Home Front: bean and rice survival soup

A while back I secured a copy of the impressive and practical goldmine of prepping projects: 

 NO GRID Survival Projects (How To Produce Everything You Need on Your Property) by Amber Robinson, Claude Davis, and James Walton

One of the included projects was a long term storage meal of Rice and beans, Bean and Rice Soup. After collecting and portioning out the ingredients into 1.5L long term storage jars. They then sat under my desk for some months until I  realized I hadn't even tested it.

One of the important things to do with any food-prep items are to test it in a non-crisis to ensure you'll want to eat it in the event of a crisis. 

So I set about making a batch of this. The soup is remarkably simple, the first stage is the bean mix: Brown beans, white beans, lentils, split peas, chickpeas.(370g/ 13oz)  These go on with plenty of water (3L/3qt) to boil. Next in goes in the spice and seasonings mix:

Bullion cubes, garlic and onion powder, cumin, salt and pepper and dried mushroom, dried tomatoes. This cooks on low until the beans all soften up. At this point there was still a fair amount of water in the pot and the rice goes(210g 7 1/2 oz)  in. The soup was tasty if watery at this stage but the addition of the rice soon thickened it up into a very solid stew. I ladled myself out a healthy serve and got stuck in.  It was delicious, filling and hearty. 

I went back for seconds and had leftovers for lunch AND dinner the next day. This "quarter ration" ( being half of one of two jars I had made up, and it served 6 hefty servings. I was a little concerned that such a legume rich meal would lead to intestinal distress or gas but no such occurrence developed. 

I call this a resounding success. Admittedly it was a long cook-time ( several hours) and used a lot of water, but turned very cheep and light ingredients into a lot of very tasty food. I wouldn't call the end result a soup by any stretch of the imagination, it's a stew or pottage. The 1.5 kg jar of dry mix serves 12

The re-stocked and sealed jars are going into my prepping cache and the No Grid Survival Projects book is going into high rotation. 

Home Front: prep storage shed

When we moved house at the beginning of 2023 it became apparent that my multitude of preps and camping gear outpaced the available storage inside the new house (even with a detached garage and garden-shed. Even after drastic culls of stockpiled salvage, my collected packs, tents, mats, hammocks and what-have-you exceeded what I could sensibly store. 

My parents came to the rescue in the form of a flat-packed shed which we built over the course of a couple of weekends. it was a good bonding time and we got to together with very little fuss, even with some from-factory misalignments that required some on the spot modifications and fabrications.  We put down treated pine sleepers, bracketed them at the corners, bolted them to star-picket anchors and then mounted the shed to the sleepers. I'd say its a far cry from hurricane proof, but our yearly Melbourne rager storms haven't given it any trouble. 

Due to conditions of our lease, we couldn't put down a concrete slab for it, so we picked a flat sheltered spot against the fenceline and raised it up. 

The spacious ABSCO shed is 3 m x 3m (9'10" square)  and 2m (6'6") tall at its peak. Initially we just loaded things in onto the grass, but later on i put down the box frame from an old mattress we retired, as well as a set of duck-boards to cover almost 3/4 of the available floorspace. A big table covering the back wall makes for an excellent storage space and an old dresser-cabinet we curb-side salvaged years ago fit nicely too. It was good that we put the duck-boards and bedframe down too, as it turned out we had placed the shed in the lowest part of the yard and rains tended to soak that spot. 

I loaded that table up with, tents, sleeping mats, filled gear-crates and a whole swag of filled Tactical crates. (More on these later). The whole process was good for consolidating and rationalising my collection.  

Whilst in the process, I decided to move some of my food-preps out to the shed, I noticed that even in the heat of the day the centre mass of stored things remained cool. Following periods of heavy rain I would leave one the double doors open to facilitate evaporation which seemed to work well, though the grass has long since died.  

