Tucking away magazines for the uncertain future…..
Tuck ’em into an ammo can, seal it up, stencil a number on it, update the spreadsheet and off it goes. See you at the boogaloo, my little friends.
Putting away for the Rainy Day
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Tag Archives: stockpiling
Offsite….just in case
I was talking with Guido here in the office yesterday about Trump’s ear-piercing. He said, “..yeah if we were out shopping or on the road and I heard that news the he’d been killed I’d have said ‘lets go. Back to the house. Now. Some crap is going to go down.”
Curious, I asked him what he would do in a situation like that. “Dude..we’d probably head to her parents. They have a piece of land outside of town. We could stay there if we needed to.”
Interesting.
“You know”, I said, “If you really believe thats what you’d do, you might want to think about getting one of those big black-n-yellow storage tubs from CostCo and put some stuff in there…change of clothes, toiletries, dog stuff, a pistol, y’know…that sort of thing. Pre-stage it up there so it’s one less thing to worry about. Have your ducks in a row.”
Even if youre not an end-of-the-world kinda guy, this sort of planning has utility. Let’s say an event happens…forest fire, hurricane, tornado, etc….and, for whatever reason, you have to leave your nicely stocked and fortified home. Maybe you’ve got your little bugout location all prepped and awaiting your arrival. Great. But what if you can’t get to it? Or you don’t have such an option? For many of us that means asking family/friends outside the danger zone if we can crash with them for a few days until things blow over.
If your friends/family are like-minded individuals, then you’ve got a pretty good situation going on. If theyre not, well, blood is thicker than water so maybe they’ll let you couch surf for a few days.
But, what makes it a far easier experience for both host and guest is if the guest has their own supplies and gear so they don’t put out their host, who may already be operating under stressful circumstances if the disaster that affected you is affecting them as well. For example, if an earthquake knocked down your neighborhood and you’re staying with your sister and her family a mile away, her place, though still standing, may be without power..or water…so whatever you can do to ease the situation is gonna go a long way towards making you a more welcome guest.
All this to say that it isn’t the dumbest idea in the world to grab a big ol’ tote or two and stuff in some clothes, toiletries, batteries, flashlights, food, pistol, ammo, medstuff, and other essentials and tuck them away where you might need them if you have to beat feet from your primary location and cant get to your secondary (or don’t have a secondary).
Look, I’m a somewhat squared away guy and I have enough ‘extra’ that a houseguest or two isn’t going to be a practical problem. But it’s a far less problem if they come with food, fuel, sleeping gear, a folding cot, toiletries, fuel, water, etc, etc.
If things come crashing down and your plan is to head to Uncle Bob’s cabin or your brothers ranch? Start staging some stuff there, man. Ask if when a crisis happens, can you come to their place for a short stay? Emphasize that you’d like to preposition a couple totes in the basement or garage or attic of stuff so they don’t have to treat you like a welfare case.
It’s nice to think that if we had to leave the security and safety of our home we would have time to grab a dozen totes, pile them into the truck, and head to the Beta Site. But thats a best-case scenario and those almost never happen. Think more along the lines of you’re at CostCo and the way to your return home is cut off….bridge collapse, train derailment, roadblocks, ground fissures, rockslides, whatever….going home has suddenly stopped being an option. Nice to know you can head over to buddy Steve’s where you know theres clean clothes in your size, toiletries, food, a cot, a radio, extra cash and cards, and that sort of thing waiting for you in those boxes you left there last time you guys got together for a fishing trip.
Depending on the nature of your work, you can use your workplace for this sort of emergency caching. Maybe you own your own business and have a big steel building with a fence around it. Nothing says you cant keep a couple footlockers full of goodies in a corner of the warehouse, maybe a few five-gallon jugs of gas and water, and have that as your off-site resupply.
If you’re really dialed in, and you can afford it, you might go one or two levels of redundancy on this sort of thing. Identical stashes at dad’s cabin and at Steve’s house. Potentially an expensive way to do things but if the situation ever calls for such measures…well…the last thing you’ll be thinking about is what it cost.
