Stuck Here!!

[WriterMs]

Corky,

Depending on your budget, you might want to consider donating the "yukky" food to a food bank. Your yukky might be someone else's tasty. Then you can feel good that someone can use it and you have cleaned your storage for foods you'll enjoy. You are right -- a disaster is when you especially want food you can look forward to.

In a true extended emergency, it is not necessarily a bad thing for your emergency food to be high in fat or calories. You want extra calories since they extend your survival time. And there is likely extra "exercise" that you'd be doing in an emergency to burn more calories than usual (like you climbing up and down the washout). The salt is usually the worry for most folks and some manufacturers load up on the salt. It pays to compare sodium content. Though more physical work may well mean you will sweat more and could use some extra salt, this gets way too tricky for a layperson like me to figure out.

About "servings:" this is another important thing to consider when you compare products. A LOT of emergency food manufacturers label a serving to be something that is about 120 calories or one-fourth cup or similar. If the food product is meant to be the entre or main ingredient, THEIR serving size may be much smaller than any of us would consider reasonable.

I was amazed at the output you got from your solar still. In a desert like the Mohave, a day's total water from a 3-foot deep pit might be a quart withOUT vegetation. Since you mention that you worked for 3 hours to get your solar still to produce a gallon and you mention vegetation, you obviously were in a place where you could gather a lot of green stuff to up your water result. One must also be careful seasonally not to sweat away more water than is being produced. Sounds like you did a great job and a gallon could sustain one person per day. Folks in an area with limited vegetation should not, however, rely on getting a gallon a day. (Though don't foget you can pee in the pit and the urine is distilled into drinkable water, too.)

Great job on using this as you said -- a "safe test."

 

[WriterMs]

Realized I meant to mention gathering water from transpiration, too, if you are in an area with a lot of NON-poisonous greenery. This, as many of you know, involves using clear plastic bags over branches of living greenery.

Put your bag over as much green as you can without puncturing the bag then lightly secure the opening with something like a twisty tie. The sun and the photosynthesis process will cause condensation in the bag similar to a solar still. Depending on the amount you can get, you may need to use a small bit of cloth to wipe down the sides of the bag and then wring out the cloth into your mouth -- again for extreme situations only.

This method allows you to harvest water from non-poisonous green plants without the work of cutting them and you can rotate through branches so water can be produced over and over. No way to estimate how much one would get, obviously, since it depends on the plants, the number of plants and the heating effects of the sun at the time.

By the way, the general recommendation for a solar still is also clear plastic and a section of unpunctured plastic that is at least 6' x 6'. Many desert dwellers will keep at least enough in their packs for 2 stills to be going at the same time.

 

[corky52]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]WriterMs,[/font]
Most people don't spend the time to chop things nearly fine enough, most plant surfaces are designed to keep moisture in thus greatly reducing water yield.  Three or more pits, two hours gathering and one hour chopping.  I would NOT recommend trying to live this way, just gather enough water to move to wetter pastures, this method is a last ditch fallback.

Do you recommend a collapsible dolly as part of your survival package?    http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...gclid=CJLZ5bWS8sYCFUiFfgodrOIClw&gclsrc=aw.ds  This simple piece of gear has been doing yeoman work along with a couple of milk crates, notice the wheel size.  I can haul lots of stuff and it's easy to maneuver, add a rope and going through the washout is fairly easy.

Corky

 

[highdesertranger]

I understood corky, but I went off the rails so to say. the best you can do for solar stills is cactus. but chop it up. here is what I use to store my freeze dried food after it's been opened and leftovers. http://www.foodsaver.com/accessorie...canister-set/T02-0052-01P.html#sz=12&start=39 . these work excellent, I also use the bags. I also use the bags for small items I don't use often like band aids. these vacuum sealers are also great for marinating food. I have had mine for about 20 years. highdesertranger

 

[corky52]

HDR,
Foodsaver is one of my favorite kitchen toys!!!!!!!!!

The canisters are also great and I can't cook meat without vacuum marinating it, makes cheap cuts taste great.

I've seen lids that fit some cans, several sizes that purport to work with Foodsaver, haven't gotten to trying them yet.

I hate cactus, even with good gloves, but you are right chopped cactus is the best thing to use.

I'm tempted to add one of those food choppers to my solar still stuff, might save a bunch of time.

Corky

 

[highdesertranger]

you know what just last week I was looking at the nonelectric food processors and blenders. let us know if you find anything suitable for our lifestyle. highdesertranger

 

[corky52]

HDR,

I just saw a gasoline powered blender at a garage sale a few weeks  back, used a chainsaw motor.


I use a small inverter, same one I use on the Food saver, to run a standard blender/processor.


