Category: Prepping

Survivalist Hype and Opinions

Survivalist.

Survivalists are individuals who start preparing proactively for emergencies early on. They are not a bunch of demented people, hanging hats in the woods, and stockpiling products to tackle emergency circumstances. Survivalists are mocked by many. However, the lifestyle is definitely not a plain-sailing. Preparing contingency plans to fall upon when the times are tough is not silly.

The chance of encountering an apocalypse is pretty high these days. Ruthless acts of terrorism are in full swing. Consequences of global warming and climate changes, over-burdening of electric grids, and baneful viral outbreaks make surviving questionable. Putting up with disasters of such magnitude is not easy. Why shouldn’t people plan for a better possibility? Choosing to adopt the life of a survivalist is a smart thing to do.

Why only prepare for emergencies of great magnitude? Survivalists draw up plans to tackle personal emergencies too. How to sustain when you are tight on budget or have lost your job? You could be stranded in an unknown place due to bad weather with not much money in your hands. Survivalism is about pushing through the hardships in life. It does not focus on getting through a catastrophe only.

What does a survivalist do?

One of the key principles of survivalism is self-reliance. When a disaster strikes, people fight for the slightest chance of sustenance. When hardships become too difficult to grapple with, individuals start blaming the authorities and the governing bodies. A survivalist, on the contrary, has a safety net built to fall upon. There’s enough food to rely on and essentials to bank upon.

You don’t need fifty pairs of shoes and fancy merchandises to survive through a catastrophe. Instead, you need food to snack upon and stay alive. A survivalist thinks up and makes preparation for the difficult future. They start stocking up food and essential supplies that have no shelf life. Canned food and dry items for instance.

Medical emergencies are unpredictable. Survivalists put together an emergency medical kit to tackle medical conditions primarily. They hoard up a bunch of antibiotics, band-aids, and whatnot. It is practically impossible to survive without water. A survivalist stocks up drinkable water for use when there’s a serious shortage of water. Why just stock? As a survivalist, you must also hunt for alternative sources of water, in case you run out. Keeping a filter in hand is just as essential. Gulping down dirty water is not really a choice.

Most importantly, a survivalist learns and gathers new skills. In a crisis situation, foraging food produce is hard. A survivalist is safe from the horrors of queuing up and fighting to get hands-on staple food items. They don’t have to worry about starving for days too. Survivalists learn ways to farm their own produce, even if it is few in numbers and options. They practice growing vegetables, raising livestock, preserving food for later use, and much more. Some survivalists go to lengths and construct underground retreats to take shelter in if in case a catastrophe reigns in.

To sum up:

Survivalists are not weird. They are individuals with a different perspective. Instead of banking on the conveniences available, survivalists prepare for a not-so-convenient future.

Survival Plants Can Save Lives

Survival Plants.

Sailing through a survival situation is tough. It is no surprise that survivalists prepare to rule out unforeseen challenges. Stockpiling essentials and produce to munch on is a basic prep. However, awful circumstances can linger for days and months. You may not have ample food products stocked up to last your family for long. Little did you realize that foraging for edibles in the wild has a unique charm.
 
There are countless plants that are truly edible. Strolling through the wild is no less thrilling than walking down the aisles in a fancy grocery store. Nature has you spoilt for choice. If you know how to identify an edible plant, plucking it out and preparing it is easier done than thought. Let’s look at a few good options.
 
Easy to spot survival plants in the wild:
 
1. Amaranth - A native in the wild, amaranth is an edible weed. You can chow them down raw and make delicious salads out of the leaves. But, be careful of the small spikes that pop up at times. To be on the safer side, boil amaranth to get rid of the harmful nitrates and unwanted oxalic acid that may be thriving on the leaves.
 
2. Cattail - If you are fishing for a quick snack to munch on, cattails flourish in the wild. Cattails are particularly present around the wetlands. You can snack on the root and stock of the plant or boil it for consumption.
 
3. Chicory - This plant is an absolute winner. Roots, stems, leaves, or flowers, you can gobble down any part of the plant. Pop it in a boiling pot of a stew for a rich flavor or consume it raw, the choice is yours.
 
4. Dandelion - speaking of wholesome edible plants, dandelions certainly fall in the category. The flowers are not just incredible to see, they are brimming with nutritional value. Similar to chicory, all parts of the dandelion are edible.
 
5. Seaweeds - Not all forms of seaweeds are edible. But commonly spotted seaweeds can be gulped down. It is an algae but seaweeds are packed with nutrition. If you are running short on energy to forge through a hot sunny day, seaweeds work like energy bombs.
 
