Thursday, July 30, 2026

How to Make Sugardine – A Prepper’s Homemade Antiseptic

When the pharmacy is closed, the roads are blocked, or you are three days from the nearest clinic, an infected cut stops being a minor inconvenience and starts being a real threat. That is exactly the kind of situation sugardine was built for. It is cheap, it stores well, and you can make it from two ingredients most preppers already have sitting in a cabinet.

Sugardine is a homemade antiseptic paste made by mixing granulated sugar with povidone-iodine (Betadine). Farriers and horse owners have relied on it for decades to treat hoof abscesses, thrush, and wounds without damaging healthy tissue. This guide breaks down exactly how to mix it, how to use it correctly, and where the real safety limits are, because getting this one wrong on a deep wound is not a risk worth taking.

What Sugardine Is and Why It Works

Sugar has been used to treat wounds since long before modern antibiotics existed, with documented military use dating back to World War I. Packed directly into a wound in high concentration, sugar pulls moisture out of bacterial cells through basic osmosis, which starves and kills the bacteria while also drawing fluid and debris out of the wound itself. Add povidone-iodine, a broad-spectrum antiseptic already trusted in hospitals, and you get a combination that disinfects and dehydrates bacteria at the same time.

A 2010s review out of Cairo University described sugardine plainly: it is applied as a paste, it is easy to use, it is painless, it is inexpensive, and by their account, it works. Unlike straight iodine or harsh drying agents, sugardine does not damage surrounding healthy tissue, which is part of why it became a farrier’s standby for treating thrush, hoof abscesses, laminitis, and proud flesh without slowing the healing process.

What You Need

Granulated white sugar (plain table sugar works fine)
10% povidone-iodine solution (Betadine is the common brand name)
A clean mixing bowl or container
A spoon or stir stick
A container with a tight-fitting lid for storage

Stick with povidone-iodine, not tincture of iodine or Lugol’s solution. Povidone-iodine is formulated to be gentle enough for skin contact, while tincture of iodine is harsher and more likely to irritate open tissue.

How to Make Sugardine, Step by Step

Pour your sugar into a clean mixing bowl. A good starting point is about 1 cup of sugar for a standard batch.
Slowly add povidone-iodine a little at a time, stirring as you go. Most recipes land somewhere between one part iodine to two parts sugar and one part iodine to nine parts sugar, so add gradually rather than dumping it all in at once.
Keep stirring and adding iodine until the mixture reaches a thick, peanut-butter-like consistency. It should hold together and spread easily without being runny.
If it turns out too thin, mix in more sugar. If it is too dry and crumbly, add a few more drops of iodine.
Transfer the finished paste into a lidded container. It will keep almost indefinitely at room temperature, though it can stiffen in cold weather and may need a quick stir to loosen it back up.

Exact ratios vary by source, from roughly 2:1 sugar to iodine up to 9:1, because humidity and sugar grain size both affect how much liquid the mixture can absorb. Judge by texture, not by a rigid measurement.

How to Use Sugardine on a Wound

Clean the wound thoroughly with clean water or saline before applying anything. Sugardine is not a substitute for basic wound cleaning.
Pack a generous layer of sugardine directly into and over the wound, similar to spreading peanut butter on bread.
Cover with a clean bandage or gauze and secure it in place.
Change the dressing daily, or more often if the wound is draining heavily, since sugardine draws out fluid and will need to be replenished as it becomes saturated.
Keep the dressing dry. A wound dressing that gets waterlogged will do more harm than good and can trap bacteria against the skin instead of drawing it out.

Beyond fresh cuts and scrapes, this same approach is commonly used on minor burns, pressure sores, and slow-healing wounds. In the livestock world it remains a go-to treatment for hoof abscesses and thrush, worked deep into the affected area and wrapped for a day or two at a time.

Safety Limits You Need to Respect

Safety Warning:

Do not use sugardine, or any povidone-iodine product, on anyone with a known iodine allergy. Reactions are rare but can range from skin irritation to a serious allergic response.

Avoid packing sugardine into deep puncture wounds, animal bites, or major burns. These need proper irrigation and, when at all possible, professional medical evaluation rather than a field remedy.

Do not use it on or near the eyes.

If you or the person you are treating has a thyroid condition, understand that iodine absorbs through skin, and prolonged use over large areas can affect thyroid function. This risk grows with bigger wounds, more frequent application, and longer treatment periods.

Limit continuous unsupervised use to about one to two weeks. Past that point, seek medical care if the wound has not meaningfully improved, since ongoing iodine exposure and an unhealed wound both call for a closer look than a home remedy can give.

Use caution with pregnant or breastfeeding women and with infants, since iodine can affect a developing thyroid.

Watch for worsening redness, spreading warmth, fever, or red streaking near the wound. These are signs of a spreading infection that sugardine alone will not fix, and they call for medical attention, grid-down or not.

What About Diabetics?

A question that comes up often is whether diabetics can safely use a sugar-based remedy. Topically applied sugar in a wound dressing is not absorbed into the bloodstream the way sugar in food is, so it does not raise blood glucose the way eating sugar would. That said, diabetics tend to heal more slowly and are at higher risk for wound infection generally, so any diabetic wound that is not improving within a few days deserves a closer look from a medical professional rather than extended reliance on a home remedy.

Storage and Shelf Life

Store finished sugardine in a sealed container at room temperature, away from direct sunlight
It does not spoil the way a water-based preparation would, since the sugar and iodine combination is naturally resistant to bacterial growth
Expect it to stiffen in cold temperatures. A quick stir, or a few minutes near a warm surface, will loosen it back up
If separation occurs over long storage, simply re-stir before use
Keep your stock of dry sugar and a separate bottle of povidone-iodine on hand as well, since premixed sugardine can dry out over very long storage and fresh batches are quick to make on demand

Stocking This for Your Preps

A bag of plain white sugar takes up almost no space and never goes bad if kept dry
A bottle or two of 10% povidone-iodine solution is inexpensive and widely available at pharmacies and farm supply stores
Both ingredients double as general first aid or kitchen supplies, so there is no downside to keeping extra on hand
Consider premixing a small batch for your bug-out bag or truck kit, and keeping the raw ingredients separately in your main first aid stock for larger batches at home

If you want a second antiseptic option for your kit, look into honey-based wound dressings, which work on a similar osmotic principle and have their own long track record in wound care, particularly for burns.

