I'm not seriously into survivalism but it's a fascinating subject, and I lurked on this group for quite some time, learned a lot. I don't think I ever posted on it.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.survival
I get ideas about things I'm interested in, digging a well, putting in a pump, earthships, making water safe with bleach and outdoor distillation methods, solar, wind, all sorts of things on youtube.
Have fun. Your Ball lids should still be ok, maybe the rubber seals degrade though. My son was heavily into prepping. If you put enough thought into it, there probably aren't many fail safe methods. But anything is better than nothing.
Your canning jars you can put dry beans and other dry things like flour, corn meal, etc. I'd put them in the freezer for 3 days to "prep" them. That's what I do with flour I buy at the store. The Orkin man gave me that tip years ago.
Also look how Russians freeze things for the winter in Siberia. And the video about Agafiya (sp?) and how her family survived for years in an extremely harsh environment. They fled for religious reasons.
Those books about edible foods in the woods and plains would be good, too.
Good luck!
“Your canning jars you can put dry beans and other dry things like flour, corn meal, etc. I’d put them in the freezer for 3 days to “prep” them. That’s what I do with flour I buy at the store. The Orkin man gave me that tip years ago.”
That was my first canning experience. People on granny’s old thread walked me through it. I first froze beans and grains for three days To kill any eggs. Then heated them in the oven to a really really low temperature to drive moisture off. Then put the jars into the oven and got them hot, added the ingredients and then put the lids on. When I took them out and let them cool a vacuum was created, sucking down the lids.
It actually worked!