Author: Gaye Levy

One of the more serious risks we face is an EMP. Learn how to build a simple Faraday cage and also what to store inside it.

When it comes to lighters, Zippos, and lighter fuel in general, there is a lot of misinformation to be found on the Internet. Learn about lighters plus the various types of lighter fuels that are available. Hint: there are alternatives to Zippo lighter fuel!

Editor’s Note: This is an updated and revised edition for 2018. The original article was published prior to last year’s devastating hurricane Maria.

This last hurricane . . .

Need a basic understanding of the concepts behind water and water storage? Find answers to where to find, store, purify, and filter water for storage.

Editor’s Note: This resource has been revised and updated for 2019.

Essential oil diffuser is a handy little machine. Every essential oil enthusiast would agree that living without . . .

Regardless of where you live, a winter storm can and will happen at one time or another. These tips will ensure you will weather the storm in comfort.

There is some debate surrounding bleach in the prepping community. Bleach is a powerful cleaning agent, which can even be used to purify water, but it has a short shelf . . .

Editors Note: This is an updated and revised edition for 2018.

Two of the largest names in Emergency Preparedness Food are Wise Company and Mountain House. How do you . . .

How many hours a day do you spend on your feet? Four, six, eight hours? If you spend a good chunk of the day standing, then you are probably used . . .

Skin is a strong and yet delicate human organ. Just remember how many times you scraped your knees and elbows when you were little. And, how easy it is to . . .

Did you know that you can recharge alkaline batteries? All you need is the right type of alkaline battery charger in order to give new life to your dead batteries. Here some tips to get your started.

Essential oils offer more than just a pleasant smell. You are probably used to using them for relaxing massages, but, did you know that they can be used as a . . .

Have you ever considered adding coffee filters to your stash of multi-purpose preps? As you know, every prepper knows that multipurpose items save space and money. Because of this, we stash things like salt, duct tape, vinegar, and paracord like they are going out of style. Coffee filters are another inexpensive item to add to your list of versatile survival preps. Here are 35 reasons why!

When people think of crazy preppers, they often think of underground bunkers, full to the brim with supplies, locked up beneath a Fallout-style hatch. But few of us have . . .

I love my cast iron skillet. Even though I have had it for less than a year, it is the most used piece of cookware in my home. Perhaps it is nostalgia for what I perceive to be the good old days – think Pa and the boys cooking up some chow on Bonanza – or simply a longing to, in some small way, shun our spit-shined, high tech society.

Whatever the case, I am now really “in” to cast iron.

If you were lucky enough to get some cast iron cookware from Santa, you probably have some anxiety about using it. And even if your are a cast iron diva – well experienced in its glories – you may have some questions about it’s use and care for the long term. Today I offer some suggestions that will guarantee your cooking adventures with cast iron succeed.

1. Seasoning is your friend.
Cast iron needs to be seasoned in order to acquire non-stick capabilities. An unseasoned piece is a disaster waiting to happen. You food will taste like, well, rusty iron. Food will stick like crazy. And clean-up? Forget it.

These days, if you are starting new, you can purchase a pre-seasoned pan. That is what I did. Lodge as well as other manufacturers sell pre-seasoned pans for just a few dollars more than the unseasoned kind. But not to worry if you acquired an old rusted out or unseasoned pan from a friend, relative or thrift store, You can find my instructions for seasoning a cast iron pan from scratch in the tip area below.

Knowing how to store food for the long term is a key component of preparedness. In this article you will learn about using Mylar bags for food storage.

When skin is exposed directly to dry heat you can be certain that it will let you know. Burns are one of the most common injuries sustained in the household . . .

Editor’s Note: This article has been revised and updated for 2018.

Every prepper worth their salt stores water and lots of it.  Not only that, they store one, two . . .

Paracord is amazing stuff. Here is a starter list that includes 44 ways to use paracord for prepping and survival purposes. Can you think of others?

These days I have been doing a lot of thinking about my daily hygiene and beauty routine as it relates to a long term survival situation.  I don’t want . . .

