Home » Posts tagged 'prepping'

Tag Archives: prepping

Marti’s Corner – 25

July 17, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 25

Marti's Corner at City Prepping Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* Last year I posted about a remedy for bites: mosquito bites, bee stings, ant bites, tick bites. It uses charcoal to “draw out” the poison. I kept it in the refrigerator and used it all last year. I finally threw it away a few weeks ago. And wouldn’t you know it, I got a half dozen bites just last week and have suffered this whole time. Ugh. My granddaughter who is staying with us got a huge bite yesterday and I decided it was time to make more.

Bite Remedy: Psyllium Husk Powder 1 part psyllium, 3 parts charcoal, and just enough water to make a soft jelly. Roll it out or press it between two sheets of plastic wrap. Keep it in the fridge. When you need some, just cut off a little square with the scissors, and cover it with a bandaid. The charcoal draws out the poison, the coolness calms the itch.

* As you rotate your food, eventually you will probably have to throw something away. It’s okay. Think of it as insurance. You “re-buy” insurance every month even though you don’t get to use it. So, you throw something away. Buy more and try to get it rotated this time.

Along those lines, I found this great article about what to do with rancid oil. I’ve copied the text and have included it below.

LONG TERM FOCUS: Onions

I just don’t buy fresh onions anymore. I exclusively use dehydrated onions. You can buy dehydrated onions at the grocery store and try them out. This jar has onions I purchased from the Church of Jesus Christ store. Anyone is welcome to purchase from that site, but you have to buy food in cases, which is 6 #10 cans at a time, which is A LOT of onions.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Prepper’s Free PDF Library

July 11, 2021

Prepper’s Free PDF Library

“Knowledge is the key to survival. The real beauty of that is that it doesn’t weigh anything.” – Ray Mears.

Knowledge is one of the essential tools in the prepper’s inventory. Having the latest and greatest equipment and gear won’t save you if you lack the proper knowledge of using them. In this post, we will feature FREE PDF books and guides available for you to read in their entirety online. I’ll add to it periodically because there’s so much information out there that can be incredibly useful to our community. I suggest that you use a small thumb drive or even a micro SD card and download these sources and others you come across to build an electronic prepping library that you can access offline.

If you have any additional resources I didn’t cover below, feel free to reach out to me on my contact page and send me the links to PDFs you believe would benefit the community. Check back periodically for future additions.

I also added a whole section at the bottom of this page with massive amounts of PDFs I found on other websites. The more I have researched this topic, the more I have realized there’s, well, nearly an infinite amount of free survival PDFs you can find online.

Table of contents

Emergency Preparedness – Quick Guides & Checklists

Emergency Preparedness & Survival Manuals

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why Isn’t the US Preparing for EMP War Like the Rest of the World?

July 4, 2021

Why Isn’t the US Preparing for EMP War Like the Rest of the World?

You’re likely already familiar with the 2009 EMP Commission Report. It was this report that raised the issue of EMP-preparedness for the American public. It’s notorious stating that just one year after an EMP attack, 90% of the American population would be dead, caused alarm throughout multiple sectors of society.

Books began to be written on the subject. Sales of Tedd Koppel’s Lights Out, Forstchen’s One Second After, and Crawford’s Lights Out quickly reached blockbuster levels. And while I believe that these books (and that report) brought the issue of an electromagnetic pulse to light for Americans, I don’t believe it showed Americans just how real of a threat it is.

To truly understand just how very real of a risk this is, I believe all we have to do is look at the battle plans of some of the nations that hate America most.

Let’s start with Russia

**Non-Contact Warfare was the name of Russian General Vladimir Slipchenko’s military textbook. Within this text, he explains how EMPs are the greatest revolution in military affairs in history. According to Slipchenko, the possession of an EMP renders an enemy’s armies, navies, and air forces completely obsolete, and it’s hard to argue with him there.

If you can’t get your missile defense systems online, if your tanks won’t run, if your planes have all just fallen out of the sky, you’re kind of screwed, aren’t you?

