When the SHTF, These Cheap Items Will be Worth Their Weight in Gold

If society were to break down tomorrow, the value of the things we own and the skills we have would be turned on its head. Everybody knows that certain items will be far more valuable after a grid ending event. Stuff like gold, guns, and food are a given in any conversation on preparedness. Skills like hunting, reloading, and first aid would be indispensable, while skills accounting and day trading would be completely worthless.
There are of course, other items that we may be overlooking. While things like gold and guns will be expensive in the future, they're already quite expensive now. Once you have those bases covered on your preparedness checklist, you can start thinking in terms of “What's really cheap now, but will definitely be more valuable when the SHTF? What's going to give me the greatest return on my money?”

With that said, here's a few barter items you can buy right now, for a fraction of what they'll be worth when the grid goes down.

Bike Tire Patches

If say, there was an EMP type of event to hit America, it would take several years for the grid to be repaired. If it's a worldwide event it will probably take even longer. Either way, the need for transportation would not go away. However, I don't see horses making a comeback anytime soon. Even if it takes a decade for the lights to come back on, I don't think you could breed them fast enough to accommodate the survivors. What would be far more abundant, is bicycles.

Even without maintenance, the current stock of bicycles in circulation would last a long time. The only exception to this would be the inner tube, which is prone to punctures and leakage. So having a fully stocked repair kit would be a good idea. You can keep spare inner tubes for your own bicycles, or maybe even buy a couple more to trade with (most common sizes are 27, 28, and 29 inches). Fortunately, repair kits and inner tubes are both small, and very cheap.

Vitamin C

In a society where the medical infrastructure has collapsed, and doctors are hard to come by, vitamin C will become one of the most important nutrients. It will also become one of the hardest to find. As far as food goes, the most obvious source is from fruit.

Consider this though; how much of the fruit in your grocery store comes from hundreds or thousands of miles away? If it comes from the other side of the country, you have to consider what kinds of fruit you can grow in your region. So now let's say you decide you want to grow your own. You better start now because most fruit comes from trees and bushes that may not produce right away.

As for stocking up on fruit, every method of preservation has been shown to reduce the vitamin C content, and cooking can destroy roughly 50 percent of the vitamin C in fruit. So in all likelihood, what we're left with is a severe vitamin C gap during any long term disaster. The only way to stock up on it is with supplements. Personally I would recommend ascorbyl palmitate if you're looking for something a little more potent. Keep them in a cool, dry, and dark place, and in an unopened container. That should keep them viable for a very long time. The bottle I bought a few months ago has a 4 year shelf life.

If our Western society crumbles, we'll become prone to far more illnesses than we are now, and there will be no medical system to fall back on. For many people after the collapse, Vitamin C may become a matter of life and death.

Power Inverter

This one is the most expensive on this list, but it will still become extremely valuable after a collapse. I would argue more so than most electronic devices, because without this item you'll never be able to charge any of those gadgets.

A power inverter is designed to turn DC power into AC, which is what most electronic devices run off of. During any long term collapse, people will be turning to alternative sources of renewable power, like solar and wind. Almost all of these sources of energy produce DC, so it will be essential to find a way to turn that into AC electricity.

DC/DC Converter

Along the same lines as the power inverter, you might consider getting a DC to DC converter. This piece will adjust any given voltage, into a higher or lower voltage. I'm betting that this gadget will be far more overlooked than the power inverter, which is typically made to turn 12 volts DC into 120 volts AC.

What most folks don't consider however, is that the sources of energy that will be made after the collapse will be made from improvised parts, and will be highly irregular. Whereas you can buy a solar panel or generator right now that produces something close enough to 12 volts (which is pretty standard), the improvised parts of a post collapse generator aren't likely to produce the more typical 12 volts that most power inverters are designed for.

If you're working with whatever scrap you can scrounge up to build a motor or generator, the kind of voltage you'll be getting is going to be very unpredictable. So a DC to DC converter will go for a pretty penny after the collapse. Being able to adjust the voltage means it's the only thing that will allow you to connect a homemade generator into a standard converter, and then turn that energy into the AC power to run your appliances.

