When you’re engaged in the tricky business of survival, there may be times when building a fire simply isn’t possible. Could be a lack of wood to burn, or fear of attracting unwanted attention from the undead. Either way, humans are not built to see in the dark and batteries will only get you so far after you’ve abandoned your homes in search for a safe haven. Candles are an ideal way to light your way in the dark. They aren’t too hard to make, either. Homemade candles allow you to create something that’ll fit perfectly in your go bags without sacrificing room for your Oreos and beef jerky.
Below, we’ve included instructions for a basic candle. Be extremely cautious when handling hot wax. Use utensils and pots you don’t care about (we suggest snagging cheap items from a discount store). Wax doesn’t clean off easily.
What You’ll Need:
Soy wax flakes or a block of beeswax
Wick (make sure they’re longer than your container.)
Containers (can be just about anything that won’t melt with the hot wax – mason jars, Altoid tins, old glass/porcelain cups, etc.)
Pitcher with spout or a funnel
Fragrance oil (10-15 drops per 5.5 ounces of wax) Use cinnamon, eucalyptus, or citronella to keep biting bugs away. (Note: this does not include zombies.)
Popsicle sticks (with a hole in the middle), chopsticks, pencil–something to hold the wick straight.
How to Make a Candle:
Melt soy wax flakes or beeswax in a double boiler.
Once the wax completely melted, set your pot aside to cool for a little bit.
Add essential oils.
Dip metal wick base in wax and set into the container. The wax will “glue” the base in place.
Carefully pour wax into containers with funnel or transfer wax to a pitcher and pour.
Thread wick with Popsicle stick or tie around pencil/chopstick, and let the candle cool for a few hours until solid.
Once the wax is completely set, trim wicks, leaving about ¼ of an inch above the wax.
Ta-da! Simple and easy. If you add the right essential oils, these candles will be another line of defense against bugs and the boogeyman.
Sushi Girl Starring: Tony Todd, Noah Hathaway, James Duval, Andy Mackenzie, Mark Hamill, and Cortney Palm. Rated: R (strong bloody violence, torture, language, nudity, and drug use)
My guardian angel came in the middle of the night and dropped off a stack of films to review. Sitting on top was Sushi Girl, starring Zombie Survival Crew First Lieutenant Tony Todd. While it isn’t one of the usual zombie flicks the ZSC asks me to review, I gladly took the opportunity to support one of our own.
Fish has spent six years in jail. Six years alone. Six years keeping his mouth shut about the robbery, about the other men involved. The night he is released, the four men he protected with silence celebrate his freedom with a congratulatory dinner. The meal is a lavish array of sushi, served off the naked body of a beautiful young woman. The sushi girl seems catatonic, trained to ignore everything in the room, even if things become dangerous. Sure enough, the four unwieldy thieves can’t help but open old wounds in an attempt to find their missing loot.
Sushi Girl kicks off slowly, easing into a noir vibe — complete with flashbacks, intrigue, and mood-building soundtrack. In typical noir fashion, the film takes a few twists and turns, at one point hitting levels of gore on par with Japanese horror movies. The detail in the FX makeup is unsettling at times, giving viewers an eyeball-full of blood that’s sure to linger for a while. But the gore isn’t gratuitous. It is there to make the viewers uncomfortable, to drive home the idea that these characters will do anything to discover the truth about their missing loot.
The true beauty of the film comes from the cast, including a couple great cameos during one of the flashbacks. Tony Todd reigns as head badass in the motley crew of thieves. It’s a role we’re used to seeing Todd portray, but he does it so well, it is difficult to consider anyone else filling the slimy shoes of his character, Duke. Mark Hamill is completely unrecognizable in the role of the sociopath, Fish—with a few hat tips here and there to his great voice acting work as The Joker. His performance is the hardest to stomach, witnessing how far he delves into the joys of torturing a man.
The sushi laid out on the living platter didn’t seem quite as appetizing after watching the guys play their torture games. I felt like Rudolph, left to sit and watch the fun.
I’m going to give Sushi Girl 3 ¾ severed fingers out of 5. The story is well-written, with plenty of twists in what appears to be a straight-forward plot. Watch this one through to the end. You do not want to miss the final ten minutes and Cortney Palm’s moment to shine.
Earlier this year, we reminded ZSC brigadiers that Soap is Your Friend when surviving in the zombie apocalypse, or after any cataclysmic event forcing people from their homes. As a follow-up, we scoured the internet for a handful of useful recipes, should brigadiers need to make their own soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, etc.
