Some of you already know, but for some this information will be brand-new in a threatening way. The bottom line in any disaster (big or small) could force you to go weeks without food. Something else to consider: Scientists have been predicting for years that a warmer planet coupled with increasing water demands could cause food shortages.  A 2007 study building on previous research warned that climate changes could cause food shortages which could also lead to wars. Without essentials we may not survive. And there's going to be no way to get them when a crisis hits (or if the news even smells like a crisis for that matter).

Here are some interesting facts:

90%  of people will steal, pillage and kill after 10 days without food.

After 15 days severe hunger turns people into savage human flesh eaters.

These facts are from a government study performed back in the 1950's.

Think about it:

How would you survive a terrorist attack that caused widespread panic and shutdown all shops and stores in your area? Would you be forced to beg neighbors for food or be shipped to FEMA camps?

Could you and your family survive hurricanes or snowstorms that whipped your neighbors into a “panic-buying” frenzy- grabbing any food they could get their hands on? What if the stores weren't restocked for weeks?  See how to get prepared HERE.

How would you live during weeks of “rolling blackout's” making it impossible to store food or for stores to get more food in stock?

During hurricane Katrina in 2004 stores closed, looters ran wild and everyday, hardworking people were forced into begging and ended up at FEMA camps.

The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami wiped out the shops, stores and food transportation channels for many people.

In the 2010 Haitian Earthquake, followed by the massive Chilean Earthquake as many as 316,000 people were killed and are still struggling to reestablish consist access to food.

YOU CAN PUT ALL YOUR HOPES FOR SURVIVAL IN THE GOVERNMENT & FEMA....

OR

YOU CAN TAKE SURVIVAL INTO YOUR OWN HANDS...

Can you really fight through a crowd to get your kids food? If you know what food items to buy in advance you'll never have to find out.

That's why you must get these crucial items before the panic.  And why we're going to be the people on top of the game when crisis hits.

See with these 37 items you'll be in place to:

Attract like-minded Americans to rebuild our nation based on the Constitution...

Be a community leader ready to protect and provide for your fellow patriots...

Set the example for your close friends and family (these 37 items are so important you'll become the “go-to” guy)...

Food is only part of the equation...

WATER- What are you going to do without water? Humans can survive no more than 10 days without water...

ENERGY- Are you going back to the stone age? So much of our lives depend on power- but off-grid power seems soooo expensive...

FOOD SOURCE -  Food with a long shelf is great, but wouldn't a garden be a better option.

If you like what I've shared with you so far click the link below to find out more:

http://greensurviving.com/37fooditems3

Survival Enthusiast,
Mark Romeo
Founder
GreenSurviving.com

Higher prices at the grocery store have many families wondering how they will get by should prices continue to climb as we have been warned they will. Luckily, grocers recognize this and are offering competitive weekly sales and brand names are joining this crusade with more advantageous coupon offerings. Even with these savings, there is one sneak attack that is rarely talked about. It isn’t just your imagination that package sizes are getting smaller, or when packing remains the same, many times the weight contained within them have been greatly reduced, sometimes as much as 25%.

Fight Back!

If we are to cope with skimpier packaging and price increases, it’s better if we have within our arsenal every price-reducing trick available. Here is one of my recent favorites: a home made a recipe to make laundry soap for around .02¢ a load, compliments of the Duggar Family. It takes around thirty minutes of your time, the ingredients are incredibly simple, and by making your own laundry soap, you stand to save hundreds each year.

Another huge price saver is contacting local growers for bulk items such as beans, corn, wheat, lentils and more. These bulk goods store well in food grade five-gallon buckets. Shelf life can be extended by storing the buckets in a dark, cool, moisture free location. If storing them in a basement, consider keeping them up off the floor to avoid moisture build up. Wood pallets can sometimes be found for free at hardware stores, building sites and online.

The cost of fruits and vegetables can be cut in half or more simply by going to a pick-your-own farm. Consider home canning to stretch your reserves through the winter season.

Just after Thanksgiving, grocers here in North Idaho launched incredible sales on staples such as flour, sugar, soups, and spices. In fact, the prices were rolled back to pre-2008. If you have the cash flow, in circumstances where staples drop to one-half of their current price, buy all that you can afford. Not only will you save on the price of food, you will also reduce trips to the grocery store which saves on the cost of gas.

Spices have increased alarmingly over the past several years. But there’s a trick that grocers aren’t likely to share. If you are willing to forgo the fancy packaging, you can reduce the cost by 80% by buying in bulk. Bulk spices are typically offered at the larger chain stores. The only extra step you will need to do for bulk spices is to find inexpensive containers and labels to take the guesswork out of meal preparations.

Pasta’s, likewise, can be purchased for much less. Typically you can save at least 50% when buying pasta’s in bulk. The same goes for beans, cornmeal, oatmeal and nuts.

Super-savers, coupon clippers, and desperate households have begun to notice that the larger big-box stores like Costco and Wal-Mart are not always the go-to place for extreme savings. Many times, outlet stores and your local grocer’s will beat the “Every Day” low price of their larger competitors.  The best way to comparison shop is to look online at weekly grocery circulars such as ppgazette before mapping out your grocery savings strategy.

To save on non-food items such as paper plates, napkins, tin foil, plastic wrap, cleaning products, and hygiene products, have a peek at your local Dollar Store. You might be amazed at the savings you’ll find…but a word to the wise. Before purchasing an item in quantity, always try unfamiliar brands of shampoo, laundry soap, and dish soap first. That saying “you get what you pay for” can sometimes be true, but you wouldn’t want to take it to the bank.

Barbara Fix, the author of this article, has written a new book entitled "Survival: Prepare Before Disaster Strikes!" (ID: UFKKCVLD2AFV6) Edited December 12, 2011

The cost of the book is $11.66 plus $3.95 shipping. If you are interested in learning how to prepare for the hard times that are ahead, I would encourage you to get this book.

Grandma knew what she was doing when she socked away row after row of Mason jars full of home-canned vegetable. Natural disasters, man-made emergencies and ordinary hard times can lead to food shortages and price gouging. Even a severe winter storm can leave you housebound and unable to get to the store. If you are building up your survival food stores, there are several types of food you should consider including the following....

1. Grocery Store Survival

Some survivalists turn their noses up at ordinary grocery store fare, but dry foods such as grains and pasta, canned meat, vegetables, milk and fruit, milk packed in aseptic cartons and bottled water are all excellent, relatively inexpensive additions to your survival food pantry.

If you choose to take advantage of what your grocery store has to offer, your store will require regular maintenance. You will have to regularly rotate the grocery store food you keep. The easiest way to do this is to keep track of expiration dates and fill your regular kitchen pantry with items that are nearing the end of their shelf life. In order to keep your stock complete, you will have to replace the items you take with newer items.

2. Military Style Survival

Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), are convenient, balanced meals that last from five to seven years when properly stored and are readily available online for home delivery. Many of them contain their own heaters and don't require an alternative cooking device. They also do not require cleanup.

MREs, a staple of the military, are not as tasty as prepared grocery store foods, but they will still be safe to eat long after your grocery store stock is depleted or expired. They are also expensive, and due to the nature of their packaging, however, they will take up a relatively large area for storage.

3. Astronaut Survival

Freeze-dried food is compact and easy to store. A lot of it fits in a relatively small space, and it keeps for up to 30 years under most conditions. Preparation is as simple as adding water. Freeze-drying is a very quick process that requires minimal handling, so most of the nutrition of the food is retained. Most people like the taste of rehydrated freeze-dried foods. They are readily available online and the cost per meal is comparable to grocery store supplies. Many survival experts consider freeze-dried food the ideal choice for emergency preparedness.

4. Grow Your Own Survival 

Gardening can be a survivalist's best friend. Growing your own food and canning or drying it yourself is by far the tastiest, most nutritious and least expensive way to build your emergency food store. Even a small garden plot can help to augment your survival stock. Some urban survivalists actually manage to reap a bounty from carefully tended container gardens. If you decide to grow some of your own emergency stores, take the time to learn how to properly can and dry foods for optimal shelf life. Improper processing can render all your hard work useless.

A carefully planned emergency pantry can provide you and your family with all the nutrients you need to thrive during a disaster, and if you budget wisely and are willing to do some of the work yourself, your store can provide tasty treats, as well. In addition to storing a wide variety of shelf-stable foods, don't forget to include an alternative cooking method that is safe to use indoors. In an emergency, power may be out, and using outdoor cooking devices such as BBQ smokers and grills can cause a potentially deadly build-up of carbon monoxide.

There are rumors that the world will end in 2012, sometime in the month of December. According to the rumors, the Mayan calendar ends after 2012. The Mayans were the oldest group of people to live. It is believed that these people were extremely intelligent, as evidence in many of their inventions. If you believe that the world will end soon, you will need to build a very strong survival bunker. Some of these tips will require some heavy machinery, so construction equipment rental is recommended.

