PREPPER: 10 Prepping Goals You Should Be Setting For The New Year

The new year is coming quickly. While I think goal setting can be done any time of year and should be, this seems to be the time of year for most people to set goals. If you are a prepper, winter is a good time to get your goals figured out, written down, and a game plan set to accomplish them.

What goals should you be setting as a prepper?

1. Increase water storage and/or create a way to procure water without electricity. We often do not have enough drinking and non-drinking water in our stockpiles. While the experts say to have at least one gallon per person per day of water, most people use more than that for cooking and bathing. We also don't always remember to store water for pets and livestock. If you can, look for a way to install rain barrels or a cistern to procure and use water without electricity.

2. Increase or double your food storage. Many preppers only have a month or less of food storage. You should concentrate on doubling your food storage. If you have a month, build up a two month supply and so on. Make a meal plan with your food storage and you might realize you don't have enough food storage for a month either.

3. Sharpen your shooting skills and learn new ways to defend yourself. Take a self-defense class. Learn taekwondo or another martial art. Learn how to defend yourself in close combat. Learn how to use another weapon. Learn how to better use your own weapons. I believe in using weapons and self-defense to defend myself. I think both methods are important to your safety and should be learned.

4. Lose weight and work on physical fitness. Being in shape and being in good health is crucial to being the best prepper you can be. Being one hundred pounds overweight means you are susceptible to a host of diseases and will easily run out of energy when you need to be in the best shape possible. Even if you walk a mile every day and do fifty jumping jacks twice a day, you are doing more for your health than most people will ever do.

5. Learn new skills. Make a list of three skills you really want to learn in this next year and make a plan to learn them. Watch YouTube videos and buy some books in those areas. Gather the materials and start practicing those skills. Learning skills is never a waste of time.

6. Increase or double your emergency cash fund. If you are into gold or silver, increase that. Most of us do not have a really good emergency cash stash at home. We might have some coins and a few dollars which will not get us far when an SHTF happens.

7. Start gathering or buying non-electric items. When you have no power, you will want things that do not use electricity. Having good manual tools will just make life a lot easier in the end when a SHTF happens and most of us do not have enough manual tools on hand.

8. Read a prepping book every month. Most of prepping is the knowledge inside your head and how you apply it. Read a prepping book, apply something you have learned from it, and stick that knowledge in your head.

9. Get your affairs in order. Get your family information together and put it in a binder and on a flash drive. Get your will written. Make bug-in and bug-out plans. When SHTF happens, you have your information together and you are ready to start putting your life back together again. If you have this already, review and update the information.

10. Make an effort to make more prepping friends and expand your community. Yes, you can prep alone or have a lot of online prepping buddies, but you are better off making some prepping friends locally. You would have people locally who would be there for you and understand how you think. Better yet though, find a few people to turn on to prepping. We can't have enough preppers in the world!

Prepping is a lot easier and more focused when you have goals to commit to. You will be able to implement a plan to prep smarter and create a life free from worrying about "what if?".

10 Essentials For Survival Heating During Blizzard

It only takes one blizzard, excessive ice on power lines, or a computer board failure in the furnace system to leave you without heat at time when you need it most. And if you look around these days, you can easily imagine what a holiday at the North Pole feels like, so heating is the last thing you would want to lose.
Here are some things you can do to make sure you stay warm in a time when it may be difficult or impossible to use your primary heating system method.

1. Understanding How Heat Moves Around Your Home

Before you begin planning how to heat your home in a crisis, find out what kinds of advantages and limitations you are dealing with first: oddly shaped rooms, hallways, doors, and other structures can change the flow of air, and thus heat through your home. In some cases, the answers may surprise you and lead to changes in how you get the most out of alternative heating method placement.
Here are some things you should know about and experiment with:

If you have central heating, make sure that you know which order heat is delivered to the registers. Usually, the registers closest to the furnace will receive hot air first, while those further away may receive cooler air, si take advantage of register order. Instead of closing off a room that is very close to the boiler, use it more and close off rooms that are further away.
Take temperature readings at different heights, around corners, and in other odd room or hall arrangements, to make a good idea of how air enters and exits each room, then you can see how the temperature changes are affected by that air current. In some cases, using a small fan in one area will push the heat further into the room instead of building up in a corner. If you have cats, check where they are inclined to nap that aren’t directly related to air registers: these will be warm spots or have warmer drafts that you can take advantage of.
Find out where and how cold drafts influence the way heat moves through so you would know how to use alternative methods that may not supply as much heat. If the drafts are pushing air inward, put your heating source in front of the draft so that it moves the warmed air in along with the cold. You should still try to limit these drafts because the supply of colder air coming in is endless, while the heat produced by your system is limited.

