Review: Survival Storehouse Tactical Tin

Survival Storehouse kindly sent me one of their Tactical Tins recently and i'm pleased to present you with my review of it now. 

The tin itself is a standard 200 rnd .30 cal / 7.62 ammunition can, brand new and stickered with the BDH manufacturers ingredients and nutritional facts details. I love ammo cans; robust, resilient and ergonomic, lending themselves to stacking and packing. They also feature a rubber gasket on the removable, latch locking lid for an air and watertight seal. This means from the get-go you have a  sealed, crush-proof and portable storage for your food. The added weight of a steel can is mitigated by its utility and reliability. 

Inside the can are 12 individually packaged high density food bars. I've covered these before here and the ones included in the Tactical Tin are identical, produced by the same manufacturer in China, but the ones included in this Tin were manufactured in August 2024, with a 20 year expiry, good out till 2044! 

The vacuum sealed Mylar sachets each contain 4 individually plastic wrapped biscuits, each block of four weighs 200g (7 oz)  and each 100 g ( two bars) contains 2000 Kilojoules or approx 300 calories. (2000 calories / day is USFDA recommended)

Ingredients: wheat flour, palm oil, sugar, glucose syrup, water, salt, food additives, baking soda, edible essence. This is the standard flavor, but they also come in chocolate or peanut butter varieties. Which I haven't yet had a chance to try. 

I find them very tasty and keep a couple in my car, in my day to day get-home bag and even at my desk at work. Great for a pick me up snack or a "forgot breakfast". 

With up to 20 year shelf life from manufacture date if stored in a dry cool place. These are a reliable and long term food supply, packed with energy and vitamin enriched. Shipped from Survival Storehouse's warehouse in Australia. The combination of the bomb-proof ammo-tin and the super dense food bars makes the Tactical Tin an ideal first stop in any prepping adventure. Perfect for back of the closet, car trunk or bunker load-out!

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!

Ask me anything!

 As I find myself a little shy of new
gear to review currently, I thought I might put the question out to you my readers to see if there was a topic you'd like my thoughts on? is there a type of gear you'd like me to try out? Is there a situation you'd like my contingencies for? Is there a skill or set of skills you'd like to hear more about and test me on? Piece of kit you'd like me to do a YouTube on?

Lay it on me in the comments or DM's and i'll do my best to answer in upcoming posts!

Review: EDC Monster Titanium Multi-function Pry Bar

Time for another pry bar! Having just covered the small titanium pry bar I wear in a belt pouch you might be asking why i have yet another one. (on top of the WTF prybar I wear around my neck as EDC). The short answer is Two is one, One is none, and I have two hands and hate being kept out of places. 

This is the EDC Monster Pry-Bar, which was launched via a Kickstarter project. As their sixth successful project ( they make a lot of folding pen-knifes and the like). The thing that caught my eye about this tool however was  its multi-function design. It's packed full of options whilst retaining rugged construction.

Milled from a block of corrosion resistant Gr5 Titanium, the tool features a number of useful features the designers workshopped from common EDC tools.  

First and foremost the pry-bar end of the tool is dual-beveled on the top face and has a bevel on the under side too, finishing up as a 1-2mm flat edge 15mm long rather than a sharp chisel edge. Not sharp by any stretch but plenty pointy enough to cut taped boxes and packages open. 

A good sized bottle opener sits at the belly of the pry end, in front of a finger notch. The double sided beveling allows the tool to be worked-into a gap easier than if it were flat on the underside, which is handy.

 The back spine side of the tool features a swiveling, magnetised cover that turns to reveal two hex bits, a S2 Alloy Steel  Phillip's head and a flat head driver, both held in place with magnets, but easily popped out. both drivers fit the ratcheting driver ring seated in the butt-end of the tool, it ratchets in one direction only, so you flip the tool to change direction of driving.

It's worth noting that the driver bits don't lock into the ratchet driver, and need to be held in place by the user, (placing a thumb on it seemed to work fine, but worth noting) . You could swap out the drivers with others as long as they fit in the recess.

Recessed on the underside of the tool is a magnetically affixed, titanium bodied "everlasting graphite" nibbed pencil. More than just a gimmick, these pencils are very useful for always to hand writing implements, though I have found the nibs to be fragile on occasion, they do write really well and are super handy. Astute readers may have noticed one lanyareded to my other EDC pry-bar

The pencil is short (1.65")  but not unworkable so its a very useful addition and is securely held in its recess, protecting the sometimes brittle nib, when not in use. 

The very butt-end of the tool features a tungsten carbide spike to allow glass breaking and inscribing into hard surfaces. It also features a lanyard hole for fitting you favourite beads or "don't-loose-me" cords. 

As well as the well placed groves milled in for grip, there are four recessed slots (2 on front, and 2 on the back) for fitting tritium vials. But due to shipping restrictions, they were not able to provide the tritium vial, but they did will provide luminous rods as add-on options. I have yet to install these but should be a matter of applyng a dry-clear epoxy glue. The tool has a removable belt clip, but also comes with a snug kydex sheath with a belt clip. All told the tool including its bits and pencil weighs only 85g (3oz) and measures 14.2cm (5.6") x 2cm (0.82") broad. Its a nice compact tool packing a lot of utility into its small frame.