Please note:Making lye-based soaps can be dangerous.
Follow the safety directions on the sites linked below carefully. They know what they’re doing, which is why we’ve “outsourced” to provide you all with this handy skill.
Keeping a well-stocked survival kit isn’t always a possibility given how expensive certain necessary elements can be. For instance, tents and other portable shelters. Sure, you can find cheap tents that’ll do the job, but will they be big enough? Can you carry them and all of your gear? From personal experience, toting around camping gear for one person to last one weekend—with access to food, so no ice chest—is an ordeal. When you’re running from zombies, you’re not going to be able to carry everything and a bulky tent bag. And what happens if your tent is damaged or you’re forced to abandon it during an attack? Below, we’ve listed a few ways you can minimize your packing list and still find cover in a pinch. These are all improvised shelters which take time to set up. Do not put off setting up your camp site until sundown if you plan to use these methods.
Tarp designs:
Between two trees – You’ll need: Rope, stakes (or heavy rocks to hold top tarp in place), 2 large tarps. Optional: 3-inch diameter stick long enough to reach between the trees. How to: String the rope between trees about 3 feet from the ground (or brace the branch in natural Ys formed by the trees). Stake down one edge of the tarp. Drape the tarp over the rope/branch. Stake down the opposite side of the tarp. Fold remaining tarp and lay it on the ground under the first. Good for: Getting out of the rain. This design will retain minimal heat, since both ends are open to the wind.
Hanging tepee style – You’ll need: Rope or para-cord, 2 large tarps, rocks or stakes. How to: Find a tree with a branch about 6 feet from the ground. Fold first tarp so you can tie a rope around one edge. Toss the rope over chosen branch and pull until the tarp is almost all the way off the ground, leaving enough slack to secure with stakes or rocks. Tie remaining rope around tree trunk. Pin down the bottom edge of the tarp in a circle, leaving a “door” where the sides meet. Fold remaining tarp and lay on the ground inside the “tepee”. Good for: Blocking wind, keeping somewhat dry, privacy.
Blanket time – You’ll need: 1 tarp. How to: In a pinch, drape yourself in the tarp, don’t cover your face, and curl up for the night. It won’t be comfortable, but will retain heat and keep you somewhat dry.
Using what Nature gave us:
Between a rock and a leafy place- You’ll need: a large boulder, numerous long tree branches, leaves, moss, and leafy branches. How to: Lean the long branches against the boulder (remember: there should be enough space between the branches and rock for you to crawl through) in a row roughly 6 feet long. Cover the long branches with smaller, leafy branches. Cover those with moss and loose dry leaves. You want to cover as much as possible (until no light shines through the inside of the shelter) to retain some heat and provide a barrier from wet weather. A layer of dry leaves inside the lean-to will keep ground moisture and cold from seeping into your sleeping bag or clothes while you rest. A variation of this lean-to can be made by creating a 3-pole brace to lean the long branches against before covering them—two upright, one across the top.
Natural crawlspaces – Keep an eye out for rock formations, fallen trees, etc which provide natural cover, or enough cover you can pile up leafy branches and leaves on top to increase the cover available. Check for animals, first!
The internet is chalk-full of information to help us survive after any cataclysmic event—natural and manmade. You can lose yourself for days trying to gather everything by yourself. We’ve done some of the work for you, brave brigadiers. Below you’ll find a handful of advice we found online to help you once the zombies rise and force us to abandon our homes.
Light Sources
Fill a gallon jug with water. Strap a headlamp or flashlight onto the jug, with the light facing inward. This will illuminate a small space, like a tent, with soft light. No glares and no bright beams which could attract predators to your camp.
Fill a clear soda/water bottle with half water and half bleach. Set the bottle into the roof of any shack or improvised shelter with a sturdy roof. The mixture will reflect sunlight, creating approximately the same wattage as a 55-watt light bulb. Note: This is a daytime-only solution.
Crayons! We haven’t personally tested this trick yet, but if you need a quick emergency light source, light a crayon. It should provide the same amount of light as a small candle for about 30 minutes. Note: Not ideal for handling, the wax will drip. Make sure you have a sturdy, clutter-free spot to set the lit crayon.
Fire Starters
There are a lot of options for homemade fire starters. We chose two that required very little work and used items which would normally just be thrown away. For both, set them with the kindling at the base of your fire and carefully light the edge.
Muffin Fire Starter
Needed:
Muffin Tin
Paper muffin wrappers
Dryer lint
Melted wax (crayons work!)
