Category: news Prepping
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Top 10 Things I Learned While Earning My Karate Yellow Belt
I recently started taking a Tang Soo Do Karate class with my girls ages 8 and 11. Just last week we each earned the first rank–the fabulous yellow belt! (Yellow just happens to be one daughter’s favorite color so she’s particularly thrilled.) There were many things to learn along the way like vocabulary, and specific types of kicks, blocks, and punches. But what have I really learned from my short 3 months in karate? Here’s a rundown of the top 10 things. 10. I’m older than I used to be. In my brain I can do anything, but I usually go home from class with some new part of me hurting. Good thing it’s temporary and we only have…
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The Sunday Survival Buzz – Volume 45
Welcome to this week’s Sunday Survival Buzz – a roundup of preparedness news, tips, articles and recommendations from around the web. But first, an update on my own preps. While in the Seattle area, I made a much anticipated trip to the Dollar Tree store where I was once again amazed at all of the prepper stuff you can purchase for a buck. My haul this time around? Some small rolls of duct tape to tuck away in backpacks, luggage and odd places where it might come in handy. I also purchased some empty spray bottles and some Honey and Oatmeal soap for &#…
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Book Festival and Giveaway: An Interview with Anna Hess
After taking a short break, today I share another author interview in the Backdoor Survival Book Festival. Anna Hess, the author of The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency shares her answers to my questions and is also providing one of my readers with a free copy of her fabulous book. Before we start, however, I want to add a few words of praise for Anna’s book. I am already a big fan of breaking tasks down into manageable segments. Of course you already know this from my 12 Months of Prepping Series (which will begin year 2 in just a couple of weeks). But …
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Review: Red Cross Blackout Buddy Flashlight
Quick. The lights just went out–where is your nearest flashlight? Can you find it in the dark? And does it have fresh batteries so it will actually work when you need it? Well, if you’re at my house with kids, I know where the flashlights are supposed to be and sometimes they are actually there and most times the ones that are where they belong will light up at least for a little while. But not always. So when I read about the Red Cross Blackout Buddy, I thought I better get one and test it out. Here’s how they work. The flashlight plugs in to a …
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Food Storage and Survival Top 10 of 2012!
As the year winds down, I want to give a special thanks to all my fantastic readers and blog sponsors! Blog traffic is up more than 250{660353129f8d892044c993645a1c75194301fec6786a7f617c15adde0b0011e9} over last year and I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate your visits, comments, and questions! Thank you! Looking back over the year, here are the top 10 posts from 2012: 10. What are Gamma Seal Lids and How to Install Them. You’ll want a few of these lids if you’re storing food in buckets! 9. Eight Great Powerless Cooking Options. How many of these do you have? 8. Four Reasons I Won’t Be Buying Survival Seeds. 7. 6 Tips for …
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Doomsday Preppers: Escape From New York Preview PLUS Survival Kit Giveaway!
Have you been keeping up with National Geographic’s Doomsday Preppers show? This week is one you city dwellers especially will want to catch. Escape From New York follows three different preppers in New York City who believe their best chance for survival from (***insert preferred disaster scenario here***) is to get out of the city. With the entire episode focusing on getting out of a city, there is a lot of great information for those who may be in that situation when disaster strikes. I think this is my favorite episode so far, probably because they skip the “expert assessment” at the end and just…
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Looking Back at the Future
With all good intentions, I had planned today to post a philosophical article about mindset – the survival mindset to be exact. And indeed, the article has been written but with a bit of serendipity, I decided to put the deep thinking piece off until another day. Instead, I thought it would fun to recap and share the most popular Backdoor Survival articles of 2012 along with some of my views on what I see happening in 2013. I call this looking back at the future. The Top Articles of 2012 Coming up with the top articles was a bit of challenge. First of all, many of you visit my home page that changes with each …
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The Sunday Survival Buzz – Volume 46
Welcome to this week’s Sunday Survival Buzz – a roundup of preparedness news, tips, articles and recommendations from around the web. But first, an update on my own preps. We were recently given a friend’s discarded shelving so we cut the shelves down and re-purposed them for one of our food storage closets. As I may have mentioned, I am using my freeze-dried and dehydrated foods more and more in day-to-day cooking. The cost in some cases is more than the same product purchased fresh but there is no waste and if I can save a 20 mile round trip to town, then I am actually saving money. On the shelves below you will see a number of #10 cans, plus my Food Saver …
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Book Festival and Giveaway: An Interview with George Ure
Today I share the ninth author interview in the Backdoor Survival Fall Book Festival. George Ure, the author of Broken Web The Coming Collapse of the Internet, shares his answers to my questions and is also providing one of my readers with a free copy of his book. Before we begin, I would like to announce the winner of last week’s giveaway. “Sharon” has won a copy of The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency. Congratulations! I have contacted you by email for mailing instructions. Here is Sharon’s favorite homesteading tip: When we moved to the country we did everything wrong, bought a fixer-upper farm and house and bought a couple horses we only occasionally rode. 10 years later we felt the …
