Posted: 11/29/2013 6:41:18 AM EDT
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I was in Wal Mart and noticed they had 80 200 mg caffeine pills for less than $4. I don't smoke anymore, drink much alcohol, or take any prescriptions but I'm addicted to caffeine and probably drink 3 to 4 cups of coffee in the morning and at least one espresso in the afternoon. Going cold turkey from caffeine when the shtf doesn't sound like fun. This seems like an overlooked prep to me. They are going in my bag. I figure 80 should be enough to ween me off. |
I drink 1400+mg of caffeine a day in coffee.
I get a pretty raging headache if I don't have coffee by 9-10 in the morning. About a year and a half ago I started thinking about caffeine preps. We keep about an extra month of canned coffee on hand, but it's not really a prep. Sometimes more sometimes less based on where we are in our Costco shopping cycle. So I decided to quit as a SHTF experiment, cold turkey. I also wanted to see what it was like being off caffeine. The headaches lasted about two weeks, tapering off over that time. The headaches were not debilitating but would have increased the general stress level during a SHTF event. After about a month, I was back to normal. Easier to fall asleep, eaier to take naps and more alert throughout the day especially in the morning. I'm now back on the juice. 
My caffeine plan now involves quilting after about the first 30 days of an event. |
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I recently quit a serious caffeine addiction. Around 4 cups of coffee and two monster energy drinks a day. 3 or four if I was feeling groggy.
It sucked for two days, but after that I have more energy than with caffeine and my sleep schedule is normalized. Not what I expected. That said, you can buy a bottle of pure caffeine powder on the Internet very affordably. That should last a looooong time. Be careful, though. It is very possible to OD on it. http://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16_17_69&products_id=107&zenid=470d1527bedaa172a9c27c74e0998e50 |
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Get off coffee now? Although I may be biased. To me, coffee smells/tastes like (what I imagine) burnt horse piss filtered through a nasty ass sock. Me too, but as I've gotten older, the past couple months, I've experimented with the $$$ energy drinks ----and cost vs increased productivity, they win hands down. I often use 2/3 of one of the little bottles a day. Mostly caffeine and a bunch of other maybe snake oil chems, can't figger it out. Says one bottle same amt of caffeine as a premium cup of coffee, whatever that is... Box discount stores have them cheaper, and I wonder abt THEIR shelf life? The bottles of the name brand E-drinks are high quality and useful for other stuff. |
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Quoted: Me too, but as I've gotten older, the past couple months, I've experimented with the $$$ energy drinks ----and cost vs increased productivity, they win hands down. I often use 2/3 of one of the little bottles a day. Mostly caffeine and a bunch of other maybe snake oil chems, can't figger it out. Says one bottle same amt of caffeine as a premium cup of coffee, whatever that is... Box discount stores have them cheaper, and I wonder abt THEIR shelf life? The bottles of the name brand E-drinks are high quality and useful for other stuff. Quoted: Quoted: Get off coffee now? Although I may be biased. To me, coffee smells/tastes like (what I imagine) burnt horse piss filtered through a nasty ass sock. Me too, but as I've gotten older, the past couple months, I've experimented with the $$$ energy drinks ----and cost vs increased productivity, they win hands down. I often use 2/3 of one of the little bottles a day. Mostly caffeine and a bunch of other maybe snake oil chems, can't figger it out. Says one bottle same amt of caffeine as a premium cup of coffee, whatever that is... Box discount stores have them cheaper, and I wonder abt THEIR shelf life? The bottles of the name brand E-drinks are high quality and useful for other stuff. |
| Cold brewed coffee is much higher in caffeine content than hot brewed. Maybe 4-10 times higher. It also is the most mellow, low acidic coffee you will ever taste. As a prep, the minus is that it needs real coffee beans. The plus is it does not need any energy to brew. Just some time (24 hours or so). You can keep the resulting coffee bottled without refrigeration. It is great tasting, and another plus is that you don't need the highest quality bean for good results. |
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I take a B vitamin complex when I need extra energy. I don't drink alcohol, coffee, very little soda, energy drinks, etc. Quoted:
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Get off coffee now? Although I may be biased. To me, coffee smells/tastes like (what I imagine) burnt horse piss filtered through a nasty ass sock. Me too, but as I've gotten older, the past couple months, I've experimented with the $$$ energy drinks ----and cost vs increased productivity, they win hands down. I often use 2/3 of one of the little bottles a day. Mostly caffeine and a bunch of other maybe snake oil chems, can't figger it out. Says one bottle same amt of caffeine as a premium cup of coffee, whatever that is... Box discount stores have them cheaper, and I wonder abt THEIR shelf life? The bottles of the name brand E-drinks are high quality and useful for other stuff. I'll bet you're not old either... 
