SCP Survival – Best Survival Gear, Food Storage & Preparedness Guides

Insulated Pants and Overalls

March 11, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

Both of us now have a spanking new pair of insulated winter hiking pants with suspenders! We might add though, that it seems like most of the big box stores seem to think that women don’t spend much time out in the elements, and only want the “pretty little pink things” that could cost them their lives!

Now if you’re a hunter, you may find some camo jackets, pants and hats. In the past, we’ve relied on top quality insulated under garments beneath our regular clothing, which is fine…so long as the outer garments stay dry. That’s why it’s often said “cotton kills”, because if you get it wet it doesn’t dry very well and will freeze to your body.

We’ve been in a really cold zone this winter, and got a sort of “wake up call” that perhaps some of the winter under garments we’ve got may not be adequate to protect us in sub-zero temperatures. We’ve both got quite a few wool socks, good boots for hiking, snowshoeing and just plain wading through deep snows. We stocked up on knit caps when we found them on sale for $1 or so at a sell out, we’ve got neck garters and just about every kind of “keep warm” thing we’ve been able to find. But, we didn’t have the water repellent, insulated overalls that we can slip on over our other clothing. Now we do.

We’re always on the lookout for things we know we’d need in a crisis situation, and ways to update what we do have. This was one occasion. I’m sure there’s a lot of others who have a lot of these types of pants, but we were not among them. It took these sub-zero temperatures to rattle our cage to the fact that if we were suddenly out in the cold & damp snow with no immediate shelter, we’d be hard pressed to survive long enough to walk to a place of safety.

We’ve probably been like a lot of people…”oh, we’re only a block or two from help” or “I can wave down the next motorist”.

But in a really critical situation, do you want to be walking up to some house you’re not familiar with? Do you want to wave down a vehicle that may be looking for something they think you may have? Just a few thoughts that have been fluttering around in this COLD weather that a lot of us are surviving.

Editor’s Note: This really is a good idea. I was raised snowmobiling and we always had these types of pants for the snowmobile rides. However, I can say that now all we have are the flannel lined, insulated jeans – which we do truly love – but they are not waterproof.

My mother loves her silky feeling, polyester I believe, stretchy long underwear under her jeans. If you have never made the investment ($30-$40) in insulated jeans, I can tell you that they make winter a whole lot better in Minnesota. Bob asks for a new pair every Christmas. He wears insulated jeans all winter, so the life is about 3 years per pair of jeans. They last longer if you can rotate them more and don’t rip them or hit them with battery acid, but sometimes that is the reality of homestead life.

Is Survival Soup A Good Dieting Method?

March 11, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

There has been a lot of talk about calories needed to sustain life and activity levels. I have a friend who is a nutritionist and decided to quiz her a bit on the subject.

“All calorie guidelines are just that – guidelines,” she said. “Heredity, activity level, height, body build and age all need to be taken into consideration.”

“As we age, our caloric needs go down. Our activity level is usually less, too.”

All of this makes perfect sense to me. I’m out of peasant stock, northern European farmers – easy keepers. Centuries of subsistence living, wars, famines, plagues, etc. culled the hard keepers out. My grandmother was 4’9″ and about 90 lbs. She was a fiery little one, always moving and keeping everyone fed. My mom made it to 4’11’, not that she is that tall now, and also full of energy. Off the farm and better nutrition in the ’50s and ’60s and all of her children are taller than her and much heavier. But she still fed us like we were working on the farm.

So, mom is eating between 500 and 800 calories a day, very active for a lady her age – still drives a 4 WD truck and goes out to the farm everyday – and is just about right at 100 lbs. or less. And her hobby is cooking! She is a taster rather than an eater, but she loves to feed other people.

I’m 20 years younger, 6 inches taller, walking 1 to 2 miles a day on the treadmill, fairly homestead bound and eating about 1,500 calories a day and maintaining 25 to 30 lbs that I don’t need. According to the guidelines, I should be losing weight.

I know why I gained the weight. After the strokes and car accident I was basically bedridden for a while in recovery, but didn’t adjust my eating habits. And as I’ve aged, I’ve seen a definite shift of weight toward the middle of my body – thickening, yup. Normal as you age, but uncomfortable. I’m not alone. I look around at other men and women my age and they too are thickening and most have put on a few extra pounds.

