Weekly Preppers Thread

[Kartographer]

Haven't done one for a while and with all that is going on I though it would be a good idea to do a Weekly Prepper Thread, for posting tips, new products, good prep buys etc.....

“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger.

Underestimation can be fatal.”

[SkyPilot]

Excellent! Thank you!

[moovova]

Printed off and saved in the prep recipe book.

Thanks!

[taxcontrol]

Post away! I like prepper threads.

[Stand Watch Listen]

What to do when your clean water supply runs low and/or is depleted. Ponds, streams, puddles, downspouts have to be filtered and purified. Within 6 months regular household bleach will lose 20-25% loss of effectiveness. In the ensuring weeks/months your bleach will lose even more of its effectiveness. You will need bleach for other disaffecting purposes also.

So one cannot store too much bleach. There are many internet sites that set forth the mixing of granular Calcium Hypochlorite and water to make just the amount you would need for a few weeks. Therefore no need to stockpile a fading expiring resource.

How to Make Chlorine Bleach

First off, liquid chlorine bleach is a solution made from mostly water and 3-6% Sodium Hypochlorite. This homemade variety is made from Calcium Hypochlorite which you can easily find as “pool shock” at your pool-supplier store or Walmart. Both are used throughout the world for water purification and are the main chemicals in standard household cleaning products.

THE BENEFIT OF CALCIUM HYPOCHLORITE
The major benefit of using Calcium Hypochlorite over Sodium Hypochlorite is shelf life. Calcium Hypochlorite (pool shock) is sold in a solid granular form and has a 10 year shelf life when stored in a cool, dark place. This will easily meet your long-term storage needs.

The other benefit is the amount of available chlorine. The concentration of chlorine is much higher with Calcium Hypochlorite. For example, a small 1-pound bag of calcium hypochlorite can disinfect up to 10,000 gallons of drinking water. That’s around 5 gallons/day for one person for 5 1/2 years! Not bad for only 1 lb of granules.

To make a chlorine bleach solution using calcium hypochlorite, here are some formulas I got from the Army Technical Bulletin entitled, “SANITARY CONTROL AND SURVEILLANCE OF FIELD WATER SUPPLIES” (TB MED 577).

From the Army manual, to make a concentrated chlorine solution that you can use for disinfecting water (or to be used in maintaining a clean and sanitary living environment), you’ll want to use calcium hypochlorite that has around 70% available chlorine.

If you’re buying pool shock, on the back of the bag it will tell you what percentage of chlorine is available. The one I use is called “Zappit 73 Pool Shock, it is pure calcium hyphochlorite that contains up to 73% available chlorine and sells for around $5 for a 1lb bag.

To make the homemade chlorine bleach solution, you’ll need to do the following:
• Mix 2 level Tablespoons of Calcium Hypochlorite to 3 cups of water.

After you’ve made your stock of chlorine solution, you’ll want to follow the formula from the Army Technical Bulletin in determining how much of the above stock chlorine solution you’ll need for your desired number of gallons of water to be disinfected. *Note: I’ve updated the formula to calculate the same concentration that household bleach has. If you have questions, fire me an email and I’ll be more than happy to explain the math.

mL of stock chlorine required = (desired concentration (mg/L)*number of gallons to be treated)/18.12

The desired concentration refers to how much chlorine in mg/L you want the disinfected water to have. A recommended amount is 7 mg/L of concentration. This equates to adding 8 drops of household liquid bleach to 1 gallon of water (the recommended amount when disinfecting water with household bleach).

Given these amounts, if you wanted to disinfect 1 gallon of water with the homemade chlorine solution, the formula would be as follows:

(7*1)/18.12

This equates to .38mL or 8 drops of the concentrated solution per gallon of water. Just like normal household bleach!

So the 3 step process is as follows:
1. Place 8 drops of homemade chlorine bleach in 1 gallon of water
2. Let stand for 30 min
3. If water is still cloudy, repeat steps until clear; otherwise it is ready to drink

Keep in mind, that once the homemade chlorine bleach is made it will follow the same shelf-life limitations as standard household liquid bleach. So be sure to only make amounts you will be using within that time frame.

[JDoutrider]

Thanks!

Your recipes are in the N.W. arizona grannies best tradition!

Very helpful!

[Boardwalk]

Thanks to you I now have 2 state of the art bug out bags I did myself that I am very proud of!

[ozarkgirl]

I’ll add my “just don’t respond to them”. Please keep up the good work. Seriously, someone writes “oh the sky is falling”, don’t even respond, they are looking for attention, nothing better to do in their little lives and every time you respond, they get the affirmation they need. I love your posts, thank you.

