Today is the last day of July. How did you all do on gathering water, oils/fats, paper goods, and charcoal? If you read this entry early enough you could still run to the store and purchase some of these items. I found some great facts on paper goods:
-Paper goods store indefinitely. You can store them in hot places like garages, attics,etc.
-In an emergency paper goods will become a necessity.
-You can barter with paper goods.
-Paper goods are easily disposed off if trash collection halts. Just toss them in the fire.
-Coffee filters are cheap and can be used for sandwich holders or small bowls to hold snacks. (the Dollar Store and Big Lots carry these)
There are 273 meals in 3 months. If one person uses one bowl a day tha
t equals 91 bowls. There are 182 meals left after breakfast and that means you will need 182 plates per person if you are only using paper goods. That is a lot of paper goods. It really adds up when you do the math. I know it isn't the most "green" thing to do, but in an emergency I don't think too many people are going to be thinking about recycling.
July Goals:
WATER: Store 14 gallons per person for a 2 week supply. This is the bare minimum for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. I would recommend storing water everywhere you can think of, under stairs, in the car, storage rooms, under beds,etc. Use soda bottles, laundry detergent bottles (for cleaning water) and any other container with the word "PETE" on the bottom of it. That means is will hold up over time and is safe to store water in.
OILS/FATS: Store 25lbs of oils and fats per person for a year storage. This includes mayonnaise,butter, oils, peanut butter, salad dressings, and shortening. Stock up this month while the prices are lower, watch for sales on ketchup and mustard as well.
NON-FOOD STORAGE: This month we are storing paper goods, which includes: paper plates, bowls, cups, utensils & napkins. I priced these items this week and found some great deals.
Big Lots:
paper plates 60ct $1.00
plastic cups 54ct $1.50
napkins 100ct $1.00
spoons 48ct $1.00
Dollar Store
forks 48ct $1.00
bowls 36ct $1.00
Both stores have great prices, make sure to watch the size of the product you are buying. Big Lots has a 36ct forks package for $1.30 and you get 48 forks for $1.00 at the Dollar Store.
CHARCOAL is our other non-food storage item this month. Store charcoal in 5 gallon buckets to keep it dry, and it will last indefinitely. Watch for charcoal to go on sale throughout the summer months. You will need charcoal to cook meals with especially if you don't have other ways of cooking with out electricity.
To cook 1 hour a day for a year you will need 24 #15 bags of charcoal.
Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the Peace!
Happy Pioneer Day! Since today we are remembering our Pioneer ancestry, I thought it would be fun to take a look at how the Pioneers used what they had around them to survive.
I have a wonderful book called "Cookin' With Home Storage", by Vicki Tate and Peggy Layton. The author's are from Manti, UT and they do a wonderful job of using what you have in your pantry to make meals wit
h. They also have added some Pioneer "recipes" for medicine, candy and cleaning, along with some of their food recipes as well. You can find their book at Deseret Book, Seagull Book, Emergency Essentials, and I have even seen it at Walmart.
CUCUMBER SALAD
Pioneer Recipe
2 large cucumbers
1/3 C cider vinegar
1/4 C water
1/4 C sugar
1/2 t salt
dash pepper
Cut the cucumbers into slices. Mix all the other ingredients together. Add the cucumbers and toss lightly.
"Soups were one of the most typical mainstays of the early settlers of Manti. Any leftover vegetables, any soup bones, and every scrap of meat was saved and made into soup" -Peggy Layton "Cookin' With Home Storage" p 133
PIONEER CREAM OF POTATO SOUP
1 1/2 C cubed potatoes
1 T margarine/butter
1 T onion
3/4 t salt
3/4 C water
2 C milk
1 T flour
Cook the potatoes, onion, and salt until tender. Blend the margarine and flour together and stir into the hot potato mixture. Stir constantly while cooking. When mixture thickens add milk and reheat. Modern day variation-add beef or chicken bullion to taste.
