TEOTWAWKI Wife: Granola Recipe

Original Article

from TEOTWAWKI Blog by TEOTWAWKI Blog

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One of our family favorite recipes that we always have ingredients on hand for is Alton Brown's Granola. If I had it my way Alton would somehow magically end up with our family if TEOTWAWKI happened. If you're not familiar with Alton Brown, he has a show on the Food Network called Good Eats which is very helpful to those starting out in the kitchen. I've learned lots of tricks and tips from Alton. Also, there is an episode where he makes his own makeshift smoker to make bacon. Now that is a cooking show. 

One of the basic things we store are oats. Oats are high in soluble fiber and thus help in lowering bad cholesterol-LDL, also the fiber helps with the digestive system as well. Oats can be used as extenders in cooking -- in meat loaf, for example, or I've even heard of it being used in taco meat. Oats can also be used as a substitute for portions of flour in baking. Or it can be eaten the best way, as a big bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon--at least that's my favorite way. Since oats are so useful and have a long shelf life (8-10 years under ideal conditions) they are ideal for food storage. 

Now on to the granola. Granola is great way to use up some oats in your rotation. We eat granola plain as a snack, with yogurt, as cereal, or on ice cream from time to time. Even my 2 year old loves it....and he's pretty picky. It is a pretty easy and delicious treat that always goes fast. Crunchy, sweet, with a cornucopia of delicious flavors - maple syrup, nuts, coconut, fruit - it is simply amazing. 

Alton Brown's Granola (slightly adapted)

Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups nut of your choice (we prefer 2 cups of slivered almonds. The original recipe calls for cashews & slivered almonds)
• 3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (depending on the batch I'll throw in a  couple TB more of brown sugar)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup (if I add more sugar I add a little bit more liquid as well, both with the syrup & oil)
• 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup any dried fruit of your choice (or dehydrated fruit if you have that in your rotation)

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.

Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add dried fruit and mix until evenly distributed.

I would offer an expiration date, but this granola has never lasted more than 2 weeks at our house. We usually double the batch too. 

Free Preparedness E-Books

Original Article

from Homegrown Evolution by Mr. Homegrown

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Camp loom, for making mats and mattresses from the 1911 edition of the Boy Scout Handbook

Through a circuitous bit of aimless interweb searching I came across a huge list of downloadable urban homesteading/gardening/survivalist manuals on a site called hardcorepreppers.com. Unfortunately, this site is so popular that it seems to be down every time I've checked. But thanks to Google's caching feature I was able to access a list of those documents. Here's a curated set of just a few of those links (through the letter "f") that I found interesting. I can't vouch for the reliability of any of this information but at least it's entertaining. And if you have any other favorite free e-book sources please leave a link in the comments. At some point I'll direct the Root Simple staff to add these and more to our resource page.

Food and Gardening
Bulk Sprouter
Bread Without an Oven
Building Soils for Better Crops
Colorado State University--Drying Vegetables
Collecting, Cutting and Handling Potato Seed
Everything Under The Sun: Food Storage for the Solar Oven

Medicine
Making Chinese Herbal Formulas Into Alcohol Extracts 
The Ayurveda Encyclopedia Natural Secrets to Healing Prevention and Longevity
How to Make Cannabis Foods and Medicines
The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees

Energy
Biogas
Biomass Stoves
Build your own Rocket Stove
Camp Stoves and Fireplaces

Transportation
Bicycle Know How

Zombie Apocalypse Skills (or "ZAS" since everything associated with the zombie apocalypse needs an acronym)
50 Emergency Uses for Your Camera Phone
Map Reading and Land Navigation
Boy Scouts Handbook 1911 Edition
Bug out Bag
5 Ways to Win a Fight 
Guerilla Warfare by Che Guevara 
Cold Weather Survival
Field Expedient Direction Finding

Sharing my files - Lots of PDFs on multiple topics

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Original Article

from Survivalist Forum by big country

I thought I would share my PDF files with anyone that needs some reading material.



I'll be adding even more over the next few days and weeks as I keep converting my files into PDFs I will post them here in batches. I don't make any money by sharing these or soliciting downloads. I'm hosting these purely as a way to give you guys some resources.





http://www.4shared.com/dir/3219gKfa/_online.html






Current files available right now:

Food and Water 117 files

Military Handbooks 57 files

Medical 14 files

Goldismoney.info forum rips 13 files

How to prepare for home quarantine

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Original Article

from Survivalist Forum by ComancheSniper

In the event of some kind of pandemic/epidemic, you should be prepared to quarantine yourself in your home. Lets discuss a few thing you should have at hand.



