Self-Reliant Saturday-- Earthquake in Vegas

A 4.5 magnitude earthquake was felt in Las Vegas Friday Morning (5/22/15).  One has to wonder how many warnings we will get before it happens closer to home.  Please take the time to have a family emergency plan, 72-hour kits ready to go, and your food storage up-to-date.  

Click HERE to view a post on emergency evacuations and a link to print out a family emergency plan.  

And check out the left side-bar of this blog to see a list of items that may work for your 72-hour kits. 


For food storage and water basics CLICK HERE.

It's never to late to start a food storage program for your family!  If you go out right now and buy a case of water...you are on your way!!!

"Are we prepared for the emergencies of our lives?  Are our skills perfected?  Do we live providently?  Do we have on hand our reserve supply?  Are we obedient to the commandments of God?  Are we responsive to the teachings of the prophets?  Are we prepared to give of our substance to the poor, needy?"
               -Thomas S. Monson April 1986 General Conference

"Passport To Survival"

Let's say that you have followed only part of the advice from our Church leaders and stored wheat, powdered milk, honey, and salt.  You never felt the urgency to prepare but bought your year supply of wheat and powdered milk from the Church and stuck the #10 cans in your basement, hopefully to never see them again.  From the looks of your storage it doesn't seem like you'll be eating too well in an emergency....unless you buy this book on Amazon;)

"Passport To Survival"

The premise of Esther Dickey's "Passport To Survival" is that we can survive, and not have appetite fatigue, with four survival ingredients stored. "Thus it is these four emergency foods, wheat, powdered milk, honey, and salt- nutritionally sound, readily storable, highly adaptable, and pleasingly palatable- in which I place my trust as the basis of my passport to survival" -Esther Dickey p. 14. She does go on to list 40 other foods that she stores for her family but the book uses only those 4 survival ingredients in the recipes.

I only purchased this book because I thought it would be fun to read about how preparedness was done in 1969.  Little did I know what a wealth of information Esther has in this book!  I found myself marking passages and turning down pages to mark things I wanted to try.  What this woman does with wheat is amazing!!!

Esther calls wheat, powdered milk, honey, and salt the Survival Four.  There are over 100 recipes using just those four ingredients. 

 Here are a few examples: 

• gluten (in all sorts of shapes and sizes)
• steamed wheat
• sprouted wheat
• making yeast
• batters and doughs
• soups and gravies
• cookies, crackers, candies
• ice cream and wheat pudding?!
• waffles, cereals
• caramel syrup, honey frosting
• cottage cheese and yogurt

Dessert anyone? Do you see the spoon shaped crackers?  Esther took a thin batter and using a squirt bottle made those spoon shapes on a cookie sheet.  After baking she uses them for dessert with a sweet topping on them.  She is so creative!!

There are many recipes that use the basics and are then turned into a meal. 

Included in the book after all the recipes are given, is a 7 day menu.  There is also a section on advanced preparation that helps plan out the cooking so meals will come together quickly.  Whether in an emergency situation or not, this is very useful time management information. 


Steamed wheat is turned into ice cream?!  I think this is the the reason I need this book...haha. But I really can't wait to try it out!

This book is FULL of tips, preparedness techniques, water and food storage ideas, and positive thinking for the future.  If there will ever be a time where food is scarce but we have prepared properly with survival foods....we will be able to keep our families alive. Esther cooked these meals for 10 days for her family of 7 and they were filling and nutritious. While reading this book I kept telling my husband how inspired this woman was!  To be able to take those four ingredients and come up with the recipes that she did, she had to have help from above.  This is one book that I will always have in my food storage library.  

Here is a link to buy this book on Amazon. 
I do not make money on this link.  It is purely for you to find it easier on Amazon.

Self-Reliant Saturday-- Food Storage Basics

Basic Storage is the foundation of any good food storage program. It is composed of life-sustaining foods that store well for long periods of time. 

While shopping at a local thrift store I found a really cool preparedness book. 

Written in 1969 it was a jewel of a find. While it doesn't have all the latest information on food storage it did have over 100 recipes that ONLY used 4 basic foods; wheat, powdered milk, honey and salt.  The whole concept of this book is that by storing only the basics you would be able to stay alive and survive in an emergency.  The author made meat wheat and all forms of gluten, sprouted wheat, candy, cookies, crackers, cereal, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc, and even had a seven day meal plan.  I'll have to read the whole book and do a proper review of it later, but it got me thinking of the basics in any food storage plan.  

The LDS Church does recommend that we store the basics found in the book above and now I know why.  There is so much that can be done with those four foods. I found a chart in my files, and I do not know where I got it from, of the amounts needed for food storage basic supplies.  This includes a more well-rounded meal plan than just wheat, powdered milk, honey, and salt.  Take a look and see where you could maybe fill in the gaps in your storage.  If you bought the amounts listed below once a month, for 12 months, you would have a year supply for one person.  Multiply the amounts by the number of people in your family to have food storage for every member of your family. 

