Emergency food storage is not about fear mongering or scare tactics. It’s about emergency preparedness. You are preparing in advance so chaos and scarcity won’t ensue should a real emergency occur. But, these are the days wherein things that are right are called wrong, things that are wrong are called right, and the political spin doctors are working overtime. No wonder emergency food storage may be seen by some (who hang on every word of the mainstream media) as being “extreme”. When you live in a country that has a deficit of over $14 trillion, has over $75 trillion in unfunded liabilities, whose real unemployment is over 20 percent (Shadowstats.com), and where gold is over $1,200 denominated in the country’s currency, how would anybody with a little horse sense construe having some emergency food storage as being extreme? Unless they just don’t interpret the above figures as extreme!?

Common sense has become a very uncommon commodity. When bills more than a thousand pages long that are not even read have passage through Congress even considered, this is a huge red flag, and should give rise to concern and action on the part of individuals for protection. What more important action could we take to preserve our lives and freedoms than to protect ourselves from gross departure of our sacred constitutional principles by being self reliant and obtaining for ourselves and our families an emergency food storage supply to take car of our survival needs, and to secure our financial situation with constitutional money (gold and silver)? Common sense dictates: if you don’t take care of yourself, why should anyone else? What’s more – the future is uncertain – to beware and to prepare is nothing else if not logical.

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There is a wealth of knowledge about emergency preparedness in books, videos, classes, conferences, government sponsored organizations, private organizations, and other media outlets. The trick is to find the simplest, most straightforward basics of emergency preparedness in one place. What is needed is a family preparedness handbook that is extremely well organized, informative, and user-friendly. What is available is exactly that! James Talmage Stevens, author of Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook has recently revised his emergency preparedness book with 260 additional pages of new information, charts, tables, and recipes. James’s mantra is “keep it super simple”. So, although James’s wildly popular, best emergency preparedness book on the market is packed with so much information– everything from food storage to fuel storage to financial preparedness to the organization of critical documents to self reliant living to supplementation, and emergency action plans, James’s best emergency preparedness book (over 760,000 copies sold, and in its 11th addition!)– sticks to its title, mission, and purpose of Making the Best of Basics. Quite frankly, the best of anything is basic and easy to understand, especially in the case of emergency preparedness! If emergency preparedness is made to be too complicated an issue, it is abandoned by most people (and causes a whole lot more deaths!). Indeed, James understands this principle because his creation of the best emergency preparedness book available takes a reader from kindergarten to college in regards to family preparedness.

A quick glance through the Table of Contents of Making the Best of Basics should convince the reader that James really is serious about his “basic” premise– to keep things simple! Among his chapter headings you will find the likes of “Basics of Whole Wheat Cookery”, “Basics of Honey Use”, “Basics or In-Home Drying– Dehydrating Fruits and Vegetables”, “Basics of Dairy Products from Powdered Milk”, “Basics of Battling Stress”, “Basics of Supplementation”, and on and on– everything is basically basic! The recipes are even basic (I’m game for that!). That’s why I’m tooting James Talmage Steven’s horn for him, and calling it the best emergency preparedness book, because he lays it all out– all of the important emergency preparedness considerations and information is covered a baby step at a time. You have lists of the necessaries, and you can take on emergency preparedness with confidence by utilizing his charts, checklists, and tables. You can photocopy the checklists and use his emergency preparedness handbook as a workbook, becoming an active participant, much like you are taking a class, but at your own leisure (but don’t wait too long!). Not only that, but James is a storyteller. He illustrates practical application of what he teaches through his fun little parables and makes it easier and less laborious reading material. Just be careful that you not enjoy the best emergency preparedness book out there so much so that you don’t get around to doing anything but reading it! Prepare to flourish, not flounder!

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Our civilization is quite advanced, making it even that much more important to prepare for any number of things that could go awry, and calling upon the use of something as simple as food storage. See, when any system gets so far advanced and inclined towards such high levels of technological specialization in so many varied facets, it becomes increasingly more susceptible to a breakdown or interruption, because when just one part of the whole becomes dysfunctional it creates a domino effect throughout. Just as happened with the housing market. And to make an analogy most can appreciate, how helpless do you feel when your car gadgetry malfunctions? When you car windows won’t roll up nor down with just the click of a button, do you sometimes long for the manual window-roller-uppers?

