Hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and had enough energy to brave Black Friday. We were able to get our solar radio - an American Red Cross Eton, from Radio Shack for half price. That was our major preparedness buy for the week.

I picked up some things at Walmart that you might want to consider. I bought 2 metal whistles and a couple of compasses. In the garden department I found N95 face masks on sale.

In our local sporting goods store, I found a Sawyer bite and sting kit. The extractor is the only product I've found that people recommend for snake bites. It has a good instruction book that explains all the different size cups -- wasps, bees, mosquitoes, spiders, scorpions and snakes all seem to have requirements. Unfortunately the kit doesn't tell you which one goes with which bite. There is even a razor for shaving the bite area to insure a good suction.

I also bought a chemical cold pack for a dollar. I am looking for more of the bargain packs.  I've heard straight Chlorox is good for red ant bites so I'm pouring a bit into a small bottle. Since we keep bees, I have Benedryl on hand and really want an epi-pen at the house.

I am learning about healing herbs so expect to be able to brew up something that will work for stings and the itch we can get from poison ivy around here. If we are involved in cleaning up after a bad storm, we  need to be prepared to deal with spider bites. I read about a poultice that would help with a serious bite -- unfortunately, forgot to mark the site. So if anyone knows what will draw the poison, please let us know. Most of the time, we aren't even aware of the bite until the venom has been absorbed into our bodies. The Sawyer might help some, but it might take a poultice to draw it out. Obviously I have some more studying to do on the subject. The mundane assaults on our body are not covered in an EMT class.

I found another item at Sam's that is going in my Go-Kits. Proforce makes commercial products and has a package of 24 microfiber towels that are ultra absorbent. They are only 16 inches square and take up little room.  I am using some for the Kits, some for hubby's shop and some for the kitchen to deal with messy spills. They were only 11.95 - a bargain for 50 cents each. They are washable and should last forever. They don't scratch and will make good dust clothes too. I found them in the section with all the industrial cleaners.

If you found great preparedness deals this Black Frida or Cyper Monday, please let us know.

JELLO FIASCO

  

Guess what? Jello won't gel unless it has an encounter with boiling water and then cold temperatures. I used sugar free Jello with regular tap water. It looked like the mixture was suspended in water. It tasted like Jello. But it continued in it's liquid state and never congealed at room temperature. It never congealed after being in the refrigerator over night.

I took it out and held it up before a window. It appeared as if there were really tiny little balls all through the solution. Declaring the experiment a failure I nuked it until it came to a boil and stirred. The solution became evenly transparent and the little balls disappeared. It gelled very quickly once I put it in the frig. So lesson learned. You can't make Jello without HEAT and COLD. But you could drink it because it tasted fine even in its rebellious state.

I do have a success story about packaged dehyrated soup. I knew I liked the Bear Creek brands of soups in a packet, but was not familiar with the Cugino's. I made Lemon Chicken and Rice yesterday. The recipe calls for 6 cups of water and 2 cups milk. I decided to use evaporated milk. One can was not quite 2 cups so just used water to make up the difference. It was delicious with nothing else added. However, I wanted to make it a true stand-alone supper meal. I added a can of Swanson's chicken and shredded it very fine. I think I created my first ever 100% pantry meal!

The directions call for the soup to simmer for 20 minutes and I found I had to stir more than the "occasionally" they suggested because the chicken stuck to the bottom of the pan. It never burned, but did have to be attended to. I had a lemon I needed to use so put extra lemon in my soup. Dear hubby liked his just the way it was.

The "best by" date is June 2014 so this is a great item to put on the shelf as you build your 30, 60, 90+ day storage of products you use everyday. The Bear Creek packages had dates ranging from a year to 18 months. I have used them YEARS after the "best by" dates and they had no discernible decrease in quality and flavor. The Nueva Cocina brands do not have dates on the packaging. They use only 3 to 4 cups of water so if you like Mexican foods and have a small family, they might work for you. The Bear Creek soups all seem to make up 8 servings of about 1 1/2 cups.