Getting started with gear is another one of those overwhelming and potentially expensive challenges for the the beginning prepper. Today I would like to suggest a starter list of 15 items that can be purchased, in total, for $350 or less. Don’t have $350 to spare. No worries. Purchase one item a week or one item a month. Along the way you will find other items and soon you will have a nice kit, ready to go when the big one strikes or the flood waters hit.

Crank-Up Radio: This model from Kaito Electronics will set you back about $50. It comes with all the features that you need in an emergency situation such as a multi-band AM/FM and shortwave radio, 7 NOAA weather channels, a five LED adjustable reading lamp, and a multi-function LED flashlight that can be used in both both a normal bright color mode and red color for emergency use. All of these features can be operated indefinitely without external power using a hand crank. There is a solar panel that charges the built-in batteries or you can use AA batteries or you can plug the radio into a USB device.

Other options? The Etón American Red Cross Self-Powered Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger for about $34.

We all know what a bug out bag is: “A portable kit that contains the items one would require to survive for seventy-two hours when evacuating from a disaster.” You will hear such a kit referred to by many other names, including “72 hour kit:, “go bag” or G.O.O.D (get out of dodge)bag. The exact term you use in not really all that important since the whole goal is to have basic essentials for survival readily available should disaster strike.

A couple of days ago I wrote about the myriad of things that could happen to put you and your family in a bug out situation (see “A list for those that think it will never happen to them”). Some, such as a earthquake or tsunami, are natural disasters and other, such as a nuclear melt-down or civil disobedience, are man made. The common thread with all of these disasters is the need to mobilize quickly and to have everything you need ready – really ready – with no scrambling around or afterthought.

So imagine this. You are on a road trip and you vehicle stops. It is early evening and starting to get dark but you are pretty handy around cars so you open the hood, move a few hoses and wires around, the try to get things going again. You are alone and there is little if any traffic on the deserted road. As much as you try, the engine is deader than a doornail and you are stuck. It is now dark and there you are in the middle of nowhere.

Darn, you forgot to charge your cell phone battery so you can’t call. And man oh man, it is starting to get cold. You are hungry and your are thirsty.

I have never met a potato I did not like. Seriously. There was period during the 80s that I refer to as my potato years. I shunned meats of any kind and pretty much subsisted for weeks at a time on baked potatoes, asiago cheese, and apples. That, plus my morning latte, was it. I would go weeks and weeks subsisting in a diet of potatoes.

Somewhere along the line, I gave up such foolishness and started eating a bit more normally. Well, maybe not normally but certainly with a lot more in the way of variety and protein foods.

I wrote about my teensy weensy garden in Getting Prepared Week 6: Planning the food garden. Back then, I promised a progress report but to tell the truth, there just isn’t any progress to report yet. My seedlings are scrawny and barely alive. Too cold and not enough light would be my guess. I am going to start anew when the weather dries out a bit and yes, I am going to have to purchase some starts.

But in the meantime, I bought a couple of small seed potatoes (40 cents worth to be exact – the clerk thought I was nuts, only two?) and set my sights on growing a few taters in a tub.

Editors Note: This is an updated and revised edition for 2018.

I have always claimed, and not altogether jokingly, that you could build a house with Elmer’s glue and . . .

People who live in an earthquake zone know that an earthquake will happen eventually. For them, it is just a question of how bad, and how much it will affect them personally. For that reason, if you live near a fault line, you better be prepared for the inevitable shaker because it is going to happen. But it does not stop there, In this article learn that earthquakes can happen anywhere.

Learn the strategies and skills you need to survive an earthquake!

These two massive storms might be the most expensive to recover from in American history. Hurricane Katrina saw damage worth roughly $100 billion and she holds the top spot of . . .

There’s plenty of information online about where you shouldn’t live off-grid. There’s advice about which climates just don’t work with solar power, or tales of . . .

Many readers of our Survival Medicine Handbook are surprised to find entire chapters devoted to the treatment of dental problems. Visitors to our store are likewise surprised to find dental . . .

Mountain House offers one of the longest product shelf life ranges in the industry. Their food is guaranteed to delight your taste buds even after it sits on a shelf . . .

While some of us live self reliant lifestyles daily, many of us are still planning for the day when we can quit our corporate day jobs for a simpler, more . . .