Be Your Own First Responder When Help Isn’t Coming

A jar of sugardine is a valuable addition to any emergency kit – but treating a wound is only one small part of emergency medicine. When hospitals are overwhelmed, roads are blocked, or professional help is hours (or days) away, you’ll need to know far more than a single home remedy.

That’s where The Home Doctor becomes an invaluable resource.

Inside this practical survival medical guide, you’ll learn how to:

Recognize which wounds can be safely treated at home – and which require urgent medical attention
Identify the early warning signs of infection before they become life-threatening
Stop severe bleeding, clean wounds properly, and reduce the risk of complications
Handle burns, fractures, sprains, bites, stings, and other everyday medical emergencies
Make the most of limited medical supplies when pharmacies are empty or unavailable
Care for yourself and your family during power outages, natural disasters, and other grid-down situations
Follow easy-to-understand, step-by-step instructions written for ordinary people—not medical professionals

Whether you’re assembling a bug-out bag, stocking a homestead first aid cabinet, or simply preparing for unexpected emergencies, The Home Doctor provides the practical knowledge that could make all the difference when professional care isn’t immediately available.

Click here to get your copy of The Home Doctor and build the confidence to handle medical emergencies when you’re on your own!

Final Thoughts

Sugardine will not replace a trauma kit, a suture kit, or a trip to the ER for a serious wound. What it will do is give you a cheap, shelf-stable, easy-to-make antiseptic for the day-to-day cuts, scrapes, and slow-healing sores that pop up whenever normal medical care is not an option. Two ingredients, no expiration date to worry about, and a track record that goes back over a century. That is exactly the kind of simple, redundant solution that belongs in a prepper’s first aid kit.

This article is for informational and preparedness purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical care. Seek qualified medical attention for serious wounds, signs of infection, or any injury beyond your ability to safely treat.

You may also like:

Join Our Unique Prepping WhatsApp Channel!

DIY Back-Up Generator (Video)

Plantain Weed – The Survival Plant Growing in Your Own Backyard

Suture Kit: What It Is, How to Use It, and Why Every Prepper Needs One

Native American Medicine Wheel – Ancient Wisdom for Modern Preppers

The post How to Make Sugardine – A Prepper’s Homemade Antiseptic appeared first on Ask a Prepper.

from Ask a Prepper https://ift.tt/tfgIkRZ

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

How to Fake Your Death, Go Invisible and Survive SHTF

Disclaimer: This isn’t a guide to faking your death, forging paperwork, or disappearing from legal obligations like debts, court dates, or child support. That’s fraud; it’s illegal everywhere, and no collapse scenario changes that. What this article covers is something else entirely: the real skill preppers call going gray: making yourself hard to track, hard to notice, and hard to target when the normal rules of society stop holding.

If a riot, grid failure, or breakdown in law and order ever puts your family’s safety at risk, here’s what actually works.

Stop Being the Guy Everyone Points To

Going gray doesn’t start the night the grid goes down. It starts months earlier, in how much your street already knows about your business. Someone remembers the generator in your driveway last winter. Someone remembers the garage light on at 2 AM. Someone remembers the questions you asked about their well. You don’t need a bug-out bag if you’ve already spent years being the guy everyone points to first.

Buy in pieces, not bulk. One cart with six cases of water gets noticed. Spread purchases across weeks and stores.
Keep the garage closed. Solar panels, fuel cans, gear visible through a window turn your house into a landmark.
Stop being the answer man. When someone asks “you’d know what to do here, right?” — deflect. Let someone else be the local expert.
Watch what you post. A pantry photo, a proud caption about your water filter – strangers remember it.
Drive something forgettable. A rig loaded with racks draws eyes a plain sedan never will.

But staying invisible only solves half the problem. You can spend months becoming a ghost on your own street, and it still won’t matter if the guy three houses down has been watching you the whole time. Before things fall apart, take a hard look at 5 WARNING SIGNS YOUR NEIGHBOURS WILL BE TROUBLE WHEN SHTF.

Shut Down What Your Phone Is Reporting

Your phone keeps a record of you whether you touch it or not. Location history logs where you stopped and how long you stayed. Photos get stamped with coordinates the second you hit the shutter. Apps you forgot you installed are still pinging away in the background, and a lot of that data ends up sold to brokers you’ve never heard of.

So if the day comes when you need to drop off the radar, you should already know how to shut it down without thinking about it. Location services off, photo backups off, app permissions stripped back to nothing, and if it’s really bad, airplane mode or the battery out entirely.

Practice it once while things are calm. Watching how much of it you can actually kill in under a minute tells you a lot about how exposed you’ve been.

The other half of this is what happens to your phone when the grid takes a hit. It doesn’t automatically go dark with everything else. Satellites stay up, parts of the network limp along, and a phone that still works is a phone still reporting where you are.

That’s why you should check out the FS Plan, since it walks through comms after an EMP or a grid event and how a family stays reachable when normal service is gone. Worth reading now, before you need it.

Build a Cash Reserve Nobody Can Trace

Start with how the cash gets into your hands, because that’s the part that leaves a record. Any withdrawal over $10,000 gets reported to the government automatically, and splitting it into smaller trips to stay under that line is its own crime, so there’s no clever way around it.

Once you have it, the denominations decide whether you can actually use it quietly. During an outage nobody has change, so hundreds sit useless in your pocket while ones and fives keep moving. That’s also what keeps you unremarkable at the register, since paying for a tank of gas with exact bills looks like nothing at all. Keep it split between a few hiding spots while you’re at it, because one stash means one bad day wipes you out.

Cash only carries you so far, though. Six months into a serious disruption prices climb and paper money buys less, which is when silver starts doing the work instead. Pre-1965 dimes and quarters are the ones to get, since they’re 90% silver, already stamped with a face value, and familiar enough that nobody needs to test them.

