Category Archives: Uncategorized

Return of the CostCo canned beef

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I had been lamenting CostCo no longer carrying the Kirkland Roast Beef for a while now. There was a brief reprieve of sorts when they started carrying another brand of canned roast beef, which was pretty good, but even that brand seems to no longer be available in-store.

Today, while on my regularly schedules Co visits I happened across this:

It appears that, for whatever reason, my local CostCo has the Kirkland Roast Beef again. Hmm. No idea how long they’ll be carrying it but I made a point to pick some up. Here’s the interesting thing..I canned some beef the other week so i have the numbers fresh in my head: the meat I got at the CostCo meat counter was $6.99/#. These four cans are 12 oz each, which is three pounds. Since the cost is $18, thats about $6 per pound. What this means is that even without factoring in the cost of jars, lids, processing time and fuel, this product appears to be a better value than DIY. Granted, you may use a different cut, or a different type of animal, but for the most part it appears this is a case of it not being cheaper to do it yourself. And there’s the durability and storage ‘footprint’ of the cans versus the glass jars.

I actually kinda like the canning process and enjoy taking advantage of the infrequent sale on beef to get my costs down further but this is an excellent supplemental or turn-key choice for getting some dead animal flesh tucked away for the mid-term.

Article – Southern Utah town’s apocalyptic spending project raises eyebrows

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Each box contains a portable two-way radio (think Walkie-Talkie), a light, clipboards with paper forms and mechanical pencils. The city has 74 boxes in total, distributed throughout different sections of the city, which are dubbed “zones” and clustered into 13 “Emergency Preparedness Areas.”

The basic plan goes like this: In the event of a disaster that lays waste to the town and impairs standard communication lines, those who are able will assemble at the boxes. The first person to arrive will be named a “zone leader.”

The residents will use the clipboards and paper to assess the damage at each house in the neighborhood. Their findings will be relayed to the city via the radios. The city can then deploy emergency resources to the places most in need.

I actually kinda like this idea, although, really, any group..family, congregation, tribe, clan, cell, whatever…should already have several rally points assigned and stocked ‘just in case’. If Utah really wanted to go nuts, they’d do like the Japanese and have their parks double as emergency facilities with wells, toilet facilities, cooking areas, etc.

But, I gotta give credit to those fun-lovin’ Mormons…they don’t screw around when it comes to the preparedness stuff.

Every family or other group unit should have at least a couple ‘rally points’ or ‘meetup areas’ designated and stocked as prudently as possible.

Inflation and fixed incomes

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Iwas talking about inflation the other day with someone and they opined that inflation was ‘no big deal’. I asked them what about people on fixed incomes? They shrugged and said that having to spend a few extra dollars here and there won’t make any material difference. Not eating for a month is, to me, a material difference.

People on fixed incomes…pensions, Social Insecurity,  or disability…are the ones who get it worst. Let me give some examples….

Every month you carefully budget and spend $400 on groceries. That means for $4800 you get to eat all year…January 1 to December 31. Well, at 7% inflation you get to eat until…December 6th. And thats at the official rate of 7%. They took food and fuel out of inflation calculations years ago because those prices were too volatile…they could be affected by factors that had nothing to do with economic policy. Factors like oil embargos or crop failures. In all actuality, inflation is probably higher.

But, lets run with that 7% number. At 7% inflation you’re only able to spend out until that first week of December. After that you either do without, go into debt, use reserves, or come up with more income. And as inflation goes up, that deadline of when your money runs out moves closer and closer to ‘now’. And, whats worse, is that it’s compounded over the years…7% inflation this year means your money only buys 93% of what it did, and next year that money that bought 93% of what it used to will now only buy 93% of that. (In other words, your $100 that used to buy $100 of groceries will now only buy $93 worth. And next year it’ll buy about $87 worth of what it bought two years earlier.

What can you do? Well, I’m an idiot so my knee jerk reaction is ‘go make more money’. Alternatively, you juggle your budget to accommodate the new normal…you cut back on things, buy the cheaper brand, or find a less expensive source. But for some people thats not an option. I don’t know what to tell them. Only thing I could suggest to them is that they tighten their belts now so they can get used to making do with less.

For me, inflation is a pain in the butt, but it isn’t a crippler. My living expenses are low enough that having to pay extra on gas, food, etc, won’t break the bank but it does tie up resources I’d rather have elsewhere. Additionally, I have enough necessities in storage that i can defray a bout of inflation by living out of my stored supplies. Inflation doesn’t last forever, but it doesn’t go away overnight either…those of you who can remember the late 70’s and early 80’s know what I mean.

