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
Fruit Tree Planting Timing: Optimal Seasonal Windows for Your Region
How to time fruit-tree planting for your climate zone to avoid root stress and establish a productive food forest without wasting saplings.
Think Like a Prepper: The Costco Deal I Couldn't Pass Up
Identify high-value bulk food purchases and understand how timing and venue selection impact long-term food storage economics.
Getting Water Out of a River
Six-minute walkthrough on safely collecting drinking water from a river using pack-carried gear and filtration.
Maple Bacon & Trout
31-second catch-and-cook demonstration: trout preparation with maple and bacon in a wilderness setting.
Measuring your well level without expensive tools
How to measure static water depth in your well using a simple string and weight, to verify your off-grid water source before grid failure.
Have you ever received a phone call like this?
Tour a major Mennonite supply store and learn about bulk purchasing options for homesteading and food preservation.
Would You Know If Your Tap Water Was Unsafe?
Learn to recognize water emergencies, test water quality yourself, and plan household water storage before a boil-water advisory hits your area.
100% Whole Wheat: Hydration Needs for Freshly Milled Flour
Quick tip on adjusting hydration ratios when baking with freshly milled whole wheat flour versus store-bought.
18 Survival Items to Get Before 2027
Essential gear checklist across water, food, power, and communications to build a practical emergency foundation.
Fermenting Hot Peppers
Seven-minute walkthrough on fermenting fresh hot peppers to make homemade hot sauce—a shelf-stable preservation method for summer abundance.
Making 100% Whole Wheat Bread: Step 1
First installment in a whole wheat bread baking series, covering foundational techniques for home bread production from scratch.
Bushcraft basecamp trip: lavvu shelter, sawhorse, roasting chicken, tool sharpening
45-minute bushcraft demonstration covering canvas lavvu shelter setup in rain, campfire cooking (roasted chicken and foraged soup), tool maintenance with stones and stropping compound, and traditional hand-made axes and knives.
Harvest + No Diesel = Food Prices Explode
How diesel fuel shortages in harvest season cascade through agricultural transport and drive food prices higher.
How I'd Keep My Family Alive During a Global Famine
Food storage, cooking fuel, backup methods, gardening, and community: a six-minute breakdown of household resilience during serious food shortages.
100 Day Pantry Challenge: Day 1 - Let's Get Started
How to count the actual days of real meals your household can eat right now from your pantry — the baseline audit that kicks off a 100-day build plan.
Why Your Stationary Chicken Coop Is a Huge Mistake
Mobile chicken coop systems that reduce labor, improve land health through natural tilling, and cut costs compared to stationary setups.
Why Static Water Level Is the Well Number That Matters
52-second breakdown of why static water level, not total well depth, determines which hand pump will work for your off-grid water system.
Singeing a Beast for Eating
One-minute demonstration of field dressing and singeing wild game over open flame — a traditional subsistence cooking technique.
Tour of Churchtown Dairy in Hudson, New York: Grass-Fed Cheese Operation
Seven-minute walkthrough of a grass-fed dairy farm in upstate New York, covering pasture-based production methods and cheese-making operations.
How To Get Water From Your Well in a Long-Term Blackout
27-minute walkthrough on installing and using hand pumps as non-electric backups for well water, covering static water level measurement, pump selection (deep vs. shallow), and three product comparisons.
Food and Fuel Theft
Assess threats to stored food and fuel security in breakdown scenarios and practical countermeasures.
What to Store Before 2027: The 100 Day Pantry Build
29-minute walkthrough on building a 100-day pantry: what staples to prioritize, quantities, storage methods, and rotation strategies for household food security.
The Secret To A Huge Garlic Harvest
Step-by-step garlic growing: soil preparation, bulb breaking, planting depth, and root development for a successful harvest.
Why It's Worth Developing a Spring
How to locate and tap a natural spring on your property, and size water storage to make a small flow sustain homestead needs year-round.
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
Food Preservation Time Savers
Five practical food-preservation methods for busy households: unblanched freezing, tomato freezing, cold storage, freeze-drying, and batched canning to fit tight timelines.
Global Oil Crisis: US Farmers Warn of Soaring Prices
Examine how petroleum price volatility affects agricultural input costs and food production capacity.
