They Will Smell Your Food From Miles Away…

by | Oct 23, 2013 | Emergency Preparedness | 461 comments

Do you LOVE America?

    Share

    Editor’s Note: When it hits the fan and people resort to violence and theft in order to meet their most basic needs, you’ll have plenty of food stockpiled in your pantry. The problem, of course, is that those who have not had anything to eat for days will have a heightened sense of smell. Their only task on a daily basis will be to find food by whatever means necessary. When you start cooking, they’ll start looking. Think ‘Walking Dead’ and how zombies quickly mass at the smell of human flesh. Sure, you may be armed to the teeth and perfectly capable of defending yourself from marauders, but why take the risk? Tess Pennington of Ready Nutrition provides a primer for this highly serious security concern and shares some tips on how you can stay off the aroma grid in a post-collapse environment.

    zombies-smell-food

    Sustainable in the City: 7 Ways to Mask Food Aromas When the SHTF
    By Tess Pennington

    Scenario: It’s been 20 days since the blackout and 3 days since you have eaten. All the store shelves have been cleared out and there is no sign of recovery. The lucky ones already made their way out of the city, but there are some who decided to stay in the neighborhood. After your daily dumpster diving for food and supplies, you are walking past an apartment complex and smell a delicious aroma. Could it be the smell of stew making its way out of the window of the abandoned apartment complex? At this point, you have nothing to lose and your sole thought is on survival. It’s either you or them so what would you do?

    Our Smells Will Give Us Away

    A fear of many preppers during the beginning stages of a true SHTF event, is how our smells, as well as the aromas from foods we prepare could attract unwanted visitors. Cooking food can be smelled in best conditions up to a half mile or so. Further, those who have gone without food for days on end will have a heightened sense of smell and will use this to their advantage. After all, this is what we do when we hunt, we use our senses to track down food. Animals can also be a security risk. For one, their range of smell is further and could make their way to your residence in hopes of getting any leftovers. This is a very real security issue and one that we must prepare for. Using your outdoor cooking sources such as a Sun Oven, Rocket Stove, outdoor grill or oven could add insult to injury and endanger you due to the food aromas.

    As nice as it is to have a fully stocked food pantry, in the beginning of a massive disaster (economic collapse, nuclear or EMP attack, pandemic, massive grid failure, etc.), we must carefully choose the types of foods to eat in order to conceal our whereabouts. Generally speaking, most people have a three day supply of food in their home. After that is when the crazy begins. Remember, you want to use or preserve all the contents in your refrigerator and freezer before you begin using your food stores. Once it is time to use your larder, be thoughtful about which foods you consume.

    Densely Populated Areas Will Be Most At Risk

    In this type of event, basic resources such as food, water and disaster supplies will be near to extinct if you are living in a large metropolitan area. Those who live in densely populated areas, apartment complexes or sprawling neighborhoods will be challenged with bugging in and trying to not emit smells of food.

    If you decided to hunker down and bug in place ensure that you have all supplies stored and ready to go. Plan to keep a very low profile and to stay indoors. Further, invest in black out curtains to conceal any light that may emit from your home. Never underestimate the desperation of the unprepared; they will want what you have. Take steps now to learn how to conceal aromas and learn which ways you can prepare food indoors to protect you location.

    To maintain a level of discretion, you may want to look into these tips:

    1. Cook indoors. Finding clean burning fuels such as those found in sternos. Now isn’t the time to break out the outdoor grill.
    2.  Cook on the down low. Plan to prepare and cook food in the early morning or late at night when a majority of people are sleeping.
    3. Stock up on MRE’s. These are self-contained meals that will not require long preparation times.
    4. Have meals with quick prep times. Prepare meals ahead and can them for quick preparation such as beans, soups and stews. This will cut down on fuel and keep the smell of food down to a minimum.
    5. Go easy on the spices. As much as we love to add spices to our meals, they will bring added aromas to your food and inevitably could be your worst enemy.
    6. Eat foods that are already prepared and are shelf stable. Shelf stable foods is another solution to cut down on strong aromas.
    7. Use a thermal cookerThis is an insulated crock pot that will allow you use minimal fuel to heat the food and also help insulate the aromas that the food gives off.

    In the aftermath of disasters, the main objective of the unprepared is to find food and water. Dumpster diving, rummaging through homes and foraging will become a norm for those trying to meet their survival need. During this time, you must be discreet in your food preparations until the recovery period or the die off begins.

    ***********

    Prepper's Cookbook

    Tess Pennington is the author of The Prepper’s Cookbook: 300 Recipes to Turn Your Emergency Food into Nutritious, Delicious, Life-Saving Meals. When a catastrophic collapse cripples society, grocery store shelves will empty within days. But if you follow this book’s plan for stocking, organizing and maintaining a proper emergency food supply, your family will have plenty to eat for weeks, months or even years. Visit her web site at ReadyNutrition.com.

    URGENT ON GOLD… as in URGENT

    It Took 22 Years to Get to This Point

    Gold has been the right asset with which to save your funds in this millennium that began 23 years ago.

    Free Exclusive Report
    The inevitable Breakout – The two w’s

      Related Articles

      Comments

      Join the conversation!

      It’s 100% free and your personal information will never be sold or shared online.

      461 Comments

      1. So you’re saying I shouldn’t light the tiki torches along with my grill in the evening, while blaring the battery powered boom box to get in the grilling mood?

          • First there is NO SUCH THING as a warning shot in policing; that only happens in Hollywood. Second yelled multiple times for him to drop the weapon and he didn’t. It was a lawful order that he did not heed. Sorry he’s dead but drop the weapon when ordered to do so. And it has been reported he supposedly actually raised the weapon.

            • “Drop the weapon when ordered to do so”.

              So when the gestapo ordered the Jews to wear a star and file into a train, you’re saying it was wise to do that because they were told to? Spoken like a true sheep.

              Sounds to me like they were trying to condition the boy. The police saw the weapon and immediately thought the worse. Back in the day, there were kids younger than him running around with rifles. This is murder, and simple. If I was the father, these cops would be eliminated. Even if I had to die for it.

              • This kid wasn’t a German Jew and the cops were NOT the Gestapo. With all of the school shootings and murders being committed by young punks, the cops had reasonable fear that he was another such person, especially when he refused to drop his gun.

              • I would kill the cop if that was my kid.

                • Thats awesome… then their kids, of the cops u killed, could come by and kill your family… and then….

                  You know zero about these cops, they could be the same people that saved 20 kids from a buring bus, or were wounded Army guys that volunteered for the force after serving in Afganistan.
                  Yup, nothing like a blind killing spree. Good job

                  • This site sucks, hide all of the rational comments and display the idiots comments. True obamyites.

                  • yeah ex soldiers suffering from ptsd let loose with guns on your streets. Way to go

                  • You must not of read the article it was a 24 year veteran police officer who killed the kid..Unless he was with the CIA back when we were helping fight the Russians to stop communism in Afghanistan.

                • Iowa: Any parent that gives realistic looking toy guns to their kids is a moron. Guns are not toys and should never be treated as such. Kids should be taught the proper use and display of firearms. You talk tough but you’d never shoot a cop because you’d likely never make it to jail alive because the one thing cops hate more than anything is a cop killer. You’d likely be ‘shot while trying to escape’, if you get my drift. It’s happened before.

                  • I take it that you are:

                    Young

                    Have no kids

                    Know NOTHING about how playing ‘Cops and Robbers’ and “Cowboys and Indians’, are a right of passage for a young boy (and some girls), and that it is actually FUN for kids to play ‘shoot ’em up games, instead of watching T.V

                    Metro Sexual

                    —————————

                    In other words, shut your trap, you little sissy.

                  • WIth all the discussion about indoor cooking a warning about deadly CARBON MONOXIDE is in order.

                    Please be careful.

                  • @Gregory8, I agree about not giving realistic looking toy guns to older kids. But I have seen parents give those cheesy cowboy guns to very young kids as a gun safety training aid. The parents made them treat the toys as if they were real.

              • Frosty? May I ask you a simple question?

                Let me precede my question with a few pertinent links:

                http://forward.com/articles/175270/jewish-gun-control-backers-plan-new-push/?p=all

                More Bad News For The Gun Nuts—Hispanics Overwhelmingly Support Gun Control
                By Federale
                Created 04/15/13
                “Hispanics overwhelmingly support gun control. That should be no surprise to anyone since Hispanics voted overwhelmingly for Barack Hussein Obama, who supports gun control. Only a fool would contest this. Of course there are plenty of fools who think that Hispanics are natural conservatives.”

                http://forward.com/articles/173720/jewish-groups-push-for-immigration-reform-on-passo/

                http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/10/255432/us-police-now-israelidhs-trained/
                “American police now “Israeli-DHS trained,” precursor to dictatorship”

                So, here is my question. How can it be possible that you are unaware of the identity of the group of people who are (a) lusting to disarm American citizens and render us unable to defend ourselves from tyranny or from predatory criminals, (b) waging a war of genocide against the White European majority by promoting amnesty and open borders immigration policies which are intentionally designed to displace White Europeans as the majority inside their own native homelands, and
                who (c) are the leading instigators of transforming the USA into a Soviet style Police State?

            • ya cops are-have turned into FUCKING PUSSIES AND COWARDS bottom line! either that or their superiors have greenlit murder of the public!!!! your choice partner! if they cannot access a threat from a non threat they have no biz wearing a badge!!!

              • Kevin: Young, Pansy-boy? I’m 60, retired military and LEO and I take guns very seriously. THEY ARE NOT TOYS you moron and should never be treated as such. I taught my children to respect firearms as tools, not toys. You take your kids out shooting when it’s appropriate and they’ll treat them with the respect they’re due. And no parent with a brain gets his kid a real looking model of an AK-47 for a toy you idiotic puissant! Clowns like you shouldn’t even have a BB-Gun.

                • “Red Thumbs”: Proof positive that most of the folks here have never been in the military, and LEO, or even carry a gun for that matter. Fat, dick-less little mall ninja-mama’s boys who fantasize about violence and being a hero by playing hours of ‘Call To Duty’. But most of the fat little turds couldn’t run 100 yards with a pack and then engage a target. At 60 I still practice both. At the first sound of real gun fire the little sissies here would piss their panties and run home to their mommies. How many of you delusional warriors can effectively clear you weapon of a malfunction, maintain cover, and re-engage your target while being out of breath? Virtually none, except those who have served.

                  • I can

                  • @Gregory8; Don’t let the little NO-DICK, cyber warriors get you down. I used to try to use logic, common sense and critical thinking methodologies to explain their lack of mental acuity to them, and the non sequitur nature of their arguments, but you are casting your pearls before the swine. I just come here for the humor and entertainment that only the functionally ignorant can provide. I did the same thing with my kids, though I did buy toy guns (obvious ones) and they could go “hunt”, but they couldn’t point them at people and they had to be able to quote the 4 basic rules of REAL gun handling, before they could even have toy guns. I haven’t seen a child play “cowboys and Indians” or even “combat” in decades. They play video games instead. I am 62, retired military (almost 4 decades of service) and passed my last PT in 09 with 95%. I feel sure Kevin is a cross dressing little teabagger, that got rejected from MEPS (AFEES for us old dogs) or couldn’t pass the MMPP for a LEO psych eval somewhere, and was rejected for mall cop to boot. Now full disclosure, my brother is a cop and I admire him, but I don’t like cops, and cops are underpaid (there isn’t enough money for me to walk up on a car on the side of a country rd in the dark), and people that wish for cops to have a bad day, or that we would be better off without cops, are basically ignorant dipshits. Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. Been all over the world and been shot at and shot back. I’m here and they aren’t, from SEA to the Stan. Anarchy is not pretty and if these little girlie-mens got shot at, not only would they prolly piss their little pink, lacy, panties they would prolly soil them as well. Yeah start clicking the red thumbs, bitches! When a herd of meth heads are beating the shit out of you, while you watch them rape your daughter, wife, SON, or heck, even you (ha), then think about why the cops aren’t there and how little you think of them. Then think how concerned they are about you, knowing how you REALLY feel, yeah. Yeah, think about that all the way up to the point they either blow your little brain out or just keep you around to be their bitch, some more. I don’t know how old Kevin is but his mental age wouldn’t allow him into an R rated movie and he prolly hasn’t seen his little “hangy down thing” or his belt buckle in years. Yep, a lotta “internet commandos” and badass, wannabes here. Oh, can’t leave out iowa, yeah, bet you’re really that brave, what a delta bravo…. Oh, cali-kid…it is ASSESS, not access a threat. If you are going to rant and espouse ignorant, narrow minded, ill thought out drivel, at least get the grammar and spelling (in the vernacular, of course) correct. You prolly wouldn’t know a cogent thought if it bit you in your ignorant little “left-coast” ass. Best regards, be well.

                • These look alike toy guns have a bright orange end on the barrel, ??????

            • Sounds like they had to come up with a story quickly, especially after they found out the weapon was a toy. I don’t believe a damn thing cops say after killing somebody.

              • Sixpack IS everything law enforcement does wrong in your mind. Do they ever tell the truth.

                • From my experience only when it’s in their best interest. But then I lived in S. Cal.

                • “IS everything law enforcement does wrong in your mind. Do they ever tell the truth”

                  Uh, NOT WHEN THEIR ASSES ARE ON THE LINE. Police often lie about stupid little things that don’t really matter. A “reprimand” isn’t shit in LE today, many cops have several in their records without ill-effects. The Police unions make it nearly impossible to fire a cop, even after gross actions.

                  When it comes to a situation where a cop might either go to jail or actually lose his job, YES, I do believe they will, more often than not, LIE to cover for themselves or their buddies.

                  Nobody ever really knows the truth.

                  • Not unless there’s a video, and then it always proves the cop is telling a lie.

                • When they were peace officers and upheld the creed “to serve and protect,” they were heroes. When they transitioned to “law enforcement” or an even better term, “revenue collectors,” they went against the people they were sworn to protect. Fuck every last tin god with a badge and a gun. Better burn the uniforms when the SHTF………

                • Why You P.O.S. All they do is LIE.

            • Does it pay well being a shill?

              How is it on your soul? Is the pay good enough to redeem yourself? Wonder how you will feel once the money runs out.

              I would hate to be in your shoes even if it is the only pathetic job you can get

            • “…it has been reported he supposedly actually raised the weapon.”

              Indeed. It was reported by the murdering thugs who shot him. You’re either an idiot or a cop ..wait a minute ..I think I just REPEATED myself.

            • Back when I was the dead kid’s age or younger, I carried around a Remington .22 Model 12 with an octagon barrel, so I can resonate with what “Stay Frosty” had to say.
              And I still say, the only new gun legislation this country needs is mandated 1st through 12th grade pro 2nd Amendment and firearm responsibility classes to be taught.

              His comment about being conditioned was interesting. I remember reading a newspaper article several years ago about a traffic stop where the police ordered the driver to get prone on the asphalt. Before I read that article; if I had been that driver, I probably would have been going “What? You want me to do what? Why?” without complying. That article showed me how important it was to be ready to comply even if you didn’t know why. Depending on the situation, of course.

              Situational awareness is important for all of us. If I’m home alone and the department of home land security drives up in one of their armored vehicles with a squad of armed government perpetrators, I’d be foolish to try to resist unless I was wanting to go out like the old man that smarted off to a Nazi at 11:00 in “Escape from Sobibor” when they were unloading jews from the train, and paid the ultimate price at 16:45. Or, I possessed the means to seriously resist and it was definitely time for that.

              All men eventually die, it is just a matter of how and when. “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 Besides, I may prefer to be one who gets to share their testimony. Matthew 10:19 And, you can’t do that if you’re dead.

              Personally, I think cops should be able to better discern how lethal a kid can be when they posses an “apparent” weapon. Is the kid acting threatening or just holding the potential weapon in a non-threatening manner? But regardless, all law enforcements main goal is to return home safe and alive after their duty day is done.

              It seems the primary method they use to identify bad guys these days is whether or not the potential bad guy is holding a weapon. It seems from everything I’ve seen and read that anyone holding a weapon besides a policeman is a bad guy whether they really are, or not. So, it is prudent to realize that and be careful how you display any armaments. With the drone technology they have now, you could probably get toasted taking a smoke break on the back porch with your weapon carelessly displayed. If they wanted too.

              I could see a kid not realizing how precarious a situation he was in raising his toy gun when ordered to drop it, “You mean this?” Oops… Yes, that’s exactly what they meant. Those with children who have toy guns, or airsoft, or paintball guns should probably spend a little time discussing how important it would be to comply if they found themselves in a similar situation as this poor dead kid. Even those who don’t allow their children to play with guns probably ought to have the discussion in case their kids acquire any from a friend. Sad it has to be like that, but it is. This discussion is probably as important as telling them it is not appropriate to joke about bombs in the airport and if they did they could suffer serious consequences.

              Also, there is a time to resist and a time to comply. Hopefully, we will have the discernment to know when resistance or complying is appropriate and choose accordingly.

              • “But regardless, all law enforcements main goal is to return home safe and alive after their duty day is done”. There is the problem. If your primary driver is return home safe, then you will act according the that guideline in all situations. Kid holding realistic toy? Why take a chance, shoot first. Someone driving pickup truck, and we have a rogue cop on the loose? Shoot it up, better safe than sorry. NYC cops feeling threaded? Spray down the crowd, after all my (cop) safety is most important. Serving a warrant? Shoot anyone who doesn’t instantly obey, after all, my safety is more important than yours. So what if we might have the wrong house, in a bad neighborhood (as in folks might be jumpy when someone breaks in), late at night… Sure, it makes sense to kill someone rather than figure out the situation. Like all the other crap in this country, if actions have no concesquences, what makes the bad actions stop? Hint….. Nothing. If you want to play law enforcement, you have to also take responsibility for your actions. That means you don’t get to default to shoot first. All that means is citizens perhaps might want to,think about that and how they may need to act in order to defend themselves from a cop whose motivator is NOT citizen safety.

