy Breakfast

I thought I’d share a nice and easy way to utilize your whole wheat berries for an on-the-run breakfast.  Of course, I’m talking whole wheat cereal.  Now I remember as a kid hating this stuff, my mom would make it for us kids, and we’d all turn our noses at it, pleading for something sugary.  But we did have to eat it anways, it was what we could afford.

Fast forward to now, after years of living away from home, and getting used to some of my favorite breakfast foods (BACON!), I have realized that I need to eat a little better.  I also know that I need to eat a little cheaper a lot of the time, and using my cheapest food storage is a great way to do that.

One of the biggest problems with a whole wheat cereal is that those berries require a lot of soaking/cooking to get soft enough to eat.  Who really wants to wake up extra early to spend a long time cooking some ‘simple’ breakfast?  Well, it’s easy to avoid that, and it truly is error free.

Just combine 1 part whole wheat berries, and 2 parts boiling water, along with a pinch of salt (kosher of course :) ) to a thermos.  Seal well,

Simple Ingredients, Healthy Food
Simple Ingredients, Healthy Food

then let sit overnight on your counter, ready to grab in the morning rush out the door.  Pour into a bowl at work, and add your favorite flavorings (honey, syrups, berries, raisins, brown sugar, butter, etc).  You get an amazingly cheap, powerfully filling, energy rich breakfast for pennies, and the time it takes to microwave a little bit of water.  And with all the different options for what to add in, you can easily rotate flavors every day with storage foods (or fresh ones from your garden).

Now, how much do you need?  Especially at first, start small.  If you haven’t been eating whole wheat food (maybe this is your first attempt at using your wheat?) then switching too fast is going to make your insides get a cleansing they weren’t ready for.  But a single serving won’t be bad if you are taking it easy.  I find about 1/3 cup of wheat to make a nice serving size for starting out.  That stuff really swells up with the soaking, so that is a good sized adult portion for most folks.  After you have found the flavors you love, it’s easy to adjust to the amount you will eat.

Now, I still crave the usuals (Bacon, Sausage, Eggs, etc.), but for on the go, and at work this is an amazingly simple food, that will keep you full through the day.  Add to that the amazing financial sense of it, and you can’t afford not to try it out.

Posted on

Why a Depression today would be worse than in the 1930’s

A while back, I saw this post on SurvivalBlog www.survivalblog.com.

Jim
I run a museum that covers, in part, the Great Depression. In a reply to Steve’s letter about how people may react to a “modern” 1930s type depression, you listed a number of economic, social and cultural differences in America in the two time periods. I might add, or expand on, a few.

In the 1930s, many more people lived on farms or gardened. Even in many towns and cities, it was common to have a garden and raise a few animals including chickens, rabbits, pigeons. An enormous difference, then and now, is that the garden seeds then were “heritage” or open pollinated. That means that a family could save their seed year after year, and always have a crop. That is no longer possible with today’s hybrids. If you save seed now, they, (the hybrids), won’t come back the next year. In a major economic breakdown, there will be little distribution of anything, including seed. No seed, no garden.

In the 1930s, most people had wells or cisterns for water. Today, if the electricity goes off, no more “city” water. Formerly, most people had outhouses. They didn’t need flushing. Today, if you can’t flush, you’ve got a biological lab in your bathroom within three days. In the 1930s, there were more horses, more donkeys, more mass transit and railroads, and more bikes. Today, no gas means no mobility. 80 years ago many more people preserved their own food. It was common for most folks to dry, can, smoke, salt, pickle and cold cellar, food. Today, many people consider food storage a discount card to a restaurant. In the 1930s, most people heated with wood or coal. Now, it’s almost entirely “on demand” gas in a pipe, or electricity. Formerly, most people had treadle sewing machines, grain grinders and meat grinders. Today, nada. In the 1930s, far more people practiced folk medicine and used herbs. If you got cut, sew it yourself. Got sick, chop a chicken and make soup. Today? You’d better have a pill bottle and insurance.

