Food & Water
The two things a household runs out of first. Long-term food storage, rotating pantries, freeze-dried, canning and mylar — plus water filtration, storage, sourcing and treatment. The ground truth on what actually feeds and hydrates a household when the supply chain stalls. Plain reviews and honest taste tests, no panic.
Top picks in Food & Water
Curated by topic, not commissionAll curated
Bug Out Bag Fishing Kit
Four-minute review of a compact fishing kit built into a Plano 3414 dual side box for bug-out preparedness.
3 Days Stranded in Alaska Without a Tent: Survival Shelters in Deep Snow
32-minute backcountry survival in Alaska interior: building insulated snow shelters, navigating 4+ feet of powder, fire-starting in extreme cold, and improvised gear repair under real constraints.
Hand Crafted Fish Trap with Mors Kochanski
Mors Kochanski demonstrates how to construct a functional fish trap using natural materials and hand tools—a practical skill for off-grid food sourcing.
How to Dehydrate Frozen Potatoes for Long Term Food Storage
Eight-minute walkthrough of dehydrating frozen potatoes for long-term storage, with discussion of food storage planning and resources.
Hand Crafted Deadfall Trap with Mors Kochanski
Three-minute walkthrough of building and setting a deadfall trap for wilderness survival, demonstrated by bushcraft instructor Mors Kochanski.
Winter Camping in Raised Bushcraft Shelter - Alaskan Cold-Weather Shelter Build
Building and sleeping in an elevated survival shelter in sub-zero Alaska: platform construction, insulation, heat capture, and fire management overnight.
Hot Rocks in My Bushcraft Cot — Winter Camping in Alaska with a Survival Shelter
Solo overnight in Alaska: building a no-tent survival shelter and cot, testing hot rocks for warmth, managing fire in wet snow, and practical lessons on what actually works in sub-zero conditions.
Solo Camping at 11,500 ft in -26°F Conditions
High-elevation winter camping in sub-zero temperatures: site selection by snow analysis, cold-weather gear performance, altitude effects, heating strategies, and overnight survival techniques at 11,500 feet.
Survival Camping with 4-Year-Old: Trapping, Knapping, Friction Fire & Campfire Cooking
32-minute walkthrough of core survival skills: building deadfall traps, making fire with friction (bow drill and hand drill), flint knapping stone tools, and cooking foraged and trapped meat over an open fire.
Hurricane Ian Preparedness and Lessons Learned
Six-minute walkthrough of hurricane preparedness essentials and practical lessons from Hurricane Ian for household disaster readiness.
4 Days Camping & Building a Trail to the River
Solo four-day wilderness camp while hand-cutting a quarter-mile trail through dense brush to access a remote river; hammock setup, fire-building with ferrous rod, foraging hazard awareness, cold-weather camp comfort, and family joining day-three onward.
Old School Survival Camping - No Tent, No Sleeping Bag - Exploring Appalachia
Overnight survival camp in the Appalachian Mountains using frontier-style gear: shelter site selection, fire-building in wet conditions, water sourcing and purification, foraged food, and cold-weather sleep strategy.
Recognizing, Identifying, and Treating Gapeworm in Your Backyard Chicken Flock
Fourteen-minute guide to identifying gapeworm symptoms in chickens, treatment protocols using fenbendazole, and preventive measures like apple cider vinegar and diatomaceous earth.
Solo Backpacking 20 Miles to a Crashed B-29 Bomber: Alpine Navigation, Cold-Weather Camping, and Survival in Alaska
Twenty-mile alpine solo expedition in Alaska: navigating glacier and ice fields without crampons, establishing a bear-proof campsite above tree line, filtering water, sleeping in sub-freezing conditions, and locating a 1957 bomber crash site with historical context.
Top 5 Ways to Supplement Your Chickens on the Cheap
Five methods to boost chicken nutrition affordably: black oil sunflower seeds, calcium sources, foraged weeds, homegrown kale, and microgreens.
Alpine Survival Camping in Alaska: Building a Shelter, Fishing, and Foraging
Solo alpine survival in treeless terrain: building a rock shelter in high winds, identifying edible and toxic plants, fishing for dinner, water sourcing, and navigating bear country in Alaska's mountains.
Summer Update on our Urban Homestead - Plus 5 Ways to Supplement Your Chickens on the Cheap
Garden progress update and five low-cost methods to supplement chicken nutrition, including black oil sunflower seeds and mealworms.
Planting Grapes at High Altitude - What Types to Choose for Your Zone
Eighteen-minute walkthrough on selecting and planting grape varieties suited to high-altitude growing zones, covering soil, technique, and initial pruning.
Creating a Self-Sustaining Food Cycle on our Urban Homestead - Potatoes, Mealworms, Chickens
21-minute walkthrough of mealworm farming for chicken feed, including DIY enclosure builds and practical setup lessons from 6 months of hands-on experience on a suburban homestead.
Food Storage: Storing Sugar for Long Term, Shelf Life, How Much Do You Need?
12-minute walkthrough on storing sugar long-term: shelf-life expectations, quantity planning for one person annually, and best practices using mylar bags for food preservation.
Food Shortages and Why You Need to START PREPPING!
25-minute walkthrough of grocery selection for long-term food storage, shelf-life strategies, and budget-conscious pantry-building for SHTF readiness.
DIY Automatic Chicken Coop Door
Six-minute walkthrough: build a 12V timer-controlled automatic coop door with linear actuator, relay, and power supply, including wiring diagram and parts list.
