SCP Survival

Best Survival Gear and Supplies

Gun Safety Guide That Every Prepper Should Know

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Following the firearms safety rules is a universal best practice for all gun owners. However, there are additional safety concerns for preppers. We’re planning on using guns in a very different environment that we use guns in right now.

One of the misconceptions about SHTF situations is that they’ll be similar to war. Surviving without infrastructure support, law enforcement, and other daily essentials is much different than wartime operations.

Preppers often crib their gun safety procedures and protocols from the military. But, in reality, not all the military safety standards work in a survival context.

So, gun safety for preppers is more of a holistic approach. Handling your weapon safely is important. But, being safe with your guns as a prepper requires more environmental consideration and planning.

We’re not going to cover the traditional safety rule stuff right now. Here’s what you should think about in regard to keeping yourself and your family safe with your guns in a survival situation.

Storage and Staging

In a survival situation, the environment where you store and stage your guns will be much less stable and controlled than it is now. You need to protect your guns to keep them serviceable for when you need them.

Some quick definitions before we move on:

  • When you put your guns away for use at some later time, without concern for quick access, that’s storage.
  • When you put your gun in a place where you can access it quickly, and you plan on retrieving that gun if you need to defend yourself, that’s staging.

Now, obviously, you want to protect your guns from unauthorized access. Keeping your guns away from children is a priority. But, you also want to take special precautions to protect your guns from burglars or raiders, and possibly even government intrusions.

However, you also want to protect your guns from the elements. If you’re in a survival situation, something really bad has probably happened. So, your storage location may need to keep your guns safe and functional until you can retrieve them.

That means your storage location needs to be pretty sturdy. It might need to withstand some pretty serious trauma.

Clearly, a solid gun safe is almost a slam dunk in this regard. However, it’s not the only option. If you’ve got the resources for an underground gun vault, awesome.

But, no matter how you store your guns, a big part of prepper gun safety is protecting your guns from whatever might happen.

In regards to staging: it’s best if you keep your weapon on you as much as possible, and we’ll talk about carriage in a moment. However, even if you have a gun or two that you keep on your body, staging some guns is still a good idea.

This gives your family options for getting a firearm if you’re not around. Or, you can use a staged gun if your carry weapon is unavailable for some reason.

Wherever your bug-in location is, your staged guns should be inaccessible to anyone who you don’t want to get them. If you might be stuck in a more populated area, it’s especially important to protect your staged guns from snoopers or looters.

There are quick access gun safes and options for securing staged guns. However, hiding the thing that secures your staged gun becomes much more important when you’re living in an unsecured environment. Building something like a tactical wall is also a good idea.

In short, the need for keeping your guns handy and the need for keeping them away from bad people goes way up in a survival scenario. So, you need to take this into account when selecting your storage and staging locations.

Carrying Firearms

As we mentioned earlier, carrying a gun is your best bet for ensuring that you’ve got one handy if you need it.

Carrying a rifle is a totally viable option in a survival scenario. It’s not like you’re going to alarm anybody at Starbucks. But, you don’t want to just carry your rifle around all willy nilly.

First, one of the things you should consider doing right now: pursuing some weapon retention training. One of the biggest concerns with carrying a weapon in the open is that people know you have it and can try to take it from you.

So, knowing how to retain a weapon in a hand-to-hand fight is some of the most valuable knowledge you can have.

Also, carry your rifle on a two-point sling. One-point and three-point slings are excellent for fast, tactical operations. But, a two-point sling is perfectly serviceable for shooting and running your gun. And, it provides a lot of utility for keeping your rifle on your body while you’re doing stuff.

With a two-point sling, you won’t need to unsling your rifle so often as you go about your daily tasks. That minimizes the opportunities for being caught without your rifle or being permanently separated from it.

Your rifle can be an insanely powerful defensive tool. But, carrying a sidearm is also a good idea. Even if you’re using a two point sling and keeping your rifle slung as much as possible, sometimes you just need to unsling your rifle.