In the 1930s, far more people were church goers. Families tended to live closer to each other. People in general had a more self-reliant attitude. If someone had a problem, they tended to try to solve it themselves. And if they couldn’t, their church family, or own their family, would help them. Society today includes far more people who think the gov’t should, and will, be their caretaker.

It’s my belief, that if today we have a depression, if only as bad as the 1930s Great Depression, that [the societal impact of] such a depression will be many times worse. It’s a somewhat real possibility that, today, in a severe enough crisis, there would be no transport, little food or medicine, no heat, no sanitation, no water and very little cohesion of society.

In the 1930s, people sold apples on street corners, and a popular song was “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?” I’m afraid that today, it may be far more common for people to try to take what they can, and consequences be d***ed. A 1930s-type Depression today ? Not pretty.

Jim Fry
Museum of Western Reserve Farms & Equipment

I have to completely agree with everything the museum curator said. Americans are entirely NOT prepared for anything remotely resembling hardship. We have become a nation of debtors and are addicted to debt. We’ve lost the sense of personal accountability and self reliance that characterized Americans for 200 years.

Here in Utah, I am surrounded by people who believe in the principle of self reliance, preparedness, etc. Not everyone is on board with these tenets, but I believe we Utahns are far better prepared than most in other states, particularly those in large cities.

Don’t believe me? How would these people react to a pandemic, food crisis, etc?

Do we even need to wonder if they have any food storage, money, etc. set aside for a rainy day, let alone something far worse?

What are YOU doing to prepare your family? Even if a catastrophic event were to never occur, what is the downside to gardening, food storage, and general self reliance? I know that if I could afford it my family and I would live on a self sufficient family farm. Today I would be running it in maintenance mode, just keeping a bare minimum of animals, produce, etc. However if something were to happen I could ‘flip the switch’ and ramp up to a self sufficient family farm. What I mean by this is that we would be producing enough milk, honey, wool, etc. to supply our own needs and have some to sell or trade for what we can’t or aren’t producing ourselves.

For now this is just a dream. Our little half acre just isn’t big enough. It is already cramped with our garden, chickens, goat and dogs.

What do our readers think about these topics? Am I being to down on our preparedness level as a society? Am I crazy for dreaming about a little family farm? Comments welcome.

One last plug for the great SurvivalBlog:

Posted on

Review: Shelf Reliance Can Organizer

shelfr

One thing that every prepper quickly learns is that several hundred, or a couple thousand as the case may be, cans of food takes up a LOT of space and create a rotation management mess!  Unless you’re keeping those cans shrink wrapped in a case (thank you case lot sales), a shelf full of cans quickly becomes a garbled mess of who knows what in which spot – that part could actually be a personal situation caused by having 8 kids rooting around in the cans for something good to eat though.  The point is though that a good prepper has tons of cans of food and they can become cumbersome.  Enter the Shelf Reliance Food Rotation System – or the Caninator as I call it.

canfull

This puppy is able to manage several hundred cans for you, making it so you don’t need to think about rotation or organization too much.  Here’s how we use it: wrapped cases of cans are stored on shelves and are generally not touched.  Open cases are loaded into the caninator and when a can is needed for cooking, we grab one from there.  Can slots are allowed to run down (as you can see) and when they are low enough, a new case is opened and loaded in.

This unit is the Pantry 72″ model which I believe we picked up at Sam’s Club for around $250 some time back.

The Caninator features a double shelf rolling system.  You load a can on the upper shelf and it rolls down to the bottom shelf from which you can retrieve it.

cantop

The loading system makes it naturally rotate your cans and also makes it very easy to inventory so you can restock what’s been used.

The frame is made of the same material and is assembled in the same way as a metal shelving system.  The can roller shelves are made of plastic and their width is completely adjustable.  You can order additional can roller shelves online or go to their storefront and purchase them in person at 810 N 2800 W in Lindon just west of the freeway at the American Fork/Pleasant Grove exit or call them at 877-743-5373.

canside

It does take some time to assemble the unit, but once you’re done, it’s done.

