Show Contents 10th October 2014

Show Notes

This week I begin with Ebola Pandemic Kits, followed by the Blizzard Survival 20% Discount Offer, Hand Sanitizers and Ebola - What You Need to Know, UK Plans Mass Graves If Bird Flu Pandemic Hits that was then, The Ribzwear 30% Discount Offer, Paracord, The Wilderness121 10% Discount Offer, End of the World Scenario Nuclear Wipe Out, The Field Leisure 10% Discount Offer, Preprepared Ziplock Bag Meals, The Hunters-Knives 10% Discount Offer, Planning an Emergency Shelter, Natural Foods-Natural Remedies, The Buggrub 10% Discount Offer, Camping is not camping without a fire? Will You Freeze to Death, How to get started.

Firstly let’s look at the facts about Ebola, Ebola has killed around 5,000 up to now and each time a suspected case arrives in the West on a plane the system wants to trace everyone who could have come in contact with the victim

The World Health Organisation

I had a look at the WHO website and they say Influenza occurs globally with an annual attack rate estimated at 5%–10% in adults and 20%–30% in children. Illnesses can result in hospitalization and death mainly among high-risk groups (the very young, elderly or chronically ill).

Worldwide, these annual epidemics are estimated to result in about 3 to 5 million cases of severe illness, and about 250 000 to 500 000 deaths.

That is each and every year, do they call that a pandemic, NO?

The system does not and never has tried to trace anyone who could have come in contact with a victim who has died of the flu.

So what is going on?

I do not actually think that Ebola is the threat, I actually think it is the vaccine that is the threat, and once they have us scared enough and in fear of infection then we will blindly queue for the all saving jab, well not this guy thank you very much.

Many scientists agree with what I have just said, while other scientists claim that Ebola has been weaponised as a depopulation Bio weapon, In any case these are my thoughts and you may or may not agree with me, and that is OK.

With that in mind I wish to cover the Ebola subject on this show plus the usual mix of interesting subjects on prepping and survival.

Ebola Pandemic Kits

I cannot understand why the infected areas are not under total quarantine and everyone confined for 21 days before being tested before travelling from that area.

I think it is now accepted that we will see Ebola infected people here in the UK therefore I  thought you might like a list of things to have on hand in case a government ordered quarantine, or a personal decision by you to seal yourself off from society.

Supplies to have on hand:
N95 medical masks – at least 3 per person. “95” means that they keep out 95% of the airborne particles.

Contact a local medical supply store, or order online. Cheaper if ordered in bulk but remember these will disappear quickly from the shelves in a pandemic.
Liquid hand soap
Hand sanitizer (one for every family member)
Household bleach
Disinfectant wipes (plenty)
Rubbish bags (plenty as there may be limited rubbish collections)
Laundry detergent (if someone in your family is ill, you will be doing plenty of washing)
Kleenex tissues (not fabric handkerchiefs)
Toilet paper
Paper towels – Use instead of hand towels.
Disposable nappies for children
Disposable latex gloves or other reusable gloves that can be disinfected

A supply of your prescription medications (in case you are too sick to go out), non-prescription drugs, and other health supplies, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes, vitamins, rubbing alcohol, and thermometers.
Have a 2-week to 3-month supply of food at home (outside food may be difficult to obtain or you may not be able to get out if you are ill).

To be honest the only way to ensure that you do not get infected with Ebola is to isolate yourself from everyone else. Now we as preppers are better off that non-preppers as we have food, water and other essentials already and therefore we can simply lock the doors and bug-in.

I have found an American company that sell what they call Quick Pandemic Kits for $12 they are wear and dispose and designed for people like us who have to mix in areas with crowds. They are not designed for health workers the company is http://www.contagionsurvival.com/pandemic_quickkits.htm

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Hand Sanitizers and Ebola - What You Need to Know

Ebola is a rare (worldwide) but common viral disease in some West African countries which causes bleeding inside and outside the body. Symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after exposure to the virus. Common Ebola signs and symptoms include

Fever (Body temperature greater than 38.6°C or 101.5°F)

Severe headache

Muscle pain

Weakness

Diarrhoea

Vomiting

Abdominal (stomach) pain

Unexplained haemorrhage (bleeding or bruising)

In the past few weeks, cases have dramatically increased, with widespread and intense transmission. In view of this, people have adopted many ways of preventing infection and the use of hand sanitizers is no exception.

Hand Sanitizers

Washing the hands with water and soap is always the best way to reduce the number of microbes on them. Soap and water are not always available, as people are mostly always on the move, hence the use of a portable alternative- hand sanitizers.

