Survival Gear: The Army's Greatest Invention

No, it is not a gun, or a plane. It's a can opener. Yes a can opener. A P-38 Military Can Opener to be exact. Yes, unless you have been in the Army, though I dont think they use them anymore (if I am wrong please correct me in the comments area), you might have not seen the style of one of these before. Sure there are the commercial hand held openers, but many of our veterans have sworn by these. Years ago these used to come in C-rations for opening the canned goods that came with them. The actual can opener itself is a little bit smaller than what the picture shows, it is exactly 2 inches long and an inch and an 8th wide. It is steel, with a 3/4ths of an inch curved claw blade that can open almost any can, and be used for other purposes too, like cutting things that need cutting, or used as a mini screwdriver. It is small, light, compact, and to me seems pretty tough and the hole on the end makes it so it could be put on a necklace or keychain. I tried it out on a can of tuna for my lunch yesterday. This is a useful little tool.

BTW, I bought 15 of these for $7 total at amazon, though supposedly many have lasted a lifetime for our veterans.

Go here for more information on this little tool at Wikipedia. There is another link on that page to Georgia Outfitters where they have veterans stories on how this little tool was used too in the resources area.

Survival Gear: Field Testing Part 2

I am just quick making another post because there are also a few other things that I forgot to mention. It is a good idea to field test your gear for several good reasons.

1. It is good practice. Get comfortable actually using it, even if it is for mundane things. Good example is what I mentioned in my last post, I made my lunch with it. What good is your gear if you do not know how to use it or how it works? Testing in relatively safe conditions before you happen to get into trouble helps.

2. It shows where you can make improvements with your bag, and your personal skills. Are there things that you forgot to add? Or is there something that you did not think of, but found you could use later? For example, my bag could use a rag for cleaning things like dishes. Or maybe an extra pair of socks to keep your feet dry? If you do not have it, then you cant use it.

3. Testing shows how well your gear performs too. Maybe you bought or made something that was supposed to work, but didn't?

4. It gives you a chance to use up the perishable things in your bag so that way what you have does not go to waste. Waste not, want not.

These are all good things to keep in mind when you put together an emergency bag. Someday you may have to rely on it.

Survival Gear: Field Testing!

You know, sometimes it is good to field test your gear from time to time. It is good practice, and sometimes you get some surprising results. I wanted to get used to using my vehicle bag for basic stuff. What I decided to do was use it to make myself lunch, just a simple mountain house meal. I carry with me some sterno with a sterno stove and a magnesium firestarter as a part of my kit. Remember, I tested this setup once before at home, and it worked pretty well. But there was a difference, it was AT HOME and I used a glass jar. This time I went to a small park, used the same stove and my canteen cup and water that I had stored in my vehicle. This time, it took longer because I was outside and there was a bit of wind, and the water never really got to boiling, but it did get barely hot enough to use. This is something to keep in mind if I am going to use this setup again. In calm conditions it might be different. But hey, it helped start the baby steps to starting out in outdoor cooking, and it feels good to know that I can cook a basic meal anywhere... I hope to do more soon. This is a good example though to go out and practice some skills and get comfortable with using different tools.

Site Edit: Wolves love Birdies!

Just wanting to let you guys know, this old wolf is now on Twitter! Click the follow me button on the right side of the page to get den updates! The Wolf Den is now LIVE on Twitter!

Also, if you like any of my articles and want to share them, you can now click the 'Tweet THIS' button at the bottom of each post! Spread the word about this place!

Slight update!

Hey guys, I know it has been a month since I posted anything. I promise I should have some articles up by the end of this week. This past month I have been taking care of some things on the *ahem* cave front. Which is what survival is after all. Take care of your own home first, then the world.

Just thought I would put up a quick post first.

Survival Mentality: Quiz Question Reply

Answer: It is YOU! You are your greatest survival tool, both body and mind. It is yours and yours alone. What you do with it, how you feed it, take care of it, and teach it can possibly make the difference if you would make it out of a situation. How in shape is your body? Do you exercise, or do you lay on the couch all day (sorta guilty on that one...). Do you eat fruits and veggies? Or do you eat fast food? Do you teach yourself new skills, or was the last time you read a book back in high school? I think these are legitimate questions to ask yourself, and GET HONEST WITH YOURSELF! That is the best thing, getting honest.