I highly recommend this product!  Once we set it up, we were able to empty two full shelves out of pantry – it is an investment well worth the money!  The other small benefit is that my younger kids love to put cans in and see how far they’ll drop.  We are currently planning on getting another Caninator to keep our existing one company and to clear out some more room.

Posted on

Thoughts on Food Storage

The following is a re-post of content from a while back from my personal blog, responding to a friends comments as he was first getting interested in food storage.

—–

This message is actually some commentary to reply to a recent posting by a “Hoser That’s Not My Brother“. Since he decided to take his food-snobbery into an area that I care more than a little about, I thought I’d give a few opinions. Please go read his bit first, and then come back here and this will make a lot more sense. Actually, from other discussions, much of what I have to say is in agreement with the hoser, but I do hope to clarify some points, and give my opinion on others.

Starting off, there is much confusion in the food storage world, and he’s right, what to store must come from you. “Store what you eat, and eat what you store,” is an oft-repeated mantra that is very correct. Just blindly following some list will get you in big trouble if you ever need that food. You probably won’t know how to use it, and it will likely give you serious problems shortly after eating. The provident living website is a great resource for very basic elements of storage, but it is just a starting point. Along with that, it’s a good starting point for the information you need in actually using your storage in an efficient manner.

For me, I think one of the most important things to start out with though is by asking yourself the question, “Why food storage?”. I too have gone through some inter-job difficulties before where the bit of storage we had was a lifesaver for us, but there could be more. Maybe you want to be ready for WTSHTF aka TEOTWAWKI, maybe you just know that food bought now (well, better last fall) was a great way to beat inflation, and the stock market (often by double digit percentages). Whatever the case, how much, and what you need to store will change with that definition. Me, I figure if I’m prepared for the absolute worst case that I don’t think will ever happen, then I’ll feel pretty good if I just get laid off without job prospects again. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Now, to review by category:

Grains
Yes, it is a lot of wheat to keep around, but then again, they don’t call it the staff of life for nothing. Try going without bread for a week or so, and see how you feel. Sure you can say you did the atkins things before, but let’s also look at some other factors. First, given a situation where you really *need* to use your storage. There is a good chance that your physical activity level is going to be changing a bit. Be it heavy stress, to just plain walking a lot more, your body will be needing those carbs quick. Also the fiber content will be very helpful in combating bad side effects of your stress levels, and other dietary changes. One word of caution though, do ease into using real whole-wheat (even from store-bought whole wheat flour), or you will have some serious issues to contend with. Wheat itself can also be used to cultivate simple meat-substitutes (hey, if you’re really starving), and as stated, its protein content is necessary for making breads from other cereals. Besides all of the above stated, your grains are some of your absolute *cheapest* ways to augment just how much food you have stored, heck even at today’s way inflated prices you can get sealed buckets of hard wheat for $23 or so for 45#. Add to that the fact that stored properly it has the longest stable shelf life of any food storage item, you should make sure you have a good amount of wheat and cereals in stock.

But it is smart to mix up your cereals some. Get a couple of types of rice, maybe some softer wheat (cake flour, etc), Rye, Corn, Oats, and others. you’ll always want some variety in your diet, and hey, you can always just experiment with new breads too.

Oh, and do get a mill/wheat grinder. Get a powered one first, and a hand mill second. It’s amazing how much better bread is with fresh flour. With a powered one you’re more likely to use your wheat right now, saving yourself money, getting much better breads, and just getting healthier. Added bonus, your house smells much nicer.