A hand sanitizer or hand antiseptic is a supplement or alternative to hand washing with soap and water. Antiseptics are antimicrobial substances that are applied to living tissue or skin to reduce the possibility of infection, inflammation and decomposition of proteins (putrefaction).

 Many sanitizer preparations are available including gel, foam and liquid solutions.

The active ingredient in most hand sanitizers is alcohol. The level of alcohol varies between 60% and 85%. Alcohol rub sanitizers kill most bacterial, fungi and stop some viruses.

Alcohol rub sanitizers containing at least 70% alcohol kill 99.99% of the bacterial on hands in one minute of application (you need contact time). Very high alcohol (90%) sanitizers have very high veridical (virus-killing) activities against many different kinds of viruses but are highly flammable and irritating to the skin with prolong use.
Do Hand Sanitizers Stop Ebola?

Though some sanitizers stop the activities of some viruses, only Supernova, an alcohol-free sanitizer, provides immediate germ protection against Ebola. In addition to washing of the hands frequently the following precautionary measures are highly recommended;

Avoid areas of known outbreaks, 

Avoid contact with infected people

Avoid eating wild meat

Use gloves and other protection

Do not handle remains of those who died from Ebola. 

I think avoiding people suspected to be infected with the Ebola virus is the best way to avoid becoming a victim, this means planning to bug-in.

UK Plans Mass Graves If Bird Flu Pandemic Hits that was then

When we had the Bird Flu threat mass burials were being considered by the Home Office as part of preparations for a possible avian flu pandemic. A "prudent worst case" assessment suggested 320,000 people could die in Britain if the H5N1 virus mutated into a form contagious to humans, according to a confidential report seen by the Sunday Times. That would lead to delays of up to 17 weeks in burying or cremating victims, the document - said to have been discussed by a cabinet committee - says. It warns that the prospect of "common burial" would stir up images of the mass pits used to bury victims of the Great Plague in 1665. But in fact it "might involve a large number of coffins buried in the same place at the same time, in such a way that allowed for individual graves to be marked". Town halls - the report suggests - could deal with what it terms a "base case" of 48,000 deaths in England and Wales in a 15-week pandemic. But it adds: "Even with ramping local management capacity by 100%, the prudent worst case of 320,000 excess deaths is projected to lead to a delay of some 17 weeks from death to burial or cremation." Should the outbreak kill 2.5% of those who contract the flu, it warns, "no matter what emergency arrangements are put in place there are likely to be substantially more deaths than can be managed within current timescales". Bird flu has already forced the slaughter of millions of birds across three continents since the deadly H5N1 strain emerged three years ago. More than 100 humans have also been killed by it - all people who had been in close contact with infected birds. A pandemic would only become a possibility if the strain was able to mutate into a form that could be spread between humans

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Paracord

Paracord is not only powerful and useful for many jobs. It is vibrant and fun to work with while making wristbands, key fobs, belts and other offerings. I am not the only one that feels this way.

Simply enter the term “paracord” into a search engine and you will be presented with thousands of articles covering everything from what it is, how it is used, where to buy it, and more. It seems like everyone has a stake in the paracord love-fest with preppers leading the pack!

What exactly is Paracord?

Paracord is a lightweight nylon rope that was originally used in the suspension lines of US parachutes during World War II. Soldiers, however, found that this miracle rope was useful for far more than their paratrooper missions.

In the ensuing years, both the military and civilians alike have found hundreds if not thousands of uses for paracord.

It is available by length, typically 50 to 100 feet (or more) and in a variety of colours. It is also available is large quantities by the spool. Many preppers, survivalists and outdoor enthusiasts make or purchase “survival bracelets” made of several feet of paracord which is woven into a compact bracelets that can be unravelled in the field.

By the way, you will often see paracord referred to as Paracord 550 that means that it has a breaking strength of 550 pounds or more. Now that is strong!

Paracord can be used for many purposes such as securing things, removing heavy debris and fixed objects, strapping things together, as a harness to escape a burning building, controlling bleeding as a tourniquet, and the list goes on. You can even unravel the cord and use the individual strands as a fishing line or as thread to sew on a button. Wonderful stuff.

I have touched upon a number of uses in my description but that was merely a sampling.  There is more – a lot more.  Today I share 44 different uses of paracord for prepping and survival purposes.

