Magic Cook mug

Ok.. this is pretty cool. It heated the water I put in it up to 180°f . It's a bit heavy, I might take it on a day hike but wouldn't put it in my Bug Out Bag. There is also a meal size heater as well. I didn't have the cash to drop on it but from the looks of how this performed I think it's got to be good as well. The price is the only turn off for me. At $24.00 for the mug and $9.00 for 5 heaters. It could get pricey. The food heater was around $35.00 and $12.00 for 5 heaters. Handy for an emergency but the price I think can be it's turn off. The weight also is a factor for me..  if your an apartment person, I say grab a few and keep them for just in case. Check them out yourself.

cooking fuel test

OK, so I decided to try out all the cooking fuels that I have in my inventory to see what burned the best and how they performed overall. I had several to use. an Swedish alcohol stove, German military issue fuel tablets, Trioxane fuel tablets, Gel alcohol fuel, and Esbit Fuel tablets.

For my first test I used the Swedish stove and the Gel Alcohol Fuel.

I used two Swedish Stoves with equal amounts of water in their pots. With in the first few minutes they both started to get real warm. Within 7 minutes they were both hot. Around the 15 minute mark The magic happened! They both began to hard boil, reaching temps of 210f , but by then the fuel gel was done, its temp quickly dropped to 180f and the Swedish stove kept a good rolling boil.

Around 20 minutes the gel had completely used all its energy, but the Swedish stove kept on cooking. I eventually put it out at about 25 minutes to keep testing going.
  Next was the Trioxane Fuel tablets and the German issue fuel tablets. I used 1 trioxane fuel tablet at first and 4 German tablets as well. The Trioxane was very disappointing. It had consumed all its energy with in 5 minutes. The German tablets were going stong, I quickly added a second trioxane tablet to keep the fire going and was able to achieve a temp of 180f. The German tablets were able to reach 210f but quickly lost their energy after that.

Trioxane and German Fuel tabs.

trioxane burning.

German tabs burning..

Last but not least was the Esbit Fuel tabs. You have seen pics of my Esbit stove and I think its a pretty awesome little piece of gear. I have one in my pack..I used 2 tabs for this test and was able to get water to 210f but the tabs lost their energy after about 18 minutes, they burned over 20 minutes overall. Once again I am pretty impressed!

 So how do I rank these. All were able to create safe water but they all have their good and bads.. So here is how I ranked them
 1) Swedish Alcohol burner. It was able to get the water to a boil and hold it the longest. I had a hell of a time getting it out and it still had plenty of fuel left in the burner. I sealed it and will save it for the next adventure. The burner comes with a fuel bottle so if you have both in your pack when you head out you should have several hours of cook time. If not just get a few bottles of Heet in the blue label and you will be set!
2) The German Fuel tabs. For their size they put out a lot of heat and had good longevity. I did use 4 tabs and the stove does come issued with 12 tabs stowed in it. Would be nice to find a source for them. I was really impressed with the tabs.
3) The Gel fuel. For what you get you get a lot of heat! I was impressed with the energy it gave off and it did really well being used in an Esbit style stove. The gel fuel is really light and works well with the Esbit stove so I will be stuffing several of these into my bag as well...
4) The Esbit tabs. I really think they should be tied with 3 but it did take 2 tabs to get the water to hard boil. You can store 4 tabs in a Esbit stove so weight and space isn't an issue.You can buy Esbit stoves and fuel tabs at most major sporting good stores or on line.
5) The trioxane tabs. They did get the water to temp, I should have used 2 tabs and checked results. Their energy span was really quick,, 5 minutes and they were done. Also the box I had came with 3 tablets. When I opened one of them there was nothing but blue powder. It would not burn, so I was left with 2 tablets to use. I think I will use these for fire starting more than a cooking source.
OH! Be warned when burning alcohol or gel fuel remember the flame is almost colorless! I really had to look to see it, I felt the heat first. So be extra careful when using them!
 Try these out for yourself and see how they work for you.

   

Swedish M-40 mess kit with stove.

Alright, I got lucky and scored a few Swedish M-40 mess kits with the alcohol burner stoves. I really like these! Very cool, very good design. Overall a great little piece for your kit. My only bitch is I had issues with the amount of fuel used. In the middle of making coffee the burner ran out of alcohol and I had to quickly reload it to keep my coffee pot going.
I made some video, but I am having issues loading it due to size limit. Will post those when I get that resolved.. So here are some pics of everything.

