After the break you’ll find a complete unboxing and review of the 7 liter Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker as well as an introduction to thermal cookers and why they matter to preppers.

Unboxing

First things first, here are some pictures documenting the unboxing process.

This is what is shipped to you, a fairly plain cardboard box with the shipping label, etc. attached.

Opening the box reveals a well packaged inner box cushioned by some foam peanuts.

Here is the inner box removed. It has a handle built into the box to facilitate removing the box from the packaging. It also makes a nice storage box for the cooker later on.

Saratoga Jacks has done a nice job in branding the box.

The full logo is on the side of the box.

Once the box is opened, there is an instruction sheet with some bad English translations. We’ve been told that a new set of instructions and a recipe book will be included in any cookers purchased in time for Christmas. The cooker is cradled by an upper and lower piece of Styrofoam to protect it while in the box.

Further protecting the finish on the cooker is a plastic bag.

Finally, the cooker is revealed. What you can’t see in these pictures is a sturdy fold down handle for carrying the cooker.

With the lid open, there is an pot lid and some foldable handles in evidence.

Removing the lid reveals a small pot inside a larger pot.

The small pot has been removed.

The thermal cooker with all the internal pots and lids removed.

What is a Thermal Cooker?

So, if you are like me you are wondering what a thermal cooker is and how does this fit into being a prepper? A thermal cooker is essentially a crock pot that does not use any electricty or fuel source to cook food. Given that cryptic explanation you might be asking yourself how this works. To illustrate this, let me explain how we recently cooked a nice dinner in our cooker. You might also want to review a post Jayce did several years ago on cooking oatmeal and cereals in a Thermos.

We started off by putting some rice in the small pot with some water. Next we put some chicken, chopped vegetables, potatoes and some stock and spices into the larger pot. Both pots were put on our gas stove and brought to a hard boil. After boiling for about 4 solid minutes we pulled both pots off the stove and placed them in the thermal cooker, sealing the lid.

Six hours later we opened up the cooker and had a nice, piping hot meal from straight from the cooker. The cooker is a highly insulated container which due to its insulation efficiency loses very little heat over time. When you place a partially cooked but hot meal into the cooker then seal it, the heat is contained in the cooker and the contents continue to cook due using the thermal mass of the meal itself.

Prepper Usage

From a prepper perspective this allows for a very efficient use of fuel. Rather than simmer something on the stove for hours you can instead minimize the amount of fuel consumed by putting the pots into the thermal cooker after a few minutes of heating. Your camping stove for example would be on for 5 minutes rather than for 40 minutes. We’ve also found that this is a great way to prepare food in advance to take along with us.

If we know we will be traveling for several hours we can prepare a meal in the thermal cooker and bring it along with us. After several hours, when it is time to eat, the meal has fully cooked without the need for continuous fuel use. This also removes the worry of leaving a crock pot on during the day while you are away. I don’t like to do this as it presents a possible fire hazard. A thermal cooker eliminates this concern for my family.

I don’t have direct experience with some other competing thermal cookers, but I do know that this product is made well from quality components. There are currently two sizes available, a 5.5 liter and a 7 liter model. In order to reduce heat loss to the air, you want to be sure to use the correct sized model for your needs. A partially filled cooker will not maintain heat with the same efficiency as a full cooker due to heat loss into the air gap above a partially full cooker.

The Thermal Cooker also makes for a nice cooler. In the same way that the cooker’s insulation seals in the heat, it can be used as a cooler to keep things cold for reasonably long periods of time. This provides a secondary usage for this tool and helps us to limit uni-tasker devices in our preps.

Critiques

The 5.5 liter model will cook a meal for 3-5 people while a 7 liter will hold a meal for 6-10 people. You’ll want to use the model that fits the size of the meal you are cooking. Sometimes it isn’t convenient to cook a larger meal just to fill a cooker, and I don’t want to have to buy two cookers to handle both small and large meals. To that end I hope that Saratoga Jacks comes up with an add on to the 7 liter model perhaps consisting of an insulated sleeve and a small pot that would allow you to efficiently cook a smaller meal in the larger cooker without needing to purchase a complete cooker.