Polar Pure

I believe this item will quite literally be worth its weight in gold during a collapse. Many of you might have heard of it, but for the uninitiated, Polar Pure contains highly concentrated crystallized iodine. It's held inside a tiny bottle with instructions and a thermometer pasted on the side. I've been using the same bottle on backpacking trips for many years without it ever running out. That's because one bottle of Polar Pure contains enough iodine to purify 500 gallons of water.

If our infrastructure collapses, there will still be a lot of water in most places. It just won't be safe to drink. And since you can't go for very long without water, finding ways to purify it will become the top priority for most survivors. Just imagine for a moment, if you were in that situation. How much would you be prepared to trade away for a pocket sized bottle that can clean 500 gallons of water? I bet it's a hell of a lot more than the 20 dollars it costs now. And if you find yourself bugging out this will probably become your most important item; even more so than a firearm. After all, even in the apocalypse you probably won't be getting into gunfights every day, but you will be drinking water on a regular basis.

For an even better price, you can buy the iodine crystals in bulk on ebay. Just don't buy too much, or the government will think you're making meth. I'm quite serious.

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 When Dogs Attack: 11 Steps That Could Keep You Alive

Have you ever felt threatened by a strange dog? Perhaps you were out on a walk and someone's pet escaped from the yard. Or maybe you've been to a friends house, only to be greeted with a poorly trained and territorial animal. If you live in the city, there's good chance you've encountered one of the millions of stray dogs that roam the United States.

That last category is probably the most dangerous for the average person, and the statistics bear that out. Every year, 850,000 people in the US seek out medical attention for a dog bite, and along with the number of stray dogs, it's a growing epidemic.

If so many people are bitten bad enough to go to the hospital every year, there's a reasonably high chance of it happening to you someday. It's not just something you hear about on the news, or from a friend of a friend. It's something the average person should be prepared for, no matter where they live.

Fortunately though, the number of fatalities is extremely low, at around 20-30 per year. It seems most dogs, even if they're feral, aren't interested in killing humans. They're usually timid, tired and hungry, and are more interested in defending themselves than making you lunch. Most dog attacks are probably due to nothing more than a misunderstanding between themselves and the humans around them. Sometimes they misread our gestures, or if they're truly feral, they think they can extend their territory the streets and sidewalks.

Whatever the case may be, there's a few simple strategies you can use to ward off a dog attack. Even if you don't have any weapons, you stand a very good chance of staying alive. Before you do anything though, you should start by trying to scare the animal away. Here's what you should try first.

1. If you're approached by an aggressive dog, stay calm and stand your ground. Don't run, or turn your back in any way. Doing so will trigger the dog's predatory instinct. They will most likely chase you, and they'll definitely outrun you. In addition, dogs have an amazing ability to perceive moving objects, much more so than we can. In fact, they can recognize a moving object better than a stationary object. All in all, you should keep your movement to a minimum.

2. Shout at the dog. Tell him to leave.  Even the most feral of dogs exist because of us. They're descended from thousands of years of human domestication, and they still have a primal understanding of human gestures. Many of the stray dogs you run into used to belong to human homes, and they recognize human commands. So long as you're standing your ground, ordering the dog to leave is worth a shot.

3. If he's not going to budge, then you'll have to prepare to defend your space. Look for anything you can use to put between yourself and the dog. You could use a cane, umbrella, jacket, or belt. Any lengthy and durable object will do. Holding this item in front of you can actually disarm the dog's aggression. Again, it goes back to the dog thinking he needs to defend himself. Standing your ground and holding a large object in front of you clearly shows that you're taking a defensive stance as well, and have no ill intent towards him.

4. If that doesn't work, then be prepared to use that object to protect yourself. Hold it in front of you at around neck level. The face and neck are very common places for a dog to lunge toward. Holding the object at this level means the dog will most likely go for that instead of you. And keep your hands tightly clenched to protect your fingers.

