Being Prepared is more than Food Storage


Pamela
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Hello all,

I am new to this site. Recently, my wife and I were co-chairman for our Stake's Prepaaredness Fair. Without boring you with too many details, rather than have many handouts (printing is expensive) we made up a CD with over 1000 pages on 16 different topics from 30 days of menus, Dutch Oven Cooking (along with 4 cook books), two Emergency Preparedness manuals, FHE (26) on EP, etc. I am sure we could figure out a way to e-mail them to those interested. We had about 350 people come and felt it was very successful. BTW - we got 200 CDs for $120 dollars, to print the same would have been over $12,000. Pretty good use of Stake resources don't you think.

I will close with this quote from my wonderful wife. "I'd rather be preapred two years early, than one day late"

Your bro in the go,

Abraham

Your wife sounds very wise. :D

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Guest AutumnBreez

I am realizing that my food storage is not just for me and my family - it is for others who are not able to afford their food storage at this time. When others are blessed with the resources to build up their food storage, I believe we have an obligation to share it with others in the church and in the community.

I had read this before, but last night I thought about how much it means to me that you would be prepared for others.

I just joined and do not have my storage started. As I watched the news on the weather last night and seen all the chaos happening lately everywhere it concerns me that I have not got anything started. How many other members have enough to share with others as myself. I don't want to procrastinate, I do want to know how to start on a good base and prepare for my family and others too.

How much veggies, fruits, canned meats?? per member plus

Are large water bottles for water dispenser ok? how many for storage?

Don't have much space but I will find a way to store.

Gas grill, do you keep a number of tanks on hand?

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I'm always trying to figure out how to fit more food storage in here, but we need to do something. With the flooding around here, my brother's old town was affected and there was no way in or out of there. There are two small stores there and once the food is gone there, they wouldn't have any other way to get there until the roads are repaired. I think we have at least a month supply of food, but I would like more.

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I'm always trying to figure out how to fit more food storage in here, but we need to do something. With the flooding around here, my brother's old town was affected and there was no way in or out of there. There are two small stores there and once the food is gone there, they wouldn't have any other way to get there until the roads are repaired. I think we have at least a month supply of food, but I would like more.

Get rid of your bed frame and put your bed on a platform - you can put food storage into the drawers of a platform bed. You could also make the bed high (you'll need steps to get into it) and then make storage bins to hold wheat, bulk staples, water.

We are going to do this once we are in our last home. When Husband retires and we move out of AZ. The bins will be lined with sheet metal so that the bugs and vermin can not get into it. Food grade plastic bags just are not good enough for me. I am going to store cases of 1 Ltr and .5 ltr bottles. and gal jugs. Arrowhead had the 1 gal that are stackable. The barrels of water will be stored in an outside building, either the garage or a large shed, they will be in their sides for easy dispensing, and I will use the water from them. Don't know exactly how this will be accomplished but I want them hooked up on relay and to be used from constantly. Just like when I had a water tower and had the water fed to my house by gravity. The well pumped into the water tower, then the water flowed to the house by gravity. The tower was on a hill 200 feet above the house.

In the space above your doors to the laundry room, bathroom there is all that wasted space. Put up a shelf and put your paper towels, tpaper, light weight things there. In the laundry room there is lots of unused space also - look up and see what you can put above head height! Same for your closets. I am only 5'4", so I have always used step stools - get yourself several and put them in key places so you can access your above head storage.

How big is your bedroom? Do you really need all that floor space? You can turn part of it into storage. Do you have a wall that has no windows or a very small window. Can you afford to loose two feet of floor space right there? Then add on a floor to ceiling 2 foot deep room that is all shelves. You can use metal shelving units for the shelves or build them out of wood, but you will need to cover them up. Do so with floor to ceiling, wall to wall heavy drapes. Make it look like a huge window is there. When you store canned goods in there, buy by the case if you can afford it and store the cases there. Cut the boxes with a U facing out and you can reach in to get a can or two, or cut the box down as you empty it. Cased canned goods stay on shelves better than stacked loose cans. "Shop" from your bedroom, before you shop at the store.

Don't throw out your empty liquid laundry jugs. Fill them with water and use them in an emergency to wash your clothes. Use them when you do hand wash items. I fill them 1/3 with water, and swish them around every time I go into the laundry room, then I empty one jug into the washing machine and then add 1/2 the amount of liquid soap. I then refill the jug and store it for washing water in an emergency. The water is plenty good enough to wash clothes with, dishes with or our bodies. Then I use clean water to rinse with. In an emergency SAVE ALL USED WATER to flush the toilet with. It takes 2 quarts of water to flush the toilet as long as you DON'T put it into the back of the tank. Pour it into the bowl.

