Mel Tappan’s Personal Survival Letter # 6

Issue 6

Some Thoughts on Retreating, Part Two:

Small Rural Communities as Retreats
by Mel Tappan

Editor’s Note: This article is a continuation of the series on retreating begun in PS Letter No. 3 and I suggest that
you re-read that introductory column to refresh your memory before proceeding. M. T.

The recent television mini-series “Holocaust” should serve as a valuable object lesson to potential survivalists.
Whatever its historical accuracy, it demonstrated graphically the negative aspects of a human characteristic which
most of us tend to regard solely as a virtue: adaptability. Here were highly intelligent, otherwise rational people so
hypnotized by the ordinary affairs of their daily lives that they patiently endured the escalating outrages of the Nazi
party as it took control of the nation, neither effectively opposing it nor attempting to escape until it was too late to
do either.

I am concerned that a substantial number of people who believe that a catastrophe is coming here and who see the
need for survival preparedness may suffer a similar fate because they are convinced that they will be able to
perceive the warning signals and flee to their retreats just in the nick of time. Unfortunately, that is the sort of
thinking that makes for victims, not survivors.

As an example, suppose the trouble begins with a nuclear exchange (and there is mounting evidence in favor of that
eventuality)? There will probably be no warning at all and, unless you are living at your retreat when the first blast
occurs, the odds are that you will never reach it.

On the other hand, if the collapse develops from economic and political causes, the chances are that its coming will
be so gradual that you will wait too long to leave. In fact, we are so far along the road to economic collapse now
that unless you are in a position to move to your retreat on a moment’s notice by the end of summer, you may have
waited too long already. Take a look at the cost of living index and the M2 figures for April and then ask yourself
just what more needs to happen before you make serious plans to occupy your retreat.

This preamble is meant to point up one of the primary advantages of locating your retreat in a small rural
community, as opposed to following one of the more radical cliché alternatives (i.e. isolated wilderness retreats,
commercial group retreats, sea or land mobile retreats).

You can move there now and live there comfortably with whatever conveniences your means allow for whatever
period of grace we may have before the breakdown occurs, and by doing so, you can eliminate the two greatest
risks in the survival equation: 1) estimating or recognizing the time when you should leave for your retreat and 2)
the hazardous travel that might be involved in getting there when the crisis actually occurs.

Another advantage of relocating now is that establishing your retreat gives focus to the rest of your plans. It is one
thing to know that you will want a generator, for example, quite another to know which generator to buy when you
have no idea of how or where it may be used.
Once you have chosen a specific retreat, however, it is then relatively simple to determine the output and overall
size generator you will need as well as the type of fuel you should store for its operation. Similarly, choosing your
retreat now will simplify the selection of clothing, storable food, firearms, ammunition, and other supplies that you
will want to put by.

There’s no need for Arctic parkas in your kit if the temperature never drops below 30-degrees in the valley where
your new home is located and you won’t have to add an African double rifle to your battery if the largest local big
game is mule deer. You’ll also be able to find out what sort of bait and tackle works with the fish in your
neighborhood and whether trapping is practical.

What about firewood? Is there enough on your land or on nearby public land to see you through several winters or
will you need a horse and wagon or extra stored gasoline for your pick-up to bring it in? What kinds of insects does
the summer bring? Will you need to establish colonies of other insects to control them and keep them from
destroying your crops when the pesticide runs out? Will you need nets over your beds to keep the no-see-ums out?
These are all questions -more or less critical- that can only be answered by living at your retreat for awhile.

Any move is disruptive under the best of circumstances and you and your family will need some time without
undue pressure to recover emotionally. You shouldn’t arrive at your retreat and have to start shooting to defend it
before you even have time to unpack. Further, if you are to realize the full advantage of retreating in a small rural
community, it is extremely important that you allow enough time before the trouble starts for you to become a part
of that community.

The last thing you want is to be the stranger -perhaps the expendable stranger- who just blew into town before the
crunch began. If you move now, you may have enough time to make some of your new neighbors aware of the
impending hard times so that they will become better prepared and, by your example, you may influence
like-minded friends and relatives to follow you into the same community. All of that will, of course, increase your
own security by making the community as a whole a safer place.

From my own experience I can testify that one of the most prudent reasons for moving to a rural retreat now is the
development time involved. If you really intend to try having a self-sufficient farm or ranch, you will need as much
lead-time as you can get before the crisis hits. For one thing, even the best small farms will seldom be ideal for your
purposes. Most of them rely heavily on electrical power for irrigation and pumping drinking water and many
employ electrical cattle fencing.

Almost all are dependent on a tractor or other farm machinery for maximum productivity and few farmhouses or
outbuildings approach a standard that you or I might recognize as energy efficient. Even the smallest operations
-five to ten acres- have come to require large amounts of cheap artificial fertilizers and quite a few employ flood
irrigation, a process that leaches nutrients from the soil so rapidly that annual, heavy applications of fertilizer are
mandatory.

You will also have to plan on some fairly extensive barnyard construction because few small livestock ranches have
pens or fencing that will hold a bull or a boar. Artificial insemination is so much less expensive and less
troublesome that most small operators now prefer it. Hardly the thing for self-sufficiency, however.

If you are new to farming or ranching, you will need at least a full year for experimenting with various crops and
animals in order to decide what you want to raise before your life depends on it. You will also need to learn by
experience from your own operation just what equipment and supplies you should stockpile.
The First Time Farmer’s Guide and the various other guidebooks are useful, but none of them is a fair substitute for
spending four seasons on your own land trying to outwit the invisible bugs that are eating your corn, aiding at the
birth of a litter of pigs, sitting up all night with a shotgun across your knees to end the career of a weasel that has
killed six of your best laying hens, or trying to entice a steer with the brains of an ice cube into the feeding pen
through the same hole in the fence he just came out of.

Finally, you will probably want to remodel the house you buy to meet your particular needs and -again from
personal experience- I can tell you that the process will take considerably longer than you are likely to anticipate.
Things move more slowly in out-of-the-way small towns and there are fewer contractors who are willing to
undertake an extensive remodel.

You may be fortunate enough to find just the piece of land you want without a house on it, but the odds are against
you. Further, barns and other outbuildings seldom add what they are worth to the purchase price -as you will
discover if you have to build them- so you may be considerably ahead financially if you can find an existing,
working farm that you can live with, even if the house requires extensive work.

If you have to plow the ground for the first time and do all of the fencing and cross-fencing from scratch as well as
construct outbuildings and a house, dig a well and septic system and, possibly, install irrigation equipment and a
pond or two, the expense -even for a modest place- will be considerable.

Judging from the mail and calls I receive, a word about the house itself seems in order here. Whether you build or
simply remodel, maintain an exterior appearance in keeping with the houses around you- no concrete tipis
surrounded by moats, rammed earth underground forts, stainless steel yurts, bullet proof geodesic domes, or any of
the other configurations that shout “retreat”. You do not want your home to attract undue attention, either by its
grandeur or its unique appearance.

To be sure, you will want to include security features not found in the ordinary home, but these need not be
blatantly visible. For example, your outside doors can be steel fire doors set in steel frames, but a wood or plastic
laminate will make them all but undetectable. Grillwork on all windows is a must but it can be decorative and
painted in such a way that it is not obtrusive.

