Cool doodad for the week...

This is the second in the new series of cool items in the "getting ready" community. Today's item is the Deadwood stove. It is similar to a rocket stove, but without the insulation and extra weight. The company explains their reasoning for the design on the website. Checkout the video. I am saving my pennies. Y'all enjoy and have a good 'un.

There goes the neighborhood...

Here's a copied AP article about those damn Euro-trash folk and their cursed money, which apparently is about to go under; just as we were getting some slight hold on our screwed economy:

http://news.yahoo.com/europe-scrambles-save-euro-171444257.html

Y'all have a good 'un

To all my blogging family out there: God Bless and have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.  I am blessed to know you all.

Weekly quote and favorite knife...

To start the week off I'd like to drop a few quotes on you to get you thinking. We all know the coffee can't do it alone.

 "I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. Of course, this makes me forever ineligible for public office."-H.L. Mencken

Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.

H. L. Mencken-US editor (1880 - 1956)

(that is figurative, for you law enforcement types)

We the People...always has a great gun of the day post. It made me want to do something in the same direction, without being a johnny come lately, of course. So I'm going to try to do a cool prepper, EDC, survival, or thing that goes bang post of the week. I would do it daily, if you haven't figured me out yet, but rarely have the time to do something like that. So for this week I am putting up my favorite knife. I know others have done it, but this is mine. It has served me well for approximately ten years now and hasn't shown signs of letting up. I'm talking about my Spyderco Delica. It even has the old fashioned molded clip. It has cleaned animals, cut wire, opened boxes, cut clothes and seatbelts(in the line of duty), pried things open, and even put down a wounded deer. I wouldn't sell it for anything. Maybe one day one of my girls will carry it off to college to fend off evil boys(all boys are evil in my book,except for me, and I used to be). Anyway, leave a comment if you'd like about your favorite knife and we'll see how this deal works out. If there is a cool item that you'd like to pass on, just leave me a comment and I'll get right on it. Thanks, folks. Y'all have a good 'un.

Blogger sucks...and Welcome...

Ok. Calm. Goooosfrabba....I'm good now. First of all, welcome  to We the people...and Modern Day Redneck. Thanks for hitting the little button. I'll do my best to keep you informed and entertained. I hope you stick around. We the people is another blog from the Republic of Texas, a man after my own heart. MDR is a good ol' boy that I've been following for a while now; quite a resourceful feller. Check 'em out. Secondly, I have been having Blogger issues again. I am unable to make comments sometimes for no apparent reason. So to JUGM and Flier, I promise I'm not rude, I'm just trying to decide which ammo and weapon to use to turn this magic box into a 100 meter target. I'm going to make it work whether it wants to or not. On a lighter note, we are headed to my folks for any early Thanksgiving; so...nothing profound or witty until Sunday or Monday. Sorry, but as always, y'all have a good 'un.

365 meals...

The family and I were recently at some friends' house for supper and they showed us their new vacumn sealer. I'd been meaning to get one to try to pack some of our stuff (including ammo, Stephen-good call) and this made me want one even more. I also have always wanted to make our own MREs; the real ones are just so dang expensive. I found this article on survivalblog.com and saved it for reference. This guy and his family came up with some great plans for MRE type meals for storage and to give out to those in need, today and in the near WTSHTF future. So, enjoy the article and visit his website he referenced towards the end. Good stuff for later days.

365 Meals: What to Do With All That Dehydrated Food, by Kory M.

Permalink

It all started while reading Survivalblog. In an article about providing charity during a pandemic and not getting sick, Jim talked about putting food out where others could get it and then retreating to keep a safe distance between you and other people to keep your family from getting infected. While reading this article, I had an epiphany.

Instead of handing out some rice, wheat, oats or a can of spam, I could concoct a “meal”, a Home-Made Meal (Almost) Ready to Eat (HMMARE?). My first HMMARE idea was to dump 1 cup of rice, a chicken bouillon cube, ¼ cup of chicken TVP and a ¼ cup of dehydrated peas into a Ziploc sandwich bag. It would be easy, just add three cups of water and boil, viola, a decent meal!

I joyously told my wife about my great new idea. “Yuck,” she said, “we can do better than that!” So she sent me back to the drawing board (although these days 'the drawing board' looks more like a Google search engine than an architect's table). I scoured the internet endlessly until finally I came across a web site where a woman had thoughts similar to mine, and had made what she called “365 meals”. She had taken the reserves that she already had on hand and combined them with a project that her church group had done in years past. They made “Soup in a Jar” meals to give as gifts during the holiday season. She adapted this idea and thought that if she could make 365 meals then she would KNOW that at least she had one decent meal a day for her family for an entire year.

This idea set my mind racing. My wife and I sat down and worked out a plan. We had several criteria that we wanted our meals to meet.

• They had to be in a sturdy container (We live in earthquake country, so no glass containers for us.)

