Preppy Prepping

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...

 Today, let’s talk about cooking with no power, thus no microwave, no oven, no stove.  If you have a gas stove, like me, you only need electricity to ignite your oven or range. As long as gas is still coming through my line, I just need to manually light my burners with a lighter to be able to cook. But, in a catastrophic emergency, I won’t have gas for very long. So, just how DO you cook long-term? About 10 years ago, several people in my neighborhood decided to try out functioning with no water and no power for a weekend.  It was a great dry run for us.  I went into the weekend sure it was going to be simple. I put a bucket of water from our rain barrels in each bathroom to pour into the commode to flush it.  We bungy-corded the fridge and freezer to help remind each of us that refrigerated food was off limits. I put plastic wrap over top of the sink to help me remember not to run water in the sink. We were confidently prepared! My solution for years to the qu...

Today, I want to begin talking about storing food. Probably the least expensive and easiest item to store is rice. There are many different types of rice. Brown rice is a great antioxidant. Basmati rice is low in arsenic, a common by-product of rice. But plain white long-grain rice is inexpensive, easy to cook and store, and provides over 200 calories per cup. It’s a very good way to start storing up. One pound of rice equals 7 1/2 cups of cooked rice, so a 50-lb. bag, costing $25 or less, will give you a whopping 375 one-cup servings.  Rice alone, however, is an incomplete meal. But combine rice with beans, and you have a meal consisting of all 9 amino acids which, together, form a complete protein. Again, beans are very inexpensive and easy to cook and there are many different varieties. So, add multiple pounds of various beans to your stores along with your rice, and you’re well on your way to being able to provide healthy and filling food for your family in an emergency. This i...

 I consider myself to be a planner, not a Prepper. I don’t have a secret, hidden hide-out, my family doesn’t do drills, and no t.v. show is going to be interested in me. I’m just a regular person trying to make sure my family’s needs will be covered if something very serious happens. I have many friends who don’t think it’s even remotely possible that our infrastructure could fail. But I have another friend who lived through Katrina in New Orleans - he believes strongly in preparing for potential emergencies. I’m sure the people in Texas never expected to be without power for weeks.  Years ago, we suffered from an ice storm in the Deep South that knocked out power in our whole city for several days. We were lucky in comparison to flooding, fire, tornado, and hurricane damage that occurs frequently around the world.  Truthfully, though, I started learning how to prepare for an emergency about 15 years ago, when the Lord told me I should. I discussed it with my husband who ...