2. Electricity and its Role in Winter Heating

Maybe you have plenty of oil or other heating fuel, you made sure all furnace heating system and maintenance needs were taken care of, and even have a “smart” thermostat or other “smart house” technologies that ensure is at an optimal temperature every room.
All this can lead you to believe you can’t lose your primary source of heat, but you would be wrong.

Click HERE to Get the World’s Smallest Battery, That Powers Your House For More Than 2 Days!

The more complicated your heating system is, the more likely it is the system relies on electricity. The amount of electricity required to run blower fans, pump fuel into the furnace, ignite the fuel, and carry out other activities may be more than you provide.
If you don’t already have a tested system in place for generating power off-grid, then blizzards, ice storms, and other events will lead to serious power disruptions. Unless you can generate sufficient power, or your heating system does not require electricity, you must take into account alternative heating methods.

3. Preparing for an Electrical Outage

It can take years of trial and error, plus a range of equipment to generate enough electricity to live off the grid.
If you are especially low on funds, and need to prepare for winter power outages now, buy a generator, or household scale batteries that can be charged and stored away for use during a storm. Your best option will be alternative fuels and heating devices, as well as good information on how to make the use of it.

4. Alternative Fuels to Have Onhand

If you are already reeling over the cost of home heating fuels such as wood, coal, oil, and gas, then you might wonder how to afford alternative fuels. You can make some from household junk and you can buy other in small quantities and store away for a time of need.
Here are three alternative fuels that will work in just about any situation so long as you have adequate ventilation and can safely manage a fire.

Newspaper Logs

This is one of the easiest and cheapest to make: take newspapers, junk mail, and just about anything else made of paper (try to avoid glossy, plastic, or heavily dyed pages as they will smell bad when they burn) and tear it up into shreds. Next, soak the paper in water for a few days to make it as soft as possible.

To make the brick shape, set the papers into a pan and squeeze the water out. Once the bricks are dry, you can burn them just as you would wooden logs.

Candles

It is best to buy a wide range of candle sizes that can be used for different locations and needs. For candle heaters and similar radiative devices, you can use tea lights and votives. If you want to heat up a smaller area and get more light at the same time, use a taper.
Seven Day Candles or the larger jar candles may not offer much in the way of heat or light. Aside from the fact that many of these candles are made with thinner wicks that don’t work well, the heat from them is usually trapped by the jar itself.
You can also make candles from just about anything that has fat or wax in it. This includes tubes of chap stick, cans of vegetable shortening, sticks of butter, crayons, or anything else that you can get some kind of wick into.
For smaller “candles” you can use toothpicks or other splinters of wood. Rolled up paper will work well for shortening can candles and others that are larger in size.

Rubbing Alcohol

Even though it takes a lot of experience to make wood, or rubbing alcohol, you can still buy it at a fairly low price. Just purchase a bottle or two each time you go shopping and store it away for a time of need.

5. Easy Devices You Can Buy or Build

You should have one kind of stove for each fuel that you are setting aside. Paper logs may be the easiest and cheapest fuel to make, but they will be useless if you have no safe place to burn them. Burn them in an outdoor open barrel, or set up a wood stove indoors with a proper chimney system. Even though you can do quite a bit with lengths of stovepipe, they must still eventually attach to a suitable chimney.
Remember, down drafts and other problems can truly make burning these kinds of fuels indoors an art form. While dampers in the stove pipe may alleviate some of the problem, it still takes a bit of work and maintenance to use these systems safely and to the maximum benefit.
Here are some smaller, easy to manage devices that you can make or purchase for other kinds of alternative fuel:

Candle Heater

You can purchase prefabricated heaters made of clay flower pots, or you can make your own. If you decide to assemble your own, be sure to use zinc free washers, nuts, and bolts.
When heated, metal hardware with zinc in it can give of toxic fumes. Since the candle heater can raise temperature of the metal to several hundred degrees, it will not be worth your safety and well being to use fittings that have zinc in them.
During the winter months, it is also very important to periodically dry out the ceramic pots in an oven. This will reduce the moisture content and ensure that heat will flow through the pots more easily.
If you choose to make your own candle heater, do not forget to include a saucer cap on top of the flower pot array. Once the candle heater is going for about an hour, you will have more than enough heat to warm up food and beverages in heat safe bowls.
I do not recommend large, or heavy cookware. Anything light and thin that transmits heat easily will suit your needs better.