5. From there you want to use this object as a decoy. You probably don't want to use the item as a weapon just yet. If you strike and miss, you'll likely be opening yourself up for the dog's bite. Heck ,even if you do hit the dog, you probably won't even phase him. Instead, you want the dog to bite down on the object first so you can make your next move. Or if you're using an article of clothing, you might be able to throw it over his head to temporarily blind him.

6. While he's distracted by this object, you have one of two choices to make, and not a lot of time. You can let him keep it. Most dogs will be completely satisfied with taking the item from you. They'll be busy tearing it to shreds and you can slowly back away from the animal. Or you can prepare yourself to grapple and fight the dog. If that's the case, you'll need to recognize some of the dog's strengths and weaknesses.

7. Almost all of the dog's lethality lies in his hind legs and his jaws. Both are used in conjunction whenever a canine is trying to take down prey. On most dogs, the jaws are perfectly capable of severing fingers and some arteries. The hind legs give them all of their speed. Disabling both of these is crucial to your survival. If you want to stay alive, but don't want to hurt or kill the animal, there's several maneuvers you can try. I'm going to describe the one I'm most familiar with.

8. You'll need to place the dog in a headlock. I've done this myself with aggressive and out of control dogs, and it's easy to do without hurting them. Once you get the dog into this position you have a lot of control, and the amount of strength you apply determines the amount of damage you do (or don't do).

First, you want his snout on top of your elbow, and your bicep and forearm hugging his neck. Hold tight until the back of his head is pressed into your chest, and your hand is touching your shoulder. Here you can feel his windpipe, and adjust your grip if you don't want to hurt him.

Now you'll want to use your other hand to reach over his torso and grab under his belly, and pick him up. Even if you're not strong enough to pick the dog up, all you need to do is get his hind legs off the ground. In this position the dog has no leverage. So long as you hold tight, the dog can't squirm out, and can't turn his head enough to bite. It's possible to hold this position almost indefinitely, and killing or severely hurting the dog isn't necessary.

9. If there's no way to incapacitate the dog, then be prepared to get injured. You still stand a good chance of winning, but you're probably not coming away from this injury free. If you no longer have anything to put between yourself and the dog, you're going to have to let the dog latch on somewhere. Preferably the forearm, where the dog isn't as likely to reach an artery, and unlike the leg, you won't lose your balance. Fortunately, you'll still have another arm to fight with.

10. Wherever he bites, he's probably going to hang on for dear life. Whatever you do, don't pull any part of your body out of the dog's mouth. You'll do more damage than the bite itself.

11. Rather than going through a graphic description of what to do, I'll just list some of the weaker points on the dogs body. Hind legs, ribs, eyes, and windpipe. Pressure points include the armpit, behind the collar bone, and behind the jawbone.

So there you have it. Hopefully it won't escalate to that point, but it's certainly a possibility. Just to do everything you can to end the situation peacefully. Much like dangerous humans, dangerous dogs aren't likely to go down without hurting you first. If you can avoid fighting the dog, then that should be your priority above all else. And if you haven't already, check out Tess Pennington's article on how to identify a dog that's ready to strike.

http://www.petsdoc.org/eyes-of-your-dog.php
http://www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/biting/When-Dogs-Attack
http://www.wikihow.com/Handle-a-Dog-Attack
http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=337
http://archives.evergreen.edu/webpages/curricular/2011-2012/m2o1112/web/dogs.html#cite_note-Miller-4

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What Preppers Need Most of All in Their Shoes


If the grid went down tomorrow, the type of shoes you're wearing could make or break you. Any problems you have with your feet, will make everything you do more difficult and painful. Even if you do have a comfortable pair of shoes, how long will they really last? There's plenty of cheap running shoes out there that are comfortable enough for their duration, but will they get you through a prolonged disaster? I know I've had cheap shoes that felt great in the store, only to have them go to pieces in only a few months.