Anyway, just something to think about as we continue our descent into clownworld.
Buying
There’s just never a shortage of things to spend money on these days. Usually, based on my previous history, when an election year rolls around I wind up spending a fair amount of coin on things like AR lowers and standard-capacity magazines. Having done this for several election cycles now, I’m reasonably comfortable with what I have in terms of those items that I no longer feel the need to panic-buy more…although I want to.
But, the world is, hands down, a more dangerous place these days. I know that, for myself, my level of concern for my safety and security has been elevated for the last couple years. We see it on the news all the time — stuffs gettin’ weird. That weirdness can be distant, like Russia/Ukraine/Hamas/Israel…or it can be local, like homeless camps, home invasions, and impending layoffs. Pick your apocalypse, there’s plenty to choose from.
So, rather than just picking up the phone and ordering another couple cases of Magpuls, I’m trying to be more targeted and discrete in my approach. Take, for example, my recent purchase of a light-compatible holster… It’s something I’ve been wanting for a while but it was always a case of “someday’. Yeah, well, someday is now because it’s a weird world out there we’re in. So I’m really just filling all sorts of gaps in logistical, tactical, and strategic quarters. What does that look like? Well, I’ve got a dry erase board up on my fridge with a list that reads like this: Glock armorers tools, Glock threaded barrel, Glock night sights, ACOG TA-44, propane bottles, 10mm dies, part #121G, Magpul sights, Beretta G conversion, MP5 mag clamps, (more) .223 ammo, etc, etc. It’s a bit of a list. But its a plan..and without a plan you wind up throwing resources around in a very inefficient manner.
And, of course, there’s still that little bugaboo that has been dogging me for years – a chunk of dirt. (Still haven’t seen the perfect place within my price range yet…but I’m being patient and adding to the war chest.)
It’s not an economically easy thing, this whole being a survivalist thing… but, I suppose I’d rather have these things (and their related expense) when I need them rather than the alternative.
Need to inventory
I need to do some inventory this month. I’ve been a bit lax about adding things to the preponomicom and I simply cannot afford to be caught unprepared (or overprepared) given how it seems like everything in the country is in some sort of race to Third world lifestyle.
By the way, how can you be overprepared, you ask? Simple….you inadvertently acquire more of something than you could realistically need and that commitment of resources prevents you from being prepared elsewhere.
I’m reasonably confident that the future of me needing to use my preps does not look like Red Dawn, Jericho, Last of Us, or Walking Dead. I am more inclined to believe it looks more like …what it is now – inflation, scarcity, violent crime, homelessness, reckless government, and that sort of thing.
I know I keep saying it, but it’s true: Your likelihood of being in an emergency that requires remediation using $50 bills is magnitudes of order greater than being in an emergency that requires remediation using .50 BMG.
Not saying it won’t or can’t happen the other way, just saying that my experience says the odds favor the personal EOTWAWKI occurring more than it does the civilization-wide one.
A personal EOTWAWKI is something that directly impacts you a lot more than it impacts society as a whole. Job loss. Health crisis. Divorce. A close death. Bankruptcy. House fire. These are all things that bring your life to a screeching halt but barely make a blip on the radar of anyone outside your immediate circle. Those are the things that will happen far more often than UN troops going door-to-door giving forced Covid vaccinations.
So..I need to print out the preponomicon, grab a clipboard, and hit the shelves. Its a not unpleasant way to spend the afternoon when it’s 95 degrees outside. Hanging out in a cool basement working on that warm fuzzy feeling from knowing you can take care of your needs for the next year or so……not a bad way to spend a few hours.
Article – Drug Shortages Approach an All-Time High, Leading to Rationing
Remember when things like drug shortages were things that happened in Third World and Soviet satellite countries?
