Author: Guest Contributor

As a husband, a father, and a prepper, one of the driving forces for the things I do is to protect my family from hardships. From battery jump boxes in both vehicles in order to prevent my wife from being stranded, to having plenty of ammunition to kill the zombies if/when they show up, keeping the wife and kids (and the brothers, cousins, and, yes, even the in-laws – I know you are reading this, Ev) safe is a highly motivating issue with me. So when I find myself helpless in the face of adversity, I realize I’ve found a…

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As Preppers, we can fall into the trap of thinking that our food storage preps are fairly easily taken care of. It’s easy to dismiss some of the complexity that goes into planning how to feed your family, but take a closer look. Are you committing some of these food storage mistakes? Have you committed these food storage mistakes? 1 – LACK OF VARIETY Most people don’t have enough variety in their food storage. 95% of the people I’ve worked with only stored the 4 basic items we mentioned earlier: wheat, milk, honey, and salt. Statistics show most of us…

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While we all want to do our best to prepare for a coming crisis, and many of us realize the city is perhaps the worst place to live, very few people are really prepared to pack up the old Winnebago and head for the hills. Most Americans, whether they’re aware or not, are going to stay in the cities and urban survival will be something millions need to think about. This is not a hasty decision for most people. Most of us depend on the city for our livelihood, and we can be better prepared by continuing to live in…

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Building a pickup truck sleeping platform can be very beneficial for, not only camping but for use as a bug-out vehicle.  For those who don’t know what a bug-out vehicle is, it is used to quickly get to a safe location—whether a disaster occurs or there is just economic and social instability.  If you can’t afford an RV or a cab-over camper a pickup truck sleeping platform may be your best option.  The most expensive item you will need to make this effective is a camper shell. Benefits of having a pickup truck sleeping platform versus a tent: You will…

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The following is an excerpt from Well-Preserved by Eugenia Bone (Random House, 2009). This hybrid cookbook/training manual will teach you techniques for putting up small batches of foods to make them last beyond their season, and show you how to savor your preserved bounty with scrumptious recipes such as Scallop and Tomatillo Ceviche, Smoked Chicken and Wild Rice Salad, Concord Grape Walnut Tart, and more. This excerpt is from Chapter 1, “All About Canning.” I am not an enthusiastic cucumber pickle eater. I pretty much like two kinds: bread-and-butter pickles made into a relish to eat with hamburgers and hot…

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One of the things that routinely come up when you are thinking about stocking your pantry are items that you can’t eat, but might need. There are a lot of chemicals or items that have numerous uses and could replace products you have right now. Baking Soda is one of the items that have a ton of uses that you might not have though of before. I found this list below of 51 uses for baking soda that you can use to augment all sorts of chemicals you might be buying right now. If the grid goes down, a lot…

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Everyone can remember the media outrage following Hurricane Katrina; New Orleans became a hotbed for violent criminal behavior long after the event. Catastrophes, natural and otherwise, that destroy our power sources and leave us in the dark elicit an ugly and familiar behavior in some: looting and theft. And while few natural disasters meet the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, any event that takes away our power can leave us instantly exposed. Even those of us prepared with a home alarm system lacking an alternative power source can be invaded the moment our power fails. Here are a few tips to…

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It’s crazy to think that Rottweilers and Poodles are in the same family of animals. Or for that matter, Great Danes and Toy Chihuahuas. They are as different as they come. One is 200 pounds, the other is 2. In much the same way, have you ever realized how many different breeds of people fall under the “survival” umbrella (this is the smooth transition to topic)? In case you haven’t, there are tons. And each type of “survivalist” is unique in their own weird ways. Recently, I’ve been reminded again, of just how funny it actually is. Walk with me:…

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The universal truth when dealing with traumatic injuries is that whether from effective treatment or loss of supply, all bleeding eventually stops. Having the knowledge to treat major bleeding can be the difference between life and death at any time, but especially during a disaster when emergency responders may be delayed or not available at all. The two major components of stopping blood loss are knowledge and equipment. While the principles outlined here are not new by any means, it is important to point out that over the past 10 years of active combat overseas, the technological advances made in…

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Editors Note: This post was generously contributed by The Prepper Project While I completely understand the value behind buying freeze dried survival food, like when it may be too dangerous to garden out on your front lawn due to a social collapse, or because of the always real danger of crop failures… You can save a LOT of money, and get nutritionally superior food for getting your family, or community through tough times, by growing it yourself. You just need to make sure you pick the right crops that can actually get you through tough times. Here’s an infographic we…

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We are now three to five generations removed from the rural backbone that strengthened America.  The world at large has undergone a similar transformation as the promise of easier work has created a migration to big cities.  These mega-cities could be seen as an experiment gone awry, as general well-being has declined, with suicide rates increasing across the world.  Crowded conditions and economic strife have led to rampant crime, pollution, corporate malfeasance, and a dog-eat-dog type of competition that can be described as a temporary insanity. The economic crisis we are living through has been the final straw for many people,…

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By: Mary Lou Shaw I saw dried tomatoes selling for $10/pound at a food coop and thought that price was outrageous. Now that I make and eat my own dried tomatoes, I think they’re priceless. My husband and I can pretty much eat year-round from our small Ohio homestead. Preserving the summer harvest is an important part of doing this, but when I can find a new way of processing food that results in more variety for winter meals, I’m especially pleased. Drying apples and preserving tomatoes with a homemade solar food dryer condenses their flavor into incredible winter treats.…

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Going to the range and shooting does different things for different people.  A vast majority of the time (it should be always) we go to the range with the intention of keeping those perishable shooting skills frosty and at an increased level of readiness.  But there are those times where we just want to burn off some steam and destroy something without the threat of being arrested.  There’s nothing like making small explosions happen repeatedly, well unless you’re a SEAL or on an EOD team then you get to make ginormous explosions all the time and save the free world…

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This article was generously contributed by Jacob Phillips from My Bug Out Bag List [divider_1px] It’s a common theme amongst my readers that I hear the words “gear is great, but it is nothing without knowledge”. I wanted to use those words to inspire my next blog post. So here you go, more knowledge than you could ever hope to acquire. Below I’ve listed 20 each of my favorite blogs, books, YouTube channels, Facebook Pages and Twitter accounts for you to visit, watch, read and learn from. One thing to note is that many of these blogs have an accompanying…

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By Matthew Stein “Is it not already too late if one waits until one is thirsty to begin digging a well?” — Chinese Proverb When you mention “self-reliance,” it tends to conjure up images of an off-grid homestead on 10 to 20 acres, growing most (if not all) your own food, drinking pure water from your own well, and having a great place to hunker down while weathering the coming storms as the world goes through trying times. However wonderful this image of self-reliance may be, and much as it may be a terrific goal to strive for, for one reason…

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Today we are going to discuss creating a self-replicating food supply for your backyard flock. Yes, we are talking about becoming worm farmers – mealworms, to be exact (not to be confused with our previous discussion about setting up vermiculture composting systems with red worms). Mealworms are the larval stage of the darkling beetle, and they make a great treat and food source for your backyard poultry. With very little time and cost, you can have a simple setup in place that allows you to raise a batch of mealworms that will continuously reproduce and give you an excess supply…

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