Author: CityPrepping

  • How to store backup water in your garage in 55 gallon barrels

    How to store backup water in your garage in 55 gallon barrels

    In this article we’ll discuss the following:

    • Where you can get 55 gallon drums
    • We’ll discuss what you’ll need on hand to prepare to store these barrels long term
    • How to disinfect and clean them
    • How to properly fill them with water
    • How to store them away
    • How to siphon water out of them

    Where can you pick up 55 gallon barrels?

    I found the best deals so far on Wal-mart.com. The price often fluctuates between $50 to $60 USD on their website. You can also pick them up on Amazon and other various websites.  Be careful not to pick these up used on websites like Craigslist unless you personally know or trust the seller as you won’t know what has been stored in the barrels in the past.

    Here are the items you’ll need for this project:

    How to disinfect the barrel before storing them with water

    First, we’ll wash the inside of the barrel with dishwashing soap and water. I just put a little soap inside along with water. Enough to get the inside soapy without making it a hassle to get the soap out. Roll the barrel around to make sure the entire inside gets soap on the surface. Be sure to flip on the top to get soapy water there as well. Next rinse them out with copious amounts of water to make sure we’re getting all the soap out. Filling them up with water after initially emptying them and then rolling them around again and rinsing them out 1 more time is not a bad idea to ensure we get all the soap out.

    Next, we’ll sanitize the barrels with a mixture of 1 teaspoon of unscented chlorine bleach in a quart of water. Roll the barrel around to completely coat the inside as we want to sanitize the entire inside of the barrel thoroughly. Wait for 30 seconds, then pour the solution out of the barrel.  You can now air-dry the barrels before filling them up or rinse with treated, city water.

    How to properly fill the barrel

    Use a drinking-safe water hose, not your typical water hose you use to water your lawn (you know, the one we all drank from as kids). I just used the hose we use in our RV. Tap water treated by the city does not require extra treatment. But well water, capture water, or other water from an untreated source must be treated. If storing untreated water (water that hasn’t been chlorinated by your local city water provider), use water treatment drops as instructed or add 2 tablespoons of fragrant-free liquid chlorine bleach to the 55 gallons of water. You can also use 4-6% sodium hypochlorite, aka pool shock, mixed at the correct ratio if you don’t have liquid bleach.

    How to store them away

    Avoid storing the barrels directly on the concrete, but instead, place them on something like 2×4’s to keep them off the concrete. This is recommended in the event the concrete heats up and releases any chemicals that could be absorbed into the barrels.

    Once you’ve got the barrels positioned exactly where you want them, start filling them up. If you fill them up in the place where they’re not ultimately going to be stored, they’ll weigh over 400 pounds and be extremely difficult to move. Next, screw the bung nuts into the fill holes, being sure they tighten smoothly without crossing the threads. Use the bung nut wrench to tighten the bung nuts, effectively sealing your water and protecting it from outside contaminants.

    Also, it’s a good idea to write on the side of the barrels information regarding when you stored them, if you added any additives to the barrels and if the water is potable or not. I have a few barrels that I purchased at garage sales that I do not use for drinkable water, but rather keep water in them for other purposes and I clearly mark them as non-potable.

    I also put a rope between the 2×4’s to secure the barrels from tipping over. Living in earthquake territory, I don’t want these to easily fall over if there’s a big enough event.

    For my setup, I decided to cover the barrels with a black plastic liner for 2 reasons:

    • I don’t want direct sunlight hitting the barrels. While they are blue barrels which will prevent bacterial growth, I wanted 1 extra layer of protection to keep sunlight from hitting the barrels as opening our garage door causes a flood of sunlight to pour into our garage.
    • Secondly and just as important is OPSEC. OPSEC simply stands for operations security and in the context of this article, I simply do not want these barrels observable from the street. Reason being is that I don’t want to be remembered as the guy with all the water stored in his garage. In the event of a disaster when people are looking for resources, I want don’t want desperate neighbors lining up outside of my door.

    I simply went down to my local Home Depot and picked up a black plastic liner. I got 3.5 mils thick which is thick enough…this doesn’t have to be overly sturdy. Before I hung up the plastic liner, I measured the height of the area I need to cover, cut the liner for the height I need and then using sturdy thumbtacks designed for furniture, I hung this up. I used Gorilla tape to put a backing on the places on the plastic sheet where I drove the thumbtacks through in order to prevent tearing in the plastic sheet. I went around the entire shelf hanging this up and then circled back to secure the plastic sheet at the very bottom as well.

    How to siphon your water

    Position a bucket or similar water container near the water barrel so the siphon hose will slope downward. Insert the siphon end (copper valve) into the barrel and the bare, plastic end into the smaller container. Keeping the siphon end fully submerged in the water, shake the hose in a vertical, up-and-down motion. After a few seconds, water will flow on its own, and you may stop shaking the siphon.

    Conclusion

    And there you have.  Water is critical for long-term survivability and having fresh water stored in your garage is a critical first step.  If you have any comments or feedback, please post in the comment section below.

    As always, be safe out there!

  • How to get unlimited power after SHTF: Kodiak Solar Generator

    How to get unlimited power after SHTF: Kodiak Solar Generator

    In this article, we’ll talk about the Kodiak Solar Generator.  If at anytime you want to pick one of these up, you can use the 10% coupon code “cityprepping”.

    Let me first state that this is a very cool piece of equipment and I’m very excited to get my hands on this.  Quick disclaimer: this is not a paid review…I’ll just give my honest opinion on this product.  While I have an affiliate account with them, you can click on this link if you prefer to not buy one through an affiliate link.  I’ve wanted one of these for quite awhile and honestly I’m really excited to share this piece of equipment with you.  I’ll share with you in this posting the details of this piece of equipment, how it stacks up against other similar products on the market and just give you my honest opinion: Spoiler alert: I really like this device and I’m excited to share the details with you, so let’s jump in!

    So here’s what we’ll cover:

    • What makes a solar generator so unique
    • Features of this unit
    • Why you’d want this in a disaster / SHTF scenario
    • I’ll do a quick overview to explain how a solar generator works
    • We’ll look at the primary competition on the market and how this stacks up
    • Appliances that will run on this
    • Discuss EMP’s in relation to this product
    • Finally we’ll cover some of the downsides to solar generators (especially compared to a gas generator)

    So what makes a solar generator so unique?  And why is this technology a game changer for preppers?

    The first reason is the one that sold me personally: you have an unlimited fuel source as long as you have the sun…there’s no reliance on gasoline.  Another reason is that you can charge it 2000 times (their competitor only has 1/4th this ability which we’ll discuss a little more in a moment).  And it has a 10 year shelf life.

    These points were the primary things that sold me on the solar generator as an option for a backup power source for when the grid goes down.  I spoke with an individual in Puerto Rico recently after Hurricane Maria barreled through their country and she spoke about the lack of gasoline and the impact it had on their family.  I’ve also read a lot of forum postings after Florida was devastated by Hurricane Irma and one of the common issues people brought up was a lack of gasoline and their inability to run a generator.  During the hurricane season, Inergy, the company that made this generator, sold out of units due to demand in Florida and Puerto Rico and many individuals are still purchasing their gear now to get them to Puerto Rico which is a devastated area.  With solar getting cheaper by the month and the ability to store it (lithium batteries), switching over to a solar powered setup makes more and more sense.

    So let’s take a look at some of the features

    kodiak-solar-generator-view

    On the front, we have a:

    • RV plugin
    • (6) 110 VAC plugs
    • 2 Basecamp LED ports
    • 2 12V DC Car sockets
    • 4 USB outlets
    • Battery storage indicator
    • Power switch and Power display

    On the side, we have:

    • A high current charging port which can handle up to 600 watts through the Nuetrik port.  Cool thing is that while the generator is charging, you can still power devices.
    • Low current charging port.
    • External battery bank connection (this is one of the unique features of this product: you can chain this with other batteries, again, something their competitors can not do).  I’ll do a video on this shortly showing how to expand this out.
    • A heat vent as well as 2 on the other side.

    So let’s take a quick look at the solar panels that power the generator.

    kodiak-inergy-solar-panels

    I picked up 5, 50 watt panels that are very lightweight, portable, and fit in a bag providing me with roughly 250 watts to charge my generator.  Again, remember this unit can handle up to 600 watts of power from solar panels.  You can chain these particular solar panels together with a connection point they have on the side.  Each of the power cables that connect to the solar panels can handle 150 watts of power each meaning I had to use one cable on 3 of the panels which produced 150 watts and the other cable for the other 2 panels which produced 100 watts and then connected the 2 cables into a 3 way adapter with Nuetrik plugin that plugs into the side of the generator.

    Why you’d want this for an emergency / SHTF scenario

    When the grid goes down, having the ability to produce electricity would be critical for so many reasons.  Especially for those with health issues like diabetes requiring them to keep insulin cold.  Also people that use C-PAP machines often purchase these as a backup.  You’ll also be able to refrigerate your food.  I will be adding a small refrigerator soon in my garage that uses less power as a backup if the grid goes down.  One of the things I especially like is that unlike a generator, it is quiet and produces no fumes which is critical for OPSEC.  In addition, you don’t have to do maintenance on it like you would on a gas engine.

    It’s also a very light weight setup.  The solar generator itself only weighs 20 pounds and the 5 panels I have combined weigh another 25 pounds.  These would definitely be items I’d throw in my vehicle if I had to bug out.

    Now, the possibilities are endless for things you’d want to power in a grid down scenario:

    • Computer where you store critical information like survival documentation.
    • Ham radio and cell phones which would be very important for communication.
    • For entertainment purposes for your kids you’d be able to power your T.V. and tablets.