Fireproofing, bulletproofing, and various other measures that you may want to consider can also be done invisibly-
or nearly so. Incidentally, if you do not plan to do these things yourself, be sure to have a plausible explanation
handy and use it when chatting with the contractor. One of the chief pastimes in a small town is idle gossip and
speculation- particularly in regard to a newcomer.

Selecting a Small Town Retreat

1. SIZE AND COMPOSITION: The community you choose must be small- one to five thousand population,
preferably, and 2000-3000 optimally. You are looking for a community large enough to be proof against any
outside attack short of an armored division and still small enough to remain cohesive during hard times, with a
minuscule disruptive element.

Just because a small town has fewer people than a city is no guarantee that it will be nirvana for retreaters. I would
consider 20,000 the upper limit even in unusual circumstances because communications and direction become
virtually impossible when the population is larger.
Also, the community must be essentially rural- a small industrial town will not do. The economy should be based
on small individually-owned farms producing a broad variety of crops and livestock. What might be termed
“subsistence truck farms” would be ideal.

Avoid one-crop areas where vast amounts of grain or some other specialized item is produced but where other food
consumed by the population must be imported. Make certain that no substantial number of the residents depend
upon government employment, industry, or large agribusiness. Imagine what might happen in the small town of
Hershey, PA, for example, if the chocolate plant closed.

2. ISOLATION: The community you select should be at least a tank of gasoline removed from any large city and
far enough away from even moderately sized population centers to be truly self-sufficient. All of the vital skills
should be present and there should be enough practitioners of them.

A quick look at the yellow pages in the local phone book will provide the necessary information on this point.
(Parenthetically, skilled workmen in small towns are usually remarkably good. The poor ones simply don’t last
because word gets around so quickly.)

3. LOCATION: It should be obvious that you will want to avoid areas plagued by natural disasters such as
earthquakes, floods, high winds, forest fires, and the like. Coastal areas are, similarly, a poor choice because of the
possibility of tidal waves. Also to be avoided are all areas of high ambient population. You can be well away from
cities and still have too many people around for the best security.

Resorts, college towns, tourist areas, and similar locales having a large seasonal population upon which the local
economy depends are better avoided even when other criteria are met. Conspicuous food producing locations such
as the San Joaquin Valley of California promise particularly high risks, since they are probably the first places
starving mobs escaping the cities would think to run.

The proximity of military bases, National Guard Armories, and nuclear power plants are unacceptable hazards for
obvious reasons. Personally, I would also take into account nuclear fallout patterns and I urge you to do so as well,
even if you don't presently feel that a nuclear exchange poses a high risk factor. It seems imprudent not to eliminate
as many credible perils as possible in an undertaking of this sort.

On the other hand, much has been made by some writers of factors which matter little, if any, to a practical level of
security. For example, somewhere in almost everyone’s list of recommendations is a warning to avoid towns on
major highways. That may be a valid consideration if yours were the first or second town from a major population
center on that road, but if the highway actually passes through, and doesn’t merely bypass, a half-dozen or so
communities before it reaches your town, I think the point is moot.

4. CLIMATE: This is a difficult topic because there is much evidence that our climate is changing, but there are a
few points worth considering. From what I have read, the climatic changes trend toward greater cold, so it seems
prudent to avoid already severe weather patterns. Further, milder weather will allow you to reduce the amount of
clothing and fuel you will need just to stay alive.
You will also want to look for a good growing season (160-180 days) and moderate rainfall tending -if toward any
extreme- toward the wet. Except in flood prone areas, too much rain is generally less of a problem than too little. A
serious drought can disrupt all of your survival plans. (Another good reason to lay in plenty of storage food even if
you plan to grow your own.)

5. STATE GOVERNMENT: It is important that you give some thought to the government of the state in which you
choose your small town- not so much to the personalities and parties who hold office since they can change rapidly,
but to the structure. Obviously it is an advantage to select a state with relatively small government which has no
pretensions to national leadership and which provides its officials with no great springboard to national politics.

The more services which the state government provides (e.g. California now wants its own space program) the
more taxes will be extracted from you. In addition to lower overall taxes, smaller state governments also interfere
less in your life generally. There are fewer restrictions on what you can do, buy, or build and there are fewer
officials to enforce the restrictions that are on the books.

You should particularly look into the state’s gun and hunting laws. There should be no unnecessary red tape when
purchasing firearms and ammunition, and concealed weapons permits should be reasonably available to those who
qualify for them. It’s also helpful if the hunting laws do not proscribe the use of handguns and primitive weapons
since you will probably want to practice taking game with both after you relocate.

6. PEOPLE. There is an inherent social discipline in small towns. There is no anonymity and, perhaps for that
reason, the people tend to have a strong sense of personal responsibility. Further, unproductive people who are
unwilling to work are seldom attracted to farm communities. Farmers are usually disciplined because their work
demands it. If you have a cow, she has to be milked twice a day everyday at the same hours.

Such people are already accustomed to working together for barn raisings, harvest, and the like. Also, barter is a
way of life: lamb for pork, butter for eggs, hay for grain, or labor for a share of the crop. These are the kinds of folk
who would band together in a crisis to protect their community from outsiders. They have worked for what is theirs,
they take pride in it, and they are determined to keep it.

There are, of course, a few sociopaths in every town, I suppose, but in a rural population of two or three thousand,
that number is very small indeed- probably no more than the cartridges contained in a single .45 magazine.

Troublemakers are usually restless and they need the excitement offered in cities. Even the entertainment in a small
town requires some effort because it must be created by those who want it.

Obviously towns with a significant slum section, ghettos, or racial unrest should be avoided, but these will seldom
be found in the smaller communities. It’s also important to avoid being a minority in ethnic or religious
communities yourself. I wouldn’t care to be the only Southern Baptist in the Vatican when the bell rings.

Finding the Right Property

Population density, weather, and fallout pattern maps will quickly concentrate your search for a suitable area into a
handful of possible safe choices. Personal preferences and other factors outlined above will probably reduce those
few to no more than one or two.
At that point, a fairly leisurely driving trip through all of the appropriate towns in your selected locale is called for
and the guidelines here, your own common sense and intuition, will almost certainly point to the one community
that seems best for your purpose.

Before you begin actively looking for property there, however, try to spend at least a week just visiting the area,
shopping in the local stores, eating in the restaurants, reading the local papers, and trying generally to get a feeling
for the character of the town. Only then should you approach a realtor and begin to look at his listings.

Incidentally, during this visit it is probably wise not to tell people you meet that you are thinking of moving there.
Just say you are “on vacation”. If you are from out of state, you may even find it prudent to rent a modest car with
local plates, and before you visit the real estate office, make sure that you have read Les Scher’s ​Finding and
Buying Your Place in the Country​ (Macmillan Publishing Co., 1974, $6.95).

Unless you know in advance that your realtor is survival oriented, don’t even bring up the subject of retreats. You
will know your own requirements in that regard much better than he will, so there is no reason to take him into your
confidence. Tell him that you’ve always wanted to try your hand at subsistence farming on a modest scale, but
don’t be talked into a gentleman’s hobby farm- about 2 ½ acres with a too small “cutesy” barn and a wagon wheel
serving for a front gate.

