Yesterday, speaking of our parlous economic situation, I concluded:
Friends, putting all that together, we're facing a bleak future. Many of us who've experienced something similar, and/or who are economically literate, have warned of this for many years, but even so, there are plenty of people today living in an economic cloud cuckoo land. They refuse to believe that things can fall off a cliff with little or no warning. I fear they're about to learn that lesson the hard way.
The old idiom reminds us to "make hay while the sun shines". I can only recommend that we do just that, while we still have the resources to do so. Stock up on reserves of food and essential goods, so that in the hard times that lie ahead, you have something to fall back on if and when necessary. You may get awful tired of eating oatmeal, canned soup and ramen noodles, but they're a darned sight better than having nothing to eat at all.
A few readers e-mailed me with questions or comments. I thought it might be useful to mention a couple of them here.
First, several people asked about the sorts of foods that are quick and easy to prepare, but also nourishing and filling, if one has to feed a family when one doesn't have much in the pantry or larder. Wikipedia has two very useful lists:
We may not have many ingredients available, but if we look through those lists, we can often find a soup or stew recipe that will use them, and/or others where we can substitute what we have for what the recipe seeks. Soups and stews have for centuries been part of the staple diet of the poor. They remain filling, relatively easy to prepare, and a useful way to feed a family (particularly when hungry children's bellies are empty and crying out to be filled).
Remember, too, that oatmeal can be used to "bulk out" and thicken a stew; it takes on the flavor of the stew, so that your meal won't taste like just another variation on porridge, and it's nourishing, too. I keep several pounds of it on hand for precisely that reason, as well as a quick and easy breakfast that gives you something to fill your stomach to start the day. Look for simple porridge recipes such as Scottish brose, that you can make in a hurry - even without cooking it on a stove - at any time of day. Add ingredients such as cubes of meat (even jerky), dried peas, lentils, etc. to your porridge for variations of flavor and nutrition. There are all sorts of things one can do, with a little imagination.
As for how and where to store your reserve supplies if space is limited (e.g. in a small apartment); here's a photograph I found on MeWe yesterday that's quite ingenious. Click it for a larger view.
One can build such a rack out of scrap lumber (e.g. old pallets, etc.), and fit it behind a door in an out-of-the-way place such as a clothes closet. One can get some low, flat under-bed storage totes like these and put as many as will fit under your bed(s), containing more foods, toilet tissue, or whatever else you need to stockpile. (If your bed is too low to fit them, use bed risers to raise it a few inches.) You can get furniture such as ottoman benches and stools for your living-room that doubles as storage; there's also outdoor furniture of the same style that you can put on an apartment balcony, a patio, etc. and use to store items that won't be harmed by the heat and/or cold. If you can't afford that sort of furniture, you could keep an eye out at thrift stores for used examples that often sell for pennies on the dollar of their new price. If you use your imagination, it's amazing how many nooks and crannies you'll find to store essential supplies.
Don't forget water in your emergency supplies! It's critical, even more important than food, but a lot of people assume that the taps will keep on working and they won't have to worry about it. Not so. If the power goes out, so do the local waterworks and sewage treatment plants. It may take a few days, but sooner or later the taps will stop flowing and the sewers will stop working. Large water containers are expensive and bulky, hard to store. Right now the best bargain I know in water storage, by far, is the 4-gallon jug sold by Sams Club for just $5.98 - including both container and water. That's a great deal. Add a counter stand with dispenser valves and a few spare caps to refill the jugs (make sure the cap fits your jug - snap-on like that at the previous link, which fits the Sams Club jugs, or screw-on to fit many 5-gallon jugs), and you're good to go. Alternatively, lay in a few flats of bottled water and store them under your bed(s) - preferably standing in the plastic totes I mentioned earlier, even if the lid doesn't close over them. That way, if any water leaks out, it will be contained until you find it and can clean it up. (How do I know that's a good idea? Trust me. I know this. Sigh.) I suggest you double the standard recommendation and allow two gallons per person per day for all purposes, including drinking, cooking, personal hygiene, etc. It's a workable minimum.
