How to Make a Milk Crate Camping Toilet

How to Make a Milk Crate Camping Toilet

 

Camping Toilet
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As the wife and I go to the farm we will have to rough it until I get some infrastructure built. For me, natural morning tasks can be done behind a tree.  However, not only is Genny more civilized, she does not have a camping background.

To be nice to her I decided to make her a camping toilet.  Hopefully, that would make her feel a little more comfortable.  Note, I don;t want her TOO comfortable or it would take a longer time to get her to let spend money to build.

When I was in the Marines, we has a metal folding chair that our welder cut a hole in the seat before mounting a toilet seat to. We kept on the back deck of out M88A1 and when out in the field it was easy to set up.

I don’t want to cut up my folding chairs.  However, I do have some milk crates.

Milk crates, incidentally, fit over a 5 gallon bucket.

By using a bucket under the toilet it allows me to pack the waste home and dispose of in our septic system.  However, in a grid down situation, I could empty it into a deep hole away from any water sources.

How I Made a Milk Crate Toilet Seat

I bought a new wooden toilet seat for $5.00.

The angle of the brackets did not allow me to mount it directly to the milk crate without modification.  I unscrewed the brackets from the seat.

I screwed a 1×2 wood strip to one side of the bottom (soon to be top) of the crate. This will eventually be were the bracket is screwed to.

I placed the seat on the crate and adjusted it to where I wanted.  Next, I drilled and countersunk 4 holes in the seat.  Then I used my reciprocating saw to cut out a hole.

Using some large washers and the bolts, I bolted the seat to the crate.

I then reattached the bracket to the seat lid, and screwed the bracket into the wood strip I attached to the crate earlier.

The plan is to set the crate on some bricks to both raise it to a comfortable level, as well as to keep the crate from completely covering the bucket, as that would make it more difficult to remove (last thing I want is to fight with a sloshing bucket of poop)…

Hopefully this little project will make my wife’s camping experience a little easier, and that you can find a way to adapt this idea to you bug out/SHTF/Camping needs.

PRN Episode #29 Best of - Plus last 6 months of Shows

PRN Episode #29 Best of – Plus last 6 months of Shows

52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
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We have been podcasting with the Preparedness Radio Network PRN for 6 months now.  I am pleased with the quality of information we have been able to provide.

I was working on a consolidated list of shows to celebrate this 6 month milestone.  However, while doing so, our audio editor had a major heart attack.

We aren’t going to have a live show this week in order to give him some time to rest.

So instead of a live show, we are going to have a “Best Of” episode.  I will put a consolidated list of shows with links below.

That way you can catch up on any shows you may have missed.

The show is scheduled for Monday at 10pm central time at this link.

If you cannot listen on Monday, you can always download the podcast for listening at your own leisure.

Our Shows

#1 Introduction

#2 Gun Safety

#3 Mindset

#4 AR-15 Build and Tips

#5 What to Do After a Shooting

#6 Self Reliance

#7 John Wesley Smith

#8 Interview Covert Prepper

#9 Interview Wheaton

#10 Interview Bashioum

#11 Interview Scott Hunt

#12 What You Can Do

#13 Interview Baugh

#14 Interview Braaten

#15 Interview Harrison

#16 Interview Barefoot Builder

#17 Raising Rabbits

#18 Top Bar Beekeeping for Preppers

#19 Interview Lamar Alexander

#20 Interview Lamar Alexander Replay (Producer Miscommunication)

#21 Interview Rob Roy

#22 Interview Tom Givens Rangemaster

#23 Interview James Talmage Stevens

#24 Interview Glen Meador

#25 Interview Dr. Tom Cannon

#26 Critical Incident Stress Management

#27 Interview Survival Punk

#28 Interview FerFal

What is the HK Slap? Failure to Fire on a CETME

 

CETME HK Slap and Failure to Fire
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First let’s describe what the “HK Slap” is.   When the cocking handle locked back and up into a slot in the receiver, it needs to be releases.  The HK slap is when the bolt handle is slapped down.  Thereby, releasing it to ride forward under spring pressure to chamber a round.

