Category Archives: Uncategorized

Article – How Long Does Frozen Meat Last? Here’s What You Need to Know About Freezing Meat

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When it comes to stocking up on food, there’s nothing as convenient as filling up your freezer with a variety of frozen meals and ingredients, since freezing your food is the best way to guarantee freshness, long-term.

If you’re like many people and keep key meat items — such as raw chicken or ground beef — in the freezer, there’s probably a question you might be wondering: How long can you freeze meat before it goes bad?

I have something this article does not – empirical data. And I feel rather qualified to say that this article is utter and total BS. IF you vacuum seal the meat and IF you store it in a deep freeze (not the freezer in your fridge) I can say without any trace of doubt that it will last years.

I routinely eat meat out of my freezer that is a couple years old and it’s fine. In fact, I have half a turkey from 2016 thawing out for dinner tomorrow. I believe the oldest meat I’ve eaten out of my freezer was over ten years old and it was fine.

Articles like this try to be helpful, and I know many people would be aghast at the thought of eating meat that is years old, but I and my content gastrointestinal system are here to tell you that IF you freeze it properly you can get years and years of storage life out of your meat.

So when you see a big deal on bulk meat, don’t hesitate to purchase it because you’re worried it’ll “go bad” or “Won’t keep” until you’re ready to use it up. Seal it, freeze it, and it’ll be good for a decade. Thats years of personal experience talking.

 

Article – The Easiest Ways to Open a Can Without a Can Opener

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Probably nothing you didn’t already know, but still worth a read.

One basic rule of life is that everything is easy with the proper tools, and nearly impossible without them. A great example of how this works is the can opener: Although we’ve had the pull-tab design since 1962, you can still somehow find plenty of canned goods on the grocery shelves that lack this simple advancement—and if you have one and lack a can opener, you will quickly learn the definition of futility.

I have opened cans with a knife before…it isn’t fun, but it isn’t terribly difficult either. I have not tried the spoon method yet. If you’re a survivalist of any stripe, you always have a knife handy even if you dont have a can opener or multitool on you. And, yes, a P38 works well and takes up no space on your keychain.

My experience is that the can openers on a Swiss Army knife or multitool do excellent jobs and have the bonus of being part of a larger ‘multitasker’…in other words, a multitool with a can opener is more useful than a can opener by itself.

By the way, when it comes to #10 cans of food for storage, I always tape a P38 to the bottom of every second or third can. Theyre cheap, small, and a far better choice than banging a screwdriver with a rock.

Paratus Reminder

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Paratus is in two weeks, guys. (Sep 16 2022)

Get your shopping done early and be sure to ask your favorite vendors why they aren’t having a Paratus sale.

And, naturally, if you want to get yours truly a little somethin’ for the holiday, I wouldn’t say no.

And just because it’s kinda fun, here’s a link I’ve posted before:

Happy Paratus Day! The Story Behind a New Holiday, and a Gift Giving Guide

This year is the fourth year of what has become a somewhat-tradition of sending cards/gifts to certain readers. However, in case you missed it, here’s the original post from when I came up with the idea. As you can see, if you go by this post, Paratus has been around for dang near twenty years.

Is it a ‘real’ holiday? Dude, all holidays are as real (or unreal) as you make them. Paratus is your holiday, you make it into as real a holiday as you want. In the spirit of rugged individualism and sovereignty, it’s what you want it to be.

 

Whats left?

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That’s a trick question because, realistically and literally, there is always one more thing that a person can do to increase their resilience. You’re never really “done”…you’re simply at a more prepared stage than you were previously. Admittedly, there is a point where you’re just gilding the lilly but I don’t think I’m quite there yet.

But, after having been doing this for a couple decades what could possibly be left to accomplish? Well, the absolute biggest is the crowning jewel of any survivalist’s career – the BOL. That sweet little innocent-looking cabin in the middle of nowhere that is more heavily fortified, stocked, and hardened than Cheyenne Mountain. That one is going to take some serious planning and a metric buttload of cash.

Other than that rather expensive to-do list item, I’m fairly well set on most things. I mean, if there’s anything I think I really truly need at this point I can just buy it. I still need to get a nice radio setup for keeping tabs on the world, and it would be nice to have a larger stash of precious metals, but other than that I think I’m pretty set on things. I could always upgrade and increase the amounts of some things…food, ammo, cash, etc., but they’re at levels right now that I’m comfortable with and I’d rather funnel my resources into getting that nice chunk of Middle O’ Nowhere.

No one is every ‘fully prepared’, in my opinion. However, I’m satisfied enough with what I have now that, while I recognize there’s always room to add more depth to the stockpiles, I have no problem focusing resources into other projects.

