Preparednessdaily.com

Celiac Disease: The Gluten-Free Prepping Challenge, by Geoff in Kentucky

From SurvivalBlog.com

In mid-2010 I began to suffer from some relatively severe digestive problems. After several months of discomfort, and many rounds of expensive medical tests, I finally received a confirmed diagnosis. I had Celiac Disease.

Celiac Disease is a digestive disorder that is greatly misunderstood. It is not a food allergy. It is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system produces antibodies to a specific protein, gluten, that is found in the ordinary grains of wheat, rye, and barley. This protein adheres to the microscopic villi (fingerlike projections) in the small intestine. As the body’s immune system attacks the protein the intestinal wall is also attacked. This results in severe tissue damage, vitamin and iron deficiencies, and several forms of severe gastric distress.

Celiac Disease primarily affects people of northern European ancestry. It can present at any age. Young children with the disease often present with malnutrition and wasting. Later onset of the disease (as in my case) does not follow any particular pattern. Individuals may be under or overweight and demonstrate a vast array of possible symptoms. One receives a confirmed diagnosis only through a positive blood test (anti-TTG antibody) and a positive intestinal biopsy. Left untreated, this disease can lead to certain cancers and even complete destruction of the small intestine.

There is no drug to treat this disease, but the damage and symptoms are reversible. The simple treatment for the disease is to avoid all foods containing gluten. This eliminates every…

Have you thought about pets in your preparedness planning?

From The Survival Mom™

…

Wisefoodgrabandgo

From Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

A pretty cool selection of freeze dried food in a bucket designed to grab and go which would be ideal for short term emergencies like natural disasters. They will be be raising the price on the wise food storage 60 servings from 99 dollars to 109 dollars after March 1st.

Wanting to add to the group

From What if IT is today? – A Survivalist’s Blog

After yesterdays post where I’m complaining about not having group members who want to work, I had an interesting talk with Army daughter.  She called last night because she needed a little cheering up.  Her in-laws are visiting from out of state and the dinner news was how this aunt and that uncle were sick and dying.  She needed a pep talk.  What did the conversation end up with?  They need shelves in the garage.  Why?  Because their storage food is all over the garage and when they have the garage doors up the neighbors can see everything.  Not only that but her next door neighbors don’t have any food storage and they know that Army daughter does.  Then she said that since next door husband is armed (he is in a special law enforcement agency) if the TSHTF  she’d expect him to just forcibly take their food.  After all, son-in-law sees no need to be armed. 

That’s a good possibility.  Her answer?  Store all their food at my house.  Then when the time comes for them to take shelter here their share of food will already be here.  That’s true.  They can also give me money and I can just use it to purchase food.  Or, I suggested, we shop together?  It shouldn’t be only my responsibility to get the food for your family.  (Army daughter and son-in-law are very good at offering to pay but…

Sale on Freeze Dried meat and cheese and other unabashed plugs

From What if IT is today? – A Survivalist’s Blog

As you may have noticed, I do not have ads on my blog that you can click on to earn me a few cents from your purchases.  I figure there are enough people doing that so I’m not monetizing my blog.  Every once in a while I plug my friend GI Jim and his store up in the small town of Prather.  I also have a link to Major Surplus and Survival down in the LA area.  I used to shop there, until I discovered GI Jim, but there’s no reason to remove them as a link.  I’ve also plugged books like the Prepper’s Pocket  Guide http://apartmentprepper.com/, which I got for free as a reviewer, but the book is worth plugging even if I did get it free.

One of the sellers I’ve promoted is Misty Marsh.  She is a Shelf Reliance consultant.  I’m not sure how their consulting business works nor do I really care.  I’m not getting into storage food sales.  Misty will provide free samples if you wish to try something out.  But, these aren’t free to her.  She has to pay for them.  Still she will provide you with a trial if you want to sample before you buy.  Today I received an email from Misty about a sale.  I thought it would be worth passing on.  This sale goes from Feb 20th through March 18th. 
3 Freeze Dried Ckn & 3 Ground Beef Pack: 
Retail:…

SHTF “Go To” Gun photo contest: Entry #55, #56, #57 and #58

From ModernSurvivalOnline.com

Beware evil that lurks in the dark……these folks are waiting for you.