The best advice I could give you is to… skip gold. A single coin runs past three thousand dollars, so every trade turns into a search for change that doesn’t exist and a conversation about what else you’re holding.

How To Extract Useful Information Through Casual Conversation

First of all, you need to stop asking people questions if you want the truth! The CIA uses a technique called elicitation to get information without the target ever realizing they’re being interrogated. Click here to learn many other powerful methods just like this one.

Dress to Be Forgotten, Not Armed

Molle webbing, velcro patch panels and coyote brown boots tell anyone paying attention roughly what’s in your bag. What you want is whatever a working man in your area wears on a Tuesday, so jeans or canvas pants, a plain flannel, and boots with wear already on them. Colors matter too, since black reads as police, camo reads as militia depending on who’s looking, and faded grey or brown just disappears, including on doorbell cameras.

The bag gives you away faster than the clothes ever will, so a beat-up school backpack or a plain duffel gets a glance where a 5.11 pack with a hydration port gets a second look. Leave the good watch and anything with a brand name on it at home, and skip new clothing, because creases still in a jacket suggest it was bought for this exact purpose.

Learn the Routes Nobody Else Is Watching

Main roads are the first place checkpoints and roadblocks go up, and they’re also where everyone leaving at once ends up sitting. The alternatives are worth learning while things are calm: service roads behind commercial strips, utility and rail easements, county gravel roads, drainage paths and the walking trails that connect neighborhoods without touching a highway.

Here’s How to Find the Cardinal Points Using ONLY 2 Sticks

Drive or walk them at least once, ideally after dark, since a route that looks obvious on satellite view often turns out to be gated, flooded or fenced in person. Two or three of them in different directions is better than one perfect one, because the whole point is having somewhere to go when your first choice is already blocked.

Break Your Own Patterns

Same gas station, same store, same time every week. Predictable habits are easy to exploit by anyone paying attention for the wrong reasons, so during a tense stretch it helps to vary your routine even slightly and stay aware of who’s watching.

This is the core of what security professionals call situational awareness, noticing before you’re the one being noticed.

Make Your House Look Lived-In

An overflowing mailbox, packages piling up on the porch, and lights that never change tell anyone watching whether a house is occupied, empty, or worth checking out. I spent a long time treating this as part of my own gray man setup, testing timers, moving cars around, asking a neighbor to grab my mail, and getting it wrong more than once.

But this trick has a ceiling. It filters out the casual opportunist testing doors down the street, but it won’t fool someone actually watching the house. Sturdy doors and a layered fence handle the physical side, but none of that answers a question that kept nagging at me once I started thinking past the obvious threats: what happens if the thing watching your house isn’t a person walking a route, but a system that never blinks?

That question is what sent me looking into how people plan for a surveillance-heavy, AI-driven SHTF scenario instead of just a chaotic one. I found a strategy built specifically around that problem, laid out as an AI defense guide, and it’s the first thing I’ve read that treats faking your absence, or your death, as a real technical challenge instead of a Hollywood plot point. Worth a look whether you’re prepping for next week or a scenario twenty years out.

Clean Up What Social Media Already Gave Away

Old posts, tagged photos, and years of check-ins add up to more than most people realize, enough to piece together your routine, your vehicle, your kids’ school, even your address, without anyone ever meeting you. Do this now, before things get bad:

Lock down privacy settings on every platform, not just the one you use most.

Go through old posts and delete or untag anything with a location attached.

Remove your address, workplace, and school info from public profile fields.

Stop posting travel plans, trips, or big purchases in real time, save it for after you’re back.

Ask family members to untag you from their posts too, since their privacy settings won’t protect you.

Search your own name and address online to see what’s already public before you try to fix it.

Set Up a Way to Talk Without Cell Towers

Cell networks are among the first systems to overload or fail outright during a major event. Have a backup that doesn’t depend on the regular grid, such as family radios, a ham radio setup if you’re licensed for it, or a simple pre-arranged meeting point if phones go dead. That way you’re never stuck relying on infrastructure that might not be there when it matters most.

Learn to Blend In Somewhere New

If circumstances force you to leave home and settle somewhere unfamiliar, even temporarily, the goal is to look like you’ve always belonged there. Pick up on local customs, dress the way people around you dress, and avoid anything that marks you as an outsider, like an accent, a bumper sticker, or gear that stands out. People remember what’s different, and they forget what fits in.

Keep Your Fallback Location to Yourself

There’s a habit of telling people where the backup location is, usually family first, then a friend, then somebody in the group chat who seemed solid at the time. A place ten people know about is just a place, and the goodwill holding that information in place tends not to survive the first hungry week.

The one that actually stays yours is the one you never mentioned, which is why I stopped thinking about a cabin somewhere and started thinking about what’s already under my own yard. That’s how I ended up building a cellar from this ingenious plan.

What sold me on it was who wrote it. He’s a historian and a prepper, and he served in Vietnam, where he watched people survive a war from inside hidden tunnel systems that soldiers walked over without ever knowing they were there. Concealed entrances, air handled properly, whole families living underground while the fighting happened above them. He took that and turned it into a root cellar plan that doubles as a fallout shelter, built on your own property, invisible to anyone standing on top of it.

If the whole point is not being found, that’s the version worth looking at.

The Discipline Behind Disappearing – A Case Study

Becoming a gray man isn’t a new idea, and the US has its own version of it: pseudocide, staging your own death to walk away from debt or legal trouble.

The best-documented case is Marcus Schrenker, an Indiana financial manager who put his plane on autopilot in January 2009 and parachuted out over Alabama, hoping the plane would crash into the Gulf and read as an accident while he vanished. He’d been hit with an investor fraud complaint and was facing divorce and a lapsed financial license right before the stunt.

It fell apart fast. Investigators found no blood and an intact windshield, which immediately pointed to a staged jump instead of a crash, and he was tracked down and arrested within two days. He had a hidden motorcycle and an escape route planned, but skipped the part that actually mattered: no clean paper trail, no patience, no plan for the forensic team that would pick his story apart in hours.

Everything Schrenker skipped is in the video below:

Being a gray man takes a tactical plan behind it. Skip it and you’re left guessing at the order of operations, which is exactly what decided this case in two days flat.