Growing Grass, Alfalfa, and Sorghum in the Desert with Rainwater Only
Eleven-minute walkthrough of a high-desert Arizona homestead using natural rainfall and rainwater harvesting to establish pasture, ground cover, and food crops on bare land without wells or irrigation.
Irrigation Ditch Digging
Three-minute walkthrough of digging and testing an irrigation ditch to water a field using a tractor, demonstrating water-management infrastructure for food production.
Turn Garden Overgrowth Into Fertilizer: Chop and Drop Technique
Five-minute walkthrough of the chop-and-drop method to clear overgrown gardens while building soil fertility, featuring hand scythe technique and regenerative agriculture principles.
Turn Kitchen Scraps Into Free Fertilizer
Composting walkthrough: convert kitchen waste into rich soil for food gardens, reducing grocery costs and building homestead fertility.
Sustainable Off-Grid Homestead Transformation: DIY Projects, Pole Barn, Dutch Door, Solar Rack
19-minute walkthrough of off-grid homestead build on Arizona raw land: Dutch door construction, pole barn improvements, solar installation, outdoor kitchen setup, and livestock integration.
Building a Hunting Treestand in the Boreal Forest
Construct a functional hunting treestand and prepare a food plot for big game season in northern wilderness.
How To Prepare Your Pantry For What's Coming
Analysis of recent agricultural commodity price increases, retail timeline projections, and category-by-category pantry-stocking action plan with verified data sources.
What We Found in Our Old Spring
Troubleshooting a clogged spring water line: how to identify root intrusion and restore flow in a gravity-fed water system.
Livestock Guardian Dog Puppies: Breeding, Training, and Predator Protection
Two-minute walkthrough of guardian dog puppy selection, hot-wire training, and integration with existing dogs to protect livestock flocks from predators.
How to Make Sprouts: Lentils and Mung Beans
Step-by-step walkthrough of sprouting lentils and mung beans at home—a high-yield, space-efficient way to grow fresh nutritious food year-round.
A Warning From a Biochemist About the Food Supply Collapse
A biochemist analyzes structural vulnerabilities in global food production and supply chains.
My First Chicken Setup Was a Disaster
Common mistakes when setting up your first chicken coop and flock, with lessons on preparation, fencing, and systems before birds arrive.
A Cozy Night Alone in My Secret Mountain Cabin
Eighteen minutes of cabin setup, water collection, firewood gathering, fire tending, and off-grid cooking in a remote mountain shelter.
Water Storage: Beyond Drinking, Maintenance & Resilience
Walkthrough of water storage systems for household use, covering drinking supply, maintenance protocols, and long-term resilience planning.
Making Jalapeno Jelly — Epic Fail
Thirteen minutes on attempting to make jalapeno jelly: the process, what went wrong, and lessons learned.
Logs for My Next Log Cabin | Planting My Wildlife Food Plot
Select and process timber for log cabin construction, then establish a wildlife food plot for off-grid self-sufficiency.
Scavenging and Preparing Bones
Short walkthrough on locating and processing scavenged bones as a wilderness food source and subsistence skill.
Our Sheep's First Days On The Homestead
Step-by-step introduction of a dairy sheep flock: pasture preparation, breed selection rationale, barn setup, and managing initial integration challenges.
Black Soldier Fly Larvae for Chicken Feed: Building and Running a Home Production Bin
Eleven-minute walkthrough on building a black soldier fly larvae bin from a tote, what to feed them, harvesting techniques, and lessons from two years of trial and error raising protein-rich feed for backyard flocks.
Fuel Shortage and Diesel Crisis: Supply Chain Disruption Risks and Preparation Steps
Analysis of global diesel shortage risks, supply-chain disruption scenarios, and household preparation strategies for fuel emergencies and downstream food-price impacts.
Starting a Successful Regenerative Grazing Business from Scratch (Part 5)
Part 5 of Greg Judy's step-by-step guide to establishing a regenerative grazing operation, covering practical implementation from pasture setup to livestock management.
FEMA's 11 Must-Have Items for Winter Preparedness
Walkthrough of FEMA's winter-storm checklist: heating, water storage, food, communications, and safety gear with specific product recommendations and common family mistakes.