"It took several weeks to make the treacherous journey by covered wagon to Salt Lake City for medical care. If the Saints were sick they had to rely on the herbs that they could find growing wild." Peggy Layton "Cookin' With Home Storage" p 247
Doc Smith's Cough Syrup
1 C honey
1/2 C hot water
juice of 2 lemons
1 T glycerin
Mix well together and take 1 T at a time when cough persists. (I personally give my kids honey for really bad coughs. 1 T at bedtime really coats their throats and helps with the cough. Also, rub Vicks Vapor rub on the bottom of the feet and put socks on before bed and that helps with coughing-sounds weird, but works!)
CANKER SORES
Sprinkle dry Thyme on the canker sore. It should heal in a few hours.
OLD FASHIONED HONEY CANDY (lds.about.com)
Boil 2 C honey until it reaches hard ball stage (about 225 degrees) Pour onto buttered surface. When cool enough to handle butter hands and start to pull as you do for taffy.When honey holds it shape and has a golden color, twist into ropes and place back on counter and cut into pieces with scissors. Wrap in wax paper.
For more information and just a fun thing to read, click here to read a blog that is titled Pioneer Foodie, need I say more.
July Goals:
WATER: Store 14 gallons per person for a 2 week supply. This is the bare minimum for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. I would recommend storing water everywhere you can think of, under stairs, in the car, storage rooms, under beds,etc. Use soda bottles, laundry detergent bottles (for cleaning water) and any other container with the word "PETE" on the bottom of it. That means is will hold up over time and is safe to store water in.
OILS/FATS: Store 25lbs of oils and fats per person for a year storage. This includes mayonnaise,butter, oils, peanut butter, salad dressings, and shortening. Stock up this month while the prices are lower, watch for sales on ketchup and mustard as well.
NON-FOOD STORAGE: This month we are storing paper goods, which includes: paper plates, bowls, cups, utensils & napkins. I priced these items this week and found some great deals.
Big Lots:
paper plates 60ct $1.00
plastic cups 54ct $1.50
napkins 100ct $1.00
spoons 48ct $1.00
Dollar Store
forks 48ct $1.00
bowls 36ct $1.00
Both stores have great prices, make sure to watch the size of the product you are buying. Big Lots has a 36ct forks package for $1.30 and you get 48 forks for $1.00 at the Dollar Store.
CHARCOAL is our other non-food storage item this month. Store charcoal in 5 gallon buckets to keep it dry, and it will last indefinitely. Watch for charcoal to go on sale throughout the summer months. You will need charcoal to cook meals with especially if you don't have other ways of cooking with out electricity.
To cook 1 hour a day for a year you will need 24 #15 bags of charcoal.
Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the Peace!
This month we are storing charcoal as one of our non-food storage goals. I must admit that I don't do a lot of cooking with charcoal, and I don't camp so I have not had huge experience with it. I am however, interested in finding out all things related to emergency preparedness and so I searched the web to find out all about cooking without power. There are actually several options when it comes to cooking without power and I found an amazing article that a woman named Debbie Kent (click here to view her website) put together for her stake. I urge you to read this article and print it out and find the cooking methods that will work for your family. If charcoal isn't the way for you, then plan on storing the items that do work for your family this month.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE "NO POWER....NO PROBLEM", BY DEBBIE KENT.
July Goals:
WATER: Store 14 gallons per person for a 2 week supply. This is the bare minimum for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. I would recommend storing water everywhere you can think of, under stairs, in the car, storage rooms, under beds,etc. Use soda bottles, laundry detergent bottles (for cleaning water) and any other container with the word "PETE" on the bottom of it. That means is will hold up over time and is safe to store water in.
OILS/FATS: Store 25lbs of oils and fats per person for a year storage. This includes mayonnaise,butter, oils, peanut butter, salad dressings, and shortening. Stock up this month while the prices are lower, watch for sales on ketchup and mustard as well.
NON-FOOD STORAGE: This month we are storing paper goods, which includes: paper plates, bowls, cups, utensils & napkins. I priced these items this week and found some great deals.
Big Lots:
paper plates 60ct $1.00
plastic cups 54ct $1.50
napkins 100ct $1.00
spoons 48ct $1.00
Dollar Store
forks 48ct $1.00
bowls 36ct $1.00
Both stores have great prices, make sure to watch the size of the product you are buying. Big Lots has a 36ct forks package for $1.30 and you get 48 forks for $1.00 at the Dollar Store.
