The Food Abides

Free Lifestraws and a Prepper Survey!

Hope you had a great Father's Day! I want to fill you in on a couple of developments that should be of interest to you ...

1.  This week, we are giving away more than 50 Lifestraws--the hottest lifesaving water filter on the market. We are awarding them via two avenues:

a. Watch and like our Facebook page (liking our Facebook page will ALSO get you into our monthly drawing for a free case of Mountain House food (value to $400!): https://www.facebook.com/Safecastle

To get in the daily Lifestraw drawing on Facebook, simply go to our Facebook page, find the current day's drawing thread, and post a link in that thread to a favorite Safecastle product listing. Then come back daily to find out if you are a winner and to re-enter the next day's drawing.

b. We are also posting a Lifestraw giveaway thread in our SurvivalistBoards forum every day for another way to get your hands on one.

2.  The first in our planned series of prepper polls is out and I want to encourage you to participate--"Your Prepper Posture - June 2012". It takes but a few minutes.

You can also see results at any time here.

Thank you for your business.

Poll: "Your Prepper Posture - June 2012"

Please take our first in a series of SurveyMonkey prepper polls ...  "Your Prepper Posture - June 2012"

View responses here.

Mountain House POUCHES Pass the Taste Test at 30 Years!

We all know Mountain House freeze dried food in cans is going to be good for 30 years. But now the good folks at MH just tested some of their stored POUCH foods from 30 years ago to give them the once-over.

Here's what they said:

So we're often asked about the shelf life of Mountain House meals. Our pouches have a "Best if Used By:" date of 7 years after production. What happens after 8 years? 10 years? 20 years?

Last week our team decided to take matters into our own hands and opened up the Mountain House Archive to test six different 30-year old pouches. And by "test", we mean "taste".

The results ranged from decent to delicious! Although our team could tell which meals were from The Archive, the 30-year old Mountain House pouches were still wholesome, nutritious, and tasty. Take a peek at the results below (click the image to enlarge) …

This is actually great news if you have been concerned about your MH pouch stash. It's also good to note that our buyers club members do always get 20%-off all MH pouch cases and they get free shipping to the lower 48. Shop for Mountain House pouches here: http://www.safecastle.com/7-yearpouches.aspx

Flash Sale: 70% off Stainless Steel Multipurpose Wallet Survival Tool

70%-off, free shipping ... while supplies last:  http://www.safecastle.com/multipurpose-pocket-survival-tool.aspx

See 3-D Model of Safecastle's 50' Military-Grade Bomb Shelter

Safecastle's experienced shelter builders (20 years and 500 shelters around the USA) provide some of the most robust, yet cost-effective shelters available. Storm shelters, safe rooms, NBC fallout shelters, and now also military-grade bomb/fallout shelters are made of heavy-gauge steel plate ... engineered to last almost 100 years, lifetime guaranteed for structural integrity.

Shelters ranging in value from $5K to well over $1M have been built and installed for private households, corporations, communities, and government agencies.

Have a look at some 3D modeling of a 50-foot Military-grade Fallout / Bomb Shelter.

See also the Safecastle shelter site with much more info, images, price lists, and video--including clips of The Weather Channel doing their best to destroy one of those shelters - very amusing, entertaining, and impressive.

Peter Schiff: What the Real Crash Looks Like (Prep for Hyperinflation)

Prepare Now ... "Devaluation Disregarded"

Why Prepare & Fortify?

Deep down, you know that serious crisis preparedness is the wise approach to life in the 21st century. But if you need some factual context to bolster your resolve, have a look at these four longer term trends reflecting growing distress (beyond the simmering brew of near-term economic doom that is now quickly coming to a boil) ...

Embed this image on your site:

<a href="http://www.safecastle.com/reasons-to-prepare.aspx"><img src="http://www.safecastle.com/images/disastersmicrographic%20(1).png" alt="Disasters Infographic"width="100%" border="0" /></a>

See also: "What's Your Plan A: Bug-out or Dig-in?"

