I am on the subject of what to store for the future. As this thing moves along, this hellbent-for-leather suicide plunge of the world's people, some things become more clear as time goes by.
As I have been prompted by Dragon, I have been concentrating on food stores. Beans and Rice are the biggies. I will back off the beans here pretty soon and stick mainly with Rice. Beans get too hard too quick. Rice stays good for a lot longer. The wife bought some Pinto beans. I love Pinto beans. And I read the other day that the old southern dish of Pinto Beans and cornbread formed a complete protein. Gotta have it.
From the mouth of the man at Bear Ridge I got word, or rather the Handmaiden got word, that a steady diet of Beans and Rice is the most boring of menus. I guess eating to live and living to eat are different ideas. Thus the Handmaiden has it in her head to buy Spices to make boring dishes more interesting. I applauded her effort in a maximum manner. Most of my studies have led me to the conclusion that we will be losing weight as a result of SHTF and most assuredly TEOTWAWKI. I also applaud this, as we are getting too damn fat for our own good. I must say that the Handmaiden isn't too fat, just a little bit plump, but not much. I, however, could lose a 100 pounds and not miss it a damn bit. Maybe even a bit more than 100 pounds. I may not be too agile anymore, but I am a professional leaner. You betcha.
A nagging thought keeps going through my mind as to what the hell things will turn out to be like for an EXTENDED period of real bad times. Like Dragon was saying the other day, three months supply of food is barely enough to cover your ass with a minimum of security and that is only if you don't get run over by the idiots of this world at the start of Winter. Hell, it takes most of four months to get a garden in and stored. And as you wade through the possible scenarios you realize that Dragon is right, as are the Mormons and others. Storing up a three or four month supply is not gonna make it. It would appear that a year's supply is the minimum to shoot for. And that is a bitch but it is the way it is.
And what about things like coffee and salt? Sure, there will be some of both around, for a while. But what about after a while? And how are you and all your buddies gonna preserve all that meat in your freezers when the electricity goes out? You gonna eat it all at once? Not a good plan. But if you had plenty of salt you could preserve it for a good amount of time and stretch it out like it was supposed to be eaten. So is a 100 pounds of per family what we should be shooting for? 200 pounds? You tell me. But this is one of thoses things we gotta get right the first time. Indiana ain't on a coastline. No prospect of drying salt out of seawater.
And coffee. What will we do with a bunch of coffee addicts when they run out? They will run out of caffeine and have no energy for work. They could become despondent. Their bowels won't work properly without their magic alkaloid in the morning. Risky business running out of coffee right off the bat. Best to have a few BIG cans set back for bad times. And if you are strong enough to handle the loss of one of life's legal drugs, think of the barter potential! Let's don't run out of coffee right at first.
What about hard liquor? I don't fancy it myself, much, but it sure is popular in this world. A case of cheap whiskey that appears a month or two after a world calamity, a bottle at a time, could be a helluva barter tool.
And I could go on about flour and baking soda and yeast and sugar and a whole lot of stuff. The supplies of the kitchen are not to be trifled with as to their importance.
I think I was reading the Bear Ridge Project the other day and I scored an article that said the first 72 hours of an emergency situation are the most taxing on the human. That just means to feed out really well for the first three days. Stress and activity are really gonna take it out of you so you are better off putting it back in quickly. Words to the wise are sufficient.
I read a survival book this week and on the subject of bartering, the local yokels had a place where they did all of their bartering. They didn't do it from their homes. Good idea. You don't want people knocking on your door at night wanting a cigarette or a drink of whiskey or wine.
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
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4 comments:
I give it four stars.
These issues are as important as bullets.
My input on the coffee is that Dandelion root toasted and ground is supposed to be as good, but I don't know. I'll volunteer to try it out and get back with the results...It sure aint gonna be starbucks. Grin.
Dragon
Grind equal parts old hard beans with corn and dried meat in your Corona corn mill. Makes yummy pancakes.
I was thinking about the tobacco issue... I found a site that'll sell me seeds for a sweet tobacco like in these little red buck(7.50 a carton) cigars I smoke. I'll dig it up and send it along. Hootch is another Item, I learned by watching some ole timers run some shine... I got a good site to get plans for a 5 gallon still. corn liquor is easy to make but takes a lifetime to perfect. (I grew up where the whiskey rebellion started) Then there's Metheylgin,
Honey meade. the drink of vikings. easy to make but never,I repeat never broach more than 1 quart per night at a party. I only bring a gallon to a party hosted by folks I don't like. It makes for real mean drunks.
Wines can be made outa about anything, dandelions, tomatoe vines,berries-- the list is way long. and then there's brewing... if you can brew beer outa all sorts of things too. you have it made PAW... for all the above you need real clean containers and yeast besides the other products.
Oh, and never use champain yeast for meade. It sucks. looks like I'll have to do a brewing post now. Dragon
Dragon and Vlad,
You guys have made my day. Vlad for telling us how to use those hard beans and Dragon because he opened his mouth and said he should do a blog post on the making of alcoholic beverages. The stopping of waste and a good drink are two very important ideas in my mind. Don't really drink that much but it should be a barter tool out of this world. That and tobacco.
Michael
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