General Prepping Archives - Page 3 of 34 - Knowledge Weighs Nothing

How To Get Power From A Phone Line In An Emergency

November 18, 2013

Firstly – please note the words ‘In An Emergency’. This works but it could get you in trouble if you abuse the technique. This post isn’t about showing you how to power and charge your USB devices via the phone line for free. This cable set-up should only be made for use in the event of a SHTF emergency scenario.

The information is provided for use in an emergency. For example the power may be out and you need to charge your phone so you can head out in a disaster. Alternatively the power may be out in a SHTF scenario, but if there is still power running through the phone line, you could get one last charge on your phone, which could maintain communication for another day or two and make a huge difference…

I am not sure about this, but there may still be power running through your home phone line, even if the phone is disconnected. You would have to check to be sure though.

It is pretty cheap and easy to make up the cable used in the video above. It might be worth making one up now and storing it with your emergency supplies, as it may come in handy one day. It is simply not worth doing this daily and abusing the free power – the trouble you could get in is way out of proportion to any benefits gained.

(Photo from: DIYHacksAndHowTos via Instructables)

10 Foods To Store That “Practically” Keep Forever

March 5, 2014

Firstly – nothing will keep forever if it is not stored correctly in the right environment. Many of these foods need to remain dry and be kept in their original unopened packaging or airtight containers.

Sugar

All kinds of sugar, whether white, brown or powdered etc, will last forever if kept dry in an airtight container. Sugar will never spoil as bacteria simply cannot grow on sugar.

Dried Beans

Dried beans were tested by Brigham Young University. They tested the long-term storage of pinto beans, and their conclusion was that pinto beans were safe to eat 32 years after they were stored in an airtight container at an ambient temperature.

Rice

White, wild, arborio and basmati rice all keep for 25+ when kept in their sealed packaging, or when stored in an airtight container. Brown rice does not store so well due to its high oil content.

Corn Starch

Kept dry in its original box with the lid on, corn starch has an indefinite shelf life. Great for thickening soups and sauces post zombie apocalypse!

Powdered Milk

When stored unopened in its original packaging, powdered milk has an indefinite shelf life. Quick tip to determine if powdered milk has spoilt – if it has started to turn yellow, it’s time to bin it.

Honey

Due to its high sugar content and antibiotic properties, honey can remain edible for 1000s of years, even when opened! Edible honey has been found in Egyptian tombs.

Hard Liquor

All distilled spirits such as vodka, rum, whisky, gin and tequila, keep forever, even in opened bottles. Their color and taste may change over time, but they are still fine to drink.

Sea Salt

Salt will never go bad if stored in a dry container and environment. It has the added benefit of being able to be used to preserve other fresh foods too.

Vinegar

Both apple cider vinegar and basic white vinegar will keep indefinitely when stored in a cool/dark cupboard. Vinegar also has countless cleaning, DIY and medical uses (see here)

Ramen Noodles

Yeah those little bricks of noodles with the flavor packets, that cost 20 cents! They have been shown to last 10+ years, kept in their original packaging. Given the price or ramen noodles, stocking up on them is a no-brainer.

Endless FREE Hot Water Off-The-Grid!

March 5, 2014

If you already have a wood burning stove at home that heats your water, this is not going to be of much interest to you…

If however you rely on gas/electricity to heat your water, this is a great little emergency preparedness project for backup hot water in emergencies. It would also be useful for remote/off-the-grid cabins etc. With this system, you effectively have a free, constant supply of hot water stored in an insulated water tank (old water heater), much like folks with built in wood burning stove boiler systems.

You can pick up those old water heaters for nothing, or next to nothing from FreeCycle and Craig’s list etc. They often get wasted or recycled when people get their heating systems replaced for new modern ones.

(Image from: engineer775 Practical Preppers)

1 Year Emergency Food Storage For A Family Of 4 For Less Than $300

September 8, 2018

This is a great post from the Seasoned Prepper, but I should add here (also noted on the original post), this food storage plan will provide for almost all of your family’s nutritional needs, but it is lacking any dairy or vitamin B12. However, vitamin b12 can easily and cheaply be added via a multivitamin supplement (which I would already recommend) or with some nutritional yeast flakes. If you wanted to add in some dairy, you could quite cheaply add some whey protein powder or milk powder as well.