    Brief, geeky explanation of how a solar generator works

    OK, so they advertise this unit as having an internal battery capacity of 1,100 watts, so what does that even mean?  Without going into a long boring discussion of electricity, let me put in layman’s terms to give you an idea of what you could power with this and for how long.  Your typical home appliance in the U.S. uses 110 volts.  That’s the normal wall socket you have in your house.  Now every device uses a certain amount of Amps.  Some use more, let’s say like a coffee machine whereas your phone would draw a very small amount of Amps.  Most appliances list the amount of amps they use on the side.  So a Watt is simply Amps x Volts.  So if you start looking around at different electronic devices in your house and take note of how many amps they use, you can start figuring out how many watts they’ll consume during normal use.  Let’s take a look at something you’d want to power after a disaster: a small 18 cu foot refrigerator.  It draws about 2 amps during normal operation with a momentary surge of roughly 6 amps when starting up.  So a fairly accurate estimate in this example of how much we expect it will use would be 110v x 2 amps (per hour) x at about 20% duty.  Now, refrigerators don’t operate all the time…they run roughly 20% of the time.  So within 1 hour it would use roughly 44 watts and over 24 hours about 1056 watts.  With this information, you can start getting a general idea of what you would be able to power with this device and how many panels you want to probably pick up.  Again, remember this solar generator can handle up to 600 watts of power coming in.

    So how does this device stack up against the competition on the market?

    The closest competitor is the Yeti 1400.  So let’s do a quick side-by-side comparison of the 2 systems.  And by the way, all this information below can be found on both manufacturer’s websites.

    Value Kodiak Yeti 1400
    Weight 20 pds 45.7 pds
    Chainable (ext. batteries) Yes No
    Charging life cycle 2000 500
    Watt hour 1500 1425
    Recharge time (wall) 9 hrs (11) 25 hrs
    Solar panels max input 600 watts 240 watts
    Recharge time (solar at max capacity) 2.5 hours 6 hours
    Price point With 10% coupon (cityprepping), the Kodiak is less than the Yeti.

    So here’s some appliances and devices around the house that can easily run on this device

    • Refrigerator
    • Power tools
      • Miter saw
      • Table saw
      • Drills
      • Blender
      • Coffee machine
      • Espresso machine … what prepper doesn’t need a good cappuccino when the world is falling apart 😉

    Dealing with EMP’s

    The manufacturer actually sells Faraday bags that you can store your solar generator and solar panels in if this is a big concern for you.

    Downsides

    So let’s talk about what many will most definitely point out in the comment section as potential downsides of this product.

    The first and most obvious will be the price tag.  Yes, they are more expensive than a gas generator especially once you add in the cost of solar panels.  Not as powerful as a gas generator either at a comparable price.  Yes, you can get gas generators at a cheaper price point, but then you’d have to keep gas on hand which would be a limited, finite amount post-SHTF and once gas runs out, that’s it.  With the ability to charge the battery 2000 times on the Kodiak, that means you’d have roughly 5 and ½ years worth of use out of this which to me would be worth every penny in a prolonged grid down scenario.

    Interface.  The interface was obviously designed by engineers.  It’s not overly friendly or easy to understand.  Goalzero does a better job with theirs.  But once you get an understanding of what information is being displayed on the panel, it makes sense, but there’s a small learning curve for sure.

    So here’s my final thoughts on this piece of gear.

    I think it’s a great investment as a prepper.  Again, it checks all the boxes for me and stacked up against the primary competitor on the market, it’s a clear winner and something I definitely want in my inventory of survival gear.  Solar is something I’ve researched for awhile and I’m honestly glad I have this.  I’d be interested in hearing your feedback and thoughts on this unit in the comment section below and if you enjoyed the article, please feel free to like or share on social media.

    As always, be safe out there.

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  • How to set up a prepper’s toolbox

    How to set up a prepper’s toolbox

    After a disaster strikes, having the right tools in your toolbox will be critical to handle the challenges you may face.  In this article, I’ll share with you what I keep in my toolbox.  Everybody’s toolbox might be slightly different based on your skills and needs and I encourage feedback in the comment section if there’s tools you keep in your toolbox I didn’t cover you think are critical to have.  So let’s jump in.

    • Gloves
      • Always good to have a solid pair of leather work gloves.
    • Tape measure
    • Hammer
      • You’ll want to pick up 2 in the event a couple of people need to work on something.  Go for a basic, mid-weight hammer. The one thing to look for is a head that is made from deep-forged steel and a handle that feels comfortable when you swing the hammer.
      • And oh yeh, don’t pick up cheap tools.  I’ve made that mistake in the past and you end up with tools that inevitably break.
    • Allen wrenches
      • Standard and Metric
    • Vise grips
      • I use these all the time and have 3 different options as they come in handy in so many situations.
    • Telescoping magnetic tool
      • Had to use this on many occasions to dig something out of the motor I dropped while working on it.
    • Double Drive Screwdriver
      • I enjoy this tool a lot as you have multiple bits which gives you a lot of options.
    • Plain old fashion screwdrivers
      • I’ve picked up a number of these over the years and lost quite a few as well.  Having a lot of different options of Phillips and flat head screw drivers, long, medium and short with different size heads all come in hand.  I don’t think you can have enough of these with various options.
    • Crescent wrench
    • Metal file
    • Graphite powder
      • Freeing up locks
    • Drill bits
    • Safety Goggles
    • Respirator mask
    • Duct tape
      • I use the heck out of Gorilla tape and I keep plenty of additional duct tape around in my office.
    • WD-40
      • What problem can’t be fixed with a little WD-40?  Am I right?
    • Bungee cords
      • You never know when you’ll need these to secure something.
    • Rags
      • Great to clean up a spill or just clean off your hands.
    • Channel lock pliers
      • Having a couple of these comes in handy as well.
      • Dinosaur noise (see downloads)
    • Gas wrench
      • Very handy to have in an emergency to shut off your gas line to your house.
    • Zip ties
    • Small socket wrench kit
      • I do carry a very small socket wrench kit in my main toolbox.
    • Hand saw
    • Wrenches
      • It’s a good investment to make as you’ll find yourself needing deep socket wrenches, box end wrenches and open ended wrenches as you work on vehicles and other miscellaneous items.
      • Box end wrenches
      • Open end wrenches
      • SAE and Metric
      • Socket wrenches
      • Crescent wrench
    • Hand drill
      • Now ideally I’d recommend a cordless drill, but for now I still have a variable corded drill which works just fine.  There are hand drills you can still pick up online that don’t require electricity that might want to consider picking up if there’s an EMP or you can’t generate electricity.
    • Assortment of screws, nails, nuts and bolts
      • You just never know what you’ll need to work on or secure requiring these items in your inventory.

    So there you have it.  That’s my basic setup.  What tools and items would you recommend to have in a toolbox if you knew there was a SHTF situation that hit tomorrow?  Post your comments in the comment section below as I learn so much from your feedback.  If you enjoyed the article, please feel free to like or share on social media.

    As always, be safe out there.

  • How to prepare for a hurricane (before, during, after)

    How to prepare for a hurricane (before, during, after)

    In this article, we’ll discuss how to prepare for a hurricane:

    • Before it hits
    • What to do during
    • And what to do after

    Before

    The following are things you should be considering and implementing before the hurricane season arrives.

    The first and most thing to do is plan ahead.  Planning and preparing can make a big difference in safety and resiliency in the wake of a hurricane.  The ability to quickly recover following a hurricane requires a focus on preparedness, advance planning, and knowing what to do in the event of a hurricane.  Start by signing up for local text and email alerts warning when a storm is coming and monitor local news and weather reports so you’re informed at all times.  Next, learn the locations of local shelters where you can go to if things get bad during a storm and your home is no longer safe.  If you are ordered to evacuate, know the local hurricane evacuation route(s) to take and have a plan for where you can stay.  Pick a place you can meet in case you get separated from your family and have a phone number, like a friend or family member, everyone can call in the event you get separated.

    Things to get now

    • Let’s start with emergency supplies
    • How to prepare your home
      • Get flood insurance for your home.  Be sure to discuss with your agent what is covered in the event your home gets flooded.
      • Film/photograph everything in your house for insurance purposes and keep this information backed up in an off-site cloud backup like Dropbox.
      • Have ⅝” Marine plywood already cut and stored away for each window of your home unless you have Hurricane shutters.
      • Have a safe room designated and set up where you can go if you shelter in place during a hurricane.
      • Consider installing “check valves” in sewer lines to prevent floodwater from backing up into your drains.
      • Stockpile emergency protective materials such as plywood, plastic sheeting, and sandbags.
    • Additional considerations
      • If you have family members with special needs, check with local officials to see what services are available if the power goes down.
      • Learn how to shut off electricity, gas, and water.
      • Keep your important documents in a central location.  Prior to a storm hitting, put your important documents like passports, car titles, or other important financial, medical, educational, and legal documents in ziplock bags to prevent water damage.
      • Practice good hygiene.  Once a storm hits, you’ll need to maintain this to ensure diseases and illnesses do not impact your family.
      • Also, consider COMFORT & PRICELESS ITEMS.  You may be away from your home for an extended period and your property may be damaged. Prepare items that are irreplaceable or may provide comfort to your family, especially your children. Ask yourself, “What would I need for myself and my family if a hurricane struck?” Add any of these specific items to your Hurricane Preparedness Checklist.

    What to do if a hurricane is approaching within a few days

    • Bring in anything that could be tossed around by the wind in your yard.
    • Close and board up all windows and doors with ⅝” Marine plywood unless you have Hurricane shutters.
    • Clear rain gutters and downspouts.  Clean trees and shrubs to remove limbs or branches that could be blown away.
    • Put your refrigerator in the coldest setting.  Fill up your freezer with water bottles and other devices to fill up your refrigerator with frozen items.
    • Fill your car’s gas tank and fill up any gas cans you have.  Also keep snacks, bottled water, first aid kit, flashlights, flares, jumper cables and other tools, a wool blanket, and a change of clothes in your vehicle in the event you have to move quickly.  Also, if you have pets, be sure to have food on hand for them if you have to evacuate.
    • If you live on a high rise on floors 1 or 2, make plans to seek refuge with neighbors on floors 3 to 10.  Those living above the 10th floor should evacuate.  Mobile home dwellers should also seek alternative shelter.
    • Those living on a floodplain, near a river, or near an inland riverway should plan on leaving their home before the storm hits as they are a prime candidate for being flooded.  You stand a high chance of being stranded or worse, having a high chance of drowning.

    Shortly before the hurricane hits

    • Fill your bathtub with water.  Items like a WaterBOB can come in handy.
    • Turn off and unplug sensitive electronic devices.  Switch the main power breakers off before the storm hits.
    • Turn off propane tanks and the gas line running into your home.
    • Monitor your NOAA radio and follow guidelines from local authorities.  If you’re advised to evacuate, grab your “go bag” and leave immediately.  If you decide to stay, remember the roads leading to your home may be impassable, you may lose power and you may be stranded for a few days.