44 Ways to Use Paracord for Prepping and Survival

1. Secure a tent
2. Secure a tarp between trees
3. Hang tools from your belt
4. Hang tools from around your neck
5. Secure things to the outside of your backpack
6. Make a tourniquet
7. Secure a splint
8. Make a sling for your arm
9. Make an emergency belt to hold your pants up
10. Make emergency suspenders
11. Replace a broken bra strap (it happens)
12. Replace broken or missing shoe laces
13. Repair a zipper pull
14. Secure your boat
15. Make a tow line; double or triple up for extra strength
16. Create a makeshift lanyard
17. String a clothesline
18. Hang something up off the ground
19. Rig a pulley system
20. Make traps and snares
21. Replace damaged or missing draw strings in packs, bags and jogging trousers
22. Keep rolled up items secure
23. Create a neckerchief slide
24. Tie objects together for easier transport
25. Make a rope
26. Make a hammock
27. Make a sack for carrying groceries or gear
28. Bundle stuff together
29. Tie tall garden vegetable plants to stakes
30. Make a pet lead
31. Make a pet collar
32. Secure a rubbish-bag rain poncho around your body to keep you dry
33. Hang food in trees 
34. Tie stuff down so it will not blow away in a storm
35. Create a trip wire
36. Create makeshift hand cuffs
37. Tie bad guys or intruders to a tree or chair
38. Tie people together on a trail so that they keep together
39. Identify members of a group using different coloured armbands or bracelets
40. Use as sewing thread (inner threads)
41. Use as fishing line (inner threads)
42. Emergency dental floss (inner threads)
43. Emergency suture material (inner threads) when there is nothing else available
44. Make arts and crafts to stave off boredom

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End of the World Scenario Nuclear Wipe Out

North Korea attacks South Korea. The U.S. aids South Korea, while China helps North Korea. Great Britain, Japan and Australia join the U.S. to help South Korea. Iran sees its chance, attacks Iraq. The U.S. helps Iraq, while Syria forgets their own struggle and joins Iran. Israel's conflict with Palestine heightens; U.S. intervenes, aiding Israel. Germany, France and other small European countries help the U.S. against Iran. Canada sends troops to Iran and South Korea. Russia starts helping Iraq and China. Nuclear weapons destroy everything.

That's how World War III would go. Well...maybe.

While the scenarios are limitless when it comes to who will be part of the next World War, you can count the U.S. and the UK to be part of it.

War was intentioned to better and protect people's way of life, but instead it's become something like, "I'm a better driver than them," and soon enough, everyone thinks they're the best driver. Since no one can ever be wrong, opposition is met with hostility and war begins.

Should You Stay or Should You Go?

The first thing you should do is evaluate the threat of the situation and how imminent you expect it to unravel. If you don't expect the threat to affect where you're currently living, then stay put.

However, if the threat is in close proximity to where you are staying, the best choice would be to evacuate and do it quickly. If you have several weeks or days of planning, make sure it is reasonable for you to get to the other destination in time.

Nothing can be worse than getting stuck in between two destinations. Make sure you can get there despite (roadblocks, military, traffic) and if that's clear, make sure you can get there in good time.

Your knowledge of the situation will make all the difference between having you and yours make it out in time with enough supplies to survive.

Food & Supplies

Once you have chosen your place of stay, make sure to give your group individual roles and tasks. While some acquire water, food and supplies, make sure the rest are working on shelter issues and any other priorities that are pertinent to your survival.

If you do not have any preps then when it comes to food, stock up on ready-to-eat foods such as granola bars and dried fruit and any type of tinned food. You can also collect a few perishable foods, but obviously those won't last you a long time, so it's better to find long lasting food. Other types of food you can try and find are:

Rice, beans, flour, potatoes, pasta, quick oats and other grains

Dried milk

Sugar and honey

Cooking oil and baking soda

Bottled water

Water will be one of the most important things you can try and collect, so make sure you have a substantial amount of water for you and your group. YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH WATER.

When it comes to supplies, the list may be a bit longer and more complicated than food. You'll need:

Paper or plastic plates and utensils and paper towels (there will likely be no water, so washing might not be an option if you're low on water)

Tin opener

Fire (matches, lighters, etc.)

Large bucket, cover for it and rubbish bags (might be needed for a toilet)

Toilet paper, napkins and diapers/baby wipes (for babies)

Duct tape (for covering cracks in the house)

Mop, vacuum and other cleaning utensils to keep house from radiation and bacteria (from attack)

Flashlights, batteries and a radio (for updated news, if possible)

Bleach, alcohol, hand sanitizers

Prescription drugs

First aid kits

Fire extinguishers

Gas masks

Handheld radiation detector

Water filters and other types of camping supplies

Power generator

Guns and other weapons (in case of looters)

Once you have these supplies, or at least a majority of them, move on to keeping your home safe.