Finally, some recent advice from "our friend in the mountains", a correspondent from whom we've heard before in these pages, who wishes to remain anonymous. He offers this useful collection of tips for defending oneself and one's family in today's often insecure environment.
Something many of your readers may not have considered. Free to post, with NO attribution other than the usual
A few days ago a friend and I were out and about in my vehicle. He asked if I had a screwdriver and I told him "there's a full set of everything in the toobox, and a multitool in the console."
He noticed that there was also a set of electronic earmuffs and safety glasses in the console and asked why I didn't keep them in my shooting kit. I told him I have a set in my shooting kit, those are the "vehicle set."
Should things go All Sporty and I am attacked in my vehicle it's possible I may be forced to defend myself with various means, including the vehicle itself or my firearm; attackers may try to gain access to me by breaking the driver's or passenger's window, and the safety glasses will keep glass fragments out of my eyes. If I have to defend myself with my gun, I want hearing protection because shooting from inside the car will be deafening, so I have earmuffs because they are very quick to put on. They are electronic because not only will they provide protection for my hearing, the amplification they provide offers the ability to hear shouts between shots, such as "look out behind you" which non-electronic muffs may not allow.
If attacked, my first choice would be to drive away; if, however, attacked with a direct and immediate threat to life or severe bodily harrm, rather than stop and engage with a firearm I will engage with the vehicle. In my state I am legally authorized to defend threats to life and intent to cause severe bodily harm with lethal force, and under our self defense laws there is no legal difference between a 230 grain projectile at 860 feet per second and a 5,000 pound projectile at 30 miles per hour. But, multiple layers and options to the self defense plan is prudent.
Pro Tip: clear, or very light, window tinting film adds considerable resistance to shattering vehicle side windows. It's not foolproof, but it can add valuable seconds to provide time to escape. 3M makes an adhesive window film specifically designed to prevent glass breakage and keep the window glass intact; it's intended for use in building windows, sliding glass doors and doors with glass panels, and for that it works very well. I have not tested it on vehicle windows. It should work the same but I do not know how it would withstand the repeated raising and lowering of the vehicle window as the glass rubs against the weatherstripping.
As a side note, my "bedside kit" also includes safety glasses and electronic earmuffs; if it is necessary to venture forth if the house is attacked, the same issues apply as in the vehicle, plus one more: enhanced sound detection from the amplification provided by the earmuffs. Tthe first time I tested electronic earmuffs in the house, with the volume turned up, I heard a very faint, unidentifiable rasping sound in one room. Removing the muffs the sound went away; putting them back on the sound returned. It turned out to be the cat snoring very softly while sleeping under the dining room table.
I consider that sound enhancement a potentially valuable self defense tool. I would suggest wearing e-muffs around the house for a little while to become familiar with what the normal house noises sound like when amplified by the muiffs.
I use expensive electronic earmuffs with my gun class students, and have several for that. I discovered recently that Walker's Razor Slim Earmuffs work quite well, offer nearly as good shooting noise reduction as the expensive muffs, and found them online at Walmart for $40. I picked up a couple pair to have spares for gun classes, and found those offer another advantage - the expensive e-muffs require a 2-3 second button push to turn on and there are separate buttons to raise or lower volume. The Walker's use a rotating switch for controlling off / on and volume and turn on instantly. They do use AAA batteries instead of AA, so the batteries probably will not last as long when the amplification is turned on. AAA batteries are cheap, so replacing them on a 3-month maintenance cycle is no big deal.
I plan on keeping one of the "spare" muffs on a wall hook in my home office between gun classes. Just in case....
If you think that can't happen to you, think again. I'm sure the drivers of many vehicles that ran into Antifa or BLM "demonstrations" (A.K.A. riots) didn't expect trouble, but they sure found it! I'd rather be prepared to deal with that sort of mess, particularly if I were unfortunate enough to live in a "blue" city where such critters proliferate. (They don't around here. A gathering of such unfortunates in this area would immediately be recognized by most locals as a "target rich environment".)
