In the 2008 film Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood’s character, Walt Kowalski, shows his young neighbor, Thao, his workshop. When the boy laments that he’ll never be able to collect so many tools, Kowalski pulls out just three items: WD-40, vise grips, and duct tape.
“Any man worth his salt can do half the household chores with just those three things,” Kowalski tells the boy. We can’t disagree
Worth copying. I’ve been telling others all they need is rice and pulses plus condiments for taste. You can get powdered brewers yeast and dried onions that last in air tight bags.
I recall stories of how the Vietnamese were able to survive for so long in the jungle - rice and pulses. While US forces had heavy boxes of rations.
I would add things to being instant energy in a bug out bag. The only things required for the brain to fire on all cylinders are water and sugar. We used lucazade glucose tablets and water for our final exams. Caffeine tablets? Keep alert during night time watches?
We’ve planned to get our water from the reservoir that took over 50% of our hamlet. Easy access through relative’s fields. It contains fish too. Even considered the sort of horse you’d need for SHTF carrying. Choose a mean one that doesn’t like strangers. I have a pony like that. She terrorizes vets and strangers alike. But likes the grandchildren so all ok.
Now what about the other high alert protection? Dogs. We’ve considered rabbit traps for food. Note: insect protein has been getting added to commercial pet food over last 3 years. My dog has skin issue developed over last few years. On raw food diet so throw him a couple rabbits! Let him skin it as they’re a B*tch to skin.
Other thing essential to learn - foraging. Pinto beans are the most nutritious (last I looked for stocking up). But fresh dandelions and nettles up vitamins. Also learn natural herbal health and how to find them in the wild. No access to doctors. Hmm sounds like NHs now.
No water = no body washing. Increases in anaerobic bacteria in folds of skin and groin/underarms. Onion poultices? Horse poultices? Honey? Hibiscrub kills MRSA. 10:10. 10 parts Hibiscrub to 90 parts water. Leave for 10 minutes.
Vinegar is very useful for personal hygiene. You can use rubbing alcohol on a rag to wipe yourself down, or vinegar. Oxi-clean is an item that I stock and it can be used for general cleaning, laundry, or carpet. Rubbing alcohol and peroxide are good things to have stashed. Baking soda is useful for teeth brushing (w/ peroxide), and for keeping shoes fresh and dry.
I've given this some thought, and have some relevant experience: you might like to read some relevant articles on my substack. Click on the header for this post.
Check out "Be Prepared" 1 & 2, & "Travel Hygiene".
Don't forget stocking up on med supplies, alcohol and some bartering items. When SHTF think no internet and no access if you bank electronically. Stashing some cash and getting some silver coins for barter will help tide you over.
Forgot to mention pets. If you have pets, stock up on food for them, too, and don't even think about cutting them lose. Domesticated animals set free will only add to the chaos.
I WATCHED A YOUTUBER WHO LIVES MINIMALLY AND TRAVELS WITH HIS THREE GOATS. HE HAD ONE. I KNEW I WANTED ONE THEN AND THERE !
I've had different models. This is the superior way to cook by sun. You won't regret having one of these even if it's just a conversational piece as you cook up your meal. You'll be surprised at the attention they get.
I have tried solar cooking from time to time and have had solar water heating.
A typical solar oven I might use when not using this unit I'm reviewing would be a big box, with a clear lid and mirrors to redirect the light. A black pot is heated inside. This works "okay" but it better be hot and getting a lot of light. It kind of looks like somebody played around with lots of different designs in their backyard and after testing started to sell a unit. I'd say that style is passable.
This is completely different. The inventor of this type of solar oven has a clear understanding of physics, material science, and production design. The concept of using a vacuum glass tube with a black residue specially designed to convert sunlight to heat has resulted in a much more efficient design. The result is a smaller and much easier to set up and use solar cooking apparatus. It needs less light and is more forgiving for tinkering. For example, in the picture I uploaded, these wings were out of a bag frozen with some olive oil and seasoning added. I set up the unit and left home. I came back 3 hours later and the internal temp of the chicken was 195 F and the meat was literally falling off the bones. For being able to set it and forget it, that is about as good as it gets. https://www.amazon.com/GoSun-Barbecue-Cooking-Camping-Hiking/product-reviews/B00LD84EQE/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews
All good, except the “rice and beans” diet. Three days of that and most people won’t need looters to come and kill them, family members will be killing each other.