You will notice in the first pic I have included some gel flame packs, I did this as a back up for the stove. Also I will be picking up a spork real soon and adding it to the kit as well. I look forward to playing with this some more in the future. I also want to see how well and long the gel packs burn and if they can make coffee as well as boil water.

Disaster and P.A. Bathing!

So, I have a confession.I have been experimenting.  I have been showering only once a week ( plz note showering,) I have been doing this for almost 3 months now. I have however been bathing almost daily. I fill the sink with hot water, add several squirts of Dr Bronner's peppermint or tea tree soap and wash myself that way. I keep my hair pretty short so its not a maintenance issue. What I have noticed is that there is a HUGE water savings and I am still clean with no FUNK! I have also used bath wipes as well testing them out to see how well they really work, and guess what,, they work really really well! No B.O. issues at all. Would well be worth adding to your B.O.B. as a way to keep the funk off and to help feel fresh ( which can be good for morale) . Remember when water becomes scarce or you have a limited supply bathing becomes a critical issue. figure a 50-100 gallon shower x3 people and your 2500 gallon supply is gone in no time flat! Now,, take that at 1-2 gallons per person a few times a week and you are doing a lot better. Remember also to use Castile soaps, they are very mild on the skin, but very effective at cleaning! Dr. Bronners makes many varieties that will appeal to even the picky person. 

 No Rinse bath wipes and no rinse shampoo are also things you should consider to have on hand. When I was stationed in Egypt, my mom had gave me a big bottle of No Rinse shampoo. She said it might come in handy because she knew water was a premium there in the desert. Well we had great super hot showers and I had access to everything to stay clean, until time for us to leave. We were one of the last units to leave so when everything was packed up we spent 2 weeks without shower facilities. We bucket bathed and my shampoo made me several friends. we bathed every couple of days and also did our laundry in buckets as well.. It wasn't the greatest situation but we put a system in place and it worked.We created a bath station, put up some privacy walls and used good old cold water! Being it was 110f nobody cared. So, be sure to factor in some way to keep yourself clean or at least the family, it will improve morale, reduce chances of skin infections and parasite issues and keep everyone healthy!

 

review, Bearded Brothers Energy Bars

OK, so I was at a friends yoga studio and they had these energy bars there. Well always up for something new and different I bought two of them and gave them a try.
The company is Bearded Brothers www.beardedbros.com. I have to say there are a ton!! of energy bars out there and many are very commercialized in nature, these are all natural and I found very tasty! I tried the Colossal Coconut Mango bar first. I enjoyed it! It reminds me of a less sweet fig newton with coconut and a mango finish. It was moist enough to not require very much water to chew which in a survival situation we know can be an issue. It had a great texture and I enjoyed the flavor very much. I also like the fact they use a wrapper that is commercially compostable.

 

If you look at the nutritional info, They use basic all natural things! Also Dare I say the "F" word.. The fat content is almost 1/2 the calories. OH MY GOD!! FAT!! Fat is energy folks,, pure and simple.. The fats in this are on the healthy side, so dont go stressing! The shelf life of the bar is about 1 year from the time from which I purchased it. Not great for long term survival, but in a short term its a great food source. The bars are small, but being dense and all natural you can go a good way on the energy it should provide. It also has a small amount of protein as well,, (Bonus!) You do need protein to help balance out and slow down the sugar in your system.
I am now looking forward to trying the rest of their bars as well and will be adding them to my hiking pack as well as my bug out bag. So if your looking for a good all natural alternative to the energy bars out there, give these a try!

recipe for a survival bread..

Here is a recipe for a survival bread that will keep for a very long time, it also will provide an adult a days worth of nutrition and calories,, that is one whole loaf.

Survival Bread

2 cups oats

2 ½ cups powdered milk

1 cup sugar

3 Tbl Honey

3 Tbl water

1 pkg lemon or orange jello (3oz)

Mix dry ingredients , in a medium sauce pan mix jello and honey. Bring to a boil, add dry ingredients and mix well. If dough is too dry add small amounts of water a teaspoon at a time, shape dough into a loaf, place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes, let cool wrap in foil and store. This bread should keep indefinitely and provides the nutrition for 1 adult for 1 day.

Here is one for Hardtack..

 

Hardtack recipe

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups unbleached flour

2 cups whole rolled oats

2 cups pecans or nuts of choice

1 cup raisins or any dried fruit

1 cup olive oil

1 Tbs baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

2 cups butter milk

Mix dry ingredients and then wet ingredients separate, then combine them. Roll to about 3/8 of an inch thick. Cut into squares or rounds, then bake at 375f for about 40 minutes, let cool then enjoy..