Rubbing Alcohol Stove

As with candle heaters, you can also purchase prefabricated rubbing alcohol stoves. Or, if you have some soda cans onhand, you can make one from those. Since rubbing alcohol stoves are very efficient, do not be surprised at the amount of heat you will get from such a small device and a relatively small amount of rubbing alcohol. Do not forget you can also put a metal tripod over the rubbing alcohol stove and use it for cooking. Overall, the rubbing alcohol stove will be more efficient in this area than the candle heater.

Propane Stove

Even though propane bottles cost more than rubbing alcohol, propane devices are very useful for emergency situations. Propane stoves or heaters can be used for cooking meals, as well as providing heat.
Depending on the cylinder size and the setting of the stove or heater, you may get just a few hours from each cylinder or much more.

6. Backup Systems to Consider

If you have more time to work with, devise other systems that can be used without burning various kinds of fuel. You will also need to find a way to transport the heat into each area of interest to you.

Compost Pile

Did you know that a medium to large compost pile can produce enough heat to warm up water in pipes buried in the pile? All you need to do is take a coil of plastic pipe and fill it up with water.
Regardless of the temperature outdoors or the weather conditions, your compost pile will always be producing heat at the core level. To get some of that heat into the house, continue the plastic line into your home and then pump the water around the room and back out to the compost pile again.
You can also add water radiators with metal fins to disburse the heat more readily as the water is piped around your home. Try to limit your pump size to ones that will run on a 12 volt battery.
In an emergency, just keep a fresh and fully charged car battery or other deep cycle battery on hand to run the pump.

Solar Can Heater

If you have a sunny spot on a rooftop or in your yard, then you can generate a good bit of heat with a solar can heater since these devices only require an insulated box with a glass covering. Inside the box, set up series of plastic pipe, and then encase the pipes in cans.
After the main system is built, you can either run water through the pipes, or simply let hot air from the pipes vent into your home.
As with the compost pile, pumping water in will also give you the advantage of having hot water on hand in a time when none may be available because of the weather situation.

7. Managing Your Woodpile

When it comes to managing your wood pile, make sure the wood stays as dry as possible. If you are concerned about being trapped indoors during a blizzard or other severe weather, keep as much wood as possible near the house.
Keeping enough wood chopped and ready to burn for at least three weeks will always be to your advantage. You can also try to find a place in your home to supply at least one weeks worth of heat so that you can stay indoors as much as possible.

Many people don’t realize that you can burn less fuel without losing out on a lot of heat efficiency. Bank the fire every few hours so that the existing heat has a chance to circulate. Once the fire is burning well, don’t add other materials such as paper or cardboard.
If you are going to burn these materials, do so when you aren’t planning to burn wood until the embers from the other material are in a condition where they can be banked.
You can revive them easily enough with wood, however mixing fuel types can make the fire burn too fast or too slow and cause it to be less efficient.

8. Managing Oil and Other Fuel Lines

If the temperatures get cold enough, fuel lines might freeze up. Make sure that you know how to thaw the lines out safely, as well as how to tap the main tank so that you can keep some fuel onhand indoors.
Have a valve installed so that you can cut off the main fuel line, and attach a line inside the house that will draw from a bucket of fuel. Just be sure to monitor the system each time it is burning for the sake of safety and fire prevention.

9. Passive Methods for Pacing Fuel Consumption

You can block off windows at night, and then open the shades during sunlight hours to let heat in. Running ceiling fans can also help push warm air back down into the room where you need it most.
In the most extreme situations, you can also pitch a tent in one room of your home and stay in it to conserve as much body heat as possible. Take the time now to practice using candle heaters and other devices outside the tent, as well as how to get the most from them in a time of need.
Remember that hot food and beverages can also go a long way to preserving your core body temperature. Even if you cannot heat up a whole room using alternative methods, you may still be able to warm of food and beverages that will help you avoid freezing to death.

10. Emergency Survival Kit

Overall, building an emergency heating survival kit is not especially difficult. Here are the most important items to have onhand:

candle heater and candles
rubbing alcohol stove and fuel
hair dryer or other heat source for thawing water pipes
additive that can be mixed with heating fuel to prevent freezing in the first place
matches or other means of starting a fire
emergency heat retention blankets
tent
plenty of water for hydration
foods and beverages that can be heated up
solar powered coffee mug or other devices that can be used to heat up water or soup without using electricity or a fire.