1. Create brick walls

Because concrete is expensive, you should create the bunker's walls out of bricks. Moreover, unlike concrete, bricks don't mold or leak easily.

2. Seal the walls

The end of the world is supposed to be caused by the polar ice caps melting, causing major flooding in many countries. Therefore, plastic sheets or polyethylene to prevent leaking and moisture should reinforce your bunker’s walls.

3. Seal the roof

Use the same materials to seal the roof. However, unlike the walls, you should include a space in between the polyethylene sheets to provide material for insulation, such as straw.

4. Purchase plenty of canned goods

Obviously, you won't be able to provide yourself an unlimited supply of food, but you will need enough to wait for the water to recede. This may take close to a few months, so purchase plenty of canned goods, enough to last a few months. After the floods recede, it will be possible for you and other survivors to salvage any other food that survived the destruction. You should also be able to plant seeds for new crops.

5. Build the bunker on isolated land

In other words, don't build your bunker close to your house. You should find a large, open field on which to build. People who build bunkers close to their house send open invitations for other people to raid their bunker and steal their food. Moreover, you may be the victim of military attacks; therefore, you should build a bunker where there is no civilization.

Just make sure you plan an emergency escape route. You need to know the fastest, safest way to your bunker.

If you follow these tips, you will be prepared for the end of the world. Don't take these catastrophes lightly.

If you were to take an inventory of all your preparedness supplies, would you feel quite confident that you are in fact “ready”? Your supplies might include a good, well thought out long-term, food storage program, complete with a variety of dehydrated and freeze-dried legumes, grains, vegetable, fruits, dairy and meats. If you’ve come this far, you are commended for taking two giant steps toward emergency preparedness. But have you also considered the process by which these foods are preserved? Did you know that both the dehydrating and freeze dried method destroys the essential enzymes your body needs to help utilize the nutrients in the food itself? These processes may prevent food spoilage thereby facilitating the luxury of long-term storage, but fails to provide the body with the essential enzymes necessary for good health.

To give you an example of how enzymes work and why they are so important for your health, consider this: Have you ever dropped an apple and noticed a bruise form? What happens to that bruise over time? Underneath the skin, enzymes are busy at work breaking down that apple until there is nothing left. The exact same thing happens with the enzymes in your digestive tract: These mighty, enzymatic “powerhouses” perform their magic – breaking down the food to its constituent parts - vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and protein - so the body can ultimately use it for life and vitality. Without them, we are borrowing from our body what it was never designed to do. To use the old adage, we are "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

Yes, the body is thankfully equipped with the means to also digest these essential nutrients with a flood of digestive enzymes, from amylase in your saliva, to gastric lipase, pepsin and rennin in your stomach mixed with hydrochloric acid. The partially digested food (chyme) then empties into your small intestine where liver bile and pancreatic enzymes continue to breakdown the food so the nutrients can be absorbed. There is a kink in this unreliable system though. Over time and with abuse, the body is forced to pump out all the enzymes needed for digestion, and eventually the body breaks down. Hence, we see the rise of such horrific, degenerative disease like diabetes, heart disease and cancer – to name a few. Instead of the food enzymes breaking down our vital nutrients, our bodies are breaking down and we wonder why.

Shouldn’t we be concerned about the nutritional aspects of the daily staples of life, including our food storage? Wouldn’t we want to be of optimum health especially if catastrophe strikes? After all, once food ceases to be available in the marketplace and everyone is forced to fend for themselves, there won’t be fresh vegetables or fruit to replace our vital enzymes. Setting aside something now that will provide fresh greens year round just makes perfect sense.

That was a concern we faced as individuals, and as a self reliant, emergency preparedness business:  We sell good, wholesome dehydrated and freeze-dried food products from some of the most reputable companies, yet the food was deplete of essential enzymes. Sadly to say, our eating habits too resembled the typical American diet. In our quest for answers, we made a drastic shift in our own eating habits by choosing healthy, unprocessed food, incorporating a variety of wholesome grains, fresh fruits and crisp vegetables into our diets, including sprouts.

Could the answer to our food storage dilemma really be that simple? That we could live off our food storage, enjoy the crisp taste of nutrient-packed veges while experiencing good health all with the simple usage of sprouts? You got it! Sprouts are living foods packed with living enzymes ready to take food to its next level. In fact, alfalfa sprouts are one of the healthiest foods available to man with such vital nutrients as calcium, copper, folate, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium silicon, zinc, Vitamins B, C, D, E and K. Not only do sprouts possess all these nutrients, they’re alive and full of enzymes! By the simple application of sprouts in your long-term food storage, you too can enjoy the fresh crisp flavor of vegetables, employing every nutrient for the health of your body from otherwise, “dead” food.

Sprouting is so easy, anyone can do it! It requires no special knowledge or complicated equipment, just sprouting seeds, a sprouter kit, moderate moisture, warmth, and maybe five minutes of your time daily. The seeds not only store well, but a little goes a long way. In fact, just one pound of alfalfa seeds can produce about ten to fourteen pounds of tasty, fresh sprouts! Just simply sprinkle some seeds in your sprouter kit, cover with water, soak overnight, drain and lightly water for a few days. Then, voilà, watch them grow! Soon you will have a bountiful crop of healthy sprouts to incorporate into your long-term food storage plan!

Roxanne L. Griswold, ND Candidate
Ready Made Resources, LLC
Ready-Woman Blog

© Copyright 2010

***The following is a guest post for Emergency Food by Barbara Fix*** This past year alone, food prices have increased by 36%. Not a good situation when our incomes have taken an incredible nosedive.  Just consider unemployment rates alone (that are being reported erroneously, for they do not include those who have exhausted their benefits). Nor does it take into account many US workers who are underemployed, forced to take low-paying jobs, or are working part time. Many of us have taken huge losses in the stock market, while others have taken hits to their retirement funds. All terrible news…

But things are about to get worse. Much worse.

The Coming Food Shortage

Russia, whose grain and crops make up a portion of US imports, has suffered huge losses in grain production through wildfires last year and locust infestation this year. Expect the situation to impact commodity prices and hit our pocketbooks at the checkout stand: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/1400834.stm

China has fared no better with a 60-year record-breaking drought, leading to UN warnings http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/business/global/09food.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all as the nation faces one-billion in costs to help solve their drought problem http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20110213/china-readies-1-billion-fight-worst-wheat-drought-60-years. The final outcome is yet to be determined, but expect US imports of grain to be minimal, at best, which will drive up grain prices.

Both France and Germany have experienced devastating drought, leading to crop failure of wheat http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/business/global/20iht-wheat20.html?_r=1

In the US, the Midwest has experienced flooding of biblical proportions, which devastated millions of acres of croplands. The devastation has been overwhelming enough that the full impact on crop prices are still being tallied http://deltafarmpress.com/harvest-will-reveal-impacts-midwest-floods

Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and parts of Arkansas, have experienced drought that has led to crop failures of up to 60% for wheat and cotton and the gulf coast is reporting crop failure of corn http://agrilife.org/today/2011/05/10/texas-crop-weather-for-may-10-2011/

The Good News

To parlay news of such devastation both in the US and globally may seem like a stretch, but knowledge is power. The solution is clear: It’s time to start stocking those empty shelves before the shortages catch up with us, full-force, at the checkout counter. It’s possible to begin filling pantries affordably by going online for grocery circulars for your area’s grocers and by coupon clipping. By doing these two simple things, it is possible to see a 50% savings, or more. If you are interested in long-term food storage, check with local growers for their bulk pricing. By going straight to the grower, you will be cutting out the middleman (the grocers) and should expect to save at least 50%.

Don’t Procrastinate

In this case, procrastination will cost you. Prices will soon be climbing—steeply in some cases. It is not beyond the realm of possibility for limits to be set on quantities for food items as well. It happened before when Costco set limits of purchases for 20 lb# bags of long-grain rice to 2 per customer a few years ago. Their reasoning was never revealed to the public, but for those interested in self-sufficiency, it sent ripples of concerns for possible rationing that thankfully never transpired. This go-round, we may not be as lucky…

Visit Survival Diva Blog http://www.survivaldiva.com/ for more information on rural living, gardening, home canning, food storage, and tips on combating skyrocketing food prices.