One problem I had was  inaccessibility to my food preps and this cost me. Mice had found their way in and ate their way through a considerable  amount of my preps! My box of Mainstay food bricks and an entire crate full of MRE's (apart from the bread and metallic tubes of spreads.)My boxes of Mac-n-Cheese also suffered similar fates ( except tins of cheese sauce). Rookie mistake. After cleaning up what I could salvage, I re-crated the canned goods and have set up a metal shelving system and stacked my crates one deep rather than two as they had been on the table to facilitate better access and reduced pest-access. I will be storing re-stocked dry-goods in sealed containers, either pails with lids or lidded tubs. I also took the time to tabulate my canned goods, for better reference.

I also found, amongst other gems, my FireCones for summer bbq starting needs!

HomeFront: Ordning hobostove hack

I like fire, almost as much as I like blades and lights.. but I do not like being on fire. Which is why I like fireplaces and stoves. Whilst it is easy enough to dig a hole or set up a ring of rocks, sometimes a purpose built tool suits the purpose even better. there are times when the full-blown  BBQ is overkill, especially if I hiking and camping.

Systems like the Fire- Box are purpose built and designed expressly to suit this need but as it turns out it is possible to quite easily make your own. I decided to make my own using an IKEA Ordning cutlery rack I had seen on line. The Ordning rack is a 12cm diameter,  18cm tall  stainless steel cylinder 180g with an inwardly rolled lip. The sides are perforated by six sets of 1 cm holes in a 3 x 6 grid. The base also has holes. These holes arced these holes act as the vents  for the fire. In order to improve air flow, I decided to put feet on mine, so I fitted it with quarter inch hex bolts I have fixed with a nut and a washer at the four corners and in the center for stability.

I then used a Dremel with a cutting wheel to cut a door into the side, using the holes as a guide. I cut a 3 x 4 hole hole and folded it inwards from the bottom. This hole became the feed hole, to feed the fire whilst a pot or pan was on top of the fire. Folding the lip inwards provides a platform for the fuel and stability when feeding larger fuel items. I also cut 8 notches in the lip of the cylinder in three pairs in one direction and one set perpendicular to those. These notches are for steel support wires I cut to size to act as a grill and pot support. I used welding rod for these wires as I had plenty.

Lighting the fire was a simple matter of filling the stove with tinder and woodchips and lighting it which I did both through the feed hole and also through the air holes. With just twigs and woodwork off-cuts, I got a nice little fire very quickly and noticed the feet kept the fire off the wet ground which helped it burn. Once it got burning I noticed the smoke coming out of the holes was igniting giving a more complete burn and rendering it almost smokeless. I suspect the metal walls were igniting the flammable wood gas. This increased the efficiency of the stove and reduced tell-tale smoke trail effects.

Putting the grill wires on a provided a stable platform on which to boil water for tea in my enamel mug, but a billy or pot or kettle could have fit just as well. The stove put off some nice radiant heat from just sticks and off cuts, burned very clean and down to basically ash. Once it burnt down I flipped the grill wires off and upended the stove to knock the last of ashes out. Popping the wires in the stove it was cool enough to pick up and pack in minutes.

Its a very lightweight system and requires attention to feed it as it only has a small fuel capacity but it was really easy to use and make. I will think about some kind of cloth bag to put it in to keep the soot off things and keep the wires in place. I look forward to experimenting with cooking on it and seeing how little fuel I can get away with to make a whole meal. 

One of the things I like about this design was the lack of sparks. Even with a quite a strong cross breeze, the stove let few to no sparks escape, the network of holes leading to quite complete combustion as previously noted which in turn reduces fire-risk. I like this because it means reduced risk of fire spreading and less effort being required in setting up fire -breaks, reducing environmental impacts and set up time. Feeding a tent peg through the holes in the base could lend additional stability and with its feet, the stove could be set in a depression or hole to further reduce its impact and also exposure without smothering the fire.

Video if it in action.