Absolutely MUST also have veggies (dried, freeze dried or fresh if you can grow them), spices, dried fruit for sugar/treats, and condiments. PLENTY of condiments. And good cooking oil (NO Crisco, Wesson, generic “vegetable oil” crap.) Buy spice in bulk and store in the fridge. Experiment with different varieties of rice (Basmati, jasmine, brown long grain, Bhutanese Red, Thai Black, Forbidden, Arborio, Bamboo and so on). If you must eat rice five times a week, the variety will add nutrients and help prevent boredom.
Experiment with lesser known starches such as Tibetan Purple Barley, an extremely nutritious grain that powered the Tibetan civilization for centuries. Learn to bake with nutrient dense flours, like einkorn or spelt. If you don’t already, grow your own sourdough starter and cut your dependence on store-bought yeast. Boost your cooking and baking skills so you can turn whatever assemblage of ingredients you have on hand, into a flavorful and nourishing dish that your fam will actually want to come to the table for. The world’s poor have been turning various combos of simple ingredients into substantial and healthy cuisine for thousands of years, so crack open some ethnic vegetarian cookbooks and get comfortable with foundational flavor pairings. Flavor brings nutrition as well as interest, and a bland, repetitive diet will kill even otherwise solid prepp plans while wearing down your health over time.
Napoleon once quipped that an army travels on its stomach. He was right. Figure out who’s going to do most of the cooking and push their skills up a few notches. When you reach the point that you feel your cooking is way better than any restaurant, you’re there. (And you’ll save a bundle by not eating out. Because the food won’t seem so good any more.)
This is what I always remind people of. Good fat! Grass fed tallow lasts for years and coconut oil in a 5gallon bucket (it’s expensive, but it lasts forever so it’s worth it).
The Baofeng UV5R is an awesome radio. My wife and I use ours to communicate around the property all of the time. However, there is a learning curve. I'm not going to get into the rules and licensing. Also, the new ones lock out many of the channels that an amateur would want to use. Jailbreaking is easy, however. I recommend getting a GMRS radio; paying the FCC for a license (there is no test); and then get access to GMRS repeaters in your area. If there aren't any, then set one up. Check out Notarubicon's channel on YT or Odysee for the best advice for your setup.
Also, get a longer "whip" antenna and a big battery. You will want to program your radio with repeaters, NOAA weather, local emergency responders, and gmrs channels. In my area, there are "nets" held on regular basis where people check in. The check-ins help the users dial in their gear and create community. A friend of mine runs two nets a week at set times. It's reassuring to know that I can reach out in an emergency.
Learn to grow your own herbal medicine; In all regions there are similar books on plants and medicine
Natural occurring home grown Med's is how humans survived for 10's of 1,000's of years before 'big-pharma' (big-oil to oil based medicine ) made holistic-natural med illegal in 1920's
Your buying power is less every single day. Anything you can buy now for later use, such as shoes and car tires, and anything else that wears out, do so. I also have junk silver coins and I just bought pesos (I live in CA). I think the beans and rice idea is great. I've got around 100 pounds of beans and rice, and I cook them separately because the rice doesn't keep. You can cook a pot of beans ahead of time and mix in cooked rice as needed. My recipe for beans is 1 lb. of pinto in 7.5 cups of water and 1 tbs red pepper flakes. Cook it in the slow cooker until the water is absorbed. This is the (Mexican) way.
