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.
Showing 539 videos · runtime Under 5 min
Top picks in Food & Water
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How Much Food Does Your Family Actually Need?
Live walkthrough of calculating your household's year-long food storage needs based on meals your family already eats, with scaling methods from 2 weeks to 12 months.
Efficient Homesteading Isn't About Working Harder
How to design regenerative homestead systems that reduce daily exhaustion and create sustainable food production with intentional planning rather than constant reactive work.
Fermented Pickles Recipe
Step-by-step fermented pickle preservation: cucumber selection, brine ratios, herb seasonings, fermentation timeline, and storage—crunchier and faster than canning.
Overgrown Garden? Let the Goats Handle It
How to use goats to clear overgrown garden beds and turn a planting mistake into productive land management.
What's In Your Flour – Monday Night Fireside Chat No. 1448
Panel discussion on flour quality, sourcing, and storage for long-term food preservation and homesteading.
When to Pick Tomatoes for Maximum Flavor
Practical guidance on tomato variety selection, cultivation, and harvest timing to maximize yield and flavor in a home garden.
Bone marrow and bacon the off-grid way
Prepare a nutrient-dense bone marrow breakfast with bacon and eggs using off-grid cooking methods.
What's Really On Your Vegetables: Produce Washing Techniques
Four-minute walkthrough on removing pesticide residues, wax coatings, and contamination from produce using a vegetable wash beyond plain water.
Why Soil Is Everything: Building Living Soil for Better Gardens
Why soil biology matters more than synthetic inputs: how organic matter builds water retention and plant germination for better harvests.
What I Got Wrong About Grazing Schedules
How to manage rotational grazing by animal density rather than fixed calendar schedules, and why flexible paddock sizing improves land productivity and parasite control.
Four steaks for $142? Cattle inventory and beef price inflation explained
Why supermarket beef prices are hitting record highs: analysis of US cattle inventory (lowest in 73 years) and its direct impact on household grocery costs.
Water Storage Is Important
Where to source food-grade 55-gallon water drums affordably—Facebook Marketplace, big-box retailers, and grocery stores—plus what to check before buying.
The Mobile Chicken System That Handles Extreme Heat
How to manage pastured chickens through extreme heat using mobile coop design, timing, and water management — no expensive cooling equipment required.
Spring Pole Snare Survival Trap
Three-minute walkthrough of building and setting a spring pole snare for small-game trapping in wilderness survival scenarios.
Off-Grid Water Truth — Wells Aren't Your Only Option
Compare wells and natural water sources for off-grid properties: evaluate access, cost, and reliability for daily use.
Where Does Melting Snow Really Go?
How to use contours, terraces, and organic matter to slow runoff and store water in soil, reducing erosion while improving plant health.
Why the Sudden Grain Shortage Warnings
Analysis of declining grain production across multiple countries, with focus on wheat, barley, sorghum, and rice shortages and their implications.
Set It & Forget It! Sun Oven Cooking In Action
Demonstration of solar oven cooking: how to set up, what foods work well, and practical results from a working sun oven.
Why We Grow Cucumbers Vertically
Vertical cucumber growing reduces pest losses, saves space, and improves harvest yields—a practical technique for small-space food production.
$1M Machine Stuck for a $1K Part
One PCB-resin plant offline threatens global supply chains for smartphones, farm machinery, and critical equipment—a case study in single-point-of-failure vulnerability.
The Soil Secret Every Gardener Should Know
One-hour conference lecture on worm composting, soil microbiomes, and regenerative gardening techniques for home food production.
Milk Kefir Grows So Much Slower in Winter
One-minute observation on how seasonal temperature drops affect milk kefir fermentation rates and what that means for year-round food preservation.
Food Prices Force Big Staple Switches
Why rice prices are climbing globally and what households can substitute (corn, oatmeal, homemade bread) to manage food costs.
Follow the Sun: The First Step to a Thriving Garden
How to evaluate sun exposure and aspect when choosing a garden location to maximize crop growth and soil health.