I know I am guilty on not doing a lot of that stuff, like the exercising, and not eatin right, and I have only myself to blame on that one. But, I am going to fix that and start a small routine. I have some exercises that are pretty simple to do that will help me. As far as the food issue, I have been recently going to the farmers market on saturdays getting fresh stuff to eat, while supporting local farmers, and getting lots of exercise from the walking and lifting! The skills thing I am working on right now. I had bought several books that, while I am sitting on the couch, I am at least reading them, and gaining knowledge on what to do. So far I have Urban Survival Guide and Cody Lundin's book 'When All Hell Breaks Loose.' (Reviews are coming on those!) And soon I will be doing the lessons and ideas from those books. Also just recently I have been field testing a few items that I have bought and am actually working with. I bought a second small Sterno stove (Wow, say that five times fast) to use for just as a second stove here at home, or to have an extra for my vehicle bag. Also, keeping up this blog is a good thing too, because I am not only reminding myself what I have learned, but I am also helping you guys out there too. Practicing these things also helps to get the mindset, and helps not to let panic set in. I never knew the freedom of carrying a mini kitchen with me, and having the skills to make a meal whenever I wanted. It felt kind of nice. If you know what to do in hard situations, you are less likely to panic, and more likely to live. Even speaking is a good skill, as Bob mentioned in his comment on my last article, it might be able to get you out of trouble.

I am not sure what made me write this post. Maybe it was the show 'I shouldnt be alive'. Where a couple got lost in the jungle for several nights, and did what they could to survive, on hardly any water, an very little food. The sheer mentality got them through it. Or it maybe just a random thought or two.

To sum everything up... Your body and mind is the best survival tool you have, and everyone knows, if you neglect your tools, they wont work when you need them the most. So take care of it! Thanks to everyone who has responded, and sorry for the delay. Thanks again!

Survival Mentality: Quiz question!

Ok, I know that I have been doing a lot of product reviews and have not gone into the survival mentality too much since I started this blog. I thought I would just put a question out there that might get some folks gray matter going. I think most on here might get it right away, but here goes...

Question: What is your greatest survival tool?

Feel free to post your answers in the comments area.

(BTW, I will be posting the comments in a few days!)

Survival Gear: Cup and canteen

Water. Something we take for granted. For thousands of year the human populace has lived near sources of water. We need it, but for the longest time, we have been complacent about it. It used to be for some of us to take the bucket to the nearest water source daily, now it is just turn on the tap and hello WATER! Statistically we can live 3 weeks without food, but we cannot live three days without clean drinking water. It keeps us alive and healthy. Why am I talking about this? Well the situation in Massachusetts comes to mind. Seems that many would be willing to give their right or left (fill in body part here) for clean drinking water.

I am no expert on this, but boiling it does work. There are filters out there that do work too. M.D. Creekmore mentions of a water filter that you can make. There are commercial filters out there that you can purchase too. There are also ways of chemically treating it too. A combination of these methods is the best for removing impurities and bugs. Personally so far I have just bought bottled water for storage and rotate it when needed, will be working on my water skills when I can. I need to work on a lot of skills.

And of course, storing them in jugs and water specific containers is the best for storage. There are water specific conatiners out there, but my advice to you if you re-use containers... DO NOT USE MILK JUGS! Even the ones that you fill up at the store. I have known them to leak, and water leaks are no fun to clean up in a home. Get ones that are meant to hold water for long periods, and make sure that you clean them before putting clean water in them. Make sure you read up on how to store water, (I am doing that myself, I got Cody Lundin's book "When All Hell Breaks Loose". Might do a review on that in the future).

Also, get used to carrying some water with you, either in a backpack, vehicle, or purse. It is sometimes nice to have a drink of water on you, without having to pay too much for it. Since I travel a lot, I picked up a military G.I. metal cup, a 1 quart canteen and cover at Camping Survival. I want to add that, that online store is excellent! Speedy service. Two paws up! The whole canteen kit fits well on my backpack too. I wanted the metal cup so that way if I needed to boil water with it, I can (Yay for multipurpose!)

