Preppy Prepping

In my continual quest to identify meals of different types that I can add into my Stores meal list (see October 17 Post, “Soup for Every Occasion”), I’ve run across some information that I find helpful. Specifically, different meals require different types of rice. For instance, most Indian-type meals call for Basmati rice, something I have not added to my stores. I have a good supply of long-grain white rice, but no other kinds. I’ve also discovered that I should probably store up Arborio rice. This is the rice used for Risotto, and it’s smaller and plumper than long-grain. Therefore, when cooked, if done correctly, you get a creamy, light, delicious product. I’ve watched enough Gordon Ramsey shows to know that creamy Risotto is a staple in his restaurants. It can also be used for rice pudding. Storing up Arborio rice and Basmati means that I can vary our rice dishes much more. Using rice twice a week, once a week by itself and once a week combined with beans, having different types o...

In my continued search for high protein foods to add to my Stores, I ran across another unique piece of information. A common pond plant, known as duckweed, is currently being researched and is quickly moving into the position of our newest “superfood”. It’s packed with protein, far more by volume than almost ANY other protein source, doubles in volume every 24 hours (making it very plentiful), and can be eaten fresh alone, added to other foods such as salads or sandwiches, or dried and made into a powder to be sprinkled on eggs or any other food to add extra protein. It also can be fed to ducks, as it’s name suggests. I was fascinated! Since we have a backyard pond, I did more research. Turns out, it won’t work on our pond, which has a waterfall. It doesn’t like moving water. But it will grow in any nutrient-rich standing water. It reproduces asexually, like cloning, so it typically doesn’t seed. Some studies seem to indicate that, while it dies off at first frost, some particles drop...

Two weeks ago, I was talking with my son about the possibility of a catastrophic emergency. Recently, he told me that he believes we will have a financial collapse and a regime change in our country within the next 2 years, so this is a topic we visit periodically. He pointed out that if the worst happens, he’ll have to stop working out because I won’t be able to provide enough protein to fuel his muscles. Of course, that got me thinking. If we lose the power grid, life will require all family members working hard from sun up to sundown just to survive, like in the Pioneer Days. We will need my son’s muscle and it would be in our family’s best interest to be able to supplement his food allotment with additional protein. With that in mind, I began researching high protein sources. I believe I’ve mentioned before that my father’s family were pioneers in the part of northern Alberta where they settled. They were the only non-Indians in that area. The Tribe that peopled that area were the ...

 I haven’t posted in over a year; mainly because I had nothing more to say! People who know me well might find that very comical. But a recent conversation has spurred this Post. I have several friends who are part of a co-op from a store called Breadbecker’s. They are Atlanta-based but ship all over. They sell grains, beans, and other baking supplies. But their grains are unique in that they package the whole wheat berry in Mylar bags with the air removed and, then, in 42-lb. bucket. Before packaging, the wheat berries are treated for pests. The unique packaging, devoid of air and light, and sealed in a bucket away from bugs or rodents, and the whole berries as opposed to just the ground flour, makes these products shelf-stable for many, many years. Add in a hand-operated grinder and you have the basis for bread-making in your Stores. The advantage to the co-op is that you’re grouping orders together to discount the shipping and in order to apply volume discounts. Numerous times n...

I’ve written in the past about the need for fuel in a Catastrophic Emergency. I mentioned solar ovens and rocket stoves, which use very little fuel and can heat a kettle of water by burning just a few twigs. But it always concerns me that, in my neighborhood, many people will all be relying on the same materials for cooking fuel.  Several months ago, my husband and I visited my nephew, whose family lives in the North Georgia mountains. He has a large heating stove in his living room, situated in a corner that borders the stairway leading up to the bedrooms, that provides heat for the entire house. I realized that the location of a heating stove is critical. This location allows the heat, which always travels upwards, to make its way easily to the bedrooms upstairs, while also servicing the living room and dining room downstairs. The one disadvantage to his heater, which we discussed, is that it uses an electric blower, so it wouldn’t function if power were to be shut off. He told m...

