4 Tips for the Beginner Beer Brewer
If You Are Just Getting Started Brewing Your Own Beer, Here Are Some Helpful Tips From a Pro!
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4 Tips for the Beginner Beer Brewer
If You Are Just Getting Started Brewing Your Own Beer, Here Are Some Helpful Tips From a Pro!
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Meat Glue - A Dirty Little Secret - Vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydzIlKJmwV4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydzIlKJmwV4
Meat Glue - Dangerous To Breathe - Vid http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/articl ... /meat-glue
The Zombie Apocalypse
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The Zombie Apocalypse
April 29, 2011
Security
What will be the most pressing issue for people after the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI)? The search for food to ease the hunger pangs in your stomach? Finding shelter for warmth and dryness during a bitterly cold night? The relentless pursuit of clean, potable water to rehydrate yourself?
For people living in densely populated areas of the country, such as the suburbs of Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, or most any of the cities in the NorthEastern U.S., the most immediate threat to their very existence will not come from lack of supplies. It will not come from diseases or waterborne illnesses like dysentery or cholera . It won’t even come from starvation.
The most frightening threat will come from other people.
Societal Breakdown
TEOTWAWKI will find many people taking extreme measures that they never thought themselves capable just to stay alive or put food in the mouths of their crying children. Some of these will be typical people like our neighbors who, when thrust unprepared into this new reality, turn to violence to satisfy their needs.
Others maybe criminals currently teetering on the edge of civility. They are opportunists who see societal breakdown as a chance to live without fear of retribution from the criminal justice system. With nothing to keep them in check, they’ll roam the countryside, taking what they wish while leaving a wide path of destruction in their wake.
Still others may be mentally ill. People who, until TEOTWAWKI, were successfully treating their illnesses with medication and therapy. The sudden lack of medicine combined with the harsh new world in which they find themselves may cause them to snap and behave irrationally violent.
The Zombie Apocalypse
In what is often referred to as the Zombie Apocalypse, violence and “survival of the fittest” will be taken to a new extreme. People will roam the nation’s cities, either alone or in gangs, committing acts of violence on a scale that is hard to comprehend.
The government will be quickly overwhelmed and powerless to protect its people. It will be soon be up to each individual, each family, each community to defend its own.
The term Zombies, Mutant Zombie Bikers, or the Living Dead, is frequently used to collectively refer to this group of people. They are, in essence, walking around already dead but just not aware of it yet. They have no hope. To them, it’s either take what they want and live an abundant if not horrific life, or die trying.
An Ounce Of Prevention
Armed with the knowledge that the most likely threat cannot be mitigated with more supplies or by better hunting and gathering, it’s not too late to prepare.
The Zombie Apocalypse is an ugly and unpleasant idea to ponder. But that doesn’t make it any less real or dramatic. In fact, just the opposite is true. Because the possibly is so alarming, we must think about it and do what we can to prevent being a victim if it does happen.
- Boost your own supplies. Make sure that you are preparing for an uncertain future by buying additional food, medicine, clothing, and hunting and fishing supplies. Don’t just concentrate on stockpiling supplies though; make sure you have a way to continually replenish those supplies. For example, don’t just buy bottled water; invest in ways to purify water.
- Recognize the threat. Knowing that a threat from a group of violent “zombies” exists in a post-TEOTWAWKI world helps to reduce the element of surprise and gives you a chance to prepare. Consider now what your options will be and take steps to get ready.
- Identify friends and like-minded people. Although the notion of getting back to nature and making a go of it alone sounds appealing, your chances of successfully defending your loved ones are greatly increased when you have a community of like-minded people with which to cooperate. Subtly seek out those people now.
- Learn to use a weapon. Whether hunting or defending yourself, familiarity with your weapon is crucial. In the excitement of the moment is no time to figure out how a weapon works. At best, you miss your shot. At worse, you injury yourself.
http://preppingtosurvive.com/2011/04...ie-apocalypse/
Related Posts
Canned Homemade Venison Bologna
by Viola Bontrager
(Boonies of Montana)
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Canned Homemade Venison Bologna Recipe
This is one of the easiest canned homemade venison bologna recipes we have found and very tasty.
Deer Bologna is one of the tastiest ways to use up last year's venison that you want to get used up before filling the freezer with fresh meat.
It can be used in so many ways, but here are some of our favorites:
* Eating straight from the jar!
* Served with eggs and pancakes for breakfast.
* Sliced out of the jar on bread and may for a delicious sandwich. Add some pickles to make it even better.
* Sliced and fried for sandwiches.
* Ground up and mixed with a bit of mayo and relish for a sandwich mixture. Serve on a hamburger bun.
Recipe: Homemade Venison Bologna
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Mix the following ingredients together really well. I like to lay the meat out on the counter as in the picture, spread all the salts on it as evenly as I can and really knead it good with all seasonings until it is thoroughly mixed together.
10 lbs. ground venison
1/2 cup Morton's Tenderquick
3 Tsp. Garlic Salt
3 Tsp. Hickory Smoked Salt
3 Tsp. Black Pepper
3 Tsp. Liquid Smoke
1 Tsp. Onion Salt
1/2 cup Veg Oil
Once it is thoroughly mixed, pack your WIDE MOUTH quart jars to the neck with the deer bologna. I like to use a wooden spoon or something to press the meat evenly into the jar so there aren't a lot of air pockets.
Store the filled jars of meat in a cool place for 12 hours. I just set mine in the fridge overnight.
Canning Your Venison Bologna -
I use the cold-packing method to can the meat, or water bath method as it also commonly called.
You can use pressure canning as well, but I have never done a whole lot of that. With a big kettle, you can do cold packing anywhere with almost any stove top, versus the pressure canners, where you have to be able to regulate the stove-top temperatures.
(If you want directions on how to do cold pack canning, please feel free to visit the Cold Pack Canning page on my website here). http://www.emergency-survival-skills.co ... nning.html
- Viola Bontrager
Go to HOME PAGE - from Canned Homemade Venison Bologna http://www.all-things-emergency-prepared.com/index.html
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Chapter 3: Preparing Your Basic Survival Stash
If you've given any thought to survival, you know the big three -- food, water and shelter -- are the foundation of any long-term survival plan. If you prepare to provide these three items for yourself and loved ones, you're farther ahead than probably 90 percent of the public.