It hasn’t always been this way, though. I remember when every $25 can of freeze drieds, and every $150 SKS, was a struggle to justify to my limited budget. But, I’ve hit the point in my life where I can drop a few hundred bucks here and there every so often for things that I want. Didn’t always be like that, though…..there were some pretty tight times back there.

Overall, though…I have absolutely no regrets about spending what I’ve spent over the years. I have literally thousands of dollars of freeze drieds and if I never wind up needing them I will still consider it money well spent. Like insurance, it gives me peace of mind and reduces risk. That has a value.

I also have no regrets because I see where the social zeitgeist is going and I’m pleased to say that I can sit back and watch everyone else scramble for freeze drieds, gas cans, ammo, and other gear. Those decades of picking up gear here and there have paid off in that I don’t have to deal with the scarcity and pricing issues that the Johnny-come-latelies have to face.

If you’ve been a survivalist for more than a few years, I trust that you are in a similar position. And if you’re new to the scene..well…don’t be discouraged.

Article – Pressure mounts for credit card companies to track suspect gun sales

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A group of congressional Democrats is urging credit card companies to track suspect firearm and ammunition purchases as a means to identify and stop gun crime, according to a letter obtained by CBS News Thursday.

…

“The creation of a new [merchant category code] for gun and ammunition retail stores would be the first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism efforts,” the letter says.

A merchant category code, they wrote, “could make it easier for financial institutions to monitor certain types of suspicious activities including straw purchases and unlawful bulk purchases that could be used in the commission of domestic terrorist acts or gun trafficking schemes.”

By hook or by crook…

This was bandied about a few years ago, too. The moral of this story, other than that .gov needs to mind its own business, is that paying cash whenever possible is never a bad idea.

Kurz II

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Ok, I guess that , for some reason, you savages wanted some detail…

It’s a PTR9T which is pretty much a copy of the HK MP5K. I bought it for absolutely no good reason. In it’s current configuration it is less useful than a Glock 17 with a 33-rd happystick in it. In fact, in its current configuration it is fairly useless as a handgun. However…drop an ‘arm brace’ on it and you’ve got something.

But, honestly, the reason I bought it is for the cool factor. If I want a compact little package I have a CZ Evo. The gun is 1/2 the price of the PTR, mags are 1/3 the price, and the weight is less as well. But….it doesn’t have the cool factor of the MP5K. Heck, this thing will even fit in an operational briefcase. My plans are a lot less sinister. I just wanted one. With the moron in the White House getting more and more mouthy about ‘assault weapons’ bans, it seemed like a good idea to get anything I wanted that I didn’t already have….and that, my friends, is a short list. But, a little MP5 clone has been on my list for a while.

It does conceal nicely, though. Pretty cunning, dontcha think?

Original mags will be spendy, Magpul does make a drum but no sticks, and the only real aftermarket mags are either ETS or Unity (the same guys who made those AK mags a few posts back.) Honestly, I think I’m just going to tuck this away in the closet for a couple years and see if it appreciates in value as a result of a new ban. But….I might order up a few accessories for it just in case I decide that it’s just too shiny to not shoot.

So there you have it…..it’s not some deeply thought out part of a greater preparedness plan. Its an impulse purchase for no reason other than simply “I’ve always wanted one.”

Lyrical interlude

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I absolutely detest rap music, but this future perpetual-tax-audit-recipient does a nice job of laying out the case against Biden. If you’re offended by profanity, well…you need to grow up.

The poignant part was him pointing out that Biden’s policies armed the Taliban as he’s trying to disarm his own citizens.

 

H/T to Aesop.

Article – Half cows, entire pigs: Families are buying meat in bulk to save money

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It was the $200 weekly grocery bills that finally did him in. With three young kids and soaring meat costs, Logan Wagoner decided it was time to go whole hog.

This spring, the St. Louis attorney bought half a cow and an entire pig – plus a freezer that now holds 320 pounds of bacon, sausages, rib-eye steaks, ground beef and soup bones in his basement.

I’m somewhat amused, and mildly dismayed, that it’s only now that the normies have discovered that, golly, buying in bulk saves money. Who knew? There is, of course, another alternative to dropping that much money at once and that is to actively pursue sales and bargains, which has generally been my strategy. There are plenty of cases, documented here on the blog, where I found a closeout or sale on some meat and swooped in on the whole batch.

But the notion that buying a freezer and half a beef is somehow newsworthy? Dude, one generation ago this was standard practice.

I’d say that its a pretty solid bet that 95% of the people reading this already have freezers, and keep them full all the time. And…thats not newsworthy.