Sadly, not everything that grows in the wild is safe to be consumed. When you are indecisive about whether a plant is edible or not, cross off the option right away. Gobbling down poisonous plants is the last thing you want in an already difficult crisis situation.
 
Wild plants you must not eat
 
If you are unable to identify a plant, don’t eat it, period. Here are a few signs you might want to take a note of:
 
Do not eat plants that:

• have milky sap oozing out
• have a weird soapy flavor to it
• smells like a strong perfume
• have thorns or small spikes in them
• have visible black spurs or purplish ones
• have pods chockfull of seeds
   
  The plants may be highly toxic and can make you very sick. Few examples are:
   
  1. Snakeroot
  2. Wild turnips or carrots, also known as pokeweeds
  3. Moonseed

How To Preserve Meat by Canning

Preserve Fresh Meat.

Pressure canning food items is one of the popular preservation techniques preppers rely on. Storing organic or freshly grown produce might not be easy if it hasn’t been preserved right. Think about it - how long can you stock a big chunk of meat? Doesn’t matter if it is a rib eye or a cheap cut, storing raw meat can be tricky. A prepper though learns the drills of preserving meat and other proteins to be consumed later. The idea is to extend the shelf life of the protein without tampering with the quality or nutritional value of fish and meats.
 
Preppers don’t start by investing riches in fancy canners. A simple canner is good equipment to start with. Before spilling beans on how to get started with canning, knowing the perks of canning is worthy, right?
 
The goods of canning proteins
 
Survivalist or not, getting hands on good quality meat every day is a swanky expense. When you are hit by a crisis, saving that kind of money is out of question. In fact, stocks of meat could be limited too. There are enough reasons to justify that canning is an effective method of preserving meat.
 
1. Saves you big money
 
Pork, beef, poultry, oysters, fish, and everything you desire can be stored when canned. Buying regular portions of proteins frequently costs you a lot more than buying bulk meats and preserving the same for future consumption.
 
2. Makes a great emergency supply
 
You don’t have to wait for a disastrous hurricane to strike down your place to make use of canned meat. Issues as small as a power outage can teach you the importance of preserved goods. Having stored meat doesn’t let you skip snacking on proteins, as a crucial part of your diet.
 
3. The convenience is real
 
When proteins are canned, they are pretty much cooked. When you stay put in a big-out location, succumbing to a disaster, spending hours to forage and cook is worthless. Canned meat is best used in one-pot recipes that are super quick to cook up.
 
4. A cheaper and a better alternative to store meat
 
Self-prepared canned meats are way better than the store-bought ones. What’s more? You know that your produce is not loaded with harmful chemicals for extended shelf life. Plus, stocking up a variety of canned meat can burn holes in your wallet. Doing so yourself saves you a good amount of money.
 
How to stock large, beefy animal protein?
 
Are you not sure how to preserve some of your favorite meats? Venison, lamb, pork, or beef for instance? To begin with, always grab good quality meat. Ensure that the protein is chilled before you start the process of canning. Trim off the excess fat.
 
For meats with strong gamey flavors, soak them in brine water for an hour or so. Once done, rinse off the brine and chuck out the large pieces of bones on the meat. Finally, your meat is prepped to be canned.
 
You can cook the meat in advance. Roasting it off, stewing the meat, or caramelizing the meat in some fat is a good option. Once the meat is cooked, pop it in glass jars and add the cooking liquid. For instance, if you have been stewing your meat, you must add the broth. Make sure you leave at least one-inch space from the lid. That’s it for a hot pack of meat.
 
To stock your meat raw, add a good amount of salt to the protein. One tablespoon per quart is an ideal measure. Store it in glass jars. Leave an inch of headspace and seal it up. 

What Are Prepping Skills?

Prepping Skills.

When an awful crisis strikes, we start questioning ‘how did we not predict this coming?’ Man-made or natural, disasters of any kind are a wake-up call. Preppers foresee such disasters and prepare to battle the odds and sustain well. Unlike those with a dissimilar mindset, preppers are never ready to watch their lives go for a toss.
 
They rely on being self-reliant and responsible. Instead of questioning authorities or playing the blame game when a disaster of a massive scale crashes, preppers truck on with their usual lives. They bundle up in a secure and well-prepped bug-out location. There’s a stockpile of foods available to sustain. More importantly, a prepper spends a great deal of time learning and seasoning some basic life skills.
 
If you are a prepper or the lifestyle sounds appealing, you do realize the importance of honing skills. It is okay to make big purchases and scare up a bunch of tools, essential for survival. But, how worthy are any of these tools if you lack the skills to use them?
 
