How To Prepare For The Difficult Years Ahead

TEC ^ | 1-10-2011 | Michael Snyder

[Iron Munro]

Re: CANNING JARS and LIDS

Some Classico brand pasta sauces are packed in real Atlas mason jars with standard screw tops.

Usually the 28 ounce and sometimes the small 5 ounce that contain pesto and sun-dried tomato are in reusable mason jars.

We have used these jars for canning for many years and never had a problem with breakage or sealing. Size-wise the 28 ounce work out about like a one quart and we use the small ones for chili sauce, relishes, etc.

As an experiment we have even reused the original lids and they work fine. We used them for pickles, tomatoes and other veggies. So now we also save any lids that aren’t damaged. In a SHTF scenario they will be better than nothing.

Find some friends or neighbors that use Classico and ask them to save the jars for you. We have even convinced some relatives who buy prepared sauces to switch brands so they can save the jars for us.

Some markets will also let you post a message on the Community Bulletin board. We posted a message on Craigslist looking for people to save the jars but never got a response. The markets near us sell a lot of Classico so there are a lot of possibilities. It depresses me to think of all the jars that are thrown away!

Twice a year Classico has a buy-one-get-one sale where I live and we always buy a few for quick meals and for the free canning jar! I think they sell for around $2.25, so at B1G1 it’s a little over $1.00 each - about what the cheaper sauces cost and we get another canning jar to boot.

The sales are usually around February and September where we live.

You can also call the company at 1-888-337-2420 and they will send you some coupons. The last coupons we got were $ .50 each and we used them to save even more at the B1G1 sale.

[Iron Munro]

Good thread - thanks for posting it.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Couldn’t agree more.

Either as you say, or they’ll drag us into a war. They are already rattlings sabres with Iran and China. If they fear they are going to lose by Summer, look for a war as the October surprise.

[blam]

"Add a bottle or two of Hydrogen Peroxide. "

Antibiotics too. Get them here.

A Doctor's Thoughts on Antibiotics, Expiration Dates, and TEOTWAWKI, by Dr. Bones

[MHGinTN]

Your link is most informative. Allow me to add one scenario the retired doctor missed, teeth.

I had a crowned lower molar tooth go bad the Day before Christmas. It was sore and the jaw was aching. I used Oragel for toothache for a few days, but then the glands below my jaw began to be sore, indicating an infection dumping into the lymph system.

An abscessed tooth can kill you, because of the circulatory system proximaty to the brain and heart. I happened to be storing Keflex (generic form) so I went on four per day (QID) until I could get to my dentist more than a week later. By the time he examined, the abscess was under control and he will be doing a root canal tomorrow, right through the gold crown.

Without the antibiotic and a PDR for referencing. I was at the mercy of doc in the box during the holidays. And if we get to the STHF period, any abscessed tooth can kill if not treated properly ... and I doubt that dental offices will be up and running then.

Moral of the story, store antibiotics. Below is the pertinent excerpt from the doctor's essay:

The drugs are listed below and the bottles list the antibiotic as the sole ingredient. They are:

•FISH-MOX (amoxicillin 250mg)
•FISH_MOX FORTE (amoxicillin 500mg)
•FISH-CILLIN (ampicillin 250mg)
•FISH-FLEX Keflex 250mg)
•FISH-FLEX FORTE (Keflex 500mg)
•FISH-ZOLE (metronidazole 250mg)
•FISH-PEN (penicillin 250mg)
•FISH-PEN FORTE (penicillin 500mg)
•FISH-CYCLINE (tetracycline 250mg)

These medications are available usually in plastic bottles of 100 tablets for much less than the same prescription medication at the pharmacy (some come in bottles of 30 tablets). The dosages are similar to that used in humans, and are taken two to four times a day, depending on the drug. The 500mg dosage is probably more effective in larger individuals. Of course, anyone could be allergic to one or another of these antibiotics, but not all of them. (Note that there is a 10% cross-reactivity between "-cillin" drugs and Keflex, meaning that, if you are allergic to Penicillin, you could also be allergic to Keflex). FISH-ZOLE is an antibiotic that also kills some protozoa that cause dysentery.