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
Crop Shortage + No Workers = Real Problem
Analysis of labor shortages and infrastructure delays constraining US crop production capacity, despite new USDA and administration strategies.
Sun Oven Cooked Meat is Perfection
Twelve-minute walkthrough of cooking meat in a solar oven, demonstrating passive solar cooking as an off-grid food preparation method.
The best livestock for a small homestead might surprise you
Guidance on selecting livestock species suited to small homestead operations, covering production efficiency and space constraints.
Why Soaking Our Legumes Is Important
How soaking legumes reduces antinutrients and improves digestibility, making them safer and more nutritious for food storage and daily meals.
5 Money-Saving Tips for Raising Chickens
Ten years of chicken-raising experience distilled into five budget strategies for sustainable egg production and flock management.
One Week Later the Desert Pond Is Still Full
One-minute follow-up on a DIY pond water storage system six days after construction, demonstrating long-term integrity of off-grid water infrastructure.
What if you never bought compost again?
52-second introduction to worm farming and vermicomposting as a method to produce free compost and soil amendments for food gardens.
Rabbit Winter Prep That Actually Works
Walkthrough of a rabbit hutch design tested in an ice storm: waterer maintenance, hay insulation strategy, and spare-parts approach to winter livestock care.
Why This Is My Favorite Chicken Breed
Learn which chicken breed Becky prioritizes for her homestead and the practical advantages that make it her top choice.
Healthy Soil, Fewer Beetles: Building Soil to Reduce Pest Pressure
46-second field observation on how soil health influences plant resilience and natural pest resistance in potato cultivation.
Lowering the acidity level of our IBC tote wicking beds
Two-minute walkthrough on adjusting soil pH in wicking-bed systems for improved plant growth in off-grid food production.
Cheapest Trellis Ever: Cattle Panels for Climbing Vegetables
54-second walkthrough on building and training vertical trellises from cattle panels to support heavy crops like beans, squash, and melons in small spaces.
Wild Mint Foraging
1:48 walkthrough on identifying wild mint in the field, harvesting, and practical uses for survival and camping.
Unboxing & Setup: Sun Oven One-Piece Unit
Unboxing and initial setup walkthrough for the Sun Oven solar cooking unit, a fuel-independent cooking method for preparedness.
Training dogs to not eat chickens
56-second walkthrough of methods to train prey-driven dogs to coexist safely with free-range chickens, including timing, consistency, and multi-dog learning.
Chocolate & Coffee Crisis 2026
How tariffs and crop failures are driving coffee, orange juice, and chocolate prices to record highs, including impacts on US-manufactured goods.
9 Expired Canned Foods That Are Actually Deadly
Which canned goods become unsafe past their expiration dates and how to spot danger signs—a food-storage safety guide for preppers maintaining pantries.
MSR Trailshot Water Filter Review
Two-minute gear review comparing the MSR Trailshot water filter to other portable filtration options for backpacking and outdoor use.
Top Wheat Exporters Shaking
Australia's drought threatens to cut wheat exports by 10-13 million tons, with Russia, EU, Canada, and USA supply shifts ahead.
The Best Way to Tell If Eggs Are Fresh
Forty-nine-second walkthrough of the water float test to check egg freshness and understand shelf life for stored farm eggs.
This Tiny Tool Gives You Emergency Water
Learn how a compact water key can access emergency water sources at public facilities when stored in an everyday carry kit.
Dirt Moving Power: Matching Tiller Size to Tractor for Seed Bed Prep
Short walkthrough on selecting and operating a tiller matched to your tractor's PTO system for efficient soil preparation and food production.
Store Your Eggs Correctly
Learn proper storage methods to preserve fresh eggs long-term and maintain food security.
Don't Buy The Wrong Chicken Breed
How to choose chicken breeds based on your goals: dual-purpose birds versus specialized layers for consistent egg production and meat.