That said, for less than $300 and a weekend’s work, you can store 90% of the food required by a family of four to last a whole year. That is fairly amazing!

I should point out – this plan provides a very basic diet that whilst very nutritious and healthy, it is going to get boring and bland pretty quickly. With this in mind I would suggest either upping the initial budget to around $500 and adding some extra foods/herbs and spices etc, to provide some variety. Alternatively, you can get the basics stored now and you can then gradually add to it over time as money allows.

I think a lot of people are overwhelmed when it comes to starting out storing food in case the SHTF. This food plan provides a great way to get started super quickly and store a core basic range of foods that you can then add to bit by bit, over time. The most important thing with emergency food storage is actually getting started storing some food. This emergency food plan enables you to do this quickly, easily, and fairly cheaply.

The bottom line is this – if you don’t already have any food supplies stored away in case of emergency, what are you waiting for? It doesn’t get simpler or cheaper than this.

(Photo from: Tim Patterson)

How to Build A Simple PVC Tube Homemade Squirrel Trap

October 10, 2018

This PVC tube homemade squirrel trap is useful for getting rid of pest squirrels and also for trapping wild squirrels for food. This trap is humane, in that it doesn’t kill or harm the squirrel once caught (providing you check it regularly). It’s up to you, if it is a pest squirrel, you can either re-home it somewhere else, or you can kill it. Obviously, if you are using the trap for hunting, you’re going to kill it.

All you need for this trap is a five-six foot length of 6 inch PVC tube. You also need an end-cap or something to securely plug one end of the tube.

Once you have your length of PVC tube with the end capped off, it’s time for bait. I think it is a given that peanut butter works best; smear a little around the open end of the tube and then keep adding a little more down to around an arm’s length down the tube. I also got a slice of bread (which I covered in peanut butter) and dropped it down to the bottom of the tube.

Ok, so now we have the baited squirrel trap, it’s time to set it. Set the trap where you know there is squirrel activity. You want to set the plugged end on the ground and rest the open end against a branch etc. You don’t want the tube to be fully vertical, as the squirrel won’t go down the tube. You want to set it at around 60-70 degrees. This way the squirrel will go down after the food, but cannot escape due to the slippery surface of the inner tube.

A Few Tips

You can spray or smear some cooking oil around the inside of the tube, around an arm’s length down. This will make it doubly difficult for the squirrel to escape.
If you are planning to dispatch the squirrel, the easiest way to do this is to hold a hessian/burlap bag over the open end of the tube and simply tip the squirrel out into the bag. A heavy whack with a piece of wood etc should kill the squirrel quickly and humanely.
If you are hunting squirrel for food, make several of these homemade squirrel traps and set them in several locations.

There you go, a low cost (free if you have some PVC tube laying around), zero skill way to trap squirrels. Happy hunting!

(Photo from: Airwolfhound)

DIY Hydroelectricity 101: Generate Electricity From Running Water

October 17, 2018

Some of the most popular posts on K.W.N have been the ones about generating free energy and electricity; by far the most popular have been the numerous DIY solar power, solar heating and solar hot water posts. However, if your property has a suitable and reliable running water source, I would highly recommend you look into hydro-power/hydroelectricity.

The benefit of using a hydro-generator over solar power is that with a hydro-generator, power is generated 24/7, solar panels only work during daylight hours and their efficiency is affected by the weather and time of year.

If you are considering purchasing some land for a homestead or bug-out location, land with a reliable running water source would be a HUGE plus as it could provide free electricity, drinking water and food. However, before you go ahead and purchase, you should check with the local authority to see whether you can use the water source for hydroelectricity. Just because it is your land, it doesn’t give you OFFICIAL permission to do so.

DIY Hydroelectricity 101: Generate Electricity From Running Water

Book: Microhydro: Clean Power from Water (The book by Scott Davis, who wrote the post!)

(Photo from: hoyasmeg)

Make A Fire Piston (Slam Rod Fire Starter)

September 5, 2018

I have never actually used a fire piston myself, but I understand the principle and I know that many people use them for starting fires in the wilderness.