Inflation is an insidious thing…it devalues what you have worked hard to save, assuming you’ve dumped a pile of greenbacks in the bank. This is why you always hear people talking about ‘tangibles’. A ten dollar bill may only be worth nine dollars next year, but a Glock 17 will still be worth..a Glock 17 next year. If only there was some sort of compact form of wealth that would keep its value over time against inflation.

Fortunately, most of us arent on fixed incomes (yet), so we can roll with the inflationary punches a little bit. But the smart move, in my uneducated opinion, is to to buy any big-ticket items you’ve had your eye on sooner rather than later. (Assuming they are in stock and not subject to ‘supply chain issues’.) Why? Because it’s just gonna be more expensive later.

Oh, and before I forget, someone is actually coming out with a literal gold-backed currency. No, seriously, the bill is imbued with a specific weight of gold. I’m curious if stetting the bill on fire would result a small pile of ash and a residual tiny couple flecks of gold. No doubt this will got he way of the Liberty Dollar but the idea is clever. Paper notes that are actually gold.

 

 

 

Can do

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One of the things like about pressure cooking something is that it takes the toughest hunk of meat and turns it into -cut-it-with-a-fork tenderness. Pressure is also how you can meat. So, if you can meat you are going to , de facto, turn whatever meat you are canning into nice, tender chunks.

I went ahead and bought a tray of stew meat from CostCo the other day to experiment on. First off, I’m never doing that again. It would have been about a buck a pound cheaper to have bought the base meat and cut it up myself.

However, the results were rather nice. I had two jars that did not seal properly so I’m using those over the next few days and I’m pleased with the results. I had browned the meat rather thoroughly before canning and I snuck a chunk or two for my own immediate consumption. And it was…tough. Chewy. Not exactly what you would call tender. After the canning process, however….perfect.

So, I guess I’ll keep my eyes open for deals on roasts or other cuts that can easily be cut up into pint-jar-sized bits for stew, stir fry, and the like.

By the by, I used my supermegaawesome All American Canner. Bought it new years ago and in has never given me a lick of trouble. And it holds a lot of jars. Yeah, you can pay a lot less and get the Presto or something similar. And it’ll work. But for capacity, quality, and long-term, the gasket-less AA is the way to go. Pay once, cry once, and then go can all the things.

Speaking of, as you know, canning lids are a bit hard to find these days (or they were, anyway).And while canning lids should be something you have in, literally, case quantities, don’t overlook the fact that those jars don’t last forever. If the rim gets nicked? Can’t use. And they do break. While they are obviously quite reusable, and a bit bulky to store, you really do need hundreds of them. If you canned something in a one-pint jar…which is not a huge amount of food…you’d need 365 of those jars for just one year. And thats assuming no jars get nicked, broken, or otherwise damaged. On the bright side, the jars store well – stick ’em in a cabinet and forget about them.

I like commercially canned meats for long term storage simply for convenience and durability…I’m more comfortable throwing a ‘tin can’ of meat into a pack and running out the door than a glass jar. But thats an expensive way to live and for a static location that has good storage space, why not use the glass jars?

And for those of you with no canning experience…it isn’t rocket science. The technology was developed for Napoleon’s armies so that means it’s so simple a Frenchman can do it. Go get the big Ball book of canning and give it a read.

Article – Defense Against Bears with Pistols: 97% Success rate, 37 incidents by Caliber

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I engaged in a search for instances where pistols were used to defend against bears. I and my associates have found 37 instances that are fairly easily confirmed. The earliest happened in 1987, the latest mere months ago. The incidents are heavily weighted toward the present, as the ability to publish and search for these incidents has increased, along with increases in bear and human populations, and the carry of pistols.

The 37 cases include one that can fairly be described as a “failure”.

Living in western Montana means bears (and mountain lions, some wolves, maybe a wendigo or sasquatch). I don’t get out in the hills nearly as much as I used to, or want to, but in over 35 years I have run into bears exactly twice. First time I had my HiPower with me and I did, in fact, feel undergunned. (Although the accompanying article shows that FMJ 9mm actually acquits itself nicely.) Second time I had a rifle and felt a bit more confident.

Most people’s knee-jerk reaction to bears is a .44 pistol and I’m no different. I picked up a lovely limited-edition Ruger specifically for bearbusting. What I think is a better choice is a Glock 10mm longslide….the Model 40. While .44 Mag is no slouch, the G40 holds two-and-a-half times the capacity at less weight. But, really, any gun is better than no gun.

The article goes on to mention that handguns succeeded in stopping bear attacks in about 97% of the reported cases. In several the human simply fired a round or two two scare the bruin away…in others, the bear had to be dissuaded in a more terminal way.

