Emergencies and Sanitation

After a natural disaster, or any other emergency, clean up will begin and people will try to get their lives back to normal.  But there will be one area of concern.....sanitation.   The after effects of a disaster will be more deadly then the actual event because of the sanitation situation.  Contaminated water equals disease! Be prepared with a portable toilet, cleansers, sanitizers, toilet paper, manual washing machine, soaps, towels of all sizes, and of course water!

 September is National Emergency Preparedness Month and it would be a great time to gather sanitation essentials and add them to your storage.  

Cleaning your clothes without electricity will be more time consuming, but see how we did our laundry at our house when the washer was broken.  Click HERE to read that post. 

picture from preparednessnibblesandbits.blogspot.com

Have you thought about the aftermath of no public utilities?  No working toilets?  I don't want to thing too much about that, but we do need to be ready to deal with human waste.  Portable potties, or luggable loos, are a must-have item in everyone's storage.  They are cheap and simple to put together.  Tough garbage bags, kitty litter (to absorb the waste), and a snap on toilet seat are a must in your kit!!  Click HERE to view my post on the portable potty.

One thought I have when my kids are ill is how I am going to help them feel better if there were no modern conveniences, or even modern medicine.  Many people in this day in age still die from diarrhea.  Third world countries are where this is still happening, but in a situation where our sanitation is compromised we will see an increase of people with diarrhea.  Keeping a person, especially a child, hydrated will become very necessary.  Click HERE to see how to make an electrolyte drink from items you probably already have in your storage.    

When sickness does hit, be prepared with all the essentials.  Click HERE to read my post on being prepared for the flu (or any sickness). 

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT ITEM THAT YOU NEED IN YOUR STORAGE, FOR SANITATION, AND IN GENERAL......IS WATER!!!  You will need more water when someone becomes ill and for cleaning in general after a disaster.  Stocking up on Clorox wipes and other cleaning supplies will help tremendously in a situation where there isn't indoor plumbing.  Washcloths and extra towels would also be great to have on hand.

There are many non-food essentials to have in your storage, but hand sanitizers and other cleaners are very important.  You don't want to survive a disaster to then succumb to sickness because of contaminated water.  

Manual Washing Machines & Long-Term Dairy Storage

The title may seem odd, but that is what my life was all about the past few days.  It was a time of experimentation with food storage theories, and also a household mini-disaster where my emergency preparedness came in handy.  I took a class at Honeyville Grain last summer taught by a sister team, Afton & Jenee, and they had some interesting ideas on how to preserve eggs, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese. (click HERE to see that post) I tested some of their ideas and so far so good!!  I also had a slight disaster when our washing machine died.  Of course the minute we can't do laundry all my kids were insistent they HAD to do laundry right now!  


One of the ideas that I learned in that food storage class last summer is if you store your yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese containers upside down in the fridge they will stay fresh for months.  I may have taken this too literally, but I wanted to make quiche for dinner the other night and it called for cottage cheese, and lo and behold look at what I found in the back corner of the fridge....

 The date I used this in our dinner was February 22, 2012....seven months after putting this container in the fridge, upside down.  And you know what?? We are all alive today to tell you that turning your containers upside down WORKS!!!  I was convinced that just because my washing machine was broken that we were all going to be up all night with food poisoning and I would have no way to wash the sheets :)  But I was almost doing a happy dance when I opened the container and smelled it and it was exactly like fresh cottage cheese from the store!!  (I also have a post on storing cheese and eggs on the shelf for next week, so stayed tuned for that one!)


Now onto the mini-disaster...my washing machine broke and we are now waiting for a new one to be delivered (in maybe a week).  I have a potty-training 3 year old who goes through 3-4 pairs of underwear a day. (she's 3 so don't worry about her being embarrassed, maybe in 10 years :)  And of course she is now out of clean underwear and I was very close to buying new ones when I remembered my manual washing machine.  

Notice the pull-up and no pants :) They were all dirty.

 I have had a manual washer in my storage room but hadn't put together the whole contraption.  Today was the day we put it together and used it!  

We first drilled a hole in a gamma lid.

See how it all fits together.

I added a few drops of detergent and the clothes.

We started with the lid on but it was actually easier to use the suction of the plunger with the lid off.  My 2 youngest LOVED this job!!

 I drained and rinsed the clothes in the same bucket and wrung them out and then we dried them in the dryer.  What really caught my attention was how much water I would need to do laundry every week.  We used a 2 liter bottle and counted how many it would take to fill the bucket to be able to do a load of laundry.