There's a lot of factors you should consider when buying shoes with preparedness in mind. Like most things, there's going to be pros and cons with whatever you choose, and you'll never get all of the best qualities in one pair of shoes. By observing of your environment, and assessing your needs and abilities, you can figure out the best fit for you. If you're preparing for a disaster, you're going to want to find the most well rounded shoes because they may be the only pair you can take with you. With all of this in mind, here are a few things you should consider before investing in your next pair:

Breathable vs Waterproof

How your shoes shed heat and moisture is crucial to the health of your feet. As your feet collect moisture they will begin to prune, making them more prone to blistering. While I have to confess, living in California I have much more experience with hot weather than cold, but it could be said that having breathable shoes is just as crucial in the winter as it is in the summer. Feet that are wet are also going to get cold very easily. So if you're trying to buy the most versatile pair of shoes or boots, go with the most breathable materials you can. 
For the weather you should focus more on what kind of socks to wear (cotton vs wool), rather than shoes.

Goretex is a very popular material for hiking boots, as it can help evaporate sweat while keeping moisture out for the most part. Other than goretex, it may be a good idea to avoid synthetic materials like nylon or polyester unless it's some kind of fleece (usually sheds moisture pretty well). Canvas is a good idea if you think you'll be spending most of your time in hot weather, otherwise you may run into a few problems. 
 Cotton materials are famously bad in cold weather if they get wet, and canvas is known to become very rigid in low temperatures, so it may make walking more difficult.

One of the best materials may be genuine cow leather, which I didn't expect to stumble on while researching this. Most people probably wouldn't assume that leather can “breathe” since it's usually made for cold weather gear. However, it apparently works quite well at shedding moisture. Leather may be a good compromise between breathable and water resistant.

Speaking of water resistant, I would avoid shoes that are advertised as such. Unless you have rubber boots, it's nearly impossible to find something that is truly waterproof. They'll often work the first few times you step in a puddle or stream, but tend to lose that ability very quickly in my experience. Plus, the more waterproof a shoe is, the hotter it's going to be. Your feet are still going to get very wet, just through sweat instead of water. It's usually better to have a shoe that's good at removing moisture, rather than one that attempts to prevent it.

Weight

Unfortunately, leather boots also tend to be rather heavy. Finding the right pair of shoes is really a balancing act between several factors, and you'll have to decide what works best for you. In this case, most boots try to compromise by having a leather lower, and an upper made of canvas, goretex, or nylon. You'll also have to decide how tall you want the boot to be, and obviously a higher cut boot is going to be heavier. However, a higher cut is also going to provide more protection, and give you greater ankle support, so that extra weight on your feet may help you carry the weight on your back. There are two other parts of the shoe that will effect the weight even more than the fabric. Steel toes, and the tread.

Tread

Usually, the thickness and stiffness of the rubber will add the most weight to a shoe. Obviously a thicker tread will be heavier, but also the stiffer the rubber the more density it tends to have. Having these qualities will make the tread last quite a bit longer. In my experience though, a really stiff tread can wreak havoc on your feet.

I remember going on a three day backpacking trip with a pair of military surplus boots from Sweden. They had a really stiff tread that you could almost hammer nails with. They had to have been sitting in storage for about 30 years until I bought them, and I had broken them in months before that trip. They didn't cause any problems for most of the time, but by the third day I was experiencing some numbness in my toes. That tough tread, along with the 25lbs or so I was carrying, put a lot of pressure on the nerves in my feet and I could barely feel them. The numbness returned sporadically for weeks, and took a good 6 months before it went away entirely.

So it's usually better to go with something a little softer. Many boots will compromise by having two different rubber layers. The rubber that touches the ground will be thin but stiff, providing a longer lasting tread. The upper portion will be soft but thick, giving you a more comfortable step. The most comfortable and longest lasting pair of shoes I've ever owned were a pair of Marine Corps Vibram boots that had this quality, and I'd highly recommend them.


Notice how similar the wear pattern is on the heals? The left is only slightly worst, except that it took over 2 years and nearly 1500 miles to do that. I've only had the one on the right for 6 months, and it even cost more. Go figure (or go get some Vibrams). 

