Weekly Assignments and Food Storage Ideas (Week of January 1st)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! A time for new hopes, dreams and GOALS!

We are back and with all sorts of new ideas and helps in helping you and your family become more self-reliant and prepared both temporally and spiritually for what may come your way. I want our Ward members to be the most prepared Ward in our Stake.

Over and over I am surprised, with all the warnings and daily news, how little we are prepared as a community, as a family and as an individual for disasters and things that can happen in our lives. We have had hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, wind storms, blackouts, and many other things happen this past year. I fear they are only to get worse. They are predicting an even worse tornado season this spring. And of course, we are always being warned of the "Big One" in California. But for some reason we never get prepared and then complain when the local or federal government is not there to help us. We need to self-reliant and be able to take care of ourselves!

This year I would like us as a Ward, as a family and as individuals to set some Emergency Preparedness Goals along with our other Goals. I know, you say "Emergency Preparedness, I do not have time nor the money for it. I will take care of it some day." Some day may be too late!

Remember, you do not have to do them all at once. Goals usually take time. Break the main goal down into smaller goals until the main goal is accomplished. Much easier and manageable that way and not so overswhelming. Set up a chart with the categories below in each column. Determine which areas you need work on. Then set up some small goals within each column to help you accomplish the main goal. I have given you some ideas below. Do this as a family for Family Home Evening or with a friend. Put the goal chart on your refrigerator, or in a place you will see it daily, to remind you of your goals and accomplishments.

Here are some ideas for Personal and Family Goals and our Ward Emergency Preparedness Goals for 2012:

Personal and Family Goals:

1. 72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Backpack Kit (including the Food Kit, Personal Hygiene Kit and Stressor Kit, with a change of clothing)-- Put together a Kit for each family member. For home and/or in the car, and one at your work place.
2. 3 Months Food Storage-- Keep track for two weeks of what your family eats, most people eat the same thing within a two week. Include everything, meals and snacks, what it takes to make them. Multiply that by six and you will have what your family eats for three months. Each week make a goal to buy something extra for your 3 Months Food Storage. Set a goal to first get one week's supply, then two weeks and so on until you have a 3 months food supply. Then continue on to 6 months, until you have a year's supply. Remember to take inventory every few months and rotate what you store and eat.
3. Water Storage-- You should have one 55 gallon water barrel for each family member for drinking and cooking, not bathing. Either purchase the 55 gallon water barrels or smaller bottles if you do not have room for the barrels. Change the water barrels every year if there is bleach in the water, every 6 months if not (every General Conference). Purchase water barrels if you do not have them and fill them with water. See the Posting under Water Storage on the right side for where to purchase them in Long Beach. Set a goal to purchase the needed barrels and/or bottles of water. You should have enough for drinking and cooking for at least a month, or more if possible. You will need extra for bathing.
4. Emergency Preparedness Supplies--purchased needed items for you and your family. Example: Sleeping bags, a tent(s), a way to cook, lighting, heating and sanitation. Check out the blog Postings on the right under Shelter, Heating, Lighting , Cooking and Sanitation for ideas. You will also need paper supplies since you will probably not want to use your valuable water for washing the dishes. Big 5 has great sales on sleeping bags and tents throughout the year.
5. First-Aid Supplies--Have emergency medical supplies and perscriptions on hand.
6. Fire and Earthquake Drills--Just recently there was the story of a fire on the news which was divesting to hear. Two grandparents and children's lives were lost due to a fire in their home. The mother and a friend's lives were spared. How tragic! Many, many times I have given you the challenge of setting up fire escapes and fire drills in your home. Please, do this for your family's safety! Here are some ideas:
1. Make sure all smoke detectors are working properly. Replace worn out batteries. Check them twice a year, at each General Conference time, and replace the batteries if needed.
2. Have a fire escape plan for your home. Set up fire escape routes, several different routes in case the fire is blocking a different escape area, and put a drawing of these escape plans on the back of each bedroom door low enough for children to see them. If they cannot open the window, teach your children it is OK to break a window if there is a real fire and how to put a blanket over the window and climb out.
3. Purchase a second story fire latter if you do not have one. Teach your children and practice with them how to use it. You should have one in each bedroom and each person in that room should know where it is.
4. Assign older children to younger children. If you have a large family it will be hard for one person to help everyone.
5. Have a place to meet outside, either a corner or a neighbors yard, away from the house.
6. Call 911 as soon as possible, but make sure your family is OK and secure first.
7. Never, never go back into a burning building, you may not make it out. If you decide there is time, stay low to the ground, but it better if you do not go back in.
8. Have a Family Home Evening on fires, fire drills and how to protect themselves. Teach them to never hide in a closet or under a bed. Look online for things to know and teach your family about fires in your home. Have a fire inspection of your home to make sure it is safe.
9. Have a fire drill in your home every few months so each family member knows what to do and where to go. When we did this with our children, we would say fire drill, fire in the kitchen and what areas are blocked. That way they get use to different fire escape routes. If there is a real fire then yell "real fire in the ________".
8. Strive to be more Spiritual and closer to the Spirit and set goals to help you do this. Attend the temple more often, read scriptures individually and as a family, say family daily prayers, youth attend seminary and their Sunday School and youth meetings, children attend Primary, and adults attend Sunday School, Relief Society and Priesthood weekly.