Fats and Oils

Yes embrace the necessity of Fats. Well, I know I’ve never needed to tell a chef that, but I’ll just back you up on that one. For basic storage of oils, I can answer one good reason for shortening over standard vegetable oil. Shelf life. Based on it’s nature, it tends to have a longer time before it goes rancid. You have to be careful about how long you keep your oil around, which is one reason it doesn’t tell you to keep too much. Most people would buy some Costco sized mega-container, and it would all spoil before it was even opened, much less the problems it would have if opened. I’ll agree on the PB too, it’s something we can’t have enough of, and have no trouble rotating through (in fact tend to over do that :) )

Legumes

Dry beans are important for food storage, because as any Brasilian (and really any Latin American) will tell you, it’s food. It’s cheap food, and combined, beans and rice bring out some wonder-twin powers in each other. They combine to form more complete proteins which most of us will be lacking in a crappy situation because we won’t have nearly the amount of meat we’re used to. With he dry beans, yes, choose most any you like, and get some variety (and learn how to use them). Get the other dry or canned, as you would use them, but variety is good. Dried soup mix can be the basic soups you see, largely for spices, but more often refers to a Soup Base, that the canneries used to have. Was a simple soup/stock that was designed for mixing things in. Stock has great nutrition, even dried, and makes it much easier to use so much of this dried food.

Sugars

Actually, I wouldn’t lower it at all. Now part of why this seems so high is based on the targeted usages for your food storage. It’s expected that if you’re smart enough to be storing food, you’ll probably have a garden too. You’ll see that sugar disappear the first time you make jam. Don’t forget your body will likely be craving some things that can sooth a sweet tooth while you change diets, and adding to that, most people can really do with the stress relief of their favorite desert.

As for the kool-aid, if you’ve read this far I’d think you’re drinking some :) . Actually one of the biggest reasons for the powdered drink mix is for water storage. Depending on how much, and how you’ve stored it, or what your filtration method and storage is, you can wind up with some funky flavors. It may be clean, but might taste quite off, and a little flavor will help you keep hydrated, which is pretty key in this area. Same thing camping, that mountain stream water aint always that refreshingly crisp :)

I actually think I’d want more of the honey and molasses though. We have a lot of good recipes using them.

Milk

How could you even question “other”. As a chef this should be seen as too little, without even trying. Sweetened condensed milk is a good one, along with evaporated milk. But let’s be even more obvious:

  • Cheese – Serious comfort food, excellent enzyms and good storage. Freeze dried, Canned “queso”, or *real* canned cheese (that stuff is quite good, and amazing storage). Or if you have “wine cellar” type qualities, keep some cheese wheels around, they’ll just get better tasting, and you know you’ll rotate through them.
  • Yogurt – Important dairy, will work wonders for your digestion, especially if not feeling well. But how do you store it? Well, you can get cultures that will store well, and learn to make your own!
  • Soy Milk – yeah, it’s worthwhile to have :)
  • UHT milk – Boxed milk, stores for a year or so. Parmalat is famous for this.

As for powdered milk, I have a strong aversion to it from having to drink it too often when we lived overseas. The texture is too different for my main staple food :) However, the morning-moos variety is better than others, and I have recently found Nido which is dried whole milk! yes, that helps the texture a ton. You can find it in small cans in the latin foods section of Wally World to try it out, just don’t buy the Nido Kinder (compare ingredients between the two to get a good idea).

There are some good ideas on how you can use powdered milk too, for making things like cheese/yogurt and more. Those could help you out.

Cooking Essentials

Seasonings Seasonings Seasonings! You’ve got a lot of ‘basic foods’, you’ll want to spice them up. Dried, whole, etc, and get your herb garden running.

Oh, and as for the salt, as mentioned with the sugars, just think of having to do some pickling. Oh, and tanning, since I’m sure *everybody* will be running out trying to do some of that :)

Water

This is of course something that we can’t be without, but always think is the last thing that we will not have. Possibly, but I’d rather be prepared. I go with the 2gal per person, since I think if I ever really need it, it’ll be in the summer here, and I know I’ll need more. Plus I like to be clean, meaning more than the minimum.

As for bleach, it loses its real potency starting after about 6 months, so check as to how much you store. You can get good dried chlorine too, good to keep around, and lasts longer.