 It took four 2-liter bottles to fill the bucket half-way with enough water to wash 6 pairs of child size 4 pants. And that was only to wash, more water would be needed to rinse the clothes.  I have quite a bit of water storage but I am adding to it everyday now!!  We had fun washing the clothes in a bucket but it was actually kind of hard.  It hurt my hands to hold the plunger after awhile and after ringing out the clothes my hands were so dry from the detergent.  I am working on  making a clothes ringer out of buckets, but I had to do it with my hands.  The bucket also doesn't hold that much.  My son is 8 and it held 4 pairs of his pants and we left the lid off the bucket to move them around with the plunger.  My 12 year old did her laundry in the bath tub and used the plunger.  I actually think that was a better way to do a large load, but it was hard on her back to bend over for that long.  (Imagine my back after doing that) 

We learned so much from doing this simple task of washing our clothes in a bucket.  I can also watch for food sales and stock up on sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs, and cheese and have the knowledge to be able to store them for months, while saving my family money!!  Learning NOW before a disaster is what I think is so important!!  Don't wait for an emergency to try out your sun oven, or porta potty, or manual washer.  You'll deeply regret not learning skills now when you have the time and energy to do so.  

(Click HERE to view a previous post on washing clothes without electricity)

Rub-A-Dub-Dub Laundry Without Electricity

The emergency preparedness goal for November is all about sanitation.  Fun..I know!!  But in all seriousness in most cases it isn't the emergency that kills people, it's the sanitation afterwards.  Our goal is to have emergency portable toilets with all necessary items stored inside. Read more about luggable loos HERE.  For this post I want to focus on having the supplies on hand to be able to do your laundry if there was no electricity, or if the water mains were broken.  I have written about the porta-potty before and doing our laundry, but reviewing never hurt anyone, right?  There are actually several options that will help make doing laundry by hand easier.  


One way is to use a contraption that looks a lot like a toilet plunger, but it is made for your laundry.  It has sections throughout the bottom to help the water and soap move through the clothes.  It is quite simple and inexpensive.  Add a bucket, gamma lid (with a hole for the handle) and you are ready to do the laundry.  The washer plunger costs about $14 and can be found at Emergency Essentials or in a complete bucket set at Honeyville.


After the plunger, the only other item you will need will be the laundry detergent.  Making your own laundry detergent is easier than you think, and it is a lot cheaper too!  There are many recipes and videos online.  I found a video that is easy to follow, but feel free to google and find what works for you.

If you feel finding all the ingredients for a laundry bucket kit are too time consuming.  There are several options out there for you.  Tami Girsberger has an amazing company of preparedness items all ready to go!  You don't have to hunt for all the items you will need for a porta-potty or wonder how to decide which bags or sanitizer are the best.  Tami has tested and compared all the products in her kits and has selected only the very best.  Tami has done all the research for you.  Check out her porta-potty HERE and her laundry bucket HERE.  She really has found the best products to go in her kits.  Take a minute to look through her site, it is amazing the time she has spent in her research to find the best products.  Her website is preparemylife.com and Tami was also at the Self Reliance Expo that I attended in Oct.  Click HERE to see the cool products she is coming out with next!!

Tami Girsberger's complete laundry bucket!!

Honeyville Grain also sells Tami's complete buckets for laundry and portable potties for $69.95 each.  You can see the buckets in person and look at exactly what goes in them.  Check them out at the Salt Lake Honeyville location 635 N. Billy Mitchel Rd. 

One other option would be the manual washer from Emergency Essentials.  It is called the wonder washer and you would be able to wash several items at once.  It runs about $47.00.  Click HERE to see more info on the wonder washer.

Doing laundry and having a portable toilet are not hard to put together but you do need to see what works for you and your family.  Don't wait for an emergency to try and make laundry detergent or assume you'll have garbage bags for your toilet.  Have all the items for these kits put together and ready to go!!!

"Be faithful, Unencomber your life, Lay up in Store"  Keith McMullin

Emergency Prep Classes

I attended 2 emergency preparedness classes that I would like to share with you.  Both classes were held at the Honeyville Grain store out by the airport.  They are free and open to anyone.  Click HERE to get more information.
Check out Honeyville on facebook, they update info often!

The first class was taught by Lisa Barker, the store manager, and her class was about "What's in Your Ark?"  We learned about having a one month supply and how much that would cost.  
One Month Supply
Grains 25lbs 
Powdered Milk 
Sugar or Honey 5lbs
Salt 1/4th box
Fats & Oils 1 2/3lbs
Legumes 5lbs
Cost of buying this all at Honeyville as of 4/2011 was $40.00 & change. That is very affordable and you would have the basics for one person!!

