Practical Prepping Protocol even if Poor

Thank you! Heading to read the article in just a minute. We need all the information we can gather on this possibility, so that we can provide as much protection for ourselves as possible. Thank you again!

People, I have probably told you here over the past two or three weeks about bargains I've found in meats. Today again, at a totally different store, one near me, I found boneless hickory-smoked hams for $1.59/lb, bacon ends and pieces a dollar a pound, and a pork roast - didn't check the per pound but it was three dollars for a good size.

If you-all are looking, and I surely hope you are, this is the time to buy meat, because ranchers and farmers are killing off livestock due to the horrendous prices for feed for them for winter. This is like our last shot at stocking meat, so please be about it!

It's true if we have an EMP we will be having major barbecues all in one day, but if there is not EMP - what are you and your family going to be eating? Meat will be horrendously expensive, what little is available. You will be into your preps for all the proteins, and then what?

Please go shop for meat and tell us what you find. Please?

Years ago I did a long running series on many diverse prepper subtopics based on practical application.

I stick around for awhile, do a burst to help the community, then leave.

It's time to pass the torch. Plus I'll just be repeating myself.

Would you like to revive that former thread? We could try to keep it going again - this is the only one I can guarantee we will keep going, as I am determined it will run until I die, GLP dies, internet dies, or SHTF. We have people who will be returning in fall, having taken the summer for outdoor activities and no internet.

Your contributions are absolutely knock-out and we would miss you terribly. Please post on any prep subject you like, as much as you like. Your posts will be treasured even if you take a break from here again.

We are most grateful to you!

It is also a good time of year to hit your local Farmer's Market.

This Saturday I went to ours, and showed up about 15 minutes before it ended. I was able to buy bell peppers, onions, & crookneck squash for about 1/4 the asking price. I just waited until they started to load what I wanted in their trailer, and then asked them how much for all of it. They do not want to take the produce home, of course. They would rather sell it on the spot, even at a major discount.

So we have been running the Excalibur dehydrator full speed the last few days. It will take about a week to process 5 bushels.

...I hope to do the same thing this coming weekend. ;-)

So smart, and so prolific!!! I'm impressed with the amounts of foods you are putting away - healthy, good nutritious food that will stretch everything, and add flavor to anything. The peppers alone will be a treasure!

I have no doubt the sellers much preferred selling at a discount than hauling home again, as they already have more to pick at home. Surprising no pig farmers were there to do similar, but pay less. Oh, but not so many pig farmers left. Hmm.

Nice going! Wish I had a pound of your dehydrated veggies tucked away in my "stuff"! I sold my dehydrator, thinking I had no use for it any more. Silly me!

Last Edited by Pooka on 07/29/2019 10:47 PM

If I did what the OP is asking, I would probably get banned.
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This evening I had a delicious vegetable stirfry I threw together with soysauce and garlic, and an egg. That and some rice made a perfectly nutricious meal for less than 50¢ for a large serving. That is practical prepping.

Your food budget will be way too high and that is not wisdom. Doing this regularly then allows you to splurge on a weekend meal. Doing this over the year means lots of money saved and money for special tools and even for a better vacation.

In the sixties and early seventies, most grocery stores in rural areas did NOT have much selection of fresh produce. People saved their money and ate fruits and vegetables in season or from canned goods (either that they had put up or bought). There were not many farmer's markets, but it was routine to trade garden products and from trees in the neighborhood.

If you study what happened when fresh produce increased, then MASSIVE WASTE followed where much of it ended up in landfills. That is a shocking sin. How can we ever atone for throwing away food when so many are hungry?

Any way, no mother or grandmother would be caught using a box cake unless she had unexpected company. A couple sat on the shelf and then if pressed, then she could whip one up at the last second.

Believe it or not, many middle class families had homemade dessert every night...from scratch...and the family was NOT overweight.

I had buddies who were from middle class homes and could not believe how blessed they were. My family was poor so we ate maybe a cake or pie a week.

One common inexpensive cake was Fruit Cocktail Cake. It actually is delicious and is very moist and inexpensive. I prefer it with a dusting of confectioner's sugar...not icing.

This is an easy recipe that can be largely pre-packaged in a ziplock bag and then delicious camping food. When in a survival situation, to add calmness, a weekly dessert restores the "semblance of normality". Maybe the food is plain, but subliminally everyone think, "Okay...we are eating every day and full and having a delicious dessert. We can do this."

Part of SERE training is eating some wild edible, not because it's restoring enough calories or nutrients, but to restore this semblance of normality, "Okay...I put something in my belly and have water. I am not starving and can get back to base and make it out of a terrible jam."

Little things have a major psychological effect. Watch alone. Perfectly fine people quit because the mental aspect undermines their will.

Get some endurance training from all the fucking running you'll do if the shit hits the fan!

The over-the-counter medicine named Aleve is actually generic Naroxen. In the old days, when someone "threw out their back", the physician would commonly prescribe Naproxen.