Survival Diva, Barbara’s preparedness book is available August 1, 2011 http://www.survivaldiva.com/ Download for just $3.95

****This is a guest post by Barbara Fix****  Water collection was once a matter of personal choice. Not anymore. Three states; Utah, Washington, and Colorado have determined water collection on private property is verboten to varying degrees; a no fly zone of which, should you be caught collecting what runs off your roof, will gain you a fine. When public outcry resulted over this draconian regulation, the official knee-jerk response from elected officials was “The water belongs to someone else.” Just whom that someone else is has not been announced, and many following this recent threat are waiting with baited breath to find out who owns our rainwater and why.  Let’s hope a recent study preformed in Douglass County, Colorado catches the public’s attention, as it offers a little muscle to fight back against regulations the seek control of our food chain, holistic medicines, health care and now, rainwater. The study revealed that those who collected rainwater for personal use used less water from the region’s water facility, nor did it have a negative impact upon the aquifer and groundwater supplies. The study’s finding lead to the granting of personal rainwater collection, on a small scale, for Douglas County residents. I don’t know about you, but the water “study” makes about as much sense as the CDC’s study on  “Zombie Apocalypse” attacks.

Water is Life

The average person can survive without water for 2 days in temperatures of 120 degrees and 10 days in temperatures of 50 degrees. When you are active and exposed to hot weather, the body requires close to one gallon of water a day. If you are interested in basic preparedness, water should go to the very top of your priority list, preferably stored in food grade water containment barrels.

Commerce and Pocketbooks Negatively Impacted

Industrious homeowners likewise benefit from rainwater collection as a means to reduce their monthly water bill and enable them to practice water conservation. For many homesteaders, off-girders and small farmers, this regulation amounts to attacks on their freedom and their livelihoods. Water collection has even caught the interest of mainstream business owners interested in keeping their overhead down. Imagine Mark Millers surprise when he invested in a water collection system only to be told he had broken the law. Apparently Salt Lake City, Utah officials found him guilty of diverting rainwater by routing it into holding tanks. His intention, he sated, was to practice conservation for car washes done routinely at his Toyota dealership in one of the nations driest states. The final outcome was equitable, however, for even though the city had deemed these water rights belonged to the governing body, they made allowances for Mr. Miller to “borrow” their water.

A High Price Paid May Be Paid For Complacency

Many of us depend solely upon our local water district. However, water districts are dependant upon the electrical grid—with the exception of diesel generators and battery back up for grid-down emergencies. Even then, emergency back up can only be depended upon for a short while. We take bathing, doing laundry, washing dishes, and flushing a  toilet for granted. Yet, as indelicate as the subject matter is, at a time of grid-down, water delivery and sewer drainage may cease. For those of you with a septic system, there is good news; drainage for septic systems are not tied in to a sewer system. But first, you’ll need water to test this theory.

The electrical grid has already proven to be vulnerable to cyber attack with a documented  case of foreigners hacking into a programmable logic controller after onset of smart-grid planning went into effect which is heavily reliant on computer interface. Other concerns are the possibility of a coronal mass ejection from our recently temperamental sun and electromagnetic weaponry—both possibilities are capable of taking down the electrical grid with little to no warning.

Conservation and The Pocket Book Aren’t the Only Considerations

Many have turned to rainwater collection due to their concern over the safety of drinking water. Official testing has revealed the high levels of fluoride used for water treatment has a negative effect on health, including hyperactivity in children, brain damage, Alzheimer’s, bone cancer, impaired immune system, birth defects and a laundry list of other health related issues. The risk of consuming fluoride is doubly circumspect considering that fluoride is not proven to have significant cavity-protecting abilities. Additionally, water testing preformed in various locations across the country has uncovered trace amounts of antidepressants, heart medication, caffeine and birth control.

If you are interested in rainwater storage, look online for do-it-yourself instructions to make an affordable rainwater collection system. Should you want to begin purifying drinking water, look to either the Berkey or Katadyn. They’re not cheap, but neither are trips to the doctor.

If there was an unexpected emergency, do you have a 72-hour emergency kit in your car that will get you home safely? And when you arrive is there enough food, water and medical supplies to see you and your loved ones past a short-term or long-term crisis? If the answer is no, Survival Diva offers common sense, drama-free advice on bullets, bandages and food storage that won't break the bank!

http://www.survivaldiva.com/index.html

Survival Diva Available for E-Book Download $3.95

Join the fun at Survival Diva blog for more heads-up on current events and budget-saving advice on food storage and all things preparedness related http://www.survivaldiva.com/

Southern Prepper offers a glimpse into their food storage plan. Their pantry is what EVERY Persons pantry should look like. He makes a very good point about 5 gallon buckets, being that if they are placed outside in the rain, they will be fine in an emergency compared to cardboard boxes. He mentions that the key to long term emergency food storage is to eat out of your long term storage of food to see how to best use the ingredient and what other items you might need to buy to make better and more tasty food. Are you impressed? We are!

We all love things looking organized and clean.   This can be especially true when you are collecting large volumes of food and supplies.  For women especially, I think we want things to look aesthetically pleasing while being functional at the same time.  Over time, as you build your stock of emergency food supplies your food storage area will begin to look very much cluttered and messy.  I know for myself I need things to be put away, (sight and unseen) in order to feel collected and sane in my day to day living.   When we first started storing our food, it was worked into our cabinets in our kitchen.   Eventually we moved the supplies into containers, so our emergency food and our regular food was separated.  If you have a pantry where you can rotate the food that has an expiry, that is much different than food with a 20 year shelf life.  Today we store our food in clean white banker boxes, that we stack one on top of another.  Building your emergency supply happens over time, and as you build up your stock, you can still have an attractive home amongst the food storage. 

(Picture From Sweet Sassafras Blog)

For some homes, building a emergency food supply can be rather difficult especially when there is limited room.  In one of our posts, we discribe how you can line like sized bookshelves along a wall, which you can then cover using a floor to ceiling curtain which doubles as a wall.  Many people are using this technique in apartment buildings as a substitute for a closet.  The best thing about this technique, is you can hang wall mirrors or pictures in front of a curtain, still making your home looking beautiful. 

Beautiful Storage Solutions For Your Emergency Food Supply From Real Simple Magazine

The A Typical Typea posted some wonderful printable container labels which can simply be photocopied and then printed off on your computer, or mass printed at your local copy shop which are a beautiful way of organizing your emergency storage supply.  Your items can be given a vintage appeal with a beautiful hand written description and expiry date that are decorative and practical at the same time.  Best of all, it is free! 

Red Freebie Storage Labels For Your Emergency Food Supply Storage

Oxygen absorbers are essential when packing away emergency food on your own. When I first started collecting food for our emergency storage, I took all the food out of their packages and stored them in plastic bags, and then into bigger containers.  While this works with dry food such as pasta, it doesn't work with other foods.  One time, I must have spent a good 100 dollars on containers of nuts, and transferred them into a 5 gallon metal container.  Thinking they would be safe from bugs, I didn't factor in the oxygen.  Oxygen absorbers are made of  the active ingredient of which is a powdered iron oxide, and are completely safe for food. While they are not edible, they are not toxic, because no harmful gases are created and in addition the oxygen does not remove the fresh smell and taste of the product.  When used with proper packaging and sealing, the oxygen in the packaging is greatly reduced. These oxygen absorbers bring the oxygen level down reliably to .01% or less, allowing your emergency food supplies to last longer. 

One customer leaves a comment:

Oxygen absorbers are self-defined. They absorb oxygen. That's all they do, and that's all they need to do. During the season for many fresh fruits and vegetables, I buy organics at the farmers' markets in quantity and dehydrate them at home for use throughout the off-season. Occasionally, in the past, I have had some of my dehydrated foods spoil due to moisture finding its way into the (supposedly airtight) jars. Since water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, moisture cannot form if either component is missing. Hence oxygen absorbers. I have not had a single failure since I began using them. They're not terribly exciting, but they are effective and I recommend them for anyone who dehydrates foods.

Another mistake I have learned is that even though food is dehydrated, and kept in air tight jars, doesn't mean the food is free from mold.  With the air that is existent in the containers, mold will develop.  I learned first hand with some fruit that I dehydrated.  We all learn.  You can save quite a bit of money if you can take the summer fruit that is inexpensive and dehydrate them, and store them away in containers using Oxygen Absorbers.

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30 2000cc Oxygen Absorbers For Mylar Bag Food Storage    US $17.00

This is an old Cold-War era film that was meant to instruct Americans on how to live within a Fallout Shelter should nuclear war have ever broken out.

Upgrade Your Emergency Food Storage with Living Food! Add to your emergency supply with fresh grown, living, nutrient rich, healthy and delicious sprouts to your stored food. Sprouts are very easy to grow. The Handy Pantry Food Storage Sprouting Kit includes everything that you need to grow fresh sprouts in just a few days. This kit is certified Organic Sprouting Seed with a High Germination Rate. This kit contains 16 Lbs of Dry Packed Oxygen Free Seed For 20 Year Shelf Life. The kit is packaged into a re-sealable 5 gallon bucket. This kit grows over 200 Lbs of healthy nutritious sprouts, which you can add to your powered dry food, for something fresh to eat. The only thing you need to add is water! This set retails for about $120.

The kit includes:

- The Handy Pantry Family Sprout Garden

- An easy to use variable volume, stackable tray sprouting system.