Now, keeping your sidearm concealed is best, even in a survival scenario. A concealed gun provides a tactical advantage, because it gives you control over when you deploy that firearm. And, it keeps people from going after your gun right out of the gate.

Yes, concealing your firearm makes it more difficult to transition from your rifle to your pistol, if you need. But, you’re not going to be in a ton of tactical situations where switching weapons quickly is the priority.

Most of the time, you’re going to be gathering food, cleaning water, and doing daily survival things. An ambush or intruder scenario is much more likely than a pitched gunfight.

So, the most secure setup for weapons carriage is a slung rifle with a concealed sidearm. That way you have a primary defensive tool readily accessible, and you have an element of surprise for regaining control if you’re caught flat-footed.

Securing the Compound

Obviously, the fundamental rules of safe firearm handling apply to all firearms use.

But, prepper firearm security requires a bit more consideration. In a survival scenario, you’re most concerned with:

  1. Keeping your guns safe from whatever caused the SHTF situation.
  2. Keeping your firearms away from other people who may become more aggressive without ordinary societal restraints.
  3. Ensuring that you’re still able to protect yourself with your guns whenever the need arises.

So, check your storage locations and consider how you plan to carry your weapons in the event that you’re forced to strike out on your own. And, make sure that you’ll actually have your guns when the time comes.

Like Hunt And Fish TV Shows? This Gig Might Be For You…

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$1,000 For Binge-Watching MeatEater

If you’ve ever wanted to be a “professional” TV watcher, your ship might’ve just come in.

Especially if you like hunting, fishing, and all things outdoors.

The outdoor website GearLobo.com recently shared that they are recruiting somebody to binge-watch all 8 seasons of the popular hunting show “MeatEater”, and post about it on social media.

The reward?

$1,000 in cash and a slew of other giveaways–a year’s subscription to MyOutdoorTV, shirts, knives, the MeatEater cookbook and more.

Plus…. you can add “professional TV watcher” to your resume! ;-)

Check out the full details here: https://gearlobo.com/hunting/shows/

Money or no money, if you haven’t seen MeatEater yet, you should definitely check it out. From a prepper point of view, MeatEater does a great job of showing the loop between hunting game, and then how to actually prepare, eat, and appreciate the food that comes from it.

Food Storage Shopping at Your Regular Grocery Store

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How To Do Food Storage Shopping At Your Regular Grocery Store

(Skip to the complete list below)

There are many common sense reasons to store extra food. Sudden unemployment can certainly throw a financial hardship onto any family. Other unplanned financial issues can come up, such as automobile repairs, medical bills, inflation, increasing fuel prices and home repair.

During a financial crisis, it would be extremely valuable if you could find a way to reduce the costs required to feed your family..

Getting started in food storage does not have to be an overwhelming task. By taking just a few simple steps you can increase your food stores dramatically as well as increase your level of preparedness.

Food Storage Philosophy

For those just beginning to look to have extra food on hand, consider the following saying “Store what you eat and eat what you store.” This basic philosophy involves putting back quantities of common foods that already sit in your pantry and are found at your local grocery store.

The idea is to stock up and keep on hand much greater quantities of many of the very same foods that you already consume on a daily and weekly basis. These foods within the new storage system are rotated on a first-in, first-out basis, to make sure that nothing goes to waste.

What Is The Shelf Life of Food Storage?

Foods have varying degrees of storability. Shelf life varies tremendously between different categories of food and sometimes even between brands. Throughout the following “virtual tour”, of a typical grocery store, shelf life ranges are provided.

Please keep in mind that the typical shelf life range, provided is based on observations seen on the packaging. The reality is that most products true expiration date is substantially greater than that which is found on the package.

Now For The Food Storage Grocery Store Tour

OK, we have entered the grocery store, grabbed our shopping cart along with a sale paper and headed to the right side of the store. We are here to supplement our regular grocery shopping with foods that will be good additions to a food storage program.

Let’s go aisle by aisle, and cover some of the most basic, “staple” food storage items that we find:

1. Soup & Stew

Overview: Turning down into aisle #1 brings us to shelves of soup and stews. Canned soup has been a common food found in most homes for decades. Flavorful and nutritious, canned soup is inexpensive and has an excellent shelf life.

