Well, I'm back at it!

Well, after my academy training, wife being sick, birth of a new baby, and the baby having surgery, I'm back to prepping!

Over the last month, I bought my American Harvest Gardenmaster Dehydrator, and a Dual Band ham radio, that's capable of a huge range of frequencies.  It will also broadcast on FRS frequencies, and pick up  Weather Radio. 

I've also been picking up LED replacement bulbs, I put the first one in my Maglite, but since then I've been putting them in my old army angle head flashlights.  These little beauties turn old, dim lights into bright lights with HOURS of battery life, and thousands of hours of bulb life.


I've also been picking up Life Gear Glowsitck lights for our bugout bags...  These are neat little units.  They work as a glow stick, flashing glowsitck, a white light, and have a built in whistle and lanyard...  I also found a cheaper version at the dollar store that doesn't have the white light, that will work great as a marker or emergency light.  I suppose if i keep buying stuff for bug out bags, I'll have to build the bugout bags!


Found a great deal on a Midlands Weather Radio.  Have a buddy that picked some up in the states for $30, and sold me one.  They're almost $100 bucks up here, which is highway robbery...

However, this is a great little unit.  It has the standard weather radio alert, but also has SAME technology.  It can alert you of weather or other emergencies in your area, using a unique code to your neighbourhood.  It also has a battery backup, external antenna jack, and a output for a visual alert, that will flash to let you know of an emergency alert.

I took a part time job, and a good portion of that money will go towards preparedness... And today was my first payday!

So, I bought something that made me feel a lot better about our current living situation.  We are in a rental, and there's a crappy ancient heater.  We don't have a fireplace or a woodstove, and it can get awful cold in Alberta, and living literally right on a lake puts us right in the path of a really cold wind some days.

So I did some research, and most preppers seem to think the Mr. Heater Big Buddy is a good choice as a propane backup heater.  I know many people recommend kerosene heaters, but i firmly beleive that in the short term, propane will be much easier to get.  And the Big Buddy uses 1lb bottles (either 1 or 2), but can also tie into 1 or 2 20 lb cylinders.  So with those options, I can use camping bottles, or the bottles that everyone has on their back deck for BBQing...  (I have 4 of those...)  The unit also has a tip sensor, and a low oxygen sensor, so it can be used inside.  Also, there's a neat little gadget, Mr Heater F276172 1-Pound Disposable Propane Tank Refill Adapter that you can use to refill your 1 lb bottles from a 20 lb bottle.

I hooked up the Big Buddy tonight when i got it home, and man, does it kick out heat.  If we had a heat outage, and covered the windows, and the unused rooms, we could definitely keep the main floor warm enough to survive.

Last but not least, one of my other prepper-esque pals has a buddy who is a baker.  He's promised me a moderately unlimited supply of clean food grade 5 gallon pails.  SOOOO....  I can finally start my bulk food storage!


Well, I know it's been a long time since my last post, but hopefully I haven't lost ALL of my 3 or 4 followers, and I'll get some good comments!  And remember, get your friends to follow my meager blog.  If I feel like I'm letting my followers down, maybe I'll concentrate on writing some interesting useful posts! 

Another lame update

Managed to pick up a Foodsaver from Kijiji for $40 bucks today...  And, comvinced the staff of a Tim Horton's close to work to keep me their food grade 5 gallon pails!

Not a bad prep day!   Here's hopin I can get more of the garage unpacked and get my gun/reloading room set up, and find the boxes that all the BOB and 72 hour stuff I've been collecting.  Then I can try to get that stuff together!

Oh yeah, I HAVE MY PEACE OFFICER JOB INTERVIEW ON SATURDAY!!!!!!   YEAH!!!!!

A prepper's supplier in disguise!

I was searching the net for where to buy a dehydrator in Edmonton, when I came upon a Prepper's supply house in disguise!

In my google search, I found Barb's Kitchen Centre Barbskitchen.com also known as The Bosch Kitchen Centre.

