How to Survive a Serious Depression

How to Survive a Serious Depression by Gary Benton
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I’m no financial expert, anyone with access to my bank statements would quickly agree, but I see rough times ahead for all Americans. With the uncertainty of the stock market, home foreclosures, and with most food, along with gasoline, prices rising, it’s time for us to take steps to assure our survival during the uncertain times ahead.

In event of the total collapse of our economy, which I pray will not happen, things will turn rough as the “have nots” search for those that “have.” Law and order may no longer exist and crime will skyrocket in just hours of the announcement. I think mankind will revert back thousands of years, with only the strongest surviving. Now not just physical strength counts, so use your mind too. Plan, accept the fact it could happen, and be prepared on all counts.

One aspect of surviving rough times to consider is food. I know, I usually bring water up first, except it may not be as much a problem as eating. If prices for groceries continue to go up, there may come a time when we can no longer afford to eat or stores could close and then what will we do? I suggest we prepare now, not tomorrow.

When we think about food, there are a number of things we can do to insure our survival:

• Plant a garden during the spring and learn to ‘can’ your own vegetables.

• Buy dry foods in bulk, such as beans, pasta, flour, corn meal, and any favorites you might have.

• Purchase canned goods, but keep in mind the number of folks you have to feed and how the foods will be prepared. If gas or electricity is no longer affordable, how will you cook? Limited water?

• Dry meats and fruit, then store them in a sealable jar. You can dry them with the lowest setting on your oven, in a commercial dehydrator, use the sun (a slow process), or in a smoker.

• Or, if you have the funds, dehydrated meals and MRE copies are just fine and have about a 5-year storage life. Most have high calorie content and are designed to keep soldiers fit while in the field under combat conditions.

• Keep a large supply of vitamins on hand as well.

When it’s time to cook your foods and if the usual source for cooking is no longer available, remember to have no open flames in the house. For safety reasons (keep in mind carbon monoxide kills) do your cooking outside and it’s almost as easy as using your stove. The key to campfire cooking is to control the heat and that’s easiest done with a small fire.

Most campfires I’ve seen are way to large to cook on and controlling the heat is impossible. Besides, a small fire will consume less wood and will take less time to be ready to cook with. I’ve found once the wood has turned to glowing red coals, it’s time to cook. Unlike cooking on top of your stove, campfire cooking takes your full attention if you want a meal worth eating. Even with a controlled source, the heat will be uneven, which means you’ll have to check and move your food more often. If you don’t keep an eye on what’s cooking it will eventually burn or stick to the bottom of your pan.

There are a few different ways to cook foods and here are a few I’ve seen,

• Solar cooking, using the sun to cook your meal. It works and it’s absolutely amazing to eat roasted chicken cooked by the sun. You can find different ways to cook using solar power by doing a web search.

• Simple cooking can be done using your engine block, heavy aluminum foil (double wrap the foods), and placing the meal toward the rear of the engine. I would not suggest you drive while doing this and remember you’re burning fuel, which may not be easy to replace.

• Don’t forget the family barbeque grill if you have one. Don’t laugh, I once knew a man without any power and he did without hot food for three days, while his grill collected snow—he’d forgotten it.

I’m sure during a long emergency there will come a time when a gun will be needed, either for hunting or protection. My favorite survival weapon is a shotgun, because with the right load it can kill just about everything in North America. A shotgun is my pick because almost anyone can use it and usually hit what they point at. There are exceptions to any statement, but most folks who’ve used guns before will find, with the right load, a shotgun is hard to beat.

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