Doomsday Preppers Week 5: Hot Sauce and Helicopters
Ryan Croft lives with his wife and five teenage sons in the suburbs of Asheville, North Carolina. He is — like so many preppers — preparing for a financial collapse.
I’m not going to sit and wait for someone else to come up with solutions. I’ve been involved with government. Their solutions suuuuuck.
While many preppers have a bug-out plan, Croft is devoted to his community and plans to do whatever it takes to help people survive if the worst happens. That is a very tall order in the mountains of western NC, where the show says just one percent of the food consumed is grown locally. His solution?
Yummy, tasty algae.
Spirulina algae to be specific, which was cultivated by Mesoamerican cultures including the Aztecs in temperate regions; it was an ingredient in a tasty cake they called”techuitlatl” (according to Wikipedia, which never gets things wrong). The nutritional value of Spirulina is as a complex protein, but the cost effectiveness of raising a tropical algae in the cold waters of the Appalachian Mountains is, in my mind, questionable.
If a delicious glass of algae isn’t your, uh, cup of tea, Ryan has another idea for your prepper meal: earthworms. Ryan’s advice for an ingestion helper is something I’ve noticed holds true fairly universally.
Hot sauce goes a long way with helping you to eat things that you normally wouldn’t eat.
Depending on his unconventional foods, primitive survival techniques, and his Air Force survival training, Ryan has only amassed a 3-4 months worth of food. He believes that for long-term survival, you have to be able to live off the land.
And mice. Which carry tapeworms. Which you would have to eat 17 of a day. Yum.
An intelligent ‘prepper’ wouldn’t live near a fault line in the first place.
“Since the show was taped, the Wander family feels the condition of the United States has deteriorated so much that they are considering moving back to Israel, a nation surrounded by enemies.”
I was stunned by that. Though I wonder if he may have run into a few anti-Semitic remarks as he ran for city council.
“After ripping on prepper father Tom Perez for using his children to defend his $2 million compound in Texas,”
So you really take that seriously enough to get your panties in a bunch over it?
Really?
Luckily for Ryan, he has a network in Asheville and another one down “the road” in the mountains. Probably a good thing they didn’t go into the network on the show. All the liberal hippies in Asheville are reason enough to get out of there when TSHTF.
BTW, a helicopter on demand isn’t much good if the pilot skips town before he picks you up. What is the pilot’s priority. Also, if I had the cash, I would have bought an old military helicopter that could take my supplies with me.
I’m also a bit surprised about the choice of living next to the Muslim Brotherhood rather than the New Black Panther Party. And he isn’t even in Philadelphia.
If you had enough money to prep by buying a helicopter, couldn’t you spare enough cash to take a few lessons to get licensed?
“And he isn’t even in Philadelphia.” I agree. While Philly is a poor place to ride out a storm, Pittsburgh is a much nicer city. Plus there is lots of rural land nearby to bug out to.
Also agree about the pilot’s license. Why doesn’t he? One explanation could be that helicopters are difficult to fly. Fixed wing airplanes are much easier. He could be competent in an airplane in a few months. Plus, airplanes are more efficient, economical and easier to repair. A good bush plane like a Maule will get you into most areas you would want to go.
Philly to Pittsburgh in a helicopter. You are talking Dawn of the Dead.
Hole up in a shopping mall.
35 years ago, I lived in the piedmont of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Everyone then had a large vegetable garden. Towards the end of summer, it was a common sight to see bags and boxes of surplus produce along the road with “FREE” signs on them. But everyone had the same problem — what are we going to do with all of these extra tomatoes, cucumbers and squash?
I went through the same area last summer and did not see one vegetable garden.
Glad you guys are around “changing” the culture, and glorifying goofy conspiratorial movements like the preppers. I wonder if Nancy Lanza was a fellow fan?
I know right? It’s almost as bad as those nut jobs waiting for 2012 end times or global warming apocalypse.
I think from what I’ve been reading, General Tso, that she may have been more likely to be an article in waiting rather than a fan. Heard she took the boys out shooting and taught them how to use weapons to prepare for the end. Also reports that the son had lots of end of the world stuff on his computer, heard one of his last visits in his history was to the video of the Australian Prime Minister giving her end of the world speech. Another Aussie “prank” gone terribly wrong?
I get tired of everyone picking on crazy preppers. Preparations is important for everyone. Everyone faces the possibility of a lost job, poor health or natural disaster situations. Take a hard look at where you are. If you have nothing get started on something. Get yourself a 72 hour survival kit. Store some water. If you have those things under control start saving for a rainy day and don’t forget to store at least a two week supply of food. Remember preparation starts with you, not the government.