Prepare Today: What I'm Buying

Stocking up on preparedness supplies is an on going process.  It's a cycle of buying and using, and using and buying.  I find myself continually filling in the gaps in my storage room.  I made a trip into the big city the other day and bought a few items that I had on my shopping list.

My first stop was Honeyville Grain in Salt Lake City.  I needed a few baking staples but while I was there these two cans caught my attention.

They are sealed cans of non-hybrid seeds, on sale for $10.00!!!  I almost wish I had purchased more than just the two cans.  They are shelf-stable for about 15 years. These cans sound like an amazing idea, but don't put them on the shelf and hope you'll never need them.  Plan a garden and learn all you can now, before you have to use seeds to survive.  Seeds in your storage are also perfect for people who are on specific diets and can't live off of starches and high carbs, such as pasta and rice.  

I've always been an advocate for chocolate in my storage room.  It is one of the main food groups in my house :), but did you ever want to be able to store ice cream long-term?  

Freeze-dried chocolate chocolate chip ice cream!  Just like the astronauts!  I couldn't resist, and it is actually pretty good.  It melts in your mouth and takes just like chocolate, with chocolate chips in it.  Win, win in my book!  The #10 can cost $16.99 on sale.  

After Honeyville I headed to Walmart.  I have been looking for a flashlight and this Energizer rechargeable plug-in is perfect for blackouts.  If the power goes out the light automatically comes on.  Just leave it plugged in and it will be ready to go in time of need. And at around $8 it's a great price point. I have seen these also online. 

Towards the end of summer I like to stock up on seasonal items like pool shock and solar garden lights.  

Pool shock is an essential item to have in your storage.  A 1lb. bag of pool shock can purify 10,000 gallons of water.  It doesn't expire like bleach and has a long shelf life.  Check out my post on water purification HERE for more information.  The box above was around $13.00 at Walmart.

Outdoor solar lights are a great addition to my preparedness supplies.  These were only .97 at Walmart.  Leave them outside to soak up the sun and bring them in at night for cheap emergency lights.  I collect a few every year and add them to my storage supplies.  They are inexpensive and easy to use! 

These are the items that I added to my storage room this week. What have you done this week to fill in your storage gaps?  Remember that smalls steps lead to big things!

Prepare Today Homemade: Chia Millet Granola

I am always on the lookout for a great granola recipe and I have found a new favorite!  Breakfast foods have sounded so blah to me lately and nothing has sounded good to eat.  Well, I have a new favorite breakfast and have been eating this deliciousness everyday for the last 2 weeks.

It's chock full of seeds, oats and flax.  One of my favorite parts of this granola is that is has chia and millet in it.  Yes, millet is in bird food, but it really is produced for people too!  Both are gluten-free as well.  Millet is easy to digest, has a high fiber content, b-vitamins, thiamine, riboflavin, and more!  Chia is a seed that has a really high omega-3 content, lots of protein, and is rich in calcium.  This is great nutritional information for vegetarians, like myself.  Chia also absorbs more than 7 times it's weight in water and can be used as an egg substitute.  
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Chia Eggs:
2 t. ground chia seeds
1/4 C. water
Mix together and let stand for 5 minutes.  This will equal 1 egg. 
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Both of these "grains" are packed full of nutrition, but they taste great too.  You almost can't even tell they are in the granola.  

Chia Millet Granola
4 C. quick oats
1 C. uncooked millet
1/4 C. ground flax seed
2 T. chia seed
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon

Mix ingredients above in a large bowl. Stir to combine.

In a microwaveable bowl, combine:
heaping 1/4 C applesauce
1/2 C. brown rice syrup
6 T. peanut butter

Microwave for 1 minute and stir well.  

Add in: 
2 t vanilla

Add the wet ingredients into the oat mixture.  Stir until combined.  It may take a minute to get all the mixture moistened, but it will get there.  Place on a greased jelly roll pan and pat down slightly.

Heat the oven to 325° and bake for 25 minutes, stirring once halfway through.  Stir the granola after cooking so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.  Let cool in the pan for a few minutes.  Once cool, store in an airtight container.  Makes about 10 cups.

Add in any dried fruit, nuts, seeds, etc.  I really like to add freeze dried fruit to mine.  It's also really good mixed in with the cereal I posted about last week.

