Picky Eaters in Survival Situations

Last month, we received a request for an article about prepping long-term food for people with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). While I don't have any experience with ARFID, I'm neurodivergent and have neurodivergent children, so that means I have some experience with pickier than normal eaters. This article will cover a few options for dealing with the possibility of going through a survival situation or disaster response with a child who is a picky eater and may be neurodivergent. These recommendations will change based on the age of the person.

Children Under Five 

At this age, children really do have a less developed digestive tract and weaker stomach acid, so I recommend avoiding raw vegetables (they're great for fiber in adults, but they can really irritate a young child’s digestive tract). Preserved fruits are generally an easy source of calories and vitamins, and fatty tinned meats like “Vienna Sausages” are enough to meet their protein requirements. It isn’t a healthy diet in the long term, but in a survival situation the goal is to last long enough to get back to normal. Sweet snacks like chewy granola bars are generally a good option here as well, and the “mac & cheese” from a box is often well tolerated.

Tips for this age range: Add nutrition to foods that are easily digested, such as a half cup of dehydrated milk to mashed potatoes to add protein and calcium, or a scoop of unflavored collagen protein powder to the boxed mac & cheese. This doesn’t change the taste much, and helps round out the nutrition intake. 

Children Five to Eight

At this age, texture is more of an issue than flavor, and this is “green vegetables” more than anything else. Chop the vegetables finely and mix them in with a starch (potatoes or rice in my house, but a pasta based casserole works too). Your goal is to get them to have enough calories and nutrients to survive.

Tips for young children: Have plenty of a sauce on hand that they like. At this age, a lot of children really use food as a delivery method for ketchup. 

Children Nine to Twelve 

This age group has food aversions based mainly on taste or texture. If all Billy or Suzy will eat from what you’ve cooked is mashed potatoes or white rice, that's enough to get them through a few weeks without adverse effects. The impact of malnutrition from a month of potatoes (which you can fortify with powdered milk or protein) is negligible, and you should have multi-vitamins in your preps anyways. Children at this age can be willful, so letting them skip a meal until they are hungry enough to eat is just fine.

Tips for pre-teens: Involve them in food prep with appropriate tasks such as peeling vegetables, opening cans or jars, building a cooking fire. Involving them in the prep makes it easier to involve them in eating together.

Teenagers

Let them choose whether or not they eat what's available.  Acknowledge their sovereignty over their body, but limited choices are limited choices, so let them choose. When they're hungry enough to eat, whatever's available is their choice. 

Note: If it does get to the point where they are literally dying (which takes weeks if they were nominally healthy before the disaster), then the survival situation has gone on long enough where force feeding options are on the table. How to force feed a person of normal intelligence who is choosing to starve themselves to death is a very low probability, so I won't go into details here.

Tips for teenagers, even neuro-divergent teens: 

• They're much more likely to eat food they prepared (or helped prepare) from start to finish. It’s the same food you make, but because they had a hand in making it they are more willing to try it.
• Herbs and spices are cheap. Letting your teens have access to them to change the flavor profile of food is generally a good thing.

In Summary

• Involve your picky eaters in food preparation at every age level. This will build them into competent people who know how to cook when they leave home and start their adult life. 
• Have dietary supplements, multivitamins and unflavored protein powder on hand for rounding out nutrition requirements.
• It's okay to let your picky eater skip a meal or two, as hunger is the best spice.

Product Review: Mantis X3

On this bog we've talked about the importance of shooting practice, particularly dry fire practice for improving skills, accuracy, and confidence. Erin has reviewed several dry fire systems on her blog. Such as the LaserLyte targets and emitters.

(As an aside, the product I'm reviewing here is another fruit from the Gun Owners of America GOALS event I attended earlier this year. I highly recommend it to any of our readers who can attend next year.)

Overview

The Mantis X3 is a small rechargeable unit that can be attached to any handgun or rifle that has a Picatinny accessory rail. For firearms without a Picatinny rail, Mantis also makes adaptors that attach to the bottom of a pistol magazine. 

The X3 works by detecting the amount and direction of movement during trigger pull. In conjunction with a downloadable app, it enables dry and live fire practice whenever and wherever the owner desires. The Mantis X app is available from the Apple, Samsung, and Google play stores and will work on any mobile device that has Bluetooth capability.

