Thread: BASIC LIST / SUGGESTED ITEMS FOR LONG TERM SURVIVAL

Food Storage Now!

July 8, 2010 by Bob Livingston


I hazard to guess that not more than 10 percent of our readers could live more than a few days on their stored food and supplies.

Storing food is something that we have to do before we need it. Think now, if a catastrophe of some kind were to occur today—say an earthquake, tornado or terrorist attack—and you needed to begin using your stored food, where would you be?

Do you have more than a couple of days supply on hand? If not, you could be in trouble when disaster strikes. Because once the catastrophe occurs it’s too late to begin storing food.

Americans are used to having plenty of food. Most can’t imagine not being able to go to the store to get food of some sort. But the typical grocery store has about two day’s supply of food in stock at any given time. So, just a short-term interruption in the supply chain could cause hardship and panic among the populace.

It truly takes vision to understand that there could come a time when the supply of food suddenly ends—whether for a few days or for a long period of time—and planning for the future is essential, especially now.

I have long urged you to store food. As for myself, I have stored food for more than 40 years. I rotate and eat out of it, except the vacuum sealed foods that I bought from the Mormons. I have checked it through the years. It has held well.
I have lost a few cans of salmon due to age, but there is no telling how much I have saved because prices were much lower through the years than they are now.

Now to the point: In my opinion we now face more than a probability of much higher prices, scarcity and resulting social problems.
Can we not imagine that an honest man will steal and even plunder if he and his family are hungry?

Agriculture is one of the very few sectors globally that currently faces supply shortages. There is the distinct possibility that this century will see desperate struggles for food and water.

Rising food prices will cause extreme hunger and famine. This will lead to social unrest, revolution and wars.

Does anyone doubt that the regime in the United States will cause extreme hardship because of the collapsing exchange value of paper money? Note that they do not warn the people to protect themselves.

I have been on an island now for some time. I have noticed very high prices and runs on grocery stores on certain days of the week. Still, probably not more than a few can see the negative trends. They still can’t visualize disaster.

Have you ever really been hungry? It is far better to have stored food on hand—even if you have excess food stored—and not ever need it than not to have any food stored and one day be hungry. Food storage may not guarantee that you won’t be hungry, but not storing food will almost certainly guarantee there will be hunger in your future.

It’s a good idea to have at least three day’s supply of canned and/or dried foods available for each member of the family in case of emergency. That would be nine meals each.

Of course, more is better. But we recommend this as a starting point. From there you can add a little more each time you go shopping, setting your sights on having enough for each family member for a week, then two and so on.

It’s also a good idea to store water for emergency situations. Minimum requirements are two gallons per person per day—more if you live in a warmer climate.

I also believe strongly that investing in agriculture companies now is similar to investing in oil at $17 a barrel in 2002. Look up Agro Terra Ltd. and Agro Terra Partners.

If you want to learn more about what foods to store and how to prepare for a crisis situation you can order our book, How to Survive the Collapse of Civilization. It covers practical, low-cost strategies for coping with global epidemics, terrorist attacks, electrical grid disruptions, food and water storage and much more.

http://www.personalliberty.com/survi...d-storage-now/

Dehydrating Vegetables

Drying or dehydrating vegetables is one of the oldest known methods of food preservation. And good news, you can dehydrate vegetables at home with equipment you have on hand.

Pick your produce at its peak and work quickly to prevent spoilage and to help preserve the colour and taste.Prepare your vegetables as if you were going to serve them. Wash well, trim, cut, chop or slice.
There are three methods used for dehydrating vegetables: Sun dried, electric dehydrator or oven.

Sun Dried Vegetables

Sun drying can be a bit of a gamble. Unless you live in a climate that is a consistent 90°F (32°C) with low humidity for a guaranteed 3 days in a row, you risk your produce growing moldy. Once the drying starts, it cannot stop until finished. So don't let your vegetables cool again until they're done.
But if you do live in an area where you get several scorcher days in a row, use it to your advantage, save electricity and use the sun for dehydrating vegetables.

Electric Dehydrator for drying vegetables

Stand alone dehydrators are excellent, but only if you use them! Many people purchase and do a couple of loads, then forget about them. So think hard about it before you spend your hard earned money on one.
Oven dried vegetables

So we're left with the oven. It's almost certain that you have one, so nothing new to buy. It is time consuming and a little fiddly, but gives a great result.

