Night Vision Prioritization

Commander_Zero said...

First off, congrats on what is probably the most expensive preparedness acquisition short of a dedicated BOV or retreat.

This is kind of interesting from a philosophical, logistics, and mathematical standpoint.

Keep in mind, Im not being critical, Im just curious about your reasoning: you say that the laser/NVD combo is handy but if a person doesnt have one they arent doomed to failure. But you also say that they arent cheap...so here's my question - this kit *seems* like it is a nice-to-have-but-not-essential bit of gear; how did you rationalize its purchase when there might have been other items that were likely to see more usage in a crisis? (Although I admit that I have no idea what your level of preparedness is, for all I know you may have everything else and this was the cherry on the top.)

I'd love to have a laser/NVD combo but I'd probably wind up sinking the money into something else that *I* think is more likely to be necessary for my particular situation...more food, more metals, more armour, BOV, generator & fuel, etc, etc.

Keep in mind, please...Im not being judgemental, I'm just wondering how you arrived at this big-ticket purchase vs. other, less expensive, preps that may have been on your list.

Ryan here:  Thanks. This is a complicated and worthwhile question so I will address it here on the main page.

I mentioned that folks should not feel bad if this sort of setup is out of their reach for a couple reasons. First there isn't any point in worrying about things you cannot make happen. I do not have a super duper John Rourke retreat, cannot afford it now and probably never will, so there is no point in stressing it. In the unlikely event I need said super retreat I'm hosed so no point in stressing it. Along these lines I try to keep things here suited to folks of all income/ preparedness funding levels so unless it is absolutely the case I avoid the "you are doomed without this gear" discussion. Second A person does not NEED night vision, there are many scenarios where it would not even come up. However at the same time one does not really NEED an AR-15, a Glock 17, a high end precision rifle, a solar setup, a generator, etc, etc. All we NEED is food, potable water and enough shelter to not die of exposure. Like a lot of things night vision falls into the 'nice to have' category.

So here's my question - this kit *seems* like it is a nice-to-have-but-not-essential bit of gear; how did you rationalize its purchase when there might have been other items that were likely to see more usage in a crisis? 

To answer this first I will talk about how things worked in this particular situation. As to how I ended up with a PVS-14. I spent a year in Afghanistan. During that time my personal money and preparedness money accumulated in the bank leaving me with a wad of cash. I wanted to make a preparedness purchase of some type. It came down to a NOD, a long list of $100-$400 items or a whole bunch of long term storage food.

I liked the idea of a NOD for the obvious advantages it offers. The long list of stuff would be nice but I can make those sort of purchases over time while large amounts of cash are hard to come by. A major food purchase all at once didn't make a ton of sense to me as it would (albeit a long time from now) go bad all at once. On the other hand if I made the same purchases over 3-4 years I would have a better chance at orderly rotation and replacement with fresh stock. Also like the list of various stuff I can buy food in smaller increments that better fit into our normal budget. Right or wrong that is how I ended up with the NOD.

As to the laser I sold a rifle and my ACOG (which was replaced by a much more affordable yet still very nice Burris MTAC) to pay for it. So it was more of a shifting of resources within the greater defense/ gun arena than an influx of new money.

As to the philosophy and prioritization. In no particular order I will give some circumstances and thoughts that guided my decision:

-I intentionally prioritized items that could potentially be targeted by some sort of legislation or administrative fiat. Buckets of rice/ wheat/ beans, solar panels and 1978 F250 4x4's are not getting restricted any time soon but stuff like body armor and night vision very well could. Really it is more vulnerable than firearms as there is not any Constitutional protection for these items.

-We move a lot and not across town. This makes compact items that are easy to move imminently more practical for us. A whole lot easier to stick a NOD in a bag then make an additional cross country trip driving 55 in our old F250 13 mpg 'BOV'.

