Using The Kindle In Suburban Prepping

     Almost everyone either has heard of the or has an eReader. Be it a Kindle, a Nook, or an app running on a tablet like an iPad. I originally received my Kindle as a gift on Valentines Day a couple of years ago. I remember thinking "I like paperback books.....this is a fad." I charged it up, loaded a book or three and read it daily.

     About 5 weeks later the battery was low and needed it's FIRST recharging. I remember thinking "5 weeks! That's incredible......I wonder if I can work this into my preparedness plans."  What's not to like about the Kindle as an option? I can load my ENTIRE preparedness library onto the device versus trying to print/bind/catalog/store/transport it on paper? Seriously.....paper?  It's SEARCHABLE, talk about a huge time and effort savings. It's portable, I carry it in my EDC (Every Day Carry) bag most days.

     So I started looking into making it a real part of my preparations.  There were some immediate challenges that had to be overcome. There were also some challenges that presented themselves later on, mostly as a result of solutions to the immediate problems.

     Powering the device was my first challenge. I know five weeks of battery life with intermittent use is great....but it's still a hard stop on the device when the battery finally dies. When the battery is dead.....the device is useless. My solution to that problem is the Solio Classic solar charger. It's light, small, cheap, and does a good job. There are better options now, but at the time I went with the Solio. I can charge it with the Solio, or run it from the internal battery built into the Solio if my Kindle battery gets damaged or fails. I can also use the same Solio unit to charge my iPod and cell phone.

     Finding a durable way to carry it was an issue as well. I mean, we're not prepping for a sunny afternoon on the beach. We're preparing for bad times.....including natural disasters. I found a durable, pretty rugged, soft case which secures the device well. It's made by M-Edge. The case also has several pockets on the outside which I use to carry things I use with my Kindle....like a clip-on light, spare battery for the light, and a zip-lock bag. When I pack it in my EDC bag, I pack it near the middle, and surround it with other items that would help protect it from damage if the bag was damaged.

     Protecting it from the elements was also a concern. Like I said, we're preparingg for bad things like natural disasters. The simplest way I could think of to protect my Kindle from the elements and still be able to USE it in the elements was with a zip lock bag. I keep a 1 gallon size Zip-Lock bag in the outside pocket of my Kindle case, and several in my GHB (Get Home Bag). I put my kindle inside the zip-lock and can read it just fine. It'll float in water, and will keep rain, dirt, and grit out of the keys. It's not perfect but it's functional, cheap, has multiple uses, and is easily replaceable.

     Reading it in low light is a problem. The screen is not back lit, which is why it has a 5 week battery life. It requires a light source to read in the dark. I use a flexible light that stores and secures itself in the case I keep my Kindle in. The light is named the eLuminator.....clever huh? Works really well and runs on a single AAA battery.

     The Kindle is electronic, so it has the same issues you would have with ANY electronic device. However, it fits my needs very well. I have the 3G version, but keep the air-card turned off to prolong the battery life. However it's there if I need it to surf the web, check e-mail, etc. It's painful on a gray scale screen....but it can be done. I can also play MP3's on my Kindle. It's not the perfect solution for those types of things, but it does provide redundancy. One is none and two is one.

     I'm not an expert, and I don't play one on the Internet. This is just one tool I found useful. The portability combined with battery life, and searchable functionality made it a no brainer for me. If you have any suggestions about how else the eReader can be used, or any questions please e-mail me at survivalinthesuburbs@gmail.com

As always, thanks for reading.
       

Dehydrating Food in The Suburbs

    I bought a food dehydrator several years ago to make jerky and trail mix with. For about a month I was a jerky making fool (I made all kinds and flavors), then I put the dehydrator up.....and forgot about it. Recently I found it again and wondered if I could find other uses for it besides making jerky and trail mix. Some of you are probably thinking out loud "Of course you can, there's LOTS of ways to use it". I didn't know of any. I'm embarking on a journey of dehydrator self discovery. I know there are probably a million websites with dehydrator recipes on them. I'm sure I'll check them out when I run out of ideas, but I like to experiment on my own. Here are some of the things I learned.