    During the storm

    • Stay away from windows and glass doors.
    • Go to your home’s lowest level and stay in an interior room, safe room, or closet.  Monitor your NOAA radio during this time.
    • Have a mattress or pillow to protect your head.
    • Don’t leave your safe place until local officials tell you it’s ok to do so.
    • If there’s flooding, move to higher ground.  Under no circumstances drive your vehicle or walk through flooded roads or through the water.  Moving water while it may not look deep can quickly sweep your vehicle away.  Remember the phrase, “Turn around, don’t drown.”

    After the storm

    • If you lose electricity, keep your circuit breakers off until power is restored.  Check for any frayed wires on your house before turning the power back on.  If you see any, call the power company.
    • If you return to your house, do not enter your house if floodwaters still remain around the structure.
    • If you see downed power lines, structural damage, or smell gas, do not enter your home until you contact a professional or structural engineer.  Each year, a significant number of people are injured or killed while cleaning up after a hurricane.
      • Do not wade in floodwaters, which can contain dangerous debris like broken glass, metal, dead animals, sewage, gasoline, oil, and downed power lines.
      • Do not enter a building until it has been inspected for damage to the electrical system, gas lines, septic systems, and water lines or wells.  Wear appropriate protective equipment such as gloves, safety glasses, rubber boots, and masks to protect you from debris and airborne particles, e.g., mold and dust.
      • Do not use electrical equipment if it is wet or if you are standing in water.
      • Do not drink tap water unless local authorities say it is safe to drink.  Have a simple water filter on hand to filter your water and boil it if you’re not sure.  Throw out any food including canned items that were not maintained at a proper temperature or have been exposed to floodwaters. Do not eat food from a flooded garden. When in doubt, throw it out.
      • Clean and disinfect everything that got wet.  Mud left from floodwater can contain sewage, bacteria, and chemicals.

    Conclusion

    The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with the peak occurring between mid-August and late October. The Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins May 15 and ends November 30.  If you’ve prepared in advance, while enduring a hurricane will be difficult, you won’t be caught off guard when the hurricane season approaches. If you enjoyed this article, please share on social media, and always, please provide feedback in the comment section below as I learn so much from the Prepper community.

    As always, be safe out there.

  • How to survive a financial crisis

    How to survive a financial crisis


    In prepping we often prepare for major catastrophes like regional storms or earthquakes. But are you really prepared to lose your job or survive a financial crisis? In March of 2017, a claim was made that nearly ½ of Americans couldn’t write a check for $500. With the financial collapse and ensuing food shortages happening right now in Venezuela, it should make us in the prepper community think long and hard about our own finances. In this article, I’ll discuss the 7 laws you should follow to weather events like an economic collapse or an even more likely scenario of losing your job.

    Budget prepping and just plain old budgeting go hand-in-hand. So let’s jump right in and discuss what I would consider 7 financial laws you’ll want to observe as a prepper.

    Prepping has costs associated with it, gear and skills to acquire requiring you to budget and be a good steward of your finances. I’ve known preppers that have allowed fear to drive them to credit card debt only to regret it later when nothing happened. By having a level-headed approach and a control over your finances, you can much more intelligently navigate yourself financially in prepping. By setting yourself up for financial freedom in the future, you give yourself the ability to be in a better position financially if a catastrophe does strike. As we asked at the beginning of the article, how many preppers are prepared financially for common things like losing their job?

    In this article, I’ll share my personal experience with finances and how it has impacted how I prep. I learned a lot by following the steps outlined in Dave Ramsey’s book, Financial Peace. I implemented the steps he outlined and it has put myself and my family on a path to financial security. Should there be an economical downturn in the economy, had a major unexpected expense or I lost my business, we would make it.

    So here are the 7 immutable prepper financial laws that I personally live by and I hope to be of value to you.

    1. Create a budget

    A budget allows you to take control of your finances and gives you a full understanding of where every dollar is going. In prepping there are expenses in acquiring gear and other resources and for those that have a tight budget, making sure you can squeeze out every dollar from your paycheck is important. Without a budget, you won’t be able to effectively do this. The first step to creating a budget is very straight forward. The goal is to create a simple, zero-based budgeting approach.

    Start by determining your household’s total take home pay after taxes. Then you simply document in a spreadsheet the regular monthly expenses you have like your mortgage, utilities, grocery bills, insurance, etc. I find it easy to look over my bank account and see all the expenses. Once you have all the numbers added up in a spreadsheet, you’ll want to define where every dollar goes. As a prepper, you’ll need to find a way to create a line item for prepping. How much you want to spend on a monthly basis on prepping is up to you and what you can afford. I spend around 2 to 4% of my monthly pay on prepping. At first sitting down and doing a budget might be a real eye opener when you see what you’re actually spending money on each month. Without a budget, it’s amazing how much money will slip through your fingers if you don’t actually stick to it.

    By creating a budget, you’ll have a very clear picture of your finances. This would be a good time to make decisions about what you want to cut or reduce in pricing. Does spending $150 a month on cable really make sense if you’re having to cover expenses with a credit card? As you review your budget, find ways to cut spending. The goal is to increase the amount of money you can save so you can invest in the supplies you need to pick up.

    And what do you do if you don’t have enough in your budget to prep? Get creative. Pick up a 2nd job or find another way to develop a revenue stream.

    2. Get a $1000 emergency fund in place

    As mentioned at the beginning of the article, The CEO of Assurant, Alan Colberg, made the remark that “Half of all Americans cannot afford to write a $500 check in an emergency,” on Bloomberg TV a few months ago.

    When I first got serious about getting my finances in line about 10 years ago, this was the first step I took. It was difficult at first as I wasn’t used to saving money, but that first step was a huge psychological milestone on a path that has ultimately led me to a much more secure place financially. I would encourage you to do whatever it takes to get to this place. Whether that means having a garage sale or picking up side work, make this as a priority as once you have this amount in place, it gives you a small buffer to handle the unexpected things that come up in life.

    Also, should there be a catastrophe in your area and the grid is down, you won’t be able to run to the ATM to withdraw cash and your credit cards will be no good if the store isn’t accepting card payments. Keep this money in a secure, safe place in your home. This isn’t investment money you keep at your bank, but rather it should be available at a moment’s notice.

    3. Get out of debt

    There’s a proverb that says this: “The wealthy rule over the poor, and anyone who borrows is a slave to the lender.” This saying is so true. When you owe someone money, you are essentially their slave. Ever been behind on a payment and have the debt collector call you and harass you? How fun is that? It will stress you out over time.

    Some may argue why pay off debt if we’re heading to higher inflation if the economy may collapse? Well, you need to consider the reality that should there be an economic event, you could lose your job. Should this happen, you’re a much likely candidate to lose your home and belongings. Remember when the real estate bubble burst back in ‘07 and ‘08 here in the U.S.? I remember watching the local news every night and watching stories about people being forced out of their homes as they were foreclosed and being forced into tents and living in the back of their cars. Times were tough then and having debt hanging over your head will compound the problem. While you have a job and have the money, get rid of your debt so that should you lose your job later, you don’t end up on the streets. Also if you hold any debt that is an adjustable rate debt, be especially attentive to this and dump it ASAP as the banks will likely jack the rates high if the economy crashes.

    When my wife and I got serious about paying off our debt years ago, we used a trick that worked extremely well for us. It’s called the debt snowball. It’s an approach that is outlined in the book Financial Peace mentioned earlier. It works like this. Line up your debts smallest to greatest and start on the smallest debt first. Now I know some may argue the best approach is to go after the debt with the highest interest rates, but there’s a motivation in paying off debt and then moving to the next debt. So you first pay off the smallest debt. Once that’s that is paid off, take the money from your budget you had to use to pay that small debt off and then roll that into your next debt. Once that next debt is paid off, then roll that combined money in your budget into the next debt and so on. The advantage of using this approach is that when you start knocking off the easier debts, you’ll see results and stay motivated to go after the larger debts. I call this approach a “trick” as there’s a psychological component to keep you motivated to attack the other debts.

    Don’t try and leverage debt to gain gear or supplies. I’ve known preppers that have done this and when nothing ended up happening, the debt was very difficult to deal with.

    4. Ditch credit and debit cards for cash

    Getting off relying upon credit cards and debit cards was a huge first step for me years ago to not only get out of debt but to learn to control my spending. One of the stories told in the book Financial Peace is about how McDonald’s found that people spent 47% more when using credit instead of cash. When you pay cash, there’s a real connection that you can actually “feel” when you spend money. Not so much when using your credit or debit card. And they found that by installing the machines, their sales went up.

    Again, in the context of prepping, we’re trying to lessen our financial expenditures and by getting off using plastic, we better our chances of having money left at the end of the month to spend on important preps. One system I have found very useful to keep our expenses in check on a monthly basis is the use the cash envelope system. What we do is create a line item for each expense each month in our budget and then on payday, we simply go to the bank, withdraw the money we need and then put the money in each envelope for that line item. So for example, if we have $400 in the budget for groceries, we put $400 in the envelope marked “Groceries”. By using this approach, we’re able to keep a very close eye on what we’re spending money on each month.

    5. Get 3 to 6 months worth of savings in place

    This is one of those things that you may think is really hard to do, but you’d be surprised how much momentum you’ll gain after you move through steps 1 through 3. Having 3 to 6 months worth of income in savings allows you to handle most catastrophes that may come up. Let’s say you lose your job. This is a scenario which is very possible and impacts people all the time. Again, in prepping, the goal is to not only prep for disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes but just things that can happen in everyday life. The loss of a job can be very catastrophic and having a 3 to 6-month cushion in savings will give you time to find a new job. Or you may have a large expense if your car’s transmission goes out. By having these savings in place, it keeps us from falling back into debt and having to rely on credit cards to get us through tough times. The feeling of security of having a cushion to fall on should a problem comes up is also a great feeling and helps remove a lot of stress.

    Just a side note: this money is not to be used for investment purposes tied up in some type of investment account that you can not immediately access, but rather you should keep this in a well-established credit union or small bank.