Oat Groats & the Oat Roller

The most interesting part of the class was learning about oat groats and how to roll them.  They have a 25-40 year shelf life when stored properly.  And 1/2 C groats grinds into 1 C of oats. You wouldn't need to store as much of the groats as the regular oats because they double in size.  A bag of groats cost $29.00 at Honeyville, and the oat roller is also available at the store.

Hand Held Food Saver

The most exciting gadget at the class was the hand held food saver.  I have written about the food saver but I have to pull mine out of the cupboard and get all my parts out.  But with the hand held device it just stores on your counter!  You can store ALL kinds of things in glass canning jars and seal it with the food saver!  I store chocolate chips, marshmallows, seasonal candy, baking soda, baking powder, dehydrated fruits and veggies, raisins, spices, etc.  Your imagination is the limit! When you open a #10 can of dehydrated or freeze dried food you can seal the unused food in mason jars and it keeps like it was sealed in a can!  Honeyville will be selling these starting next week (4/25).  They run about $34.xx!!  Having a food saver will allow the food in your Ark to last longer and save you money!! If driving out to Honeyville is too far, you can order online.  Check out their website at honeyvillegrain.com

 Are You An Asset or a Liability?

The second class was taught by Tami Girsberger, and she taught us how to be an Asset and not a Liability when it comes to disasters and emergencies.  We all have different assets to share with others.  In an emergency I may have the food and luggable loos while others may have knowledge in the medical fields.  Others may be a comforter to the distressed and many will have the ability to repair homes and buildings.  We all need to have compassion and know that our specific asset will be of use in an emergency.  Tami has a great company that sells portable potties and washing machines out of 5 gallon buckets.  Her website preparemylife.com has more info.


One of the most important pieces of information that I took away from her class was that we all needed a PLAN!  If there was an emergency during the day and your husband was at work and your kids were at school, where would you all meet?  Have a family meeting and talk about a neighborhood meeting place and a meeting place outside of your neighborhood.  Also you NEED to have an out of state contact that everyone knows the phone number of.  If you couldn't contact your family because of phone lines being tied up, you may be able to reach the out of state contact person.  This way if everyone checked in with that one person you would all be on the same page and have the comfort of knowing everyones situation. 

I found out about Steramine from Tami.  It comes in a small bottle and contains 150 tablets.  You dissolve the tablets in one gallon of water and it will sanitize anything and kill any germ or bacteria that you can think of.  Use it to sterilize cooking and bathroom areas, and also your dishes.  The bottles are $6 and are available through Tami.  Her email is tami@preparemylife.com.  

Also check out the really cool water containers, called Rocky Mountain Water, that are portable and don't ever expire. Turn them on their side and they have a spigot that pokes into the water bladder. You can order them through Tami as well for around $6.50 when you buy 6 or more.


There was so much more information learned at these classes. I highly suggest you check them out!  On Tuesday, April 26th at 11:00 the executive chef from Shirley J will be cooking and demonstrating the Shirley J products.  Yummy!!


Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the Peace!!

Laundry The Old Fashioned Way

Did you all read last weeks Luggable Loo post? It is something that we will all wish we had prepared for in advance if our toilets are not usable. Although not fun, necessary. After gathering the supplies for a portable potty I realized that we will need a way to wash our clothing. This is a chore I am not looking forward to doing without electricity, but it has been done in days past and can be done now. This post contains information on how to make a "washing machine" and also some "recipes" for homemade laundry soap. (information was found at off-grid.net, pgward.org, and prepardnessnibblesandbits.blogspot.com)


This month has quite a bit of information that you may need in an emergency and I urge you all to print out the information that you think you may need and keep it all in a binder. There won't be any electricity to run your computer and printer when an emergency happens. So, start an emergency binder for your family and keep all your information in one spot.


Homemade Washing Machine:


Supplies Needed:

• 5-gallon bucket with lid (cut hole in middle of lid for plunger handle to fit through)
• Toilet plunger (brand-new, clean, with holes to eliminate splashing and suds)
• Store in bucket:
• Liquid laundry detergent
• Stain remover/stain stick
• Vinegar (add 1/2 cup to rinse water) helps remove soap
• Rope (for clothes line)
• Clothes pins

To Use:

1. Empty contents of bucket.
2. Place water, small amount of detergent, and clothes in bucket.
3. Move plunger up and down for a few minutes or until clothes are clean.
4. Remove soapy clothes and ring them out.
5. Dump out soapy water (on your garden or lawn.)
6. Place soapy clothes in bucket and fill with clear, clean water.
7. Add 1/2 cup vinegar to rinse water.
8. Move plunger up and down to rinse clothing.
9. Wring out clothes and hang to dry.