5 Days Fishing & Hunting in the Bayou: Catch and Cook Frogs, Crabs, Gar, Carp, Catfish, Duck & Nutria
Five-day immersion in Louisiana bayou hunting and fishing: duck hunting, spearfishing, trapline management, processing and cooking wild-caught fish and game; family-focused outdoor survival skills in a working wetland ecosystem.
SHTF Food Storage | 15 Year Old Rice | Fresh Assured Mylar Bags
Father and son taste-test rice stored 15 years in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, demonstrating long-term food storage durability and proper pantry rotation methods.
Editor's note
“If you only have a weekend and $200, fix water before anything else — it's the prep with the highest ratio of survival impact per dollar. On food: most $400 emergency kits could be replaced with $120 of supermarket staples plus mylar bags. The expensive part of food prep is the marketing, not the calories.”
— Cockroach editorial
Making a Simple Survival Shelter Warm: Winter Bushcraft Camping in Alaska
Building and heating a winter survival shelter using buried coals, thermal mass, and fire-reflector techniques in sub-freezing Alaska conditions; includes water sourcing, fire-starting, and cold-weather site selection.
Mid-Term Food Storage
Twenty-two minutes on selecting, storing, and rotating mid-term food supplies for household preparedness, covering shelf life and practical strategy.
Survival and Emergency Food Shelf Life, FAQs, and More
24-minute Q&A on emergency food storage longevity, shelf-life expectations, and practical FAQ answers for household food security.
Prepping Food Storage for SHTF: Budget Build on $10 per Week
Fifteen-minute walkthrough on building a long-term food storage pantry on a tight budget, comparing costs over time and demonstrating mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, and storage best practices.
Food Shortage Is Worse Than You May Think
Analysis of current food production constraints, supply disruptions, and underlying structural factors affecting household food security.
Building & Camping in a Bushcraft Log Cabin in the Alaskan Bush
27-minute walkthrough of building an insulated log shelter from harvested firewood, managing fire overnight in sub-zero temps, and executing a multi-day firewood harvest for home heating in Alaska.
Time Spent At Our Remote Alaska Cabin
31-minute walkthrough of a two-week remote cabin stay in Alaska, covering shelter maintenance, food procurement, and off-grid power management in practice.
Winter Camping in Snow Storm with Survival Shelter & Bushcraft Cot
Building and testing a no-tent snow shelter in sub-freezing conditions: cot lashing technique, fire placement, insulation principles, and measuring the 26° temperature gain inside versus outside.
Power Outage—Emergency Lighting, Water, and Cooking When the Grid Goes Down
Real-time walkthrough of managing a multi-day power outage: emergency lighting solutions, water access, alternate cooking methods, and how to maintain normalcy with guests present.
Winter Camping in a Hot Tent at -60F/-51C
Setting up and managing a hot tent overnight in extreme cold with a young child: tent assembly, stove operation, temperature stratification, gear selection, fire maintenance, and survival protocols at -60F.
Shortages and Inflation Crisis: 4 Things to Hoard Now
Four-minute analysis of current supply-chain and inflation pressures, identifying which goods are most impacted and recommending priority stockpiling items.
Building and Maintaining a Log Cabin Survival Shelter Over 12 Months
Year-long documentation of hand-building a log cabin with axe and bow saw, including weatherproofing, chinking, wood stove installation, and cold-weather camping in Alaskan conditions.
13 Barter Items to Stockpile Before an Economic Collapse
Thirteen consumables, tools, and supplies that retain or gain value in economic collapse scenarios and serve as tradeable currency when fiat money fails.
17 Hygiene Supplies You Need to Buy Now: Cargo Shipping Container & Supply Chain Crisis Worsening
Supply-chain disruption analysis and a prioritized list of 17 hygiene items to stockpile before container-shipping bottlenecks worsen.
Alaska Winter Camp and Skillet Pizza
21-minute winter backcountry camping trip demonstrating hot tent shelter setup, cold-weather camp management, and outdoor cooking in subzero conditions.
Greenhouse failure & prep to rebuild
Walkthrough of diagnosing greenhouse damage, planning repairs, and rebuilding from failure—practical skills for food production resilience.
Plumbing in our Shipping Container Cabin
8-minute walkthrough of plumbing installation and water system setup in a shipping container homestead.
Taming Cottontail Rabbits
Eleven-minute guide to handling, socializing, and caring for wild cottontail rabbits as a practical homesteading and food-production skill.
Composting Chicken Coop Tour
20-minute walkthrough of a chicken coop designed to produce compost while raising birds for eggs and meat.
Cooking Meat in Leaf Wrap on a Fire
Three-minute hands-on demonstration of wrapping and cooking meat directly in leaves over an open fire—a foundational bushcraft technique for off-grid food preparation.
Life Without Electricity or Refrigeration
Ransom Godwin and David DuByne discuss food storage shelf life, canned goods, butchering meat, and living without modern refrigeration.
Build a Solar Powered Drip Irrigation System Easily and Affordably
23-minute walkthrough on assembling a solar-powered drip irrigation system for food growing on a budget.
6 Days Winter Camping in Snow Storm in the Rocky Mountains — Day 1
First day of a six-day winter blizzard camping expedition in the Rocky Mountains, demonstrating shelter setup, fire-starting, and catch-and-cook fishing in severe cold.
Cooking Philly Cheesesteaks On A Simple Potbelly Stove
Seven-minute hands-on demo: building and operating a potbelly stove with cast iron griddle for off-grid cooking and meal preparation.