November 6, 2024

Nine Meals from Anarchy; a Food Stamp Melt Down

Nine Meals from Anarchy; a Food Stamp Melt Down

“Nine Meals from Anarchy” is an expression coined by Lord Cameron of Dillington, a farmer from England who was speaking about Britain’s food supply. I believe he is absolutely correct! In modern society when the populace hasn’t eaten, whether because there was no food or it was too expensive for them to buy, civil unrest ensues.

Disclaimer: I don’t touch on politics often and sometimes get complaints when I do. I am going to get into politics today as I believe our governmental practices could have a direct impact on the populace. If you disagree, that’s fine, but keep the discussion civil please. I will tie this back into preparedness.

Over the weekend there was a problem with the EBT (think food stamps) system that was not showing the amount allowed to spend, thus leading to allowing unlimited purchases. Once discovered, the EBT system was temporarily brought down. There were two Walmart’s in Louisiana that decided to let people make purchases anyway. This resulted in crowds so large that one Police Chief said the store was so packed, it was worse than any black Friday. Many shelves were stripped bare. Once the system came up, it was obviously discovered that people were abusing the system. There were other stores that didn’t allow purchases to be made and many shoppers took to social media threatening to riot.

Civil unrest related to food is nothing new. Many of you will remember the world-wide food riots in 2008, but we can go all the way back to Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793). She was the queen of France who said “Well, let them eat cake,” when told that her people did not have bread to eat.
 
 
What is the Real Problem?

The problem is so much bigger than a computer glitch and the temporary shutdown of the EBT system. It is my opinion that we have a large portion of the population that has become takers. We have over 47,000,000 people on food stamps, which is over 1/6th of our population. These are people who CANNOT feed themselves without government assistance. I have no problem with people who have fallen on hard times and need the assistance. My parents had to use it when I was a child, welfare and food stamps are the only reason we were able to eat at times.

Unfortunately, there is a huge amount of people who are cheating the system. With a quick internet search you can find ways to game the system and claim benefits that they should just not have. There are also people who live off of government assistance as a way of life, instead of assistance during a rough time.
 
 
Cloward-Piven Strategy

Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven were professors at the Columbia University School of Social Work. Their strategy was to overload the American welfare system by having it be so large that it would lead to a crisis that would put an end to the welfare system, replacing it with a socialist guaranteed annual income. These radicals and others like them have ties to and are friends with President Obama.

We now we have over 47 million people collecting food stamps, over 12 million on welfare and roughly 5.5 million collecting unemployment. Government handing out “Obama phones”, giving subsidies for childcare to people who are not working and on and on. With the policies of this President, we are approaching that tipping point faster than ever before.
 
 
EBT Being Defunded?

On 10-15-2013 I got an alert from AlertsUSA that said:

“USDA: States told to withhold foodstamp / EBT payments for Nov due to funding lapse. If directive holds expect dangerous societal impact, partic in urban areas.”

Since I had planned on publishing this article today, I asked my contact if he has any more info. He sent me the following link; Foodstamp Program Shutdown Imminent? The article is worth reading and the video from a local Utah Newscast is worth watching. For those with limited time, I’ll summarize.

The Crossroads Urban Center in Utah obtained a memo from the USDA (the memo can be seen by following the link). Among other things, the memo states:

“understanding the operational issues and constraints that States face, and in the interest of preserving maximum flexibility, we are directing States to hold their November issuance files and delay transmission to State electronic benefit transfer (EBT) vendors until further notice.”

Essentially, because of the government shutdown, the USDA is recommending that states not fund the food stamps systems.

With this in mind, remember what I said about Cloward and Piven. It makes a person wonder if the government shutdown isn’t just a means to an end.
 
 
What Does This Mean for You?

There have been a few hiccups related to food stamps in the last few years, as well as threats of rioting. Violence, in varying degrees, has broken out each time. What kept these threats and minor violence from breaking into utter chaos and anarchy? Nine meals.

When people who have been led to believe that their government owes them money for food, rent, childcare, cell phones and other related things, and that money is either reduced, or doesn’t come for a week or two, watch out! This is purely speculation on my part, but I believe that this could lead to widespread rioting and looting after just after a few days. If you live in an area with even a moderate percentage of the population on the government teat, pay attention to stories like this in your area and have a bug out plan.

I firmly believe that a prepper should guard the fact that they prepare, as well as what they have in their preps. I have no problems if hard times fall and you feel compelled to share with others, but as I have previously written, Jesus told us to give in secret. This way, if you feel God leading you to share, you can, but it honors God and not you.

 
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Caffeine as a Prep Item

Caffeine as a Prep item

Have you ever been so tired that you know your judgment is impaired but for whatever reason you couldn’t get any shuteye? What about getting up in the morning and feeling more tired than when you went to bed?

As I pointed out in Keeping Watch Once It’s Hit the Fan, if things go sideways there might be a need for you to stand watch. If it’s just you and your family, how can you make sure you stay alert enough to stand watch and keep everyone safe? The potential solution to this problem is caffeine.
 
 
The Upside

Caffeine is a naturally occurring stimulant that is found in a variety of plants. It can heighten your alertness and provide a boost of energy. Caffeine is commonly found in coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks, energy drinks as well as some medications.

A safe daily limit is 200 – 300 milligrams, which equates to 2-4 cups of coffee. When used in moderation, caffeine can be used to wake you up in the morning or help you keep going through the day.
 
 
The Downside

As was just stated, caffeine used in moderation has an upside. However, overuse can lead to dependency. If you’re drinking four cups of coffee to get going, a diet soft drink mid-morning, another with lunch and a couple throughout the rest of the day, there is a good chance you’re dependent on it. Diet Dr. Pepper is my drink of choice. I used to drink 8-10 a day! I used to say caffeine had no effect on me, that I could drink a Diet Dr. Pepper right before bed, go to bed and fall asleep just fine. I was abusing it and was dependent on it.

Once dependent on caffeine, the withdrawal headaches can be horrific. If you decide to being limiting your intake, it is suggested to cut it in half for a day or two, and then in half again and on and on until you’re consuming a healthy amount.
 
 
Final Thoughts

I am now only consuming two cans of Diet Dr. Pepper a day. I made the mistake of having a couple cans late one evening and I am definitely affected by it now; I think I saw the clock strike 02:00.

The idea of getting some of those energy shot drinks has occurred to me in the past. Before I limited my intake I took one on a day with little sleep, and surprise, surprise, it didn’t affect me. It only made me yawn louder. Now however, I think having a few on hand to help me be aware, should I ever need to be awake and alert late at night, is probably a good idea.
 