There are over 100 varieties of soups to choose from in some grocery stores. Maintaining variety of diet in a survival situation will assist in boosting morale and maintaining mental awareness. Soups are an excellent addition that adds variety to a food storage system.

Many soups can be purchased for as low as .40 cents a can when on sale. Using coupons can also reduce prices.

Shelf Life: Canned soups and stews generally have expiration dates that are two+ years from the date of purchase. In reality the true shelf life has been shown to be many years beyond that which is listed on the can. It is important that you do not dent the can as the protective liner inside can become damaged.

Shopping Cart Notes: This is a great place to start your food storage shopping. Select 3-4 varieties and buy 10 cans each. Beef stew is an excellent addition, mainly due to the higher protein content.

2. Canned Vegetables

Overview: Aisle #2 brings us to an important part of any food storage program – vegetables.

Vegetables provide valuable nutrients needed to maintain health and are an integral part of any diet.

Here we find a huge variety of vegetables to choose from. Although all these vegetables can be eaten by themselves, they can also be mixed and added to other foods to provide more variety to the diet.

Shelf Life: Canned vegetables generally have expiration dates that are 2+ years from date of purchase. In reality the true shelf life has been shown to be many years beyond that which is listed on the can. It is important that you do not dent the can as the protective liner inside can become damaged.

Shopping Cart Notes: Canned vegetables should be a major part of your food storage shopping. Select 2-3 varieties, and buy 10 cans each. Recommended examples are canned potatoes, corn, and green beans.

3. Pasta and Pasta Sauce

Overview: Some of the most inexpensive and easiest to prepare meals are made from the pasta found down on aisle #3.

Pasta can be used to make more than just spaghetti. Available in all different shapes and sizes, pasta can be combined with many other foods to create very flavorful and calorie dense meals. Pasta is high in carbohydrates which provide energy for the human body.

Pasta sauce comes in glass and plastic jars as well as cans.

Shelf Life: Dry pasta generally comes in boxes and has a listed expiration date of approximately 1 year from date of purchase. In reality the true shelf life has been shown to be many years beyond that which is listed on the can. It is important that you do not dent the can as the protective liner inside can become damaged. If the pasta is stored in a cool dry location away from insects, it can be stored for several years.

Pasta sauce in all containers often has expiration dates 2-3 years from date of purchase. Like all canned foods, true shelf life is longer.

Shopping Cart Notes: Pasta is very inexpensive and easy to prepare. Grab 10-20 boxes of what you like and half the quantity of sauce.

4. Canned Fruit

Overview: Aisle #4 brings another food storage basic component – fruit.

Canned fruit is nutritious and full of valuable vitamins. It is also very sweet. During a survival situation your diet will have a direct impact on your physical and mental wellbeing. Having some “sweetness” will be very welcome.

Shelf Life: Canned fruit generally has expiration dates that are 2+ years from date of purchase. High acid varieties tend to have a lower shelf life. In reality the true shelf life has been shown to be many years beyond that which is listed on the can. It is important that you do not dent the can as the protective liner inside can become damaged.

Shopping Cart Notes: Canned fruit tastes great and can be easily rotated using FIFO (first in, first out) as a part of your family’s regular diet. Look to purchase items on sale, select 2-3 varieties, and buy 10 cans each. Recommended examples are: canned peaches, pears and pineapple.

On The Grocery Store End Cap We Find…. boxes of saltine crackers on sale. These crackers go great with the soup found in Aisle #1. They are inexpensive and have a shelf life of at least 1 year. Grab three boxes. They are great with peanut butter, as well.

4. 1 Sugar

Overview: Sugar is a staple in any food storage program and widely used in many recipes.

Shelf Life: Sugar can be stored indefinitely if kept in a cool, dry, place away from insects and rodents. It is recommended that sugar be placed in a secondary airtight container for added protection.

Shopping Cart Notes: Sugar prices have increased over the past few years, so you should try to take advantage of sales when you see them. I recommend having at least six bags in your storage.