I’m lucky, I suppose, in that I don’t need any particular medication to keep my quality of life where it is. No insulin, no high blood pressure meds, none of that sort of thing. Sure, there are times I eat ibuprofin like M&M’s, but other than that….
And, fortunately, any meds I do want to keep on hand are all over the counter so I can keep a pretty generous supply around. Sure, maybe they lose a bit of efficacy after a few years but so what? Just up the dosage. I’d rather face a cracked rib with five year old Tylenol and Advil than I would without. Drugs that only deliver 85% of their effectiveness is orders of magnitude better than the 0% afforded by not having drugs at all.
Moral of the story: while you’re stacking up the .223 and 9mm, the freeze drieds and AA batteries, the water filters and toilet paper….stock up on the OTC stuff (and first aid as well) because thanks to Brandon we are, apparently, dipping our toes into the warm water of neo-Soviet supply issues.
Lotsa lids locally
A few months back it seemed like you could not find canning lids for love nor money. As it turned out, from what I’ve read, US made canning lids are basically made at only one or two facilities and then sold to the major canning suppliers to be rebranded. Much like how, I am told, there are only a half dozen outfits that actually make AR lowers for all the various brands you see out there.
I was tooling around in the supermarket the other day and, interestingly, there was no shortage of canning lids and other canning supplies. Did the supply chain get caught up? Did the ‘panic’ die down? Probably a combination of both. But much like the Great Primer Scare of the 90’s, it’s a good lesson of how something can go from plentiful to unobtainium in the blink of a news report.
I have no doubt people will populate the comments section with tales of how theyve reused canning lids dozens of times, or that they use the reusable brand of lids and have had barely a hiccup.
This may be true. But its not ideal. As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to jar lids for canning the first choice, by a large margin, are brand new US-made lids from a reputable manufacturer. And I don’t mind spending the money to do that. “But what will you do when you run out of lids?” Well, my first order of business is to have enough of them on hand that this sort of thing is pushed down the ranks of statistical likelihood. The same question could be asked about the guy with the reusable lids….what will you do when they finally get damaged or worn enough that they arent safe to use? Their response will, no doubt, be “that’ll take years”. Well, guess what, I’m buying an equivalent amount of years worth of lids.
I actually don’t can very much at all. Its only in the last year that I’ve started canning some of the meat purchases rather thatn tuck them in the freezer. Prior to that the only things I canned were the occasional gumbo or soup. However, there is an undeniable convenience to having jars of food ready-to-go when you’re hungry. Nothing to thaw and in a pinch you can always eat the room temperature contents without heating.
As Bidenflation continues to screw with food prices (Thanks Brandon!) it makes more sense to, when you find a good deal, capitalize on it and preserve it for that later day when its either unavailable or priced out of your range (either due to job loss or wild inflation). And to do that…lids.
If you’re that rare survivalist who isn’t knowledgeable or informed on the how-to’s of canning, or you’ve just been too intimidated by the process, you really should invest a few bucks and take a swing at it. It’s a marvelous way to preserve food long term without the expense of a freeze dryer or the liability of a blackout-vulnerable freezer.
Recommended reading: Ball Book on Canning
Recommended canner: Anything from All American
Those All-Americans, by the way, are not cheap but it is a buy-once-cry-once sort of thing. Yes, you can buy a Presto or Mirro cheaper but the sheer ruggedness of the AA, and its gasketless design, will pay dividends down the road.
But you know what? Even if you don’t can, pick up a buncha lids because its one of those rare consumer products like matches and .22 rimfire that are cheap to buy, cheap to store, and have virtually no real adequate substitutes that you can make at home.
Article -In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything
An interesting read on what you have to deal with when the nearest Trader Joe’s, HEB, or Safeway is hundreds (or thousands) of miles away.