Corky

 

[highdesertranger]

yeah the place I buy my diamond blades at have those gas powered blenders. you sit on a seat they have handle bars and a throttle like a motorcycle. I run my food saver off my invertor also. just was looking into the nonelectric food processors. highdesertranger

 

[WriterMs]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]WriterMs,[/font]

Do you recommend a collapsible dolly as part of your survival package?    http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...gclid=CJLZ5bWS8sYCFUiFfgodrOIClw&gclsrc=aw.ds  This simple piece of gear has been doing yeoman work along with a couple of milk crates, notice the wheel size.  I can haul lots of stuff and it's easy to maneuver, add a rope and going through the washout is fairly easy.

Corky

I don't know of any hard and fast recommendations on how "vital" or useful a dolly might be. I've seen pics of several types of pull-behind hiking carts that some like as part of a bug-out setup for traveling on foot.

Since you had the dolly with you, I'm guessing you have multiple uses for it and multiple-use is a big plus for any piece of gear, right? I know many in the mobile lifestyle use them to haul large water containers back to their rigs. Personally, I use almost exclusively one-gallon water jugs, so I don't have that additional use for a dolly and currently don't carry one in my van.

I think someone considering adding a dolly should evaluate things like:
-- Would taking a dolly displace other items that might be useful more often? Those living out of minivans or cars, for example, would have to consider this much more carefully. It is likely those living in smaller vehicles would have less to carry if an evacuation became necessary.
-- How probable would a long hike be in the places you camp? (You obviously camp in places where a hike out and back might be likely to occur again.)
-- Would a dolly make a huge difference in your ability to carry what you need based on your physical abilities? In other words, do you have a backpack or similar that you are capable of shouldering during a long walk? If you were trying to move on to a "better location" in an emergency, a backpack might allow you to travel faster and lighter.
-- Are there multiple-use alternatives to using a dolly? Could you have used a large dufflebag roped up to transport your supplies up and down the chasm and then been capable of carrying that duffle without the dolly? For a total bug-out, could you take with you the absolute basics plus high priority gear and supplies withOUT a dolly if you needed to?

Those are just the thoughts off the top of my head for others to use to evaluate the relative benefits. It's a very good item to consider for those who have the room, in my opinion. I will do more thinking about this for myself when I head west.

 

[corky52]

[size=small]WriterMS

Dolly I linked to folds flat, [size=small]33[/size][size=small] x [/size][size=small]19[/size][size=small] x[size=small],3", and[/size][/size]  is solid enough to be the bottom of a stack of things in storage bay, when collapsed.  Wheels are 7" in diameter.  This is the least space device when folded I have found with wheels that will work across many surfaces.  In theory I can use this, carry a backpack and sling a dufflebag over one should, all at the same time, weight and distance I'm not sure of.  Wheels always make moving things down the road easier, and let you carry more weight with less effort.



Bigger capacity, bigger wheels(8"),way bigger price, 40x24x3" folded
http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...gclid=CNLG-afU88YCFUVlfgodtGoHpg&gclsrc=aw.ds

Corky

 

[highdesertranger]

well if the dolly works for you in the terrain your in. I would say yes use it. however that one in the link will not work in a sandy desert wash those wheels will just sink. now if you could find one with high flotation wheels that would be different. highdesertranger

 

[corky52]

HDR,
Nothing much works well in a sandy wash bottom.  The tires on both of the units I linked to are a fairly soft plastic and worked better than I expected in soft sand, they spread out a fair amount.  I'd rather have an ATV wagon, but that is a monster space eater, no room for one.
http://www.harborfreight.com/mesh-deck-steel-wagon-60359.html


Corky

 

[Canine]

Corky, how about a large tire mini bike?  They don't weigh that much to carry on the back of the vehicle, I've seen plenty bike and light duty motorcycle carriers that can be made or purchased.  The mini bikes can get thru the sand and mud, seen it done and done it myself.  

Let's see, where's a picture of what I'm talking about from my past?  As I sort thru the scrapbook, ah yes, here's one. This is not on a sandy wash but you get the idea.  Oh, don't deflate the tires much, they often don't have that much psi in them to begin with.  Better to have some weight on them for full tread adhesion, kinda like when I ride...

(Eat your heart out Lee R.)

 

[corky52]

Dusty,

If I still had gas,  I'd still be driving the towed.

Corky

 

[Canine]

Well, these get about 100 mpg. Maybe more. I understand you are out, didn't remember that, but the point was, an old Honda trail 90 type motorcycle or a mini bike uses next to zip fuel, doesn't take the dolly to transport it, and gets you in and out. I don't think it works for everyone obviously but maybe it's an idea. If not, it's ok.

 

[Rugster]

Plus, you get to ride a minibike!