Preparing for the Coming Collapse of the US Dollar

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter One: Food/Water

Chapter Two: Procuring Food

Chapter Three: Preserving Food

Chapter Four: Preparing Food

Chapter Five: Procuring Energy

Chapter Six: Preserving Energy

Chapter Seven: Communication

Chapter Eight: Procuring Communication

Chapter Nine: Protection

Chapter Ten: Protecting Your House

Chapter Eleven: Protecting Your Weapons

Chapter Twelve: When Money Doesn’t Work

Chapter Thirteen: Rules for Bartering

Other Books by David Roberts

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION

I started work on this book three years ago. At issue with me was the fact that many people were warning us about a pending collapse of the American dollar and in each segment when the experts were asked what to do about it, they inevitably led in with the advice to buy gold. My question was always, So what if I don’t own, can’t afford, gold? What do I do?

Since its publication the community of people and preppers on the PFTCCOTUSD Facebook page has grown exponentially. In the last year, I have had the opportunity to meet people who have lived a prepper life. Some with money to do so, others just doing what they could. It has been a wonderful year of learning stuff I didn’t know about some subjects I thought I had exhausted in my search for the answers to what one should do at the collapse of the dollar.

The book began selling very well last year about this time and was even at #2 in the economics books for a while right under Glenn Beck’s book. I figured that that was as close as I was ever going to get to being a best selling author so hey, I’ll take it.

Then the libs found the book and began criticizing it on Amazon. That just about killed a lot of sales for me. Is it perfect? No, I don’t have a staff of editors on call, I’m broke so that’s not really an option for me at this point. Are there problems with punctuation? Maybe, I was working so hard on getting the information out and available, I wasn’t diagramming sentences etc. What was really bothersome is the comments that were made by some who obviously didn’t bother reading past the introduction. Or they intentionally deceived others through their review.

You know what? If you like the book, great! If not, that’s fine too. But please don’t lie about it because my political beliefs differ from yours. This is America! I will defend your Constitutional right to be horrendously wrong.

This edition of the Preparing book will include what was originally supposed to be the second part of the book, it is entitled, The Last Domino and several of the blog posts at the God and Country: Preparing for the Coming Collapse of the US Dollar blog. It is my hope that this will help give you the information you need to be prepared.

I have corrected grammar where I felt it important enough to do so and added notes to correct the misrepresentations about the book in the reviews on Amazon. I hope you enjoy it.

INTRODUCTION

The fact that you are reading this book now means that you get it. I don’t have to explain what is coming to our beloved country. Whether it’s the collapse of the dollar to worthlessness or the panic as a result of climbing hyperinflation prior to the collapse doesn’t matter. Whether it occurs when Barack Hussein Obama is in power or when a Tea Party conservative President is in power the fact is that that day is coming soon.

History shows us what happens when a countries’ monetary system collapses. It happened in Germany after World War I and for decades decimated the economy and the way of life even more than the ravages of war had. It’s happened in several countries since then. It will happen here.

A collapsed dollar means that all those hours you are working will be exchanged for a pile of worthless paper. So why work? How would grocery stores receive compensation for the foods they sell? How many employees would show up to work if they got paid in what was essentially Monopoly money? How would mortgage companies respond? Landlords? Utility companies?

When Hurricane Charley swept through Central Florida, residents awoke to a new reality. Gas stations, grocery stores, any normal place you could go to stock up on supplies were closed. It was either because there was no power, no gas, or damage to the store structure. Many of these stores were closed for a week or more, and there are some locations that never reopened.

Then there was Hurricane Frances, then Ivan and Jeanne all in a one month period of time. Those who were out of food or who didn’t stock up were out of luck. Those who did had to either preserve or prepare the food somehow before the lack of electricity spoiled their food supply. An economic disaster will be far worse than four back to back hurricanes. You need to prepare.

The after effects of a collapsed dollar could last as few as one year to as many as a decade or two. So what can you do to prepare for this? Don’t get me wrong, everyone is going to experience a rough time. But there are practical steps you can take now to ensure that you at least have food, water, limited power, fuel, protection and a means of bartering for goods or services you don’t have.

Each section of this book has common sense steps you can take to provide for your future in an unstable environment. Each section of the book has step by step instructions to build the structures or items you will need to be prepared. These steps are for the most part low impact, low cost steps so that everyone regardless of means can at least begin the process of preparation. There are also instructions included for those who DO have the means to invest a few thousand dollars into structures or projects. I included these, along with cheaper alternatives for the rest of us who can’t afford these steps.