One more addition to the stockpiling routine should be a Merck Manual and a fairly recent Physician's Desk Reference (PDR of drugs and their prescribing data). As a self-trained gunsmith for weapons maintenance in the SHTF period, I am also going to double as a 'field medic' when called for.

[blam]

Grocery Stores That Sell Outdated Food Are Making A Comeback

It sounds off-putting at first: A grocery store that sells outdated food.

But salvage stores are making headlines again, as consumers look for ways to stretch their grocery budgets amid rising prices.

[little jeremiah]

placemark

[Thunder90]

I am more concerned that World War III will break out over the next 5 years.

[Brad’s Gramma]

bfl

[appalachian_dweller]

ping to post #60

[ExSoldier]

BOOKMARK!

[ExSoldier]

This is going to sound strange, but I humbly disagree based on Biblical grounds. I firmly believe we are deep into the End Times and that Christ's return is literally just around the corner. I keep track of all this on a daily basis here: RAPTURE READY? From the studies I have been doing the past thirty years or so, it seems to indicate that at the moment of the rapture the world will be on fairly good ground, maybe a little sketchy but certainly not on the horrific scale I keep seeing all over the 'net and in print with all these dire predictions. Certainly such things may come to pass, but I think they will be short lived and you'll see a fairly rapid return to some semblance of normalcy. At least just enough so that the true tipping point into utter chaos will be the instantaneous vanishing of literally tens or even hundreds of MILLIONS of souls. That will be the trigger to the rise of the Anti Christ, I believe. But things will appear to be normal otherwise, just before that. The only odd thing (in comparison to present times -- and I just saw an article on this) will be a dramatic "falling away" from the faith. The article I saw on Drudge is still there and it refers to an increase in atheism -- or maybe it was an expression by aethists about Tebow... Anyway, it wouldn't surprise me if the Republican Nominee wins in a huge landslide on a scale with Reagan in 1980 and then things begin to rapidly improve. To me that would be almost a sure indicator that the end is nearer than we think. I know this sounds odd, but it is fairly Biblically correct.

[metmom]

I agree with the scenario that people are going to be saying peace and safety when the end comes, and that the anti-Christ will come to conquer without the use of force. And I agree that we are in the end times as well.

Perhaps it would have been better to qualify the *when TSHTF scenario* to say IF it happens, I would expect it to happen after the elections. I think that the powers that be are going to manipulate things to be as favorable looking as possible for obama to give him as much chance of winning the election as possible.

I really don’t have much idea what’s going to happen after that. Perhaps things will improve financially for a while but I still expect the moral and spiritual decay to continue, if not accelerate, all in the name of progress and tolerance.

People tend to have short term memories and even if the previous three and a half years were awful, as they were, if the last 6 months are good, the credit will fall to the dems, instead of the blame.

That’s the reason I see to think that we’re going to see a great improvement in things like gas prices, food prices, etc. before the elections. So it will be a *See what the dems did for you? We told you we could fix everything the Republicans screwed up.*

It’s interesting, though, there’s been a movement within Protestant Christianity called the Emergent church and the New Apostolic Reformation, which IMO directly contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture concerning the end times.

All I can say, is that I’m ready for whatever. If things get bad before the end, I’m ready. If they don’t and we’re gone, then someone else can use the stuff.

[aragorn]

BFL

[ExSoldier]

All I can say, is that I’m ready for whatever. If things get bad before the end, I’m ready. If they don’t and we’re gone, then someone else can use the stuff.

Can't argue with that mindet. Eminently sensible. And oh yeah, AMEN!

[cgbg]

Granny—Yeah, I have that Y2K reputation too.

Now I just tell everyone invest in the stock market and everything will be great—and hope they don’t believe me! :-)

[jacquej]

Yep, I got your drift..

But, when the SHTF, they aren’t gonna be ready to take us in! Even though we have the skills and can teach.

Without the tools, they are like idiots without a flashlight when the power goes off, if you get my drift.

[Lancer_N3502A]

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