The website had Nesco/American Harvest dehydrators, but I was very underwhelemed by the site.  UNTIL I clicked on the link for FOOD in the banner.  When the food page loaded I found a few headings such as Rice and Beans, and Seeds.  I then decided that I had to check out the store.

I went into Edmonton the next day, and to my surprise found a store that I used to drive by every day on my way to work, a few years ago.

We went in to check it out and were helped by a very friendly young lady who answered all  my dumb questions with a smile. 

I found 3 different dehydrators:

Snackmaster  500 watts  (4 trays, 1 fruit leather sheet, 1 mesh tray and cookbook are included). Expandable to 12 trays.  $69.95
GardenMaster 1000 watts  (4 trays, 1 fruit leather sheet, 1 mesh tray and cookbook are included).  Expandable to 30 trays.  $149.00
Gardenmaster 1000 watts 8 tray professional model (includes 8 fruit leather sheets, 8 mesh trays and cookbook. Expandable to 30 trays.  $199.00

I also found:

NutriMill Flour Mill $299.99

                                                                           
All new Revolutionary Microburst High Speed Mill

    *
      World's first variable high speed mill motor
    *
      Texture control - from fine flour to cereal grain
    *
      Trugrind milling system
    *
      Multi- postion exhaust for smoother, cleaner, quieter airflow
    *
      fast
    *
      Bowl capacity 20 cups
    *
      One hopper of grain fills one bowl of flour
    *
      Simple to operate
    *
      Mills grains, beans, corn, rice
    *
      Convenient cord storage
    *
      Limited lifetime warranty

as well as the Back to Basics mill for $99.

Then the helpful young lady took us back and showed us the Food Room...  All different types of grains, rice, beans, corn, and other wonderful goodies...  The grains and rice and stuff are packaged in small bags, but apparently they have up to 50 lb bags of the items in the back, and give bulk discounts.

In addition to this, I even found the Egg McMuffin maker i promised to buy my mom http://www0.shopping.com/xPO-Back-to-Basics-TEM-500 (we have one, it's so awesome, now I want this http://www0.shopping.com/xPO-Back-to-Basics-Back-to-Basic-Egg-N-Muffin-4-Slice-Toaster-2-Egg-Cooker which they also sell!)

All in all, an excellent find, and if you're in Edmonton, go check it out!

Free E-Books!

http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.com/2010/02/2-free-james-stevens-e-books.html

Another Contest

M.D. Creekmore over at the The Survivalist Blog – a survival blog dedicated to helping others prepare for and survive disaster, is giving away a  The Tactical Advantage book and DVD set by Gabriel Suarez and a copy of Don’t Get Caught With Your Pantry Down by James Talmage Stevens! To enter, you just have to post about it on your blog. This is my entry. Visit The Survivalist Blog for more information.

Cool contest

http://selfrelianceadventures.blogspot.com/2010/02/aurora-fire-starter-giveaway-from.html

A great blog on food storage...

This blog has a General Store section, that tells you every week what to store, with the goal of having a 3 month supply at the end of a year.  Fits perfectly with our prepping... 

http://blog.totallyready.com/announcing-the-totally-ready-newsletter/

Tour of the LDS Cannery in Salt Lake

http://www.idareyoutoeatit.com/2010/01/cheap-eats/

Very cool....

Prepper Classes by Webinar!

http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/preparedness-pro-finally-comes-to-you/

Thanks to Tam at View from the Porch

Created by Oatmeal

Things I love about having moved to a small town #2

Small town coffee shops, and how people stare at the table with the town cop, the bylaw guy, and the fireman/wannabe cop all at one table...  And how they sometimes talk like you can't hear them.

Food Inventory Report

So, I got around to building shelves in the basement for our food stores.  I figured today, I should do an inventory of our meager food storage, and figure out what all we need to buy.

So, I downloaded a copy of Riverwalker's ( stealthsurvival@blogspot.com ) Food inventory report, and did an inventory.  On the left side of his spreadsheet, I did a summary of the LDS Food Storage Calculator results for my family...  On the right, I did other luxury and daily use foods.  It's a work in progress, but it's going to make things a bunch easier.