So, what do I do?

Both Bob and I have noticed that we no longer have the desire to eat large portions. We can share a steak or even a meal out and feel plenty full. When we do go out to dinner, which doesn’t happen often, we now order one entree with two plates and maybe an appetizer for variety, or split a dessert. Even at the drive thru a $1 cheeseburger is plenty filling and I can’t eat a whole Big Mac in one sitting. And I always ask for a glass of water instead of a pop.

The old chef’s adage is “You eat with your eyes first”. With that in mind, I do try to make anything I serve appetizing, but I have been switching to smaller plates and bowls too. The old Fire King ware of the ’50s is about perfect, but hard to find at a reasonable price anymore. New salad plates actually make wonderful dinner plates. And small, colorful bowls are perfect for my morning breakfast packet of maple brown sugar oatmeal.

In fact, I am now using my old dinner plates as serving platters for just the two of us.

I’m also not prone toward spicy foods anymore, but I am using a lot more spices to dress up the smaller portions to have more taste and variety. Plus, what is a garnish of a dash of parsley on a bowl of tomato soup worth – not much, but it sure makes the soup look more appetizing.

And then there is soup, even as a first course to fill you up before the main meal. On New Year’s Day I shared that I would like to lose some weight. Carmen shared the all you can eat soup diet. She lost six pounds in one week – sounded great to me! So I immediately started the diet and was pretty faithful to it for a week. I felt full and satisfied and “lighter”. There is so much variety with soup that I didn’t get bored at all, but I only lost two pounds.

These dry soup mixes are “just add water” and make a half gallon each!

Above is a collection of dry soups from my pantry. These are very, very good tasting. The tortilla one is more like bean with bacon soup. ALL are thick and hearty. They could easily be thinned to 3/4 of a gallon and be more soup-like than stew-like. They aren’t cheap at $3-$4 a package, but perfect for a survival pantry and just to have on hand if guests appear unexpectedly. Add contents to boiling water and you have a meal to feed 4-8 people (depending on serving size) in less than 30 minutes!

So what does that tell me? That I would probably maintain a healthy weight and feel satisfied on a Survival Soup diet. Soup can be made from almost anything that you have available, from garden vegetables, to potatoes, to almost any meat or fish. And soup is absolutely perfect for the beans and rice we all have put up. Lots of seasonings for flavor and soups can and freeze well.

Soups and stews can easily be made over a one burner camping stove, over a fire, or in a crockpot – my personal favorite. You can eat until you are full, no need to worry about portion sizes, and feed a lot more people with what may only feed two or three with the ingredients fixed other ways. And it is easy.

And then there are the people who just don’t have an appetite and start losing weight as they age. Whether over weight or under weight, 6 small meals a day may be a way for you to get the appropriate amount of calories needed for proper weight maintenance. One tip my nutritionist friend did give me, “Forget Ensure and just by SlimFast – less expensive and it does the same thing if you look at the can.”

I sometimes wonder if we have forgotten the basics with all of our new knowledge. I occasionally wonder if going back to what worked for generations would not be more healthful and satisfying than chips, cookies, cakes, and drive thru “Would you like to super size that?”

How To Store Seeds for The Long Term

March 11, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

I pulled out the paper sacks full of seeds I purchased last year and allowed to “rest.” Today they found their new resting place (at least for a time) in mylar sealed bags and will find themselves stored away at the “Roost”.

I put as many seeds as I can into the mylar bags, squish as much air as I can out of the bag, lay the edge of the bag over the edge of my stainless steel work table, and using an old (heavy) iron, I seal the bags…and then set them aside for the seal to cool.

I then lay the bag down on top of my worktable and just iron the whole top of the bag shut. On each bag (before I seal them) I use a marker to write what seeds are in each bag.

Each of the seeds are also in a zippie bag to keep them with like-minded seeds. For those that have been opened, I seal with scotch tape, put them into a baggie, and then into like-minded bags, and then into the Mylar. When they find their way to the “Roost” we’ll have a 5-gallon food safe bucket for them to be stored long term.

We’ve read up on so many various ways of storing seeds long term, but we’ve decided this will be our way. I’m sure “vaults” are wonderful, but they’re also pretty expensive for us. We’ll be going to our favorite wholesale seed store to purchase more this spring and then we’ll again store what we don’t use.

