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Brandon Currin

Survival Skills We Could Learn from Our Grandparents

Survival Skills We Could Learn from Our Grandparents

Technology makes our lives so much easier, and while we love it (especially fun technology like our vidja games and phones) as much as the next person, what happens if an event occurs that takes down the electric grid and everything it powers?!

Don’t think it could happen? It already has before, but back then, we didn't rely so much on electricity. Looks like we could learn a thing or two about survival skills from our Gram and Pop, and even their parents.

Check out these 4 survival skills we could learn from our grandparents:

Preparing meals from scratch

Back before the days of the Whopper and McChicken, everybody used to have to make their meals from scratch. Imagine a life before quick and easy frozen dinners. When SHTF, you’re going to wish that you lived back in the days where you knew how to prepare meals from scratch by age five. We know as preppers that it’s important to keep stockpiles of nonperishable foods in case of an emergency, but would you be ready to make a full meal out of these foods if you had to? Take some time to learn how to prepare some food with only the basics. Prepare everything by hand rather than buying premixed ingredients. Use a fire instead of a stove. Even try out some of the recipes in this backcountry cooking book from Mission 24.  

Preserving food

On the flip side of making food from scratch, you should probably know how to preserve food, too. Where do you think your bananas and cucumbers come from when they’re not in season? Probably from over 1,000 miles away. When SHTF, you better not expect to be eating those frequently shipped foods year-round.

Our older relatives didn't even have this option; instead, they’d produce a surplus and preserve it for times of scarcity. Take a lesson from them, and learn these food preservation skills before you find yourself in a SHTF scenario:

  • Pickling
  • Smoking
  • Dry salting
  • Curing
  • Drying
  • Lacto-fermentation

Natural first aid

Before the era of highways, ambulances, and EMTs, our grandparents, and even great-grandparents, used to rely on natural first aid techniques. There are so many different plants and herbs that they knew how to use to treat all sorts of wounds. Did you know that cayenne pepper can stop bleeding? No? Well, now you’re one step closer for being prepared when SHTF.

Be sure to brush up on some of your natural first-aid techniques, and grab yourself one of these medical combat bags before you find yourself needing one. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

Navigating without a GPS

There’s this magical thing that lets you see an entire city, without even using technology! What could it possibly be, you ask? A map! Groundbreaking, isn’t it? Once the grid goes down and every GPS known to man is fried, there’s going to be a lot of people lost in their own city.

Looks like it’s time to take your old map out of storage, wipe the dust off, and start practicing your geographical orientation skills. Want to increase your chances of survival? Do these three things:

  1. Look at your map from a tactical standpoint. Find exit strategies and locate safe points.
  2. Drive around your neighborhood without using a GPS or a map to get a better feel for the layout.
  3. Hang a map of your neighborhood somewhere in your house - this way you’re looking at it every day and can become more familiar with it.

Considering how dependent we are on technology, and how unreliable it actually is, we’re slowly putting our own survival in jeopardy. As a prepper, it’s our duty to be prepared for every possible SHTF scenario - so practice these skills before you need to use them!

Do you have any skills your grandparents or great-grandparents taught you that other preppers should know? Let us know our Facebook page!

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