I think the sales pitch for joining the support brigade: "if you think this show is worth a quarter…" would be more effective if that statement were eliminated and replaced with something like: "If you find this show valuable consider stepping up to The Survival Podcast Plus for enhanced, advanced, material". I just don't think it is human nature to pay for something that is free.

The term "support brigade" comes across like volunteering to be on active duty for something, and paying for it. Human nature isn't to pay to support something, but to get something.

Lastly, the term "brigade" has an obsolete military ring to it that doesn't communicate the nature of The Survival Podcast. It might even contradict it. That is why I'd make a name change to "The Survival Podcast Plus".

Jack,

You mentioned putting a link to a site on how to make a solar dehydration device but from what I have seen you have not. If this was an oversight on your part I hope you can put a link up, if not my mistake. Great show as usual, thanks.

Not all MRE's are equal. You got to be able to interpret the codes on the boxes to find the freshest ones. They don't last forever. Shelf life is similar to canned food. Shelf life is affected by temperature and how long its been at that temp. But you can be pretty sure the cans at the market have been kept in temperature controlled storage. But the MRE's on eBay, gunshows or surplus stores? Who knows since the myth is that they will stand up to anything. For all the skinny on MRE's got to http://www.mreinfo.com/ Its the best resource for buying MRE's, menus & shelf life. Covers not just MRE's but other US rations and foreign rations as well. The small community on their forum is very knowledgeable about rations and many hail from around the world. Their topics sometime range into civilian shelf stable foods which would apply here. As a mreinfo.com forum member I can vouch for the site. Other than eBay longlife foods is a great resource as if you gotta have MRE's.

For people who want to learn about canning, bread making, soap making, candle making, gardening and herbs…go to http://www.franklinsprings.com/films/ and check out the Homestead Blessing DVD series. I have just ordered all of them and can't wait to watch. I have seen the West Ladies in another of their videos called Inherit the Land: Adventures on the Agrarian Journey and they are very sweet and are living my dream 🙂

I tried the rice cooking method you mentioned……it worked GREAT!!

Thanks for sharing!

Carolyn

Jack – quick question on the freezing side of thing: do you have any experience with some of the vacuum sealers? I see the claims about them extending life of frozen food by 3-4x, but wondering if thats real or marketing hype?

Benn doing alot of canning lately from our garden and will keep that up, but thought it might be nice to add some relatively long term storage that would come out a little 'fresher' than what we get out of our Mason jars.

Love the show and keep up the good work.