     I usually buy tomatoes from Sam's club in the big plastic box. There's probably 15-20 Roma tomatoes in there. We make salads with them, and within two weeks, I end up throwing 1/2 of the box out because they've spoiled. So I started dehydrating half of the box. After the first week I inspect the tomatoes and cut out any bruises or damage. Then I slice them about 1/4 inch thin and dehydrate them. They create "tomato chips". Which my youngest child loves. She eats them almost as fast as I can make them. I tired them, and it was like a bullet of tomato flavor hitting you in the mouth. I tried rehydrating them, and had mixed success. I could use them for cooking (in chili for example) but not over a salad. I store them in a zip lock back because they get eaten so fast. For long term storage you could put them in a mason jar with an O2 absorber and they would store for a long time I'm sure.

     Dehydrating pineapple chucks that have been rolled in sugar make a great candy.  My wife likes these, and I make them about twice a year. I buy the canned chucks of pineapple when they're on sale. Open and drain them, them roll them in regular sugar. They'll pick up more sugar than you want if you don't let them dry a little after draining. I drain mine in a spaghetti colander, and let them sit for about 20 mins before sugaring them up. Dehydrate them until they're hard, then store in either a zip lock or a jar. These make a great addition to trail mix.

     Thinly sliced Kiwi fruit dehydrate down to a chip like consistency. I peel mine first though. The "hairy" peel doesn't dehydrate well, and looks pretty nasty to be honest. This created the taste sensation much like the tomato bullet, but fruity....a Kiwi bullet if you will. I haven't found too many uses for these, aside from the occasional snack. Very occasional, kiwi are expensive and the taste just isn't an everyday thing for me.

     I experimented with making fruit roll up type snacks. I tried jellies, jams, and apple sauce as the base before dehydrating. Some of them came out pretty good, some of them came out pretty bad, most of them came out very messy. I couldn't get decent consistency. Either the base was too thick or thin in the dehydrator. Dehydrating the thicker spots dried out the thinner spots too much making them brittle, while the thicker spots were leathery. Different temperature settings helped a little, but created other challenges. If I used a jam, strawberry for example, the fruit would not completely dry out, while the jam part would dry too much.  Any suggestions on this one?
    
      I'm not an expert and I don't play one on the Internet. Please submit suggestions and recipes, for my kids sake. You can comment them in at the blog site, anonymously if you want. Or you can e-mail me directly: survivalinthesuburbs@gmail.com  As always, thank you for reading.

Review of the Mossberg 590A1

     I recently purchased th3 Mossberg 590A1 pump shotgun as a home defense weapon. It came with all of the accessories I wanted already installed. The only way to get the gun set up the way I wanted to, was to get the "Blackwater Edition". I could care less about the logo on the side, I wanted the features I wanted. The model I bought, so you can see the specifications, is this one 590A1 Blackwater

 I took the 590A1 to the indoor range and ran 150 rounds through it. All rounds were 2 3/4 inch shells. The shot size was mainly 7 1/2 but I did feed 15 rounds of both 00 Buck and slug through it. Loading the weapon was easy, and could be done fairly fast. I bought the 20 inch barrel model, which holds 8+1 rounds. I like the safety controls on the Mossberg better than the Remington 870, probably because I'm left handed. The all metal safety slide on the receiver is easy to find, and grabs your thumb well, with and without gloves.
    
The trigger group is metal on the 590A1. That might not be a big deal to some, but it's extra insurance for me against a part breaking. The trigger guard allows enough room to operate the gun with gloves on. I ran it with Camelback summer weight gloves on. I don't know what you'd do with ski gloves. The stock is the traditionally shaped synthetic stock, I did not get the pistol grip stock. The stock is stippled for better grip and control over the weapon in adverse conditions.The weapon shouldered well, and pointed extremely well. On occasion the recoil absorber on the stock would grab my t-shirt on the way up slowing me down some. I'll have to find a way around that.
    