- 3 Sprouting Jar Strainer Lids. These strainer lids fit any Mason, Ball or Kerr canning jars.

(Convert your canning jars into sprouters to increase sprout growing volume if needed.)

- Sprouting For Health In the New Millennium Booklet

- Complete detailed instructions on growing sprouts using the sprouting tray or sprouting jar methods.

-16 Total Pounds of Certified Organic, Oxygen Free Dry Packed Seed ---Alfalfa - 5 lbs - dry packed can ---Mung Bean - 2.5 lbs - re-sealable bag ---Protein Powerhouse Mix - 2.5 lbs - re-sealable bag (Garbanzo, Green Pea, Adzuki Bean & Mung Bean) ---Red Clover - 1 lb - re-sealable bag ---Green Pea - 1 lb - re-sealable bag ---Radish - 1 lb - re-sealable bag ---Bean Salad Mix - 1 lb - re-sealable bag (Adzuki Bean, Mung Bean, Green Lentil & Radish) ---Crunch Lentil Fest Mix - 1 lb - re-sealable bag (Green Lentil, Red Lentil & French Lentil) ---5 Part Salad Mix - 1 lb - re-sealable bag (Alfalfa, Broccoli, Radish, Mung Bean & Green Lentil) ------Retail Value Over $160

Earthquake survival tips to prepare for radioactive fall-out from Japan and tsunami effects.  Radioactive Fallout and Shelter Pt I (1965) U.S. Office of Civil Defense; A wide range of topics and suggestions to assist the citizenry after an atomic attack with the residual fallout.

Shelf Reliance supplies food storage and emergency preparedness planning for the up and coming economic collapse and any emergeny that calls for food and water. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of your family. Shelf Reliance's line of THRIVE Foods are held to the highest standards.  All of their foods have been developed with everyday menu planning in mind. With their great taste and simple preparation, THRIVE is a trusted source of healthy, delicious meals anytime.   The THRIVE 1 Year Food Supply comes complete with 84 #10 (gallon size) cans of grains, fruits, veggies, protein & beans, dairy, and baking essentials. With over 5,000 servings and many foods with a shelf life of up to 25 years, this package will give you variety, nutrition, and peace of mind.  For this One year supply they price it at a little over 1,500.

This great 1 year supply will be there for you when disaster hits.  Prepare for your family today for a little over $1500.

The organic market expands up to 20% per year, as more people educate themselves of the health dangers of genetically engineered food.  A family in Pasadena, California is making a living from selling produce grown in their yard to neighbors and restaurants. They grow 6,000 pounds of produce on 1/10th of an acre of cultivated land per year.  As the economy collapses, many Americans are seeing that FOOD can be just as good as GOLD, if not better.  Many Americans are starting to barter or sell produce grown in their yards to their local neighbors and farmer's markets.  Some Americans are even bartering their produce for additional services they are needing monthly. 

One man leaves a comment......

"Make sure that when you plant a garden you don't use and GM or GE seeds. If it says Hybrid... run. 2 years ago our corn was planted beside a neighbors. We used Open Pollinated corn (Heirloom), he used Hybrid corn. The deer and other animals went at ours like crazy and never touched his. That says something right off bat. He had to use pesticides because the ears were more loosely wrapped and being eaten by bugs. Ours were more tightly wrapped with fewer bugs, actually pretty much untouched. He spayed. We didn't have to spray. His couldn't save seeds. We could."

It seems as though the last few years, we have experienced extreme weather in the winter season.  In 2010, living in Virginia, we experienced a massive winter storm that crippled the city.  This last year all over the United States we have all experienced more snow, than most normal winter seasons.  Being a Canadian, there seemed to be an extended period of warm winters, but they are now experiencing the colder winters that were seen 20 years ago.  This year they experienced some winters with -40c winters, which is very very cold.  Since the early 1990s there has been a radical shift in the regional and global climate in just a few decades.   Now is the time to prepare for disaster.  Do you have a garden, or some emergency food stored up?  Storing up dry food will insure you have something to work with seasonal changes happen, or a natural disaster hits.  Take a look at the record snow that hit Lead, South Dakota , on January 4, 2011

Disaster and Emergency Preparation & Emergency Food Supplies- Lead, South Dakota , on January 4, 2011

Disaster and Emergency Preparation & Emergency Food Supplies- Lead, South Dakota , on January 4, 2011

Disaster and Emergency Survival- Emergency Food Supplies- Lead, South Dakota , on January 4, 2011

A person can survive for several days without food, but only for a short time without water.  Survival Kits online sells a 55 Gallon Water Preserver which can be used in water barrel drums. As we have learned from Japan's earthquake, clean fresh water can quickly become sparse, when the local water supplies are cut off. This water preserver is a concentrated mix that is recommended to use with a 55 gallon food safe drum, and stays fresh for 5 Years.   Water Preserver is the first and only product recognized and proven effective for 5-year water storage, registered and licensed by federal and state EPA. Water Preserver was scientifically tested for 10 years to ensure its potency for 5 year storage.  This concentrate contains proprietary stabilized sodium hypchlorite.  While some recommend using ordinary household bleach,  sodium hypchlorite, continually is released over time, which pushes the shelf life from 5-10 years.   While some people prefer to use bleach, it can introduce a chemical smell and taste to the water.  Many experts recommend that if you use bleach in water for emergency supplies, that you replace it within a year.  When you add this water preserver to regular tap water into the food safe drum, simply add the mixture and write the date down on to the container. This product expires in one year, so be sure to purchase this mixture at the same time you buy your water barrels.

Some things to note:

- When you store your water, be sure to keep the water in water-safe opaque containers which is stored out of the light. Most often, if you take these measures, water will typically remain safe for 6 months to a year.

- Temperature and water impurity levels will affect the shelf life.

-If you decide to store jerry cans of water, simply pour them out and refill every six months. 

- If you decide to use bleach, many recommend that you store the water in a  cool and dark place, and use a half cup of bleach in 55 gals of water. 

Emergency Disaster Preparedness, Survival Kits, Emergency Water Storage, Earthquake, Hurricane, Safety

Disaster Prep On A Budget by Dennis Evers- Disaster Prep can be expensive, particularly if you spend a small fortune on dedicated “survival” items that may or may not be used. Preparing makes good common sense, and on so many levels. There are natural disasters by the dozens, man made emergencies like chemical spills, riots, terrorism, crime and on and on. Add economic problems like high unemployment and those associated with cities laying off law enforcement and other emergency services due to budget problems and you have the perfect storm looming on the horizon.

Picture Credit: From The Bitten Word on Flicker

Most of us living within our means have a limited amount of discretionary income for prepping. With that in mind, preparing on a budget is important and purchasing inexpensive yet functional as well as multi-use items that can be used on a regular basis as well will help stretch every penny you spend.

Let There be Light

One of the most important accessory in every disaster kit is some sort of light. Light is necessary to work and navigate by, but psychologically, it is essential to help mitigate some of the fear associated with disasters and power outages.

While a good LED light can easily run thirty or more dollars, and needs to be recharged either by crank, solar or wall power, the thought of putting one in each room is cost prohibitive. It would be nice to have an easily charged LED with long run times, and the ability to recharge several hundred times without losing their punch.

It sounds impossible, but there are several lights from one to three dollars that fit the bill in the form of solar garden path lights. While they don’t put out tons of light, they provide enough light to navigate around a dark house and work as a flashlight or reading light in a pinch. They can be recharged in the window sill in the daytime and will run 8-10 hours every night. I recently purchased several at a local superstore for $1.00 each! Ten bucks worth allows you to put one in every room and several in the main gathering area. Now granted, they aren’t nearly as bright (or as expensive) as a battery operated lantern, but they are safer than a candle, and have the ability to recharge themselves. In short, they are not designed for emergency use, but work incredibly well for it.

The same thing holds true with certain types of food. Dehydrated food like instant potatoes, macaroni and cheese, ramen, and hundreds of other products can be integrated into your supply and rotated out while being replaced with fresh ones. Drinks like Tang and powdered lemonade will store indefinitely and would be a welcome addition to any meal during times of trouble. Another advantage is, if you use the foods you store you will have less of a shock if trouble hits. A little thing called “food fatigue” can easily cause you to lose your edge if you end up eating peanut butter for every meal because that’s all you have in the pantry. Canned foods are terrific for affordable disaster prep. The following excerpt from the Food and Drug administration is a remarkable example of foods storage ability.

“The steamboat Bertrand was heavily laden with provisions when it set out on the Missouri River in 1865. The boat snagged and swamped under the weight, sinking to the bottom of the river. It was found a century later, under 30 feet of silt a little north of Omaha, Neb.