 
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Living Off The Land: Delusions and Misconceptions About Hunting and Gathering

The Following article was written by Ross Gilmore and is reposted with his permission.  The original article can be found here at his site, Wood Trekker.

From time to time I will see someone say that their bug out plan is to head to the woods and live off the land.  I have always thought that this was a bad idea, but only had conjecture to back up my opinion. Rob has done a fantastic job of crunching numbers and shows just how much someone would have to hunt and gather to bring in enough calories.

 

Living Off The Land: Delusions and Misconceptions About Hunting and Gathering

 

Ah, living off the land. Thriving in the wilderness with the use of your skills. It is the ultimate goal of many bushcrafters and survivalists. Numerous posts have been written on forums about this subject, and as soon as one ends, another is started. Of course, actual evidence is rarely presented. We often fall back on positions such as “our ancestors did it, so clearly I can do it”, or “I was out last week and saw a bunch of cattails and barriers, so my food sources are secure”.

The problem is not made any better by so called experts in the field, who fuel the myth that they are feeding themselves in the wilderness. I vividly remember watching Andrew Price, host of A-Z of Bushcraft in one of the episodes, waking up in the morning, walking a few feet next to camp, gathering a few berries, and then turning the the camera and saying “breakfast is served”. Ray Mears, aside from his excellent series, Wild Foods, has numerous instances where he gathers meager resources and then implies that his food requirement have been met. Of course, none of them ever bother to calculate or present actual caloric values, or discuss the long terms consequences. Similarly, people like Dave Canterbury, who discuss at length hunting in wilderness living conditions, never actually do the math of how much game has to be killed to justify the weight of that shotgun being carried, or whether the numbers would work out at all.

For the past year I have been attempting to gather some actual numbers on the subject, so we can have a more meaningful conversation about what it would take to sustainably feed a person in the wilderness, and consequently, what tools may be suited for the task. I must admit, I have been slacking with the project because of its tedious nature. Last week however, a reader referred me to a source related to the Chris McCandless post, which provided me with some of the information I was searching.

Samuel Thayer, author of the books Forager’s Harvest and Nature’s Garden, wrote an essay related to the starvation of Chris McCandles titles Into the Wild and other Poisonous Plant Fables. While much of the essay focuses on disproving theories of poisonous plants, the last section discusses actual caloric requirements for a person living in the wilderness, and what resources that would require.

So, let’s assume a scenario where a person will be going into the wilderness with the intention of living off the land. He will practice wilderness self reliance, he will thrive in nature, and whatever other cliché you want to insert here. Let’s also assume for the moment that there are no hunting or fishing regulations that we have to comply with, and let’s assume that the person has all necessary equipment, including hunting and fishing tools. What would the person need to procure each day in order to live in a sustainable manner for a prolonged period of time?

Well, the first piece of the puzzle is the required calories. Citing Michele Grodner’s Foundations and Clinical Applications of Nutrition, Thayer calculates that a male who is physically active under wilderness living conditions would need approximately 3,300 calories per day. This number seems consistent with calculations done by long distance backpackers, who usually aim for a bit over 3,000 calories per day. So, to maintain one’s physical condition, and prevent weight loss, the person in question must consume about 3,300 calories each day. Of course, there are other nutritional requirements, but at a very basic level, to prevent death from starvation in the long run, this caloric minimum must be met.

The above caloric requirement for wilderness living should not be confused with accounts of short term survival, where a person stays in the wilderness, slowly losing body weight, until they are rescued. We have plenty examples like this from series like Survivorman, Naked and Afraid, etc. Those are not examples of sustainable hunting and gathering situations, and we should not have any delusions about the long term applications of such a starvation diet.

So, sticking with the 3,300 caloric requirement per day, what would it take to meet these caloric needs?

 

Sources of Calories

Meat

First let’s look at animal products, something to which I will jointly refer to in this post as “meat”, but should be understood to include both protein and fats. Meat can vary in caloric content anywhere from 40 calories per ounce for lean meat like squirrel and rabbit, all the way to 60 calories per ounce for very fatty meat like salmon. Using these numbers, we can roughly calculate the caloric value of each animal, and how much of it we would need to meet the our daily caloric requirements.

Red Squirrel: as Thayer calculates, at an average of 2.8 ounces of meat per squirrel (Michele Grodner’s Foundations and Clinical Applications of Nutrition), it would take 25 squirrels per day to meet the caloric requirements, or if also eating the internal organs and brain, about 16 squirrels per day.

Rabbit: at about 16 ounces of meat per rabbit (Michele Grodner’s Foundations and Clinical Applications of Nutrition), you would need about 4 of them per day, or 3 if eating all of the organs and brain.

Salmon: assuming you are catching Sockeye salmon, they average 6 pounds (96 ounces) (Kenai Peninsula Borough Commercial Fishing Industry State Records, 2012). Since salmon meat is rich in fat, we can assume 60 calories per ounce (USDA SR-21), which would mean one salmon would give you 5,760 calories, or a little under two days of food.

Clams: clam meat varies in caloric density from about 33 calories per ounce to about 42 calories per ounce. (Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference, 2013). To satisfy the required 3,300 calories per day intake, you would need about 5 pounds of clam meat per day (using 40 calories per ounce for the calculation). In order to get 5 pounds of clam meat, you would need about 320 medium size clams. For each ounce of meat, you need about 4 medium size clams. (Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference, 2013)

Raccoon: while many people would not eat raccoon meat due to its high content of parasites, it is technically edible. The meat is fatty, averaging about 72 calories per ounce. (USDA SR-21) The weight of raccoons varies widely from 10 to 25 pounds for adults. The average listed size is about 25 pounds for an adult. That should provide approximately 10 pounds of meat once it is gutted, skinned and deboned. At 72 calories per ounce, such a raccoon will provide about 11,520 calories. However, keep in mind that these numbers reflect the calories if the animal is cooked to preserve all of its nutrients. In order to make it more palatable, people usually cook raccoon meat to remove most of the fat. If you do that, the caloric content will drop significantly. Assuming you save all of the fat however, a 25 pound raccoon should provide sufficient calories for 3.5 days.

Turkey: a good size turkey will yield about 10 pounds of meat (160 ounces) when processed. The caloric value of processed turkey meat is about 45 calories per ounce (USDA SR-21). Therefore, a turkey will produce 7,200 calories in total, or a bit more than 2 days worth of caloric requirements.