Home Front: Battle belt

There is a lot to be said for having a go-bag, get-home-bag or bug-out bag ready and kitted out for those dire-circumstances where you need bare-necessities to make it to a secondary location.  But sometimes, requirement for action is a little less dire, demanding light-weight gear in limited capacity, but needs to be ready to go.  

One such method is to have a battle-belt. In my case I have set out to build a camping/hiking belt that has all the things I might find needful whilst out on the trail or if I needed to blaze one of my own. 

I've been modifying its setup for some time adding things, moving things and testing it on every hike we go on. The current setup has been pretty stable, both physically but also dynamically. 

I've included, hydration, first aid, navigation, fire-lighting and shelter options as well as storage space for other pieces of kit.

I started off with my Heavy Cover 
Titanium canteen and nesting cup in a GGG tactical pouch that I found in my collection. I put this central at the back of the belt for weight distribution. This gives me 37oz (1.1L) of water ready to go as well as a cook-pot and water sterilization (by boiling) method, on my person. Left of the canteen pouch is an older Platatac radio pouch that I use to house a ferrocerium rod and striker combo, a bic lighter, a set of medical sheers and a folding saw. 

So I have fire-making options and fire-crafting options. to the left of the radio/fire pouch is a three-pocket admin pouch where I keep a Sharpie, a pencil, sharpener, crayons a small note-book and space for my phone, as well as space for additional items. Right of the canteen is a Blackhawk Stealth Weapon Catch which holds a Go! outfitters Landing Pad mini-tarp for some single person shelter. To the right of that i have a tear-open GGG IFAK, that i've filled with a variety of bandages, gloves and the like, along with a CAT tourniquet  for extreme bad-times recovery and a Gerber Crisis Hook to round out the rescue/aid pouch.

To the right of the IFAK is a large Kryptek Highlander pattern pouch that contains a 100 foot spool of Go! Outfitters reflective guy-line as well as my emergency IR helmet strobe. I also have a couple of bundled hanks of paracord, one half of a set of pocket binoculars, and an Extac Australia Pocket Shot along with the arrow brush fitting and a couple of bags worth of marbles and bb's as ammunition. 

Finishing up the items carried on the belt is a collapsible mesh sided platatac ld dump-pouch, for foraged or salvaged items, and a horizontally slung ZU Bladeworx Grunt fixed blade knife that sits at belt-buckle level. A very sturdy tool for cutting, battoning and all manner of blade-craft. 

After its first big outing I realized that I needed to add shoulder straps to assist with its bulk and weight, so I rigged up some harness straps with some recycled kiddy car-seat straps.  With a little adjustment, I've managed to distribute the weight of all the items and keep it stable for those long hikes, or short dashes.

The belt that forms the basis of this set up is a Propper 360 riggers belt that has a hook and loop and locking bar fixture as well placed attachment ring for attaching safety lines or other retention systems. This belt runs through an older Platatac 3s belt pad that has PALS/MOLLE loops throughout and suspender loops as well as a breathable mesh padding. 

I think I might upgrade this ad-hoc system to something purpose made, like the Platatac bk harness perhaps, but for now, this whole rig lives in my room on the back of my desk chair, ready to throw on at a moments notice before rushing out to confront whatever adventure or misfortune may come my way.

Anything i'm missing or should add or remove? 

Review: titanium pry bar

Time to cover another piece of EDC that has slipped beneath my reporting radar for too long. Its no secret that i'm fond of titanium tools, they're strong, light and non-magnetic. I'm also very fond of pry-bars. Remember kids, your knife is not a pry-bar. Nor is your screw-driver. 

I've always been "the knife guy" in my circle of friends, because I always have at least a pocket pen-knife on my person. More and more these days, environments are less and less permissive when it comes to knives, so I've looked to alternatives. A quick self-audit showed me that I open a lot more boxes than I do cutting food,  and the leading edge of a pry-bar can do a number on most packing tape I've encountered. So I've added more pry-bars to my collection than knives of late. I also find myself making adjustments to equipment and storage units to make things fit more often that I am cutting things. In my search for a more perfect EDC pry-bar, I came across this listing right ebay link for this very functional tool. 

Machined from a solid billet of TC4 titanium alloy it lays 11cm long by 1.6cm wide and 1cm tall. It has a stiffening channel milled down it length on both sides a set of two crenellations at the tip end and three at the butt end as well as a deep scalloping for ergonomic grip. A lanyard hole at the butt end adds a good retention and draw option. The working end of the pry bar comes down to a symmetrical edge with a 2cm slope ending at a flat 1cm wide,  2mm final bevel. 

Its not a chisel, its a pry bar and that final edge is strong whilst being fine enough to slip in to most locations I've needed to pry up. That said, some jobs have required a little persuasion either lifting, wedging or just tapping the tool in to get that wedge started. Once started though, the tool performs nicely, lifting with the sturdy and ergonomic body. After a long period of it living in my pocket along with other elements of my EDC I whipped up a small leather belt pouch from some scraps, where it has been a handy tool for all my prying, tape cutting and even occasional flat-head screw driving need. All in a mere 45g item.

This is a lovely tool that I've enjoyed using and just nice in the hand as a fidget toy.