We’ve talked many times about what we believe are the most important seeds that we need to be putting aside based on our climate and our gardening style. By sorting through the various seeds & comparing what we planted to what the yield was, I also have a pretty good idea of what we’ll want more of. Like nearly all gardeners, we’ll want corn, carrots, onions, and tomatoes but that’s where every gardener sort of takes off on their own paths.

We’re always curious about the various gardening climates of our friends, so we’re hoping you’ll add your comments! Some of our other favorites are spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, bell peppers, chili peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, bush beans, yellow wax beans, yellow sweet peppers, egg plant, lemon cucumbers, okra and winter squash.

We’ve been sort of “experimenting” with what grows best for us and trying to save lots of those types of seeds. We’ve not had any success with cabbage and since we eat very little of it, we won’t be storing any more of those than what we already have.

Last season we planted cherry tomatoes and they nearly took over the whole square they were planted in, so we probably won’t re-plant any of those either. We enjoy tomatoes with our salads, but the lettuces quit producing long before the cherry tomatoes did! LOL We’ll stick with the tomatoes that we can jar up, dehydrate & eat.

Some of the various veggies we just don’t eat a lot of, so we know that we won’t be needing as many of those as we would the staples…”the 3 sisters” are a must. One of the things we’re thinking is that corn might be very hard to come by because of it’s various uses commercially as well as for gardening. I’m sure there are people who have a lot more knowledge than we do, but we’re just going by what we’ve been able to learn. Learning is an ongoing process for us, and this includes our selection of gardening foods.

Because we garden with a square foot gardening technique (and love it) we want to choose only the foods we know we’ll eat. I’ve devoted one 4’x4′ square (so far) to herbs, but want to add some additional, medicinal-type herbs to that. We’ve enjoyed the 2 types of thyme, the chives, the stevia, basil and 2 types of parsley, but will need to be more diligent in keeping them trimmed back so they don’t fight for space with each other.

In our particular climate there’s some we just can’t grow very well. I also will welcome any of your thoughts on how to transplant my raspberry and blackberry bushes. Three are only a year old, and two are 2 years old. We’ve never cut them back but just let them grab the fence and do their own thing.

We’d love to know more about the Jerusalem Artichoke. We’ve heard a lot of bad rap about them and have declined to buy the tubers for planting when we’ve seen them at expo’s.

Have any of you had any experiences with them? Do they “take over everything” and then can’t be gotten rid of… like so many reports say? The information we’ve gathered is that they’re called “the poor man’s potato”.

Black Eyed Pea Soup – New Year’s Day Good Luck [Recipe]

March 11, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

As many of you know, I’m a “recovering New Yorker”. One of the first really ‘alien’ things I found when I first moved to Virginia, 40-some years ago, was that if I saw friends on New Year’s Day, their first question was usually “Did you have your black-eyed peas yet?”. If I said “no”, I was usually dragged bodily into the kitchen and handed a bowl and spoon and told “It’s good luck”. (Some were pretty bad, some were delicious.)

I had to do some research to find out why. It turns out that, before the Civil War, black-eyed peas (beans) were grown, but considered a low-grade animal fodder crop in the South. Both armies involved in the conflict tended to commandeer much of the “people food”.

Animals, green vegetables, fruits, wheat, hay and field corn went to keep the armies fed. Civilians, black and white, rich and poor, were all very short of food. The bottom-line was that it was ‘survival food’, but if you had those dried beans, and maybe some smoked pork hocks to cook on New Year’s Day, you were already starting off the year lucky.

I don’t really believe that things are good or bad luck (except for the really obvious – it’s always bad luck to purposely whack yourself in the hand with a sledgehammer), but, a really tasty century+ – old tradition needs to be remembered and spread beyond its source. Here’s a modern version:

Hoppin’ John, the lazy way (not just for New Year any more…)

You Will Need:

1 lb dry Black-eyed Peas
1 “country style” smoked ham hock
1 yellow onion, quartered
about 2 qt chicken stock
1 yellow onion, diced
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 large green pepper, diced
boiling water
chopped garlic
1/2 lb bacon, diced.
stone-ground coarse mustard (optional)

Directions:

Add dry beans to a crockpot, cover by about an inch with boiling water.
Set slow cooker on “Warm” and let is sit overnight to hydrate beans. Add more water if needed.
In morning, drain off water, re-cover beans with chicken broth, add the ham hock, quartered onion, a ‘pinch’ of garlic and cook until tender on “Low” setting.
When beans are tender, remove ham hock, shred and return to slow cooker, saute bacon over medium heat to render fat, until ‘somewhat crispy’ (my personal choice- I don’t like it if it breaks when you bend it).
Remove bacon and excess grease, saute diced onions, peppers and garlic until onions translucent, then add to your beans.
Stir, add fresh thyme bundle, add a little more broth if needed, and cook on “Low” about another half hour. A little mustard doesn’t hurt, but not traditional. Add broth or water as needed, you want some good ‘bean juice’ :)

Serve by itself, over rice, or with cornbread, or both. YUMMMM.

It’s “good luck” to start the year with something delicious. It would be very cool to know that we’re all sharing a meal, even though we’re all geographically separated.

SHTF Respiratory Issues

March 11, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

I’ve been a respiratory therapist for the past 30 years, working in hospital settings as well as home care. I think about problems folks with respiratory conditions could face in an emergency situation. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but would like to offer a few tips for coping in an emergency.

If someone in your home or family uses oxygen continuously or even just periodically or at night, make sure you have extra masks, cannulas, tubing or whatever supplies you normally use. Most home therapists always carry extra supplies and I am sure they would give you a couple of extra masks or cannulas if you ask them.

If you have backup oxygen cylinders, keep a couple of full cylinders in reserve for emergencies. If you use a cannula, you might ask your doctor if you could benefit from a nasal cannula with an oxygen reservoir- these allow a person to use a lower flow of oxygen to meet their needs, thereby conserving their precious tanks. These cannulas are a bit pricey, but could be invaluable in getting the most longevity from 02 tanks.

And if you use 02 only for exercise or only occasionally, double check that the tank is turned completely off when you are done. You don’t want to waste any amount of such a necessity.

If you take nebulizer treatments at home, or use an inhaler, keep an adequate supply of your meds- they could be hard to replace in a crisis. Home nebulizers need to be cleaned to prevent infections. I instruct my patients to soak their nebulizers in a solution of 1 part white vinegar to 2 parts sterile water, then rinse in sterile/distilled water and air dry. So keep some white vinegar on hand, as well as some sterile water. Of course, you could always sterilize water by boiling it.

Asthmatics could also have increased problems in an emergency scenario. Dust, smoke, pollutants, etc. could trigger attacks. Again, keep a decent supply of meds- both long acting and rescue inhalers and also stock up on some n-95 or N-100 masks. If cold air is a trigger for you, limit outdoor exposure and cover your mouth and nose with a scarf. The use of a peak flow meter can help asthmatics in predicting possible attacks- this is a “cheap insurance policy“, but could be of great benefit.

Most of my patients living in rural or even suburban areas that depend on an 02 concentrator, have a backup generator as well as back up 02 tanks at home. Also, if you use an 02 concentrator, you need to make your power company aware of this, so that your home can be a priority should there be a power outage.

This is not an exhaustive list of tips for a respiratory emergency, but perhaps it will spur you to think about, and plan for this type of situation. Hope it helps a bit.

One last thought- I firmly believe everyone needs to know CPR and the Heimlich maneuver- these can be lifesavers. Take a class if you can- extra knowledge is invaluable.

Our Survival Radio Communications – Through Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav

March 11, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

My wife and I use two way radios to communicate whenever we take two vehicles to travel anywhere. By doing so, we always know when one of us has to stop for something to drink, eat, go to the bathroom, get gas or just stretch our legs. If one of us had a problem of any type, we could communicate the problem to the other quickly and effortlessly. If one of us gets out of sight of the other in heavy traffic, we just had to radio the other to stay in touch. Radios worked very well for us.

At first, we both had standard Citizen Band (C.B.) radios mounted in each of our vehicles on removable bases. We had magnetic antennas on the top of each vehicle. This allowed us to take our radio antennas off of our vehicles so we could run the vehicles through an automated car wash. When we pulled into a motel parking lot for the night, we took the magnetic based C. B. antennas of the tops of our vehicles and removed the C. B. radios from inside of our vehicles; this made our vehicles less of a target for car burglars.