Word of Caution

One additional note that perhaps doesn’t need to be said. The thermal cooker is NOT meant to be heated directly. You heat the inner pots OUTSIDE the cooker, then place the hot pots into the cooker. The cooker has plastic components which will melt should you attempt to put the cooker over a flame or other heat source. Heat the pots, not the cooker! :)

Conclusion

Overall my wife and I have both enjoyed using this new tool. It has the potential to save us money on gas and electric bills and can reduce fuel consumption in an emergency. If you are interested in this, give them a call. If there is enough interest we may try running a group buy as well to save our readers some cash on these cookers.. Please post a comment below and we can answer any questions you might have about this review.

Several of the stoves getting setup

Last weekend several of the UtahPreppers got together with some friends to begin doing some hands on tests to start preparing for winter. Recently several of us have acquired new stoves and we wanted to give a conduct some tests to compare how well they worked. For our first meet up we wanted to test a few stoves and other devices with the group. While we learned a lot we realized that we’ve got some more comprehensive tests to run through before we can highlight each of them adequately. But before we move along with the individual tests, we wanted to thank some of the people that helped make this first stove test so much fun and informative.

Volcano Grills

In terms of stoves, Volcano Grills is nothing new to longtime readers here. We’re all big fans of this product and it keeps getting better. Mark with Volcano Grills showed us a few changes that they’ve made to the stoves to improve them and gave us a few new ideas about things to try. We’ll be reporting some of the results and showing off a few things you will want to have for your stove.

EcoZoom Rocket Stoves

The principle of a rocket stove has become quite popular recently with various build it yourself plans and kits available online. While you can make various types yourself you may want a more well-made product to depend on for long term usage. EcoZoom Stoves let us use one of theirs and we’ll be letting you know how that worked.

FireBox Folding Stove

A local newcomer, we first met the creator of the FireBox Folding Stove at the self-reliance expo in Salt Lake City. It was great to see a local with a well-made product. We knew we’d have to put this thing through some tough tests to see if it lived up to the demo.

QuickStove

Another local the QuickStove is a Stove-in-a-Can concept that seemed right up our alley. It is a self-contained kit that allows for emergency cooking and storage in your 72-hour kit

Saratoga Jacks

One town over from our test site, the Saratoga Jacks folks didn’t have far to travel. They came with their thermal cookers that we’d been researching and let us have a little hands-on time.

They also provided us with a unit to run through its paces and conduct some longer term tests. For more info see Mike’s review of Saratoga Jack’s Thermal Cookers

Eden Valley Foods

Newcomers to the food storage market, Eden Valley Foods brought over a few samples and some great information regarding various food manufacturing and storage methods as well as information on how freeze fried food are manufactured, shipped and stored.

FoodStorageMadeEasy

Along with the UtahPreppers authors that made it to our event we also had Jodi from FoodStorageMadeEasy.net, some of our best local friends. Their site is a great resource for people overwhelmed with the idea of food storage and looking on how to get an easy entry into our world.

Coming Soon:

As we get review posts about each of these products ready we’ll update this page with links. You can also follow our RSS feed to get updates when they come out.

We’ll hopefully be having more group events soon, so don’t forget to let us know (contact us, or here in the comments) if you’re interested in coming out, or if you have something you’d like to see tested!

Wrap-It-Ice by Shield-Safety

Today I decided to write a little review on a product that I really wish I didn’t have to do. The reason for this is not for a lack of quality in the product, but the fact that I actually needed to use it. Yes, this is a first-aid bandage that I’ve had sitting in my cabinet waiting until needed, and now it is.

Several months ago I met with Mike at Shield-Safety, and went through their sales pitch about some first-aid products they had.  While a lot of what they did was not new, they had several things that did pique my interest and stand out as something I wanted to buy. Now I’m not normally a person to give into a home sales pitch, but the Shield-Safety people approached us a little bit differently, they taught first-aid basics, and how to actually use the different items that you should have available in a home first-aid station. One of the products they had that got my attention was a sealed wrap for sprains.

I’ve always had a nice supply of compression wrap bandages to deal with my always twisting ankles. So why would I need something different? Well one of the main things you always need after a sprain is to keep the wounded area cold. The common way to do this is to surround with ice, however ice is too cold and to keep from causing more damage you follow the pattern of icing for fifteen minutes, then keeping it off for fifteen.  The Wrap-It-Ice product helps with this by taking your gauze wrap, and keeps it soaked in Ethanol, Arnica, and Menthol.

Ethanol

Ethanol is included for two reasons that I can easily see. First the wood-grain alcohol has a good, known evaporation rate. This evaporation acts like sweating to actually cool the compressed area down.  Secondly, while I wouldn’t want this on an open wound obviously, it does act as an antiseptic helping keep things clean.