The flagship journal of the Russian General Staff, Military Thought, further echoes this concept. An article within the journal titled “Weak Points of the US Concept of Network-Centric Warfare” specifically points out the use of an EMP as a possible means of defeating the US.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 23

July 3, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 23

Marti's Corner at City Prepping Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* I tried to post a video last week that was taken down because the person who created it was just besieged with people wanting to share it! Now, she has created a YouTube video. It is almost 45 minutes long. At the 7:53 mark, she begins to present her data. It is well worth the viewing. If you are on the fence, or not concerned, you will be after watching her video. Famine is coming. Helena Kleinlein – Feast or Famine? The Coming Food Shortages.

* Garden update – My cucumbers are producing like crazy. I have too many tomatoes to eat, but not really enough to can. I think there are 12 ripening on my counter as I type this. Some kind of fungus has attacked all my potato plants and they are simply dying off. I’ve tried spraying with fungicide, and with hydrogen peroxide, and several other things. No go. Leaves keep turning yellow with brown spots. Ugh. I got little green worms in the lettuce and had to thin that out. (Captain Jack’s Dead Bug Brew to the rescue) I left the shade off the lettuce and it just about wilted to death. Plants do NOT like this extreme heat (106˚ the other day). Getting them in the ground early (February) has been a game-changer. Except for the potatoes, everything has produced some food already. Everything is covered with a shade cloth, and my sweet husband even took a fan out to the garden yesterday to cool off the plants. But, but, but!!! When you cut open that first ripe tomato, or fry up that first squash or eat that first crisp cucumber……THAT’S why I do it. Store-bought food cannot compare in deliciousness!

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Eight Pre-Hurricane Season Preparations You Need To Make

June 15, 2021

Eight Pre-Hurricane Season Preparations You Need To Make

This past weekend Texas experienced its first tropical weather event for the 2021 season, and the season doesn’t officially begin until June 1^st. Each year the tropics have been becoming active earlier than expected, and at this time they are unofficially starting the season in mid-May. Now is the time for the coastal United States to start preparing for what will inevitably be another active hurricane season.

2021 has proven that we need to be prepared for anything. The CDC recommends that each family have enough food and water on hand for a disaster that will last up to three days. Personally, I think two weeks of food and water on hand is a better goal especially since it could be weeks before the power infrastructure is fully operational. The following 8 items are what I personally recommend completing before the start of hurricane season.

1. Food

The best foods to have on hand during a hurricane are non-perishable food items that can serve many purposes. We recommend these 25 foods for your emergency food pantry. Be sure to include multiple can openers that do not require electricity to use.

If you have family members who have special needs, be sure to accommodate for those needs. For example, my daughter has epilepsy and is on a ketogenic diet. She must have plenty of fats, protein, and green vegetables. Meanwhile, my son is autistic and gluten sensitive, and he needs to stay away from gluten-rich foods, so pastas, cereals, crackers, and some of the canned soups will not work for him. As well, make preparations ahead of time for those that are dependent on medical equipment. Oftentimes, those who are dependent on medical equipment to always be powered can feel the most vulnerable in the aftermath of an emergency or when the electrical grid is unpredictable…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Don’t Lose What You Store: 6 Tips To Protect Your Prepper Pantry

June 6, 2021

Don’t Lose What You Store: 6 Tips To Protect Your Prepper Pantry

I don’t know about you, but sometimes it is difficult to use all the food I have stored. This year I have been placing a lot of emphasis on organizing my food storage and acquiring more food because I am concerned with the economy. When you have food stashed literally all over your house, it is sometimes hard to remember what you have and what you still need to purchase.

Tip 1: Record What You Have

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to know what you have and where it is located. I have built a simple spreadsheet that lets me know how many canned items I have in the pantry, when they expire, where the items are located, and what I need to restock. My long-term storage is under a different tab, but it contains the same information. Certain items I run out of faster than others, i.e., chicken stock, canned tomatoes, green chilis, and having a spreadsheet helps me to replenish. I tend to prefer to cook with frozen foods, so the green beans, corn, and carrots end up expiring around the same time.

Tip 2: Don’t Be Afraid to Move Long-term Storage Items to Short-term Storage

A few years ago, I stocked up heavily on long-term storage items, such as beans, rice, pasta, flour, and oats. For a couple of years, I didn’t use them. I wanted to keep them untouched in case of a serious emergency. Last year I realized that was silly. Because I track what I have, I can rotate some long-term storage items into the short-term, and this has saved my family grocery money because I kept buying pasta, rice, and beans…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Community-County Collaboration for Neighborhood Preparedness

May 28, 2021

Community-County Collaboration for Neighborhood Preparedness

Port Townsend’s unique county-community neighborhood preparedness project, NPREP, grew from a big-hearted sister-city project that took volunteers from a coastal town in Washington State to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi (pop 9,260). That isolated community had been hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. Federal aid dollars poured into nearby New Orleans, while Bay St. Louis struggled to recover.