-It is easy to go down the dozen $100-$300 items vs one big one (in this case NOD+laser) rabbit hole. I thought about it a lot. Two things came to mind. First it is easier for me to work those various smaller items into our normal budget. (I've been knocking them off the list) Second when I really thought about it honestly the vast majority of them did not actually offer a new capability. Maybe something a bit lighter, more comfortable, newer, shinier, more tacticool, etc which is all great but those are IMO lower priorities than new capabilities.

 - I think it is important to consider if you are building a system to fight, giving yourself the maximum advantage possible, or collecting guns. A person who is building a fighting setup will get a good set of personal weapons as well as a chest rig/ battle belt/ whatever, body armor and night vision if they can afford it and maybe pick up some more guns later. A person collecting guns will probably have a whole bunch of guns and various gear but quite possibly no body armor and certainly no night vision. I am not saying either approach is right or wrong; what I am saying is to think honestly about your goals and if your actions makes sense to support said goals.

-As John Mosby said "NVGs, or to use the older term with which I am far more comfortable, NODs, are a force multiplier of equal or greater value than two or three extra riflemen, when used properly. If you have six rifles of your own, but no NODs, you’re &@cking yourself and your team. Remedy the situation.
 
- A lot of the cost issue is about perspective. I personally know a guy who has between 75 and 100k in guns (at pre panic prices) and that's not including mags, ammo or parts all of which he has a lot of too. This guy described body armor which runs $500 a pop as ruinously expensive. He also did not have any night vision. By selling a few guns guns he could get body armor for all 4 members of the family and 2 NODs with IR lasers to match. He probably would not even notice the few guns that would need to be sold to pay for this stuff if they were missing. However they would be in a much better place if something actually happened. 

-If one can't afford the rough price tag of modern (Gen3) type night vision and a laser that is one thing but continuing gun collecting instead of buying the other fighting gear that one should have is IMO a high degree of foolishness if the goal is defending them self and their loved ones. At best one should consider whether they want to collect guns or prepare to fight people.

I think this gives some insight to why I have made the decision to get into the NOD game. If we were in a fixed normal guy who lives in one place type situation I might have chosen differently but probably not. Anyway I cannot think of anything else to say so it's time to wrap this up.

As always your thoughts are appreciated.

Beans and Rice? A Note From Nuvona Premium Foods

I watched a video the other day of a group of "preppers" who had purchased a great deal of beans and rice to put up as "long-term food storage" in case of ... well, whatever they are worried about.

I thought to myself that this was not a bad idea but I wonder how long it will take to get tired of beans and rice?

If you have kids my guess is it wont take long. I know it wouldn't take long for me.

Personally I had doubts about the methods they were using to store the stuff and quite frankly it occurred to me that these folks were literally betting their lives that their somewhat ill-conceived plan was actually going to work.

I like the idea of an emergency foods supply, but the beans and rice thing would not be my first choice.

My first choice would be the freeze-dried / dehydrated foods that are professionally packed and tested tot have a very long shelf like.

Not only will it be a much greater variety and way more tasty... but the "comfort" factor of having actual food in a time of emergency is  priceless!

I found a relatively new company making long-term food storage and  they are up on all the recent health info and state-of-the-art  packaging techniques that modern food storage can provide.

The foods are certified GMO free, they have no trans fats, MSG or high fructose corn syrup. They are low in sodium and actually use Ghirardelli chocolate in their chocolate milk!

Each pouch is flushed with Nitrogen and every one contains an oxygen absorber to. This is about the best, modern food storage out there and quite frankly, given the high quality the prices are amazingly low.

These prices compare with some food storage companies whose quality does not even come close. Check out the new sample kits they just launched and let me know what you think .

Nuvona Premium Foods

A Note from Camping Survival

Good morning,

The good folks from Camping Survival recently traveled to Ohio a few weeks ago and interviewed Chuck Fenwick of Medical Corps, the manufacturer of our KIO3 potassium iodate tabs. They made a video of the interview and while it's long, We are very excited as it came out great and is jam packed with terrific info. Here it is. Please spread the word as this is hot!

