Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

This arrived in email today:

#10 CANS ARE BACK

To place an order click here or go to

www.mountainhouse.com

“FREE”
Mountain Oven Flameless Heating Kit
with any $25.00 order

“Thank you for your support and patience during these last several months. We really appreciate your business!”

Sincerely,

OREGON FREEZE DRY INC.
CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT
1-800-547-0244

Thats the good news. The bad news is that MH has apparently decided that you can order pouches of product all day long but they are going to guard their #10-packaged product like it was gold. Dealer requirements, minimum pricing and , of course, a new pricing schedule.

Heres part of the dealer pricing program info:

I am pleased to let you know that we can start taking #10 can orders
from you again. You do not need to re-apply based on our phone
conversation. However, I have two things I need to let you know about:

Pricing – We did have a price increase on our cans. We will need you
to update all of your pricing based on the attached price list.

Discounting – We no longer allow any discounting on our #10 cans,
except for short sales as explained in the policy. I have attached the
policy in regards to our can pricing. We will need this policy letter
signed and sent back to us prior to your first order. In addition, as
stated in our new policy, we will allow short sales 3x a year on our cans.
However, we must have a sale event form sent to us prior to the sale.
I have attached that form as well.

Please note that we are strongly enforcing this policy and those not
following the new policy, their account will be suspended immediately.

Thank you so much for your patience during these last 3 months. I know
it has been hard to adjust and we are continuing to do everything we
can to stay ahead of cans.

What are those policies? Lets look:

Effective September 1, 2008

Oregon Freeze Dry requires retailers selling Mountain House products to maintain a high level of service quality, product knowledge and professionalism.

Oregon Freeze Dry has determined that resale of Mountain House products below the Suggested Retail Price has a negative impact on its goal of maintaining retailer service, quality, product knowledge and professionalism, reduces consumer satisfaction with Mountain House products and damages the image of Mountain House. Accordingly, it is the policy of Oregon Freeze Dry that Mountain House products be marketed and sold for no less than the Suggested Retail Price, except for short periodic sales and promotions, as described below.

Failure of any dealer to comply with this Minimum Retail Price Program will result in cancellation of existing orders without prior notice and/or termination or suspension of the dealer relationship.

Please be additionally advised:
Ø Mountain House staff monitors the worldwide web regularly and enforces this agreement strictly.
Ø Mountain House publishes the Suggested Minimum Retail Price and it is available on the Mountain House printed price list.
Ø This policy does not apply to product or special packs, which have been discontinued or sold as excess or over runs.

Periodic Sales and Promotion Guidelines:
Ø Maximum of 3 sales per year allowed
Ø A discount is not to exceed 25% off SRP
Ø A sale can not exceed 14 days in length
Ø An official “Sale Event Notice Form” must be filled out and submitted to Mountain House prior to any sale event

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT

By signing below, you acknowledge your receipt of the Oregon Freeze Dry Minimum Retail Price Program Policy:
Account Name:
Account Signature:
Date:

Amazing, isn’t it? Im a firm believer in free enterprise so, to me, once you buy a product from your vendor you should be free to re-sell that product however you want. On the other hand, these guys are, generally, the only game in town so playing ball by their rules is kind of necessary.

I’m on the fence about whether Im going to go through all this effort and headache to put together another group purchase. Last year I needed at least $2000 to get the free shipping, so we’ll see if theyre at least still offering that. They have added some new products but I dont really need more freezedrieds although Id like to have some more to round out the current stockpile. Guess I’ll just see how things go and see if any of the local LMI have any interest. Local LMI, and you know who you are, can check with me at your convenience.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I received a comment to an earlier post and it had some math in it, calculating that 5,000 rounds of .308 ammo would cost about $2500~. (The 5000 rounds was based on the persons idea of what was a good amount to keep on hand…your mileage may vary on that one.)

$2500 is a lot of money to come up with at once. Some of use won’t have too much trouble doing it (that would be the evil ‘yuppie’ survivalists..you know, the people that actually got real jobs), some of us will have to do it over time (raises hand in the air…hello), and some will laugh hysterically and sneer that we’re fools since that $2500 would buy us the entire Bulgarian military’s supply of 7.62×54R for the $70 Mosin Nagants.

As usual, theres a middle ground.

How much ammo do I have? Honestly, I have no idea. I have an idea of how much there is at minimum. I know that right now theres at least 18k of ammo in the bunker, not including .22 ammo. Theres actually more than that but once it gets past the ‘minimum amount I like to have on hand’ I don’t worry about it.