Arnica

This was a new one for me. Apparently Arnica refers to several plants related to the sunflower that collectively contain traces of thymol. And since I’m sure that leaves you with questions the same way it left me let me summarize some things I found online. Thymol is used in liniments and ointments because it is clinically proven to help with surface capillary damage (bruises), both in pain and in restoration. Also it seems to be used as a fungicide, and antiseptic. Not bad for extra features.

Menthol

This is another great “multitasker” in sprain or bruise treatment. Menthol provides:

• A local/topical analgesic – gets rid of some of the pain
• Is a smooth muscle relaxant – lowers the tension and pain
• Is antipruritic – reduces itching
• Increases the cooling “sensation” – Feels better
• Essential – Usually made up from essential oils, and provides a smell that has a psychologically calming effect.

Getting Wrapped

After a rather hard week at work, my wife and I decided to join several other couples last week at a volleyball night at our church. The fun evening ended (I should have expected it) when I landed wrong, and quite severely rolled my ankle. Having plenty of experience in the matter, I quickly got my shoe off, some ice on, and elevated my foot to quickly stabilize myself.  After a few minutes, and allowing myself to get over the “CRAP THIS HURTS”, we went home so I could give it a little better treatment. My wife went to grab a bandage, and came back with one of the Wrap-It-Ice packages, deciding that now was as good of a time as any to see if it really lived up to its claims.  We opened the pouch and dressed the ankle as normal, the only difference in that the bandage was quite wet.

For the first minute or so, I really didn’t feel much (outside of the “CRAP THIS HURTS”), but shortly after I began to feel what I’d hoped for.  A nice cool sensation was starting to penetrate into my skin, and the aforementioned pain started getting pushed away.  While I wouldn’t expect this to get rid of all pain, it very quickly made a notable difference, and after my ibuprofen kicked in, I was feeling quite well about things as long as I didn’t step on the darn foot.

Conclusion

The bandages claim that they will provide “An hour of instant cooling and compression”.  Well about a minute to cut through a very painful sprain is about as instant as I think you can get, and that really did impress me.  As for an hour, it seemed to go a bit longer. And yes, it was quite cool, but not frigid like ice so I didn’t have to rotate.  It kept my ankle and a very steady temperature the whole time. I really do think it helped prevent the heavy bruising that I was expecting, and minimized my swelling (along with the proper procedures of elevating, and taking ibuprofen of course).

Now, could you make this yourself? I’m sure you could add alcohol and some essential oils to your bandage and get at least some of the benefits of this product. Even better if you can find a source and the proper dosage of that Arnica. I’d go so far as to say that would be a very good thing to learn and have on hand no matter what. BUT, this was actually a quite impressive product, at a pretty sane price for a medical item.  They come in a nice sealed container so you don’t have to take the time to mix it together, and they’re made for a local company that seems to be trying pretty hard to not just sell first-aid equipment, but really wants to teach you how to use it.

For me, yeah, I want to learn how to do it myself. But I know I’ll be buying a replacement for my medicine cabinet as well. It’s a well-made product that really delivered as promised. And while I would have rather not had the opportunity to review it, I’m really glad it came out well in this real-world test. Go check it out for yourself: Wrap-It-Ice.

As handy as the device is, there were some shortcomings.  First off, the device I most wanted to use on it is extremely finicky with what it allows to charge (yeah, it’s an iPhone), and the variability of solar electricity meant that the iPhone didn’t like accepting the charge.  Secondly, some of my devices simply take AA or AAA batteries, and I didn’t have a good charger that would run off the USB adaptor that the 7m provides.

Thankfully there is a relatively new product that addresses these shortcomings, their Goal0 Guide 10.  In short, it’s a battery charger, that doubles as a combined power pack for those devices you would most likely charge from the panel.

Key Features

The Guide 10 is a very simple device, that makes lightweight solar usage possible for a backpacker. It starts as a simple AA or AAA charger. It just plugs in to your 7m (or other panel) through their simple adaptor, and you can lay it out in the sun. If you are hiking, the 7m already has loops to tie on to your pack, and the Guide 10 has a nice metal cable so you can attach with a carabiner. The Guide 10 is operated via simple three way switch. On allows you to charge devices from the rechargeable batteries, Off allows you to stop providing power to external devices to stop phantom power drains and recharge the batteries at a faster rate through your solar panel. The third position turns on an integrated LED light. Simple and handy, this proved quite functional when using my kit. Charging may also come via a standard USB Mini-B adaptor, which plugs into a standard usb in case you wanted to charge from a computer or other device.  Using the device means simply either taking out the batteries to use them, or plugging into the full-size USB port and flipping the switch to run in ‘power pack’ mode.