Bear spray? I met the guy who invented it years ago. True story: for a while the bear spray could not be marketed as such because it had not been proven to be ‘safe’ to use on bears. BUT it could be sold as people spray for use against criminals because there was no requirement to show it was safe to use against humans.

I seldom carry bear spray. I already have too much crap hanging off me when I’m running around in the woods. I’m not inclined to do an escalation of force in the few seconds I have between being a bears target and being a bears lunch. I ‘d go straight to the nuclear hand grenade if I had one. Until I get my Glock20 I’ll carry the Ruger .44 with some rather penetrative hard cast bullets.

For those of you who wonder about the efficacy of handguns vs. bears this article should prove interesting. But, keep in mind that a handgun is never the first choice if you have the option of using your rifle.

 

Now Im curious what Plan B is

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This is interesting, if a bit sobering. It’s a simulation of a conventional war going nuclear.

This four-minute audio-visual piece is based on independent assessments of current U.S. and Russian force postures, nuclear war plans, and nuclear weapons targets. It uses extensive data sets of the nuclear weapons currently deployed, weapon yields, and possible targets for particular weapons, as well as the order of battle estimating which weapons go to which targets in which order in which phase of the war to show the evolution of the nuclear conflict from tactical, to strategic to city-targeting phases.

(H/T to RobertaX for the above information)

Do I think something like what is going on in Russia will lead to a big nukefest like in this video? No, I do not. I have always firmly believed that the next time someone opens up a can of nuclear whoopass it will either be some terrorist group with a stolen nuclear artillery shell from a collapsed Soviet Union, or, it’ll be two smaller powers settling long-standing grudges (India v. Pakistan, Israel v…well..everyone, etc.)

Nonetheless, the possibility does exist and as such it’s probably not a bad idea to pivot your preps a little in that direction. Dean Ing’s book ‘Pulling Through’ tells the fictional story of a family hiding out in a basement for two weeks waiting for the fallout to drop, and the movie ‘Threads’ will stir you so deeply that you’ll rent a Uhaul and go loot your local WalMart pre-emptively.

I remember back in the 80’s actually going to my library and doing this sort of research on my own. Fascinating how the times have changed to the point that I can get all that info without the days and days of prowling the stacks of government bulletins and reports.

By the way, I am notoriously wrong when it comes to predicting the future. But…war doesn’t make economic sense. Sun Tzu said the greatest victory is the battle you do not have to fight. Quark says that you should never spend more than you need to for an acquisition..If Putin can get what he wants when the price is low, that is to say without having to spend men and treasure, he’s going to do that. If Ukraine can get what it wants when the price is low, that is to say without being invaded or occupied, theyre going to do that. We’ll see if I’m wrong, but I see this going the way of the Cuban Missile Crisis…backroom and back-channel deals are made to nip things in thebud before they get too out of control.

Goalkeeping

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My financial goals are usually pretty simple – increase amount of money in a particular account or fund by xx%. For 2022 my goal was to increase my emergency fund by 50%. I figured that might take me into the summer or late fall before I achieved that. But, 12000 rounds of .30-06 and .50 BMG later, I seem to have hit my goal 11 months early. Go me! So that frees up money I was allocating towards that goal to now be free to go to other things. Like what? Well, increase my HSA, gold, and silver stash by 50% also. And when that’s done, funnel every penny into getting that piece of land later this year. That’ll be the major accomplishment if I can pull that off.

If interest rates are indeed going up, then I am hoping that the real estate market will cool a bit and prices will come down to unreasonable from their current high of what-the-hell-are-you-thinking.

And, fortuitously, I got a raise at work so I can have a little more every paycheck to tuck away into things like gold and silver. I’d thought about keeping my emergency fund in gold to protect it from inflation but when you need your toilet back in working order right now, that is not the time to find out what plumber does and does not take 1/10 Eagles.

I know that financial stuff isn’t nearly a sexy and fun as gear-and-gun stuff. But…it’s gotta get done. Bunkers just don’t finance themselves. And 90% of the diasaters you and I are likely to face in the immediate future are resolved with fifty dollar bills rather than .50 BMG.

Article – Scientists used computer to predict exactly when society will collapse in 21st century

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Scientists during the 1970s used a computer and observations on changing trends to predict exactly when society would collapse.

The scientific observation was carried out by a group of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) more than five decades ago.

According to their findings, the prediction made was that society would crumble near the midpoint of the 21st century in 2040.

…….

In 2009, a different team of researchers did a similar study which American Scientist published.

They issued that the model’s results were “almost exactly on course some 35 years later” – with a few appropriate assumptions.

The predictions have not been invalidated and appear to be quite on target.