Isnt that expensive, you ask? Sure it is….if I bought it all at once. Lets use the 7.62×39 as an example. Back in the good ol’ days that stuff was about $75 a case. So I picked up a case here and there. Six months go by and the price has jumped to $95 a case. I bitch and whine about it and buy another case or two. A year goes by and now its $125 a case. I’m annoyed,  but I buy another case. This goes on for another year or two until finally I’ve got at least 5k of the stuff on hand. Nowadays the stuff is around $225-250 a case. I stopped buying it when it went north of $175.

Do I wish I had just plunked down a grand and bought 10k rounds when it was less than $100 a case? Of course! But I can count the times Ive had $1000 in disposable cash on one hand.

Simply put, for me the best way to buy things that are needed in large quantity is to buy it over time. A case of .223 every year, 2 bricks of .22 every other month, etc, etc. If theres some sort of cash windfall that dumps a lot of money in my pocket (like the gift card I got last month) then I’ll do a big purchase but normally it’s a nickel-n-dime acquisition process. Isnt it cheaper to buy it all at once and get the big bulk discount? Absolutely…if you have the cash. Im lucky if I can divert $100 a month into being prepared. While I may save money if I bought a pallet load of ammo at once, the fact is that if I don’t have the money it wont matter how cheap it is…the money simply isn’t there.

There have, however, been exceptions. The biggest exception has been the group purchase. A few years ago I wanted some Mountain House #10 cans. They aint cheap and although not heavy, they are bulky so shipping was pretty spendy too. The solution was that MH would give free shipping on a $2000 order. So I rounded up a bunch of folks on the internet, collected the money from everyone and made the big purchase. When the palletload of MH showed up I boxed up folks’ orders and sent ‘em out. Everyone, including myself, got a smoking hot deal on the freezedrieds and saved huge amounts of money.

If you can get a few like minded individuals together who have the same needs as yourself you can take advantage of those huge wholesaler-size discounts. Get your buddies together and ask who can kick in $100 (or whatever) towards something all of you need (like spare magazines, ammo, lithium batteries, body armour plates, knives, etc, etc.) If you’re really disciplined, and really on the same page…you and your buddies could ‘collect’ from each other every month towards a common goal. Maybe everyone chips in $50 a month and at the end of the year you go into a big purchase on a bulk package of ammo, surplus rifles or the like. Tricky business though…us preparedness types tend to be very individualistic and getting us all to agree and act on a plan of action can fit the definition of cat herding.

Every so often someone posts about whether they should go into debt to finance their preparedness. Its an attractive proposition…you max out the American Express card on survival gear and then when you need the survival gear Wall Street no longer exists so you wont have to pay it back. Problem is, TEOTWAWKI isn’t something as predictable as Haileys Comet. There’s some ethical considerations, which I don’t particularly get worked up over but some do. I would say that theres no reason to get into debt for being prepared when you can do what you need to do over time. However, if some absolutely unbelievable deal came down the pike (cases of Wolf 7.62×39 for $50 a case, Mountain House at $5 a can, new Honda generators for $169.95 ea.) then it might not be unreasonable. But, generally speaking, I don’t think you need to go into debt for any of this stuff.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I have, so far, missed not one but two classes on canning that have taken place here in town. The first was a three day course on food preservation, including canning, that was held by the county extension agency. The other was an evening class that was free, but full up, at the local HippieMart. I’m not full of myself enough to believe that I know everything so I would be interested in taking these classes and seeing what I actually do and do not know. However, I was unaware of the three-day class until after the fact and the one at HippieMart apparently filled up early. Maybe next time.
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I see that hurricane Gustav was basically a non-event. In fact, I was reading that authorities are concerned that it will make people less willing to follow a mandatory evacuation next time. I suppose that makes sense. However, I still find it fascinating that some people simply Will. Not. Learn. I would imagine that being forced to shelter at the SuperDome during Katrina would make anyone serious about either getting the hell out of New Orleans or be very prepared for the inevitable hurricane that will come along next time.

