Prepper Savings Plan

Getting ahead in life means saving your money, so here is what I believe is a good plan to be financially prepared.  Note:  A real Prepper is prepared for anything, including losing your job and getting old and retiring. Disclaimer: I am not a Financial Advisor. 

We will have short, medium and long term (retirement) savings.  Many Rich people get/stay rich by acting poor, while many Poor people got/stay poor by acting rich.  So it is important to live within our means, or even better, below.

1. First save have some Emergency Cash stored at your house. Start with enough to buy a weeks worth of groceries if the power & ATM's are out of service.  This Emergency Cash link can give you some ideas on how much and why.
2. Then save the equivalent of three months net income (minimum).  Loosing a job is fairly common in today's job market, and this will protect your home, automobile, and more importantly, your family. I would keep about 2/3 of this in the bank, and 1/3 in cash at home in a hidden safe. There are some very affordable fire proof boxes and wall safes.
3. At the same time, sign up for your company 401K for the maximum that the employer will match. For example, a small (5%) 401K savings deduction costing us $62.50, we will realize a huge savings of $192.31.  This should generally be invested in a mutual fund that is appropriate risk for your age, but there are many options.
   
   
   
4. Set up a budget and stick with it. Include savings as well as a modest Prepper Budget.  The Beginner Prepper Plan has a starter budget for just over $500.  You should also have several weeks worth of Food and Emergency Water, stored in your home.  These links will assist.
5. Short term savings for things like a car or down payment on a house are next. Don't buy new cars because they depreciate too much in the first year.  Instead buy a 2+ year old model that will cost much less but should be in good condition for many years to come.  The payments will be less, so take the difference between between the used car payment and the new car payment and save it to apply to your next car. When that savings account reaches a dollar amount sufficient for buying another car, then you can do so, but not before.
6. When it comes time to buy a house, select one below your means.  If you qualify for a $100,000 home loan (for round numbers and to make it easy to do the math), buy a $50,000 house and make payments as if it was a $100k house.  Within approximately 5 years, you will own this house.  Sell your $50K house, use this to make a down payment on your $100k house.  Make payments as if it was a $100k loan, and again in about 5 years, you will have this $100k house paid for.  Then take these house payments and start saving them, or at least 50%. At this point consider a Prepper Retreat.  Building your own energy efficient solar powered home is worth considering.  At the very least, you should have some Emergency DIY Power Supply for an Extended Power Outage.  
7. Where your home is located is important. There are Common Home Security elements however City Home Security is different from Country Home Security, and a country home with woods allows some Wilderness Survival potential as well as a Prepper Garden.
8. In time, you have a paid for house, a car you bought with cash, money being saved for your next car, so now you are ready for investing.  Diversity and regular additions to your investments are the key, but more important is that you start early. Let me explain why. 
9.  Suppose two twin brothers start saving $2,000 per year.  Brother 1 starts at age 21 and saves for 6 years.  Brother 2 starts saving at age 27 and saves for 36 years.  When they retire at 65 years of age, Brother 1 has more money than Brother 2, because of the magic of compound interest.  This is how the Rich get richer by investing and loaning money to Poor people who borrow money to buy everything and get poorer.
   
   
10. In our home buying example above(#6), IF we had financed a $100,000 house for 30 years and paid 7% compound interest, we would end up paying about $250,000.  This is again, how the Rich get richer and the Poor get poorer.  You want to be earning compound interest, NOT paying it!
11. Stock Market Mutual Funds,  Real Estate - rental property and about 10% Silver are my favorite investments, but there are many options that you can consider.  You should consult a financial advisor on where to put your money. This should give you a few ideas.

Disclaimer: I am not a Financial Advisor.

For additional information see the following links:
Blog Table of Contents

Investing for Preppers

Group Security Drills

Urban Survival Perspective

Urban Survival Plan

Country Home Security Plan 

Home Invasion Response Plan

Intruder Detection

Modern Home Security 

Sustainable City Survival

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Primitive Shelter

There are many forms of primitive shelter.  First is a survival shelter, which is temporary vs a Sustainable shelter which is long term with more comfort.

The best advise is usually to stay put so that you don't wander too far away and are easier to find. In that case start with a temporary shelter and improve it over time. 

In a wilderness survival situation, a quick, easy structure is the goal, especially if you are on the move; the more natural your shelter, the better.