 I was talking with a friend today who is just beginning to create stores. She has purchased some reusable jugs for water storage and we were discussing where to put them once filled. I suggested to her that she utilize the crawl space under her house. Years ago, I read in a publication that this is a great, empty space that can be used for water storage. I acted on that suggestion and began to fill the taller sections of the crawl space (where you could almost stand upright) with crates full of water jugs. Then I got older and developed arthritis in my knees and all my children got too big to crawl through the opening easily, so I had to hire a young man in the neighborhood to pull out my crates of water for me. I moved them under my deck.  When I made the suggestion to my friend that she utilize her crawl space, she seemed a little taken aback. I added, “Or anywhere they’ll stay cool and dry, really.” She responded that dry isn’t a problem, but cool is another matter entirel...

All of us are interested in projects we can accomplish for free. One of the best things you can do for your family is to begin composting. Instead of throwing out vegetable peels and scraps, add them to your compost pile. Over time, these scraps will break down and provide lovely organic fertilizer for your gardens. It will cost you nothing, as opposed to store-bought fertilizer, and will decrease trash going to the landfill. What can you compost? No meat and no dairy. But any vegetable or fruit scraps and egg shells can all go in your pile. Think potato, squash, and carrot peels, onion skins, the ends of your celery bunches, pineapple cores, crown (spiky parts on top), and rind, apple cores (unless you save them to make vinegar), orange and grapefruit peels, old salad, and nearly anything you’re putting down the disposal or throwing in the trash except . . . meat and dairy. You can also add grass clippings, leaves, and anything that will decay over time. I started composting a long ti...

Every family should do a threat assessment. This is important so you can prepare appropriately for the most probable emergencies. You can begin by reviewing historical records of your area. For instance,  our city has struggled with flooding in the past due to a river that flows through it. However, another serious flood in our area is unlikely since the known hazard has been addressed with high embankments along the river. But we still have problems with flooding in low-lying areas around the city during heavy rains because the drainage system can’t deal with large volumes. Additionally, we live near a military base and several nuclear facilities. These are all possible threats. In addition to historical data, you should consider things like tornados, hurricanes, droughts, earthquakes, and other acts of God (or nature). The top 8 natural disasters are tsunamis, droughts, floods, earthquakes, heat waves, volcanic eruptions, tornados, and hurricanes.  Volcanic eruption is rare,...

Years ago, I started dehydrating bell peppers and storing them in jars. I find that I use a lot of bell peppers but I’m not going to pay $1 for a single pepper. My father-in-law grows them every year, as do I, and I dehydrate all the excess. All year rounds, I have bell peppers without having to pay a premium. For most things, it’s unnecessary to reconstitute the diced, dried peppers. I can simply add them to soups, casseroles along with the meat, or omelette fixings and they reconstitute really well on their own. Yet, I use them so often, I still have run out of dried peppers a time or two. For every full jar I keep available to use throughout the year, I try to have another stored for long term. Several times recently, I’ve been making something, like a roast with potatoes and carrots, when I really needed celery to add another taste profile. Celery is something I almost never buy, primarily because I use it rarely and, in between uses, it just rots and has to be thrown out. But, on ...

Because we live in the South, where we are happy if we have 1 day of Winter, we do not have a fireplace. We know lots of people who do, but many more that don’t. If you’re one of the lucky families that has a fireplace, you probably have firewood stored up somehow or have a reliable source. If you have a fireplace, but it has fallen into disrepair or you just don’t use it, now is the time to call a chimney sweep. Get that thing up and running; at the very least, get it to where it CAN be used. You have a cooking source and a heating source already in your home. You’re lucky. When my mother was growing up in the frozen north of Alberta, Canada, they used coal oil lamps for light and a single wood-burning stove for heat. They had a huge old farmhouse kitchen that housed their big cast-iron cook stove. This was the only heat source in the house. After chores were finished for the day and dinner had been consumed (in the kitchen), evening life for the family all took place in the one heate...