A home oven will only dry small quantities at a time — up to 6lbs (2.72kg) pounds of produce, depending on the number of racks you have; so don't be preparing bushels of veggies at a time!Set the oven at the lowest temperature and preheat to 140°F (60°C). Drying vegetables at oven temperatures higher than 200°F (93.3°C) will cook them or possibly scorch them. If you are uncertain of the temperature, put a separate oven thermometer on a rack you can see, and check the temperature approximately every half hour.
Lay out your vegetables on stainless steel screen mesh or wooden frames covered in cheesecloth. Cookie sheets are the least preferred option, because the air should circulate around the food, but if do use cookie baking trays, then put down baking paper first, and turn your vegetables once or twice during the drying process.
Also, having the food sit next to metal sheets may transfer a metallic taste. Using other types of metal materials may react with the food, so please don't.
Load up the veggies. Doing trays of items similar in size will keep the drying even.
For instance, pumpkin and potato might be a good mix. Try not to mix strong flavoured items as the flavour may transfer from one vegetable to another.
Keep the oven door open about 3 inches or so during drying. It is vital that the temperature is maintained no lower than 140°F (60°C) and that the moist air can escape.
Most ovens don't have even heat throughout, so move the trays around frequently to ensure even drying and stop any scorching.
When dehydrating vegetables, plan to allow drying time of between 4 and 12 hours. Some vegetables get brittle when dry, and some, like tomatoes, just go pliably hard. If you press a finger into the middle of a dried piece of vegetable it should not leave any residue on you.
When cool, store in a moisture-proof container. Dehydrated vegetables will keep indefinitely in the fridge.
To use, just add them to soups and sauces as they are, or reconstitute (cover them in a container with water 2:1 ratio) for approximately 2 hours before using.

Drying Bananas: Bananas are giant herbs and when there is a surplus going and you're fresh out of love with fresh bananas, then turn them into a potassium-rich chewy snack for another time. Here's how to dry bananas:

• Slice banana into ½ -1cm rings
• Squeeze half a medium lemon into ½ cup of water, or dilute 1-teaspoon vitamin C powder (ascorbic acid) in ½ cup or water. Dip banana slices in mixture and thoroughly cover.
• Drain and lay a single layer on screen over oven rack, or put into dehydrator and follow directions.
• In oven, dry bananas for 24-36 hours at 35-40C (105-110F). When leather-firm and dry, have a taste test, cool and store your dehydrated bananas in jars or containers for up to one year in a cool dry place.

See also other ways to preserve vegetables:

Drying Herbs
Freezing Vegetables
Canning or Bottling Vegetables


http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.co...egetables.html

STORING FLOUR

If you are actually serious about storing foods for your own survival, you MUST store whole wheat and a grain grinder! There simply is no substitute for long term storage of whole wheat that can be home ground into flour for cooking. But you can store any kind of flour by sealing it into bags (I use a small kitchen garbage bag), freezing at 0 F for 4 days, then storing it on a shelf or closet...it will keep at least several years this way.

To store whole wheat in small quantities, place a tall kitchen garbage bag into a 5 gallon bucket, fill with whole wheat, use a straw to remove all air, seal the bag, snap on the lid of the bucket, and freeze it for 4 days...it will last for decades this way. A normal (white) 5 gallon bucket is actually only about 4 gallons, and will hold 30 pounds of rice, 25 pounds of beans, or about 25 pounds of wheat. You should have at least 10 buckets filled with each of the above for each person.



To store flour for be used within a month or so, nothing beats a high quality plastic container with a large, screw on lid. The best design I have seen is sold with cat food, as it has a molded in handle, large screw on lid, and is very sturdy. After your cat has finished off the contents, wash out the container, let sit with full of water and a teaspoon of bleach for a day, rinse out, pour in some cold coffee and swish it around, rinse again, dry, and it is ready for use. The coffee trick is the idea of Brian, a reader of the site and a friend, who discovered that coffee will absorb and neutralize virtually any residual aroma from a previous use. Brian also uses these containers for sugar, salt and other food products, as they line up easily in the pantry and the large lid opening permits easy access for measuring cups without spilling.



http://www.endtimesreport.com/storing_flour.html

Dehydrate your own food. Dehydrators are available at Wal Mart for around 20.00 Apples, potatos, meat, can be dehydrated and stored in air tight bags or in freezer. Will last several years.
Learn to make jerky. It is tasty and keeps well.

Another tip for keeping pests out of beans, grains, etc., is to add salt. I have a couple of large plastic storage 'totes'. I sprinkle 1/4 cup salt on bottom of tote before packing. Maybe add another 1/4 cup over the top before covering with the lid. The salt will dehydrate any bug, weavil, worm, ants that come into contact with it. You can easily remove salt from dried beans by rinsing with water. Rice too, before cooking of course. Best to have grains in airtight packages and sprinkle sealed packages with salt.