Toe Protection

As stated before, having a steel toe in your boots can add quite a bit of weight. Going without that protection is certainly a reasonable option since toe injuries aren't an everyday risk (at least for me). At the same time, it's difficult to predict what sort of environment we'd be in after a disaster, and the risk of having a foot injury (or any injury) is definitely going to be higher. Plus it would have the added benefit of making your feet a little more lethal in a melee situation. It's like having brass knuckles for your toes. Fortunately there's more than one option for foot protection other than steel.

Aluminum toes are also pretty common, and they are significantly lighter than steel. If you're expecting to staying in a hot weather environment, metals like aluminum and steel are very heat conductive, so they will help shed heat from your feet. But frankly I think these are where the advantaged end, and are pretty situational. In my opinion, a composite toe would make the best addition for a pair of 'shtf' boots. These toes are usually made of kevlar, carbon fiber, or plastic. They have nearly the same hardness as aluminum and steel, but with much less weight than either of those, and no heat conduction to speak of.

In the end there's a lot of different opinions about shoes and you'll have to do some research. You may even have to suffer through a little trial and error before finding something you like. Unlike some preps, the perfect shoes for a disaster are not something you would stash away for a rainy day. They should be something you wear at least once a week, so that they are completely broken in and ready to go at a moment's notice. You need to try them out in different climates, different terrain, and preferably while carrying weight on your back to fully understand its strengths and weaknesses. You never want to be caught in a bad situation with a crummy pair of shoes, or even worst, a good expensive pair of shoes that don't work for you.

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Five Ways to Prepare Your Mind For A World Without Electricity

If you've ever experienced a blackout in your home for any significant period of time, you know that empty feeling that often follows shortly thereafter. We've become so accustomed to the benefits modern civilization, that living without our technology for even a brief period of time can be a shocking experience. It's not like we can't live without it. Human beings can survive, and even thrive through all kinds of adverse environments. It's simply a shock to our system when the lights go out. Heck, some people would rather hurt themselves then experience even a few minutes without their gadgets.

Our machines are no longer just tools that we use. For better or for worst, they have become extensions of ourselves. Whenever we experience an unexpected disconnection from this technology, it can feel like losing limb or a part of the brain. It is however, a completely illusory experience. That dreadful sinking feeling you get when the power goes out (or God forbid the internet malfunctions), is a symptom of withdrawal, not unlike kicking a drug habit.

Even going out camping for the weekend doesn't compare, since you're going into that situation in a controlled and expected way. No, an unexpected loss of your utilities is a completely unique experience that reveals to us a very uncomfortable truth: We're not the rough and rugged individualists we sometimes imagine ourselves to be, and if the system breaks down, it may take days or even weeks to fully adjust to the change (some folks would never make the adjustment).

Of course, there are a few things we can do to prepare ourselves. They aren't expensive and they aren't really that time consuming (for the most part), but they will test you and they will prepare your mind for the possibility of living without modern amenities.
Navigating Without GPS

While GPS has proven to be a godsend when it comes to finding our way around, using it excessively will certainly degrade your sense of direction. Knowing how to navigate your surroundings isn't just a skill, but a mental faculty. There is the frequently quoted study that revealed the cabbies of London have an enlarged hippocampus after years of traveling around the poorly laid out city. It's probable that the reverse would be true if you only rely on your GPS for direction. To keep your mind sharp, only use the GPS if you get lost. Strain your brain a little before succumbing to the knee jerk reaction of reaching for a computer.

Try leaving your cell phone at home the next time you go for walk, and go somewhere you've never been before. How well do you really know your neighborhood on foot? Would you have trouble finding your way back if you didn't have some kind of mapping device on you? And consider this the next time you go for a hike. Try memorizing the various landmarks you pass by, and see if you can find your way back without the use of a map (though keep it with you just in case).
Remembering Without The Internet

In the same vein as GPS, when it comes to the internet we're faced with another “use it or lose it” scenario. We've come to rely on the internet to reference so much that we aren't remembering nearly as much information on our own. To be fair, it's a two way street and our brains are partly to blame. As a social creature, we humans rely on each other to succeed. If somebody we know is really good at say, fixing cars, our brain makes a mental note to outsource those tasks to that person. When we need help, we call our car guy. We rely on these sorts of connections, and eventually our brain stops retaining information about fixing cars. And why should it? We can let our car guy worry about it when car problems show up.