Judy Alexander was one of the Katrina sister city project organizers. “When we came back, we recognized the similarities between our communities, and we thought about the exposure we had to earthquake risk.” After hearing Judy’s stories, Deborah Stinson reflected that, “We could be in the same situation, but would have no advanced warning. We knew we had to do something to make ourselves more resilient.”

The Katrina volunteers met with folks from Local 20/20, a newly formed sustainability and resilience group. Local 20/20 got on board with starting an Action Group to increase community preparedness.

Judy and Deborah began by surveying the community to see who else was working on this issue. “We did a little gap analysis, but mostly we were mapping assets,” Deborah said.

That’s when they invited Bob Hamlin, Director of Jefferson County’s Department of Emergency Management (DEM), over to Judy’s house for lunch.

“We were fascinated with Bob and the impressive network of resources and connections he’d established over the years,” Deborah said. “Together, we recognized that DEM’s biggest challenge would be incorporating engaged residents into that network. In the spirit of partnership, we said, ‘We have the capacity to organize neighborhoods and if we can connect with your officialdom, we can expand your capacity to respond to emergencies.’ He was receptive, fascinated, and a bit dumbfounded.”

Now they needed to show him that their fledgling group could deliver.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Don’t Lose What You Store: 6 Tips To Protect Your Prepper Pantry

May 23, 2021

Don’t Lose What You Store: 6 Tips To Protect Your Prepper Pantry

Tip 1: Record What You Have

Tip 2: Don’t Be Afraid to Move Long-term Storage Items to Short-term Storage

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How to build family bug out bags – 2021

May 19, 2021

How to build family bug out bags – 2021

If an event forced you and your family out of your home in a matter of minutes, would you have prepared enough in advance to have the right items to ensure you, your family, and your pets would be okay if you were restricted to the disaster zone and help was days away?

If I told you that you and your family had to leave your home in five minutes from right now and survive with no help for seventy-two hours, could you do it? In this article, I’ll walk you through the critical items you’d want to have ready to ensure your and your family’s safety.

It is a bit challenging doing articles on these bags as everyone has different needs and you’ll face different challenges based on where you live. Also, these bags are part of a bigger evacuation system I’ve built I’ll detail in a future video, but the primary goal of these bags is simply to keep you alive for 72 hours if you had to evacuate your home quickly.

Below are the items based on the category you need to consider. Also, here’s a quick link to each section:

Adults

Backpack

When it comes to backpacks, the options are seemingly endless. I have personally swapped out my backpack for the Vanquest IBEX 35 and for my wife, I set her up with the smaller Vanquest IBEX 26. The goal is to keep the weight under 15% of your body weight and no more than 20%.

Shelter

Survival tarp/blanket: https://amzn.to/3abIfsR
Bivvy sack: https://amzn.to/3o9m9fR
Mylar blanket: https://amzn.to/3yfRVgb

Water

Water bladder: https://amzn.to/3eGbiXX
Water bottle: https://amzn.to/3hqWPR8
Water key: https://amzn.to/33zkmqW
Sawyer water filter: https://amzn.to/2ZaeeDk
Purification tablets: https://amzn.to/3tGkFLc
Liquid hydration multipliers: https://amzn.to/3fa1fcG
Electrolyte tablets: https://amzn.to/2Ze7u7u
Zipfizz energy: https://amzn.to/3y1NeGt

Light

Red blinking light for backpack: https://amzn.to/3fa2xEy
Headlamp (USB chargeable): https://amzn.to/2NjAHeO
Vipertek tactical flashlight: https://amzn.to/2Z9Iqyr
Glowstick: https://amzn.to/3aeTuAG

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why This Necessary Prepper Skill Is a Must To Learn

May 17, 2021

Why This Necessary Prepper Skill Is a Must To Learn

Knowing how to sew is a vital skill for preppers. We all know the basics: tear your pants after the SHTF and you can repair them if there’s no way to buy more. But, it goes beyond that!