Inline Charging

For devices like my phone that don’t like the variables associated with solar charging, the Guide 10 really helps provide a clean power source.  If I simply plug in the phone to the pack, and the pack to the panel, I get the correct amount of power to my phone even if a cloud decides to get in the way. Even if your electronics are too finicky, it’s a lot easier on them to be treated this way!

Storing For Later

Sure, a power pack of four AA batteries isn’t going to power my laptop, but I have a lot of devices that work quite well on that much electricity. While I could provide a lot of light with one of Goal0′s Light-a-Life’s, they are rather large and too bright for backpacking.

Using a small USB powered light stick though works extremely well.  During my last campout I would plug in one of the Luna Lights into a battery pack, and have just an amazing flood of light for our group. Best of all it barely sipped the power even from these AA batteries.  Using the light for several hours during the night, I still only needed a small charge during the day to get back to full power. I could have easily still gone to charge a phone or other devices along with my lights, which I think is the critical test I needed to prove this was the right size for my needs.

According to the product site, the 7m panel takes approximately 3 hours to charge the Guide 10 while a 3.5 watt panel takes approximately 6 hours.

What’s Missing

When looking online, I noticed them using AA and AAA batteries. However in the package, it doesn’t have the plastic insert you need if you want to charge the AAA batteries, unless you buy that specific model.  This was my one strike against the product.  You get the insert supposedly by purchasing a pack of their Goal0 branded rechargeable batteries (you can use any NiMH rechargeable though). Personally I’d suggest just getting the one pack of their batteries for the adaptor, and then using your preferred brand. Nothing wrong with theirs, which are a nice modern battery, but there are plenty of options in that space.

Apparently though, James bought the full Adventure kit, and that did come with the AAA piece. It seems it doesn’t come with just the standalone Guide 10 (in the two that I purchased).

 Conclusion

To me, the Guide 10 pack is what really makes the Adventure Kit worthwhile. While the set with the speakers and panel is nifty, the real usefulness exists only when you add this into the mix. If you haven’t already bought one, they now sell it with the batteries and charger instead of the speaker as the Goal0 Guide 10 Adventure Kit.  If you are building any kind of Get Home Bag, BOB, or similar emergency kit where you want to be able to maintain a charge on some small communications or light devices, this is the best product on the market for lightweight solar charging. It’s extremely simple to use, doesn’t have unnecessary pieces, and will easily attach to your pack.

Ova-Easy Hearty Whole Eggs.  My first thought was just another freeze-dried, or worse, powdered egg.  But I had to read.  Turns out this is a newer process to long-term egg storage. Crystalized whole eggs, no preservatives.

Process

According to the Nutriom web site (the Ova-Easy manufacturer), crystalized eggs are dried in a very low heat evaporative manner so that the eggs arent’ cooked in the drying process.  This leaves a fine, sandy crystal instead of the powder you usually see with a dehydrated egg.

Using Ova-Easy Eggs

This is the part that can often be scary.  Up on a mountain with several very hungry guys, who are awaiting your breakfast.  Sometimes experiments like this dont’ turn out well, and you’d better have some backup oatmeal ready to go quick. However, this time I was lucky with my gamble.

I started out by opening the small package show above.  The package claimed it held one dozen eggs in crystallized form.  Based on the size I was a little leery, even knowing how much of an egg is water, it seemed awfully small.  I poured in the yellow sand and added the water required and watched for a second.  It really did look just like water on sand, and I had a quick fear that this was not going to mix!  The two just sat separate from each other, not even attempting a familiar clumping that you might see with most powdered mixes.  But then I began to actually stir, and it was amazing how quickly it turned into a quicksand, and then into straight up mixed eggs, just like you would see if you had cracked several for yourself.

Results

As the eggs were cooking, I tossed in the basics: Green onion, black pepper, salt, cheese, etc.  The resulting scramble mix was served on tortillas as seen.  And the hunger riots among my friends stopped. This was real egg, real good, on a backpacking trip.  As for the amount, it really was about a dozen “Large” eggs.