Our Ward Emergency Preparedness Goals:

1. Complete setting up our Ward Emergency Preparedness Plan
2. Complete setting up the Emergency Response Teams and instruct them on their responsibilities.
3. Make sure each family member has a 72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Backpack Kit.
4. Have a CPR class sometime on a Saturday in February or March. We are working with the American Red Cross to set up this class. We will be passing around a sign-up sheet for this soon.
5. Have First-aid classes members can attend to teach them first-aid skills. We hope to set some of these up for January. We will be passing around a sign-up sheet for this soon.
6. Work with the Bishopric in setting up Ward activities on Emergency Preparedness throughout the year.

My goal this year is to help each family become more prepared. We can do this if we all work together as a Ward team.

Remember--"If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing--to be held the last Sunday in January.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of November 27th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Congratulations to the George and Vai Fuailefau Family! They won November's FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing. They won a kit with the following items in it: Camping Mess Kit, Silverware set, Heat Cell (Like Sterno. Last for 10 hours of cooking), Water Proof Matches, and a small Hand Crank 3 LED Light Flashlight. This can either be put in the 72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Family Bag or a 72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Individual Backpack.

For the month of December I will be taking a break from the Carson Ward Emergency Preparedness Blog. Many will be busy with Christmas parties, Christmas shopping and family get togethers. But continue to add to your Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness items. I do have a Temporal Assignments for the month of December.

Have a spiritual and fantastic Christmas and New Year!

Temporal Assignments for December and this week:

1. Give each family member a 72 Hour Emergency Backpack with the 3 kits (Food Kit, Personal Hygiene Kit and Stressor Kit) inside? See October 9, 2011 blog posting for the Individual Food Kit and November 19, 2011 blog posting for the Persoanl Hygiene Kit. (Just keep scrolling down until you get to them) And see the Posting on the right side under 72 Hour Emergency Kits for the Stressor Kit, which we will be working on again in January, the other two are mentioned there too.

2. Give each family member $10-$20 and have them purchase an item the family needs for your Food Storage and/or Emergency Preparedness items. Give them a list of the things you need. Of course, you will need to help the young ones. You may even put the items in a jar to draw out an item and that is what they will purchase, no duplicates this way. But, remember it is a secret until Christmas morning when the family opens the presents. It is always good to get the family involved. See the blog "Postings" on the right for ideas.

3. Continue to add items to your Food Storage and rotate out almost expired items and use them. This is an ongoing process!

4. Purchase a 55 gallon Water Barrel and fill with water. Or, purchase other bottled water for storage, it will only keep for a year. See the blog posting "Water Storage" for the place to purchase them in Long Beach and how to prepare the water to store.

5. Be creative in ways to give Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness items as Christmas gifts this year!

Spiritual Assignment:

Continue reading the Book of Mormon and try to finish before the end of this year. You can follow the guideline in the 2011 Stake Director in the back we have been following.

Remember: Post you name and comment to have your name entered into the December FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of November 20th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Quote:

"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 Whole-grain and pure may be. "
(Come, Ye Thankful People, Hymn # 94, LDS Hymn Book)

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Let us all be thankful not just this time of year, but all year long. How blessed we all are to live in this country where we enjoy the freedoms we do. How thankful we are for all those who have fought and given of their lives to protect the freedoms we enjoy daily. Let us thank them each day and our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ for freedom and the gospel in our daily lives!

Once again I am excited about how the members are preparing their homes and families. Last night I was at a member's home and notice the family had #10 cans of freeze-dried/dehydrated food from Honeyville. It makes my heart sing when I see the members getting prepared!

Temple Assignment:

Please add the following items, one of each per kit, to your 72 Hour Emergency Individual Personal Hygiene Kits:

1) Emergency Reflector Space Blanket (Emergency.Essentials.com has them for $1.25 each or you can purchase them at camping/sporting goods stores)

2) Small tube of Sun Screen

3) Prescriptions and any other medications your family member takes (remember, enough for 3 days or more)

Congratulations! You have just completed a 72 Hour Emergency Individual Personal Hygiene Kit for each family member. Put all the items in a large plastic zip lock bag and place the bag in each 72 Hour Emergency Individual Backpack for each family member. You should have the following items in each kit in a large plastic zip lock bag---

1) Small comb and/or brush
2) Small bottle of shampoo and rinse, better to get the type that requires not rinsing out to converse your water
3) Small bottle or tube of hand lotion
4) Bar of soap with a wash cloth in a plastic zip lock bag
5) Small bottle of liquid soap
6) Small bottle of hand sanitizer
7) Deodorant (adults)
8) Baby wipes (small package)
9) Roll of toilet paper
10) Small tube of Sun Screen)
11) 2-3 Respirator masks per person
12) Emergency Reflector Space Blanket
13) Heavy work gloves
14) Prescription and other medications as needed, enough for 3+ days

Spiritual Assignment (Continue to read the Book of Mormon daily)

This week read the following:

Day----Page------Thru Chapter
21-------271--------Alma 24
22------275--------Alma 26
23------280-------Alma 29
24------287-------Alma 31
25------293-------Alma 33
26------300------Alma 36
27------305------Alma 38

Remember: Post your name and comment at the end of the blog posting to have your name entered into our FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to be held next Sunday, November 27th.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of November 13th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Quote:

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, have a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." (2 Nephi 31:20)

Wow! What a wonderful promise in this scripture. Now to tie this to Emergency Preparedness---if we press forward with a steadfastness in building up our Food Storage and Emergency supplies we will reap great benefits and peace of mind. Also, to be spiritual prepared, if we read the scriptures daily and feast upon them, we will have the spiritual strength and knowledge we need to help us through any trail we face. It may not get rid of the trial, but it will make it a little easy to handle.

Temple Assignment:

This week add the following to your 72 Hour Emergency Personal Hygiene Kits(one item per kit for each family member):

1) 2-3 Respirator masks per person (I got mine from EmergencyEssentials.com, 10 in a package for $12.99, shipping will be $6.00. You can also find them at Walmart and other stores.)


2) Roll of toilet paper (This may not fit in the large plastic bag with the other items, put a roll in each family members emergency backpack.)

Great Emergency Light Tip:

Yard/garden solar spot lights are a great source of emergency light at night. Put them around in your garden or planter and pots to catch the sun during the day. If you loose your lights you can bring them into the house at night to give you about 6 hours of light. It will not be a lot of light, but it will be better than being in the dark. Just remember before going to bed to put them back in the garden so they can recharge during the next day.

Spiritual Assignment:

Continue reading the Book of Mormon. This week read the following:

Date---Page----Thru Chapter

14------271------Alma 24

15-----275------Alma 26

16-----280-----Alma 29

17----287-----Alma 31

18----293-----Alma 33

19----300-----Alma 36

20----305------Alma 38

Food Storage Ideas:

How to use older stored wheat---

How many of us have wheat stored from the 1970's which is about 40+ years old and have not used any of it yet? I learned something from Sister Cummings as she is started to rotate and use their 40 year old wheat. When you make bread or bake with it you will need to add some white flour to the wheat flour to make the total amount used in the receipe. If you do not, the bread will come out like bricks. The white flour lightens up the bread. Another trick I learned from Sister Emily Brown in Torrance Ward is to add Lecithin liquid and the bread will be lighter too. Add 3 tablespoon for a whole wheat bread receipe that uses about 9 cups of wheat flour, 1 tablespoon per loaf the receipe makes. You may need to experiment with the amount. You can only get Lecithin from Whole Foods or other health food stores. Most of us will probably not make whole wheat bread with just wheat flour in the beginning, it will cause some very uncomfortable stomach problems if you are not use to it, best to add white flour at first, and then start decreasing the white flour until your family gets use to just the whole wheat flour.