Summary

There are great books that can help with this subject, and plenty of crappy ones too. I can suggest a few, and love to help friend get ready for the best or worst of times.

Posted on

Celente Predicts Revolution, Food Riots, Tax Rebellions By 2012

I saw this reported on a number of web site, here is one of them.

It seems more and more likely that we have only seen the beginning of the financial chaos that is to come. This goes along with our post last week about the Top 10 Tips To Prepare For A Depression and our post on Why we prep.

Top trend forecaster, renowned for being accurate in the past, says that America will cease to be a developed nation within 4 years, crisis will be “worse than the great depression”.

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions – all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts

“We’re going to see the end of the retail Christmas….we’re going to see a fundamental shift take place….putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree,” said Celente, adding that the situation would be “worse than the great depression”.

“America’s going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,” said Celente, noting that people’s refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as “The Panic of 2008,” adding that “giants (would) tumble to their deaths,” which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest,” and that, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class.”

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.

“There will be a revolution in this country,” he said. “It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen.”

“The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop.”

“It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more.”

“We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs – over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension.”

The George Washington blog has compiled a list of quotes attesting to Celente’s accuracy as a trend forecaster.

“When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.”
— CNN Headline News

“A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.”
— The Economist

“Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right.”
— USA Today

“There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about.”
– CNBC

“Those who take their predictions seriously … consider the Trends Research Institute.”
— The Wall Street Journal

“Gerald Celente is always ahead of the curve on trends and uncannily on the mark … he’s one of the most accurate forecasters around.”
— The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Posted on

The Cost of Food Storage

I was recently directed to this link via a forum, and knew it was one to share. Among other great resources on his site, this gentleman has done a cost breakdown of purchasing a years food supply for an adult. Haven’t we all seen breakdowns before? What’s so special here?

Well, besides providing a relatively varied amount of food, with precise product lists, he makes sure the overall calories meet the needs of an adult in a moderately stressful situation. This also gives breathing room for possible caloric loss or variations in product levels.

But the best thing of all, each month he has taken the time to compare the cost of purchasing the total package from your local stores. Yes, up to date costs, with trending information.

Some of the highlights of his information:

Calories : Cost

1,107,460 $1,574 One-Year Emergency Food Supply for One Adult

And the really interesting part:

The following retail Cost of a “One-Year Emergency Food Supply” is based on prices as of November 1, 2008.
The total cost of the following one-year emergency food supply increased in price by 13.6% in ten-months from January 9, 2008 to November 1, 2008.
This equates to an annualized 16.3% increase in food price

Yeah, just the cheaper food that he refers to here is up 16.3% this year. Yet more proof of the importance of food storage. Chalk up another reason in Why We Prep.

Costs of creating a one-year food storage

Posted on

Why we prep.

This Reuters article on steep food price increases is very interesting. This seems like a good enough reason for most people to begin prepping. Anything you buy now may become a 7-9% return on investment if food prices increase as much as they are projecting.

What are some other reasons that people prep?  TEOTWAWKI, TSHTF, peace of mind?  Speak up and let us know some of the reasons why you prep.

Posted on

Canning (bottling) Chicken

One important and often difficult to achieve aspect of a good food storage plan is meat.  My strategy had always been to purchase canned meat at the grocery store or through group buys, but that gets pretty expensive!  We recently learned about and tried bottling chicken.  I had heard about it but it sounded like it was probably a huge job.  Then Mom told me a couple weeks ago that it was really easy – she was right (of course)!

Here’s the simple description for bottling chicken: cut it up into 1 inch square chunks, put 1/2 tsp salt in bottom of bottles, put chicken in bottles, pressure cook it for 90 minutes.  That’s it, super easy!

But, that’s too short of a blog post so here is the photo essay of how to can or bottle chicken.  Incidentally, I’ve been told that you follow the same procedure to bottle beef, venison, elk, any meat.