If you are serious about food self-sufficiency, a family of two adults with, perhaps, one or two children will need at
least five acres- and that is only practical if you are a good enough farmer to get maximum production from your
land. Ten acres allows room for some mistakes and twenty is by no means excessive.

It is true that you can comfortably grow all of the vegetables you may need on a single acre, but livestock -work
horses, riding horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs- require a good deal of space and their food -especially hay and
grain- needs considerably more.

The people who will tell you that an acre or two is enough either don’t keep animals, don’t grow the feed for them,
or else they possess the secret formula for a dynamite new fertilizer. Bear in mind also that you may want to keep a
portion of your land in its natural state with browse, brush piles, and cover to attract wild game.

Also, fishponds, orchards, berry patches, barns, breeding pens, woodlots, well-sites, septic drain fields,
smokehouses, and similar facilities also require space.

If you can’t afford enough land to provide maximum benefits that is one thing, but don’t skimp just because you’ve
always lived in the city and anything more than a half-acre seems like a park. By the same token, don’t move into a
community of small farms and try to become the local land baron. In most suitable areas, anything over a hundred
acres will start tongues wagging.

When you are outlining your needs to your realtor, don’t tell him you want something remote. The whole point of
small town retreating is to obtain the benefits of a de facto group retreat without the drawbacks of creating an
artificial assembly. If you choose a farm 15 miles away from town down an isolated, dead-end road, you might just
as well go back to the isolated wilderness cabin concept- in fact you would probably be better off if you did.
When the trouble comes, the greatest value of a small community is that it can become an enclave, excluding
danger from without and trading goods, services, and social contact within. You must, therefore, be within the
probable confines of the enclave if your proximity to others during the crisis is to contribute to your safety and
general welfare.

Small farming towns in areas suitable for retreat purposes are remarkably similar in physical structure, I have
found. There are usually from 3 to 5 main farm roads radiating from the center of town like spokes on a wheel. The
serious farms are located along these roads, usually beginning about a mile or so from town and extending for three
or four more. The farmhouses are usually built quite close to the road with the land extending behind, often in a
wedge-shaped pattern.

Because of this arrangement, you can usually see three or four neighbors’ houses from the front yard of your own.
Not a bad arrangement for keeping watch and providing covering fire for one another, should the occasion arise.
Get to know these people as soon as you can, without being pushy, offer a modest amount of extra produce from
your garden if it seems appropriate and soon you will probably be bartering a little and offering to help one another
with chores.

Even such casual neighborliness as this will bring the right response when the trouble begins and you suggest “I’ll
watch your place if you’ll watch mine.”

Conclusion

Much as I abhor being dogmatic, I see no viable alternative to relocating -on a priority basis- to a small rural
community, if you believe as I do that we are on the verge of a catastrophic social upheaval. For that reason, I will
not waste your time or this space with arguments against the position.

They are all ultimately irrelevant if you regard survival as a priority, just as arguments against breathing are
irrelevant, no matter how persuasively an expert might tell you that polluted air will damage your lungs.

There are difficulties, of course, but they must be regarded as necessary adjustments, not reasons for choosing a
wholly untenable course of action. Running a farm and raising your own food is hard work and you must learn
some skills to do it successfully; but not doing it is suicide.

You may miss concerts and the ballet; air travel is more complex from a small town airport; you may have to shop
by mail for some of the things you want; TV coverage is limited; small town newspapers aren’t the New York
Times or the Chicago Trib; entertainment and other distractions are usually limited, etc. But there are
compensations. Even if there weren’t, there are no alternative choices that offer a realistic chance of staying alive.

There is simply no tactful way to say this, so I will be blunt: Compromises in the location of your retreat are likely
to get you killed. Never mind that you have friends in upstate New York or that you prefer Florida’s climate and
proximity to beaches or that there’s no Junior League Chapter for your wife to transfer into.

Either you are sufficiently committed to the retreat concept that you will choose a location with cold-blooded
objectivity or you are not. If you are not, you might as well forget the whole idea. Halfway measures will not serve.

How to make a living in a small town environment is the most frequently asked question in this context. In a future
question and answer column, I will address that problem and any others that you may care to submit, in some detail.
 Letter from the Editors
A number of subscribers have written to say that they were having trouble finding the HK-91’s to buy. That seems
curious since any licensed dealer may order them and the importer indicates no shortage in his stock of the guns. In
any event, Bill Pier has made arrangements to stock the 91 in quantity together with a full line of the most useful
accessories, such as bipods, .22 conversion units, magazines, etc.

California residents may purchase the guns by getting in touch with Bill at Survival, Inc. (24206 Crenshaw Blvd.,
Torrance, CA 90505, 213-530-5641). The accessories are unrestricted and may be purchased by mail from SI
without reference to your state of residence. Non-Californians who are having trouble finding rifles should contact
Dominic Napolitano (Heckler & Koch, 933 N. Kenmore St., Suite 218, Arlington, VA 22201, 703-525-3182) at the
headquarters of the US importer for the name of a local dealer.

The next time you are tempted to believe that we -the ordinary rank and file citizens of this country- still have a
voice in government, I hope you will remember that although 80% of the people opposed them, the Panama Canal
treaties were executed by the President and ratified by the Senate in the name of the American people. Whatever
your personal feelings about the Canal, remember this travesty of representative government at election time.

The test sample of the Korean-manufactured .223 ammunition, which I mentioned in PS Letter No. 5, arrived
several weeks ago and I have had the opportunity of firing a few hundred rounds of it through several rifles.
Visually, it is identical to US military issue, except for the head stamp markings (which indicate 1978 manufacture)
and its performance has been flawless.

I have not yet had an opportunity to chronograph the load, but it shoots precisely to the point of aim in all of my
rifles which were sighted in with US military, and I suspect that it duplicates that load rather closely. Sealing of the
bullets in the cases is so thorough that I almost destroyed a new RCBS inertia bullet puller in an attempt to
disassemble a round to inspect the powder charge. Under proper storage conditions it should last at least 25 years.

It is very well packaged in heavy wooden crates bound with metal bands. Each case contains 1640 rounds packed in
cardboard divider boxes of 20 cartridges each, and the inner containers are wrapped in heavy vinyl.

This is very high quality ammunition and I recommend it without reservation for survival use and storage. It is
available to licensed buyers at 16 ½ cents per round plus shipping in case lots from Federal Ordinance, Box 581,
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272, 213454-6625.

In addition to our regular columns and my review of the currently available .223 battle rifles, the next issue of PS
Letter will begin two important new features that will help to make Issue No. 7 our best to date.

At PS Letter we have a distinct point of view about the impending crisis, as expressed in the lead editorial
contained in Issue No. 1. Nevertheless, we feel that our readers should be exposed to the widest possible range of
thinking in the field in order to stimulate creative, personal responses to the problems which we face collectively.
For this reason we are beginning a series of guest editorials to be written by the most original and thought
provoking thinkers and writers in the survival movement. We have asked each of our guests to address three
specific questions: What sort of calamity do you see coming? What do you regard as its primary cause? What sort
of preparations do you recommend?

Although we may not agree with some of the views that will be put forth, all of them will be provocative and
stimulating. We have not invited the hacks and the summarizers but the seminal thinkers, and they are always worth
hearing, regardless of whether their conclusions coincide with your own, because they force you to stretch your
mind in order to deal with them.