Deer: a mature buck typically yields about 70 pounds of meat (1,120 ounces) (University of Wisconsin study 2006). Venison is a lean meat, with about 53 calories per ounce (USDA SR-21). The meat of a mature buck will therefore give you 59,360 calories, which will be sufficient for 18 days of food at the 3,300 calories per day requirement. If you are eating the internal organs as well, that will probably get pushed to about 20-21 days of food.

Black Bear: a large black bear will produce about 100 pounds of meat (1,600 ounces) once processed. Bear meat has about 43 calories per ounce. (USDA SR-21) So, a large black bear will give about 68,800 calories total. That would be sufficient calories to satisfy the caloric intake for 21 days. 

The table below gives a general summary of the results. The numbers you see in the last column for animals needed each day to meet the caloric requirement, the number in parenthesis represents what is needed if internal organs are preserved and eaten as well as the meat. 

   

Meat

   
Type of Animal oz of Meat/Animal cal/oz of Meat Total cal/Animal Animals/Day
Squirrel 2.8 47 132 25 (16)
Rabbit 16.8 47 790 4 (3)
Salmon 96 60 5,760 0.57
Clams 0.25 40 10 320
Raccoon 160 72 11,520 0.29
Turkey 160 45 7,200 0.46
Deer 1,120 53 59,360 0.056 (0.05)
Black Bear 1,600 43 68,800 0.047

 

Plants

Now, let’s move to plant sources.

Cattail Roots: cattail roots, will yield about 8 calories per ounce (USDA SR-21; Revedin, A., et al. Thirty thousand-Year-Old Evidence of Plant Food Processing, 2010). This means that about 413 ounces or 26.5 pounds of cattail flour would be needed to meet that daily caloric requirements.

It should be noted (as pointed out by a reader in one of the comments) that Table 2 of the above study, Thirty thousand-Year-Old Evidence of Plant Food Processing, 2010 provides that cattail (Typha) rhyzome flour contains 266 kcal/100g, or 75 calories per ounce. That is much higher than the 8 cal/oz provided by the USDA and other sources. It appears the difference occurs because that table speaks of the caloric value of already processed and cooked flour. The article specifies that “The flour would have undergone a multistep processing involving root peeling, drying, and finally grinding using specific tools. After this, the flour needed to be cooked to obtain a suitable and digestible food.” Cattail rhyzome contains large portions that are inedible, such as the spongy layer covering the rhyzome as well as the fibers from which you have to remove the starch. As such, the numbers don’t appear to be contradictory. You may very well have a caloric value of 25 kcal/100g (8 cal/oz) for cattail root and 266 kcal/100g (75 cal/oz) for processed cattail root flour where the outer casing has been peeled, the fibers have been removed, and the resulting starch cooked. In the table here I have used the number for unprocessed cattail root, and the quantity you would need to get the necessary calories.

Parsnips and Similar Wild Roots: according to Thayer, at approximately 23 calories per ounce (Michele Grodner’s Foundations and Clinical Applications of Nutrition), about 9 pounds would be needed per day to meet the daily caloric requirement of 3,300 calories.

Blueberries: again, according to Thayer, at about 16 calories per ounce (Michele Grodner’s Foundations and Clinical Applications of Nutrition), you would need 13 pounds of blueberries per day to meet your caloric requirements.

Lingonberries: at about 5 calories per ounce (USDA SR-21), you would need about 41 pounds of lingonberries to meet your daily caloric requirement.

Acorns: once processed into a flour, after leaching out the tannic acid acorns will provide about 110 calories per ounce (USDA SR-21). That would mean that 30 ounces, or a little under 2 pounds of acorn flour would be needed per day to satisfy the caloric requirements.

Burdock Root: at about 20 calories per ounce (USDA SR-21), you would need about 165 ounces, or 10 pounds of unprocessed burdock root to meet your daily caloric requirements. If cooked, a large amount of the water removed, the pounds one needs to consume may be significantly reduced, but would still constitute more than what a person can eat in a day.

 

 

Plants

 
Type of Plant cal/oz of Plant Material Pounds Per Day Needed
Cattail Root (Unprocessed) 8 26.5
Parsnips 23 9
Blueberries 16 13
Lingonberries 5 41
Acorns (processed) 110 2
Burdock Root 20 10*

 

The above represent average numbers, both for the calories required per day, and the amount of food which must be consumed to provide those calories. Variations should be expected. Even so, it is evident that a person attempting to live alone off the land in the wilderness has a serious challenge on his hands. The amount of food required seems absurd, but as Thayer explains: “If this seems like a high volume of food, that’s because it is. We have sought, developed, cultivated, and become accustomed to calorie-dense foods for so long that most of us have never been without them. We’ve never had to eat food in volumes like this. When you realize that a stick of butter has as many calories as two and a half quarts of blueberries or seven pounds of broccoli, you can see why the innate human desire for calorie-rich, low-fiber food developed.

 

Gathering

The gathering of food has become a great area of teaching for survival and bushcraft instructors. Unfortunately, much of the teachings create a false impression of what it actually takes to feed oneself through gathering of food in the wilderness. As Thayer also noted, many such instructors teach, or imply through their representations that a very small amount of food is needed for a person to sustainably live in the wilderness. Whether the misrepresentations are intentional, or due to lack of knowledge is hard to say, but the results are the same-people fail to realize how much food must be gathered to sustain a person long term.

We have to make a clear distinction between “edible” plants and “food”. Just because something can be eaten, does not mean that it contributes to your caloric requirements in any meaningful way. Many staples of bushcraft teachings, such as dandelions provide virtually no caloric value. You can easily starve to death with a stomach full of such plants. In fact, it is not unlikely that a person may spend more energy gathering edible plants, than the calories he will get from consuming them. To effectively gather food in the wilderness, one has to know not only what is edible, but also what provides meaningful calories.

From the plants available and listed in the above chart, not surprisingly acorns provide the highest nutrition. I imagine it will be similar for other nuts because of the high oil content. If processed correctly, a person can certainly provide enough food for himself using acorn flour. The other plants that are readily available, including the all too popular cattail and burdock roots, are far less than ideal when it comes to providing sufficient calories for a person attempting long term living. Not only would it be difficult to supply yourself with enough of the plant, but consuming such large quantities would be impossible. We should also keep in mind that the plants I have listed here are the ones with relatively high caloric value.

