M14 Forum

huntinghawk

The electric items for food prepping are a convenience but loss of electric & no longer sustainable. Yes, I have an electric food dehydrator & electric vacumm sealer & both are very handy. But become useless come loss of electricity. Same is true of your frig & freezer.

I think 99% of disaster scenarios involve loss of electricity. So, you need to look at not only the food stores you have but being able to replace them. So you really want to look at having means to do so in the old ways things were done. Meat smoker or smoke house. And if nothing else, a fire pit to be able to cann stuff which includes having spare (new) lids.

Who is going to have the best chances of long term survival? Those already living off grid meaning no commercial electricity, water, sewer, phone line, etc.


HH

jim-analog

Greetings,

I've actually been thinking about this a while now and it would be about the most major issue that could realistically confront us. We've become so dependent on electric devices and the convenience they bring that even thinking of a long term grid down situation brings up hundreds of issues to deal with. Those who are living off grid or close to it are way ahead of the rest of us.

A start would be if we break down our basic, most important human needs and figure work arounds to them without using electricity. Shelter, water, food. Shelter would need to be heated, possible sources being wood, liquid or gas fuels. Water really depends on specifics; but in my situation no electric equals no water! I really need to work on that. Food needs heat to prepare and cold to store. Fire can provide cooking heat from the same sources as shelter heat. Cold can be a bit more difficult. The canning discussion can help alleviate some of the need, other methods of food preparation (smoking, salting, etc) can be used toward the same end. Underground storage can add to shelf life.

IMO, a permanent lack of electricity would certainly cause a total shift in our daily lives and make just about everything much more difficult and time consuming. In many cases, the required effort would likely take just about all available time away from everything else. Not something I can see any easy way around.

Regards, Jim

CharlieEcho

My uncle once made an outside cooker from the stove top of an old woodburning, or coal, cook stove. I have had an old woodburning cook stove in my barn for years. I'd planned one day making an outside cooker. My in-laws have a smaller appartment style cook stove in the garage. I hope to latch on to it one day.

I recall my grandmother and mother canning over one of these stoves when I was young. I also recall them sealing some of their canned items with wax or paraffin. Not sure paraffin would work on everything since I'm not the canner in our house.

Philz M1A

I think you have to have a contingency plan which involves no electricity. A short term solution for localized disasters could most definitely involved a generator, but anything beyond a week or two and you'd probably be screwed. Obviously there is solar power, and people powered generators (hand crank) but loss of major power supplies like we are used to getting from the electric company would most definitely change the way we live.

I think it is important to have a plan to live without power, you should know what you want to do with your food and how you will keep warm in the winter, all things previously discussed. I don't plan on going "off the grid" anytime soon though. If it happens, it happens. I'm not going to live like it's 1799 unless I have to. Even those who currently don't live off the grid still will have a chance to adapt and make changes according to the situation, it's what people do.

huntinghawk

Layering your survival goods & plans is the wisest thing to do. Thus my investment into my 520watt solar system. Alittle electric will be better then none.

HH

Philz M1A

I've looked into solar, in order to power my home the cost would be astronomical. I do think getting a few panels which could generate enough to charge some batteries or power small devices could be useful.

Where did you get your 520 system?

dozier

Hawk, for the fridge/freezer maybe a small 12V unit that could be tied into your solar system??? Although not as good, plenty of ziplock bags could replace the seal-a-meal machine.Zip-lock bags will be worth thier weight in gold if things go South. They can be cleaned and reused also. I would assume that your solar system won't/can't power your food dehydrator. Why not use the sun to take care of your dehydrating needs? Place food on a reflective piece of tin or aluminum facing the sun. In Indonesia, the locals put fresh fish on top of our galvanized roof of our dive shack to dry it out. It worked too!!! I would assume that is how the earlier settlers/indians preserved foods. dozier

huntinghawk

I do have plans for a solar cooker & food dehydrator. Its a matter of scavenging the parts to make them.

My solar sytem along with the inverter will run my 5cuft chest freezer. That means I can make ice to put into coolers. Extremely important here in the summer months.

What you do with solar is usually a matter of finances. What can you afford to do? Even one 80watt panel to a 10amp controller to some storeage batteries & then power from 12VDC lights will put you a step above everyone else. But you will have to run wiring from the batteries to every room you have the 12VDC lights. Putting the batteries in a central, outside location will help. You could use AGM batteries but most hold little carge.
Using deep cycle batteries charged with solar is actually the way to go it seems. Not enough solar to charge the batteries you can use jumper cables from a vehicle to charge them. And you have lights at night off the batteries without running a generator at night. But again, its a matter of what you can afford or willing to spend.

HH

Earthquake

I am in the market for a hand crank grain mill so I can mill my own flour, any recommendations.

Casey

CharlieEcho

I have two grinders, old antique coffee grinders. One I purchased from an antique shop and another that was a gift. One is larger than the other. Both have a large 18" and 20" hand crank wheel. The larger one, a gift was equiped with a belt driven wheel. Both needed a little restoration, but are rock solid and made for the long run. I can run the larger one with electri motor, or a 4 horse engine, or hand crank.

The larger one will not grind as fine as the smaller one will. They are both adjustable. I've seen examples on the net, of new designs. These old ones will work fine, but I'm still looking for a good "grist mill". My dad ran a grain elevator for 40 years and I can still recall the ladies coming in on Saturdays to get the meal and flour made. That was a long time ago. Depending on how you plan to power it, a good grist mill would be hard to beat.

My grandson and I shelled some corn and ground it just last Saturday. All by hand.

huntinghawk

I like the old style cast iron with the hopper on the top.Just run it threw a second time if you want it finer then it comes out.

HH

CharlieEcho

These are what I have. Most that I have seen are adjustable, in that you can make the grains you are grinding as fine or coarse as you like. My smaller version though will grind much finer than the large one. These are cast iron and made to last. Then put the meal through a sifter for the real fine stuff.

huntinghawk

Heck, I only used the crank grinder once & that was when I bought it new about 1986. I use an attachment for my Kitchenaid to grind grains.

HH

jim-analog

Greetings,

Regarding the manual mills, any possibility of figuring a way to connect to a bicycle to run them? Some of the reviews I read on the newer mills make it seem like it's quite a workout to hand crank enough grain for a few loaves of bread. I'll start to keep an eye out a flea markets and yard sales for these. Good tip, thanks!

Regards, Jim

huntinghawk

Stationary bicycle would work the best. Friction of rear tire against the crank wheel. But you would now need two people to grind grain.

HH