Home Front: COVID-19 bug-in cache

With the current COVID-19 pandemic scare going on, I thought it prudent to supplement my food stored in case we needed to enact the self-quarantine the Australian government is recommending in the case of exposure.  I suspected something like this might occur so as soon as i heard of an outbreak in China. Mostly due to the risk to supply chains.  Given the reported nature of the virus, in both infection rates and morbidity and mortality, I'm not overly concerned about the disease itself, but rather the disruption to supply lines.

This is the kind of prepping anyone can do and its as simple as picking up a few extra items each time you go shopping. Long lasting staples.  I chose things I like to eat, and things I will take camping.  I didn't pre-stockpile toilet paper which was the panic-buy item of choice  reported and experienced, but some judicial and crafty shopping saw us stocked without issue. Something to note for next time.

That said, here is a quick look at my very quickly and inexpensively put together bug-in food cache. Nothing too exciting, nor anything that will go to waste. this is all stuff  I will eat over time and replenish and build on as time goes on.

Red Feather Butter cans: Providing energy rich fats and good taste, for frying, baking, spreading on bread.

Spam cans 340g A traditional prepping staple. Long lasting, tasty and versatile, has its own opening  system and a Weird Al song and Monty Python skit. 3 year best-by date.  I prefer it sliced or diced and fried but its palatable enough eaten from the can with a spoon if you're in a bind.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_beef, this mechanically reclaimed potted meat and rendered lard in a can. Bully Beef. Not a very exciting food, nor especially sophisticated but it is meat, long lasting, ready to eat and can be added to many other foods. 'Pocalypse Stew as well as the traditional 'shit on a shingle". (served on toast like pate) It kind of looks like pet food. 

Noodles: Ramen. packs Two-minute pre-fried noodles in a packet.  Comes with its own seasoning sachets. Best eaten as noodles in soup  (ready in just  2 minutes give or take) or eat dry sprinkling the seasoning on top as you munch. They also make excellent fire starters being dry and greasy. I prefer the "mi goreng" flavor which it includes a chili/sauce/oil sachet for added flavor variety and use in other dishes as needed as well as fortifying the meal.

Baked Beans  555g cans: Beans Beans ,good for the heart. Best served hot, "Fine like this" if you shun compromise and wear an ink blot mask. 

Stew cans, Braised steak and onion;  425g cans. A meal in a can, simple and tasty. good texture and serves two per can.

Soup cans, Chunky bacon and potato x3 505g cans. Another meal in a can, though not quite as satisfying as the stew cans. Better when combined with other foods.

Ration biscuits: PRC food bricks

MRE's: from a variety of sources.  Pre-packaged military style meals ready to eat. not fancy but very carefully put together and long lasting.

Water jugs: Every time I go camping I buy one of these 10L-20L bricks and take them to ensure I have clean water for drinking, cooking and even wash-ups. Afterwards I keep the jugs and with some simple cleaning and refilling with tap-water they're good to go for long term water storage.

Powdered Egg mix: 150g, equivalent to a dozen fresh eggs when reconstituted with water. can be used to make scrambled egg or omelette or as a binding agent in baking. 

Sauces/Soup Mix:  I keep the excess sauce packets from fasts food meals and also the soup sachets from ramen packets to act as soup stock and seasoning for other meals, especially the otherwise bland Spam, beans and corned beef. What otherwise might have been throw away I've kept and stored to supplement my meal stores. 

Mac and Cheese kits: x4 boxes 380g "serves 3. contains pasta packet and canned cheese for use as a sauce. Requires only water to cook. The canned cheese can be eaten separately or combined with other supplies. 

Pasta sauce, Jars of tomato paste with flavorsome herbs, good for making stews, pasta and adding flavor and nutrition to any meal.

Can Pie; Steak and Kidney. Pie including pastry in a tin. Designed to be cooked in the tin (Lid off) it is possible to bake the pie in coals, with some coals on top, by partially opening the tin.