On that subject, Thayer writes with respect to Chris McCandless, “If he didn’t get any meat, couldn’t he just eat more lingonberries and get all his calories that way? Absolutely not. He would have needed to eat almost three gallons of lingonberries per day. He’d probably be vomiting before finishing the second quart. No matter how many lingonberries were available to him, his body would have only accepted them for a small portion of his caloric requirement. This doesn’t make lingonberries “poisonous”; the same is true of virtually every food, although the appropriate proportions vary… The concept that foods can be eaten only in appropriate quantities is taken so much for granted that, to my knowledge, it has never been given a name in the medical literature. I call it themaximum caloric proportion (MCP). Some foods have a very high MCP, such as milk, meat, and potatoes. They are easily digested and contain few antinutrients or toxins, thus they are suitable as dietary staples. Others, such as cabbage, rhubarb, and raspberries, cannot serve as staple foods and are only suitable to supply small portions of the diet. As one travels north, there tends to be fewer plants with a high MCP; this is why hunter-gatherers from northern latitudes ate meat for the great majority of their calories.”

As a result, if you can not find the right plants and gather it on a large enough scale, or have simply missed the gathering season, one typically has to resort to meat for the majority of the required calories. So, let’s look at some of what is required in terms of providing sufficient calories through hunting and fishing.

 

Opportunity Cost of Hunting and Fishing

Before we look at specific examples, it is important to note that when we speak of hunting and fishing, activities which require that you bring specific equipment into the woods, we have to look not only at what you can successfully hunt, but also at the opportunity cost of that equipment. What I mean by that is that for each pound of equipment which you bring with you, you have to forego a pound of some other resource which you could have brought with you instead. Since we are assuming a person who is otherwise prepared for the wilderness, the most immediate opportunity cost is food. For each pound of gear that you bring, you have to leave behind a pound of food. So, when you bring a 7 pound rifle with you, you could have instead left it behind and brought 7 pounds of food. So, when we look at the equipment one may bring for such hunting, we have to see not only if it can get us any food, but also whether the food we can procure with it is more than the food that we could have brought with us had we not brought the equipment.

To complicate things further, we have to look not only at the weight of the food, but more importantly at the caloric content of that food. So, a pound of squirrel meat will give us 752 calories. On the other hand a pound of instant mashed potatoes will give us 1,664 calories. For this post, I will use mashed potatoes as a base line for calorie dense food that could have been brought into the woods. 

 

Fishing

First, let’s look at fishing. Fishing is a good way to procure calories because the equipment required is not heavy, and is relatively reusable. A large net, fishing rod, reel, lures, and a sizable spool of line will only add up to a few pounds. You guys have seen my lightweight fishing kit, which came in under one pound. A more robust and complete kit can be estimated to around 3 pounds. 3 pounds of gear has the opportunity cost (using the above base line numbers) of 4,983 calories, or about day and a half of food at the required 3,300 calories per day. From a simple numbers standpoint, this means that the first day and a half worth of food that you catch will go to offset the weight of the gear (which you brought rather than bringing food). Everything you catch after that is surplus.

The downside of fishing of course is the limited availability of resource reach areas. For example if you are lucky, and are in an area and the right time for a salmon run, as we saw from the above numbers, a single sockeye salmon will give you about two days worth of food. That means that the first salmon would offset the opportunity cost of the fishing gear, and every subsequent one will be pure food value. If you can catch one every two days, you will be able to meet your caloric requirements. The problem of course is that you may be a week late, and not find a single salmon because the run has ended; or, you may be in an area where no such fish is available; or you may be in an area where there is no body of water which carries any sizable fish at all.

Remember, it takes about 3.5 pounds of salmon per day to meet a person’s caloric requirements. If instead of a 7 pounds salmon, you were pulling out 3 ounce sunfish out of the water, the calculations would be very different. At approximately 50 calories per ounce of fish meat, you can do your own math to see how much fish you would need. I remember an episode of Ray Mears Extreme Survival where he caught a small fish while he was in the Rockies, and prepared it with some plants. It may seem like he has prepared a good dinner, but the reality is that the meal probably contains less that 300 calories, about a tenth of what is needed for the day if we are facing a long terms sustainability situation.

Even with all those considerations however, if you have selected an area close to a sizable body of water for your long term wilderness living situation, fishing is a good way to procure food because of the low weight and reusable nature of the gear, as well as the low amount of energy expenditure required.

 

Hunting

Now, let’s look at hunting as means of procuring food. Obviously, a hunter needs his tools. There are a lot of misconception from people who do not hunt that you can use primitive weapons, constructed in the woods, to effectively hunt. The difficulty of such a task is nearly always underestimated. Thinking that a person can construct a stick bow, or carve a longbow in the woods from an unseasoned piece of wood, and then go hunting with it in an effective manner is wishful thinking. Keep in mind that a hunter with a modern state of the art bow, with modern optics and range finder, will rarely take a shot at over 50 yards. If you are hunting with an improvised bow, lower that range to about 25 yards. Now, go measure out 25 yards and try to think of what it would actually take for you to get to within 25 yards of a deer. Then, think of what accuracy would be needed to hit a squirrel at 10 yards with that same bow. You will quickly gain a healthy appreciation for modern weapons.

Most people who are contemplating long term wilderness living will use some type of firearm, much like Chris McCandless did during his attempt. In recent years, Dave Canterbury, former co-host of Dual Survival, has popularized the single show 12 gauge shotgun as a weapon for long term wilderness living. In this post I will not address any issues regarding whether I believe that to be the best choice, but I will simply use it as a base line for purposes of discussion. A single shot 12 gauge shotgun weighs approximately 6 pounds (H&R Topper Deluxe with synthetic stock). Using the number we previously calculated for calories per pound of food which we could have brought into the woods (1,664 cal/lb), we can calculate that a 6 pound shotgun has the opportunity cost in terms of food of 9,984 calories, or about 3 days worth of caloric intake. That would mean that the first three days worth of food which you kill will go to offset the weight of the gun (keeping ammunition weight aside for now). So, if your trip is less that three days, even best case scenario (you being able to successfully kill enough game each day to meet the 3,300 calories per day requirement), you would be better off simply bringing your food with you. That way the availability of food is guaranteed.

For trips longer than three days, the gun would theoretically be the better bet, assuming you can secure enough food with it. So, let’s look at what that would entail. Let’s assume that you are now hunting small game with lightweight shotgun shells (2 3/4 shells with 1 oz load). Each such shell weighs 1.4 oz. So, for each shell fired, we have to add that weight to the opportunity cost, meaning, for each box of shells, we could have simply brought food with us. We than have to see if the numbers work out.

As I was saying, let’s assume you are hunting small game. As we established earlier, it would take 25 squirrels to provide enough meat for a day’s worth of calories (3,300 cal). Killing 25 squirrels with the above ammunition would require 35 ounces of shotgun shells. Using our caloric value for instant mashed potatoes from above at 104 calories per ounce, the same 35 ounces if brought in the form of mashed potatoes instead of shotgun shells would give us 3,640 calories, more than what you would get from the squirrel meat. That means that if you are hunting squirrel with shotgun shells, you will never procure enough meat to offset the weight of the gear that you have to bring. You will be better off bringing food with you rather than the equivalent weight of ammunition. That is not to mention the weight of the shotgun itself, for which you could have brought an additional 3 days worth of food.