Which Kibbutz (if you care to share?) I've been to most of them as well as the "moshbutzes" back in the day. I found kibbutz life to be a fascinating mix of hard work, socialism and being an outlier in the society you essentially created. Met lots of great folks, and some freaks :)
Only bring up this topic, because the "JEWS" who were killed by HAMAS-ISRAEL ISIS Forces were Kibbutz Jews, which IMHO like GAZA its about their lands so that Nutty-Yahoo can build more condos;
Both MENA-JEWS (REAL JEWS) & ashkeNAZI ( euro-jews aka faux-jews ) seem to hate the "Emma Goldman" Socialist-Communal Jews; I'm a big fan of Emma Goldman
"Anarchism is communal-ism in its purest form" - Emma Goldman
Nuttin about Bolshevism, or communism, or UK London "ashkNAZI Ass Fuckery"
Funny how lots of Israeli couples who poked fun at Kibbutzniks would pay to have their kids attend kibbutz and moshbutz (moshav/kibbutz) schools. Most of the peacniks I met were seemed to be in the kibbutzim, although almost all are subject to mandatory military service after high school (3 yrs for girls, 4 for boys if I recall) though that may have been only my experience.
90% of Israeli kids get a choice of 'how' to serve their two (+8 months male cucks) years service, most enter the Hasbara UNIT-8200 program where you spend 9am-12 in front of a screen posting 'pro-Israel' shit as found here on substack;
The rest of the hours they're ass-fuck and cock sucking each other;
This is why almost everybody says the IDF is 'soft' and why Israel brings in Mercenary's from India who has a 50% unemployment for 18-24 males, to do all their killing in the occupied death-zones;
...
Same can be said of USA 'Catholic Schools" all elite Jews I know while they want to destroy the USA public schools & DA office with "WOKE" bullshit, they all send their own kids to "Catholic Schools" which are still rigorous and no non-sense;
I'm not sure what a 'peace-nik' is, that thing died the last millennium, USA&Israel the former 'anti-vietnam' generation are rabid natural born killers calling for genocide in Ukraine, Israel, & Taiwan
I liken the Israel Kibbutz lifestyle to the "AMISH" in USA, just living for real at a natural pace of life, the way humans should live, rather than like rats in a cage ( 15 min city )
It's well established and if I remember you once posted a mention of this topic, but if you put +2,000 rats in a cage they will all kill each other, there is a magic number where the entire society goes insane .
...
Current Israel MIL service Rules
the minimum required length of military service is two years and eight months (with some roles requiring an additional four months of service) for all conscripted men, and two years (with some roles requiring an additional eight months of service) for conscripted Jewish women. Once they have completed their mandatory term of service, all discharged citizens remain eligible to be called up for reserve duty until the age of 40. Draftees may be exempted from military service on humanitarian, religious, or certain legal grounds
[ The religious caveat means that most orthodox zealots can opt out and just spend their formative years on the street killing Palestine children, and driving Arabs from their homes and ancestral lands; ]
Do NOT use roundup on your lawn. Grow and eat some dandelions instead, you prepper you.This year, eat some dandelions.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cSo2YDCJLs8
WD-40, vise grips, and duct tape.
In the 2008 film Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood’s character, Walt Kowalski, shows his young neighbor, Thao, his workshop. When the boy laments that he’ll never be able to collect so many tools, Kowalski pulls out just three items: WD-40, vise grips, and duct tape.
“Any man worth his salt can do half the household chores with just those three things,” Kowalski tells the boy. We can’t disagree
On the other hand... https://urbansurvivalsite.com/multipurpose-items-you-should-stockpile/
Meet a REAL LIFE SUPER HERO Inspiration.
This little guy saved his sister, and Hollywood's superhero actors are dumbstruck. Watch.
https://youtu.be/wM8KJygSy8U?t=72
Worth copying. I’ve been telling others all they need is rice and pulses plus condiments for taste. You can get powdered brewers yeast and dried onions that last in air tight bags.
I recall stories of how the Vietnamese were able to survive for so long in the jungle - rice and pulses. While US forces had heavy boxes of rations.
I would add things to being instant energy in a bug out bag. The only things required for the brain to fire on all cylinders are water and sugar. We used lucazade glucose tablets and water for our final exams. Caffeine tablets? Keep alert during night time watches?