              • Wild Goose: Excellent comment.

                One of the scary things is contemplating being being hauled away by police forces to a concentration camp.

                Against overwhelming odds, you have to make some kind of call on what it means to die fighting or live in a concentration camp with the small chance of escaping.

                Remember the scene from “Red Dawn” where they pry the gun from the guy’s cold, dead hands.

                There are no sure fire (so to speak) solutions to survival. One must ultimately, I think, trust in our Savior, but still: keep your lamps trimmed and burning.

            • Interro: Looks like Sixpack and some of the other little mall-ninjas here think the cops should have known “just-by-looking” that it was a toy. It’s painfully obvious that the thumbs downs are coming from the fat little mama’s boys who still live at home and have never done anything more daring than play Halo or Call To Duty. Not one of these dick-less little sissies have ever carried a real gun for real-world duty purposes.

              • Wrong, G8. I’m a great grandma in my mid 50’s. In order for you to be more wrong, I’d have to be in a nursing home or dead. Sorry,

                Interestingly, cops shoot people for carrying cell phones, butter knives and sticks as well. Sometimes they shoot people who had absolutely nothing in their hands. That’s what happens when cops are allowed to shoot first and worry about the details later.

                It’s obvious cops don’t get paid to THINK…just SHOOT and cover each others asses. This does not apply to ALL cops. The good ones know who they are…and so do the bad ones.

                • oh, and I’m also a vet from a long line of veterans, from all four branches…Army, Navy, Air force and Marines.

                  • Sixpack: Yeah, cops do shoot innocent folks from time to time and it’s tragic. That’s not my point. The vast majority of cops do not want to shoot people for various reasons such as the guilt and mental trauma that goes with any shooting, especially one such as this child’s. Then there’s they shooting team that comes out to see that everything was done right because it’s very hard to lie today with the exacting science of shooting. But one of the biggest reasons is that Internal Affairs/Professional Responsibility folks are looking at the same evidence. These are not your “Officer Friendly” guys. These cops make their bones by busting dirty/bad cops and they love their jobs. Most cops are worried about their jobs because they have families that rely on their salaries and benefits, so most cops aren’t going to lie to protect some dumbass fellow cop because then they’ll be out on their asses for covering up an investigation and may even get some jail time too. Today, cops will throw a fellow officer under the bus if they think it could cost them their job. Believing otherwise is for fools who actually believe the crap they see on TV. Our cops are far from perfect but they aren’t as bad as folks imagine either otherwise we’d be like Mexico where everyone fears the cops more than the cartels.

                  • So all that means is that your whole family is a bunch of pathetic pawns for the elitist warmongers.
                    Glad you are so proud of that.
                    All vets since 1972 have VOLUNTEERED to kill for our illegal government.
                    All Cops are pig thugs who should be jailed as opposed to armed.
                    Fuck all you maggots.
                    Can’t wait till the Black-out, then the fun and payback starts!

            • Of course the Cop failed to report the little boy KEPT SAYING “It was just a Toy” and “Dont Taze Me Bro!!” #1 Rule taught in COP Caddet School. “Dead Men can’t talk!!”

          • Definitely off-topic and dumb post. If someone, regardless of age, is brandishing or pointing what looks like a real AK-47 at you, do you really mean to tell me you will let them shoot you before you shoot?

            It’s not like we haven’t had more than a few recent stories of kids in their early teens killing people or anything.

            • How do you know he was “Brandishing” a “Realistic” looking ak47? Those extra words you added changes the story. How do you know he wasnt just carrying it and did not POINT it at the donut eaters? There are very few stories (if any) of 13 year olds gunning down cops. There is a hell of alot of cops gunning down kids.

          • Given all the videos of cops shooting first and asking questions later, happily beating to death people, shooting some family’s dog when there was zero evidence that the dog in any way was a threat to the LEO, AND finally the fact that cops can, and do legally lie I assume that they are lying and are guilty of misconduct until proven otherwise. Cops consider themselves to be a members of a paramilitary oganization. Wannbe Rambos, with a permit to kill. All they have to say is “officer safety, as a reason for any action they take. I see them now as the enemy. They can get away with murder.

            • Jeff.

              Rules of engagement with LEO’s.

              Teach you children not to do stupid actions for simple traffic stops. Then make them aware their friends that do illegal stuff could get them in trouble with the law. Pointing a toy gun at a LEO can Get you Killed. Keep your hands where the LEO can see them. Shut the hell up and answer the questions he asks. Get the Blue Lights, pull over in a safe place. Don’t take off and run lights and stop signs saying you were scared.

          • Good job derailing the original post and the entire article.

          • JustMe: What make-believe world do live in, there’s no such thing as a warning shot. In fact it’s illegal in virtually all departments throughout the country because stray bullets are a danger to the rest of the public. The only place it’s been authorized over the last 20-25 years is out at sea. Check any departments site on this issue, don’t just take my word for it. Someone points a gun at you after they’ve been told to put it down gets shot-period. Gangbangers a young as 10-12 are now shooting at cops and civilians. This is no f*cking game. It’s obvious you’ve never been in the military or an LEO or you wouldn’t being crying over this young idiot.

            • 1) You presume to know what I am not, or have not been, and you have no idea what I have done, or been through.

              2) Tomas’ post above said it far better than I have the patience to.

              3) All of your posts exemplify the standard “Us vs. Them” attitude, that gets so many civilians unneccessarily killed, “tragic”, as you call it. This is only making the militarization of America’s police all the more dangerous, and will ultimately contribute to tyranny.

              4) LEO coverups, lies, corruption, breaking the law, to enforce the law, are not just TV drama, but an all-to-real daily phenomenon, exposed by many former, and current LEO’s.

              5) I very well understand “This is no f*cking game.”, as you say, but those who are LEO’s were once held to a higher standard. Now, they routinely kill people, and all they have to say, is “I felt threatened”, and it’s allright. This occurrs regularly, across the country.

              6) I am not “crying” over the kid’s death, but again, your own words exemplify your protective blindness. “It’s obvious you’ve never been in the military or an LEO or you wouldn’t being crying over this young idiot.” Hmm, “young idiot”, not a big deal for you, obviously.

              Perhaps, one day you will find yourself nothing more than a spent round, a victim of those who espose the “Us vs. Them” mentality, and could care less that you were once one of them. I restrain myself from hoping you don’t.

          • Murder implies intent. Guess they planned to go out and kill him. Gee Einstein no formal training in your life I see.

          • “Warning shots”? You’ve been watching too much TV, old TV programs at that. There are no warning shots. If shots are fired they are intended to stop the threat.

        • Checkered table cloth and candles on the table!

          • ….don’t make me have to stop eating and set my bowl of stew down.

        • I’ll just have my wife cook. That will keep them away. I’ve built up a tolerance over the years.

          • You BASSTARD…that was not nice.

            I’m sure she has some redeeming qualities…

          • Not all that happy to say ditto.

            • Same here.

        • I say put a dead cat on the BBQ across the street and use it for bait. Then when they come for it, well what was yours is now mine. Point being strike first against those that would come for yours.

          BigB

          • Some people like to simmer their spices in to the food for flavor. This adds to the smell factor. I’ll be adding the spices on my plate, just before I eat it, not while it’s still cooking.

            • Also, there are two readily available items that override food smells in the air—ether and ammonia. Everybody might think of febreze, but that smells GOOD, which is not the goal here. I’d suggest having several cans of thrust, car starting fluid and plain ammonia around in case you need to mask odors from your stew.

              • would use things like ammonia, starting fluid etc. I am guessing outdoors I am guessing poor around your property or near your entrances. How far from yourself should be from those liquids once they are being used to cause a bad smell to keep people away? (i mean how far not necessarily to avoid smell completely but to remain healthy)?

                • Well, when I sprayed a burst or two of thrust into may carb in the garage, it pretty much smelled up the whole garage. Ammonia in a small bucket with some water, pretty much makes the whole room smell like ammonia.

                  I guess you might have to spray some and go test drive it from outside, to see for yourself. I know ether will overpower regular “glade” brand room deodorizer.

              • Using ether/starting fluid is a BAD idea since it is HIGHLY flammable. Just asking for trouble

          • Pressure Cooker

            Fast, energy efficient and no food odor if you allow cool down before opening the lid.

            We’ll be eating well and no one will be the wiser.

            Like BigB, if food smell lures you near my place then in the words of the immortal Admiral Akbar “It’s a trap!”

            • are pressure cookers still legal?
              got one, need another, just in case.
              agree with your comment, thought the same thing.

        • I will and then my team will take out the Zombies…. we call it bait….. Ok Ok … just kiding. I did find a realnice thermal cooker that uses a soap stone for the continual heat at an antiquie store. $15.00 and real neat. Also have the solar cooker… Slow and oder free. Using precooked meats and soupes my misses canned up I think we are good. PRAY, PLAN, PREP, FORM TEAMS….. and stock up on the zombie bait……

          • Just now saw your reply….

            Great minds think alike.

            • I’ve got meth heads next door. I’m loading the catapult aimed at their house with stew and the wifes smelly candles…

        • Maybe we could just stop calling it food…and instead refer to it as “bait”.

          (a little dark humor there)

        • Yeah, I think that’s what shes sayin

        • OK, so I can’t cook during either daylight or night hours, or the zombies will get me. Do I have to run concertina wire around the property perimeter and paint the house in a camouflage scheme? Maybe NATO vehicle netting around the garden?

          How about instead we just keep them out of the community entirely? Does anyone think the lack of cooking odors is going to keep bad people from our doors?

          We have to work with our neighbors, as a minimum, if we want to keep a functional existence when it turns lousy. That means we have to share at least a portion of our goods, in the initial stages, until we can get food growing and foraging up to speed, security teams, and self-reliance.

          • if we could trust our neighbors they would have voted for freedom and responsibility, not socialism.

      2. OH WELL….IF they start smelling M855 and 00buck from a mile, I start to worry more.

        • There’s one thing about hearing gunfire! OOOPPPPSS. Don’t go over there!
          Random shotgun fire in the middle of the night keeps the boogies away. This I know, is a fact!

          • …. says who?…. our Uncle Joe? LOL

            • These are good ideas. Something else you could do with any exhaust vent is to put some foul stink around it so the steam from heat won’t smell like anything anyone would want. Without allowing the stink to come back to the inside, you could put all sorts of horrid smelling things to deter anything. Ammonia for one stinks so bad that you can even sprinkle some of this on any refuse so even animals don’t smell it. It always amazes me how those big butt ugly turkey vultures can smell the smallest of food and be hovering around and eventually landing to get the garbage.

              Just like trying to hide a bad smell with a good one, the opposite holds true with some good smelling aroma. I am sure there are plenty of ideas out there how to mask any good smell with something that not even flies or roaches would be attracted to.

              • Every prepper should prep a suppressor license. 🙂

                • Who needs a license?

              • I like my Solo Stove, it works well. Guess I’ll just make sure I’m ready for uninvited guests when I cook…

              • Keep 1/2 gallon of the gawd awful deer repellent liquid concentrate on hand. We use it on our farm to repel deer for weeks from specific crop areas & garden. No good odor could get past that nasty chemistry at the time it is sprayed !

                Deer repellent spray would mask over a church picnic roasting an entire steer on a hickory smoker

                Yea, I know, lead works the best on the deer. Might need both in the future. So super stinky chem warfare for now.

              • B.I. did you notice the sun woke up 4 m class flares in the last 24 hrs ,the largest 9.3.that’s like twelve or so this week.

              • keep a dead possum in a box ,open the lid when you get ready to cook ,oh ,make sure you always place it down wind or it may ruin your supper

                • Having too recently smelled the rotting flesh of post-spawn salmon I suggest that as an alternative to possum. It’s similar to the stench of pig poop.

              • The method you refer to BI is the same as fast food joints such as Burger King use to get peoples attention thru smell. At the same time spewing foul odors will also draw attention such as some one cooking meth.

                Best bet is no smells is my thought. Whatever the case when the SHTF we all need to be as far away from people as we can.

                In fact some one needs to come up with a cheap hood fan for over a cooking source that would minimize smells from cooking.

                BigB

            • Uncle joes an idiot with hair plugs.

              • That aint no shit!

          • Random gunfire in the night is an announcement there is something worth checking out there.

            • It’s also a hell of a waste of good ammo. Only shoot what you can see. 🙂

              • Nah, They’re just cheap target loads. I load my own and they’re cheap to shoot, the good expensive stuff comes out later.

            • In previous wars, soldiers would set up their aiming stakes during the day on likely targets, then at night take an occasional pot-shot, and they actually got an enemy once and a while…

          • Here’s a little tidbit of stupidity, today 10/23 Wednesday, some time this afternoon, the Chino California police department was having a showing at a grade school. The details are developing and sketchy as of yet. But one of the officers, a motorcycle cop was there on display with a AR15 in a rack on his bike. I have never seen a AR racked up on a bike anywhere here and there are a butttload of them here. A kid was toying with it and it went off firing 2 rounds, Injuring 3 thus far.
            Not to get in front of this but.
            Why was the rifle loaded on display with kids?
            Why was a round in the chamber?
            Why was there a loaded magazine in the rifle at a school?
            If there wasn’t a round in the chamber how did the kid pull the charging handle?
            Why was the selector on fire instead of safe?
            That kid had to do a lot of things to get the rounds off.
            There is going to be a lot of blowback on this. Weapon safety is paramount around everybody, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN!!!

            • But it was FOR the children……….

            • Crazy! Hard to believe that someone would do something that stupid, let alone that un-PC. Last Saturday there was an Viking festival at a local elementary school and we went. Guess what? The ladies who had little knives as part of their historical costumes had to leave them at home as did a lecturer on warriors with his battle axe and sword, “because this is a school.” Remember this was a Saturday, no students! Hard to imagine that the school administrators in CA wouldn’t have asked at least as much of their guests on a school day as ours did for a weekend display.

          • Good point

      3. Cooking is big deal during bad times! Think real hard on what you are going to have to do to be safe….

        • The low hanging fruit will get picked first no matter how they cook. This includes people who talk about their preps in Yahoo groups, “like” survival pages on Facebook, and are in the FCC amateur radio database.

          Maps are being made. . . Are you on one?

          • I really doubt that people who are too stupid to put some food back, have the foresight to make maps of potential food banks to hit when they run out of their own food. Why would they plan ahead?

            Remember, most of these people refuse to believe they’ll even NEED to forage for food. They believe the govt will provide for them, and besides that, their food stamps will never run out.

            • Well at least we will be able to thin out the gene pool.

          • jackasses on social media deserve what they get.

          • Im sure I am!

        • According to a guy named “Selco” at SHTF School, the fragrance of cooking isn’t critical–in the city it will be mingling with the smell of rotting corpses, uncollected garbage piled everywhere and smoke from burning buildings. He went through a SHTF scenario for about a year during the Balkan war back in the 1990s…

          • Yeah Selco (and FerFal) are the two I’ve used to gauge my ideas and plans against. Depending on your situation they may not be helpful, but they certainly aren’t lounge chair warriors. I’ve learned some of my ideas are fluff, others good. Every prepper (of any kind) needs to read SHTFSchool site.

      4. Thank God I live in a very rural area! The cities could very well encounter this situation. Everybody stay safe! God bless, James

        • I was in Rwanda during the problems there. we ran to the mountains and tried to hide. It wasent easy even in the middle of the jungle. When people are hungry they can smell even your body odor. If we had to cook, we moved immidiatly afterwords. But generally we ate meat and vegetables uncooked after the first few weeks. People were generally nice and tried to offer something to the pot if they came upon us but there were plenty of those who would have killed us if our group was any smaller. We were lucky and we had 2 people with guns and that was enough to keep others from robbing us.

          • Write an article I’d like to hear more.

            • Same here…

              • Ditto!

          • I second the motion! Article please? And thanks!

          • yes ed, write sumthin up!

            • purty pleeeeze?

          • during the vietnam era any soldiers that were on recon missions found out real quick that you had better eat gook food and use a AK while on the mission, you actualy started eatiing there food at least a few days, they could smell your USA crap and know it was the enemy. people really need to do there research about tough times if you want to survive!

            • Apache54 – BINGO ! Smelling GI’s was easy for them. Our food, poop, laundry soaps, gear, and ONE cig could be smelled 100yards away easily in the air currents of early morn and late eve.

              Stay safe and just think your actions through. Good luck to all except the red thumb trolls.

          • I think you have a following Ed.

      5. It’s cold Spam time again…

        • Yep, and cold Campbells soups, cold corned beef hash, cold cereal, cold stew. Just about anything canned can be eaten cold. Not the tastiest, but it doesn’t give you away.

          ‘course, a decaying body or two near the door would mask odors and be a serious disincentive to any of the FSA that shows up. Just be sure to refresh every four days or so.

          • Please tell me we aren’t talking about this!!!!!

            • Yes we are and ifnyou are not then you aare not prepared to do what is needed to survive.

              Hanging from a tree at the bottom of the hill with signs you loot we shoot.

              Dead bodies will be just a tool.

              Put chained mean dogs near them plus spread them around in parts as you collect more.

          • Dead bodies also introduce the risk of Typhoid in warmer climates. Something to think about.

            • Prior to the decomposing of the multitude of human bodies (and there WILL BE massive numbers of them (fresh kill) scattered from coast to coast), one better believe that the animals out there, the two legged ones, will be gourmandizing on ANY FRESH or semi-fresh MEAT, sauteed or sushi, that they can get their trembling hands on, e.g. Russian Famine of 1921, China during “the Great Leap Forward”, Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge.

              Next time you go into Walmart, if you happen to shop there, look at the faces of the patrons and ask yourself, what are they going to do when their donuts and soda are gone, their Rx’s can’t be renewed and the TV doesn’t work?

              • i look around at the gun show now to see who’s gonna be coming for ME.