Many would say water is the most important of the three, but we'll address them in the order above: Food, water and shelter.
Food Storage
You may be able to survive a few weeks or even a month without food, but why would you want to? Without food, you will become weak, susceptible to illnesses, dizzy and unable to perform survival-related tasks. Sure, water may be more critical to short-term survival, but it's much easier for even the unskilled survivalist to find water in the wild (the safety and purity of the water is another story, but we'll tackle that next).
This section will deal with several key areas:
How Much Food do you Need?
- How much food do you need?
- Rotating foods
- Special "survivalist" foods
- Home-made survival foods
- Hunting and gathering in the wild
Here's the short answer: You can never have too much food stored away for hard times.
How much is the minimum for you and your potential survival situation is an answer you'll have to come up with after reviewing the table you developed in Chapter 1. (You did do that exercise, didn't you?)
Will three days of food be enough, as many suggest? Or do you need a year's worth? Captain Dave can't tell you what's best in your situation, but he suggests that two weeks or more is the minimum for anyone in any potential survival situation. One to three months? Now you're talking. A year? Let's hope you never need it. A year may be excessive for most, but hey, better safe than sorry (have you heard that one before?) If you're wondering how you can afford a month's worth of food, see Chapter 7.
Why should you stock up on so much food if the worst you're planning to prepare for is a heavy winter storm? Several reasons:
- It may take a while for store shelves to be replenished. Think back to the heavy storms that hit the East Coast in the winter of 1995-96. 30 inches in cities such as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia shut the city down for more than a week. And the trucks carrying supplies were stranded on the side of an interstate highway somewhere in the midwest.
- You may be asked to feed friends or neighbors. Think how you'd feel if on the sixth day of the storm you and your family were enjoying a delicious, rich, beef stew while poor old Mrs. Frugal next door was down to a used tea bag and the bread crusts she usually gives the birds? Or what if friends were visiting for the weekend and unable to return home because of the inclement weather, earthquake or other emergency?
- Food rarely goes down in price. What you buy now will be an investment in the future. If you shop carefully over time (see Chapter 7) , you can lay in stores of goods on sale or at warehouse club prices.
- You will be protected from price gouging. Do you really think the last load of milk and bread into the store before the storm hits will be discounted? Shelves are often cleared out right before a blizzard or hurricane is set to hit. And food isn't the only item likely to be in short supply; one grocery chain reported that when storm warnings went out, they sold more rolls of toilet paper than there were people in the city. Batteries, bottled water, candles and other staples are also going to be in short supply (see the next chapter for more on non-food survival items).
- You will be prepared for a crippling blow to our food supply system. As I write this, many are predicting our food supply is tottering on its last legs. Whether its a drought (like we saw in 1996 in Texas and Oklahoma), a wheat blight, the destruction of traditional honey bees necessary for crop fertilization or simply the world's exploding population, they will tell you our food system is falling apart. Captain Dave will let you make up your own mind, but wouldn't a few hundred pounds of red winter wheat and other grains sealed in 5 gallon buckets make you feel better?
Let's say you decide to start small and plan to stock up a week's worth of food for your family. While the "survivalist" foods such as MRE's are a great supplement, you should be able to get by for this short a time (a week or two) on the traditional, commercial foods in your larder.
This existing food reserve should not include food in your refrigerator or freezer because you cannot count on those items remaining edible for more than a day (fridge) or three (freezer), at most. So half a cow or deer in the freezer is great, but you may have to cook, smoke and/or can it on short notice, should the power be out for a long time.
A quick examination of your cupboards and cabinets will tell you how much you need to add to ensure you have enough food for a week. If you have a few packages of pasta, some cans of vegetables, a box of crackers and a jar of peanut butter, you're halfway there. But if you have a habit of dropping by the deli every time you're hungry, or shopping for the evening meal on your way home from work (as many single, urban dwellers do), you'll need to change your habits and stock up.
A detailed list of suggestions and food storage information is available in the Food Storage FAQ but you should generally buy canned (including items in jars) or dried foods. Review our list of commercial food items and their suggested storage times when making up your personal list but keep in mind your family's eating habits, likes and dislikes. Also, remember that you may not have access to a microwave and other modern conveniences, so pick food items and packaging that can be prepared on a single burner of a camp stove or even over an open fire.
Rotation Systems
The main difference between the commercially prepared foods you buy in the grocery store and the specially prepared "survival" foods is the shelf storage. You can't store grocery store items for five to ten years, as you can with specially freeze-dried or sealed foods packed in nitrogen or vacuum sealed. As a result, if you go with a larder full of grocery items, you can't develop your food stash and walk away. You need to rotate your stock, either on an ongoing basis or every two to three months. This will ensure you have fresh food (if you can consider canned and dry food "fresh") and do not waste your food and money.
There are many systems for rotating your stock:
- Captain Dave finds the easiest is to put newly purchase foods at the rear of the shelf, thus ensuring the oldest food, which will have made it's way to the front, will be consumed first.
- You can also number food packages with consecutive numbers (a "one" the first time you bring home spaghetti sauce, a "two" the next, etc.) and eat those with the lowest number first.
- If you store your survival stash in a special location, you'll need to physically remove and replace 20 to 25 percent of it every two months (thus ensuring nothing sits for more than eight or 10 months). The materials you remove should be placed in your kitchen for immediate consumption.
As a general rule, traditional canned foods should be consumed within a year. For cans with expiration dates, such as Campbell's soups, you may find you have 18 months or two years before they expire. But for cans without a date, or with a code that consumers can't translate, mark them with the date purchased and make sure you eat them before a year passes.
Generally, canned foods will not "go bad" over time, unless the can is punctured. But the food will loose its taste, the texture will deteriorate, and the nutritional value drops significantly over time.
If you find you have a case of canned peas, for example, that are nine or 10 months old, simply donate the to a soup kitchen, Boy Scout food drive or similar charity. This will keep them from being wasted and give you a tax deductible donation.
Baking
Simple raw materials for baking, such as flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, oil and shortening, can be assets in a survival situation. With these staple items, you can make everything from pancakes or rolls to breading fresh fish.