I am pleased that the series will begin with an article by my friend, Kurt Saxon, publisher of ​The Survivor, and
easily one of the most interesting, complex, and brilliant men I have ever met.

Our second new feature will be the first installment of an ongoing column unlike anything I have encountered in the
entire spectrum of survival literature. For years I have felt that the greatest lack in realistic survival preparation was
the absence of any detailed techniques for learning to deal with the extraordinary physical and mental stress which
is almost certain to accompany the long-term survival experience.

Carl Kirsch, M.D., a psychiatrist specializing in stress management whose professional background includes both
emergency medicine and public health service experience, has agreed to write a series for us that I believe will be
one of the most significant contributions yet made to the literature.

Carl is particularly well suited to the task both by professional training and temperament. He is an advanced
survivalist and his background includes expertise in alternative as well as conventional medicine. His discussions in
PS Letter will touch on methods as diverse as homeopathy, herbalism, stress control, breathing exercises,
meditation, nutrition and fitness, bioenergetics, and other forms of prevention and therapy emphasizing a holistic
approach to the problem.

After working with Carl for several months on this series and seeing his first column in final form, I can state flatly
that I would rather be without much of my storage than to lack the information that will be contained in these
columns. M.T.

Ballistic Wampum
by Jeff Cooper

The readers of this journal are no strangers to the notion that money, which all would like to think of as a
conceptual reality, is actually an abstraction. Even, perhaps especially, the learned sages who convene now and
again to consider and debate this arcane subject cannot satisfactorily define money. At a recent conference one
member, in desperation, declaimed, “If the dog eats it, it’s dog food!”

Thus, if you can buy stuff with it, it’s money. OK. But this leaves us totally dependent upon the whim of the seller,
does it not? He will accept what you offer him as money only as long as he has reason to believe that other people
will accept it at the same value when he offers it to them- unless he can put whatever it is to his own personal use.
The latter option is barter- chickens for legal advice, manual labor for food, et cetera.
As long as money is minted gold or silver, even though we cannot eat it, we have something other than good faith
on which to base our prospects. Gold, particularly, is dependable in value under almost all conditions. A
trustworthy entity (king, nation, company, bank) which promises to redeem its paper in gold, on demand, can issue
pretty good money. Obviously when an untrustworthy entity does not so promise, what it issues as “money” has no
value at all apart from a sort of social momentum.

As long as the United States held to the gold standard, and before expediency was placed above truth by Roosevelt
II, US paper money was a great thing to own- and spend. Now look at it. Would that more people would stop
whimpering “Prices are going up”, when what they mean is “The dollar is going down.”

Why shouldn't it? It has no value other than what the fiscal libertines of the left say it has, and they have a license to
print it without promising to redeem it for anything- not even peanuts. (I try to keep my sanity by thinking of
dollars as dimes- earned, spent, or taxed. Whether that expedient has worked is moot.)

For the moment we try to get along by working feverishly for the dwindling paper dollar, because we have no
choice. We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know that we had better turn our cash into things while we
still can. As matters are progressing now that green stuff is heading toward the time when it will be useful mainly
for starting fires.

Fritz Hayek, one of the very few significant modern economists, has now reached the conclusion that the only hope
remaining is the termination of the government money monopoly and the institution of private minting. A
stimulating theory, but don’t hold your breath.

All the foregoing is common knowledge, and those few who are both wise and fortunate -or wise and able- have
been doing what they could to strengthen their economic dikes. However, as I scan what might be called “The
Doomsday Press” I note that one obvious commodity is conspicuously lacking from the lists of what the wise
should stock against disaster. This is ammunition. I do not mean ammunition as fodder for defensive and alimentary
purposes, but ammunition as economic tender.

In times of monetary collapse, ammunition (in a free, or recently free, country) is not only more valuable than any
piece of paper, it is even more valuable than minted coin, because you can use it. You can’t drink paper, and you
can’t eat gold (as the Araucanians forcibly demonstrated to the Conquistador), but ammunition you can shoot, and
by shooting you can both stock your larder and keep the ill disposed off your back.

Additionally and importantly, ammunition is neatly negotiable, being compact, accurately divisible, almost
non-degenerative, and not as specialized as one might at first assume. One round of .22 long rifle is now worth
about 2 ½ cents. Immediately you can’t find it on the store shelf it is worth a nickel. After it has been unobtainable
for three months it will get you a cup of ersatz coffee. And the minute The Revolutionary Committee for Public
Order takes over and bans it, it will buy you a good breakfast.

Now, therefore, whenever I buy ammunition I buy two portions- “one for me and one for my friend”.

My friend, in this case, is a storage locker- tough, portable, and containing, in addition to its primary load, a
package of “silica gel” or calcium carbonate as a dehumidifier.
Clearly the .22 long rifle is the big item. Everybody has a .22. The high-speed hollow-point is the best variety- it
sounds better in a deal. I don’t think you can have too much, but don't run out and buy a vast quantity. Big Brother
is watching you.

For pistols, stock .38 Special, .357, and .45 ACP. Some Parabellum if you live in the East. And a couple of boxes of
.380 and .32 ACP. These last may be essentially worthless but there are a good many pieces around to take them.
In the West we want a bit of .45 Colt and .44 Magnum as well.

For rifles, the basic caliber is .308, closely followed by .30-06, .270, and .30-30. While .223 is increasingly popular
with serious shooting types, such people probably have an adequate supply on hand and will not be beating the
bushes in your direction.

We have such a plethora of rifle calibers that no one could possibly stock them all, but you might look in on your
local friendly gun store (small type) and see what is on the shelf. He caters to the one-box-a-year man, and if that
man owns an old .30-40 or .348 Winchester he will be hunting when the shelf goes bare.

For shotguns 12 and 20 will do, better standard length than magnum, loaded with number six birdshot. A few .410’s
may not be wasted. Here again you may have reason to stock specialties if you deduce the demand.

When (as we devoutly hope it won’t) push comes to shove, you can start pistol rounds at .50 cents each (as of
February 1978) and rifle at $1.00. If history is any guide, when that time comes everything will immediately be
declared illegal. Everything, from gasoline engines to criticizing The Committee.

Guns of any kind, of course. But The Committee, or whatever it calls itself, will be even more illegal in the eyes of
us mossbacks, and we will either come to some sort of ​modus vivendi o​ r we will not. If we don’t survive, we will
have no worries about money or anything else. If we do, our ammunition stocks will be our staff of life.

Please note: This advice is written specifically for the subscribers of the PS Letter, and is obviously not intended for
broadcast. Keep it to yourself or it won’t work.

Editor’s Note: If you have followed Jeff’s advice and mine, you will own both a .308 battle rifle and a .308 hunting
rifle, so I would agree that .308 is obviously the centerfire rifle caliber to stock for your own use; however, 30-06
and .270 are far and away the sales leaders in commercial sporting ammunition, and, for trading purposes, I
suggest that you include a few boxes of them as well.

Also don’t forget regional quirks. In my area, almost every deer hunter seems to favor the .300 Savage, and the
local sporting goods store sells more of that caliber than anything else by a margin of more than 2:1. A curious
choice, perhaps, but you can bet I’ll have a few boxes in my wampum bag, even though I own nothing in which to
fire it myself.

