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
Sweet Potato Harvest From 4 Grocery Store Potatoes
Six-minute walkthrough growing sweet potatoes from grocery-store slips using recycled pots and soil, plus garden updates on lettuce, okra, bananas, and homemade fertilizer.
Farm Tour: Off-Grid Setup, Irrigation, and Winter Preparation
12-minute walkthrough of an off-grid farm project, including irrigation systems and winter shelter planning for harsh-climate homesteading.
Grass-Fed vs Grass-Finished
Learn the nutritional and agricultural differences between grass-fed and grass-finished beef and their implications for homestead sourcing.
This Weird Wild Meat — Everyone Loves It (and How to Catch It)
Hands-on demonstration of catching and preparing an unconventional wild protein source using primitive or minimal-gear methods.
A Week in the Wilderness – A Fly-in Canoe/Fishing Trip
Extended wilderness self-sufficiency through backcountry camping, canoe travel, and foraging in remote Canadian terrain.
The Meat We Eat: How We Choose It, Buy It & Cook It
Learn to decode meat labels, source quality protein from local farmers, and match cooking methods to different cuts.
Dairy On A Small Homestead: Our Mini Goat Experiment
Eighteen-minute walkthrough of setting up dairy goats on a small homestead: breed selection, infrastructure, shelter, feeding systems, and why goats fill a food-security gap where cows aren't feasible.
Don't Forget Your Pets When You're Prepping
Short walkthrough on including pets in your household emergency preparedness plan, from food storage to evacuation readiness.
How Much Food Should You Stock?
Ten-minute walkthrough on calculating household food storage needs, covering quantities, duration, and practical planning for food security.
Mossy Oak Chef Knife with Cutting Board Review
Forty-seven-second hands-on review of a Mossy Oak chef knife and cutting board for food preparation.
Interest Rates and Inflation: Energy, Supply Chain, and Economic Disruption
Analysis of inflation drivers, Fed policy, and cascading effects on diesel, trucking, and food production — how macro instability ripples into household supply chains.
Cooking a Full Meal Off-Grid Taught Us More About People Than Prepping
Test alternative cooking methods and food storage in a practical group setting to identify gaps in your off-grid kitchen skills.
Freezing Tomatoes for Later Canning
How to freeze fresh tomatoes throughout the growing season and process them in batch canning sessions during winter downtime.
Quiet Days in the Woods: Building a Maple Sugar Shack
Install windows and a porch on a maple sugar shack, then craft and test a functional ash longbow from reclaimed wood.
3-Days Surviving in Canada's Wild
51-minute wilderness survival challenge: fishing, animal trapping, and shelter building using only gear that fits in a 5-gallon container.
5 Grocery Foods With the Longest Best-By Dates—No Repackaging Required
Six-minute walkthrough of five shelf-stable grocery items (canned beans, almonds, canned fish, freeze-dried meals) with extended best-by dates suitable for emergency pantries, stored in original packaging.
Off-Grid Homestead Pole Barn Reveal: Building From Raw Land
Step-by-step pole barn construction, window installation, animal shelter setup, and property improvements on a remote Arizona homestead.
Why Your Blueberries Keep Dying (And How to Fix It)
Walkthrough of blueberry cultivation using garden terraces and swale systems to optimize soil moisture and yield on a homestead.
Planting and Harvesting Carrots: Soil Prep, Spacing, and Timing
26-minute guide to growing carrots from seed: soil preparation, planting depth and spacing, soil temperature and moisture, harvesting timing, and thinning techniques for a continuous harvest.
Diesel Prices and Food Supply: What Farmers Are Warning
How rising diesel costs ripple through agriculture and food production, and what consumers should watch for in grocery prices and supply availability.
Wendell Berry Was Right. Here's My Proof
Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry's sixty-year experiment in local self-sufficiency, and how the creator applied his principles to their own off-grid homestead: solar, water systems, and household independence.
Wizard's Log - September 17th 2026
Site visit and assessment of a potential year-round off-grid homestead location, focusing on winter survival techniques and food-growing infrastructure.
Prepper Pantry Haul: Food Storage and Supply Selections for Emergency Preparedness
Seventy-minute walkthrough of food storage selections, bulk-buying strategy via Azure Standard, vacuum sealing, freeze-dried foods, shelf-stable proteins, and long-term pantry rotation for emergency readiness.
Before Mass Starvation Begins... 2027
Strategic food storage planning and emergency supply assessment to prepare for potential food scarcity scenarios.
