Survival Gear: A Sterno Stove

Well, guys, I am back. The holidays were fun, and I hope you had a good time too. Spent the weekend with family but it was a private thing, lots of food to stuff myself. Other than that, I am just relaxing right now and writing in my blog. Time for an update.

Several weeks ago, I had been looking all over for something that I would be able to cook on if my electricity gave out, or if I got stranded in my car and wanted to boil water. Well I heard that a pretty good way was to work with Sterno and I heard about this Sterno stove that folds up for a pack (see the picture above). Well I heard it used to be sold at Kmart, but no such luck. I perfer buying local over buying online so I did try to look around the many stores in my area. I looked all over! REI, Cabelas, Gander Mountain, Walmart, Fleet Farm (they had it at one time, but sold out.) All those places and I could not find it anywhere! Walmart did carry the cans of cooking fuel, but not the stove. Lo and behold, I find it on Amazon under Single Burner Folding Stove. Listed for about $8 ($13 total with ship and handling). Got it a week later. In the picture above it comes folded flat. It is a pretty nice little set up. The cans I bought seperate at my local Walmart for about $3-4 for a 2 pack. Burns up to about 2 and a half hours time.


This is what it looks like when it is all folded together with the fuel can sitting in it. It makes for a good size stove and fairly easy to assemble with directions.


This is what it looks like with the fuel burning. Again, not bad. Had a glass jar full of water boiling in about 15-20 minutes. This would work really well if you are making soup or need hot water for an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat). This is an easy way if your electricity goes out and you cant use a stove or a microwave. Or out of your car if stranded, or if you are out for an afternoon hike and want a hot meal. Good for camping too. This folds really small and flat. Perfect for a Get Home Bag, or a Bug Out Bag.

IMPORTANT NOTE! Sterno fuel is HIGHLY FLAMMABLE! Make sure you follow the manufacturers directions.

Survival Gear: a Camera and The Holidays!

First of all, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas out there to everyone. Christmas is normally a fun time of the year to be with the family, and that is what I am going to be doing for the next week or so. So, I might not be updating too much here for a little bit, but when I do post it will be some new stuff. I will update when I can though, so keep coming back!

Now on to the topic of survival gear. Yes, I will be throwing in from time to time some things that I think might be useful in cases of emergency. Right now, I am going to be starting with something simple. A couple of weeks ago, I purchased this....



A digital camera. Yes, a piece of technology. I think this is well worth it to have. It can be primarily used for recording things. What if there is a fire? Maybe a good pre-prep for recording everything that is in your home for the insurance company, or recording the experience of it? What if you are in a car accident? It is good for taking pictures of the place, the damage to your vehicle and the injuries sustained during it. How about taking pictures of your family and pets, in case the unthinkable happens and they come up missing? Recent photos help. How about help teaching others? The photos make a good aid in making tutorials on how to make stuff for others to follow, especially online. I think this is more than enough reason to have a digital camera in your collection. Here I am just throwing out a few suggestions.

I just thought I would post this up. Till next time. Happy Holidays!

Survival: How I started out.

Getting started in living this way seems like a huge undertaking. Let me tell you it does take time to get started, but once started it is easy to keep up with. Here is the basic way I began to change my thinking and started to prepare. Again, I am not the tin foil hat type most of the time, so I just started easy. I started asking basic questions. Here is a list to maybe get you started:

"What do I do if I get into a car accident, or if I get stranded? What do I do, or what do I need?"

"What do I do if I get sick and or I am (insert weather emergency here) in that I cant get to the grocery store?"

"What do I do if I get lost?"

Just basic questions like those that got me thinking. Try and think up more questions that would pertain to you and where you live, the things that are more than likely to happen to you or in your area. Then set a plan of action, maybe finding a way to store up some extra food, or have what we call a "Get Home Bag" in the car, maybe learn to use a map. Those questions where the exact same questions that I asked myself when I started out. Then I did my searching for good references that would help me out, some of which are on the left hand side under Survival Links.

Survival: Making Life Easier By Starting Small.

The reason why I am doing the survival bit is to save me money and to live a bit more comfortably. When many think survival, they think that they need to have the most expensive items. Not so, really. It is all in the planning. Maybe the best way to start out is to start small. Try buying that extra can of soup or that extra pack of toilet paper when it is on sale. That is exactly what I did. (I try to buy canned food when it is cheap, my fresh fruits and veggies when it is on sale and in bulk when I need dry goods. I find that is the cheapest way to work around my food expenses.) Then set it aside from the rest of your food, using proper ways of storing it. Maybe keeping your eyes open for deals on the every day stuff that you use. Make a list of your most common used items and watch for sales on them. Work with cash instead of using that credit card. You dont need to make huge expensive purchases to make a difference. Just simple small things that can lead to big changes over time.

Living life.

Unless you have been living under a rock lately, life has gotten a bit uncomfortable these days for a lot of people. The same is here too. I have dealt with living my life under some hard times. Not much money, not much of a life, basically living in a survival mode these last few years. But as I look at what I have been going through, my experiences have shaped me for what I do now. By choice and by force, I have learned to live with less, and learned to live off less.

Over time, I changed from thinking "this sucks" to "wow, life is better", even though I have less. I just needed to learn how to work around problems and be resourceful. I had to learn skills that I should have been taught a long time ago. Things on living, not just for a career, but for my life. How to take care of things, and how to get STUFF done. Basically how to take care of me. I have taken up the survivalist mind. NO! Not the type of the tin foil hat, the world is coming to an end sort. I am talking on things how to take care of me. How to take care of emergencies. How to make and save food the old fashioned way, just to save cash. How to make things, literally everything from scratch. How to change parts of my life when needed. Learn skills that many would consider outdated, but come in handy when the situation arises? Cooking, sewing, making stuff.

Maybe I could use this blog to teach what I learned or point to resources to help others?

Doing stuff.

I know that I have not updated this site in a long time. Well I have come back and I am adding some stuff. Might change things up a bit since this place has gone a bit stale. I have noticed that life has gotten a little hard for some people and I might spread the wealth of information that I have learned in my life.

Will post more later.