We’ve planned to get our water from the reservoir that took over 50% of our hamlet. Easy access through relative’s fields. It contains fish too. Even considered the sort of horse you’d need for SHTF carrying. Choose a mean one that doesn’t like strangers. I have a pony like that. She terrorizes vets and strangers alike. But likes the grandchildren so all ok.
Now what about the other high alert protection? Dogs. We’ve considered rabbit traps for food. Note: insect protein has been getting added to commercial pet food over last 3 years. My dog has skin issue developed over last few years. On raw food diet so throw him a couple rabbits! Let him skin it as they’re a B*tch to skin.
Other thing essential to learn - foraging. Pinto beans are the most nutritious (last I looked for stocking up). But fresh dandelions and nettles up vitamins. Also learn natural herbal health and how to find them in the wild. No access to doctors. Hmm sounds like NHs now.
No water = no body washing. Increases in anaerobic bacteria in folds of skin and groin/underarms. Onion poultices? Horse poultices? Honey? Hibiscrub kills MRSA. 10:10. 10 parts Hibiscrub to 90 parts water. Leave for 10 minutes.
Vinegar is very useful for personal hygiene. You can use rubbing alcohol on a rag to wipe yourself down, or vinegar. Oxi-clean is an item that I stock and it can be used for general cleaning, laundry, or carpet. Rubbing alcohol and peroxide are good things to have stashed. Baking soda is useful for teeth brushing (w/ peroxide), and for keeping shoes fresh and dry.
I’m goin with this guy when things get rough.
I've given this some thought, and have some relevant experience: you might like to read some relevant articles on my substack. Click on the header for this post.
Check out "Be Prepared" 1 & 2, & "Travel Hygiene".
Don't forget stocking up on med supplies, alcohol and some bartering items. When SHTF think no internet and no access if you bank electronically. Stashing some cash and getting some silver coins for barter will help tide you over.
Good points. Cigarettes too (just don't smoke up. They're for trading)
Forgot to mention pets. If you have pets, stock up on food for them, too, and don't even think about cutting them lose. Domesticated animals set free will only add to the chaos.
and the pets will be eaten when set free
Here's the smaller version of the GOSUN portable solar cooker on sale:
2lbs. Can even cook in partial sunlight
Ideal for camping and hiking, and boiling water in 15-20 mins for safety or dehyrated foods. https://www.amazon.com/GOSUN-Portable-Cooking-Camping-Hiking/dp/B07CJP52D6/ref=sr_1_4?crid=379RZGGMVRSPZ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.0LzFotv9XknF8ywchmNrUlkwqiTgANvrHeKyBxqYRjS9BgDTl97RJfM636cyxBoODtiCxs1XtwbOB8uUrH0fZEsac_NHbGlu-b50KA021ComK6QKyBJDjKUpGGsWBPPplzoR0KtSh4LS90ncH4G4zptMeV1QlUFX9a3JMhPLobcNFaYhp3D5uSyAINekdROI_EAkKN0wmrsaqF1AcdrPkA5vIzwLoDCO2k8qD9cge7U.0_pGTldCgU3UlVO3olsZq8HNbIl8rw6wuKmxaSXGhec&dib_tag=se&keywords=best+selling+portable+solar+cooker&qid=1708308197&sprefix=best+selling+portable+solar+cooker%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-4
Best Portable Solar Cooker
I WATCHED A YOUTUBER WHO LIVES MINIMALLY AND TRAVELS WITH HIS THREE GOATS. HE HAD ONE. I KNEW I WANTED ONE THEN AND THERE !
I've had different models. This is the superior way to cook by sun. You won't regret having one of these even if it's just a conversational piece as you cook up your meal. You'll be surprised at the attention they get.
I have tried solar cooking from time to time and have had solar water heating.
A typical solar oven I might use when not using this unit I'm reviewing would be a big box, with a clear lid and mirrors to redirect the light. A black pot is heated inside. This works "okay" but it better be hot and getting a lot of light. It kind of looks like somebody played around with lots of different designs in their backyard and after testing started to sell a unit. I'd say that style is passable.