For those looking for a simpler answer, mixes for muffins, corn bread and pancakes mean you do not need to add eggs or measure ingredients. These ready-made or pre-mixed ingredients can be a boon. Of course, you may need a Dutch oven or griddle for that stove or fireplace.
For long-term survival storage, honey stores for years and can replace sugar in recipes. Rather than storing flour or meal, purchase the raw grain and a hand mill. Then you can mill your own flour whenever necessary. Red winter wheat, golden wheat, corn and other grains can be purchased in 45-pound lots packed in nitrogen-packed bags and shipped in large plastic pails.
Survival Foods
Storing two to four weeks of "commercial" food isn't too difficult. But when you get beyond that, you really need to look at specialized foods prepared specifically for long-term storage. These generally fall into several categories:
- Vacuum-packed dried and freeze-dried foods
- Nitrogen packed grains and legumes
- Specially prepared and sealed foods such as MRE's (Meals, Ready-to-Eat) with a five-to-ten year shelf life
All offer one main advantage: long storage life. Some, such as MRE's and packages sold to backpackers, are complete meals. This is handy and convenient, but they tend to be expensive on a per-meal basis. Others, such as #10 cans (about a gallon) of dried items, are usually ingredients which can be used to prepare a full meal. These ingredients include everything from macaroni elbows or carrot slices to powdered milk or butter flavor. Your best bet is a combination of both full-meal entrees and bulk items.
As the name implies, MRE's are ideal for a quick, nutritious, easy-to-prepare meal. They are convenient to carry in the car, on a trip or on a hike. They have very long shelf lives (which can be extended by placing a case or two in your spare refrigerator). On the downside, they are very expensive on a per-meal basis and they do not provide as much roughage as you need. (This can lead to digestive problems if you plan to live on them for more than a week or two.)
Large canned goods, on the other hand, are difficult to transport. But if you're stocking up your survival retreat (see chapter 2) or planning to batten down the hatches and stay at home, the large canned goods are easy to store and can keep you well-fed for months. While individual cans can be purchased, most popular are sets of multiple items. These are designed to provide a specific number of calories per day (they'll recommend 1,800 per day, but you'll probably want more) for a set period of time, often three months, six months or a year. Remember, however, if you have four people in your family or survival group, purchasing a one-year supply of food will only equate to three months worth for the family.
Captain Dave recommends purchasing the largest set of these canned, dried foods your budget can handle. Then supplement the set with items tailored to you and your family or survival group. Also, MREs and MRE entrees are excellent supplements, because prepared sets of #10 cans are primarily vegetables, pasta and grains, while MRE entrees are usually meat-based.
You may also want to add a few special items, such as hard candy or deserts, to reward yourself or for quick energy. That's one area where MREs and MRE deserts can be a great supplemental item. It's pretty tough to store pound cake or brownies for several years, but the MRE makers have managed it. They also offer crackers and peanut butter, bread and some great side dishes.
While we're on the topic of supplements, don't forget to add vitamins and mineral supplements. Fruits, green vegetables and other items rich in vitamin C and other nutrients may be scarce, so a good multi-vitamin is well worth the space it takes up in your stash.
NOTE: Since the guide was written, Captain Dave has started selling long-term survival foods and other related supplies. If you are interested, please visit our Survival Shop.
Home Made Survival Foods
There's nothing like a cellar full of canned goods you grew and put up. From spaghetti sauce to your own jam, canning goods is a tradition that will come in mighty handy in a survival situation.
But Captain Dave doesn't pretend to be an expert. Whenever you're dealing with canning fruits, vegetables or meats, its important to follow the latest specifics from the true experts. (OK, so maybe government isn't all bad.) See our list of links for canners and others looking to preserve food.
You can also dry, vacuum-pack and otherwise prepare food for storage. Vacuum pumps are available commercially or can be constructed in your own home. You can use them to seal dried food in mason jars and other containers.
When packing foods for storage, you want to eliminate oxygen (which is why a vacuum is so good). Bugs, such as weevils, and other organisms that can destroy your food need the oxygen to live, just as we do. That's why commercial companies who prepare survival food pack grains, cereals, pasta, beans and other food in nitrogen-filled containers. You can accomplish a similar packaging yourself by using dried ice.
Simply take the 10 pounds of noodles (or 25 pounds of rice or other dried food) you picked up from the warehouse and put them in an appropriately sized plastic bucket with a lid that can create a good seal. The add several chunks of dried ice. As it sublimates, your bucket will fill with carbon dioxide, which will displace all or most of the oxygen (since carbon dioxide is heavier, the oxygen should rise to the top and out of the bucket). Place the lid on the bucket, but don't seal it all the way until you think the dry ice has completely turned to gas. This is a fine line, since you want to seal it before oxygen starts leaking back into the bucket.
Remember, as soon as you open the bucket, whoosh! the air will rush back in.
Hunting and Gathering in the Wild
Image this scenario:
A small nuclear conflict erupts in the Middle East destroying several countries and much of the world's oil supply. Airbursts knock out more than half of the world's satellite communications systems. Due to favorable weather conditions and plain dumb luck, fall-out over the United States is not life threatening -- as it is in part of Europe, Japan and the Far East -- and the EMP damage to our electronic systems is minimal. However life as we know it is disrupted as fuel prices reach $10 and then $20 per gallon.Maybe it's time to look to nature to help feed you. That's great if you are a farmer or have five or more acres of tillable land. But if not, or if it's too late to plant crops, that means a return to hunting, trapping and gathering.
Fruits and vegetables grown in Florida and California can't reach markets in other states. Corn and wheat crops are abundant, but farmers don't have the fuel to run harvesters. And those that do, fill their silos, but the grain can't reach the market. Store shelves are emptied in two days of panicked buying that sees a five-pound bag of flour go from $1.69 to $8.99.
The economy goes into a tailspin, and inflation reaches 300 percent in the first two weeks. You're lucky you still have a job, but you wonder how on earth you'll get there without the car.