        • Cool beans…

        • hey ,i like cold spam and mustard sandwiches

      6. This is the truth. During sandy people knew when the other one was cooking. Everyone in the area was trying to find places to eat. There was no food and no one to prepare it. A lot of people in my area get take out and never have food to prepare.
        My neighbor and her kid only had a soft pretzel the one day because that is all they could find.

        • People that stupid deserve to starve to death.

          The earth is about to repell those that offer nothing to her or humanity.

          If I am one…so be it.

          • Yep ,a big darwinian purge

            • 40…look how many people here in the US just shit/piss/freeload/take up space, etc. and do absolutely nothing for any other human or the planet. (or less than nothing) Why are they here?

              Because they are/where needed for a majority to gain control of the earth. I’ll let you decide who thinks that they control the earth.

              As I said above, the planet is about to repell them.

              I hope it happens sooner than later.

              • This is what I am expecting, a great purge. Our modern society has turned into such a charitable one, that people who would have normally been purged in the past due to survival of the fittest have flourished. Most people believe that this is the right way to live our lives, the higher path.

                50,000,000 or so are on food stamps in the US alone. If wanted ever collapse occurs becomes a world wide occurrence, then I expect at least a few billion of the 6.5 billion or so on this planet to be purged.

      7. Beans and rice can just sit in water,no cooking and will be ready to eat next day along with say canned goods ect.Many ways to be low profile especially in the beginning of interesting times.Live and enjoy today,prepare for tomorrow.

        • If red kidney beans are not boiled for at least 10 minutes, they will make you very sick.

          • Didn’t know this, what is the reason?

            • I found out why

              A toxic agent is found in many species of beans, but it is in highest concentration in red kidney beans. When raw or undercooked kidney beans are consumed, this toxin can cause a severe bout of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. As few as 4 or 5 beans can bring on symptoms, and onset of symptoms varies from between 1 to 3 hours. Therefore it is essiential that kidney beans are properly cooked to ensure that the PHA is destroyed.If they are cooking them fresh red kidney beans they need to be soaked for many hours (as suggested on packet) and cooked for over 90 minutes, heated to 80 degrees C. to remove the PHA, Alternatively – buy them tinned as they have already undergone the toxin process.

              • So what you’re saying is if someone shows up at the door begging for food, give them a generous bowl of undercooked kidney beans…that way, they won’t want to come back for seconds? 🙂

                • if the brother-in-law comes to dinner one to many times, just let the dog lick the plates clean and pick them up and put them back in the cupboard…..probly won’t work so well AFTER shtf…hee hee.

                  • Dogs are much cleaner than most humans.

                • If you slow cook them, at under 170* it actually intensifies the toxin. Read that earlier this year. I’ll be handing out red kidney beans on a bed of rhubarb greens. See if they come back! JK.

              • So I could run a few dry Red Kidney beans through my grinder and add the flour to the meal I feed to “visitors” to encourage them to not come back?

          • Why would I get thumbs down for this??

          • That’s true. after soakin, you wanna boil for at LEAST 10min or you’ll get sick as shit for 4-5 hrs. I know cause my wife poisoned us last year when she made chili in a slow cooking crock pot. were were sick as animals, pukin n shittin.

        • You can get sick eating uncooked food that’s been left to soak all day.

      8. The more I read this stuff, the more I think, that many “survivalists” have no idea, what they are actually talking about…

        “Plan to prepare and cook food in the early morning or late at night when a majority of people are sleeping.”

        This is a naive advice at best… If it comes down to hunting your neighbors cooked meal, then people will not be sleeping late at night – they will be _hunting and gathering_ around while it’s dark. During the day – in good visibility, everybody will stay at home and will sleep (to recover after last night food and resources procuring exercise), and therefore, middle of a sunny day will be the best time to cook, for those who are able to stay awake and comparably easily guard the well visible perimeter in the meantime.

        Refer to Selco’s recollections, do not be so gullible.

        P.S. I am not Selco, and as I said before, we had it almost pleasantly during USSR collapse – but after reading his free blog stuff I believe him almost completely. And I DO NOT believe many types like Rawles, Jones and similar fantasy writing and spewing folks. He is not pulling facts and dangerous “survival” ideas out his ass, but speaks from practical experience. See some of you at Selco’s forum from now on. All the best to everybody – to “living saints” deserving survival, and to those, who are going to survive just by chance.

        • I am more worried about the monsters that come out after dark,
          Hence thermal scope and night vision for saying hi.

          • Kula im with ya on that one! we got a dog that dont bark she just bites!!! plus a few other neat toys to have fun with neighbors as i dont want to seem un neighborly! its hard to sneak up on someone who watches what goin on in the hood! plus when you know the ground better than your attackers, you have an advantage! use it to the max. make wish they never had the idea to even try something as stupid as stoppin for eats!!! HEHEHE wildman out

            • hell yes deep elephant traps,,,,,

              snake

              • What’s a deep elephant?

          • kula
            it always help to have a edge

        • If I recall correctly, Selco said the smell of cooking on the back porch was masked by the stench of rotting bodies and human waste. From his experience, most people cooked inside BECAUSE the smell of a collapsed society was too overwhelming….

          JUST SAY’N! 😉

          • When I lived in Miami in the 70s and 80s, everytime a hurricane came through the region and in the aftermath, mrs braveheart and I did our cooking indoors with doors and windows closed. we always managed to keep the cooking aromas from going outside so other people wouldn’t smell them and come begging us for food. even in those days, and in FL of all places, most people would not prep for anything. All I had for protection in those days was a S&W Model 36 .38 snubnose and plenty of ammo for it plus a hunting knife and a machete. In any SHTF situation, DO NOT COOK OUTDOORS. That is a dead giveaway. Do whatever cooking you’re planning on doing INSIDE WITH ALL DOORS AND WINDOWS CLOSED. THAT IS YOUR BEST BET. braveheart

            • What? Tell me what badass hurricane hit Miami in the 70s and 80s where people were “begging for food”.

              The reality is hurricane Andrew was the only hurricane in the past several decades to hit Miami where maybe you would have wanted to keep an eye out for uninvited guests. And, that was just the area at the south end of the county.

              Hate to burst all you survivalists’ dreams of Armeggedon, but my experience after living thru several hurricanes is that folks are prepared and the tendency is to help your neigbbor, not shoot them.

              • Miami Rick.

                I think you miss the points. First, nobody dreams of an Armageddon, that is what some of us fear. Therefore, if there is a financial Armageddon coming, shouldn’t one be wise and try to prepare for it?

                Your point on Hurricane Andrew is not much. It was a natural disaster, plenty of aid in govt, and many willing to help. Who wouldn’t do that?

                But Hurricane Andrew is a far-cry from what happens in a civil war or civil unrest situation. If this USA economy keeps on melting, it will put pressure on many folks. That pressure will lead people to do things that they normally would not do in an economy where people have monies to pay bills and food.

                If you think things are cozy, then by all means head to the beach and surf when you can. Why worry?

                • During Hurricane Hugo the National Guard troops were looters themselves.

                  Hernandez M. “US Orders In Troops to Quell Island Violence.” Los Angeles Times. September 21, 1989. p. 1.

              • Miami Rick.

                Hurricane Andrew is set in a different time frame and different values. In 1984 most people were stable in jobs and the money was good. Not so now. Homestead took the brunt of the storm not Miami, but did take a beating.
                Had a friend in the RED HORSE, (Air Force Version of Navy Sea Bees), go down to help. Said things were screwed up bad. I remember lots of aid going south from North Florida, by truck. The pictures the news had were devastating. There is something really bad about all the fires, floods, storms that has us stretched thin. This uneventful Hurricane Season must have something to do with the magnetic field of the earth. Animals doing stupid actions. Maybe the earth is going to roll over.

                Times and things are changing. Be on Guard!

                • Uh, Andrew was in 1992. We got some Homestead ‘refugees’ at Randolph AFB; one lived next door for two years.

            • Damn, I was hoping to live the dream and start my own bbq chain after shtf times.

        • “Plan to prepare and cook food in the early morning or late at night when a majority of people are sleeping.”

          Not only your point, x-soviet, that food is gonna need refrigeration.
          Not a real smart move.

        • Is the “agenda” now in overdrive?

          The administration has stepped up spending…

          The current spending pace puts debt on track to reach $22 TRILLION by Feb. 14

          Drudge Report

          • They are only just getting started, but they’ve dropped the mask enough that the suspicious have had their fears confirmed while the true believer still trust them.

      9. I haven’t just been worrying about the aroma of cooking foods, I’ve been worrying about the sight and smell of smoke coming out of my chimney from my wood stove. I live in suburbia in a small city of about 100,000. It is rated the top small city in Canada. That should be an identifying clue for those in the know! It is a relatively peaceful place to live with the worst crime being break-ins and pot grow houses but I worry about roving gangs/thugs. I have some friendly neighbours but I do not think anyone of them has the same mind set as I do. How do I create a safe zone without giving the game away? We live in a very mature area in a cul de sac of about 14 homes. Only two families have small children the rest are older couples. Any suggestions? I can eat from stores of food that don’t need cooking for a couple of weeks or so but would have to resort to cooking at some point. Also, if the shtf in the winter, I am not going to freeze to death just to keep opsec.

        • You need to get an idea of what your neighbors think of the situation or how prepared they are for SHTF scenario. You don’t have to broach it as that, you can inquire how prepared they are for a disaster situation. you could say been thinking since H. Sandy, how we could help each other in a situation where FEMA would not arrive for weeks…

          also feel out how many of them are armed and prepared to defend themselves ..

          you also might want to invest a book called A Failure of Civility, it helps get a plan together..

          • oh i just reread. you are in Canada. do you have a FEMA type disorganization?

            btw, i also live rural. and while it is usually recommended to not be near an urban center, I think about a lot of my neighbors. 1/2 my town doesn’t work (even the twp supervisors joke about this – and they don’t mean each other)
            most are seniors but a lot are on public assistance permanently or sue for their living (several of these)

            I am in the position where I believe that since some of us farm and have more resources we are going to be called upon to provide for everyone else’s ineptness and unpreparedness.

            • if you have a woodstove you can put your dutch oven right on top of it and cook that way while heating your house.

            • It is a pretty prosperous town with low unemployment and none of the people on my street are unemployed, some are retired. Anyone who wants a job here can get one, not the best job, but a job nonetheless. I have tried to get some info from a couple of people but I didn’t get very far; I got the feeling my questions were being sidestepped. I know they have a well in use and do their own home canning but apart from that they were pretty tight lipped, though friendly. My husband is the chatty one who is always talking to the neighbours. I get the impression they all avoid me; though i do not work outside a lot. I’m not a very outgoing person, a bit socially shy really. I suppose I could get my husband to do the questioning part now he’s more on board with prepping. I’ll wait for an opportune moment to enlist him!

              • First; I think you will be safer in the winter up North. It takes about half the food to stay home in the cold than it does to be out and about. People without stuff who are out looking in a Canadian winter will either find what they want and stay inside or be out of the picture in a few days or a week or two. Second, the big if: If you have a basement, you are going to move into it. In the average house the basement will stay warmer, in bad cold, without a fire, than the rest of the house will with a fireplace. Cannot say about you but most fireplaces are so poorly designed they are of almost no use. A lot of woodstoves are almost as bad. Get a little alcohol stove or clear low odor lamp oil and hunker down for a few weeks. Remember, no one will plow the roads, there will be no water, If the winter is bad it won’t take long. There are a few of the old cabins left here in Wyo and you notice they were only 6-8 feet wide and 8-10 feet long, max and burried 1/2 in the ground. Just big enough to get you and your stuff inside and lay down. That’s all you are gong to try to keep warm.

                • I do have a basement, well, a walkout and that is where the woodstove is. It is a new, high efficiency one inserted into the re-built chimney. So we are set there. It is a big room so I could bring mattresses down with lots of duvets to keep us warm. . I guess if everything is cut off it would be a very good idea to turn off the gas, water mains and electric just in case there is a break in the plumbing if the rest of the house is very cold. Just a thought. Unfortunately, my wood stove is not the type that you can put a dutch oven on top, though I am prepared with a cast iron pot/lid that I can shove inside over the coals if needs be. A greater concern would be lugging water up from the local river which is about 400m down the road and setting up an outhouse in the winter; its hard to dig down in frozen ground. Anyone got any ideas about that?

                  • Dig your holes now, put the dirt in buckets, place the buckets in the hole, cover with dirt and sod, ready for when you need it. Get the lumber to build the outhouse now, cut pieces to size, be ready to go.

                  • Get collapsible water bags and Barrels. Don’t EVER go out for water until it’s been at least 6-8 weeks without power. People have to have only about a gallon a day. When it gets bad, fill them and STAY HOME or with your neighbors! If it gets that bad; the world will be a different place after 6 weeks of Canadian winter. More than half the people you had to worry about will be gone. Best bet is to stay low as long as possible. The animals will eat each other,let them.

        • Northern Cousin
          Im a Northern US wood burner

          you need to run your box hotter to get rid of the smoke, probably need to induce more air, preferably make up air from outside the dwelling so as not to deplete the oxygen in the home

          I have a higher efficiency unit that has a re-burner header in it..once this unit is up to temp, there is no smoke coming out of my chimney , heat signature yes, but no smoke

          I also have a old school wood burner in my out building..I just run it hot enough so it doesn’t smoke, plus this also helps in not having to clean out my flue of tar or build up.

          just a suggestion,

          • also, good cured hard woods shouldn’t smoke much to begin with..are you burning shit wood? if you are burning good hard wood ,is it properly dried? are you “chugging” your stove ie.. not feeding it enough combustion air

            • @VRF, no I only burn well seasoned hardwood and because it is high efficiency it doesn’t produce a lot of smoke, just enough that you can smell the lovely aroma within a 100feet of the house. I suppose there are enough old houses around me that one more producing smoke may not make much of a difference and after all, I can hardly hide my double breasted chimney!

        • Kerosene heaters are safe and effective. In newer homes you might have to leave a window open an inch for ventilation. We have an older home that doesn’t require it. You just need a safe place to store the kerosene. Here in the northern US you can buy kerosene at the pump at farm supply stores for about $3.25 a gallon or so.

        • Beef stew, chicken dumplings, ham, chicken, turkey, tuna in cans…salmon, Viennas, beanie weenies, ….lots of canned goods can be heated in a small pan of warmed water.
          You don’t have to eat it cold.
          No can??? put it in a ziplok and seal.
          Use a bottle opener to puncture two holes in the top of the can. Heat the water using only an inch or two and drop that can in he warm water. Shouldn’t smell at all.
          Save that heated water in a Stanley thermos–don’t waste that energy used to heat that water!! 😉
          Now, most here are smart and think a lot, like me 🙂 and will say, when you open it, it will smell.
          So, go to that room with no windows and doors—open and eat there–that is your new dining room.

          • @JJ:

            Great post!!

            In my BOB, I have a large mouth thermos. After putting hot water in it, I use it to cook pasta, heat canned food by first putting the food in a ziploc bag. I have used it to make tea, coffee, hot cocoa, etc. We have several at the homestead to serve the same purpose in the opening weeks/months of a total system failure.

            …be safe…stay the course….BA.

        • Kelowna?

          • @AlexD,
            Sorry, not Kelowna!

        • i have plenty of military cold-weather gear so i WON’T freeze to death when SHTF….including for all family members. you peeps in canada will have it worse than US i realize….just sayin’. i see a day when we will all be bundled together at night just to stay alive/warm.

          • That’s not worse, that’s better. Prepping for simple power outage and winter is a lot easier than problems with people. Nothing I’d like better, if it’s going to be, than three weeks of -30 to start the issue. Those people who have done nothing will be out of the picture.

          • A nice idea for cold climes would be a raised wooden platform warmed from below on which your family group can sleep. They used this design in mountain inns in China. Very cozy.

        • Rocket stoves make little to no smoke once they get going.

          • Pretty much all of the wood stoves on the market are either re-burner or aesthetically pleasing only.
            The environmental aspect of the new stoves means that even though there is less smoke they really do not put out as much heat as the older butt ugly wood mizer types.
            At one local store in my area they have 12 different styles of wood stoves. Only one of them is old style and it is $1800. It will heat 2000 square foot nicely.
            For years we heated with poplar. Once it is dried or if you cut standing dead timber we used about 7 cords a year with no other heat source per winter.
            I know that there is many different opinions on what kind of wood and even books or reports, but, when you are poor there is only 1 kind of wood to burn, FREE.
            We used to go to the local store and get bundles of the out of date local free paper to use as kindling and then go to the local hardware stores to pick up broken pallets. Cut the planks up and when you split them they make amazing kindling. And if you want to have a smoke free fire burn just the cross boards. I would suggest that you have a good crowbar for the nails unless you use a magnet to get the old nails out of the ashes before you spread them around.
            Also the pallets are a good source for cheap nails for little projects. As kids we spent lots of time straitening bent nails.
            Those old pallets also make for good shelving.
            My wife wanted heavy shelves in the basement so I took 6 pallets apart and picked the best lumber and built a 12 foot long by 6 foot high by 3 foot deep shelf. It is strong enough that I now use it for holding my tool boxes and one side has a covered potatoe bin.
            It cost me $2.50 and the time.
            Sorry about the run-on.

            • >>they really do not put out as much heat as the older butt ugly wood mizer types.

              that’s because the EPA now regulates woodstoves and their output. global worming, ya know.

        • I read an article on that yesterday. very interesting. just keeping an eye on the USGS quake map site- things have been very “interesting” lately. I was wondering whether underground volcanic activity could have something to do with these surfacing.

          • I been wondering the same, also with the other die offs, and mass fish and animals near water lately somethings up

        • I don’t believe in legends.