However, if theres one thing that comes close to being an absolute truism in this topic, it is that some people are sheep (the sheeple) and will blithely go about their lives doing nothing to increase the odds in their favor. They’re going to make careers out of being victims and I feel only the smallest amount of pity for them. Man jumps out of a plane without a parachute you have to expect he knew what he was getting into and when he hits the ground we’ll wonder why he did such a foolish thing. Same theory. You live in a city that is below sea level, regularly floods, is subject to very predictable and very powerful hurricanes, has already had one epic (and likely repeatable) disaster and you don’t prepare to take care of yourself? That’s like leaving your parachute back at the hangar. You’re poor and on welfare and cant afford a parachute? Then don’t get in the plane. Move out of New Orleans and continue your welfare existence someplace less likely to flood…the food stamps will follow you, so move to Iowa.
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The Farmers Almanac predicts that this will be a very cold winter. Predicting the weather in Montana more than a few days ahead of time is literally the same odds as flipping a coin. “Might rain, might not”. Predicting weather a year in advance ranks right up there with horoscopes and a trip to Lourdes in terms of scientific accuracy. However, better safe then sorry, yes?

I picked up an extra kerosene heater last year and still have about 60 gallons of the stuff in storage so If for whatever reasons we wind up with some sort of problem that precludes use of the normal heating system I think we’ll be okay. Same for cooking and lighting. It’ll be rustic but it’ll beat the heck out of sitting in the cold, dark eating cold Spaghetti-O’s outta the can.

Additionally, theres plenty of extra sleeping bags and blankets in storage in the bunker. Military surplus blankets, if you air them out to get rid of the naptha mothball smell, are excellent values and I recommend them highly. Get a couple ‘blanket’ safety pins and you can fashion a very decent bedroll for yourself.

Historically, in the twenty some-odd years Ive been here in MT I have never seen an outage that affected us for more than eight hours. Sure, other parts of the state that are more rural may be down for days while crews replace lines, but here in town its never been anything near that. No reason not to be prepared though.
=-=-=-=-=
Speaking of cooler weather, its getting close to time to put the cold weather gear back in the truck. You do keep some emergency cold weather gear in your rig during the winter, don’t you? Don’t you?

Fella up in the Big Hole valley got stranded in his truck for about a week. This was about two years ago, I think. Rescuers eventually found him and his dog and although a little hungry they were doing fine, thank you. Why? The fella had some emergency gear in his truck. So he stayed with the vehicle and waited for someone to find him. Happy ending. Contrast that with the stories of families that take wrong turns and wind up on closed seasonal roads and die of exposure after trying to hike out. (And in one case tried to sue the the highway folks for not posting signs that would have warned them to stay off closed roads. Go figure. Another case of blaming everyone else for your own failures.)

By the way, in almost every case of a motorist getting stranded the vehicle is almost always found before the poor slob’s body. So if you get stuck stay with the vehicle. Stay with the vehicle. Stay with the vehicle. And its a lot easier to stay with your vehicle if you have the gear you need.

When the girlfriend was driving back and forth to Helena every weekend during the winter I was, naturally, concerned she’d wind up in a ditch. So, I packed up a Rubbermaid container with MRE’s, water, flashlight, batteries, radio, spare ammo, candle lantern, candles, matches, warm clothes, and that sort of thing for her. Duct taped the whole mess shut so it wouldn’t pop open, and paired it with a military extreme cold weather sleeping bag as well. Took up very little space but gave tremendous peace of mind.

I’m not going to go into the whole ‘winter survival’ spiel. You can Google “winter survival car stuck” and get all the info you will ever need. However, you gotta actually put the crap in the back of the car for it to make any difference. Don’t just think about it, think about it and do it.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Run around the blogs often enough and you get to see the ‘survival guns on a budget’ posts that pop up from time to time. Usually the theme is that you don’t have to spend ‘leventybillion dollars on a ‘yuppie black rifle’ because for only $5.95 you can have a Mosin-Nagant rifle, a single shot 12 ga., and a TokaMakaBersarov pistol. And if you buy it used you’ll only pay $4.95 and have money left over for plenty of surplus ammo.

So…its 4am, the floodwaters are steadily rising, the radio says Katrina is the worst disaster in US history and you’re sitting on your porch keeping an eye open. Down the street you hear a car full of raucous ‘young men’ go by and the sounds of breaking glass and a dog barking. Yelling and shouting follow and then a gunshot or two. After about twenty minutes a car creeps down the street and four sets of eyes hungrily look at your house as they slowly cruise by.

Good time to have saved a few bucks, huh?

Dealer cost on a quality (not assembled on someones kitchen table) Ar-15 is $850. This means that a used one should be about the same price. Used Mossberg 500 shotguns can be had for $150 at a lot of pawn shops and gun shows. A used police trade-in Glock is $400. A trade-in police revolver is half that.