• They need to be complete. You could add to them, but the recipe shouldn't require any extra ingredients.

• They needed to be simple – so that our children could make them, in case the adults were incapacitated.

• They needed to be good tasting, hearty and nutritious.

• They needed to be capable of long term storage.

• And, If possible they needed to use the supplies of food stuffs we already had on hand.

We quickly worked out what we could do to make this a better option for our family. We learned from the (now extinct) 365 meals web page that the host had used the recipe book “Gifts in a Jar: One Dish Meals”. I turned to Amazon.com and discovered there were several books in the Gifts in a Jar series, and we purchased the ones that looked most applicable (like: Gifts From a Jar: Soups, Chilis & More ). We wanted to start simply with items we already had on hand, and make a few meals in our kitchen. The first recipe we made was chicken soup. The recipe called for making a soup “stock” and adding fresh carrots, celery and chicken pieces. We adapted it with dehydrated carrots, celery and chicken TVP and more water than the recipe called for to rehydrate the vegetables. (TVP is Textured Vegetable Protein; it is a cheap and long term solution for dehydrated protein in meals. Real dehydrated chicken is also available on the market, but at 5 times the cost. Although Textured Vegetable Protein sounds unappetizing at first glance, chances are, you've had it without even knowing it. Bacon Bits are TVP!) [JWR Adds: I don't recommend stocking storage foods that are heavy in TVP, because of the potential health consequences. Too much soy can be a bad thing.]

Now that we'd settled on a test-recipe, we had to figure out how, exactly, we were going to store them. We had a “Food Saver” vacuum sealer and that seemed like a good solution. Take out all the air and the meal should last a good long time right? So we gathered all the ingredients, had our children help with the assembly and made our first batch. The recipe said that the meal would feed 4 to 6 people and we had a family of six-two adults and four growing children, so we decided to double the recipe. Each meal was about the size of a 3lb. chub of hamburger (10” long x 8” in circumference). We made the meals until we ran out of ingredients, which yielded about 15 meals. After they were vacu-sealed we then set about to find another meal to make-we were on a roll!

Our next meal (Untested by our professional taste testing children) was Ham Hock Stew. My wife and I thought it sounded wonderful, but our children disagreed. As before, we altered the recipe to fit our storage needs and made a few. When we were sealing the soups we noticed that the dehydrated carrots that were called for in the recipe were poking through the Food Saver Bags! We were crestfallen-how had our brilliant plan been foiled by a dehydrated vegetable? Just then we remembered that we had recently been gifted with an impulse sealer and 250 Mylar bags (A member of our church said he bought it, never used it and no one in his family wanted it, so he thought I would put it to good use-boy was he right!). It didn’t draw a vacuum, but we could overcome that by using oxygen absorbers; and the Mylar bags were much thicker than the Food Saver Bags (7 mils instead of 4). I knew that food stored in opaque storage containers kept food longer due to the deteriorating effects of sunlight, and these Mylar bags were sure to keep the sun out.

We decided that the bags were too large (11” x 13”) so we cut them in half length wise and that was a perfect fit. We then transferred most of the Food Saver pouches to the new Mylar bags. After making 30 or so meals we decided to try one out. Our kids wanted the Chicken Soup but we wanted to know if they would like the ham hock stew...they didn’t like it…..THEY LOVED IT!

Since we had doubled the recipe we expected to have a little left over…boy were we wrong. There was enough to feed Sherman’s Army! We all had our fill, and there was enough left over for me to have lunch the next day, and freeze enough for dinner for our family again! (Guess we really didn’t need to double those recipes after all).

With this success under our belt we expanded, we ended up making about 12 different recipes and a total of 175 or so meals (since we doubled most of them we didn’t need as many). We took this idea to our friends and family and it was an instant success! After a few YouTube videos on the subject (Food Storage Secrets, 365 Meals or Making 365 Meals and others) we have demonstrated this method of food storage for over two years now, including several Church groups who have made upwards of 8,000 meals! (I guess we put that gifted impulse sealer to good use, huh!?) And I have had at least 50 other inquiries from individuals and groups wanting recipes and advice on how to make this work for them.

After having personally been at these 8,000 meal making groups we have learned a few things to make this process fun and inexpensive. Here are the FAQs:

• The cost of each meal varies due to the ingredients but they average about $4.00 each.

• An impulse sealer isn’t required but makes it a lot easier. (We still have some Chicken Soup in a Food Saver bags and they are doing well.)

• You will need to do some conversions to make sure you have the items you will need in bulk. This is the one that I used. But a good way to do it was to see what the FDA label said were in a package (Unit size vs. number in container.)

• The more hands you have to process the meals the better. It’s easier to make two hundred meals for fifteen families, than fifteen meals for one family.

• An assembly line makes it all work very easily.

• It’s hard to tell exactly how long they will store, but most of the dehydrated items purchased say they will store for up to twenty years, and that sounds good to me!