You may also like:

How Being a Gray Man Can Get You Killed

Why Your Electricity Bill Almost Doubled in Only 5 Years. This Expert Has the Solution for You (VIDEO)

What the “Prepping Experts” Are Hiding from You

How To Become Invisible In 9 Hours After SHTF

The post How to Fake Your Death, Go Invisible and Survive SHTF appeared first on Ask a Prepper.

from Ask a Prepper https://ift.tt/3wcjAZk

50 Ways to Earn Money With Your Homestead

Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

Living the homestead lifestyle offers a sense of freedom and satisfaction. However, you may have taken a drastic cut in income to make your dream of self-sufficiency a reality.

Whether you are looking for a full-time salary or a supplemental income, there are many ways to make money as a homesteader. Your best bet is to think about your specific property and your individual talents and then brainstorm how you can combine them to offer a quality service or product to others.

Many urban dwellers are fascinated with homegrown, handcrafted items, and others will pay to live vicariously through your chosen lifestyle through your services and expertise.

We have compiled a list of 50 ideas for increasing your income as a homesteader. Look through them to see what piques your interest.

1. Become a Beekeeper

A time-honored homesteading profession, beekeeping is more important than ever with the population of honeybees decreasing. You can sell the bees themselves and/or their honey. Beyond honey, many beekeepers also earn money selling beeswax, propolis, and pollen, or by offering pollination services to nearby orchards and farms.

Getting started usually requires only a modest investment in hives and protective gear, which makes it an accessible side hustle for many homesteaders.

2. Become a Livestock Consultant

If you have a lot of experience raising livestock, people will pay you to visit their farm or homestead and give them advice. This can include help with breeding decisions, pasture management, herd health, or setting up fencing and shelter systems.

Building a reputation through word of mouth or a simple website can lead to steady referral business over time.

3. Board Horses

You can earn extra money by boarding horses on your homestead as well. Perhaps you could offer riding lessons, too. Many horse owners are also willing to pay extra for services like feeding, turnout, and basic grooming, so bundling these into your boarding fees can boost your income further.

4. Breed Livestock

An oldie but a goodie. Breeding animals is a tried and true way of making money as a homesteader. Popular options include goats, pigs, and rabbits, all of which reproduce quickly and have strong demand among other small farmers and homesteaders.

Keeping detailed breeding and health records can also help you charge premium prices for well-documented stock.

5. Breed Livestock Guardian Dogs

A livestock guardian dog is a great thing to have. If you like dogs, train them to herd and watch livestock then sell them. Breeds like Great Pyrenees and Anatolian Shepherds are especially sought after by homesteaders who need reliable protection for their flocks, and a dog with proven working experience can sell for a premium.

6. Create Your Own Soaps

If you like making soap, we have several posts on how to make various types including: castile soap, goat milk soap, olive/coconut oil soap, and 3 ingredient soap. Handmade soaps sell especially well when packaged attractively and marketed with natural or locally-sourced ingredients, and many soapmakers expand into seasonal scents or gift sets to boost sales around the holidays.

7. Create Your Own Toiletries

Homemade lotion, lip balm, and shampoo are popular items at farmers' markets and at natural foods stores. Because so many buyers are looking to avoid synthetic ingredients, labeling your products as all-natural or chemical-free can help them stand out on a crowded market table.

8. Cut and Sell Firewood

If you have land to be cleared, you can earn some extra bucks by selling the wood to others. Splitting and seasoning the wood properly before selling it typically commands a higher price than green or unsplit wood, and offering delivery can open up sales to customers without a truck or trailer.

9. Freelance

Offer your writing, editing and/or technical skills online. Many platforms exist to help you market your skills and find clients. In fact, we hired several of our writers on Upwork. Freelancing is especially appealing for homesteaders because it can be done entirely from home on a flexible schedule, fitting around chores and seasonal farm work.

10. Grow Mushrooms

Are mushrooms your thing? You may find a nice income source by selling your homegrown mushrooms to local restaurants. Here's how to grow them. Specialty varieties like oyster and shiitake mushrooms tend to fetch higher prices than common button mushrooms, and chefs are often willing to pay a premium for a consistent, fresh local supply.

11. Host Birthday Parties for Kids

Parents are often looking for new ways to celebrate their children's birthdays. You may find a niche for yourself as a birthday party location. Think about what you can offer. A petting zoo? Pony rides? Apple picking? There are many fun possibilities.

Offering package deals that include decorations, activities, and take-home treats can make your homestead a go-to destination and encourage repeat bookings for multiple children in the same family.

12. Make and Sell Clothing

If you're into sewing and knitting, try making your own clothes, towels, and blankets and putting them up for sale. Handmade, natural-fiber items like wool sweaters or quilted blankets often appeal to buyers looking for something more durable and unique than mass-produced retail goods.

13. Make Your Own Bread

If you like baking, you should know that there are many people out there who would be happy to purchase fresh, home-baked bread from you. You can make breads such as French bread, peasant bread, and Amish white bread.

Selling at a weekly farmers' market or setting up a simple pre-order system can help you gauge demand and reduce waste from unsold loaves.

14. Make Your Own Candles

Everybody likes candles. Heck, they have their own aisle in every Walmart. Here's how to make them. Using natural waxes like soy or beeswax and adding your own essential oil scent blends can help your candles stand out from mass-produced paraffin versions and justify a higher price point.

15. Make Your Own Cheese

Similarly, homemade, handcrafted cheese can command good prices. Here's how to make cheese. Aged cheeses in particular can be sold at a significant markup compared to fresh cheese, though be sure to research your state's regulations on selling dairy products before you start.

16. Make Your Own Grape Juice or Wine

Growing grapes can be a rewarding activity for both your soul and your wallet. Depending on your location, you may need a license to sell wine commercially, so check local regulations first, and consider starting with juice or jelly sales if you want a simpler entry point.

17. Open a Shooting Range

If you have a large property, your homestead may be perfect as an outdoor gun or archery range. Offering memberships or per-visit fees, along with basic safety instruction, can create a recurring revenue stream from local shooting enthusiasts.