I can appreciate saving money, I’m pretty tight with a buck. But theres also some things that I grit my teeth and shell out the money for because sometimes you just can’t get away with Bob’s Budget Battle Rifles or Steve’s House of Discount Ballistic Nylon. Even the gets-no-respect $175 SKS is, in my opinion, a far better choice than a bolt-action shoulder-beater like the Mosin Nagant. “But my Mosin can shoot through a car from four miles away!”, says the diehard M-N fan. Terrific. And when you find three guys walking up your driveway with baseball bats and hammers you’re going to…get them to line up in a straight line? Bayonet them to death before they crack your skull like a walnut? Maybe you’ll get off a round from your bargain 12 ga. $89.95 H&R singleshot…that’s one down and two to…ouch, hey stop that! Maybe you can save the day with your Norinco TT-33 pistol assuming it works and doesn’t jam on every third round.

Some very simple math. Current federal minimum wage is about $6.55 an hour. This means there is no job you can legally have that will give you less than that. (Or, as one comedian opined, “Minimum wage is your bosses way of saying ‘Id pay you less if I could, but its against the law!”) Assume you lose 15% in taxes, your $6.65 is now about $5.60. Barely a combo meal at Wendy’s, but you’re not supposed to be supporting a family of four on it anyway. You would need about 160 hours to buy a basic quality AR-15. Wanna knock off from work early? Get an SKS for 35 hours. My point is that ‘I cant afford it’ isn’t a very good excuse for equipping yourself with less-than-ideal gear. If you can hurl a newspaper at a doorstep, wash dishes or stock shelves you can, in less than two months, have yourself a good semi-auto rifle, pistol and pump gun.

Is there a place in preparedness for ‘Deep Discount’ guns? Absolutely. They’re good for unexpected guests, as ‘last ditch’ guns far down the list of backups, probably a great choice for turning over to ‘the authorities’ so they don’t look too deep and find your FAL, and they are excellent ‘disposable’ guns for those places that are prone to break-ins and theft (vehicles, remote cabins, etc, etc). But if you had the choice, would they be your first pick if someone told you that tomorrow you’re going to have a home invasion?

If someone were to ask me what to buy, I’d tell them to get an AR or AK, a Rem 870 and a Glock in .40 or 9mm. Get the spare mags and accessories and you’d be better off than 95% of the population when the lights go off and the 911 operator says “you’re on your own”. To me, thats a reasonable setup on the average person’s budget. It represents about $1500. If you’re just not willing to spend the money then get an SKS, a Mossberg 500 and a quality .38/.357 double-action revolver (Ruger, Smith, Taurus, Colt)…thats about 1/3 the price of the previous package, but still a very good little bundle of firepower.

If you can’t afford better, than there is nothing wrong with getting yourself a Mosin Nagant, some cheapo break-open singleshot 12 ga. And a Makarov. But…if you can afford better but refuse to spend the money, then I think you may want to objectively revisit your rationale for those purchases.

A valid question here is “Why three guns? Wouldn’t I be served just fine with only a [pistol/carbine/shotgun]?” That is, I think, a valid question. My reasoning, and your mileage may vary, is that a pistol is great for when I have to be discreetly armed (like when the cops knock on the door, heading down to the Red Cross emergency communications center, when Im standing at the curb chatting with neighbors, etc) but it’s a poor choice for the 4am banging-on-the-door goofed-up gangbangers looking for fast and easy money. The AR or AK is a wonderful choice for that scenario. The shotgun..well, nothing says violent brutality and tell-the-ambulance-guys-they-wont-need-the-siren like a stubby 12 ga. It’s a good option for when the multiple attacker scenario moves in close. So..that’s why three guns – because one gun isn’t the best choice for every situation…I wish it was, it’d save me a lot of money. But the facts don’t bear it out.

Can you spend more? Sure. If you live in a world of ‘money is no object’ or your personal goals and ambitions put you above living in a van down by the river then by all means get yourself a DSA FAL, a Wilson/Scattergun Technologies shotgun and a couple of Glocks. More power to ya.

The bumper sticker saying is “First rule of a gunfight is: have a gun”. And certainly any gun is better than no gun when you have an unplanned violent encounter. However, I think preparing for such eventualities with an eye towards doing it as cheaply as possible seems like shopping for discount parachutes or ‘slightly irregular’ replacement heart valves. You don’t have to spend gobs of money, but you do have to spend some. Suck it up, spend the money, and be done with it so you can move on to other things like food, fuel, shelter, and the like.