The Original Prepper Networks

This may seem like a strange topic for a prepper history blog, but where would we be without the glass canning jar and the “tin can”. Where would we be indeed without these two mainstays of food storage. I would venture to say that these are two things that every prepper in the world comes in to contact with on a daily basis. It would be hard to imagine life as a prepper without them.

The glass canning jar first came into use in 1809 when a Frenchman,  Nicolas Appert, developed a method of preserving food at the behest of the French Government for use during the Napoleonic Wars. This method has been through many stages of refinement but it still remains one of the mainstays of preserving food and one of the very few that can be safely used by people at home. Even after 200 years it would be hard to have anything better suited for the job that the “canning jar”.

On to the ever present “tin” or metal can that is ever present in our lives today in some form or other. It was first used in 1810 by an Englishman,Peter Durand. Robert Ayars established the first American canning factory in New York City in 1812. The metal can has went through many, many changes over the  years that have improved it to what we have today. When it is combined with other methods such as freeze-drying or de-hydrating it is a integral part of any long term food storage program for any preparedness minded person.

I hope this has given you a bit of insight in to the history of two things we use everyday. As always, have a great day, Gary 

There are many in the preparedness/survivalist community  today that say they are first or the original in this or that area of our community, but. It is this “but” that we would to cover on this site. After all, some of the things we think are relatively new technologies have in reality been in use for years and in some cases hundreds of years. We see this site as an opportunity to bring out some of the history of  preparedness. Hopefully this will help people understand that rarely are we first at anything preparedness related. At the very best we are “Johnny-come-lately’s” that are simply re-discovering old ideas that worked before and are and will work again. We do however have this marvelous vehicle called “the internet” to help us spread the word.

If we think about the many peoples that came before us in history we will quickly realize that only in rare cases are we first at anything.  In the articles that follow we hope to bring to the forefront of people’s thinking some of this prepper history. Most would likely concentrate in the US, but as with most things it will not be that easy. Parts of this history will by necessity connect us to other parts of the world. We hope to bring the history of some of the people and techniques to the attention of everyone in the preparedness community in order to help people better understand more about what we do today and how it came to be.

We believe that in far to many instances today people get to wrapped-up in “holding on to their little piece of turf” that we forget that all we are really doing is continuing a process that has been in place for hundreds of years. That process is the passing on of knowledge to others in order that it not be forever lost. We sincerely hope these history lessons will help people understand that it is not to terribly important to call yourself “the first”, “the best” or “the largest”. The important thing is the knowledge and skills and passing them on so they are never lost. They are after all priceless and should not be allowed to fade away in to oblivion never to be used again. As always, have a great day, Gary.