Shelter

The thing you'll have to worry about most during a nuclear war will be the radioactive fallout. This dust will be carried high up into the air by any mushroom clouds and will be swept across the country via strong wind currents.

While radioactive material is very dangerous, it decreases in deadliness as time goes by. The longer it's out in the world, the more it weakens; 2 days after exposure, certain fallouts that emits gamma ray radiation should only be at 1/100 of its original strength. For the rest of the radiation, you'll have to:

Stay in a basement. If you have one, stay there. It's the safest place in the house. If not, build small individual places for each person to hide under if an attack strikes near.

Put mass between yourself and the outside world. The thicker and heavier this mass is, the better. Use anything from large books, desks, cement and steel to keep you and your family safe.

Tape up the house. Use that duct tape you have to cover any small cracks in the house that could be susceptible to dirt coming in. If you run out of tape, use something like towels and blankets to keep any gaps closed. Get creative if necessary, JUST MAKE SURE NO RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL GETS INSIDE THE HOUSE BY ANY MEANS.

Clean. Keep the house clean like you never have before. Vacuum twice a day. Heck, vacuum ten times a day if you can. Clean off all kitchen utensils and tinned foods before eating.

Don't dry-dust or sweep. This may pick up potentially hazardous material that can be inha

What to do if you’re exposed to Radiation

During war times, anything can happen—usually it's bad. Whether it's because an explosion destroys part of your shelter or you just plain missed an exposed crack, getting radiation in the house is a huge possibility. So what do you do if you think you're exposed to radiation?

Get out of the immediate area quickly. If it's the entire house, you'll need to move to another shelter FAST. If your car has been sealed, use that to get to another place.

Seal off contaminated area. If it's only a small part of the house, seal it off.

Remove your clothing. Throw it outside, seal it in a bag or burn it. Just get rid of it.

Wash all exposed parts of your body. Do it thoroughly with warm water and do it for a long time. Scrub your skin until its red! You wouldn't want to expose your family and friends to it now would you?

Take potassium iodide tablets. These reduce symptoms of exposure. They prevent radioactive iodine from concentrating in your thyroid.

Final Thoughts

Surviving the nuclear holocaust won't be as difficult as something like a zombie apocalypse, even without the proper knowledge of how to stay safe. As long as you use common sense and stay indoors, you should be fine.

The bigger challenge will not be surviving the war, but recuperating in the aftermath. Life will never be the same again: jobs will change, money may alter, food may be scarce and things such as police, medical and banking services and fire protection may be severely limited or totally non-existent.

After the few days, weeks or months of fighting, the war should subdue eventually (hopefully sooner than later). During this time of war, you should brush up on anything useful that will help you survive in the aftermath of war.

Learn how to fend for yourself, how to rebuild, and how to protect yourself from dangerous people. War is a crazy time and makes even the sanest of people turn a little coo-coo.

Try and team up with people in your neighbourhood that are strong-minded and strong-willed. These people will be your best hope at rebuilding your neighbourhood and society as you knew it before it happened. Everything will get better as time goes on, I promise.

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Preprepared Ziplock Bag Meals

Eating your own home made trail mix not only staves off hunger pains but keeps you going with much needed body fuel throughout the day.

The choice of what you put in is entirely yours

Here is my selection which I put into a zip lock bag, if kept at room temperature

1/2 cup            dried cranberries

1/2 cup            raisins

1/2 cup            chopped dried apricots

1/2 cup            chopped dried pineapple

1/2 cup            salted peanuts

1/2 cup            salted cashews or almonds

1/4 cup            dried sweet or sour cherries

1/4 cup            dried strawberry slices

1/4 cup            toasted pumpkin seeds

¼ cup               Pine nuts

Be sure to drink plenty of water when snacking on dried fruits. You need to replace the liquid you’d normally get from fresh fruit.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Here is a recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese, which needs just a couple of minutes on the stove to heat up. All you do is Just Add Water

Serves 1

Make at home

1 cup dried cooked macaroni

2 tbsp crumbled dried cottage cheese

2 tbsp skim milk powder

1/4 tsp powdered mustard

1/4 tsp crumbled dried basil, parsley or herb of your choice

Salt and pepper

To Serve

1 cup water

In a sealable plastic bag, combine macaroni, cottage cheese, milk powder, mustard, dried herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Seal and store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks or refrigerate for up to 3 months.

