The Y2K Survival Guide and Cookbook

The Y2K Survival Guide and Cookbook (Ecovillage, TN) by Dorothy R. and Albert K. Bates is not your usual recipe collection. With the savvy of environmentalists ad the frenzy of those expecting emergency, Dorothy and Albert Bates cover every area of survival and food preparation. Expecting the worst case scenario - rolling brownouts and total black outs, failed utility systems and water purification problems - this book provides natural alternatives: food storage, chlorine bleach to purify water, using wood stoves, building your own composting toilet, and gardening. There are even first aid and Morse code directions in the final pages. After coping with any Y2K calamities, it's time to cook. In between survival guidelines, the Bates' book is filled with hearty recipes reminiscent of campfire food. As computers buzz blank, you can enjoy split pea soup from melted icicles, marmalades from sun-dried fruit, or shiitake joes from home-grown mushrooms. Even though The Y2K Survival Guide and Cookbook is intended for the millennium-minded cook, it is an eccentric volume any eco-conscious chef should add to their library.

In addition to the recipes and food tips that could keep a diverse group of survivors happy for years (who wants plain ol' Chili gets that, and who prefers dishes like Rice Noodle Pad Thai will be satisfied also), there is an excellent overview of food storage techniques that includes charts I've never before seen on the shelf life of edibles, from an individually wrapped apple to nuts in airtight packages.While Dorothy and Albert have given us lists, lists, and more lists to follow and yet others to create lists of our own, throughout their little treasure of a book is a taste of the loving, compassionate sensibility without which any attempt to survive is bound to be futile.

This is an admirable effort to address the need for a very practical book about Y2K, a subject that is apt to induce feelings of paralysis, despair, and/or denial. The authors take the bull by the horns and, after outlining the problem, offer a guide full of solutions that can be enacted at the home and neighborhood scale.I appreciated many aspects of this book. It includes general disaster preparedness information that everyone should know about, even without the threat of Y2K. It is graphically more interesting than other Y2K books I have seen, with illustrations, diagrams, recipes and sidebars liberally sprinkled throughout. It puts Y2K into the wider context of our own empowerment in our lives, and suggests ways we can all take back some of the control we have handed over to technology. The section on heat and light, and lists of items to obtain and sources are especially helpful. By laying out the basic areas we all need to think about - including also water, waste disposal, equipment and tools, storing food, and enjoying ourselves - it provides a valuable service. It conveys a basic optimism: "Y2K is a horrible predicament. It is also a wonderful opportunity. Let's not squander the moment." The Y2K Survival Guide and Cookbook is one good place to start to prepare for what may happen, and to get our feet on the ground and our hands dirty in building a future that is not dependent on computer programs, computer chips, or the unsustainable technnological sustems and economics they support.- Chris Roth, Talking Leaves 9:1:46 Spring/Summer 1999

Whether you plan to greet the New Year 2000 with a glass of champagne or by drying fruit, the Bates book makes good reading. Its lists of resources, right-minded catalogs and progressive Web sites alone are worth the price of admission.

I got this book at a local workshop on Y2K. After reading it through, I turned around and bought 5 more to give to friends and relatives. The next week I went back and bought 10 more! I especially liked the sense of humor and the illustrations that guide you along in getting your home prepared for any emergency - from mudslides to house fire. It is well indexed and has many useful appendices. How about those Grasshopper Quesadillas!Every house should have one of these in the bathroom next to the first aid kit. It has a well-illustrated section on handling first aid, from cuts and bites up to CPR. Or maybe it should be in the kitchen, because it has dozens of delicious recipes for everything from baking breads and cakes to making sauerkraut to pressure canning vegetables. Or maybe it should be in the garden shed, because it has some real simple plans for building a strawbale greenhouse, tapping clean water off the roof, and getting started in home food supply on any kind of land. Excellent suggestions about root cellars and food storage made me feel like an expert. I tell my friends how to use dry ice to fumigate now, and how to use osage orange and bay leaves to get rid of pests in the cupboards and closets. The most comprensive overview I have seen of wild medicinal plants and alternative remedies.What the book lacked was information on firearms and precious metals. I guess it wasn't really for hard-core survivalists. There was also very little on smoking, drying or storing meat products, which was surprising since so much space was devoted to preserving beans, grains, fruits and vegetables. I frankly don't know whether Y2K will be a crisis or just another end-of-the-world hoax. But if I had one book to recommend as a gift to friends in 1999, this is that book. And who knows, it might even save your life!