Also, tomorrow May 15, is the last day of our Mountain House freeze dried foods sale.  Last day to get these massively discounted priced and we still have tons of stock and are shipping out quickly.


-Camping Survival

Food Adding Up- Why Consistency Matters

Some food showed up the other day. I put it away with the rest of our long term storage food. Most of it's staples but there are some snacks and desert items also.

Since being here in Arizona food storage has been a primary goal. Accordingly we started putting some money ($150 a month) towards it. Man the food is really adding up. We are definitely getting somewhere in terms of meeting our food storage goals. Being consistent is why this is going so well. Sometimes more money goes in but never less. Over time it adds up.

Be consistent.

Funny Video, Tab Clearing and Random Stuff

I saw this video today. It was quite amusing. You can probably guess who it pokes fun at. I'm ambivalent about that piece but it's still quite funny. I fought tigers.

Undeniable proof that The Walking Dead and Toy Story have the exact same plot.

Vigilante's seize town in Mexico.

How to make Pemmican.

Surviving Real Life

Commander Zero wrote a post that inspired this. A whole lot of real life happens between crazy regional events, let alone larger national and world ones. Folks get so caught up in stocking up on beans, bullets and band aids that they can forget about more practical things.

We have raided the emergency fund more times than I can recall. Car repairs are the usual culprit but unexpected bills, unforeseen expenses and the occasional sudden trip home have all had their turns. Conversely we have yet to NEED stored food. Sure it has been nice to have an extra bag/ box/ can of whatever to finish a recipe or for those times you decide to deviate from the weeks meal plan. However nothing has happened to us that the typical couple days worth of food in an average household would not cover.

We have had several times somebody ended up needing significant medical care. Without insurance we would have been financially ruined. Conversely while we can all agree guns are comforting the need to have them is rare. Those needs are amply covered by basic guns. One can forgo an expensive AR-15 or precision rifle with almost no risk of it coming back to bite them.

I'm not saying you should stop storing emergency food or sell those politically incorrect guns. What I am  saying is that in addition to those fun survivalist things you need to have an emergency fund and a realistic plan for inevitable medical problems. These are far more likely to save your behind than a pantry full of food and an AK-47.

Solar Cooking, Remington 870 vs Mossberg 500 and Other Stuff

Getting used to cooking on the Sun Oven is definitely a priority of mine. The weather here is very cooperative and not a lot was going on earlier today so I gave it another go. Cooked up some pinto beans with the usual spices and a bit of bacon. Used canned beans and normal bacon but you could easily do the same thing with canned dried pinto beans and canned bacon. Got the Sun Oven set up and it started heating up like crazy. In a couple minutes it was over 200 and in 20 minutes or so it was over 300. In 2 hours I figured the beans were probably done. They turned out really good.

The sun oven cooks sort of like a combination of a normal oven and a crock pot. The time is a bit closer to an oven because the temp is higher bit it retains moisture like a crock pot. The combination is pretty awesome actually. Getting it positioned so the sun is hitting as much of the inside as possible and slightly ahead of the sun (so it's going to be in the sun for awhile) takes a little bit of practice. Checking it every 30 minutes or so and adjusting about every other time seems to do the trick. I have heard of folks setting up an oven aimed to catch the mid day- afternoon heat then leaving for work to come home to a hot dinner. That seems like a pretty cool thing to be able to do. I am going to work on doing that  over the coming weeks. Cooking for free and building skills is pretty cool.

As we have been asking shotgun related questions and specifically talking Project 870 the other logical option the Mossberg 500 series has come up. Folks have mentioned them and it's time to discuss the Mossberg as well as some compare and contrast between the two. (Note I'm not going to talk the Mossberg 590 separately. They are really more of a nicer M500 variant than a new gun IMO. A fine gun but if we talked every variant of both guns this would be a 10k word post.)

Bottom line up front: Both are good guns so get whichever you prefer.

