Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 13, 2020

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Today is the birthday of screenwriter, director, and producer, Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) His many films spanned five decades.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 90 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Why I Chose a .308 Winchester AR – Part 2, by Dusty

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

Handguard and Barrel Nut

The final parts of the upper include the barrel nut and handguard. The barrel nut is used to secure your barrel to the upper and is generally included as part of your handguard. There are some handguards that don’t supply a barrel nut so you will want to check for that when purchasing your specific handguard. You will also want to match your handguard, gas tube, and barrel to make sure they all match. Standard barrel lengths are 16, 18 or 20 inches. There are various gas tube lengths such as pistol, carbine, mid-length and rifle. I won’t go over the specifics of each of these as that could be a completely separate article. It’s just important that you know what gas system you are running so that you can match your handguard to this. If you don’t match your gas tube and handguard you could buy a handguard that doesn’t cover your gas block.

I purchased the Aero Precision M5 Atlas S-One M-LOK handguard. I’m not a fan of quad rails as they are heavy, and uncomfortable. M-LOK or Keymod handguards allow you to run as many accessories all over your handguard as wanted without the bulk and sharp edges of a quadrail. The Atlas S-One is also lighter than the other options offered by Aero Precision. There are carbon fiber handguards that are extremely lightweight but also extremely expensive. As with all things I had to weigh performance vs costs and I simply could not justify the added costs of a complete carbon fiber handguard.

Upper Receiver Considerations

There is one major advantage of using an upper receiver and a handguard from the same manufacturer. That advantage is aesthetically they line up much better than if you source parts from different manufacturers. The majority of people will select the standard A2 style birdcage for their rifle. These are very affordable and do a decent job of flash suppression and recoil mitigation. I prefer a compensator due to the greater flash suppression.

Lower Receiver Components

I will now move onto the more complex and more AR-15 part compatible, lower receiver. The lower receiver consists of a bolt stop, front and rear takedown pins, magazine release, fire control group (FCG), pistol grip, buffer tube assembly, and stock. The lower receiver is, by law, the serialized firearm. Due to the hassles of buying firearms online and a desire to support local business I typically purchase a lower receiver from my local gun store. However, these can be purchased online and sometimes in multi-receiver sets which can save you money. I have found a local FFL that doesn’t charge a transfer fee, so when I do purchase online I use them to broker the deal. I would recommend doing a little research and with some luck you might find a similar situation in your area.

At this point it probably isn’t much of a surprise for me to tell you that I selected an Aero Precision lower receiver. This is due to the previously mentioned aesthetics of having your upper, lower and handguard line up. Aero Precision also has a good reputation in the LR-308 world and in the AR-15 world for that matter. They have many options of factory Cerakote components but I purchased the black components and coated them myself to my specifications. The lower receiver does have a few components that are compatible with the AR-15 I will identify those components as I list each component of the lower receiver.Continue reading“Why I Chose a .308 Winchester AR – Part 2, by Dusty”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the “free” mystery seeds arriving from mainland China.

Mystery Packages From China: Seeds and Sunglasses

Arkansas man plants mystery seeds from China, says results are wild — and now other packages are inexplicably showing up. The article opens with this:

“An Arkansas man who says he received a packet of unknown seeds from China has planted them — and KSFM-TV calls the burgeoning plant “wild.”

Packages of unsolicited seeds from China began showing up in mailboxes across the country in July, stumping agriculture and commerce officials in the process.

In early statements, the USDA said it believes that the products are part of what could be a “brushing scam,” in which people receive unsolicited items to, in turn, create fake customer reviews for the purpose of boosting sales.”

JWR’s Comment:  Yes, it is probably just a “brushing” scheme. But don’t plant any of those seeds, and don’t trust their sunglasses.

Is Kamala Harris a Marxist or a Maoist?

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: GovTrack: Kamala Harris Further Left than ‘Democratic Socialist’ Bernie Sanders. Oh, and she wants your guns.

DJT Hints of COVID-19 Vaccine Before November

You’ve probably already seen this headline: Trump: COVID-19 vaccine may be ready ‘right around’ Election Day. JWR’s Comment:  Gee, a new vaccine rushed into production after only brief trials. What could possibly go wrong?

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 12, 2020

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This the birthday of country singer/songwriter Buck Owens (1929–2006). His songs typified what has been called “The Bakersfield Sound.”