Although not caused by a defect in the normal “man”-aged workings of society, we can see how a “change” in the status quo will cause mass chaos, as witnessed by a series of big hurricanes a few years back. What happens? Many basic essentials are the first to fly off the store shelves, and this surely includes food. Food storage, water storage, 72 hour kits, and other emergency supplies collected far in advance could prevent this mad rush to a grocery store—only to find that crowds of people made it there before you did, leaving very little left of the significant items for you to purchase. Remember, this is not an apocalyptic event, just nature taking its course. Recall also the pictures on television those people who waited until the last minute before evacuating and being stranded on freeways for hours at a time because of overtaxed capacity. If you are going to get out of Dodge, do it before everyone else decides to!

In his book, “Making the Best of Basics,” author James Talmage Stevens speaks of an in-home food storage convenience store. Aside from disastrous situations, how nice would it be to never “run out” of an ingredient needed for a recipe, not having to run to the neighbors for an item to complete the mix? What if you should forget that you have no more diapers in the home and your baby has a bout of diarrhea? Even if the store is close, it’s nice to have a backup supply.

We have learned in recent years that the unexpected can and does happen. “Nobody saw it coming!” was the common refrain in response to the economic crisis. In times of volatility and uncertainty, could there be a trucker’s strike, or exceedingly high gas prices that cause a disruption in the supply chain delivering food to the marketplace? This and many other unforeseen scenarios could happen, thus bringing to the forefront the need for food storage and emergency supplies. With the advanced JIT (Just-In-Time) concept of inventories, it is said that grocery store shelves could be emptied in 3 days or less. But, if you have an in-home food storage convenience store as part of your wise and prudent emergency preparedness efforts, you’re not among those who panic. We’re not talking about Armageddon or the Apocalypse here. We’re just talking about good, old-fashioned common sense.

Food really can go missing from grocery storage shelves as attested to by even recent articles found here and here. Got food storage?

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Okay. As far as similarities, both types of food are great for long-term storage and are almost identical as far as shelf life (about 25 years). Also, both need to be kept in similar temperature, humidity, and oxygen conditions.

However, the similarities between the two types of food end there. From that point on, there are three major differences between freeze-dried food and dehydrated food:

First of all, I want to make it very clear that my species did not climb to the top of the food chain so that we could become vegetarians. I like meat. Maybe you do, too. So for me, I need to have meat that tastes good in my home food storage. Well, the meat, as you will see, is very, very different between the dehydrated and freeze-dried types of food storage.

See, dehydrated food doesn’t have any seasoning or additional ingredients added to it when it is made. In fact, most dehydrated foods are just a single ingredient and that’s it. Whether it is fruit or meat, it is just that one item. This is a huge problem for a meat-eater like me because what this means is that a dehydrated piece of meat is just that. A piece of meat. Nothing added to make it taste good or to make it enjoyable. Therefore, if you want any seasoning or anything like that, you need to add it in later.

On the other hand, freeze-dried food does have seasoning and additional ingredients already added in. So when it comes to meat, seasoning and added ingredients have already been added in! That makes eating meat and other items oh so tasty.

This is the first major difference between the two types of food. Even though dehydrated food can range from everything from rice to pancake mix to Ramen noodles, you need to make sure you have some ingredients to add to them once they are hydrated. Otherwise they are quite insipid and tasteless. Freeze-dried food, on the other hand, contains lots of different ingredients and some fantastic seasonings. So, you just heat it up and eat it and mmmmmmmmmm. Remarkable.