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I was in Wal Mart and noticed they had 80 200 mg caffeine pills for less than $4. I don't smoke anymore, drink much alcohol, or take any prescriptions but I'm addicted to caffeine and probably drink 3 to 4 cups of coffee in the morning and at least one espresso in the afternoon. Going cold turkey from caffeine when the shtf doesn't sound like fun. This seems like an overlooked prep to me. They are going in my bag. I figure 80 should be enough to ween me off. Caffeine withdrawal can be serious for some people, like a really bad hang over, only it can last for several weeks. Start to taper off ASAP, like now. |
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there is this thing called freeze dried coffee. they have a name for it Instant Coffee and it lasts forever get some Quoted:
there is this thing called freeze dried coffee. they have a name for it Instant Coffee and it lasts forever get some The caffeine content of instant coffee is generally less than that of brewed coffee. One study comparing various home-prepared samples came to the result that regular instant coffee (not decaffeinated) has a median caffeine content of 66 mg per cup (range 29–117 mg per cup), with a median cup size of 225 ml (range 170-285 ml) and a caffeine concentration of 328 µg/ml (range 102-559 µg/ml).[6] In comparison, drip or filter coffee was estimated to have a median caffeine content of 112 mg, with a median concentration of 621 µg/ml for the same cup size.[6] |
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Cold brewed coffee is much higher in caffeine content than hot brewed. Maybe 4-10 times higher. It also is the most mellow, low acidic coffee you will ever taste. As a prep, the minus is that it needs real coffee beans. The plus is it does not need any energy to brew. Just some time (24 hours or so). You can keep the resulting coffee bottled without refrigeration. It is great tasting, and another plus is that you don't need the highest quality bean for good results. I'm intrigued....go on 
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Cold brewed coffee is much higher in caffeine content than hot brewed. Maybe 4-10 times higher. It also is the most mellow, low acidic coffee you will ever taste. As a prep, the minus is that it needs real coffee beans. The plus is it does not need any energy to brew. Just some time (24 hours or so). You can keep the resulting coffee bottled without refrigeration. It is great tasting, and another plus is that you don't need the highest quality bean for good results. MOAR info please! |
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Quoted: I'm intrigued....go on Quoted: Quoted: Cold brewed coffee is much higher in caffeine content than hot brewed. Maybe 4-10 times higher. It also is the most mellow, low acidic coffee you will ever taste. As a prep, the minus is that it needs real coffee beans. The plus is it does not need any energy to brew. Just some time (24 hours or so). You can keep the resulting coffee bottled without refrigeration. It is great tasting, and another plus is that you don't need the highest quality bean for good results. I'm intrigued....go on me too, so I googled it. pretty artsy stuff... http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/do-it-yourself/2011/08/how-to-make-cold-brew-coffee/ |
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Quoted: The expiration date is 8/16 and they will probably be good years past that. Of course with added excipients, who knows. |
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I know that I have a container of about two kilograms of chemically pure caffeine at work I have been using for like 20 years, and I have not seen any significant degradation products. Of course with added excipients, who knows. Quoted:
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The expiration date is 8/16 and they will probably be good years past that. Of course with added excipients, who knows. My bet is that it will last a long time if stored cool, dark, and dry. It seems to be pretty stable even dissolved in mildly acidic solution (carbonated drinks). |
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I think these would be worth having even if you don't use caffeine normally. I usually skip dinner before working out (fencing or karate) sometimes I'll go without eating from 2 PM then workout from 6 until 9 and as long as I have an espresso and a couple sports drinks, I'm good to go. Without the coffee no way. It kills my appetite and keeps me focused. When the shtf sleep and food will probably be a luxury and caffeine would allow you to do without and still stay focused. I'm going to start cutting back though |
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me too, so I googled it. pretty artsy stuff... http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/do-it-yourself/2011/08/how-to-make-cold-brew-coffee/ Quoted:
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Cold brewed coffee is much higher in caffeine content than hot brewed. Maybe 4-10 times higher. It also is the most mellow, low acidic coffee you will ever taste. As a prep, the minus is that it needs real coffee beans. The plus is it does not need any energy to brew. Just some time (24 hours or so). You can keep the resulting coffee bottled without refrigeration. It is great tasting, and another plus is that you don't need the highest quality bean for good results. I'm intrigued....go on pretty artsy stuff... http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/do-it-yourself/2011/08/how-to-make-cold-brew-coffee/ Whoa, I guess so. Pretty wordy explination, for soak grounds in room temp water, run through coffee press I ain't got time for all that 
Seriously though, if I had a coffee press, I'd try it. I don't drink hot coffee anyway. I wonder if just filtering it, and squezing the grounds some, might give similar results. |
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Quoted: Me too, but as I've gotten older, the past couple months, I've experimented with the $$$ energy drinks ----and cost vs increased productivity, they win hands down. I often use 2/3 of one of the little bottles a day. Mostly caffeine and a bunch of other maybe snake oil chems, can't figger it out. Says one bottle same amt of caffeine as a premium cup of coffee, whatever that is... Box discount stores have them cheaper, and I wonder abt THEIR shelf life? The bottles of the name brand E-drinks are high quality and useful for other stuff. Quoted: Quoted: Get off coffee now? Although I may be biased. To me, coffee smells/tastes like (what I imagine) burnt horse piss filtered through a nasty ass sock. Me too, but as I've gotten older, the past couple months, I've experimented with the $$$ energy drinks ----and cost vs increased productivity, they win hands down. I often use 2/3 of one of the little bottles a day. Mostly caffeine and a bunch of other maybe snake oil chems, can't figger it out. Says one bottle same amt of caffeine as a premium cup of coffee, whatever that is... Box discount stores have them cheaper, and I wonder abt THEIR shelf life? The bottles of the name brand E-drinks are high quality and useful for other stuff. Monster, and the rest of them will begin to taste bad after a few months just like regular soda does. Keep that in mind. I buy these things called "Penguin Mints" which aren't very minty, but have 20 mg of caffeine in each. That lets you dose it out slowly to balance the alertness (like, on a long car drive where you need to sleep at the end of it for the next day's activities). Amazon has the Penguin mints. There's a can in each of my EDC locations (car, work desk, home desk, BOB / GHB).