At this time, there is more debate than you might expect about whether or not the planet is heating up or cooling down. If you have ever seen the way ice melts in a beverage, then it may be easier to understand why some data points one way, while other studies indicate the opposite.
Regardless of how or why, the fact remains weather patterns are becoming more extreme, which means that you need to all you can to prepare for extreme cold and situations where your primary heating system fails.
Having a few devices and alternative fuels onhand may not seem like much, but it is more effective than doing nothing at all, or simply hoping for the best!

The 3 Biggest Killers To A Family Budget – Spend Less, Save More!

When it comes to a family budget, the best way to have more money is to save on what you already spend.

We all seem to start off the new year with great family budget goals. Goals such as earning a bigger paycheck, spending less, paying down debt, and of course, saving more.
Many of us even add in personal well-being goals too – such as exercising more, eating healthier and trying to reduce stress levels.
Sadly, way too often, all of these goals fade into oblivion long before February makes its debut.
But it doesn’t have to be that way! Especially when you realize all of the above goals are all related and centered around one basic concept – the act of simplifying. And when you simplify, eliminate, and / or reduce costly unneeded and unnecessary things, great things do indeed happen to you and your family budget!

So how can you simplify? A great place to start is reducing 3 of the biggest wasted expenses to a family budget listed below. Reducing all of them will not only help you stretch your dollars and budget farther – but help you and your family eat better, get more exercise – and live an amazingly healthier lifestyle.

The 3 Most Wasted Expenses To A Family Budget

#1 Cell Phones/ Data Packages

It’s funny that something that was a luxury a few years back, now seems like a necessity to everyone. Cell phones and data packages have become one of the biggest expenses to the bottom line of a family budget.
And so much of it is simply unnecessary. Take a look at how much your family cell phone’s cost you last year. Is it really necessary to have the newest phone? The biggest data package? The ultimate fastest speed?
All of those come with hefty price tags to the family budget. And scaling back on them can save you and your family big money. Avoid constantly upgrading your phone to the newest model with the newest features. Those costly upgrade contracts keep you on the hook for big money, and hold your family budget hostage.
You can save hundreds if not thousands by simply taking a smaller package and keeping an older model phone.
Sadly, we have become an impatient society of having to have the latest and greatest, and the absolute fastest speed. If it takes a few more seconds to get an answer, or you need to wait until you are connected to Wi-Fi – this may sound crazy, but you will still live. Really, you will. 🙂

#2 Food and Grocery – Grow Some Of Your Food

One of the biggest expenses to the family budget is food. Feeding a family is expensive – whether it’s buying groceries or eating out.
One of the easiest and most simple ways to save money is to grow your own food.
Planting a garden is like planting money. Not only will it save big dollars on your family budget, it will provide you and your family with fresh, nutritious food – and plenty of fresh air and excercise to boot!
We have used our simple raised row gardening method to grow about 3/4’s of our food now for the last 7 years. It is amazing how much that has saved when it came to feeding a family of 6. In fact, when we had all four at home, it was a life saver!
There are so many people with backyards full of grass that are just waiting to help save money and feed the family. Instead of mowing, consider growing! See: Raised Row Gardening

#3 Cable TV / Premium Packages

Cable TV and premium television packages are right up there with cell phones as one of the biggest wasted expenses to a family budget.
Cable television has become unbelievably expensive, especially if you add in all-inclusive premium movie and entertainment packages that can push monthly bills to $150, $200, and more.
First and foremost, all of that couch time is certainly counterproductive to a healthy, active lifestyle. You might be amazed at how productive you become when you simply turn it off.
Secondly, there are so many alternatives to high-end cable TV now, you can easily save hundreds off of your monthly bills, and still enjoy a reasonable amount of tv entertainment, all without costing your family a fortune.
Eliminating all of the couch time also has some incredible side effects. Like perhaps growing your own backyard garden this year!

7 Steps To Prepare Yourself For An Epidemic Outbreak

December 29, 2017 by Bob Rodgers

Most of the disasters that people prep for involve a threat that you can see and react to with some sense of confidence. Even societal collapse brought about by an economic freefall or government coup still generally presents its threat as other people. However, for an epidemic outbreak, people are only part of the problem.
Instead, this disaster poses a threat that is invisible to the naked eye and whose effects are likely only to be estimated by the time you are forced to respond to it. As such, while many of the tips to prepare for an epidemic are similar to bugging out in general, many are unique to this situation. That is why we have put together a list of the 7 steps to prepare yourself for an epidemic outbreak.