What You Get

The Mantis X3 comes well-packaged in a foam lined zippered hard pouch, and includes the unit, a charging cable (USB A to Micro-B), and a printed quick start guide. More detailed instructions and information are available through the app or downloadable from the website.

Mantis X3 Package Contents

 

Weighing in at just under half an ounce (or 13 grams), and measuring 1.3 inches long, one inch wide, and 0.75 inches high, the Mantis X3 is unlikely to affect the handling characteristics of any firearm (with a possible exception being if the user wants to use it in conjunction with holster draw drills).

The Mantis X3 unit

Setup of the Mantis X3 is extremely simple.

1. Download the App
2. Attach the unit to the firearm
3. Connect the device to the app via Bluetooth
4. Start practicing

The unit I received is occasionally a little finicky synching to my phone. I don't know which side of the connection string is causing this, but I haven't run into that issue with other Bluetooth items or when connecting the Mantis to my tablet.

Mantis X App Settings Screen

Once the app is installed and connected, a variety of options for firearm type, shooting hand, mount location, unit orientation, and even live or dry fire modes can be selected.

Mantis X App User Options

There are a number of Training Drills built into the app, including a rotating series of Daily Challenges. Some of these options are timed, while others are not.

Mantis X App Drills

The Mantis X app also has a weekly shot goal. When reached, it will play a fanfare and display confetti drifting down the screen to mark the shooter's achievement. I found this to be a nice, fun feature.

Dry Fire

To use the Mantis X for dry fire practice:

1. Go through the setup steps I mentioned earlier
2. Select a convenient target, or prop the tablet or smartphone up at an appropriate distance.* 
3. Double check to make sure the firearm is unloaded
4. Start the selected drill.

* Since the Mantis doesn't rely on a laser or something similar, any aiming point will do, but I like using the provided on-screen target for dry fire drills. 

Mantis X App Drill Screen

I installed the app on both my smartphone and a tablet. I use the former when practicing at shorter ranges, and the latter when I have more space to work with. There are plenty of stands available through retail sources to hold either the phone or tablet in good positions for practice, and all sorts of phone stand 3D print files can be found on sites such as Thingiverse. In a pinch, a plate stand works as well.

Once the practice session is done, the Mantis X app provides the user with a variety of feedback details to review. Accuracy is obviously measured, but also elapsed time between trigger pulls, overall time, muzzle movement, and even firearm cant. In addition, it has the ability to compare multiple sessions over time, giving a clear metric of improvement and noting any areas which need attention.

Mantis X App Results Screen

Live Fire

I've utilized the live fire drills less frequently, mostly the Shot Timer. When activated, there will be a two to five second delay then a buzzer will sound. At this point, I can fire any number of shots at any pace. Settings can be changed to fit the shooter's preference for delay and number of shots per string.

Mantis X App Live Fire Drill Results

 

I've run this drill with both slow, considered fire, as well as rapid fire. It's certainly more fun than dry fire drills, but it's limited to when I have time and access for live fire. It also consumes ammunition, which can get expensive quickly.

Mantis X3 During Live Fire Drill

 

My Experience

As already mentioned, there are a bunch of practice options included with the app. I've mainly focused on the basic marksmanship Open Training drill. This is untimed accuracy practice, with any number of shots at any pace. Unfortunately, the only pistols in my collection with rails are both striker fired, which currently makes the timed dry fire drills less useful for me.

I've also found if I rack the slide too sharply to reset the pistol, the Mantis unit occasionally registers the slide returning to battery as another shot. This obviously doesn't do my accuracy scores any favors.

Yet even with all that, I've found after only a few training sessions, my sight picture was steadier and my trigger pull was smoother. I just need to make sure I put aside regular blocks of time for additional practice.

Pros and Cons

As far as dry fire training systems go, the Mantis X3 has a number of major benefits. It's small, lightweight, and rechargeable. Installation and use are very simple, and the app is quite versatile and user friendly. Even better, it allows us to practice with our own firearms, so there's no need to adapt to new weight, balance, or trigger pull.

The primary negative element is one common to nearly all dry fire training solutions, and it is not the fault of the unit: since the Mantis X3 reacts to a hammer or striker releasing, it requires re-cocking the action after each shot. Unless you are shooting a double action firearm, this will slow down practice and add some amount of frustration. Even a single action pistol with an exposed hammer will add extra steps to the training process. Again, this isn't the fault of the Mantis unit, but simply a technological reality. Fortunately, there are products on the market to help address this issue, such as those offered by DryFireMag, and I hope to get one of these for testing and evaluation in the future.