So, that is all that I can think of for now, sorry for the delay between posts, been doing a lot of stuff around here. If any of you want to add anything to this article, please put it in the comments area!

Survival Media: After Armageddon

Hey, back again with another review! This time I am giving a review on The History Channels documentary 'After Armageddon'. The premise of the documentary is what more than likely will happen after a huge catastrophe, and in this case they used a global pandemic. Which in reality, I could see that happen some what. Disease spreads really fast and can move with speed, especially if someone is a carrier, and do not know it. So I could see this as plausible but slightly far fetched.

What they try to show is what would possibly happen with an "average" family, what should be done to protect a family during a crisis like this and what might happen afterwords. They talk about what would happen in the cities as far as food, water, and basic sanitation services, if those fail due to the crisis. They talk about other things like human migration from the large populaces. And what I like most of all is that it talks about the human behavioral aspect before, during and after too, from what I can see. Mind you I am just a beginner (as in no formal training) in learning this stuff, but so far this looks like a very good documentary as a layman's common sense perspective. Just to mention where I got it, I downloaded it from Itunes, just to add it to my collection.

Survival Resource: The Survivalist Blog Resource list!

I just wanted to post that M.D. Creekmore came out with an excellent resource list that spans a huge list of skills and topics. Some good reference and resource materials. Check it out!

Survival Food: Honeyville Farms

Every once in a while I like to try out new companys, especially when they are recommended by others. Well about a week back The Survival Mom recommended the site Honeyville Farms as a good place to buy dried goods. So I did check out the site. To me they looked legit so I thought I would give them a chance, so I placed an order for 2 cans of their Freeze Dried Apples a week ago. I just got the small cans, not #10 size. What really pleased me is that this is one of the few businesses that does take Paypal as an ordering option. It makes things so much easier to pay for stuff online. Well, I just got my order today and tested one of the cans out. The product tastes really good! I was pretty impressed. I opened one can which I will use and the other went into my long term storage.

With good taste, good service, timely shipping as well as well packed, this is definitely worth a two paws up! Full Recommendation. If I get any other items from them, I will post about them on here.

Survival food: More Mountain House!

Yep! I taste tested some more Mountain House stuff! This time I did three different items from them. Two out of the three I liked. The two that I liked were their meals. I tried Chili Mac with Beef (shown above), which I did like as it was full of good beans, noodles and meat. Also had a pretty strong spicy flavor to my taste. I would suggest this for a good home meal, or a back packing meal. It was that good. Two paws up!

The second one was Lasagana with Beef, (unfortunately no picture). This one was pretty good, albeit slightly more bland than the chili mac. Had tomato sauce, lasagna noodles, cheese like stuff, and meat. Still though it was tasty and with the right spices I would make it better. I would have it for a vehicle bag or something for a hike. Both meals were very filling. Here a hesitant two paws up.



The third one I had was one of their desserts, their neapolitan ice cream. It was a bit of a different experience. It had a texture that felt like I was chewing on styrofoam that melted and tasted sweet in 3 different flavors. I am not sure if I would try this again, it was not bad... just not what I am used to. The jury is still out on this one, though not too enthuastic about it.

Have any of you tried other Mountain House products or other MREs? Please feel free to post your suggestions and opinions!

Survival Skill: Laundry Day!

Well, maybe not a survival skill per-se but, more of a home domestication skill. I know if you are in a survival situation water will be more valuable, but I think this would come in handy if electricity goes out for a few weeks or for a longer term solution, provided that you have a reliable source of water, if electricity is still out. Our great grandparents learned to clean their clothes long before there was a washing machine or electricity. To me during tough times, cleanliness is everything. You keep clean, and you keep relatively healthy. So, I think this skill might come in handy.

