The idea for this recipe came from I Kings 17:10-16, the story of Elijah and the widow.
Combine the ingredients, then put dough onto floured surface. Knead for five minutes, then roll out until about 1/8 inch thick. Cook for about 20 minutes.
In large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and warm water. Stir until dough pulls cleanly away from side of bowl.
Knead 10 minutes, adding a little flour at a time, if dough feels sticky. Put in bowl to rise and cover with a towel to keep any contaminants out. Let rise until double, then punch down. Let rise on counter covered with inverted bowl for 15 minutes.
Shape into a loaf and place in your cooking container. Let rise in warm place about 1 hour or until it has risen about 1 inch above pans. Bake for 45 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow.
So you’ve survived Armageddon. You’ve gotten away from danger and you’ve eked by scrounging food. Eventually, the premade and canned food is going to run out and you’ll need to know how to fend for yourself a little bit further. The first, best thing you can learn to make to sustain yourself is bread. Bread has been a staple of the human diet since prehistoric times. It’s also simple, with very few ingredients, and easy to make.
Traditionally, bread is made with flour, water, sugar, and yeast, but it doesn’t necessarily need yeast or sugar. If you add yeast to the mix, the yeast will convert the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The alcohol will cook off when the bread is baked adding flavor to the bread. The carbon dioxide causes the dough to rise, giving your bread a light and fluffy texture.
Mix your ingredients together in a bowl of some kind until mixed all together. Knead the dough for several minutes. If you added yeast to your bread, let it rise for at least an hour before baking it.
Ideally, you’ll want an oven to bake in or, at the very least, a dutch oven. A dutch oven is a pot with a tight-fitting lid and thick walls, which causes a uniform temperature inside the pot. The main thing you need to worry about when baking bread over an open fire is temperature. Ovens are designed to cook the contents uniformly, which an open fire won’t do. It is imperative that when cooking the dough over a fire you make sure that you rotate the bread so that all of it gets baked evenly.
You can cook the dough in nearly any container, from an actual loaf pan to a coffee can. You can even wrap the dough around a stick and cook it that way! The point is, as long as you’re diligent, you can make bread to feed yourself in any environment that you can start a fire.
Whether it be for a generator or a vehicle, at some point your quality of life will be greatly improved by having access to gasoline. But where do you get it? There might be some in the underground tanks at a filling station, but this tends to be a bit more difficult to access. There might be some in abandoned vehicles on the side of the road. But how do you get it out of either container? It’s likely that you don’t have an electric pump to extract the fuel and it’s unlikely that the filling station will have power to operate the pumps. Enter the siphon.
A siphon is a very simple tool used as far back as the ancient Egyptians. The premise is that you use a tube to move liquid from one container to another. The tube you use is placed in a U shape with each end of the tube facing downward into each of the recepticles (the longer end of the tube being placed in the receiving vessel). There should be liquid in the tube at this point and when let free to do what it will, the liquid will begin to flow into your receiving vessel. This is due to our old friend gravity. Look at the tube, the longer leg of the tube has more liquid in it, thus more mass, and therefore gravity exerts a stronger force on it, causing it to fall into your receiving container. Gravity gets this party going, but dynamic fluid pressure is what keeps it going. Dynamic fluid pressure is the pressure exerted by a moving fluid. Since the liquid falling into the receiving container is exerting a higher dynamic pressure (greater gravitational acceleration and eventually greater velocity = greater pressure), it causes the liquid in the other leg to follow it. Now the liquid from the shorter leg is in the longer leg free falling into the receiving container, which in turn cause liquid in the source container to flow into the tube for the same reason. This creates a cycle that will only be broken when the source recepticle is empty or cavitation occurs (this isn’t likely in this scenario so I won’t even explain it).
Applying the principles discussed, siphoning gasoline from a vehicle should be no problem. Place on end of your hose into the fuel tank via the refueling hole on the vehicle. Make sure to feed it as far in as possible. Place the receiving container lower than the fuel tank of the vehicle. At this point you have 2 choices on how to prime the siphon. You can either create a vacuum by sucking the first bit of fuel through the hose, or you can fill the hose with water. I highly recommend sucking gasoline from the tank even though you may end up with a mouthful of it (not a pleasant sensation, trust me) because water can ruin the gasoline, causing the fuel to oxidize much faster than normal. Either way, once your priming liquid reaches a point lower than your fuel tank, you should be able to drop it in your container and watch the fuel flow!
Yes, there is such a thing as stale gasoline. But is it that serious of a problem? Yes and No. Gasoline can be considered “stale” very shortly after processing. This is because the more volatile chemicals in gasoline will have evaporated and decomposed. These compounds improve combustion and improve fuel efficiency, so if they aren’t present it’s not the end of the world, it just means your fuel economy is downgraded. That’s the part we don’t really care about, fuel is fuel and whether you lose a few miles per gallon or not is not a concern.
The big concern is oxidation. If the fuel you collect is oxidized this can cause much bigger problems. You can tell if the gasoline has begun to oxidize because it will have a particularly sour smell and will be a darker color than normal. Once it begins to oxidizes, gasoline will start to have particles of a gummy substance that can cause a build up in your fuel system, which can cause your engine to cease working. You could try to filter these particles out, but its a lot of work for something that only may work.
