justincaseprep-blog

[justincaseprep-blog]

Food for thought

Major food Questions to answer before you fork over the dough

1. Am I bugging in or Out

This question can effect the type of food and how much you will have.  Storing gallon jugs of water and canned food is great for bugging in, but isn’t very helpful when on the move.

2. Am I planning for the zombie apocalypse or the power being out for a few days.  

The base for planning should be at least three days of food and water for everyone in your house, don’t forget pets!  Planning for a few days can be as easy as buying a few extra cans of food every couple of months and rotating them out to freeze dried food and beyond.  Always remember to figure in any water needs for cooking into your plans.  Three days of mountain house will take a lot more water than three days of MRE’s

3.  MRE’s/Freeze Dried/Self Made

All three categories have their pro’s and con’s.  Understanding how those pro’s and con’s fit into your surrounding area and budget are key to making the proper choice. 

MRE’s 

Pro’s - ready to eat, provides accessory pack, self heating, has drinks and snacks

Con’s - can freeze, bulky

Freeze Dried

Pro’s - Light, small, Long shelf life, works in the cold

Con’s - requires heating water to rehydrate, no secondary food or accessories

Self Made

Pro’s - more familiar food, variety, cheaper

Con’s  - shorter shelf life, time consuming

[justincaseprep-blog]

One is the loneliest number Pt 1

A local Prepping community

As a prepper one of the best ways to expand your knowledge is to find a group of preppers in your area.  When you can get together with other people who prep you can pick up tidbits of knowledge from better ways to start your fire to local plants with advantageous properties.  Another huge advantage to having friends in the community is being able to watch and even try a wide variety of gear that you probably wouldn’t normally have access to. 

Finding out that x hatchet is improperly weighted or y knife doesn't fit well in your hands or z water filter is a much better unit that what you use.  Finding a local prepper community can save you money, impart important knowledge, and introduce you to techniques and tools you may not had any knowledge of before.  

[justincaseprep-blog]

Ari’s five rules for Beginners

1. Buy a book.  

When people start prepping most, myself included, get bogged down in the gadgets and gizmos you can buy.  What you find out after a while is that most of the things that those baubles do, with a little knowledge and some time you can do as well and most likely save yourself some money.  Investing wisely in a book or two can help make you survival situation easier as well as imparting some good general knowledge.  The SAS Handbook or Bushcraft 101 books are a great place to start as well as a book on edible plants in your area.

2. You don’t need a really expensive knife

HK, Gerber, Schrade, and Mora all make good fixed blade knives for under $40.  These knives should be good enough to handle most, if not all, bushcraft skills while still being cheap enough to replace if something happens while you’re learning the ropes.

3. Fire starting redundancy 

Starting a fire can get real hard if the weather doesn’t want to cooperate.  Having multiple ways of starting a fire (lighter, matches, Fresnel lens, ferrocerium rod) can give you a better chance of having access to potable water, warmth, and security.

4. Water is Life

Having a way to make water drinkable is something that I think a lot of preppers kind of forget or get caught up in how many guns they can carry.  Having a way to boil water, be it a bit of aluminum foil or a metal canteen bottle can be a life saver.  Filter straws and other forms of water filtration can also keep you from spending your day with the runs.

5. Wait to buy your Bag

When I first started one of the first things I did was buy a big old Condor 3 day assault pack.  When I put every bit of prepping gear I had in it, as well as a bunch of clothes I still had way more room than I needed.  Besides having a lot of extra room I found it a lot harder to find a reason to take stuff out of my pack.  So I ended up with a 50+ lb pack that I could barely walk a couple miles with.  Buying a bag after you have most of your kit sorted out lets you buy a bag that is close to your needs and keeps you from going to crazy on what you pack.  Even if you end up with a bag on the small side of what you need buying a bag with Molle webbing lets you add secondary pouches to the exterior like an IFAK or a hydration carrier.