Another aspect of the product some people may object to is the necessity for a smartphone or tablet. Considering the vast majority of people are likely to already own one or both, this is probably not a deal breaker for most potential users.

My Rating: 9/10

The Mantis X3 is an excellent unit for improving sight alignment, trigger control, and confidence. It could be especially useful for anyone who travels frequently, as they would be able to practice in their hotel room.

I give the Mantis X3 an easy rating of nine out of ten.

Practice safely, and practice often.

FTC disclaimer: I received this product from Mantis for Test and Evaluation (T&E) purposes. I was not paid for this review. All opinions are my own.

Book Review: Max Brooks' "Devolution"

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography.

Used with permission.

As a general rule, "prepper fiction" tends to be either 

1. Competence Porn (stories featuring competent characters carrying out difficult tasks with great aptitude).
2. Survival (stories featuring characters struggling to survive in dangerous conditions).
3. All of the above.

The survival horror subgenre seems to be hit or miss for us; some preppers dismiss it as unrealistic, while others (such as myself) will watch practically any show featuring zombies. 

But what about a story where a bunch of soft urban yuppies create a high-tech utopian "green enclave" deep in the woods of Washington state, an hour away from civilization and dependent on weekly food drops, who then get cut off from society when Mount Rainier erupts? That's definitely a survival story. 

(Of course they don't have guns. They're too enlightened for that. They barely have equipment for a day hike). 

Now what if these soft, urban yuppies then had to survive attacks from a tribe of hungry sasquatch, who had been displaced from their usual hunting grounds because of the volcanic eruption? 

That's the basis of Max Brooks' novel Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre.  

https://amzn.to/4g7sqTD

If you've read Brooks' previous novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, you know exactly what you're getting: first there's significant worldbuilding via backstory, then the inevitable Bad Thing happens, and then things get a lot worse because people are unprepared or react poorly, and people only survive by wising up and adapting to the situation. 

Fair warning: this is anti-competence porn, by which I mean that the characters are deliberately depicted at first as being annoying and blind to the situation around them. I was rooting for all but one of them (Mostar) to die for most of the book. They adapted or they died, and I was fine with either outcome. (I watch zombie movies for much the same reason.) You'll likely be rooting for the Sasquatches for most of the book like I was, and that's okay. 

As a friend of mine observed, "the central conflict hinges on you believing that there's an entire enclave of wealthy eco-separatists  and none of them have a toolbox or a gun."

Some would say that the story suffers because of that, but to be blunt there'd be no story if someone had a gun. Slasher movies have the same flaw, and you either accept that going in or you just don't watch them. And yes, I can easily imagine a group of eco-yuppies living out in the middle of nowhere, utterly dependent upon drone drops for supplies, yet somehow thinking they're being "green" and "off grid" and maybe even "living off the land." They're engaged in the same kind of totemic magical thinking as people who believe that owning a gun is a talisman against harm, and so they don't need training.

In conclusion:

• Is it a book about prepping? No. It's more like a cautionary (and fantastic) cautionary tale about what might happen if you don't prep for emergencies. 
• Is it entertaining? I thoroughly enjoyed it, but some people might not be able to get past the whiny people. I tell those people "They'll either get smarter or you'll enjoy their deaths." For me it was a win-win. 
• Is it nonsense? Setting aside the sasquatch issue for a moment, I found it highly plausible. There may have been things which I missed due to my own gaps in knowledge, but considering I was reading it as entertainment and not an instruction manual, I wasn't worried.
  
  However, about that sasquatch business: I want to point out that the Mount Rainier area has the highest density of Bigfoot sightings in the US, and that many soldiers and airmen who have been stationed at Joint Base Lewis–McChord (JBLM) say that there's just something "off" about those woods. A friend of mine says "There's some sh*t down in Rainier Training Area. Avoided Lewis since '94."

I say this not to convince you of the existence of Bigfoot (I'm skeptical of that myself) but to give readers, who would otherwise dismiss the entire idea as preposterous, a reason for entertaining the possibility that it might not be. 

Regardless of your feelings about cryptids, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think most preppers will too. It's available in hardcover, paperback, Kindle e-book and audiobook from Amazon. 

Dry Fire Practice

With winter settling in for much of the United States, outdoor range time can be limited, and not everyone has access to a nice, cozy, climate-controlled indoor range. For those people, I'd like to talk about dry fire practice. 