Plus ONLY STORE THE FOOD YOUR FAMILY WILL EAT. If you do not like boxed Mac & Cheese - don't store it. We love Kraft Shells and Macaroni - all it takes is water to cook the shells in, the cheese is in an envelope already to use. No milk, no butter to add. It must be kept dry though. Had some get moist and the shells got mold on them! I have had powdered milk go bad on me. So I now use and store evaporated milk. For one cup of milk in receipes you use 1/2 c of evap and 1/2 c of water. To do powdered milk you add 1/3 c powdered and 3/4 c water. That is skim milk also.

I also store boxed dinners like hamb helper and tuna helper. BUT I seal them, box and all in vacuum seal bags. That way no bugs or moisture can get in!

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Get rid of your bed frame and put your bed on a platform - you can put food storage into the drawers of a platform bed. You could also make the bed high (you'll need steps to get into it) and then make storage bins to hold wheat, bulk staples, water.

We are going to do this once we are in our last home. When Husband retires and we move out of AZ. The bins will be lined with sheet metal so that the bugs and vermin can not get into it. Food grade plastic bags just are not good enough for me. I am going to store cases of 1 Ltr and .5 ltr bottles. and gal jugs. Arrowhead had the 1 gal that are stackable. The barrels of water will be stored in an outside building, either the garage or a large shed, they will be in their sides for easy dispensing, and I will use the water from them. Don't know exactly how this will be accomplished but I want them hooked up on relay and to be used from constantly. Just like when I had a water tower and had the water fed to my house by gravity. The well pumped into the water tower, then the water flowed to the house by gravity. The tower was on a hill 200 feet above the house.

In the space above your doors to the laundry room, bathroom there is all that wasted space. Put up a shelf and put your paper towels, tpaper, light weight things there. In the laundry room there is lots of unused space also - look up and see what you can put above head height! Same for your closets. I am only 5'4", so I have always used step stools - get yourself several and put them in key places so you can access your above head storage.

How big is your bedroom? Do you really need all that floor space? You can turn part of it into storage. Do you have a wall that has no windows or a very small window. Can you afford to loose two feet of floor space right there? Then add on a floor to ceiling 2 foot deep room that is all shelves. You can use metal shelving units for the shelves or build them out of wood, but you will need to cover them up. Do so with floor to ceiling, wall to wall heavy drapes. Make it look like a huge window is there. When you store canned goods in there, buy by the case if you can afford it and store the cases there. Cut the boxes with a U facing out and you can reach in to get a can or two, or cut the box down as you empty it. Cased canned goods stay on shelves better than stacked loose cans. "Shop" from your bedroom, before you shop at the store.

Don't throw out your empty liquid laundry jugs. Fill them with water and use them in an emergency to wash your clothes. Use them when you do hand wash items. I fill them 1/3 with water, and swish them around every time I go into the laundry room, then I empty one jug into the washing machine and then add 1/2 the amount of liquid soap. I then refill the jug and store it for washing water in an emergency. The water is plenty good enough to wash clothes with, dishes with or our bodies. Then I use clean water to rinse with. In an emergency SAVE ALL USED WATER to flush the toilet with. It takes 2 quarts of water to flush the toilet as long as you DON'T put it into the back of the tank. Pour it into the bowl.

Plus ONLY STORE THE FOOD YOUR FAMILY WILL EAT. If you do not like boxed Mac & Cheese - don't store it. We love Kraft Shells and Macaroni - all it takes is water to cook the shells in, the cheese is in an envelope already to use. No milk, no butter to add. It must be kept dry though. Had some get moist and the shells got mold on them! I have had powdered milk go bad on me. So I now use and store evaporated milk. For one cup of milk in receipes you use 1/2 c of evap and 1/2 c of water. To do powdered milk you add 1/3 c powdered and 3/4 c water. That is skim milk also.

I also store boxed dinners like hamb helper and tuna helper. BUT I seal them, box and all in vacuum seal bags. That way no bugs or moisture can get in!

