The Absolute Rights newsletter today published the “Disaster Preparedness Is Why The “Get Out Of Dodge” Report Was Created” article. The Absolute Rights newsletter explains the following disasters are covered in depth in the “Get Out Of Dodge” report, along with many others, so download a copy today.

Hurricane Katrina struck swiftly and suddenly during the storm season of 2005, the newsletter adds. It was the sixth strongest hurricane ever recorded in the United States and caused the deaths of over 1,800 people, reveals the newsletter. The Absolute Rights newsletter says that over 26,000 people were forced into temporary residence at the local football stadium; the Superdome.

The Los Angeles Riots of 1992 shocked the nation and reminded people that they do not need nature to create a disaster, the newsletter reports. Sometimes humans are capable of doing far more damage than any natural disaster, the Absolute Rights newsletter explains. There will be no weather report issuing warnings of an oncoming riot, adds the newsletter.

The newsletter reveals that earthquakes are the result of sudden releases of energy in the Earth’s crust which create seismic waves. As a result, the newsletter explains that anything which sits on the surface is in danger of falling apart or breaking.

The Texas Forest Service has had a heck of a time in Bastrop County lately, because the newsletter reports, that back in September of 2011 36,000 acres went up in smoke and 1645 homes burnt in total. Over 25,000 acres and 500 homes burned in just over 24 hours after the start of the fire, the newsletter adds.

Learning about emergency water purification is also a key element of surviving a disaster, the Absolute Rights newsletter explains, because potable water is typically the first thing people do not have access to in a disaster situation. Being prepared with a personal emergency water filtration can mean the difference in survival, the newsletter adds. Download a copy of the disaster preparedness “Get Out Of Dodge” report before disaster strikes, the Absolute Rights newsletter advises.

Recently, Mike Adams (aka The Health Ranger) invited me to come on his show to talk to his audience about survival, bugging out and – of course – health issues in relation to survivalism and preparedness.  I’ve always been a big fan of the work Mike has been doing with Natural News and I have a great deal of respect for his activism and passion to inform people about the dangers of Big Pharma, Big Agro and the threats to our health freedom, so I was extremely honored to be asked to appear on his show.

If you’re unfamiliar with Natural News (www.naturalnews.com) I highly recommend you check it out.  For several years it’s been one of my main go-to sources for naturopathic health information as well as health news and  the straight-up TRUTH that you’ll never get from the mainstream media.

Always a loaded question, always fodder for debate and argument and always a question that is pretty much impossible to answer.  

Cold Steel, Becker, Blind Horse, Gerber, Tom Brown or the ever popular (and wallet-friendly) Mora?  Well, our friend Adam from Equip 2 Endure takes a shot at answering that question, covering models by all those fine knife makers and more.

“What is the best knife for survival?” is a question I get all the time. In this video I go over the strong point and the weak point on a few blades and try to answer that question the best way possible. Let me know what you think, you perspective on this question. Take care and be safe.
- Adam

This is a question I get asked a lot as well, but I always say I can’t tell people what’s best,  just what I personally like best (at that time).  When it comes down to it, the “best” knife depends on what you’re going to use it for and what your personal preference is.  But it’s still fun to watch some gear porn, and hear someone else’s opinion…

Unless their opinion is WRONG, that is…  (just kidding)

I just wish he would have included an ESEE in that lot.

One of the most important, but probably one of the most overlooked aspects of survival preparedness is hygiene. In a disaster or collapse situation in which the services which most of us take for granted – such as water sanitation and trash removal – stop running, you will see large outbreaks of sickness and disease that come as result of living in our own waste in densely populated areas.

In medieval times, much of the massive death and disease that swept across Europe came as result of more and more people living closer together, with no understanding of how poor sanitation affects health. People simply disposed of their garbage and offal out in the streets (a practice that continued in cities well until the late 19th century) and with no knowledge of bacteria, viruses and how diseases spread, their homes and very bodies were breeding grounds for illness. When the black plague swept across the landscape, there often wasn’t enough man-power to adequately bury the massive numbers of dead bodies, which lead to even more disease.