Among the canned food items retrieved from the Bertrand in 1968 were brandied peaches, oysters, plum tomatoes, honey, and mixed vegetables. In 1974, chemists at the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) analyzed the products for bacterial contamination and nutrient value. Although the food had lost its fresh smell and appearance, the NFPA chemists detected no microbial growth and determined that the foods were as safe to eat as they had been when canned more than 100 years earlier”.

We regularly ate ten year old canned goods at grandma’s house with out side effects. (It did finally catch up to her at 103, God rest her soul.)

Water can be purchased in cases, used and rotated regularly, or you can put in gallon jugs and forget about them. Mayday industries has a clever water filter that fits over your water heater allowing you to access and drink the 40 or more gallons stored inside.

Hygiene can be a real challenge, but a roll of heavy duty trash can liners can have numerous uses. If your sewer is down as is common after an earthquake, flooding or power outage, you can line the toilet with a bag and when it is full, change it out. A couple of large trash cans can hold the waste until service is restored. Several boxes of wet ones will allow you maintain basic hygiene as well. A bottle of regular unscented bleach is another dirt cheap, yet invaluable item.

When you go the store, take time and think about alternative uses for some of the items you need. If you can get twice as much for a little more, do it. The vast majority of products charge an absolute premium for small or individual quantities. Worse case scenario is you end up more than you can use, but you can donate it to a food bank before it expires or give it to your brother-in-law.

While no one knows what the future may bring, preparing now might go a long way in the near future. There are hundreds of aspects to preparing and this is only a tiny fraction, but hopefully it allows you to think outside the box when it comes to affordable disaster prep.

Dennis Evers is a former police chief and best selling author. His newest book, “How to Handle a Crisis” will be available soon at howtohandleacrisis.com.

The following is a guest post by KGC that originally appeared on The Survivalist Blog.  (The sponsor has given us permission to also post it here....)  With so many choices of food storage products, I decided to give (Wise Food Storage) a shot because a trusted friend liked and recommended their products and Wise Food Storage boasts a 25-year shelf-life without having to rotate the food. I was skeptical at first, but up to the challenge. I ordered one of their 56-serving buckets and prepared two of the packets once I received it. I immediately noticed that the packets in the buckets differed from the outdoor meal bags. I believe that this is because the buckets are intended for long-term storage, whereas the outdoor meal packs are designed to promote ultralight backpacking. Fair enough!  I prepared the Stroganoff and Multi-Grain Cereal meals by boiling 4 cups of water for each packet, totaling 8 cups of water. When measuring the water into the pot, I measured in 8.25 cups to allow for evaporation loss.

Stroganoff

After bringing the water for the Stroganoff to a boil, I stirred in the contents from the package.

I didn’t turn off the heat until I had mixed in the contents with the water.

I then turned off the heat, placed the lid on the pan, and set my timer for 15 minutes-my previous experience with outdoor meals has taught me to let the food sit a little longer to allow for optimum re-constitution of the freeze-dried/dehydrated food.

I occasionally stirred the Stroganoff. Once it was evenly textured, I poured it into a bowl and had the Mrs. taste it…and she liked!

Multi-Grain Cereal

After bringing the water to a boil for the Multi-Grain Cereal, I stirred in the contents of the package. I reduced the heat and stirred occasionally for 5 minutes, and this was the result:

I served the Mrs. some of the cereal and we both agreed to add our favorite 100% Maple Syrup just because that’s our preferred flavoring. I didn’t add any salt to the cereal as we cooked it because I wanted to taste the flavor before we added the syrup. It tasted great alone and had the perfect flavor once we added a little milk and 100% maple syrup. I could have eaten it without the syrup and milk, but it’s definitely a treat to eat it when all the comforts are available!

Pros

Wise Food Storage does a great job with the flavor and texture of the food. If they really do deliver on the 25-year shelf-life then it ranks right up there with other freeze-dried & dehydrated meals I’ve eaten over the years. The instructions were easy to follow and the flavor was really good, which indicates to me that I would definitely recommend their product as part of your short & long-term food storage supplies. Often-times, the flavors don’t turn out so well without having to “doctor-it-up” a bit. This was not the case. The meals stood alone without having to improve the flavor.

Another thing I like about this kind of food storage in general, is that it requires you to address two areas: emergency water & emergency food. It’s a latent benefit of getting your food storage in order. You cannot enjoy food storage with such a lengthy lifespan without it being dehydrated and/or freeze-dried. My food storage makes me take really good care of my water storage & purification solutions: primarily my Berkey Water Filters (www.goberkey.com).

The pricing was great as well: less than $1.97 per serving with a shelf-life of 25 years!

Another strong point with the Wise Food Storage is that the meals were in fact filling! I didn’t expect to be satisfied without having to eat the whole 4-meal content of each package, but I was satisfied and had a good “snack” amount left over.

Cons

This product-like every other “emergency food storage” solution out there is designed to be used in a scenario when energy and resources are to be conserved as much as possible. I don’t have a problem with using water to reconstitute food because that quantity of water which I add to cooking it will compose a percentage of my daily hydration maintenance level. I just don’t like having to use pots and pans which will need to be washed after preparing the food. I will have to use extra energy & water: two precious resources. As a remedy to my personal preference, I will invest in their outdoor meal packets because hot water can be easily added to the mylar packet and then the contents can be eaten directly in the pouch.

One other observation is that Wise Food Storage has chosen to not use real meat in the meals, but uses textured vegetable protein (TVP) instead. Now, I understand that meat is ideally eaten when it is fresh and lean, so this is not a big deal to me. I just wanted to point that out because to some people it makes all the difference in the world. Personally, I would just add some rabbit, deer, beef or chicken meat from a fresh hunt if I wanted to enjoy real meat during such a situation.

All-in-all, I recommend Wise Food Storage as part of your short and long-term food storage solutions.



As riots spread across the world, having started first in Europe and now engulfing the Middle East, most people in the U.S. outright reject the possibility that the same could happen right here at home. But the fact of the matter is that we remain in economic crisis and there is a real possibility of a total collapse of the system we have come to know.If the system does happen to collapse, be it because of a hyperinflationary currency meltdown, political uprising or anything in between, here are ten things you can expect to happen, just as they are happening in the Middle East today:

Picture Credit - RamyRaoof on Flicker

1. There will be a general break down in law and order. Law enforcement will not be policing your neighborhood. This will likely lead to a community response and vigilante groups setting up neighborhood security details. The law and justice will be determined by those walking your streets with sticks and guns, so be sure to mind your P’s and Q’s. (LINK)
2. Food and water will become scarce. The average American has about three days worth of food in their home, and likely very little water, as most are dependent on their local city for this essential commodity. As with any major disaster, like hurricanes or earthquakes, panicked people will immediately make a run for the grocery store, either before or at the onset of crisis, looking to acquire any non-perishable goods. They’ll buy everything they can in one trip, which leaves less food for the next guy. Our just-in-time inventory management systems ensure that there will be no reserves in the back of the grocery store, so once the store shelves are cleared, it will be a while before they are restocked. (LINK)
3. Looting will be rampant. Until all of the food, water, diapers and HDTV’s have been cleared from store shelves, looters will be breaking into retail businesses in search of goods. In Egypt, most of the population is not armed. In the U.S., however, it’s a different story and the general rule on looters is: shoot them. Regardless of whether you are trying to acquire food for your baby or a free Xbox, you will be considered a looter if you enter a private business. (LINK ; New Orleans LINK)
4. If the rioting and looting gets bad enough, expect full deployment by the military. As we are currently seeing in Egypt, and like we saw in New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina saga, government is prepared to restore order by whatever means are available. There will be heavily armed soldiers, tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles patrolling your city. (LINK)
5. When rocks start getting thrown, Molotov cocktails start exploding, and citizens take it upon themselves to shoot at military and law enforcement personnel, soldiers will fire back - and the firing will be indiscriminate, just like we’ve seen in Egypt and during the Iranian riots of 2009. One report out of Egypt indicates that President Mubarak of Egypt has issued shoot-to-kill orders giving the military authority to open fire on anyone it deems a threat. (VIDEO LINK)
6. Hospitals will run out of basic medical supplies. We saw this in Haiti and we’re seeing it in Cairo. As the injured and wounded stack up, medical personnel will be overwhelmed. Basic medicines like hydrogen peroxide and antibiotics will disappear, and minor injuries may lead to amputation or death in a matter of days if supplies are not restocked. As more dead bodies stack up, this could potentially lead to widespread outbreaks of disease like it did in Haiti. (LINK)
7. The internet will get shut down. Governments have realized that the internet is the communication medium of choice to organize protests and riots. When Iranians protested their Presidential elections in 2009, Twitter and other social networking sites were used to organize, as well as to broadcast pictures of the events in near real-time. This gives the government ample reason to shut down all digital means of communication, the most important being that government is unable to stop mass gatherings, nor are they able to control the news propaganda of the event itself. Egypt is the first country to have taken steps to completely shutdown everything from traditional internet connectivity via ISPs, as well as phone and text communications. Expect the same in your neck of the woods if and when it hits the fan. (LINK)
8. Banks will be closed and ATM’s will be out of money. With no law enforcement, banks will be unable to operate. There will be no one to refill the cash in ATM’s, and it’s possible that even if they do have money you will not be able to withdraw it because problems with electronic processing will prevent it. Those who don’t have cash or barterable goods on them will be left with no way to transact. (LINK)
9. The real value of gold and silver against most other assets will rise. Though only anecdotal reports exist at this time from the streets of Egypt, it’s clear that anytime governmental, economic or social instability hits a particular region, the value of these precious metals rises. The 2010 riots in Greece prove this point, as the price of gold on the street rose to a reported $1700 per ounce, even while gold in global commodity exchanges was trading at $1100. When there are no open banks or working ATM’s, precious metals will become the de facto reserve currency on the ground. (LINK)
10. The ‘important’ people will probably get the heck out of Dodge. If you’ve got money and power, you’re going to be fast-tracked out of the region. President Mubarak’s sons quickly fled Egypt when the riots broke out. In Tunisia, the President’s wife made a beeline for the nearest international destination - with a ton of gold in tow. While the elite will have access to evacuate a disintegrating regional riot or collapse, everyday folks will likely be stranded. Expect that wherever you are when it hits the fan is where you’ll stay, so be sure to be stocked up on the essentials. (LINK , LINK)