18. Open Your Orchard

If you have a large orchard and more fruit than you need, why not try a season as a u-pick destination? U-pick operations also cut down on your own labor costs since customers do the harvesting themselves, and many owners add extras like hayrides or a small farm stand to increase revenue per visit.

19. Raise Bait

If there are a lot of fishermen in your area, try raising your own bait. Here's how to raise worms for fishing. Bait sales tend to be steady and seasonal, picking up heavily in spring and summer, and worms in particular require very little space or investment to raise in bulk.

20. Raise Chickens

Most homesteaders raise chickens for their own use. You can earn a little extra income by selling your surplus eggs to others. You also can sell your chickens. Here are the 8 best egg-laying chicken breeds. Selling to neighbors or through a small farm stand often earns more per dozen than wholesale prices, especially if your eggs are pasture-raised or from heritage breeds.

21. Raise Cows

Consider raising a cow for meat and selling the excess meat. Here's a beginner's guide. Selling meat by the quarter, half, or whole animal directly to buyers can be more profitable than selling individual cuts, and grass-fed or organic labeling often allows for a higher asking price.

22. Raise Fish

Turn your pond into income potential by raising and selling fish such as tilapia or catfish. You also could raise worms to sell for bait. Fish farming, or aquaculture, can be combined with a garden through aquaponics systems, giving you two income streams from the same water source.

23. Raise Rabbits

There are so many reasons to raise meat rabbits. The meat is healthy, they grow and reproduce quickly, but most importantly, you can sell rabbit meat or the rabbits themselves. Rabbits require relatively little space and feed compared to larger livestock, which makes them one of the more accessible meat animals for homesteaders just getting started with breeding for profit.

24. Raise Sheep

Sheep are valuable animals for the homestead. You can raise them for their meat, and/or you can sell their wool or the products you make from their wool. Some homesteaders also offer shearing services to other sheep owners, or turn raw wool into yarn and roving for sale to fiber crafters.

25. Raise Turkey

Because of Thanksgiving, turkey is guaranteed to be a popular food every year. Here's how to raise turkey for profit. Taking pre-orders in the months leading up to the holidays can help you plan how many birds to raise and guarantee buyers before you even start feeding them out.

26. Rent Your Home

If you have a beautiful home on picturesque property, consider listing your home on AirBnB. Guests are often drawn to the novelty of staying on a working farm, so highlighting nearby attractions or offering a farm tour as part of the stay can help your listing stand out and justify a higher nightly rate.

27. Rent Your Property

Offer your acreage as a location for weddings and family reunions or as a campsite. Rural, scenic properties are in high demand for outdoor weddings in particular, and you can charge significantly more for a venue rental than for basic camping fees.

28. RV or Boat Storage

Many urban dwellers will pay good money for a safe place to store their recreational equipment in the off-season. If you have an empty barn, you can charge an increased rental fee for indoor storage.

Offering added security like a locked gate or cameras can let you charge even more, since owners are often willing to pay a premium for peace of mind.

29. Sell Essential Oils

If you know how to make essential oils, you should know there are countless people out there who would prefer to buy them from individuals instead of from giant companies. Building a following on social media or at local markets can help you educate buyers on the sourcing and quality that sets your oils apart from mass-market brands.

30. Sell Home Remedies

Make your own home remedies for common ailments and sell them. Here are 5 homemade painkillers, and here are 5 homemade healing salves. Be aware that regulations around making health claims can be strict, so it's wise to research labeling laws in your area before selling these products commercially.

31. Sell Homemade Crafts

Make crafts, pottery, jewelry, birdhouses, or anything else you like making on Etsy or at Famers' Markets. Building an online shop alongside in-person sales lets you reach buyers well beyond your local area, which can be especially valuable during the off-season for farmers' markets.

32. Sell Homemade Furniture

If you're into woodworking, consider making furniture. People love having a piece of furniture that wasn't mass-produced in some factory. Using reclaimed or locally sourced wood can be a strong selling point, and custom or made-to-order pieces often command a significant premium over standard designs.

33. Sell Homemade Jams and Jellies

Another use for all that fruit is to make and market your own jams and jellies. Unique or unexpected flavor combinations, like a spicy pepper jelly or a mixed-berry jam, can help your products stand out on a shelf full of more traditional options.

34. Sell Homemade Maple Syrup

Do you have maple trees? Then you have a source of some extra income. Make some syrup and sell it. Maple syrup has a long shelf life and strong year-round demand, and selling in bulk to local stores or restaurants can move product faster than relying on individual retail sales alone.

35. Sell Homemade Pickles

Making your own pickles is fun, and they are really good for your health. Here are a couple of ways to make them. Fermented pickles in particular are gaining popularity for their probiotic benefits, so marketing them as a gut-healthy option can appeal to health-conscious buyers.

36. Sell Your Arts and Crafts

Whether it is woodworking, macramé, needlepoint, or you name it, you can reach potential customers for your handcrafted wares through online sites such as Etsy. Good photography and a clear, personal brand story can make a big difference in how well handmade items sell online, since buyers often want to know who made the piece and how.

37. Sell Your Compost

You are already making your own compost, right? Why not sell some of what you don't need to other gardeners? Bagging compost for easy transport, or offering bulk delivery to local gardeners and landscapers, can turn what would otherwise be a waste product into a steady source of income.

38. Sell Your Flowers

Market your beautiful fresh flowers at your own stand or at a farmers' market. Don't forget that dried flowers are popular too. Offering flowers by subscription, sometimes called a flower CSA, gives you predictable income throughout the growing season instead of relying only on one-off sales.

39. Sell Your Heirloom Seeds

Harvest your best seeds at the end of each growing season and dry them for sale. They can be a nice addition to your produce stand or you could sell them online. Heirloom and open-pollinated varieties tend to be especially popular with home gardeners who want to save and replant their own seeds year after year, which can turn first-time buyers into repeat customers.

40. Sell Your Herbs

Plant more herbs than you need for your family, then sell the rest in fresh or dried form. Culinary herbs sell well at farmers' markets, while dried herbs can also be bundled into teas or seasoning blends for a higher-value product.