OvaEasy vs Powdered

No contest. The only thing powdered eggs have going for them here is that you can actually make them at home. But the taste is totally different. OvaEasy actually tastes like eggs, whereas the powdered always have a funny flavor.  Check out the OvaEasy page for some other great information regarding different molecule buildup in powdered eggs as well!

OvaEasy vs Freeze-dried

Apples to Oranges here. Freeze-dried eggs are simple, and tasty. But they are also more expensive, and you are buying a meal as-is. These are just eggs, that you can use for cooking anything. So if you’re like me and at times enjoy cooking something a bit more fancy on the trail, freeze-dried won’t work for you.  This is just a raw ingredient in packable form, instead of a processed meal.

OvaEasy vs Real

Now I’ve done plenty of camps where I’ve taken real eggs. Often I’ll just pre-crack the eggs into a small dish that I can seal, and often freeze them.  But for backpacking OvaEasy makes this much nicer, especially on a long trip.  They also have a well tested shelf life, tested at a true 7 years. Although companies may advertise a long shelf for a variety of reasons they generally never last as long as the label claims.

Should you be cooking something that needs just the whites, there is a separate “Just Whites” product.  The product being reviewed is an already mixed full egg in this package so you will need to purchase two products if you want to use both egg whites and whole eggs. Real eggs of course allow you to do this without having to buy different products.

Of course you’ll pay a premium to buy eggs processed and packaged in this manner, so of course plain old eggs will be cheaper but for quick and easy not to mention safe packability, OvaEasy is going to win most of the time.  Given these benefits, the price isn’t that bad.

Conclusion

OvaEasy is now one of my go-to products for camping. They taste ‘right’, they are lightweight and they store well.  In the case of long term food storage, it is obviously better to have some chickens around giving you fresh eggs. However, most people don’t have that, and with the powerful nutritional value of eggs, you should definitely look at adding these to your storage.

OvaEasy Powdered Whole Egg (4.5 oz Bag)

OvaEasy Powdered Whole Eggs – Case (12 x 4.5 oz Bags)

What made this choice even better was the timing. I just happened to be heading up that weekend with the guys for a little man-camp time.  What a better way to test things out.

One of my favorite things about this sample was that they sent the individual portion boil-bags, perfect for backpacking.  When you are storing for your long-term food supply, you’ll likely be looking at larger amounts of food, probably #10 cans.  For hiking though, these are perfect.

On a long hike, freeze-dried food really shines.  As a kid I remember hearing about it and wishing I could have some for camping, but back then it had an even higher cost margin over basic foods than today.  Thankfully with the growth of competition from companies like Daily Bread, prices have come down overall.  Freeze drying brings food down to the lightest weight possible.  And unlike normal dehydration you can have a wider selection of cooked entrees.

Cooking the meal of course can’t be simpler.  Using my small stove pictured I boiled a small amount of water (2 cups), poured in the bag, and let sit for a few minutes.  Anybody who hasn’t actually tried a freeze-dried meal is really missing out on the joys of this process.  This bag of powder quickly reforms into real food. Actual noodles, sauce, and meat that reshape, and hold real color.

This is an important part, especially if you are feeding a family.  My kids can be the kings of picky, and yet unlike your average camp cooking you don’t fear dishing this out in daylight.  The food actually looks good, smells good, and has the correct texture.  Anybody who’s had partially rehydrated food knows why thats a big claim to make.

Specifically, this stroganoff is a winner.  I ate the two serving portion myself, of course. High altitude, extra calorie needs, please remember those when planning how much food you need! It tasted great, seasoned, lacking only a bit of pepper (which I like more of than most people).

Lightweight, less work, less water needs, less fuel needs, and real comfort food. All of these combine to make a winning product well worth bringing in as part of your long term food storage.

As for getting the food, Daily Bread’s concept is to take the work out of planning your meals by selling pre-designed meal plans. You can “subscribe” to get monthly deliveries of your food in a pay as you go plan. These deliveries give you #10 cans of foods such as this that you can then use as needed to feed your family, whatever the size.