Neat story on preparedness: (A short version)

During the San Diego fires a member whose husband was out of town loaded up the car (their house was not in danger) and took off for Qualcomm Stadium (staging area for the displaced). She had two toddlers and a babe in arms. After driving for 15 minutes she got a call from her husband. He told her to go back and get the tent. They argured and argued since the traffic was horrific. Anyway, she acquiesced and went back for the tent. When she finally got close to the stadium there was an hour line of cars just to get into the parking lot to drop things off. When she got in there was another hour wait of people in line. She miraculously saw a member/sister in her Stake who could take the baby and she carried her stuff in. Then she had to walk all the way to the other side of the stadium (of course) where the drop-off was. As she was dragging her two daughters and their stuff they ran into a man who was totally distraught and had been weeping. In a very upset voice he asked her if she possibly knew where they were giving out the tents since he just lost his house and all of their families' possessions in the fire. He began to weep. She looked at him, offered him her tent (the one she did not want to go back and get) and said, "I think this is for you!" Sometimes our preparedness if not for us but for our friends, neighbors, and brothers and sisters. (Let's not get into the debate on whether we will share or not when things get rough - suffice it to say - what happened when the reisdents of Jerusalam went to Lehi's house to get his storage?).

All the best for your Christmas and holiday season.

BTW - (Xmas is the Greek form of Christamas and does not reduce Christ to an 'X')

Hope you liked the story,

Abraham

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Who would have thought, a single guy, on a tight budget could ever have a three month supply .... Now I wonder, how I did without it.

Some important facts to really think about ....

1) SPAM was sold for $1.29 a about a year ago. Today it sells for $1.88. Hmmm not a bad investment - Especially one you can eat. If you dont think you would like spam, try not eating for 4 days - Believe me, it will taste like the best ham you ever ate! LOL Pls no spam jokes - The idea is storing to SAVE MONEY!

2) When you start to buy more, you find you shop less. I now shop once a month. I buy bigger bulk items, which save 20% - 30%. My grocery bill has gone down by at least that every month. Plus, because I shop once a month, thats less trips to the store, which saves gas. Hmmmmm

3) When I run out of something, I simply go to my food storage. No stress at all!

4) No excuses - I live in a two bedroom apartment!

Just a few more thoughts

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When local grocery stores have their case lot sale it's the perfect time for me to stock up on things. They always have Mac "N" cheese, tuna, soups etc. That way I always have those basic items (they are for us) on hand.

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Great idea pam! I just learned how to make my own whole wheat bread from scratch - man oh man is it good! Probably costs me about 10 cents a loaf instead of 3 bucks!

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Great idea pam! I just learned how to make my own whole wheat bread from scratch - man oh man is it good! Probably costs me about 10 cents a loaf instead of 3 bucks!

When I left my 1st husband and was on a tight budget , I discovered that by making my own bread and noodles was WAY cheap!

I was getting food from the church, and I could have gotten bread- but I had grown up with homemade bread and then with buying multi grain breads ($2+ to $5+ a loaf) in my first marriage. Those 'Balloon Breads' that are $0.69 a loaf to me are awful. I could also get noodles & pasta through the church too, but again, I grew up on home made noodles.

My days off were Wed & Thurs. I was up at 6 AM every other Wed so I could make my 6 to 8 loaves of bread. Whole grains, multi grain and white. Flour is cheap. Especially when you buy it on sale. I buy the 5 pound bags and put them in my freezer. A batch of bread (6 loaves) takes about 3 1/2 pounds of flour. Last time I bought flour I got a 5 lb bag for $1.00! I also buy yeast by the brick, store it in a family size mayo jar in the fridge. The last brick (2 pounds) of yeast cost me $5. You use 4 tbs per batch. Then I had an upright freezer that was just a bit smaller than my fridge. It was full of flour, home made bread (baked and some not yet baked), home made pie dough, rolled out and then folded up into parchment paper ready to thaw and then placed into pie plates with fillings. I also shared my big freezer with a couple of friends. It was located in a shed and we all had keys to the padlock.

The noodles you make as you need them. Nothing like fresh home made noodles for your beef stroganof.

I got a Bosch stand up mixer with a grain grinder, meat grinder, food shredder attachments, so I buy whole grains and make my own flour. I even grind whole rice into flour and add that to wheat for bread and noodles.

Next I want to get a pasta maker - though I do have to eat less pasta than I used to in the past- but I like the different shapes. It all tastes the same, they are just different shapes.

I know that my mixer is electric- and that it will be totally useless if there is no electricity - but we also have a generator! It is to keep the fridge and freezer running, and to use select kitchen appliances. I can easily cook without electricity. Have a Coleman stove, etc.

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When I left my 1st husband and was on a tight budget , I discovered that by making my own bread and noodles was WAY cheap!

I was getting food from the church, and I could have gotten bread- but I had grown up with homemade bread and then with buying multi grain breads ($2+ to $5+ a loaf) in my first marriage. Those 'Balloon Breads' that are $0.69 a loaf to me are awful. I could also get noodles & pasta through the church too, but again, I grew up on home made noodles.