    6. Diversify what you spend money on

    When I first got into prepping, I found myself wanting to get all the cool gear, gadgets, bug out bag items, firearms and other items I felt were so important (or at least the items that were being marketed to me so heavily in the prepping community). If I could go back and start all over, I would have focused on more important things for survival instead of the tacti-cool products. For example, if you have $100 in your monthly budget, I’d start by picking up a $20 mini-sawyer water filter, some water containers, basic flashlight, cans of food to stock in my pantry and a simple medical kit. Does that sound exciting? No, not really, but if there were an emergency that hit my area, having these on hand would be far more valuable than a cool EDC bag. Don’t get heavy into one area when spending money on your preps but rather spread the money out over the basics. My budget priority is broken down in this order:

    • Water.  If you’re new to prepping, focus on getting a 2 week supply built up. I cover this more in a video titled “7 steps for emergency water preparation”.
    • Food.  Start by getting a 2 week supply built. You can watch my video, “How to easily build a 2-week emergency food supply” to get more information.
    • Medical.  Get some basic medical kits or build your own. A great resource is the Doom and Bloom Youtube channel where Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy discuss medical preparation and survival. Highly recommend you check out their channel to learn more.
    • Mobility.  Being able to move on a moment’s notice and survive while being mobile is important. I’ve done an article on building bug out bags for yourself and the family. Just a fair warning, don’t get caught up in thinking you need to buy a lot of expensive gear.
    • Security and Firearms.  For some, this is on the top of their list of things to budget for, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide. If you’re looking for affordable options for firearms to get you started, you might want to take a look at the Maverick 88 12 gauge shotgun. Again, no need to run out and buy a tricked out a battle rifle that can cost you thousands of dollars.
    • Precious metals.  I put this last on my list as this is a long game approach and in my opinion should be last on your list. Again, you might have a different opinion and would love your feedback in the comment section. In the event of a catastrophe, people aren’t going to be excited to get a piece of silver from you if they’re trying to feed their family and need food or some other important barter item.

    7. Invest in education to gain skills and knowledge

    Skills and knowledge are invaluable. Whenever you can the opportunity to gain an education from an expert, invest in it. Whether that means picking up books on learning how to operate a HAM radio, gardening or medical skills or taking a firearms safety course, I recommend investing in good books or classes. Gear is great to have, but knowledge is far more valuable. Investing in some good books serve a number of purposes in the event of a catastrophe. Having a physical book containing information when the internet is down will be so important. I’m in the process of building my own prepper library and having books on gardening and first aid are a great start in my opinion. Obviously, there’s tons of free information on Youtube, but again, having that physical hard copy should the grid go down will be invaluable. Learn now how to suture a laceration or how to grow a garden. I invested in learning material for gardening and while I’m having some success at the moment, there’s still a lot more I need to learn and I’m glad I’ve invested in this knowledge and am taking the time to apply these skills now before a catastrophe when it will be too late to learn.

    Any opportunity you can find to educate yourself even if it requires spending money, do it.

    But what about long-term financial prepping like Roth IRA’s and 401K’s?

    While I personally invest in Roth IRA’s, I do realize that there are no “safe” investments and will leave that up to the viewer to decide what approach they’ll want to take for long-term investments. I’ve watched the stock market rise and fall over the last 16 years and am pretty sure we’re in another bubble. Land is taxed and you can get hit with eminent domain. I had a close friend who heavily invested in precious metals only to have someone break into his home and steal it all. There are no guarantees. I try to do the best with the money I have and am not looking for anyone to take care of my life for me. This is the life of a prepper. Move toward self-sufficiency. Look down the road a little further than most people are comfortable doing even if it means realizing you may have to make sacrifices now to ensure you and your family have a much greater chance of weathering a storm financially.

    Thanks again for taking the time to read this article. As always, I enjoy feedback from the prepper community as you guys teach me a lot. If you have any insight into anything I didn’t cover or you have a different view on any of the items we discussed, please comment below. Also, if you enjoyed this article, please feel free to like or share on social media.

    As always, be safe out there!

  • How to cook after a disaster (cookware and utensils)

    How to cook after a disaster (cookware and utensils)

    If the grid were to go down for an extended period of time and you’re having to cook for your family with the available fuel sources you have on hand, whether that be propane from a cooking grill or cooking over a fire pit, having the right cookware and utensils will make all the difference. In this article, we’ll cover the items you’ll need to make sure cooking the food you have will not be an issue.

    A month ago I did a video entitled “How to cook after a disaster, fuel sources” where I discussed the cooking fuel options you should have to ensure you’ll be able to cook if your power or gas lines went down. In this article, we’ll discuss the cookware and utensils you should have to make sure you have everything you need to cook. We’ll focus on short and medium term disasters (and a little long-term) cookware and utensils. We won’t be going into a deep discussion of long-term grid cookware you need on hand (like grinders, mills or canning tools), but rather covering items you may already have in your kitchen. Once I get into prepping articless focusing on long-term prepping (and by long-term prepping, I mean scenarios where the grid doesn’t bounce back), we’ll discuss long-term cookware options you should have. In addition, we’ll cover other items you may not have considered in your preps that can make a big difference if the typical fuel sources like propane are exhausted and you’re left cooking over fires or coals. I’ll also put the links in the description section below of the items I discuss in this article for you to purchase if you want to support this channel (as always, thanks for purchasing products from my links as it helps the channel a great deal).

    Alright, so in this article, we’ll discuss the following:

    • Items you should have on hand to cook with
    • Cast Iron cooking options
    • Plates and eating utensils
    • Cooking items for your bug out bag

    So what are the items you should have on hand and may already have in your kitchen?

    These items are listed in no specific order and we’ll go through the items I’d recommend. Your items may differ based on the types of food you eat and I’d love to get your feedback in the comment section below if I overlooked anything. Again, this is coming from the perspective of a short to medium range disaster and is a good starting point for you to build the cookware you’ll need to ensure you and your family can cook the food you’ve got stored.

    • Matches.  You can pick these up for cheap at the dollar store or so many other places. Can’t have enough of these on hand.
    • Can-opener.  Have a good sturdy hand operated can opener and also keep a couple of P-38’s on hand for backup (I keep these on my keychain) and also remember your multi-tool knife as it may already have this.
    • Cooking thermometer.  This will be very valuable to ensure you’ve cooked your food thoroughly to help avoid getting sick.
    • Cutting board or boards
    • Cheese grater
    • Knives.  Probably best to go with some good quality carbon knives. Also be sure to have a knife sharpener.
    • Pots & Pans.  Make sure to have some good quality stainless steel pots and pans.
      A large stew pot will come in handy as well which can also be used for doing dishes (a subject we’ll cover more later).
    • Water filter.  Probably one of my most used preps, having a good water filter on hand will be extremely important to make sure your water is filtered and safe for cooking. We use a Berkey water filter daily and if there were an emergency, having a clean source of water will be very important.
    • Roasting Pans
    • Pyrex glass 4-cup measuring cup
    • Vegetable peelers.  Probably a few extra wouldn’t hurt as well so multiple people can work on peeling.
    • Strainer.  This will come in handy especially with cooking pasta.
    • Serving spoons and ladle
    • Tea Kettle.  Preferably stainless steel or copper.
    • Metal spatulas.  While we have cheap plastic ones at home, remember when you’re cooking over a fire, you’re going to want something a little more substantial that won’t melt.
    • Serving spoons & forks
    • Whisk
    • Large mixing bowls.  Again, go for the stainless steel option if possible.
    • French press for coffee.  I’ve said it before, but without coffee, I’d be in a world of hurt. Plus having coffee for those times where you’re exhausted and need a bit of a pick up will come in handy.
    • Measuring cups

    Cast Iron

    As I was researching and preparing this article, most articles discussing cookware in the context of prepping all pointed back to Cast Iron cookware. There’s a lot of reasons to have Cast Iron, especially when it comes to needing cookware that can handle the high temperature of cooking over a wooden stove, open fire or coals. Most of the pots and pans you may already may not endure prolonged use over a fire. While the nice department store pot or pan you have may have cost you a lot of money, it won’t handle the extremes that cast iron can handle.

    Now, as I studied Cast Iron skillets options on the market, the name that repeatedly came up was Lodge. And just a disclaimer, I haven’t received any type of payment from Lodge to discuss or promote their products, but when I find a product that I’m willing to buy for myself and I know my subscriber base will enjoy, I’m more than glad to share it with the community. They actually manufacture their products here in the U.S. which is a rarity in this day and age. There’s a lot of cast iron skillets you can purchase online that come from China but some of these have lead. For the price point, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better deal with this level of quality than their products. Having said that, I purchased their Dutch oven awhile back and was very impressed with the quality.

    I think every prepper should have a cast iron skillet. They’ve been popular for years and are one of the most durable of cookware. A good 12-inch skillet has a lot of applications. You can use it on the stove top to cook eggs or stir fry or use it in the oven to cook a deep dish pizza. It can be used indoors or outdoors and can withstand some very high temperatures that your standard cookware can just not handle. Their surface is very hard, so you don’t have to worry about damaging when stirring food. In a grid down, disaster scenario, I can’t think of another option I’d want in my kitchen. Even after being heated up, they maintain their heat for a considerable time after which allows for fuel efficiency. They are built like a tank and as long they are seasoned and dried, they’ll perform. Even if they have been neglected and not properly seasoned, they can be easily reseasoned. And oh, you might want to pick up some mitts or an Ove glove when handling these as they get very hot. The only downside is their weight which wouldn’t be practical in a bug out scenario (which we’ll cover momentarily), but for those staying in their home or going to a bug out location, having a cast iron skillet and dutch oven will be very important.

    Not only is cookware important, but let’s cover plates and utensils

    Apart from the normal plates and utensils you already use on a daily basis in your home, you might want to give consideration to disposable paper plates and bowls. Again, as mentioned earlier, we’re covering options in this article from short to medium range disasters. Having disposable options will help reduce clean-up and the water you’d have to use to do dishes and would ensure you always have sanitary items to eat with. Plus when in a stressful situation like you’d encounter after a disaster, having to do a lot of dishes would just be one more thing you don’t want to deal with. Also the benefit of having yet another fuel source, in this case, paper plates, could come in handy. I’d avoid styrofoam plates though as these will add to trash that will be difficult to dispose of.