This book also stood out to me, because I often wonder *how* my family managed to get enough food to live.  My mom’s side of the family was that oft-discussed “hearty pioneer stock”.  However I have noticed that while many farmed to live, I have a long history of blacksmiths and military.  There is no hiding that this must be because I inherited a really lousy black-thumb, they took up other trades because of this family curse. I’m one of those people who has to work really hard to make part of his garden succeed.  I enjoy blaming my heritage on this, as it cannot be some failing of my own, right?  So I felt driven to read this book, and find out how they managed to live, despite my inability to grow enough of the right foods in the wasteland of Utah.

Quick Summary:

Audience: Frustrated gardeners, those looking for more season to grow, people who feel they need to change their gardening to be more useful.

Target Location: The author speaks heavily about his experiences in the mountain west/high desert regions (specifically Utah valley). Skills discussed will make farming there much easier, and everywhere else is just easy :)

Mormons Only? No, not even close. This is mentioned specifically because of the historical hardships they encountered when arriving in Utah, and attempting to farm in what was considered a barren land. The author relies on some old family journals for historical information to help understand why certain farming techniques work, and why we shouldnt’ have forgotten them.

The Full Review:

Forgotten Skills is an encouraging read, introducing people of the mountain west to the fact that they can grow food year-round, even in our crazy climate.  The author relies heavily on pioneer journals (mostly from his family) in order to reference specific practices for growing and preserving food that are completely foreign to most people today.  Granted, experienced readers of this blog might be familiar with many specific concepts, such as: non-hybrid seeds, canning, etc; the author goes into extra depth about how these practices were used to simply stay alive in not so distant years.  Beyond some more recently popular topics, there is great encouragement into practices that can be used by people with even small yards to produce and store food year-round by simply changing certain practices in your gardening.

This book in not designed however as a be-all reference. At only 145 pages, with many great photos, you wont’ find a book that teaches every single thing you need to be independent.  However it introduces a good number of important practices, provides basic reasoning as to why it was an important skill, and provides some modern usage examples. It makes sure you know enough about what the skill is, and gives you what you need to find more information if you want. Example: After a great discussion about seed hybridization practices, and their effects, he also spends time explaining how seed banks work and how you can participate in one to get useful seeds in your garden.

Major Topics:

Here is a list of some of the major topics covered that should get the interest of our readers:

• Seeds
• Extending the harvest
• Perennial food plants
• Trees
• Cellaring
• Long Keeping Foods
• Early Veggies
• Pioneer Yeast
• Modern Ideas the Pioneers Would Have Appreciated
• Eggs
• Chickens
• Forgotten Recipes

The winner as determined by the random number generator is…

Paulfamilyinfo99!

Congratulations! Please contact us with your address information so that we can send you the DVD package. If we are not able to get in touch with the winner, we will arrange to select another winner next week.

Thank you all for reading our review. We hope that you all will become regular visitors to our site.

The host, Marjory Wildcraft is also not shy about referring the viewer to the books that they consulted when learning and direct you to them for more in depth information. This is in contrast to many other “experts” I have seen over the years who keep their information close to the vest. Marjory appears to genuinely want to provide information to help others get on the path to self sufficiency by sharing everything they can fit in to the 2 hours of video on the DVD.

DVD Section Summary

The DVD is broken down into a number of chapters that cover the 2 hours of content. I’ll include some brief information on each section.

Section 1: Overview about 4 minutes in length

Just like it says, this a basic introduction, describing the makers, their property and philosophies.

Section 2: Water about 10 minutes in length

An old saying is that without water you are nothing. Water is king, especially here in the high desert of Utah. This section explains the main sources for getting water and which ones are best for food production. Marjory and her family have tried several different ways to collect and store water, some of which worked better for them than others.

Section 3: Garden about 20 minutes in length

This is one of the longer sections of the DVD. While there is plenty of good general gardening information here but I would recommend that for anyone outside of their area of Texas you look into getting information focused on your specific are. Many of the techniques demonstrated can be used in most climates, but the plants and specific processes needed, fertilizers, local pests, etc. will need a local perspective. Your local Universities Extension program likely has an Agricultural department with this information publicly available. Here in Utah, the Utah State University Extension office is a great source.

Section 4: Rabbits about 9 minutes in length

One of the primary meat sources for the family are rabbits. This is a relatively short section explaining why the family chose rabbits, how to house them, what breeds they chose and why and mistakes that you can avoid.

Section 5: Home Butchering about 18 minutes in length

This section is not for the squeamish. It centers around in depth video instructions on killing and butchering a rabbit. Hide tanning is also mentioned, but is not well covered. After this there are still pictures of the process to butcher chickens with a brief mention of other animals like raccoons, deer, elk, etc. that could all be sources of meat.