My days off were Wed & Thurs. I was up at 6 AM every other Wed so I could make my 6 to 8 loaves of bread. Whole grains, multi grain and white. Flour is cheap. Especially when you buy it on sale. I buy the 5 pound bags and put them in my freezer. A batch of bread (6 loaves) takes about 3 1/2 pounds of flour. Last time I bought flour I got a 5 lb bag for $1.00! I also buy yeast by the brick, store it in a family size mayo jar in the fridge. The last brick (2 pounds) of yeast cost me $5. You use 4 tbs per batch. Then I had an upright freezer that was just a bit smaller than my fridge. It was full of flour, home made bread (baked and some not yet baked), home made pie dough, rolled out and then folded up into parchment paper ready to thaw and then placed into pie plates with fillings. I also shared my big freezer with a couple of friends. It was located in a shed and we all had keys to the padlock.

The noodles you make as you need them. Nothing like fresh home made noodles for your beef stroganof.

I got a Bosch stand up mixer with a grain grinder, meat grinder, food shredder attachments, so I buy whole grains and make my own flour. I even grind whole rice into flour and add that to wheat for bread and noodles.

Next I want to get a pasta maker - though I do have to eat less pasta than I used to in the past- but I like the different shapes. It all tastes the same, they are just different shapes.

I know that my mixer is electric- and that it will be totally useless if there is no electricity - but we also have a generator! It is to keep the fridge and freezer running, and to use select kitchen appliances. I can easily cook without electricity. Have a Coleman stove, etc.

Iggy,

Since gas prices have gone up, I really started looking at the way I do things. I work at home now, that save $200 a month in fuel and maintenance on my car. My 3 month supply is nearly complete, and I will be purchasing some nice wire shelving to put my new longer term storage items on. Longer term storage is my goal this year. Things like wheat, rice, beans are things that I will be storing for my longer term storage. I want to end up grinding my own wheat and making my own whole wheat flour. Until then, I am purchasing the whole wheat flour in the bag at Walmart (not as good of price as yours) for $2.84 for a 5lb bag. It will be cheaper when I grind my own! I found a great recipie for whole wheat bread in my bread machine ....

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/8 cups water

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup honey

1 tablespoon dry milk powder

1 1/2 tablespoons shortening

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS:

1.Place ingredients in bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Whole Wheat setting, and then press Start.

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Iggy,

Since gas prices have gone up, I really started looking at the way I do things. I work at home now, that save $200 a month in fuel and maintenance on my car. My 3 month supply is nearly complete, and I will be purchasing some nice wire shelving to put my new longer term storage items on. Longer term storage is my goal this year. Things like wheat, rice, beans are things that I will be storing for my longer term storage. I want to end up grinding my own wheat and making my own whole wheat flour. Until then, I am purchasing the whole wheat flour in the bag at Walmart (not as good of price as yours) for $2.84 for a 5lb bag. It will be cheaper when I grind my own! I found a great recipie for whole wheat bread in my bread machine ....

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/8 cups water

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup honey

1 tablespoon dry milk powder

1 1/2 tablespoons shortening

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS:

1.Place ingredients in bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Whole Wheat setting, and then press Start.

I don't use a bread machine, I do it by hand. Well, I do use the Bosch to mix and knead the bread. Can't do the kneading any more. My shoulders just can't take it. Substitute mollasses for the honey. Adds color and improves the flavor I think. You can decrease the salt to 1 tsp. For 12 cups of flour I use 4 tsp. If your bread seems to be heavy, you can add 2 TBS of Vital Gluten. Can get this at nearly any large grocery. It is sold in small bags- a pound or less. Store it in a glass mayo or mason jar.

Wait until your stores have the flour and baking items on sale, especially around thanksgiving and chirstmas. Then buy as many as you have room for in the freezer. DO NOT freeze sugar or salt. Used to be they would have baking items on sale during Valentines day too- but I haven't seen it the last year or two.

When you store your grains,(either whole or flour) store them OFF the floor at least one inch, in extremely clean containers. You can purchase food grade plastic bag liners at Food Co-Op's. Go online and hunt down the Co-Ops in your area. I was using Flax in my breads- flax is so oily that it will go rancid in about 3 months- so only buy what you can use up in three months.

I have also discovered that squarish containers utilize the space where round does not. I know that canned goods are all round. Can't change that - but the containers you buy to store your staples can be square or rectangular.

I used to get the containers that jerky comes in. Some stores sell the jerky by the piece. When that squarish container is empty they toss them. They are perfect for shelled, unsalted sunflower seeds, smaller grains, rice, etc. Wash them in hot soapy water, rinse, then put them on the top shelf of your dishwasher and wash again. As you take them out of your dishwasher smell them. If you can still smell the jerky, use a food grade plastic bag otherwise your grains will pick up that smell. Those containers are stackable too!