5. Baking Goods – Flour, Oils

Overview: Continuing down Aisle #5, you will find a variety of baking and cooking supplies, including a variety of flours and oils.

Flour is needed for making bread. Cooking oils are a common ingredient in recipes and also used for used for coating pans. You should review your typical recipes to determine which kind should be stored in extra supply.

Shelf Life: Flour comes in many different types. Consult the packaging for realistic expiration dates. Flour such as All Purpose and Bread varieties that are stored in air tight containers along with special oxygen absorbers can be stored for five years of more.

Shopping Cart Notes: Throw an extra 5 bags of All-Purpose and/or Bread Flour in the cart along with 3 bottles of vegetable or canola oil.

6. Powered Milk

Overview: Powdered milk can be found down aisle #6.

This is another excellent addition to any food storage program. It can be consumed itself after proper mixing and also can be used in the completion of many recipes. Due to its versatility powered milk can be looked at as a “boost” to any food storage program.

Shelf Life: Powered milk generally does not store well past one or two years. The packaging is often just a cardboard box with some type of liner. If repackaged into an airtight container, the shelf life can be lengthened.

Shopping Cart Notes: Throw a couple boxes in the shopping cart for now.

6.1 Pancake Mix & Syrup

Overview: Pancake mix is located a little further down Aisle #6. There are several varieties of pancake mix which require only water to make. This is super simple and easy.

Shelf Life: Similar to powered milk, the shelf life is one to two years. If repackaged into an airtight container, the shelf life can be lengthened.

Shopping Cart Notes: Throw several bags or boxes in the shopping cart. Practice FIFO.

Grab a couple bottles of pancake syrup while you’re at it.

7. Ramen Noodles

Overview: Aisle #7 brings a food item that many people who put themselves through college lived on – ramen noodles.

They are super inexpensive and store well. Easy to prepare, they require only water. They are also very high in sodium so they should be part of a food storage program, but not consumed too often.

Shelf Life: Stored in a cool, dry, location the shelf life can be in excess of two years.

Shopping Cart Notes: Throw a few cases of beef and chicken varieties in the cart.

8. Peanut Butter

Overview: Aisle #8 contains one of the best survival foods – peanut butter. Peanut butter is dense in calories and high in protein. It can be eaten straight out of the container, as well as spread on bread and crackers. Peanut butter can be easily included in a food storage program, as at it is often part of most people’s regular diets already.

Shelf Life: Expiration dates vary greatly from brand to brand so check around. Peanut butter generally carries a shelf life in excess of 2 years. Remember first in, first out.

Shopping Cart Notes: Find a variety with a longer shelf life that is on sale and add six jars to your cart.

9. Instant Potatoes

Overview: Aisle #9 has an invaluable food storage item – instant potatoes.  These are simple to prepare (you will need that powered milk from Aisle #6) .

Shelf Life: Expiration dates on packages generally run about a year from date of purchase. If stored in an airtight container, it is possible to keep them much, much longer.

Shopping Cart Notes: Grab a couple boxes for home and an extra six boxes to put back as part of your food stores. Use and replace as needed using FIFO.

9.1 Canned Ham, Chicken & Tuna

Overview: Aisle #9 offers canned ham, chicken, and tuna. Meat is one of the more difficult items to find in a storable form. Canned ham can be delicious, and is an excellent source of protein. Canned chicken is great to combine with other food items to make complete meals. Tuna is another source of protein. Also found in this aisle is SPAM. SPAM is considered a “meat”, and is high in protein as well as salt.

Shelf Life: Expiration dates on packages generally run two or more years from date of purchase. True shelf life is known to be much longer.

Shopping Cart Notes: Throw five to six canned hams in the cart along with the same of chicken ad tuna. Also, go ahead and pick up a few cans of SPAM. Use and replace as needed using FIFO.

10. Water

Overview: You cannot live for more than three days without water. Aisle 11 provides a basic solution to your water needs.