If the methods in this book seem extreme or paranoid, remember that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The little baby steps you take now in preparation will pay off big time when the crap hits the fan. Everyone thought Noah was extreme and paranoid preparing for a flood that no one believed was coming except for him. Finding out he was right too late cost these scoffers their lives.

The cost of this book is kept intentionally low so that it can be affordable for many people. I won’t really make a lot of money on this book I just figured that if more of my neighbors started preparing now, there would be fewer people panicking in the streets.

Remember that if you can’t do each step listed, if you can procure food and water, you will be miles ahead of much of the population, if you can preserve food, procure energy or any one of the four major needs you will have you can be a step ahead of someone else. Do what you can where you are and be prepared for what you can.

Food Prices increased 50% in the last six months of 2010. And they continued to climb in 2011.

CHAPTER ONE

FOOD/WATER

Your first priority for you and your family is being able to provide basic food and water. The combination of a collapsing dollar and hyper inflation will be a ‘perfect storm’ of disaster for our everyday life. While stores remain open prior to the actual collapse there are several practical steps you can take to ensure a supply of at least the basics in supplies for food and water.

You only have to look at the injuries and deaths reported of those who were trampled on a Black Friday by those eager to get the discounted video games or appliances to realize what would happen if it were daily sustenance at stake and not a Christmas present. Those who scoff at the idea of preparation for disaster will be those rioting in the streets and trampling over little old ladies to get to the last remaining food in the stores.

There are several steps you can take right now to begin preparation.

First, purchase a sizable freezer. Ideally you should be able to store 2.0 cubic feet of frozen meats per person in the household. If all you can afford is a small 5.0 cubic feet freezer, get it anyway, there are other ways to preserve foods that don’t involve freezing. You can get a used one off of Craigslist, or purchase a small one for under $200. If you can’t afford that, keep reading, there are alternatives.

Second, purchase a membership at a wholesale club. It will pay off in the first year.

As of March of 2011, food prices in our area have risen anywhere from 50% to 150% in less than two months. In the last year, the price of corn has risen exponentially. (over 800% according to Ag Department) When we take corn which is the cheapest source of food in the world and we use it to aid in the prevention of a hoax called Global Warming by adding it to our fuel supply, the prices rise creating a ripple effect across the spectrum of available foods.

Higher corn prices lead to higher prices for pork, beef, chicken, milk, eggs, butter, cream, sugars, cereals, and thousands of other food products. The same bag of taco shells that a family bought two years ago is now eight times more expensive than it was. These spikes in costs will only get worse before the dollar finally collapses.

Use your membership to purchase whole cuts of meat from the wholesale club. Buying in bulk can save you hundreds of dollars in food costs. Pork Chops, Pork Roasts and boneless spare ribs will cost you three to four times per pound what a large pork loin will cost you. One ten pound pork loin can be sliced into forty pork chops or three large pork roasts. The narrow end of the pork loin can be cut into strips for boneless spare ribs. You are paying four times the cost for the meat to be sliced. Do you have a knife? Save your money and cut it yourself.

Last year when I completed and published this book, pork loins were selling in our area at $1.89 a pound. Six months from that point, they were selling at $3.89 a pound, today, same store, same type of cut they are selling at $5.89 a pound. The good news is that the price in the wholesale stores has only climbed to $2.29 a pound. Beef is the same, this year now more than $2.00 a pound over what we paid last year.

Do the same for beef by purchasing whole sirloins or bottom round roasts. You will save by dividing these portions and putting them in freezer bags to be cooked later. Label the freezer bags with the date and contents, because you will forget when you bought it and sometimes what it is. (I do.) Other inexpensive goods to stock up on now include; Flour, sugar, rice, pastas, beans, powdered milk, canned vegetables and fruits, breads and yeast. The simple ingredients of flour, eggs, dry milk, oil and sugar can make breads and pastas suitable for freezing.

These items may be stored in a cool place or in a clean metal trash can with a tight lid. To further prevent insects from infesting your food supply, set a large round pan in your shed or garage. Place a cinderblock in the center of this pan and set the trash can on top of the cinderblock. Fill the pan with water and keep it filled. It sounds over simplified, but we do this and it does work.

Third, calculate the amount of food you will need to store. Obviously this will be limited by the space you have available for food storage and your budget. Each adult will need about two pounds of protein, one pound of pastas or breads, one pound of vegetables or fruit and two gallons of water per week. Each child will need about half of that in food and roughly the same amount in water. Ideally, you should have about six months of food stored for each person in the house. If all you can do is one month’s worth, make sure you keep that supply on hand and shop as if you did not have that stored food.