The numbers of course look much better when we consider larger game. If we are hunting rabbit, 4 of them would give us the caloric requirement for a day. That would mean we would have the expand 4 shotgun shells, at a total weight of 5.6 ounces. The equivalent weight of mashed potatoes will only give us 582 calories. In that instance, again, assuming perfect accuracy and availability of sufficient targets, the shotgun will be the better bet. The numbers of course look even better when hunting large game like deer.

A possible way to address the problem with small game hunting is to use different ammunition. While a shotgun shell weighs 1.4 oz, a .22LR cartridge weighs 0.1 oz. 25 squirrels will require only 2.5 ounces worth of .22LR cartridges, making it a viable option. The solution proposed by Dave Canterbury is to carry an adaptor, which inserts in the shotgun, allowing you to fire .22LR bullets. While the approach is viable in theory, if that is the route you chose to take, keep in mind that this is quite possible the least accurate way to fire a .22LR bullet. A non properly bedded, 10 inch rifled insert will give only marginal accuracy, made even more difficult by aiming only with the aid of a bead sight. You should adjust your ammunition count accordingly. After all, the goal here is to kill game, not to just fire ammunition.

Lastly, all of the numbers provided in this post assume 100% accuracy and unlimited availability of any particular resource. Obviously that is not the result in reality, but here I am assuming best case scenario. Success rates for hunting, or hunting strategies are beyond the scope of this post. The only thing I will say on the subject is to be careful when extrapolating success rates for a wilderness living situation based on anyone’s success rate when hunting closer to home. A lot of hunting these days is done on people’s personal property and close to civilization. That has a huge impact on game centralization. Food plots, open terrain of farms, fields, and roads are a great attractant to animals, which in turn become familiarized with people. Hunting in such an area is very different from going deep into the woods and attempting the same thing. One way is not necessarily better than the other, but there is a danger in trying to extrapolate your possible success rate when hunting in a wilderness living situation based on success rates in the woods behind the house.

 

Trapping

I have added a trapping section to the post since I first published due to several comments requesting information on the subject. The reason why I didn’t originally include a section on trapping is that an animal caught through trapping has the exact same caloric value as an animal caught through hunting. The ease of hunting, trapping, or gathering is beyond the scope of this post. For all of the numbers I have presented here, I have assumed 100% success rate and infinite availability of the particular resource.

I will discuss a few of the legal issue involved with trapping, but I will mention a few things here.

First, it is very hard to get data on trapping in the wilderness. The reason is that most trap lines are run close to home for reasons I will explain in the section on legal considerations. As a result, it is hard to find data from an actual wilderness trap line, so some of the aspects of trapping during long term wilderness living are hard to address.

Also, just like with hunting, be careful when extrapolating success rates for wilderness trapping conditions based on trap lines run close to home. Around where I live, there are large numbers of raccoons. I saw five of them walking through the parking lot two weeks ago. It is a different story when you are actually in the forests.

As I will explain below, trapping, just like hunting, requires gear. You will have to bring your traps with you. What traps you use and their size will vary greatly depending on what animal you are trapping and where you are doing it. Factor that weight into your calculations and determine the opportunity cost to see if the numbers work out under the specific conditions.  

 

Legal Considerations

Lastly, we have to get back to that issue which we put to the side earlier, the law. Assuming we do not wish to be poachers, and are actually contemplating living in the wilderness within the real world rather than some imaginary scenario, we have to comply with regulations. Hunting seasons will vary trough different areas, but for most species, especially large species, it will be quite limited. For example, in the State of New York (southern region), deer and bear seasons are from Nov 16 – Dec 8; turkey season is from Oct 1 – Nov 15 in the fall and May 1 – May 31 in the spring; cottontail rabbit is from Oct 1 – Feb 28; gray and fox squirrel is from Sept 1 – Feb 28; grouse is from Oct 1 – Feb 28, etc. There are a few species that can be hunted year round, such as red squirrel, porcupine, rock pigeon, and woodchuck. As you can see however, the limitations are severe.

Above we calculated that a mature white tail buck will give us about 21 days worth of calories if properly processed and preserved. Let’s assume that you can supplement it with other sources of food, and extend that time to a month. If you are hunting deer lawfully, that would mean that to provide sufficient calories for the full year, between the dates of Nov 16 – Dec 8, you will have to kill 12 mature deer in that 3 week period. You have to average 4 deer per week. The practical difficulty with such a task is not the only problem. Most states have restrictions on the number of deer that can be harvested. In NY it is usually 1 or 2 per year.

Now, using New York State as an example, let’s see if the necessary calories for a person for a period of one year can be legally acquired through hunting. The generally available large game would be deer, bear, and turkey. In certain areas, the hunting of other large game like elk, moose, duck and geese may be legal and available. In NY we have good access to duck and goose hunting, but no elk or moose hunting. So, let’s look at the generally available game. Let’s assume that you have two buck tags, one bear tag and four turkey tags (two spring and two fall).

One black bear gives us 68,800 calories. Two bucks, at 59,360 each will give us 118,720 calories. Four turkeys at 7,200 calories each gives us 28,800 calories total. Combined, the bear, deer, and turkey give us 216,320 calories for the annual hunting season.

The caloric requirements for one person for one year based on the 3,300 daily requirement we used above, would give us 365 days times 3,300 calories per day, for a total of 1,204,500 required calories per year.

So, assuming you are a skillful hunter, and luck was on your side, and you managed to fill all of your tags (one black bear, two deer, and four turkey), that will still leave you at a caloric deficiency for the year of 988,180 calories. In other words, you will have no food for 299 days out of the year. If available in your area, you may be able to decrease the deficit by hunting other large game if available, like elk, moose, and duck, although, it appears that a large deficit will remain.

Just to give some perspective, assuming that a duck or goose provides the same amount of calories as a turkey, it would require 137 ducks or geese to satisfy the above caloric deficit (assuming no legal limit on the number you can harvest). Assuming you are hunting those ducks with a 3 inch shotgun shell with a 1 3/4 load, which weigh 2.2 oz each, and assuming perfect accuracy, that would require about 19 pounds of ammunition.

On the other hand, you will have to kill or trap a whole lot of squirrels to make up for the deficiency, approximately 7,486 squirrels, which if hunted with .22LR ammunition, and assuming perfect accuracy, would require about 47 pounds of ammunition.