Shelf Life: Bottled water will last for years although the taste may change due to the plastic container. It is best to store it where light cannot reach, as ultraviolet light can break down the polymer container over time.

Shopping Cart Notes: Grab a second shopping cart and add 20 gallons of spring water  along with 6 cases of 24 bottles of purified drinking water. It’s a start and that shopping cart is heavy!

11. Canned Beans

Overview: Canned beans come in a variety of flavors and companies. Beans contain high level of nutrients, like fiber and protein. Dump some in a pot, heat and serve. Prices have risen over the past few years, however canned beans are still a good value.

Shelf Life: Expiration dates on packages generally run two or more years from date of purchase. As with other canned products, the true shelf life is much longer.

Shopping Cart Notes: Look for what is on sale and stock up now. Buy 10-20 cans depending on what you can afford.

12. Rice and Dry Beans

Overview: Rice and dry beans can be found down the last aisle. Typically found and purchased in bags, rice and beans are VERY inexpensive. When combined with each other and other food, it is very easy to put together nutritious and complete meals.

Shelf Life: If stored in a dry, cool place, the shelf life is just about forever. Many people will store large quantities of these components in special Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.

Shopping Cart Notes: Throw 20 pounds of rice in the cart along, with 25 pounds of various beans. Read up on how to prepare.

That completes our tour.  

Summary Of The Best Food Storage Staples At A Grocery Store

The carts are checked out, order paid for, and the food transported home to be organized. What has been put together is a good beginning food storage program.

Let’s review what has been “put back” so far (some of this stuff is just as cheap, and way more convenient to grab on Amazon–links provided here):

This is a decent start, but a far cry from what is ideal. Again – the philosophy is to store what you eat and eat what you store. You should make lists for future shopping trips and purchase more items to add to your stores..

Here are examples of additional items to consider:

Starting a food storage program is not a sign of being paranoid. It is just being a responsible person. Take care all and prepare now, while you still can. Here’s a few final thoughts to consider:

  • Develop a routine to make sure you are using a “first in, first out” usage system. This will reduce waste and costs involve in replacing expired food.
  • Keep in mind that whatever food is stored may have to be prepared without power. Do you have an alternate means of cooking (like this simple DIY solar oven) to last the duration of the situation?
  • “Comfort foods” will be great morale boosters, especially for kids should a survival situation occur. Having some candy, hot cocoa, or fruity drink on hand will help provide some sense of normalcy depending on what is going on.
  • A water purification system is an excellent addition to any food storage system, as stored water supplies will only last so long. The Berkey line of filtration systems carried by are excellent.
  • When shopping in grocery stores, pay attention to expiration dates. The closest expiration dated products are supposed to be at the front of the shelf. It is worth it to take a few moments and reach to the back and compare to the front to get the freshest product possible.

How to Choose the Best Body Armor for Personal Protection?

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When you are looking for body armor that would protect you from either ballistic or stab/spike attacks, there are a few things you should consider, before finally making your mind.

Overt or Covert Armor?

You have to decide whether you want your body armor to go over your clothes (overt body armor) or to be worn under them (covert body armor). Do you have any special demands for your armor? For example, do you want to use a SAPI plate or maybe you want your vest to have a front zipper?

These are the questions you must answer before choosing a type of body armor you need.

Consider the Threats

Make sure you appraise your situation. Are the threats you will be facing going to be just ballistic or are they going to involve edged weapons too? Do you know the maximum caliber you are going to encounter? After considering this, make sure to refer to the NIJ ballistic protection ratings or the HOSDB stab/spike protection ratings.

As significant as it is to have proper protection, it’s also essential to not overestimate the protection levels you require, specifically if you must wear the armor for prolonged time frames. Body armor with higher protection levels will be a bit heavier, than armors of lower levels, and will frequently stiffen your mobility.

Make Certain about the Size

There are 3 (4 for women) essential measurements that a consumer should refer to in order to increase the chances of body armor fitting them well.