Finally, much as I hate to disagree with friend Jeff on anything, I must in the case of his recommendation against
stocking .223. Jeff meets a lot of steely-eyed types in his business and I suspect that he is correct in assuming that
they will have adequate supplies but, largely due to the immense popularity of the Mini-1 4, 1 believe that there will
also be a considerable number of novices who own these fast-firing little guns, who have never learned fire
discipline, and who will be desperate for ammunition resupply after their first skirmish. Take your choice. MT
 Nolen Folding Pocket Saw

I have long held the theory that one of the most useful tools a survivalist could own would be a really efficient,
compact, folding pocket saw, but until recently that theory remained untested because no one made such a tool. To
be sure, saw blades did exist in folding form but they were never completely satisfactory.

Some were coupled with other blades so that they were too heavy or bulky to be convenient, others simply had
teeth cut in a flat metal surface without any kind of set so that they were worthless for serious purposes, and almost
all of them were made of rigid, brittle knife steel which had a tendency to break when it became warm and stressed
under heavy use. Thanks to the Nolen brothers, two of the country’s better custom knifemakers -and a bit of
serendipity- that is no longer the case.

During a telephone conversation with the Nolens several months ago, I chanced to mention this apparent oversight
in the virtually endless variety of cutlery presently available to outdoorsmen. My comment was greeted with a
hearty Texas laugh from Jim who told me that he and his brother, Doyal, had been using such a tool for several
years, “Wouldn’t go outdoors without it”, observed Jim. “Handiest thing you ever saw for building blinds or
shelters and cuts right through bone like butter when you’re quartering game.”

The Nolens went on to say that they had made up only a few for themselves and friends with whom they hunted,
fashioning the blades from a small lot of woodsman’s’ saws which had turned up in an old logger’s camp. They had
made no attempt to market them commercially because they didn’t know if there would be sufficient demand and
besides, they only had enough blade material for a few saws.

I asked them to send me one and after seeing it, encouraged them to do what they could to acquire more blade steel.
This tool is all I had hoped for in the way of quality and convenience, but a good deal more than I had expected so
far as performance is concerned. Mine cut through 2 x 4’s in 12 seconds flat, limbed a fallen tree as efficiently as a
full-sized pruning saw could have done and yet it is so light that I often forgot I was carrying it.

It is considerably more efficient than a hatchet or small hand ax for cutting through the pelvis of big game animals
and much handier for collecting firewood. Next to a knife, I think the Nolen folding pocket saw is the most
desirable, easily portable cutting tool one could own. Now that I know it exists, I would consider no survival kit
complete without one.

The Nolens are custom knifemakers and each of these folding saws will be made by hand. That and the availability
of old stock blade steel will probably keep the total number down to about 100 or so. If you want one, please act
promptly. PS Letter subscribers are getting the first opportunity to buy, but in the near future I plan to review the
saws in my G&A column. I suspect that their 2 million readers will scarf up whatever remains available at that
time.

The blade on my saw is 4” long, but since these are handmade items, dimensions and weight will doubtless vary
slightly. Handles are made from any of several colors of Micarta, a Westinghouse developed, virtually
indestructible material that neither cracks, chips, or peels, and can withstand boiling, solvents, and most other
tortures, unscathed. Blades are of carbon steel and rustable, also they are not highly polished since that would add
nothing to their utility and much to their cost.
When I first viewed my sample, I thought a design error had been made since there was no blade lock to prevent
closing on the fingers. After using it, however, the reason for that seeming omission was obvious: it would have
materially added weight and bulk- and it is completely unnecessary since the saw cuts only on the pull stroke, thus
constantly forcing the blade open and never creating closing pressure. That same feature makes cutting overhead
branches considerably easier and safer as well.

The price is $45 and delivery time is measured in weeks. If anyone in your family is fond of pruning fruit trees, buy
two saws or yours will never be in your kit when you need it. On this subject, I speak with the authority of
experience; Nancy hasn’t released her hold on mine since the day she first saw it. Order from: R.D. Nolen, Rebel
Field, Mercedes, Texas 78570. Telephone: (512) 565-1241. MT.

Survival Wheels
by Rick Fine

A survival vehicle without tools and spare parts to back it up is about as useless as a pistol with an empty magazine.
Few experiences on this planet are as distressing as standing in the rain and cold, accompanied only by a vehicle
which will not move under its own power.

The knowledge that the vehicle could be made to move if only you had a reasonable tool kit and a few spare parts
makes the rain seem still colder and the frustration more intense. Remember also that in our context, there is no
auto club to call- not even an unfriendly, over-priced gas station to turn to for aid. Obviously, the answer is to buy
some tools. However, like buying survival guns, the decision to buy tools is not as simple as it sounds.

A good place to begin is to tell you what not to buy. Stay away from the tables heaped with junk and topped with a
sign that says “Your choice- $l.00”. Do not shop discount stores for private brands that sell for a bit less than the
best merchandise. Tools, like diamonds, should be expected to last as long as you will.

Two brands we can suggest -based on quality but certainly not low price- are Sears Craftsman and Snap-On. Proto
also makes fine tools which are the equal of any on the market, but they are very hard to find. A Sears store is
obviously easy to find almost anywhere, but Snap-On has tools in their line that even Sears does not stock.

The Sears general catalog, perhaps supplemented by the special tool catalog, will tell you what you have to choose
from in the Craftsman line. Snap-On issues a very complete catalog -250 pages in the 1977 edition- and will
provide the book on request. Most large metropolitan areas are covered by dealers who will visit you by
appointment in a large van loaded with tools from which you may select. If your local Yellow Pages can’t turn up a
Snap-On dealer, the general offices are in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Prices for good tools are not low. Very good price breaks may be had, however, if you select an entire tool set
rather than buying piece by piece. The Sears 1977 general catalog (Fall-Winter) lists tool assortments ranging from
about $100 for a very basic 97-piece set with a simple tool box to about $1,000 for a 429-piece set which covers
both metric and standard bolt sizes and is housed in a very proper cabinet.
The folks from Snap-On show a set on the back cover of their catalog with a dealer net price of nearly $6,000. If
you were to buy the $100 set, you would find that you were woefully under-equipped. The $6,000 assortment
would be great fun to own, but probably far beyond what is required for even a shop at an established retreat site.

At this point, we should define what amounts to two distinct tool inventories. The first might be called the
“on-board” equipment every survival vehicle should carry AT ALL TIMES. It’s fine to own the tools, but rather
frustrating if some of them are in the vehicle, some in your son’s bedroom, others scattered about the garage and
perhaps a few loaned out to a neighbor. In the event that the survival vehicle must be used for its intended mission,
no time will be available to scrounge around for your tools.

Think how interesting it might be if your local fire department loaned some of their hose to the street department,
some of their axes to the park department and their smoke masks to the PD for riot drill. They do none of the above
with their emergency gear and neither should you. A basic on-board tool inventory should consist of the following:

A. ½-inch drive socket set with ratchet and sockets ranging from 7/16-inch through l l/l6-inch, a 6-inch extension
and a 13/16-inch deep socket for spark plugs.

