One 50-Year-Old Pipe Burst and 200,000 Michigan Residents Lost Safe Water With No Warning

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I made my first batch of homemade jerky last month. Five pounds of beef round, sliced thin, marinated overnight, and dried in a basic dehydrator for about 8 hours. The result: roughly one pound of shelf-stable protein that needs no refrigeration, travels anywhere, and tastes better than anything from a gas station. Total cost: about $6 per pound of finished jerky.

Here's what I've got this morning.

Turning Fresh Meat Into Shelf-Stable Protein

Refrigeration is the modern miracle that most people don't think about until it fails. When the power goes out, your freezer becomes a countdown timer. Smoking and drying are ancient preservation methods that turn perishable protein into shelf-stable food without electricity.

Jerky is the entry point. Lean meat (beef, venison, turkey) is sliced thin (1/8 to 1/4 inch), marinated in salt and seasonings, and dried at 160 to 165 degrees until it bends but doesn't snap. A food dehydrator handles this perfectly. An oven on its lowest setting with the door cracked works too.

The science is straightforward: removing moisture prevents bacterial growth. Meat that's 90% water when fresh becomes 20% water when dried. Salt and cure (sodium nitrite, sold as "pink curing salt") add an extra layer of preservation and safety. Properly dried jerky lasts 1 to 2 months at room temperature and much longer vacuum-sealed.

Smoking adds flavor and preservation. Hot smoking (225 to 275 degrees) cooks and smokes simultaneously, producing ready-to-eat smoked meats. Cold smoking (below 90 degrees) is a longer process that preserves without cooking, producing products like smoked bacon and salmon. Hot smoking is accessible for beginners. Cold smoking requires more equipment and care.

A basic smoker doesn't need to be expensive. A Weber Smokey Mountain ($200 to $350) is the entry-level charcoal smoker that most BBQ competitors start with. Electric smokers ($150 to $300) are simpler to operate. Even a charcoal grill with indirect heat and wood chips produces decent smoked meat.

For emergency preparedness, the dehydrator is the more versatile tool. It handles jerky, dried fruits, vegetables, and herbs. A smoker is a luxury. A dehydrator is a tool.

One critical safety note: always use commercially raised meat for jerky, not wild game, unless you're certain the animal was healthy. And always reach the USDA-recommended internal temperature of 160 degrees for beef and 165 degrees for poultry before or during the drying process to kill pathogens.

Make a small batch of jerky using your oven.

Buy one pound of lean beef round. Slice thin. Marinate in soy sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic powder overnight. Lay strips on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Dry at your oven's lowest setting (170 to 200 degrees) for 4 to 6 hours with the door cracked. You've just preserved meat without a fridge.

FEMA Opened $1 Billion in Infrastructure Resilience Grants — Most Households Won't See a Cent

FEMA has opened applications for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, making $1 billion available to states, local governments, territories, and tribes. Eligible projects include hardening community water systems, elevating flood-prone structures, and reinforcing power infrastructure against wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes.

The limitation: BRIC funds municipalities, not households. Individual water storage, backup power, and food reserves fall entirely outside the scope of federal funding. The gap between what government can protect at the community level and what each household must secure for itself remains as wide as ever.

Source: FEMA.gov

Les Stroud has preserved food in wilderness conditions on Survivorman more times than most people have used a dehydrator. In Will to Live, he writes about the psychological importance of processing and storing food. The act of preservation, whether it's drying fish over a fire or smoking meat in a makeshift smoker, creates a sense of control and future security that counteracts the uncertainty of survival.

For home preparedness, Stroud's insight applies: knowing you can preserve food without refrigeration shifts your mindset from dependence to capability. A power outage that ruins a freezer full of meat is devastating. A power outage where you immediately start drying and smoking that meat before it spoils is an inconvenience.

Will to Live

50-Year-Old Water Main Burst Left 200,000 Michigan Residents Without Safe Tap Water

On May 10, a 42-inch Great Lakes Water Authority transmission main ruptured in Auburn Hills, Michigan, knocking out water pressure to six communities across Oakland County — roughly 200,000 residents. Governor Whitmer declared a state of emergency. Schools closed. Businesses shut down. Residents queued at municipal water distribution trucks.

The pipe that failed had been in the ground for 50 years. Initial repair estimates: two weeks or more before service returned to normal. The broken pipe was replaced by May 12, but boil water advisories remain active across Orion Township, northern Auburn Hills, and northwest Rochester Hills as of today.

The preparedness angle is direct: a single aging pipe can eliminate safe water access for 200,000 people with no warning. Most households have no water stored at all. The standard recommendation is one gallon per person per day for a minimum of three days.

Source: Michigan.gov, Michigan Public

Nesco FD-75A Snackmaster Pro Dehydrator

This is the dehydrator I use for jerky, dried fruits, and vegetables. It's a stackable tray design with adjustable temperature (95 to 160 degrees) and a top-mounted fan for even drying. I've been using it for about six months.

Five trays hold about 2.5 pounds of sliced meat per batch. A full batch of jerky takes 6 to 10 hours. Dried apple slices take about 8 hours. Herbs take 2 to 4 hours. The machine runs quietly and uses about as much electricity as a light bulb.

What I like: it's simple, reliable, and the trays are dishwasher safe. What I don't love: the stackable design means the bottom trays dry faster, requiring occasional rotation. A box-style dehydrator with a rear fan ($100+) avoids this, but costs twice as much. About $90.

Budget alternative: Your oven on its lowest setting with the door cracked open. Free (you already have it). Less precise temperature control, but perfectly functional for occasional batches.

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Overrated: Expensive commercial jerky for emergency food storage. At $25 to $40 per pound, it's a luxury item. Homemade jerky from sale-priced beef costs $5 to $8 per pound and tastes better. The skill is worth more than the product.

Underrated: Drying herbs from your garden. A dehydrator processes a season's worth of basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme into dried herbs that last a year. Free ingredients, minimal electricity, and better flavor than store-bought dried herbs.

Extension.org: Food Drying — University extension guides for dehydrating food safely.

Practical Self Reliance — Off-grid homesteading and food preservation guides.

Grokipedia: Jerky — Background on meat drying history and methods.

Home automation for preparedness. Using smart devices and schedules to make your home safer and more resilient automatically.

PS: That first batch of jerky? Gone in three days. My family ate it as snacks. I made a second batch and actually managed to store some. Make more than you think you need, because jerky disappears fast.