It is crunchy, sweet, and delicious!  AND it uses many ingredients from my food storage.  Chia has a shelf life of at least 5 years!  I love that!  And I have been noticing it in more and more stores lately.  The brown rice syrup in the recipe is also found right in your grocery store. A few years ago I couldn't find that stuff anywhere local!

This is an example of  how yummy food storage is, and that it doesn't need to contain wheat and powdered milk to be considered food storage ;)  

Eat what you store......store what you eat!!!

Recommended Reading- Backyard Winter Gardening by Caleb Warnock

While scrolling through facebook the other night, I came across a video by Caleb Warnock, all about winter gardening.  

I found it fascinating and I ordered both of his books, The Forgotten Skills of Self-Suffidiency and Backyard Winter Gardening, from amazon. I have actually attended a class that Caleb taught at Honeyville, and loved listening to him speak, but I never purchased his books.  The books are very interesting from a historical standpoint, but the information on gardening is why I bought them both. 

Just like in the video above, I really want to try using cold boxes to have fresh greens all winter long.  The books are full of colorful photographs and tons of information on gardening, chickens, history of the pioneers in Utah, etc.  There are even a few recipes included.  I felt these books were good enough for me to share with all of you!  I highly recommend adding both books to your preparedness library. 

Sprouting

"Sprouts provide up to 600 percent more vitamins than the full grown plant."  Researchers at the University of Ulster, UK have found. 

Let's say you have been living solely on your food storage for 3 months now and your supplies are dwindling.  If summer has come and gone there isn't time to plant a garden, and your family is going to need vegetables.  I know pirates are quite popular but many of them died of scurvy and I personally don't want to have that in common with them.  With limited options in a survival scenario, your solution is SPROUTING.  When a tiny little seed/grain, with all of its necessary vitamins and nutrients for growing packed inside, is sprouted it becomes a powerful super food!!  

"Sprouts are cheap, easily accessible and an unpolluted source of vitamin C, some protein, traces elements, and B Group vitamins. They are also a true organic food, if they are grown on your very own windowsill, without chemicals."


Sprouting could literally be a life saver.  I grow sprouts because they are so nutritious and also because my children eat them and don't know they are eating veggies.  

I buy sprouting seeds from Honeyville Grain, but the container above I bought at the Self Reliance Expo last year.  

They also come in smaller bags.  You don't need to buy a special bag of sprouting seeds.  There are many seeds and grains that can be sprouted.  Wheat, garbanzo, alfalfa, mung beans, barley, lentils, whole peas, and many more are all able to be sprouted.  Experiment with different seeds and grains and find which ones you prefer.  I really like the salad mix (above) because it tastes like those yummy garden fresh peas.  They just taste fresh and healthy. 

These are the two contraptions that I use to sprout.  The mason jar on the left is quite easy to use and the least expensive (under $5 for the lid).  Put in a tablespoon of sprouts, soak over night (the seeds are soaking in the picture), and just rinse twice a day until sprouts form, about 3-5 days. It can also be done without the plastic straining lid.  I started sprouting with a canning jar, cheese cloth and the canning lid ring.  The other option is a sprouter.  I really love the Victorio Seed Sprouter, on the right, because it pretty much does all the work for you.  You pour the sprouts on each layer (about 1/2-1 T), add 2 C of water twice a day, and it soaks, drains, and grows the sprouts.  There is no need for soaking and rinsing and draining.  With 3 different levels you can stagger your growing or grow different kinds of seed in each one. Remember that sprouts don't like the sunlight.  You can put them in the sun once sprouted to turn them green but they need a warm dark spot to grow.  It really is just that simple!!


We eat our sprouts fresh out of the sprouters, but they need to go in the fridge once they are big enough to eat. (when the sprout is the length of the seed you can eat it).  They should stay good for about 1 week in the fridge.  Mine never last that long because they get eaten.  Sprouts are great for salads, sandwiches, soups, muffins, breads, dinner casseroles, etc, etc.  They can be added to anything.  