Shop online at www.safecastle.com and get club member discounts and free shipping all the time on the world's best storage food brands, such as Mountain House freeze dried food.

Case of Mountain House Food Awarded Tomorrow--June 1

Like Our Facebook Page for a Shot at Your Choice of a MH Food Case

The drawing is June 1 for winner's choice of a case of Mountain House freeze dried food (as listed in our store)--value up to $400!

To get in the drawing, Like OUR PAGE HERE: https://www.facebook.com/Safecastle

One More Month of the Emergency Food Sweep

Dozens of storage foods still on sale thru June. Shop the sale here

AND ... The Spring Rebate Offensive is worth a 3-7% gift certificate rebate on all storage food purchased from April 1-June 30.

Memorial Day Tribute

June 1: Giving Away a Case Of MH Food, Winner's Choice--Value Up to $400!

Just Like Us for a Chance to Win:
www.facebook.com/Safecastle

June 1 is our next Mountain House food case drawing.

Just "like" our page: https://www.facebook.com/Safecastle

... and you'll have a shot at your choice of MH freeze dried food--value up to $400! Best emergency food in the world.

Preparedness Base Camp

Mt. McKinley from the north

Crisis preparedness is by necessity a unique and highly personal endeavor. Your needs, skill sets, physical condition, comfort level, budget considerations, and other factors help define how you can create an effective preparedness plan that delivers peace of mind.

One primary facet of how you approach preparedness that gets little attention is how you see and understand the world. Clearly, your view of reality, your position, and the context of your day-to-day existence in relation to your global horizons are going to largely determine the course of your preparedness path.

Your Base Camp

It’s important to make sense of who and where you are, as well as where you want to go in your quest for preparedness.

Allow me to quickly illustrate …

Mt. McKinley in Alaska is the highest mountain peak in North America--20,320 ft above sea level. Let’s say that vast chunk of granite geographically represents the challenge of crisis readiness. Some folks aspire to being at the peak of the mountain, while others would be quite satisfied with finding their place somewhere on the slopes at an elevation that makes sense for them.

Those eyeing the preparedness challenge surround the mountain—yes, there are millions of us. We are scattered in every direction all around, admiring the beauty and recognizing the reward if we succeed.

Does this mean we will all take the same path? Of course not. We are each starting from a different point and we all have our own unique objectives to reach on that mountain.

But it even goes beyond geography. Yes, we are looking at Mt. McKinley from the North or the South, East, West, or points between. We are at the base of the mountain or maybe 100 miles away. We all see the mountain, but what we perceive is influenced also by the season, weather conditions, AND the lens through which we are viewing it.

Polish the Lens

Focus is key at the early stages of our preparedness journey. The lens we are using to look upon the objective, as well as the rest of the world, is our own special portal or filter that no one else has. As individuals, we have shaped, grinded, polished, centered, and coated our own lens through which we see life. Perhaps that work continues as you make your way.

But for the preparedness journey, if you know where you stand and why it is you are seeing things the way you do, then you are going to have a far greater chance of succeeding … not only in your preparedness ambitions but in life itself.

The Complete Bug-out Bag According to "Uncrate"

Are you a prepper who loves lists, logistics, plans, and of course, bug-out gear? Well, most of us do have some ultimate bug-out bag ideas. Here's a nice version of the one-bag survive-and-thrive plan ...

http://uncrate.com/stuff/equipment-bug-out-bag/

Professional Grade Robots, Lifestraw, & Home Solar Backup ... New at Safecastle

Lifestraw - On Everyone's List, In Everyone's Budget
This is the filter you've been hearing about. The Lifestraw is renowned for reducing the spread of disease and saving thousands of lives in Africa the last few years.

Powerful Home Solar Backup
One of several new solar backup systems we now offer is the Solar Kart 405--easily deployable and storable--designed to backup your home or workshop power supply.

Professional Grade Recon Robot
For the tech-savvy prepper who has almost everything--the powerful Superdroid Crawler--a 4WD, 4WS remotely controlled robot with integrated pan and tilt color camera system. Fully assembled, ready to roll.

