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News for week of 2023-02-27

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News

Prepper Chat Night – Friday March 17

Gideon ParkerStaff - 4 weeks ago

March prepper chat nights are Friday, March 3rd and 17th at 6pm PST/9pm EST.

And as a reminder, Prepper Chat Nights are on the first and third Friday of every month on Discord by video or voice chat with other members of the community.

Has anyone read the book “Easy Cellar” by Tom Griffith?

Eileen Young - 4 weeks ago

Has anyone seen/used the “Easy Cellar” by Tom Griffith? He is a terrific sales person but I would like some feedback from persons who are not making money from his book and site. Thanks. Eileen —

Advice

News for week of 2023-02-20

Carlotta SusannaStaff - 4 weeks ago

News

Turn old bed sheets into durable waterproof tarps

Carter Murphy - 1 month ago

The following video shows how to take old bed sheets and turn them into durable waterproof tarps.

The reason I am sharing this project here is because it looks to be a more durable tarp than the plastic tarpaulins you would buy at the hardware store and isn’t that expensive for what you get. A cheap tube of silicone caulk is about $5 and the gallon of Naphtha is $10.

From the video it says to find the volume of your bed sheets and use 3/4 of that volume in solvent (naphtha). Then using a ratio of 5:1 (Naphtha:Silicone) combine until the silicone is dissolved into a maple syrup consistency and soak your bed sheet in it. Hang to dry for a day and you have a waterproof fabric tarp.

To be honest I am tired of the UV rays of the sun and wind beating up my cheap plastic tarps and may try this out. This will probably hold up longer durability-wise and I don’t see it losing it’s waterproof ability like some fabrics do because it isn’t just a topical coating that can be rubbed off and silicone is a strong synthetic material that won’t break down as easily or quickly like bees waxed canvas would.

Skills

12V RV interior lights as emergency lights

Barb LeeContributor - 1 month ago

I continue to struggle with emergency lighting options. I have several but each has drawbacks.

Last night we were discussing the issue while enjoying the Aladdin lamps and the wood stove and hubby said, “What about 12 volt RV lights?”

Smacks forehead.

We maintain several 12V batteries on tenders at all times. One is a heavy duty deep cycle that sits under a coffee table in the house. It used to be life support for a tropical fish tank. We also have plenty of generator power for recharging. How could I not have thought of this?

I just ordered two wall/ceiling mount LED RV interior lights, declared to emit roughly 60 incandescent watts of light each, for about $50 the pair. We’ll know in a week or so how it works out.

Gear

News for week of 2023-01-23 (all current event convos go here).

Carlotta SusannaStaff - 1 month ago

News

How to donate to The Prepared? and Happy New Year!!!

Sharon - 1 month ago

Happy New Year Fellow Preppers! May 2023 bring health and happiness to y’all!So, I am (as usual late lol) doing my 2022 donations and would like to include the Prepared as I am very grateful for the information and community it has provided. I could of sworn I had seen a “donate” button on the website before, but cannot find it now. So if any designated grownup can help me out with that info, I will be very grateful.

Community Challenge: Bags for the Unprepared / Mercy Bags

Matt Black - 1 month ago

Winter is quickly approaching and the news of the pandemic globally is becoming increasingly bleak. The US still hasn’t officially finished its first wave and elsewhere is showing staggering signs of an overwhelming, inbound second wave.

Ultimately, the only way we’re going to get through this is by banding together as a community of preppers and as human beings helping other human beings in need.

Today, we put together a few basic-level BOBs using some of our own surplus stock and a few former packs) for anyone that might be in need. The packs cover the basics: water, food, fire, shelter, first aid, pandemic supplies (gloves, disposable masks, sanitizer, masks with filters), and batteries for the flashlights and headlamps.

We’re fortunate that we have the means to do this. Others in our community are not.

In all, each bag as 7-10 days worth of supplies.

And I wish we could do more.

We’d also like to challenge everyone who can do so, to take up this cause: build a bag to help someone you don’t know, who isn’t prepared to face the pandemic or a disaster.

News for week of 2023-01-30 (all current event convos go here).

Carlotta SusannaStaff - 1 month ago

News

What are your tips for hiding food/valuables?

Holly Bradley - 1 month ago

I was wondering where people hide their food/valuables? And by valuables, I’m talking about tools, solar panels, gasoline, medical supplies, etc…

It gets to be quite a load, especially food for the family. I have a few ideas, and have a few stashes around our property, but I’d like to hear some other ideas please….