Trapping is also an option, but you have to keep a few things in mind. First, trapping, just like hunting is regulated and only allowed during certain seasons. Second, the way you can trap is heavily regulated. Deadfalls, snares, hooks on trees, and virtually all DIY traps are not allowed. The regulations are very specific as to exactly what trap you must use for each animal. Third, trapping is generally only allowed for furbearers. In most areas you are not allowed to trap game animals. Some furbearers like beaver are edible, others not so much. Last but not least, regulations typically require that you check all of your traps every 24 or 48 hours. For most people that places serous restrictions on where traps can be placed and limits the size of the trap line. The result is that most trap lines are run close to home with the few exceptions for people who travel deep into the woods and then live there for the trapping season.

The alternative is that you need to systematically exploit another abundant resource such as large scale gathering and processing of acorns when in season, or moving to take advantage of large scale fish migrations and then catching them with nets, fishing wheels, etc. where the law allows.

Do the numbers work out? You do the math. I think we get a better appreciation for why high calories foods such as pemmican and corn meal were so highly valued and commonly carried by woodsmen in the past.  

I don’t write this to discourage anyone from attempting the challenge, nor do I believe it to be impossible. In this post I am simply attempting to provide some more solid data that can be used to make a realistic evaluation of exactly what it would take to thrive alone in the wilderness. As Thayer writes: “In a long-term subsistence situation, food is the priority. In former times, the native people of the Far North planned each move according to food availability… In a short-term survival situation, food is of minor importance. However, in long-term survival or “living off the land,” it is of paramount importance.”

There was a time when men who ventured into the wilderness knew what resources were required, and how much of them had to be brought along. Their accounts often refer to base camps, cabins, and food stocks being carried on horse back, mule train, or by dog sled teams. Somewhere along the way we seem to have lost the realistic grasp on those requirements, and were left with nothing more than romantic musings and conjecture. 

 

Levels of Hitting the Fan

Levels of Hitting the Fan

I’m sure all of us have seen or heard someone make statements about how it’ll be when it hits the fan. Very often, the people saying this have the very worst case scenario in mind. I want to bring up three articles I have written that I hope can help people have a more open minded, broad approach to their preparedness.
 

Levels of Hitting the Fan

The scale of an incident can vary based on geography, time of year, length of incident and countless other criteria. Just last week there was a storm that dumped three feet of snow on an area just a few hundred miles away from me. When it got here, we only got a mild thunderstorm.
If we would have gotten that much snow here in Minnesota, my city neighborhood might have fared better than some, as we have underground power lines, creating no real danger of local power lines snapping from the added weight of ice and snow.
 

When Would You Say “It Has Hit the Fan”?

I wrote an article called When Would You Say It Has Hit The Fan? In it, I make the point that this is largely subjective. Let’s say we got the three feet of snow here in Minnesota. While my family would be dreading the shoveling, we would be warm, fed, and safe and secure, even if we lost power. I believe that there are some of my neighbors who would have to venture out to get more groceries. They are ill prepared. For them, the stuff might be hitting the fan, but for us it would be an inconvenient bump in the road.
 

Disaster Probability

Someone recently made a comment about how one wouldn’t want to cook outdoors once it’s hit the fan. I replied that under a worst case, total melt-down, he was correct. As I explain in Disaster Probability, those types of worse case scenarios don’t happen very often. If they do happen, they rarely start off as a worst case scenario. One of the scenarios people mention is a total economic meltdown where people are rioting instantly; there is no food anywhere and the hordes kill anyone they want to take whatever they want.

The truth is, in an economic collapse, things will most likely get bad slowly. Job losses will increase, social programs will swell and the value of the dollar will decrease as prices increase. The people who riot and cause havoc will most likely not make a noise until their social programs are cut and the price of food increases to a level that makes today’s prices look cheap. In my version of what an economic collapse will look like, I’ll be safe cooking outside for some time. It would only be dangerous to do so once the price of food is burdensome or the stores just don’t have any.

The major events that the doomers among us point to like major economic overnight meltdown, EMP, and so on just don’t happen very often, if at all. The truth is, the stuff hits the fan for many people every single day. Loved ones die. Jobs are lost. Houses burn. Cars are stolen. The scenarios go on and on. Some of these may seem small to you, but they can and are life changing events for others. The events that are most likely to happen are the ones that only affect a small number of people. When I lost my job it really impacted my family, but no one else has been impacted by it.
 

Don’t Get Tunnel Vision

In the Article called The Downfalls of Tunnel Vision I make the point to explain that it can be dangerous for us to think an event will only take place a certain way. This is why I don’t recommend preparing for event’s, but instead to take a general approach to preparedness. If you only prepare for an EMP, you might not be prepared for or see a pandemic coming.

In being prepared for the things that are most likely to happen, we will eventually be prepared for the larger things that have a small chance of happening but will effect a large percentage of people.

 
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Shaving After the Stuff Hits the Fan

Shaving After the Stuff Hits the Fan

I have no proof of this, but I believe that the majority of people who shave do so either with an electric razor or with disposable blades. I actually use both, which got me thinking about what I would do in a prolonged “stuff hitting the fan” situation where the trucks weren’t bringing disposable razors and the grid was down. While I might be tempted to go Grizzly Adams or Duck Dynasty and just grow a manly mane, the Beautiful Mrs. Ray would oppose. (Yep, absolutely! ~Trudee) In truth, the facial hair wouldn’t bother me but I started shaving my head years ago as a pre-emptive strike against my balding genetics. I happen to like this style better than when I had hair and would still want to shave my head in a prolonged event. But I digress.

I knew about straight razor shaving and discovered safety razors. For full disclosure, I haven’t used either, but I have researched them and thought I would share my thoughts with you.

Straight Razor
Straight Razor

You’ve probably seen a straight razor used in a movie or on TV. This was the way men shaved for centuries, either by themselves or going to a barber and paying for a hot towel shave. With a straight razor, you will also need a hone to keep it sharp and a strop to keep the metal aligned on the edge.

This is probably the most difficult shave to master and the most dangerous if you’re not careful. It is also the most expensive upfront cost, with razors costing from $100 – $300, strops ranging from $50 – $200 and hones from $50 – $100. Like I said, it’s the most expensive upfront. However, it is my understanding that a well maintained razor will outlast you.