Let’s say you tear your pants beyond repair. Should you just throw them away? Maybe right now. But not if you are in a situation that’s requiring you to use what you have (grid down, low or no income, etc.). Not to mention, sewing can be fun and it’s a hobby for so many. I know my mom would make quilts all day if she could!

Something to consider is the ease of sewing if the power goes out. Sewing machines are nice, but won’t work well if there is no electricity. For this, get a treadle sewing machine like this one. This is a machine that is powered by the users’ foot. A foot pedal is pushed back and forth by the operator’s foot to move the needle up and down. They are not necessarily affordable or easy to find. BUT, I was able to find an article by Mother Earth News detailing how to make your own treadle sewing machine. To read that article, please click here! Alternatively, you can look for antique Singer sewing machines that can be operated off the grid when at estate sales, on Craigslist, or Etsy.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Basics Of Dry Canning

May 16, 2021

The Basics Of Dry Canning

Dry canning is the storage of dry foods such as rice or beans in canning jars. This process is popular for long-term food storage in your prepper pantry.

If you are new to canning, dry canning is a great way to start not only a prepper pantry but a canning habit.

A great way to start is by using oxygen absorbers in dry canning (jars). Oxygen absorbers are made of a chemical compound, the active ingredient of which is a powdered iron oxide. While they are not edible, they are not toxic. No harmful gases are created and the oxygen does not remove the fresh smell and taste of your food.

Dry goods paired in a jar with oxygen absorbers make for an easy way to get started canning. The oxygen absorber has two purposes. It will remove oxygen so little critters don’t live in your food reserve, and it will help your food stay fresh.

Dry canning in jars does not require heat to seal the lid. The job of sealing the lid takes place with the help of the appropriate oxygen absorbers. To get started, you’ll need oxygen absorbers, canning jars with rings and lids, and food to dry can. We started dry canning with beans because we like them, they are fairly inexpensive and easy to come by at any store. Start with clean canning jars by boiling them and allowing them to dry thoroughly. Add your dry food and add the appropriate oxygen absorber inside the can and seal. The absorber does the job of sealing the can properly. You’ll hear a pop when the absorber has sealed the lid.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Heinberg on what to do at home

May 10, 2021

Heinberg on what to do at home

Preface. A quick summary:

Best investment: insulate exterior walls, ceiling, and floors for energy savings. Other good changes were to plant a garden and fruit-and-nut orchard, and buy solar hot water heater, solar food dryer, solar cooker, chickens, energy-efficient appliances

Lessons learned: It is expensive, especially energy storage. Solar cookers work mainly in the summer.

In the future there will ll be more bikes and ebikes than cars. There needs to be much more local production of food and other goods to shorten supply chains.

Bottom line: there’s very little we can do as individuals, we can’t mine for the minerals we need, few of us can grow all of our food, despite all these investments Heinberg still heavily depends on the greater world for food, electricity, and clothes, cars and most other objects in our lives can’t be home-made. What is required to make a transition is much bigger than most people imagine.

***

Richard Heinberg. 2020. If My House Were the World: The Renewable Energy Transition Via Chickens and Solar Cookers. Resilience.org

For the past two decades, my wife Janet and I have been trying to transition our home to a post-fossil-fuel future. I say “trying,” because the experiment is incomplete and only somewhat successful. It doesn’t offer an exact model for how the rest of the world might make the shift to renewable energy; nevertheless, there’s quite a bit that we’ve learned that could be illuminating for others as they contemplate what it will take to minimize climate change by replacing coal, oil, and gas with cleaner energy sources.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 15

April 30, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 15

Marti's Corner at City Prepping Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* All of my vegetables are planted in containers. Here is a good article about planting in 5-gallon buckets. Bucket Container Planting Vegetables – Using Buckets For Growing Vegetables These buckets are under $3 at Lowes and Home Depot. Considering the cost of planting containers, and if you don’t mind having buckets in your yard, it might be worth it. We’ve collected a lot of our containers at estate sales and such. I’ve also used those fabric bags. I like the 7-gallon size. They are deeper and seem to give the plants more room to grow.
* I also found this FaceBook page: Tomato Bible. It is NOT just about tomatoes. There are a lot of interesting facts about insects, nutrition, etc. of your garden
* I found this website where you can download a guide explaining 5 steps for getting prepared Listos California | IECF

Get official alerts
Make a plan
Pack a GO bag
Build a STAY box
Help friends and neighbors

There is information explaining each of these things in more detail.