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Quoted: Cold brewed coffee is much higher in caffeine content than hot brewed. Maybe 4-10 times higher. It also is the most mellow, low acidic coffee you will ever taste. As a prep, the minus is that it needs real coffee beans. The plus is it does not need any energy to brew. Just some time (24 hours or so). You can keep the resulting coffee bottled without refrigeration. It is great tasting, and another plus is that you don't need the highest quality bean for good results. Green coffee beans keep for years.
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Cold brewed coffee is much higher in caffeine content than hot brewed. Maybe 4-10 times higher. It also is the most mellow, low acidic coffee you will ever taste. As a prep, the minus is that it needs real coffee beans. The plus is it does not need any energy to brew. Just some time (24 hours or so). You can keep the resulting coffee bottled without refrigeration. It is great tasting, and another plus is that you don't need the highest quality bean for good results. Green coffee beans keep for years. That would work. I have been roasting green beans for my own use for over 15 years, off and on. There have been times when I just didn't have the time to roast, and I would just buy beans already roasted. It is a nice hobby. Not too expensive after you purchase the roaster. I bought a new roaster last year. One that could roast 1 pound at a time. It's this one. I used to use the Hearthware Gourmet Coffee Roaster, but at 1/2 cup at a time, it was a slow process to make a few weeks beans. You can get a ton of information on roasting at Sweet Maria's. I have been buying from them since the middle 1990's. Good folks. The cold brewing that I talked about is newer to me. About a year ago I saw a unique interview by Leo Laporte of this guy, Philip Broughton, that sold a cold-brewed coffee. His website is here. I found it interesting. I like all kinds of coffee, from American to Turkish to espresso. One thing that always kinda bugged me was the acidity of it all. When I heard that cold-brewed coffee was very low in acid, I thought it worth a try, and with the added benefit of more caffeine  . I ordered some of his samples. It was very interesting. Much more mellow than I was used to. Wanting to to this myself, (and his product was very expensive to drink regularly) I looked into how to do it, and found it very simple.
Grind up your beans. Put them in water for 24 hours or so. Separate the grinds from the water. Done. You do not need to refrigerate during the process. Or have to refrigerate the product after. At least, that has been my experience. I pour the coffee into bottles like this, and keep it on the kitchen counter. Because the coffee is so much stronger, and the caffeine content is higher, I dilute it at a 3:1 or 4:1 water:coffee ratio before I heat the cup up in the microwave. It makes a very nice mild cup of coffee, but can have a great jolt, too. I use a pound of coffee to 12 cups of water. (I wind up with about a cup more than 2 quarts of coffee) Grind doesn't seem to make much difference to me. As a matter of fact, the quality of bean does not seem to be as needed in this process. Encouraged by several cold-brew documents that I read, I even tried it with some Folgers off-the-shelf from the Dollar Store. It wasn't too bad at all. I stocked up on some of that for my preps. I found somewhere online that was selling it real cheap. However, better beans still will give a better cup. The cheaper stuff just more acceptable than they would be in a hot brew. Separating the grinds from the water proved a little difficult. I finally got a fabric mesh bag, similar to ones used to separate the skin from paint (only food grade), and put that in the 3 liter container I use to brew first. Then add the water. Then add the ground beans. Cover. After 24 hours, I pull out the mesh bag, and hang it over the container until all the coffee is more or less dripped out. I squeeze the coffee ball a few times to get more out of it. I'm sure there are better ways to do this extraction, like a centrifuge, or like that, but this is where I am at now. Anyways, you should try it. Some of you might not like how mellow it is, and miss the edge that hot brewed coffee can have. I totally understand that. I go between various methods and various beans myself. Keeps it interesting. There are lots of blogs about cold brewing. Read up on them. Its actually quite simple. Its nice to just pour a cup in the morning and just more or less heat it up in the microwave. Not much to do. My stomach appreciates the low acidity, and it was a great revelation to me that the acid is not absolutely necessary to a great cup of coffee. |