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Storing Household Batteries for the Long Term
As we were sitting around with friends a few weeks ago, the subject of household batteries came up. My husband said “Gaye, we really need to stock up on batteries”. Ha ha I responded and took him to my storage area (which he is not allowed to touch or it will get messed up and disorganized) and pointed to a large stash of AAs, AAAs, D-sized, C-size and the often overlooked 9-volt batteries. (And why do people forget to stock up on those)? I also pointed to a year’s supply of hearing aid batteries. Following that, the topic turned to battery storage and while I am not an expert on all things electrical, …
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Top 8 Ways to be Knotty
Knots of all kinds have been useful for all purposes throughout history. I myself learned all about them and how to tie them through many years in the Boy Scouts of America. A number of these knots would be useful for prepping needs. Lets talk about a several few of them, how to tie them, and how to use them. I still use them almost every day. Here is a cool website I found which gives visual aspects of tying all the knots I mention. Remember: ALL rope-work is potentially dangerous, please use caution and common sense. The Knots The Bowline (photo credit:https://…
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‘Twas the Night Before Doomsday…..By Robert Hawkins
‘Twas the night before Doomsday…. and all over the world, everyone was sayin, “The End has unfurled!!” There is no tomorrow, the end is in sight. What lay’s ahead is a TERRIBLE FRIGHT! But safe in their bed’s, all snuggled and warm, are preppers who rest, assured there’s no harm. For deep in their slumber, so safe where they lay. They gain blessed peace, to face each new day. Efforts to prepare, independence from without, is always in mind, in preppers, no doubt. They look to tomorrow, as a bright futures reach. And in knowing of how, for others they teach. …
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How Preppers Can Help
Feeding the Hungry is also Feeding Hope This Christmas season, see if there is anything you can do to help the less fortunate in your community. As a prepper, I know we should take care of our family and ourselves first, but if some of us have had a good year and our families are taken care of, there is no better time to look to our friends and community. Preppers are in a unique position to help others in many ways. My faith is very clear on the matter of giving as many religions are, so I believe if we can help, we should help. One of the easiest things preppers can do to help is to donate food, especially during this time of year as …
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Whats in my Backpack?
Whats in my backpack? Whats in here? (photo credit://https://flic.kr/p/2YybT) Being prepared doesn’t always have to apply to natural or man-made disasters. Being prepared should be a way of life no matter what you do. If you are a hiker, hunter, fisherman, camper, etc. You should always have a bag of goodies in your backpack or other pack, just in case things don’t go as planned. Each activity is different, but I will share what I carry in my backpack and who knows, it could get you out of a sticky situation in the Great Outdoors someday. My bag of goodies was developed from a list called the Ten Essentials, originally developed by a group of outdoors men in…
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6 Herbs & Tinctures That Everyone Needs at Home and Their BOB’s
This article should be named “The 100 herbs needed to survive”, but then it would be to long to read. In the meantime, here is a list of the herbs I feel we can’t do without in our home or our BOB’s. echinacea Echinacea: Known throughout history as a cure-all to treat infections and wounds. For 400 years, Echinacea has been used to treat scarlet fever, syphilis, malaria, blood poisoning, and diphtheria. While taking Echinacea to prevent a cold is infective, if you start taking it at the first signs of a cold it will reduce or shorten the duration of your cold symptoms such as cough, …
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Book Review: Preppers Home Defense
Preppers Home Defense, by Jim Cobb Security Strategies to Protect Your Family Prepper’s Home Defense (find it online by clicking here) offers different ways to plan for the defense and security of your home. The author, Jim Cobb, writes in a very readable and understandable manner. I understood his techniques and did not have to struggle to finish the book. Prepper’s Home Defense covers many other topics related to home security, that were also very helpful, but what I really enjoyed and got the most out of, was the information on how to set up and layer my home defenses. The techniques Jim covers in the book, when properly implemented, will not only help secure …
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6 Cleaning Necessities for Your Stockpile
If you have these 6 items, there’s nothing you can’t clean: Baking soda Bleach Borax Dawn dish soap Table salt White vinegar Many of us have spent our valuable dollars buying the latest in cleaning supplies. What we’re really paying for is harsh chemicals (some of them carcinogenic) and artificial fragrances (many of which are also unhealthy). Instead, consider stocking up on these basic items, which will allow you to make any household cleaner you might need. Most of the time you can purchase these items on sale or in bulk quantities. As well, they all serve other purposes besides basic cleaning, which maximizes your storage space. Baking …
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Become a Lean, Mean Prepping Machine: Weight Loss for Survival
If the SHTF, you aren’t going to live off your fat. Trust me on this one. If anything, a great deal of excess body fat just might be the thing that kills you. If you are truly serious about preparedness, getting into shape is one of the best preparations that you can make. What if you had to bug out through the snow with a 25 pound pack on your back, dragging a sled with your toddler on it? How far could you get before you collapsed? Is your heart in condition to go out and swing an axe for a few hours in order to get wood ready for the…