Section 6: Poultry about 8 minutes in length

This section provides a decent introduction to chickens, their predators, and some problems to look out for. Marjory outlines what breeds they use and why. Some Polyface Farms influence can be seen here as well as they rotate the chickens through different areas to help improve and maintain soil quality and to cut down on weeds and insects.

Section 7: Dogs about 5 minutes in length

The creators of this DVD are clearly sold on the benefits of having dogs in your life, mainly to fend off unwanted animals. They make some pretty convincing arguments. A short section is included on training, but as with most topics covered here, if you want to really get started in using working dogs, further research will be required, but this touches on some of the basics so you know what you are working towards.

Section 8: Perennials: Orchards, Food Forests, and Edible Landscaping about 18 minutes in length

This section has some really useful information, but again your best bet is to consult with your local University’s extension program to apply what you see in the DVD to your area. The types of edible foods that you can grow in your climate can vary greatly from those presented in this DVD or in books on the subject so do your homework on what works where you live.

Section 9: Other Essentials about 11 minutes in length

The second to last section contains information that the DVD creators think is important but doesn’t fit well in a previous section. There is plenty of good information here and is too varied to give a brief accounting of.

Section 10: Thanks about 4 minutes in length

As you might expect, this is the section where the creators thank those who helped in producing the DVD.

Bonus Material

Throughout the DVD Marjory references different books and documents for those seeking more detailed information on a particular subject. Included with the DVD is a CD-ROM loaded with many of the referenced documents in PDF format. My copy had 65 PDF documents included ranging in subject from Solar Food Dehydration to Insecticides to Hide Tanning. While I haven’t spent a tremendous amount of time reviewing the documents, they seem to have been compiled with care to supplement the information provided in the videos for those wanting more information. Often during the course of explaining what the document covers, Marjory will give a location to download the document. This is a good resource in case the information on the CD bonus disc were to become out of date.

Closing Thoughts

This DVD provides a quick introduction into many aspects of self sufficiency. As with any brief introduction, further research will be required. Having this documented example of an integrated home/small farm food production system has the potential to save you time and money by following proven, working examples.

The information in the DVD is optimized for southern climates, particularly the makers specific region of Texas. Viewers from other regions should also find it educational and useful, that being said, this is of course an introduction into many varied concepts that relate to self sufficiency. I don’t think it can be said enough, integrating all these ideas and concepts into your life will take some hard work, research and trial and error. The results should be well worth it however.

Giveaway Information

The producers of this DVD have kindly provided us a copy of this DVD to giveaway to one of our lucky readers. To enter, post a comment about this article letting us know what you would like to learn from watching the DVD. We will select one winner at random from all the comments on Friday June 17th and send them their own copy of this preparedness DVD.

Goal 0 has been showcasing some of their portable solar products at Northern Utah Costco locations which is how we initially found out about their company. After talking with them about their products, company goals and outlook we quickly determined that this company produces products that fill a distinct gap in most of our current prepping equipment. Goal 0 currently has three distinct product lines of solar collecting and storage products, plus a catalog of accessories that will work with whichever product line you choose.

We’ve covered solar power a bit in the past. See Connor’s excellent article here. Generally though, we’ve found that determining what you need and what components are required to support your needs can be difficult. Most emergency power solutions provide their power capacity in Amp Hours while most devices we want to power use Watts. Determining how many Amps a device uses can be tricky as you need to determine both Peak Amps and the number of Amps to just keep running. A device like a Kill A Watt can help, but again this can still require some research and math.

Goal 0 solves this by using watt hour ratings on their devices. This makes your calculations as simple as saying a 60 Watt like bulb can be powered by a 180 Watt Hour device for 3 hours. No other complicated calculations are needed. Another benefit to this is that their power ratings are real world power ratings rather than “Peak” or “Theoretical” ratings. Often times manufacturers will display a peak rating as the power output for a unit. In practice however, the sustained output is much lower so with peak ratings you can sometimes end up buying something unsuited to your actual needs. This is particularly useful on their solar panels as their listed watt outputs and charge times are based on real world experience. Many other solar panels are rated at theoretical output or output before the final glass is attached. Neither provide an indication of what you might expect in everyday usage.