Remington 870 Positives:
-Probably the most common pump shotgun in circulation. Basically the same gun has been made since the 1950's. 
-Pretty much the standard shotgun for police and firearms professionals. This might be a marketing/ sales success thing, I don't know. In any case when the vast majority of serious users choose one option it is  worth paying attention to.
-Very adaptable with all manner of parts options including those by duty grade type makers.
-Excellent fit and smooth action.

Remington 870 Downsides:
Controls in less than ideal locations.
On the basic Express Model some issues can come up with the finish. (I will talk 870 variants another time)

Mossberg 500 Positves:
-Excellent controls with the safety and pump release (probablyy not the right technical term) in the right locations.
-Excellent value. Typically a Mossberg 500 will be $50-75 cheaper than a comparably set up Remington 870.

Mossberg 500 Downsides:
-Rougher fitting of parts.
-Limited availability of duty grade type accessories. Lots of folks make junk that can be bolted onto the Mossberg 500. Good stuff is harder to get than for an 870.

Conclusion: It is worth mentioning I did not discuss reliability or durability intentionally. That is because both of these guns are about as reliable and bomb proof as a gun can get. The damn things just last forever and don't break. They both have positives and negatives so folks have to think about what matters the most to them. Right now we only own the 870 series but that is more about parts/ accessories commonality than anything else. If a good deal on a Mossberg 500 came up I would snap it up. Hopefully this gives you some insight into how I look at these two shotguns. At the end of the day I believe either gun will serve you well.

New Years Resolutions- Finalized a bit late

I dropped some draft goals awhile back and was recently reminded of them. It is high time I solidify them.

Physical:

Maintain a consistent weight lifting program.

Run a half marathon (I changed to this because it's March and I haven't tracked mileage which was a big fat fail)



Continue working on barefoot running towards the goal of running on a  variety of terrain up to 5k barefoot

Transition to running fully in minimalist shoes

Ruck at least 1x a week

Eat reasonably with decent consistency so I don't gain and lose the same weight 2-3 times over the year.

Skills/ Training:

Attend a defensive handgun course.

Work on developing a variety of other skills as they come up by doing as much myself as possible.

Guns and Gun Junk:

Pick up a couple holsters and assorted other stuff to get squared away for what we have. (Specifically a nice Bravo or Raven concealment kydex holster for the Glock with TLR-1, a good OWB holster for the J frame, and an ankle holster.)

Purchase a DBAL and free float the barrel on project AR.  (The DBAL is almost funded I just need to do a bit more research then pull the trigger.)


Finally complete Project 870. At least the tube extension and sling. The light angle I've got to do some thinking on.

Get more spare parts. Beef up on core stuff (AR's and Glocks) and get some basic stuff (firing pin, extractor, ejector, springs, pins, etc) for other guns.

Finally get my (already sporterized) 1903 30'06 tapped and mount a scope on it.

If things work out and decent deals come along I would like to get a single shot 12 gauge and another .22 rifle. 

Subcategory Ammo: I am only doing this if prices get back to normalish. Would take my best whack at it and if I get half done be happy.
5k .22lr
1k 9mm
1k 12 gauge (mixed about 400 buck, 100 slug and 500 mixed small game loads)
2k .223


Food:

Build up to a 1 year supply of food for 4 people.

Can something

Continue with my garden this year.

Pursue fishing/ hunting as it fits with our environment and life. 

 Energy/ Other:

Get a better solar setup. A bigger panel with a power supply and a few small lights is the answer. Goal 0 makes what I am looking for. It will cost about $400. Probably 500 once I get the lights. This would have gotten purchased late in 2012 but the whole ban madness shifted my priorities elsewhere.

Get licensed to drive a motorcycle. Maybe purchase a used enduro/ adventure touring motorcycle.

Continue putting together and refining our systems. Firm up the bug out bags and the heavy (vehicle) bug out setup.

Re look and improve our cache situation.

Financial:

Continue being debt free and saving. Along these lines continue not doing stupid things. 

If we reach our food storage goal get back to putting away some silver and gold.