In addition to these specific canned good stores i've stockpiled, I have routinely built up supplies, preserved foods like jams and jerky. Dry-goods like rice, beans, flour and sugar i've kept well stocked and stored in DPJ's  along with fruit preserves and even some pickled eggs.

Home Front: Rules of Threes (or more)

In survival, the rule of threes is a quick reference guide for how long one can generally stay alive in a survival emergency.

Originally posted on my birthday on Breach Bang & Clear you should go check out the other good reads there too! go there t orea dthe full article. 

Normally, it contains the following:

•   You can survive three minutes of severe bleeding, without breathable air (unconsciousness generally occurs), or in icy water.
• You can survive three hours in a harsh environment (extreme heat or cold). Think blizzards, the North Sea, at a Celine Dion concert ...
• You can survive three days without drinkable water.
• You can survive three weeks without edible food.

• When the Radiation alarm goes off, get out of Engineering, immediately . I'm looking at you, Midshipman 1st Class Peter Preston

Home Front: "pocalypse stew"

Having a hot meal is a simple way to both bolster morale but also provide much needed nutrition and energy, especially in adverse conditions. Being able to reliably produce a meal can be as good as magic in the field. I had the chance to do so at a recent post-apocalyptic Live action role playing camping trip, whee we had to set up themed camp with a deadline, and a pot-luck dinner had been planned. There was a total-fire ban in place so no campfires were allowed, but portable gas burners were allowed if supervised. I had brought along my SOLIDteknics AUS-ION Noni pot and some apocalypse themed austere ingredients.


2 x cans corned 340g Hamper Corned beef
1 x can 822g Edgell potato tiny taters
2X McDonalds tomato sauce
2x instant noodle sachets bumbu & fried onions

The corned beef cans come with a key to open them by twisting the top off. The Tiny Taters can didn't have an easy open option, however, I had my trusty p-51 opener and made quick work of the can. I up-ended the cans of corned beef, which had the texture and appearance of cat-food and set it to sizzling. when the fat had rendered, I poured in the whole can of tiny taters, water and all (waste not, want not) and then stirred it through. This made for a very wet stew so I was glad I had the noodle sachets to add. in they went and then the McDonalds / KFC ketsup. (I save everyone of these I get for just this reason.)

After a little cooking down, I served it up into the mugs and mess-tins of my compatriots and we had cooked, adult meal to go with the tear-aparts and dips we had combined. It was quite salty (the noodle-bumbu is mostly salt) but palatable and by the next day, there was only half scoop worth at the bottom of the pot.
Not a pretty meal by a long shot, but it was fast, (taking less than 10 minuted from pile of ingredients to edible food in mugs).

Different spice and sauce mixes could change the palatability if available but could even be skipped entirely. Canned corned beef has an approximate shelf life of 2-5 years but who knows how long it could last and be safe to eat? Certainly worth considering if outfitting that cabin-in-the-woods or bunker. I certainly keep a couple of cans in my bug-out food crate and you should to!

Some additional variants that would make improvements to an otherwise very plain meal. A handful of rice, or oats would give additional body, as would dry beans or split peas. Some jerky or even fresh meat scraps would be additional and offer a delightful surprise in some mouthfuls. Bear in mind to soften beans, rice and jerky additional cooking time (and water) will be required. As well as the Bumbu powder sachets saved from ramen noodles, I also save the sauce and oil sachets which can add flavour and body to just about any meal. Remember that fats and oils are an important dietary requirement and energy rich as well as carrying flavours. They also aid in the cooking process if you fry things, so keeping some in your supply is multifunctional.

lJ posts - reflections on the past.

So, back in the day, in the late 2000's I had a LiveJournal into which the first iterations of this blog came to pass.