          • sometimes legends turn out to be scientific fact. my gut feeling on this one would be possibly carbon dioxide being released into water(or ground level). years ago there was a Nat Geographic article about a place in africa where it would hang close to the ground(it’s lighter than air), and the seismic activity would ebb and flow….amazing pictures of scavengers and predators all laying dead by the dozens or even hundreds, as they would start feeding on a carcass and it would kill them where they stood…..BTW….when there IS an earthquake always be aware that CO2 can be released. it kills silently and quickly…..maybe someone could find that article i’m talking about….it would be a great education to some of us. there was a movie called “VOLCANOE” i think that addressed this issue back in like the 1980’s?

            • There was a lake in the Congo, the water was filled with poisonous gases from volcanic activity, it released and killed entire villages on the shoreline. It was a basin, and everything stayed in the bottom.

              • National Geographic’s Virunga – Heart of Africa [VHS] (1996)
                finally found it…google top line and see amazon has it vhs for 99cents….or just read the reviews….it was a facinating piece of film!…but i don’t think it’s the one you referred to smokey.

                • BTW…usually happens around volcanoes, not earthquakes, but yuh just never know.

      10. if you cook, and have the exhaust of that cooking directed into a flue where the gasses are very hot, there will be no smoke or scent

        • We have a Rocket Stove that I’ve considered using inside our fireplace. I’ve wondered if the smell will rise above the chimney and make us vulnerable.

          (Not planning on cooking anything fancier than canned meat w/ Hamburger Helper or Mac & Cheese for the first couple of months….MAYBE beans in a pressure cooker.)

          Thoughts???

          • if your stack is high enough it just might get the smell up high enough so its not easily detected..

            if the flue is hot from previously using the fireplace it will really help

            also if your just heating food, rather than cooking it, that will make a big difference too

            canned stews are great in this type of situation..just need to be heated , not cooked

          • If it’s high up it will be much harder to find, even if it’s detected.

            • Just remember on high barometer days that the exhaust from the chimney will fall right back down to the ground. Think about all the times you have driven by homes with wood stoves and watched the smoke curl out then down along the roof. Burning hair or nail clippings can make the smell less palatable. One old guy I used to know he would take a hoof from a calf and toss it into the fire. Sheep and goats will do too. It is made of the same dead cells as hair.

          • A properly constructed rocket mass heater will not smoke to any real extent…it puts out water vapor an that at a very low temp…one could be built that could be used to cook on/in…lots of plans on net…worth looking into…

      11. Va. mom charged after firing gun into air to scare off daughter’s attackers

        “I just wanted this group of guys to disperse,” Ms. Gaither said. “I didn’t know what they were going to do. I wanted him to stop hitting my child.”

        A group of about 10 boys approached Ms. Gaither and her 15yr old daughter in the parking lot of their apartment complex. One boy began to swear and insult Ms. Gaither and her daughter, who stood up to the boy.

        “The two were face to face,” Ms. Gaither said. “He grabs her shirt, she goes to push him off her.”

        Ms. Gaither said she realized she’d be putting the both of them at risk if she jumped into the fray.

        “I stopped and turned to walk to the middle of the parking lot. I made sure no one was around me,” she said. “I unholstered my gun, pointed it straight in the air and fired just one shot to get him off my child.”

        Ms. Gaither said she didn’t try to get away, and police eventually arrived.”

        “I didn’t feel like I was wrong,” she said. “I wanted to protect my child.”

        But officers arrested her and charged her with reckless use of a weapon.

        http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/22/va-mom-charged-after-firing-gun-into-air-to-scare-/

        Note: A police spokesman said Ms. Gaither should have called the police instead of taking matters into her own hands, despite the fact she had no cell phone with her.

        • When seconds count…
          the police are only minutes away

          • Since you are surrounded by people because you live in a shitty state… what is your plan?

            • My plan is to stay FAR AWAY from TROLLS like you.

              • Never mind the problem with food, Huh???… your real problem will be a lack of online news to poach for these Keyboard Commandos.

                • Peterson, if you don’t like what you see here you can always go somewhere else. the people here are NOT keyboard commandos.

                  • I’m pretty sure his real name is not Peterson.

                    He’s just a peter.

                  • braveheart, your a great guy! You always greet and defend the new and the regulars. Trekker Out.

                  • braveheart,

                    Thank you for your kind words and support!

                    Take care! Hope you have a great day!

                    Sincerely,
                    KY Mom

                • Dink

          • Since you are surrounded by people because you live in a shitty state… what is your plan?

            • BTW, we like guns here in Kentucky. We also have the right to defend ourselves.

              • Ya that is true.

                • I was born in KY and lived there several times. I don’t believe this women would have been treated the same in Big Blue country.

              • For now anyway . The question of whether you own a gun or not will be on the obamacare questionaire. Then we will see how long you have to protect your self and family.
                Get you and your family used to living under communism and you will be much happier.

              • Only difference in Kentucky is when liberal, anal-retentive bused-in neighbors call the sheriff upon hearing target practice is the sheriff brings his own ammo and shares. 🙂

            • Peterson, Ky Mom lives in a good state so take your trolling ass someplace else.

          • Ky Mom, that lady did exactly right to protect her daughter. it’s a shame she’s facing charges and nothing will happen to the scum that attacked her daughter. if a legal defense fund gets set up for her, I’ll be happy to contribute something to it. the police spokesman was wrong and a retard to tell her not to do something on her own to protect her daughter. When we “civilians” get into situations like this, we are on our own and we do have to fend for ourselves. EVERYONE IN LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM KNOW THIS. also, you still have the federal and state supreme court rulings that say police do NOT have any duty to protect any citizens whatsoever. so there you have it. Nowadays, people have no choice but to “take matters into their own hands” to protect themselves and/or their loved ones. if I had been in her shoes, I would’ve taken matters a bit further. I hope she can get a good enough attorney and fight those charges like hell. braveheart

            • With respect to the few good cops out there whats happening to the police in this country?…getting to the place where if they have a uniform you gotta avoid them or shoot them if you cant and that’s not a good place to find ones self either way…seems they cant be cops unless their IQ is ice water cold…very sad!

              • REB, Most of them are being reprogrammed to be a part in Dear Leader’s domestic army. That’s why they act like savages.

        • apparently this was the “police spokesman”
          whose shoe size is larger than his IQ

          something tells me that Mr. SH_T for Brains
          couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag

          • Satori, that police spokesman is just as damned retarded as the trolls that come here.

        • maybe next time she will walk right up to his face and rack the slide..grab her kid and walk home

          cops show up later.. you don’t know WTF they are talking about..and they have no proof..

          C-Ya

          Never shoot a warning shot..thats a complete waste of good ammo

          • We have about 400 rolls of TP for 4 adults. That should be more than enough. And it’s pretty cheap.

            • Scott Paper says 16-19,000 sheets per year per person FYI.

              • Just figure a roll every 3 1/2 days per person.
                I have over 6 years of TP.

              • Barn Cat, Paranoid–

                Don’t take anyone’s word about how much TP you will use. Everyone is different. Women use more than men, seniors more than young people because they have weaker bladders and go more often. etc. etc.

                Keep track for a few months how many rolls you use. Don’t forget to mark down what KIND of rools — single, double, 2-ply, etc. and how many sheets per roll.

                If some members of the family work away from home, add at least 25% because they will be using the restroom at the office for 8 or 9 hours per day.

                I have about 200 rolls of tp stored, plus about 50 rools of paper towels, a half dozen large boxes of Kleenex, and a few dozen cloth handkerchiefs. I think that will last at least a year.

                • I charted TP and my results were 3 1/2 days per roll for one woman at home and one man working outside the home.
                  You are right about men. Gene is home now, and the usage hasn’t changed much.
                  One 24 Double Roll lasted me about 10 weeks. 😉

            • I have hundreds of packs of coffee filters and when those run out I have hundreds of white wash rags that I cut in half and surged to make sustainable rags that will be dropped in a 5 gal bucket with water & chlorine and washed. TP takes up too much room.

              • I take all the clothes we outgrow, stain, etc. and cut into squares for lots of reasons.
                I have over 6 years of TP stored, but am ready if I use all that with soft, square-cut rags.

          • @VRF, I’m not so sure about that. I would think that a “warning shot”, center mass of target/criminal/urban vermin would serve as a warning to others of the same ilk. Also shooting is such an ugly politically incorrect word as well, I’d like to think of it as behavior/social modification via mineral therapy administered at high velocity. Works for me.

          • She could have shot him below the waist and probably got the same charge.

        • also in that article they mention the cop saying how dangerous it is to fire a bullet straight up in the air that it could come down and kill someone

          that Myth has been proven to be false

          the terminal velocity of a 180 grain or any grain bullet for that matter goes up to the point of stopping and falls to earth under its own weight..doesn’t have enough terminal velocity to enter dirt in the desert more then a half an inch not enough velocity to hurt anything

          now if fired NOT straight up more like at an angle then I would say possibly be lethal out to about a mile.

          check it out on myth busters.

          besides all that..who ever was the punk that punched her kids face he shoulda gotten punched back with a .45, no warning, you feared for your life..10 thugs and 2 women.. and one a minor.. I think she would have been justified

          • VRF, if I’d been her, I would’ve at least pointed the weapon straight at the thug attacking her daughter and given him ONLY ONE CHANCE to back off and get away from them alive. If he had taken one step toward me, then POW, he would be laying on the ground in his own blood.

            • If a crook hears me fire a warning shot, it means I missed.

          • Not false. Mythbusters is full of bull effluent if they said that. (They often are anyway.) There is a case just in the last year of a young boy killed by a falling bullet from some urban fool who was shooting his Glock in the air for fun. Family walking along peacefully and then a loud “pok” and the kid is on the ground. Tell that family that it’s a myth.

            (Yeah, they know it was a Glock because of the unique rifling signature.)

            If you have to fire a warning shot, shoot it into the ground. Full disclosure: IMHO warning shots are a waste of ammo.

            Hold and squeeze
            Coach

          • If you fire it straight up, with absolutely no deflection from the vertical, that may be true, but unless you have a plumb bob tied to your front sight, it’s going to have an angle, and it’s going to kill someone if it hits them a mile away.

          • VRF, uh, what about Newton’s Law Of Gravity? Whatever goes up HAS to come back down eventually.

        • Another reason you don’t visit anti-gun Va. or vacation in anti-gun Va. or spend any money in anti-gun Va. even online companies!!!
          Understood?? 😉

          • Actually VA isn’t anti-gun, although the DC suburb area are. May change if that sleazebag Macauliffe gets erected.

        • I agree with the law folks ,,,,she should have killed the son of a bitch,,,,,

          snake

        • Its her own dumbass fault for sticking around and talking to the faggot fuckass porkers. The only lines you ever say to a pig are “I have nothing to say” “I dont consent to any search or seizure of my person or property” and “Am I being detained or am I free to go?” Modern pigs are not officer friendly from the good old days, you stupid old people. Nothing good can ever come out of taling to cops. Flee and elude to the best of your ability.

          • Eisen, let’s see you pull that stunt with any cops today and see what happens to you. although there are a certain percentage that don’t belong in a uniform, NOT ALL OF THEM ARE BAD. there’s a lot of good ones out here who really struggle to do their job and the bad ones only make things harder for them. Most local, county, and state cops are good people. It’s the FEDS you need to beware of. I don’t trust FEDS any further than I could throw them. Still want to call us ‘stupid old people’, eh? Well, first, any single one of us have more intelligence in their little fingers than YOU have in your whole body, and second, I believe any of us ‘old farts’ can still kick your ass if it came to that. Go smoke that in your pipe, @ahole.

            • Pulling a stunt? Those are the rights that we are fighting for and losing rapidly, old man. The locals and the feds are very different? You can tell us that when SHTF, old man.

              • Eisen, I don’t pull stunts. You’re painting with the wrong size brush concerning cops. If you want to be a damned fool when you get pulled over by a cop for anything, that’s your own affair. Whenever I deal with a cop, I act in a sensible, I try to be open-minded about the cop, and hope for the best. I have dealt with cops on and off for my whole life and never had a negative experience with any of them AND I’M STILL ALIVE so that speaks volumes.

        • Firing into the air is not responsible. The bullet has to come down eventually. Firing into the ground seems more prudent.

          • Oh, look out, folks, ncjoe made a sensible comment for a change. the world will never be the same.

          • Im sure if you were in that situation you would have done everything perfectly.

            • NC Joe is right, firing a warning shot is not good judgement and just risks the life of some innocent person downrange. If you have to fire a lethal weapon, your life is in imminent danger and a warning shot is not what you need to be doing.

      12. I believe that those who survive, and thrive, will be the very disciplined ones.. disciplined almost to the point of paranoia.
        I mean disciplined as in, you don’t take a crap without your gun. you don’t give in to the urge to talk loudly. you constantly check your surroundings and always watch your back.
        set up trip-wire alerts etc…
        know when to fight, but more importantly, when to run.
        get used to living uncomfortably. as a male, TP means nothing to me. i dont plan on being comfortable if the shtf. i plan on living. discreetly.

        • I would be careful on the lack of sanitation, that kills more people than bullets in world conflict.

          • True True…. buy lots and lots of soap!

          • yes, youre right. im just depending on my immune system to do a lot of work (im in my early 20’s). TP, to me, is more of a comfort item than it is sanitation. In India(I think) they use their hand. Indians are also born with 8 limbs, but hey..

            • most of the world uses water. I don’t know what the big bad preppers are gonna do when the TP runs out….

              • Sears and Roebucks catalogs.

                Kinda like a, slip and slide.

                • Telephone books. Still smoother than post Soviet TP.

              • ever heard of leaves off trees?????grass??what do you think was used befor tail tember????

                snake

                • corncobs

              • You use rags like in the old days before TP. Buy a stack of cloth diapers. Cut them into 6 or 8 inch squares. Use one or two dry and one wet. Throw them into a diaper pail for later laundry. Simple, and you’ll never run out.

                • I tear my towels into rag-sized squares, once they start getting old, frayed and holey. A bath towel makes about 10 smaller rags.

                • YOU CAN DO IT. for $50 I can use real TP for about 5 years, I don’t know of a better use for the money.

            • Romans used rounded stones. I was introduced to this in my youth by a rather interesting “guru”. It works pretty well, except don’t use the rough ones.

            • And of course there’s always corn cobs.

              • Red ones first, white one last to make sure.

      13. Quote of the Day

        Kissinger: Let us not forget this warning
        http://www.blacklistednews.com/Kissinger%3A__Let_us_not_forget_this_warning/29772/0/0/0/Y/M.html

        “Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful. This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government.”

        –Henry Kissinger

        • Speaking of Kissinger…..I saw his interview a few weeks back on one of the TV stations, it is really amazing that the chosen people who don’t eat porks, they end up looking like a pig when they age.

        • You know,everytime I see that old piece of crap I get angry…Ive known many good men and women over the years…people who loved mankind and liberty and who I loved in return…theyre all gone now….but this piece of trash is still wasting air/water/and space…he was an old fart back in the 70s…why is he still breathing??…why is he still hurting mankind and our precious American way of life?…grrrr! 🙁

          • I feel exactly the same. He is one of those pigs with massive amount of blood on his hands that even hell may not grant him entry when he goes there where he belongs.

      14. Off Topic…

        Retired Kentucky Teachers now REQUIRED to sign up for Obamacare or be without insurance.

        I just got off the phone with a friend who is a retired teacher. Retired teachers are now REQUIRED to sign up for Obamacare or they will be without insurance. She taught for 35 years. KEA dues and teacher retirement took a substantial amount out of teacher paychecks.

        First, I want to tell you that these emails we have been circulating that forecast the nightmare of Obamacare were true! I’ve had people look me in the face and deny that what I was telling them would “never happen”.

        Here are some highlights from her experience.

        They HAD to take a flu shot before they were allowed to begin the registration process. Btw, this was a big event held at BSTSC Big Sandy for all retired teachers.

        She said the process was invasive. She had to answer questions like “do you wear a seat belt?” “do you speed when you drive?”. I don’t know what that has to do with registering for insurance.

        The people doing to registering were, also, very rude. She had to give out information about herself that was very private and has nothing to do with healthcare or insurance.

        They were given a health assessment. I think that was were she had to give them information about herself.

        They had to have a Vitality Check. In a room full of people, they were measured and weighed. People were told they were obese, etc. in front of this room full of people! My friend had given them her weight, during the health assessment. They weighed her as 4 pounds heavier than she had told them and they insinuated that she had lied to them. She was told what foods she needed to eat, exercise, etc. All of this in front of a room full of people.

        They had to sign a Living Will Promise. That is where you promise to follow the guidelines you were given as a result of the Vitality Check. If you do not improve by the time you register again (for her that will be January – in three months), you will be bumped down to the lowest level of treatment.

        Also, Obamacare is NOT good out of state. If you need to go to Cabell-Huntington (in West Virginia) or see a doctor in another state, you’re just out of luck. I know a lot of people who have to travel to other states to get care for their specific kind of cancer. What will happen to them?

        Her comments were that this was socialism at its finest and smack of communism. She also, said that if you had a question about anything, those doing the registering would not give an answer.

        I never thought I would see the day that American citizens would be treated this way, subjected to such degrading, demoralizing treatment.

        • It is sad, but the Ostrich, Fluoride Headed Zombies, that knew every thing about dancing with the stars and the latest stats for there sports teams and couldn’t be bothered about what was coming are now going to reap the wirl wind.
          It would be humorous if the Lemmings wern’t going to drag the rest of us over the cliff with them.
          May the Lord have mercy on us all.
          MOLON LABE!

        • Sounds like the obmacare “navigators” need to be on everyone’s bucket list. Liquidate enough of them, there won’t be any. Nor will people instantly grab at the chance of being one.

          • unknown suspect, all of the Obama lovers will have their day coming and will deserve what’s coming to them.