[greeneyes]

This is good. My other computer crashed, so what I had on the hard drive was lost, because I hadn’t backed it up for a while, but I had some of the recipes printed.

Made a backup hard copy of all these. Thanks for posting.

[greeneyes]

I use the pressure cooker to make canned meats. When ever there is a great sale on chicken, beef, or pork, I buy at least 20 lbs. Freeze some, cook some, and can the rest.

This is my version of chicken helper - the meat is already cooked, just add the other stuff from your pantry or garden for a meal, or eat it straight from the jar. Comes in handy on days when I’m rushed.

We really like a quick chicken noodle soup, chicken salad, white chili or stir fry. Plus I can make my own broth, canned veggies and pickles with the amount of salt I want and with out strange ingredients which I can’t pronounce.

Truly some of best tasting and least expensive preps I have are made possible by this kitchen wonder.

[greeneyes]

This is an excellent description, and almost exactly how I prepare beans. The difference is I also go ahead and soak mine overnight(my Granny taught me this). Recently, I ran across the reason for it - it is supposed to decrease digestive stress and help with absorption of nutrients. An article about this is noted below.

http://www.healthbeyondhype.com/the-hidden-dangers-in-your-whole-grains-beans-nuts-and-seeds-ezp-138.html

I was curious to know if there was any indication of how much rice or beans would be needed, if a little bit of protein was available?

[greeneyes]

I am also wanting to find that information. So if anyone has an answer, go ahead and post it for all or just send it to those who have asked.

I am sure that there are plenty of people who would like to hear about it. Especially if there’s a generator system that could be powered by gasoline, or solar and turned on automatically or just with the flick of a switch. Would be great for a well pump and extra great if also could run a freezer. The new models of freezers are energy efficient they say.

[Hardens Hollow]

it is a different culture that, say chat rooms, isn’t it? ;)

my husband was talking to a guy in Italy via ham radio for years. He was from Trieste, which us where my mother is from and half my family is still there. When we went to visit, he and Bruno met at a cafe. That’s my only ham story, but it was pretty neat.

[Hardens Hollow]

I love my little pressure cooker. I had my humongous canner for years, but got the little guy just for cooking beans. Like you moovova, I was tired of waiting for beans to cook. I made pot roast in it one day when short on time -and was hooked! juicy, tender, it was luscious...

[greeneyes]

What I do for meat is to buy it cheap when it’s on sale in large quantities - 20 lbs or more. While I cook some for dinner, and freeze some for later, the rest I can in quart or pint jars in the pressure cooker.

I try to keep enough for a year’s worth on the shelf and in the freezer. I use the canned stuff for quick casseroles, soups, or something like chicken salad. Sometimes, just heat and eat on a bun. It’s better than any canned meat you can buy and cheaper too.

[TexasTransplant]

What is your prefered long term Oil and / or Fat?

I have Crisco (the new paper “cans” leave a lot to be desired.
I actually Canned 24 pints of Butter and about the same amount of Bacon but that was a quite awhile ago and am unsure if it is still safe to eat. (single now kids are grown and gone so rotating stock isn’t what it used to be)
I still have some olive Oil in Cans if the taste is off it will make a fine candle.

[JRandomFreeper]

Whatever fat is available. Since fats go bad so quickly I don't see a good reason to store more that a year's worth.

I do have some 5 year old peanut oil that I use in a mix that gets used on the lathe/milling machine. That doesn't have to be edible. ;)

/johnny

[Jamestown1630]

It’s different from anything; and stories like yours are the reason I’m enchanted with it.

-JT

[JRandomFreeper]

Don't forget that the more sophisticated societies can't handle menu fatigue as well as the more primitive societies.

If you look at the menus for the Civil war, it's much more simple than more modern militaries. They were a little more used to it and they didn't live on that diet for more than a couple of weeks

People forget that military units don't field for very long. A month is a heck of a long time, and to be honest, if someone is shooting at me I don't care if this is day 8 of beans and rice.

Go on a month on that diet and someone is going to get hurt.

/johnny

[moovova]

Some more recipes added to my prep recipe book. Thank you!

[Jamestown1630]

Marcella, have you used any of the Silver Fire rocket stoves?
We’ve been thinking of getting at least a small one (Coffee, you know...)

This guy has interesting videos and reviewed the Silver Fire Scout (he also has good videos on brick/cinderblock rocket stoves):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLPUod5DT0s

-JT