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Made in ca
Stormin' Stompa






Ottawa, ON

My mother has recently taken an interest in topics about self sufficiency and I guess what could best be described as urban survival. Mostly food prep and food storage, that sort of thing. It seems like a fascinating topic and I was thinking of getting a few books as a Christmas present. I figured this might be a topic that some members of this community might have researched a little, so I thought I might ask for your opinions.

So would anyone here be able to point out a few interesting books or pieces of literature that would be good to start with?

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Made in ca
Dipping With Wood Stain






Food in Jars
Preserving by the Pint
Kitchen Gardening
Grow Your Own in Pots

I have a few more but I’m not at home to share authors (can’t remember them). But if you need more specifics just reply or send me a DM.
   
Made in gb
[DCM]
Fireknife Shas'el





Leicester

For a slightly different take, The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks; it’s a rather tongue in cheek book that plays on zombie film stereotypes, but mixed in with a lot of actual, practical survival ideas. Wouldn’t use it as a serious survival guide, but if you’re interested in that sort of stuff it makes for a fun read.

DS:80+S+GM+B+I+Pw40k08D+A++WD355R+T(M)DM+
 Zed wrote:
*All statements reflect my opinion at this moment. if some sort of pretty new model gets released (or if I change my mind at random) I reserve the right to jump on any bandwagon at will.
 
   
Made in gb
[SWAP SHOP MOD]
Killer Klaivex







Ragnar Benson books if you can find them! Such exciting titles as:


Breath of the Dragon: Homebuilt Flamethrowers.

David's Tool Kit: A Citizen's Guide to Taking Out Big Brother's Heavy Weapons

Do-It-Yourself Medicine: How to Find and Use the Most Effective Antibiotics, Painkillers, Anesthetics and Other Miracle Drugs... Without Costly Doctors' Prescriptions or Hospitals.

Guerrilla Gunsmithing: Quick And Dirty Methods For Fixing Firearms In Desperate Times.

Hardcore Poaching.

Home-Built Claymore Mines: A Blueprint For Survival.

Homemade C-4: A Recipe For Survival.

Homemade Grenade Launchers: Constructing The Ultimate Hobby Weapon.

How to Survive the Coming Plagues.

Live Off the Land in the City and the Country.

Mantrapping.

The Modern Survival Retreat: A New and Vital Approach to Retreat Theory and Practice.

Modern Weapons Caching: A Down-To-Earth Approach To Beating The Government Gun Grab

The Most Dangerous Game: Advanced Mantrapping Techniques

New And Improved C-4: Better-Than-Ever Recipes For Half The Money And Double the Fun.

Ragnar's Big Book of Homemade Weapons: Building and Keeping Your Arsenal Secure.

Ragnar's Guide to Home and Recreational Use of High Explosives.

Ragnar's Guide to the Underground Economy.

Ragnar's Homemade Detonators: How to Make 'Em, How to Salvage 'Em, How to Detonate 'Em.

Ragnar's Ten Best Traps: And A Few Others That Are Damn Good Too.

Ragnar's Urban Survival: A Hard-Times Guide to Staying Alive in the City.

Survival End Game: The 21st Century Solution.

Survival Nurse: Running an Emergency Nursing Station Under Adverse Conditions.

Survival Poaching.

The Survival Retreat: A Total Plan For Retreat Defense.

Survivalist's Medicine Chest.

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2022/12/08 14:37:21



 
   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







And if you weren't already, you are now on several lists!

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Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





Denison, Iowa

I'll admit that I got into the first two seasons of "Doomsday Preppers". My friends and family kind of laughed at me for prepping, but it wasn't anything over the top. In fact the CDC recommends people do most of it for general living.