You may be asking, what about after I’m out of food? After the stores are closed or the dollar is worthless how do I get my family fed? The emergency supply of food is to give you enough time to procure food on your own. There are three highly important areas in obtaining food in an unstable environment. First is the procuring of food, second is the preservation of food and third is in the preparation of the food you have procured. We will look at that in the coming sections.

Storing water involves a little more than just setting it somewhere and forgetting it. The five gallon water jugs you get from the store require a deposit on the bottle, but it’s a good idea to have some of those stored for later use. If the cap is on it, air can’t get to it and cause bacteria growth in the water. Keep the water in a dark cool place. Air and light are your enemies when it comes to storing water as it can aid in the growth of green algae that would make water unpalatable.

Add one drop of bleach for each gallon of water stored. Cover the jugs with a tarp in a cool corner of your garage or basement. These are to be used for emergency only so don’t put off buying water for day to day use. If you do not have a well, it would be a good idea, if you have the money, get a combination manual and electric pump water well. If you don’t have the money, I understand, neither do I, I’m just fortunate enough to live in a house with a well.

LIST OF OTHER ITEMS TO STOCK UP ON:

Toilet Paper, Feminine Products, Prescription Medicines, Powdered Milk, Over the Counter Medicines, Ice, Fuel, Pet Foods, Ammunition, Batteries (preferably rechargeable) and flashlights. Eggs and Milk can be frozen but take a good three days to thaw in the fridge. Charcoal and/or wood chips. Feed for the animals you raise. Seeds, soil and insecticides.

CHAPTER TWO:

PROCURING FOOD

Many millionaires will tell you that the secret to their money-making success was to find an asset that would ‘throw off’ money with little input or work by the owner of the asset. The truly successful had many of these types of assets each one ‘throwing off’ money. This is the same idea behind the procuring of food. You need to have an asset (a food) that ‘throws off’ food on a regular basis. What do I mean by that? It’s simple, you do what your grandparents and great grandparents did you raise your own food.

Animals

Purchase chickens or ducks. A young chicken or duck will ‘throw off’ one egg daily, every day 365 days a year. Owning one chicken per individual in the household will generate a high protein source of food every day for a good three years. You do not need a rooster to get eggs, you will need one if you plan on incubating some eggs to ‘throw off’ more chickens. If space allows in your yard, you may consider purchasing two or three female chickens per individual. It takes six months for a baby duck or chick to begin laying eggs. These eggs can be used to make breads, pastas and more. (Hence the reason for the six month supply of food.)

There are four main advantages to owning chickens. First, the obvious benefit of daily fresh eggs for food. (or ‘gulp’, harvesting them for meat) Second, chickens will de-bug your yard and keep the grass low. Third, chicken manure is some of the best fertilizer for gardens and lawns. Use sparingly, it is HIGH in nitrogen and can burn your vegetable plants. Owning chickens was common up through the 1950’s in every city in America. Many people owned chickens or livestock of some kind. They can be kept safely in a cheaply constructed coop or a large dog kennel with access to the grass below. Fourth, chickens can eat discarded veggies, spoiled milk, stale bread and boiled egg shells.

But I can’t have chickens in my HOA or apartment. My yard is too small, or I don’t have a yard. We will deal with these situations at the end of this section, for right now, keep reading.

Chickens need to be able to perch up off the ground at night, be protected from predators and thieves, and have access to clean food and water. A simple ‘A-frame’ coop can be built with scrap wood materials and chicken wire for under $100. (see step by step coop instructions in Section) There are a few sets of instructions for coop building, read all of them and choose the one that fits your budget and size requirements. We have since last year constructed coops out of free pallets and chicken wire. They work very well.

There are a few simple rules in keeping chickens or ducks.

Rule 1 – Chickens are stupid. They will find a hole in your fence to escape into the front yard and perch in the oddest places including grills, cardboard boxes and underneath your house. (yeah, add behind the tires of your vehicle on a rainy day to that list. Don’t ask.)

Rule 2 – Chickens are helpless. A chicken has no natural defense system except to run. They must be protected in an enclosure.

Rule 3 – Chickens need clean food and water. BUT, remember Rule 1. They will poop in their food and water supply. A well placed water bucket utilizing chicken water nipples on the bottom will keep poop out of the water. A hanging feeder will keep poop out of the food.

Rule 4 – If you want to keep 6 chickens, get 9. You will lose some chickens to predators or illness even if you are very careful with them. Be prepared and make sure you don’t lose too many egg-layers.