In the last post I mentioned the awful reality of bland mash potatoes and rice. A fellow prudent preparer suggested having cans of gravy available. I definitely am picking up some cans when they go on sale. However I have used the brown, chicken, turkey gravy mixes that come in a large container at Sam's. It makes up in less than 3 minutes, has no fat or oil, and tastes as good as my homemade which tends to lack something. These gravy mixes are a powder and dissolve with no lumps. I think this is a really important addition to your pantry stores. It is inexpensive and seems to last forever -- well maybe not forever. I been using the same jar for so long, I can't begin to calculate its age. The gravy is good. Maybe not as good as you make yourself, but better than what I turn out most of the time. It is 10 times better than what dear hubby makes. So you might want to consider picking up a jar or two

REHYDRATION EXPERIMENT

Good news and Bad. Instant potatoes – white and sweet hydrated immediately. The Betty Crocker Sweet potatoes were so good, I just cleaned out the little bowl with my finger. They tasted great even cold. The plain white instant potatoes tasted awful! I discovered you definitely want to include some condiments in your Go-Kits and pick up one of those picnic sets of salt and pepper. I also know why some preppers advise having cans of gravy in their storage supplies. Try the Idahoan mash potato packets with flavorings added. I personally like them all and use them for regular meals for the two of us. I don’t add anything but the called-for water. They are well seasoned and not too heavy on the salt.

You will be happy to know that the packets of instant oatmeal and grits (with flavorings added) also do fine.  I tried the oatmeal with peaches and it was good. It takes two packets to make up a normal breakfast serving though. The Red-eyed, Country Ham Grits are rather salty, but they tasted OK. Both were better after they warmed to room temperature. Unfortunately the quick grits remained gritty without being boiled.

I also tried some quick barley with dismal results – they didn’t puff up. However, I spread them out to dry and seasoned them. They could be eaten like peanuts. I also liked orange lentils. They didn’t turn to mush and were quite tasty dried with a little salt. So we can add a strainer to our kits! These are two good additions because of their nutritional value and they seem like snacks.

Instant rice also softens and swells slightly. It would be fine with gravy or squeeze margarine which does fine without refrigeration for a short period (week or so at least.) Stove Top dressing also hydrated quickly and could be mixed with canned chicken and gravy.  

Ramon noodles hydrated well in a short while. I didn’t add the seasoning packet because I just pinched off a bit to try. My grandson often eats the chicken flavored ones as an after-school snack so I just short-changed him a bit. One major disaster is the 3-minute noodles. I let them sit overnight like the rest. Ugg! They were mushy and pretty awful. So, they would have done well with a much shorter hydration period. I imagine you could dump a can of Hunts spaghetti sauce over them and wait about 20 minutes and they would make a good family meal.

That leads to yet another item needed for the Go-Kit. We need a pot or bowl large enough to mix things together for an entrée. I would want a metal spoon and fork to mix with. Plastic utensils and paper products will do fine for individual use, but something sturdier is needed for the actual “cooking” process. I think anti-bacterial wipes would clean them well enough and a quick rinse with water would remove the ick taste.

I am going to attempt to make instant pudding with dry non-fat milk and water tomorrow.  It should work because they make the school pack kind that just sits on the shelf. You would just have to eat it right away.  I’ve also seen jello in those packs. I wonder how they get it to gel. I once took a pack of jello with me to a Girl Scout week-end camp. Everyone laughed because I didn’t think about the lack of refrigeration. But I fooled them. I stuck it in the leaders’ ice chest for a little while and flaunted my cherry jello dessert. I didn’t let on it was pretty runny. It probably would have set-up if I had left it in longer. Anyway I am going to mix some up and just leave it out on the counter to see what it will do tonight.

I hope you will share some of your experiments with us prudent preparers.

More Grocery Store Food Items for Emergencies

In two different stores this week, I found items on the shelf that had already expired best by dates. One by a full year! I don’t know what is going on because I’ve never seen that. One item was 2% evaporated milk which is something you don’t want to fool around with. Had it been a package of jello, I wouldn’t have thought too much about it. I do believe those would last forever because all that is in it is flavoring and sugar which doesn’t ever go bad unless you are invaded by ants.

We will have to remember to diligently rotate food in our 3-month store. I am gradually shifting  pantry items that are close to “expiration” dates to my within-reach kitchen shelves. In addition I am planning meals around the items that should be used next.

Sometimes when there are good sales, I buy items we haven’t tried. I found a bargain on the Indian product, Awadhi aloo mutter. The box says it is mouth-watering with a fine blend of traditional Indian spices, exotic herbs and other ingredients which are not listed. I’m going to try it and hope the other ingredients are not monkey brains or something equally awful. Dick will probably pick up a Kyrstal bag. All I have to do is immerse the sealed pouch in boiling water for 3 – 5 minutes. It is fully cooked and ready to eat. I checked the list of ingredients and they all look familiar except for ONE. I’ll let you know if it is monkey brains. Although I don’t know how I’d recognize it as I have not as yet dined on that exotic delicacy.