Your journey to being a prepper is only successful when you have a strong grasp of basic life skills. These skills help you thrive and not just sustain in tough times. Don’t worry about getting hang of the advanced skills. Start slow and start small.
 
Essential life skills all preppers must know
 
1. Farming food, fishing, and hunting
 
Relying on stores to provide you all essential supplies during a disaster is a bad call. Not only is there a scarcity of supplies, but countless people also remain stranded in queues to get their hands on staple food items for survival. One less person is equal to one less consumer battling for supplies.
 
Preppers are not aliens to the concept of farming their own produce. They learn how to grow veggies, fruits, crops, and pretty much all essentials needed for survival. Preppers do animal husbandry and poultry farming too. Fishing is not just a hobby for those preparing for an adverse tomorrow. You as a prepper must know how to make use of natural resources for your food supplies.
 
Growing and harvesting produce is not the end of the job for a prepper. From canning food items to preserving perishable supplies for future use, a prepper masters the skills of storage and preservation.
 
2. Cooking  
 
This life skill is a no-brainer. How do you plan to use a stockpile of emergency supplies if you are not quite skilled at cooking? Of course, not all food items are ready for you to snack on. You must learn how to cook food from the scratch, using less and only basic items. A meal must be edible in order to be consumed.
 
3. Primary healthcare skill
 
During a crisis, you won’t have doctors showing up at your doorstep. Hospitals will mostly be running in full swing, catering to those struggling for life. Showing up for a problem, as trivial as a stuffy nose is mindless. This is why you must learn how to tackle trivial health problems on your own. Keep supplies like antibiotics and band-aids handy. Know what can relieve you from a stuffy nose or a bad cold. Learn how to attend to minor cuts, which ointment to lather, or basic bandaging processes.
 
Preparing to sustain during the tough times of crisis becomes a lot easy when you know how to put your skills into use. 

Living Off the Grid and Survival

Living off the Grid. Little did you know that you need very less to survive. Unfortunately, we are addicted to the comforts of life. Going off the grid isn’t easy. Why live like a caveman when you have access to the conveniences of the world? The hustle of everyday life adds to your stress and anxiety. Your physical health deteriorates. Above all, do you have the needed guts and mental strength to survive through a crisis? It could be a horrifying catastrophe or a personal loss. Do you have what it takes to muster the strength and have a contingency plan ready to carry on? A survivalist certainly knows how to sustain, if the world was ever coming to an end.

Preparing for the odds of the future, if it takes an unexpected spin is what a survivalist focuses on. What happens if a hurricane hits and the disaster is mammoth? Do you have enough supplies to sustain? Got fired? Don’t have enough savings to meet your everyday expense? These are the crisis no one prepares you for. A survivalist is more than ready to live through the challenges. To become a survivalist, you will first need to develop the mindset and step into the lifestyle slow and steady.

Steps to become a survivalist

The core principle of a survivalist is to become self-dependent. Why bother judging the action plans of authorities when you have put together an arrangement to survive through the crisis? Doesn’t matter if the stores are chock-full of produce for individuals. Most survivalists learn how to farm and harvest their own produce. Survivalists are also minimalists. The list of basic essentials is very short. You will be surprised to know that you never needed more than a quarter of the things you own to live a decent life.

Here’s a quick basic guide to help you get started as a survivalist:

A slow beginning

No one can become a dedicated survivalist overnight. The lifestyle switch is major. Survivalism is not only about creating a to-do list and stockpiling a bunch of essentials. There’s more to the lifestyle. For instance, you are preparing to become self-reliant. Trying to score a big change in just a couple of days is absurd. Think simple, take baby steps, and tick off a list of achievable things to do. Adapting to this minimalist lifestyle will be easy.

Study and know about survivalism before you kick-start

Survivalism is trending. If you are in it to join the bandwagon, it is not worth the effort or time. The lifestyle of a survivalist is serious business. There is no room for wannabes. Research what the lifestyle is all about. Get into the details and learn about the infrastructure or the surroundings you will be dwelling in. Keep a check on the limitations. After weighing the pros and cons, if the lifestyle continues to interest you, join in.

Grow and preserve produce

As a survivalist, it is worth learning how to harvest vegetables and fruits for consumption. If getting your hands in the dirt doesn’t interest you, becoming a survivalist could be a hard nut to crack. Apart from growing produce, survivalists learn the drills of food preservation. How do you increase the shelf life of perishable food items? What helps - freezing or pickling? A survivalist learns it all.