Argentina’s economic collapse gives us some horrific insights into how everyday citizens are affected by a disruption to our infrastructure…
Every single day, people were faced with extreme life-or-death survival conditions…
Dwindling food supplies (people were literally slaughtering ZOO ANIMALS for meat!)…
No drinking water treatment (they even tried to purify sewer water!)…
And wide-spread crime as even “upstanding” citizens turned to stealing from neighbors to feed their family… sometimes by force!
It’s this last threat that I think most Americans are just not prepared for.
I mean, think about it…
Assuming YOU are more “prepared” than your neighbors and have the foresight to stock away some food and a way to provide safe drinking water, you and I both know that the citizens around you are NOT preparing (like, at all!)
That’s why EVERY daily activity you’re used to doing needs to be looked at with a more “covert” approach in order to keep your level of preparedness hidden from all around you.
That especially includes your food supply, and here are…
3 Grid-Down Covert Cooking Tricks To Keep The Starving “Zombies” Away From Your Front Door In A Crisis…
Ok, first of all, yes… I know that, without electricity, you could just start a fire and roast a local cat over a spit (just kidding), but here’s what you must understand…
Fire attracts attention!
Anyone from MILES around who smells a “campfire” under extreme conditions is going to show up to see if you’re cooking something over that fire.
No bueno amigo!
Here are 3 better methods, and their pros & cons…
1. Gas Cooking
This is definitely the easiest method of cooking for most families.
If you have a backyard gas grill or gas “camp stove”, you could just spark it up and throw things like meat and veggies onto the grill.
But there are some drawbacks…
First of all, while people won’t smell the fire… they WILL likely smell what you’re cooking (and you know what they’ll do next, right?)
Also, you can’t take most backyard grills with you if you’re forced to bug-out to a safer location.
You CAN take a “camp stove” in your vehicle, but then there’s also this problem…
Once you run out of propane canisters, you’re done.
And I’m not a big fan of depending on ANY limited resource without a backup plan.
Here’s a better option (I’m pretty sure you’ve not heard of)…
2. “Wonderbag”
I have to say, this is pretty cool…
It’s basically a giant foam-filled bag that acts like a powerless slow-cooker.
All you do is boil or cook a large cast iron (or other) pot for about 5-15 minutes and then stick it inside the foam bag where it will continue to cook for the next 12 hours.
No “smells”… no electricity needed… and unlike a large gas-grill, it’s portable if you need to evacuate.
The downsides are that…
- You still have the challenge of finding a way to get the cooking started BEFORE you put the pot in the Wonderbag.
- 12 hours is a LONG time to wait for your food to cook.
- It doesn’t cook “small amounts” of food very well because it needs a larger pot’s heat to continue the cooking process.
- It’s actually bigger than what I prefer. In order for it to have enough insulation to continue cooking the food, it ends up being almost a quarter of the size of the big bean-bag chair I had as a kid! It’s very lightweight… but still not very transportable in my opinion.
I have one of these, but it’s not my primary method for “grid-down covert cooking”.
Here’s what I switched to…
3. Solar Cooking
I’ve seen this “Sun Oven” demonstrated at all the “survival conventions” I speak at and as soon as I saw it, I knew I needed it.
No fire needed… no smells to attract unwanted moochers… easy set-up… and easy transporting.
Basically, it’s a fully contained unit that uses reflective panels to focus the sun’s rays into a tightly sealed “mini oven”.
It cooks both small and large meals nearly as fast as a conventional oven and never burns the food, so you can go about your day without ever having to worry about timing your trip .
Of course, it does need the sun to be able to cook… but it doesn’t even have to be a warm day to use it (it’s even been used to cook meals at the Mt. Everest Base Camp in frigid temperatures).
Plus, there are all kinds of extra “survival uses” for the Sun Oven, like:
- Dehydrates food for long-term storage
- Boils water for purification
- Kills bugs that get into stockpiled food
- And it even sterilizes medical equipment!
One of my sons has quite a lot of freezer space because he is a hunter. He has plenty deer and elk. We had a beautiful elk roast for Thanksgiving that was out of this world. I a turkey that I bought on sale after last years Thanksgiving. I smoked it and everyone liked it.
We bought a HYDRO-STACKER growing unit that we can set up anywhere and grow our vegees. Does not need electric.
My go to survival one stop shopping is “4Patriots” for what I’ve found to be the best, bar none, on the market any where. 25 year shelf life food, sun kettles to boil water for cooking and sterilizing, and star campstoves, literally cook with anything small that burns, twigs, leaves, dry moss, erc.
*Solar and/or plug in charged:
1. Besides the sun kettles,
these are solar only.
2. Combo fridge, freezer erc.
on wheels.