The second big different between the two types of food is that although both freeze-dried food and dehydrated food just need water and heat, the prep time varies greatly. Freeze-dried foods are usually quicker to prepare than dehydrated foods. The times can vary anywhere from as little as 15 minutes to one hour depending on what it is you are cooking, but, as a general rule, the dehydrated food takes longer to prepare than the freeze-dried food. Note: If you have a pressure cooker on hand you can cut the prep time down considerably on both types of food. Pressure cookers will save you a ton of time and energy regardless of which type of home food storage you have.

Finally, the third difference between the two types of food is that freeze-dried food is usually a full meal that contains multiple items. Think “TV Dinner” or even “Meals on Wheels” when you think freeze-dried food. Unlike dehydrated foods, freeze-dried foods are meals that are completely ready to eat once they are heated up and water has been added. Again, dehydrated food is usually just a single ingredient. You will need to mix them with other items or season them or they won’t taste that great.

Now, does this mean freeze-dried food is better than dehydrated food? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Well, actually, yes.

But before you start thinking freeze-dried food is some Bastian of Morality and dehydrated food is one step below plankton pee, it should be noted that dehydrated food takes freeze-dried food behind the woodshed every day of the week when it comes to price. Dehydrated food is way cheaper. Way cheaper. Dehydrated food also usually makes more food than freeze-dried food per serving—again, this adds to the value and price ratio advantage.

So, a quick recap here: Freeze-dried food tastes better, is ready to eat sooner, and has a wider variety of food once prepared. Dehydrated food does not taste as good, takes longer to prepare, and is just that one item when you prepare it. However, dehydrated food is much, much cheaper than freeze-dried food.

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Who doesn’t drive nowadays? Okay, I’m not talking about your infant or toddler. And I’m not talking about your aging parents or grandparents. But most people in our civilized society that have the means (and many can afford at least a beater car) use a car as a means of transportation. Think about how much time you actually spend in your car. It may not be 1/3 of your life like it is with sleeping, but especially if you have any significant commuting to and from work, you spend a lot of time in your car. Do you maintain your car perfectly with every scheduled routine maintenance? If you are like most people, you probably at least make sure the oil gets changed regularly, but what about everything else?

Using the words of a teenager: “So, like, you have this all nice stereo system in your car, and, like, you spent all that money for a cool thing, but, like, you don’t have nothing in case you got– like stuck somewhere?” So what if you are who the teenager is talking about? Oh, well, you have a cell phone, so you are taken care of! Maybe not… Why chance it? Isn’t it nice to know that should you be in a situation you had not expected, that you had the foresight to protect against these types of scenarios? And what about your driving children? Your teenage children drive you crazy, but they also drive a car and you love them. So if there was anything that you could do to ensure their safety you would probably do it, right?

An emergency car kit is a wonderful resource. You have smoke alarms in your home. You probably have a fire extinguisher, too, or should have. But what do you have in the trunk of your car, besides junk? You really should have a lifesaver back there. Come on now, get with the program– have an emergency car kit, at least for the peace of mind. What if you never use it? Well then, Hallelujah! But if you should need it, and you don’t have one, you’ll kick yourself and probably swear, and feel really rotten. But more importantly, you’ll be endangered! Emergency preparedness is not all about doom and gloom. In fact, it is just the opposite. In a sense it’s taking control now of what you can’t control later. Everyone would be on board with this idea if they could see that in their future it would be needed. But being as most of us cannot see the future, we have this thing we call emergency preparedness, and it sets us up for success for the obstacles that life puts in our way instead of failure.

Got Emergency Car Kit?

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Outdoor Survival: Staying Warm and Dry in the Outdoors

According to outdoor survival experts, the most important necessity for survival is shelter.  When you are in the outdoors, think of what you are wearing as a type of shelter.  For your survival it is necessary to be shielded against the elements in some manner.  In the cold, your main concerns are to keep your body temperature up to prevent hypothermia and to keep it covered sufficiently so that you don’t experience Jack Frost(Bite).  If you will be spending any amount of time outdoors in winter conditions, you need to plan for your stay as if it will be longer than you had expected.  This is wise because you can never be sure when you might get stuck outdoors due to your car breaking down, somehow getting lost in the wilderness, and other unforeseen scenarios.  How many people have you seen that are way under dressed when they venture outside the doors of their home?  Are you guilty of it?  I have been at times.  We are in a hurry and we have to get someplace quickly and we won’t be gone for long, so we just basically go in our pajamas and slip on some flip flops and it’s the middle of winter!  We have little if any protection if we were to meet up with an emergency situation that called for spending an extended period of time in the outdoors.  Well, it’s not that cold outside we reason.  But the mountain lake water isn’t that cold either when we just dip our hand in it for a couple of seconds.  What happens when it turns into minutes, or hours?  You get the picture.

Keeping dry is part of keeping warm.  When we are wet and cold outside this threatens our survival even more.  It’s comparable to  when the temperature is zero degrees Fahrenheit outside and then with the windchill factor it’s 80 below (not quite, but seemingly so).  It’s imperative when you are in the outdoors, especially in the wintertime, that you keep dry.  If you find yourself wet, get indoors quickly and change clothes and dry off before you venture back out again.

When you go outdoors, pay particular attention to your most sensitive areas that you know from experience get the coldest.  It can make an outdoor trip miserable if you aren’t adequately prepared for the environment because you haven’t dressed appropriately.  For me, I know that my feet, hands, and ears are pretty critical.  Is it the same for you, or is it your Rudolph nose?  I make certain that these areas have extra protection.  If you don’t have good, warm wool socks to protect your toesies, wear two or three regular pair.  Keep your head covered.  Your ears aren’t a good thing to lose.  Mike Tyson proved that to Evander Holyfield.  Ears can be easily frostbitten.  And for heaven sakes, have a good pair of gloves!  The Hot Hands in the video that I mention are great little additions, too.  Sometimes if your fingers get a little nippy, you can warm them up a little by crossing your arms across your body and placing your hands where the sun don’t shine– under your armpits, silly.

If you are over prepared and over dressed, you have the advantage in surviving in the outdoors.  You can’t put more “shelter” on if you don’t have it with you, but you can take some off it you have too much on.  So layering your clothing is critical.  And wool is a great thing to have because it drys more quickly than other materials.

I’m sure you’ve heard this somewhere before, but– Boom Shacka Laka, Star Wars, and Chewbacca– stay warm and dry in the outdoors so you can be safe and survive!

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Hopefully most people have been taught in their younger years the way to perform the Heimlich Maneuver (a.k.a. abdominal thrusts) on the victim of an obstructed airway. It is a lifesaving method that everyone should know in order to assist someone who is totally at the mercy of unsuspecting bystanders. If a person is still choking, it is advisable to let them try to emit the food material by their own power, but if not, and their airway is clearly obstructed, by all means intervene and perform this lifesaving technique. This is the very essence of emergency preparedness. It is quite a simple technique with profound consequences. It can mean the difference between life and death.

Emergency preparedness isn’t completely geared to helping others in a bind, however. It includes being prepared to help yourself first and foremost. As far as emergency preparedness goes, you can’t really help other people if you can’t take care of yourself.

If you happened to be all alone and you were eating some solid foods and by accident didn’t chew carefully enough, or for whatever reason swallowed a chunk of food that obstructed your airway, you have some options. If you are prepared for an event such as this you can come out victorious and live to see another day. The emergency preparedness technique of the Heimlich Maneuver can readily come into play if you have practiced it and understand the concept of using it to help yourself.

The motto of the Boy Scout is “Be prepared.” For anything. This is where I first learned not only the Heimlich maneuver, but further how to perform a version of it to empower myself in case I was not under supervision of anyone or was otherwise on my own without assistance if I should ever stop breathing due to an obstructed airway. In the previous emergency preparedness video about the self-administering of the Heimlich, I have dumbed it down a bit because I was just demonstrating, and I didn’t want to hurt myself. But you still get the idea. In the video you may have noticed when I perform the first method, I am using my hands up against the corner of the counter top, and that makes it less effective. In a real life situation you would not stabilize yourself or negate the forceful thrusts in this manner. And in the second method, upon reviewing the film, I notice that I am up against a door, not a more firm wall, and I am probably lifting myself off of my feet and making weird noises, as well as not being flush up against it (was I being overly dramatic?).