Set the paper muffin wrappers in the muffin tin. Fill the bottom of each wrapper with a wad of dryer lint. Pour the wax over the lint, leaving about a quarter of an inch of room at the top so you have a place to light the fire starter. Allow to cool thoroughly before packing.
An alternative method utilizes an empty cardboard egg carton. Put in the lint and wax as described above. When the wax has set, cut the egg carton apart.
Tube Fire Starters
Needed:
Cardboard toilet paper tubes
Dryer lint
Newspaper
String (optional)
Pack dryer lint tightly into the toilet paper tube. Wrap the filled tubes with newspaper. Tuck the ends of the newspaper into the tube, or tie off the ends with string—either way works, so long as you trap the lint so it doesn’t fall out in your go bag.
Containing the little things
Don’t throw out those Altoids (or similarly-sized) tins! They’re incredibly helpful when packing your go bag. Here’s some ideas:
Sewing kit –Pack with sewing needles, straight pins, safety pins, tiny spools of common-colored thread, buttons, small scissors, seam ripper, and anything else you need to mend or make your own clothing.
Fire lighting kit – Pack with matches, a lighter, flint, and a small wad of dryer lint or some other easy-to-light material. Affix a piece of sandpaper to the inside of the tin’s lid to light the matches.
Individual first aid kit – Pack with bandages, alcohol wipes, tweezers, packets of antibiotic ointment, Tylenol, aspirin, Benadryl, other personal medications. Note: Ladies, don’t forget to pack a separate container (a coffee can or plastic baby wipe box) with feminine hygiene items.
Jewelry box – Keep your sentimental jewelry items safe. Wearing a wedding ring while on the run could lead to problems. Any blow to the hand could cause your fingers to swell.
Gaming kit – Pack with a pack of cards, dice, Yahtzee scorecards, a small pencil, and any other small game items you can think of to entertain yourself.
Soap holder –Soap will be at a premium during the Z-poc. Don’t waste it! Store your used soap in a tin to keep it clean.
Don’t Leave Home Without it
Pill organizers aren’t just for keeping track of your weekly medication needs. Grab a couple extras to add to your go bag.
Spice rack –Cooking in the wild will likely lend to a lot of bland, boring meals. But not if you take along a miniature spice rack packed with your favorites. Be sure to label each compartment. You wouldn’t want to confuse paprika with cayenne pepper.
Seeds – Who knows how long we’ll have to fend for ourselves without the aid of grocery stores or farmer’s markets? Pack some easy-to-grow vegetable and fruit seeds in your go bag. Once you find a place to settle down for a little while, plant a small garden. Check your area for what produce items grow the fastest and easiest.
Old t-shirts
When you pack your kitchen supplies, toss in a few old or over-sized t-shirts. They have many possible uses, a few of which we’ve included below:
Rags – Cut the shirts into smaller pieces to use for wash cloths, dish washing cloths, and clean-up rags.
Bandages – Cut shirts into long strips, about 2-3 inches wide. Boil them in water, with a tablespoon (or more, depending on the quality of the water) of bleach and hang to dry somewhere they won’t get dirty. Makes great compression bandages to slow bleeding. Also can be used as a wrap to brace sprained joints.
Small hanging bags – With a minimal amount of sewing, which can be done by hand, you can turn a t-shirt into a bag.
Needed:
A large t-shirt
Scissors
Needle and thread
Straight pins
Felt or permanent marker
Lay the shirt out on a flat surface. Using the side of the shirt as the bottom edge of the bag-to-be, trace out the shape of a purse, with a handle on the top. Pin both sides of the t-shirt together with straight pins. Cut out the bag, leaving the bottom of the bag intact (don’t cut down the side of the shirt, it provide a solid bottom for your bag). Stitch the sides of the bag closed. Leave the top open. Cut out D-shapes to create the handles. Note: if you wish to use the bag to store fruits or vegetables, or to use as a hanging sack to dry dishes, cut tiny holes in the solid sides of the bag—not too many, just enough to allow airflow.
