The Urban Survivalist

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/29/gas.squeeze.irpt/index.html?eref=rss_topstories There are a few testimonials from readers on CNN.com. It all stems around gas prices. How much worse will things get and how many more people will be affected when the prices rise to $4-5 a gallon or more? A lot of people that just glance at the whole peak oil theory make the mistake of believing that the doom and gloomers think that we're going to run out of oil. It's not about running out. It's about demand increasing beyond the supply which, naturally, results in gas becoming prohibitively expensive for your average joe. This couldn't have come at a worse time. Between the credit crunch, the housing bubble bursting and the price of gas skyrocketing due to peak oil we could very well be on the verge of a major crash. Expect gas prices to further devalue the real estate market when everyone wants to move closer to their jobs but can't sell their house for anywhere near the amou...

I was walking through Big Lots the other day and on the end of the kitchen utensils aisle I found a grain grinder that was only $15. It was labeled as a corn grinder and there was more spanish writing on the package than English but it was basically the same thing as the cheap, cast iron grinder that you can get from Amazon. The first thing that went through my mind was the post that I made a few days ago about buying too cheap. I make my own beer so I knew I could use it to crack my grain. It also grinds stuff like coffee beans and nuts which you're supposedly not supposed to do with some of the "better" grinders that are capable of producing baking flour. I'll easily get my $15 worth out so I went ahead and picked it up. It was easy to put together. I had it ready to rock in about 2 minutes from the time that I opened the package. The plates are easy to adjust and everything fit well although the hopper seems to be a bit flimsy. It's more well built than...

This, of course, falls into the "skills and knowledge" category of your preps. It's probably one of the most important skills that you can have, though. I'm not talking about knowing how to work a microwave or being able to grill a choice cut of meat. I'm talking about making bread from scratch or knowing how to take subpar meat (a rat for example) and make it taste good. There are very few skills that are more likely to come in handy. It's useful even if the ball never drops. It can save you money. It's very easy to learn how to do. Ingredients tend to store a lot better and last a lot longer than the finished product. If you're doing it from scratch then you know exactly what you're eating. You can tailor what you eat to your own tastes. There are resources available everywhere. Part of knowing how to cook is having the proper tools and knowing how to use them. Like a lot of us I have a bunch of kitchen gadgets that just sit in the b...

I'm a pretty frugal guy. I buy my meat from the "manager's specials" section. If I see a good sale on something that I use a lot of I stock up. I know which stores tend to sell certain things for less. I buy the generic brands most of the time (unless there is a ridiculously good sale on the name brand that ends up making it cheaper than the generic). I always check the clearance section when I go to a store. I shop at thrift stores and visit garage sales. If someone's throwing away something that I can use I won't hesitate to snatch it up. Watching how much you're spending is easy and everyone should do it. There is such a thing as going "too cheap", though. When I make purchases I try to find the best deal possible for the stuff that I need without tripping over dollars to pick up pennies. I don't buy my power tools at Harbor Freight anymore. I tried that and they always end up breaking or they just don't work as well as high...

There's been another school shooting. This time it was a college in IL. At this point the details are sketchy. There were 5 killed with several others wounded. The shooter, of course, shot himself. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23171567/ is the link to the story. These school shootings drive me crazy. This happened in rural IL, one of the least likely places that you'd expect for something like this to happen. First of all IL has some of the most draconian gun laws in the US. You need a permit just to buy ammo over the counter there. Secondly, as usual, it happened on a school campus where it's illegal to carry a gun in the first place. That sure didn't stop the shooter, though. Where were the police while this was going on? This is the part where they're going to try to twist it to make it seem like this only happened because of our firearms laws. Our background check system isn't thorough enough. Anyone, anywhere, anytime can get any gun that they ...

I've been an AK guy for a long time. They're cheap. Ammo is cheap. Magazines are cheap. They're extremely durable and reliable. They're reasonably accurate. Parts are easy to come by. You can get a couple of beater SKS's for cheap backups and not have to worry about stocking another caliber or different magazines. Finding a decent chest rig that's reasonably priced is pretty tough, though. A couple of months ago I ordered one from www.centerfiresystems.com and was pleasantly surprised by the quality. It's got 3 AK magazine pouches and 4 accessory pouches. The two pouches right next to the AK mag pouches are the right size to hold 2 high cap handgun mags each. The other 2 pouches on the outside are a little smaller but are still big enough to be useful. It's made out of the same material as a milspec LBV with the same type of snaps on each pouch. It's pretty easy to adjust. You do have to tie it in the back but attaching a buckle to fix...