Food Storage Teacher/Mother's Day Gifts

One of the greatest gifts you can give anyone is the gift of preparedness!  I leave no one safe from my preparedness gift giving.   I give preparedness gifts to my friends, family, and also as wedding and baby shower gifts, instead of gifts that may be unused.  (I am not saying you aren't prepared if you get a preparedness gift from me, I just love to help everyone get prepared) I have given cookbooks, wheat, #10 cans of mixes, #10 cans of dehydrated fruits and veggies, water containers, and meals in a bag (which make great shower gifts for newlyweds and new moms).  Last year my children gave their teachers, secretaries, and principal buckets of wheat that they could keep in their storage or use to make blender wheat pancakes without a grinder.  

 I found these great little buckets at the Honeyville Grain store in Salt Lake City and I filled them with wheat.  

 On one side of the bucket I added the saying "We hope you have a sa-wheat summer".

On the other side of the bucket I added a recipe for Blender Wheat Pancakes.  The teachers LOVED them and thought they were quite unique.  This would make a great gift for your child's teacher, or even for a birthday/Mother's Day, or a gift for family, friends, or neighbor.  Maybe it will spark their interest in preparedness and get them going :)

Blender Wheat Pancakes
1 C milk (1 C water + 3 T non-instant powdered milk)
1 C wheat kernels
2 eggs
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 T oil

Place the milk and wheat in a blender and blend on high for 4-5 minutes or until smooth.  Add eggs, oil, baking powder, and salt and blend until mixed.  Don't over mix. Pour batter directly from the blender onto a hot griddle.  Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side.  

Give the Gift of Preparedness

Christmas is around the corner and I like to get all my shopping done as soon as possible.  I also try to give preparedness gifts to my friends and family.  Preparedness items are useful, practical, and necessary.  Money is tight and you don't want to give a gift that will get tossed aside.  This year, think of different items you could give to your friends and family that could possible help them during a disaster.  Hopefully they will appreciate why you are giving them a preparedness gift!!

Click HERE to see a post I wrote last year that may help you think of some preparedness ideas that you can incorporate into your holidays this year. 

Prepare Today Homemade- Honeyville Scones

Yesterday was LDS Conference (for all those who aren't Mormon it is a weekend of talks and inspiration from our Prophet and leaders)  and at my house we like to have a really fun breakfast to kick off the Sunday morning session.  My children usually request cinnamon rolls and sausage.  Both are only made once or twice a year so they can't wait to eat them. But this year I had a box of Honevyille's Scone mix, and I think they were more excited for these then when I make cinnamon rolls!  

 I had never made these before, but they were really easy to put together.  

First, I dissolved the yeast into 1 C of warm water.

Once it was bubbly I added it to the scone mix in my Bosch.

I kneaded for a few minutes until the dough was soft and elastic.  Then I let it rest for 20 minutes per the instructions on the box.

Once it was rested I rolled it out to 1/4" thick....

Cut it into squares (you could use cookie cutters or cut different shapes) and fried them in a skillet.

It only took about 20 seconds on each side for the scones to be done.

All browned and ready to eat!!

We added powdered sugar and some of Honeyville's Bumbleberry jelly and they tasted just like a jelly doughnut.  We loved them!!  I am wondering if they could be used in a savory dish as well...hmmm the possibilities!!

Since we woke up to our furnace not turning on and it was 59° in my house, we also had some of Honeyville's Marshmallow Motherlode hot chocolate with our scones.  

My kids were in sugar heaven and they actually sat through conference taking notes and listening.  I don't know if it was the scones and hot chocolate that helped with that, but I will give them some of the credit for my children's good behavior.  

Both of these products are available at the Honeyville Retail locations and they would make neighbor gifts, work friend gifts, friends and family member gifts, and they would also make really great gift baskets too!! 

*Update:  I made hamburger buns out of the scone mix tonight for our sloppy joes.  I made the recipe according to the box and then instead of shaping into scones, I made small round rolls and then let them rise for about 20 minutes and then baked them at 350° for about 18 minutes.  It made about 12 hamburger type buns.