I’d like to talk a little bit more about water issues. A human can survive for weeks without food, but only 3 days without water. Other than shelter, this is the most basic of needs and should be the absolute first task tackled when trying to prepare for the future. Start by ensuring you have at least a 3-day supply of water for all your household members and pets. From there, continue adding to your storage with the ultimate goal of having 2 months worth of water stored for your family. Keep in mind that you can get by with less than 1 gallon of water per person per day for drinking, but you also need water for cooking, sanitizing, and bodily care. That’s why the CDC recommends 1 gallon per person per day. For a family of 4, you should have stored, at an absolute minimum, 12 gallons of water. But 2 week’s worth, or 56 gallons, would be even better. If you have any warning of a potential loss of water, you can fill bathtubs. This water should last you several days. If you don’t have ba...

Our Grandmothers used them and some of our mothers, as well. However, many people today only own electric kitchen utensils. Gone are the hand-cranked mixers and hand mills for grinding grain into flour. Some families may not even own a hand crank can opener. If the power grid goes down, hand-operated utensils will be essential, so it’s time to take stock of the non-electric kitchen utensils you may need. Let’s start with the 3 mentioned above. I have 3 or 4 manual can openers. I have so many because only one really works. I need to throw out the others and make more space in my drawer. If you have a trusted manual can opener, buy one more. Can openers are difficult to sharpen and really do dull over time. How fast they become useless depends on how much they are used. In any case, have a spare! You don’t want to end up having to use a knife to cut into cans. I recently purchased a “retro” hand mixer. It has a wheel with a handle attached and two beaters that turn when the wheel is rota...

I wrote previously of the need for every family to have a supply of all medications regularly taken by family members. But you might want to consider expanding this supply a little more. Are there frequent ailments that attack your family members? For years, every March, I would develop Bronchitis. It was like clock-work, documented in my medical charts. This was primarily due to allergies, change in weather, and the amount of time I was spending outside since March, in Georgia, signals the beginning of warm weather. The best way for me to avoid bronchitis is to treat the allergies before they develop into a sinus infection and the sinus infection before it results in bronchitis. In order to protect my body from bronchitis, a much more serious and debilitating illness for me, I have to be sure to stay on top of my allergies. We keep Benadryl around the house in large volumes. We live in an area that is easily in the top five for worst allergies in the country. I’ve been told by several...

I’m constantly finding out new things from my research,  which I mostly do during the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. For instance, I printed out directions for making a home still (not QUITE as easy as my sons claim), reviewed ways to store meat by salting, which my father’s family in Canada lived off when he was growing up, but is nearly impossible in the South, and stay current on new techniques and ideas from farm blogs and some small-time preppers, like me. One of the blogs I was reading recently mentioned something I had not considered, but is worth pursuing. While at the grocery store, pick up a couple of extra cans of, and watch for good sales on, canned meals that already have meat added. For instance, pork and beans (the better brands contain hunks of ham and ham fat) and canned chili with hamburger meat. While the ratio of meat to fillers may be small, having some cans of these foods will allow you to serve your family a meal containing meat without having to bre...

If there ever IS a catastrophic emergency, fast food will be non-existent. You need to know how to cook nutritious, easy meals for your family. In addition to beans and rice, homemade pasta, and sprouts, an easy meal to make is soup. You can make tomato, vegetable, chicken, ham, mushroom, split pea, potato, squash, pumpkin, beet, lentil, cauliflower, roasted red pepper, carrot . . . and any number of other types. I’ve started making a list of meals that I can stash away so I don’t have to spend time thinking about meal options if and when the time comes. Each day of the week, we will have a different dinner meal. For instance, every Monday, we will have a bean meal. Tuesday will be a rice meal. Wednesday, pasta, etc. . . Thursdays will be soup day. In this list, I’m separating out potential non-meat meals by each of the categories listed above. My goal is to have 12 options in each category so we have 12 weeks of different meals, despite repeating categories on a weekly basis. Essentia...