Advice

Looking to establish MAGS in Woodstock, Georgia

michael swain - 1 month ago

looking to establish MutualAssistenceGroups in woodstock, georgia area…well supplied-looking for like-minded, reliable folk. ex or current law enforcement/military/medical/&c bkrd is a big plus…

No Grid Survival Projects book, has anyone tried it?

CR - 1 month ago

I’m tempted to order this, but thought I’d see if any of you have checked it out? Might be pretty basic stuff, but looks like he’s made it easy to complete his projects by referencing exactly where to get supplies.
It might be a good one to have on hand in the prepping library, if his projects seem legit.

Please chime in with your thoughts!

https://nogridsurvivalprojects.com/book/

AdviceGear

Lets see your EDC

Bill Masen - 1 month ago

As the header says, how about a threat showing each other your typical EDC daily loadout varying by gender, age, geography, profession etc, that way those of us with similar interests may pick up ideas as to how improve your own gear.

News for week of 2023-02-06

Carlotta SusannaStaff - 1 month ago

News

News for week of 2023-02-13

Carlotta SusannaStaff - 1 month ago

News

Don’t forget the smaller everyday safety items, even when you prep for the big ones

Steve Martin - 1 month ago

I was putting up Christmas decorations yesterday in front of my home when I heard a hissing sound…tracked it down to the gas meter. I sprayed some soapy water on it and it foamed all up, indicating a serious leak. At that point I could smell it too. So…nat gas people showed up, attempted to tighten connections….which didn’t fix it, they ended up replacing entire meter which then required a pressure test. Turns out I also had 2 small leaks INSIDE my house I wasn’t aware of! So I spent the day repairing those connections. 1 of them was to my emergency gas heater used during power outages. I hadn’t used it in 2 years. You get caught up in prepping for the big dangers…WWIII, covid, civil unrest etc etc…and miss the little things that can still kill you. It’s winter, you have a CO detector? How about a radon test thingy? Here in Pennsylvania, it’s estimated that 40% of older homes have a radon issue. Gonna be tough to get treated for lung cancer while hunkering down in your shelter! I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t get so focused on the big scary scenarios that your forget to watch for the little ones. Dead is dead regardless which killed you.

Does anyone have any experience with the Snakestaff Systems ETQ (Everyday Carry Tourniquet)?

Thumper - 2 months ago

Does anyone have any experience with the Snakestaff Systems ETQ (Everyday Carry Tourniquet)? I saw a video last night from PrepMedic reviewing it, and was wondering if any of y’all had one.

Link to website:

https://www.snakestaffsystems.com/buy-now/etq-every-day-tourniquet

Gear

How to make stock and render fat

Barb LeeContributor - 2 months ago

I’m on a beef stock making mission right now, primarily because of the great beef stew recipe I shared in the thread recipes-for-cooking-with-only-non-perishable-food/ . That recipe served the two of us three generous meals. The last one was a little skimpy so I poured the stew over freshly made biscuits. That meal was probably the best of the three!

I used ten pounds of beef ribs to get roughly four quarts of stock, and I canned it according to USDA recommendations. I’ve just started another stock pot. I browned the ribs in a 400F oven, covered them with a lot of water, added some apple cider vinegar, and will now simmer the bones slowly for 24 hours, then “reduce” the stock before canning.

There’s a big bonus in this process. I got about a pint of snowy white beef fat, which after rendering, is shelf stable. I measure it out and freeze it in silicone molds, and once wrapped it will keep virtually forever in the freezer, but it will last for months on the shelf.

Here is an article that explains the basic how-and-why of rendering fat I’ll add some additional notes.

Fat should be slowly heated to 255F to insure that all moisture has been driven off. Carefully dip the clear liquid off the top and strain into clean containers (sterilized canning jars are good!). Fill all the way to the top because the fat will contract quite a bit while cooling. Chill as quickly as possible for a fine grained product. Cap and store in a cool, dark place.

Air, light and moisture can cause the product to go rancid or sour. If all moisture is removed and the product chilled thoroughly before capping, there will be no souring.

The notes on rendering lard are taken from the book “Stocking Up” by Rodale Press.

Skills

Clip & Carry Gerber MP600 sheath review

Thumper - 2 months ago

So. I’ll start out by saying that I’ve had this sheath for about a year now, and carry it every day. I’ve never had a retention issue. I got a Gerber MP600 multi tool a year or so back, and I wanted a kydex sheath for it. After some research, I found this, and I’ve loved it ever since. I carry it IWB, so I can carry it if I’m in my farm clothes or my Sunday best.