This is how many of the HK guns were designed to work. There are some internet forums that discuss the HK slap and say that it contributes to excessive wear. However, in my opinion this just doesn’t make sense. Riding the bolt home to “prevent wear”.

Basically keeping the bolt from impacting on the chamber is a symptom of the thinking that causes people to ride their pistol slides forward causing malfunctions, and/or buying buffer devices that retard the slide action and cause malfunctions.

Use the gun as the manufacturer designed it and you are almost always guaranteed less problems than when you try to engineer new techniques.

In the video I was shooting some ammunition with hard primers. When I used the sling shot method of pulling the handle to the rear and letting it go, or when I rode the handle home I had multiple failure to fire malfunctions.

When I used the HK slap I did not have any problems. I know this is anecdotal, but it works.

Recipe Cream of Whatever Soup Substitute

52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
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Typical canned food bought in bulk at Aldi or warehouse stores makes up a significant portion of my families food storage plan.

It is simple, lasts several years, and fits like a glove in the “store what you eat, eat what you store” philosophy.

However as easy as it is to use canned soups as bases for recipes, it is not the most frugal way of doing things.

In today’s post I will show how to make a simple base for cream of whatever soup.

If you want cream of chicken use chicken stock, for tomato us tomato juice – its that simple…

I use this cream of whatever soup recipe all of the time to make different sauces and soups – which cheese it makes a great alfredo sauce, and I love it with gnocchi – which reminds me I need to make a gnocchi video in the near future.

The flexibility this recipe gives me a lot of options, but I also like the ease of cooking this gives me – it is akin to the prepper classic “magic mix“.

I use this whenever I need a fast dinner – I dump this over noodles and mix it with some meat and vegetables. You can even make a really good tomato cream sauce with a similar technique.

Ingredients:

  • 3 Tablespoons butter or oil
  • 3 Tablespoons flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • dash of pepper
  • 1-1/4 cup liquid, milk or stock

Procedure:

  • Melt butter or oil in saucepan.
  • Stir in flour and seasonings.
  • Cook over medium heat until bubbly.
  • Add liquid slowly, stirring with wire whisk to prevent lumps.
  • Cook until thick.

Makes the equivalent to 1 can of condensed soup.

Variations:

Use your imagination

Tomato Soup: Use tomato juice for the liquid. Add dashes of garlic, onion powder, basil and oregano.

Chicken Soup: Use chicken broth for half the liquid. Add 1/4 t. poultry seasoning or sage.

Mushroom/celery/chive soup: Saute 1/4 C chopped mushrooms, celery or chives and 1 T minced onion in butter before adding flour.

Allergy Suggestion: If you use a gluten-free flour (rice, tapioca, etc.) or cornstarch, you can make the soup gluten-free. And if you use a stock rather than milk, you can make it milk-free, too.

How to Make a Improvised Cooking Stand from Shelf Brackets

52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
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This is one of those “why didn’t I think of that” posts – I first saw this on Stealth Survival and later on pinterest.

By repurposing shelf brackets you can make a really cool improvised cooking stand for any pots that do not have handles to hold over your campfire.

Somewhere I acquired a couple boxes of metal shelf brackets that were in need of a use, so I jumped on trying this out.

I will say that using 4 brackets and have each end rest on the next bracket makes a very study platform, but using three in a triangular setup works if you don’t have that extra bracket.

The brackets are designed to nest, so that they don’t take a lot of space in your bug out or camping kit, and you can throw in some nuts and bolts to connect them together so you don’t spill the beans…

Two other nice things about this is that you can push the brackets into the ground before building your fire to make it even more sturdy, and because most brackets have a long leg and a short leg, you can experiment with different configurations to fit your pots.

As with all of my heating methods, stay tuned and we will try this without survival still to see how study this is…