Dry fire uses all the elements of shooting except for live ammunition. Stance, grip, sights, trigger control, and (to a degree) follow through can all be practiced in comfort. If done properly, dry fire practice can improve trigger control, accuracy, and confidence. 

Safety

The most important things to keep in mind when engaging in dry fire practice are:

1. No ammunition in the area while practice is occurring! Check everything several times to make sure both the gun and the room are clear of all ammunition.  
2. The Four Rules of Gun Safety must still be followed. Even though it isn't loaded, it's still a real gun (or gun-shaped object, in the case of simulators).

 

By maintaining vigilance at all times, we can reduce negligent firearm incidents. The life we save may be our own -- or that of an innocent director of photography. 

Dry Firing Your Firearm

As with any skill, practice is necessary to maintain proficiency, and shooting is no different. The purpose of dry fire practice is to achieve the perfect trigger pull while keeping your sight picture. Since live ammunition isn't being used, there's no loud noise and recoil to startle you, meaning you're less likely to anticipate the recoil or flinch from the noise. 

Try to engage in dry fire practice on a regular basis. A good start is 15 minutes a day every other day, and if possible, move this up to every single day. The benefits on the range will make themselves known in short order. 

1. Practice the same way you shoot. Keep everything as identical as possible: stance, grip, sight picture, and trigger control.
2. Aim your safe and unloaded firearm at a target. For my target, I like to use something I don't use on the live fire range. This helps segregate the two environments. Dry firing on a hot range isn't an issue, but the opposite certainly would be.
3. Pull the trigger. If you've done everything correctly, you'll hear a click, not a boom.
4. Reset and go again. 

When dry firing, try to incorporate as many operational elements as possible, such as drawing from the holster, magazine changes, one handed ( both primary and off hand) and different positions.

Semi-Auto Solutions

Dry fire practice with a revolver is in many ways much easier than with a semi-auto, since the trigger can simply be pulled over and over without any additional steps throughout the process. However, with a semi-auto, the firing mechanism needs to be reset manually after each trigger pull. There are really only three options to deal with this issue, and there are pros and cons to each:

1. Manual: Rack the slide or re-cock the hammer after each shot. 
• Pros: Least expensive method, and great for a beginner or  for maintaining muscle memory.
• Cons: Only able to fire single shots, which quickly becomes frustrating.
2. Magazine Accessory: Get a dry fire magazine solution, such as the appropriately named Dry Fire Mag. 
• Pros: Resets the pistol after each shot, and keeps the feel and trigger experience of the host handgun. 
• Cons: Expensive (around $100 per magazine), limited to certain models of handgun, and many won't work with a firing pin activated laser cartridge.
3. Simulator: Buy a dedicated dry fire simulator such as the SIRT (Shot Indicating Resetting Trigger) pistol. 
• Pros: Fully simulates operating the pistol, including (depending on brand and model) magazine release, slide manipulation, and recoil. 
• Cons: Most expensive of all solutions, starting at "used pistol" prices at the low end and reaching "new pistol" prices at the high end. 

While dry firing won't damage a modern centerfire firearm, it's not recommended with rimfires. This is because the firing pin protrusion in a rim fire may impact the edge of the chamber, possibly damaging the firing pin, displacing the metal from the breech into the cartridge feed path, or both. Certain older centerfire handguns, such as the CZ 52, are also known for having weak firing pins. One way to reduce this issue is to place a fired cartridge in the chamber or chambers, in the case of a revolver. However, with a striker fired semi-auto, it'll likely get ejected each time the mechanism is reset. 

Accessories

A shot timer is a good thing to have, both for dry and live fire practice. The initiating beep can be set for a random amount of time, and some of the newer ones can detect dry fire operation.

Snap Caps are plastic or aluminum cartridges with a rubber cushion in the primer position. With most handgun calibers, they come 5 or 6 to a pack. This allows multiple rounds to be cycled through the gun during practice. 

If you reload, you can also make your own snap caps by following the same process Movie Armorers used to make what are called hero rounds: 

1. Take an empty cartridge case.
2. Drill and chamfer a couple of holes through it so that it's visibly different from a live round.
3. Toss in a few BB's for weight and to add an audible difference.
4.  Seat a bullet and crimp as normal. 
5. Put a drop of silicone caulk in the primer pocket to act as a cushion for the firing pin. 