Long Shots:


Start on the AR Pistol.

Buy some land (this mostly depends on some other things).

As always input is welcome. It would be fairly useful now before these resolutions are solidified. 

25% Off Mountain House at Camping Survival

Take advantage of these lower prices.

Tab Clearing

Very interesting info on long term food storage shelf life. May not agree with their religious beliefs but they take food storage seriously and are willing to help heathens like me.

Carteacho reloaded some steel cased Wolf ammo and is going to shoot it then discuss. This could be interesting.

7 Gun Companies tell New York to pound sand. One of those companies is Midway which I recommend solely based on my personal experiences. Time to work on a few more. Hat tip to Mountain Guerrilla for the find.

Food and Fitness

Too many folks are doing a lot of reading and blogging and discussing but not enough DOING.

Food and fitness are the two primary areas people tend to fail in at the most basic level. For goodness sake do something to improve your situation.

Food is easy. We could go at it from a lot of angles but at the most basic level just buy a little bit more of the stuff you regularly eat on each shopping trip. I am talking about shelf stable stuff like dried pasta and sauce, beans, rice, pancake mix, Bisquick, peanut butter and jelly and various canned goods. We will touch on money later but if you can't manage to squeeze five or ten bucks of extra stuff into the budget per shopping trip I recommend looking at your life. If you have some more money and want to stash away some canned staples or emergency food then all the better. I care less how you do it so long as you are doing it. The point is simply that you need to be putting back food in case something happens that disrupts the supply chain.

Fitness is something way too many folks miss. I split off my fitness efforts into another blog because folks would rather talk about other things here. How folks think the world is going to collapse and they are going to be doing all this stuff but lack of fitness will not come into play baffles me. There are way more situations where you will need fitness than cool rifles and emergency food. Sort of like food getting started in any way is a good thing. Eat a bit better and do more exercise. Lift and run or do crossfit, man aerobics or whatever. Heck just go for walks. Doing anything will improve your situation.

In the context we are talking about finances are not that hard either. Avoid debt for obvious reasons. Do some thinking and educate yourself about what is happening and historical comparisons. The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse by FerFal is a bit pricey but has some great info. It's writer has actually lived through an economic collapse which is a lot more than most other folks can say. 
If you have some money that isn't doing anything right now you might want to think about what to do with it. Putting a portion of it into precious metals and emergency food could be a good way to go. 

It is easy to put too much money into firearms.  Most guys who are into preparedness like guns and it's easy to get canalized into stuff one likes. However if you are objectively short on .38 ammo for the nightstand revolver or buckshot for the scatter gun then do something about it. I like a lot of ammo but even the tightest budget will let you put back at least a couple hundred rounds per gun with a bit of dedication and some planning.


Get out and do something! Exercise and stash some food. Look at your money situation and if you need it some ammo. The bottom line is that unless your butt and gut are getting smaller and the pantry is getting filled you are not actually becoming more prepared. A little bit of knowledge put into action is a whole lot better than a bunch of knowledge which you do nothing with.

Quote of the Day: John Mosby on Defensive Priorities

"NVGs, or to use the older term with which I am far more comfortable, NODs, are a force multiplier of equal or greater value than two or three extra riflemen, when used properly. If you have six rifles of your own, but no NODs, you’re &@cking yourself and your team. Remedy the situation."
John Mosby in a repost of Tricks of the Trade a Contemporary Look

 I think John also said somewhere that if you do not have a years worth of food to put NODs and other cool guy kit on the back burner. This is something I personally did not do right for reasons that may or may not be valid. In any case I am working to remedy the situation.

What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?

A slew of stuff arrived in the mail and eventually I will talk about it. Picked up some extra cleaning stuff. The good folks at Camping Survival sent me some canned rice and powdered eggs as well as a Water BOB and a Life Straw portable water filter. Also got some sugar. You will be seeing reviews in due time.

Did some dry fire training with the J and went on a great ruck march yesterday. Also I have been working on barefoot running. It is pretty comfortable but I have also been wearing sandals or minimalist shoes for awhile. My form is changing and it seems to be a lot more efficient.