To Serve

1. In a saucepan, combine macaroni mixture and water. Let stand for 15 minutes or until pasta is softened.

2. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring often, for about 1 minute or until sauce is reduced and thickened.

Add drained tinned tuna.

Add chopped fresh tomatoes or tinned.

Hummus recipe

Why buy a mix when it’s so easy to make your own and you can control exactly what ingredients go into it? Hummus is a great protein booster and tastes great when combined with biscuits or greens as a snack, spread on a sandwich or even stirred into soup to thicken it.

Just Add Water
No Heat Required
Makes 1 serving (about 1/3 cup)

Prep at Home

1 small dried garlic clove

1/4 cup dried cooked chickpeas

2 tsp sesame seeds

1/4 tsp finely chopped dried lemon zest

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch ground cumin (optional)

To Serve

1/4 cup water

Prep at Home

In a mini chopper, pulse garlic, chickpeas, sesame seeds, lemon zest, salt, pepper and cumin until chickpeas are powdery, with as few small chunks as possible. Transfer to a sealable plastic bag, seal and store at room temperature for up to 1 month.

To Serve

In sealable bag or a bowl, combine chickpea mixture and water. Seal or cover and let stand, mashing or stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until chickpeas are soft and liquid is absorbed.

Tips

With dried ingredients, it is tricky to get the tangy flavour that is one of the true characteristics of hummus. You can always add 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice in place of an equal amount of water.

Make a big batch of the dry mix, using a food processor or a blender to grind the ingredients. Use about 2-1/2 tbsp dry mix for each serving.

Try Adding

Hot pepper flakes. Or sweet chilli flakes.

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Planning an Emergency Shelter

When planning your emergency or survival shelter, one type doesn’t always work for all disasters. 

The type of shelter you’ll need depends on a few things.  This list is by no means inclusive, and your circumstances may dictate other considerations:

The nature of the emergencies you’re likely to experience

Where you live (city, suburban, rural, weather, local ethos, type of house you live in)

Where you live in relation to the source of the likely emergencies

Is the shelter temporary or permanent?

The time and money you have available to prepare

Your personal situation (alone, family, like-minded neighbours or group; ability to relocate or are constrained by your job)

You simply cannot cover all contingencies.  Develop a detailed plan to cover the most likely events, and at least mentally work out with your family how you would deal with the others.  Then you won’t be completely lost.

Then rehearse your plan.  Do walk-throughs and, if you have the time and the support of other family members (I know; I know.  Sceptical spouses and sullen teens come to mind).

Then do things like perform a bug-out drill and/or stay in your emergency shelter for a day or two.  I was a Community Defence Adviser for many years and can speak from first-hand experience that even large companies have developed contingency plans, if only to comply with internal or insurance protocols, but they often ended up parked on a dusty shelf– and institutionally forgotten. 

Predictably, when the SHTF, nobody knew who was supposed to do what– and when.  Nobody was in charge and responsible for A, B and C.  Consequently management were only slightly better off than if they had indifferently explored contingencies over a couple of beers.

Some emergencies or disasters, while more unlikely, carry grave consequences—such as death, starvation or long term illness.  So they must be planned for, even though they are less likely to occur. 

For example, you may honestly believe the chance of lawlessness and rioting in your town is quite remote.  But those conditions bring the threat of death and severe bodily injury, so owning a firearm for self-defence is an appropriate consideration.

Choosing a Safe Room Area

The purpose of a safe room is to provide a space where you and your household can seek refuge that provides a high level of protection.

There are several areas of your home that would be a good safe room:

In your basement

Beneath a concrete slab-on-grade-foundation or garage floor

In an interior room on the first floor. Shelters built below ground level provide the greatest protection, but a shelter built in a first-floor interior room can also provide the necessary protection. Below-ground shelters must be designed to avoid accumulating water during the heavy rains that often accompany severe windstorms.

To protect your family, a safe room within your home must be built to withstand high winds and flying debris, even if the rest of the residence is severely damaged or destroyed

Here are some important criteria for the space you choose:

The shelter must be adequately anchored to resist overturning and uplift.

The walls, ceiling, and door of the shelter must withstand wind pressure and resist penetration by wind-borne objects and falling debris.

The connections between all parts of the shelter must be strong enough to resist the wind.

If sections of either interior or exterior residence walls are used as walls of the shelter, they must be separated from the structure of the residence, so that damage to the residence will not cause damage to the shelter.

Just like a shelter area in your home, this room should be stocked with supplies to last for at least 3 days this is your 72-hour kit.

