Nearly three years ago I was getting settled in to a Nashville hotel after a long flight. I had a LOT of work to do that night to get ready for a large class I was teaching the next day. I was exhausted mentally and physically from the early morning, layovers and in anticipation of the late night that I knew I still had ahead of me. My assistant and I decided that we’d get unpacked, change our clothes, and then meet up in about an hour.

Yesterday I addressed aspects of urban/suburban preparedness when you MUST stay where you are and make the best of things. However, ideally, a principle that I always share with urban dwellers is to prepare yourself in such a way that you can get out quickly with all of your necessary goods and provisions should things go south. Why? Because the urban area will indeed be the most volatile area you can be in a time of distress. There will be more looting, violence, crime and gangs simply because of the opportunity such a dense population will present. I addressed several of the liabilities of being in a densely populated in yesterday’s article.

Today I’m going to address another issue in the world of preparedness that tends to be quite controversial. This is the matter of where one should live in order to be better prepared. Addressing this issue properly will require more than one article as there are many components to consider. But for today, let’s start with the most obvious one. Can you only be prepared if you live out in a rural area?

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For starters, allow me to answer the question based on the strongest fundamental

Do Mylar bags have a place in your preparedness efforts? Absolutely. While I store a lot of food and non-food items in four gallon square buckets, #10 cans, Mason jars, and five gallon round buckets, there’s still plenty of tinsel in my pantry in the form of Mylar bags. Why?

Mylar bags make your food access more convenient.

Here are few more of some of my favorite “pantry recipes”, adjusted to be make with freeze-dried products, powdered milk, etc. You can make them with fresh or pre-packaged products. Regardless, they will turn out yummy! Enjoy!