What I use is just a regular rubber dish basin (you can also use a clean bucket) and a toilet plunger. Why a toilet plunger? It is good for agitating the fabric, (as well as good exercise for your arms!) I got the basin for $6 at a grocery store and plunger for $3 at a huge box hardware store. BTW, I use that plunger for laundry ONLY, nothing else, hehehe. I have a seperate plunger for the toilet. What I use for cleaning materials is borax ($4 a box), Dr Bronner's Magic Castille Soap (the most expensive at $9.50, HOWEVER, I use very little per load), white vinegar ($1.25), and regular bleach ($4-ish). NOTE: I only use bleach for bed linens, and undergarments. Do not use bleach like Hi-lex on colored stuff, it will take out the dyes in color garments. Also, I don't touch bleach water with my bare hands. I heard it is not good to do that. So I use rubber gloves. Does anyone know if this is true? I also use Ivory bar soap for things that will stain. Add the clothes into the basin, work with the plunger for a while, rub out any clothes with stains, and then rinse your clothes really, really well.

For drying clothes, I just wring them out really well, and hang them up someplace that it is o.k. to let them drip dry. Clothes lines work well for most places, but for places like an apartment, I recommend an inexpensive folding clothes rack. That is what I use. Depending on the time of the year, clothes are usually dry within a day. If I need my stuff dry within few hours, I take and put the clothing rack in front of my box fan, since I have electricity.

Again, sorry for the long delay between posts, been busy with some stuff.

Survival Gear: Sewing Awl

I have read on many Emergency Bag lists that sewing needles and thread should be added, usually a small boxed sewing kit. Well, I did find something that I think would be a good addition to a bag. Well I found a really nice sewing awl stitcher kit called 'Awl for All'.


It comes with the stitcher, instructions, two needles, a spool of really thick waxed thread, and a screwdriver tool. It is really light and compact with the needles and screwdriver all fit in the hollow wooden handle with room for extras if you need it. It works really well on sewing up thick leather and supposedly canvas. The most it does is a lock stitch, but for making repairs or needing to just sew things together, it works really nicely. I have been practicing on really thick leather. It is something I would add to a bag or just use every day. I picked it up for about $11 at Sportsman's Guide . They do have a deluxe kit, with the stitcher with some large spools of thread and extra needles outside what the original kit has.



This is what it looks like all together with some practice stitches.

CORRECTION: I added in the word 'supposedly' when mentioning it works well with leather and canvas. I have not worked with it on canvas... yet. I will try it though. Sorry about that. Also, there is a main website Awl for All for the little awl. It says it can be used on tarp, plastic and sail material. Thought I would add that.

Updates coming on monday

Hey guys, sorry I have been a little big lax on getting some updates done this week. I had some personal stuff going on that kept me pretty busy. I promise you I will have something up by tomorrow. I will be reviewing a couple of books that I received recently, and might practice some canning too.

Oh, also I was able to find a bit more gear that might come in handy, I will be doing a short review on that too. More coming up later.

Survival Food: Farmers Market

Went out this past weekend, and did a little shopping off the beaten path. Around where I live there is a good size outdoor farmers market. I had heard about it before, but I thought it was like most farmers markets where they only run from spring to fall. But recently I found out the local one near me also runs a winter market. So out of curiosity, and a BAD case of cabin fever, I decided to make the trip. Getting down there was not too much trouble.

It was really nice out, being at about 32 degrees or so. (Around where I am at during this time of the year, that is nice.) Most of the vendors were selling bread, honey and meat. They had everything from chickens, beef and ham, to lamb and bison. I even found some things that I normally dont see in the local grocery chains like pork lard and bars of beeswax. When I was there I picked up 2lbs of honey for $7.50, a pound of bison meat for $6 and some summer sausage for $3. Even bought a bar of beeswax for $1. As far as the prices go, I found that they were quite comparable to slightly cheaper than the grocery stores. Granted meat is quite expensive on a budget, but this was not bad. I found a whole young chicken for just a little over $4. As for bison, in the stores it normally runs about $6.50 in one pound packages. I will definitely go back during the spring and summer months to check out the prices then on fruits and veggies. If prices are good then, I might make more trips down there.

Also, with the farmers market, you are supporting your local growers, and getting your goodies direct from the farms. In many areas that cuts down the cost (I think... let me know if this is true in other places). So that is a major plus!

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating, Tropical Blender Fun (UPDATE OOPS)!