CHARCOAL is our other non-food storage item this month. Store charcoal in 5 gallon buckets to keep it dry, and it will last indefinitely. Watch for charcoal to go on sale throughout the summer months. You will need charcoal to cook meals with especially if you don't have other ways of cooking with out electricity.
To cook 1 hour a day for a year you will need 24 #15 bags of charcoal.
Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the Peace!
Those of you with children may know how picky (adults included) they can be when it comes to food. Dinner time in our home always includes some complaint about not liking what has been prepared to eat. This got me thinking. Many people have the idea that in an emergency if they "have" to eat or drink something they will. If you have buckets and #10 cans filled with wheat and powdered milk, but have never used them, how will you know you like them. Even in an emergency you won't want to eat food that you don't like just because that is all there is.
Let's say you gather your family and have a milk taste test with several different brands of powdered milk, you may find your family really likes
milk A and not milk B or C. Now, what if you have only stored milk B? You will have to use your stored milk B to cook with, and plan on purchasing milk A for drinking. The milk from the LDS cannery is wonderful milk to cook with, but have you ever drank it? If you are planning on storing this milk for your children to drink you may find they quit drinking milk rather quickly. Studies have show that adults and children would rather starve than eat or drink something just because that is all there is. This can also happen if you are eating the same thing day in and day out. People will quit eating rather than eat the same thing over and over again.
Never store food that you have not tried. I know how expensive those #10 cans of fruit, dried butter, and honey powder are, but if you save them for an emergency and no one likes them, you will be wishing you had taste tested them before the emergency. As an example, I dried apples last fall every day for about 2 weeks. I was so proud of myself for saving money and having a fruit to put in my child's lunch that I didn't think that one of my kids wouldn't like dehydrated apples. Who doesn't like dehydrated apples? Well, one of my children won't eat them and I had no idea that she felt that way. This led me to find out that my kids love mandarin oranges. I haven't stored oranges because I don't care for them and I never knew my kids liked them. Now I am storing dehydrated apples AND mandarin oranges. Lesson learned, just because I don't like something doesn't meant that everyone else won't either.
Another thought on kids being picky is the clothes that they wear. What clothes do you have stored in your 72-hour kits? Don't think that they will wear things just because that is all there is. Make your life easier by asking them what they would like to wear (within reason) and store those.
How many of you have a wheat grinder, or solar oven? Do you know how to cook over a fire or with a rocket stove? Can you make bread or cheese or how about wheat meat? All of these skills are so useful if we didn't have
modern conveniences, but most people think they will learn to do these things if the situation arises. I will use bread making as an example. About 2 years ago I decided to learn to make bread. It wasn't an easy process and I had many mistakes along the way. There are many things that can happen to make bread not turn out. By trial and error I came across a recipe that works for me and after 2 years of trying, I can finally make bread without stressing out about it. Do you want to have to waste time with a learning curve while trying something new? In an emergency you will need that time to feed your family, they won't be able to wait 2 years for a loaf of edible bread. (click here to see the recipe that I use to make bread)
I received a sun oven (solar cooker) for Christmas this past year. It has been so much fun learning how to cook in it. My kitchen stays cooler and I am
cooking without using any power. The sun oven is a learning experience and there is a learning curve with it as well. Not everything turns out, but I have the time and resources NOW to get all the kinks out. During an emergency with 5 hungry children waiting for food is not the time to learn. Take the time to learn NOW the things you will need for later. (click here to read more on the sun oven)
July Goals:
WATER: Store 14 gallons per person for a 2 week supply. This is the bare minimum for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. I would recommend storing water everywhere you can think of, under stairs, in the car, storage rooms, under beds,etc. Use soda bottles, laundry detergent bottles (for cleaning water) and any other container with the word "PETE" on the bottom of it. That means is will hold up over time and is safe to store water in.
OILS/FATS: Store 25lbs of oils and fats per person for a year storage. This includes mayonnaise,butter, oils, peanut butter, salad dressings, and shortening. Stock up this month while the prices are lower, watch for sales on ketchup and mustard as well.