Syrup - perhaps the easiest thing in the world to make from scratch. When I was growing up, I had no idea there was such a thing as syrup in a bottle. I don’t think my mother EVER bought any, yet pancakes were our weekly after-church on Sunday brunch. We ate them weekly, but never had anything other than hot, from the pot, homemade yummy syrup. Mostly, my mother made maple syrup using maple extract added to boiling sugar water. But she also made a variety of fruit syrups. One of the things I discovered while living in England was amazing, tropical fruit juices, like the ones I have been able to buy during my trips to Hawaii. Shortly after our arrival in England and our move into our leased house, an American friend working with my husband had to return home for a family emergency. When she came back to England, she brought with her a large bag of pancake mix. I hadn’t seen this product anywhere in England, even though the store where we mostly shopped was the English Walmart. Our way o...

Well, I tried my hand at homemade pasta, and learned 2 very important things. First off, you don’t HAVE to use Semolina, despite what I’ve always been told and the many articles I’ve read on this subject. When it came to actually printing out recipes, almost all of the recipes called for plain all purpose flour. The recipe I decided to use called for 2 1/2 cups of semolina. I used 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups of semolina. The resulting pasta was dense and not light, like I wanted. The second issue was hand-rolling out the dough. It was way more than my poor arthritic hands could take. I rolled out a quarter of the dough and my daughter had to do the remainder for me. Without the use of a pasta roller, we just weren’t able to get the dough thin enough for a product with a medium or light bite. Although smooth, it was quite heavy and thick. I think, in the future, I’ll use less semolina to my all purpose flour, probably much less, maybe just 1/2 cup per recipe. I still have ...

Have you ever considered that, one day, you might find it necessary to evacuate your area. We live in a relatively safe area of the country where the need to evacuate from floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, or tornadoes is pretty non-existent. But we also live near several nuclear facilities. In the past, our city has hosted evacuees from coastal areas numerous times, including Hurricane Katrina. Shelters have overflowed and many evacuees simply can’t afford hotel rooms, even if any were available. It begs the question, if my family was forced to evacuate, what would we do? After Hurricane Katrina, my family discussed this very issue in detail. There are several concerns that have to be addressed if an evacuation order is issued for your area. First and foremost, how do you go about gathering your family? This was a huge question, since my husband worked at one of those nuclear facilities, a 55-minute drive from our home. We discussed in detail (and never fully resolved, unfortunately) a ra...

As I’ve previously mentioned, my husband and I moved our family to England several years ago for a short stay. His job assigned him to a project in northern England and provided a furnished home for us for about 3 months. While it was very short, it afforded my children an opportunity to live in a different country and culture without having the handicap of a foreign language (or so we thought. Turns out, English is NOT what we speak. We speak American, which is absolutely not what “they” speak.) We learned many, many things while there, but a couple of the things that changed my life forever are detailed below. First off, they don’t perk or drip their coffee. They refer to both coffee and tea as “a brew”, and both are prepared in relatively the same way - good old boiling water. Every kitchen, and even every hotel room, is equipped with an electric kettle, but not the kind I grew up around. These are cordless kettles. You plug a base into an outlet, remove the insulated kettle, fill i...

People occasionally ask me what type of an emergency I’m anticipating. I have no idea. God said, so I do. He didn’t give me any details, just a few additional directions along the way. Some people are planning for a zombie apocalypse, others think there will be an EM Pulse, still others are expecting nuclear war followed by nuclear fall-out. My only thought is that we may experience a catastrophic failure of infrastructure, which shuts off our power and leads to loss of sewage and water.  Near the first peak of COVID, so many people were sick in our neck of the woods that businesses had to shut down. They were unable to sustain operations with such a limited staff. People positive for COVID were being isolated for 2 weeks, and anyone who had been in contact with them, which usually resulted in many of their co-workers, had to be isolated, also. There were just not enough employees to maintain businesses. If things get really bad in the future from COVID or a variant, or from some o...