      The stock is a Speed Stock version which has storage for 4 extra rounds inside the stock (2 on each side). It was fairly easy to load the speed stock with a little practice. Removing the shells from the stock took longer than I thought it would. I'm sure I can speed it up with some practice. I tried a slug change over from the Speed Stock and it was a nightmare for me. With additional training and repetition I'll do better with it I'm sure. I simply wasn't familiar enough with the weapon or the process.
    
     I really like the ghost ring sites on this shotgun. They are XS Ghost Ring Sights. This was my first exposure to ghost ring sights, but they were AMAZING. So much better than the basic bead sight on my Remington 870. I was able to pick the target up quickly in a variety of light conditions. My slug shots were much closer to where I intended to place them with the ghost rings versus the bead sight, especially at 25 yards. The receiver has a rail mounted forward of the rear sight to allow attachment of optics if you want them.

     The action cycled very well. I didn't have any failures with the first 150 rounds through the weapon. I'm going this afternoon to feed another 100 rounds through it. The slide itself has an integrated rail on the bottom, and two "detachable" rails (one on each side). The integrated rail I liked. The slide is long enough to allow a full hand grip behind the rails, which would allow you to operate any railed attachments on the slide without having to grip over them.

     I strongly disagree with the term "detachable". That was a nightmare. I was able to remove the rail from the slide with the hex bit on my Leatherman MUT tool. That's where the fun ended. The nuts that the hex bolts threaded into fell into the slide handle. Now, let me be clear, that the loose nuts in no way interfered with the mechanical functioning of the shotgun. I shot the last 60 rounds with the little bastards rattling around inside the grip. HOWEVER, removing them from the grip required complete field stripping of the gun (which I intended to do anyways). Then you have to remove the retaining collar from the slide, and shake the nuts out. Not too bad right.....right. But wait, there's more.

     Detachable implies "attachable" in some sense. The rails are re-attachable if you have the patience of a Trappist monk, and improvise a tool or two from a paperclip. Lets assume you've retrieved your rattling parts from the grip, and then decide you want to re-attach them. Now the fun begins. I wanted to re-attach my rail because it gave me a thumb stop, and a point of grip reference on the slide. So, after about 45 minutes of trying to balance the slide, and feed the attaching hex bolts from the bottom, I managed to get one hex bolt attached. YAY! But then I lost the second one into the slide. So the entire disassembly / re-attachment process started all over again. I got both attachment hex bolts in  place and re-attached the rail, but it sucked.

     Field stripping the 590A1 for cleaning is pretty easy, and drama free. As long as you line up the bolt in the correct position inside the receiver all of the parts drop in. Remember to push the slide rails down as they enter the receiver, and it's all good. There are lots of videos on YouTube and other sites on field stripping the 500 Series Mossberg. Watch one a couple of times, or follow along as you field strip your shotgun and you won't have any problems.

     I highly recommend this shotgun to anyone looking for a home defense weapon. It is as dependable as the sunrise, and as simple as an anvil. Aside from the "detachable" rail issue (which was a one time thing and didn't interfere with the operation of the weapon), I love this shotgun. I plan on adding a side saddle shell holder to this weapon, probably a 6 round model. I haven't decided between TacStar and Mesa Tactical for the side saddle. This will give me 19 rounds on the weapon when I pick it up. No looking for ammo, just grab and go.

     Again, I'm not an expert and I don't play one on the Internet. Comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome. You can submit them through the blog, anonymously if you like, or e-mail them to me directly: survivalinthesuburbs@gmail.com  As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

Food Storage in the Suburbs

     Like water, food (or the lack of it), will be a very big deal in a disaster or situation that results in an interruption of services that lasts longer than 4 days. Unlike water, which is somewhat available (in most areas of the country) and easily treatable, food is not easy to come by. For the most part food must already be on hand, and stored correctly, to be of any value under bad circumstances.