          • Millions of Americans Are Losing Their Health Plans Because of Obamacare

            “According to health policy expert Bob Laszewski, roughly 16 million Americans will lose their current plans because of Obamacare:

            The U.S. individual health insurance market currently totals about 19 million people. Because the Obama administration’s REGULATIONS ON GRANDFATHERING EXISTING PLANS were so stringent about 85% of those, 16 MILLION, are NOT grandfathered and MUST COMPLY WITH OBAMACARE AT THEIR NEXT RENEWAL.

            The rules are very complex. For example, if you had an individual plan in March of 2010 when the law was passed and you only increased the deductible from $1,000 to $1,500 in the years since, your plan has lost its grandfather status and it will no longer be available to you when it would have renewed in 2014.

            These 16 million people are now receiving letters from their carriers saying they are losing their current coverage and must re-enroll in order to avoid a break in coverage and comply with the new health law’s benefit mandates––the vast majority by January 1. Most of these will be seeing some pretty big rate increases.”

            “Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state. Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent,” Kaiser reports.

            “Blue Shield of California sent roughly 119,000 cancellation notices out in mid-September, about 60 percent of its individual business. About two-thirds of those policyholders will see rate increases in their new policies, said spokesman Steve Shivinsky.”

            The Weekly Standard

        • Here all this time I thought I was living in the good old USA, guess not. I’m also a retired teacher guess I need to get my mouth ready so I can give them a piece of my mind should they start with me; how dare they treat people that way socialism my foot we did not ask for this it just got stuffed down our throat. Hope she got names so she can call anyone and everyone involved and complain up front and center. Being retired gives one a lot of free time and I know how I would be spending mine.

        • Ky Mom, I’m sorry to hear about that, but not exactly surprised. that’s just an extra reason for me to NOT sign up for Monkeycare. I’ve got coverage through my employer and just hope I can keep that. no way I’ll go get any other coverage that’s 3-4 times more expensive than what I have now. I won’t sacrifice anything to have coverage. braveheart

        • I would bet that most of those teachers vote Democrat and probably voted for Obama both times and would do so again. Now they complain? They were warned. Enjoy fools.

        • Thanks KY Mom. I plan on showing this to my daughter, who is a teacher. This is fascism, pure and simple.

        • That sounds like biometric assessments done at Nazi concentration camps to weed out the weakest to send to the gas chamber. Schindler’s list has a scene that captured this, in what seemed a very accurate manner based on first-hand accounts I have read from Jewish survivors. What you typed sent chills down my spine. Creepy and evil.

      15. Prepper Tip of the Day

        did you know that DAK canned hams
        have a best buy date of at least 5 years ?

        • Yep, so does corned beef, sardines, tinned salmon and canned bacon. They are all pretty versatile for cooking with pasta, rice and potatoes. Well, maybe not sardines! Those might be better on toasted bread.

          • yoder bacon

          • Canned chickens are pretty good in a soup or stew. They’ve been a campout staple for me for years, once the fresh meat is gone and the crew is hungry.

        • Yep. I have a few of them myself. Also have dried beef in a jar, corned beef, corned beef hash, etc. Add some canned potatoes and you got a meal.

        • – Put canned foods in a spare refrigerator and extend the shelf life even farther.
          – Freeze flour, sugar, powdered milk, grits, instant potatoes, rice etc. to keep the bugs out.
          – Regardless of how much spare water you have stockpiled, when TSHTF, instantly fill all bathtubs, buckets etc.
          – Buy a bag of charcoal (not Match Light, which has lighter fluid in it) to improvise charcoal filters. If you boil lake or pond water, it still tastes bad, but charcoal filtering removes the bad taste.
          – If your food preps consist largely of rice/potatoes/bland-tasting food, go to Sam’s and buy the large container of Brown Gravy Mix and Chicken Gravy Mix to help with flavoring.
          – Stock up on a wide variety of spices for barter items.
          – Honey is the only food item with an indefinite shelf life. When it crystallizes, put the jar of honey in a pot of simmering water to return it to its edible state. A spoonful of honey will cure a “sweet tooth” and gives the kids something to look forward to. Buy the large, “industrial-sized” containers of honey at Sam’s.
          – A cheap prep, but one which will be welcomed later, is Texas Pete or a similar brand of hot sauce. $10 of hot sauce will go a long way.
          – Invest in some squirrel/rabbit-proof fencing. When TSHTF, trap breeding pairs of squirrels/rabbits and put them in a large cage to breed. Note: one male per cage with several females. Two males will fight.

          • Honey is NOT the only food with a forever life. Any sugar that stays dry and clean, will keep forever. Much cheaper than honey. All pure starches, no fat, will keep. Vacuum seal up corn starch, with desiccant, it will last forever. There is a site on the net which talks about food found from a riverboat that sank in 1854(?) and it’s still good. Another site lists 10 that keep. Salt and COCOA powder are two more. I read years ago of a type of corn that would store, they thought, for 5,000 years and still grow. You need to look better.

          • SilverSax,

            Lots of great ideas…

            Just one MAJOR problem. Never use the ole’ Kingsford charcoal.(or any other type) It has poison in it. What you want to use as a filter media is “Activated charcoal” it is totaly different.

            Y’all can buy it on-line, kind of pricey for this ole’ hillbilly. 🙂

            Just wanted y’all to know, help each other out now that mis-information can be corrected before we need it. 🙂

            Y’all play nice now, and enjoy the day. 🙂

            hillbilly SC

            • Thanks, hillbilly. I’m glad to know that before I tried to filter water.
              I also saw an article about “coconut ash” being an excellent water filter.

            • An easy way around this is to buy pitcher-style filters, prefilled with activated carbon. If you don’t have a pitcher, look for them at thrift stores before you buy one new.

            • go to the pet store they have the charcoal in the fish department

        • but after hearing about fukushima’s emmitance of a LOT of radiation i’m wondering whether i should even GO to the store anymore…evidently it’s showing up in a LOT of the foods we eat! ordered a radiation detector yesterday and there’s a month to 2 month wait to get it! gee, i wonder WHY?????

        • Right with you Satori. Bought several flats of Daks’ hams from Aldis.

      16. The hell with tryin to hide the stew. Just let em get a good whif of homemade bread and we will get this party started!! maybe some beef on the grill oooh boy that ought to really get em to droolin!! cause all i want for christmas is a dillon mini-gun woooo that damn sure would wake em up an start runnin!!! CAUSE I AINT HIDIN OR AM I LEAVIN!!! if ya want it ya better be ready cause i sure am! maybe the neighbors will treat em right but when ya get here you better be ready wildman out

        • Thats sort of a good plan, weed out the undesirables before they become a problem.

          • It is a good plan…you or them, what is it going to be?

            I won’t be bothering anyone for anything.

            I expect the same consideration.

      17. Keep your windows shut when cooking regardless of the outside temperature. That will keep cooking smells from getting out. You can have the windows open at night and close them just before it gets light. That’s easy to do since for security purposes you’ll need someone awake at all times.

        You also need to avoid using things with a strong smell like garlic.

        • I haven’t decided if I’m going to board up the windows yet. Obviously it gives more security but I also don’t want to advertise I got something to hide.

          • Board ’em from the inside, then break some glass to make it look like the place has already been looted.

            • I just got a cordless screw gun and extra batteries, with a few extra drywall screws. I’ll be partially boarding from the inside, leaving peep holes and an emergency exit or two.

          • If you don’t want to board up your windows, you can buy a roll of the black construction plastic at Home Depot and duct-tape it around your windows. Looks like nobody’s home.
            I think I might prefer to let a very dim light show – maybe like a candle, just to look like I’m home but destitute.

        • I WILL NOT GIVE UP MY GARLIC!!!!

          Was checking out a small boat for a flip sale and the owner, nice woman, said oooh….you eat lots of garlic…
          Invited me for diner… I declined…respectfully…too aggressive… ‘)

        • There are alternatives to ‘boarding up’ windows. One that is simple, yet very effective- hardware cloth. You can buy this by the roll at Home Depot or most big box stores for fairly cheap. If you put this up ‘outside’ and around your windows, it helps stop things from coming ‘inside’ like bricks, rocks and bottles. Not much is going to stop bullets, so that’s a given.

          If they decide to hurl a maltov, chances are the heavy hardware cloth screen will bounce that baby right back at them and away from you. Ever try to pull security fence apart with your hands? It’s really tough stuff and without chains and wire cutters it isn’t happening. Same idea with the hardware cloth, albeit a bit finer.

          If it is mounted outside- sure, they can walk up and try to pry it off. That’s when they are too close and the weapons come out. Think of hardware cloth as the ultimate screen window. Don’t use Phillips heads screws- the DeckMate ones that are weather proof and take a special bit work nicely. The bit is generally included with the screws. If you have black cloth curtains inside you can even open your windows to get some airflow and cooling if summer, as the air will pass through the cloth. During the cold winter, the black cloth will absorb some radiant heat and pass it indoors…dual purpose right there. 🙂

      18. We’ll cook inside with the windows shut at regular meal times. It’s cold where I live. I never smell cooking smells outside this time of year. We have kerosene cooking stoves. Most of what we eat will take a minimum amount of cooking. Like making chili using canned chicken, chili beans, and tomato sauce. Or Chicken Helper using canned chicken. The longest cooking times will be for boiling rice or heating oil to make French fries.

        I don’t believe cooking smells travel for miles.

        • Then you would be believing wrong. During my stint in Afghanistan, I could smell the ANA platoon at our location roasting a goat from about 300 meters out, and that was inside an armoured vehicle and over the stench of diesel fuel and our exhaust. I can only imagine how far that smell really travelled.

          If anything, you would also be a lot safer assuming you can be seen, heard and smelled from a great distance than “not believing” you are undetectable.

          And that also brings me to light discipline. Light of any sort in the visible spectrum can be seen a , if way off. That includes your stoves and cooking fires. Basically, where there is light there will be people. And where there will be people there will also be resources of all kinds.

          • Cook food in a solar oven.

            On sunny days, I cook food in the solar oven on the deck. I have cooked pot roast, stew, chicken and other food in it. When you step outside, you can’t even smell the food. Our dog doesn’t even seem to notice.

            However, within minutes of putting meat on the grill, the dog is up on the top step of the deck…waiting.

            • Speaking of dogs, everyone should get a big scary one. I think the people in my neighborhood would be more scared of him than my guns… based on the reaction I get when walking him. He’s 130lbs of pure muscle and if he got pissed, I probably couldn’t stop him. But I made sure he knows I’m still in charge and I don’t let him rule the roost. (and I don’t mean I hurt him because he’s my son and no good father hurts their child)

          • Canadian Vet how true. I plan on using black garbage bags to cover my windows when I cook or have any type of light on.

            • You could expand on a trick I use in winter. I’ve cut panels of foil-covered 1″ thick insulation foam that fit tightly inside the window frame. Height is 4″ less than the height of the frame. One side painted flat black. In winter that side faces out, and it’s a solar collector. Air comes in at the bottom, gets warmed, and flows out at the top by simple convection. At night I slide it down so there’s no reverse flow due to the cold window glass.

              Make the panel full height, and it’ll block all light, so long as it fits nice and snug. Not as cheap as plastic, but very effective.

          • “I can only imagine how far that smell really traveled.”

            Miles and miles and miles… make NO mistake…you are 100% correct on your anticipation…

            I knew a Ranger who could tell if there was a Russian with the “little People”.
            Amazing…That man taught me quite a bit.

            My take on this whole subject is that you don’t “cook” for the first month or more…inside or out…
            Maybe, boil water for rice or pasta then cover, shut off the heat source and come back when it cools…
            oh yea…also to sterilize surgical equipment…
            we know that will be needed…
            Projecting a heat source, esp at night can be seen with FLIR, miles away…

            you’ll almost need to be like a mole…Not many will survive.

            • I rather expect that 99.44% of zombies will not be equipped with infrared goggles. And the military will already be well fed. Armies always are.

              • True on both counts but still, I don’t want to forfeit opsec…

              • However when there are no other lights on, the smallest glow can be seen for miles, especially white light. Whether it is the few lightbulbs you are running off your solar batteries or a cooking fire or even the blue flame from a Coleman stove, in the absence of large amounts of artificial light each might be a 50 foot neon sign.

          • @CanadianVet, You are so right about light control. Since we moved into our ‘new’ home I have spent the last four years getting the windows some custom made coverings with the blackout material already sewn onto the fabric. I made sure the blinds, roman shades etc were carefully measured to come within 1/4″ of the window frames. They’ll not only keep the cold out by adding an R factor but they’ll keep the light from leaking out, too. I know not everyone can afford custom window treatments but a good cheap alternative is to cut cardboard from packing boxes to size that can be put up into the frame snugly and removed in the daytime. They will provide the R factor and keep the light from leaking out just as well. Just an idea.

            • Great idea with the cardboard. I might resort to that for at least some of my windows only for the insulation factor this winter.

              • putting cardboard, black trash bags or foil directly on the inside of the glass will peg your BIL as an occupied location. I would keep the mini-blind or other window covering next to the window glass and place the insulation and light-stopping material on the inside of that. Better not to project that you are living there if the zombies travel through.

        • Then you would be believing wrong. During my stint in Afghanistan, I could smell the ANA platoon at our location roasting a goat from about 300 meters out, and that was inside an armoured vehicle and over the stench of diesel fuel and our exhaust. I can only imagine how far that smell really travelled.

          If anything, you would also be a lot safer assuming you can be seen, heard and smelled from a great distance than “not believing” you are undetectable.

          And that also brings me to light discipline. Light of any sort in the visible spectrum can be seen a , if way off. That includes your stoves and cooking fires. Basically, where there is light there will be people. And where there will be people there will also be resources of all kinds.

          • It appears that you picked up a habit of double-taps…

            • I blame Bush lol.

              In all seriousness it was unintentional and due to my connection acting up. So Mac or any other moderator, if you see this could you please remove the duplicate comment? Thank you.

              • Nah…worth repeating!!!

        • barn cat – smells do travel along way.
          i never smelled anything as a smoker , but after i quit i can smell a hamburger on the grill for a half mile.
          case in point, today i could smell a burger king resturant from my jobsite, it was all of 3/4 mile away.
          but of course i WAS REALLY hungry 🙂

          • One of my neighbors makes smoke meat all the time, can smell it even if the wind is blowing away from us, another makes hamburgers on his grill almost every day, and again you can still smell it even if the wind is blwing away,
            These homes are 3/4 of a mile away soooo
            Maybe use it as bait!

          • Elk hunting one year I could smell another hunters cig from about 600 yards. Wind was just right.

            • My grandfather said them smokers in WW2 had it coming to them.

              • Young Eisen….was worried man!!!

          • I can smell the paper mill that’s over 40 miles away. It smells a little like rotting cabbage.

            • When I lived in Denver, I could small the Coors brewing plant 20 miles to the west of us

          • Really hungry as I am reading this and y’all’re making it worse! I think I’ll step outside and see what I can smell and get back to you.

            • Nope, nothing, but then it’s the wrong time of day for cooking and too cold out for barbeque.

        • Talked to an Australian who had been in Vietnam in the 1960’s, he said the American units could be heard 500 meters away, seen at 300, and smelled at 100 meters. They talked constantly among themselves, smoked tobacco, used soap, and their food had strong odors.

          Said in their units, it was no talking, no smoking, and cold food.

      19. Hell… if it’s that bad just eat dried beans for breakfast, drink lots of water for lunch and they will swell up and bust for supper. If you are lucky you might have someone in your group that is very tall and they can hunt. I knew this gal one time… she was so tall she could hunt geese with a rake!! Them’s was the dayz, didn’t need no fire to cook or gun to hunt. Whooeee.

        • Hint with hard beans. Cook ’em, then mash ’em and dry them out again in your dessicator. The powder can be reconstituted with water, and then eaten cold if necessary.

          • If I have to eat hard, cold beans then I might as well give myself up to the hungry hordes now!

        • maddog …Thanks for the link….To be honest I am not sure to laugh or to cry.

          • Keep your eyes dry and I’m told aim for the head, “they seem to stay down if you shoot them in the head”. From dawn of the dead. Watch for the twitchers.

        • that would be funny
          IF
          it wasn’t so sad
          and
          IF
          Americans weren’t so f_cking stupid

        • maddog, those are the kind of people who will die in ‘the great culling’ in any post-SHTF scenario.

          • Lets hope so braveheart, lets hope so.

        • O…
          M…
          G…

          I knew people were stupid but really?

          REALLY????

          We are so screwed 🙁

          • I think “Nazi” has been misused so much that people just don’t react like they ought to anymore. That is dangerous.

            Also he led with the statists’shutdown actions and people were already signing when he got to the Nazi part- I’ll bet a lot of them had already tuned him out. Not that this is a good thing- people need to listen more closely and not just put their name to paper on anything.

      20. If you click on “smells” in the article, it takes you to another good article on the subject.

      21. Why do people make it so hard.

        Better get used to eating out of a can. COLD CAN of food. MRE’s and other survival dehydrated food. Cut cooking time. Instant mashed potatoes with gravy on Vienna sausage. When you cook don’t keep opening the lid. Use Sterno fuel. Put your can of soup on top and close the lid down. In covered tin foil, ears of corn and potato and place in oven or coals of the fire

        Do you think we are going to be cooking a racks of ribs?

        • Or boil the whole can to heat up your canned food. That will definitely cut down on the smell.

          • sure you poke a few holes in that can ,,if you don’t are you in for a big surprise

            snake

          • Smart minds here –check above.

            JayJay says:
            Beef stew, chicken dumplings, ham, chicken, turkey, tuna in cans…salmon, Viennas, beanie weenies, ….lots of canned goods can be heated in a small pan of warmed water.
            You don’t have to eat it cold.
            No can??? put it in a ziplok and seal.
            Use a bottle opener to puncture two holes in the top of the can. Heat the water using only an inch or two and drop that can in he warm water. Shouldn’t smell at all.
            Save that heated water in a Stanley thermos–don’t waste that energy used to heat that water!! 😉
            Now, most here are smart and think a lot, like me 🙂 and will say, when you open it, it will smell.
            So, go to that room with no windows and doors—open and eat there–that is your new dining room.