The president tries to regain control of the country, by releasing stocks of food and oil, but it's just a drop in the bucket. In a measure of how bad things have become, he declares marshal law and nationalizes all oil, refineries and oil reserves. Suddenly, Uncle Sam is the only gas station on the block, and they're not pumping for anybody, no matter how much silver you cross their palms with. Riots break out in seventeen major cities and the national guard has to be called out. LA burns (again) as does Philadelphia. There's a national curfew and trouble makers are hauled off to camps. 60 Minutes runs a story on these concentration camps, which nobody ever admitted were in existence, but they experience technical difficulties and the broadcast is cut off in the middle of the story. FEMA becomes a four letter word. Suddenly, the two weeks of food in your larder looks frighteningly small. You wish you had more room on your credit card, but then, smart merchants are only accepting cash. You can't wait for the few tomato plants and cucumbers you have growing in the back yard to bear. But you know it won't be enough. Winter is coming, and the papers say the utilities can't guarantee there will be enough gas or electric to heat peoples' homes.
If you can identify wild plants that can supplement your existing diet, good for you. If not, better go out and buy a few guide books right away. Get ones with pictures, you'll need them. Just hope everyone else doesn't have the same idea, or berry bushes and apple trees will be stripped clean in seconds.
Captain Dave has eaten all sorts of wild plants, from salad greens he probably would have tromped over on any other day to wild mushrooms to the heads of milkweeds (properly prepared, of course). Its not his first choice, but its better than tightening the belt.
Captain Dave supports hunting as a great American past time, an important tool in game management and a terrific source to supplement your traditional menu during these good times.
But will it be enough to put food on the table during a survival situation? Don't count on it.
If you're a hunter, you know how crowded it usually is on opening day. Could you imagine what the local patch of forest would be like if everyone's dinner depended on hunting? How quickly would we strip this continent of all edible game? Planning on fishing? So are all your neighbors.
There are some areas of the country where the ratio of people to wildlife will still support sustenance hunting. But for most of us, that's not the case. You may be able to supplement your food supply with some game, but don't count on it.
What does Captain Dave recommend you do if the above scenario comes to play?
- At the first hint of trouble and rising prices, visit the local food warehouse and grocery stores and buy as much as you can afford. Get the 50 pound bags of rice and the 25 pound bags of flour. Use your credit cards and part of your emergency cash stash, if necessary.
- Hunker down at home and protect what is yours.
- Keep a low profile and avoid contact with others, except fellow members of your survival group. Avoid trouble and confrontations.
- Hope that within six months the country will have recovered or at least stabilized. If not, the population will probably be a lot smaller when winter is over.
Food Storage and Preservation Links
Food Storage FAQ
This tome is a complete guide to storing food for survival needs. It is much more in depth than the above information. Available in both html for on-screen viewing or as a downloadable file.
Rec.Food.Preserving and Rec.Food.Preserving FAQ
The place to ask questions and learn more about home-preserved foods. According to their charter: Rec.food.preserving is a newsgroup devoted to the discussion of recipes, equipment, and techniques of food preservation. Current food preservation techniques that rightly should be discussed in this forum include canning, freezing, dehydration, pickling, smoking, salting, distilling, and potting. Foodstuffs are defined as produce (both fruits and vegetables), meat, fish, dairy products, culinary and medicinal herbs. Discussions should be limited to home-grown or home-preserved foods.
Here are a few more. The site's name generally says it all:
Home Canning Tips
Captain Dave's Survival Shop
Grain Supply Update... By Geri Guidetti Walton Feed's Self Reliance Pages
http://www.captaindaves.com/guide/food.htm
A Prepper Survival Manual
http://www.apreppersurvivalmanual.blogspot.com/
The 3 to 5 Rules of Dying
You will die within
3 to 5 seconds without thinking
3 to 5 minutes without breathing
3 to 5 days without water
3 to 5 weeks without food
http://www.apreppersurvivalmanual.blogspot.com/
BISON SURVIVAL BLOG
LAST ONE IN THE STEWPOT WINS!
Frugal Survivalism. Preparedness. Self-Sufficiency. Extreme Paranoia
http://www.bisonsurvivalblog.blogspot.com/
Mike Marlow's Survival Blog
Equipping people to live more secure lives
http://www.mikemarlow.com/
SURVIVAL CACHE
The Gear Site For Survivalists
http://survivalcache.com/
SURVIVAL CACHE
The Gear Site For Survivalists
Survival for Omnivores, Vegetarians, and Vegans
Survival Gardening
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In true SurvivalCache fashion, we are looking at a topic that we are almost positive has never been covered before on a survivalist website….”Survival for Vegans”. Of course the only person that could tackle this topic is the legend…Captain Bart.
By Captain Bart of SurvivalCache.com
A Request
In the comments of an earlier article we were asked to consider the Vegan survivalist. I have beenhttp://survivalcache.com/wp-content/...-of-greens.png doing some study into the special problems faced by Vegans; this is the result. First, I am not a practicing Vegetarian or Vegan so if I have made any mistakes or presented an insult it is from ignorance, not animosity. Second, I also have not addressed firearms. That topic is adequately covered elsewhere and does not need repeating here. Please feel free to correct any errors that you may discover.
Finally, before we begin, some working definitions:
1) A dietary Vegan does not eat or consume animal products in their diet but may use animal products in other parts of their lives. Leather shoes might be an example.
2) An Ethical Vegan will use no animal byproducts of any kind. Only plant-based products are consumed in any phase of living. Cotton clothes but no wool for example.
3) Vegetarians are typically less strict about animal byproducts than a Vegan but consume food that is mostly plant based. Some Vegetarians eat cheese, honey and other such items. Others will also eat fish or eggs but no meat.
I will address Vegans as I see them encompassing the problems of the Vegetarians as well. At first http://survivalcache.com/wp-content/...ns-harvest.pngglance the problems of surviving for a Vegan are not so different that the rest of us. Initially, Vegans will need to draw from their store of supplies. The stores may be more difficult to obtain since not all bulk supplies are Vegan friendly. Many bulk supplies, while not containing animal products, are not ‘certified’ Vegan. For some foods, like whole wheat, this is probably not an issue, for others, it may be. Freeze dried fruits, bulk grains, and vegetables like potato flakes would all fit into the diet.
TVP is a source of protein that can be used to supply equivalent nutrition to animal protein. With this and items like peanut butter, peanut or canola oil, powdered potatoes, etc., a year or more of food can be stockpiled for use. Plant milk and meat substitutes complete the picture.