A couple of important things were journaled there in my beginnings of documenting preparation things:
1) my EDC and BUG-OUT bag kits:
2) Black Saturday 2008/09 fire season:

my 2007 EDC loadout: Compare with my 2012 version posted here:

Someone asked me recently if there was anything I didn't have on
me, and I thought I'd post the list I made afterwards. Not quite a
Bug-Out-Bag, but at any given time, this is what I carry around with me.

That's before I even pack things into my bag . . .

Green Crumpler satchel
-sharpening tools (diamond stones) x3
-Alan keys (full set)
-packaged survival kit-in-a-can
-cable ties (180x4.5mm) x20 or so
-waiters friend
-metal chopsticks
-9" section of aluminium arrow shaft (my metal straw)
-titanium splade
- 90cm wire saw
-essential oils
-personal grooming stuff (toothpaste, floss, toothbrush, tissues,
hairbrush)
-needles and thread
-first aid kit (overstocked from Hospital supplies, lube, condoms (you NEVER know))

Under-vest-Harness
-Barz prescription polarised goggles
-wallet (safety pins and needle&thread)
-work ID
-USB memory sticks x2
-Folding C.R.K.T. K.I.S.S. 3"
-LED flashlight
-pen
-iPod
-PDA
-aluminium accessory carabineer
-all elastic hair ties
-keys on big steel carabineer
-mobile phone
-20m nylon cord

Belt
-BuckTool multitool (with attached HD magnet)
-rope kasari fundo (String of Doom)


Zombie edition EDC (Nov. 8th, 2007)

So, apart from what I usually lug around (and again, not
including my lunches, kendo gear twice a week, books, external 300Gb
hard drives, or the odd 14" cast iron camping hot-plate on occasion),
here is my theoretical end-of-civilization bug-out-kit.

Its very similar to the kind of gear I lug about when I got to BIF
weekends, so I know what I can manage, but there I do it in period-ish
style. The boar spear is a bit overkill, but, well, that's so me
isn't it? For non-supernatural disasters, I'd probably leave the spear
in the car. . . hahaha

Green Crumpler satchel
-sharpening tools (diamond stones) x3
-Alan keys (full set)
-packaged survival kit-in-a-can
-cable ties (180x4.5mm) x20 or so
-waiters friend
-metal chopsticks
-9" section of aluminium arrow shaft (my metal straw)
-titanium splade
- 90cm wire saw
-essential oils
-personal grooming stuff (toothpaste, floss, toothbrush, tissues,
hairbrush)
-needles and thread
-first aid kit (overstocked from Hospital supplies, lube, condoms (you
NEVER know))
-Fluid resistant surgical masks
-food supplement bars ~380Cal/100g
-30m 11mm static line
-Petzl Ascension, Shunt, figure 8
-Hydration pack
-short bolt cutters

Camping hip bag
-20m 5mm dynamic line
-carabineer
 -camouflage waterproof hooded poncho
-tricks + traps kit
-20 4" nails
-mini gas stove + bottle
-battery free induction flashlight
-Swedish Army fire steel
-collapsible bowl/sink
-lensatic compass
-LED head lamp
-enamel mug
-CRKT Stiff KISS knife (l.hip)

Under-vest-Harness
-Barz prescription polarised goggles
-wallet (safety pins and needle&thread)
-work ID
-USB memory sticks x2
-Folding C.R.K.T. K.I.S.S. 3"
-LED flashlight
-pen
-iPod
-PDA
-aluminium accessory carabineer
-all elastic hair ties
-keys on big steel carabineer
-mobile phone
-20m nylon cord

Belt
-BuckTool multitool (with attached HD magnet)
-rope kasari fundo (String of Doom)

Ontario 30" Blackwind sword (l.hip)
Fiskars 23.5" splitting axe (r.shoulder)
Arcteryx climbing harness
Dainese body armour+2nd back plate
Leather work gloves (over)
Latex examination gloves (under)
Armoured shorts (street hockey)
Shin + knee armour (street hockey)
HiTech GP boots
Cold Steel boar spear





2008 Fire Prep



Sunset, Friday night, from Belgrave shops. The Sun looked like a cherry, and i could look right at it without blinking.