As I’ve said, more than once, unless you’re the guy who actually has his finger on the Big Red Button no one can say with any real authority when the end of the world is going to happen. It can happen over a length of time that is measured in years, or it can happen in a literal instant/ No one knows. Of course, you can observe events and come to your own conclusions about the likelihood of things happening and when, but normally … no, no one knows.

While I recognize that at any moment the Yellowstone volcano can go off, an asteroid may hit, or Wuhan Flu may evolve into a species-killer….the horse I’ve got money on is ‘Economic turbulence’ to win.

Fortunately, many perperations cover multiple forms of apocalypse….whether its the return of Xenu, a comet strike, or invasion by China you’ll still need the basics like food, water, ammo, meds, etc. So, while one size does not fit all, there is a lot of cross-apocalypse preps to be tucked away.

I’ve been hearing about the end of the world my entire adult life…it was the Soviets, Y2k, Bird flu, SARS, terrorism, peak oil, etc, etc….and yet I’m still here. But even a broken calendar is right once a year so…I keep living that quiet-yet-tactical life. haven’t really had much reason to regret it yet.

Not time to break the glass yet

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You pull the trigger too soon and you have that awkwardness of trying to get your job back after you quit to run for the hills. Pull the trigger too late and you’re trapped with the sheep. How do you look at the news and what’s going on around you and decide when the time is to quit the job, yank out the IRA, spend the mortgage payment on canned goods, leave the bills in the mailbox, load the truck, and head for the hills?

Its a tough call….if I knew with 100% absolute certainty that tomorrow at noon a hot World War III was gonna kick off with nukes and all the trimmings, I would…not show up for work, not pay my bills, abandon my mundane obligations, pack my gear, and head for the Beta Site. Wouldn’t you?

Now, lets say that sort of thing happens and….you’re wrong. Well, crap…you really burned a few bridges there, didn’t you. Not the least of which is getting your job back that you abandoned.

So, now comes the real problem: you want to be sensitive enough to whats going on around you that you recognize the triggers of the ‘preppers point of no return’ so you can beat the Golden Horde before they clog up the WalMarts and interstates..but…you want to be realistic enough to not go full Burt Gummer in what turns out to be a false alarm.

I’ve seen this before, several times. Most notably Y2k where people burned a lot of bridges…sold prime property, cashed out retirement, etc, etc, to buy food and wasteland in the desert to drop a trailer on because they were convinced that ‘this is it!’. And….it wasn’t. Or people who were convinced the Fukishima power plant was going to poison the atmosphere, or some oil well explosion would taint the oceans forever with some microbial sludge dredged up from the center of the earth, or Obama was going unleash UN troops to bring in black helicopters…you get the idea. Short version: Pretty much everything you hear about on Coast to Coast AM never happened.

Current situation? Lets see – inflation, shortages, high gas prices, pandemic, race issues, balkanized population, polarized politics, Russians doing Russian stuff, etc, etc. And, from what I see on the internet, it appears some of the more….committed….survivalists are saying ‘this is it!’

My opinion, which is worth exactly what you paid for it, is that this isn’t it. It is my highly unprofessional opinion that this isnt the time to write off the career, mortgage, and life that you’ve built so far and head to the hills. That time may be coming, but this isn’t it. What it is, however, is a time to bump yourself up a notch or two in terms of situational awareness. Is not time to head for the exits, but it might be time to make note of where they are and what the shortest route to them is.

It’s kind of a joke but:

There have been a lot of moments in the last thirty years that had people saying “this is is it!” and…it wasn’t it. Not even close. I’m not saying everything is going to be fine, or that there aren’t things that are concerning. I’m simply saying that I dont think we are at the point where you throw away your ‘normal’ life and head for the hills. Remember that ‘In Case Of Emergency, Break Glass’ that we used to see on fire extinguishers or alarms? Well, IMHO, its nowhere near time to break that glass yet.

Of course, it helps if you live a life of half-in-half-out of the normal and preparedness world. Maybe you already live at your bugout location. Or you’ve already gotten 90% of our preps amassed. Or you already live a life of constant vigilance and self-reliance. Honestly, thats the best way to go, in my opinion – not a hundred percent Burt Gummer, but not a hundred percent soccer mom. Rather you live half in each world at any given moment with the ability to go one hundred percent into whichever one is right at the moment.

For now, I’m the person straddling the line between lifestyles. Half the time I’m the corporate 9-to-5, paying bills, watching movies, eating fast food, and shopping at CostCo. The other half of the time Im stacking ammo cans, buying storage food, checking batteries, networking with like-minded people, filling gas cans, etc. I think thats the best place to be right now. If it goes in one direction, I’m ready to commit to that lifestyle; and if it goes in the other direction, I’m well set to operate in that one as well.

Interesting times, indeed.