    We typically keep a supply of paper plates and paper napkins in the garage for parties and when we go camping. Also having paper cups will be useful as well. We also keep a lot of disposable forks, spoons, and knives stored in the garage for social events and again, having 1 less thing that has to be cleaned can be helpful. Having a supply of rolls of paper towels is something you should also consider.

    You may already have cooking gear in your bug out bag gear, and if you don’t, I’d recommend you most definitely do.

    Most of what we’ve discussed so far are items you’d want to have in your home to use if staying in your home is an option. If staying in your house is not an option though and you have to leave, here’s the items I keep in my bug out bag.

    • In my personal bug out bag, I keep a solo stove and pot for heating water and cooking. I also have a titanium cup and spork.
    • In my wife’s bag, I have a similar setup with the Stanley Camp 24oz. Cook Set which includes a couple of cups. Again, it’s important that you consider cooking gear when needing to be mobile. While the options for cooking gear when you’re bugging out obviously won’t be nearly as much as when you’re staying in your home, these basic items are important to have.

    So there you have it. For some of you, these are options you may already have in your home, but for others, some of these options I presented may give you some additional options to consider.

    In a future article, I will discuss dish sanitation and clean up in the event the sewage and water lines are down.

    As always, I enjoy feedback from the community as you guys teach me a lot. If you have any insight into anything I didn’t cover, please comment below. Also, if you enjoyed the article, please feel free to like or share on social media.

    As always, be safe out there!

  • How to get physically fit

    How to get physically fit

    If there were a major catastrophe that hit your area, would you be able to handle the ensuing stress and physical demands? What can you begin to practically do now to prepare yourself physically should such an event occur? In this article, we’ll cover the topic of physical fitness and prepping to provide you with information to ensure you’ll be physically ready to endure a crisis.

    I’ve lost track of how many prepper articles that put a focus on gear and gadgets yet so little emphasis is given to take care of your number 1 prep: yourself. If there was a catastrophe that hit your area and you were hit with stress or required to physically work hard to take care of you or your family, it will be too late at this point to get yourself prepared and you may find yourself becoming a liability.

    In this article, we’ll discuss the following points:

    • How to do an assessment of whether you could physically weather a crisis
    • What physical demands you can expect in a crisis
    • How to determine your goals
    • The basics of proper nutrition, exercise, and rest
    • My own personal journey over the next 12 weeks

    Doing an honest assessment

    To begin with, let’s do an honest evaluation of ourselves. In this day and age it’s easy to compare ourselves to others and say “that person is more overweight than I am” or use some other measurement to make ourselves, feel better, but the reality is that 2 out of 3 Americans is Obese which is just a staggering number. The line for determining what is in shape has changed drastically recently in the U.S. and here are a few simple things you can do now to really figure out where you stand. Before I lose anyone jumping into a quick run through discussing Body Mass Index, please note that the following discussion is to a starting point to hopefully open your eyes to where you stand in regards to weight which while is not the most important indicator of your overall well-being, it’s an important starting point nonetheless.

    So let’s discuss BMI. You can find your BMI, or Body Mass Index, within a relative degree of accuracy, by using a Body Fat Caliper Measurement Tool and a Body Tape Measure. These are relatively cheap and you can pick them both up online for about $7.00. Once you’ve determined your BMI, there’s plenty of information out there that show you what your range should be. Now, this an excellent place to start to determine what your BMI should be. If you don’t have the tools I mentioned, you can use a website like this one that will at least give you an idea of what your weight should be for your height. Now, this doesn’t account for things like carrying extra muscle which is beyond the range of discussion of this article, but it will give you a starting point nonetheless. I figure if you’re already carrying a lot of extra lean muscle, you’re probably a weight-lifter and probably have already studied this topic.

    So now that we’ve covered discussing how to find your BMI, let’s discuss some practical things you can do now to evaluate your overall well-being and physical fitness. Again, there’s so many things apart from these points I’m going to discuss, but these are some common ones:

    • How long does it take you to run a mile or even more importantly, could you run a mile? The average person will take anywhere between 7 to 10 minutes depending on a lot of factors, but for a non-athlete, you should be able to run a mile somewhere in this time frame.
    • How far can hike with your Bug Out Bag? If you were to stop reading this article and simply go and grab your Bug out Bag, how far could you make it before you gave up? Could you make it 5 or 10 miles? And by the way, this is a good exercise you should perform regardless as it’s easy to load up our bags with tons of gear but if you can’t carry it far, what’s the point? If you’re not physically able to carry it far, you need to ask yourself some hard questions. Again, I’ve had some honest internal discussions lately which I’ll share with you at the end of this article.

    The reality is that most of us live a sedentary lifestyle not involving a lot of movement. The average American sits 10 hours of a day. This includes time at work, commuting and relaxing in front of the T.V. in the evening. I could go into a long discussion of the dangers of sitting and what studies are showing, but I’ll let you research that yourself. Spoiler alert: it’s not good. This is a problem I ran recently into as well which I’ll discuss at the end of this article.

    If there’s a crisis, physical labor will be the norm and many people will simply die because their bodies will not be able to handle the physical stress. Many people think they’ll go from a sedentary lifestyle to suddenly being able to perform a lot of physical work. While I’m not saying this is impossible, you definitely put yourself at a much higher risk by living this lifestyle. Trust me when I say I understand the challenges of working a day job sitting behind a desk all day and the challenges that are involved with getting up and moving. Again, I’m going to share a lot of personal information at the end of the article about my own journey and having to overcome this dilemma.

    And before we move on to the next topic, let me address a comment I hear way too often in the comment section of my articles. I often hear things like, “Being obese is good because you will be able to endure the lack of food longer than a skinny person.” There’s so many problems with this argument, but I’ll quick point out a few things:

    • The biggest problem is that you run a much higher risk of health problems like diabetes, arthritis, and heart related issues. As preppers it’s easy to get myopic and focus on some catastrophe we think is right around the corner and not think about our long-term well-being. Carrying extra weight for years will lead you to an early death or at best leave you with many medical problems you’ll have to pay a lot of money to deal with.
    • If you think you can just live off your body fat, that’s called starvation. You ever been around anyone that is fasting or not eating for an extended period of time for whatever reason? These people are often miserable and really have little to no energy.

    Remember, your life and the lives of those around you may depend on you being in shape to perform if a catastrophe happens. If you have health conditions that are due to neglect or simply overweight or out of shape, you will be ineffective and a dead weight when a catastrophe happens. No amount of gadgets, gear or skills will help you if are out of shape or your body is ineffective due to neglect.

    What you can expect in a crisis

    To start with, expect a lot of stress. Many people will simply die when the reality hits that things are going to be radically different and the world as they know is gone. When people freak out and let the stress of the moment hits them, there’s going to be a lot of people that will simply drop dead. There’s a lot of different types of stress you’ll undergo in a crisis moment like this, but suffice it to say, the pressure will be great.

    Also, there will be a lot of physical activity. The days of convenience will be gone having machinery and other equipment doing the heavy lifting and work for you. Things you’ll probably end up having to do:

    • Chopping, carrying and moving wood
    • Carrying a bug out bag if you have to move
    • Walking long distances
    • Carrying buckets of water long distance
    • The list could go on and on

    The days of driving your car everywhere and having all the luxuries of modern conveniences will be gone for however long it will take until things return to normal. And simply transitioning from a sedentary lifestyle to a very active lifestyle won’t happen overnight.

    So let’s talk about the first step in getting fit: what are your goals?

    Hopefully, by now you’re sold on getting in physical condition to weather a catastrophe but getting in shape will mean different things for different people. Not everything is about being overweight, but if live in the United States, you run about a 66% chance that are you overweight. Maybe you’re not overweight but rather you just don’t have endurance. Or maybe you have endurance but you have no strength. So the first thing you need to determine is what is your goal.

    So here’s some typical goals you may want to set:

    • Weight loss.  This is my personal goal at the moment and we’ll go into a deeper discussion of this momentarily.
    • Endurance.  Most survival educators recommend that a bug-out bag is no more than about 30 pounds. The next time you’re at the store, stop by the dog food aisle and pick up a 20 or 30-pound bag and carry it up and down the aisle. Or try walking up several flights of stairs the next time you’re at work. If you’re winded quickly, you may need to work on your endurance.
    • Strength.  This one is different for different people. Some people are naturally strong while others can gain strength through simple weightlifting or resistance training, something we’ll discuss on the next point.
    • Being mobile.  As discussed earlier, the average American sits 10 hours a day. You really want to avoid a sedentary at all costs. Getting active and incorporating aerobic activities is critical.

    So now that you’ve figured out your goals, we’ll discuss the basics of proper nutrition and exercise which will cover the typical goals we mentioned above.

    I’m not quite sure why this has become so confusing, but I’ll let you in on the secret of physical fitness: eat proper nutrition and exercise and you’ll be healthy and lose body fat. Is your mind blown? Why is there so much confusion on this issue? Well, physical fitness is a $60 billion-plus industry. When checking out at the grocery store, you’ll see the magazines on the rack in the checkout line that guarantees some secret found within the pages will help ensure you lose 30 pounds in 1 month. There’s diet pill commercials, body sculpting surgeries and so many other things being marketed to you that promise you’ll be better and stronger if you just buy their product or supplement. Everyone is trying to sell you a product.

    While this article is not primarily about weight loss as there’s many elements to being fit, it’s the first issue many have to face when beginning their journey of getting physically fit. As such, we’ll discuss 2 elements that are critical for weight loss and play a very important role as well in regards to the other goals we discussed earlier. There’s 2 key ingredients you need to observe:

    The first is nutrition…your diet. And I don’t mean “diet” as in going on a weight loss diet but rather the discussion of what you eat. Most books I’ve studied over the years put nutrition as 75% of weight loss. It’s important that you understand how calories impact your ability to lose weight. The bottom line is that is if you want to drop weight, you’ll need to take in less calories than you expend. I’ve had obese friends that will spend hours at the gym but never lose weight b/c they’re taking in way more calories than they use on a daily basis. So how do you determine the number of how many calories you should be taking in? There’s a lot of tools online, like this one: https://authoritynutrition.com/how-many-calories-per-day/. Sites like these give you a starting point in understanding how many calories you should be taking in a day in order to drop body fat. In order to monitor calorie usage, you’ll need to first set your goal and then keep track of what you actually are eating on a daily basis. You’ll want to determine how many calories are in your food. Again, there’s a plethora of tools online that will tell you how many calories are in typical foods you eat. If you’re not monitoring how many calories you’re taking in on a daily basis, it’s like driving a car without a fuel gauge. I just use a simple spreadsheet that helps me determine my calorie intake on a daily basis. Without documenting this information, you’ll allow yourself to begin cheating and eating little things here and there that over time will add a lot more calories to your daily intake. Monitor what you’re actually eating on a daily basis.