The reason Naproxen works so well is it is not just a headache medicine but an anti-inflammatory. In your back are tiny rope-like muscles in the interior and these are called "intrinsic back muscles.

When you work outside and are not used to it, the bending over, twisting and turning while stooped over, then causes tiny tears in these intrinsic bak muscles.

If you are lifting weights, say doing tricep presses on a universal gym, and then somebody yells and waves and you look over your shoulder while doing the press, you are liable to "throw out your back" by tearing these muscles.

If you are sitting in the car in the front, and are lazy and reach back to grab something that fell to the floor mats in the back, you are liable to fray an intrinsic back muscle.

Even with just standing during a stressful situation, say visiting a sick friend in the hospital, who is dying, then can cause such lower back tension, that it will strain your back.

In all.of these cases, having a little Naproxen which is inexpensive versus the name brand of Aleve, will reduce that inflammation.

In a survival situation, wearing a heavy backpack, you sure better have some Naproxen in your first aid kit. It may keep you going when you would quit otherwise.

Get busy living or get busy dying! God damn right!

Today, people live vicariously through whatever media they watch that falsely depicts reality. As such, when something bad happens, then people have a false perception of how that event can be handled and how people will respond.

Hollyweird persuades you that dying people slip peacefully into unconsciousness and that just prior they are at peace, and that everyone is left unemcumbered emotionally, and everyone goes to Heaven when they died.

That is bullcrap.

When people get badly injured, at first they have no idea. They can get the wind knocked out of them, then can't get up. They are helpless. They need immediate assistance to restore breathing and heart rate.

They cannot get to the bed and may have to crawl. A person who happens upon them, may have to lift dead weight when they are helpless.

They may seem fine and then suddenly decline.

When they come to, they may have lost bladder control, have digestive issues and lose control of their intestines, which causes dehydration. Then be shocked, embarassed, humiliated, angry, scared, terrified, etc.

They may want you to pray with them and you don't believe.

They may get upset as they lose control and due to being used to being independent and then get mad at you.

They may be dying and all of this gamut of emotions happens in 24 hours.

In real death, it's not like Hollywood. And you cannot react as you do normally as the patient is all that matters...not your feelings. You don't want their last moments to be you speaking sharply...but you lend them your calmness.

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Amish Brown Sugar Pie is a delicious inexpensive custard pie with this one using the egg whites for a merangue. It's pretty terrific.

Custard is made with tempered egg yolks. Pie can be homemade but few will notice if you cheat will those in the freezer case.

A Fudge Pie is a two layer pie that on the bottom is a sweet custard and on top is a not too sweet chocolate brownie like layer. It is delicious. Every time I made this, people raved over it. The old name for this is a Chocolate Chess Pie.

The contrast is what makes it delicious and it'san inexpensive recipe.

What did I ask of you that would get you banned? Never would I wish such a thing!

Whose food budget will be way too high - is it mine because I am buying meat?

I agree that inexpensive foods that are nutritious are the best way to go, and other foods can be stretched - a roast can turn into many meals as can a ham - sandwiches, ham & a number of things - had ham and mashed potatoes last night - ending with split pea soup, one of my all-time favorites. Ham fat and pieces will also go into beans, and some into lentils. A chicken is multiple meals as well, ending with soup. Eggs are a blessing - and will be sorely missed. I do have a can of egg powder which I will use sparingly and enjoy immensely.

Whatever is coming at us, I will be glad for everything I have, from beans and rice and lentils and split peas to the meats in the freezer, for which I hope power stays on. If not, there will be a sudden great gorging to eat whatever possible, and then it's done and back to preps of a different kind.

The typical young couple today together as base pay make the same as asinglblue collar in 1990. This is a fact. And when you calculate benefits, they make less.

Nothing could be more important than prepping. It's just that millennials and gen z have it tougher and with less of a base of ancestral skills.

When you have little money and you are trying to persuade your spouse, it's important to be extra frugal to make it work. And rotating and buying preppoer food, has to be incorporated in your normal meals.

The classic beginner error is spending money on foods your family won't eat. That will prepping at your household as it's discovered.

Actually some meat like pork loin is incredibly cheap as the price has remain stable despite inflation.

I don't care for it but when I fix calves liver soaked in milk, then breaded and fried with onions, people who dislike liver will eat it and some will like it.

I think all preppers should learn to eat some vegetarian meals just to be frugal. That way when you are rotating your inventory and/or an event occurs like a windstorm knocks down power lines, then your family members are used to eating vegetarian meals.

It's a form of fasting too. Not eating meat whatsoever is a not Biblical.

I would encourage you to try nontraditional meats too like beef tongue which makes OUTSTANDING Mexican food.

In the initial stages of a SHTF type event, then you will have issues with the toilet. You cannot waste water. The toilet may back up, and so you may have to seal it off. Otherwise it's just stink but illness from microbes.