What to do with parts of MRE's you dont use/ Homemade MRE/ Contest!

OK,, so what do we do with the parts of the MRE's we don't use. Well I save them and break them down. I am going to redistribute them into new MRE accessory packs. Like adding a little bit extra sugar to them, etc. Also I have a pluthera  of cheese packs, drink packs, and food items that I haven't finished from past meals. Well I will use these and work them into some homemade MRE style packs. Yes,,, I will try to build a home made MRE, I need to first figure out what I need to put into one and then go from there,, Spam of course is a good one to add and if you have any other good ones let me know! Remember it must be close to the size of a current MRE. Tuna packs and Salmon packs are another good choice.. So Ideas are welcome! How about this.... Best idea will get 50ft of parachute cord,, authentic 550! So please give me some input and ideas.. I will build and try them out!!

Commercial Biosand Filter

So, saw a link for this company that produces slow sand water filters. Looks very very interesting and of course the science is very sound. One thing I noticed is they don't seem to have prices posted if you wish to purchase one. If your not a do it yourself-er, you might want to look into a few of these for your place. If things go south you can at least know that you can provide your family with a safe source of water. If you can afford several of these, you can have some for barter or set them up for the neighbors to use.

 http://www.hydraid.org/

Here is an other company that builds them

http://bluefuturefilters.com/home.html

anyways,, these filters are a time proven and science proven technology,, you should look into either purchasing one or building one for your family in case the shit does hit the fan! At least you will know there wont be any shit in your water...

Emergency blankets

So the other day I scored a box of these military emergency blankets. These things are awesome! Due to cedar season my wife has sent me to the couch. So I have been using one of these for a blanket at night when it has been cool or cold.It has me sweating most of the time I use it.. First thing is these are two layer blankets, they have an olive drab side and of course the shiny reflective side. They are also stitched quit well with a small pattern to help minimize any tearing. They also have grommets!!!  A huge bonus!!! Two of these stuffed into your ruck or BOB could mean a huge difference in survival situations when dealing with cold weather or hypothermia. One could be set up as a shelter half and the other you wrap around yourself or tie up like a bag and crawl into. The shelter half facing a fire would reflect a lot of heat back you and of course that means more warmth! If you can build a fire wall as well, well you would be might toasty!......

  Nice Olive drab color, great for keeping a low profile if needed. It is a bit noisy but being that it is essentially a foil material that is to be expected.

 Also note the grommet, great for using as a shelter half or fold in half tie and use as a sleeping bag. The stitch pattern keeps the two materials together and also helps act as a rip stop.

this folds out to a nice 3x6 size which makes it versatile, packable and very multi use.It has almost no weight at all. For you weight counters it comes in at 9 3/4 ounces.  It was a sunny day and I could feel the heat being reflected back up.... This blanket works really well..
You should see some of these at your local military surplus store if not start asking for them! This is undoubtedly a great addition to any kit!!!

Hand warmers pt2

Hand Warmers!

.

This is a hand warmer I picked up at an estate sale,, for free! I love the large size of it and the fact that when I have used it it stayed hot for 14 hours! So something like this in a bug out kit isnt far out of the realm or in a cache at your bug out location. Of course when this one breaks down it is scrap metal unless I can find a new catalytic burner for it.  This one tossed in your jacket would be a great tool to keep your core warm. If you can keep the core warm you can of course stave off hypothermia, 

So if your garage or estate browsing and find these old ones and they look in good shape,, grab them if they are cheap!

 

Pic of a hand warmer I found at an estate raid/sale.

Kelly Kettles

If your looking for a great product that is multipurpose. Look at the Kelly Kettles, you can get a kit that will allow you to boil water as well as heat food at the same time. These kettles are very packable and are time and tradition proven. A great way to warm your self is from the inside out, a few packets of hot chocolate or dried soup can go a very long way to warm your inside and boost your moral.

The best part is you can get them going and keep them burning using twigs and small branches. Remember survival is a lazy mans game. You dont want to over exert yourself if you dont have to. it is easier to gather twigs and small branches and try to get and chop large pieces of wood. You want to stay warm in the cold and not sweat. Also you will want to exert yourself less in the summer to stay cool and avoid sweating to much as well. These are great for camping or even as a cache item or to have at a bug out location. The prices are affordable so if your in the market for something like this, send them some business.
http://www.kellykettleusa.com/

.
 ..

Another cool project to try out!