• You can tailor your meals for your dietary needs and personal tastes (No/low salt, gluten free, etc.)

• With all your items on hand and with enough helpers you can make about five hundred meals in two hours.

• Because of their light weight, they ship quite well. They are great for gifts.

• A 16oz plastic picnic cup with its bottom cut out makes a great funnel/opener for the Mylar bags.

• Go to the dollar store and buy a few sets of measuring spoons and cups, you’ll need them.

• All of our now 200ish meals store under our son's twin size bed.

• Meals we’ve successfully made: Split Pea Soup, Chicken Soup, Ham Hock Stew, White Rice and Chili, Mac-n-cheese, Black Bean Chili, Pasta Fagioli, and Chicken and Rice.

Our food stores are varied and deep but our TEOTWAWKI 365 meal plan is to have a simple breakfast, of oats or grains, a hearty lunch/supper of our bagged meal, and a dinner of breads and snacks. I know that having one meal a day does not a full food plan make, but to know for sure that you have at least one meal a day for an entire year takes the guess work out of your planning, although the very best benefit is peace of mind.

I'm sharing this food storage concept with SurvivalBlog readers in the hope that it will inspire you to move ahead and get your meals set aside. If there is enough interest I will be making “Meal Kits” in the future. If you'd like to contact me with questions, to purchase a full list of recipes and instructions for the soups mentioned here, or to purchase emergency preparedness supplies, please visit my web site: FrostCPR.com.


PS-all pictures were added by me. I can't stand a boring post. Y'all have a good 'un.

The only thing any man really needs to know...

For those shadetree preppers that are unsure...

Hillbillies worry about teeth?

Yes. We worry about our teeth contrary to popular belief. I just read a blurb on modernsurvivalonline.com about a new emergency dental kit. It is used by the Australian military and seems to have really taken off. It was made by a dentist and the instructions are supposed to be easy enough, even for a hillbilly. Check it and Rourke's site out. Good stuff. Y'all have a good 'un.

Picture for the weekend...

Not a lot of time this weekend; DSW has me helping with some stuff tonight and I have work on Saturday and Sunday but I did want to leave y'all with a good pic a friend just posted. Sorry for the language, but dang, that's a good one.

Amen, Brother.

I think we're being setup...

I just read yet another article about the Occupy-idgits and their rants. Apparently this time the teachers and some others got in on it, read here. Then some "black-clad" folk jumped in and did a little head-knockin'. I hate to be the crazy conspiracy theorist here, but are we being setup? Is their some master pupeteer behind the curtain like the Great Oz orchestrating both sides? You have to be curious. Everything just seems to work too well with the whole movement. Maybe it's just me and we'll look back on this in 10 years and look at it like the hippy movement of the 60s and 70s. I don't know. Well...hang on tight. Y'all have a good 'un.

The Red Machine...

Why do I have numerous pageviews from Russia and should I be worried about a team of Spetsnaz? Just curious. Oh well, Molon Labe, boys. Come and get some...

The Hermit...

To Arsenius, wherever you may be, good night, good luck, and God bless.

New found quote...

Just found this and thought I'd put it up. I have no idea who the author is, but give him/her full credit:

"The social contract exists so that everyone doesn't have to squat in the dust holding a spear to protect his woman and his meat all day every day. It does not exist so that the government can take your spear, your meat, and your woman because it knows better what to do with them."

Found another one...

I have to be honest-I don't talk about prepping at work or with most friends. They just don't get it. I have one guy I work with on a regular basis who is on the same playing field and we share ideas and info all the time. One of my best friends knows about my preps, but doesn't really worry about the future; I can't force it on him I guess, although I worry about him and his family. I talked to my sister a while back and it freaked her out some. She asked if I was one of "those nuts" and the conversation ended. She called me back a little later, apologized, and said she did in fact understand, but that it was a little much to handle all in one shot. I agreed and have been easing her into it as of lately.

I did find a new ally the other day and it re-enforced my belief that I am not a nut and that we are out there, just under the surface. I worked some OT with a different group of guys and we got into a conversation about the economy and I dared to venture into the topic a little further. Next thing I know, this guy says he thinks there is going to be a collapse and is showing me some of the websites he references. BOOM! Another compadre! To be honest I almost slapped him on the back and asked him where he'd been all this time. I just felt so relieved that there was another one of us around. In the past when I had mentioned anything about preps to co-workers, especially Y2K, I heard nothing but laughter. So, to meet someone who is actually ahead of the game was overwhelming. This guy makes me look like a little girl. He apparently is full blown; they make their own bread, can every week, and has pallets(plural) of dried food ready to go. Before I left we traded numbers and info and are going to be sharing ideas with each other. I guess this isn't really a big deal in the scheme of things, but it sure made me feel better about what I'm doing. Just goes to show that you can't judge a book by it's cover, I reckon. Thanks for listening. Y'all have a good 'un.