Saftey razor
Safety Razor

A safety razor has a guide that limits exposure to the blade, thus limiting the risk of a serious cut. Safety razors were the first major leap from straight razors. Safety razors have a disposable one or two sided blade that can be discarded after it dulls. There are a few different types of safety razors that the link can explain far better than I. There is also a variety of blades available, varying in degree of sharpness, among other traits. Some blades will work better for you than others and there are often sample packs offered so you can try a variety at a low price. Safety Razors range in price from $25 – $100, blades range from 5 count packages for $2.00 to 100 count packages for $18.00 – $20.00.
 
 
Shaving Brushes

There are a few different types of brushes. From my research, Badger brushes are the best quality. The quality of lather you can get from a good brush and a traditional shaving cream or soap has a much better quality than from modern canned creams.

Shaving Lather

Soaps and Creams

Aside from the disposable blades for safety razors, creams, soaps and after shave are the only other consumables that would have to be replaced. There are many different creams and soaps. Some are slicker than others and they vary by scent as well. There are two types of shaving soaps; glycerin based and hard soaps. Prices range greatly by size and manufacturer. Glycerin based soaps are cheaper and can last for roughly two months with daily use. Hard soaps are made with heavier oils and can last 4 – 6 months with daily use.
 
 
General Thoughts

I hate shaving. I always have. So much so that I usually only shave twice a week. During my research, I read a few accounts from men who hated shaving also. They say that once they began to use a straight or safety razor and found some shaving soaps and creams they liked, they began to actually enjoy it.

As I mentioned, I don’t currently use a straight or safety razor. I would like to use a straight razor but I’m not sure how feasible that is for shaving my head when I can’t easily see the back of it. Because of this, when money permits, I would really like to get a safety razor and start using that full time now.

Stocking soaps and blades to last years is easily affordable, so even if the stuff hits the fan I can maintain a clean shaven appearance.
 
 
Resources on Shaving

Here are just some of the links I have on shaving. Some are informational and others offer products.

Shaving 101
The Art of the Straight Razor Shave
Classic Shaving
West Coast Shaving
Badger and Blade

 
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Propane for Fuel Storage

Propane for Fuel Stroage

 
Energy is one of the five basic human needs. We use it to cook, to see and for power, among other things. For many reasons, propane is my fuel of choice to store and use if/when the grid goes down for any length of time.
 
Storage

Propane does not go bad like some of the other fuels and has an indefinite shelf life. There are multiple storage sizes; the 1lb, the popular 20lb and even some 200lb tanks that are available at various hardware stores. Many use propane for their primary fuel source and have the much larger tanks that are filled only once or twice a year. Before you decide to store larger tanks of propane, you should check local laws.
 
Availability

I’m sure this is not the case everywhere, but where I live there are two propane companies within walking distance, and a couple more within twenty miles. That’s not counting all of the self-serve propane stations scattered at various gas stations and other businesses. A note about these self-serve stations; they are much more expensive here than taking the tank to a company to have it refilled. They are, however, a good way to trade in your older tank for a new one.
 
Utility

This is one of the major reasons I decided to go with propane. There is just so much you can do with it. There are camp lights, camp stoves, grills, portable heaters, generators and even some appliances that can run on propane. Here are some instructions on filling the smaller 1lb tanks from a 20lb tank.
 

Power

As stated, there are some generators that run on propane and some can also be retro-fitted to accept propane as a fuel source. I have heard that generators will use more propane than gas. If that’s true, in my opinion, the point is negated because of how much easier it is to store large amounts of propane versus gasoline. I checked on the conversion for our generator and was told I needed to send them the carburetor, that they would modify it and send it back for $150.
 

Final Thoughts

I personally believe that if we were to see a prolonged grid down event, propane would be available longer than gasoline. The main reason for this is that gas would be used to run most generators and to fuel vehicles (if they’re running). In suburbia, people generally only use propane for their grills and usually have just the one tank.

 
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Preparing You Family For Combat

If you carry a firearm for self-defense, have you prepared your family for what they should do if you have to use it to protect them or yourself? I don’t know about you, but to me, having to use deadly force is definitely a version of the stuff hitting the fan. Making sure your loved ones know what to do, before, during and after can protect them from many negative impacts. Here are some general thoughts on how you prepare your family.
 

Before

My wife and I both have our permits to carry. When we got them, I came up with some tactics for us. If there is a deadly force encounter, I am the one to respond. My stepsons lost their father at very young ages. They cannot lose their mother. Whether I were killed or, for some reason jailed, she would still be able to care for them. I know there are police officers who put their homes in only their wives’ name for similar reasons. If they are sued they can’t lose the house.

When we go out to eat, I sit facing the door. This way I can stay in condition yellow and be aware of who is coming in. If we sit on the same side in a booth, I sit on the outside just in case I need to act.

There are a couple different companies that offer a type of “carry insurance” that can aid in legal and other expense incurred from the need to use deadly force. There may be others, but the two I am aware of are, US Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) and Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc.. I’m not endorsing either one but simply making you aware of available options. I had USCCA coverage for a while but, for financial reasons, no longer carry it. When I am better able to afford it, I’ll look at both options again. I note this here because a legal defense could be a bank-breaking financial burden.

Our home security plan has modified over the years as the kids have gotten older but the core is essentially the same. Trudee calls police while I lock, load, watch and listen. If the kids need me, I fight to them. Otherwise, everyone stays put and we wait for police. The oldest child isn’t old enough for a firearm, so he has kept a bat by his bedside for years. This helps him feel safer and better prepared, just like a firearm at my side does for me.
 

During

I am right handed, so I try to keep Trudee on my left side. If I need draw my firearm, I can do so and she won’t be in the way. I can also use my left hand to tuck her behind me if needed. That way she can look for cover while I engage the threat. We have talked to the kids as well and they understood that if either of us ever had to use force, they were to immediately get to cover and concealment as safely as possible. I explained what cover and concealment are to them, and gave them examples of each in some of the places we go.
 

After

If you have to use force, your family should tell police or anyone else that they will need to speak to either you or your lawyer. If police request to search your home, your family should tell them “not without a warrant”. They should then alert you or your attorney.

The entire family might go through a rollercoaster of emotions after a critical incident. There is nothing wrong with seeking counseling for the entire family to help you all process what has happened.

Some might think I’m instilling fear in the kids but I disagree. By knowing that bad things happen and teaching them how they can and should respond, they are empowered, more inoculated and better prepared should, God forbid, any of these things actually ever happen.

 
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Prepper Ethics 101: What About Others?

 

Today’s article was written by guest author Naomi Broderick.

 

“Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.”

              -Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

“Grub first, then ethics.”

              -Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

When preparing ourselves for emergencies, rarely do we make accommodations for anyone outside of our household. And this isn’t necessarily selfish; survival for ourselves and our families is an instinctual drive. When attempting to make a home as sustainable as possible with enough resources and security measures, it can be complicated and costly to consider anyone outside of our households.