Anyway, I hope these ideas help.
Peter
Back when I was vandwelling the winter around Quartzsite I measured my water use (it was in gallon jugs), I was actually using around 3 gallons a day. Coffee, cooking, washing, dishes etc.
ReplyDeleteAs always with food storage, buy what you use, or will use. No sense buying stuff that people can’t eat (medical reasons). Rotate, use it sometimes, and restock. Canned goods last a long time, way over the dated stamped on the can. I’ve used some things years later, and the food is still fine.
ReplyDeleteSouthern NH
Keeping all of your senses operational is key to overcoming the natural tendency towards tunnel vision in a high stress situation, and when you add gunfire this becomes even more true due to ringing ears. Do not discount the value of maintaining the ability to hear what is going on in a gunfight.
ReplyDeleteElectronic muffs are the bare minimum. I also use the Axil GS Extreme wired earbuds system for a more compact and low profile system, but these are a bit more expensive. If you look at these types of systems, I highly advise using the kind with an ear hook to keep them in place, the kind that just plug into your ear canal tend to come loose and fall out with even moderate physical activity and especially if you are trying to maintain cheek weld with a rifle.
I have no connection with Axil nor any financial interest, and the product mentioned is far from perfect but it is suitable for purpose.
Check acidic foods periodically; they're wont to eat through the cans.
ReplyDeleteI wear the Axil GS Extreme buds at my kid's concerts and other school events. I've got some hearing losses, so the boost of the lowest setting helps a bit, and because of those losses, certain loud noises are painful to me. The loudness cut function of the buds helps with that.
ReplyDeleteI do wish I could lower the lowest setting of boost. It's set to completely negate the muffling effect of the physical buds. Sometimes I'd like to be a bit muffled, without just turning off the buds entirely.
I haven't had a chance to test them on the range.
I've got walker in ear, and walker over the ear electronics too, and find them all about comparable for the boost, and loudness cut, at least during concerts and other loud but normal events.
If you have been hesitant to try active protection, the Axils often go on sale, and the walker products are fairly cheap to start with. They add another tool to the box.
nick
(and some can pair with blutooth, so could be paired with a phone, but more usefully, can be paired with some radios for wireless and handsfree comms while being protected from loud sounds.)
I stock instant gravy packets. They are cheap, small, easy to store, and adding the gravy to plain rice, or to rice with some additions, is a great way to add variety to a simple meal.
ReplyDeleteThey don't last forever. They tend to get little tiny holes in the envelopes that let the power out. Tiny little bugs are the cause, but IDK if they are inside the powdered packets, or if they find them over time, or if it's something in the mix that eats thru the foil envelope and the bugs come later. You can limit the spoilage by putting the gravy envelopes in ziplok bags, several to a bag.
To limit spoilage or contamination, I leave stuff like noodles in the original packaging when I put it into my storage buckets. If water, or a rat gets into the bucket, not all the contents will be affected.
And if you don't normally eat from canned food, you might want to add a cookbook specifically geared to it, like "A Man, A Can, and A Plan" or the giant book that is America's favorite recipes from the back of food labels. Both can be found used in various places, or from amazon.
"Church lady" or community or service group cookbooks, especially from the 50s and 60s are also good sources for simple recipes using canned goods, since fresh veg and fruit weren't as prevalent then. And frankly canned food was considered a miracle for what it made possible, not a poor second choice to imported fresh fruit and veg, as it is often thought of today.
n
The wall o' cans is genius simple.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that.
As I'm sure that has been said before, the LDS Church has bulk foods that can be ordered on-line. For example, 33 pounds of wheat for $46.25 vs 25 pounds from Amazon for $59.95. The church foods are in #10 cans and generally good for 30 years.