If your chosen room has no windows, you'll definitely need a good, reliable source of temporary light and don’t forget some form of heating.

Create a Safe Room

Cover all doors, windows and vents with 2-4 mil. Thick plastic sheeting.

Cut the plastic sheeting several inches wider than the openings and label each sheet.

Duct tape plastic at corners first, then tape down all edges.

What about oxygen?

Now that you've built your safe room and everything is sealed up tight, what about oxygen to breathe? Well, if there is a need to tape up all windows, doors, and vents, there is probably a chemical or biological reason to do so. Therefore, you do not want outside air coming into your safe room.

Knowing that you want to keep outside air from infiltrating your room, you will need to take into consideration how many people are going to be in that room and allow 10 square feet of space per person to provide enough oxygen for each person for approximately five hours. (Five hours is just a guide.)

When you will run out of air in the room depends on how big the room is, how many people (or pets) are in it, the lung condition or capacity of the occupants, and whether someone is prone to panic or hyperventilate in a crisis situation.

While confined in your safe room, make sure to take everyone's pulse every 10-15 minutes and write it down for each person. Even though your pulses will probably be a bit higher from stress or from rushing to get into the room and tape it up, what you're watching for is a sudden spike in anyone's pulse, especially after the 5-hour mark. That would signify that you're running out of air and would need to make a decision on whether it is safe to leave the room or not.

I hope you never have to make that decision but it may come down to breathing contaminated air or slowly be unable to stay awake and eventually pass out - and die. A helpful item to have to prevent breathing contaminated air is a respirator mask. These will protect you from germs (like swine flu, etc.) and particles in the air that might be left from a blast wave.

I'm sure that's not what you wanted to hear, but this situation is a good reason to have a working radio, TV, in the room with you so you will know when authorities announce that it's safe to come out (hopefully they would).

Storm Shelter

A storm shelter that is below ground may or may not be connected to the house. It is especially useful in areas where it is not safe to be above ground during a storm, such a tornado.

We have had tornados in the UK but they are very rare at the moment and many people think hurricanes will never happen here. However, a safe room may be necessary for other types of disasters.

Whether you create a safe room in your home or build a storm shelter is considered a temporary protective measure to create a barrier between your family and potentially contaminated air outside as well as protection from flying or falling objects. It is a type of bugging-in that requires preplanning.

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Camping is not camping without a fire?

A fire means heat, light, and life. To many people, a campsite with no fire is just not camping. A campfire means self-sufficiency, survival, and comfort.

The ability to enjoy an outdoor adventure with alternate heat and light sources greatly expands your opportunities and allows a more self-sufficient experience. The development of lightweight, very efficient camp stoves has eliminated the real need for a fire in most circumstances so it is now a choice to use a fire or a stove.

Why Have a Fire?

Warmth - a fire warms you on a cold camping trip, but there are much better ways to stay warm. Bringing appropriate clothing and having healthy food means less need for fire. Campfire heat is useful for drying clothing and warming water to put in a bottle in your sleeping bag to make it more comfortable.

Cooking - whether it is boiling water or cooking meat, a fire is used to prepare food for consumption.

Entertainment - watching the flames is relaxing and telling stories around a fire is a great way to complete a strenuous day in the woods.

Campfire Alternatives
On any outdoor adventure, a source of heat for emergencies is required. You should always be prepared to start a fire in a survival situation. But, a backpacking stove is a great alternate source of heat from the campfire. Stoves have many benefits over fires:

Fast - stoves have nearly instant, ready-to-cook heat. No waiting for the fire. They also extinguish immediately.

Clean - stoves have no smoke and leave no ash or partially-burned wood. They do not create soot on pots.

Safe - the risk of wildfire is nearly eliminated with stoves.

Consistent - stoves work at nearly any elevation, temperature, and elevation.

Choosing Fire or Stove
Before heading out on a wilderness adventure, it is a good idea to decide whether campfires or stoves will be used for each day of the trip.

It may be decided to have campfires some days and stoves on others. Some things to consider when making the decision include:

Fire Danger - what will the wind conditions, humidity, and vegetation dryness be like for the location and season?

Fire Restrictions - contact the local land managers to find out what types of fires are allowed in the area.

Fuel Availability - is there adequate fuel so fires will not deplete or impact the resource?

Group Skills - is everyone in the group able to safely build and tend fires?

Menu - will the food the group takes cook better over a stove or fire?

Leave No Trace Campfires
Once the decision is made to have a fire, the expertise of minimizing its impact comes into play. There will be an impact to the area from any fire, but there are many ways to reduce and disguise the impact.