A natural overhang, or a large healthy tree can be a good starting point but avoid widow makers (trees likely to fall). Instead of cutting trees down, bend some saplings over to serve as a frame. Use brush and leaves as cover and insulation.  In cold weather, make your survival shelter small as it takes less to insulate it and keep it warm; make your sustainable shelter large enough to safely burn a fire and store fire wood so they can stay dry.

If you are building a longer term shelter, the Native American Tipi is an excellent choice, that will support a small (uses less wood) inside fire. The Native Americans moved frequently, but had regular places they lived during the different seasons.  While nomadic, this still permitted primitive gardening.

The Tipi is very functional with many good design features.

Plus it is not overly hard to build, especially if you have a tarp.  It is also portable, which is important for a Nomadic live style, which is essential to primitive living. Imagine a similar stationary shelter using live tree saplings, bent over to form your structure, covered with branches and leaves.

Ben Hunt, author of some good books drafted this detailed design below.

 

For additional information see the following links:
Blog Table of Contents

Best Camp Sight Selection Criteria 

Complete Sustainable Living Plan
Naked & Afraid Survival Plan

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Prepper Livestock - Pigeons

Another sustainable source of food are Pigeons.  They are excellent foragers and require minimal care. Pigeons can breed at 6 months of age and reproduce all year round laying 2 eggs 4-6 times per year that hatch in 17 to 19 days.  The Squabs grow to edible size within 4 -6 weeks.   With 8 pairs of pigeons, you could have two 10 ounce squabs for dinner every week.   Pigeon lofts need 2 square feet of floor space per bird, so for up to 32 birds, you would need 64 square feet or about an 8 x 8 area.  A small high door will allow them to enter & exit with less risk of varmints.  

In addition to a food supply, they are good pets, security - flying when spooked and they can carry messages back home when carried off on regional travels with an easy 50 - 100 mile range when worked up to it slowly starting about 6 months old after freely flying their area daily for 4 weeks.  Start taking the bird a mile away. Go North, South, East, and West so they know how to return from all directions. Do this a few times and then two miles, then five miles, ten miles, and so on up to 50 miles where most homing pigeons will do fine. A true homer will return from hundreds of miles and some have found their way home from over 1,000 miles.

Historically, pigeons carried messages only one way, to their home after being carried off.  However, by feeding them at one location and housing them at another location, pigeons have been trained to fly round trips up to 100 miles daily.  

Multi-purpose is important in prepping.  Pigeons serve many functions outlined above; chickens provide eggs and meat while goats provide milk and meat.  Rabbits provide fur and meat. 

If you don't have pigeons, you can trap some in hard times for food or breeding stock.

For additional information see the following links: 
Prepper Livestock
Blog Table of Contents
Complete Sustainable Living Plan

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Best Prepper Dog

What is the BEST PREPPER DOG?

I don't know the answer, so I'm looking for suggestions. I do know what some important factors are:

KEY FACTORS:

1. Alert - able to detect intruders
2. Smart - able to recognize family and not bark a false alarm, and not bark when instructed
3. Family compatible, loyal
4. Ability to hunt and find food

DESIRABLE ATTRIBUTES:

1. Large, intimidating dog
2. Long/Short hair depending on your climate

 The German Shepherd Dog is one of America’s most popular dog breeds — for good reason. He’s an intelligent and capable working dog. His devotion and courage are unmatched. And he’s amazingly versatile, excelling at most anything he’s trained to do: guide and assistance work for the handicapped, police and military service, herding, search and rescue, drug detection, competitive obedience and, last but not least, faithful companion.  Their biggest draw back to me is they shed a lot of hair.

I went through the Animal Planet Dog Breed Selector and it found me a dog breed I'd never heard of; a Belgian Malinois with a 97% match.  It is a variation of the German Shepard, a fine dog no doubt.

As runner up it was a tie at 95% between the German Shorthaired Pointer (left) and (right) a regular Pointer (right). 

 

 

 Having owned a pointer before I had reservations about whether he was smart enough.