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Serfdom and the Feudal System: What’s Old is New Again
The period of history from the 5th to the 15th century was known as the Middle Ages. During this time, the law of the land in Europe was known as the “feudal system.” This was the manner in which the upper 10{660353129f8d892044c993645a1c75194301fec6786a7f617c15adde0b0011e9} (the nobility) controlled the lower 90{660353129f8d892044c993645a1c75194301fec6786a7f617c15adde0b0011e9} (the serfs or peasants). There were a few kings who were very wealthy and powerful, who owned all of the land. To maintain control of this land, it was broken into fiefdoms and pieces were given to friends of the kings (barons). The barons then allotted land to their friends and allies in order to…
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The Toxic Agenda
There is a very good reason that I promote organic food storage – the food supply of the Western world is irrevocably tainted. One day your food storage might be all that keeps you out of the bread lines (best case scenario) or from starvation (worst case scenario). If you store up boxes of Chef Boyardee and HFCS-sweetened garbage containing GMO corn, you won’t die as quickly as those who are starving to death – instead you will poison your family slowly. GMOs actually alter our DNA. Excitotoxins kill our brain cells. Fluoride is a brain suppressant. Additives make us fat. The list of hazards…
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Morality: The Hard Line Between Revolutionary and Terrorist
In a war, it appears that it’s easy to become just as bad as the monsters that you are fighting. Just ask the survivors of a killing spree in Afghanistan last March, when US soldiers went on a rampage, killing 17 civilians, 9 of them children. Only one soldier, Army Staff Sgt Robert Bales, was charged but the witnesses have a different story: One mother-of-six, whose husband was killed during the incident, believes there were as many as 20 people involved. She told SBS Dateline journalist Yalda Hakim: ‘When they shot dead my husband, I tried to drag him into the house, they’d shot him in the head so his brain was…
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Stockpile Challenge – Update #1
The stockpile challenge has already been a slight challenge. We had guests, and then a snowstorm. After having extra people snowed in with us for a week, it definitely made a dent in our “favorites”. I am seeing the beginning of the end of my cheese supply. This saddens me, since I like to make homemade pizza once per week. We can probably do pizza once or twice more, unless I can quickly figure out how to make cheese! As well much of the “snacky” food is history. You know the type, those goodies that you grab a handful of here and there – pretzels, roasted peanuts, etc. …
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How to Survive a Gut Infection Without Medical Assistance
After a disaster, such as we saw with Hurricane Sandy, one of the number one threats to survival is infection. Especially a gut infection. The most common way survivors become infected with deadly intestinal bacteria is by drinking non-potable water. Gaining access to clean water after a disaster is rarely as simple as turning on your kitchen faucet. First of all, you may might not even have a kitchen left. Secondly, even if water is coming out of the tap, it could easily be contaminated by a sewage leaking. In most cases, however, city water will not be available at all. If the electrical grid is down that often…
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Can You Really Live Off Beans in a Survival Situation?
A classic survival item preppers like to stockpile are legumes (especially beans). Inexpensive, nourishing, and easy to store. But are beans easy to cook? How about easy to digest? “I’d rather be shot than live off beans,” says John C. A. Manley, a prepper I interviewed in last month’s Survival Joe Mastermind Club meeting. “I love the taste of beans. They fill me up. But boy are most beans both hard to cook and even harder digest.” If you’re stocking your pantry full of dried kidney beans, you may want to test them out first. As Manley pointed out in our interview, beans often require soaking overnight…
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Guest Post: Homemade MREs
Editor’s note: Today we are happy to feature a guest blog post from From Julie Languille, Author of The Prepper’s Pantry and the soon to be released Meals in a Jar: Quick and Easy, Just-Add-Water, Homemade Recipes Thanks, Apartment Prepper, for inviting me to write a guest post about Homemade MREs. I am passionate about food storage and my first book, The Prepper’s Pantry is all about setting up food storage with both a deep larder of long term storage foods, and also a rotation pantry filled with canned goods and home pressure-canned meats and chicken. I love the idea of having plenty of dehydrated and freeze dried foods on hand to cook from, but in…
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Happy New Year
Thank you all for taking time out of your day to visit Apartment Prepper. I wish you and yours great blessings for 2013! Happy New!
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Stainless Steel Water Bath Canners
A Stainless Steel canner is the way to go! Waterbath canners always seem to chip and rust. But a canner like this will last!
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37 years….happy with Presto quality and dependability
37 years ago my Aunt gave me my first 4 quart Presto cooker for a wedding gift. I just yesterday cooked another batch of dried pinto beans in that cooker!
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“100 Days of Prepping”–Launched!
By Kellene Bishop ; The launch of our new series, “100 Days of Prepping” is finally here!! What is it, you ask? Well sit down a moment and I’ll share all of the exciting details with you!! ; ; Last year at this time, I came up with a whole bunch of challenges for our
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Canning Ground Beef–Step By Step Instructions
By Kellene Bishop This week has been full of all kinds of activities in readiness for the Christmas holiday, but I still have to keep up on my self-sufficiency duties. I received my fabulous ground beef from Zaycon Foods this past week and decided to turn the necessity of canning it into a video tutorial.