Review by: A. Zombie
Rated: R (Strong zombie violence/gore. Language and brief sexuality)
Starring: Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe, Richard Fitzpatrick
Brr…it is getting cold in here—actually I’m always cold, but that isn’t the point. Hell has frozen over, folks. The ZSC commanders handed me a Romero movie to review this time around. I’m so happy, I could jump for joy. Except jumping requires basic motor skills, and let’s face it, I’m lucky to be able to type. Jumping is not in my skill set. Alright, on to the film…
Official synopsis for George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead:
“On a small island off the coast of Delaware, live two families locked in a struggle for power and control over the fate of the undead. The O’Flynns approach the zombie plague with a shoot-to-kill attitude. The Muldoons feel that the zombies should be quarantined and kept “alive,” in hopes that a solution will be discovered. For both families, existence on Plum Island is a nightmarish world where humans are the minority and zombies rule.”
The part the synopsis fails to mention is the fact that there’s a random squad of AWOL military folks who happen to stumble into the middle of this large-scale domestic dispute. Why are they there? I don’t know, but someone had to talk sense amongst all the “my family is better than yours” squabbling. Though they really don’t talk sense. The military squad is a means to an end; get one of the crotchety old men back onto the island. They don’t add anything or take from it. They’re just… extra bodies to talk on screen so the film doesn’t seem quite so Hatfield and McCoy.
Let’s talk zombies for a moment. Romero couldn’t possibly screw those up, right? First off, when did he start using the word, “zombie” in his movies? Second, Survival of the Dead is supposed to take place after the drastic change in behavior from the undead in Land of the Dead, in which they began to evolve and remember how to do basic things like using tools. They also regained muscle memory of sorts and tended to repeat behavior they’d done every day while alive. The dead in Survival kind of took a step backwards. Yes, they exhibited this behavior, but one would think being isolated on a small island would give them a learning curve. There’s less to remember if you’ve lived in one very rural place most of your life. Only one zombie truly embraced this idea, and she used her skills to ride a horse. Oh yeah, that’ll get you far in the movement for Undead Rights.
The makeup was typical low-budget Romero. Possibly too low-budget. The first zombie on screen looks like a kid working his first night at a haunted house—pale skin, darkened eyes, slack mouth. He didn’t exactly scream “undead”. I’ve seen Goth kids with more makeup and zombie appeal. As the film progressed, the makeup got better, but it wasn’t congruent to the story line. A pair of supposedly “fresh” children zombies looked liked they crawled out of their graves after a year’s dirt nap, while older zombies looked like they fell into a pile of baby powder. It is rare that I nitpick makeup on Romero’s films. Survival was, by far, the worst in this department.
All in all, Survival of the Dead gets three bullet-riddle brains out of five. I love Romero and his contribution to the dialog about zombies reflecting the current ills in the human condition, but this film fell flat in comparison to his past work. It is disappointing for genre fans when the low-budget zombie master can’t succeed in the niche he created.
Reviewer: A. Zombie
Rating: R (bloody violence and gore, adult language, some sexual content
Starring: Michael McKiddy, Ross Kidder, and Markus Taylor
Awhile back, this movie came across the front desk of the ZSC—okay, their Twitter account. But with the insanity that’s happened since, it got shuffled under a pile of reports on zombie bunny behavior and lost. Well, they found it and passed it off to me to review. So how does Deadheads measure up? More importantly, what is the movie about?
A guy wakes up inside a lab and frees himself. He stumbles outside and discovers, not only is he undead, a lot of other people are too! However, Mike has been revived with his intellect intact, he’s not one of the mindless undead he encounters. Somehow he happens to stumble across the only other fully functional zombie wandering the woods, Brent. Together they decide to drive across the country and visit Mike’s girlfriend—almost fiancée—in Michigan, who is completely unaware he’s spent the last three years taking a dirt nap. But the trip won’t be easy. The corporation who owns the lab want Mike and Brent back, no matter what.
Deadheads is a love story, a buddy comedy, and a splatstick film…with zombies at the helm. They’re intelligent zombies who do far more than drool on themselves and fight over scraps of flesh like starving dogs. Actually, they’re pretty funny, too. Not as funny as I am. It takes a few years of being dead for the self-censoring mechanism to rot away. The dialogue alone is worth giving the film a chance. Make a game out of catching the massive amount of pop culture references.
The film raises a good question: If you were to come back to life as a zombie with all of your self—personality, memories, etc—intact, would you see it as an opportunity to make something of the life you were ripped out of? Would you reconnect with your family and loved ones? Here’s the thing, Mike’s girl never knew he was dead. She thought he’d left town. Anyone else attempting his mad scheme would cause undue trauma to the people they care about. Of course, with the limited exposure of the zombie outbreak—Mike and Brent are some of the first to escape and wander far from the lab—no one knows they’re undead or considers the possibility of them being more than sick guys on a road trip. Though, let’s be honest, they are covered in blood and Mike is sporting a pair of bullet holes in his skull. Middle America is seriously unobservant.