Being that we are preppers, I am not going to go into food and water preps as you should already have these on hand.

1. Avoid contact with others. This is number one for obvious reasons. The less contact you have with others the better.
2. Consider everybody as infected. Even family members. If you or your family have prolonged going to work, any one of you could be carrying the infection. Avoid hugs and kisses with your family for at least 2 weeks to be sure of negative infection. You may consider wearing gloves and mask around the house if you are not sure.
3. If somebody in the house is infected, that person needs to be segregated to a room of the house and that room needs to be duct taped closed and opened only to pass necessary items through then see rule #6.
4. Rubber gloves. Infectious disease can live on porous items for up wards of 72 hrs. Best not to trust this estimate. Consider all items coming in from the outside to be contaminated and should be washed with anti bacterial soap or a chlorine mix before handling with bare hands. Therefore, any item you pick up after the emergency starts need to be handled accordingly.
5. N100 Masks. Do not underestimate airborne particles. These will be the number one infection transmission method and should be mitigated.
6. If your are using a evaporative cooler, turn it off and seal your vents with duct tape. Think about a window mount air conditioner instead.
7. Seal air leaks in your home. All it takes is one particle of ionfectious material to doom your whole family. Since you will be indoors with not alot to do, do this.
8. Any time you come into near contact with anybody who is infected, you will need a shower. This is not an option.
9. Never touch your face with your hands. Your hands by default will be the most likely area of your body to contain infected debris.
10. All common items in the house should be disinfected after use regardless if anybody is sick. The kitchen and bathrooms should be meticulously cleaned after use. Every use.
11. If you are able to obtain Flu mitigation medication such as Tami-flu, get those now. Be sure to have entire courses of meds for every member of your family.
12. Your neighbors are not your friends. Do not watch their kids for them. Do not invite them in. Talk to them through windows. Don't even open the door to them. If they ask to talk with you outside or insist, tell them you are sick. That should end any unwanted conversations quickly.
13. If a family member dies in quarantine, Seal off the room until professionals can deal with it. Don't risk it. If you decide to take matters into your own hands, Wear long pants and long sleeves. Tuck your sleeves into your gloves. Dig your grave prior to moving the body. Spray the areas of the body you intend to touch with your bleach solution and wait 10 minutes before touching the body. Avoid touching the torso and head of the deceased person and only touch the disinfected extremities. Disinfect you clothing and shower after the operation is complete.
14. Do not wait for the government to shut down the schools before you pull your out!!!! The government is historically reactive. Be proactive.

Items to have on hand:

1. Rubber Gloves
2. N100 Masks
3. Duct tape - many rolls
4. Chlorine bleach
5. Tami Flu

While discussing these procedures with your neighbors may seem like a good idea, don't make it sound like your home is a safe zone or you will be invaded. Keep your infection control on the down low to minimize friendly or unfriendly visits from your neighbors. Never, ever tell them you have meds either.



Reference:



http://www.utahpreppers.com/2009/05/...-preparedness/



http://survivalreport.blogspot.com/2...-bird-flu.html




http://preparednesspro.wordpress.com...ay-quarantine/



http://www.survival-homestead.com/pa...-survival.html



http://www.survivetheflu.com/whattodo.html



http://survivallady.com/?p=75




http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/01/..._protecti.html

Ten Things To Do In Advance of a Hurricane

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Original Article

from Survival & Emergency Preparedness by noreply@blogger.com (Dave Markowitz)

It looks like there is a good chance that the Northeast US is going to get hit by Hurricane Irene this weekend.  Depending on your location there are several things you can do to prepare, even at the last minute:

1. Ensure you have plenty of food and water.

2. Fill the gas tanks in your vehicles. If you have gas cans fill them, too.

3. If you have a generator, do a test run and make sure you have plenty of fuel.

4. Make sure you have an ample supply of batteries for flashlights, lanterns, radios, etc.

5. If you might need to use an alternative cooking device, have plenty of fuel on hand. E.g., propane, Coleman fuel, or charcoal.

6. Have fuel and oil for chainsaws. Make sure it's working ahead of time.

7. Get some large tarps for quickly covering any roof or window damage due to wind or falling trees. You'll also need some means of securing the tarps - heavy duty cord, drywall screws, or nails.

8. Clean your gutters and make sure any drainage ditches or storm drains are clear.

9. Have a few hundred dollars in cash on hand.

10. Charge any rechargeable electric or electronic devices. E.g., drills, saws, cell phones, iPods, etc.

This is hardly an exhaustive list, but should get you started.