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SHTF shopping on the cheap at the dollar store

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These days most items found at dollar stores cost more than one dollar, strange but true.  Retail outlets like Deals, Dollar General and others might have a few bargains in the store but they have strayed away from the true essence of what a dollar store should be.  Prices of just about everything have gone up exponentially over the past decade making true dollar stores hard to find, that is until today.  A tip lead me to a dollar store 20 minutes from my house, and I was shocked to find that truly everything in the store was $1.00 or less.  Sure … Continue reading →

2 way radios are now in my SHTF inventory

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Communication is a vital part of our everyday life.  In a SHTF situation typical means of communication might not be working (eg cell phones, land line).  Therefore I decided to purchase some 2 way radios as a backup method of communication that my family could utilize if times got hard and other systems were down.  I’m thinking we could use them if we had to conduct movements in separate vehicles, or if I had to make runs for water or other life sustaining items (leaving someone at home). As with any purchase I did my research online prior to getting the Motorola … Continue reading →

Maintaining proficiency with weapons

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Proficiency when using weapons is important, because no matter how well trained we are rust can form on our shooting skills as well as our weapons cache.  When I talk about being proficient I realize there are different levels of proficiency, surely what I consider to be proficient is a far cry what a military special operator or civilian swat member (someone who shoots thousands of rounds a week) would consider proficient.  You have to put things into perspective I guess, I can’t afford to shoot thousands of rounds a week but I’m also not being dropped off by a … Continue reading →

Pumping water by hand is my solution

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In previous blog posts I identified what I thought to be a huge problem in my SHTF “hunker down” strategy. We are prepared to bug out in an event where it becomes impossible to stay in the local area, but a best case scenario would see my family and I remaining in our house and holding out as long as possible. The problem which I thought I had identified was my basement, and the high probability of it filling up with water if the SHTF and there was no available and reliable power. Of course a basement full of stagnant … Continue reading →

5 Survival Myths

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1.  The myth that weapons are the most important thing Firearms should be treated just like catastrophic health insurance.  You should own them hoping that you never need them, but just like insurance, if you need them, you need them badly.   And, just like with hypochondriacs, there is a certain segment of society that can’t seem to look beyond the terrible events that would necessitate using a firearm in self-defense at more likely occurrences.  To make matters even worse, popular culture and the media both suggest that violence during survival situations is normal, and that hardship always brings out the … Continue reading →

Thoughts on a real SHTF scenario

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There is a forum thread floating around the internet composed by Mac Slavo, a survivor of the war in Bosnia in the mid 1990′s.  In this thread Mac describes the conditions that he and his family endured during these extremely troubling times, a real SHTF scenario which he (but not all of his family) was thankful to make it out of alive.  Mac lays the background in his writings and then fields questions from people who replied to him on an internet forum.  I found the question and answer section to be most enlightening, and I have read it many times over.  After my … Continue reading →

How Much Food & How Long to Store

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Some of the most common questions regarding food storage are how much should I store, and how long can I store it for? This blog post should help in answering these questions. Here are some suggestions for items within each of these categories that you can use. You can divide up the yearly amount for each major category among the different types of foods within that category according to what fits your family. It’s important to store your food at a room temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit or less, with as little humidity as possible if you can. The following … Continue reading →