As you are building up your emergency food supply, you are also going to want to think about how you are going to supply clean, fresh water for your family in the event of a major disaster or emergency.  Well, today we have a really great alternative for you.  EcoloBlue is a company that makes some of the highest quality and most cost effective atmospheric water generators in the world.  Their units contain a water filtration system that pulls drinking water out of thin air!  It is great for anyone seeking to get off the grid or for anyone that is just trying to do things that are good for the environment. Just think about it - no more fluoride in your drinking water, no more plastic bottles filling up landfills, no more lugging heavy containers of drinking water home from the supermarket!

The EcoloBlue 30 & 30s™ are sleek, state-of-the-art atmospheric water generators that can provide your family with up to 8 gallons of pure drinking water a day.  These units pull water from the humidity right out of the air, and then filters it into pure drinking water.  The water is incredibly pure and absolutely delicious, and Ecoloblue says that water produced by their units costs an average of approximately 20 cents a gallon.

EcoloBlue units are perfect for a home, an office, an RV or even a boat.  Their units even have a solar panel option so that they can potentially keep providing water in the event of an emergency or natural disaster.

The truth is that we are not always going to be able to count on clean, fresh water.  In the event that your current water supply was cut off, what would you do?  Where would you get water for your family?

In addition, there have been a number of scientific studies recently which have revealed all of the horrible things that are in our drinking water.  Even distilled water from the grocery store has plastic chemicals leaching into it.

Wouldn't you like to drink some clean, pure water that is good for the environment for once?

The following video has even more information about these amazing units....

It seems like everyone is hopping on the Ecoloblue bandwagon.  A while back, one ABC News affiliate posted an absolutely glowing review of Ecoloblue water generators....

Soon, our kids were demanding their filtered water like toddlers after cookies. They homed to it after exercise and filled their bottles on comings and goings. Returning from a vacation, they insisted the Ecoloblue (generically known as an Atmospheric Water Generator) be immediately re-engaged. They wanted that cool and clean-tasting H2O.

Guests were mesmerized, too. They remarked that this water condensed from air was greatly refreshing. Yup, we nodded, smugly: It were good. And there was enough for all of us to drink,  with some leftover every day for the pets and for cooking.

Are you excited yet?

Are you ready for the cleanest, purest water that you have ever had in your life?

Ecoloblue is the real deal.  I would not be writing this review if I did not believe in Ecoloblue so strongly myself.

So what are you waiting for?  Visit the EcoloBlue Life & Energy website for more information.

Have you got your emergency food supply prepared?  An economic collapse is coming, and now is the time to prepare - not after things have completely fallen apart.  Already, the price of food is going up significantly at places like Wal-Mart.  When the economy does finally collapse, the things that are going to be at a premium are necessities like food.  The truth is that we are not always going to be able to run down to the local supermarket and fill up our carts with all of the inexpensive food that we want.  When the U.S. economy implodes and the U.S. dollar enters a period of rampant inflation things are going to be much, much different.

A Well Stocked Emergency Food Pantry

Picture Credit- The Wonderful Lust Journal

It is important to prepare while we can.  Time is quickly running out.  The following are 10 signs that the U.S. economy is already starting to fall apart....

1 - Unemployment in the United States is completely out of control.  According to one recent survey, 28% of all U.S. households have at least one person that is looking for a full-time job.  Not only that, the number of Americans receiving long-term unemployment benefits has risen over 60 percent in just the past year.  To get an idea of just how rapidly unemployment in the U.S. is spreading, take 38 seconds to watch the absolutely amazing video posted below....

2- Personal bankruptcies continue to soar.  Nationwide, bankruptcy filings rose 20 percent in the 12 month period ending June 30th.

3 - The U.S. housing market is coming apart at the seams.  In July, existing home sales in the U.S. plummeted 27 percent, and sales of new homes dropped to the lowest level ever recorded.  Meanwhile, foreclosures continue to spiral out of control.  One out of every seven U.S. mortgages was either delinquent or in foreclosure during the first quarter of 2010.

4 - Poverty is spreading like a plague in the United States.  The number of Americans on food stamps rose to a new all-time record of 40.8 million in May.  In fact, the number of Americans receiving food stamps has set a new all-time record for 18 consecutive months. 

5 - The Social Security system is melting down much faster than anticipated.  According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security system will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes in 2010.  That was not supposed to happen until at least 2016.

6 - Our financial system has developed a derivatives bubble that is so gigantic that it is hard to find the words to even describe it.  Nobody knows exactly how big the derivatives bubble is, but low estimates place it at around 600 trillion dollars and high estimates put it at around 1.5 quadrillion dollars.  Once the derivatives bubble pops there simply will not be enough money in the entire world to fix it.

7 - The trade deficit is bleeding the U.S. economy dry.  Every single month, tens of billions of dollars more leaves the United States than enters it.  This represents an almost unbelievable transfer of wealth.  At the end of every single month, the United States is poorer than when the month began. 

8 - American consumers have accumulated an astounding amount of debt.  The total amount of consumer debt that Americans consumers owe now stands at a total of approximately 11 trillion dollars.

9 - State and local governments across the United States are literally drowning in debt.  Some state and local governments are in such a financial mess that they have actually starting cutting off even the most essential services.

10 - U.S. government debt is completely and totally out of control.  The U.S. government has accumulated a national debt that will soon surpass the 14 trillion dollar mark.  Things are deteriorating so fast that according to one member of Barack Obama's national debt commission, the U.S. government will be paying 2 trillion dollars just in interest on the national debt by the year 2020 if nothing changes.

Are you starting to get the picture?

It is time to prepare for the very hard times that are coming.  When the U.S. economy implodes a lot of people are suddenly going to be scrambling for survival.  You do not want to be one of them.

For much more on building an emergency food supply and preparing for hard economic times we recommend the following resources....

#1) Thriving During Challenging Times: The Energy, Food and Financial Independence Handbook

#2) The Ultimate Suburban Survivalist Guide: The Smartest Money Moves to Prepare for Any Crisis

#3) Starting A New Life In Rural America: 21 Things You Need to Know Before You Make Your Move

Are we about to see a massive rice shortage in Asia?  Thailand and Vietnam, the two largest rice exporters in the world, are facing severe drought conditions that are severely threatening this year's rice crops and global rice supplies.  Rice is one of the key "staple foods" in eastern nations, so a serious disruption in the supply of rice could be a major problem.  Thankfully, many crops in the western world (such as wheat) are doing very well so far this year, so hopefully this potential rice shortage will not hurt too much, but it never hurts to put away some extra rice in your emergency food supply.  After all, you don't start preparing for a storm once it has already arrived.  You start preparing when you see the first storm clouds forming on the horizon. 

In Vietnam, this severe drought is shaping up to be the worst in a hundred years.  The truth is that there has been very little rainfall across the entire nation since last September.  Over half of Vietnam's estimated 44 million person workforce is involved in agriculture, so if this drought continues much longer it is going to be a horrific disaster.

The drought is also extremely severe in Thailand.  Thailand accounts for approximately one-third of all global rice exports, and analysts are now forecasting a decline of at least one million tons for this year.

That is bad news, but hopefully world food supplies will not be impacted that severely.  However, a few more body blows like this and we could start looking at a global food crisis.