A DIY project for those who have a small bit of experience in electronics!
Great for a grid down/ power down situation. You could help out your neighbors by offering to help them keep their phones powered up with several of these!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lithium-Heavy-Duty-Solar-USB-Charger-20/

Check this out!

A pretty damned cool home!!!! also investment, you can charge rent to the open spaces!
http://www.viralnova.com/apocalypse-house/

How to winter proof your home if the power goes down.

OK, I was thinking the other day and was wondering what else can one do to help winterize your house in a grid down scenario.
 Well several ideas came to me. First was to address the areas that will loose heat. Your windows are one of the biggest areas that heat loos will occur. Well to help reduce this loss you can use bubble wrap and tape it up over the windows. If it is really cold use a couple of layers, then tack up a wool blanket over the window as well. You can also buy cold weather covers/blinds/drapes that can cover the window as well.
 Also use a heavy wool blanket and cover any outside doors  as well. If you haven't invested the time or money yet, get and add extra insulation in your attic. you should have at least an R-50 above your head. Research what insulation will work best in your area. You can often rent the equipment to spray it out your self at a good price. If you can invest add extra insulation to your walls as well, both of these will also help guard against summer heat.
 Remember to find the draft areas and plug them! Under doors, pet doors, etc. You can have a lot of heat loss through these. Also remember the room method. Any room you don't need to use, seal up and focus on how to keep the other rooms warm.
 With just a few cold proofing ideas you can make your home more comfortable during an emergency.

How to locate local sources of water

OK, so the grid goes down, you have no power. Well that means no water. No water means you die after several days. If you live in Texas it can be quicker than that.
 How do you locate a water source? Well one way is to know where sources are is to use Google Earth and Google maps to search a head of time for sources. First thing is to start local, using Google Earth locate all the water sources in your neighborhood, this to include swimming pools, ponds, cattle tanks, etc. Next would be to go recon these areas and figure out how far they are in relation to your house or bug our location. If it is a house, is it occupied? You don't want to get into a fight over water that someone owns. If the house is empty or has been abandoned well its fair game. Also remember If the house is empty the water heater could possibly hold up to 60 gallons of water, an easy score. Don't go grabbing all the close water sources first and emptying them out. There will be times that you will have the need to have a source near by. Also look into improving a few local sources, lets say your neighbors leave and have a pool. Do they have a gutter system? If you have the time and materials you could divert the roof water to the pool and then when it rains you could easily capture several thousand gallons of water that could have been lost. Look at your own situation, do you have gutters? do you have a harvest system? You can easily have several thousand gallons on hand and be able to keep it going or on reserve. Are there parks near by that have ponds or lakes? I have several near me, one with in a mile. I can easily bike there and carry water home via a trailer.
 Also figure out how much water you are going to need daily, that could be 3-5 gallons per person per day..Yup thats a lot, so plan accordingly, that means bathing is cut way down and laundry on an as needed basis. Hand washing sucks, but its how we use to do it. If your smart, all your gray water will go to your garden. or if you have a septic tank you can filter it and use it to flush your toilets.
 If your like me I know of 2 fairly safe and secure wells I can get access too for quality drinking water, they are about 10 miles from my house, so I would have to plan and maximize my trip. one well also has its own generator there, so that's an extra bonus. 
 Also remember you need to keep your potable and non-potable sources marked and separated. this could also tie into a slow sand filter or any other filter system you may have. You could easily direct a Big Burkey filter to fill a 55 gallon drum and with someone keeping it full you could always have 55 gallons of potable water ready. Set up a couple of these and you could barter out or help out neighbors in need.
  Also remember, when on a water run, fill your containers as quickly as you can. Do not filter on sight. If someone sees you have a filter you could quickly find yourself in a bad situation.
 Something else I have thought of, I am about 1 mile also from my city well and water tank, in a grid down I would see if it was possible to get the pumps going again that way the community could benefit. A large enough generator and some work could easily keep water going for the community.
 That would calm a lot of nerves....

So remember to scout your sources, map them and set a plan. That way your not a water statistic. 

slow sand filters.