Have you actually done menu planning for The End Of The World? I mean, I know you’ve got all sorts of stored food, but have you actually thought about what a particular meal, say breakfast, would look like? I have. For me, breakfast looks like the following:
- Oatmeal, Cream of What, Cornmeal porridge
- Scrambled eggs
- Hash browns
- Corned beef hash
- Pork chops
- Orange drink
- Biscuits
- Strawberries, blueberries, bananas
- Instant milk
Thats actually a better breakfast than what I eat now. See, it isn’t enough to just throw back an assortment of storage food. You have to give some thought to what sort of menus youre going to be looking at. How many different breakfasts can you do? Lunches? Sinners? Snacks?
For some ideas, I have always recommended this website and it’s very impressive list of ‘storage food recipes’: http://safelygatheredin2.blogspot.com/2008/11/alphabetical-recipe-list.html
But the important thing to take away from the article listed above is that you have to plan out what your meals will be if you have any hope of efficiently and economically getting your food storage squared away. Go plan a weeks worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. How many ingredients ‘cross over’ to other meals? Figure it out, get the most variety and utility from the least amount of items. Its a good exercise.
Bargains — $5 AK mags
You know I love you crazy, prepping deplorables, right? Well, I do. Most of you, anyway. But…as much as I love you, I need to put my needs first. Thats why when I come across a bargain I don’t share it until I’ve taken my bite. Once thats done, its a free for all. Case in point:
A Friend of The Blog ™ and fellow blogger tipped me off to this deal:
AC Unity (Bosnia and Herzegovina..screw it, just call them Yugoslovian) AK mags in 30- and 40-rd capacity for a mere $5 ea.
20-PACK GERMAN MARKET AC AK47 30RD MAGS, UNDER $5 EACH
20-PACK GERMAN MARKET AC AK47 40RD MAGS, UNDER $5 EACH
While I respect the AK platform, I’m an AR guy. And, somehow, I’ve managed to wind up with a handful of AK’s as of late. Well, might as well get mags for them, right? I ordered a hundred of these, a mix of 30- and 40-rd, and they arrived today. They seem to fit well enough, and they have metal reinforcements at the magazine contact points (nose for the ‘rock in’, and rear for the magazine latch.) For $5 a mag, theyre a nice hedge against the looming bans.
I went long on AK mags a few years ago when those Korean-made AK mags were coming in. Good mags, although the metal was thinner than youre average Chinese mag. Worked fine though and the price was right. These are even cheaper. Go grab a few and tuck ’em back in the attic or basement for that rainy day. Or buy a bunch and resell them for a couple hundred percent profit. Either way, not a lot of reasons not to drop a hundred bucks (or more) on this.
Rotating and reminiscing
One of the cool things about being a survivalist (or, at least, a moderately prepared survivalist) is that your stockpiles become snapshots of the economy in different periods of time. For example, today I rotated out some canned tomatoes. Tomatoes, because of their high acidity, need to be rotated fairly frequently….a couple years is about all I’m willing to trust in a metal can (even lined ones). In glass jars is a different story, but for cans….a couple years, tops.
So, I headed up to WinCo, cornered the grocery manager, and asked him to order me up a few cases of my preferred tomatoes. As I was swapping them out with the previously stored ones, I could not help but notice:
As you can see from the image, these were purchased at CostCo in 2020. $5.99 for eight cans. Thats $6 divided by eight. That comes out to seventy-five cents per can. Todays cost at WinCo? 66% more per can. Must be that Putinflation that Dopey Joe keeps deflecting to.
Get used to it.
And, while I was at Winco, I checked for remaindered meat. WinCo doesn’t discount as much as Albertson’s used to, but they will discount by 30% when meats are approaching their ‘use by’ date. Me, I’m a big fan of animal protein, so I cleaned ’em out on small breakfast-type steaks. These’ll get vacuum sealed and put away in the deep freeze for use in the coming economic disaster….which means I’ll probably be eating them next month.