I dehydrated frozen vegetables and stored them in plastic bag liners in those containers. When you make stew- add the dehydrated vegetables and watch the liquid level. Add liquid if it gets too low and the vegetables are not fully reconstituted. Not enough veggies in your canned soup, add some dehydrated and let simmer until the veggies are rehydrated. I add my dehydrated veggies to Top Ramen when I cook it up. I like Top Ramen, but it is too soupy for me. The dehydrated veggies soak up all the liquid. Add the veggies when you add the noodles, then turn the burner down to between simmer and med. Give your veggies time to rehydrate and slow down the cooking of the noodles so they don't turn into mush.

Another great place to store paper items (t.paper, paper towels, and lightweight items) is above the doors going into laundry rooms, bathrooms, storage rooms. I can't do it in the house I live in now- there is only 3" clearance from the top of the door frames to the ceilings. NOT tall doors, but LOW ceilings. This house is an OLD adobe home. 9" thick outer walls and low ceilings.

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You are all making me extremely tired reading all of the things that you do.

Think how tired you will be when you will HAVE to do all those things! Can you bathe with only 2 quarts of water and that includes getting your hair clean too?

Can you live without running water for 2 weeks? How about no electricity and no running water for 2 weeks? How will you dispose of your body waste with NO running water?? Remember now, there is no more DDT to put on it to stop the spread of diseases.

Yes it is tiring- do you honestly believe that your Great grandmother had an easy life taking care of her family- washing clothes by hand, ironing them with a cast-iron iron heated on the wood stove? Hauling water from a well or creek?

For just one day- turn off your water main and electricity and do without. Continue to live your life as normal as possible. Cook, clean, bathe. No trips to the store either for water, or fast food places for your meals.

Can you do it? I can. I have. For more than one day - for months at a time. Year after year for 10 years. I have hauled in snow in lined garbage cans and put it in the bathtub so I would have something to flush the toilet with. Two quarts of melted snow(water) will flush the toilet as long as you do NOT fill up the tank. I saved all the cooking and cleaning water to flush with too when the snow water ran out. I hauled water in 5 gallon collapsible containers carrying one in each hand, every day. Even though it was just from the car to the house, I couldn't get as close to the house as I would have liked.

Did I get tired? You better believe it! I worked in a hardware store from 8 am to 4:30. Went to a friends house to fill up my containers of water from her garden tap or bathtub, hauled 20 gallons of water to my car. Then I had to go home and cook out on the porch, in my warmest coat and hat because it was cold out there, because I had no electricity. I had to wash my dishes in the smallest amount of water possible and save every drop of it. I hand washed my 'unnerwares' to keep the amount of laundry I took to the laundrymat down and because the laundrymats dryers were too hot for my unnerwares. Jeans and towels yes- I only dried my perm press for 10 minutes and took it home damp and hung them all on hangers on thin rope strung through out my house.

Why did I live this way? I owned the house and 10 acres, every winter my water lines froze up and the electricity went out when ever we had any wind to speak of. I didn't have the money to go live in a motel and eat out and take my laundry to the dry cleaners.

The next year some teens shot out the power transmitters all along a 100 mile line and it took weeks for the elect comp to get replacements. Yes the teens got caught and their parents paid royally- but it still took time to get enough transmitters.

It is tiring work, making bread from scratch and without the ease of a bread machine, but it is also WAY cheaper. When you are only earning enough money to pay rent, utilities and pay your tithing and have to go to the Church for food and gas money and car insurance, you don't abuse that charity! I could make the bread cheaper than it could be purchased 'Ready Made', same with the pasta.

It is way tiring to hand wash your clothes and then hang them around the house to dry. It is WAY tiring to chop & haul wood in & to keep a fire going in a wood stove to heat that house. Couldn't cook on it - no flat top.

I am now 10 years older, I live in Arizona instead of Oregon, and I can still live that way, granted it will take me longer to haul the water - I will have to do 5 gals at a time and take rests- I still make and bake my own bread, I still make my own noodles by hand without the aid of a fancy machine. I never want to wash my clothes out by hand, but I will if it is necessary because I will not go around with stinky dirty clothes.

I also will not sit around complaining because there is no running water, no electricity. I will roll up my sleeves and dig in and get what needs to be done-done.