41. Sell Your Milk

Fresh, unpasteurized cow's milk or goat milk is a sought-after commodity by many urban dwellers. Raw milk sales are regulated differently from state to state, so it's important to check your local laws before selling, and some homesteaders find it easier to sell shares in a dairy animal instead of the milk itself.

42. Sell Your Produce

If you harvest more than what your family needs, sell your bounty at your own produce stand or at a local farmers' market. Offering a mix of common and less common vegetables can help you stand out from other vendors, and building relationships with local restaurants can create a reliable wholesale outlet for your surplus.

43. Sell Your Rabbits' Poop

Who would want to buy that? Lots of people. It actually has many uses. Rabbit manure is considered one of the best natural fertilizers because it can be applied directly to plants without composting first, which makes it especially appealing to organic gardeners.

44. Serve as a Bed and Breakfast

Do you have a guest cottage or a spare room? You may find income potential by posting it for rental on Airbnb or other online sites. Adding a homemade breakfast featuring your own eggs, produce, or baked goods can make the experience feel more authentic and justify charging a higher nightly rate than a standard rental.

45. Start a Blog

If you're living the homestead life, there are countless people out there who would love to hear about your experience. Document your day-to-day life and the lessons you've learned, and publish it on a blog where you can earn money from ads.

Beyond ad revenue, many homestead bloggers also earn money through affiliate links, selling their own guides or courses, or sponsored posts once they build a loyal readership.

46. Start a Pick-Your-Own Farm

If you grow lots of food, save yourself the work of harvesting and let people come pick fruits and vegetables on a pick-your-own farm. This model works especially well for crops like berries and pumpkins, and adding family-friendly extras like a corn maze or petting area can increase the amount visitors spend per trip.

47. Start a Youtube Channel

There's even more opportunity on Youtube. Get a camera and start documenting your life on the homestead. You'd be surprised how many people will watch. Beyond ad revenue from YouTube itself, successful homestead channels often earn additional income through sponsorships, merchandise, or by directing viewers to their own products and online shop.

48. Teach What You Know

Host in-person weekend or online workshops on the art of homesteading. You can teach farming, gardening, raising sheep, or your specific area of expertise. Recording your workshops and selling them as an online course afterward can turn a single weekend of teaching into an ongoing source of passive income.

49. Watch People's Pets

If you have the space, set up a kennel to board dogs and cats while people are away. Offering extras like daily photo updates, outdoor playtime, or pickup and drop-off service can help you stand out from larger commercial boarding facilities and justify charging more per night.

50. Write a Book

If you've been homesteading for a long time, write a book about your experiences and the lessons you've learned. Nowadays, it's easy to self-publish on Amazon. People will find your book through the recommendations feature. Pairing your book with an email list or blog following can also help drive initial sales and reviews, which in turn boosts its visibility in Amazon's search results.

You May Also Like:

The post 50 Ways to Earn Money With Your Homestead appeared first on Homestead Survival Site.

from Homestead Survival Site https://ift.tt/8CZi4x1

Homemade Hamburger Buns In One Hour

Today, I’m sharing my homemade hamburger buns recipe with you. I really don’t like going to the grocery store, unless it’s for a case lot sale. You know by now I love making bread, any kind, anywhere. I love it! My friend from southern Utah got me started making hamburger buns.

She could mold them perfectly, me not so much. I kept trying and trying to make them look as beautiful as hers, but they never did. So, I ordered this pan to give me some help.

Plus, I don’t need a lot of hamburger buns, I only need a few, like six, maybe. Yes, six would be perfect. I would have some for lunch the next day. This recipe makes 12, so you can freeze some.

This hamburger bun recipe doesn’t require eggs in the dough, this is critical when we have issues getting eggs at the grocery store. Those of you who have chickens are so lucky to have fresh eggs. I tip my head to all of you.

You know how frustrating it is when you want to make sloppy joes and you have everything but the buns? Yeah, me too. Or pulled pork sandwiches? You know what I’m saying. We need a small recipe to make those buns, so here it is my friends.

These homemade hamburger buns are semi-soft on the outside and soft on the inside. They make the perfect bun for any filling!

Homemade Hamburger Buns In One Hour

Items You May Need In The Kitchen:

Mixing Bowl, Bread Maker, Bread Mixer, or KitchenAid Mixer
Whisk
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Cookie Sheet with Parchment Paper
Hamburger Pans
Serrated Knife

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Step One: Gather Ingredients

The first step is to gather your ingredients which are so simple, and I love that this recipe doesn’t need eggs. This is the same recipe that makes two loaves of bread, or pizza dough, it’s so versatile!

Step Two: Mix Ingredients

You can use a mixing bowl, a bread maker, or a bread mixer like I did. My Zojirushi bread maker is so easy to use! I love it even more than my Bosch? I still need my Bosch for making several loaves of bread and dozens of cinnamon rolls, but this machine is awesome. Just dump everything in and push a button to have it mix, knead, and rise. I don’t bake any bread in it, even though I could.

Step Three: Use Machine

I turned the machine to mix it, knead it, and let it rise. Here are instructions on how to make bread using the machine: Bread Machine Bread-How To Make It. Or you can mix this small batch by hand.

Step Four: Cut Bread Dough

I use a dough scraper to cut my bread dough instead of “pulling the sections” apart. I cut the dough into 12 pieces as evenly as I could.

Step Five: Mold Dough Pieces

You mold them in a ball and push them down to flatten them in the hamburger bun pan, or on a cookie sheet. I really like to use the special pan since it helps keep the buns shaped the way you want them.

Step Six: Cover & Let Rise

Cover the unbaked hamburger buns with greased plastic wrap and let them rise for about 30 minutes.

Step Seven: Bake

Remove the plastic wrap and bake them at (425°F) = (218°C) degrees. Bake these for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Step Eight: Remove & Cool

Remove the baked hamburger buns from the pans and let them cool on a cooling rack.

Finished Product

A serrated knife works best for slicing hamburger buns, or bread for that matter. Slice these and use them for homemade hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches, or whatever sounds good for dinner.