When you bury it outside, if you put both together, it will take FOREVER to digest as you mess up the decomposition process of bacteria.

Plus if you have a shallow well, you will contaminate it if careless. Likewise careless neighbor will do so.

You actually need the urine as you will be growing food and that is perfect fertilizer when diluted. So you get everyone to reserve it and then can treat soil or even "side dress" certain crops like the cabbage family.

Urine in healthy people is sterile. In history a little was used when washing clothing. When using dyes, then urine is a mordant ie a fixative otherwise the dye will wash out making a mess.

Your number one dye will be walnut husks to make a black or deep brown dye. Then stains are hidden and that is ideal camoflauge.

Never put human fecal matter on gardens. The old nightsoil concept will draw flies and cause disease. It takes about three years to breakdown.

A smart leader will organize people so people end up doing sanitary practices, gardening, well digging, schooling, teaching of ancestral skills, church, healing, etc as a tribe. Otherwise you will waste precious resources and act in opposition and that creates conflict. Cooperation defuses conflict.

The process of making gunpowder elements begins with straw and urine. You figure that out as that is not rocket science.

Does someone here remember our discussion about a ball which will stop backflow in the bathroom facility once sewers stop working? Someone even had a link to one, which as I recall just looked like an ordinary rubber ball, but is the right size to stuff in the potty to stop anything backing up, so the facility can be used with a 13 gallon garbage bag under the seat, and adding cat litter, dirt, whatever a person has.

I did not make note of it at the time, and cannot find one like it by any search terms I can think of.

Thank you very much if you can hook us up with this information!

All great points!

The meal of beans and rice will be common among preppers, I think, because, as you say, we cannot have meat every meal. I would expect meat once a week at best, likely, except that leftovers may continue during that week, the things that were not best frozen for later use. We need lots of nuts, legumes, forms of cheese like the home-made mozzarella and the cottage cheese recently featured here.

I'm planning on more fruit, as I have only a few cans, and a lot more legumes of all types, along with cornmeal, as cornbread will work just as would rice, to form a complete protein. I love all the ideas that were suggested in the thread on making beans and rice taste good, and will be purchasing some of the things suggested there. [ Thread: What will make beans & rice taste good? What are you stocking that you don't like? Tell us about it. (Page 18)

Most of us will be down to whatever amount of canned meats we may have stored and in some cases that will not be a lot, in short order. Immediately, if we experience an EMP or CME. Thus, meatless meals need to be the focus for most folks prepping.

I do recommend making as much hamburger gravel as possible, since it will not require refrigeration, and will give the taste and idea of meat, even if not very much is used. I think it is a positively genius idea!!

Buying foods the family will not eat is indeed a severe error made by many early preppers, to their dismal disappointment. They will need to be finding ways to incorporate the new foods into more familiar meals, to extend the familiar and use up the unfamiliar.

I remember something like that with a wax seal.

Very smart post. Nightsoil on gardens - NOOOO definitely not. We must keep certain things well away from our food crops. I am not crazy about using human urine, but may consider it at some point. Better to have a gallon of Alaska Fish Fertilizer, which will last a very long time because it is diluted so greatly at time of use, and does a miraculous job!.

Human soil must be contained and removed from any area near people, water, garden. Some say it can be burned and I would recommend this - if kept separate from urine, the bags could be opened for brief periods to dry - but well away from everything. Better is to have a good roaring fire, then toss on the bag and all. After children are in bed and after the fireside chat is done for the evening. Burning would be ideal disposal. I would prefer it go on a fire made for the purpose, well away from the fire used for cooking, socializing, etc. Make a pit for garbage burning, and at a time when that fire is very busy, burn the waste as well. With the prevailing wind in the direction opposite living quarters.

Last Edited by Pooka on 08/03/2019 12:28 AM

What I remember is a ball - but there may also have been a wax seal mentioned. When I saw the ball my first thought was curiosity whether some sort of literal rubber ball for playing would be the right size. However, I'd given away all my dogs' balls by then so it didn't matter.

Wish it were possible to organize everything here in subjects, but there is no way to organize a thread at all, sadly. I'd love to sort food, defense, clothing, heating, natural medicines, all of our subjects, into groups - so great for all of us. However, just not possible.

Actually when a bushcraft/prepper/homesteader writes a ebook for sale, they will often announce it early and let their prepping community download it for free. So there are lots of those out there with some being just okay and routine, and others incredibly sharp and organized. One I read free was so clear that it carefully detailed what a family should go harvest after the great culling following a SHTF event. It was brilliant what he wrote. It was very logical so you would get the most important things first. Things that most didn't think of.

The backflow from sewers is a big issue and could end up a problem with your tub as well.

Could you tell us the name of the book, or link us to it, please? Sounds like information we all need.

Also, where do you find these free-for-download-books? Share the wealth, please, as you obviously have pocketsfull!!