There is nothing worse than having wet matches while trying to light a fire. Growing up I lived in a remote area where the power would go out at least once a month. So our family constantly had to use our emergency 72 hour kits full of candles and flashlights to get around at night. We were no strangers to lighting matches in the dark in an emergency situation. Even on occasion while camping, we would arrive late to our destination and have to light a fire in the dark. Luckily we never had a problem where we couldn’t light the fire due to wet matches because we would waterproof all of the matches. I’m not sure how many of you have been unfortunate enough to go through the experience of having wet matches that will not light. If you have, I know that you have learned from this experience but are now looking for a way to avoid it again. To guarantee that this inconvenient situation does not happen at all (or again), I’m going to tell you how to waterproof matches for your survival food storage.
Step 1: Light a candle. It doesn’t matter which kind of candle or how big it is either. Any will do. Let the candle burn for a while and melt the wax.
Step 2: After the candle has been lit for a sufficient amount of time and melted some of the wax, dip the heads of the matches into the wax. Don’t dip the whole match in, just enough to cover the tip and a small amount of wood.
Step 3: Set on wax paper and allow the wax to dry. That’s it, you’re done! It’s a simple solution to a problem that can save you in a dire time.