B. 3/8-inch drive socket set with ratchet and sockets ranging from 3/8-inch through 3/4-inch, a 6-inch extension,
and perhaps a universal joint.

C. ¼-inch drive socket set with ratchet and sockets ranging from 3/16-inch through ½-inch.

D. A set of combination wrenches (one end box, the other open) ranging in increments from 5/16-inch through at
least 1-inch.

E. A hacksaw with some spare blades.

F. Several standard screwdrivers and several Phillips head.

G. A cold chisel.

H. A ball peen hammer, and, at least, a two-pound hammer with a short handle.

I. A set of Allen wrenches.

J. (This item will need some explanation.) A pair of bolt-cutters. While you are not likely to be cutting bolts on your
vehicle to keep it running, it may be necessary to cut perhaps a padlock or two to keep your machine going where
you must travel to reach your retreat.

We are not suggesting that our readers take up trespassing as a sporting event, but travel on a power line road or
some other normally non-public route may become a matter of necessity to reach your destination.
K. A small pipe wrench.

L. A folding pocket knife.

M. Wire cutters.

N. A can of WD-40 for drying out wet ignition.

0. A can of starting fluid.

P. A roll of plastic electrical tape.

Q. A can of Permatex gasket sealer.

R. A five-ton hydraulic jack.

This tool inventory may be stowed in a reasonably small space, in one toolbox. It may sound as though we’re
sending you out to invest in a hardware store, but the entire “on-board” inventory will cost you only about $250
complete.

At the risk of redundancy, remember that an empty can of WD-40 will not dry out your ignition, an empty can of
Permatex will not help you seal a leak, and a screwdriver that you lost behind the dishwasher last summer will not
aid you in an emergency. Buy the tools, stow them in your survival vehicle, and do not allow them to stray.

Since we have defined the tool inventory to be carried, let’s also discuss what spare parts should be stored.

An error often made in building both tool and parts inventories is to try to tote along too much hardware. It is
foolish to carry a $1,500 tool outfit and enough parts to build a spare truck everywhere you go. If you feel
compelled to do so, chances are your survival vehicle is not properly maintained. If you attempt to carry enough
tools and components to crutch up for slipshod vehicle care, you’ll find that there is not enough room left for you to
sit.

If your survival vehicle is a ¾-ton truck or something similar, the following parts inventory should suffice:

A. Two complete sets of fan and generator belts.

B. A spare water pump.

C. A spare fuel pump.

D. One distributor cap and a point and condenser set.

E. A full set of replacement radiator hoses.

F. Spark plugs; one set.

G. One spare thermostat.

H. One spare voltage regulator.

Note that we are not suggesting that you carry a spare transmission or even a spare clutch. To do so would be to
either suggest or to admit that you had no idea what sort of condition the major assemblies of your machine might
be in.

The object of the parts inventory carried aboard the vehicle is to help you out of unpredicted mechanical failures
that can happen to even a new machine- not to allow you to do a rebuild by the side of the road. Bear in mind that
the parts we suggest you stock are all “accessory” items.

Engines, transmissions, and driveline components rarely fail suddenly. The items which we recommend that you
carry at all times have failure characteristics rather more like light bulbs. As long as you keep coolant and lubricants
in the major assemblies, they will last far longer than you might expect.

Sad though it might be to think about, even a Cummins Diesel which costs more money than most of us can
imagine could be shut down dead by the failure of a $3.00 radiator hose.

As a final comment before moving on to equipment to be stocked at your retreat site, stop at a “bandito” gas station
on a long and lonely stretch of highway. You will see lots of hoses and belts being sold, but not very many major
overhauls (at least few that are really needed).

The tools and equipment you should stock at your retreat site must be a good bit more extensive than what you
carry with you. The type of “dockyard overhaul” that we suggested you avoid by the roadside is exactly the sort of
activity you may wish to carry on in the privacy and security of your retreat.

In very simple terms, you should buy virtually every hand tool you can afford, and organize the tools in the large
metal rolling cabinets available from Sears, Snap-On, and other tool manufacturers.

As you progress, you will realize that owning tools is not just a collector’s sort of avocation. A recent experience
suffered by this author will illustrate the point: I happened to be overhauling the power steering box on my
Cadillac; comfortably ensconced in my own garage and equipped with enough hand tools to very nearly equal the
replacement cost of the Cadillac.

It so happened that the factory had tightened one of the flare nuts on the steering box hydraulic lines with enough
torque to require the use of a flare nut wrench to avoid damaging the fitting with an ordinary open-end wrench.

Because of the tight quarters in which the job had to be done, only a special tool, which I did not own, was suitable
for loosening the stubborn fitting. Accordingly, the next few days were spent in tracking down a crowfoot
flank-drive flare nut wrench for use with a ½-inch drive ratchet and extension.
When the proper tool was employed, the job took minutes. Had I attempted the job without the correct tool, the part
would have been damaged beyond use. Had I been able to anticipate the need for such an esoteric tool, it would
have been in the box waiting. In reality, it is impossible to anticipate every need, so simply try by buying every tool
you can afford and hoping that what you need when no sources are available will be in your garage.

One of the first tools you should buy for your retreat is not actually a tool, but it is fully as necessary. Obtain a
factory shop manual for your survival vehicle. By “shop manual” we don’t mean the little book that tells you how
to apply the brakes and where to put the fuel.

The shop manual must be ordered from a dealer and will cost from perhaps $10 to as much as $30 depending on the
vehicle involved. Obviously, if your machine is older, the manual may be more difficult to come by. If you buy
new, make the manual part of the deal.

Do not buy one of the aftermarket books which are about the size of a large magazine with a cheap hard binding.
You will find that most factory manuals are closer to the size of a Los Angeles Yellow Pages. The set of books
which came with the ‘77 Ford F250 van are in some five volumes; each about three inches thick. The aftermarket
books are generally mere “cut and paste” condensations of the factory books.

The genuine shop manuals examine each part of the vehicle in detail and illustrate repair procedures and
troubleshooting very well. At times, you will note that the manuals refer to very specialized factory tools which you
are not likely to own. Invariably, you can find tools from regular sources which will do the job.

The most esoteric tools are those required for air conditioning work and repair of automatic transmissions- the sort
of accessories we suggested earlier that you avoid on a survival machine.

One bench tool that you should buy is a motor-driven grinder with a wire brush on one side. As you put assemblies
back together, clean all the bolts, nuts and washers in gasoline (outdoors!) and wire brush them after they are dry.
Nothing makes a job more time consuming than trying to tighten rusted, filthy bolts and nuts.

Along the same lines, you should cultivate the habit of never throwing away any bolts, fittings, hose clamps, or any
other hardware. Toss your extras into a box near the wire wheel and clean them from time to time. File away all the
fasteners by size in bins. Besides having them on hand when needed, the cost of nuts and bolts has become such
that the time invested in salvaging is well worth it.

A battery charger should be part of your shop inventory, along with a battery terminal lifter and a good hydrometer.
DO NOT buy one of the damned hydrometers with red, yellow, and green zones. Make certain that you have one
with numbers on the float. A future column will deal with batteries in detail, but suffice it to say here that far more
batteries are ruined by neglect and improper care than are ever worn out from honest use.