Note: if a multi tool isn’t in your EDC, I highly suggest the Gerber MP600. I’ve put mine through hell, using it multiple times a day, nearly every day. I can’t recommend it more. I’ll leave a link for the sheath and the MP600.

Second Note: my dad has had the same MP600 for 10+ years, using it when he worked with the FD and when he had a lawn care business, and his is still kicking it!

MP600:

Sheath:

Gear

Recipes for cooking with only non-perishable food

Adriaan - 2 months ago

I was wondering if anyone could share some recipes for cooking with only non-perishable ingredients? I’m thinking canned fish and chicken. Thanks in advance 🙂

Skills

Prepping in New England

Gall - 2 months ago

Does anyone have any suggestions on South Shore (MA.) lOCATIONS to pick up any form of prepping supplies? Water storage, long shelf-life food, portable solar equipment etc.

Some chores are better than others

RedneckContributor - 2 months ago

I’m sure we all have chores we don’t really care for. The thing I dislike the most, which I did Sunday, is cutting the bottom pasture in the heat of the summer. The feel like temp was around 110 and I was out in the full sun sitting on a hot diesel tractor. Being on a homestead, especially when the wife is off caring for her 100 year old mom & 102 year old aunt, well there are plenty of chores & lots of animals to feed.

One chore I love this time of year is taking the dogs out for a final bathroom stop before bedtime. We currently have 8 dogs living with us. This time of year is special around 8:30 at night. The sun has set but it is not yet dark. The sunset has faded to muted colors of normally salmon pink & light blues. It is still warm out but not oppressively hot. Actually, rather nice. And at this time of day, as I sit on the back patio overlooking the back of our property, waiting on & watching the dogs , I get to watch the bats perform their acrobatics as they hunt down mosquitos. They put on quite the show! Kinda like watching the bald eagles… it feeds my soul. With it seems like the whole world going to hell, it is nice to just slow down and appreciate nature. The time of evening I’m talking about:

Anyone else have some chores that you really enjoy?

Harvest Right Food Dryer review & notes

Sharon - 2 months ago

Last spring we invested in a Medium Harvest Right Food Dryer (“FD”) and various extras for a little over 3 grand. Hubby negotiated a good price with Harvest Rite with an upgraded vacuum pump and about 12 weeks later “FD” showed up in our driveway.While Harvest Rite has some vacuum and tech problems according to multiple posts on a Harvest Right/Other Food Dehydrator Fakebook group, our experience has been pretty positive overall. Since it IS 2023, we WOULD love to be able to see and use the controls via something like phone remote. Still, we’ve had a lot of fun trying new foods and processes.

It has upped our prepper game substantially, provided a way to share our pork with friends and family who are far away, brought our food waste to close to zero and increased our larder with food we love and plan to eat. We raised 3 pigs last year, and with our freezers full of over a quarter ton of pork, I was anxious about electric loss over a long period that could result is wasted meat. We started to cook and freeze dry that meat to share with others as well as stockpile. I jokingly tell people I am planning to “FD” enough meals so that I never have to cook again.

Amongst the items we’ve done – Puerco Pibil, pulled pork, pork sausage patties, pork chops pork liver and heart dog treats :)), ham, pork and beans, black beans, garbanzo bean humus, pea soup, soup stock, farro chicken soup, barley turkey soup, beef bean Chile, beef goulash, pasta bolognese, gravy, lamb gyro meat, red and green salsas, guacamole, corn tortillas as chips, egg frittatas, oatmeal, cream of wheat, shrimp, turkey, chicken, raw milk, breast milk, 1/2 & 1/2, coffee, coleslaw, green beans, sautéed mushrooms, asparagus, spinach, corn, mashed potatoes, potatoes au gratin (COSTCO and they ROCK!!) rice, varied, Indian and Thai meals, barbacoa beef, ice cream sandwiches, pumpkin pie, coconut ganache, pudding, skittles, apples, bananas, berries, mango pineapples, peaches, pears, asian pears, figs, top round, crab, lobster, cheesecake, eggs and more. Looking forward to doing some medicinal and seasoning herbs.