Homemade Hamburger Buns Recipe

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 12

Let Rise 30

Total Time 52

Servings 12 buns

Author Linda Loosli

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups water
4 cups bread flour or white flour
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
2 tablespoons dry instant milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter (softened)
1 tablespoon SAF Instant yeast

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C).
Now, you can make these in a large bowl, but I use my Bosch bread mixer or my Zojirushi bread maker. As you know, I dump everything in the mixer (yep, I'm a dumper). I wait until the bread dough pulls away from the mixer (using the Bosch).
I add just a little flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl (only if needed).
Now sprinkle some bread flour on the counter, knead the bread dough for about 2-3 minutes, and divide the dough into 12 pieces.
Grease a cookie sheet or hamburger bun pan and set it aside. Now you roll the pieces into balls and flatten them with your hands.
Place each flattened ball onto a greased or parchment-papered cookie sheet or in the hamburger bun pan.
Cover the pan(s) with greased plastic wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake at 425°F (218°C) for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

How do I store the leftover baked Hamburger buns?

I use my bread bags because they are cheaper than the boxed baggies. Bread Bags and Ties: These easily hold a full loaf of bread, or about 6 buns.

Can I freeze these after baking them?

Yes, you can. I have frozen them for up to two months in a freezer bag. With just the two of us, we often freeze loaves of bread and these buns.

Can I make these into Hot Dog bun shapes?

You sure can; I love hot dogs! This dough is so easy to make; you will love this recipe. I don’t have a hot dog bun cooking pan, but I’m sure they have them available. You creative cooks can get away with shaping them yourselves by hand.

Final Word

Please let me know if you make your own hamburger buns. This is one more way to teach our kids and grandkids to cook from scratch! May God Bless this world, Linda

The post Homemade Hamburger Buns In One Hour appeared first on Food Storage Moms.

from Food Storage Moms

Rice Storage Containers – How to Store Rice So It Lasts for Decades

Rice is one of the cheapest calories you can stockpile, but it only stays that way if the container holding it actually does its job. A bag of rice tossed on a pantry shelf in its original packaging is an invitation to moisture, oxygen, and every pantry bug within smelling distance. The right rice storage container is the difference between a food reserve that lasts thirty years and one that turns into a weevil colony by next summer.

This guide breaks down every container option worth considering, what actually kills rice in storage, and the exact setup to use depending on how long you need that rice to last.

Why the Container Matters More Than the Rice

White rice, on its own, is nearly indestructible. It is low in moisture and low in fat, which means there is not much for bacteria or rancidity to work with. Left in a sealed, properly stored container, white rice can remain edible for decades. Brown rice is the opposite story. It still has the bran and germ layer intact, and that layer carries natural oils that go rancid, so brown rice is working against the clock no matter what you store it in.

The container is what controls the two things that actually destroy rice: oxygen and moisture. Insects need both to survive and reproduce, oxidation needs oxygen to occur, and mold needs moisture. A container that blocks all three turns rice into one of the most stable foods in your entire stockpile.

Extension research from Virginia Tech’s food storage guidelines confirms that raw white rice stored in tightly closed containers at room temperature stays good for about a year at minimum, and refrigeration or freezing extends that considerably. That is the baseline with a mediocre container. A proper long-term setup pushes that number into the decades.

The Container Options, Ranked

1. Food-Grade HDPE Buckets (Best All-Around Choice)

A 5-gallon food-grade bucket made from high-density polyethylene is the standard for a reason. It is rigid enough to resist rodents, stackable, cheap, and reusable indefinitely. Not every bucket qualifies as food-grade, though, so check before you fill one with rice.

Look for the recycling symbol with the number 2 inside it. HDPE, resin code #2, is the plastic the USDA recognizes as food safe.
Check for a cup-and-fork icon or the words “food grade” or “FDA approved” stamped on the bottom.
Avoid buckets that previously held non-food items such as paint, drywall compound, or chemicals, even if they look clean. Residue soaks into the plastic and can leach into food.
A 5-gallon bucket holds roughly 30 to 35 pounds of rice depending on grain type.

For the lid, you have two choices. A standard snap-on lid works fine for short-term rotation, but it is not truly airtight and takes a rubber mallet and a pry bar to remove, which discourages regular use. A gamma seal lid solves both problems: it uses a two-piece, double-gasketed design that screws on and off like a jar lid while still sealing tight against air and pests. If you are storing rice you plan to access regularly, the gamma lid is worth the extra cost.

2. Mylar Bags with Oxygen Absorbers (Best for Multi-Decade Storage)

If your goal is genuinely long-term storage, a bucket alone will not get you there. Buckets, even sealed ones, allow a slow trickle of air exchange over months and years. Mylar is a metallized polyester film that is essentially impermeable to oxygen, moisture, and light, and when combined with an oxygen absorber, it creates a nearly oxygen-free environment inside the bag.

Use Mylar between 5 and 7 mils thick. Anything thinner tears easily and is more vulnerable to punctures during handling or from rodents chewing at a corner.

Oxygen absorbers do the actual preservation work once the bag is sealed. They are iron-based packets that chemically bind free oxygen inside the bag, starving both spoilage organisms and any insect eggs that might already be present in the rice. Sizing them correctly matters:

A 1-gallon Mylar bag of rice needs roughly a 300 cc oxygen absorber.
A 5-gallon bucket liner needs approximately 2,000 to 2,500 cc total, split across multiple absorbers if needed.
Oxygen absorbers begin working the moment their packaging is opened and cannot be reused or recharged, so only open what you will use in one sealing session.

This combination, rice sealed in heat-sealed Mylar with the correct oxygen absorber, stored inside a food-grade bucket for rodent protection, is the setup that gets cited across prepper and food storage circles for keeping white rice edible for 25 to 30 years and brown rice usable for up to five years before the oil content starts to turn.

3. Glass Jars

Glass with a tight rubber-gasket lid is airtight and does not react with food, which makes it a solid option for rice you rotate through within a year or two. It also lets you see exactly how much rice is left and whether any moisture or pests have gotten in.

The tradeoff is fragility. Glass is a poor choice for anyone storing food as a hedge against earthquakes, tornadoes, or general disaster conditions where the container might get knocked around or the structure around it might collapse. Reserve glass for kitchen-counter rotation stock, not your long-term reserve.