Use existing fire rings - in an established campsite, use the fire ring

If there is no fire ring, do not make one. Instead, build a mound fire.

Build small fires - create a fire just large enough to cook the food. Feed it fuel as needed.

Burn all wood to ash - stop adding fuel to the fire well before bed-time or departure time so it has time to burn itself out. This prevents having chunks of partially burned wood to disperse.

Gather firewood carefully:

Use wood that is down. Leave limbs on standing trees, even if they are dead limbs.

Use wood that is smaller around than an adult's wrist. It should be broken by hand - no saws or axes are needed.

Leave larger logs and limbs for habitat and to decompose into the soil.

Clean up after the fire:

Scatter unused wood as naturally as possible.

Push unburned ends of wood into the fire as it burns down so it is all consumed.

When the coals have burned to ash, soak well with water and make sure it is completely out. Use water rather than dirt to put out the fire.

Collect the cold ash and scatter it over a large area well away from the camp site.

Fires built on the ground overheat the organic soil and kill the creepy crawlies living in it. It may take a very long time for anything to grow in the spot where a fire was built.

An established fire ring is a sacrificed spot in which fires are accepted to prevent destruction of other areas.
In the absence of fire rings, rather than creating a fire directly on the ground, it is better to insulate the organic soil from the heat of your fire by using a camp stove, fire pan, or mound fire.

Fire Pans
A collapsible fire pan is a good way to have a campfire and greatly reduce its impact. A metal pan with 3-inch sides perched on 4 or 5 stones allows a fire without scorching the soil underneath. Mound Fires
Another way to insulate soil is to cover it with a few inches of mineral soil and build a fire on that. Mineral soil is found underneath the top layer of rich, darker, organic soil. Mineral soil, sand, or gravel do not have the thriving life in them that organic soil has so a fire on that material is ok.
To make a mound fire, follow these steps:

With a small shovel or trowel, gather sand or mineral soil into a bag. Good places to look are the root ball of a blown-down tree or a dry river bed. The bag can be a stuff sack turned inside out to keep the inside clean.

Lay a ground cloth on the spot where the fire will be built. This makes clean up easier. Some sparks will land on the cloth and it will be worn and dirty from the ground so use something sturdy and expendable.

Pour the sand onto the ground cloth. Flatten the top of the pile so the mound is at least 4 inches thick and bigger around than what the fire will be.

After cleaning up the campfire, return the soil to its original location and clean away any spills at the fire site.

Tips on Minimizing Campfire Impact

Prepare the group's expectations so they are aware of what fires will be used.

Practice with the stoves being used so everyone is competent in their use.

Take advantage of weather information for last minute planning.

Take along a few candles. Use these in place of a campfire in your evening meeting place.

The stars and darkness are a fun change from a campfire and storytelling can be more exciting.

Minimizing Campfire Impact is Important because:

Fires are potentially the most dangerous and expensive impact we might have

It is the only LNT principle aimed to control consumption of resources.

Will You Freeze To Death

If you can’t heat your home and you have no friends or family to go live with–you and your family will be in deep do do.

For many of us preppers, this heat issue is the Achilles heel. Without heat, we may have to forsake food, weapons, ammo and other emergency supplies to stay warm–to stay alive.

You can’t walk into a local communal shelter with rifles, shotguns strapped across your back, etc. Of course many preppers will fire up the generators to keep warm!

How long before the fuel runs out? If the grid does down and stays down, how long before the fuel shortages start? Assuming your generator doesn’t get stolen–because everyone else in the neighbourhood is freezing to death–how many weeks (possibly months) of fuel will it take until the spring thaw! I just don’t see how we can survive even weeks without heat.

Blankets, solar blankets you say? Wood burning stove. Fireplace. Yes, these will help. But here’s the problem. In the UK it is not uncommon to see temperatures (w/wind chill) drop to -30 degrees below zero. Good luck with your solar blanket. People will be tearing the drywall down and starting fires in their living rooms to stay warm.

So the question begs: Will We Freeze to Death? The answer is NO if you are prepared. Can you say wood burning stove! If you don’t have one, get one, even a small one can generate plenty of heat to stay alive! Buy it, install it, stockpile wood and a good chain saw (for foraging).

You must also plan to survive in just one room which is then easier to keep warm than trying to hear many rooms.