I have to give it to the filmmakers, Deadheads was shot really well. Despite being a “Zombedy”, it is almost too pretty—even when there are close-ups of severed body parts and intestines. Speaking of the FX makeup, it holds up to scrutiny. The main pair of zombies are “different”, not nearly as rotten as their mindless counterparts. Even then, the level of rot is believable and consistent throughout the adventure. There are som instances of computer-generated gore that fail to impress and could have been left out altogether. Zombies don’t bleed. Why they felt the need to add bad CG blood in one particular scene baffles the mind.
For the most part, the characters were written and acted convincingly. There is a zombie slayer who would fit in perfectly with Jinxie’s Yellow Brigade—she’d appreciate his ruthless tactics. However, two of the characters seemed to be created to annoy the ever-loving hell out of viewers, McDinkle and Emily. McDinkle is written to be obnoxious, that much is true. The overacting drove it over a cliff into a fiery crash of “holy hell, get this guy off the screen”. Needless to say, there was cheering any time someone hit him. Emily is supposed to be a frazzled, slightly ditzy and girly personal assistant to the main corporate bad guy. Done correctly, she would have balanced the malice of that character. Instead she is visibly acting, being a caricature instead of the character. After her first scene, I renamed her Food.
Overall, I’m giving Deadheads three and three-quarter decapitated heads out of five. This is a feel-good zombie movie you can sit down and enjoy with friends without worrying too much about grossing anyone out. I wouldn’t suggest children watch it, though. They curse more than sailors on shore leave.
It is that time of the year again. The time when half of the entertainment industry—from video games to feature films—descends on San Diego with sizzle reels, swag, and actors in tow. “The Walking Dead” blew everyone out of the water with their epic four-minute trailer. What did the people involved have to say about the upcoming fourth season?
The producers hit the stage first at the hour-long panel on Saturday afternoon. The general consensus was season four would be, “Way crazier,” “Going to get insane very quickly,” and a series of escalations to keep the danger inherent in their world ever-present. Producer and FX genius Greg Nicotero hinted that the walker “gags” for the upcoming season are above and beyond anything fans have seen so far. As a matter of fact, the Thursday before everyone packed up to fly from Atlanta, GA to San Diego, they’d filmed a rather gruesome walker scene. Or so we were lead to believe. The producers remained rather mum about season four. Instead they let the trailer do the talking.
The cast couldn’t say much about the new season, either. They covered a lot about the previous season and coping with the numerous main cast deaths. It isn’t easy for the actors, they form bonds with these people in character and out. Then they’re suddenly gone. Danai Gurira admitted it was rough losing the person who’d indoctrinated her in the “Walking Dead” universe. But all of the actors understand early on, with the volatile nature of the world, people come and go in their lives. They have to go with the flow.
Going with the flow seems to be the theme for the upcoming season. They’ve brought in the survivors from Woodbury and built a city confined within the gates and walls of the prison. With the tension natural between large groups of people, all they can do is take it one day at a time. There’s no one person in the group capable of predicting human nature, any more than they can predict the walkers. Don’t assume this means the show will shift its entire focus to the dangers from the living, though. Everyone was adamant about the walkers still posing a significant hazard. The proof came in the trailer. Dang, those zombies are looking really ragged this season!
There’s a lot of chest-thumping and bravado that goes into preparing for the Zombiepocalypse. Even your brave Zombie Survival Crew commanders are not immune to a certain amount of arrogance about the skills we’ve added to our lives in order to defeat the undead masses. However, an ounce of humility will go further to keep you alive when faced with the end of days than a well-sharpened knife.
Know Your Physical Limits
Humans are flawed creations. Eventually portions of our bodies just stop working properly. Even a healthy eighteen year old male could have a blown out knee, which won’t allow him to run when cornered by a herd of zombies. Not everyone is going to have the upper body strength to operate a bow and arrow with the precision necessary to kill a dust bunny, let alone food for your camp.
Divide and conquer. Have an open and honest conversation with your family and those in your camp, laying out any physical limitations each of you may have. If someone can’t lift more than thirty pounds, obviously they aren’t an ideal person to send off to fetch water. The guy with the bum knee isn’t going to make a good lookout if he can’t run back to camp and warn everyone. Everyone will be able to find a chore/duty in camp which plays to their strengths without crushing their hopes of survival because of a physical ailment.