While you will never hear about it on the mainstream news, and while we can all walk into supermarkets and buy as much food as we want right now, the truth is that a massive global food shortage is coming.  In fact, many scientists are now convinced that a horrific world famine is absolutely inevitable.  Why?  Well, as we will see below, it is a combination of things.  World population is exploding at the same time that overfarming, overfishing and environmental degradation are all starting to catch up with us.  The truth is that now is the time to start preparing.  Now is the time to build up an emergency food supply.  Now is the time to begin storing up food.  Because a food shortage that is so horrible that most of us cannot even imagine it is on the way, and when it hits it is going to be incredibly painful.

It is now being projected that global demand for food will more than double over the next 50 years.  Right now there are over 6 billion people on earth.  Around 2040 or so there will be 9 billion people on earth.  By the 2060s, there would be over 11 billion people on earth.  So where in the world are we going to get the food to feed all of those people?

A global food shortage is coming.  There is no possible way that the world can produce enough food for that many people under the current system.

Already 1 billion people in the world go to bed hungry every single night.

Already somewhere in the world someone starves to death every 3.6 seconds and 3/4 of them are children under the age of 5.

Already approximately a third of all children in the world under the age of five suffer from serious malnutrition.

And the bad news is that the world simply does not have enough water to grow much more food.

Just consider the following quote from IWMI director general Colin Chartres....

"Current estimates indicate that we will not have enough water to feed ourselves in 25 years time, by when the current food crisis may turn into a perpetual crisis."

Not only that, but because of overfarming and pollution, we are rapidly losing farm land.  Today almost 25% of the world’s farm land is affected by serious environmental degradation.  That is up from 15% two decades ago.

In some of the biggest countries in the world the environmental situation is absolutely nightmarish.

For example, it is estimated by authorities that 75 percent of India's surface water is contaminated by human and agricultural waste.  The truth is that there is over a billion people in India, but sanitation is still only just starting to be developed in many areas.  So many people there just "use the toilet" wherever they can.  In fact, according to a UN study on sanitation, far more people in India have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet.

But it just isn't places like India where rampant environmental degradation is a problem.

It is happening in the United States too.

It turns out that many big American cattle farms actually feed chicken manure to cattle because it is so inexpensive and because we produce far too much of it to properly dispose of as fertilizer.

So are you eating beef that is from cattle that were fed chicken manure every day?

How would you know?

Not only that, but the world cannot get much more food out of the oceans either.  29 percent of world fisheries are in a state of collapse according to Canadian scientist Boris Worm, and in the years ahead the world fishing industry may actually produce less food rather than more food.

But much more food will be needed in the years ahead.

The really sad thing is that we waste so much food right now.  In developed countries we throw away anywhere from one-third to one-half of all food produced.

Considering the fact that so many people in the world are suffering from a lack of food, that is absolutely criminal.

In the years ahead we won't be wasting that much food.  That is for certain.  We will look back on these days when there was plenty of food with longing.  These are still good times.  Even though the world economy is starting to spin out of control, the truth is that we haven't seen anything yet.  A devastating world economic collapse is on the way, and a global food shortage will follow shortly thereafter.

Are you ready?

While many world leaders have been wringing their hands about global warming, the truth is that the global deep freeze now ravaging North America, Europe and Asia is the biggest problem for agriculture right now.  In fact, many analysts are now predicting that agricultural losses due to the unusually cold winter will lead to huge spikes in the price of food and massive food shortages in many areas of the world in 2010.

So just what has been so bad about the winter of 2009/2010?

The truth is that for many areas of the northern hemisphere, it has been the most brutal winter in decades.  Record-setting cold temperatures and devastating winter storms have been sweeping North America, Europe and Asia with no apparent end in sight.  In fact, 877 snowfall records were set or tied in the United States in just one week in December alone.

At one point, 50 percent of the U.S. was already covered in snow in December.  That is extremely unusual for so early in the winter.

But things are not any better in Europe.  The death toll from brutal winter storms across Europe has risen to at least 80 people, as arctic temperatures and heavy snow continue to plague the continent.

Asia is feeling the effects of this harsh winter as well.  More than 30 people died in cold-weather related incidents in Northern India recently in just one 24 hour period.  Record setting snowfalls have been plaguing China and South Korea as well.

So what does all of this brutal winter weather mean for agricultural production?

Problems.

Big problems.

The U.K. has been experiencing the worst winter that they have seen in decades, and the extended cold temperatures there are absolutely destroying agricultural production in many areas as the Guardian recently reported....

"Sub-zero temperatures have made it impossible to extract some vegetables from the ground. Producers of brussels sprouts and cabbages are all reporting problems with harvesting. Cauliflowers are said to have turned to mush in the sustained frost."

In fact, the Guardian is reporting that the prices for some types of produce have already begun to spike in many areas....

"Greengrocers in some of the worst-hit areas are reporting shortages, with the price of carrots and parsnips reportedly rising by 30% in some small shops."

The unusually cold temperatures are having a particularly harsh impact on areas that are not accustomed to seeing below freezing temperatures.  For example, citrus crops throughout the state of Florida have been absolutely destroyed in many areas by the recent string of cold weather.

The New York Times describes the situation there this way....

"This was not the standard winter chill. For nearly two weeks, the Sunshine State felt like a meat locker with record lows north and south. Economists said the total cost to agriculture alone could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, adding another bruise to Florida’s beaten-down economy."

So what will the weather in Florida mean to our food bills?

The agriculture expert quoted by the New York Times was very grim in his assessment....

"Tomatoes were down around $14 for a 25-pound box; now they are up over $20," said Gene McAvoy, an agriculture expert with the University Florida, who predicted $100 million in vegetable losses. "Peppers — just after New Years they were $8 a box; now they’re up around $18."

This all comes at a time when a U.S. government report is revealing that the nation's farmers planted the fewest winter wheat acres in any season since 1913.  According to the report from the Department of Agriculture, the total acres of winter wheat planted for 2010 is 37.1 million acres, which is down 14 percent nationwide from last year.

So what does all of this mean?

It means that there is going to be a lot less food grown.

A basic law of economics is that when supply goes down, prices go up.

That is exactly what is going to happen.

All over the world agriculture is being devastated this winter, and that is going to result in higher food prices all over the globe.

There will even be food shortages in many areas of the world.

So exactly how bad are things going to get?

Well, nobody knows for sure yet, but food isn't going to get any cheaper. 

You might want to run out and buy a few extra (or a few dozen extra) cans of vegetables.

According to the most recently released data, it looks like food prices will experience a dramatic increase in 2010. For example, a new Bloomberg survey of importers, exporters and analysts indicates that the price of rice may experience a 63 percent increase in the coming year. Not only that, the U.S. government is projecting that the price of nonfat dry milk could jump by up to 39 percent in 2010.  In addition,  JPMorgan Chase is forecasting a 25 percent rise in the price of sugar. 

(Picture Credit - From Bittenword on Flicker)

So what does all of this mean?

Just think about how many foods contain either rice, milk or sugar.

If the price increases that are projected by these experts hold up, that means that all food products that contain rice, milk or sugar will dramatically increase in 2010.

For families on a budget (or that are already breaking their budgets) that is really, really bad news.

The truth is that hard times are coming.

In fact, they are almost here.

There is a reason why millions of people are building up an emergency food supply.

Unfortunately, for millions in developing nations already on the edge of starvation, building up a supply of emergency food is not an option.

So what is going to happen to them when food prices skyrocket in 2010?

What is going to happen is that we will probably see more food riots like we did in 2008.

In fact, they may be far worse than 2008.

Don't let your family be caught unprepared.  Now is the time to get ready for 2010.

Most people have no idea that the a large portion of the food that they eat each day has been genetically modified.  In fact, over the past decade it has been nothing short of a revolution.  Today 93 percent of soybeans and 80 percent of corn in the U.S. grow from seeds genetically altered according to Monsanto company patents.  But is it a good revolution?  Is it a positive thing for one corporation to control such a high percentage of the seeds?  Are there reasons to believe that genetically modifying our food could be harmful to all of us?

The truth is that as Monsanto has gained an increasing market share in the seed market, prices for the Monsanto-patented genetically modified seeds have steadily increased.  In fact, those prices have approxmiately doubled over the past decade.

Competitors of Monsanto claim that they have "ruthlessly" stifled competition in the seed industry.  They want the government to consider antitrust action against Monsanto.

But they are not the only ones who are upset.

Many farmers are fed up with Monsanto's ruthless use of litigation.  All over the United States, the wind is carrying Monsanto's genetically altered seeds into neighboring fields.  Monsanto regularly sends out investigators to visit farms and to test whether any Monsanto strains have shown up on those farms.  If they have, then Monsanto proceeds to sue the living daylights out of those farmers.

Other activists are concerned about the environmental impact that Monsanto is having.

You see, once genetically modified crops are released into the environment it is virtually impossible to ever contain or recall them.  Insects, birds, and the wind easily carry genetically modified seeds into neighboring fields and beyond. Pollen from genetically modified plants ends up cross-pollinating with natural crops and wild relatives.  In fact once this becomes widespread enough, the natural crops can be bred into extinction.