            • JayJay

              WHO let you into my pantry? My sign says “SHTF ROOM”
              You just described the bulk of my preps. Have you tried Libby’s country sausage gravy? Delicious. We eat it often with scrambled eggs. I heat the sausage gravy and put it on toast. We love it.
              4yp

              • No, but will take your advise and try it.
                Thanks.

                PS: I like your pantry :-).

            • JayJay

              How do we enter a room with no windows or doors to heat our food?
              Just curious. Yep. Great minds here. Ha!
              That was funny! Made my day. Needed a laugh since my best fried died suddenly from a heart attack 5 hours after our last conversation.
              4yp

        • Slingshot, i’m so used to canned goods I can eat them in my sleep. Been eating them since the 70s and keeping them in my preps. while they’re not gourmet eating, they will keep you alive. braqveheart

          • Braveheart.

            With all the atomic fallout that can be unleashed you better be able to eat can goods cold. Corned beef hash Chef-boy-ardee, sardines, anchovies, clams, crab, oysters, octopus, fish and the all time favorite SPAM.

            • Slingshot, I actually eat certain canned foods cold more than I do warm. they’re still pretty good cold.

              • I LOVE spinach right out of the can, carrots and peas too. I eat them that way by choice.

          • I’ve done my fair share of field time and eaten my fair share of IMP’s (our version of MRE’s) to have learned one very important truth. Morale matters and food is one of the best ways to improve morale. I would strongly recommend investing in some higher-end minimal preparation meals to supplement your canned goods. Things closer to gourmet dining. To keep going for an extended duration you need more than just “fuel for the furnace”. You need food you can actually enjoy instead of just choke down for the calories. You need comfort foods, treats and real flavour.

            It’s a matter of mental health and it seems to me a lot of preppers ignore that aspect when laying down food stores. Mental health is maybe even more important than the nutritional value of the food as even empty calories in the form of a bag of chips or a case of your favourite chocolate bars can pick you up when you need this treat or semblance of normality.

            Mind you you still need to have the proper nutrition on hand but nutrients and calories shouldn’t be the end-all be-all of your food preps. If that is your sole focus, you will go stir-crazy and might even starve as a result of appetite fatigue.

            • Hey Vet…

              Your so right.

              Just waiting till next Friday. The day after holloween. We’ll be hitting the stores in town and putting some more candy away at 1/2 price. 🙂

              Stick’em in a mylar bag with some O2 eaters, seal em’ up and then put in a bucket. We want to see how long they will stay good.

              Hope they will still be edible after about 5 years or so, we shall see.

              Has anyone tried this yet?

              Y’all behave. 🙂

              hillbilly SC

        • The Road Warrior: Max enjoys a delicious can of Dinki-Di dog food while the gyro captain looks on hungrily. Mmmm, now that’s eatin’!

          • That’s my snake! I found it!

            • Hard to clean but them’s good eatin’.

        • Our power goes out quite frequently where we live. Just a small storm can knock it out for a day or two. There were many times we had to go days without power. That’s when you get a few good lessons. In warm or cold, sterno cooking never fails. One can of fuel can cook so many meals. As with all cooking, the faster, the better.

      22. Rural King has 30% off all magazines. I seen AR/glock/1911/ruger22/M&P and some other stuff. Also Basspro is offering free shipping with code freeship. I bought some 5.56 today.

        • Basspro freeship is today only. The good part is no minimum purchase is required.

      23. @Barn Cat-

        Apparently you never lived near a bakery. 😉 We could smell the fresh bread baking well over a mile away.

        Also, I don’t know where you live, or if you have cooked in the forest before- but BEARS can smell something as small a peanut a mile away. If you do not store your food up high in a tree you are in trouble. More than one camper has run into close encounters with hungry wildlife because they forgot the #1 law of the jungle- everything is food.

        people need to realize that canned and dried foods will be good choices as most are pre-cooked- all you have to do is add hot water or warm them up. Canned spam, is ok, as long as you eat it all or refrigerate the leftovers, if any. Instant oatmeal, powdered eggs, canned veggies and meats will be easy as well. MRE’s are ok in a true survival situation, but after eating them for almost 6 months in the service while deployed, I almost cannot look at them anymore.

        In a SHTF scenario bacteria are going to be rampant, so hand cleaner and/or sanitizer will be needed, more than now.

        The Rocket Stove or Eco Zoom Versa cook stoves I mentioned a few articles back are excellent choices for cooking. Little to to no smoke and boils pan of water in about 15 minutes. Fast, efficient cooking and heating will be the key. These use twigs and small sticks for fuel. Can’t be beat.

        If I want to have a mini gun harvest, I would just fire up my smoker with a turkey or ribs inside and wait for the zombie horde to trample themselves running to the smell. The rest can be cut down at the knees…make em crawl to you. Running zombies are so rude!

        • You can’t compare the smell of a bakery to the smell of someone cooking supper. A bakery has at least 100 times more smell than someone cooking supper.

          • ahh…usually true but you’ve never smelled my motherinlaws cooking…eeeeoooowwwww!

            • You aint smelled nothing till you took a ride on a jam packed detroit Buss. Its the closest thing that compares to the detroit Zoo smells.

            • What did you mother-in-law smell like when you cooked her?

      24. @ VRF. I have seen that about the oarfish, and I think that these animals are very sensitive to planetary movements. Just like other animals, any change in the magnetics of the Earth can throw their radar off big time. These very deep sea creatures are actually a little closer to the ocean bottom and likely are picking up disturbances. I am hardly the marine biologist, but it would be interesting to see if this fish has a difference with its body to other fish besides that it is very bony and long.

        I find it very interesting that there are few reports of bats going nuts before an earthquake or dolphins that are keen to the fileds of the planet. It could be that before an earthquake these oarfish try to escape the deeper waters where some of the earthquake start at and then get caught up in a current. The San Andreas is a strike slip and would not cause a tsunami, but there are plenty of smaller thrust faults off the coast. It could be that the Cascadia fault is ready to go and the oarfish swam south of it to get away. Even the mega thrust around Alaska could be picked up by the oarfish. The Japanese talk about this fish showing up before earthquakes because they have in the past, it is a pattern.

        For me, this coupled with what I am seeing on the divergent plate boundaries says look out. Remember I started to see this extreme precursor earthquakes before the oarfish came ashore. It means that something before they died drove them into the shallow waters. Animals usually don’t think, they just react and use the fight or flight instinct. In this cause something caused them to flight.

        • Who says a natural earthquake won’t be used as cover for a man made tsunami. Ixquick up Tsunami bombs world war two . Then think on 70 odd years of upgrades on a proven concept weapon system.

      25. The only way zombies will smell my food a mile away is if I ate chili and then ripped one. Remember Mongo?

      26. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day…
        Teach a man to steal fish and he eats for a lifetime!!

        Alternatively,

        Feed a man a sandwich and he’ll be back…
        Feed a man a bullet… and you won’t be hearing from him again.

        … just sayin.

        • Give a man a fish,he eats.Teach him to fish,and he dies from mercury poisoning!

        • Build a man a fire and he’s warm for the night.

          Set him on fire and he’s warm for the rest of his life.

      27. I also worry about living in a cold climate and needing to use the wood stove for heat! We can always eat our canned foods cold for a long while. If things go south hard and fast in the frozen north, we will need to be concerned about smoke, even for those of us who live in sparsely populated rural areas.

      28. My God eats pork chops.

        • My God eats Bologna sandwiches By Oscar Mayer

          • I eat Gwaltney Chicken Baloney. I can’t tell much difference in the taste, so why not get the cheapest?

      29. Very good advise!!!
        If and when they smell my food at a mile away, and they come for it.
        They will find at 1/2 mile away they will hear a wiz then a thump, over and over again, until they don’t hear any more!!! 180Gr. 30 Cal 300 win mag. At a 1/4 mile away they will hear the same thing until they don’t hear any more. 165 Gr. 308. If they get with in 100 yards they will hear the same until they hear no more 55 gr 223 & 125 Gr 7.62X39. At 50 yards away They will hear BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. 12 Ga. 00 Buck. If they get closer the will hear 230 Gr 45 115 Gr 9mm 100 Gr 7.62×25 110 Gr 30Carbine. If they get past that you will see a mushroom in the air!!
        Sgt.

        • You have to sleep sometime and you better plan around it because those with empty stomaches sure will.

          • You are right: I’m not the only one that knows how to use these weapons!!!!

      30. I am not really a “prepper” by the standards of this site (No disrespect intended.) I do not store bullets or beans. I DO store cash and gold.

        If it goes slow, I win. If it goes fast, you win. (For a short time – in the end we all lose. And then, the survivors will survive. It is hard to tell who they will be ahead of time.) We all make our best bets. And then, we do the best we can to with the resources available.

        There is lot’s of good advice given on this site. (Thanks to the ones who do it and support it.)

        That said. I would like to make a suggestion to any who cares to listen. There is book titled “Lucifer’s Hammer” that was published decades ago. Read it!

        The basic plot was: a Dinosaur Killer Asteroid was about to hit the earth. Everyone knew it was coming. Then it hit!

        The book included two kinds of “preppers”: One, rich, had a well stocked mountain fortress. One did everything possible (stockpiling food, making beef jerky, etc.) to try to prepare.

        Neither prepper strategy worked. Both the well stocked mountain fortress and the cache of food and supplies were quickly hijacked by the bad guys.

        What did work? Well intended people working together for a common good.

        You can either go buy some MRE’s this weekend, or you can try to find like minded – LOCAL – neighbors that you can work with in the future.

        Actually, you COULD do both.

        Most won’t.

        Good will.

        • Your point is well-taken, but you and your like-minded neighbors can’t eat gold. It’s only wise to put away some food and ammo.

        • @Sadly Amused, I agree with you. Community is the key.

          There is strength in numbers, especially if everyone is pulling together. I have been in situations where one or two started whining and complaining and it can be very infectious. Soon, more people think it is O.K. to cry and whine. It can be very demoralizing and destructive for group dynamics. Those moaners and groaners need to be isolated away from the group before they start a stampede.

          In many ways a small, well disciplined group is ideal. The bigger the chain, the more variables are introduced, and you are only as strong as your weakest link. But having said that, if the species is to survive, we must have all kinds of people with all kinds of skills, strengths and weaknesses.

          Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. One person’s weakness may be another person’s strength. We complement each other in many ways. We must learn to respect the weak and the infirmed. Yes, they may be the first to go, but they have a role to play and they are the ones who make us human, who bring back and restore our souls in difficult situations, and fortify our backbones and strengthen our knees when things get dicey and shaky.

      31. I like cooking on a solar oven no smell until you put the food on the plate. These are easy to make and work just fine. I’ve even cooked food at 40 degrees. Took a little longer but it worked. Summer time no problem about 1/2 the time.

        • Sarge,what kind of setup for a solar cooker do you have,one of those things on my to do list,would like to start with a plan from one that someone actually uses,thanx.

          • Warchild
            I made two out of cardboard boxes. You can find info on YOU TUBE. You can also use a wheel barrel.
            Flat Black paint
            tin foil
            duct tape
            18″ box
            16″ box news paper.
            Don’t use regular insulation, or Styrofoam.
            three of the main items you will need.
            You can find a lot of good info on the computer.

            • Thanx,will check the u tube,doesn’t seem the supplies will set me back too much!

              • War
                plexy glass/ glass is the only thing that cost.
                Sgt.

      32. I’m of the opinion that you should use the smell of food to your advantage. Set up what appears to be some people holed up with food. Including occasionally moving silhouettes. Watch how they behave.

        Lure them into a killing field.

        You might also find allies this way.

      33. i am not so sure about food “smell”
        because in “real” SHTF there will be lot of “smell” that go around us
        wood burning smell… garbage smell… human shit smell…
        dead animal ( and human ) corpses smell… etc
        so how can someone ( or us ) can “specificly” identified our food “smell” from one miles away
        while in 10 feet away he is “adaptive” in not disturbing with garbage / human shit or even dead corpses
        ooo i see… he / she have some kind of “super human” capability of identify and locating smell source
        .
        http://shtfschool.com/food/what-did-we-eat/#comment-41

        • Well I can tell you from my own experience that smells can be identified and separated as long as a person hasn’t killed their sense of smell via smoking or harsh chemicals…most people in my circle have excellent sense of smell and as we all spend a lot of time outdoors in the woods it enhances ones sense of smell…I can smell a deer and tell it from a bear for instance…I can find wild onions and apples by smell and know a few others who can too…I remember when I spent time in a larger city for awhile and realizing my sense of smell was faded…straightened up when I got back to the real world…so there are people who have the ability…just depends who they are…

      34. if yer the prayin’ type
        better get to it

        Fukushima readies for dangerous operation to remove 400 tons of spent fuel

        http://rt.com/news/fukushima-operation-spent-fuel-618/

        hopefully they are over stating the risk ???

        “In the worst-case scenario, the pool could come crashing to the ground, dumping the rods together into a pile that could fission and cause an explosion many times worse than in March 2011.

        “The worst-case scenario could play out in death to billions of people. A true apocalypse,” Consolo said.”

        • Hopefully they are understating the risks , the gene pool is long over due for some bleach.

      35. MAJOR challenge to the hegemony of the petro dollar ???

        The Growing Rift With Saudi Arabia Threatens To Severely Damage The Petrodollar

        http://www.activistpost.com/2013/10/the-growing-rift-with-saudi-arabia.html

        “The biggest reason why having good relations with Saudi Arabia is so important to the United States is because the petrodollar monopoly will not work without them. For decades, Washington D.C. has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the Saudis happy. But now the Saudis are becoming increasingly frustrated that the U.S. military is not being used to fight their wars for them.”

        the Saudi’s aren’t happy that we won’t send our sons and daughters to do their dirty work

        or will we ???

      36. They will smell the food from miles away,so what!I am not that great a cook so no worries!

      37. SOLAR ALERT,

        Multiple M-class events have occred over the last few hours,
        the last of which just missed X-class, macing at M-9.3 @ 00:30
        UTC.

        The latest HMIB(C) is not encouraging as there exist now in
        the trailing segnment of the spot group a distinct ‘sandwich’
        of opposing polarity – positive-negative-positive, contianing
        multiple high magnitude regions imeediately adjacenbt to each
        other…

        The upshot here: I DON’T think that thi is the last of what
        is currently transpiring on the Solar surface…especially as
        the near X-class that just occured was preceded by a ‘triple
        peak’ occuring over the time since it firat began to manifest.
        To say the least, that IS ‘unusual’.

        More to follow….as it occurs!

        JOG

        • Suprise, suprise suprise Y’all,

          The near X-class that is still in the process of decaying – currently at about M-4 magnitude – did NOT originate from NOAA 11875…but 11877 INSTEAD!

          This region was – and has been, since it firat rotated into view – very quiet…not energetic at all. The relative proximaity of 11877 and 11875 DOES allow for the POSSIBILY of an ‘induced’ response flare from 11875…keep an eye out therefor!

          For those who watch this stuff, be advised here; sTART watching the NOAA Proron Flux measurements NOW…if in short order that beginms to RISE rapidly it WILL be signifying that a WHOPPER CME is incoming…

          Some time ago as a matter of historical FACT it was the cas ethat an M-8 (approximately)_) WAS resposivle for some o the HIGHEST solar proton flux counts EVER recorded…and that from a position not as near to the center of the visible disk as is 11877 i now

          I reiterate here: WATCH tha Protonb FLUX COUNTS…they will tell the tale if they begin to rise abruptly over the next 2 hours or so. THIS IS A SOLAR WARNING THRERFOR!

          at exactly 20:02 CST the magnitude on the ‘low band’ is still in excess of M-class…at about M-1.3

          JOG

          PS: typing this REALLY FAST Y’All..pardon any typoo’s here OK?

          • At this point the falling curve of the discharge fromm the flare is beginning to TURN upward again..which by experiance is NOT a ‘good sign’ at this point, as it were….

            This link gives ALL the significant geo-effective PROTON events since 1976…BI you will want to get this for your archive, the text is from NOAA at:

            http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/SPE.txt

            Where “SPE” means exactly “Solar Proton Events”

            JOG

      38. After I eat the cabbage stew they will smell more than whats on the stove. Even the North Viet Cong could tell the difference between a twinkie and a turd.

        • uh oh…careful theres a RIO abouts… ;)…love cabbage but it does have a chemical signature that can be read at a distance….uh…what is the difference betwixt the twinkie and the turd… 😉

          PS… a bit of baking soda in the boil of cabbage helps keep this under control…

      39. Americans, Friends, & Peoples:

        No-one knows how it will unfold. We just know that that Day is not too far ahead. It is approaching. My opinion it is here already (meltdown phase) but when does the civil unrest and economic collapse happen? Don’t know, but we are probably about 12 months to 4 years away (my guess). The first needs:

        1. Don’t live in big cities of 80,000 plus
        2. Live near where agriculture is big
        3. Know your country roads
        4. Know your neighbors (good or bad)
        5. Garden
        6. etc

        This article also shows the need for foods such as MRE abd dehy stuff like Mountain House. Pretty simple stuff when a quick meal is needed.

        PS. Pray. have the Lord on your side (good or bad)

        PSS. Don’t talk to too many democrats. They’ll just lower your morale and laugh at your opinions. They are in such denial.

        PSSS. Enjoy life. Don’t live in fear, but prepare so that you are somewhat ready.

        PSSSS. It is to bad that we have to talk this way. It still amazes me where USA has come to and where it is heading very shortly.

        Finally. As I have said before–

        Never bet on a horse named Tripod….

        • Don’t worry be happy , death is going to shit on your plans , no matter how well prepped you are.
          enjoy the ride

          • M.