Likewise, if you require medications for serious conditions, keep extras in your go bag. Every so often, refresh your supply—just in case. While on the run is not the time to find out your inhaler expired and is as useful to help you breathe as a mouthful of dirt. If you need a walker or a cane to get around, keep your spare next to the rest of your survival gear. The same idea goes for glasses, contacts, ankle/knee braces. Prone to sprained ankles? Pack extra Ace bandages in your gear. Clumsy? Make sure your First Aid kit is well-stocked with bandages, antibiotic ointment, and peroxide.
The stress of the zombie outbreak will only accentuate any limitations we have in the comfort of our homes. Just because some zombies are walking around, doesn’t mean we’ll all be transformed into Super Zombie Slayers. Life just doesn’t happen that way. It’s better to accept it now and plan accordingly. The alternative is stepping in to a situation you can’t physically fight your way out of.
Know Your Mental Limits
If The Walking Dead is any indicator, the character flaws we try to bury in our everyday lives will jump to the surface and do a little dance for attention. Personally, this is not a thrilling idea. However, just like our physical limitations, we need to prepare ourselves mentally for what could happen come Z-day.
Mental illnesses which you control with medication need to be planned for. As said previously, pack spare medications in your go bag, rotating out the supplies to make sure everything is within the expiration dates. You may also want to speak with your doctor for certain conditions to see if there are any natural remedies you may use in case of zombies. Though, if you’re going to your therapist and talking about zombies, it may cause a whole new set of problems on the mental health front. We’re just trying to cover all the bases on the off-chance something happens. Nothing that should overly concern mental health professionals.
Be honest with yourself. If you cannot cope with accidentally stepping on a snail, there is a seriously slim chance you will be able to pull the trigger when face to face with a zombie. They were people. Living souls we talk to, laugh with, love, and care for. Shooting someone, even for survival purposes, is not something one goes into lightly. You are still ending a life. Still putting yourself above the needs of another, even if they have been turned into a mindless eating machine. No one will be unaffected by pulling the trigger that first time. Even you macho men, thinking you’ll be the next Dixon on the block, will be changed after you kill your first zombie. Kind souls, those who cherish every life on earth, you’ll have the hardest time.
We’re not going to tell you to suck it up and kill a zombie. However, you need to tell the people you are with when the Z-poc hits where you stand on the matter. Weapons will be sparse. A gun is better off in the hands of someone who can use it than in the hands of someone who will won’t ever be mentally ready to take aim.
Full disclosure
People who suffer from conditions such as bipolar or depression need to make sure others are aware. Those unaffected by these conditions will not understand when they accidentally trigger a bad episode. Life is difficult enough with depression, let alone adding in the stress of life on the run, fighting every day just to stay alive. Simplify things by making sure your companions are fully aware of your mental welfare.
In the end, the number one thing is to be honest with yourself and the people relying on you to survive. Do everything you can to pull your weight, but injuring yourself or causing mental duress in the pursuit of survival is not any way to begin a new life.
Over the course of the last several weeks, your Zombie Survival Crew commanders dug into their recipe boxes and picked a few dishes geared toward easy preparation during the Z-pocalypse. We’ve seen fish dishes, preserves, soups—you name it. Now we want to see what you, our loyal brigadiers, have to offer.
The ZSC is looking for original survivalist recipes. These recipes need to be easy to make over a campfire, or with no cooking at all. Utilize local fruits, vegetables, and protein—anything you’d be able to find on the run from zombies. We’re also looking for recipes which can be made ahead of time and stored for use in case of a cataclysmic emergency, both natural and undead, like jams, canned stews, etc.
Approved recipes will be used in a ZSC cookbook, slated for release in winter 2013-2014. More information on the cookbook as the year goes. We will keep recipe entries open from now until August 25, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.
Email recipes to: command@zombiesurvivalcrew.com with the Subject Title: Apocalypse Recipes. Please include your name and location in the email.
Entries must be copied/pasted into the body of the email. We will not open any attachments. All recipes submitted must be original and cannot be copied straight from another cookbook.
When you’re engaged in the tricky business of survival, there may be times when building a fire simply isn’t possible. Could be a lack of wood to burn, or fear of attracting unwanted attention from the undead. Either way, humans are not built to see in the dark and batteries will only get you so far after you’ve abandoned your homes in search for a safe haven. Candles are an ideal way to light your way in the dark. They aren’t too hard to make, either. Homemade candles allow you to create something that’ll fit perfectly in your go bags without sacrificing room for your Oreos and beef jerky.