There are also systems like the MantisX, which incorporates a movement detecting sensor that connects to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. This allows us to practice and record our results for later review. I'll discuss this system next week.

Of course, there are always books on the subject. I recommend the following:

• DryFire Reloaded by Ben Stoeger
• The Dry Fire Primer by Annette Evans
• Refinement and Repetition by Steve Anderson

Have fun, and safe shooting.

Precise Shots at Close Range

Years ago I wrote an article about low power optics that I've used on the AR-15 platform. Since then, I’ve been using the Vortex Crossfire II 1-4x24 regularly on both my 20” service rifle and my 16” utility carbine. Both are mounted in the same manner, but the optic is used differently in each case. With the 20” service rifle, I manually dial in the 200, 300, and 600 yard drops for my shots. With the 16” utility carbine, however, I set it to a “maximum point blank range zero” and call it good. 

At my last “two gun” experience I was the only person using a low powered variable optic (LPVO) on top of my 16” utility carbine. I normally keep the Crossfire dialed down to 1x and use it like a red dot sight for competitions that require both speed and accuracy, but the one stage where having an LPVO gave me an incredible advantage over the competitors who were using no-magnification red dots and holosights was the 14 yard, United States Air Force Rimfire Alternate Qualification target. The targets were just far enough away that people couldn’t see their bullet holes in the target through the no-magnification optics, but I could as I cranked my LPVO to 4x. I fired my first shot, saw that my impact was low, and used the bottom stadia line of the reticle as an aiming point to place my shots carefully.

The illuminated reticle on the 1-4x24 has a 1.5 MOA center dot, 6 MOA separation between the ends of the stadia lines surrounding the center dot, and 12.5 MOA distance between the thick outside stadia lines. Using the top of the thin stadia line I was able to precisely place my shots at 14 yards, almost 3 MOA low, which is exactly as predicted by my JBM ballistic software.

Vortex Crossfire II 1-4x24 

The match director laughed when he briefed the stage, saying that everyone who shot it hated it. I think this is because the trend in the centerfire rifle community has two main communities: the “long range precision” community that shoots F-Class, PRS, and High Power; and the “action shooting” community that sets up a battlesight zero on a carbine to compete in 3 gun, 2 gun, or cosplay CQB drills. There really isn’t a “short range precision” community outside of rimfire and air rifle, which makes these types of precise, short range shots something well outside the training norm for most centerfire shooters. After all, why train to hit a 1” dot at 14 yards with a rifle capable of first round hits out to 300 meters? If I want to hunt squirrel or rabbit, I’m much more likely to choose a rimfire or air rifle to handle that chore. 

The reduced range target we shot that day had silhouettes that represented 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 meter targets, and the vast majority of competitors that day hit less than 10 out of 40 possible trigger pulls because they were impacting under the target. Most of their scored hits were on the larger silhouettes where the bullets were clustered near the bottom of the black on the larger 50 and 100 meter sized silhouettes. Any optic on an AR is about 3 to 3.5 inches above the rifle bore (meaning that you have to aim above the intended point of impact for short range targets) and having an optic with reference points in the reticle makes this much easier than a no-magnification optic, or a “fine line” cross hair optic.

I wasn’t a better marksman than anyone else on that stage; I was just the one with the better gear for the problem. Even if I’d only had a fine line reticle, the 4x magnification would have allowed me to see impact on the target and hold by guesstimate, which would have still let me win the stage, but would NOT have let me get first round impacts on an animal.

I hope you get to the range and practice this skill for yourself. If you have your rifle set up with irons, a red dot, or a holosight you can still practice short range precision, but it will be more difficult than with an LPVO. To keep your training expenses low, I recommend that instead of buying commercial targets you get some 1” round orange stickers and use them as targets to see how many shots it takes you to break the color.

https://amzn.to/41urZym

Try to see how well you do at 7, 14, and 21 yards (common pistol ranges) and see if you can’t rapidly transition between those ranges with your carbine and get first round hits in the orange.

Given the nature of the world, you never know when you might need to make short range precision shots with your rifle. It might be placing a head shot on a young feral hog about to root up your potatoes, or perhaps winning a shooting contest with your friends for bragging rights, or maybe for a more urgent situation when the SHTF. 

No matter the reason, that rimfire stage identified a skills gap I was lucky enough to adapt to on first attempt. Next time, I won't have to rely on luck, and this cultivated skill will come in handy.