            I am enjoying as best as can. I still jog each morning 5 days a week. Work. Talk with Son, Wife, family, friends, etc.

            But.

            If and when the times come, I don’t want to be stupid either. I’d rather try and fail, than do nothing and be a clod like many others.

            The choice is for each person to decide.

          • Yeah, but on a long enough time line the survival rate of everyone drops to zero. Zero hedge

        • Saudi Arabia might kick the petrodollar to the curb.
          SNAP payments being cut back.
          17 trillion+ in debt.
          How much on the bankers unreported housing debt.
          Chase cutting withdrawals. Bank Run?
          How secure are your, bank savings 401 and IRA’s from government confiscation.
          Glow in the dark Japan. Then the USA
          How about over a Quadrillion dollars in Derivatives.
          U.N. gun treaty.
          Inflation.
          Unemployment.
          Who is importing silver and gold.
          Who will smell me cooking.
          Oprah gets stiffed by Obama.

          Got it all covered!!

      40. 10 gallon metal drum full of used mcdonalds frence fry oil . Heat it up and watch the vermin have round robin death matches from far away .
        Gotta do sumthin for entertainment when the TV doesn’t work ).

        • Stick a wick in that and you got yourself one really big candle!!!

        • The SNAP heads are coming!

          The SNAP heads are coming!

          Oh, No. What am I going to do? ;0)

      41. Quick! Everyone go outside and hold up a can of beans to the sun.

        We are about to get Flared!

        ummmmm, Sun cooked beans.

        Solar Gallows Humor ;0)

        • Mmmmm…. beans..

          As for the “flair” looks to be a strong M-class…

          M-8… Not to worry… X-23 or better and I’ll be packin my faraday bag……..

          BS

      42. This is beginning to really look bad. Number 23 of the precursor quakes just occurred about 2 hours ago on the southern Nazca plate that shows a really big earthquake is coming. After this same spot was hit on Oct.4, 1997, 10 days later a 7.7 hit Fiji. On Oct. 3, 2007, then 5 days later Java was hit with a pair of 7.5’s within 7 minutes of each other, then 12 days later off the coast of central Peru they had a 8.0. Again, this is showing that a huge quake is coming.

        To put this in context there is usually one 8+ quake per year. Out of those 23 percursor quakes, 15 of them say 8+ is coming. That is 15 out of 23 of these earthquakes, 65% of the time, after these divergent plate bull’s eyes have been hit a great or mega quake has followed. We are talking about a tiny fraction of the whole divergent plate. An area that is about 15-20 miles pinpoint. The Mid Atlantic Ridge is over 10000 miles long. That is 1/500 to about 1/700th on these precursor zones alone. Any earthquake a few more miles to the north, west, east, south of this would not register on the chart I am using that is that precise. These areas that have been hit before are getting hit again that have lead up to very large earthquakes.

        I have plotted other areas on these divergent plates in the past, and MAYBE one out of 7 or 8 might be 7.5+, most of the time they are less than 7.4. This time though 23 out of 25 have been 7.5+. 15 out of 25 times a 8+. That is 60%. What is very strange is that practically all the mega quakes have had the same locations, those 15, hit before such as Japan, Chile, Samoa, Tonga, and others but only ONE area in Indonesia, which is the eastern section of Indonesia in August of 1977 that was a 8.3. Void of this sequence are the mega quakes in the Sumatra area. The Mega quake last year west of Indonesia has had one precursor quakes so far in this 15. Sumatra seems to be spared this time.

        A 8+ seems to be most likely in one of more of the following areas; Japan, China/India border region, Kamachatka, Aleutian Islands and southern Alaska, Samoa/Fiji Kermadec Islands to New Guinea, far east Indonesia, Cascadia fault, California, southern Mexico to the eastern Caribbean plate, and anywhere along the Nazca plate, especially Peru to Ecuador. Other areas mentioned before high 6 to 7.9.

        Great to mega earthquakes are rare, there are periods of time that no 8+ have occurred, from late 1979 to 1985, and 1989 to 1994 for example. For there to be 15 of these precursor quakes out of 25 of all these precursor quakes to have a 8+ follow within 2 and 1/2 weeks, 60% of the time is very alarming. The odds of this being a coincidence are astronomical. Something is building, might just be some mid 7’s or high 7’s, or a swarm of high 6’s to low 7’s, but something is very likely coming. Like a fracture, it follows a line, and this is what these earthquakes are doing, showing massive tension building. The past shows this.

        • Hopefully the Fukishima region won’t get punched by an 8+ as they definitely don’t need this on their plate (pun not intended). If so, goodbye coolant tower. Hello mass die offs.

        • Got it all covered. Lifted a copy so I can check back in a month……

      43. @ M. Tsunami bombs will only work very close to the intended target, or in very narrow channels. The amount of energy expands rapidly that is necessary to maintain the size of a tsunami in open water and distance due to resistance. In space a wave unaffected by gravity can maintain its strength for almost ever. On the planet as more size becomes larger, a wave loses that energy due to drag of the water and gravity. This is why the tsunami of Japan upon reaching California shores was less than 6 feet in most places. This is why the Canary Islands causing a mega tsunami is a myth. Even the tremendous amount of energy generated by a 6 mile wide densely packed asteroid hitting the ocean would only generate a 35-70 foot tsunami at a location 10000 miles away. It would be 700 feet tall 1000 miles away and almost 8000 feet tall 100 miles away. I used 10000 foot water depth of the impact zone. Deeper water would raise the size of the wave and shallower water would lower the size.

        Yes, localized undersea avalaches can generate big tsunamis like in Samoa with only a 7.0 earthquake a few years ago. Same holds true for an undersea tsunami explosion, or even a volcano blowing up under the water. But like these avalaches, like in the one in Alaska that generated a 1700 foot wave, upon reaching open water they dimish in size very rapidly. This is why no tsunami after these massive avalaches ever occur, not nearly enough kinetic energy behind them. The amount of energy of that 6 mile wide asteroid for example is 106 million one mega ton Hydrogen Bombs.

        This is why you only get these huge tsunamis that are ocean wide when hundreds of miles of sea floor have been uplifted suddenly and quickly, OR when you have the velocity of an asteroid travelling at over 35000 mph impact the ocean. In a narrow inlet underwater explosions can channel in big waves to an intended target, but not in open water with any distance to it.

        • As I do respect your opinion I would like to question you on something. What is your take on recent earthquake uptick in activity and recent human behaviours?
          As personally observing traffic patterns in various cities for year, every place has it’s own distinct personality when you drive through it. When talking with other drivers over that last few weeks we have noticed that the general behaviours of each city have all morphed into some kind of suicidal oblivion. People are so aggressive and dangerous that we must be on our toes constantly otherwise highway fatalities would be the order of the day. It does not matter if we are in Calgary AB, or Houston TX. The change has been very marked. I was wondering if possibly it might have to do with some kind of imbalance to the Earth’s core causing the magnetic poles to vary a bit then disturb individuals on a subtle but real level, or, if there could be a harmonic in the Earth due to the increased stress on the crust that might be affecting people.
          Both of these ideas are a subtle influences but something has changed and I cannot put my finger on what could be causing it.
          It’s either that or this years crops of GMO garbage are finally working their way through the distribution system and the franken food is bad prozac.

          • @ SCTV. The only human activity that I know of in respect to building on the surface of the planet that could affect faults at the present time are dams. This is because many of these dams are constructed right in a V shape gorge where many faults run through. The extra weight of the water in which it was not there causes strain to be focused on the fault and can and does speed up the time it breaks. The New Madrid being more active can be partially contributed to the rebound effect of the lack if ice that melted during the end of the last ice age. many dams in India and China are so massive right on faults that they cause earthquakes much sooner than they should.

            Now for the amount of anything else built, very unlikely as it is like putting a 8 oz. weight on the back of a horse. Now the changing the course of water, both underground and on the surface such as rivers can help to speed up fault rupturing, again from the balance being offset. It takes an awful lot those to do this normally in a concentrated area. Fracking and other geologically mining can cause moderate quakes, but the real danger is oil extraction around faults. In Signal Hill, California the Long Beach earthquake of 1933 was long thought to be the reason it broke decades before it should because of the oil being removed. Not so much the shear weight as the delicate balance being off. This cannot be proven though. I would say the dams would be the best case for earthquake agitation because of the vnew volume of water in a very prone focal point.

            It is extremely unlikely that regular human activity has done anything to the magnetic field of the planet, as this has to do with the Sun, the moon, the rotation in space and the magma movements under the planet’s crust. The Haydon Collider in Switzerland though is an entirely different story. They are fooling around sub atomic particles and disruption of the very structure of matter. When they turned that thing on the first time there was 4 major earthquakes within I believe 16 hours or so that ranges 6.5 to 7.0. This was probably because of fu%^ing with something they didn’t know what would happen. This is extremely dangerous as they look for the God particle and have the possibility of opening a tiny black hole. Destablizing the space around the planet is suicide, even on a localize level is nuts. Knowing is important but being very careful is life and death. Anything else with humankind is probably too tiny to have much an effect.

            • Thank you for the reply, but what I meant was what about the enormity of the Earth and changes in it affecting human behaviour. Much like migratory birds and or sea life are affected.

              • sctv…most people are to fucking stupid to notice how the earth works.

                I try everyday and have problems…I just try to prepare in advance.

          • High school football season, soccer moms, GMO’s, the stress from political and economic problems not-with-standing 🙂 The infrasonic vibrations that emanate from flexing steel plates will adversely affect humans when they are totally enclosed in steel structures for long periods of time with no respite (think… interior of large ships), especially when combined with the low frequencies emanating from diesel generators and other constantly running equipment. The ensuing stress from long term exposure to these infrasonic vibrations causes many to behave erratically and sometimes violently. (even those that have been pacified by long term exposure to fluoride and other chemicals) Who’s to say then, that your intuition is not on to something more sinister than meets the casual eye? Who’s to say these subtle harmonics are not just enough to push someone over the edge? Also, don’t forget to add to this mix the constant barrage of the not so subtle, magnified low frequencies emanating from the low and high riding vehicles prowling up and down the byways. It doesn’t immediately affect the drivers or controllers as much because they are close enough to the higher end frequencies to not notice and are not in the target range. Infrasonic weapons do more than just annoy people and break up crowds. Having said that, I think the subtle low frequency harmonics emanating from the earth along with other external junk around us affect us all one way or the other. Of course, most people don’t give a shit what I think and just fart me off as just another crazy old coot. Just something to think about.

          • SCTV: I know what you are talking about when you talk about driving through places … me and mine call them “auras” — they are definitely different depending on the place. It is a different feel to a place.

            However, we have noticed the same thing recently…high incidences of very aggressive behavior by people.

            Changing hormone levels can cause people to become more aggressive..considering what they chemically add to the food and water supplies, that may be an option.

            Sun cycles are also thought to bring about more war-like behavior from people.

            But at this particular time, who knows what’s causing it…we will find out soon enough, I guess.

      44. hope they enjoy the smell of my H&K 45 USP.

      45. Question. If I log on at SHTFplan.com and vote on a comment, many times it won’t work. But if I go to Survivaltop 50.com and get on Shtfplan and vote it almost always works., anyone else have this problem. Trekker Out.

        • @ Mt. Trecker – Yes, I am having the same problem.
          Ever since Mac did an upgrade on the site, I have been having problems, logging on. Or, if I do log on, I get the date Oct. 20th, instead of todays date. To get around that I have to google the sites name and todays date. Right now, I am trying to thumb up or thumb down the posts on this thread. It will not work. This is getting annoying and frustrating. I had to budget and just purchased a brand new spanking computer, so I know it is not my computer screwing up. I hope the bugs on this site get fixed soon.

          • Adapt and overcome.

            That is the problem in the US right now…

            Everyone wants it easier/faster.

          • Delete the old link from your favorites, go to the SHTF site and save the current link. Delete the old link. It should work ok. I’ve experienced that on a number of different sites that have upgraded or made extensive changes to their web page. Each time, I’ve updated my favorites with the current link and it works fine until they make another major change. Then use CCleaner daily or multiple times each day.

      46. You can cook at home using solar cooker or pressure cooker or combination, to hide the smells (especially after a few days of no sanitation services);or take your rocket stove elsewhere to cook and bring the food home to eat.
        This is aimed more at urban/suburban dwelling situations. If you live rural you have a different set of problems and solutions.

        • If you think a pressure cooker hides the odors, you hain’t ever used one.

          BTW a pressure cooker SHOULD BE part of your preps, even if you don’t can. The Amish microwave, it will cook food using less fuel than cooking in the open. Buy and store at least one spare gasket. They don’t last forever.

      47. @ JustOneGuy. If you can, please key in 4.5+ for the past 30 days on the USGS map, it is breathtaking to look at all the outer rim plates, especially the Mid Atlantic Ridge, that have been hit since Sept. 23. Forget about the regular areas that get lots of quakes like around the Philippines and other convergent plate boundaries. I have been looking at these maps of earthquakes for as long as the USGS maps were available and I have personally never seen such activity like this. To my point of view there is so much energy from what is coming that it is being transferred to these spreading centers.

        I think there will be a 8+ and that will be it with this, and the next sequence starts later. However I can let my imagination go a bit about other possibilities. Like a break starting in far south Chile and continuing all the way up to the Cocoa plate and the Caribbean plate, super mega break. Maybe something in the Aleutians continuing to southeast Alaska. Something India and going all the way to western Indonesia. Perhaps something from Spain to Turkey going and sending the Mediterrean region to hell. The Carolina plate connecting with a new plate in the Marshall Islands region and a Pacific wide tsunami. Or something going from Papua New Guinea all the way to Samoa breaking. Of course these are not very likely but deserve a passing thought because it is possible with what is going on this past month.

        What is probably going to happen is one morning all of us will hear of a powerful earthquake in India or China in the 8 to 8.5 range, or that southern to central Japan has been hit hard. Fukushima may be okay this time because the energy seems to be more focused towards the Toyko area. Anyway, if you can check out that map for the past 30 days 4.5+ or higher I think you will be very shocked at all the movement in all the different spots. I am sure glad that you have the Sun and space covered for all of us.

        • Howdy BI,

          Sorry I haven”t been able to get back here sooner, the Solar side of things is !NUTZ! today, we just has another series of M-class flaresm back-to-back about an hour ago….N-3.8, I beleive at MAX…

          I HAVE looked Friend….and I DON’T think what is occuring now is even proximately construable as “normal”.
          I’m not sure if I previously mentined this or not, BUT, there have been NO GRB’s of any signifigance since the 25th of last month, when the REALLY BIG one passed through (which was almost as large as.the Super-GRB in April this year)..perchance do you remember our musing’s on the relationship between the activity of those and tectonic events? I BELEIVE that relative to normal day-to-day existence the background GRB efectively serves as a ‘lubricant’ between the core and the mantle; a strange concept, No?

          In a nuthell, the very slight disturbances that are signatory of these, which are and is the passage of a ‘gravitational wave’ thrtogh the body of the Earth – which themselves carry little to no real energy, instead aerve to INDUCE a relaese of thermal energy via radionuclide decay in the tiny, DEEP sub-core speculated to be at the deepest depths of all, within the “core proper” via an alteration (however slight) of the effective half-life ‘constants’ which govern nuclear decay; my suspicion is that the change is A small DECREASE of same, leading to greater evolved thermal output therefrom than would otherwise be, therefor setting the stage for a long-term thermal ‘equilibria’ transfer from the one to the other…inner to outer. Without going into ALL the excruciating detail which we covered several months ago, there are here – I BELLEIVE – TWO cases aside from that of the “normal” daily, weekly equilibra state,

          1) the action of a VERY LARGE GRB, bigger than anything which has yet been observed, would cause such a rapid evolution of heat in the sub-core that effectively a PRESSURE increase would occur both at the inbterace boundary between it and the outer core as well, additional pressure at the second interface… core/mantle. The net effect of that would be a sudden alteration – an increasse – in the associated ‘fluid turbulence’ occuring (always) at each interface layer. THIS case would probably result in CATASTOPHIC tectonic activity – think of th movie ‘2012’ here…- were it to occur: here, typified by something like Eta Carinae going Hyper-Nova AND being at that time FULLY aligned axially with the Earth in ONE it’s emission paths…and THAT is aside from the destruction of the atmosphere by the generationm of NOX in massive quantities GLOBALLY resulting in the complete destruction of the OZONE layer…think ‘Ordovician/Siliurian Age Extinction’, Eh?

          2) THE OTHER CASE…NO activity – as we saw in the earliest spring this year, 34 daya without ANY GRB’s AT ALL occuring measureably; atg that time then we saw what you yourself noted to be a LARGE increase in the tectonics at that time, increaingly so. It is in this case that things get ‘sticky’…literally. As a DECREASE in the core to mantle tranfer of heat occurs, then the net cooling might well cause the viscous character of the interfaces to CHANGE…ths allowing for LARGER than normal transfers of 5the core’s angular momentum – orndinarily confined primarily to the core itself to ‘escape’ via that incresaed ‘stickiness’, think of the mantle ‘clinging’ more to the core itself, hence an additional transfer of hydraulic shock through the bulk material of the planet…with concomiitant divergence from normal equilibria paths of usual transfers of energy…perhaps think of the plume under Yellowstone shifting somewhat. That is a BAD example, I know, since such at “Y” is something that would occur only over LONG stretches of time…I was just trying to come up with a metallly comnmunicable ‘picture’ here of some relatively static deep-earth structure….

          SO, here we are at Case II above..after having had a relatively large event…then NOTHING aince the 25th!
          30 days and counting.

          And No, I don’t think this is ‘Normallity’; certainly the Sun is waking up unexpectedly, but I reiterate here: that NOTHING we have as yet SEEN this cycle even BEGINS to approximate the violent activity of the LAST one.

          That said, try going over to solen.info, there, take a look at the sudden rise in the measured Solar flux (as a part of the mnain graph at the start) in just the last few days…lots of change THERE! Well, till later Friend.

