This is, I believe, the second issue of OFFGRID Magazine, which is an offshoot of RECOIL. I reviewed the first issue here. As with that first issue, the cover price of $8.99 is a bit steep, in my opinion, for a magazine but there is a ton of great information here.

All told, there are 16 full length articles in this issue, spanning 114 pages. One of the best articles, I feel, is Short Range Comms: Understanding FRS and GMRS Two-Way Radios by Raymond Chang and Martin Anders. It is an excellent overview of this often misunderstood topic. The authors go into great detail on how these two-way radios can be useful without overestimating their range and capabilities.

Another great one is Bug-Out Gone Bad: Surviving the Loss of Your Disaster Gear by Tim MacWelch. We preppers usually have multiple kits lying around in our homes and in our vehicles. As a result, we are often no more than an arm’s length away from those goodies. But, what if we were separated from our kits? What are the priorities for survival? How can we plan ahead for even this contingency? All of those questions are answered quite well here.

In Prometheus Unbound: A Guide to Portable Stoves by Gordon Meehl and Martin Anders, they talk about the different options for small stoves, from those that are fueled by propane to those that use sticks and pine cones. Personally, I find I often enjoy “buying guides” in these magazines, where they do side-by-side comparisons of the different products available in a category. This one is no different, illustrating the various options with eight different stoves.

Another buying guide is found in Crucial Tools: Guide to Hands-Free Lighting, where they review no less than 16 different lights, from headlamps to those you can wear on your wrists. While many of these are rather pricey, the article does explain what you should look for when shopping.

In Meat You Can’t Beat: Canning Animal Protein, author Gordon Meehl explains the ins and outs of pressure canning meat. This article even includes a sidebar on how to preserve one of our favorite foods — BACON!

Other articles in this issue include information on selecting and using generators, fortifying home windows, treating hypothermia, physical fitness drills for small spaces, and even a few true stories of recent natural disasters.

All in all, I enjoyed this new issue of OFFGRID Magazine quite a bit. I’ll certainly be looking for the next issue in a few months.