How to prepare for an epidemic outbreak

Avoidance

During the event of an epidemic, the single best thing you can do to help prevent catching a disease is to avoid other people entirely. Of course, many diseases have an incubation period, so it may be difficult to know whether a party member has been exposed and secretly harbors the disease awaiting its active phase. Still, you can at least ensure that you do not come in contact with people you do not know.In this instance, bugging out is a decision you will have to make at the time. If you feel you can confidently get to your bug out shelter without unduly exposing yourself, then this is probably a good idea. However, it is important to keep in mind that your bug out vehicle is likely not suited to prevent the transmission of airborne disease. As such, simply assuming that because you stay in the vehicle you are safe is not a safe bet.
If you have a route to your bug out location that is traversable by vehicle and does not regularly come into contact with other people, then it may be an acceptable risk to take. If you live in a large city or even a densely populated suburbia, your best bet is to bug in, not out. Close and lock the doors, and do not let anyone inside your home without being able to verify their health.

Clothing

The most common image that likely pops into someone’s head when you mention epidemic clothing is the Tyvek suit. These suits are used by medical professionals whenever they are trying to contain an epidemic including most recently with use during the Ebola epidemic. However, this is not the only clothing required. You will want to make sure you have a mask that is sealed and filters the air. If not the mask, they ensure you also have eye protection and always wear thick gloves made out of a non-porous material. When to wear the clothes may be another matter.
This can be a bit of a tricky call. While you may not necessarily need completely filtered and sealed clothing, it is likely a good idea to have as many sets around as you do party members plus one or two spares. If you are sure that everyone in your home is not infected, you should not simply walk around in this type of clothing. This ultimately exposes the protective clothing to more wear and tear and could potentially ruin them for when they are truly necessary.
Of course, if for any reason whatsoever you are forced to leave your home or bug out shelter, you and any party members accompanying you should be suited up and sealed tight. Chances are, a disease that can spread in an epidemic fashion will not be all that well-known and most reports will be estimations. As such, you cannot rely on reported cases of transmission, incubation, or survival rates and should instead play it safe.

Consumables

This is at least one of the few areas where your general prepping should not only come in handy but remain relatively unchanged. The only preparatory difference might be in how well stocked you generally keep your home compared to other bug plans you have drawn up already. Remember, there is a good chance that you will not actually be bugging out and will instead need to bug in. This means that your home should be as well stocked as any other bug out shelter you might have.
While you likely have a large store of sealed foodstuffs, water becomes a bit trickier. This is because the first assumption with water when bugging in is to use the water from your tap if it still functions. However, this can be a trap, because the water coming from the tap may or may not be properly filtered to prevent the spread of infectious disease. This potential risk will apply to your standard filtration methods as well.
In this instance, you need to make sure that water has been pre-treated and filtered well before the epidemic broke out. You can ensure with stored of clean water or you will want to use the appropriate chlorine measures to purify your water. In this case, common household bleach can serve as an effective purifying agent. Just makes sure you are carefully measuring out the parts and mix in large batches to avoid potential issues.

Cleanliness

When preparing a more generalized bug out plan that involves surviving some form of natural or manmade disaster, cleanliness is often seen as a necessity–but just so. While it is obviously important to ensure that parts of the body which remain covered in heated conditions–like your feet–as well as any open injury you might suffer remain clean, there is often less of an impetus placed on general cleanliness and especially environmental cleanliness.
During an epidemic, this paradigm gets turned on its head. Cleanliness is one of the best ways to ensure that you do not get sick. This works pretty much in every scenario, but especially during an epidemic. This means that both your bodies and the surfaces of your environment should be kept free from all bodily fluids and outdoor contaminants.

Conclusion:

As we can see, preparing for an epidemic outbreak is similar to bugging in in many respects. In this way, an epidemic outbreak may be somewhat akin to how you would respond to a nuclear blast. Of course, the insidious nature of infectious pathogens definitely alters some of the steps you would normally take to ensure your survival.
The main takeaway should be:

to avoid other people at all costs
ensure that you are sealed, secure, and clean
and no matter the situation develop a quarantine protocol and stick to it at all costs.

The Top 10 Survival Recipes From the Backwoods

Posted on January 2, 2018 Written by Amy S. Leave a Comment

Surviving in a post apocalypse? Lost in the backwoods? Poor with an empty pantry? Survivalists, poor families, native tribes, and mountain men from past decades experienced the ease of bagging critters that you can sometimes catch right in your own backyard and have over a fire in no time. Here are 10 tasty critters in no particular order …

Originally published : by Mark Lawrence, SecretsofSurvival.com

With a post apocalypse bearing down, what are you willing to eat if it came down to it?