3. Generators, as big as your
needs, 40w to 2000w
4. Many products for living
off the grid, undetected,
comfortable and healthy
with peace of mind.
5. Many more great products
to check on.
Same here!
Totally agree.
While this is for stay where you are……I have precooked a lot of meat meals and canned them, using a pressure cooker. Those meats can be eaten cold. Warm them when you can, even better. These include: pork chops, bar b q meats, steak that’s cut up in various sauces and chicken and even my favorite, Chile con carne. Again, these are in jars and not meant to be lugged around in a b o b. They can however, be placed in strategic areas, where they can be available later. As long as the air does not get in the jar, the food inside will be good.
Sadly, my closest family members don’t think we should engage in hardcore prepping as I do. I have enough survival gear to bug out or camp out as necessary and I have some extra items to trade. I plan to start dehydrating food with my new dehydrator – a Christmas gift. If possible, I’d like to add a wheat grinder and make flour since wheat lasts forever and whole ground flour is much more nutritious.
I have some supplies to make things I may need, different types of tape, glue, WD-40, etc. I have a lot of Bic lighters which I have been buying here and there for a long time. I have also stocked up on candles, wicks for oil lamps or Tiki Torches and I have a few bottles of propane for camp stoves. I also have knives, bottles/canteens, flashlights, etc., to trade. I even have new cage wire for gardening and to make animal cages or traps.
I have saved dryer lint, old candles, old oil (Stale, but still burns) and so far I have made around 20+ “buddy burners. Anything I can get free or reuse, I save. I have a ton of old cloth for bags, rags, bandanas, and so on. Old sheets, blankets, towels, clothing and pillowcases are stored away along with thread and needles.
I also have a very good collection of books on homesteading, solar power, raising livestock, growing food, and on survival. I even have some by Ragnar Benson from Paladin Press. These books will be the ones we’d use to build homesteads and rebuild communities. I’m preparing to become as self-reliant as I can on a small budget.
We have trailers and trucks to pull them. We can bug out with gear and supplies, help others more stuff or scavenge supplies. Although we live in a suburban neighborhood, our 3.5 acres are zone agricultural thus we can raise livestock and crops. We have a well, but no manual pump, which I’d like to install.
I’m working on firearms now in case we need them.
I have been prepping in one form or another, through all the MSM driven name changes for over 50 years. I have several months of shelf-stable grocery store foods, many home-dehydrated foods put up in vacuum bags primarily. (I do not use mylar/O2 absorbers as I do not think they are reliable), I get freeze-dried foods from friends that have the machines, and fill in some holes with commercial freeze-dried and other LTS (long-term storage) foods.
I practice small-scale gardening and am gathering vertical-grow and aquaponics equipment plus rabbit hutches and worm beds for a greenhouse multi-food operation.
As soon as I think that commercial foods will not be available I will expand my gardening, start hunting again, and begin assembling the advanced aquaponics system so I do not use any more of my LTS food than necessary. Once fresh supplies from the fields are available I hope to replenish everything I might have used from my stocks, either with commercial products if available or DIY versions if not.
I have quite a few hot-water-only meals and components for meals for times when I do not want to actually cook. I also have many items that do not need cooking or even hot water to be edible. Again, I only use these when there are no commercial food items available.
I have several cooking options, from a fire pit at one alternative location where I could camp if need be. It has firewood stockpiled and other supplies cached.
My camping gear has a twig-fired cup/bottle stove. I have a couple of alcohol stoves with pot supports. I have a single burner propane stove. Two multi-fuel backpacking MSR stoves.
As soon as I can get the first section of a small structure constructed at the property I am in the process of acquiring I will install an 8″ duct work activated charcoal odor filter and fan on a hood over the cooking area, be it a stove of some sort or as part of the Rumford fireplace.
At some point I intend to construct a covered/enclosed outdoor/harvest kitchen that will have air-handling equipment to run cooking odors through an activated charcoal filter.
As I live in the high desert of Northern Nevada there is only limited foraging available for plant foods, though I have thrown many seed bombs over the years in likely areas that I hope will grow at least some types of plants that I can harvest. Hunting is good all around this area, though I have to be very careful due to my disabilities. The game cart I have modified, plus two shepherd’s hooks and a no-hands pull harness for it I can have what I need with me to get to good hunting grounds and to get the game (and myself) back home.
I can also cook underground with Dutch ovens and have very little odor escape except when I dig up and open the Dutch oven and that can be controlled.
Here in town I can use one of my backpacking stoves to cook food in two or three areas I have found where any cooking food odors will be either contained, quickly dispersed, or camouflaged by other odors in the area.
Just my opinion.
Jerry
Jerry D Young
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and always remember TANSTAAFL
(“There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” Manny, from The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein