Friday, November 26, 2010

“Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”

This proverb offers an important piece of advice, especially for today’s uncertain times.  Are you prepared? Is it a good idea to prepare or not? Here’s a useful guide on what you can do:
THINGS TO CONSIDER
  • No refrigeration, plan for emergency assuming no electricity.
  • Be nutritious, there may be some more physical activity required (i.e. Blizzard requires more shoveling)
  • Keep calorie count
FOOD
  • Recommend you start with 2-week supply of food
  • Good no-cook food items

  • Energy bars / breakfast bars

  • Almonds

  • Peanut butter

  • Tuna packages

  • Canned pasta

  • Dried fruit / canned fruit

  • Dry milk

  • Instant coffee

  • V-8 juice

  • Plan around the way you already eat.
  • Build around 3 categories of food

  • Grocery store goods: often inexpensive, and it’s all familiar stuff. (i.e. mac & cheese)

  • Freeze dried foods: lightweight and don’t take up much room; more expensive, but priced out per serving, it’s budget-friendly.

  • Bulk dry food: rice, beans, dehydrated fruits and vegetables, cornmeal, wheat, dried milk, etc.; it will be the backbone of your food storage and last up to 20-30 years.

  • Don’t stock up on it unless you know you like it.
  • Look at ingredients.  You don’t want something high in sodium or preservatives.
  • Pay attention to shelf life. Take a look at package, can.  Soup doesn’t need water and store this for a few years.  Plastic bags and cardboard boxes – 1 year max.
WATER

  • Easiest way to store is by using cleaned out 2-liter soda bottles.  You can easily clean out with hot water, drop of soap.  Rinse thoroughly.  That type of plastic is safe for storage.
  • Recommend 2-liter soda bottle per person, per day.  For consumption and washing.
  • If a situation where water is an issue, be sure to have stash of paper plates & freeze dried meals.
  • If you can heat water, then at least you can enjoy a hot meal (i.e. mac & cheese, pasta, soup)
STORAGE
  • 5 main enemies to storing food

  • Temperature: ideal is 40 degrees – 72 degrees.  For every 18 degrees above 72, food will lose it’s nutritional value by half.

  • Humidity: Store food off the floor and away from outside walls.

  • Pests: Keep food in air-tight containers; clean up food particles on the shelves or floor.

  • Oxygen: Use oxygen absorbers, rotate food, vacuum packing food to reduce oxidation.

  • Light: Keep your pantry area dark.  if food is in clear containers, keep them in labeled boxes with lids.

  • Look for places where you can de-clutter (I have water bottles stored under my kids’ beds)
  • You can store food in bin under a bed, clear out space in closet and designate a shelf.
  • I recommend pieces of furniture that can double as storage (i.e. bench that opens up with a storage component – especially good for small homes).
  • Store in a place that you won’t be dipping into constantly.
NON-FOOD ITEMS
  • Items like toilet paper can be bulky but can be stored in garage, attic, shed, etc.  Moisture will affect it but temperature won’t.
  • Non-food items, purposefully 1-2 weeks supply.
  • Go through entire day and jot down every non-food item used – soap, shampoo, contact solution, etc. — and buy extras of those.
  • Keep easily organized in buckets (i.e. dental, laundry, etc.)
  • Give serious consideration to how your family will cope when power is down — communication, entertainment, pet care, keeping things cool in the home, etc.
Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation
Storage information: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/store.html
Drying information: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry.html
Canning information: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html

4 comments:

  1. I teach preparedness classes, and can say that I practice what I preach. Being prepared is easy! Having not enough food and supplies for you and your family during a crisis is not! Being at the mercy of the government is not the way to be...control the food and you control the people. I'd be happy to help anyone who needs to learn more.

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  2. I not only know wildcrafted foods and how to prepare them,I garden,can,hunt. I also teach a methode of gardening that is closer to the way God gardens. In fact this Tues Nov.30 I'm teaching a class at 7pm. Herbalpagan does have a great blog and a ton of knowlege. Keep up the great work on teaching us how to be prepared.

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  3. Chris,
    I really appreicate this post. In the past 6 months I have started to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.

    I have found the best place to buy powdered,and freeze dried is from Honeyville Farms,,,if someone has found a better supplier I would appreciate it. Please pass let me know. Also, Chris you mention a class on Tues. Do you want to pass on the location to all of us? Thank you. God Bless

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  4. Sorry I didn't see your post yesterday. I had to have an epideral done on my back yesterday and I found out I will need surgery on my back and neck. The good news is I'll have another class in March and quarterly after that. I had some botonist there as well as at home gardeners. I talked about no till gardening and folier feeding with kelp,fish and minerals like colloidal silver. If you are interested in food storage please look at Jeruselum artichoke. It's a native plant that is a perenial. It produces flowers and a root like patato. It does grow like a weed and can be dug up any time of the year. It's known as the poor mans patato. I got my roots from the fruit market Nino Savagios on Hall rd,Clinton Twp. They can be planted any time of the year and they spread fast and grow to 8ft tall. It's not a garden plant because it will take over the garden. I use it as a border plant. You may also want to get to know many of the native wild crafted plants we have in this country like burdock and cattails. I will do a better job of posting the location,date and time of the next class. Thank you for the blessing and may God bless you.

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Please keep it clean and nice. Thank you for taking the time to post you thought. It means a lot to me that you do this.