I went thought he Breed selector again, selecting the following:

1. Dog Size - Medium 23-44 lbs and Large 45 - 88 lbs
2. Energetic - Not Important
3. Exercise Time Available - Not Important (on a farm) 
4. How often will you play with them - Not Important 
5. How affectionate - Not Important
6. Do you have other pets - Yes, if you count livestock
7. How Trainable do you want your dog to be - Very
8. How protective - Extremely
9. Maintenance & Grooming - Low
10. Climate - Hot weather

Drum roll..... The Belgian Malinois with a 99% match this time.  Runner ups were:

1. Australian Cattle Dog - Interesting dog
2. Pembroke Welsh Corgi - too short and harry for me
3.  Beauceron - Interesting multi-purpose dog
4.  Canaan - Interesting hardy, primitive dog breed
5. Labrador Retriever - this is perhaps the most common dog suggested

So now I tried the American Kennel Club (AKC) selector tool.

1. Zip Code
2. House
3. Two kids and one dog
4. Going on an adventure
5. Two of 9 on the noise scale
6. Super Tidy on house keeping

The suggestions were ok for someone wanting a little house dog, with one exception, a German Shorthaired Pointer coming up a second time from two different web sites.  This is a hardy, energetic, hunting dog, good with older kids.

IAMS,  suggested a Boerboel A what?  yea, that is what I said.

Another site with a comprehensive list of questions: https://www.selectadogbreed.com offered a Bullmastiff as the best option.

The site: DogTime suggested several dogs of interest, including a Canaan, and Belgian Malinois.

The Pedigree site suggested a Blood hound, Bulldog, Bullmastiff, Doberman, Mastiff and several others.

The dogs that come up frequently and look best to me are:

1. Belgian Malinois
2. Canaan
3. Pointers - the German Shorthaired Pointer and a regular Pointer
4. Bullmastiff

After all this research, I'm still not sure what the best Prepper Dog is.  It is important to go look at the dog breed you are considering and spend time with them before making a decision.  Look at their behavior and living space;  do they dig holes and chew things up; do they bark a lot?

Use this post and these resources to narrow your options down, and then go look at your top choices to help make a final decision.

Good Luck!

Resources:
American Kennel Club (AKC)
Animal Planet Dog Breed Selector

For additional information see the following links:

Blog Table of Contents

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EMP Survival

Think about your 9 closest family and friends: only one of you is likely to survive. The government estimates that a single EMP bomb attack on the US could cause 90% fatalities making this one of the worst disasters behind an Asteroid Impact. or all out Nuclear War.  
So why is an EMP so deadly? An EMP will take out all electrical and electronic devices that are not isolated in a metal container (Faraday Cage).  The drastic dark results include:

1. Every Computer, the Internet, cell phones watches, clocks, radio, TV and form of modern Communications will be dead.
2. Every ATM, Bank, Stock Exchange, credit card, and most Financial Investments.
3. Every Car, Truck, Train, Tractor, motor cycle and ATV made after the 70's won't run.
4. Those who recognize the Red Flag Warnings will get out of town early before Gangs start door to door looting. 
5. This will stop all commercial farming that supports 97% of the US population.
6. Refineries that produce gasoline and diesel will be incapacitated.
7.  Existing stores of gasoline with ethanol added will become bad after about 6 to 8 months.
8. This will disrupt harvesting and transportation of crops to market.
9. Americans will begin to starve as crops rot in the fields.
10. City Survival will be impossible on your own.  Even with good Home Security.
11. Enemies of the Right to Bear Arms are many. Gun confiscation will occur in area's with high level of gun control while armed citizen Urban Security will be organized in states that respect the right to bear arms.  Country Security and Military Security will be in place in some regions. 
12. Electricity (except possibly off-grid solar power), and running water will be gone for up to 10 years or more.  
13. Mass hordes will begin exiting the cities in search of food and water.
14. For many it will be necessary to adopt a Nomadic life style.
15. Most forms of wild game become extinct in a few months as people turn to Wilderness Survival and cannibalism to survive. 
16. Terrorist will seek to take over our country.
17. China will invade and take over our US west coast under the pretense of providing humanitarian aid. The few remaining starving Americans will welcome them until they realize that Chinese colonization is occurring and their rights and freedoms are gone.
18. Europe, Russia and Saudi Arabia will be competing to provide "Humanitarian Aid" to the starving US East Coast. 
19. Canada will offer aid to the Northern Border and Mexico to the Southern Border, but these regions being more self sufficient will be harder to take over.  
20. Facing the End of Free America, the few of us that remain will have to fight to Protect America. like those in the Prepper Movie - Red Dawn.