For many, the primary issue is of trust. When a widespread crisis strikes, self-preservation is the same force that motivates a prepper’s caution as it does a looter’s thieving. It can be difficult to trust even the kindliest strangers at the precipice of an emergency, which is why preppers are often unfairly characterized as being selfish or “paranoid.” But when it comes to the welfare of others, it can be all too easy to justify isolation.

Some ideas that might cross the mind are:

  •   “Why should my family share our resources when I was the one who made the sacrifices to prepare for this?”
  •   “What if sharing my resources now means that I can’t support my family later on?”
  •   “How can I be sure they don’t represent a threat to my family?”
  •   “Why should I owe anything to a stranger at my doorstep?”

And these are all valid concerns in deciding whether or not to come to the aid of someone standing at your door during times of emergency. Feelings of indignation and guilt alike are perfectly reasonable reactions when refusing or ignoring the needs of others when your family’s welfare is on the line. But is refusing to help others, even out of concern for ourselves and our families, morally right?

 

Scarcity vs. abundance

It is often said that morality is only possible when survival isn’t an issue. Others consider survival a moral right, and that any necessary measures to survive is justifiable. No matter your school of thought, it’s clear that the scarcity of resources and the impact that this has on your ability to survive is an issue when considering the morality of helping others.

Before passing judgment on yourself or others for certain behaviors during crises, consider how resources, needs, and wants motivated their behavior. In the eyes of most individuals, a looter who scours the remains of a supermarket for food to feed their family is more morally righteous than one who broke into someone’s abandoned home to steal a television. Generally, we grant more lenience in judging those with fewer resources who are fulfilling their needs rather than their wants.

Similarly, whether or not the refusal to aid others is “right” largely depends on the scarcity of your resources. If one has vast stores of food, faces a short-term crisis such as natural disaster or terrorist threat, and yet still refuses to aid seemingly harmless strangers, where does this person stand morally? I believe most would agree that this stance is not justifiable. However, some might argue that it isn’t possible to determine who represents a threat.

 

The risk of charity

It’s natural to fear the unknown. As children, most of us are taught about “stranger danger” and the risks associated with placing trust in someone you haven’t met. There is no surefire way to tell who is trustworthy, what ulterior motives an individual might have, and unknown risks that they might introduce in your home. Especially in incidents of contagious disease outbreak, suspicion of others is a logical extension of self-preservation. Whether or not giving into the fear of the unknown is morally justifiable is a difficult question, and depends entirely on the eye of the beholder.

The true decider of morality in these circumstances is intent. I believe that no prepper should be indicted for refusing to help others when the safety of their home is a potential casualty. In fact, the opportunities in which I’ve had the chance to meet and talk with fellow preppers have proven to me that they’re frequently among some of the most compassionate and concerned individuals for the safety of their household, neighborhood, and country.

What are your thoughts about the morality of helping others during crises in which scarcity is an issue?

This is a contribution from Naomi Broderick, a stay-at-home mother and prepper who lives in the great rural Northwest. She currently writes with Protect Your Home, who provides security in Phoenix, Arizona

 

Disaster Probability

It has been some time since I covered this topic. There are enough new readers that I think it’s time to discuss again. Disaster probability is one of the fundamental building blocks of preparedness. By understanding it, we have a better idea of what our potential threats are and what we should actually be preparing for.
 
 
Possible, Plausible and Probable

If you’ve watched any of the prepper shows like Doomsday Preppers, any preparedness related youtube videos, or read any preparedness forums you’ve no doubt heard people give a long list of events they’re preparing for. While all of these things might be possible, they aren’t all plausible or very probable.

There is also a relationship between how possible something is and the area of its effect. In the image below, you can see that in the inner ring there is a picture of a house, which represents you. The things that are most probable to happen are likely to affect only you or your neighborhood in some instances. This is sometimes called the “pebble in the shoe” effect. If you’re walking with other people and you have a pebble in your shoe, it might really affect you but doesn’t really impact those around you. For an example, when I lost my job it had no effect on my neighbors but had a severe impact on my family.

Disaster Probability

As we move further from the probable ring, there is less of a chance that the events in the outer rings will actually happen. If they do happen, they will have a larger area of impact. The events that fall in the “plausible” ring have a less likely chance of actually happening but if they do, they could impact a county or state. The events in the “possible” ring are possible but unlikely. However, if they do happen, the area of effect is very large and could happen on a regional or national level.
 
Here are some examples of events in the various rings.
 
Probable: Affects home, possibly neighborhood
Job loss
House fire
Theft
Neighborhood power outage
 
Plausible: Affects County to State
Are-wide blackout
Wildfire
Severe weather (tornado, flash flooding, hurricane, etc.)
Flu epidemic
 
Possible: Affects Regional or Larger
EMP
Pandemic
Economic collapse
Caldera eruption
 

Applying This to Our Preparedness

I don’t think we should prepare for specific events but, instead, have a general level of preparedness. However, we still must be aware of our greatest threats in the areas in which we live, in case we must take specific precautions. For instance, if I was brand new to preparedness, it makes much more sense for me to prepare for an ice storm or blizzard than it does for me to prepare for an EMP. Sure, an EMP is possible, but in Minnesota, blizzards and ice storms actually happen. Since ice storms often bring power outages with them, it makes more sense for me to make sure I have a means of keeping warm, keeping the food cold and so on. By being prepared for the most probable threats, we eventually become much better prepared for the less likely events that will have a far greater reach.

 
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Contest With Two Great Prizes

I’m really excited to tell you all about this, I have joined with seventeen very talented preparedness bloggers and Survival Based.com to offer two really great prizes, to two winners!

Giveaway

The 1st lucky winner will receive a Fuel-less Portable Solar Generator by Humless (Approx. Retail Value $2599) and the 2nd lucky winner will receive a One Month Supply Kit by Food Supply Depot (Food for 2 adults & 2 kids. Approx. Retail Value $1119).

All you have to do to enter is fill out the Rafflecopter form below by signing in with your Facebook account or email address. (We’ll need this info in order to contact you if you win.)

Start by clicking Easy Entry for Everyone (no social media accounts required) below and after that each +1 that you click is another entry to win! That equals up to 37 entries per person!

The giveaway begins September 23, 2013 and ends on September 30, 2013 at 11:59 PM, EST. The winners will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is drawn.

You must be 18 years or older to enter. Prizes will be shipped to U.S. residents only. Residents of other countries may enter but will be responsible for paying the shipping cost.

Good Luck!!

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