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 90 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Why I Chose a .308 Winchester AR – Part 1, by Dusty

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The arguments for .308 Winchester over 5.56 NATO are well known and far spread through many internet forums. Undoubtedly many of you realize the advantages in firepower of the .308. We know of the incredible amount of reloading data, DOPE, and other consumer information available from the .308 community. This information will help you find a load that meets your needs or give you a great starting point to load your own high quality ammunition. If you have decided to invest in a weapon chambered in .308 Winchester chances are you have seen rifles being referred to as AR-10 or LR-308. I hope that this article can help you better understand what those designations mean and more importantly the components of these weapons systems.

AR-10 Versus LR-308

The purpose of this article is to lay out the advantages and disadvantages of the AR-10/LR-308 weapons platform. I will begin by giving a brief background that many of you are undoubtedly familiar with. The AR-10 is the predecessor of the AR-15. Eugene Stoner’s original design was built around the .308 cartridge, but the military asked for a scaled-down model based on the .222 Remington cartridge which at the time was one of the go-to cartridges for accuracy. This request led to the 5.56 NATO cartridge and the AR-15 we know and love today. Technically anytime the terminology AR-10 is used it should refer to Eugene Stoner’s original design which is now produced by Armalite. There are many other manufacturers who produce their own version of the AR-10 these rifles should be referred to as LR-308.

No Milspec for LR-308

The AR-15 has been mass-produced to exact specifications because of its use in the military. Unfortunately, things are not so cut and dry for it’s older brother, the AR-10. Gun owners and manufactures alike have realized the advantages of the weapons platform. This has led to many different versions based on the AR-10 not all of which are compatible. There are various companies such as SIG-Sauer, Palmetto State Armory, Aero Precision, DPMS and many others that produce their own LR-308 rifles. What adds to the confusion further is the fact that these rifles do not share compatibility with each other. Unlike the AR-15 platform where you can take parts from various rifles and combine them without issue, at least in theory. This is due to the fact that there is no mil spec as previously mentioned.

DPMS or Armalite

Although there is not a standard set of specifications there are two frontrunners as far as design and specifications are considered. These are the AR-10 produced by Armalite and the LR-308 produced by DPMS. The two platforms are often referred to simply as AR-10 style or DPMS Style, many but not all AR-10/LR-308 rifles follow one of these patterns. However, there are many others that are completely proprietary. This complicates assembling your own rifle beyond the lego-like assembly of an AR-15. One must do their research and really know what parts they are trying to put together and what platform they are designed for.Continue reading“Why I Chose a .308 Winchester AR – Part 1, by Dusty”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on McLeod and Pulaski tools for trail building and wildland firefighting. (See the Gear & Grub section and the Instructional Videos section.)

Books:

Nine days after its release, Sean Hannity’s latest book is still ranked #2, overall in books, at Amazon.com: Live Free Or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink

o  o  o

This book is scheduled for release in November: Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other.  I have no doubt that it will pre-sell in huge numbers.

o  o  o

Reader Paul D. suggested this book: The Ultimate Guide to Bowhunting Skills, Tactics, and Techniques

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — August 11, 2020

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On August 11, 1857, N. H. Wolfe and Company, the oldest flour and grain company in New York City, failed. This failure shook investor confidence and began a slow selloff in the market which continued into late August. Several other failures followed, and this cascaded into what was later called the Panic of 1857.

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On this day in 1807, David Atchison was born. He was president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, and president of U.S. for one day (March 4, 1849), the Sunday before Zachary Taylor was sworn in. So, technically Donald J. Trump is the 46th U.S. President–not the 45th.

—

And on August 11, 1942 Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 89 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Abandoning Home, by Francis

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This essay is not about survival skills in their basic form. Rather, this is a gedankenexperiment about abandoning suburbia and getting us somewhere safely in the event of TEOTWAWKI. This is often called “Bugging Out” in the current parlance. Thus, I consider us not preppers but semi-preppers.

I’ve previously written in SurvivalBlog about our preparations for survival. Because of recent events, we are concerned about our extended family’s safety. I could kick myself for not purchasing the SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick that was offered back in January.

Because of the most recent events of the riots (the mainstream media would have you believe they are mostly “peaceful protests”) and the lawlessness occurring in cities and rural areas, we have concluded that we must take more aggressive actions to ensure our safety. Specifically, we must be prepared to abandon our home. Blocking of Interstates, roadways and central cities has led us to look at our bug out bags as needed — but not enough. The shootings and riots in Democrat-controlled cities is far beyond being too high. Those cities have a culture problem which besides shooting someone for any reason, includes graft and corruption; though I take little comfort in knowing some areas of the country are controlled by Republicans. We are no longer a Constitutional Republic. We are an oligarchy. Neither major political party should be proud.

What if we have to abandon our home?

Soooo… What if we have to abandon our home?