    Here are a few other pointers for you:

    Get a good balance of fats, proteins and complex carbs on a daily basis. While this may be a vague statement, I’ll discuss this more toward the end of the article.

    You’ll want to avoid foods with a high glycemic index. These are foods that dissolve and quickly go into your bloodstream. Sites like this can help you understand whether the food you’re eating has a high glycemic index or not. Eating foods with a high value leads to health issues like diabetes as repeatedly consuming food that quickly dissolves into your bloodstream on a daily basis over time will damage your body.

    Regarding supplements, when we get into this discussion, again, there’s a big industry out there that’s trying to sell you on products. There’s always the promise you’ll lose weight or be a better you if you just take their pills. This is mostly junk, to be honest. There’s only 3 supplements I use on a daily basis that are very basic. The first 2 many people use which are multivitamins and fish oil. The other supplement I usually use is protein powder which I use before I go to the gym. These items are relatively cheap to buy and last me a long time. Again, these aren’t weight loss pills or testosterone pills. These are just simple items you can pick up at your local grocery store.

    Now regarding physical fitness, this will be different for every person. Some people enjoy yoga, running, biking, swimming and so on. If you’re sitting at a desk at all day, start out your morning with a cardio workout, park in the furthest spot in the parking lot, walk up the stairs at your job instead of taking the elevator. If you can jog, go for it. I jogged every day for 20 years until I tore my meniscus in my knee a few years ago. It was something I enjoyed a great deal but I’ve found other ways to continue pushing myself. When it comes to physical fitness, you should Google “HIIT workout”. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. I personally don’t enjoy being on the treadmill or elliptical machine for prolonged periods of time and studies have shown that using the HIIT approach for cardio has a lot of advantages over steady state cardiovascular workouts. I’m not necessarily trying to sell you on this, but it’s definitely worth your time to research and learn more. Without going on a tangent about different types of cardio workouts, the important thing for you to take away is that every little thing you can to do to add steps in your daily life will help. I have a lot of friends that use the Fitbit to help them monitor their daily physical activity and it has helped them a great deal. As you begin to get up and move more throughout the day, you’ll find your endurance improving. Whereas you may have only been able to walk a few blocks at the beginning, over time you’ll find by actually getting out and walking or jogging will make a big difference. The goal is to get up and move. Avoid the sedentary lifestyle which will lead to an early death.

    Now regarding strength training, there’s a lot of information you can find online. Some of it can be confusing and overwhelming at first. I’ll share with you at the end of this article the approach I’m using and in the description section I’ll try and provide some additional resources you might find useful based on your level of experience. Resistance training is very important and is something you shouldn’t overlook. We have many local gyms in our area that are in the $10 to $20/month price range. I think it’s a good investment. If you do not have that option, there’s a lot of articles and videos that show how to use your own body weight for resistance training.

    And regarding rest, don’t skimp on this either. It’s easy to allow yourself to get caught up in getting busy with life and neglecting a good night’s sleep. Sleep is free and it’s so important. Most people will deprive themselves of sleep and end up relying on caffeine and sugar to make it through the day. That’s an expensive path to head down and one you can’t afford. Get sleep.

    So I’ll share with you my own personal journey over the next 12 weeks.

    As I mentioned earlier in the article, I used to jog every day for years and then a few years ago tore the meniscus in my left knee. While I still have full mobility, I can’t handle high impact movements on my knee anymore. It was a bit discouraging when I developed the injury but I’ve had to learn to adapt to different ways of working out. I’ve admittedly gained some weight over that last several years and while preparing for this article, I’ve had to come to some difficult realities namely that I need to drop about 20 pounds of body fat. Beyond just wanting to drop some weight in the coming months, my long term goal is to make changes to my diet to ensure I can enjoy a long healthy life.

    In the last several months, I have begun to make changes as I’ve recognized that some of my lifestyle choices are not healthy. For example, I used to sit more than 12 hours a day working beyond my computer. I built a treadmill desk a few months ago so I can work and move at the same time. I found a cheap treadmill on Craigslist and tossed it under the desk I built from scrap plywood and 2×4’s I had in my garage. It took some getting used to, but now it’s much more comfortable. Also a month ago I cut alcohol out of my diet completely and just in the last 4 weeks I’ve dropped 7 pounds without any other changes in my diet. A few days ago I also picked up a used elliptical workout machine from a friend of mine which has a low impact on my knee and allows me to get a good workout in the morning and evening. While purchasing this equipment set me back a little financially, the combined cost is lower than the amount of money I’d spend buying a case of 1000 rounds of 5.56 ammo. I say that to hopefully put things in perspective when it comes to prepping. We’ll buy gear and other things but often not invest in our own health. There really is no more important prep than your health. Without it, you’re done.

    So here’s what I’m going to do in the next 3 to 4 months. I picked up a book on Amazon a few months ago called, “Bigger Leaner Stronger”, which I’ll be using as my program for the next several months. I have 2 personal goals: to drop about 20 pounds and increase my endurance. Beginning on the following Monday after I launch this article, I’m going to start following the routine from the book. Why use the routine from a book? I love details and a clear plan which the book offers for me. Also, I just set up an Instagram account recently for my channel and I’ll provide a link in the description below. If you want to follow along with my personal progress, I’ll post updates every week or two.

    I know we covered a lot in this article, but don’t let this overwhelm you. I am the type of person that likes to get all the facts and information in front of me and then make a plan of action to move forward. If you’re wanting to make a change in your life and get physically fit, that’s a decision you’ll never regret. Find a way you can engage your body, start today and don’t let another day go by.

    I hope this article gives you a starting point to make this very important decision. As always, I love to get feedback from the community in the comment section as I learn so much from you guys. This is a subject matter that requires action and sacrifice. I will keep you guys up to date on my own progress and will make a follow-up article on my own progress in the future.

    As always, stay safe out there.

  • How to dispose of human waste (poop and pee) after a disaster

    How to dispose of human waste (poop and pee) after a disaster

    After a major catastrophe hits an area, of the things that people often overlook is what to do with human excrement. It’s easy to get focused on stocking food and water but if you live an urban or suburban environment in a relatively high population density, this can become a huge problem. This is a very important discussion as diseases like Cholera or Dysentery can quickly spread through a community leading to severe illnesses or even death. Would you know what would you do if a catastrophe prevented you from being able to use your toilets and sewage?

    Here’s what we’ll cover in this article regarding handling feces and urine in an urban environment after a catastrophe:

    • Considerations in an urban environment
    • Sanitation and disease
    • Existing options for waste disposal
    • How to build your own disaster toilet now for cheap
    • How to properly use your disaster toilet
    • Other options on the market

    So what do we need to consider in an urban environment?

    In this article, we’ll discuss how to dispose of your excrement in an Urban/Suburban environment where options like digging a hole or burning it probably won’t be a good idea or even possible. If you live in the country and have a septic tank that’s not reliant upon the grid being operational, well, you’re lucky. For the rest of us, with a little planning which we’ll cover, you’ll be just fine.

    The typical person on a daily basis outputs about 2 to 3 pints of urine and about 1 pound of excrement. Now if you do the math for your family, you’ll quickly realize that a typical family of 4 is barely producing more crap than a U.S. Congressman does within 1 hour. Since most people living in an urban or suburban environment are producing this amount of excrement, they’ll need to quickly dispose of it if the sewage stops working or big problems will start happening quickly. Imagine if your toilet won’t flush and you only have a few thousand square feet of land in your yard. Simply digging a hole and doing your business will be problematic as you start running out of places to dig holes and in addition, having excrement that close to your house raises severe sanitation problems. And an even bigger problem comes up if you live in an apartment or in an intercity environment where simply digging a hole is not an option.

    We also have to consider proper sanitation and the issues of diseases

    Failure to properly dispose of human waste leads to epidemics such as typhoid, dysentery, cholera and diarrhea. Diseases like Cholera were so rampant in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquakes due primarily due to sanitation issues. When most people in the prepping community consider the aftermath of a prolonged grid down scenario, they often prepare for water, food, and security. But you’re far more likely to die from germs due to improper sanitation than a gun fight or confrontation. It’s important that we keep our human waste away from our food and water as well as ensuring we’re keeping our hands clean after using the bathroom. Nothing would be worse than watching your family suffer and potentially die from a preventable medical illness when there’s no doctor around to help and you’re trying to simply survive. I once contracted giardia years ago after a mountain climbing trip. Being knocked flat on my back and unable to do really much of anything other than suffer was not a pleasant experience. Staying healthy in a SHTF scenario is critical.

    So what are available options for waste disposal that you already have?

    The first option is to use your toilet. Now, this option is only available if you’re 100% sure the sewage lines are intact and you’re being advised that you can use your sewer. If you’re not 100% sure, then absolutely do not use this option. But if the local authorities are telling you that it’s safe, then you can simply dump a bucket of water into the throat of the toilet and the waste will be washed down. Again, you must be 100% sure that this is approved. If you don’t know, then don’t follow this approach. If the sewage lines are damaged or plugged, if you flush your toilet, you’ll probably get a sewage backup in your home which can lead to additional sanitary problems. I had this happen one time in my RV and trust me, you don’t want it in your home. Also, it may not be a bad idea to shut off the water behind the tank to prevent someone from accidentally flushing the toilet. I have kids and don’t want them to inadvertently do this.

    If you can’t flush your toilet or the sewer lines are backed up, then what can you use?