This is completely different. The inventor of this type of solar oven has a clear understanding of physics, material science, and production design. The concept of using a vacuum glass tube with a black residue specially designed to convert sunlight to heat has resulted in a much more efficient design. The result is a smaller and much easier to set up and use solar cooking apparatus. It needs less light and is more forgiving for tinkering. For example, in the picture I uploaded, these wings were out of a bag frozen with some olive oil and seasoning added. I set up the unit and left home. I came back 3 hours later and the internal temp of the chicken was 195 F and the meat was literally falling off the bones. For being able to set it and forget it, that is about as good as it gets. https://www.amazon.com/GoSun-Barbecue-Cooking-Camping-Hiking/product-reviews/B00LD84EQE/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews
All good, except the “rice and beans” diet. Three days of that and most people won’t need looters to come and kill them, family members will be killing each other.
Absolutely MUST also have veggies (dried, freeze dried or fresh if you can grow them), spices, dried fruit for sugar/treats, and condiments. PLENTY of condiments. And good cooking oil (NO Crisco, Wesson, generic “vegetable oil” crap.) Buy spice in bulk and store in the fridge. Experiment with different varieties of rice (Basmati, jasmine, brown long grain, Bhutanese Red, Thai Black, Forbidden, Arborio, Bamboo and so on). If you must eat rice five times a week, the variety will add nutrients and help prevent boredom.
Experiment with lesser known starches such as Tibetan Purple Barley, an extremely nutritious grain that powered the Tibetan civilization for centuries. Learn to bake with nutrient dense flours, like einkorn or spelt. If you don’t already, grow your own sourdough starter and cut your dependence on store-bought yeast. Boost your cooking and baking skills so you can turn whatever assemblage of ingredients you have on hand, into a flavorful and nourishing dish that your fam will actually want to come to the table for. The world’s poor have been turning various combos of simple ingredients into substantial and healthy cuisine for thousands of years, so crack open some ethnic vegetarian cookbooks and get comfortable with foundational flavor pairings. Flavor brings nutrition as well as interest, and a bland, repetitive diet will kill even otherwise solid prepp plans while wearing down your health over time.
Napoleon once quipped that an army travels on its stomach. He was right. Figure out who’s going to do most of the cooking and push their skills up a few notches. When you reach the point that you feel your cooking is way better than any restaurant, you’re there. (And you’ll save a bundle by not eating out. Because the food won’t seem so good any more.)
This is what I always remind people of. Good fat! Grass fed tallow lasts for years and coconut oil in a 5gallon bucket (it’s expensive, but it lasts forever so it’s worth it).
The Baofeng UV5R is an awesome radio. My wife and I use ours to communicate around the property all of the time. However, there is a learning curve. I'm not going to get into the rules and licensing. Also, the new ones lock out many of the channels that an amateur would want to use. Jailbreaking is easy, however. I recommend getting a GMRS radio; paying the FCC for a license (there is no test); and then get access to GMRS repeaters in your area. If there aren't any, then set one up. Check out Notarubicon's channel on YT or Odysee for the best advice for your setup.
Valuable info. Thank you!!
Also, get a longer "whip" antenna and a big battery. You will want to program your radio with repeaters, NOAA weather, local emergency responders, and gmrs channels. In my area, there are "nets" held on regular basis where people check in. The check-ins help the users dial in their gear and create community. A friend of mine runs two nets a week at set times. It's reassuring to know that I can reach out in an emergency.