Food Storage Teacher Gift- Take 2

This is totally last minute for some of you but this is what my kids are giving their teachers this year as a thank you.  (this is what we did last year) I save soda bottles for my water storage and I have saved these empty ones for months so I could make these gifts.  

 We stuffed the soda bottles with some of the teachers favorite things, like candy, soda, gift cards, school supplies, etc.  To do this cut a flap (don't cut off the flap, you'll need to tape it back to the bottle) out on the side of the bottle (sorry no photo)  and tuck all the goodies inside.  Then tape closed the flap and place the label over the top of it.  

 This is a top view of the bottles and you can see all the goodies inside.  

 The label we made said "Bottled Especially For - teacher name- By the 'family name' bottling company"  I covered up my daughter's name but her name is under the strip of paper and my kids wanted their birth year instead of this year's school year :)  Now it looks like the bottled has "aged" since their birth, it should be tasty by now :)  I added a bow after I took this to finish it off.  If you have any water storage using soda bottles you could easily put together a gift for Father's Day, Graduation, or birthdays. 

Christmas The Preparedness Way

Christmas is an excellent time to help others start or add to their food storage and emergency preparedness.  Giving preparedness items to family and friends is like giving them a helping hand in case of an emergency.  There are so many different items you can give along with a wide range of prices.  

Under $20 Gifts

• Preparedness cookbooks (100 Day Pantry, The Essential Food Storage Cookbook, Dinner It's In The Bag, I Dare You To Eat It, The Amazing Wheat Book, Preparedness Principles, Food Storage In A Nutshell, many more HERE)
• #10 Cans of Food from the LDS Cannery, Honeyville Grain, and Emergency Essentials
• Heavy Duty swing-away can opener (there is no use in having cans without a can opener)
• High calorie food bars to keep in 72-hour and car kits.
• MRE's- meals ready to eat (Emergency Essentials)
• Seed sprouting kits and sprouting seeds
• Small first aid kits
• Gamma lids- they twist off of 4-6 gallon buckets to make long-term storage easy to use 

•  Flashlights, emergency candles, light sticks, lanterns

• Car kit items- shovels that fold, rope, tools, gloves, tarps, Mylar blankets, wool blankets
• Portable toilets or manual washing machine (plunger)
• 5-7 gallon water containers 
• Butane stove and butane canisters

$21-$80 Gifts

• Hand Grain Mill
• Pre-made 72-hour kits or car kits
• Backpacks
• Sleeping Bags
• Solar or hand crank radios
• Privacy tents (for portable toilets and showers)
• FoodSaver with jar attachments (counter top FoodSaver sold at Honeyville and other retailers)
• #10 cans of freeze dried fruits and veggies
• Wonder Clean Washer (a 15quart manual washing machine sold at Emergency Essentials)
• 15, 30, and 55 gallon water barrels
• Water purifiers
• Water bath canners
• Dehydrators
• Small tents
• Cases of food from the LDS Cannery, Honeyville Grain, Emergency Essentials)

Gifts Over $80

• Pressure Canners
• Volcano Stoves
• Tents
• Higher End food dehydrators
• Wheat grinders (Nutrimill is my favorite)
• Bosch Mixer
• Generators, Solar back up power packs, Goal Zero generators
• Solar Ovens (Global Sun Oven)
• Berkey Water Purifier

As you start checking off your Christmas list this year make sure to include some sort of preparedness gift for your family and friends!!

Self Reliance Expo 2011

Last year I attended the Self Reliance Expo and learned so many new and exciting things, so this year I was really excited to go.  This years expo was a little different than last year in that there weren't as many cookbook/preparedness authors, and it was more about having shelter, water storage and  the new craze;  freeze-dried food in a bucket companies.  I did learn a few new things and found some fun new products, and I of course took my camera so I could share it all with you!

Self Reliance Expo-October 7-8th South Towne Expo Center

 One of the first vendors that I saw as I entered the expo was, of course, Honeville Grain.  They had their Sun Ovens, freeze-dried samples, butane stove, holiday baskets, and smiles for everyone! I just love Honeyville and all of the opportunities they have for learning and expanding your knowledge of preparedness.  Visit them at honeyvillefarms.net for more info on products and classes.

Honeyville Grain with manager Lisa and new co-worker Karen

If you are looking for a great, small, lightweight way to cook in an emergency, the Emberlit Stove may be for you.  It would be perfect to put in your 72-hour kits because of how compact it is, only 1/8" wide when folded!!  You can use a couple of twigs, or sticks (no fuel to lug around in your 72-hour kits) to start a fire and boil a meal for your family.  Check out emberlit.com for more information.

Emberlit camp stove

Creating a 72-hour kit can seem like a very daunting task.  Did you know that we should have more like a 5 day kit?!  Tami of Preparedness Products has come up with the easiest way to create a 5-day kit.  She has prepackaged items into storage bags with handles and you order what your family will need, and they neatly stack into a backpack.  Genius!!  She has water kits, 5 day food kits, tool kits, personal hygiene kits (male and female), and an essentials kit. What is so great is that they are compact, only about 8"x10" and all the items are so easy to find.  Look at her website for all the information, she just launched this line so it will be on the website soon....  preparemylife.com

Preparemylife.com 5 day kit packs

5 Day Food Kit

5 Day Essentials Kit

 Have you ever thought about where you would hide out in case of a nuclear attack or even to ride out a storm?  Well, the Smart Product Technology company did.  They have designed a hatch that you build under your garage and will house 5 people, has electricity, and an air system. You could use it as a panic room, ammo storage, or food storage.  I have never seen anything like this, but it could come in handy.  Check out smartproducttechnology.com  for more information.

Smart Product Technology hatch

 My favorite product from the expo has to be the UV Paqlite!!  It is a reusable glow stick that recharges from any light source and it will last forever.  It charges in just a few minutes and you can even use a flashlight, car light, light bulb, sunlight, etc to charge. Once it is fully charged it will last all night long and even for several days.  I bought several of these for our 72-hour kits, and to have on hand in case of a black out.  My kids have been playing with them since I got home, they were a total hit with them.  They would also make such a great Christmas present or stocking stuffer.  Click here to visit their website uvpaqlite.com

UV Paqlite sticks

Emergency preparedness doesn't get easier than buying a trailer from Fast Units.  They have EVERYTHING you would need to camp, bug out, or evacuate in an emergency, all in a small trailer.  When I say everything, I mean everything you would need.  They have tents, toilet, coolers, tables, chairs, cots, towels, water containers, food, emergency supplies, heat, etc, to sustain a family of four for 3-5 days.  It was really amazing to see this in person.  Check out their website to learn more...  fastunits.com

Fast Units trailer

Fast Units tent and bathroom/shower

Fast Units food/water supply tent

If you backpack, hike, or camp this next product would probably come in handy.  It is a rain poncho but so much more.  You can use it as a hammock and as a tarp for shelter.   Your Boy Scout could probably use this as well.  It was large and very well made.  Click HERE to visit their website.  

Wilderness Innovation poncho/tarp/hammock

And finally, Christmas came early for me this year.  My parents were planning on getting my family a Volcano stove this year and I found such a screaming deal at the expo and I got to go home with one.  I can't wait to try out the many ways to cook on it.  You can grill, dutch oven, wok, BBQ, pan fry, boil, skewer, bake, roast, deep fry, stir fry, broil and steam, PLUS you can use wood, charcoal, or propane as fuel.  I am excited to use my canner on it because I have a glass top stove and canning is not recommended on a glass top stove.  If you stored 15 20lb bags of charcoal, you could cook one meal a day for your family.  I'll keep you posted when I use it!  Their website will have all the information...  volcano2.com

Volcano 2  Collapsible Stove

All in all it was a great day and I learned quite a bit.  It is so fun for me to learn about preparedness and an event like this was exciting.  I hope you found something that intrigued you and will help you in your preparedness journey!!


Enjoy the Journey!
Enjoy the Blessings!
Feel the PEACE!!

Mix-A-Meal Cookbook

Do you want to spend less time in the kitchen and still make delicious meals for your family?  I know I do, especially in this July heat.  I attended another great class at Honeyville Grain today that was taught by the Mix-A-Meal ladies.  If you haven't heard of Mix-A-Meal, it is a cookbook with recipes for mixes that you make in bulk and then incorporate them into your daily cooking.

With Mix-A-Meal you will:

• Save up to 90% of the cost of commercial mixes by making your own delicious and tasty mixes! 
• Spend less time in the kitchen and enjoy that good old-fashioned taste.
• Lower the preservative content in your foods.
• Adjust mixes as necessary to fit special dietary needs.
• Make a shelf-stable mix for traveling, camping trips or unexpected company.
• Enjoy no-nonsense cleanup.  Just add water or a few simple ingredients.
• Give fun and useful gifts for any occasion (Baby & Wedding showers, Christmas, Neighbor gifts,etc)

The Mix-A-Meal Ladies

I know I wouldn't use a mix for everything I make, but there are several mixes I feel would be handy to have on hand.  The ladies showed us the onion soup mix and then they made a dip and Swedish meatballs with a white sauce with the onion soup mix.  I am not an onion dip fan, but this tasted really good! It didn't have that processed, fake food taste to it.  
Onion Soup Mix 
Combine:
2/3 C dehydrated chopped onions
1/2 C beef bouillon
1/2 C dehydrated butter or margarine
2 T cornstarch
2 t onion powder
2 t parsley flakes
Mix well and store in a quart jar.  Use in any dry onion soup recipe. 1/3-1/4 C of the mix equals one package dry onion soup mix.

These are the mixes that I am going to put together:

• Banana bread mix (I just canned 20 pints of bananas and this will make banana bread a snap to make!!!) 
• Onion Soup Mix
• Waffle Mix (my kids use this all the time by themselves to make breakfast)
• Tortilla Mix (again, don't ask about the first time :) 
• Hot Roll Mix

There are many more in the book, but these are the mixes I feel I would use. You can purchase the book on amazon.com  OR support your local business' and buy it at Honeyville Grain!!  

Honeyville does not compensate me for saying all the good things I do, I just honestly feel they are a wonderful company and they offer amazing products.  Honeyville is having the most incredible Prepare Your Ark Preparedness Fair on August 5th & 6th!!  They will have classes, giveaways (a Sun Oven, Volcano Stove, just to name a few!!), demonstrations, food & more!!  On Saturday there will be a free breakfast that includes, eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns, & drinks-all using food storage items!!

Honeyville Classes are taught by the experts in home storage and emergency preparedness.  I encourage you all the attend those that interest you!  They are FREE and so informative (plus we have fun and eat yummy food)!!  I have met some amazing friends in these classes along with learning useful information. 

Tuesday, July 19, 11 AM – “I Dare You to Eat It!” by Liesa Card.  You love her Wheat Fiesta Salad and now come and find out how easy it is to understand food storage and how it works best for your family.

Tuesday, July 26, 11 AM – “Pressure Cooking – Perfect Under Pressure!” with Lisa Barker.  Wouldn’t we all love to have a little more time in our day?  With an electric pressure cooker you can cut down on the time spent in the kitchen so that you can spend more time OUT of the kitchen.

Upcoming class during August - "Replacing the Five White Deaths", "All About Oats", "Dehydrating", "Coconut Oil-It's A Must", "Canning Basics"

Watch for our Preparedness Fair August 5 – 6th - Classes, Demo’s, Fabulous Prizes - You really shouldn’t miss this event!  Some of the Teachers are: Chef Tess, professional chef and nationally known blogger, Debbie Kent, presenter at BYU-Idaho Education Week, Glen Weeks, Leisa Card & Michelle Snow among others.

Call the store for more information about the classes & fair  801-972-2168
Honeyville Grain
635 No. Billy Mitchell Rd.
Salt Lake City

Check out the goals for July and get your water storage!!

Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the PEACE!!

December Goals: Flour, Sugar & Batteries!

I really can't believe it is December and that means we have concluded a whole year of food storage goals!  If you didn't finish look on the right side of the blog for the monthly goal list.  For our last goal this year we are going to store FLOUR & SUGAR.  

FLOUR:  75LBS PER PERSON (yearly amounts)

• STORES 8-10 YEARS IF KEPT DRY AND BUG PROOF
• USE 5 GALLON BUCKETS WITH GAMMA LIDS 
• EVEN IF YOU WANT TO ONLY COOK WITH WHEAT YOU SHOULD STORE WHITE FLOUR AS WELL. YOU MAY FIND OUT THAT WHEAT DOESN'T AGREE WITH YOU AND YOU MAY NOT FIND OUT UNTIL YOU EAT WHEAT.

SUGAR:  60LBS PER PERSON (yearly amounts)  AND INCLUDES:

• WHITE SUGAR 40LBS PER PERSON
• BROWN SUGAR 3LBS PER PERSON
• MOLASSES 1LB PER PERSON
• HONEY 5LBS PER PERSON
• CORN SYRUP 16OZ PER PERSON
• JAMS OR JELLIES 3LBS PER PERSON
• POWDERED FRUIT DRINK MIX 6LBS PER PERSON
• FLAVORED GELATIN 1LB PER PERSON

 Storing granulated sugar is really easy!  If it is kept dry it will last 30+ years.  If it gets damp and clumps, put it in a blender and blend until sugar again! Honey may crystallize but it is still safe to use.  Warm the honey jar in warm water and use as usual.  To keep brown sugar from hardening, place a small terracotta piece that has been soaked in water in the bottom of your container and the brown sugar will stay fresh!  **We are counseled to have a 3-month supply, but sugar and flour are long lasting and easy to store. The amounts listed for flour and sugar are all yearly amounts.**

The non-food goal for December is to store BATTERIES.  A  good idea would be to go through the batteries you have now and look at the expiration dates on them.  Then watch for sales and purchase enough batteries to last at least a year.  Store extra batteries with all flashlights, radios, and for smoke detectors. 

Emergency Essentials "Bee Prepared" from the Festival of Trees

**Have a Very Merry Preparedness Christmas!** Give the gift of preparedness!!! 

• "100 Day Pantry" by Jan Jackson (100daypantry.com)
• "The Essential Food Storage Cookbook" by Tami Girsberger & Carol Peterson
• buckets & gamma lids
• porta potty: bucket and lid with all the goodies that go with it :)
• water containers
• fun food in #10 cans (dried fruit, veggies, etc.)
• manual wheat grinder
• sleeping bags/tents
• 72-hour & emergency car kits
• shelves for the storage room (check out stevessos.com)
• The Ideas are limitless!!

Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the PEACE!

Self Reliance Expo-Part 1

Christmas came early for me this year!  I was able to spend 5 hours surrounded by food storage, portable potties, generators, water storage containers & purification containers.  Today I attended the Self Reliance Expo at the South Towne Expo Center and it has to be the best expo I have ever attended. I was so lucky to win tickets from one of my favorite blogs, blog.totallyready.com. Every booth was filled with products for and about emergency preparedness.  Of course I took my camera and documented my day.  You may want to get comfy because this could be a long post, but there was so much information that I wanted to collect to pass on to all of you.  I tried to get a website for each of the vendors that I am spotlighting so please visit their sites for more information.  

The fun started outside the venue where they had trailers set up with all the comforts of home inside.  They are from the Timberline Range Camp company and you can see more at their website trccamps.com.

The Humless Roadrunner Generator & The Ultimate Bag 72-Hour Kit

 The first booth to catch my eye was the Hummless Roadrunner company.  The small black box on the ground is a generator and is a silent, clean, safe, ultra portable unit.  You can charge it from a regular outlet, use solar panels, or hand crank/ bicycle crank.  It is safe to use indoors or in a tent and it has a 110AC outlet, 12VDC outlet, and USB ports.  There were different sizes and I believe they ran from $200-$1500.  Check out amazon.com for the portable lithium generator. 


The other item that really intrigued me was the 72-hour kit duffle bag that zipped open and can be hung up. It is called the Ultimate Bag and you can see it in the picture above.  What a clever idea to have all your kit supplies in a designated compartment and in such a small bag.  I thought this was such a great idea.  Check out www.theultimatebag.com for more information.

Kitchen Kneads

 Kitchen Kneads is a great local company that sells all things food storage related.  In the picture is the Sun Oven (they can answer any question you have about a Sun Oven), the Wonder Mill grinder and many food storage canned goods.  They are located at 7579 S. Redwood Rd.  and their number is 801-561-9616.   They have some great sales around LDS Conference times, but you should check them out before April :)

Augason Farms

 One of my favorite stores is the Augason Farms store (formerly the Blue Chip Group).  They sell the Maggie Moo's brand of milk and have many food items.  I buy applesauce powder, canned cheese, canned meat, oats, etc., AND they have a really fun outlet room with great prices.  They are located at 3431 S. 500 W, just west of I-15 off the 33rd south exit.  Check out their website augasonfarms.com .  We got to test the broccoli soup and the potato cheddar soup and it was delicious!  The small cans in the picture are only $2.50.

       Of course Emergency Essentials was at the expo.  They are a wonderful company that sell canned food, dehydrated food, MRE's, sleeping bags, candles, porta potties (with lids that seal),  water drums, wheat, oats, rice, you name it they sell it!  They have a really amazing food storage analyzer that will help you keep track of what food you have stored and the vitamins and nutrients that you may be lacking in your storage (check their website for more info).  My sister and I answered a trivia question and I received a reusable hand warmer.  It is like the one- use Hotties except you can boil it and it returns to it's original state. You can get 10 of them for $20.  Guess what my family is getting in their stockings this year.  You can find all of their info at beprepared.com or visit their store at 110 W. 33rd S.

Some of the best books on food storage are written by Peggy Layton.  Cookin' With Home Storage is one of my favorites and I refer to it many times when I am cooking.  She has also authored the Cookin' With series that includes Cookin' With Potatoes, Cookin' With Powdered Milk, Cookin' With Dried Eggs, and Cookin' With Beans and Rice.  I highly suggest owning these cookbooks and to get to know them.  Peggy really knows what she is doing when it comes to using your food storage and also maintaining your food storage program.  Her book Food Storage 101 "Where do I Begin?" is a great book to get you motivated on starting your food storage.  For more information check out peggylayton.com.

Easy Water Storage company

There were several companies with really great water storage ideas.  The Sure Water company sells the 260 and 525 gallon water tanks. They cost $395 & $525 and they ship free to Utah and SL counties.  For more information visit their website at easywaterstorage.com or call 1-800-797-2207.


I had such a great time at the Expo and I have much more to share.  There were many more vendors at the Expo so stay tuned for Part 2 of the Self Reliance Expo next Saturday, November 13th!!

November Goals:

1. Cooking essentials-yeast, baking powder, baking soda, spices, oils, flour, sugar,salt, etc. 
2.  Personal Hygiene supplies.  Watch for sales and buy enough to last for 3 months.  This includes all feminine hygiene items, diapers/wipes, soaps, shampoo's, deodorants, toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, hand sanitizer,etc.  And if you don't have a portable potty, this is the month to finally get one put together.  Click HERE to view a previous post on luggable loo's.  

Enjoy the journey!

Enjoy the blessings!

Feel the peace!!