Not to put too fine of a point on it, but in the event of a large-scale disaster or general TEOTWAWKI situation where the electrical grid and/or municipal services are shut down for an extended period of time (if not permanently), we could find ourselves in exactly the same situation.

Hygiene can be one of the most important things to focus on during a disaster. It can mean the difference between comfort and suffering. In addition, hygiene preparation can also affect the quality of life of the survivors once the disaster recovery is recovered. Preparing and executing doesn’t have to be an intense process. You just need to uphold simple habits that will maintain adequate levels of health and hygiene. The following steps are not necessarily in chronological order.

Just like everything else in survival and preparedness, a good hygiene plan requires… Well… Planning. The following article on “Instructables” outlines good hygiene planning and practices for disaster situations. With the exception of their advice on vaccinations, it’s a pretty good starting point in building your “hygiene kit” and mapping your own survival sanitation plan.

CLICK HERE to read the article.

Have you given any thought to stocking up on items specifically for barter?  I’ve written and spoken about this on several occasions and it’s my firm belief that if there is an economic collapse or a societal breakdown that leads to a TEOTWAWKI existence, the currency of the day will be barter ( at least until some semblance  of a society starts to re-emerge.)  And no matter how well stocked you are, you’re eventually gonna need something.

But what should you store for barter?  What common (and inexpensive) items that you take for granted today may be a valuable commodity in a post-collapse world?  Should you start storing barter items now?

Well, I came across this video by Pastor Joe Fox (Viking Preparedness) about barter items.  I had never seen any of his videos before and out of curiosity, I checked it out to see what his opinions were on the subject. In this video, Pastor Joe brings up all the important points and I think he nailed it right on the head on all of them.  I also checked out a couple of his other videos which I really enjoyed and recommend checking out.

In the last year or so, and especially since we rolled into 2012, there has been a greater focus on prepping and survivalism in the media.  But is all this media attention helping spread awareness and legitimize the practice of preparedness?  Or is it being used as another vessel to deliver Kool Aid to the sheeple?

Lets take the most obvious (and most talked about) example; NatGeo’s “Doomsday Preppers”.   I personally know a few of the people who have been featured on that show and I know how the show’s formula works.  Unlike most of the other programming on the National Geographic channel, this show is not intended to educate, enlighten or expand anyone’s horizons.  It seems that their objective is to treat preparedness like it’s some sort of cult fad, like mood rings or line dancing, and portray preppers as the usual stereotype…  

Extremely deluded, paranoid and gun crazy.

Instead of sending the message: “You should be paying attention to what these people are doing.”  The show simply states: “Get a load of these kooks.”

Every prepper they feature on the show is compelled to pigeon-hole themselves by identifying the one thing that they are preparing for, implying to the viewers that each person is obsessed with or fixated on only one potential disaster.  To add insult to injury, they then roll in one of their “experts” to immediately invalidate or dismiss the likelihood of that event ever occurring.  So essentially, the show itself is debunking or discrediting preppers right from the start.

The producers of the show also contrive staged activities for the preppers to act out in front of the cameras for the sake of entertainment.  I’m not sure if they did so with everybody, but one such participant of the show told me that they were under a lot of pressure from the producer to make the show “more entertaining” by engaging in activities that they don’t normally do.  Like covertly sneaking food storage into their home in the middle of the night, so the neighbors won’t see.

There’s really no such thing as “reality” TV.  It may be “unscripted”, but the directors and producers know how to manipulate the show in order to convey whatever they want to convey.  You’d be amazed at how a little clever editing can drastically change the whole tone or message of a scene, even when it’s not staged.

Perhaps the worst thing about all this is when other media picks up the ball and have a whack at denigrating the preppers on the show, such as this backhanded heading of a review from the Hollywood Reporter:

A fascinating look into a survivalist subculture busily preparing for the end of organized civilization, Doomsday Preppers treads on thin ethical ice when it critiques and encourages its protagonists plans while knowing full well that their apocalyptic fantasies have little chance of actually coming to pass.