You need Chirp to program your Baofeng or you can painfully do it manually. https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home
https://www.repeaterbook.com/index.php/en-us/
https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php
Stock up on medication, especially maintenance medications
Learn to grow your own herbal medicine; In all regions there are similar books on plants and medicine
Natural occurring home grown Med's is how humans survived for 10's of 1,000's of years before 'big-pharma' (big-oil to oil based medicine ) made holistic-natural med illegal in 1920's
Your buying power is less every single day. Anything you can buy now for later use, such as shoes and car tires, and anything else that wears out, do so. I also have junk silver coins and I just bought pesos (I live in CA). I think the beans and rice idea is great. I've got around 100 pounds of beans and rice, and I cook them separately because the rice doesn't keep. You can cook a pot of beans ahead of time and mix in cooked rice as needed. My recipe for beans is 1 lb. of pinto in 7.5 cups of water and 1 tbs red pepper flakes. Cook it in the slow cooker until the water is absorbed. This is the (Mexican) way.
I have been meaning to pick up that exact same radio but forgot. just ordered 3
Hey my new single is called Doomsday Prepper!
https://open.spotify.com/album/5WMPBnSdBTRa282GUcFz3S
Awesome article. Just stellar! 💫
I am a Jewish Nigger, my family raised on an Isaeli kibbutz and our first gen came out of Niger, Africa;
Which Kibbutz (if you care to share?) I've been to most of them as well as the "moshbutzes" back in the day. I found kibbutz life to be a fascinating mix of hard work, socialism and being an outlier in the society you essentially created. Met lots of great folks, and some freaks :)
My mother, I'll tell you about my mother; When I was born she refused to allow them to 'clip' me
She thought that circumcision was a form a child sexual mutilation;
Only bring up this topic, because the "JEWS" who were killed by HAMAS-ISRAEL ISIS Forces were Kibbutz Jews, which IMHO like GAZA its about their lands so that Nutty-Yahoo can build more condos;
Both MENA-JEWS (REAL JEWS) & ashkeNAZI ( euro-jews aka faux-jews ) seem to hate the "Emma Goldman" Socialist-Communal Jews; I'm a big fan of Emma Goldman
"Anarchism is communal-ism in its purest form" - Emma Goldman
Nuttin about Bolshevism, or communism, or UK London "ashkNAZI Ass Fuckery"
Funny how lots of Israeli couples who poked fun at Kibbutzniks would pay to have their kids attend kibbutz and moshbutz (moshav/kibbutz) schools. Most of the peacniks I met were seemed to be in the kibbutzim, although almost all are subject to mandatory military service after high school (3 yrs for girls, 4 for boys if I recall) though that may have been only my experience.
90% of Israeli kids get a choice of 'how' to serve their two (+8 months male cucks) years service, most enter the Hasbara UNIT-8200 program where you spend 9am-12 in front of a screen posting 'pro-Israel' shit as found here on substack;
The rest of the hours they're ass-fuck and cock sucking each other;
This is why almost everybody says the IDF is 'soft' and why Israel brings in Mercenary's from India who has a 50% unemployment for 18-24 males, to do all their killing in the occupied death-zones;
...
Same can be said of USA 'Catholic Schools" all elite Jews I know while they want to destroy the USA public schools & DA office with "WOKE" bullshit, they all send their own kids to "Catholic Schools" which are still rigorous and no non-sense;
I'm not sure what a 'peace-nik' is, that thing died the last millennium, USA&Israel the former 'anti-vietnam' generation are rabid natural born killers calling for genocide in Ukraine, Israel, & Taiwan
I liken the Israel Kibbutz lifestyle to the "AMISH" in USA, just living for real at a natural pace of life, the way humans should live, rather than like rats in a cage ( 15 min city )
It's well established and if I remember you once posted a mention of this topic, but if you put +2,000 rats in a cage they will all kill each other, there is a magic number where the entire society goes insane .
...
Current Israel MIL service Rules
the minimum required length of military service is two years and eight months (with some roles requiring an additional four months of service) for all conscripted men, and two years (with some roles requiring an additional eight months of service) for conscripted Jewish women. Once they have completed their mandatory term of service, all discharged citizens remain eligible to be called up for reserve duty until the age of 40. Draftees may be exempted from military service on humanitarian, religious, or certain legal grounds
[ The religious caveat means that most orthodox zealots can opt out and just spend their formative years on the street killing Palestine children, and driving Arabs from their homes and ancestral lands; ]