Somewhere right now down in the American south — whether that’s Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama or Louisiana — a poor family is eating a creature caught in their own backyard or nearby Bayou, some kind of creature most people in the city would likely puke at the thought of eating. Stuffed possum. Baked raccoon. That kind of thing.

Baked Raccoon?

I don’t want to offend anyone with roots from somewhere in the south, actually if anything I want to tip my hat a bit to the brave souls over the years willing to bag some of these critters and then come up with easy ways of preparing them as a tasty meal for oneself or an entire family.
Hungry yet? Here are 10 recipes we have searched out for 10 common creatures and now present to you as suggestions for emergency meals if your pantry ever runs empty or you have to make a run for it one day and find yourself alone or with your family and in the backcountry. All of these critters qualify as small game and can be shot, trapped, speared, or the smaller ones like squirrel and rabbit even taken with a child’s pellet gun or sling shot.
Remember, this is survival.

What do you season critters with?

If you’re empty handed in the backwoods, you’re not going to have anything to season or garnish these critters with or any flour if you favor deep frying.
In that case, consider chopping up your critter into smaller pieces and roasting it over a good charcoal wood fire and this thing is now going to be a bit more palatable. Like wild fish and poultry, the flavor of smoke can help diminish the unique flavors of certain critters.
With that said, the recipes that follow assume that you have a cache of packaged non-perishable food like emergency potatoes and vegetables, flour, cooking oils, and seasoning, essentials for today’s prepper concerned about a coming food shortage. These are all things you can use to season small game that you bag in the nearby woods or your own backyard.

Basic tools

When it comes to skinning and removing the entrails (as well as the scent glands in certain animals), a high quality bowie knife and sharpening stone can go a long way. With a Marine KA-BAR you can make yourself a spear and then after you’ve drained the life blood from an animal you’ve caught, now proceed to preparing a tasty meal with whatever you have available.
In no particular order, here is the first critter recipe to consider:

1. Kentucky Fried Rabbit

1 Young rabbit
4 clove Garlic
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 Onion
1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Oregano, dried
1 tsp Rosemary, dried
1 tsp Thyme, dried
3 tsp Cayenne pepper
2 cup Flour
1 tsp Paprika
1 Salt and pepper
1 Oil
2 cup Buttermilk
Directions: Place the rabbit in a zip-lock bag with the buttermilk, onion, garlic (minced), oregano, thyme, rosemary, paprika, and 1 tsp of cayenne. Marinate overnight in fridge (if you have power).
In another zip-lock bag mix the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, 2 tsp. cayenne pepper, and season well with salt and pepper. Heat 2-3 cups of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Drain the rabbit from the buttermilk. Toss pieces into the flour mixture and shake until well coated. Add the rabbit to the skillet and fry for 10 minutes until golden brown on each side. Be careful to keep the oil hot enough to fry the rabbit, but not so hot it burns. When done, place on wire rack to drain excess oil.

2. Squirrel Stew

1 cup Corn
3 Onions, medium
3 Potatoes
1 tsp Thyme
2 cup Tomatoes, canned
1 All purpose flour
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 Salt and pepper
2 1/2 tbsp Butter
7 cup Water
1 Squirrel, cut up
Directions:
Dredge squirrel pieces in flour, salt and pepper. Brown in butter.
Add squirrel and all ingredients except the tomatoes to the boiling water. Cover and simmer for 1 to 2 hours.
Add the tomatoes and continue to simmer for another hour.
How To Cook A Squirrel –
Before you can cook a squirrel, you’re going to have to locate the scent glands which are at the small of the back, under the forelegs and the thighs. Once located, these scent glands must be removed carefully so that they are not cut. Squirrel meat is a medium red color.
Expect squirrel to be tender and mild in taste. Squirrel meat is low in fat and if you plan to substitute it in a recipe for chicken, you’ll need to add fat to the dish to make it comparable to chicken. Common preparations for squirrel are frying, broiling, or roasting, however older squirrels have tougher meat and will likely need parboiling beforehand to make the meat tender enough for easier chewing.