To our brains however, the internet appears to be an expert on nearly every skill and knowledge base in human existence. Thus, when you begin to rely on the internet, the internet becomes your “everything” guy, and you begin to outsource everything to the internet. This was realized a few years ago during a study, when researchers gave a little factoid to several people, and told half of them that this fact would be recorded on their computer. The other half were told that the fact would not be saved anywhere. Lo and behold, the people who were led to believe that the information would not be saved, were more likely to remember it.

The secret to retaining the information you learn on the internet is fairly simple, and those of us who are in the Prepper community actually have an edge on this over most folks since Preppers don't take the internet for granted. We know how fragile our world is, and we know there are ways the internet could be severely disrupted.

Every time you read about a new skill on Ready Nutrition or any other survival and preparedness website, treat it like it's the last time you'll ever read it. Pretend that it won't be there tomorrow, because who knows, it might not. Nothing lasts for ever, and we should never assume that the internet will always be there for us. If any sort of disaster shut it down, it would be gone when we needed more than ever. The simple act of recognizing that the information won't be there at a later date, will trigger your brain's ability to remember it.

Fasting

Everybody should at least once in their life, go a full 24 hours without eating. Most people living in the developed world have never experienced it. I did it for the first time over a month ago and it was a major wake up call. You would be surprised at just how taxing it is on your mental abilities. Make no mistake, we all carry mental, moral, and spiritual weaknesses with us on a daily basis. However, these weaknesses only reveal themselves to us under pressure. If you try going a day without eating, the cracks will begin to show.

And don't just sit at home and try to quietly ride it out. I walked over ten miles in the summer heat the day I did it. You should go out do things that are at least somewhat physically and mentally challenging (if of course your body is healthy enough to fast in the first place). By putting yourself in an uncomfortable situation and seeing where your strengths and weaknesses lie, you can begin to shore up those weaknesses. There isn't any trick to it. It's a matter of exposure and persistence. The more you expose yourself to difficult situations, the stronger you'll become, not unlike building a callous.

24 hours without Power

I've heard of other Preppers trying this, and I think everyone should do it at least once. If you've never experienced a blackout for more than an hour or two, it may be a good idea to have a day without any utilities. No lights, no cell phones, no internet, and no tv. Stock up on a few gallons of water and don't use any faucet for the day. If you've been preparing for a disaster, this is a great way to test out how ready you and your family really are. It can also reveal a great deal about your mind as well.

Life without electricity is vast, empty, and quiet, at least at first. Whether we realize it or not, we tend to use our gadgets to fill a void. We mask everything that is uncomfortable with the glow of our devices, and refuse to hear the inner voice in our mind. When the lights go out, all we have left is each other. The only thing left to do is talk, share our joys and concerns, and really explore our minds. You'll very quickly see what's missing in your life, and what's really important to you.

Meditation

I firmly believe that regularly meditating for short periods of time every day, will in fact make your brain a survival machine. I'm surprised that it doesn't show up more often in survival books and websites. It's a very underrated skill in the Prepper community, because it can fine tune your brain into a very calm and efficient piece of equipment (so to speak).

It's well known that meditation can relax you. That by itself isn't really a big deal. There's plenty of pills that already do that. Meditation doesn't just relax you, it teaches you how to disconnect from fearful and painful things. Not so you can ignore them though. It can help you approach bad situations objectively. It's almost like seeing things from an outside perspective. It can train your brain to keep going no matter how bad things get. You don't let things “get to you” as it were, so you have a much higher tolerance for pain and stress. Plus, Meditating for a few minutes a day can also give you better concentration, creativity, memory, and whole bunch of other abilities, all of which can help you in a dire situation.

And most importantly, meditation is a great way to use all the extra time you have when the lights go out for good.

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