If you don’t know what a fire piston is – a fire piston, or a “slam rod fire starter” as it’s sometimes known, is a small tube/piston that uses rapid compression of air to create heat. When the compression is high enough, the heat generated in the air chamber ignites the tinder material, which is then used to start the fire. As in the video, it would seem to me that charcloth is the best type of tinder to use with this method of fire starting. See: How To Make Charcloth (For fire starting)

If you watch the video you’ll see how the fire works, whilst also seeing how to build one yourself.

How To Buy A Shipping Container

May 21, 2014

Due to TV shows such as Doomsday Preppers and Armageddon Outfitters etc, there has been a huge boom in the sale of used shipping containers. Preppers everywhere are snapping them up and burying them in their backyards… Problem is the used shipping container companies have cottoned on to this and the price for a used shipping container has now gone through the roof.

Below is an excellent tutorial which explains how to go about purchasing a used shipping container. There is loads of advice on regulations, which types of containers to consider etc. Best of all there are a couple of tricks listed that can enable you to get a jump on the competition and bag a shipping container on the cheap. Click the link below to find out more…

How To Buy A Shipping Container (incl tricks for finding cheap containers)

(Image from: Wikipedia)

How to Build an Earthbag Dome

September 25, 2018

This multi-purpose dome can serve as a storage shed, cool pantry, or as a root cellar. No building permit is typically needed, because it is below the minimum size required by building codes, is not inhabited and is not attached to a residence ( I would still check with your local office).

We have posted about earth bag building before, even earth bag houses, but this simple earth bag dome is by far the quickest and easiest to build. Check out: How To Build An Earthbag Roundhouse

How to Build an Earthbag Dome

(Picture Credit:Owen Geiger)

Tiny House Plans Free To Download & Print | 8 Tiny House Blueprints

July 15, 2017

Tiny houses and DIY sheds and cabins are really popular right now. They are so affordable to build (or buy), they take up so little space, and they are so adaptable. Some folks live in them 24/7 whilst others use them for guest accommodation or workshops and home offices etc.

There are many PAID DIY build plans out there, but if you are on a budget there’s no need to have to pay for plans. You can get a selection of free tiny house blueprint plans down below. There are 7 free tiny house plans available, although the newest one at the top of the page requires you to sign up to the newsletter to get it, but that is no hardship really to bag some quality free PDF tiny house blueprints.

There are some great downloadable and printable PDF floor plans here. There are a few basic free tiny house plans, some static and some on wheels, but there is also a nice homesteader’s house plan and a solar house plan, with the tiny solar house designed to be lived in full-time. Whether it is for your accommodation, guest accommodation, an outside office, or even just a shed/workshop, building one of these yourself will give you great satisfaction and save you money a ton of money. Check out the 7 tiny house plans free to download here.

Below is another free tiny house plan!

Free Tiny House Plan – Cottage Style Plan

You can print out the tiny house blueprint below.

This wood cabin is 8 foot by 13.6 foot, which gives you 108 feet of living space. Many local authorities don’t require a building permit for structures less than 108 feet, so you should be able to build this cabin without a building permit. That said, be sure to double check with your local authority first! This wood cabin would be great for guest accommodation, or perhaps even a secret, get-away-from-it-all cabin in the woods. Get this tiny house plan free to download and print out here: Free Cottage Style Wood Cabin Plans.

Amazing Mobile Hot Tub Tiny House – You’ve Got To See This!

Ok so this doesn’t contain the build plans, but that’s why the post is titled – 8 Tiny House Plans Free To Download & Print In PDF (rather than 9!) – This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen, a tiny house with a hot tub, built on a trailer for easy transportation. It’s also absolutely stunning inside and out.

This tiny house is owned by Tinywood Homes, and if you live in the UK (or you are visiting), you can actually stay in this awesome little house, as it is one of several tiny wooden built houses they have for holiday rental. Even if you are not going to stay there, I highly recommend checking out the additional photos of this and the other awesome tiny houses they have for rental. See here: Amazing Mobile Hot Tub Tiny House – You’ve Got To See This!