‘Trail food’ can be obtained easily enough. The Omnivore may go after jerky or some honey-based http://survivalcache.com/wp-content/...-mushrooms.pngbar. The Vegan can go for a fruit and nut (no honey) trail mix or bars like the ‘Bora Bora’ bars which have a great taste, provide calories, and are Vegan friendly. As a diabetic I carry them as an emergency food source.
The difficulty begins with the recognition that a Vegan diet may be deficient in necessary vitamins and minerals. While we all must be aware of our dietary needs, Vegans must be very careful to get enough iron, B12, fatty acids, omega-3 and so on. In a SHTF scenario with its associated stress this is even more critical. When the foods don’t contain these elements, supplements must be provided or alternate foods sought. This need expands the requirements of the larder to provide for these items. The standard caution of eating the foods you plan to survive on applies so that your body is accustomed to the foods you will be eating.
Areas of Concern
A main concern for the Vegan is what happens when the larder begins to empty. Not every climate or location is conducive to growing the variety of foods a Vegan needs. Mushrooms are a good protein source but must be started before SHTF. Soy, rice, peanuts and such may need more acres of land than available for sufficient food. Potatoes are a good crop once you learn how to grow them. A system like ‘square foot gardening’ is useful for small areas. This system allows for some needed variety in the menu. The point is that where an Omnivore may go take game or fish if needed, the Vegan must plan a garden ahead for all needs and be able to grow those items themselves.
An additional problem in long-term survival is the reluctance to use animal products in even http://survivalcache.com/wp-content/...aple-syrup.pngnon-food ways. Some items may become unobtainable once the industrial infrastructure begins to dissolve. Living on a self sufficient farm is a goal for most of us, for the Vegan it can become necessary unless they are willing to relax their objection to animal by-products that are not used in food items. In climates where cotton doesn’t grow wool may be the only option for clothing. Bio-diesel can be made from waste vegetable oil but it requires preparation now so that the capability exists after SHTF. The same issues apply to candles. If bee’s wax is off limits, how are you planning to make candles for light? Oil lamps will work but just how many acres do you have in peanuts or olives?
Even more so than for the Omnivore, a Vegan must take a hard look at their life style and determine realistic numbers for how much of various things they use. If they do not live in an area where they can produce their own foods and clothing, then stockpiling is the only answer. Surviving SHTF is possible; surviving TEOTWAWKI will be extremely difficult without living in an area where Vegan sustaining farming is possible or you have access to vast amounts of wild plants that you can forage.
http://survivalcache.com/survival-fo...arians-vegans/
Emergency Preparedness Blog
Thoughts on Preparedness and Ideas for Self-reliance
http://www.closertonature.com/emergency/
Emergency Preparedness Blog
Thoughts on Preparedness and Ideas for Self-reliance
Emergency Food Storage - Freeze-dried Fruit
Fruit is an important component of a good emergency food storage program. Fruit is a good source of Vitamin C and also provides some variety for menus created from stored foods. And, believe me, a little variety can make a big difference.
Some folks grow their own strawberries, blueberries, or other fruit. Some people have a root cellar where they can store fruit like apples and pears.
For long-term storage, freeze-dried fruit is a good alternative if you don't grow your own. You can buy it at various online stores and vacuum-pack it yourself, as I did with the blueberries and strawberries in the above photo. I try to buy it in bulk in order to get a better price.
I use my freeze-dried fruit on a regular basis. I find that I actually spend less this way than if I were to buy it fresh from the market.
When I buy a fresh pint of blueberries, for example, there always a few that are bad from the start. Then, if they aren't all eaten pretty quickly, more go bad. With the freeze-dried berries, they're always available and don't go bad for a long time - if stored properly.
I store my freeze-dried fruit in the pantry in the basement, which is very cool and reasonably dry. I've put the jars in a cupboard that has a door. That way the light, which can change the color and degrade the food quality, does not affect them. I cover the jars that I'm not using in the near future with black garbage bags, so the light doesn't get to them when I open the door. Not pretty, but it does the job.
Another option is to buy freeze-dried fruit in #10 cans (about the size of large coffee cans). This tends to be a little more expensive, but you save the cost of buying the mason jars and the energy it would take to vacuum-pack the fruit. The #10 cans of fruit are also available from many online sources.
Yet another option is to dehydrate fruit yourself and vacuum-pack that. Dehydrating is different from freeze-drying. See Wikipedia's article on freeze drying. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeze_drying
Here's our blog entry on dehydrating fruit. http://www.closertonature.com/emergency ... -fruit.htm
See also:
Storing Grains and Beans http://www.closertonature.com/emergency ... -beans.htm
Types of Grains to Store http://www.closertonature.com/emergency ... -store.htm
Storing Canned Food http://www.closertonature.com/emergency ... d-food.htm
Electric Grain Mill http://www.closertonature.com/emergency ... n-mill.htm
Manual Grain Mill http://www.closertonature.com/emergency/grain-mill.htm
http://www.closertonature.com/emergency/
Every Life Secure - Emergency Preparedness Blog
An Emergency Preparedness Blog Helping to Make "Every Life Secure" in Any Emergency or Disaster... at Home, Work, School or On-the-Go
http://www.everylifesecure.com/
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Modern Survival Online
Thoughts on Survival and the World Today
http://modernsurvivalonline.com/
Modern Survival Online
Thoughts on Survival and the World Today
Guest Post: The Low Carb Prepper
by James Nelson
While in many ways we prep just like everyone else. We are well armed with guns, the related skills and ammo. The Big Berkey is backed up with 40 gallons of stored water. We have various methods of cooking and heat, everything from home made stoves burning wood, rocket and wood gasification types with stored fuel, alcohol stoves of various types, and commercial stoves burning butane and propane. The 6 hour chafing dish alcohol burners work really well and cases prices at Sam’s run a little over a dollar each, and we have a lot of those stored also, There are led flashlights everywhere with extra batteries and solar and crank lanterns.
The only area that most of the prepper advice available does not apply to us is food, We are both carbohydrate, and especially wheat, intolerant. What this means is that all of the store grains and beans and sugar/honey plans are of no use to us, though we have stored an amount of rice and beans for others who may end up in need.