3. Baked Raccoon

1 Large Raccoon
3tbsp Oil
4 Bay Leaves, crumbled
1 Large Vidalia Onion
1 Large Bell Pepper
2 Celery Stalks
1tsp Poultry Seasoning
2 cups Water
Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation: Dress the raccoon and be sure to remove the raccoon’s lymph glands! Either have someone who is experienced remove the glands and the skin for you or seek out individual instruction for yourself from someone else experienced with raccoons. (This is a skill passed on through generations and not common knowledge.)
1. Wash thoroughly under cold running water.
2. Cut into quarters and soak in water for 3 to 4 hours.
3. Drain.
4. Season with salt and pepper and Poultry Seasoning.
5. Chop the onions, celery and bell peppers.
Cooking method:
1. Heat oil in fryer on medium high heat.
2. Add raccoon pieces and brown well on both sides.
3. Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees F.
4. Place the browned pieces in the roasting pan.
5. Crumble the Bay Leaves over the meat.
6. Sprinkle a little more Poultry Seasoning over the meat.
Option: Poultry Season can be substituted for Old Bay Seasoning if you like Cajun flavor.
7. Add onions, celery and bell pepper.
8. Add water. Add more if needed during baking.
9. Bake for about 21/2 – 3 hours or until the meat is tender enough to fall off the bone.
10. If the meat finishes cooking and does not look brown enough, place under the broiler for a few minutes.
Serve with peas, potatoes, cornbread and gravy. (Source)

4. Stuffed Possum

1 possum (whole)
1 quart cold water
1/8 cup salt
5 beef bouillon cubes
2 bay leaves
3 celery stalks (chopped)
2 onions (sliced)
1 bag packaged stuffing
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak possum in cold salt water for 10 hours. Rinse meat in cold water and refrigerate 2-4 hours. Prepare stuffing according to package directions. Stuff possum cavity with prepared packaged stuffing. Close cavity tightly. Place stuffed possum in roasting pan, add water, bouillon cubes, bay leaves, celery and onion. After 2 hours turn meat. Reduce heat to 300 degrees. Cook for 1 more hour. Test roast, if not done reduce heat and cook until done. (Source)

5. Fried Snapping Turtle

Turtle meat, cut into serving size pieces
2 cups flour
3 tsp black pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
Vegetable oil
Mix the flour, pepper, garlic powder and salt together. Heat oil in pan on medium-low. Shake a few pieces of turtle in the flour at a time and place in hot oil. Once all meat is in, cover. Brown on all sides then cook, turning occasionally, until done and somewhat crisp on the outside. Drain on paper towels and serve with your favorite sides. (Source)
How to Cook a Snapping Turtle – Unlike many turtles, snapping turtles are typically legal to catch and kill. It takes quick reflexes to dispatch one. Two main ways are used. The first being to hold a stick in front of the turtle, waiting for its head to emerge.
Once it does, a swift swing with an axe to remove the head is required. Alternatively, a .22 shot to the top of the head will do the trick. Either way, the mouth of the turtle can still snap so caution should still be taken. It’s advised to keep the turtle turned downward to allow the blood to drain out.
Some choose to dip the turtle in to a vat of boiling water for a few seconds to make the meat easier to remove from the shell. This is also known to cause the skin easier to tear. Boiling isn’t required.
Place the turtle on its back and separate the lower shell from the upper, carefully trying to keep all the meat on the carcass. Once the lower shell is removed, take the time to scrape out all the remaining meat within the upper shell until the body is free. Some meat is found under rib-like bones that should be cut with bolt cutters. This meat is quite tasty and worth the extra work. (Source)

6. Woodchuck (Ground Hog) Stew

1 Woodchuck
2 Onions, sliced
½ cup celery
Flour
Vinegar and Water
Salt and Pepper
Cloves
Clean woodchuck; remove glands; cut into serving pieces. Soak overnight in a solution of equal parts of water and vinegar with addition of one sliced onion and a little salt. Drain, wash, and wipe. Parboil 20 minutes, drain, and cover with fresh boiling water. Add one sliced onion, celery, a few cloves, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until tender; thicken gravy with flour.
How to cook a Woodchuck – When preparing a Woodchuck/Groundhog to be cooked the blood should be drained, entrails removed and the remaining body cavity wiped clean. The meat should then be hung for 48 hours at which time it is ready to be skinned and cooked.
The meat of a Woodchuck is dark but most find it to mild and tender to the palate. It’s not required that the meat be soaked but still many people choose to soak overnight in salt water. It’s required for you to remove the animals scent glands, known as kernels. There are 7-9 of them found in the small of the back and under the forearms. Older animals may require parboiling to soften the meat. (Source)

7. Fried Alligator

Okay, for fried alligator you’re probably going to have to live in the south somewhere; swamp lands, rivers, and certain lakes will offer prime hunting grounds for alligator.
2 lbs Alligator, Sliced into strips.
Flour
Red Pepper
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Roll the gator in the flour and deep fry until golden brown. (Source)