CHARCOAL is our other non-food storage item this month. Store charcoal in 5 gallon buckets to keep it dry, and it will last indefinitely. Watch for charcoal to go on sale throughout the summer months. You will need charcoal to cook meals with especially if you don't have other ways of cooking with out electricity.
To cook 1 hour a day for a year you will need 24 #15 bags of charcoal.
Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the Peace!
Happy 4th of July! With this in mind this is a new month and a great month to stock up on all the BBQ supplies that come with summer holidays. For the month of July we are focusing on storing water, oils/fats, and paper goods. July is a really hot month here in Utah, and having enough water stored should be on our minds all month long. You will need 14 gallons of water per person, and that is the bare minimum for 2 weeks.
WATER- Store your water everywhere that you can and in all sorts of different containers. Soda bottles are great water containers. The clear bottles can store drinking water and the colored bottles can store your cleaning water. (the color from the bottle can leak into the water) I even store water in my empty laundry detergent bottles, clearly marked as water. I will use that water for cleaning as well. (click here to view an earlier post on water) Watch for cases of water to be on sale this month, $2.50 or less is a great price for 24 bottles of water. If your family are not big water drinkers then make sure to store drink mixes in your pantry. The cannery sells a #10 can of fruit drink mix for $6.90 and Emergency Essentials sells Peach, Apple, or Orange drink mixes in #10 cans for $10.99.
If you store your water in 55 gallon containers don't forget to rotate it every 6-12 months, and store it up off of the concrete floor of your basement or garage.
OILS & FATS- 25lbs Per Person Per Year
I know, I thought how on earth could we be eating 25lbs of fats per year. It sounds like a lot, but think of all the times you use oil in cooking, or butter in baking. Or how many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches do you make in a year for your children? Here is a rough estimate of different fats and how much you will need for a year supply per person.
Butter 2lbs (can store in freezer up to 1 year)
Cooking oil 5lbs
Margarine 2lbs
Mayonaise 4lbs (2 jars)
Olive Oil 3lbs (can use for skin care as well)
Peanut Butter 4lbs (4 18oz jars)
Salad Dressing 2lbs (2 bottles)
Shortening 1 tub per person
This list is just a estimate of what one person would use in a year's time. If y
ou don't like peanut butter then you wouldn't store it, and you may need extra in another category. I know I would need a lot more than the 2 packages of butter per person. Start keeping track of what you use and when these go on sale stock up. Look for condiments to be on sale this month for sure. With all of the grilling and holiday's this month, it is a great time to get your year's worth of mayo and salad dressing. Ketchup and mustard also go on sale, store those as well. I know that my children will be more likely to eat things with ketchup and ranch dressing on them. In stressful times I don't want to have to argue with my children about eating the food in front of them, ketchup may just save your sanity. Get your paper goods this month too. I don't want to worry about doing the dishes if our water is turned off, and it is just one less thing you'll have to worry about in a stressful situation.
Grilling is in full force during the summer months and now is the time t
o find great sales on charcoal. Even if you don't have a charcoal grill you will want to store it. Charcoal stores indefinitely is kept dry (5 gallon buckets work great). Remember to store newspapers, canned heat, or lighter fluid to start the charcoal. For an apple box oven or dutch oven: 1 hour a day = 24 #15 bags of charcoal to be able to cook one meal a day for a year. If you have a butane stove then store charcoal for extra help when cooking. Remember to never cook indoors with charcoal, it produces carbon monoxide and that is a deadly poison.
If you would like more information on how to build your own apple box oven, CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE INSTRUCTIONS.
or HERE FOR MORE INSTRUCTIONS
You now have your assignments for July. Even with summer travel and kids home from school, don't let preparedness get left behind. If you are overwhelmed start with the water storage. You feel immediately feel the peace of knowing you have water to drink and clean with. You will feel motivated to keep going and to slowly build your storage piece by piece. I know that everyone can do it and I am here to help if you need it.
Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the peace!
t equals 91 bowls. There are 182 meals left after breakfast and that means you will need 182 plates per person if you are only using paper goods. That is a lot of paper goods. It really adds up when you do the math. I know it isn't the most "green" thing to do, but in an emergency I don't think too many people are going to be thinking about recycling.