With the epidemic of blood sugar problems in this country, there are a lot of people out there in the same boat. If someone has type 2 diabetes and is dependent on insulin or other medications that are not available, changing to a very low carbohydrate diet can be a life saver. Peoples such as the Inuit (Eskimo) and the Masai have a traditional diet that contains little or no carbohydrate ad they live long and healthy lives. I’m not going to get into a log screed about this, but I have been doing low carb for about 9 years and have never felt better.
Food preps for us have to consist of proteins, fats and vegetables and by and large they require home preparation. We dry a great deal of vegetables, growing a small amount and buying bulk and in season. Food dryers are economical to run and are readily available. We started with used ones we found on Craig’s list and moved on to larger models bought new. Excaliber is the industry standard ours has been a workhorse. We also have a very large one from Cabelas that allows really large amount of food to be processed at a time.
Home dried foods can be stored for many years using proper storage techniques. Food saver machines can be used with canning jars and lids for long term storage, or just putting oxygen absorbers in the jars and tightening down the lids will give you long term storage. Mylar bags regular food saver bags, 5 gallon buckets all have a useful place in home storage of dried food. The best source of information we have found is http://www.dehydrate2store.com/. This lady’s you tube videos will give you a complete home course n dehydrating and storing vegetables and fruits. One thing we do that she doesn’t cover is the use of paint cans for storage, we get the food quality ones and just add oxygen absorbers.
Meats can be dried for long term storage. The big secret is to cook the meat thoroughly first, cube it up defat it and then dry it. We have done beef, turkey and chicken, pork is not recommended. We have made soups and stews and spaghetti sauces with the dried meats and vegetables with excellent results. Our “pasta” comes from squash or from shirataki noodles, no grains there. The other way we do long term storage of meat is to make the South African favorite, biltong. This stuff keeps for a very long time and id relatively easy to make. There are many different recipes for biltong, what we do is cut up beef or venison into 1” by 1” strips, lightly coat with salt and let set for a time in a container in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. As above, the meat should be as lean as possible. Fat does not dry well cooked or uncooked. Then rinse the meat vinegar, traditionally brown vinegar, we use apple cider vinegar. Coat the meat with a mixture of coriander and black pepper and dry it. We dry it in a dehydrator but there are many other methods, google is your friend as there are many different youtube videos of people’s favorite methods. We store ours in the vacuum sealed canning jars just like the vegetables.
Jerky, though good, is not a long term storage item, as it tends to mold if it isn’t refrigerated. We store some in the freezer, but of course no power, no freezer. The meat should also be of low fat content and sliced thin, 1/4” or so. The marinades are many, a basic one is ½ cup soy sauce, ½ cup Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke and garlic and onion powder to taste. Since it is raw meat without salt curing, it should be dehydrated at 165 degrees to kill bacteria, It might be possible to dry it hard and store it under vacuum or with oxygen absorbers in air tight jars, but it isn’t recommended and we mostly prefer biltong.
You can dry almost any vegetables, some work best in stews or soups. But some make good snacks just as they are. Red bell pepper is almost like a chewy candy as the drying really concentrates the sugar and zucchini slices make very good chips. We dry cabbage, celery, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, butternut squash, turnips, tomatoes, ucumbers green and red peppers, and others. Herbs dry well to make spices also.
The largest amount of our food preps is canned items. Commercially canned meats, everything from chicken and tuna to spam are in our storage. When canned tomatoes are on sale, we load up and Hunt’s makes a no sugar added spaghetti sauce that we are very fond of. The carb content is pretty low on that sauce,
Most of our canned food is home prepared, I farmed for a lot of years and we canned a lot of meat. It keeps for many years, provided it is protected from heat and light. That is what basements are for. Any meat can be canned via raw pack, just chunk up the meat, put it in the clean jars, add 1 teaspoon of salt per quart, and a little water and process for 90 minutes at the appropriate pressure for your altitude. We have canned chicken pieces on the bone after removing the skin. I don’t like the looks of the chicken with the skin on in the jar, but it shouldn’t affect the quality of the meat either way. A plus for canning meat is that there will be fat in the jars. Animal fats are important and most drying removes the fat.
We also can a lot of meals, soup, stew, chili, etc. The only limit is your imagination. Any one pot meal can be put in a jar and canned.
We don’t home can much in the way of vegetables, On sale, I can buy canned tomatoes for about what it costs me to can them, and with less work. When the goal is a years storage, jars of canned vegetables take up far more room than the dried ones.
http://modernsurvivalonline.com/gues...-carb-prepper/
Survival Times
http://www.survivaltimes.info/index.php
How to make biodiesel at home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzFEurB3ZmY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzFEurB3ZmY
many more videos at the link to the right
Make your own biodiesel http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html
How to Build a Single Tank Biodiesel Processor http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Single-T ... -Processor
Bio Fuels
BioFuels are made from plants or manure, and have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reducing the dependence on imported oil and all the turmoil that seems to come with the imports.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Bi ... ofuels.htm
Biodiesel Kits, Processors and Equipment http://www.homebiodieselkits.com/
Why make your own fuel? Because you can! http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/
How to Make Ethanol http://umakeethanol.com/
How to Make Ethanol
eHow
This article was created by a professional writer and edited by experienced copy editors, both qualified members of the Demand Media Studios community. All articles go through an editorial process that includes subject matter guidelines, plagiarism review, fact-checking, and other steps in an effort to provide reliable information.
By an eHow Contributor
As the price of gasoline continues to rise, more people are searching for alternative fuel sources. With the advent of E85 Flex Fuel Vehicles, one option is to make your own ethanol. You will need a permit and a makeshift still before you start. Read on to learn more.
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Instructions
things you'll need:
* Corn
* Alpha amylase
* Glucoamylase
* Grain mill
* Still
* Carbon
* Screen
* Zeolite
* Metal can
* Hydrometer
* Unleaded gasoline
1 Get a permit to legally produce ethanol from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The permit is free if you are producing less than 10,000 gallons of alcohol annual.
2 Use the conversion calculator on The Ethanol Source website to calculate the measurements for ingredients based on the size of your boiler. For a 100 gallon boiler, you will need 350 lb. of grain, 40 gallons of water, 91 grams of alpha amylase. This will yield 18.5 gallons of ethanol.