8. Campfire Wild Goose

Fresh caught goose.
Bacon
Toothpicks
Fire
Wrap hunks of goose meat with bacon.
Secure with toothpicks.
Roast over open flame. (Source)

9. Baked Wild Hog

Pig (wild hog, preferably 100-120 lbs).
2 Onions
Your taste of seasonings.
3 Potatoes
Hot Pepper if you like food with a kicks.
Bacon grease or 1/2 lbs bacon.
Shape aluminum foil into a pan so that ham can be wrapped and sealed in it. Place ham in foil. Place bacon grease or strips on ham. Slice onions and place on top of ham. Slice potatoes the long way and place around ham and then sprinkle all with spices. Seal all ingredients in aluminum and do not open foil until done cooking. Cook on low heat 3-4 hours and then turn up to 450 degrees for an additional hour or two. (Source)

10. Deep Fried Earthworms with Apple

Chop apple into chunks.
Layer apples and cleaned boiled earthworms in an air-tight container.
Refrigerate for 24 hours.
Remove apples and roll in a mix of all purpose flour seasoned with paprika, salt & pepper.
Then roll worms in same flour mix.
Deep fry both in the same pan together.
Earthworms can be a high source of protein containing several dozen grams of protein per worm (larger worms equal more protein). Preparing earthworms for a meal takes some prep first. There are few options including boiling a worm for 15 minutes at least twice, soaking for 3-24 hours in water, or milking the dirt from the worms body with your hands. Worms are not bad tasting once cleaned but they are bitter. Drying the worms mellows the bitterness and also prevents the worms from popping when you fry them due to their 90% water content. (Source 1), (Source 2) (Source 3)

Conclusion

Keep in mind, the people who eat these critters best are those who are prepared beforehand with canned or bottled veggies or even freeze dried food packets (look for potatoes and other vegetables as these go with just about any kind of meat) or are those blessed enough to have a garden or farm where they can harvest fresh vegetables, herbs, tomatoes, and potatoes, just to name a few.

If You See These 14 Signs It’s Time to Bug Out

What you do is observe what is happening and estimate…comparing possible with probable and coming up with the best course of action…and act when you know and feel it is the time to do so.
There are keys to show you that everything is going down. The more that occur simultaneously, the higher the probability that it’s time to get out of town. Let’s list some of them (and some of these may surprise you):

A complete collapse of the markets (a lagging indicator, but hitting rock bottom is a sign that it is gone), to include the Baltic Dry Index, and all commodities markets.
The President, Vice-President, and members of Congress and the Pentagon “disappear” very suddenly and noticeably… (probably heading to a bunker on your taxed dime)
National Guard and Active Duty troops and vehicles are out on the highways all of a sudden, moving out of cities and off of military establishments.
A nationwide bank “holiday” for all banks occurs, with all accounts frozen…this would be very bad.
Foreign military forces on the move either in the vicinity of or to the United States
Outright declaration of either hostilities or an emergency condition by the MSM (mainstream media)
Over a course of time: key members of industry, banking, and the government take “extended vacations” and disappear from the public eye.
Sudden shortages or halts in the shipments of food, medicines, fuel, or any other necessary item…without any warning. Think Venezuela.
Heavy troop and police movements and coordinating activities in major metropolitan areas
Hospitals tasked with any kind of mass-casualty emergency preparations
Numbers 1-10 happening simultaneously in foreign nations along with the U.S.
Increased police and military checkpoints and restrictions on travel domestically or internationally
Decoupling of financial markets and banks overseas and in foreign nations.
Recall of any and all ambassadors and staff back to the United States on short notice.

We have mentioned a list of things here, but the list is not extensive. I moved to Montana years ago and have taken necessary steps that my preparations are now in place. This is key: to accomplish these objectives long before any of those listed items materialize, as those are “late” signs that something will occur.
If people all paid attention to things, then perhaps we would have a Civil Defense system in place. The truth of the matter, to respectfully address RedClay’s concerns, is that even at the penultimate moment of truth, most will ignore the signs. It’s not that everyone cannot be saved or alerted: it is that they will not pay attention to the signs even when it’s all coming down around them.
Best advice: have your plans in place long before all of this happens, be prepared to depend on yourself and your family alone, prepare today as if disaster will strike tomorrow, and don’t let anyone know your business.

SOURCE

Saturday, January 6, 2018

PREPPER: 10 Prepping Goals You Should Be Setting For The New Year