I JUST found a new Ronzoni pasta item. It is Quick Cook. The box has several stove-top recipes that are basically the dump and eat variety. This product isn’t recommended for baked pasta dishes. You cook it only 3 minutes and there is a warning about overcooking so I wonder if it, too, is a product that would reconstitute if it just sat in water. I’m going to soak a couple of elbows in water and find out.

Tonight I’m going to also try the “soak” test on instant grits and oatmeal and Minute Rice. I’ll let you know how they turned out.

Another good potato product is Betty Crocker Mashed Sweet Potatoes. This requires ¾ cup of milk, 2/3 cup of hot water, 2 tablespoons of margarine or butter. Using powdered milk, you just make up the ¾ cup when you need it. The best I can figure, you REALLY DON’T have to heat the water. We just like to eat our foods warm. It only takes a minute for the potatoes to absorb the water if it is hot. Margarine in a squeeze bottle like Fleishmann’s does not HAVE to be refrigerated. So if there is a power outage, this product would be one you’d want to have on hand.

Hungry Jack makes a hasbrown potato product that only requires you to pour water heated to 120 degrees into a little carton. After it stands for 12 minutes, you pour out the excess and pan fry the potatoes on one side for 3-4 minutes. If you like them crispy just flip and fry 3-4 minutes more. These would work well cooked over an open fire.

Stove Top Stuffing Mixes are yet another emergency store goody. You heat 1 ½ cups of water and ¼ cup oil, butter, spread, or margarine (not whipped) to a boil. Just add the package contents and you are ready to eat in 5 minutes. I’ve made up stuffing mixes just using all chicken broth when I needed it for a main dish recipe and it worked great. This isn’t the time to skimp on fat. Our bodies need the calories that fat provides.

I’ll let you know if the experiments are successful. I might be eating cold instant oatmeal tomorrow morning.

Food Items Good for Disaster Preparedness

I have been searching the shelves at the grocery store looking for quick-fix items that would do well if we had an emergency situation. I am amazed at what is there. I think the workplace and school lunches have encouraged the development of these microwavable or pop-a-can entrees.

I just finished eating Annie Chun’s Kung Pao Noodle Bowl. It was ready in 2 minutes and has all 100% natural ingredients no preservatives and no MSG. One bowl serves 1 person 500 calories. The carb count is 17g with 5g fiber. The down side is 980 mg sodium and 14 grams of sugar. However you also get 17 g of protein. AND….it tastes good! You can also fix this by just adding 1 cup boiling water. In a no-fuel situation you would just add the water and let it sit until the dehydrated vegetables rehydrated.

A very vital discovery is the realization that scissors made the job of opening all the little packets easier. So, I am putting a pair of blunt-nosed scissors in my Go-Kits.  These are available in School Supplies.

Check out Hormel’s Compleats. I picked up a 2-serving container of Seasoned Pork with BBQ sauce to make sandwiches for lunch. I figure it will make skimpy serving so most will probably eat the entire container which has 280 calories. Another option is Homestyle Beef Pot Pie with 230 calories. Both are ready to eat so they’d be  great Go-Kit items. Of course they are better heated a little.  The best by dates are two years out. This doesn’t mean the product will be ruined and needs to be discarded, it is just the manufacturers guarantee for vitamin and quality issues.

I am a fan of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes. There are other brands out there, but these are the only ones I have found that taste good with only the addition of water. Two cups of boiling water will reconstitute in 1 minute. All that is really necessary is to let them sit for additional time after you add the water. Each pouch makes 4 servings at 110 calories each. In an emergency you would probably want to serve each person 1 cup so you would need extra packets for your meal counts.

Another great source for quick, easy, no-prep food is your soup aisle. I have been a fan of Bear Creek for years. I love their potato soup. While they don’t have the big cans for at Sam’s any more, they now have many varieties in packets in grocery stores.  I picked up Creamy Wild Rice and “Darn Good” Chili. They both make 8 cups of soup which would serve 4 very well. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on whether you are enjoying chili on a blustery night at home or in an emergency situation. Each serving only has 180 calories for 2 cups of soup.  The rice soup has 130 calories per cup.