Practice going without water and electricity for a day, then for a few days, then for a week or two. Learn how to do it, get prepared. Oh, and remember that in the winter the amount of daylight you have is short. Can't do much in the dark- have to be careful of candles, hurricane lanterns. Can't use propane or liquid gas stoves or heaters inside the house.

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What I tell our members ..

1) Candles in glass jars are safer than bare candles in a power outage.

2) If the power goes out in the winter, consider burying your refrigerated food in the snow outside.

3) Generators can be good, but when you run them, you draw attention to yourself that you have ample supply of gasoline. In same places it may not be a good idea to do that.

4) 72 Hour kit components may include the following: Water: one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation. Food: at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food. Radio: A Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both. Keep a flashlight with extra batteries. Store a first aid kit and a whistle to signal for help. Sanitation items include moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties. If you live in a house, keep a wrench or pliers on hand to turn off utilities. Also keep a can opener for food (if your 72 hour kit contains canned food). A local map is helpful for walking and finding streets and other buildings in the event of an evacuation and your normal route is closed. We also recommend a set of 2 FRS 2-Way Radios for communicating with other family members. Keep a space blanket or a regular blanket in order to keep warm.

Additional items may include the following: Rope Ladder (needed for evacuation of upper floors of apartments), Prescription medications and glasses, infant formula and diapers, pet food and extra water for your pet, important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification, bank account records all in a in a waterproof, portable container. Also, cash and change, emergency reference material such as a First Aid book, & a sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. You may also consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate. A complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes may also be considered as well as additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate. Another good items to have on hand is Chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat contaminated water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners. A fire extinguisher, matches in a waterproof container, feminine supplies, personal hygiene items, mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels, paper and pencil, books, games, puzzles or other activities for children may also be considered. Members should also keep a roll of plastic sheeting, precut to fit any windows in the room for shelter-in-place. A roll of duct tape is needed for securing the plastic sheeting. Bath towels to place under any openings in doorways (dampen towels first).

5) Get a 3 month supply. A three month supply is important in those instances where a disaster lasts longer than 72 hours. There may also be circumstances, such as unemployment, that may occur when a longer supply of food, water and other daily use items need to be stored. A three month supply is part of a long term storage program recommended by the church. Items in the 3 months supply should include items you already use on a daily basis so that they can be rotated and avoid spoilage. A three month supply is not made of longer storage items, such as wheat, beans and rice. But rather items that you already use on a daily basis. The best way to start a three month supply is simply to buy a little more of the items you purchase every week until you have a 3 month supply. A three month supply is very attainable and manageable even in the confined space of an apartment.

Food Storage

A three month supply might include the following: canned meat; ham, tuna, chicken, corned beef, canned vegetables, canned soup, pasta, pasta sauce, honey, sugar, flour, saltine crackers, breakfast cereals, peanut butter, canned jams and jellies, cooking oil, toiletries & personal items, as well as water storage.

Water Storage

If you wish to store water as part of three month supply, you’ll need at least one gallon of water per person, per day for drinking and hygiene purposes. A normally active person needs at least ½ gallon of water per day, just for drinking. To store the safest and most reliable form of water, FEMA recommends that you purchase & store commercially bottled water. Keep bottled water in its original container and do not open until you need it and observe the expiration date. You can prepare your own water storage by using food grade water storage containers or re-use 2-liter plastic soft drink bottles. If you choose this method, you’ll need to thoroughly clean the containers with dishwashing soap and water and rinse completely so there is no residual soap. Additionally, for soft drink bottles, sanitize the bottles by adding one teaspoon of non-scented liquid chlorine bleach to a quart of water, and swish the sanitizing solution so that it touches all inside surfaces and rinse thoroughly with clean water. Then, fill the bottle with regular tap water from a city water supply (pre-treated with chlorine). If your tap water is not chlorinated, treat it yourself with two drops of non-scented liquid chorine bleach per gallon of water. Tightly seal the container using the original cap making sure that you do not contaminate the cap by touching the inside of it. Write the date on the outside of the cap so that you know when you filled it and store in a cool dark place.

Some members might think a 3 month supply is not attainable or even practical in an apartment. However, not only is a three month supply attainable in the members that have apartments, but also very practical! There’s nothing like simply going to your 3 month supply when you need something! And, when the family is sick, or there are other circumstances where getting to the store is difficult, a three month supply of items that you already use on a daily basis simply makes sense. Can you afford it? Absolutely! The church suggests …. "Build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated regularly to avoid spoilage." Source: LDS Provident Living

6) Have a family communication plan in place. In an emergency, family members may not all be together in the same place. So it’s important to have a plan on how to communicate to other family members. The plan includes recording contact information on a form or blank piece of paper that each member has in their possession. The contacts should include the following …

-Telephone numbers and cell number of individual family member

-Work telephone numbers

-School Telephone numbers

-Home Teacher home and cell phone numbers

-Out of town contact telephone number

Out of Town Contact

An out of town contact is important so that individual members can call and let them know they are ok. Local communications to other local cell phones or telephones may not work in a disaster. However out of town communications may still work. It’s also important that family members try and contact their home teachers to let them know they are OK. This way, branch resources are spent on finding those that are unaccounted for or are injured in an emergency.