Conserve water - use rinse water for next load of laundry.
NOTE: You could store two 5-gallon buckets, stack one inside of the other. Use one bucket for the soapy water and the other for the rinse water. You may be able to wash and rinse a couple of batches of clothes without changing the soapy water depending on how dirty the clothes are.
As found on prepardnessnibblesandbits.blogspot.com



Homemade Laundry Soap

"Making your own laundry detergent is so easy and cost-effective that it's a wonder we ever started buying the brand name stuff at all. The recipes for liquid and powder laundry detergents are simple, natural and cost as little as 2 cents per load!

All you need are three basic ingredients:
1. SOAP (bar, powdered, or liquid)
2. BORAX
3. WASHING SODA
all of which you can buy at your local grocery or health food store.

For soap, I recommend going au naturel with either Boraxo powdered hand soap or Castile soap, which comes in liquid and bar form.

The next ingredient, borax, is a mineral compound that works as a multi-purpose cleaner and bleach, so it's a green solution to keeping your whites bright.

Washing soda, which is similar to baking soda but more alkaline, cuts grease and neutralizes odors.

Here are two basic recipes for liquid and powdered laundry detergents. If you miss the floral fragrance of commercial brands, you can use naturally scented bar soap--or vamp it up even more by adding a few drops of your favorite essential oil to the liquid detergent recipe--lavender is always divine.

Please note that even though the ingredients are from natural sources, they can irritate the skin, so it's a good idea to wear gloves while mixing."

LIQUID LAUNDRY DETERGENT
-2 cups finely grated natural or artisan bar soap, such as Fels Naptha OR 1 cup liquid Castile soap
-2 cups borax (20 Mule Team Borax Natural Laundry Booster suggested)
-2 cups washing soda (Arm and Hammer suggested)

Mix soap, borax and washing soda in a pan with 1 qt. water.
Heat to just shy of boiling, stirring, until water thickens and suds form. Pour into a clean 5-gallon bucket. Pour another 2-1/2 gallons of boiling water into bucket: stir well. Let sit 24 hours. You can leave it in the bucket and cover it, but I like to store mine in vintage 1/2 gallon milk bottles.

Use 1/4 cup per regular load. If the mixture separates over time, either stir or gently tilt back and forth in its container to remix. MAKES 2-1/2 GALLONS
(Note: Grating the soap may seem tedious, but you can do it in a food processor with a grater attachment, and it makes a ton of detergent--more than a month's supply.)

Borax will kill your plants, don't pour laundry water onto plants.

POWDERED LAUNDRY DETERGENT
2 cups powdered hand soap (Boraxo suggested)
1 cup washing soda (Arm and Hammer suggested)
1 cup borax (20 Mule Team Borax Natural Laundry Booster suggested)
Mix all ingredients well and store in an airtight plastic container.
Use 1/4 cup per load of laundry. MAKES 4 CUPS

(Source: Mary Jane Butters)

NOTE: You can go to this link for more information regarding the above-mentioned newspaper article.

Washing items shopping list and prices:

• 20 Mule Team Borax - (2.98/Walmart Superstore, 3.97/Reams,Smiths, not found at Harmons)
  

• Arm & Hammer Washing Soda - (2.69/Harmons, 2.79/Reams,Smiths, Walmart)

• Boraxo Powdered Hand Soap (12 oz. - this measures 2 cups) (1.99/Reams, not found at Walmart, Smiths does carry Borax)

Did you know you can make your own dryer sheets as well? This is something you can use now and save yourself a lot of money.

Homemade Dryer Sheets

• 2 C water
• 1 C white vinegar
• 2/3 C any hair conditioner (Dollar Store brands work great, find a smell that you like)

Mix, not shake all ingredients in a tupperware. Keep rags in the mixture and ring out until slightly damp when needed. Keep the lid on the tupperware when not in use. Washcloths cut into fourths work great for dryer sheets.

APRIL'S GOALS

• CASE LOT ITEMS THAT ARE PART OF YOUR 3-MONTH MENUS
• CLEANING SUPPLIES (3 MONTHS WORTH)
• SEEDS AND SPROUTING SUPPLIES (START PLANNING YOUR GARDEN TODAY)

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SHUT OFF THE UTILITIES TO YOUR HOUSE? CLICK HERE TO READ A GREAT ARTICLE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the peace!