Buy Pet Food In Bulk Online To Save Money



As I mentioned in an earlier entry posted a few months ago about myself, I own an African Grey Parrot as a pet. I've had him for several years now and although I wish he were better trained with more docile tendencies, he's still a pretty adorable little guy. When he's not hanging from his bird gym or busy grinding his wooden chew toys into grated wood chips, he enjoys whistling and mimicking speech.He's also a voracious eater, consuming and tossing around quiet a few scoopfuls of his favorite brand of nutritious Kaytee brand pellets everyday. Every 1-2 months I used to buy a new bag of somewhat pricey bird food to replace his dwindling supply, but lately I've chosen to do a different approach. Rather than buying smaller bags of food from Petsmart or Petco each time and paying a higher cost per serving unit, I've decided to go for bulk and order online.
Finding Deals and Purchasing Pet Food Online
Initially I considered buying bulk bird pellet sacks from my neighborhood pet stores but after browsing around I noticed that their selections were pretty limited as most mainstream brick and mortar stores catered to more popular animal breeds such as cats and dogs. Even dedicated bird stores seemed to not have in stock the bulk pallets that I wanted. Thankfully, there is much more one can find on the internet as the online selection is much more broad. After doing some price comparison shopping among the popular online pet stores, I finally settled on PetSmart's pet food selection. Although I didn't order enough to qualify, I did find a handy $10 off coupon for orders over $70 - just use coupon code SAVEJAN.
I ordered a large sackful of pellets and did a quick calculation to see how long the supply would last as well as my estimated cost savings. Based on my parrot's rate of consumption, the bulk pallet should last well over a year. The one time cost was more than I'd like in one shot but the cost per serving by buying in bulk was clearly much lower than the cost of buying in smaller individual bags.
There are also a variety of other online pet store options out there as well. I recommend checking out some of the more popular shopping portals, where by clicking through their links to make your purchase you can earn extra cash back. With all of the deals and choices out there today, buying pet food online is definitely the way to go. Particularly if the item isn't immediately urgent and can be used over a span of time, I recommend letting your mouse clicks do the walking.
Where Do I Stash All Of This Excess Pet Food?
Storage was no problem. I went to Target and bought a few large plastic Rubbermaid containers to house the huge pet food surplus and to help keep them dry and fresh. The simple locking clasps did a good job of securing the containers shut and keeping the food smells locked within.
This approach of buying pet food in bulk will certainly work with dogs, cats, and possibly fish as well. My only real concerns would be possible spoilage and freshness problems. After contacting the manufacturer, my understanding now is that bird food is usually good up to a year and a half, but I'm not as familiar with the expiration dates of dog and cat food. Regardless, remember to store the bulk food in air tight, moisture free, plastic containers and place them in a dry area free of contamination by roaches or other bugs. Clean food makes pets happy and happy pets create happy owners!

http://www.moneybluebook.com/buy-pet...to-save-money/

High Vitamin E Levels Linked To Low Alzheimers Disease Risk

July 14, 2010 by Personal Liberty News Desk

A new Swedish study has found that high serum levels of vitamin E may be associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease among the elderly. The findings suggest that the nutrient may help older individuals stave off various cognitive decline disorders, according to the researchers.

For the study, a team of investigators from the Aging Research Center in Stockholm recruited 232 dementia-free patients who were over the age of 80. After six years of follow-up, lead author Francesca Mangialasche and her colleagues discovered that 57 respondents had developed Alzheimer’s disease during the course of the research.

When analyzing the blood work of each participant, the researchers found that those with the highest levels of all eight natural vitamin E components had a 45 percent to 54 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease compared with patients who had the lowest levels.

After Mangialasche accounted for various risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease, the correlation remained.

"Our findings need to be confirmed by other studies, but they open up for the possibility that the balanced presence of different vitamin E forms can have an important neuroprotective effect," she said.


http://www.personalliberty.com/news/...risk-19878946/

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Treating Wounds With Salt Water

By Megan Smith, eHow Contributing Writer

Why Salt Water?

1. Salt water has long been considered a natural antiseptic and helps clean and sterilize open wounds. Although the famous expression "putting salt in the wound" has a negative connotation because salt tends to sting when placed in an open sore or cut, salt is beneficial in the long run. Because salt tends to be abrasive, it is best that you dilute it in a water solution. Salt water is most effective when 1 Tbsp. of salt is added to 1 cup of warm water. Stir the salt into the water until it dissolves, and then soak your wounds in it. Although salt-water treatment is not ideal as the primary treatment for all wounds, it is an excellent initial treatment to disinfect a wound.

Treating Your Wounds

2. If you have a small wound on your hand or foot, fill a small bowl of warm water, add several tablespoons of salt, and soak the wound for 15 minutes. Then rinse the wound in cold water and dry thoroughly. Add hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol to your skin if desired. If you have a larger wound, you may want to take a salt-water bath. Fill the bathtub with warm water, and add 1 cup of salt water to the bath. Stir the bathwater thoroughly with your hands until the salt dissolves completely. Sit in the salt-water bath for 15 minutes, and then rinse off thoroughly in the shower. Follow with a spot treatment of rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to further sterilize your wound.

Warnings About Treating Your Wounds

3. Do not use a salt-water bath if your wound is bleeding. You may dab your wound gently with salt water, but do not soak it until your wound has clotted completely. If your wound is bleeding profusely or is swelling, see a doctor or go to the emergency room immediately. If you appear to have broken a bone, do not soak your wound in salt water. Treating a wound in salt water is an excellent preventative measure against germs and infection, but it will not heal all wounds. Your wound may require stitches or other medical attention before soaking your wound in salt water will be effective. When in doubt, always contact your doctor and ask her what to do about your injury.

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4898741_tr ... water.html

Home Remedies

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