The charger you select need not be elaborate. The most efficient way -and the method most conducive to long
battery life- is to charge at a very low rate. Since most inexpensive chargers are rated at something less than
five-amps, they are ideal.
You should have at least a foot-pound torque wrench, and an inch-pound type isn’t a bad idea by any means.
Inch-pounds may be interpolated from a foot-pound scale, but a good inch-pound beam-type torque wrench lists at
less than $15 in the current Sears catalog. Don’t bother with the expensive dial or micrometer type torque wrenches.
For automotive use, the beam type is perfectly acceptable and has the added advantage of simplicity and durability.

A gas welding and cutting outfit is very useful. Many will argue the superiority of an arc welding rig, but remember
that if you do not have 220-Volt power available in copious amounts, the arc machine becomes nothing more than
an annoying doorstop. Sears puts out several good gas outfits; Victor is another brand we can suggest. The
gas-welding rig is also portable while the electric setup is generally shop-bound.

Welding is a skill unto itself, but picking up enough knowledge to get by isn’t at all difficult. Most school districts
offer adult education courses which will teach you at least how to set the regulators and produce a proper flame.
The best step after that is to drag home a trunk full of scrap to practice on.

A good hydraulic floor jack is a very handy tool to own, but they cost from several hundred dollars up for a model
with a useful combination of lifting height and capacity. Most tasks can be handled with a simple hydraulic jack
supplemented with blocks and jack stands.

When discussing jacks, a word of caution is in order. The bumper jacks that come with most every vehicle sold in
this country are so unsafe that they should have been discovered by Ralph Nader. The best thing you can do with
them is to lose them.

Unless the jack is new and the surface is perfectly flat and dry, don’t even use a bumper jack for changing a tire. If
you choose to forego the expense of the floor jack in favor of the less expensive type, gather up some blocks to help
you get your jobs done, but gather only wooden blocks. NEVER use a concrete or cinder block to support the
weight of a vehicle.

They have a nasty habit of suddenly shattering some minutes after they have apparently borne the weight of a truck.
If your hand or leg happens to be between the truck and the ground when the block decides to give up, the results
can be rather painful.

A look at the puller section in the Snap-On catalog can be a bit frightening. One of the standard jokes among
mechanics is that no matter how many different types of pullers one owns, the puller needed to pull a particular
gear or fitting will not be among the tools in the box. Most of us can get by with only a few, but we emphasize that
without the few items suggested, some difficult and profane times could be had.

The list of needed pullers is as follows:

A. Ball joint separator, often called a “pickle fork”. This tool is used to drop the tie rods and other steering parts
held together with ball joints. The joints are a very tight press fit in the parts to which they are secured. The biggest
hammer and the mightiest swings will only bend parts while the $15 pickle fork does the job in seconds.
B. A Pitman arm puller is another $15 tool which is used to remove the arm attached to the side of the steering box.
Without a Pitman arm puller, removal or work on the steering box is nearly impossible. The correct way to use the
Pitman arm puller is to set it in place, tighten it as tightly as possible; then bang away with your heavy hammer on
the puller screw. The Pitman arm will suddenly come free. Trying to do the job with torque alone will likely result
in a sore arm and a bent wrench.

C. The last item is a general-purpose gear puller which you might use to remove pulleys, timing gears, or other
stubborn parts which resist all other efforts.

Some tire repair tools must be stocked if you intend to occupy your retreat for any length of time. A bead breaker
and a couple of pry bars from the Snap-On catalog will do the job nicely. Depending on whether your tires are
tube-type or tubeless, buy the appropriate patch kits.

The parts inventory at your retreat site should be, like your tool inventory, as elaborate as possible. To be more
specific, stock most heavily those items which fail suddenly and are not readily repairable in the field. A brief list
might be as follows:

A. Several voltage regulators.

B. At least one spare generator (or alternator) along with a spare set of brushes, plus a spare diode bridge if you are
equipped with an alternator.

C. At least one clutch plate, pressure plate, and release bearing.

D. A half-dozen sets of spark plugs.

E. A half-dozen cases of motor oil, along with perhaps a half-dozen oil filters.

F. One spare brake master cylinder.

G. A set of rebuilding kits for the wheel cylinders.

H. A gallon of brake fluid.

I. Two water pumps.

J. Two distributor caps.

K. Two point sets with condensers.

L. A set of solid conductor ignition leads.

M. A spare carburetor.

N. Several air cleaner elements.

Note that we have not suggested that you stock a dozen spare windshields or a gross of replacement arm rests. The
items suggested should make you free of most worries for at least a year or two. There are, of course, other things
that can fail which neither we nor you can predict.

One of the neatest solutions is readily available to the survivalist who chooses to rebuild an older truck. After the
rebuild, a number of serviceable though not “zero time” parts will be on hand. Do not throw them away- save them
as possible replacements.

For a few hundred dollars, it may be possible to buy a parts truck; that is, a machine that runs and/or looks very
poor. A very tired machine of the identical model and year of your primary vehicle is an invaluable source of the
esoteric items that can break unpredictably. It’s often possible to buy a machine with good axles, differential, and
serviceable engine accessories for less than the price of any one major component at a wrecking yard.

If at this point you have concluded that the care and feeding of a survival machine is something of an elaborate task,
you’re correct. Actually, though, consider how elaborate and expensive a project a totally new kitchen might be.
The cost works out to about the same in dollars.

Remember as you go through our suggestions that, in a few thousand words, there is no way we can consider and
cover every possibility. Take the suggested tool inventories and consider them minimums. Buy the shop manual for
your machine and study it very carefully; get to know the vehicle better than any dealership mechanic. A
combination of a good vehicle, backed with parts and tools, and supported with solid knowledge is not likely to let
you down.

Is That Old Canned Food Safe To Eat?

The best answer that we have found for that question comes from the book on home preserving of foods, ​Putting
Food By​. It goes not only for home canned food, but also commercial foods that are questionable. “Before testing
canned food, boil it hard for 15 minutes to destroy any hidden toxins (corn, greens, meats, poultry, and seafood
require 20 minutes). If it looks spoiled or foams or has a bad smell during boiling, destroy the food completely so it
can’t be eaten by people or animals.” This information may just save yours and your family’s lives.

Bill’s Food Box

by Bill Pier

Now is the time for all good survivalists to learn to use their stored food. In PS Letter No. 5 I tried to instill in our
subscribers the importance of learning to cook the foods you have chosen for storage and adapt recipes so your
family will enjoy eating when the time comes to use the food to stay alive.

One of the problems you will face in trying to follow my counsel is the lack of practical information on the
properties of the different food products and how to incorporate them into your everyday meals.
Also you will find that many of the shortcuts, handy hints, and much of the vital information that has been
discovered through years of experience in cooking and using freeze-dried and air-dried dehydrated foods have
never been written down or made available to the general public.

I have often mumbled about writing a book to alleviate these serious shortcomings, but since we would all probably
be starving to death before I find the time, I plan to write a series of articles dealing with different food groups.
Included will be information on what is available, comparison between the air-dried and freeze-dried product,
quality analysis, handy hints, and shortcuts so you can choose and use the products wisely.