You can't put the genie back in the bottle.

Has it been wise for the U.S. government to allow so many bizarre genetically modified crops to be released into the environment especially when the long-term health and environmental impacts of these crops are not known?

The truth is that many natural health experts claim that there is a growing body of evidence that genetically modified foods have a link to food allergies, intestinal damage, autoimmune disorders, anemia, diabetes, infertility and even cancer.  Independent scientific studies done on the effects of genetically modified have produced some incredibly troubling results.

However, independent scientists and even government officials that have dared to question the safety of genetically modified foods have been harrassed, threatened and in some cases even fired.  Someone out there wants to make sure that only one side of the genetically modified food debate is told to the public.

With billions of dollars in profits to be made, it certainly would be inconvenient for the truth about genetically modified food to get out to the American public.  The reality is that the monumental greed of the "mega corporations" that we have created is going to end up killing a lot of people.

If these genetically modified crops start failing or find themselves more susceptible to crop diseases than natural versions could we end up with a massive food emergency on our hands?  If it does eventually come out that some of the massive increases in disease that we are seeing this decade are due to genetically modified foods, what will that do to the demand for organic seeds?

There are a lot of unanswered questions like that.  Many people are becoming increasingly aware of genetically modified crops and are wishing to avoid them, but the reality is that they are virtually everywhere and they are found in an increasing number of food products so it is almost impossible to completely avoid them.

It is tougher than ever for those of us who seek to eat right and to live an organic lifestyle.  Hopefully someone in Washington D.C. will wake up before it is too late.

Devastating droughts of historic magnitude all over the globe are setting the stage for an unthinkable worldwide famine, and even as you read this millions of people in the third world are literally starving to death and desperate for even one meal.  Whether it is in India, Africa, Australia, Texas or California, the lack of rain in key areas around the world is causing havoc on global agriculture, and the prospect of an unprecedented food emergency is now way too real to ignore.  The reality is that the world food supply was barely keeping up with global demand in the good years, and now that the weather is crippling harvests all over the world it has become clear that there is simply not going to be enough food for everyone in 2010.

(Picture Credit - Jczart on Flicker)

So just how bad are things around the world?

*India has announced that it has suffered its worst drought in 37 years, with total rainfall 23 percent below average at the end of that nation's four-month monsoon season.  Approximately 65 percent of India's farms are unirrigated and depend on rainfall during the monsoon season, so the lack of rainfall is hitting those farmers particularly hard.

*In east Africa things are even worse.  The drought there has reached its fifth year, and it is estimated that 23 million Africans in that region are on the verge of starvation.  In a statement, Paul Smith Lomas, Oxfam's East Africa Director said this about the situation: "This is the worst humanitarian crisis Oxfam has seen in east Africa for over ten years."

*The drought in Australia has gotten so bad that it is being called the new "dust bowl" and a recent dust storm in Sydney was so severe that it actually turned the sky red.

*In Texas, farmers and ranchers are desperately hoping for rain as the extreme drought has cost the agricultural sector billions of dollars.

*The water crisis has gotten so bad in California that the Obama administration has urged California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to call state lawmakers into a special session just to deal with it.

*Saudi Arabia had been producing enough wheat to be self-sufficient for over 20 years, but in 2008 they realized that the non-replenishable aquifer they had been pumping for irrigation purposes was nearly depleted.  So in response that nation decided to reduce their wheat harvest by one-eighth every year.  Wheat production there is scheduled to cease entirely in 2016.  After that they will be importing all of the wheat that their entire nation depends upon.

So what does all of this mean?

It means two things.

#1) The world is running out of water.

#2) The world is running out of food.

If things don't turn around dramatically very, very soon millions of people are going to starve.  There simply will not be enough food to feed everyone.

Those who are able to buy food for their families will notice much higher food prices.  That is what happens when demand continues to go up while supply drops like a rock.

Even in our technologically advanced society, extreme drought means famine.

We are facing a true global food emergency.  The world demand for food is going to be much higher than the world supply of food in 2010.  Not everyone is going to make it.

Are you ready?

A "perfect storm" of circumstances is coming together that is leading many agriculture experts to predict that we will soon be experiencing a worldwide food crisis of unprecedented magnitude.  Will 2010 be the year that the world runs out of food?  Record setting droughts, exploding populations and crippling crop failures all over the world are combining to set the stage for a potentially devastating food crisis in the coming year. Even in such technologically advanced times, the reality is that the food supply is not immune to droughts and plagues.  Even the United States has been dramatically affected.  Just consider the following examples.....

*All time record breaking heat and drought continues to plague the state of Texas. In fact, extreme drought conditions can be found in many agricultural areas throughout the United States this summer.

*If the drought conditions were not bad enough, a disease known as "late blight" is absolutely devastating tomato and potato plants in the eastern half of the United States. The prices for those two staple foods could shoot through the roof, hitting already hurting American consumers really hard.

*In addition, farmers all over the United States are reporting very disappointing harvests. For example, the very weak wheat harvest this year is seriously disappointing farmers across the state of Illinois.

But it is not just the U.S. that is experiencing serious agricultural problems. In fact, the news from the rest of the world is even more troubling.

*Agricultural scientists fear that Ug99, a devastating wheat fungus also known as stem rust, could wipe out over 80 percent of the world's wheat crop as it spreads out from Africa.

*Harvests all across the globe are frighteningly low. Just check out the following troubling reports from the Market Skeptics blog.....

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1) Bulgaria harvest will be around 20% lower than last season's output.

2) Argentine farmers will plant just 2.6 million hectares of winter wheat for the 2009/10 season, a stunning 2.1 million less than was planted in 2008/09 (down nearly 45%).

3) Part of the reason behind lower plantings is a two fingered salute to the government and their export restrictions.

4) Brazil, the world's third largest wheat importer, bought 51,000 MT of US wheat last week, more than it bought in the entire first six months of the year.

5) With the Brazilian real strengthening against the dollar, Brazilian millers that are being forced to look for supplies are finding US wheat fitting the bill quite nicely.

6) Canadian crop development lags with 60% of winter grains are behind normal development. Spring grains development is even further behind, with 75% of crops affected.

7) Ukraine will only produce 35 MMT of grain this season, 35 percent less than last year.

8 ) 3.3 million hectares of the Russia’s spring crops have been badly damaged by drought. Production this year is seen lower at around 55-60 MMT from 63.7 MMT in 2008.

9) Sugar hit it's highest in three years last week.

10) The lack of monsoon rains in northern India was the main driver of the rally in sugar. World demand is outstripping supply by over six million tonnes at the moment, and India is set to potentially become the world's largest importer this year.

11) Spanish wheat output is now projected 32% lower this year at 3.8 MMT.

12) Rain is damaging crops in the UK and across Europe.

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When you add up all of the recent agricultural news stories it means one thing: a massive food crisis is on the way.

Harvests around the world are going to be much smaller at a time when world demand for food is at an all-time high.

In other words, there are going to be food shortages.

Very serious food shortages.

Are you all starting to get the point.

In just a few months, the world is going to have a lot less food than what it needs.  When people around the world find that they can't feed their families, there will likely be food riots that will make the food riots of 2008 look like a walk in the park.

In the United States, there will not be shortages of food - at least at first.  But what this will mean is that there will be dramatic price increases at the supermarket.

Are you ready?

Now is the time to ensure that you and your family are prepared for the food crisis that is ahead.

We encourage you to take advantage of the low prices on emergency food that are out there right now while you still can:

http://theemergencyfoodsupply.com/emergency-food

Doesn't it seem as though there are more crop diseases than ever popping up in 2009?  The latest crisis is a disease known as "late blight", and it is absolutely devastating tomato and potato plants in the eastern half of the United States.  As if tomatoes were not expensive enough already.  Most Americans have never even heard of "late blight", but it actually has a long history.  Late blight is the disease that is blamed for the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, and now it is seemingly back with a vengeance.

A stunning press release from Cornell University is warning gardeners and commercial farmers that late blight is hitting the eastern United States with a ferocity that has never been seen before.

Meg McGrath, an associate professor of plant pathology and plant-microbe biology at Cornell says that "late blight has never occurred this early and this widespread in the U.S."

So how do you know if your plants have late blight?

Well, one symptom that you want to look for is ugly brown spots on the stems of your plants.

As those spots get larger, white fungal growth starts to develop until a soft rot totally collapses the stem.

If you think that you have late blight, authorities are encouraging you to destroy all of those plants. 

With the Ug99 wheat rust already out of control, and with this "late blight" hitting the tomato and potato crops really hard, it looks like food prices are going to rise and there may even be shortages.  Now is the time to ensure that you and your family have built an adequate emergency food supply.