          JOG

          We will see soon enough…I think.

      48. I’m still learning how to prep. May I ask a dumb question?

        If I wanted to use a small Coleman gas cooking stove indoors, would that be safe?

        • Yes, leave a window cracked for ventilation. For legal reasons that should be stated.
          From experience, we set it on the stovetop,(no electricity for 6 months, figured the stove top was metal and better than the wood counter), and cooked away with the windows and doors shut.
          The amount of CO released is not enough when cooking for 15-20 mins when you consider how much air can come in when you open you door or window later. If you want to heat that is a different story. Almost died when I was 14 when heating a barn where the water lines were frozen with a kerosene heater. My mother found my brother and I passed out and dragged us outside. The animals were fine after the doors were left open for a bit. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

        • You would be safer just using it outdoors, as was intended when it was designed. You can cook a full meal on a good camp stove in a short while, especially at lower elevations.

          Ideally, you need two stoves, one for water, one for cooking.

      49. Thanks! Scary story there, glad you were found!

        • REPOST…
          HOWDY LM,

          Ummm, bear this in mind Y’all.

          When Carbon Monoxide binds itself to the suface of a hemoglobin molecule – the ‘stuff’ that actually transfers the OXYGEN to and from tissue – then that CO NEVER LEAVES the hemoglobin surface again…EVER, that receptor is ‘dead’…until the red blood cell dies and is removed from the system entirely through the normal processes, anout 90 days later. Therefor you LOSE that receptor all but PERMANENTLY.

          That’s why CO is so damn insidious…you can be in a ROOM FULL of oxygen…and still die of aphyxiation, since your red vlood cells are unable to carry enough or ANY of that oxygen to and fro. Suffice it to say then that CO poisoning is long term CUMULATIVE- over a 90 day period…Soooo, CAREFULL THERE FOLKS, just sayin Y’all.

          JOG

          • Absolutely…and not only is it permanent , but .hgb binds the CO much more readily that oxygen.

      50. I have a large whiskey distillery real close to me that I am counting on to attract zombies like garden slugs are attracted to beer. About 20 warehouses of Kentucky bourbon ought to keep the rascals busy for a while. By the time they stagger down the road to my house, they won’t be in much condition for fighting which should be comforting to these old bones.

      51. Most people will not be in any condition to stagger anywhere. Apathy and unrealistic expectations will leave many to give up. Between those who wait for somebody else to help them and those who will not realize how much work it is to get along without modern technical assistance, do you really think that people will manage to even get out of their city let alone down the street?
        I recently had a break down on the road. Had some work done at a certified Freightliner dealership where the tech did not remove the old gasket seal from my genpack. It drained itself of all the oil. That is the quality of our professionals. Well I walked several miles into town to get a new filter at a napa shop. When I got there they could not believe that I walked. This is a shop where people who generally can do things go to shop. They offered me a free ride back to my truck which was nice of them. I try not to be lazy but also not stupid so I took them up on it.
        I am not unused to doing hard work, but why is it that people are shocked by ones who do?
        Not many people in North America actually do things for themselves. Even many preppers. How many will buy cases of canned goods instead of canning the food themselves? They pat themselves on the back and say what a responsible person am I. And whom of those who buy the jars and a canner do more that make a batch of jam and salsa?
        I do not believe that zombies will come.
        I think that they will give up and die.
        I worked at a place several years ago where an employee had his supervisor written up because the man told him to try to get some work done when on the company time.
        This is everywhere. This same place had a %50 absentee rate among the under 25 crowd when the new call of duty xbox game came out.
        Most people I think will have a mental TILT (pinball ref), if things do not go tomorrow as they did today.
        Everywhere I look I see references to the selfish looting at the Louisiana walmarts when the EBT cards went funky. But the more important part of all of that was in how many states people just walked away and went home when their cards did not work.
        If you look at history the vast majority of people usually just die. Sure some steal, profiteer, and even turn cannibal. But when your way of the world is broken you are at a loss for much if anything.
        Even those of us who have eyes to see, and ears to hear we are stuck in our own paradigm.
        How many of us are stuck with those damned ipods in our ears? When the batteries die are we gonna go stir crazy?
        When the cell phones stop will we lose all sense of self worth because we can no longer update our statuses?
        When the internet stops completely will our drive to know and fear go overboard because we can no longer get the news in a timely fashion?
        Watch people, see what happens. I am sure that growing up most of you were told to shut up and look out the window on long drives. Now we need portable tvs and iphones for kids just to drive into town.
        Do you think that your patience will wear thin just having to listen to other people instead of tuning them out like we do now?
        It will hurt, alot. Having to think about what somebody is saying not just what you want to say next. Because speaking without thinking could get you killed.
        Barring WAR, A deep impact event or Zombies, I see everything as a grinding down event with pockets of violence or excitement here and there.
        One day there will be not much fuel, then none.
        One day there will be not much food, then none.
        One day there will be camps.
        Always hoping will keep people waiting.
        And everybody will wait for the help that is coming,
        tomorrow.
        Just look in Africa.
        Sure everybody wants to see the child soldiers, and chaos. Look instead at the refugee camps. Miles and miles of tents amid denuded ground.
        Starving people lining up. Walking for miles on rumours of medicine, or corn rations.
        For every act of violence in Katrina there is thousands of fema trailers.
        Do you think that the government does not know this.
        They war game it.
        Everything that comes about they know it, have a plan and contingency plan. Not everything goes to plan, but they have everyone of us plotted and certain percentages of acceptable collateral damage allowed for.
        That is why fema exists. Many people will choose security over personal choice any day of the week.
        Even the hope of security. Why do you think that our ancestors lived for so many centuries in a degrading feudal system?
        The average person does not, cannot, and will not, make a decision for them-self.
        Today we have been so full of false decisions that when they stop we will no longer be able to make the real decision to walk one more mile.

        • I can’t believe you only had 3 thumbs up for that wonderful article. Now you have 5, I just thumbed you up.
          I buy cans of food by the case, but I also have a pressure canner and have veg. soup, beef stew, spaghetti sauce, lima beans, speckled butter beans, various meats, string beans, tomatoes, new potatoes, etc. lined on my shelves that I canned myself. This week end I will be canning qt. jars of my famous “Rowboat Chili”. My husband does not like the basic chili and this is made with spaghetti sauce and zucchini. My friends and family call it my hurricane chili because every time the wind even blows hard, I drag out my soup pot. I cook on gas and they have electric. They know there is food to eat here.
          I hope you continue to share that wisdom on this site. I write now and then when something really witnesses to me. Mostly I just read and enjoy the knowledge passed on to us.
          I am prepared as well as I can be with food, medicine, paper products, personal hygiene, various ways to cook, as much water I can store, water filters etc and still feel like I am coming way short.
          I depend on my Jehovah Jireh also.
          God Bless
          4yp

          • There are only two here and I make a huge pot of chili when I make it.
            So, when it gets to the third day, I add macaroni.:-)

            • SCTV–Oh, man, did you hit the nail on the head??
              If they can’t help themselves right now, knowing the collapse is coming, why would they have the inclination to help themselves later??
              Likewise–I am amazed at the neighbors here that don’t mow their yards or do their yard work!! No–they do NOT have jobs; wouldn’t matter any way; I had a daycare and worked 6 to 6 and still did my own yard work.
              A 35 + year-old father of two came to ‘visit’ a little on the porch and couldn’t even converse with us for staring at the thing in his hand (IPod?? smart phone??) to see if he was missing a call or message? Rude to the max–totally rude!!!
              It’s not just the children with those problems.
              Incidentally, he and his family will go to the FEMA camps because 3 years ago, when I failed in OPSEC, I mentioned to him about storing food and supplies and he said he would go to his church at the food bank–a church with a membership of 40 at Easter!! 🙂

            • Try quinoa sometime- extra protein and it stores as well as any other grain.

        • SCTV.

          Bravo! Way to go. Put it in your face type of posts.

          Destroy the illusions and make thing REAL.

          As Mr. Burns would put it, “Excellent”.

          • Your words are so true!!! Everyday the collapse does not happen, the happier I am bc I’m not ready. We are doing everything we can to become self sufficient, but man it doesn’t happen over night or even over a few years!

            Great post SCTV!!!

        • I read all these posts and the best was all the way down here? I guess I’ll start at the bottom tomorrow.

          Great thoughts, SCTV…

        • SCTV…very true…welcome!

        • You gave me so much to consider. I don’t want to be the person you described. 🙁

      52. That being said I do believe that one should have an extra box of shells for those times when it is time to not be nice.

      53. Thinking about the aroma of cooked food is very important. It’s run through my mind along with other things. I find my biggest issue is once I’ve fired off some rounds in defense of my family, the gig is up! You’ve given away your position and made it loud and clear to everyone that “here I am and I have stuff I don’t want you to have”. I find that to be an even bigger problem than food aroma, although I have strategies for that. You need to be ready for everything. This is a great thought inducing article for the people just awakening, but like I said, I’m more worried about a firefight. If it’s one shot, you might get away with it, but multiple firings whether from you or your assailants is sure to draw attention. Be ready at all times to bug out and make sure the people with you are aware of what to do and how quickly you’ll need to evac! SHTF scenario is no joke. That’s why most of us here are talking to grab tips and such. There are those who will be the “zombies”, those that will be the people you’ve tried to warn who thought you were nuts and the plain truly crazed, all against you. From food oder, to self defense, to water percurment, whatever, keep learning….drilling…and preparing. I don’t like it when people make dates for doom because it makes it harder for the rest of us to wake people up when the date passes, but we all know it’s goin downhill super quick. God speed my friends

      54. I was thinking about one of the worst smells that there is that it seems like everyone would avoid, that would be the stink that they put into natural gas that goes into people’s homes. They do this of course so if there is a natural gas leak, people know this and don’t just drop over from carbon monoxide suffocation. I think this smell would mask almost anything being cooked and keep people away thinking that there was a gas leak in the area being it could even explode. Does anyone know where you could obtain this odor that they put into natural gas? I think it is sulfur based, that smells like rotten eggs.

        Any type of stench that can trigger the gag reflex in people will keep individuals far away from your home even if you are not cooking anything at all. People are extremely sensitive to bad smells even more so than good ones.

        • BI.

          I believe it is Hydrogen Sulfide. Call the gas company as they do inject it into the natural gas.

          • The Brand name is Capatan. Seems to be some bad stuff to handle and they use very little to give the smell to gas. Not a good idea as per advise from an old retired gas line man.

        • the stuff is called Ethyl Mercaptan
          A colorless organic liquid, C2H5SH, that has a strong odor and is added to odorless fuel and fuel systems as a warning agent.

        • Whats the chances that doing something like this could cause some(especially the really bad ones)people to be curious and investigate the location a bit further?…granted Im thinking how I think but Im not the only one Im sure…so would desperate people be more prone to investigate the stench on the suspicion that it may be to their advantage?….people often react in a manner 180* from what we might think they would…especially under stress…

        • Thumbs up to the “being more sensitive to bad smells, than the good ones”.

          In 1994, I had a driving job with a trucking company that made runs to the Dallas, TX area. Sometimes, my backhaul load was from the Campbell’s soup cannery near there.

          The smell coming from that place stayed in my throat and head for months. Everytime I opened a can of soup after that, i wanted to puke. No canned soup for me for a number of years after that.
          Kinda reminded me of the smell of dunking a freshly killed chicken into a pot of boiling water to prepare the feathers/skin for plucking. Granny never complained, but i sure as hell did.

          The bad smelling soup thing kinda reminded me of the old Campbell’s soup commercial where the husband walks into the kitchen and says, “Mmmm Mmmm, something sure smells good, is that you honey?” As she stirs a pot of something on the stove she says; “why no, that’s Cambells Chicken soup, dear”.

          If this bitch normally smells like soup, I think i would be buying up all the cheap perfume for her, that i could find.

          Speaking of perfume. I dated a girl one time that wore some of the strongest and most disgusting perfume that I have ever smelled. After a few dates, I asked her to change it or maybe lighten it up a bit. The next date, she must have bathed in it. When i made another comment about it, she said she liked it and that she would continue to use it so i had better get use to it.

          That just happened to be our last date. I did let her down easy though. I gave her the old, “it’s not you, it’s me”, bit.

      55. Great article and many dont realize how important this subject is.

      56. I still say those that can leave populated areas early on will have the greatest chance. IF you have relatives or very very good friends who live in the country it may be a good time to start to get close to them, just in case.
        Even those living in small towns, far out suburbs will have it VERY rough. People talk and the starving will talk about everything, every rumor, every shred of info even every fantasy will be entertained in the search for food. They will band together to search for food as they have nothing better to do. And when they find food the strong survive, the weak die. So you would think that two months aftter SHTF things whould start to calm down, but you just might be wrong. As the survivors to that point were the strongest and smartest to make it that far. So you are not likely to trick them with with black out curtains and MRE’s.
        6 monthes after SHTF you would think it would be safe to cook out doors but you just may be wrong. There may be fewer people but the ones who survived did so because they were the most ruthless, smartest and strongest. A much more determined bunch than those you met or run into weeks after SHTF.
        Even 9 months after SHTF it may not be safe to fire up your outdoor grill. One would hope that after 1 year it would start to get safe to cook outdoor and to walk around (in the daylight) but you still need to be very cautious even then.
        If you are going to board up windows at least paint the plywood white so from a distance it looks like a window with the blinds or curtains drawn. But I don’t think plywood will keep them out when they find you and your stash.
        The only place reasonably safe is far out in the country and off the beaten path. No matter where you are be sure to make your home look like it has ALL READY been ransacked (nothing of interest here) throw old clothes on the lawn and front porch maybe even brake down your front screen door will add to the illusion.
        But first and formost you MUST secure doors and all windows, think IF you were a burglar how would YOU break in. Or ask a teenager their answer might surprise you.
        IF you have a sliding glass door at least they are usualy in the back of your home, at least you can secure them with sheets of 3/4″ plywood, just be sure to anchor your plywood securly. 1″ plywood is worthless IF you fail to secure it properly. Remember the Zombies will have hammers, saws, prybars etc. and will easily break through drywall and unsecured outside walls like a hot knife going thru butter.
        Say you have a all brick home and you think you are pretty secure, IF you have a garage attached to your house you probabily have a wall in the garage that is only drywall and the opposing wall in your home will be only drywall. That is a very likely point of entry for Zombies. At least use 3/4″ sheets of plywood to cover your wall in the garage that borders your home and secure the drywall with lots and lots of long drywall screws and glue to make sure that IF anyone is trying to come thru that wall will have a very hard time of it.

      57. Getting back on topic, chances are good that by the time things get so bad that you have to worry about the aroma of your food drawing unwanted guests, the stench of death from corpses in your vicinity will be strong enough to cover the aroma of food.

        Without the coroner and EMS, removal of corpses from your neighborhood will likely be a luxury of the past. It might even help you to stretch what resources you have a little longer due to the loss of apetite.

      58. You probably also want to control emissions of gas from one’s stomach or intestines, as the smell of a burp or a fart can reveal to a sensitized nose that you’ve been enjoying a fine, rich diet of undoubtedly very tasty and excellent food. If someone has been drinking beer and burps, you can smell the beer on the breath. If someone has been eating meat and farts, you can detect the resulting scent on the wind.

        • So stock up on GasEx and start taking Acidophilus supplements now (better immunity anyway). Don’t eat much sugar or fruit until the die-off has finished, but be careful with any other yeast-feeding foods as this can cause gas too.

      59. Well if they can smell the food for miles I won’t be eating any fried chicken or watermelon.

      60. I went on a cleansing fast about 15 years ago. Only fruit and vegetable juices and herb tea for 50 days. Soon after starting I could smell fat cooking for at least a quarter mile. If I got I close, within a couple hundred yards, I could taste it. I wasn’t starving due to vitamins and mineral supplements and I didn’t fear for my next “meal”.

        In my experience he understates natural survival abilities.

      61. Why was this article called “They Will Smell Your Feet”? You’d think they’d have better things to do with no food on the shelves than go around, smelling people’s feet wouldn’t you?

      62. IF the smell of what’s for dinner don’t bring Zombies to dinner the smell and sight of your wood stove chimney smoking will be a tell tale sign someone IS home and dinner is on the stove.
        Try propane for heat & cooking even if you have a wood stove don’t chance it until the Zombies clear each other out. Better to be safe than sorry.

      63. Quoting Tess: “At this point, you have nothing to lose and your sole thought is on survival. It’s either you or them so what would you do?”

        Back at you, Good Lady.

        Me: At this point I have everything to lose and my sole thought is on survival for me and mine. Me or Them?

        I choose me and mine. Then I shoot.

      64. In Ranger school back in the 90’s (voluntarily induced starvation for 89 days) I remember that you could smell when someone opened up an MRE cracker packet while on patrol 50 ft in front of you. You were only allowed to have one MRE a day and only allowed a short time to eat and sleep at night. Eating on the move was forbidden but fortunately the Ranger instructors didn’t have the heightened senses of the starved and exhausted Ranger school students.

      65. Selco, the guy who lived through the Balkan wars (SHTF School), says that smelling food cooking was not a problem. There was so much stench from waste and uncollected garbage and other nasty stuff that the smells just mixed together. I’d rather believe someone who has lived through it than someone who is speculating.

        So, to add to the speculation – I think being in the country where there may be less stink, it may be more of a problem.

      Commenting Policy:

      Some comments on this web site are automatically moderated through our Spam protection systems. Please be patient if your comment isn’t immediately available. We’re not trying to censor you, the system just wants to make sure you’re not a robot posting random spam.

      This website thrives because of its community. While we support lively debates and understand that people get excited, frustrated or angry at times, we ask that the conversation remain civil. Racism, to include any religious affiliation, will not be tolerated on this site, including the disparagement of people in the comments section.