Calorie counts are very important in emergency situations. Each age group needs a specific amount to function at top form. Those calories can’t be empty – the just fill you up or satisfy a sweet-tooth craving kind.  Now I am not discounting the beneficial aspects of good chocolate. I think any prudent preparer would want them in their stash. One good thing about winter weather in most climates is the wonderful fact that chocolate won’t melt. Alas, we in the south can NEVER leave chocolate in the car.

I am thoroughly enjoying the food searches and taste tests. I am pretty adventurous about food. I don't particularily like squid -- but that is about it. While I ususally pass up kim chee, I've been reading about the benefits of fermented foods. I am trying to get my nerve up to experiment. I'd welcome reader input on the subject.

 

FINDING FOOD FOR YOUR GO-KITS.

Because my kitchen stores are sufficient for a shelter-in-place scenario, I wrongly assumed I could just use what was on the shelves for the Go-Kits. Recently, I discovered that food for a well-stocked Go-Kit isn’t as easy to find as I thought.

I am on a quest to discover protein and meal replacement bars that are high in calorie count, nutritious and actually taste good.  I’ve been doing some taste tests. Dick tried a small portion of one and declared, “I could eat it.” Tri-O-Plex has several flavors containing about 430 calories per bar. Other energy bars have fewer calories. It would take two to come up to an adequate meal count. A lot of breakfast granola type bars are around 200 calories. Adults need at least 2500 calories a day to deal with the stress and challenges of an emergency.

It makes sense to conduct some taste tests with your family. Buy a few different brands and conduct a formal blind test.  Just cut the bar into as many portions as you have family members. Label the bars A, B, C, etc. and let everyone rate them. This will help determine the winners that will be part of your Go-Bag kits. You can eliminate the ones everyone gags on. This is really all about personal taste. I bought a bar at a Sporting Goods store hoping it was the one I had tried some time back and LOVED. The clerk suggested I try something else because the one I picked was just plain “nasty.” She said NO ONE liked it. Because it looked like the one I had eaten, I decided to spend the $1.29 and take a chance. Well, I am going to have to hide those bars. I love the very lemony taste enough to gobble them down at any excuse.

You need to conduct similar tests on canned goods that provide protein. I really can’t stand Spaghetti-O’s, but they are a grandchild’s first choice. I prefer another brand. You want to pack what people will eat. Since your goal is to have enough food to sustain everyone for 3 to 5 days you can have a wide range of options. You might let the children plan their own stash. They can write their name on the items with a marker if you are bundling everything in one tote. In a stressful situation, unfamiliar food just won’t cut it!

To give you an idea of the numbers, Spaghetti-O’s have 2 servings per can at 170 calories each. One can of Vienna Sausage has 8 pieces and is considered to be 2.5 servings at 110 each. Well, my hubby eats a whole can for lunch. I can tell you 3 little sausages won’t cut it. Potted meat is 1 serving and contains 160 calories. Underwood chicken spread has 2 servings at 140 each. A small can of water packed tuna is considered to be 2.5 servings at 70 calories each.

A good preparedness exercise would be to go to your pantry and lay out a day’s worth of food for each person. Could you do it on a moment’s notice using only the items you currently have on hand? Afterwards calculate that amount times 3 to 5 days. I can tell you, that I come up short. I don’t have any fruit or pudding cups. All my dried fruit is in bulky economy sized bags. I was under the delusion I was prepared!

The Go-kits need to contain food that can be eaten without cooking or heating. Almost all the foods that come in packets require the addition of boiling or very hot water for rehydration. If you are stuck in a large emergency shelter in a school, you can’t start a fire on the gym floor. I’m not saying don’t include them, but they might not be a viable dinner solution. I am going to experiment with some items to see if they will hydrate sufficiently using cold water and a much longer time frame. I’ll let you know if the grits are edible.

We really CAN’T just grab stuff out of the cabinets, throw it in a plastic bag and rush to the car. I am digging out my vacuum sealer and making up individual portions of dried fruit. I figure it will be cheaper than the little boxes and bags you buy to put in lunch boxes. I’ll bag up almonds and peanuts using snack bags then pop a bunch in a bag to seal. Hopefully the double bagging system will prevent sharp edges will prevent puncture.

I’ve been prowling the grocery store aisles looking for possibilities. I found a few that might fit the no-flame requirements. Will get back to you with the taste-test results.

Let me know if you have found winners.