One Month Supply

Based on a suggested amount, a month's supply for one person would consist of the following:

(the amounts are based on a 2300 calorie diet)

Grains (wheat, rice, oats, pasta etc)   25 lbs.

Powdered Milk   6.25 lbs.

Sugar or honey  5 lbs.

Salt  1/4 box

Fats & Oils  1 2/3rd lbs.

Legumes  5 lbs.   

Estimate 1 gallon of water minimum per day/per person

Purchasing in cans would be:

(1 Case of 6 #10 cans)

1 can wheat

1 can rice

1 can rolled oats or macaroni

1 can popcorn 

1 can non-instant dry milk

1 can dry beans 

PLUS:

5lb bag flour

4-5 lb bag sugar

26oz box salt

32oz bottle oil

One Month Supply of Shelf Stable Foods

Based on the MINIMUM of 1600 calories for one adult

18 oz. box oatmeal

1 lb rice

20 oz pasta 

5 lb flour

1 lb popcorn

34 cans vegetables (or freeze-dried equivalent)

26 cans fruit (or freeze-dried equivalent)

2 lb Velveeta (or freeze-dried cheese equivalent)

4 cans evaporated milk (12oz)

3.2 lbs powdered milk 

1 jar peanut butter (18oz)

4 cans tuna

4 cans chicken

4 cans ham 

8 cans cooked beans

PLUS:  oil-shortening-nuts-sugar-syrup-jam-molasses-salt

NOTE:  For a 2400 calorie diet add 1 more box of oatmeal, 1 lbs of rice, 40 oz pasta, 1 lb popcorn, 17 cans of veggies, 8 cans fruit, 1 can chicken, 1 can ham, and 5 cans beans

When the numbers get broken down into monthly amounts it seems a little easier to buy food for a food storage plan.  Don't get frustrated...please just start small and take it a step at a time.  

(watch for a book review this week of  "Passport To Survival" that I found at the thrift store)  

Self-Reliant Saturday-- Gardening

"Let every man who has a garden spot, garden it;  every man who owns a farm, farm it."  -J. Reuben Clark April Conference 1937

"We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your property.  Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees- plant them if your climate is right for their growth.  Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard." - Spencer W. Kimball Ensign May 1976

Gardening is definitely out of my comfort zone and I don't really know what I am doing, but my sweet husband built my boxes for me last weekend.  The dirt is coming this week and we will be ready to plant after the recommended Mother's Day planting date.  I live at almost 6000ft and we have a very short growing season, but the colder plants like spinach and beans love it up here.  Wish me luck!  How are your gardens coming along?  Do you plant in garden boxes or containers?  I would love to hear what you all plant.

Self-Reliant Saturday-- Car Kits

Inventory and organizing have been my thing lately.  Once I get on a roll I tend to organize everything in sight.  I finished with the storage room and decided to pull out our car kit to update it as well. 

I should be embarrassed to tell you that I hadn't updated the car kit since we moved two years ago.  It was kind of scary.

I pulled everything out of the dirty bag and then checked the dates on the granola bars and fruit snacks.  They were years beyond their expiration dates.  And with them stored in a heated/cooled car all the time, I decided it was best to dispose of them.  

Reason #1 to go through your car kits every six months:  food does expire.  It seems that the kids also eat the food in the car kits.  I have 7 people in my family and only 1 fruit snack and 5 granola bars remained in my car kit.  In an emergency I would have to pick my favorite kid to feed.  (kidding)

Everything got sorted and cleaned and I decided to put "like" things in resealable bags.  Mittens/gloves in one bag, toilet paper, diapers, sanitizer in another bag, etc. 

Then it all got tucked away into the back of the car again.  I hid the food at the bottom of the bag, now maybe my backseat riders won't be able to reach it so easily. 

Items to have in a Car Kit 

• Water
• Food (granola bars, emergency bars, no chocolate-it melts)
• Cold weather gear (hats, mittens, blankets, tarp)
• Small shovel
• Took kit
• Flashlights
• Baby supplies
• Wipes, sanitizer, toilet paper
• Paper and pens
• Map of your area with multiple ways out of where you live
• Hand heaters
• Can heater (click HERE for instructions on how to make one)
• First aid kit (we always have ibuprofen in ours!)
• Poncho
• Emergency blankets (the shiny mylar ones)
• Emergency radio

Any other personal items that you may need or want can go in your kit.  Personalize it to fit your family's needs.  Take a few minutes and update your car kit, or put together a car kit for the cars in your household.  My husband drives down a canyon to get to work everyday.  I don't want him stranded and not have a way to survive.  I usually have 4-5 kids with me when I am driving around and we inevitably need water or snacks or baby wipes.  Emergencies big and small can be remedied by having a well stocked car kit.  