    Well, the toilet still can be used. First, be sure to shut off the water valve behind the toilet. Remember, righty tighty, lefty loosey. Then remove all the water in the water container behind the bowl using a cup (this water is safe to use for other things by the way). You’ll want to remove all the water in the toilet bowl again with a cup and probably best to put on some nitrile gloves while doing this to avoid contamination. You can double line the toilet bowl with a heavy-duty garbage bag and follow the same procedure as you do with a disaster toilet which we’ll discuss more momentarily. I personally wouldn’t use this approach as the waste is now sitting in a bag in your toilet that has to be removed and carried to a disposal site.

    So how do you build your own disaster toilet?

    Here’s what I did. I went to Lowe’s and picked up a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and several other items at the dollar store. These items including the bucket only set me back about $25 which considering how important this would be in a grid down scenario to help prevent the spread of disease is a great deal in my opinion. It’s important to note though that this option is good for a short term solution when you can store trash bags somewhere until the grid comes back up and sanitation services are restored. Toward the end of the article, we’ll give a quick introduction to more long-term approaches if the grid doesn’t come back up within a few months.

    I went to Lowe’s and the dollar store. I got a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and several other items we’ll go over. The first thing I did was cut a noodle I purchased at the dollar store length-wise. With the noodle on the edge of the toilet seat, you now have a comfortable place to sit when nature calls.

    Here’s what’s inside my 5-gallon toilet bucket. Remember, you can modify it to your specific needs but here’s the breakdown of my setup.

    • A 5-gallon bucket with lid
    • Noodle from the dollar store that is already cut to fit on the bucket
    • Diapers if you have a baby
    • Small gardening trowel
    • Nitrile gloves
    • Calcium Hypochlorite or as it’s more commonly known pool shock. Mixing this with water and putting it in the spray bottle I have in the bucket allows you to create a disinfectant spray to clean the bucket.
    • Washing detergent that can be used to help create an odor barrier.
    • Sanitary napkins and personal hygiene items
    • Paper towels or cloth towels to use after washing your hands.
    • Spray bottle to mix with the calcium hypochlorite and water (be sure to label it) and use it to disinfect.
    • Hand sanitizer
    • Heavy-duty (13-gallon) trash bag liners to line the 5-gallon buckets … don’t skimp on these and buy cheap, thin trash bags.
    • 2-litre bottle of water for washing hands
    • Several rolls of toilet paper
    • Tush Wipes
    • Sanitizer wipes for your hands

    Alright, so how do you properly use your Disaster Potty?

    After taking the Browns to the Superbowl, and urinating, it’s a good time to put down a layer of sawdust, dirt or leaves depending on what you have around you. Heck, even kitty litter will work in a pinch or after pinching one off. Have a bucket with quicklime, leaves, kitty litter or sawdust nearby will be helpful so that after handling your business, you can put a layer of covering which will help reduce the stench and prevent flies from being attracted. Since we’re discussing short-term waste disposal in an urban environment, you can throw your toilet paper in the bottom of the bucket. If we were discussing a long-term situation which we’ll touch on toward the end of the article, you’d be better off putting your toilet paper in a separate container. When the bag is about 2/3rd’s to 3/4th full or beginning to be a bit unbearable, simply tie the bag off and take it outdoors until it can be disposed of properly when sanitation services resume. In the kit we built above, we included a spray bottle and calcium hypochlorite. You might want to add some of this inside the bag to help reduce the smell or even a splash of chlorine bleach will help. If you live in an apartment and have nowhere to bury the bags, double bag them and then seal them the best you can. Place them in a large garbage can until the city can collect the trash and dispose of it. If you live in a more suburban environment and don’t have a place to take the bags or there’s not a dumpster nearby, then you’ll need to take it far from your home and bury it. Also best not to bury it near streams or places where there will be run off as you’ll inevitably contribute to diseases that could impact your community.

    Again, after disposing of the bag, be sure to properly wash and sanitize your hands. We want to do all we can to avoid getting sick which is why I included the nitrile gloves.

    Options on the market

    So here’s a few options on the market. I’ve never personally purchased or used these products but they have consistently come up when researching this subject.

    Speaking of Compost toilets, you should Google “how to make a compost toilet”. I learned a lot researching these options which I might discuss in a future article. I came across some a really interesting article which I’ll provide a link to in the description below about how after the earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, the community began using compost toilets who were unable to use their flush toilets because of the damage to the centralized city sewer system. The permaculture community came together to teach the residents what to do with their poop and pee after the sewage system went down. You should really study this more if you’re interested in a long term approach to handling human waste if the grid doesn’t come back quickly in an urban/suburban environment.

    Thanks again for taking the time to read this article. If you have any feedback or insight on anything I missed or didn’t cover, please feel free to share in the comments section below as I learn so much from the Youtube community. If you enjoyed the article, please feel free to share on social media.

    As always, be safe out there.

  • How to develop situational awareness

    With the recent wave of smaller, more localized terrorist attacks like the ones that have recently occurred in London and France, the need to develop situational awareness has never been more important. Would you know what to do to should a hostile situation start unfolding quickly around you? How would you react? Would you freeze or run? How do can you train yourself to develop a faster response time when seconds matter? Fortunately for average individuals like you and I, developing situational awareness and the ability to act quickly is a skill that can be developed. In this article, we’ll discuss the skills you can begin developing now that can easily be incorporated into your daily routines to help increase the likelihood that you will survive if a hostile situation unfolds near you. In 2003 I spent 3 months in Kabul, Afghanistan doing NGO work. From time to time a few members of our team would visit the downtime bazaar to pick up things we needed. There was an occasion where we ended up gaining a crowd that began to follow us while at this bazaar. By the time we decided to act, the crowd following us had grown quite large and we ended up having to sprint to a taxi narrowly making it out before the crowd fully engulfed us. In was in this moment that I had my first introduction into how valuable being aware of your environment at all times really is for survival. Before we go into detail in this article, I want to first discuss a concept called the OODA Loop which will serve as the foundation for this article. The concept of the OODA Loop was described by the United States Air Force war theorist Col. John Boyd. The term is said to have been used by the United States Air Force fighter aircrew as the “ace factor” when it comes to Situational Awareness. Survival in a dogfight was typically a matter of observing the opponent’s current move and anticipating his next move a fraction of a second before he could observe and anticipate his own. The phrase OODA loop refers to the decision cycle of observe, orient, decide, and act. In this article, we’ll discuss this concept of the OODA loop in beginning to train your mind to learn how to not only spot a potential threat but learn how to react quickly. While I’ll cover some practical steps to begin teaching you how to look for a potential threat, I’m also going to discuss how to begin conditioning your mind to move past identifying a threat and acting when literally seconds matter. 1. Observe In this article, we’ll spend a good chunk of our time focusing on the first point, Observe, as so much of situational awareness has to do with simply being cognitive of your environment and observing what’s happening around you. This is a skill that is quickly being lost by many in this day and age. We’re constantly surrounded by distractions, especially with the era of mobile technology. Learning to look up and take notice of your surroundings is the first step: Observe. It’s important that you learn to train your mind to be in an active state of observing what is happening around you at all times. This is not paranoia, but rather being alert, cognitive of the moment and what is happening around you. You’ll sometimes hear people say “live in the moment”. This simply means to take in everything around you. This is a popular photo that circulated the internet a few years back of a woman observing an event while everyone was on their phone trying to get the picture. She was in the moment taking it all in. Stay in the moment…look up and observe what’s happening around you. Not only is it important to look up and observe what is happening, equally as important is begin training your mind to memorize what’s going on around you when you come into a new environment. In Boy Scouts, we played a game called the KIM’s game which taught you to memorize things and later recall what you saw. A similar approach is used to train military snipers. Begin to take note of what is around you and see what you can quickly memorize. By doing this, you begin to learn to improve your ability to learn to take notice of what is happening around you. There’s a scene from the movie the “Bourne Identity” where the main character is trying to piece together his past and is in a diner reciting all the information he’s memorized from his current surroundings. It’s a skill that is learned and takes time but starts by taking note of your surroundings and begin memorizing details to see how much you can retain. The goal is to be in a state of alert, paying close attention to the details around. Some may argue this is being a bit paranoid. You’re not necessarily looking for a threat around every corner, you’re not worried about something bad that’s about to happen, but rather you’re learning how to take notice and observe what is happening around you. You’re in an active mental state instead of being passive. Here are some additional tips: Position yourself to observe I recall reading an article about a soldier returning from Iraq and after constantly being under pressure from being in a hostile environment, he found himself always looking for places when going to restaurants where he could see the entrance and positioned himself close to an exit. When in a building or room, position yourself to see entrances and if possible stay close to an exit because should a problem materialize, you will be in a position to observe and escape if need be. In addition, begin to identify the exits around you whenever you enter a building. If you’ve got those places already defined in your head, should a problem come up, you can quickly move through the 2 last phases of the OODA loop of “decide” and “act” quickly which we’ll cover momentarily. Also, learn to observe behavior that is out of the ordinary. I’ll give you an example. Imagine one night you go to an ATM to withdraw some cash. There’s no one around…it’s late out. Out of the corner of your eye, you suddenly notice an individual walking down the street in your general direction. A few seconds later you notice they cross the street to your side. While you’re still handling your transaction at the ATM, they’ve now changed their direction to walk specifically to your direction. What do you do? This is where you have to work through the steps of the OODA loop which we’ll discuss more. We’ll take more about this at the end of the article in relation to the skills we’ve learned about the OODA loop. Also, be a good watcher. Begin to not only watch people but see if you can pick up on people’s mannerism and behaviors. Learn to keep an eye out for any odd behavior. This doesn’t always mean someone is a threat just because they’re behaving a little out of the ordinary, but take note nonetheless. When things are not lining up and you sense a potential threat, it’s time to move through the next steps of the OODA loop. 2. Orient Being observant is the first part of developing situational awareness, but once we’ve determined that something or somebody is not following the baseline of expected behavior for the given environment, we have to quickly compile and synthesize that information and piece things together to decide what we will do. We all do this at some level whether we realize it or not. We’re at a restaurant and someone begins acting out of the norm. We find ourself begin to instinctively turn in their direction…they’ve got our attention. It’s at this moment that we need to quickly move through the OODA loop cycle to decide what we’re going to do with the information we have. We have spotted an anomaly, we’re pivoting, we’re orienting ourselves to that issue to determine if we are facing a threat or not. While many people can observe things are a bit off, the ability to orient and move through the next few steps are critical and require you to force yourself to engage in the moment. This is the most important part of the O-O-D-A loop since many simply can not move past the “Observe” phase. Moving through the ability to orient yourself to actively engage in the moment determines whether we’ll lock up if things escalate which leads us to the next point: Decide. 3. Decide OK, we’re in an environment and we’re very cognitive of what is happening around us. What would we do if we actually saw something out of the ordinary and orient ourselves to now face a threat? This is where we must come up with a plan to decide how we will behave. Putting together a plan on the fly with the information you have at your disposal and having your mind already actively engaged allows us to overcome what our body will do naturally. This is where many people that haven’t made this decision to engage their mind, to orient themselves to the threat instinctively default to their freeze or flight behavior. The term “deer in headlights” refers to how if you shine a flashlight in a deer’s eyes, they’ll freeze. I grew up in the country and had this happen many times driving down country roads at night: if a deer is on the road in front of you, your head beams hit their eyes and they just freeze. Without going into a deep discussion of the body’s flight or fight response (if you’re so inclined to study more, I’ll provide a link to some additional information), it’s at this moment that most people lose their higher cognitive thought process and let the hormones that are being dumped into their bloodstream by their body take over. So how do we overcome this natural reaction? There are a few simple things that can help you calm your body enough to give you time to react. These techniques are useful if time is afforded you, but sometimes you don’t have that luxury. These next two techniques will help you stay in control mentally:
    • Step 1: control your breathing. Your body will naturally increase your breathing rate as a threat has presented itself and your body is preparing you to run.
    • Step 2: another very important technique to get the higher cognitive processes going is to ask yourself questions. This delays the physiological response and the neurotransmitters to slow them down. The best technique is to develop positive inquisitive self-talk in your head. Ask yourself what are you going to do here? Prepare yourself and talk through what you are going to do to handle the situation. Don’t get locked onto the threat and allow yourself to freeze up, but rather purposefully engage your mind and talk it through to find a solution to Act upon which leads us to our next point.
    4. Act This is the final part of our OODA loop. We’ve been observing, we’ve oriented ourself, we’ve made a decision to engage with a plan, now we must decide to act. Out of all the 4 phases discussed above, in a hostile situation, this phase may be the hardest for most people. Again, life or death can be hanging in the balance in a matter of seconds if individuals are not capable (or unwilling) to quickly move and act. In the previous step, I brought up how critical it will be to begin actively engaging your mind to form a plan deciding to move forward and keep your ability to listen to your higher thought process versus succumbing to the rush of adrenaline that is now being dumped into your bloodstream. It’s in this moment that you must move, you must act. While working on this article, I had a talk with a friend of mine, James Story over at Rain6, who specializes in firearms and tactical training. He uses the OODA loop for his students and one of the things he impresses upon his students when training them at the range in firearms is to not just shoot a paper target, but to imagine a scenario in their mind where they may be shooting an intruder who is threatening their family. The goal is to teach his students to develop a killer instinct…to begin training their mind and their emotions to engage if they have to face a hostile threat. Train the way you think you’ll feel in real life if you were really in that scenario instead of coming to the range to just shoot paper targets. Be aggressive. Visualize the scenario and train accordingly. Situational Awareness is a skill that must you must work on to develop. As you leave your home and visit stores or restaurants, see if you can begin training your mind to look for the exit, observe what is happening around you and what is standing out. Make a decision to pull your attention away from your cell phone and instead focus on the now. See how much you can memorize from your surroundings…continue to sharpen your mind. I’d love to get your feedback in the comment section below. If you liked this article, please feel free to share on social media. As always, be safe out there.
  • 10 inexpensive shtf barter items to get now