Edible Plants

There are a multitude of nutritious edible plants everywhere in nature. While time of year and location may affect availability, there is nearly always something for us to eat when we're out in the woods and fields.

Due to the risk of misidentification, I'm not going to be covering mushrooms in this article. The difference between nutrition and mortician can be very, very subtle. As the saying goes, "Every mushroom is edible, but some are edible only once."

Books

There are numerous books available on edible wild plants, such as Foraging: Explore Nature's Bounty and Turn Your Foraged Finds Into Flavorful Feasts by Mark Vorderbruggen and Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America by Sam Thayer, to name just two. The Official U.S. Army Illustrated Guide To Edible Wild Plants can be downloaded and stored on a mobile device for remote wanderings.

Smartphone Apps

iNaturalist is a useful app, available for both Android and iPhone, which is a cooperative database of plant identification. Users can query the existing information as well as upload their own discoveries and photos. As a resident of Tennessee, though, I particularly like the more specialized Tennessee Wildflowers app. The name is somewhat deceptive, as it isn't only about flowering plants, nor limited to the boundaries of just one state; it contains data on nearly 3,500 species of plants found in Tennessee and the surrounding areas, only about half of which are wildflowers. One of the better features of this app is that the database is local to the device, so it's useable even in areas of poor service.

Websites

There are also a number of plant identification sites on the web. Some are good, some not so good. One of my personal favorites is called Eat the Invaders, which is all about edible invasive species. It's useful information with a sense of humor. The Texas Real Food website, contrary to the name, has edible plant information indexed by state, but be warned that much of the information on the site is contained in videos. As usual, the Cornell Cooperative has a lot of useful information on their website.

Differences

An important detail to keep in mind is that some parts of the same plant may be more or less healthy to eat than others, or the same part may be more nutritious at different parts of its life cycle, or may require some preparation for best use.

Cattails

With cattails, for example, the young shoots, flowers, and pollen are best in the spring, while the stalks and roots are best in the fall. As a bonus feature, the head of a ripe cat tail dipped in oil or wax can make a useful torch, and the fluff can be used as tinder for fire starting.

Stinging Nettles

Similarly, nettles, (which are a source of Vitamins A, C, K, iron, calcium, and more) should be cooked before eating to deactivate the mild toxin in the stinging hairs. Use gloves when handling to avoid skin irritation.

Dandelions

Dandelions are a ubiquitous weed found almost everywhere in the continental United States. Harvesting them young (before the flowers erupt from their buds) is best, though they should be boiled in salted water to reduce the bitterness. The roots can be used for a tisane or tea substitute, and the leaves of the flower can be added to enhance salads.

A Final Word

It's a very good idea to use more than one source, and to compare them, when identifying plants for edibility, just in case one of the sources is in error. 

Eat safely, and eat well. 

Uncle Loki's Essential Seasonings

The important thing is the spices. A man can live on packaged food from here 'til Judgement Day if he's got enough rosemary.

- Shepherd Derrial Book, Firefly, "Serenity"

Yes, this is a cooking post. No, I'm not David in disguise, though it is indeed inspired by his Prepper's Pantry. While it's all about seasoning, it's not seasonal. 

The Basics

The top of the list starts with salt and pepper. I like my salt kosher, and my pepper to be coarse ground black. The coarser texture plays far more nicely with what and how I like to cook, and gives a bit bolder flavor notes. 

Past that, the biggest basic need is powdered garlic. Fresh cloves or pre-minced "jarlic" are better, but they don't keep as long as powdered does. I keep both on hand for just that reason.

The Scarborough Faire

Sage and parsley are okay, but more on the niche side. Shepherd Book knew what was going on, though; the real workhorses are rosemary and thyme. They're incredibly versatile, working to season soups, meat and poultry, and even savory baked goods. 

The Unconventional

Cinnamon and smoked paprika seem a bit odd, but again, they're very versatile, pairing well with meats, baked goods, soups, and some vegetables. They also are readily available and rather inexpensive. I also am never without at least one kind of smoked chili, be it ancho, chipotle, or generic chili powder. This adds both heat and a bit of smoky complexity.

The Out of Left Field

Have a bit of faith and hear me out on this. The last of my essentials is crystallized lemon and/or lime. Ambitious folks can make this on their own, but I personally prefer the True Lemon/True Lime brand. They add bright, bold citrus flavor without being overly tart or adding acid like citrus juice does. The other essential (and the only blend I consider such) is Tajin, and it's good on literally everything I've tried it with. Cheesy things, meats, even watermelon is delicious and zippy with Tajin on it.