(click HERE to view a previous post on using your car as a shelter)

Baked Cheesecake in the Thermal Cooker

You're going to think I am obsessed with cheesecake but I came across a recipe for cheesecake in a slow cooker and I wanted to try it out in my Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker ( Click HERE to see what a thermal cooker is.) using the smaller cake pan insert for the cooker.  I haven't had the best of luck baking cake in the cake pan so I was hoping this cheesecake recipe would break my losing streak.  

All good cheesecakes start off with a graham cracker crust.  I used homemade graham crackers from this recipe HERE.  Melt 3 T butter and mix with the graham cracker crumbs.  I mushed it all together in the bag...less mess...easy clean up.

Three ingredients...that's it...three!  That's all this recipe needs. 

Mix the cream cheese, sugar, and eggs, pour over the crust and it's all ready for the boiling stage. 

 The thermal cooker is all about the hard boil.  Bring the food to a hard boil, place in the thermal base, and it will slow "cook" for hours.  

1. Fill the larger pot with water to about 1 cm above the trivet (it comes with the cake pan).
2. Place the covered cake pan on top of the trivet and bring the water to a hard boil.
3. Lower the heat but keep the water boiling and boil for 20 minutes. 
4. Place the pot into the thermal base.

The directions I used were given to me by Amy from Saratoga Jackes for baking a cake in the thermal cooker, but I felt a cheesecake was close enough to a cake and needed similar instructions.  If that rings true the cheesecake should've been done in about an hour and a half, and I put the cake pan in the cooker at 9:30 am. What is really cool is that I wasn't home all day and the cheesecake didn't get taken out until 4:40 pm and it was not overcooked.  The thermal cooker will keep your food warm and ready to eat, even when the "done" time was hours before. 

  This cheesecake was DELICIOUS!!!  It was creamy and had just enough sweetness!  My husband and kids loved it!  It's a keeper!!

Thermal Cooker Cheesecake

3 packages cream cheese, softened (I used low-fat)

3/4 C white sugar

3 Eggs

6 graham crackers, crushed

3 T melted butter

Mix the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter and press into the bottom of a greased Saratoga Jacks cake pan.  Blend the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl using a hand mixer.  Mix in each egg one at a time, blending well after each egg.  Pour mixture over graham cracker crust. Place the cover on the cake pan and lock.  Put the cake pan into the larger cooking pot with the trivet in place and water filled to just 1 cm above the trivet.  Cover the cooking pot and bring to a boil.  Keep boiling for 20 minutes.  Remove pot from heat and place in thermal cooker base and close the lid.  Let sit for at least 1 1/2 hours or up to 8 hours.  Remove the cheesecake from the large cooking pot and let cool on the counter for 30-60 minutes.  Then cool for several hours in the fridge.  Slice and serve with fruit toppings. 

My next challenge will be making this with shelf stable cream cheese powder, butter, and eggs :)

For the slow cooker recipe click HERE. 

Self-Reliant Saturday-- Storage Room Inventory

Inventory....it's a dreaded word....but it had to be done!  I finally got around to taking inventory of my storage room.  In January I challenged all of you to organize your food storage  and I knew that right on the tales of organization rides the dreaded inventory. I may have procrastinated this job until almost May :)

 This week's goal is to really take a good inventory of what you have in your storage area or pantry.  

I focused on my longer-term #10 cans and buckets.  These are the two items that I have for extreme emergencies and not really every day use.  I counted all of my #10 cans and all of my buckets and it only took 2 hours :)  I decided that my smaller soup can size cans get used much quicker, and I would be updating the inventory list almost every day to keep track of them all.  That is just too much work for me.  But with this inventory I at least know exactly how many #10 cans and buckets I have on hand.  

 Now I need to calculate exactly how long we could live off of this food.  That is the scary part...it probably isn't as long as I would hope.  But it is a starting point and I can add to this list every month.  Slow and steady wins the race :)

Oh, and I also finally put together my rotating can thingys (real technical).  I have put this off for over two years because I really don't like dealing with all the parts and snapping them together.  One part always seems to be just off enough that the can won't rotate fully down.  But it got done and I love how organized it all looks! (FYI:  the technical name of the rotating can thingy is the Cansolidator from Thrive Live.  Click HERE to see their products.)

It feels good to get this project done but the real challenge will be keeping it updated.  I also discovered a really cool food storage calculator on the Thrive website. Create a Thrive planner just for you and your family.  Type in your family info, how many calories per person, and the length of time that you would like to be prepared for, and it will calculate how many cans you will need.  Click HERE to set up your planner. I thought it was a really great resource to know exactly how many cans I will actually need to feed my family a well balanced diet for a whole year!  Let's just say....I have some work to do :)