     The Golden Rule of food storage: "Store Extra of What You Already Use".  We eat a good bit of rice, potatoes, and pastas. So buying a 50lb bag of rice for $19, 10lbs of dehydrated potatoes for $10, and 18lbs of pasta for $15 wasn't a huge deal. Those are the foundations for many recipes, they're hearty, inexpensive, easy to make, and everyone in my family will eat them. Having things on hand that your family already likes will make a unusual circumstances much less stressful for everyone involved. If you think your family are finicky eaters now....... imagine trying to get them to eat in the dark, while they're wet, cold, scared, and tired.

    The Golden Rule can be implemented simply enough by buying one or two extra packages of what you're ALREADY buying. Buy it on sale, use coupons and discount cards, and store it away from your normal food storage. You will be surprised how fast it will accumulate. Once you have enough on hand to feed your family for a month, begin to rotate your extra food (called "preps") into your normal food storage as you use it.  When you go grocery shopping simply restock your preps with what you pulled out plus one extra package, per item, of what you had on your shopping list.

     We store a lot of canned goods, because we have a wide variety of tastes. With canned goods you can get a wide variety of foods including fruits, in stackable, easily storable containers, with fairly long shelf lives, that aren't very expensive. They're easy to rotate, easy to prepare, and it's easy to identify what's in them. I buy mine at Sam's Club or Costco, so they come prepackaged by the dozen. The boxes open on the end so it's easy to carry the boxes into the house, open them and stack the cans.

     Store lots of dry goods ready to prepare. For example Easy Mac, Ramen Noodles, granola bars, nuts, etc. These are comfort foods, and they will comfort you in times of stress. They'll give you an energy boost when you need it most, and won't require alot of effort to prepare. I buy these things in bulk at Sam's Club so they're cheaper, and store easily. Some of the self lives can be shorter than you might think, so keep an eye on the rotation andf you'll be fine.

      I store some canned meats as well, but not a large variety of them. I store salmon, tuna, chicken, and DAK Hams. At one point I stored Vienna Susages (lots of them), my kids and dog liked them at first but quickly got tired of the taste. I never liked them because they smell funny and have a weird texture. Another mistake I made was buying little tins of fish like sardines, and herring steaks. It looked like the perfect food prep, they stacked really easily and contained decent amounts of protein. They were cheap enough at less than a dollar each, and had a really long shelf life. What could go wrong....right? 

     Lots. They were packed in oil, which extended the shelf life by about 2 years, but made them almost intolerable. They smelled worse than they tasted. My cat wouldn't even eat them. That was my lesson on following the Golden Rule. If you don't eat it now, don't buy it for later. Of course I'd eat it if I were starving.....really starving, and had lost all sense of taste and smell. Good luck getting three kids to eat them.

     We also store quite a few beans. They're high in protein, and add substance to just about any meal. Beans and rice are fundamental staples in most 2nd and 3rd world countries. We store red kidney beans, black beans, pintos, and especially lentils. Soaking them over night greatly reduces their cooking time, but doesn't take much more water than just cooking alone.

     When you begin the rotation stage, that's when you begin to pick up extra items like salt, pepper, spices, oils (i store olive, coconut, and peanut oil), honey, bouillon cubes, condiments, etc.  The spices and cubes you'll want because they can make bland, repetitive meals more tasty and tolerable. Oils you need for fat content, and they have a very long storage life. Honey you want because it is sweet and will store indefinitely.....literally indefinitely.

     A few other odd and ends I store with food:
     Toilet Paper....what goes in must come out. I'm not wiping with full sardine cans.
     Dental Floss, tooth brushes, tooth paste.  Dental hygeine is critical.
     Liquid Soap. For obvious reasons, can also be used to wash dishes and clothes.
    
     Those are some things I store. We don't have a lot of storage room to spare, so I have to get the most  out of the space I use. Aside from the boxes containing a full 12 items of canned goods, I remove everything from the bulk boxes. Once I open the bulk canned goods, I remove them all, stack them on the shelves, and discard the box. The boxes usually contain insect eggs, which will hatch inside your house and cause you lots of problems.  I either stack smaller items individually or seal them in gallon sized zip lock bags. I like the bag option because you can still see what's inside.

     These are some things that have worked for me over the years. It's a trial and error process for me as it is for most. If you have any tips or tricks please share.