Anyway that's what I have been up to. What did you do to prepare this week?

Solo Pot, Perfect to go With Your Solo Stove

The good folks at Solo Stove have got a pot to go with it called the  Solo Pot. They look like a solid piece of kit which is to be expected considering the source. Aside from being stainless steel and generally well made another big plus is that the Solo Pot can nest with the stove inside it. The capacity is 900 ml AKA just a bit less than a liter. Right about perfect for 1-2 person cooking of simple dishes. The pour spout and volume markings in ounces and liters are also nice touches.

I really enjoy using my solo stove and am looking forward to testing the companion pot in the near future. Maybe I will use it test some more survival food. Likely the pot will go right alongside the stove in my bug out bag. Anyway I figured you all would want to know about this cool product.

Draft New Years Resolutions

So a few days ago Alexander Wolfe of TEOTWAWKI Blog reminded me that I usually do New Years Resolutions. Last years deployment threw off the cycle. Anyway I got moving on this a lot later than usual; so these are not as thought through as they could be. I am posting some ideas. In a week or a month these will be solidified into the New Years Resolutions I am going to run with.

Physical:

Maintain a consistent weight lifting program.

Run over 1,000 miles

Ruck at least 1x a week

Eat reasonably with decent consistency so I don't gain and lose the same weight 2-3 times over the year.

Skills/ Training:

Attend a defensive handgun course.

Attend a trauma based first aid class (I am due for retraining).

Work on developing a variety of other skills as they come up by doing as much myself as possible.

Guns and Gun Junk:

Pick up a couple holsters, pouches and assorted other stuff to get squared away for what we have. 

Buy 2 cases of .223 ammo.

Free float the barrel on project AR. 

Get more spare parts. Beef up on core stuff (AR's and Glocks) and get some basic stuff for other guns.

Finally get my (already sporterized) 1903 30'06 tapped and mount a scope on it. 

If this gun ban madness calms down start building an AR pistol.

Food:

Build up to a 1 year supply of food for 4 people.

Can something

Pursue gardening/ fishing/ hunting as it fits with our environment and life. 

 Energy/ Other:

Get a better solar setup. A bigger panel with a power supply and a few small lights is the answer. Goal 0 makes what I am looking for. It will cost about $400. Probably 500 once I get the lights. This would have gotten purchased late in 2012 but the whole ban madness shifted my priorities elsewhere.

Get licensed to drive a motorcycle. Purchase a used enduro/ adventure touring motorcycle.

Continue putting together and refining our systems. Firm up the bug out bags and the heavy (vehicle) bug out setup.

Re look and improve our cache situation.

Financial:

Continue being debt free and saving. Along these lines continue not doing stupid things. 

Once we are done with the food storage goal get back to putting away some silver and gold.

Long Shots:

Get a DBAL for my AR.

Buy some land (this mostly depends on some other things).

As always input is welcome. It would be fairly useful now before these resolutions are solidified. 

Prepare Wise Food Review and Hidden Inflation

The good folks at Prepare Wise were nice enough to send me some of their new Legacy Premium freeze dried food to sample. We had the alfredo pasta for lunch yesterday. It was pretty darn good. Better than other freeze dried products we have tried and it even beats the instant box o pasta type dishes. Considering it has a 25 year shelf life that is pretty impressive. I even had some of the leftovers for lunch today. Their sampler package is a good way to try the food before making a bigger purchase. If it is important to you their stuff is GMO free. While GMO is not a primary concern of ours it is something we avoid when readily possible. Also they have gluten free options for those with that dietary constraint in the family. We will definitely be adding some of this excellent food to our food storage plan as finances allow.

Yesterday we were doing some shopping and Wifey grabbed a couple bottles of soda.  Like the bigger ones to keep in the fridge and fill up a glass to drink. When I was putting them into the cart after the cashier rang us up they seemed a bit small. At home I looked again. While they were close to the overall size of a 2 liter however they were actually only 1.25 liters. The price was about what we are used to paying for a 2 liter bottle.