I've fought fires before, and know what it is like to get embers and ash in your eyes, nose and mouth, the length keeps it out of ears, and the back of my neck. I have practice wearing head-dresses, they are very comfortable.




suede doesn't ignite easily, and is easily made damp, the goggles are polarised and i have tended fires with them and they are really good at smoke and ember protection, and the 9 LED light is, well, brilliant.

wearing this, i can protect my head from radiant heat, and ember attack for any expose to the fires i may get. Better prepared is better better protected.


 Belgrave Fires
  fires all downgraded to "safe" still, going to be vigilant


We are on the other side of the valley, and the wind is going the other way. No smoke, no embers. Elvis the water bomber and a couple of Huey's have been back and forth for the last hour, but they have stopped.

We are standing by to put our fire plan into action if needs be.

Gutters are stopped up and water-filled, buckets and mops ready.
My PPE is ready, the car is fueled we are going to gather the essentials and have them ready, just in case.
My neighbors are on their deck's talking loudly on their phones and laughing. I am not planning to leave just yet.


FiresFeb. 8th, 2009 at 7:04 PM
66 dead, 700 homes, 2 towns -gone-, not damaged,

GONE

we're fine, its rained overnight and today, which has made everything extra damp, which is great

details of the scope of the disaster here:

in the advent of fire, my family will evacuate at first sign, and i will stay and defend the house. i have several contingency plans, and have witnessed bushfire and grass-fires before.

a locally living buddy has selflessly volunteered to come and help me, if needs be, he's "just down the hill" and its always good policy to "dive-with-a-buddy"

just so you all know, and before you tell me off . . .
i have been told, in no uncertain terms, that i am not to "be a hero" and die for my home. i can live with that, i have a lot to live for.

Review: "Rambo" mini machette

One of the self-appointed stoke rehab tasks I set myself was to clear some of the backyard jungle, to make way for an over-arching clean-up we badly needed. Normally for brush-clearing I would turn to my Ontario Blackwind, or perhaps one of my other-mid-ranged sized blades, or even turn to my petrol powered brush-clearer, but I wanted to get some physical exercise and didn't want to be swinging long-blades round where there were metal-posts and the like in there field of fire.

As it happened, I had had this particular blade sitting on the shelf, never used. The backyard jungle is clogged with morning glory vine. It's a fast growing and tenacious vine and needs a fair mount of chopping to get through it. I thought this would really do the trick. Weighing in at 1.25kg (2.75 lbs) with an overall length of 37 cm (14.5"). The blade makes up a hefty 20cm (8") of that.

See the rest of the article here on Breach Bang & Clear!

As a heavy-use tool, the "14" RAMBO TACTICAL Combat Survival FIXED BLADE KNIFE  Bowie Hunting Machete

Home Front: Big Dumb Blocks

As first seen on Breach Bang & Clear: Big Dumb Blocks

Following the recent mass-casualty vehicle attacks in Charlottesville and New York City, I'm prompted to finish a piece I've been working on related to these tragic and horrific incidents.

Back in January 2017, a dude out on parole thought he'd dodge a police pursuit by driving through a crowded pedestrian mall in Melbourne on a Friday afternoon during school holidays. Within the thronging crowd, 35 were injured — two critically — and by the end of the rampage, four people (including ten-year-old Thalia Hakin, 22-year old Jess Mudie, 33-year old Matthew Si, and an unidentified 25-year old man) died on the scene.

Five-month-old Zachary Bryant later died in hospital, while his two-year-old sister survived her injuries. Ten days after the attack, 33-year-old Bhavita Patel died in hospital.

Police officers rammed the car and the driver was shot in the arm before being arrested. He was charged with six counts of murder and 28 counts of attempted murder.

Read the full article here on Breach Bang & Clear