Hey guys, I am updating with just a little news. Got sick with the flu over the weekend, so there was no update. I am feeling a lot better, it was just a quick form of it, but you know it is the reason why I prep! I do get sick a lot, so there you go! Had all the food and stuff that I needed. Also noted what I needed to do better the next time it happens. That is all I am going to say on it for now.

As with the Fruit blend, it did not work out on the first attempt, it came up in fragmented pieces. No worries though, I will keep experimenting with it. I know it can be done, I might need to add in a bit more water to help things blend better, or blend it differently. I will note down what I do and tell you all.

I might also be working on some skills, like sewing and leather working. I will probably be adding that on here too. I think those skills might come in handy. I will keep you guys posted!

Keep coming back.

Survival Food: Adventures in Dehydrating, Tropical Blender Fun!

Hi guys, I am back from my weekend trip. Just spent a few day relaxing from being out and about around so many people. Got some new ideas for this place too which I might share later on hopefully. Right now though, I thought I would create another quick fruit leather experiment. I got this idea from a friend of mine. Take one can of your favorite fruit, in this case I like tropical fruit salad, and throw it in a blender, juice, fruit and all. (BUT NOT THE CAN... and no, I do not speak from experience on this one, it is just common sense! :)) Anyways, then I did like what I did with the Apple Fruit Leather . Pour it on the tray, spread it very thin, and let it dry at the regular temperature. Hopefully this will come out OK.

Will show the results later!

Survival Food: Vitamins... Overlooked?

Vitamins... Do many preppers over look this resource? Everyone thinks about food as a necessity, and yes I do heartily agree with that. But some foods can only go so far with nutritional content. Human body needs more of a regular daily nutritional upkeep more than what an MRE can do and what even regular food can do for that matter. I think that vitamin pills would be a necessary item to be added to extra storage, Bug Out Bags, Get Home Bags, and other survival kits. I would add in a good Multi vitamin, some fish oil, extra vitamin C, and other necessary supplements if used for your health.

As a side note, I have personally tested the Emergen-C powder packets that you see in the picture above. It says it has vitamin C, and the power comes in several different flavors. The two that I have are lemon lime and orange. Personally, I find them barely palatable on its own in water, but it is not bad if you mix it with other fruit flavored drinks. I tried both with just water, and also mixed with Gatorade. I am not sure if the Vitamin part works well mixed with that, or even if the powder works at all. Though mixing it with something else made the powder more drinkable. If you need the extra boost of C, that might be an option. Note though that I am not a doctor so talk with your doc about this stuff.

Well, I will not be posting much till either sunday or tuesday as I am going to be out of town for the weekend for some fun. Got to do something to break up the winter monotony!

Survival Food: Mountain House Spaghetti Taste Test.

Hey guys, I am again trying some new stuff again. I kind of like to try out new things once in a while. So, I thought I would try a freeze dried meal. I know that there are a lot of freeze dried meals out there, tons of different companies, so I went and bought one. A popular brand out there is Mountain House, and also it was the only one that Walmart actually sells, errr that I have seen at any rate. It runs about $5 for one bag of 2 servings.



Cooking it was pretty simple. Just heat 2 cups of water to boiling, put it in the bag, stir it, seal it up, and let it sit for about 9 minutes. Then stir again and eat. I thought it looked a little soupy, but then I realized that if during a "troubling situation", liquids are at a premium, so I would probably prefer it a bit a little soupy. The taste is not bad really, and it would make a nice welcome hot meal. It kind of tastes like canned Spaghetti O's.

This would be pretty good for a vehicle or emergency kit. Just make up a little cooking kit with some Sterno, a Sterno stove, stick matches, a metal cup, and some water with this, and you have a pretty good meal kit. I know there are tons of self heating MREs out there, but this is the one locally that I could get my paws on. Mountain House sells a lot of ready made meals in bags, packs, kits and #10 cans on their site, as well as local distributors. At less than $5 this is a bit of a budgetary concern, however for something to add to a vehicle kit on occasion, it would be well worth the price. If stranded, I do not want to ever be caught without food. This is the first time I am trying their products, and so far this was pretty good for a commercial MRE.