  1. First of all, it’s the overall standing height. This will help you make certain that the armor is not too long, but is long just enough.
  2. Secondly, estimate your chest size. You must as well match this to a reliable chest size chart and guide.
  3. Thirdly, measure the length of your breastbone – the distance between the belly button and the top of your chest bone. This particular measure is the most significant in ensuring the length of the vest is appropriate.
  4. Fourthly, and lastly, female wearers should measure their cup size.

Make sure that you collect all this data before you choose body armor for personal protection.

Factual Fitting of Body Armor

A lot of people think that a body armor vest has to reach all the way down to the waist. But, this is not how it is in reality. The vest has to extend just to the navel area – the belly button. If a vest passes the navel, it becomes too heavy, while protecting non-vital inner organs. A too long vest will as well impede with the mobility of the wearer. It will also not feel comfortable and won’t even allow the person to bend down, if needed.

Even though taking care of all these things may take some time in the beginning, it is still better to do it before buying body armor. These factors and measurements will help you make certain that you buy the perfect body armor for you and your particular needs.

 

Can War Games Help us to Prepare for TEOTWAWKI?

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A lot of us, when we talk about war games, think about a bunch of guys sneaking around the forest at night firing blank bullets at each other. But whilst this is slightly true, it doesn’t give an accurate representation of how serious war games actually are.

A war game is any type of military-esque exercise which is carried out to improve strategic or tactical expertise. Some of them take the form of highly specialized maneuvers, whilst other seek to replicate potential real life situations, such as domestic insurrection.

They’re great training for military personnel who are to be deployed into hostile situations, in which they might feasibly have to remain undetected and secure, whilst surviving any way they can, for long periods of time.

How Useful Are War Games?

So now we know how war games are used by the military. But can they be adapted to suit the purposes of the modern day prepper?

We can start by examining the way in which war games are designed. They mimic potential real life situations as far as is possible, in order to give the participants the training and experience they need to survive should such a situation occur. In some cases, this might mean going to sea on an aircraft carrier, or carrying out maneuvers in tanks in the desert.

However, many war game situations require participants to survive on the land for months at a time, having no contact with the outside world, and needing to plan and implement strategies for achieving objective goals. It is these elements which can be easily adapted to suit a prepper’s needs.

Designing Your Own War Game

The type of situation in which a prepper may find themselves after the shit hits the fan may not necessarily be ‘war like’. But it’s still true that in many of the potential SHTF situations we can imagine, skills such as living off the land or moving stealthily will become very important.

So, in this respect, using war games as a template for designing our own survival training situations is a great idea. And all we need to set up our own war game training exercise is a terrain map, goal objective (such as surviving for a certain period of time, or reaching a specific location) and whatever military gear at night we can find which might prove useful – such as sturdy boots, sharp knives or military-grade camping equipment.

How To Deal With Snails and Slugs in The Garden (Hint: Beer)

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Friends, I have some simple gardening news to share.

I have never found a more effective way to get rid of snails and slugs than beer traps! I have never found a natural solution that’s more effective. And (here’s good news!) the cheapest beer works just fine!

I’m sure this will work, no matter what you are trying to grow: flowers, veggies, whatever.

I set traps last evening; I use the plastic tubs from my favorite greek yogurt, and bury them almost level with the garden’s earth; I do like to mound it just a bit around the edges, being careful not to get a lot of garden soil in the container – mounding makes it easy for the snails/slugs to slither over the edges of the container. Otherwise, they may be too sharp and may discourage “crawling in”. I like the beer about 7/8 full in the container.

Well, this morning, I checked my beer traps, and they were FULL of snails and slugs! Snails and slugs love the yeast smell, and will crawl right in and drown themselves! All of the critters in my traps this morning explain why my green bean babies aren’t making it, and why the bras are full of holes, in spite of the insecticidal soap, or natural dust. While I usually change the beer in the traps every other day, looks like I’ll be changing them daily for a while.

I actually used beer that has been sitting around since last year, but it worked perfectly well to trap the snails and slugs! So, even if it’s “old”, don’t throw that beer out; it’s still useful for snail/slug traps.

If you haven’t tried beer traps for slugs and snails, they simply work! Just want to share that with you.