To start with, we bought 80 pounds of raw skinless boneless chicken breasts from a great sale at Macey’s – at $1.19/pound.  Fortunately for me, I have lots of kids who can help out, makes a big job happen quickly.

Here we are cleaning fat off the chicken and cutting up the breasts:

The meat needs to be cut into about 1 inch square chunks:

Here is what 80 pounds of chicken looks like all ready to be bottled (notice the quart jar for perspective):

The next step is to put 1/2 teaspoon of salt in the bottom of the jar (you can add whatever seasoning you like) then fill the jar with chicken to about 1 inch below the top and load them into the pressure cooker:

Heat up the cookers on high until they start rocking, then back off the heat until you get 3 rocks a minute, in the mountain region cook at 15 pounds of pressure.  Maintain 3 rocks/minute for 90 minutes (time starts after first rock).

After 90 minutes of cooking, turn off the heat and let the cookers sit for 30 minutes – DO NOT open them before hand, they’ll blow up!  After 30 minutes, remove the rocker, if it hisses you still have pressure – WAIT until it doesn’t hiss!

We averaged 2 pounds of chicken per bottle giving us 40 bottles:

Notice in the picture that there is liquid in the jars – that’s broth baby!  You don’t put any water in them at all, the cooking process fills the bottle up with juice.

After all our hard work we feasted on a bottle – it was delicious!  The fully cooked chicken comes out of the bottles and falls apart and tastes wonderful.

So, let’s calculate.  For about $2.50 on sale, you can buy a small tuna size can of chicken that weighs 10 ounces.  We’ve got about 32 ounces in each jar, giving us a little more than 3 cans in each jar.  That puts an equivalent value of $7.50 on each jar and we got 40 jars worth.  That gives us $300.00 equivalent value of chicken – and it costs us $110.00 – $80 for the chicken and $30 for the jars.  So we saved about $190.00 and ended up with a lot of chicken for storage!

Next up for us is to do this with hamburger.  I have about 80 boxes of hamburger helper in storage – my goal is to have a bottle of already cooked hamburger to go with each box.

– Phil801

Posted on

List Universer – Top 10 Tips To Prepare For A Depression

Thanks to List Universe for this Top 10 list to survive the coming Depression. They all appear to be good advice to this prepper. View the original using the link.

—————————————-

There is a chance that the world could be heading in to a depression, so it seems appropriate to make a list that will come in handy should that eventuate. We all hope that it won’t be the case, but there is no reason at all to not be prepared just in case. Hopefully at least one or two of these tips will be useful to you all.

10
Get To Know Your Neighbors

It is a very good idea to get to know your neighbors well – even in times of a normal economy. Your neighbors can keep an eye on your home while you are away, they can feed the pets, and they can lend you a cup of sugar if you need one! In the event of a depression they can be even more useful – you can create a small community where you can share necessities that one may have and others lack, you can set up patrols (if the situation were so dire as to need it), and you can even have shared meals which can help to keep waste and costs down.

9
Buy Metal

If you have a considerably large amount of money, you will probably want to consider investing some of it in metals – such as gold and silver (though these are already seeing massive price increases). Of course, if you have a fortune you probably already know this, but it doesn’t hurt to remind people. In the event of a collapse of your nation’s currency, you will need a backup – and precious metals have been shown in the past to be an excellent one.

8
Stockpile Drugs

If you regularly take medication, try to stockpile as much as you can. In a depression you may find that you can not afford drugs, or – in a worst case scenario, the drug companies may go under! Additionally, store up bottles of aspirin and other common over-the-counter drugs that we all tend to use from time to time throughout the year. As you use these drugs, be sure to use the ones that are the closest to their expiry date – to prolong the life of the others.

7
Save Money

Right now. Begin saving as much money as you can. Cut down on all of your expenses (except debt repayment) and save every penny. If we end up in a depression, you are going to need it. This is also a good time to start thinking about selling any items in your home that you may not need. If it becomes very likely that a depression is going to hit, sell everything non-essential – that means the TV, DVD player, stereos, etc. I would recommend that you keep your computer (preferably a laptop in case you lose your home and need to move around) as it will come in handy when the depression ends.