While I believe we are in for a financial collapse (we are presently creating more money than the Weimar Republic) I now believe the country is falling apart and our leaders are not going to take any action to control things. This is not normal for America. I really do miss the America that was always striving to improve — but now seems listless.Continue reading“Abandoning Home, by Francis”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on the Forrest Fenn treasure hunt that ended successfully in Wyoming. (See the Wyoming section.)

Region-Wide

Do you notice the “hole” in this COVID-19 map?  It looks a lot like the boundaries of the American Redoubt, to me. Here in the Redoubt, I suspect that the increased suicide rate and deaths from undiagnosed heart disease, cancer, and long-postponed surgeries (of folks afraid to visit their local doctors and hospitals) far outnumber the pandemic deaths.

Idaho

Appeals court orders new trial for Idaho man convicted in Nevada Bundy ranch standoff

o  o  o

Code of the West, Buying and Building in Bonner County Idaho

o  o  o

Kootenai Health critical care units are at capacity but it isn’t just because of COVID-19

o  o  o

Bighorn sheep lottery tag raised a record $185,000 to help wild sheep conservation in Idaho

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

Preparedness Notes for Monday — August 10, 2020

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On August 10th, 1984, Red Dawn, the first PG-13 rated movie, starring Patrick Swayze was released. The movie (the 1984 original, not the 2012 remake) is a favorite of both JWR and HJL. The movie embodies the independent, indomitable spirit that created this country.

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Two newly-listed properties, over at SurvivalRealty.com:

70 acres outside Kamiah (inside the reservation), with “almost Artesian” well, for $200,000.

and,

Off-grid cabin on 5 acres, north of Cedar City Utah for $250,000

Jonathan Rawles (My #1 Son), who owns SurvivalRealty.com mentioned: “We’re continuing to see extremely low property inventory in many rural regions, and a surprising number of properties selling before even being listed on the MLS, or before being advertised publicly.”

—

Today we present another review by our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.

FNS-9 Compact, by Pat Cascio

If you’re old enough to remember back 50-years or longer, you’ll recall that guns we called “compact” back then, were quite a bit different than what we call “compact” today. Back in the day, a compact handgun was still quite large, compared to those made today. Sure there were some compact guns back then, but most were revolvers on a small frame that only held 5 or 6 rounds. Maybe back then, 5 or 6 rounds was more than enough to end a gunfight. Today, things have changed – a lot! We live in a very violent world, and odds are good that you might have to face down multiple attackers. A semiauto handgun with 10 or 12 rounds is a bit more comforting, and with spare magazine or two, you are well-armed.

I recall when the Glock 26 first came out – that was around 1992 – and they called it the “Pocket Rocket” for some reason – I never carried one in my pocket – it was still a bit too large for my tastes. However, place that same  Glock 26 in an inside the waistband holster or in an ankle holster and you had a lot of firepower, in a very small gun. Of course, these days, Glock and many other gun makers have even smaller pistols that hold a lot of ammo on-tap. And, of course, we now have sub-compact handguns, like the SIG-Sauer P365, that also holds 10 or 12 rounds in a very small and tidy package. Make you wonder how much smaller the gun makers can go with this…perhaps micro-compact?

Most days, I can be caught wearing my Glock 26, it’s one of my favorite concealed carry handguns. I added a +2 pinky catcher floor plate, that it turns the 10+1 mag into a 12+1 mag, all in a nice little package on my right hip. Of course, since Glock came out with the Model 26, most big-name gun makers have been playing catch-up with Glock, and they are producing their own compact handguns – most chambered in 9mm – the most popular pistol caliber in the world.

Today, we’re looking at the FN FNS-9C – that is their quasi-clone of the Glock 26–at least in terms of form and function. This is one tough little pistol. It appears to belarger than a Glock 26, but it’s only an illusion — since they are really very close in size. And, the FNS-9C seems to fit my hand a little better. So it feels more like a mid-sized 9mm instead of a compact version.Continue reading“FNS-9 Compact, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Eggs A La Caracas

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The following recipe for Eggs A La Caracas is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book will be one of the bonus items in the next edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This 15th Anniversary Edition USB stick should be available for sale in the third week of January, 2021.

Ingredients
  • 1  tablespoon butter
  • 1 cup tomatoes
  • 1 Tablespoon grated cheese
  • Onion-juice
  • Salt and Peppe, to taste
  • 1/4 pound dried beef
  • 4 eggs
Directions
  1. Melt the butter or butter substitute in a frying pan.
  2. When hot, add the dried beef and cheese.
  3. Toss lightly until the beet is slightly frizzled.
  4. Add the tomatoes, the seasonings, and the eggs beaten until light.
  5. Stir and cook gently until of a creamy consistency.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!