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
Advanced Water Filtration Products from Membrane Solutions
Tour of emerging water filtration and purification gear shown at the Outdoor Retailer Show, including products under development for emergency preparedness.
Bang Bang Kabobs
Quick outdoor cooking technique for preparing freshly caught fish as kabobs over a campfire.
Accidentally Found a Natural Spring Under My Land
Discovering and developing a natural spring for off-grid water storage: cistern installation, gravity-fed system design, and silt management on a homestead.
How Diesel Price Shocks Cascade Through Food and Energy Systems
21-minute analysis of diesel supply disruptions, their impact on farming costs and food-system logistics during peak harvest season, and downstream effects on household expenses.
$6.23 Diesel: Farmers and Truckers Hit First
How rising diesel costs cascade through harvest, processing, and trucking to reach grocery-store prices — and why farmers and truckers absorb the shock first.
Dandelions Were Food, We Were Taught to Kill Them
Why dandelions—a nutritious wild edible settlers deliberately cultivated—became weeds in modern yards, and how to reclaim them as foraged food.
My Sister and Parents Visit my Off Grid Log Cabin
Frame, roof, and finish a sugar shack structure on an off-grid homestead while managing remote-site construction challenges.
Porcupine Soup
Forty-eight-second catch-and-cook demonstration: field dressing a porcupine and preparing it as soup, a practical wild-game subsistence skill.
Cost and cuts from a half-share of grass-finished beef
Breaking down the cost, yield, and benefits of buying a half-share of organic, grass-finished beef directly from a local farmer—including nose-to-tail use and tallow rendering.
Can You Eat Green Potatoes? Safety, Storage, and Risk Reduction
Green potatoes contain solanine; learn how to identify risk, safely prepare them if needed, and store potatoes to prevent greening.
Late-Season Garden Tour + Five-Vegetable Challenge to Plant Now
Thirteen-minute walk-through of five fast-growing cool-season crops (mustard greens, spinach, lettuce, arugula, radishes) you can plant immediately for harvest before first frost.
Diesel Shortage & Ag Disruption | Bear Brief 15SEP26
Analysis of diesel supply constraints and cascading effects on agricultural production and food system resilience.
Gas and Food Shortages Hitting America Within Months
Analysis of predicted fuel price spikes and food supply disruptions in the coming months and defensive measures.
First Day of Fall – Are You Canning Yet? Monday Night Fireside Chat
Seasonal canning readiness discussion with Gil Camppatton, Tammy McNeill (Rebel Canners), and Mark (ChefTech) in a live fireside-chat format covering food preservation for fall harvest.
Where Will Your Water Come From When the Grid Goes Down?
Live class on three-tier water security: building a two-week buffer, identifying and treating backup sources, and long-term solutions like hand pumps and rainwater collection.
Flintlock Hog Hunt: Traditional Muzzleloader Hunting with Dave Canterbury
Dave Canterbury hunts wild hogs with a traditional flintlock muzzleloader, demonstrating low-dependency hunting techniques and old-school fieldcraft.
The Easiest Way to Store Nuts for Your Pantry
Five categories of grocery-store foods that require no repackaging for long-term storage, from canned goods to shelf-stable dairy.
From Soil to Strength: Rebuilding a Nutrient-Dense Food Culture + Bison Farming
Interview with a grass-fed bison rancher and clinical nutritionist on soil health, nutrient density, whole-animal utilization, and building food resilience through sustainable farming practices.
Preparing Our Arizona Homestead for Snow
Winter prep on a sustainable off-grid Arizona homestead: seasonal planning, shelter reinforcement, livestock care, solar lighting installation, and learning your land through the seasons.
Major Shortages Are Coming: Stock Up Right Now
Overview of anticipated shortages and recommended stockpiling strategies across food, medical, and radiation detection.
Bugging In: Why Leaving Home Could Be Your Biggest Mistake
Twenty minutes on sheltering-in-place versus evacuation in UK emergencies: water storage, food without power, backup lighting and comms, sanitation, and how to identify your household's weak points.
Prepping Alternate Grains: Winter Rye
Six-minute demonstration of growing and processing winter rye as a calorie-dense grain addition to long-term food storage.
Squirrel Dinner: Catch and Cook
Fifty-seven seconds on field dressing and cooking a squirrel—a practical wild-game skill for off-grid subsistence.
A Day in the Life of a Woodsman: Building and Cooking at my Off Grid Cabin
Learn wood-stove cooking, firewood processing, and daily routines in a self-built off-grid log cabin deep in the forest.