Once you've got your own version of this list figured out, you can expand in any direction you like; the variety in spices and seasonings is virtually endless. Expand your palate, expand your options, and food will never get boring.

Stay spicy, folks.

Lokidude

Black Friday Prepping Deals

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography.

Used with permission.

As is tradition, in this post I'm going to point our readers at some great Black Friday deals on prepping items. In previous years the offerings haven't been very noteworthy, but this year I've found some good ones and I hope this pattern continues. 

Unlike a lot of prepping sites, I don't link to any old deal that's nothing but a reduced price on an item. I only link to products which I either know are good, are recommended to me by people that I trust, or have a stellar reputation for quality. If you know of any similar deals on quality prepping items, let me know in the comments

FireFlame Fire Starters (60 pieces for $28.79)

https://amzn.to/3tr21uf

I reviewed these fire starters back in 2022 and these are still my go-to method of starting fires. I have a week's supply of these starters in my bug-out bag and my get-home bag, and more are kept with my hurricane supplies. This is bar none the easiest way I've found to light fires, and you can heat a cup of water with just the starter itself. At $28.79 for 60 you're paying 48 cents for each starter, and while this is still a little on the pricy side for skinflints like me, it's nevertheless a great deal as it usually sells for $35 (58 cents per starter). 

EverBrite 350 Lumen Rechargeable Headlamp ($11.99)

 

https://amzn.to/49fQnpl

Another product that I have good experience with (reviewed here), I have two of these in my preps and they've served me well. With three colors of light (white, red, and green) and four white light options (high, medium, low, and strobe) there's a lot of utility in an inexpensive package. Originally it only came in black with a gray band, but now it also comes in pink, light blue, and olive green with matching bands. The green, blue, and pink ones are a dollar less than the black ($12.99), and I would recommend against getting the green because it will be harder to see if you accidentally drop it into foliage. 

Hazard 4 Poncho Villa Mk2 ($89.99)

 

https://amzn.to/4g8tcPS

I have owned a Hazard 4 Poncho Villa since 2016 and it's been one of the best things I've ever owned. It's kept me dry through multiple hurricane seasons, breathable enough to keep me from sweating underneath it, and giving my arms enough freedom of movement that I'm confident I could draw my concealed carry pistol from underneath it without issue. It also has grommets at the corners, giving you the ability to turn it into a shelter. Normally $140, the Royal Blue version is now $50 off! The Mk 2 version also comes with interior snaps allowing you to secure a fleece liner ($72.86) to it for cold-weather comfort. 

Fairwin Rigger's Belt ($12.55)

https://amzn.to/3BduqKI

I don't own this (yet), but at 4.4 stars with over 22,000 reviews, I think it's pretty solid. You never know when you might need a solid belt to keep your pants up or strap some gear to your waist, and the V-ring claims to have a bearing weight of 1,100 lbs. While I wouldn't be willing to trust any belt with that much weight, I can see the use for tying it around an object like a tree trunk and using it as a rope anchor. If you don't want the V-ring but still want a decent tactical belt, Fairwin has one without the ring for $11.75.

Mechanix FastFit Tactical Gloves ($12.99)

https://amzn.to/4fVbH64

Mechanix is another company with a reputation for quality products. I can't wear their gloves because my hands are too small, but I expect they'll fit most male hands. There are a variety of models all on discount for Black Friday, and this is just the least expensive. You can also get their Tactical Work Gloves for $19 or their M-Pact Tactical Gloves for $24. 

Anker 548 PowerCore ($89.99)

https://amzn.to/3BhLL5c

Another product that's $50 off from another company with a reputation for making quality products, the Anker 548 is a 60,000 mAh battery that can recharge a laptop 3 times or a smartphone 7 times. It also comes with an inbuilt LED light (42 hours of runtime if not used for anything else) and a carrying handle for portability (weighs 5 lbs)

If you know of any other great Black Friday or upcoming Cyber Monday deals, let me know!

The Ryobi 3716 Chainsaw: a 5+ Year Review

There are big names in the Chainsaw product line, like Stihl and Husqvarna for the professional loggers, with Echo and Poulan targeting the home user market segment. And there are not-so-big names such as Craftsman (which used to be the Sears brand, and is now available at Lowe’s), Ryobi (available at Home Depot), and a whole bunch of “Me Too” Chinese brands that you can find online.

