Preppy Prepping

 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...

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 ...

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...

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...

Years ago, for Mother’s Day, my husband bought me a food saver. It’s one of those machines that seals special bags and can vacuum-seal, as well. The bags that fit the food saver are much heavier than Ziploc bags and are NOT air-permeable, a requirement for long-term storage. The one with which he gifted me also comes with a roll holder at the top and a cutter blade that slides across to cut the heavy plastic whatever length you want. I purchase the rolls, sealed on both sides, from Costco. You can also get them on-line and purchase rolls of different widths. Some of the multi-packs include pre-formed bags, open on only one end. These work well for smaller items that you want to quickly repackage. When I use the rolls and make my own bags, I always double seal the end before I fill. Just in case one seal loosens somehow, I have that second seal for protection. The machine uses heat and pressure to melt the two sides together to form a seal in a thin line. I use my food saver a ton. If I...

My oldest son’s first job was at the local Chick-fil-A. We discovered, in anticipation of the opening, that CFA does something called, “The First 100” at every new store the night before the Grand Opening, which always happens on a Thursday. You have to report to the store by 6 am the morning before the opening and register. The First 100 people that register and several alternates spend the whole day and the night in the parking lot. CFA feeds you breakfast, lunch, and dinner and provides unlimited drinks all day plus games with give-always and lots of fun activities. Throughout the day, they require the attendees to line up and do a count to be certain the 100 don’t leave the property. Early the following morning, they rally the attendees again and the first 100 (and any alternates that have taken the place of disqualified individuals) are given a gift card pre-loaded with 52 #1 meals. Supposedly, you can’t use the card multiple times in the same day, but I’ve found the employees are...

 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...

When I first began preparing for a potential emergency, everything I read stressed the importance of ROTATING my stock. Eventually, this task became overwhelming, partly because we don’t typically eat a lot of beans and rice. The things I was stashing away could not easily be transferred to our daily food supplies. But keeping up with dates on all my cans also put me way out of control. So how do I ensure my food doesn’t spoil before my family needs it? My solution went two different directions. First off, I found articles (case studies, really) about canned goods that had been discovered more than 100 years after purchase. One occurred in Texas when a company bulldozing an area to build a parking lot for a new shopping complex discovered a root cellar that contained hundreds of canning jars full of food. The food was taken to an independent lab and tested for bacteria and nutrition. Every jar, still carefully sealed, was free of bacterial infiltrate and still held it’s original nutrit...

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 ...