One way to clean water is through a slow sand filter. A slow sand filter uses sand as a medium to produce a biological medium/layer that traps and filters bacteria and viruses. They are pretty easy to build and only require a few parts and a little patients. A rookie could build one with basic tools and a good set of instructions.
   There are still many municipalities that use slow sand filters to treat water so if you have concerns about its reliability, you can put those to rest.
 For a decent home size unit you will need a 55 gallon drum, some PVC pipe some wood, sand, gravel in pea size and also 1/1/2 in size. I also like to use landscape fabric to keep layers separated.
 Here is a PDF I copied that explains it better than I most likely can.
 http://www.preppers.info/uploads/Water_-_Slow_Sand_Filters.pdf
note,, most of the items can even come from salvage! or found cheap!

http://en.howtopedia.org/wiki/How_to_Filter_Water_with_a_Sand_Filter

 http://www.slowsandfilter.org/illustrations.html

Sam at The Human Path has a working model they use at the school and also teaches classes on this subject. If you are interested and live in the area let me know and I am sure Sam will let you take a look at his and also let you know when he will run a class on it again.

http://thehumanpath.com/





 

pandemic flu and family

How do you deal with a pandemic flu and family?
 
Should it occur you face some serious challenges. The medical system will sooner or later collapse if the load of sick become to great. The hospitals will quickly become overloaded with sick and dying people. What do you do where do you go? Well, the most likely scenario would be to keep family members at home and do what you can to keep them alive. First reality is the flu is spread by a virus, antibiotics do not work on viruses! Second reality is you are going to have to isolate yourselves and also isolate at sick members of your family.
  One way to do this is to be pro-active. That means be ready before cold and flu season, have all your ducks in a row. This also means if you do get them, flu shots and pneumonia shots.  Not everyone will agree about the flu shot or will have other reasons not to, but I wont get into that. Also have a flu kit handy, this means OTC meds to treat the symptoms of the flu. This is also a good time to learn some herbal medicine and have your herbal tinctures and herbs on stand bye. There are lots of herbs that have anti-viral properties and there are some good OTC remedies out there as well. Find a qualified and well educated herbalist and take some lessons.
  Once you have a really well stocked kit you will want to go to the hardware supply and get some items like tyvek suites, M-99 or 95 mask, several roles of 3-4 mil plastic sheeting, a staple gun and duct tape and even a few extra tarps. You will use the hardware store items to create an isolation room for anyone in your family who gets sick. You will want to also have items like bleach, medical gloves, a bucket several sponges and anything else you might need to keep things sanitized. Also do not forget to block the air registers in the isolation room, and if you can afford it get an air filter with HEPA filters and keep that sucker running! get one that will clean more square footage than the room, if it has a UV light crank that as well..  IF you know how, create the room to have a negative pressure, if not do what ever you can to keep the air contained to that room. Also remember to properly sterilize your self or anyone else that enters that room. 
  You can also find recipes for Thieves vinegar, which can be used as a disinfectant as well.
 Should anyone get a pandemic flu you will have to react quickly, if its early get them to your Dr, do not go to the emergency room! The place will be full of sick people as well, there is no need to risk your health more than it already is. If your Dr is cool, he might  hopefully get you some extra anti-viral meds. but these will be going quickly so don't count on it. Remember if you can successfully treat the flu symptoms your loved one can make it through.
 Designate 2 people as the contact persons to treat sick ones(Shift work), these folks should be doing an herbal regiment to help prevent them from getting the flu. Have a disinfection station next to the room, make sure everyone follows procedure! The sick person/persons should be monitored and symptoms treated as needed. If you have access and they are having respiratory issues treat them with some oxygen or medicate a steam humidifier or nebulizer. You can also create a tent and use a steam humidifier to add various medicines or herbals to help them breath and remove congestion and mucus. You will want to make sure they don't develop pneumonia. Work hard to make sure keep symptoms under control. This is also why you will want to have a large flu kit! you can use up your meds real quick...
   Trash and refuse that comes out of the room should be double bagged and removed directly to the trash, if it has to be stagged, stage it in the room but remove it as quick as you can.. Get some red colored bags or as close to red as possible to let everyone know not to mess with this waste.
 When this person recovers you will want to quickly sanitize the whole room, to include washing or even destroying bed linens and the cloths they wore. If your lucky you can find some hospital gowns and have extra bed linens on hand for this.
 If your family member doesn't recover you will need to be prepared for this as well. I will cover this at a later date.
  I will add to this as I find info, so check back often.
 Here are a few links for you.
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/coldsandflu/a/fluremedy.htm
http://www.diynatural.com/natural-cold-and-flu-remedies/
http://www.holisticonline.com/remedies/flu/cold_herbal-remedies-for-cold.htm
http://www.cpginteractive.com/sam/faqs.html
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/seeds/seeds.php
https://www.horizonherbs.com/
http://www.medicinalherbfarm.com/