For context, I’ve used my  Ryobi 3716 chainsaw to fell trees, cut firewood, and remove debris preventing access. My Trail Life troop has a few “work days” where we assist other organizations by cutting firewood, and my Ryobi has held up alongside the Stihl, Husqvarna, Poulan, Crafstman, Homelite, and Echo saws the other dads bring. This isn’t saying the Ryobi is better, only that it isn’t any worse than other established brands. My neighbor has a BlueMax (available at Lowes) brand saw, and it too worked just fine when we were clearing his backyard.

With all this comparative experience over the years, I wouldn’t say that the Ryobi 3716 is a “must buy,” as there are plenty of reasonable alternatives in the same price bracket. For example if you have a Lowe’s near you but not a Home Depot, a Craftsman or BlueMax chainsaw might make a lot more sense in your situation. But if you do have a Home Depot as your nearest major home improvement store, perhaps it’s the right option for your situation.

https://amzn.to/3B2nRdW

The Ryobi 3716 is aptly named. The 37 is for 37 cubic centimeters of displacement, and the 16 is for the 16” bar size. It comes in at 12 pounds, which isn’t ultra-light for a chainsaw, but is much handier than the 20+ pound McCulloch chainsaw my dad let me use to cut firewood. In the 16” bar range, the 37CC engine on the Ryobi 3716 is completely adequate, and I would not recommend getting a smaller saw unless you are also stepping down to a 14” bar. A more powerful saw will cut faster (given equal blade sharpness), but not noticeably so over the course of a homeowner response to a few trees falling. If you were going to be in a job where time is money, then the chainsaw would become a time sink, and you should get  a “top tier” chainsaw.

The Good 

The initial price is cheap for a chainsaw, and is a very good value.

Consumable costs are also very good, as Ryobi is able to use the “Powercare” line of blades and bars, as well as Oregon blades and bars. My buddy with a Husqvarna pays nearly 37 dollars a blade, and I can buy a two pack for just over half that.

Other consumable parts, such as spark plugs and air filters, are cheap and available due to Home Depot carrying them, and after 5+ years of use, I should probably get a tune up kit for it. 

https://amzn.to/4g8ePLy

The Bad

After Hurricane Helene, I found myself needing to do two cuts to get through the trunk of large trees. If you have a lot of work to do, with two foot diameter trees, a more powerful saw with a longer blade is probably a better option. This was never really a problem before, as all of my chainsaw work up to that point had been pre-planned on my schedule. But in a disaster response, sometimes I wished for a 20” bar as that extra 4 inches of cutting length would have come in handy quite a bit, and a Craftsman 20 inch chainsaw with 46cc engine is only about 50 to 60 dollars more. However, the blades and bars get more expensive as well (to get more, one must pay more).

The Interesting

If you want a real German or Swedish chainsaw, you’ll pay top dollar for one. Pretty much all of the affordable chainsaws, regardless of brand, are made in China, and brands that want to build on brand recognition and brand equity keep a tight reign on their original equipment manufacturer (OEM) quality control. Ryobi is no different in this regard; the Ryobi name is Japanese, but Ryobi power tools in North America is owned by a Hong Kong conglomerate. 

If you find a brand you know nothing about, look up a YouTube review or two before purchasing. It doesn’t save you any money in the long run if the saw needs the expensive brand blades or parts.

Prepping Thoughts

To be prepared with a chainsaw you also need to stock fuel, bar oil, spare blades, and at least one spare bar. I recommend spending the money on a pre-mix fuel (I use TrueFuel 50:1 92 octane, no ethanol) as it lasts a long time, and bar oil lasts indefinitely. If find yourself without bar oil, you can substitute normal car engine oil, but as it is thinner you’ll need refill more often.

https://amzn.to/3V8zSWb

If you don’t have a chainsaw at all, and live where windstorms can knock trees down and lock you in (like what happened recently in the Pacific Northwest), or live where hurricanes are a known risk (pretty much all of the South), or even where Nor’easters can hit and drop trees, you probably should have a chainsaw in your resiliency preps, and it probably should be a two cycle gas chainsaw unless you have a robust power generation setup where you could recharge a bunch of 40 volt lithium battery packs. After Helene, no one was using electric chainsaws after day two, as there were more pressing needs for electricity, like refrigeration.