STORING WATER

Several readers have asked questions about water storage. Every person who writes or speaks about preparing for an emergency puts this at the top of their DO NOW list.  The television continually broadcast critical issues of preparedness before Hurricane Sandy approached our shores. Water was ALWAYS at the top of their list of precautions and warnings. Officials told people water and electric service would be affected and might not be available for a much longer time than the 72 hour you are on your own before help can arrive period that is on ALL the emergency web sites. Huge numbers of people ignored advice figuring life would go on as usual. Some may still be thirsty, hungry, cold and sitting in the dark if they aren’t at the FEMA shelters.

Disasters are unpredictable so people in all parts of America must be prepared to weather the storms.  I looked up the interesting word weather. One dictionary definition reads: stormy or disagreeable atmospheric conditions. Conversely it means: to survive successfully. God has planned a way for us to overcome the adversities that come our way. We are more than conquerors through our Lord, Christ Jesus. So we go before Him and get His plan of action for our families. It is prudent to heed the wisdom of those who are the experts in emergency preparedness.

Water must be our top priority. We drink our tap water now. It is perfectly safe to store as is. If you are storing it in gallon plastic jugs the time limitation generally refers to the degradable element of the jug. Those are designed to disintegrate in landfills. That is why people recommend limiting them to 6 months - 1 year. As I have had a failed jug, I don’t want the clean-up chore of a gallon of water EVERYWHERE ever again.  If you are storing it in 2-liter hard plastic bottles, the time frame is much longer although no one is speculating about HOW much time you have. This may be because people are not having bottle failure and no one knows how long they will last. Poor landfills!!!

It is not necessary to treat tap water before you store it. If you are storing well water, it would be a good precaution. However many experienced preppers recommend treating stored water with Clorox as a precaution before you use it. I think that is a good idea, just to be on the safe side if you used recycled containers because there is a possibility that bacteria could have remained after you cleaned and sanitized.

If you have purchased barrels or other long-term storage containers you might want to treat as you fill them up – especially if you used rain water from your gutter system. The containers do not biodegrade and will be safe for much longer times. Who wants to empty 55 gallons every six month?

Where in the world do you store all that water? I have been shoving it in a corner of my basement. Well, I need that space for food storage. I just read that a seasoned prudent preparer stores his water in the garage and has never had a freezing problem. So, as much trouble as it is to transfer, I plan to shift it. I will keep a three-day supply handy though.

Right now, I’m storing in recycled containers. I plan to use my 55 gallon barrels to catch rain water.  When we lived in Haiti we had a cistern that collected the city water that ran 2 hours a day. Every house had one. I am thinking that might be a really great idea for us in America. Has anyone buried a stock tank? I’ll do some research and get back with you.
Below is a treatment chart that might help. Just remember the amounts are for treated water. If you find you must get water from sources other than your city’s treatment plant or a certified well, double the amounts of PLAIN Clorox after you have let all sediment settle. Boiling for 1 minute is still the recommended way to go. I’ll talk more about treatment alternatives another post.

Get a couple of new non-clear medicine bottles with a dropper from your pharmacist and fill with Clorox having 5-6% sodium hypochlorite . Keep one bottle with your Go-Kit. Clorox has a short shelf-life of about 6 months. You will have to put a note on your Preparedness Calendar to replace after that time period. Just empty and refill.

1 Quart = 4 drops
2 Quarts / 0.5 Gallon = 8 drops = 1/8 teaspoon
1 Gallon = 16 drops = 1/4 teaspoon
2 Gallons = 32 drops = ½ teaspoon
4 Gallons = 64 drops = 1 teaspoon
12 Gallons = 192 drops = 1 Tablespoon
24 Gallons = 384 drops = 1/8 cup which is 2 Tablespoons
55 Gallons = 880 drops = 5 Tablespoons which is 1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon (approximately!)

Stir the water and allow it to stand for 30 minutes. Chlorine should be detectable by odor after the waiting period. If the water does not smell like chlorine at that point, repeat the dose and let it stand another 15 minutes and check the smell again. There should also be a slight chlorine taste.

Before you use your stored water, you can pour it from one container to another a couple of times to put oxygen back into it to remove the “flat” taste. This is also why it is a great idea to have packets of add-ins on hand. The water will be safe to drink, but the taste is somewhat altered.

The guidelines are 1 gallon, per day, per person. Remember, the water you buy at the store in gallon jugs has the same limitations as those you fill yourself from the tap. The jugs are safe because they are food-grade plastic, but they are designed to break apart.

My daughter fills lots of containers with tap water and lets them to sit on the counter uncapped about 24 hours. She uses this water to tend to her plants.   They thrive and do not have the brown ends mine do. Great use for using up “expired” water.