So what can we do to protect our family from an EMP?

The answer is that it won't be easy, even if we are well prepared.  It will require more than Beginner Preparations. The Blue Highlighted Links will provide you more details on a particular subject.

We will need the following Advanced Preps:

1. A Step by Step Plan to build and protect your supplies.  
2. Know what to do on DAY ONE
3. Food and Water to meet your needs for 1 year.
4. A CRITICAL NEED will be security to protect your families and supplies as the Mass Hordes and Gangs seek to steal them from us. Click HERE for a list of security plans for City and Country groups.  About half of the fatalities from an EMP are likely to be from MURDER by other starving Americans.
5. We will need Sustainable Food & Water Supplies to feed us after the first year including Seeds for Barter, Gardening and Livestock for meat.
6. In a short period, there will be plenty of Guns available as much of the US population has been killed.  But Ammo will be hard to find. How much Ammo should you have?  
7. What do we do After the Ammo Runs Out?
8. Have BB guns to train beginners and save Ammo.
9. Books will be great sources of information and entertainment after the electronics are gone.
10. First Aide supplies, including Antibiotics, will be critical to survive the period of anarchy. 
11. Having Paper & Silver dollars will be essential.
12. Nuclear fall out is likely; underground shelter will be necessary if near heavy fallout areas. NBC suits are a huge plus.
13. Solar power equipment, communications, night vision stored in a metal container have a good chance of surviving an EMP, and providing highly valuable tools for survival and security.
14.  You need enough guns for everyone to carry a rifle and a pistol, and a good Security Pack.
    Even with all this, it will be difficult to survive, unless you are sustainable living already on am isolated island some where far away. 
    
    
    
    
    For additional information see the following links:
    
    
    Blog Table of Contents
    
    EMP Survival 
    EMP by Cheaper than Dirt
    Nuclear Survival
    Post Nuke Plan 
    The SHTF Day One
    
    
    Top Rated Prepper Handbook Posts of all time 
    List of Top 10 Lists 
    Top 10 Prepper Websites 
    Top 10 Posts
    
    
    Search:  EMP
    EMP Labeled
    
    
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Acorn Flour - Pancakes

The process for making flour out of acorns isn’t actually very difficult, but it is time consuming and a little tedious at times.

1. Gather the Nuts

A 1-gallon bucket of acorns

The first step is to gather up about a gallon of acorns. We have an abundant acorn crop this year in Minnesota (which means it will probably be a good year for squirrels, too). I had my niece Esther go around her yard and fill a one-gallon ice cream pail with fallen acorns. This was the easiest part.

2. Remove the Caps

A bowl of uncapped acorns
A bowl of acorns with their caps removed
Jamie Carlson
Remove the caps from the nuts. This took me about one whole Game of Thrones episode.

3. Shell the Acorns

Nutmeat of a shelled acorn

Place the acorns in the freezer overnight. This helps keep them fresh, and it also helps make it easier to crack them. There’s a paper-like membrane around the nut and inside the shell; when you freeze them, that papery layer comes off the nut cleanly and leaves just the meat of the nut. The nuts will oxidize quickly, so it’s important to toss the nutmeat into water so they don’t turn brown.

4. Blend the Acorns

Blended acorn nutmeat and water

After you have shelled all the nuts into water, transfer the water and the nutmeat into a blender. Blend on high for several minutes.

5. Leach the Tannins

Soaking acorns in water to leach out tannins

Then transfer the blended nuts and water to a large container. Place it in the fridge overnight. All the blended acorn paste will settle, allowing you to pour off the water. Add more water and stir the water and acorn paste. Place it back in the fridge and let sit for another day. Acorns typically taste bitter, so by changing the water every day for 3 to 4 days, you can leach out that bitterness.

6. Drain and Spread the Paste

Blended acorn paste on parchment paper

Pour off all the water one last time and then pour the paste onto cheesecloth, or use a clean towel and wring as much moisture out of the acorn paste as you can. Spread the paste out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place it in the oven at its lowest setting with the door cracked open. You need to dry out the acorn paste until it is absolutely dry. As it dries, you can stir it and turn it over to help speed the process.

7. Grind the Paste

A grinder or food processor to refine the paste
Use a grinder or food processor to refine the paste.