Books for Your Library

There are many books written on the subject of food storage. Most of them are not worth much, but there are a few
that are well written and contain basic information on the selection, storage, and use of foods commonly found in a
storage program. The books I list below are the best of the lot and should be read and put in your library. Included
are hundreds of excellent recipes, much information (most good, some bad, and a lot missing), and many ideas that
you will find invaluable.

If you have not started a food storage program, you will want to read most of these books before you start. If you
have a storage program you will want them to improve your working knowledge of this important aspect of
survival. Please remember that most recipes are only guidelines and you will want to adjust them to meet your
family’s needs and appetites.

The SamAndy Food Storage Guide and Cookbook​, The SamAndy Co., $3.95, 527 El Rancho, Colton, CA 92324.
There are two reasons for having this book. First, it was compiled by the fine testing kitchen that SamAndy had a
few years ago and has been carefully tested. Second, there is a conversion chart in the back of the book that allows
you to substitute air-dried products into your own favorite recipes. The information at the first is good reading
about the selection of air-dried foods.

Mix-n-Moisten Meals,​ Stevenson, $2.95, Bookcraft, Box 25777, Salt Lake City, UT 84125. This is one of my
favorite books. It was compiled from users of air-dried foods and includes recipes that you can use in everyday
cooking. The recipes have been tested and are good.

Wheat for Man​, Rosenvall, Miller, and Flack, $3.50, Bookcraft. Although I do not suggest a Basic Four (wheat,
milk, honey, and salt) -type storage, wheat is an important part of a good program. This is a good basic book for
those who want to see the hundreds of recipes that are possible with whole wheat, cracked wheat, and whole wheat
flour. Includes a section on sprouting.

Culinary Capers,​ $4.95 Perma-Pak, Inc., No. 40 East 2430 South, Salt Lake City, UT. This is an excellent recipe
book using air-dried foods, freeze-dried meats, and other basic ingredients normally found in any kitchen. The
recipes are well written and easy to follow.
The Magic of Wheat Cookery​, Taylor $9.95, Magic Mill, 250 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City, UT. This is the premier
of wheat cooking books. It has well-tested, clearly written recipes on all aspects of the use of wheat. It has an
excellent section on the use of gluten as a meat substitute. The 8½” x 11” format, spiral binding, and wipe clean
pages allow you to use it right next to your preparation area with ease.

Bee Prepared With Honey​, Anderson $3.50, Horizon Publishers, Box 490, Bountiful, UT 84010. Honey is a good
natural sweetener and stores indefinitely. This book tells you how to use it in all areas of food preparation, how to
substitute honey in recipes calling for sugar, and provides some new tasty recipes using honey.

Putting Food By​, Hertzberg, $4.95, Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro, VT 05301. A must book for any serious
survivalist, ​Putting Food By has sections on all the safe ways to preserve food. Included is a good section on
dehydrated foods and their use. However, I recommend it mainly as a companion book to show you how you can
supplement your basic long-term storage and make your meals increasingly varied and interesting for your family.

All the books can be ordered directly from the publishers or are available from SI (24206 Crenshaw Blvd.,
Torrance, CA 90505. 213-530-5641). When ordering from any source, be sure to include an extra .50 cents per
book for handling.

Meats for Storage

Many people consider meats in storage programs as luxury items, but I feel they are a necessity. Over the years, I
have known a number of families who -either through need or by way of experimenting- have lived off their stored
food for extended periods of time. Although all recall some problems of adjusting to new diets, the greatest
complaint was the absence of meat and the complaints got worse as the time without it increased.

A lack of meats in most storage programs is confirmed by the lists my customers send in for evaluation and
upgrading. Almost every list shows either a complete absence of meats or only a serving every week or two. There
are two main reasons for this shortcoming: first, very few pre-packaged food programs offer meats; second, meat is
the most expensive item to store.

Since food companies try to make their units attractive by keeping the prices down or at least keeping them in
certain price ranges, the first reason is often the result of the second. Even at SI this has been a problem and it is
only within the last couple of years that we have been redesigning our units to include enough meat to offer at least
a serving every four days.

Fresh meats are expensive, as any wife can tell you, and are going to get more expensive in the near future. The
same holds true for canned and freeze-dried meats- only here, besides the high initial cost, you must pay for
expensive processing and canning. When selecting freeze-dried meats, where there is no bone, no shrinking, and
little waste to contend with, you can figure on paying about $4.50 to $10.00 per pound of cooked edible meat.

In a recent conversation with John Hart of Oregon Freeze Dry Foods, he mentioned that the raw cost of beef to his
company has increased 25% in the last few weeks and is slated to go higher. This will mean that the cost of
Mountain House beef products will need to reflect this increase in the near future.
Whatever way you decide to store your meat (a subject that is covered later on) you will find that meats, depending
on how often you plan to serve them during the emergency, will compose 15% to 50% of the total cost of your food
storage program. However, meats can be used sparingly and yet be in enough quantity to at least make you feel like
you are eating close to normal.

For example, you could take one pork chop and cut it up into rice for a family of four and everyone would get a few
bites of meat to chew on. You can take one swiss steak and add it to noodles or take a small amount of ham and put
it into your scrambled powdered eggs and this will turn plain dishes into something interesting.

There are a number of basic ways to provide meat for emergency use: you can raise your own meat, freeze meat,
store wet-pack canned meat, or store freeze-dried canned meats.

One of the great advantages of living on a small farm in a rural town as suggested by Mel in his article on retreating
is the ability to raise your own cattle, pigs, and other animals for meat. However, you must remember that those
animals could be killed or stolen in time of emergency and therefore, you would be wise to store some freeze-dried
meats, as Mel has chosen to do, to eat until a new source could be raised.

Freezing is an excellent way to preserve meat as long as you have a power source for your freezer. This means an
independent generator and large fuel source, or -as at least one of our subscribers has done- a gas-powered freezer
with a large supply of propane to keep it running. In any case the dependence on freezer-supplied meat is tenuous
and I do not feel that all your eggs -or in this case meat- should be in that basket.

Wet-pack canned food -that is, food you buy in the grocery store- has a basic storage life of about 1 to 3 years. The
major problem here is the possibility of bacteria growth to a point where you are taking a chance of poisoning your
family. Unfortunately, this spoiling does not always show itself as a bulging can and you are taking a chance -a
deadly chance- when you eat canned meat that has been stored for long periods of time.

Before I close out this idea, let me say there can be some latitude if you are very careful. For instance, I happen to
love tuna, however, the freeze-dried tuna, which is cooked, just turns me off. Therefore, we like to keep a couple of
cases of wet packed tuna in storage and by rotating it, we keep it fresh.

But you must be cautious! Mark the cases when you buy them, turn them over each six months to let the oil run
through the meat, and use it up in 18 months at the most. Remember -do not take chances with canned meat- if in
doubt, throw it out!
This article on Meat for Storage will be continued in Issue No. 7

I receive many letters and phone calls on where to buy bulk items such as wheat, rice, milk, and honey for everyday
use or for storage. Since these items are normally too expensive to ship any distance I always suggest that my
customers buy them locally.

However, since I do not know where the bulk sellers are in every area of the country, I always suggest they call
their local Mormon Church. The Mormons have had an active program of home storage for years and are usually
happy to tell you where to buy. You can find the closest ward or branch by looking in the white pages of your
phone book under The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. B.P.