Store what you eat / Eat what you store

This is yet another “Eat what you store / Store what you eat” post.  I had a few experiences in the last week or so that has worked me up to this article.

Eat what you store

First.  A few weeks ago I went to get some cooking oil from our storage area.  I discovered to my dismay that well over half of my oil had gone rancid.  I’m not sure if I had a tempurature fluxuation or what happened.  Bottom line:  I was almost out of oil.  Fortunately it didn’t ruin my dinner plans, but imaging discovering that your oil was bad in the middle of a crisis?  The oil was out of date, but my previous experience has lead me to believe that generally oil has more longevity than is stamped on the bottle. Continue reading “Store what you eat / Eat what you store”

Living in the Past: Iron Age Reality

Yesterday I was linked to a BBC show on youtube that I found quite interesting. The video was a follow-up, thirty years after the filming of a show called Living in the past. The show itself was in effect a reality show, but not one designed on conflict, but the actual experience of a group living as a community in an iron age setting in England.

It’s quite interesting seeing a nice summary of their experiences, and how living a truly primitive lifestyle for 13 months changed the way they think.
Continue reading “Living in the Past: Iron Age Reality”

Preppers in the News

Recently there has been a nice uptick in news articles referencing prepper sites like ours. In just this past week, Reuters published an article about the “Subculture of preppers” that trended, especially after it was featured on the Drudge Report. The article did include well known prepper/survival resources such as James W. Rawles, editor of the oft-linked Survival Blog.

Adding to the news, our national affiliation APN (American Preppers Network) was one of the highlighted links in a Blaze article focusing on preppers as those “Stockpiling for disaster“.
Continue reading “Preppers in the News”

When to buy: Grocery Sale Cycles

Part of being a good prepper is not just buying extra food, but the art of learning how to buy right. Purchasing foods especially can be an art form for knowing when to get the best prices, and best quality. For instance, it’s usually a bad idea to buy a vegetable who’s harvest is about to happen, as you know that means you are getting what’s left from last year. Your food won’t taste as good, and it won’t store as long as it’s already got a year down. Grocery stores know this, so many frugal shoppers have studied the common grocery sale cycles to understand how the manufacturers and stores are working together to move their product most efficiently. Continue reading “When to buy: Grocery Sale Cycles”

Homemade camping stove

Sometimes you just want a small stove for your tent. Wouldn’t that be nice to have an actual wood-burning method of heating a shelter that doesn’t cost a fortune, and is easy to carry around? Now dont’ get me wrong, I truly covet a nice stove for the wall tent I dream of owning some day, but reality hasn’t let that come into my posession yet.

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The End of the Deseret Chemical Weapons Storage

For a long time, the most dangerous thing that could happen after an earthquake in Utah was the release of chemicals stored at the Deseret Chemical Weapons Depot. Located just South of Tooele this location was the main storage location for several types of the US Army’s chemical warfare arsenal. While stored as securely as possible, the possibility of some form of leakage existed, especially if a disaster such as a large earthquake were to occur.

According to one report, over its lifetime the Deseret Chemical Depot has destroyed 1.3 million munitions and 13,617 tons of chemical agent. Today (the 18th of January, 2012) the final piece of ordinance (mustard gas shells) will be fed into the incinerator. On Saturday, the final storage tanks (contents already destroyed) of Lewisite will be destroyed as well.

Living just downwind from this location, I can say I’m very happy that this is gone.

Sustainable home heat

Two years ago, I wrote about emergency home heat. In the article, I compared various options, mentioned my desire for both short-term, convenient and long-term, sustainable solutions, and decided on propane and wood, respectively.

Since then, I have moved, built a new home, and done even more research. While my conclusions have not changed generally, my overall plan has. For the most part, I no longer see the need for two solutions. In my mind, there is now a single, universal solution that is the most efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable. Continue reading “Sustainable home heat”

Sniper Training – Hitting 1200 Yards out in 3 days!

Have you ever wanted to get real Military training for Long Range Shooting?  I did!  So I went to Sniper School with DOA Tactical and within 3 days I was hitting targets 1200 yards away – and that was just Level 1 training!  By far, the best $800.00 I’ve spent!  When the long range practice started, I had a hard time hitting 500 yards out – so you can see the rapid improvement I had.  Here’s how it went.

Continue reading “Sniper Training – Hitting 1200 Yards out in 3 days!”