4. PETE Plastic Bottles and Soda Bottles

Clean, dry 2-liter soda bottles made from PETE plastic are a popular budget option for small-scale rice storage. They seal well, stack reasonably, and cost nothing if you are already recycling them. The downside is capacity. You will need a lot of bottles to store meaningful quantities, and the thin plastic offers no protection against a determined rodent.

5. Metal Containers

Skip metal for direct rice storage unless it is a purpose-built, enamel-lined container. Over time, moisture in the rice can react with bare metal and accelerate spoilage or introduce off-flavors. If you like the look or durability of a metal tin, put the rice in a sealed bag or liner first and use the tin as an outer shell rather than direct contact.

6. Number 10 Cans

Number 10 cans are the format most commercial freeze-dried and dehydrated food companies use, and for good reason. They are hermetically sealed at the factory with an oxygen absorber already inside, giving you the same 25-to-30-year shelf life as a DIY Mylar setup without any of the sealing work. The catch is you cannot easily do this yourself without a can sealer, so this option mostly applies to rice you buy pre-packaged this way rather than rice you are repackaging at home. Commercial organic rice sold in sealed buckets with absorbers built in follows the same principle at bucket scale.

Kill the Bugs Before You Seal Anything

Here is the part most container guides skip: the bugs are usually already in the rice before you ever open the bag. Rice weevils and their eggs can be present in grain at the point of harvest and survive milling and packaging undetected. Sealing infested rice in a perfect container just seals the bugs in with it.

Freeze the rice for 3 to 4 days at 0°F or below before transferring it to permanent storage. This kills any weevils, larvae, or eggs already present. Let the rice come back to room temperature before sealing it to avoid trapping condensation inside the container, which introduces the exact moisture problem you are trying to prevent.

Dried bay leaves placed directly on top of the rice are a common secondary deterrent, since the eucalyptol compound they contain repels weevils and moths. Treat this as a backup measure alongside freezing, not a replacement for it.

Sizing Your Container to Your Supply

A detail most people overlook: a large container that is only half full has a significant pocket of air sitting above the rice. Every time you open it, that air pocket refreshes with new oxygen and moisture. Match container size to the amount of rice you are storing, and when a bulk container gets down to half its volume, consider consolidating the remainder into a smaller container instead of leaving dead air space above it.

For planning purposes, Utah State University Extension recommends storing roughly 25 to 60 pounds of rice per person as part of a broader one-year grain supply, which works out to two or three standard 5-gallon buckets per person if rice is your primary grain reserve.

Storage Conditions That Extend Shelf Life

Cool: aim for below 70°F. Every 10-degree drop roughly doubles shelf life for dry goods.
Dark: UV light degrades plastic containers over time and can slowly break down nutrients in the rice itself.
Dry: basements prone to dampness and garages with wide temperature swings are worse locations than an interior closet, despite being the default choice for bulky buckets.
Off the floor: pallets or shelving keep containers away from concrete moisture and make rodent access marginally harder.

White Rice vs. Brown Rice: Container Requirements Differ

White rice has had the bran and germ removed, stripping out most of the oil that causes spoilage. This is why white rice can sit in a well-sealed bucket for decades. Brown rice keeps that oil, which means it is going rancid from day one regardless of container quality.

According to USA Rice’s storage guidance, brown rice has a shelf life of around six months at room temperature due to that oil content, extendable through refrigeration. If long-term storage is the goal, white rice is the far more practical choice, and brown rice belongs in your short-rotation stock rather than your buried-for-a-decade reserve.

Signs Your Rice Has Gone Bad

A stale, musty, or paint-like odor, most common in brown rice that has gone rancid.
Visible clumping or discoloration.
Small holes in individual grains, webbing, or live insects, which point to an infestation rather than spoilage.
A sour or off smell after cooking, even if the raw rice looked fine.

If you see mold or the bag has swollen from gas buildup inside a sealed Mylar bag, discard the contents. Do not taste it to check. The risk of foodborne illness is not worth confirming a hunch.

Quick Answers

Can you store rice in a regular plastic container long term? No. Standard kitchen containers are not airtight enough for multi-year storage and will not stop moisture or oxygen exchange over time.

Is it safe to store rice in a metal container? No. Bare metal can react with moisture in the rice over time and is not recommended for long-term storage.

Do you need oxygen absorbers if you are using a gamma seal bucket? No, not for storage under two to three years. Yes, if you want the 20-plus year shelf life that only an oxygen-free environment provides.

Will Mylar bags stop rodents? No. Mice and rats can chew through Mylar. Store sealed Mylar bags inside a rigid bucket for rodent protection.

Take Your Food Storage Skills to the Next Level with the Amish Ways Book

Knowing how to store rice properly is just one piece of the self-reliance puzzle. For generations, the Amish have relied on simple, time-tested methods to preserve food, reduce waste, and stay prepared without depending on modern conveniences.

The Amish Ways Book is packed with practical knowledge you can start using today, including:

Traditional food preservation and storage methods
Canning, dehydrating, and pantry organization tips
Homemade staples and old-fashioned recipes
Self-sufficiency skills that save money and increase resilience
Natural solutions and forgotten homestead wisdom passed down through generations

Whether you’re building a long-term emergency pantry, living more sustainably, or simply wanting to waste less food, this book is filled with proven techniques that complement everything you’ve just learned about storing rice the right way.

Don’t stop at one survival skill. Discover the practical knowledge that has helped families thrive for generations and start building a more self-reliant lifestyle today.

Get your copy of the Amish Ways Book now and unlock centuries of practical homesteading wisdom!

Final Thoughts

For everyday rotation, a food-grade bucket with a gamma seal lid gets the job done with minimal fuss. For a genuine long-term reserve, that same bucket should hold rice sealed inside Mylar with correctly sized oxygen absorbers, after a freeze cycle to eliminate any hidden pests. Skip glass and metal for anything beyond kitchen-counter quantities, and always size your container to the amount of rice actually inside it. Get the container right, and rice becomes one of the few foods in your stockpile you genuinely do not have to think about again for decades.

You may also like:

Don’t Forget To Join The Ask A Prepper WhatsApp Community HERE!