Regardless of my flaws, the point is still illustrated well enough to aid those who wish to polish their emergency preparedness skill set and have another tool of knowledge. You can’t develop too much in the way of emergency preparedness skills. There is always more to learn that you hadn’t thought of before and these gems are extremely useful. You won’t ever be sorry you took the time to learn about different aspects of emergency preparedness because you never know what can happen!

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This is the 4^th installment in a series of 16 articles on acquiring gold and silver for your investment portfolio. Professional  precious metals advisor, Pat Gorman will  share some of his expertise with you to help you make better investment decisions. The less you have, the smarter you must invest to protect yourself against loss and diminishing returns on your assets.
 

(Note: Information is given as generalizations of typical portfolios. Some of this information was provided by Patrick C. Gorman, President & Owner, Resource Consultants Incorporated, 6139 S. Rural Road Ste.103 Phone: (800) 494-4149 or 480-820-5877  Fax: 480-820-5905. Resource Consultants deals in all gold, silver, and platinum coins, and bullion. Pat sells 90% silver in bags, gold and silver Eagle coins, silver dollars, and can recommend a strategy to fit individual need. His wife, Linda, has been in the business for 25+ years, and is experienced in every aspect of brokerage and precious metals management. Mr. Gorman has been in the hard asset business for more than 27 years. For the past 19 years, he has also hosted his own live talk show, “Hard Money Watch” and has been rated in the area’s top 5 radio shows for the last 6 years. Further, Pat Gorman and his company Resource Consultants is the most recommended precious metals brokers in the country. They are recommended by more than 20 financial newsletter writers and investment analysts.)

Read and study this information carefully! You are responsible for your own money! Invest it wisely, and it’ll serve you well.

Pat will Keep It Super Simple!

The 10 Most Asked Questions about Precious Metals

Many people have been conditioned to believe paper money is the ideal means of “storing” of their work’s value. They simply don’t understand the historic appeal and value of precious metals to those who are preparing for the uncertain financial future. Here are ten (10) of the most often asked questions about metals and coins we’ve encountered over the past 25 years.

Hopefully, the answers to these questions will provide both a working knowledge and some insight into the intrinsic value of precious metals, as well as why and how they provide long-term stability to their owner.

1. What Makes Precious Metals So Valuable?

2. What Determines the Value of Precious Metals?

3. How Much Gold and Silver Should Be in My Portfolio?

4. Do You Have A Suggested Portfolio of Precious Metals for Everyone?

5. I’ve Never Owned Precious Metals––What Items Do You Suggest?

6. What Forms of Precious Metals Should I Avoid?

7. Where Do I Store My Precious Metals and How Do I Protect Them?

8. What Are the “Rules of the Game” So I Don’t Violate the Law?

9. Just How Liquid Are Precious Metals in A Crisis Situation?

10. When Things Get Ugly, How Do I Use My Coins for the Things I Need?

The next blog post will start the explanations for the questions above.

It’s as simple as that!

Till next time…

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For the trip I had plenty of water with me, food, emergency blankets, tools for the truck, extra gas, and a lighter in case I needed to make a fire. I dressed very warmly with a coat, hat, and gloves. My clothing was layered. It’s always easier to take off a layer than add one if you have nothing to add because you have not thought ahead.

I had a 4-wheel-drive pickup so I could drive up the mountainside high enough to get to where the pines were. My cutting tool was simply a small bow saw because I was intent on only securing a small tree, as that was all the tree I have room for and want to take care of.

The trip to where I was cutting the tree down was in a national forest, and it required a permit. Always find out and follow local laws so you can be a responsible world citizen.