When the acorn paste is completely dry, it will be kind of clumpy. If you have a grinder you can grind the acorns into flour or you can use a food processor or blender. This should result in a fine flour, but you may still have some larger pieces.

8. Sift the Flour

Sifting ground acorns
Sift the ground acorns. Use a mortar and pestle to break up remaining large chunks.

Using a fine mesh sieve, sift the flour so that any debris or large clumps are separated. If you want, you can use a mortar and pestle to break up these remaining clumps.

9. Sift it Again

A second sift of the acorn flour
A second, finer sift of the acorn flour.

Acorn flour
The resulting acorn flour.

At this point, you should have roughly three cups of flour.

Acorn-flour pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup acorn flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons maple sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 ¼ cups whole milk
3 tablespoons canola oil
Directions

Combine all ingredients, then pour onto a skillet over medium heat and cook until bubbles form on top. Flip the pancakes over and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes more. Serve with butter and syrup, and enjoy.

To read the Original Story with all the pictures, click HERE:

For additional information see the following links:
Blog Table of Contents
Complete Sustainable Living Plan
Blog Table of Contents
Acorn Flour Pancakes
Pemmican Recipe
Hardtack Recipe
Corn Bread
Sour Dough Bread
Corn Fritters
Apple Cider Vinegar
More on making Vinegar
Backing Soda vs Yeast
Baking Soda uses

See similar topics by clicking on the labels below 

Security Plans

Know what to expect:  

 

Urban Survival Perspective

Mass Hordes exiting the cities 

Red flag warnings its time to Bug Out 

City:

Urban Survival Plan

Sustainable City Survival

Home Invasion Response Plan 

Modern Home Security

Riot Preparations 

 

Country:

Country Home Security Plan 

Passive Layered Security

Security Patrol Pack (or Bug Out pack)

Group Security Drills

 

Common:

Intruder Detection 

Night Vision

Thermal Vision

Night Vision vs Thermal Vision   

The right amount of Ammo

  

Actionable Intelligence

Communications

Situational Awareness 

Double Barreled Defense

Guns in plain sight

 

For additional information see the following links: 
Blog Table of Contents 

 

Or select the labels below for other related topics

Prepper Livestock - Rabbits

Rabbits can be the best prepper livestock if you live in the city where "livestock" like chickens or goats are prohibited but "pets" are allowed.   Rabbits are good breeders and vegetarians eating grasses, plants, and hay. They produce some of the cleanest, healthiest meat (white) there is. Many rabbits can be raised in open bottomed pens and pastured to get their own natural food (grass). The most common rabbit breed used for meat production are New Zealand whites.  Some of our links below talk about other breeds.

In our Prepper Handbook  sustainable food plan chapter, three doe rabbits and one buck will feed us 4 pounds of lean healthy white meat every week or 208 lbs per year. Four weeks after mating, rabbits give birth to about 5 to 8 kits, which can be processed for eating in about 8 – 10 weeks. 

Ideally you would stagger breeding the does about 4 weeks apart which provides a steady supply of young tender rabbit for eating.  Two does and a buck, fed commercial food, can raise 180lbs / year of meat; I would figure about half to 2/3 of that for free range rabbits.

In the wild, there can be up to 3 to 5 rabbits per acre. However, I estimate that a fertile one acre pasture with good grass and strips of sorghum planted about 20' apart could sustain up to 10 rabbits.  Some of the sorghum would need to be harvested in the summer and saved for winter. 

We could raise 5-8 rabbits from 1 buck and 1 doe on 1 acre every 12 - 14 weeks and eat a 4 lb rabbit every second or third week. This would be your best place to start after you had a few chickens. and Basic Preparations in place.

Add a second doe and a second acre to raise 10 to 16 rabbits every 12 - 14 weeks to eat a rabbit almost every week. 

Add a third doe and a third acre to raise 15- 24 kits with 4 breeding rabbits (28 total) to eat a rabbit or more every week. Any extra rabbits will be great for barter.

The important thing is to get started now; don't wait!   

For additional information see the following links: 
Prepper Livestock
Blog Table of Contents 
Mother Earth News on Raising Rabbits
Raising Rabbits on pasture 
Omlet - source for rabbits and more
Complete Sustainable Living Plan

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