Personally, I've never been one to run to the doctor's office every time I come down with a sniffle or a cough (which is rare to begin with) and I tend avoid even the simplest forms of medication such as aspirins. When you feel under the weather or your body aches, I believe that is simply nothing more than your body just sending you signals while it's fighting whatever infliction you may possess. As a modern society, one thing I rather dislike is our dependency for over the counter and prescribed medications. While the average American may be found popping an aspirin for a headache, the real problem may lie in the fact that the person hasn't had a proper glass of water in a few days and they're simply dehydrated. Why aren't we teaching more alternative methods like this instead of shoving hundreds upon hundreds of commercials and billboard advertisements down everyone's throats. This turns my thoughts to our health care system. Mankind has spent thousands of years using natural, selective breeding and in return it has let us develop into a smarter and inferior species. However due to different medical advancements like antibiotics, flu shots, and the plethora of drugs widely prescribed to the public.. we are slowly ruining ourselves. Evolution is literally dying. What used to be the survival of the fittest has turned into a society that adheres to the crippled, the ill, and the lesser species. With the many new drugs and medications that are widely available and given to keep a person alive enough to stay on disability, social security, or what have you, in turn we are turning around and crippling our own society by forcing them to spend their tax dollars to keep a person lightly functional. When the apocalypse comes, I believe some of the first groups to be affected by it will be the millions and millions of people that are literally kept alive by the string of meds that make their life bearable. We will be forced to enter into a world where no one will be hardly willing to give anyone any sort of hand out. Both minute ad great tribes alike will slowly form and any one considered too slow, or feeble to the group will prove to be a liability and will be ousted. Mates will be selected by pure physical and skills and other primitive attributes. There will be no room for a weaker species and they will eventually just.. fade away. In a way, the apocalypse will form a natural cleansing.. 

Wow.. what a tangent. Anyways, back to the original statement. Put into a post apocalyptic setting, I could very well see this immune system boosting tincture that can be added to soups, stews, or salad dressings being very beneficial and a norm to everyday life. The recipe calls for raw apple cider vinegar. For this, I've included instructions on how to make apple cider vinegar seeing as you wont be able to just steal it from a store.

Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

- Fresh Nasturtium

- Fresh Mint

- Fresh Garlic

- Fresh Sage and/ or Fresh Basil

1.  Fill a canning jar with the washed herbs of your choice.. don't over pack! Grab your vinegar and pour it in. Seal the jar and let it sit for two weeks and remember to shake it. When all that is done, you're going to strain out the herbs with a colander or whatever else you have, then label it with type and date.

2.  Add a tablespoon to soups, stews, or salad dressings to gai the benefits from the mineral blend. Don't heat the vinegar because it will get rid of a lot of the active enzmes. So you'll want to add them at the end of your cookin or making salsas.

3.  Enjoy good health!

Making Apple Cider Vinegar

Oxygen supply and temperature are the two key things you need to making your own apple cider vinegar at home. Oxygen is spread throughout the mixture by stirring it daily and by letting air reach the fluid through a cheesecloth filter instead of a regular lid. The temperature of fermenting cider should be kept between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Any lower and your vinegar will not turn.. any higher and your mother of vinegar will not turn out properly. Mother of vinegar is a mat that forms on the bottom of fermenting wine that has gone bad.

Notes:

- Do not use metal containers. The acid in the vinegar will corrode metal and aluminum containers.

- Glass, plastic, wood, enamel, or stainless steel containers should be used for making or storing vinegar.