Regardless of how many #10 cans of "just-add-water-ready-to-eat" stuff you have, at some point you're going to have to learn to use a kitchen in much the same way as your granny, or your great-granny, did. So we've put together this list of 38 essential kitchen items for any survivalist.
1. Matches - If you don't smoke, why on earth would you need matches? But if we're going to learn to cook like granny, for most of you that would include cooking on top of a wood heat stove, or on a wood cook stove with an oven. I know there are ways to start a fire with a magnifying glass, some straw and some kindling, but believe me, matches are easier. If you're really good at starting and keeping a fire throughout the 3 daily meals, you could use as little as 1 match a day. If you're not, 20 may not be enough. We have found that the most economical matches are book matches, like you get with a pack of cigarettes. They come in a box of 50 books, 20 matches per book, for about $1.50 in many stores. That's a lot of lights for cheap. Wooden kitchen matches go for about $3.50 for 250 matches. See the difference?
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