If you and your family needed quick nutrition in an emergency, having sprouting seeds is the answer.  Gardening has its place but it can take months.  Sprouting takes only days and allows you to grow your own food storage.  Storing sprouting seeds takes up little space and they last for many years, in the right conditions (dark, cool environment), and are relatively inexpensive.  I don't think I will ever have enough storage space to store the recommended amount of wheat for 7 people, but I can store a years worth of sprouting seeds.  Think of how many sprouts you'll get out of 1lb of wheat, a lot!!  One tablespoon of wheat will create one full layer sprouts in the Victorio Sprouter.  That's quite the bang for your buck!!  This is one area of preparedness that everyone can do and should do today.  The health benefits alone are why everyone should be sprouting.

How Much Should You Grow??

Early spring garden is planted!!

Spring is here, the snow is behind us (fingers crossed) and that means it's time to get out in the dirt and plant a garden.  I am relatively new at the whole gardening thing, so I am not an expert, but I have had some success in my square foot garden.  (If you don't know what square foot gardening is click HERE for more info)  Gardening is just like everything else in the preparedness world, you need to try it before the emergency.  You need to have seeds properly stored and also know how to grow the seeds in your area. 

There are companies selling seeds that have been sealed in #10 cans, and that is a great option if you want a backup plan.  But you need to be purchasing non-hybrid seeds and using them.  You need non-hybrid, or heirloom, seeds or else you won't be able to extract the seeds for the next year's garden.  Storing your seeds in a Mylar bag in the freezer will extend the life of your seeds for years!!!!

Have you ever thought about how much food our ancestors of past had to grow to sustain their families?  They worked to live everyday.  If the day comes when we don't have grocery stores and farms we may need to grow the food our family eats.  No matter how much food storage you may have, it will eventually run out and you'll need to grow your food.  Supplementing my current food storage with fresh garden food is important for learning how to garden, saving money, and eating healthy food. Gardening is food storage and we have been counseled to grow a garden.  I found a great chart on the Amounts of Vegetables To Be Grown & Preserved to feed a family of 4 for 300 days.  (the other 65 days it is assumed you'll be eating fresh food out of the garden and not need a canned option)

The blog where I found this chart is no longer available and I found the information so valuable that I printed it out last year and I am so glad that I did because I wouldn't be able to do that now that it's gone.  

Amounts of Vegetables To Be Grown & Preserved
(For a Family Of 4 Persons)
The information is a starting point for garden planning with home preservation and cooking from scratch 3x's a day. Food preservation needs are individual and no one can determine your family's specific requirements except for you.  The estimates below are based on a 1/2 C serving 4x's a day for 300 days.  The other 65 days the family will eat fresh produce from the garden.  Canning, freezing, dehydration, salting, fermenting, and pickling are all ways to preserve your food.

Type of Veg.      Pounds to Raise      Quarts/Pints to Preserve
Beets                      30lbs                           12 q/24 p
Broccoli                 75lbs                           48 q/96 p
Cabbage                 150lbs                         40 q/80 p
Celery                    75lbs                            30 q/60 p (dehydrate too)
Carrots                   120lbs                          30 q/60 p
Cauliflower            30lbs                            10 q/20 p
Green Beans             175lbs                         85 q/170 p
Green Peas             100lbs                          25 q/50 p
Green Peppers        50lbs                           25 q/ 50p 
Lima Beans            90lbs                           24 q/48 p
Onions                    125lbs                         25 q/50 p
Potatoes                 500lbs                          400lbs dry storage
Pumpkin                40lbs                            16 q/32 p
Spinach                  90lbs                            35 q/70 p
Summer Squash     200lbs                         40 q/80 p
Sweet Corn            150lbs                          40 q/80 p
Tomatoes/whole     250lbs                         100 q/200 p
Winter Squash       200lbs                          40 q/80 p
{Katherine Grossman Granny Miller}

This information really opened my eyes to amount of food I would have to grow to sustain my family.  It is a great starting point but I really hope the time never comes where I will have to grow that much food.  I always romanticized the life of Little House On The Prairie and I wanted to live with Laura Ingalls on her farm, but actually living it would be a reality I don't think I really want to do.
 
I mentioned above that I use the square foot garden system and so far it has been relatively simple and the harvest last year was a great start for me.  

 You can find this book almost anywhere books are sold and it is my garden bible until I get my gardening legs and I know what I am doing.