Scottie sent the following:

Though it may not have the knock down p
ower of other guns,

…

Urban and Suburban Preparedness, by ChemEngineer

From SurvivalBlog.com

A recent conversation prompted this article. It seems that friends in urban and suburban homes feel that there may be little hope for them in case of disaster, since they have no “retreat” set up in a rural area as a destination. This article points out similarities in all disaster preparedness, as well as possible differences in strategies and tactics to make surviving in urban and suburban locations more likely. None of these are new ideas, just slanted toward those who are urban/ suburban dwellers and that do not have a rural retreat location.

While not detailed in scope, below are several points to assist in preparedness for survival in urban/ suburban locations for those who cannot or will not choose to relocate to a rural existence.

1. Attitude is Critical. As in rural retreating, or any other kind of survival situation, urban and suburban dwellers must adopt the attitude that surviving the bad time is an achievable goal, and whatever can be done to ensure survivability will be done. It may not involve acres of tilled soil or forests of trees, but in all except situations of total annihilation, people can survive in urban/ suburban spaces if properly prepared.
2. Air. Three minutes without breathe-able air is a problem. Urban/suburban dwellers may find the air more polluted than the rural tribes from fallout, burning buildings, any number of hazards. Gas masks and adequate replacement filters can go a long way for personal protection,

…

Top-5 Things For Survival Preparedness

From Modern Survival Blog – surviving uncertain times

Assuming that you are currently living somewhat ‘normally’, that is, you have shelter and the typical things one has today, then the top five things you could own for survival preparedness can be found in the following list.

1. good quality water filter
2. food storage
3. defense
4. communications equip
5. first-aid

Water comes first. Without it, or any form of it (including the water in foods), most would die after 3 or 4 days. It may sound unrealistic, but it is absolutely true. Most people take water for granted. It seems plentiful and all around us at times. The thing is, we need ‘drinking’ water. Not all water, and in fact most water is not safe to drink without some form of filtration or purification.

The number one recommended thing for survival preparedness is a quality water filter. A big table-top ceramic filter type of unit. Something like the Big Berkey. There are a few others of similar high quality, I just happen to own a Big Berkey so I a favor it.

Food Storage is number two. After you have secured a means to produce safe drinking water and survive beyond 3 days, you will need food! We can survive much longer without food, but will become fairly useless after not replenishing our bodies with calories and nutrients. Believe it or not, the grocery stories could easily be completely…

Independence Days

From SHTF blog

How do you find time to do it all?

Where do you start?

How do you gauge progress?

These are common questions from people new to the prepping scene.  Of course you can’t do everything all at once, most people just don’t have the time/money/space for it.  We have to do it one step at a time.

As preppers we tend to focus on the Beans, Bullets and Band-aids.  The Beans part can be overwhelming, especially if you can’t do (or aren’t interested in) the Year-of-Dry-Food packages from food storage venders. There are those who advocate for coupons and bulk buys. And there are those who go for the flats of MRE’s.  I follow a different path.  I like to know where my food comes from so that I can keep getting it, even when the trucks aren’t delivering. That means a combination of growing my own, gleaning, and buying from local producers.   That takes a lot more time, and a lot more small steps.

Small steps can be useful, they are more manageable, and easier to fit into a budget. But, the flip side is they take a little more coordination to keep in synch and it’s easy to lose track of goals and accomplishments.

One of the tools I use to help keep myself accountable for progress made (or not made, whatever the case may be) is the Independence Days challenge that Sharon Astyk started on her blog.  The premise…

Please Welcome our Newest Sponsor – My Family Thrives

From Tactical Intelligence

Just wanted to take some time to welcome our latest sponsor to TI – My Family Thrives!

Amy over at My Family Thrives specializes in selling food-storage related products made by Shelf Reliance. Here’s a little about My Family Thrives and Shelf Reliance:

Shelf Reliance is the leader in top quality food storage and food rotating shelves. Their specialty foods are freeze-dried, which have been picked at peak ripeness, flash frozen and 99% moisture removed.

This process preserves the nutrition, color, shape and flavor of fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy, giving THRIVE foods up to a 25-YEAR shelf-life! What an incredible investment!

Use the website to calculate and customize your food storage needs, find recipes & begin your road to preparedness. Amy at My Family Thrives is an Independent Consultant with Shelf Reliance who has been practicing and teaching food storage skills for the past 7 years. Why just survive, when you can THRIVE!

You can visit Amy’s online store at MyFamilyThrives.

*Note: Amy gives special discounts for large purchases (over $ 400) if you contact her through her website before ordering. Please don’t hesitate to ask her if you have any questions about products or need any assistance with long-term food storage. She’s always happy to help!