LONG TERM FOCUS: Eggs

eggs-in-a-basket

So, let’s assume you have run out of eggs, you are allergic to eggs, or you are now vegan and won’t eat eggs. How do you make your favorite foods? There are substitutes. Check out this article, 13 Effective Substitutes for Eggs. Eight of these substitutes are listed here: applesauce 1/4 c. = 1 egg; mashed bananas 1/4 c. = 1 egg; ground flaxseeds or chia seeds 1 TB seeds _ 3 TB water until fully absorbed; silken tofu 1/4 c. = 1 egg; vinegar and baking soda 1 tsp soda + 1 TB vinegar; yogurt or buttermilk 1/4 c. = 1 egg; Arrowroot powder (it resembles corn starch. 2 TB + 3 TB water = 1 egg

You can buy dehydrated eggs here: Amazon.com: Augason Farms Dried Whole Egg Product 2 lbs 1 oz No. 10 Can: Sports & Outdoors.

SHORT TERM FOCUS: Peanut Butter

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Warning! Massive Shortages Are Coming

April 28, 2021

Warning! Massive Shortages Are Coming

“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water” – Benjamin Franklin

Out of stock, in low supply, sold out, shortages…get used to seeing the terms all over this year and next as the just-in-time manufacturing and distribution system continues to sputter. Several factors in Twenty-Twenty and Twenty-Twenty-One have caused shortages ranging from the absurd and humorous to the critical and deadly. Of course, not having chicken nuggets or ketchup packets is just a slight inconvenience; however, it will hit you a little closer to home when manufacturers can’t get the raw materials they need. Then, prices will continue to go up, and you will pay more for the products you need. When life-saving medicines are in short supply, they may not be available to you and yours when you are sick or injured. What is going on with these shortages, and will it continue? How much worse could it get?

In this blog, I will examine why shortages are occurring, many of the shortages we are currently experiencing, possible future shortages, and what you should prep and brace for to insulate yourself from the effects of short supplies.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Years ago, when you wanted a product or good, you had to place an order and wait. If it was a popular product on a store shelf, in a back warehouse, or off-site at a holding warehouse, you could receive the product in a short amount of time. If it wasn’t in stock somewhere, an order was placed with a manufacturer, and you would wait, and wait, and wait, until it was finally manufactured because enough other orders were placed to warrant that manufacturer to gather the necessary raw materials and fire up his machines. It was such a different world just a decade or two ago.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

When the Unprepared Come to Your Door: What to Do

April 27, 2021

When the Unprepared Come to Your Door: What to Do

It is an absolute certainty that when a disaster strikes that lasts for any prolonged period, people will show up at your door if you are stocked or better positioned to survive than they are. Over the years, I have read numerous comments about what people would do. The majority of preppers take a rigid approach to what they view as potential looters. Instead of just dismissing them, they’re prepared to expel them from their property through force. Then, you have the opposite end of the spectrum where some preppers set aside small care packages or backpacks to hand out to people who would come knocking so they can be sent on their way with a little bit better chance to survive. Both approaches are problematic, and there is much in between those two extremes. A desperate enough person might try to burn you out to get to your resources, even though that could destroy the resources in the process. And a person who receives a hand-out or hand-up because of your generosity may come around again or tell others which will potentially result in a line outside your door.

In this blog, we will look at those people who would show up at your door and what you can do to both protect yourself and help them. It’s a difficult decision for sure. It is one thing to ignore a stranger or maybe even an acquaintance. It is quite another to turn away a neighbor, friend, or even a family member when your own resources are limited, well-prepared in advance, and you are staring down the barrel of a disaster that may stretch on for an indeterminable amount of time…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Tag Archives: prepping

Content

Post categories

Economic Links

Energy/Resource Links

Environmental Links

Geopolitical Links

Liberty Links

News Links

Other Links

Survival Skills

Don’t Lose What You Store: 6 Tips To Protect Your Prepper Pantry

Post navigation

Latest Posts