Some general hints from our journey -If you can afford an upgraded pump, get it. You might be able to cut a sweet deal if you call the company direct. If you don’t ask, I can guarantee the answer is no. In general, just ask. When it’s hot, put a fan on the pump to cool it off. As newbies, we ran the AC in the room the FD was in all summer. Our electric bill was ridiculous and now that we have several boxes of food, we agreed to not run the machine 24/7 this upcoming summer.We now just do a “natural” defrost instead of using electric ($) to defrost. We select “No Defrost” and leave the door and valve open. It takes more time but saves money.Extra trays and lids are super useful to have. We use the dividers, but the silicon liner sheets we rarely use, and instead use parchment paper for just the messy and greasy items.Use Tupperwares or glass jars for “tastes” and foods you will snack on right away instead of wasting the mylar bag and oxygen absorber.Raw meat is not as tasty as cooked, so we don’t do it anymore. If you can make it taste better, please share how…Chocolate and fat do not do well alone so we have modified their processing by either cutting the fat off, patting dry with paper towels or integrating into some other fibrous food/carbs.Lining and covering fatty and sugary items will save on clean up and absorb some of the fat. Shredded meat or crumbles seems to do better than big chunks.When using shiny metallic pens to mark mylar bags, write and let the package dry well or they could smear to unreadable. When we need to crush items to save space, we have a “crush person” with clean hands or use a paper towel to keep outsides of bag more hygienic . We keep a “pump bottle” of 70% alcohol to constantly sanitize our hands through processing.Use large resealable mylar bags or vac containers for items like dried fruit, oats, etc that you will eat often.Sometimes I used to waste half a bag or more of asparagus or green beans. Now I just cook the whole bag. We eat some and then the leftovers go straight onto the tray and then in the freezer. So easy.Pre-freeze liquids like broth, milk and eggs into the machine tray while its setting on a cookie tray IN THE FREEZER. Let it freeze solid. Pouring direct into the machine can be ok maybe, but moving liquid trays not recommended.

We keep a “FD LOG” by the machine to track what foods we did on what dates as well as oil changes and other maintenance. We used to log energy use and time info, but quickly lost interest and motivation in that and now just dates, foods and maintenance.

Being consistent with temperatures of each load and thickness of items in the freezer trays will insure better results, as will maintaining and keeping the machine clean and performing scheduled oil changes. If you are nerdy and full of money there is an app for checking the temp of the food via your phone. There are tons of online groups and YouTube videos to learn from. We especially enjoy “Retired at 40” FD videos and his products as well.

We figured our electricity added 6-10 bucks a load to the process cost, the bags and oxygen absorber packs, extra trays and lids and divider gizmos etc., add a tad more. You can also store product in clean canning jars, though for long term storage, you’ll want to add oxygen absorbers and vac seal and keep those items out of sunlight as sunlight, air and moisture are the major reasons for food spoilage. Some producers claim that their FD items will last 20-30 years!!Some “stupids” we’ve done – -not closing the drain valve when starting a load and the machine was beeping probably for hours not able to vacuum and stuck in beep mode-leaving the door closed for natural defrost and water mess all over-forgetting to push ‘start” button-not covering sweets or dab drying some meat very well and big ol Sugar or FAT EXPLOSION all over the machine

Since we are lazy, and canning requires some serious following of hygiene rules to maintain safety, our FD has been a great investment. Glass and cans are heavy, but the mylar bags are perfect for storage and transport. Many delicious food, easy quick meals and preserving foods that might become extinct are other reasons why will continue to use, experiment and share our food dehydration experiences.

The majority of the Freeze dried food we bought in the past is just not as yummy as our own foods or our friends’ Thai restuarant. Additionally some of the cost savings can be HUGE! Amazon has ONE ice cream sandwich for 11 BUCKS! Wal Marte has a TWELVE PACK for $2.62……I am concerned about items going extinct, skyrocketing prices, food insecurity and the fact that over 90% of the people I know are not prepared AT ALL! I would like to see at least one FD in every neighborhood. If you want one, but feel the cost is out of your budget, I would encourage you to investigate getting investors to help finance your machine as a social business (google social business/ Yunus to learn more about) or do an on-line fundraiser like kiva.org or a go beg me or organize a collective purchase with friends and/or family. As with all business arrangements, ESPECIALLY with friends and family, be sure to hammer out the details IN WRITING of location, costs, maintenance, use time and so on BEFORE you spend money on it. I for one will be glad to support you on this wholeheartedly in theory and possibly a tad financially if you hit me up at the right time, especially if you offer some kind of delicious premium.Happy Drying and HAVE FUN!!!

Gear