Food Storage Tuesday

Every Tuesday, we post specific items you should gather in order to supplement your emergency car kit, your three-month supply, and your longer term storage.  If you are new to our blog, don't worry!  You won't be left behind.  Just start up where we are and follow along.  You will eventually have everything completed.  Once the car kit is complete, we'll be putting together 72-hour kits again (week by week).  Once those are done, we'll gather the car kits again.  So don't worry, just jump on in and join us where we are today!   

We started putting together car kits last Spring but never finished them fully, so we're starting again!  Now is the perfect time to hop on with us and following along as we prepare for emergencies and inconveniences in the car.

The first thing you need is a box to hold everything in.  Just a small-ish plastic box is fine.  Scan the list of items on the right that you will be gathering so that you can get a good idea of what size you will need.  You might even have something perfect already in your house that you could use.  Or, if you want to wait a few weeks, you could probably get a good deal on something in late December/early January when organizational stuff tends to go on sale.

How's your three month supply of food coming along?  Make a food storage menu plan and shop from there.  Organization is so important when it comes to food storage!  If you have a menu plan and a master shopping list, you will always know what you have and what you need, so that you can take advantage of sales and such.  You can get some great menu ideas from our food storage recipes page here.

For our longer-term storage, we'll be gathering "other" items for our longer-term storage.  These are things that you might want more than three-months' worth, so that you can supplement your basic longer-term foods.  These items include yeast, powdered milk, sugar, honey, pasta, salt, flour, etc.

Motivational Monday

 “Children need to work with their parents—to wash dishes with them, to mop floors with them, to mow lawns, to prune trees and shrubbery, to paint and fix up and clean up and do a hundred other things where they will learn that labor is the price of cleanliness and progress and prosperity” 

President Gordon B. Hinckley 

Motivational Monday

Come, Ye Thankful People

Come, ye thankful people, come; 
Raise the song of harvest home.
All is safely gathered in
Ere the winter storms begin
God, our Maker, doth provide
For our wants to be supplied.
Come to God's own temple, come;
Raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God's own field, 
Fruit unto his praise to yield,
Wheat and tares together sown,
Unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade, and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear.
Lord of harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be.

~ Henry Alford

The gift of preparedness

It's time for our annual preparedness gift guide!

Not sure what to give your friends and loved ones for Christmas?  Well, you've come to the right place!  Each year we post a gift guide to give you some great ideas for gifts to give the people you love.  I'll admit, it may not be that fun to give or receive food storage or preparedness items for Christmas, but I truly can't think of anything more realistic to spend money on.  Plus, giving someone the gift of preparedness is really a thoughtful gift, if you ask me! 

Not sure what to ask for for Christmas?  Consider adding some of these items to your wish list!

*Note: these prices listed below are based on quick online research. Shopping around or buying used will help you find the best deal on any of these items.  Also, some products are listed under two price brackets because they may be different sizes or of a different quality. 

Under $20

our very own Safely Gathered In food storage e-book :)
Small first aid kits (this is a pack of two... a great deal!)
Crank Flashlights (get some for the whole family!)
Jumper cables
Fuel for camp stoves or grills
water storage containers
spices and herbs
Emergency Mylar thermal blankets
emergency preparedness books/guides (ideas here, here, here)
work gloves
seeds for the garden
bottles/jars for canning
batteries!!  Always helpful to have around.

$20-60
Water purifiers (this SteriPen looks interesting!)
Water treatment tablets
good-quality sleeping bag
heavy duty jumper cables
Dutch oven
Solar (or crank) powered radio (or solar radio/flashlight combo)
Wheat grinder (very small, hand cranked - useful if you lose electricity!)
small rotating shelf system
food dehydrator
Water Bob (these seem really neat! Great idea for water storage in an emergency)

$60-100
Ready-made 72-hour kits (this one's a 2-person kit)
Wheat grinder (small - hand cranked or automatics)
Pressure cooker (small)
Dehydrator (large)
55-gallon drum for water storage
72-hour emergency meal kit

$100-200
Rotating shelf systems (small)
Wheat grinder (small electric)
Small gas-powered portable generator
72-hour kit deluxe (this is a 4-person kit)
Pressure cooker/canner (large)

$200+
Rotating shelf systems (small to large)
 Electric wheat grinder (I hear this one is great!)
Pressure cooker/canner (huge)
4,000 watt generator
Good quality, large solar oven

Anything you think we've missed?  What kinds of "preparedness" gifts would you like Santa to bring you this year?

Well, hello there!

As you may have noticed, (or not?) we took an unexpectedly long summer break from posting.  What started as an innocent holiday, ended up being a serious absence from the blogging world. 

With the events of the past few weeks looming over the news, we are increasingly aware of how important emergency preparedness and food storage is.  It is not something to just think about, it is something to have, both knowledge of and actual tangible supplies. So we're getting back on the horse to continue our journey with you.

The blog will be running a bit differently from now on, mostly to account for the changes in our personal situations, but the general content and ideas are the same.

*a weekly motivational quote:  a thought or scripture to encourage you to keep going, or to give you a pat on the back for doing what you are already doing.

*a weekly guide to what you should add to your supplies:  this is a great way for those of us who are overwhelmed at the idea of having 72 hour kits, car kits and a 3 month supply of food all at our demand.  Each week, we will tell you what it is you need to buy/gather for your supply and that's all you need to worry about until the next week.  Simple, inexpensive and relatively painless!

*some other fun post: maybe a recipe, maybe a tutorial on a particular skill, maybe a real life experience from folks who've lived first hand through natural disasters, whatever it is, hopefully it will provide you with some new knowledge or inspire you in some way.  As always, if you have questions, please email us or leave a comment and we'll do a question and answer session soon.

Be sure and come back tomorrow for our annual emergency preparedness holiday gift guide--get ready to stuff those stockings with batteries!