6
Get rid of debt

You should try to get rid of as much debt as you can right now. While you can pay your mortgage now, you may not be able to in a month – and as banks are feeling the pinch, they are not going to tolerate even one missed payment. This can obviously lead very easily to you losing your home. If you think the recession now is painful, try suffering it on the streets! This is a tip to help you cope before the depression hits. If you find yourself in an untenable situation and the depression has already arrived, forget this tip and read the bonus item carefully.

5
Move your stocks

If you own stock, it is now a good time to consider the types of companies that are likely to do well in a depression – these are the companies you should move your stocks in to. The companies most likely to survive and profit are dry food manufacturers, diaper and toilet paper manufacturers, and any company making products that are seen as essential to survive. “Comfort” and “sin” stocks like cigarettes, alcohol, etc. are also stocks that do extremely well during bad times as people rely on them to blot out their suffering.

4
Learn a useful trade

Some trades are more in demand during a depression than others. For example, a baker, a handyman, or an electrician should be able to find work during the worst economic downturn, but a change control facilitator may not. Invest in some good old fashioned skills now and not only will it help you survive a depression, it may well be a complete career change for you in the future.

3
Store up Food

Right now you should be hoarding dried and canned foods. Also tablets for purifying water and other nice-to-haves like toilet paper, candles, and batteries. I know this sounds like preparations for a nuclear holocaust, but the effects could be horrifyingly similar. Keep all of your goods in a dry clean area. I would also recommend a book on the basics of cooking, so you can convert your flour to bread and perform other culinary miracles that require nothing processed or pre-packaged. This is a skill that will be invaluable whether we have a depression or not.

2
Relocate or buy an RV

If you think you are in a job that is likely to not be needed during a depression, you should consider relocating to an area that has a lot of wildlife and land. If you lose your house, an investment in an RV now (not on credit!) could be your life-saver. You can drive it to a new town, find a private area where you won’t be disturbed, and park up while the depression rides out. Make sure you find an area where you can rely on plentiful fresh water and animals – which brings us to item one…

1
Buy a Gun

If things get so bad that people begin to steal off each other, this will come in very handy. You can use it to protect your family and belongings, as well as to kill animals for food. And if you really are in dire straits, you can use it to rob someone else! (Okay – I didn’t mean that – we should all try to help each other out – not kill each other). A gun will be most useful in hunting so be sure to buy one that is practical for shooting birds and larger animals. You will also want to buy a book on how to skin, clean, and prepare wild animals for human consumption.

Bonus
Blow your credit cards

Okay – this is going to appear very controversial – but this is about surviving a depression; this is a matter of living or dying. If you are about to go bankrupt, are out of work, and see no hope in the foreseeable future of correcting this situation, use your credit cards right to the limit to put yourself in a better position – whether it be buying food, or moving somewhere you might be able to find work. If we really do enter another great depression, you will have to be prepared to do things you would normally not do in order to ensure the survival of your family and yourself. Under any other circumstances, this would be a very very bad thing to do.

Posted on

Food storage confiscations?

The government had jailed people in the past for ‘hoarding’ food. While this may seem a thing of the past, the government’s current direction towards ‘redistribution’ makes this ever more likely. NY Times Archive

Is anybody else worried about this or am I just paranoid?

Posted on

Seeds in food storage?

Lately it seems I have been seeing a number of survival blogs recommending seeds as part of your preps. Not everyone has the time, space or talent to have a functioning garden. But should that stop you from adding seeds to your broader food storage?

One item to consider is that seeds have a limited (and varied) shelf life. Some good information can be found here

I feel my own gardening skills are severely lacking and the garden areas at my home have been neglected in the two years we’ve lived there. However, after I do some more research, I expect I’ll be adding a variety of seeds to our storage soon.