You may be saying to yourself, That’s a lot of trouble to get eggs. Right now a dozen eggs sell for between $2 and $3. But, Remember, you are preparing for the day when eggs reach as high as $5 to $10 per dozen or are completely unavailable because of grocery stores closing and the collapse of the dollar. The same neighbors that may complain about the cluck – cluck coming from your backyard will be the ones begging for a dozen eggs to feed their families because they have not prepared.

Buy a dairy cow, or female goat.

WHOA! Are you serious, David? Where would I put a cow or goat? Yes, it is possible even if you live in an apartment or small house with no yard to own a cow. We’ll deal with that momentarily. The rest of you consider this, a cow or goat eats grass, hay and weeds. The cow will keep your yard trimmed and you will not need your riding mower anymore. How much did that mower cost, a couple thousand dollars? The cow will keep your yard nicely fertilized and provide fuel for your compost pile. The compost pile can aid in generating heat for a small greenhouse in climates where winters are extremely harsh. See the section on building a heated greenhouse. Or it will provide fertilizer for your garden area.

An average dairy cow produces 6-8 gallons of milk daily. An average goat produces about 2 gallons a day. That is way too much for a typical family. From this production of milk, you can also make cream, butter, and cheeses. The worldwide production of meats and milk products involves more goats than it does cows. The addition of a male goat or Buck, will help ensure an addition of a new young goat twice per year, ‘throwing off’ another possible milk or meat source.

OK, FOR YOU APARTMENT/SMALL YARD DWELLERS

For those of you who live in an apartment, or in a neighborhood with a Home Owner’s Association that will not permit cattle or chickens, you do have a few viable options. The first is in raising quiet animals for meat. (Please don’t call me if you are in PETA, those nuts will be the first ones off the deep end eating whatever walks in front of them when they are desperate.)

Rabbits are quiet animals. And yes, they are adorable as bunnies, but they grow up quick. In six months with unchecked mating and births, your food supply could include close to one hundred rabbits. Remember, rabbits up until a generation ago were considered food. Their disposition and rapid reproduction can work for you if you are raising food as opposed to working against you if you are raising pets. No neighbor need be aware of the number of rabbits you own. And rabbits generate fertilizer all day long. I did not know this when I wrote this book, but rabbit fertilizer is garden ready fertilizer, no composting necessary AND, people buy bags of rabbit poop. Wow!

Your other option involves finding your local 4H office and becoming an active participant in the activities of these families. Your kids can even earn scholarships to camp and money for raising chickens, ducks, rabbits, citrus trees and livestock.

Some groups call this viable option a co-op, others call it an exchange. Someone in a 4H group will have the land and room for chickens, cows, or pigs. Many of them already have these animals on their property. A co-op is a small group of families purchasing a share of a cow, a group of cows or a flock of chickens. Four families purchase the animals and each pays a fourth of the costs for feed and care. In return, each family receives a fourth of the milk from the cow, eggs from the chickens and when their production days are over, a fourth of the meat.

If you can’t find a local 4H office, or your local 4H office has no active exchanges in place, find a couple of friends that ‘get it’. You have to know someone that has the room for one of these types of animals. Create your own co-op and enjoy the proceeds. Connect on the God and Country ministries facebook page and send us your location and your idea for an exchange and we will try to link you to someone in your area who can help form the exchange. godandcountrycc@gmail.com

OTHER OPTIONS

If you have a pool, you know how much of a pain pool maintenance can be. Converting a swimming pool into a pond for stocking fish is not a new idea. It’s a matter of purchasing a stronger filter system to handle fish waste and keeping the water oxygenated constantly. Fish is another animal that will ‘throw off’ food for you. Catfish fingerlings mature in about six months and will begin reproducing generating more catfish. As long as you keep the fish well fed with table scraps and cheap dog food, many of the little fish will survive to edible sizes.

The pool should be a saline and not a chlorine type pool and the water can be kept clear as discussed in the keeping pond fish alive in winter chapter in the Section for this section. If you do not have a pool, portable spas and pools can be purchased cheaply sometimes used ones are free if you are willing to haul them away. Edible fish available for sale as fingerlings include catfish, bass, perch, and trout.

Update: Tilapia grow faster than any other fish to edible sizes. Consider tilapia as an alternative to bass or perch which can take over a year to be ready to eat.

Frequent trips to the ocean, if that is feasible, we are 40 minutes from either coast in Florida, can yield large catches of crab, shrimp, scallops, larger fish and more that can be used to supplement your food supply. Check out the step-by-step instructions on how to build a topless crab trap. You will need fishing poles with high strength line.