One consideration with Goal 0’s products that needs to be mentioned is that they are not generally meant to be whole home or large appliance power backups. Rather, they are meant to do things like provide emergency lighting, power laptops, cell phones, portable DVD players and other smaller but often essential electronic devices. Their current product offerings wont keep your freezer running, but they will allow you to see in the dark and use those electronic devices we have all become addicted to.

One of the key benefits to the Goal 0 products is that they are entirely Plug and Play. Everything “just works” since the components are designed with the system in mind. With other products I’ve found that determining what product to purchase to complete the system or how to attach it to the system has taken some research. Goal 0 has solved this issue. Each of their product lines provides power in the following formats: USB, 12 volt and 110/220 volt AC via inverter for powering plug in devices.

While all Goal 0 products are generally interchangeable with other Goal 0 products, there are some exceptions. Here is a quick summary of the three basic product lines that Goal 0 offers.

Elite

These are all in one light weight backpackable power sources that use lithium ion batteries for power. Per the Goal 0 web site, these are some of the uses: Day Use, Backpacking, Camping, Outdoor Outings, Hunting & Fishing, Photography, Expeditions, Extreme Activities

The power packs come in 50 watt hour and 120 watt hour portable power packs. Foldable flexible solar panels in 7 watt, 13.5 and 27 watts and a new product is a 4 AA or AAA battery pack that can be charged from a solar panel or one of the Sherpa power packs. Plus, the charger can be used to power a 12 volt or USB device using the AA or AAA batteries in it. AC power can be provided by a Elite specific add on inverter.

Escape

The Escape products are centered around an cylindrical power pack that provides 150 watt hours of power using a more traditional non LiOn battery. Hence, it is much heavier than the Elite kits. It features built in 12 volt, USB and AC outputs which provides for a one stop power source. For emergency purposes, this unit is typically meant to remain plugged into the wall where the charge controller keeps the battery at top performance. Should a power outage occur power is instantly available via the energy stored in the unit’s batter.
Per the Goal 0 web site, these are some of the uses: Day Use, Emergency Preparedness, Beach, Family Camping, Outdoor Outings

This range offers two different solar panel options, a 15 watt hard panel and a 30 watt foldable briefcase panel with built in stand.

Extreme

The Extreme range is built around large (and heavy) 350 watt hour battery packs that include Anderson Power Pole connectors which make them particularly handy for HAM radio power and for other devices that use these connections. The inverter for this system provides the USB, 12 volt and AC power outputs in this range. Per the Goal 0 web site, these are some of the uses: Emergency Preparedness, Cabin, RV, Photography, Expeditions, Hunting & Fishing, Base Camp, Field Hospital

The recommended solar panels for this series is a 30 watt solar panel.

**Note however that any Goal 0 solar panel can be used with any Goal 0 power pack. These seem to be only recommended panels based on the expected use for the unit. There is no reason you couldn’t use a foldable panel from the Elite range with a power pack from the Escape or Extreme range.

Accessories

The two main accessories I want to mention are the 12 volt Light-a-Life lights and the Estrella lights. Both are highly efficient 3 watt lights that put out an impressive amount of light and simply plug into the 12 volt output on any of the power units. Each light is also daisy chainable, meaning you can plug one light into the power source and then subsequent lights into the preceding light. Each light also features an independent power switch. This means you can turn off one light while the other lights remain on. This is a very nice feature as many other products are either all or nothing, or turning off one light means that all the other lights “downstream” from the power will also turn off. With this solution you have light where and when you need it.

The Light-a-Life lights are made to more or less replace a 45 watt light bulb. Each unit has a large number of white LED bulbs surrounded by a protective white plastic shroud that also serves to diffuse and distribute the light. An innovative sliding clip is attached to the power cord which allows you to hang each light and position it where you need it.

The Estrella light is also 3 watts, but uses a CREE LED bulb to produce a very powerful beam of light like a small spotlight. While the Light-a-Life lights are great for providing general lighting, around a camp for example, the Estrella would be perfect for areas where you need more direct light such as over a table or work area. These lights feature a flexible power cord that is meant to be used to help position the light and keep it in that position to put the light exactly where you want it. In practice however, I found that the light was heavier than the cord could support so it tended to droop.

We’ll use subsequent posts to allow our authors to describe what Goal 0 systems they purchased, why and what they think of them so far. As most of us purchased our systems before the New Year, we’ve had some time to use and get acquainted with both the good and the bad in each system.