Many say the power would be restored within a reasonable timeframe. I say: Are you sure? Severe weather can certainly knock out the power as we see every year

Not too long ago we had the Stuxnet super cybervirus ( ‘Stuxnet represented a nightmare: a dangerous computer worm that in some modified form could be used to attack an electric or telecommunications grid, an oil refinery or a water treatment facility.

This insidious virus infects and disables industrial power grids, water purification plants, telecommunications and more. Stuxnet was suspected of disabling an Iranian nuclear research facility two years ago.

More recently, an article from ComputerWorld.com states “Homeland Security warned that with all the hacking conferences and common pen testing software, the industrial control systems that are connected directly to the Internet could be easily located and hackers could point, click and destroy. So you see dear listener cyber-terrorism is a risk, our grid is vulnerable and likely will continue to be more so in the near future.

How to get started

Lately I’ve been considering the plight of people who are new to preparedness. How overwhelming this all must be for them.

Even for those of us who have been prepping for years it can still be overwhelming and intimidating. I imagine that for people that are new the task ahead must look like Mount Everest.

Most people begin to plan for specific problems or vulnerabilities and go from there. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, and I believe that looking at specific scenarios is a key part of being prepared for whatever may come this way.

It’s perfectly normal and common to start this way. Most of the time you start thinking about the scenario that first got you started on the preparedness path. It’s ok, and normal, and not wrong. Trust me!

But today I want to advocate an approach that is a bit different than that.  This approach is a bit less overwhelming and it is more practical than war-gaming individual disaster scenarios.

Ignore Specific Scenarios

For Beginners the first thing you need to do is ignore specific scenarios. Yes, this means that I don’t want you thinking about EMP, tornadoes, pandemics, or even the zombie apocalypse.

The reason why I want you to do this is because any time you look at a specific scenario in depth, you end up focusing on specific details and you end up rat-holing and losing sight of the big picture. 

You end up spending a ton of time with no concrete results that you can actually do something about.

In case the term isn’t something you’ve heard before, “rat-holing” is a term used to describe a conversation or process that has deviated from its original productive purpose into a generally unproductive but long and winding detour that eventually comes to a dead end.

The original discussion purpose may be to agree on a course of action. However, if one or more people rat-hole into a specific point of the discussion then the discussion stalls with no actionable outcome.

Figure out What’s Important

The first thing I want you to do is to figure out what is important to your life. Most of the time the basics are clear: food, water, your health, shelter, and power.

Grab a sheet of paper and write it down. Think about what else is important to your life, and go into a bit more detail than I went into here.

Find Your Dependencies

Now for each of these things you’ve written down, figure out what you’re dependent upon for those needs. For example you’re probably dependent upon the power company for electricity, and you most likely get most of your food from the supermarket.

Do this for each item you’ve written down, and now you should have a list of needs and what you are dependent upon for those needs.

Contingency Planning

For Beginners Now it’s time to do the fun stuff. You need to put contingency plans in place for each of these dependencies. But not just anything. I want you to start small, and work your way up.

What you’re planning for is for the disruption in the normal availability of those dependencies. To use the electricity example again, this is you planning for a power cut.

Like I said, you want to start small here, and expand your contingency plans. Start planning for a three day disruption, then a week. Then two weeks, a month, three months, and six months. Go all the way out to a year if you want.

Once you hit two weeks, if you feel more comfortable with different time frames after that, go for it. I’m giving you a guideline, but it’s definitely not some sort of hard and fast rule.

Take as much time as you want. This doesn’t have to happen tonight, or tomorrow. Go at your own pace, and don’t feel like it’s a race. But don’t stall out. Make progress on a consistent basis.

Why This Works

This works because all any disaster is, when you get down to it, is a removal of your support structure and dependencies for a certain amount of time.   

Whether it’s a power cut for a few hours or a job loss that lasts a few months.

By preparing for those dependencies to be unavailable, you’re actually preparing for just about any disaster scenario.  You can dig into specific scenarios once you’ve got the basics accounted for, but by and large just having your main dependencies covered will get you through just about anything.

As with anything in life, though, action is what gets things done. You have to actually work on your preparedness plans, not just put them together.  You have to take action to put those contingencies in place.  They won’t show up on their own.

Wrapping Up

Prepping for Beginners remember…preparedness planning is very personal, and it’s not about planning for the latest and greatest disaster. It’s about structuring your life in a way that you are not completely up a creek without a paddle if the power goes out or you can’t get to the supermarket.

This will give you a sense of peace and confidence that you are able to take care of yourself and your family. When your dependencies give out for whatever reason, you’ll have a sense of security that comes from knowing that you’ll be ok, and you have time to figure out what comes next.