You also have to worry about water contamination. Getting water in your fuel can cause a decrease in performance and, at worst, can cause your fuel lines to freeze and potentially burst. There is a simple solution: add isopropyl alcohol to your fuel. Simple rubbing alcohol will bind with water molecules to create a combustible compound which will then burn off in the engine.
Jerky is a classic travel food. It’s lightweight, nutritional, and it lasts for a long time. In the apocalypse, it will also serve as a way to preserve excess meat. After all, one can only eat so much venison after killing the deer before it spoils. If you have ever made jerky before, you probably made it using a food dehydrator or the oven. Clearly this won’t work when gas and electricity are no longer available, so how does one make jerky? For this we hop in the Wayback Machine and set the year to 1492. Native Americans, by this point, had developed the technique for curing and drying meat to preserve it for long periods of time. This is the same technique that has evolved into the modern jerky recipe.
There are two different ways to jerk meat in a post apocalyptic world: sun-dried and smoked. Smoked is the preferred method, since it takes less time and the meat is less likely to spoil during the process. But, if you have no alternative, sun drying your meat is still a legitimate alternative.
First thing you need to do, regardless of which drying method you choose, is to slice the meat. The thinner the strips, the quicker it will dry. I would suggest going no thicker than a quarter inch. If you have a sharp enough knife, I’d even go as thin as an eigth of an inch thick. When cutting the meat you should cut against the grain. Cutting against the grain makes for more tender jerky which you will thank yourself for later.
You need to make sure that you retard bacteria growth on the meat until it has fully dried. Once the meat is fulled jerked the bacteria will not be able to survive (since there is no water left in the meat), but until then the bacteria can cause spoilage which will ruin your jerky. The simplest way to stunt the bacteria growth is by curing the meat with a basic salt rub. Fuuly coat the meat in salt and rub it in thoroughly. If you want to add some flavor to your meat, you can mix is some honey, brown sugar, chili peppers, etc.
Now it’s time to start drying the meat.
***DISCLAIMER*** You should note that this is not an FDA approved method for making jerky because it is unreliable and there is a chance of spoilage. If you decide to use this method, take extra precaution to avoid getting sick from your jerky.
You can lay you meat out wherever you want, just make sure you put it somewhere that will get direct sunlight for most of the day. You can lay it on any surface you want, just make sure it’s clean. Better yet, tie your meat strips up with string so it hangs in the air. This allows it to sun and air dry at the same time, speeding up the drying process. Drying your jerky this way will take 16-24 hours of direct sunlight, so several days work.
There are two concerns to address when sun drying your jerky. The first, and most pesky, is insects. You can be sure that your jerky will attract the attention of insects like flies, which can carry bacteria onto your jerky, spoil the meat, and ruin your batch. The second concern is dew. You need to make sure your jerky will not accumulate morning dew. Otherwise it will absorb the moisture and put you back a while, potentially far enough that bacteria manages to spoil your jerky.
You can build yourself a permanent smoker if you are in a more permanent situation (I plan on writing about how to build on in the future). If not, you can make a makeshift smoker in a few minutes.
The first thing you need is a cover to hold the smoke in. The easiest way to do this is to make a teepee to cover your firepit. Just tie three branches (made of living wood so it doesn’t catch fire) together to make a tripod, then wrap something around it to hold the smoke in. Ensure there is a hole at the top for some of the smoke to escape. Dig a hole in the ground that is slightly smaller than the diameter of your teepee. Either make a grate out of living wood or scrounge a metal grate from a department store/abandoned house/etc. and place it over top of the hole.
Make a fire in the firepit and let it burn down to coals. Place your meat on top of the grate and then put living or soaked wood on top of the coals. The reason to use living or soaked wood is because either one will cause a lot more smoke and will help prevent it from flaming up and actually scorching your meat. DO NOT use Pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, cypress, cedar, larch or any pines, conifers or evergreens for your smoking wood! These will either ruin the flavor of the meat or potentially create posionous smoke that can affect your jerky negatively. For better flavor, use hickory, alder, cotton wood, apple wood or mesquite as they produce a flavorful smoke. This will take roughly 6-8 hours to finish.
You can tell when the jerky is finished by trying to bend a piece in half. If its done, it will start to snap when bent.
After your jerky is done, keep it as dry as possible and it will last you for at least 2-3 months.
One thing that flies under everyone’s radar in consideration of the apocalypse is forecasting weather. You just don’t think about it, or how to do it until you stuck in a downpour with no shelter. Chris for The Art of Manliness blog gives us exactly what we need to, as he puts it, Forecast the Weather Like Daniel Boone. From reading clouds to common sayings about weather to reading barometric pressure, its everything you need to know in order to make some basic forecasts about weather.