We found several major problems with our C. B. radios during and in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit southeast Louisiana.

First, there were major problems with too many people trying to transmit on all of the C. B. radio channels at the same time. We could not get a chance to transmit anything, no matter what channel we attempted to transmit on. Everyone wanted to talk at the same time. No one wanted to yield to anyone, even if an emergency was declared.

Second, the vulgarity used on the C. B. radios was unbelievable.

Third, when we left our vehicles, we could not take our vehicle C. B. radio with us. Yes, I know that they make hand held C. B. radios. If we decided to use the hand held C. B. radios, we still would have had the above listed problems with them.

I then got my “HAM” radio license. When I looked into purchasing my own “Ham” radios and the associated equipment, I found the cost to be prohibitive. At least it was a lot more than what I was willing to pay on a retirees fixed income.

We also had problems with our cell phones during evacuations. All of the lines were busy during the evacuation or we could not get a cell tower signal because the electricity was out. Also, using cell phones, you must take your eyes off of the road to dial the phone number. This is extremely dangerous in the very heavy traffic of an evacuation.

Both my wife and I enjoy going to flea markets and garage sales on Saturdays mornings. We find fantastic deals on camping gear and a whole lot of other items we use for prepping. Flea markets and garage sales are a topic for another article.

While at a garage sale, I observed two small, about the size of an adult fist, two way radios. They were yellow, “Motorola, Talkabout” Two-Way, GMRS/FRS channel radios, model number T5990.

I inspected both radios carefully. They appeared to have been well kept. I opened the backs of both radios and observed they both had rechargeable batteries in them. On the table next to the two radios was the battery charger for the radios. I asked the lady how much she wanted for both radios and the charger.

She told me she wanted $3.00 for the two radios and the charger. I quickly paid her the $3.00 and took them. Even if they did not work, I would only be out $3.00.

When I got home, I placed the two hand held radios in the charger. About eight (8) hours later I turned the radios on. Neither one of the radio batteries took a charge.

I removed the rechargeable battery packs and replaced them with three (3) AA batteries. When I turned the radios on, they both worked perfectly.

I went on the internet, located and printed out the operations manual for the two way radios and read all about them. To my surprise each radio had twenty-two (22) channels. Fifteen (15) channels transmit with one (1) watt of power and seven (7) channels transmit with one half (1/2) watt. In addition to the radio channels, each radio had ninety-nine (99) Interference Eliminator Codes.

To my surprise both radios could receive the weather channels also.

While in my local Walmart one day, I observed the “Motorola Talkabout, model T5950 radios for sale. They came in a blister pack with two radios, two reachable batteries and a charger. Wally World was selling them for $68.00 new.

My wife and I then started testing these little radios. To our surprise we could easily transmit and receive a mile with no problem within the city that we live in.

We then tested the radios on the interstate from and to each of our vehicles. They worked great. The real test came during our Hurricane Gustav evacuation. With all of the problems that we had with the C. B. radios; we did not have any problems with these little two way radios.

Since then, we continue to go to garage sales and flea markets. I have found a pair of “Cobra, micro Talk” radios. I purchased the pair for $5.00. I also found a single “Motorola, Talkabout, model T5710”, which I purchased for $2.00. All of these radios are compatible with the first two that I purchased. When tested, these two way radios worked flawlessly also. I found the manuals for these radios on the internet also.

I easily attached a length of para cord (550 cord) to the back of three of these radios. (See Photo # 2 & 3 above) We place the para cord around our neck and the radio in our shirt pocket. This way while we are driving the radios do not slide around in the vehicle and you can locate them easily when someone calls you or you need to call someone. Another advantage is that you can easily hear when someone calls you.

When we go camping with our grandsons, everyone carries their own two way radio. This way we are able to talk to anyone in our camping party at any time that we need to. We have also used them very successively at Disney World in Florida and on other vacations that we have taken.

They make even more powerful two way radios than the ones that I have but they cost a little more. I have seen them for sale at Cabala’s, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Costco. I am sure you can find them at other locations also. However, garage sales and flea markets are my preferences.

These little radios work great for us and you cannot beat the price we bought them for.

(In addition to 2-way radios, a bare bones but solid “survival radio” is a good idea to incorporate in your preps–something that can run on batteries forever, give you the news, weather, and other updates).