Don't forget our ongoing Emergency Food Sweep, including 35% off Lindon Farms Food!!

For Mothers Everywhere

Riots vs. Pogroms | VolkStudio Blog

Good read ... and potentially timely ...

Riots vs. pogroms | VolkStudio Blog

Lindon Farms Storage Food is 35%-off at Safecastle!

Fresh on the heels of our monster Mountain House sale, we move into the next phase of our Emergency Food Sweep ... the Lindon Farms 35%-off sale! This discount is good for everyone--club members and non-members and of course includes free shipping to the lower 48!

Not only that, but our Spring Rebate Offensive continues in which our club members are qualifying for rebates of between 3% and 7% for their total storage food purchases at Safecastle between April 1 and June 30.

At this point we have a total of 65 food listings on sale! Most of those also are member discounted on top of the sale discounts, so the beat goes on. This IS the most aggressive sale ever. Take advantage while you can: http://www.safecastle.com/on-sale.aspx

Last Day of the 25%-off Mountain House Sale: Too Many Reasons to Delay Any Longer

The clock is ticking. Here's the score ... in quick bullet points:

- Peace of mind! Mountain House is the best storage food in the world--and stores for 30 years on the shelf.

- 25%-off all canned MH food thru May 6 only! The lowest allowed MH dealer sale prices!

- Free shipping! Any quantity, any variety or any product--Safecastle ships free to the lower 48.

- Buyers club member MH rewards! Members receive gift certificates worth $40 for every 3 MH can cases purchased in a transaction.

- Spring rebate offensive! Members qualify for rebates amounting to 3 - 7% of the total spent between Apr. 1 and June 30 on all storage food.

- MH dealer prices are rising July 1! All dealers will be required to follow the manufacturer retail price hikes for MH cans effective July 1.

- MH policy change will result in shortages again! MH just announced on May 4 that they are no longer going to be building their can inventory. From past experience, we know that means supply and demand issues are just around the bend.

- Everything is still shipping within one week! Your timing is yet impeccable - our orders are shipping fresh from the factory within days.

Shop the complete sale here

Heed the News from Mountain House

Mountain House can prices WILL be going up soon.
Supply inventories WILL be going down.

Safecastle is a major dealer for Mountain House freeze dried food. We have been for almost 10 years. Through that time we've seen several severe swings in supply and demand in the storage food marketplace.

Our history has borne out the value of staying ahead of the hordes with regard to demand surges and supply shortages. We have usually been able to warn and prepare our customers months in advance of what was about to occur in this area.

Today, we received a communication that was sent out to dealers, so here again--a warning for you that you can take under consideration:

Market conditions and capacity issues at OFD (producer of Mountain House) have brought about a decision by the manufacturer to stop building #10 can inventory. Thus, going forward, we expect supply at the retail level for some MH canned food will become challenging, with backorders becoming more common in the very near future again. Over the next few months, the supply and demand situation will become worse. Remember last year? Or a handful of other times in the last decade?

When (not if) the next trigger occurs out there to cause another stampede into preparedness (ala Hurricane Katrina or any number of other recent events), inventories will very quickly be depleted and it will take months to again allow the best quality food producers out to ramp back up in response. I've been in this business long enough to understand the cyclical nature of what is going on, and to see clearly that the next leg down is now in the works.

Another factor that I believe will make this situation a bit worse you, the customer--the number of MH dealers out there is greatly diminished after last year's 6-month MH supply drought.

 

When you boil it all down, we expect to see a return to severe supply and demand volatility in the MH and in the storage food marketplace in general.

I know our long-time customers appreciate getting these kinds of insights from us when they can take advantage. Right now, of course, our MH cans sale is down to our last two days. It really is the best deal available to you in our history and for the forseeable future.

Oh--and we also just got word today that the first backorder has forced us to remove the popular MH Mexican Rice and Chicken entree in #10 cans from our listings--it is unknown when it will be back in production.

Otherwise--everything else is still in stock and shipping out within a week!

Shop the sale here

Stay safe.