Others nearly vilify preppers as in a recent article in the New York Times:

“Preppers” and “Bunkers” are both full of footage of people firing or lovingly cradling their weaponry, which in many cases is frighteningly extensive. (You really don’t want the guy in last week’s “Preppers” living next door; in addition to a house full of ammunition, he has stockpiled 50 gallons of gasoline, an unsettling combination.) 

…the unmistakable impression left by these programs is that what these folks want most of all is not to protect their families — the standard explanation for why they’re doing what they’re doing — or even the dubious pleasure of being able to say to the rest of us, “See, I told you the world was going to end.” What they want is a license to open fire.

So I guess we can all sleep better tonight knowing that all is well in the world and nothing bad could ever, EVER happen that we would ever need to be prepared for.  And don’t listen to those bat-sh%t crazy preppers…  In fact, you might want to cross the street if you see one.   Those gun nuts are just itching for an excuse to shoot.

Most preppers and survivalists are familiar with these excruciating exquisite packages of dag-nasty necessity called MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat.  You love ‘em you hate ‘em, you can’t live without ‘em…  I remember when MREs were fairly new, and unlike today, you could only get them at the PX/BX of your nearest military installation – meaning you had to be active service or knew somebody who was in order to get your hands on some.

At least I don’t think they were sold anywhere else.  We didn’t have the internet back in those days and I had a friend who was stationed at a nearby A.F.B. who used to pick them up for me, so I never had to look around for them.

If you think MREs are bad now, they were slightly worse back then…  Well, ok, they were more than slightly worse…  They were awful…  Everything except the main entree was dehydrated.  The fruit, the pudding, the crackers…  

Oops, sorry, the crackers were dehydrating, not dehydrated.  

And they didn’t have any fancy entrees like they do now.  I think there were only like 4 flavors:  

• Ravioli-ish in tomato sauce
• Beef something-or-other
• Chicken slurry
• and…..  uh…  I wanna say…  Meatloaf?  

I don’t really remember the last one, but I do remember how revolting they were.  And I loved them!

I loved the fact that they were compact and easy to pack for camping and backpacking trips, or to keep in the car in case you get stranded.  I loved the fact that they would last for 15-odd years (and I wasn’t even a prepper back then), and I loved the fact that it was a no-hassle method of bringing food with you in a hurry (sometimes I would bring ‘em to work with me if I didn’t have time to make a lunch…  Should have seen some of the looks I got!)

It’s not surprising that MREs are popular with preppers and survivalists, and the food really isn’t that bad .  When you’re starving, everything tastes better anyway.  But the full meals can be a little bulky and they cost between $7 and $9 each, (a little cheaper by the case) depending on where you get them.  

You can save quite a few dollars by making  your own MREs at home. They won’t have nearly the shelf-life of a military MRE (maybe about 2 years if you seal it up), but for about $3.50-$4.00 each, you can’t really go wrong.  

In the amusing video below, a former Marine builds his own MRE from items purchased at a dollar store and compares it to the military MRE.  

Hey Folks.. I made a HOMEMADE Equivalent to the real military MRE’s..fun times. now build yer own for fun and profit,or further your ability to establish a storage medium

Dollar stores are great places to find packaged food items that you can keep in your bug-out bag or use in a homemade MRE.  I typically don’t recommend eating processed food as part of your regular diet, but in this case, I make an exception.  In a survival situation, a few single-serve containers of beef stew or pasta will do the opposite of kill you.

I also like to get the 4oz. tins of Poland brand smoked kippers (that’s Herring folks) at the dollar store in my area.  They’re thin and lightweight and you can slide a bunch of them into all kinds of spots in your BOB, pack or car.  There’s a day’s worth of protein right there.  And they’re tasty…  I eat them all the time with wheat thins.  Mmmmm-boy.

The only other recommendation I would add, that wasn’t mentioned in this video is the use of a vacuum sealer, rather than a ziplock bag.  That will keep the baked items from going stale and molding.