Such things as:
1. Having enough food/water in your home for all residents for 2-weeks (I'm more like 6-7) batteries, emergency heating, medication, fire prevention.
2. Having a "bug-out bag" with copies of all your emergency documents. Morgage, birth certificates, car titles, prescriptions, medical records, emergency contact numbers, banking numbers, IRA's, insurance info, etc. I've also put in small emergency food and clothes for a couple days.
3. Security. I've personally installed all my doors with extra long screws so they can't be kicked in. Deadbolts, security lighting, and a couple hidden security cameras I can access from my phone or laptop, and prop-rods to keep doors shut. This also includes getting to know your neighbors and watching each other's backs.
4. Crops? Well, My wife has a vegetable garden and we have fruit trees in the back yard. If we harvested all of it at once we might have enough to feed our family for 3-4 days.
5. Extra fuel. At any given moment I have about 15-20 extra gallons of fuel. I use it for my lawn mowers (big yard) and just cycle it out. In a pinch I could use it for the cars if I needed to leave the area and gas is in short supply (been there as a kid, with no gas deliveries for 2 weeks).
6. An actual battle plan with a couple backups. In the advent of a Katrina-like situation where my area is cut off from the outside world for a week, I'd be fine. Just hunker down at home, play some board games, cards, read books, keep an eye on things. Keep an eye out for looters. If home was no longer an option? My parents are a 10-minute walk away. My in-laws are a 20 minute drive away.
7. Cooking. If you have no electricity, you'll need to be able to eat cold food or cook some other way. I have 50 gallons of propane, a gas grill with dual burner setup for summer cooking, so that's easy enough. Worst case scenario, I have about a cord of firewood for my backyard firepit.
8.Backup power. This is the area I'd be lacking in. I wouldn't mind a small solar panel, but at the moment I have a small inverter generator. It can run on gasoline or propane. Just enough output to run our refrigerator, freezer chest, and the pumps on our aquariums to keep the expensive fish alive. I wouldn't mind something bigger.
   
Made in ca
Stormin' Stompa






Ottawa, ON

cuda1179 wrote:I'll admit that I got into the first two seasons of "Doomsday Preppers". My friends and family kind of laughed at me for prepping, but it wasn't anything over the top. In fact the CDC recommends people do most of it for general living.

Such things as:
1. Having enough food/water in your home for all residents for 2-weeks (I'm more like 6-7) batteries, emergency heating, medication, fire prevention.
2. Having a "bug-out bag" with copies of all your emergency documents. Morgage, birth certificates, car titles, prescriptions, medical records, emergency contact numbers, banking numbers, IRA's, insurance info, etc. I've also put in small emergency food and clothes for a couple days.
3. Security. I've personally installed all my doors with extra long screws so they can't be kicked in. Deadbolts, security lighting, and a couple hidden security cameras I can access from my phone or laptop, and prop-rods to keep doors shut. This also includes getting to know your neighbors and watching each other's backs.
4. Crops? Well, My wife has a vegetable garden and we have fruit trees in the back yard. If we harvested all of it at once we might have enough to feed our family for 3-4 days.
5. Extra fuel. At any given moment I have about 15-20 extra gallons of fuel. I use it for my lawn mowers (big yard) and just cycle it out. In a pinch I could use it for the cars if I needed to leave the area and gas is in short supply (been there as a kid, with no gas deliveries for 2 weeks).
6. An actual battle plan with a couple backups. In the advent of a Katrina-like situation where my area is cut off from the outside world for a week, I'd be fine. Just hunker down at home, play some board games, cards, read books, keep an eye on things. Keep an eye out for looters. If home was no longer an option? My parents are a 10-minute walk away. My in-laws are a 20 minute drive away.
7. Cooking. If you have no electricity, you'll need to be able to eat cold food or cook some other way. I have 50 gallons of propane, a gas grill with dual burner setup for summer cooking, so that's easy enough. Worst case scenario, I have about a cord of firewood for my backyard firepit.
8.Backup power. This is the area I'd be lacking in. I wouldn't mind a small solar panel, but at the moment I have a small inverter generator. It can run on gasoline or propane. Just enough output to run our refrigerator, freezer chest, and the pumps on our aquariums to keep the expensive fish alive. I wouldn't mind something bigger.


And I think this is closer to what we're aiming for. A little bit of stability and efficiency as food and energy gets more expensive.

That Ragnar Benson is certainly exciting, but I'm not sure how much bomb making my mother would be interested in...

Ghool wrote:Food in Jars
Preserving by the Pint
Kitchen Gardening
Grow Your Own in Pots

I have a few more but I’m not at home to share authors (can’t remember them). But if you need more specifics just reply or send me a DM.


These look like great choices. It should be easy to find them on amazon. Although, I am sensing that I may be volunteering for a lot more gardening come spring.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2022/12/09 20:42:04


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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Not books, but a wonderful YouTube channel.




They often work from translations of historic books and that, giving an honest picture of 17th Century Life in the New World. Whilst they demonstrate in a historically accurate way, they do mention how we can do it using modern equipment.

Given a fair amount focuses on food preservation, and making something from not a lot, it might prove useful. And there’s no macho “man against the gub’mint” stuff either, which from OP doesn’t seem his Mum’s approach nor interest.

I think they’ve done books as well, so might suit what OP is looking for.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/12/09 12:38:08


   
 
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