The trip was delightful and this is a practice that I recommend and will continue with my family. One recommendation I have in regards to getting your Christmas tree permit is to find out when they go on sale and get one within the closest vicinity to where you live ASAP. I had to drive a couple of hours to get where I cut my tree down. Had I acted sooner (usually right after Thanksgiving) I would have beat some of my competition and gotten a permit in a range about half the distance I ended up traveling. Check with the forest service in your state to inquire as to where these permits are sold. Merry Christmas!!! Without any further ado, here is your Christmas tree emergency preparedness/safety video:

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James speaks of all of the distractions that prevent us being prepared for whatever type of emergency or disaster that is becoming ever more plausible for us to face, regardless of our “it couldn’t happen to me” mindset.  He speaks of our societal practice of by and large living from hand to mouth.  Much of this is derived from our interdependence and affluence/prosperity.  Our self reliance is in large measure voluntarily left by the wayside because we are able to store value.  Money is a store of value, and it allows us the freedom to specialize in something and in many ways to expect that others will specialize in the something else’s that we want.  Instead of exchanging directly our goods or services for that which we want or need, we can remove ourselves from trade and bartering, which may become an inconvenience if a would-be trading partner doesn’t need or want what we have to offer.

Were we to have to trade/barter for that which we wanted and needed, we would likely be much more self reliant because of the hassle of either not finding someone who wanted or needed what we had to offer in exchange for the item they offered that we found so much utility in, or alternatively we may not often get a “fair” trade, falling short of our asking price.  We would probably then do our best to become a Jack of More Trades, instead of merely a Jack Squat.

I’m all for money, don’t get me wrong.  I love the conveniences and abundance that life offers because of a medium of exchange, and for the simple fact that I can concentrate and focus my efforts in becoming very good at what I do, not requiring me to spend time to be able to excel in every single area.  But has money and the freedom are carelessness that it affords caused me to disregard my personal responsibility as it relates to my survival, especially in a disaster?  To some extent, most people are guilty of this.

During the current economic downturn, there have been those that were once princes who are now paupers.  Reveling in the excesses that were afforded them during boom times, they risked much and have paid dearly.  Some have risked so much that they will never catch up or return to their former station in life, economically speaking.  Imagine those who were looking forward to retirement who will now have to work far beyond what they formerly expected to.  To help calm their ill and unsettled feelings over the whole mess many rationalize along with the media that nobody could have seen it coming.  Common sense proves otherwise.  There were warning signs stacked up miles high as far as the contrarians were concerned.  But as once “Princely” CEO put it—“When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated.  But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.  We’re still dancing.” (Chuck Prince, former CEO of Citigroup)  Sure, throw caution to the wind, and mortgage your future.  Sounds a lot like the scriptural passage: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”  Contrarians pick out these subtle signals and are prepared far in advance, recognizing clear patterns from history, and not being a victim of thinking that history will not repeat itself this time because, as a professor once told me in regards to there not being another Great Depression, “The Fed is so much more sophisticated.”

Closer to home, were you prepared for the economic fallout, a disaster type that COULD HAVE been averted (collectively and individually)?  Were you over-leveraged in your investments (home included), living a lavish lifestyle, or did you live within your means?  Was a credit card your vice?

Some of those who now live in tent cities strewn across the country’s landscape once had it good, and now regret their prodigal life and not having set aside what they could have for a rainy day.  What many of us did have in times of prosperity could have easily been shaved off the top and sacrificed by saving for more meager circumstances, in many cases EVEN WITHOUT having to give up special occasional indulgences to satisfy our need for the niceties of life.

Realizing that most disasters are likely brought upon ourselves by ourselves (directly or indirectly), is it too late to change?  Absolutely not!  James points out that an awakening can and is happening.  I believe that money can be transformed from being our master by enslaving us (excessive debt) to being our servant by being used as a tool.  We can invest it in the only true form of wealth—the precious metals, which are not so much a hedge against inflation as they are a hedge against mismanaged government.  And in the meantime, we can become more fulfilled by learning life sustaining self reliant skills, having food storage, and practicing emergency preparedness principles so that no matter which kind of disaster we may face, natural disaster, human-caused or personal disaster, we can confidently come out the victor, living through it to see another day!  Don’t let money be your distraction, disguising the fact that all of what is now available will not always be.

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