3 Mill or pulverize the grain into a fine powder using a grain mill or hammer mill. Corn is the most popular choice, but soybeans, wheat and other grains work.
4 Convert the mixture to liquid by adding water and enzyme alpha amylase. Boil for 20 to 30 minutes to kill bacteria. Remove from heat and add glucoamylase, another enzyme.
5 Ferment the mixture by adding yeast. The result will be a beer or wine type fluid.
6 Separate the alcohol from the liquid by running it through a still.
7 Filter the ethanol with carbon to remove any surplus volatile organic compounds. Attach a tube filled with carbon to a funnel and pour the ethanol into the funnel.
8 Dry the ethanol by mixing it with Zeolite, an aluminum-silica substance that absorbs carbon dioxide and water. Allow it to sit in a can overnight. Run the dehydrated ethanol through a screen into another container.
9 Add unleaded gasoline to the pure ethanol (15 percent gasoline to 85 percent ethanol) to make E85. Use a hydrometer to confirm your ethanol is 200 proof. Any excess water will be filtered out and settle to the bottom when the gasoline is added.
Tips & Warnings
Remove the water from the Zeolite by boiling it on the grill or leaving in the sun to dry.
Check your owner's manual before running your E85 in your gas tank. It is only recommended for Flex Fuel Vehicles.
Read more: How to Make Ethanol | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2095469_make-et ... z1LpWAPzYf
http://www.ehow.com/how_2095469_make-ethanol.html
How to Make an Ethanol Still http://www.ehow.com/how_4855943_make-ethanol-still.html
How Wilderness Survival And Urban Survival Skills Fit Together
May 9, 2011 by David Morris
http://plimages.blob.core.windows.ne...fire_image.jpg
There are a lot of misconceptions about how wilderness survival, camping and urban survival do or do not fit together. The arguments range from saying that neither wilderness survival skills nor camping will help in an urban survival situation to saying that all you need for a long-term urban survival situation is your camping or survival gear. The truth lies somewhere in between.
No matter what your skill level and experience level, I have some great stuff for everyone this week.
In both wilderness and urban survival, the most important common factor that will determine success or failure is your mindset. The basics of survival are also common to wilderness and urban scenarios: shelter, water, fire and food first, and then medical needs and security. But there are some huge differences.
Solo Survival Vs. Group Survival
In wilderness-survival situations, it will normally be you and/or a small group of people surviving off of the land or off of what you have been able to carry in or pre-position. It is easy to frame a wilderness survival situation as you vs. the world. To be specific, it can be easy to identify with a character like John Rambo, who just wants to be left alone.
Often, wilderness survival situations happen because there is no one else around.
A long-term urban-survival situation is completely different in this respect. People will be all around you. After your ability to keep your mind under control, one of the biggest factors that will determine long-term survival is how well you are able to interact with other people. Can you make friends? Can you effectively exchange your goods and services with others? Can you do it so that you’ll get as good of a deal as possible and still be able to trade with that person again in the future? Have you acted in a way that will cause people to want to help you when you need help?
Four-legged Threats Vs. Two-legged Threats
Wilderness and urban threats are different, also. Unless you’re in an escape-and-evasion situation, your main threats in a wilderness situation will be weather, sustaining yourself, injury, sickness or infection and four-legged predators. A bright fire is a good thing in a wilderness situation, because it will help keep predators and bugs away.
In an urban-survival situation, the animals and predators you need to worry about have two legs rather than four. You will still have weather, sustaining yourself, injury and sickness or infection to contend with. But the fire that protects you from four-legged predators in a wilderness situation will attract two-legged predators, people who may want your supplies without giving anything in return.
Why am I stressing this point? Because if you identify yourself with the John Rambo character and can survive for weeks at a time alone in the wilderness, that’s great. There are several wilderness-survival skills that carry over to urban situations, but you might also want to focus on your interpersonal skills if you think you may need to survive long-term around other people.
“When TSHTF, I’m Going To Get Out Of Dodge And Head For The Hills”
And, as I’ve said before, many people’s plan for surviving if TSHTF is to pack up and head for whatever wilderness or small towns are within reach. It is a romantic notion, and it makes a possible disaster seem like it could actually be an improvement over current life, but it just is not realistic.
If a fraction of those people actually head for the hills, the hills are going to be hunted and fished clean in a matter of weeks and you’re still going to have to be skilled at dealing with other people. (As a note on the mass head-for-the-hills scenario, if it happens during a dry time of the year, it is safe to assume there will be mass wildfires to contend with as well.)
This should make any non-John Rambo types feel a little more comfortable, too. It should go without saying, but you don’t need to turn into a Rambo to survive an urban survival situation. But that doesn’t let you off the hook on practicing wilderness survival skills. There are many wilderness survival skills that are useful, if not necessary, in urban situations.
Using Wilderness Survival Skills In Urban Survival Situations
People who made it through Beirut’s urban-survival period reported going through several boxes of matches per month. The simple skill of knowing how to blow an ember into flame makes this laughable… if it weren’t so sad and avoidable.
A basic wilderness survival skill I use every morning when I am in the woods is to find an ember from the previous night’s fire; place it into a bird’s nest of dry grass, inner stringy tree bark, milkweed, thistle or other materials; and blow on it until there is a flame. In an urban area, you can do this with any of these materials, but also with paper products, cotton balls or other materials.
Take it one step further: The wilderness survival skill of making a coal from a bow drill, hand drill or other primitive means will allow you to make fire without matches, lighters or an ember from a previous fire.
But one of the biggest skills you learn when backpacking or doing wilderness survival exercises is how to do without air conditioning, heat, beds, chairs, electronic distractions, fancy food and, sometimes, cleanliness. You also do without specialized tools, many automated devices, motorized transportation and specialized medical care. When you don’t have these things, you learn and eventually embrace the skill of improvising, adapting and overcoming.
You can learn this in an urban environment, and I have drills in the SurviveInPlace.com Urban Survival Course that help people do just that. But it’s also very valuable, if possible, to go out and live out of a backpack or your 72-hour kit for a night or two (or three). Hopefully, you’ll forget stuff — and have to figure out how to improvise, adapt and overcome.