Email, Cell Phone and Texting

Email and cell phone texting has proven to be a resilient form of communications in a disaster even when voice communications is not possible. If you have a cell phone now, the my branch encourages members to learn how to use texting as a form of communicating in an emergency between family members and/or home teachers.

FRS/GMRS Radios

In the event of total cell phone/land line failure, we recommend that family members purchase a set of FRS/GMRS two-way radios. Family Radio Service (FRS) is one of the Citizens Band Radio Services. It is used by family, friends and associates to communicate within a neighborhood and while on group outings and has a communications range of less than one mile. You can not make a telephone call with an FRS unit. You can talk to other family members within its range.FRS radios have a set of channels (1-14) with a subset of interference eliminator codes (1-39) (or more depending on brand and model) which leaves at least 532 privacy possibilities. For example, if you wished to talk to someone, you would need to know in advance what channel and what interference eliminator code they were using. Then, simply tune your FRS radio to that, and you communications would be possible.

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Think how tired you will be when you will HAVE to do all those things! Can you bathe with only 2 quarts of water and that includes getting your hair clean too?

Can you live without running water for 2 weeks? How about no electricity and no running water for 2 weeks? How will you dispose of your body waste with NO running water?? Remember now, there is no more DDT to put on it to stop the spread of diseases.

Yes it is tiring- do you honestly believe that your Great grandmother had an easy life taking care of her family- washing clothes by hand, ironing them with a cast-iron iron heated on the wood stove? Hauling water from a well or creek?

For just one day- turn off your water main and electricity and do without. Continue to live your life as normal as possible. Cook, clean, bathe. No trips to the store either for water, or fast food places for your meals.

Can you do it? I can. I have. For more than one day - for months at a time. Year after year for 10 years. I have hauled in snow in lined garbage cans and put it in the bathtub so I would have something to flush the toilet with. Two quarts of melted snow(water) will flush the toilet as long as you do NOT fill up the tank. I saved all the cooking and cleaning water to flush with too when the snow water ran out. I hauled water in 5 gallon collapsible containers carrying one in each hand, every day. Even though it was just from the car to the house, I couldn't get as close to the house as I would have liked.

Did I get tired? You better believe it! I worked in a hardware store from 8 am to 4:30. Went to a friends house to fill up my containers of water from her garden tap or bathtub, hauled 20 gallons of water to my car. Then I had to go home and cook out on the porch, in my warmest coat and hat because it was cold out there, because I had no electricity. I had to wash my dishes in the smallest amount of water possible and save every drop of it. I hand washed my 'unnerwares' to keep the amount of laundry I took to the laundrymat down and because the laundrymats dryers were too hot for my unnerwares. Jeans and towels yes- I only dried my perm press for 10 minutes and took it home damp and hung them all on hangers on thin rope strung through out my house.

Why did I live this way? I owned the house and 10 acres, every winter my water lines froze up and the electricity went out when ever we had any wind to speak of. I didn't have the money to go live in a motel and eat out and take my laundry to the dry cleaners.

The next year some teens shot out the power transmitters all along a 100 mile line and it took weeks for the elect comp to get replacements. Yes the teens got caught and their parents paid royally- but it still took time to get enough transmitters.

It is tiring work, making bread from scratch and without the ease of a bread machine, but it is also WAY cheaper. When you are only earning enough money to pay rent, utilities and pay your tithing and have to go to the Church for food and gas money and car insurance, you don't abuse that charity! I could make the bread cheaper than it could be purchased 'Ready Made', same with the pasta.

It is way tiring to hand wash your clothes and then hang them around the house to dry. It is WAY tiring to chop & haul wood in & to keep a fire going in a wood stove to heat that house. Couldn't cook on it - no flat top.

I am now 10 years older, I live in Arizona instead of Oregon, and I can still live that way, granted it will take me longer to haul the water - I will have to do 5 gals at a time and take rests- I still make and bake my own bread, I still make my own noodles by hand without the aid of a fancy machine. I never want to wash my clothes out by hand, but I will if it is necessary because I will not go around with stinky dirty clothes.