ReplyDeletehttps://providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org/food-storage/home-storage-center-locations-map?lang=eng
I consider my wife and myself well prepared. We have at least 3 months worth of food, a month's worth of cash and a lifetime's worth of...uh...defensive preparations. What fills me with dread is my son and his family. He is bright, fit and makes a good living (probably 3 times what I make, perhaps more.) And yet he won't even allow discussion about any type of preparedness. I have gone so far as to create a grab-and-go kit for him with freeze-dried food, cash, a weapon and ammo. He won't even look at it. Sigh. If things get sporty I guess my 3 months worth of food will have to stretch to feed the 5 in his family. Gonna be lean times ahead.
ReplyDeleteWater storage is important for temporary supply interruptions is important. But when things go truly south the water supply will be permanently ended. Unless you have a well...and the means to keep pumping water or access to a spring or clean running water plus the means to purify it, your future is bleak. I'd guess 85% or more of America is totally dependent on public utilities for water. That's a recipe for disaster.
ReplyDeleteAndrew B:
ReplyDeleteI have no idea where the "no future life problems" mentality originates, but it is quite widespread in the US. I have given up trying to get my siblings to pay attention to history. I noticed that a major focus of the government run schools was to downplay and distort history. I saw that back in the 60's, and I'm sure it has only gotten worse.
One thing that I have noticed, but I'm unsure of how much correlation I should attribute it to, is that the more support they profess for the Democrats, the less likely they are to have any concern for future political/economic troubles.
It would appear that the Israelis are starting to notice that one can't rely on the government for personal safety. Too many people learn this lesson way too late, and not until it bites them...
Another variation on the door-can pantry: find a non-load-bearing wall where you would like some extra storage space, take out the drywall and build a set of shelves (3 1/2" deep to the drywall in the next room) between a couple sets of studs (only works for stick-frame construction, but that is most North Am houses). A couple of surplus cabinet doors, and you've got a neat looking set of shelves that fits spices, teas, and cans just right. And moving all those little drink and spice packages out of a normal cupboard frees that space up for bulkier food - win-win. We've done that in both of our places - a prime spot is behind a kitchen door, which is normally unusable space because the swinging door won't let you put in anything that sticks out from the wall.
ReplyDeleteYou don’t need a recipe for soup if times get tough enough! Any kind of meat in the pot bones and all, simmer until the meat comes off the bone, add whatever thickening agent to the broth (dried peas, lentils, barley or dried beans and simmer add salt unless you started with salt cured meat, pepper and what ever herbs you like and have to taste, onions for sure if possible. Shred the meat and add whatever vegetables you have. I’ve talked to people who swore by lynx meat, I have tried possum, muskrat and coon. Beaver is highly thought of but I never caught one. My wife’s grandmother mentioned cooking skunk back in the depression, use your imagination. You can use oatmeal to extend hamburger and a can of salmon mixed with oatmeal makes a great fish patty. As the old mountain men are quoted as saying “meat’s meat)
ReplyDeleteA few months back Commandante Zero over at Notes from the Bunker shared a link with recipes that are made from pantry Items only. I have made a few of these and most are quite palatable and all are filling.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.commanderzero.com/?p=9465
http://safelygatheredin2.blogspot.com/2008/11/alphabetical-recipe-list.html
Re: batteries - consider the Energizer Lithium batteriers. While a little more expensive than alkaline, I've never had one leak
ReplyDeleteI just moved from NW ATL to a rural south GA town that has a population of 3600. In Atlanta I kept a 4 week supply of food. I have a North Carolina mountain retreat that Has a 4 to 5 month supply of food and unlimited supply of water. My fist visit to a grocery store in south GA was a $500 event. I have about a 6 week supply of food. I will go back before the end of the month and add another month of supplies and do it again next month to get up to a 6 month supply of food.
ReplyDeleteI recommend rain barrels too. I have the polymer kind that can easily fold up and move. It holds 55 gallons and can be placed under a downspout or free standing to be filled w 5 gallon buckets we put under the downspouts. Doesn't take long to fill up 55 gallons that way. Once filled that water is perfect for all non potable uses...refilling toilet tanks, washings,...w a purifier of a small amount of bleach, good to drink, shower, wash.
ReplyDeleteMost important to me is local community. We just had a local food co op open here and we joined and support. Local produce and local community is key.
ReplyDelete