Inflation is definitely upon us. This concept that we measure inflation while excluding food, fuel and some other stuff is totally rigged to hide the real situation. If I didn't already have a desire to put a few bucks into useful things like long term storage food, non hybrid seeds, camping gear, silver, 9mm ammo, .38 special and 12 gauge buckshot this was a good reminder to do so.

Give Away: Prepare Wise 16 Serving Entre Sampler

Thanks to Prepare Wise today we are giving away a 16 Serving Family Entree Sampler Pack. This is a cool sized package to try out a bunch of different meals and supplement a get home bag, or 72 hour type kit. The rules for this contest are simple. Just say you want it in the comments section. The winner will be announced later this week, probably Friday.

My Gut is Telling Me

1) Store food. Lots and lots of food.

2) Develop skills to do things for myself and to trade with others.

3) Fill in the little holes in our systems. This ranges from a $40 sling that makes a $1,000 gun functional to yeast that will help turn flour into bread or little pieces of kit to make rough living more comfortable.

4) Address deficiencies in my weapons handling/ defensive/ tactical training.

5) Get into the best shape of my life.

I don't know what any of it means or where it came from though most of it makes sense.

Guest Post: 4 Reasons There Will Be A Food Crisis

4 Reasons There Will Be A Food Crisis

There are 4 reasons there will be a food crisis: end of the world as we know it (a zombie attack!?), a natural disaster, an economic collapse and an EMP attack!

1. The World ‘Will End’

Well it’s 2012 and you know the hype about the world as we know it ending precisely on the 21st of December of this year. The Mayan civilization has used a Long Count Calendar that spanned roughly 5125 years and the last cycle will be ending on the 21st of December 2012. Different people have studied the Mayan culture and there are also varying interpretations as to what will happen when a great cycle of the long count calendar ends. The most popular interpretation is that the end of the Mayan calendar will mark the end of this world. How does this make it one of the 4 reasons there will be a food crisis?

Scientists have for years been arguing that the end of this world happening in a couple of months is highly unlikely. The thing is, many people will still choose to believe that Armageddon is coming. The result: panic! People will start hoarding food and water, building underground shelters, buying gold, etc. Even if you don’t believe in the hype, many others will and this will affect you and your family.

Stores will run out of stock and it’s likely that you’ll be facing empty shelves at the grocery a few weeks before the dreaded date. So if you don’t want to be caught in a food shortage dilemma, start building your food store now to make sure your family has enough food until people regain their senses back.

2. A Natural Disaster

A sudden natural disaster is also one of the 4 reasons there will be a food crisis. There are now ways to predict the weather but these are not always reliable. And even if we receive a storm warning early, there is still no perfect way to prepare for anything that could happen. And there are also sudden, unprecedented events like earthquakes that can be followed by a tsunami, really dangerous if you’re near coasts.

A natural disaster can flood or damage major highways and roads, stranding people within the affected area and keeping a lot of emergency responders and volunteer workers from extending much needed help. In the event of a massive flood like what was seen in New Orleans after Katrina, a lot of the food and stocks in stores would get damaged. Hunger would prevail for days due to lack of food and death could be caused by lack of potable water.

3. Economic collapse

An economic collapse could happen to the United States. The dollar is not as strong in the world market as it used to. If the Eurocrisis has not happened, the US dollar might no longer be the world’s reserve currency. Also, the government debt has now reached $16 Trillion, so very near the $16.4 Trillion debt limit.

The dollar is steadily weakening as we are faced with mounting economic woes like bankruptcies, increasing national and international debts, unemployment and the failure of Obama’s stimulus program to stabilize U.S. economy.

A sudden economic collapse is among the 4 reasons there will be a food crisis because prices of everything from fuel to food would soar, the dollar would inflate and food as well as other product importation would become limited. Fewer department stores would be able to stock their shelves yet more people would flock to buy whatever are in the limited supply.