Vegetables and Fruits

Another type of food that will ‘throw off’ additional foods for you for a few seasons is the vegetable or fruit. If you are like me, neither of my thumbs are green and growing things is difficult. Follow these steps and it could help compensate as it has done for me. If you don’t have the room for a large garden, you can at least use a small portion of a yard and plastic containers to grow a little fruit or vegetables. High yield vegetable plants include tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and peas. Low yield vegetable plants include onions, potatoes, lettuce and cabbage.

One important rule about the purchase of vegetable or fruit seeds is ‘don’t buy hybrid seeds’. You want fruit or vegetables that will create viable seeds for the second generation of plants. Many hybrid seeds cannot do that.

Why? Because a hybrid is created from two or more different plants of the same species vegetable. The over zealous production of a cherry tomato plant with so-so taste can be bred with the so-so production of large tomatoes with excellent flavor. The ideal hybrid will be a LOT of tasty (if mediocre) tomatoes. When you plant for the second generation, you may end up with the parent type of plant you don’t want.

Using a fence or trellis to help the high yield plants climb will help promote the growth and production in the smallest area. Planting several onion plants around the border of your garden will aid in keeping some pests away. If you have chickens or goats, make sure they are safely away from the garden area, they will eat everything.

Use the manure as a fertilizer for your garden by mixing some into the soil and mulch. High yield fruit production can be obtained in time with citrus trees that are already blooming. Don’t purchase a sapling, you won’t have time to wait for the tree to mature. Other high yield fruits include peanuts, melons, strawberries, grapes and berries.

Have you seen the upside down tomato planters? You can make one of those from an empty 2-liter soda bottle and save $10. Upside down planters can grow any vine-type plant and can be hung from porches or balconies. Here’s how to do it.

Cut the bottle’s bottom off at about the ¾ inch mark. Remove the cap and insert the tomato, strawberry or other plant through the bottom of the bottle so that the leaves and stem exit out through the narrow opening. Insert cut pieces of sponges into the openings around the plant where dirt may exit the bottle when you water the plant. Place a 2 inch layer of small pebbles around the roots and fill the rest of the bottle with soil. Use a hole punch and make three holes in what is now the top of the bottle. Hang the bottle about three feet off the ground from a fence post or railing on a deck. The vines should have some kind of support to use to climb on.

It was this particular project that one lib found to be dubious, listen if you can keep the soil in the bottle, cover the bottle with duct tape or paint to keep light out, these planters produce veggies in areas you would never be able to produce veggies in otherwise.

For those in climates not conducive to year round growth building a small greenhouse is not as difficult as you might think. Consult the step-by-step directions for building one of the greenhouses at the end of this section.

But I live in an apartment, small house, etc.

At the end of this section are step by step instructions on how to utilize DWC (Deep Water Culture) Bubblers and how to build a grow room out of an existing structure. Remember that these will be extreme times where it will be food, not marijuana being grown indoors. The DWC Bubblers will allow you to grow multiple plants in a smaller area and indoors. This will eliminate the need for soil and dirty fertilizers, your plants will be fed and sustained in clean substrate with liquids only.

HOW TO START FROM A SEED IN A DWC BUBBLER

There are two ways to build a DWC Bubbler, one is the expensive way, order from the DWC manufacturer, the other is the cheap way, use five to fifteen gallon tubs you can get at garage sales and grocery stores for pennies on the dollar. If you can afford the expensive way, great, if not, just get the cheap ones.

The most delicate stage of development in a plant is germinating the seed into a seedling. If there is not enough water, the seed doesn't start. If there is too much water, the seed dies. The answer is in using the DWC Deep Water Culture hydroponics method of starting your seeds. A DWC is relatively cheap to build if constructed correctly and provides an oxygen-rich environment for your seedlings. Using the DWC system avoids the insects that come with using soil or other media for growing seeds in.

Place duct tape over sides and bottom of the plastic container or bucket. The goal is to prevent light from entering the interior of the container and causing algae to grow. If the container you chose is a dark color and does not allow a lot of light to penetrate the sides or bottom, you can still apply duct tape to prevent what little light there is from penetrating and causing slow algae growth, which will kill the roots of your seedling.

Drill a 1/8-inch hole about 1 inch from the top of the container. The hole should be located in the back portion of the container. Insert the black air hose into the container through the drilled hole and connect the air stone to the black hose on the inside of the container. The air hose can be purchased from any pet store or aquarium supply.

Drill a 1-3/8-inch hole into the lid of the container, place the lid on the container and set a similar sized net pot into this hole. Note where the bottom of the pot rests, the pot should not reach all the way to the bottom of the plastic container. There should be enough room in the container