I also will not sit around complaining because there is no running water, no electricity. I will roll up my sleeves and dig in and get what needs to be done-done.

Practice going without water and electricity for a day, then for a few days, then for a week or two. Learn how to do it, get prepared. Oh, and remember that in the winter the amount of daylight you have is short. Can't do much in the dark- have to be careful of candles, hurricane lanterns. Can't use propane or liquid gas stoves or heaters inside the house.

Sheesh...I meant that as a huge compliment not as a means to get a lecture. :lol::P

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Ok well, I tell you what .... if there a disaster like the Teton dam breaking, 7.0 earthquake, or a tornado, the last thing I'm going to be worried about is finding my solar oven and baking bread. Yep, thats totally true, but some might find some comfort in that. So I cant dismiss that entirely.

However, for most, they will rely on stored food, water, heat and light. If you have those, you can concentrate on helping others instead of .... well you know what I mean.

Other thing to consider besides food, water heat and light are ....

1) Emergency Communciations. How will you communicate with other family members? An out of town contact would be a good relay when local comms is out. Also consider FRS radios.

2) Documentation. You need to store all of your deeds, titles, insurance info, credit card info, and telephone numbers in a waterproof container so when the time is right you can have that ready.

3) Things to do. If it gets boring, perhaps thats a good time to bake bread in a solar oven. But you might also consider games like Uno or other things to keep you occupied.

4) First Aid Items. A first aid kit is always something good to keep on hand.

5) Fire Extinguisher. If you are using candles for light, a fire extinguisher is a must to have on hand. I have two.

Im out .... :cool:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm a non-LDS, but I'm also practicing food storage. All LDS members who follow the church teachings are very wise to do so and I'm so grateful for your wonderful resources and websites. Even if the second coming doesn't come within our lifetimes, an unexpected job loss, famine, etc. could always strike and it's best to be prepared.

I've always stored six-months of food, but I've increased my provisions to a one-year supply and have found an easy way to rotate most of my provisions and thought it might be helpful to someone who may find food rotation a challenge:

To make rotation easy, I use the "big Rubbermaid storage container method".

I have 12 of those big Rubbermaid containers. I labeled them January, February, March, etc...

I know I eat spaghetti every Wednesday night. So I just look at a calendar to see if I need to put 4 or 5 jars of sauce in the container (some months have 5 Wednesdays). Same with the other items like corned beef hash (I know I eat a can each Sunday) so I put the appropriate number of cans in that month's Rubbermaid container. I go through a big box of powdered milk per month, so each container gets a box of that, too...etc. etc. You can also remember to rotate toothbrushes every 3 months by putting the new one(s) in the appropriate month's container :)

About the only provisions that don't get sorted into monthly containers are items such as sugar, honey, wheat, whole oats, etc. or papergoods, bleach, etc. because their use varies.

By separating my year's worth of provisions into 12 containers (12 months) I don't end up being tempted to eat too many of one item and then end up short on items (or risk inbalanced nutrition). Using this container method, my provisions are always rotated and never more than a year old.

ROTATION: Now that I just finished off my "January container" of provisions and the container is empty, it's put on the end of the row and I'll refill it when I go to the market. It will be ready and waiting for me when January 2009 rolls around :)

Another bonus is if you know a family in need, you could just bring them a Rubbermaid container of provisions. You already know it contains balanced and varied nutrition. Add a few baggies of popcorn-oats-sugar-etc, bottle of cooking oil, etc. and they're good-to-go.

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When my water heater broke, I purposefully didn't call the landlord for two months so I could have the experience of living without hot water. I had to heat kettles of water on the stove until they boiled to take a bath (you then add enough cold water to make the temperature comfortable). When you have to heat water and haul it to the tub, you learn just how little water you really need. It was a good learning experience.

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I try to do that...but I end up getting into the "extra" every month! I am a disabled, single mother of two teenagers with bottomless pits that they call stomics...I struggle to keep food in my house, much less food storage!! I DO have plenty of wheat and lentils, because the kids refuse to eat them is the only reason they are still in my storage!!! G-d help them if we ever DO need to live on them...I could...they just may starve...at least that is what I keep telling them...they won't hear me, of course, and still refuse to eat lentils...I have gotten my son turned on to fried wheat...but my daughter won't touch it!! Meh!

Be sneaky and GRIND the lentils very fine and add them to the bread flour. Ready cooked lentils are also easily mixed into raw ground beef and then you just make a meatloaf or fry the meat as usual. Just don't put too many lentils in the bread or the meat--you don't want to overpower it. Also, don't let them see you do it :)
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