    10 inexpensive shtf barter items to get now


    In this article we’ll discuss 10 relatively cheap items you can begin stocking up on to be used for bartering should times get tough or the grid goes down.

    Before we jump in, I just want to say that these are 10 items I think will be useful to have on hand for bartering should times get hard in our economy or things hit the fan. Many of the items in the list have been used in our history when things got tough economical, so they’re not just hypothetical items to barter with. Another thing worth noting, bartering should not be your plan A. Being able to produce what you need and having a large inventory stored up in advance should be plan A. Bartering is simply a plan B approach.

    When thinking about what items you want to stock up on that you would consider bartering, here are 3 principles to consider:

    • Stock up on items that relatively inexpensive. In the event a calamity never strikes, it’s no good to have stocked up on a ton of things that were expensive and that you can’t use anyways.
    • Stock up on items that will store long term. No reason buying a bunch of stuff that will go bad quickly.
    • Stock up on items that actually have value to you and you can use anyways. Think about it from the perspective of having some additional items that you already could use.

    So without further ado, here are my top 10 cheap barter items:

    1. Alcohol or Tobacco

    I put these 2 first on my list as vices are going to be hard for people to break. While I’ve never personally smoked, I know for many people it’s hard for them to stop and many will do whatever it takes to get them. Also, alcohol can serve many purposes including medicinal purposes and as fuel. When things are difficult and people want to take their minds off of things, alcohol is a good escape and stress reliever.

    2. Salt / spices / seasoning

    While I lumped salt in with spices, just to clarify, salt is not a spice but rather a mineral. If you study ancient history, you can see how valuable salt was. It was even used as a form of currency at one point. Salt can be used for many, many things apart from just flavoring your food like food preservation and for medicinal purposes. Be sure to note though that’s there are different types of salts that serve different purposes like sea salt, iodized salt or Epsom salt.

    While salt and spices are technically different, I lumped them together for their primary uses in bringing flavor to food. Again having spices and seasoning will help make the food that people will have to begin preparing much more editable if people have to begin to rely on gardening and hunting.

    3. Sugar / honey

    Like seasoning in our previous point, sugar and honey will help a great deal with making bland food editable. It will serve as a very valuable item to help create comfort foods which have a huge psychological boost. During difficult times is often rationed and can be stored indefinitely if done correctly.

    4. Coffee / tea

    Coffee is another one of those items that offer a great psychological boost and you can expect people will be really excited to get their hands on if they can. During the Great Depression, coffee was very hard to come by and so many people in that generation would stock up on it when they could get their hands on it.  Tea is also a solid alternative to coffee as well.  I hate to admit it, but I go through a lot of both of these on a daily basis and would be hard pressed to not have them in the event they were in short supply.

    5. Fresh vegetables / fruit

    This, among many reasons, is why I got into gardening. I did a video recently on creating a raised bed vegetable garden and in the coming months, I plan on building several more. In the video, I discussed the book I used to get me started which I’ll provide a link for in the description below.  Regarding fruit trees, this is an area that I need to get serious with. I planted a few fruit trees a few years ago but haven’t been working with them like I should. This is definitely something on my to-do list.

    While on this point regarding growing vegetables, think about how many people in your neighborhood have gardens and fruit trees. In mine, not many…I only know of a few that understand how to do a garden at any level. If things go bad for a long period of time, having the ability to produce your own fruit and vegetables and barter for them will be invaluable.

    6. Heirloom seeds

    Like the previous point discussing gardening, obviously having seeds to barter with will come in handy.  One word of caution, I often hear many preppers discuss storing up seeds to use if things get bad. If you’ve never planted a garden before in your life, there’s a lot more involved than just going into the backyard, digging a hole in the ground and then watering it. Learning this skill now while there’s no stress for relying for on this food for survival is critical. Discussing specific skillsets if the grid goes down is something we’ll discuss in another video.

    If there’s a prolonged grid down scenario, most people will have to switch over unused land to grow crops. And if you’ve got seeds, you’ve got a valuable commodity that will be in demand.

    7. Toilet paper / wipes

    I don’t know about you, but I’d be hard pressed to survive a long term grid down situation without toilet paper and moist wipes. Just say’n. I remember as a child listening to my grandfather talk about having Sears catalogs and corn cobs in their outhouse to wipe their backside. Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to have to do this if I didn’t have to, so stocking up on an item we’ll be using anyways is a good idea. The great thing about stocking up on this is that it won’t go bad due to heat or cold so storing this in the garage will be easy.

    8. Toiletries (toothpaste, soap, deodorant, etc.)

    Like toilet paper in our previous point, stocking up on this these little items that people take for granted will come in handy.
    Also if you visit hotels often, be sure to pick up these items that they give you for free in your hotel. After enough time, you could easily stock up on enough of these items to have a nice little supply of small bargaining items on hand.

    9. Medication (antibiotics, pain meds)

    After a prolonged event, you can expect people to rush the local pharmacies and clean them out. Why? Well, for different reasons. People may be looking for narcotics initially but items like antibiotics or insulin will be in very high demand as well. Obviously, the problem is you can’t stock on these items without a prescription. But if you have any left over after a surgery and can hold on to them, do so and be sure to store in a cool dry place to try and keep them stabilized as long as you can. In addition, simple items like over the counter pain meds can be very useful when it comes to bartering. Also, you might want to give consideration to items like Pepto-bismol or Immodium AD as many people will probably experience upset stomachs. That was one of the things I remembered about my time in Afghanistan, people there experienced a lot of stomach issues due to the unsanitary living conditions experienced in 3rd world countries.

    10. Ammunition

    I’ll probably get a lot of flack on this one. Regarding ammo, I wouldn’t barter this with anyone I didn’t know. Out of all the items on the list, this is the one that I’d probably only barter with people I trust not to send it back to me at 2500 feet / second. Also, people often point out that end up using it against you, but if someone already has a firearm and they’re wanting a specific ammo, there’s a good possibility they already have this ammo. Maybe not a lot, but they probably have some so I don’t think I’ll be giving them something they don’t already have. Again, if you’re going to use this one, use extreme caution.

    So why isn’t gold and silver and other precious metals on this list?

    Precious metals is a long-term approach. If I’m hungry, need meds or need something that I can use right now, what value do precious metals offer me? I’m not saying you shouldn’t have them, but are they going to feed someone right away? If someone is suffering and in pain, will gold relieve that bodily pain? I think precious metals is going to be good if you’re thinking long-term but I wouldn’t count on them for short-term value.

    As always, I’d love to get your feedback and please post the items you are storing up as bartering items in the comment section below.

    As always, be safe out there.

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