Canning stuff
I have all the things necessary for home canning, and I do occasionally engage in the practice. I don’t do it often because I don’t really have much need to…after all, I can always buy commercially canned vegetables and meats at pretty much any grocery. However, just because I can do something today doesn’t mean I’ll be able to do it tomorrow. Also, sometimes I cook stuff that I rather like (bunker gumbo ) and like to have some of it sitting on the shelf for a quick meal. And, of course, when the wheels really fly off civilization and the electricity becomes a pleasant memory, I’ll have a whole freezerfull of meat that needs to suddenly be repackaged in a shelf stable manner. Canning lets me do that. And, if you’re the type with a big garden and good hunting skills, canning lets you put a lot of food away at very reasonable prices.
Anyway, I was in the local independent supermarket getting my lunch at work the other day and as I walked by the aisle where they keep the home canning stuff I saw these:
A couple cases of wide-mouth lids. And not that cheap Chinese-made crap that has been showing up on the market:
Seriously…if you’re willing to purchase this crap because it’s $2 cheaper than Ball or Kerr, you deserve the problems that are going to come from these things. From what I’ve read they don’t seal well, don’t hold seal well, are spotty in the application of adhesive, and tend to buckle. Sure, their availability may be better than Ball or Kerr, but if you have to throw away the food, or make three attempts to get a good seal, or worst of all, go into your pantry six months from now and find a jar of what looks like vomit, was it really worth the ‘savings’?
Being a good survivalist, I spoke to a few LMI and asked if they needed any lids. Why not? If the world is going to sink into another World War or Great Depression then I want those people to have every advantage possible. Short version: I want a world with more of them and less of everyone else. Brutal, but true.
One person mentioned that they hadn’t ‘gotten into’ canning yet. Picked a hell of a time to start, I told him. He said he was waiting for a course at the continuing education facility to be offered. Dude, it ain’t rocket science and time may 9or may not) be of the essence. So, for those of you who haven’t experienced the joy of filling your kitchen with heat and steam, here’s youre shopping list:
Information…don’t start a trip without a map. There are plenty of good books on the subject, the one I use and recommend is:
Read it, read it again, and then flip through it another time. Nothing magical about canning…anyone can do it. But spoiled food is dangerous ‘food’ and you really want to pay attention to what you’re doing,. It’s no different than reloading ammo in that regard…it isn’t difficult, but you do want to pay attention.
I like the pressure canning, which is necessary to can meat or any food that contains meat (sauces, stews, etc.). This is gonna be the most expensive part of the process. Just resign yourself to spending the money and know that this thing will literally last you the rest of your life. It doesn’t use a gasket so if you’re concerned about replacement part availability, this is a great choice. I use this particular model:
Yes, not cheap. But I’ve had mine for a long time and haven’t had a lick of trouble from it. This particular package comes with tools that you’ll want….lid lifter, jar lifter, spatula, food funnel, etc. One-stop shopping. But this baby will let you can everything and in large quantities. Its big and heavy, so no glasstop ranges for this monster.
After that, its time for lids, jars, and bands. Most any hardware store (during normal times) will have them. You can’t have too many. Jars are reusable as long as they aren’t chipped at the mouth. Bands are reusable. Lids are not. Yes, some people reuse them. I don’t. Food poisoning is not worth trying to save $1 by reusing a lid or two. I don’t have the time to investigate every brand out there so I usually just stick to Ball as my first choice and then Kerr. Lots of people ‘inherit’ jars from grandma or some great aunt’s estate…thats fine but inspect them thoroughly for chips or damage.
All this stuff will fit in a large plastic tote that can sit on your basement shelving when you’re not using the canner. Find a great deal on meat? Can it. Neighbors had a bumper crop of tomatoes or something? Can ’em. Made a huge batch of vegetable beef soup and want the convenience of just heat-n-eat out of a jar? Fire up the canner.
As I said, I don’t do much gardening these days but I do hunt for bargains on meat. And when I do find a deal on meat canning it saves me freezer space, is convenient, and allows me to store a good bit of animal protein against whatever is coming. And if nothing happens? Well, it’ll still taste just fine and I’ll have saved a buncha cash.