Here's what it looks like:

 

Any suggestions??  

Emergency Radio Give Away!

Check out this giveaway...  (The blog looks pretty cool too...  I subscribed.)

http://selfrelianceadventures.blogspot.com/2010/01/emergency-radio-giveaway-from.html

Storing in moderation.

Read the CanadaPrepared.com forum post here:

Storing in moderation

My response:


I'm taking the easy route.  Every time we use something from the pantry, we mark on the grocery list to buy two.  The second goes into storage.  If we run out before we go to the store, we grab from the pantry, and buy 3 when we go to the store.  Once I feel we've reached whatever storage goal we're working on, (3 months, 6 months, 1 year) then we'll go back to buying 2, or possibly one.

If we see a good sale, like we did today at our tiny local grocery store, (1l apple juice for $0.89) we stock up.

Seems to be working so far, and it basically forces us to eat what we store, and to rotate stock.

How I started Prepping... The Beginning....

I'm a child of the 70's and 80's.  As most people over the age of 25 know, this meant growing up under the shadow of the bomb.  Even in North-Central Alberta, the idea of nuclear war loomed large in the 70's and 80's.

As I grew up I became exposed to shooting.  My dad wasn't a gun nut, and wasn't a hunter, but we had a number of rifles and shotguns around the house.  He would take us boys shooting, and taught us the fundamentals of marksmanship and firearms safety.  These are things my dad either learned himself, or figured out on his own.  For my 12th Christmas, I received a CIL .22 that my dad had won years before in a curling bonspeil.  He put a little Tasco scope and a camo sling on it, and put it under the tree.  Of course, I was ecstatic.  I would spend hours walking around in the woods around the small hamlet that I grew up in, shooting anything that moved, and a lot of things that didn't.

When I turned 13, I joined the Cadet organization.  While in cadets, I learned even more about marksmanship, and started learning about camping, survival, and military life.  I attended an Aircrew Survival course, where I had the top marks in the wing, until I reached Knots and Lashings.  I passed with Remedial Assistance (I still despise knots.)  I also met many career soldiers, and got interested in joining the military myself.

During my teens, with my exposure to the military and reading everything that I could on the military, I became aware of the threat of global thermonuclear war.  Compounding that, I saw the movie Red Dawn.  These two influences started the fertile mind of a teenager running wild with the thoughts of war, invasion and occupation.  I began reading Guns and Ammo, Soldier of Fortune, American Survival Guide and other similar magazines.  My favorite book series just happened to the The Survivalist by Jerry Ahern.

I began stockpiling things my young mind thought would help me to survive... Of course, my main survival plan was to "play Batman in the Boonies."

In my last year of high school, I applied to join the Canadian Forces.  However, in 1991, the Combat Arms of the CF had a hiring freeze.  My first choices were Infantry and Military Police.  Early on in the application process, I was told that there was no chance of joining the Infantry at that time, but I could be an MP.  All I had to do was spend three years as a Refrigeration Technician, and then remuster to the MP trade.  Ummm....  NO.  I also applied to Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton to take their Police Studies program.  After an absolutely ridiculous application interview, I was told I was not qualified to take the course, being that my writing style was too immature.  (Later I was hired to be the MacEwan College security supervisor, and they PAID me to attend the Police studies courses....  LOL)

So, I went away to college and got a diploma as an electronics technician.  While in college, I was constantly broke, and a meal away from having an empty cupboard...  So the prepping centre of my brain seemed to have grown dormant...  But I'll tell it's reanimation in another post.

Things I love about having moved to a small town #1

The library...  It's just down the street, small and cozy, they are a part of a regional website that can order books from other locations, and have free e-book downloads.

Welcome...

So, I've had a blog for about 6 years.  Never made one post.  But now that I've started prepping seriously, I've decided to document my preps, and along the way, share some of the information that I've gleaned along the way.

So you're thinking to yourself, "Yeah, just what we need.  ANOTHER preparedness blog."  Guess what?  I don't care.  LOL.  This blog is partially for me, and a little for others who can get what they want out of it.