4. An EMP Attack

This is a threat that many Americans don’t know about or take for granted, but it’s actually the worst among the 4 reasons there will be a food crisis. EMP or electromagnetic pulse is produced when a nuclear weapon is detonated high above the United States. Other causes of EMP can be natural like when a geomagnetic storm is caused by massive solar flares.

The effects of EMP will not hurt humans in any way but will damage and cripple a great number of our infrastructures including power, water infrastructure, food production, processing and distribution, transportation infrastructure, communications and the financial infrastructure.

EMP can knock off the National Power Grid which in turn would cause food processing and distribution to stop. Since EMP can damage any electrical equipment that stands in its way, power plants would stop working, farm machineries would stall, a number of vehicles would be affected, phones would become useless and even life support systems would stop.

An EMP attack could trigger a food crisis by reducing mass production, slowing down processing, decreasing the shelf life of perishable foods and crippling food transportation means.

With these 4 reasons there will be a food crisis enumerated above, you should by now have an idea how vulnerable our local food supply is. It’s a good idea to start preparing for the inevitable and begin building your own survival food store. You can discover how you can prepare and survive any food crisis here.

With over a decade in survival experience, Rod Davidson offers priceless advice and life saving survival strategies thru his free newsletter. Rod has dedicated his life to making sure he and his loved ones are safe when a crisis hits. He now will teach you how to do the same.

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TOR here: First I would like to thank Rod for taking the time to write this post. Second I think it is important to put things in perspective. 

It is worth noting that survivalism and it's better polished cousin preparedness are full of things we might need or use some day. I may need a winter sleeping bag or a NOD or a sweet rifle some day then again I might not. On the other hand tomorrow we are going to want to eat 3 meals and a snack or two. I can say with a high level of confidence that we will want to do this just about every day we are alive and kicking. 

In particular buying food that you actually eat which has a fairly long (shelf stable) life just makes sense. If we eat a big jar of peanut butter every other week then having a few can't be a bad thing. Assuming you have some basic food rotation in place this stuff never goes bad. Having a few weeks or months of food that you regularly use makes sense for all sorts of reasons. This lets you wait until sales and lower food costs. Also if inflation is a concern, which it should be!, then you can go all Alpha Strategy (the post lings to a free download of the book). 

The longer term storage stuff like those 5 gallon buckets with mylar bags full of wheat, beans and rice or various freeze dried products store just about indefinitely. One could consider them the insurance portion of your food storage plan. One might sock them away in a safe place just in case they may be needed. 

There are probably a lot more reasons to put time and money into food storage but right now I cannot think of them.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the guest post.

RE: Southern Prepper 1 Video Thoughts, What Would I Do..

I posted a video from Southern Prepper 1 a couple weeks back. It has been in the back of my head since then. The things I would do if I KNEW an economic collapse was coming in say 6 months are as follows in no particular order:

1) Secure 6 months of all medications we use.
2) Get a new bike for me (mine was stolen) and ensure the wife's is ready and functional. Stash extra tubes, tires and chains and such.
3) Sell the SUV we shipped from Germany and purchase a small commuter car. Depending on how bad things might get fuel may still be available but more expensive. A little car would let us do things that are not easily walkable at the lowest possible cost.
4) Stash lots of food.
5) Buy a better small solar setup.
6) Finish off a variety of loose ends. Just small stuff really.
7) Have more of my available liquid cash on hand than in the bank.
8) Have developed and refined a couple more systems for light and heavy (vehicle) bug outs.
9) Purchase a small (5X8 or 9ish) enclosed trailer.
10) Store some gasoline.
and one more for the bonus
11) Ensure we had the next 2 sized of clothes and shoes for the kid(s).

Of course I would also pull out everything we have in the bank and stocks and convert it into PM's or readily barter able stuff but that is kind of gaming the scenario. 

Anyway most of this stuff is what we should be doing anyway. Might not be a bad little list to work on.