Forecast the Weather Like Daniel Boone [via The Art of Manliness]
Part of the problem with making a sundial is accuracy. You have to take into account your location, elevation, and in the case of a vertical sundial, the direction its facing. There are ways to make the calculations (which I’m sure I’ll get into at some point), but now there’s no reason to. Damia.net has a web app that interfaces with Google Maps to get most of the information you need to make a sundial, but then does all the calculations for you and generates the sundial. All you have to do is print it out! Granted, this tool isn’t helpful at all after the society-destroying event finally occurs and there is no more Internet, but it could be helpful to make one in preparation!
Create your vertical sundial [Damia.net]
Sometimes you find something interesting on the Internet that is relevent outside the context it was originally published. This is the case with this article I found on Lifehacker which points to an article on Instructables. In this edition of Found on the Internet I direct you to a simple way to waterproof a flashlight using the inner tube from a bicycle tire. You can buy fancy flashlights that are engineered to be waterproof, but considering the impromptu nature of surviving Armageddon, you may not have access to one of these. As it is pointed out in the article, water and electricity don’t mix. Water in the flashlight can cause a short, or worse, cause corrosion and permanent damage to your flashlight. It is IMPERATIVE to keep your flashlight dry and this is a perfectly effective way to do so.
Quick Easy Waterproof Flashlight using an inner tube [Instructables]
Verdict: Good Stuff!
“The Colony” is a reality show on The Discovery Channel that follows a group of people in a controlled environment simulating a post-apocalyptic world and how those people might survive in it. It has had a two season run so far and doesn’t seem to be losing steam. Each season a group of 10 people is brought together and they have to figure out how to survive for 10 weeks. As with any of these shows, it is never as simple as “let’s see what they come up with.” For added reality, the producers brought in actors to play gangs, traders, and other survivors to invent some scenarios that the colonists would likely face.
As with any reality show, you can assume that there isn’t much “reality” involved. However, unlike most other reality shows, there is no prize or “winner”. Everyone that starts the show, will end the show unless circumstances dictate that they be removed (getting lost, simulated death, actual injury, deserting to the gangs, etc.). This is one of the things I liked the most about the show, it makes it seem more like a social experiment than a television show and makes it more interesting to watch than if someone were “voted off” every week.
I also enjoyed seeing the ideas that were tossed around in order to make improvements to the colony: a wood gas generator, water purification systems, a flame thrower, a spark-gap transmitter, an alcohol still, a metal forge, a meat smoker, they even figured out how to make a toilet flush without working plumbing! Now, whether or not any of these people had these ideas or they were given to them for the sake of the show is debatable, but honestly… Who cares? It made the show better and if you’re able to suspend disbelief for 44 minutes at a time it shouldn’t matter.
I keep seeing the same comment over and over again: “These people are dumb and they can’t act. The world hasn’t really ended, they know that in 70 days they get to go back to warm beds, hot meals, and cell phones. They couldn’t have forgotten all that. They’re so stupid.” And to that I refer people to the Stanford Prison Experiment (http://www.prisonexp.org/) in which the participants took on the roles of guards and prisoners and the experiment was shut down 6 days in because it became too real for the participants. Ultimately, if you pretend something is real long enough, you will start to actually believe it after a while.
One of the things that I enjoyed the most was that the first season of this show was essentially a post-apocalyptic think tank. They through so much brain power together that it was scary what they came up with. I think, given time, the colonists from season 1 would have become a dominant force in theoretical post-apocalyptic L.A.
All in all, its an entertaining show that will introduce you to some interesting survival ideas. You just need to look passed the innate contrived nature of reality programming.
One of the possible world-ending disasters is a global disease pandemic. Depending on how infectious the disease in question is, it could affect the world population in a matter of days to a matter of weeks or months. In heavy population centers, the disease will spread faster. There are certain things that can help you avoid infection.
In the case of most diseases there is a percentage of the population that will be unaffected by a particular disease. While there is nothing you can do to make yourself immune (unless you’re a brilliant doctor with access to a lab), it is the best defense against disease. That being said, we are talking about disease. Whether viral or bacterial, it is likely to mutate at some point, if this happens it’s possible that those that were previously immune are no longer immune. Because of this, it’s best to adhere to the following suggestions in order to avoid infection regardless of immunity.
The most likely way to contract the disease is through contact with others. The logical solution, then, is to avoid people as much as possible. If you can’t avoid contact with others, try to avoid physical contact or getting too close to them.
In the case that you cannot avoid contact with other people, you should wear some kind of protective gear to prevent infection. Disease are spread on many different vectors. Your best bet is to wear a biohazard protective suit. These suits essentially negate the fact that you were in contact with someone else. However, in the case that you don’t have one of these suits, you can wear a respirator to block airborne pathogens, or you can wear glasses or goggles and medical gloves to protect against contact pathogens.
Your mother always nagged “Wash your hands before you come to dinner!” for good reason. You have no idea what you’ve been exposed to throughout the day and you could end up with a pathogen on your hands. This is a good practice regardless, since you don’t know what nasty little things you may pick up on your hands and in a post-apocalyptic world like this you can’t rely on doctors to cure something we consider trivial nowadays.
Following these steps won’t guarantee you stay safe from viral infection, but it can increase your chances of safety.