What About Car Camping?
Car camping can be as beneficial for survival training or as useless as you make it. If you take a generator, TV, fans, stereo, inflatable bed, 12-volt freezer and a blender, you probably won’t get a whole lot out of it.
But if that’s as primitive as you can get your family to agree to, there are still survival skills that you can train. Take what you need to in order to get your family to buy in, but just because you have it doesn’t mean you have to use it.
Use a primitive method of making fire… or start by just making fire without using paper, fire starters or by pouring fuel on the wood.
Collect some water and boil it over your fire. Or make a solar still to find out just how little water they actually make and how many square feet of stills you would need to set up to sustain you.
Set up an improvised shelter. If sleeping in it overnight isn’t an option, at least figure out what you need to do to make it comfortable enough to take one or two naps in or spend an afternoon reading in. You may not need to make a shelter from a fallen tree in an urban-survival situation, but you can use the same skills and principles to make a shelter within your house to keep you warm in a cold-weather situation.
It could be as simple as leaning your box spring against a wall, covering the end openings with blankets and making your bed underneath it. In both cases, you’re trying to make as small an area as possible for your body to warm up by radiation and your breath and trying to lose as little heat as possible due to conduction. It is much easier to do this when you’re warming up a small, tent-sized area than when you’re trying to warm up an entire room.
If you have kids or grandkids, simply tell them you’re making forts or little houses. You can have a ton of fun with this. Maybe even turn down the temperature in your house to about 40 degrees one afternoon and night in the winter and have a sleepover in the fort.
If you are willing to kill and eat what you catch and are somewhere where that is allowed, set traps and snares and figure out how many you would need to set to feed you and your family. (As a note, spring-type mouse traps are a great intermediate step for this… just make sure to tie them to something heavy in case you catch an animal by the leg. Once you get comfortable with the traps, you will start seeing several ways to use them as triggers for improvised electronic and mechanical perimeter alarms.)
You can practice all of these tips, regardless of whether you are car-camping, backpacking, on a hunting trip, in your back yard, or sometimes even in your apartment or condo. Just because you have cushy stuff with you doesn’t mean you have to use it.
In fact, some primitive wilderness-survival schools use a similar method to teach survival skills. Instead of dropping students in the woods with a knife, bubble gum, dental floss and a paper clip to sink or swim, they have students bring all of their normal backpacking supplies. They learn primitive skills while they are well-fed and rested, and they can use new primitive skills or fall back on their backpacking gear as they see fit. If their shelter-building skills don’t work well and they are freezing at 3 a.m., they have the choice to fix their shelters, tough it out or slip into their tents and sleeping bags to warm up and regroup.
Even in SERE (Survival Evasion, Resistance and Escape) school, students often fail at catching an animal and are given a rabbit or other animal to kill, clean, cook and eat.
In short, it’s a solid method to use, whether you are learning yourself or trying to help your family members become more self-reliant. And if you have reluctant family members, you’re going to want to make learning new skills as fun as possible so they don’t shut down and resist preparing altogether. Forcing someone to starve because his trap didn’t work or freeze because his shelter isn’t good enough probably won’t win over a reluctant relative, but having fun might.
So, tell me, what wilderness survival skills have you developed that carry over to urban survival situations? What fun ways have you been able to get your family members to learn and practice them with you? Have you practiced any skills while camping specifically to help you in SHTF situations in urban areas? Let me and the other readers know by commenting below.
http://www.personalliberty.com/conse...-fit-together/
Chemtrails finally admitted
May 10, 2011
A We Are Change San Francisco member taped the following event on April 21, 2011 at the San Francisco Public Library. Geo engineering (chemtrails) were stated as an axiom with this panel of scientists and several members of Wac SF confronted the scientists afterwards. One such confrontation was that of John Fitzgerald who ran for Congress and Mayor of Martinez, California on a 911 truth and End the Fed platform.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lKcWtSi ... r_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lKcWtSi-d0&feature=player_embedded
The Ultimate Prepper Bug Out Home
Author: Mac Slavo- May 11th, 2011
24 Comments
What would you do if you had a couple million dollars to spare?
If you’re a prepper, than you’d likely be looking to put yourself in a home like this one on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland.
At first glance, you wouldn’t think much about it, other than it being a nicely built country home. It’s stylish with the architectural design based on Polish “cube” homes of the 1960′s:
http://www.shtfplan.com/wp-content/u...ubehouse1.jpeghttp://www.shtfplan.com/wp-content/u...ubehouse2.jpeghttp://www.shtfplan.com/wp-content/u...ubehouse3.jpegIf the world ever goes Zombie Apocalypse, however, it quickly transforms into an impenetrable maximum security safe house through the use of sliding walls, a roll-top door and a draw bridge.http://www.shtfplan.com/wp-content/u...ubehouse4.jpeg
http://www.shtfplan.com/wp-content/u...ubehouse6.jpeg
http://www.shtfplan.com/wp-content/u...ubehouse5.jpegThe outer cube of the home is constructed with steel and concrete, and has an outer perimeter wall for added security.
http://www.shtfplan.com/wp-content/u...ubehouse7.jpeg
Few details have been provided about the home’s interior, but we suspect that anyone who has gone to the trouble of building this ultimate prepper bug-out safe house would also have built a multi-level basement and perhaps even a secret escape tunnel or two. Our thinking is if you’re gonna’ blow a million or two on construction you might as well go full-prepper and throw in all the bells and whistles.
Dare to dream.
The possibilities are endless when you have the money and your very own concrete and steel-reinforced survival cube.
Hat tip Jonny V and Tess Pennington
(Photos: Aleksander Rutkowski/Robert Konieczny – KWK Promes)
http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-pr...-home_05112011
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Video: Hand Operated Washing Machine
http://beprepared.com/article.asp?ai=625&SID=ppblog
Aug 14, 2009
This washer uses a technique of pushing and pulling the water through the clothes, without excess friction (which also reduces the wear on your clothes). This washer uses minimal water and because of the agitation motion, less soap. Use in a bucket, sink or tub. It also rinses your clothes using fresh water. A great item to have with your emergency and outdoor supplies.
A Prepper Survival Manual
http://www.apreppersurvivalmanual.blogspot.com/