Remember: Post your name and any comments you would like to make and that would be helpful to other at the end of this positing. Your name will be entered into our Monthly FREE Giveaway Drawing to be held Sunday, November 27th.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of November 6th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

I put this on last weeks blog posting, but I am not sure if everyone saw it, so here it is again.

WARNING! I was just reminded last Sunday by Brother Andy Jensen to NOT STORE YOUR PROPANE TANKS INSIDE YOUR HOUSE OR GARAGE. They need to be stored outside in a place that gets the least amount of sun, keep cool and dry. They can explode if in the house/garage or exposed to the sun to much. In fact, it is a law in California. Also, the church building is not a place to store propane tanks. Thank you Brother Jensen for the reminder.

Quote:

"We all have the responsibility to teach the gospel." (Matthew Richardson, Second Counselor in the General Sunday School, October 2011 General Conference)

What a better way to open the door to sharing the gospel than share with our less-active and/or non-member family members, neighbors, co-workers, and friends, than to share with them about being prepared by having extra food, water and emergency supplies on hand. This is a great way to introduce the church, its programs, the teaching of Jesus Christ and share our testimonies. Invite them over for Family Home Evening and have a lesson on emergency preparedness and then relate it to eternal preparedness.

Temporal Assignments:

If you are working on your 72 Hour Emergency Individual Personal Hygiene Kit please add the following this week. Remember, you only need one of each item for each kit. Put these items in with the other items in a large plastic zip lock bag and then place the bag in your 72 Hour Emergency Backpack for each family member. Add the following:

1) Small bottle of shampoo and rinse. Try to find the non-water type, meaning you do nto have to use water to rinse out the shampoo. You need to save your water for drinking and cooking. I found the non-water shampoo at the 99 Cent Store.

2) Baby wipes--small package. I found these at the 99 Cent Store too.

For those of you who have already completed a 72 Hour Emergency Individual Personal Hygiene Kit for each family member, do the following this week, of course, everyone can do this too:

Strive to keep a half tank of gas in your cars at all times. If the electricity goes out and there is an emergency situation the gas pumps will not work. You may need to evacuate. A half tank of gas should get you pretty far. President Kimball admonished us to follow this rule.

Spiritual Assignment:

Continue to read the Book of Mormon. This week read the following as an individual or a family:

Date-----Page---Thru Chapter

Nov 7----228-----Alma 8
Nov 8----234-----Alma 10
Nov 9----241-----Alma 13
Nov 10---246-----Alma 14
Nov 11---253-----Alma 17
Nov 12---259-----Alma 19
Nov 13---266-----Alma 22

Food Storage Ideas:

Inventory your food storage 2-3 times a year. A few weeks ago I mentioned how I had to throw away a hold chase of Potato Pearls, a costly loss. I have created a Food Storage Log Sheet I use to keep track of my Food Storage. I have divided it up into columns to help me. The columns are:

1) What is stored--example, Hunts Diced Tomatoes
2) How many of that item--number of cans or packages
3) Size of the can or package--16 oz, #10 can
4) When it expires
5) Where is its stored--pantry, kitchen cupboard, bedroom closet, hall closet, under what bed,garage, etc.

On the place where items are stored I have a list on the door, what is on each shelf, on the floor and under the beds. It makes it much easier to find things when you are looking for them, since some items are in the very back and hard to see. Example: Top Shelf: Canned Green Bean, Canned Corn, Canned Peas. Second Shelf: Canned Tomato Sauce, Canned Diced Tomatoes, etc.

When you purchase new items put them in the back and rotate the older items to the front so you use them first. Remember: Rotating is important and the key in Food Storage. Also, only store what your family will eat!

Find a way that works for you. If is important to organize our Food Storage, inventory it 2-3 times a year and rotate it so as to not loose items because we forgot they are there and are going to expired soon.

Remember: Post your name and comment at the end to have your name entered into our FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to be held the 4th Sunday of November. Also, any ideas or thoughts are greatly appreciated and help us all.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of October 30th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

WARNING! I was just reminded today by Brother Jensen to NOT STORE YOUR PROPANE TANKS INSIDE YOUR HOUSE OR GARAGE. They need to be stored outside in a place that gets the least amount of sun, keep cool and dry. They can explode if in the house/garage or exposed to the sun to much. Infact, it is a law in California. Thank Brother Jensen for the reminder.

Quote:

"Doing things the Lord's way will make us happier than doing them our way." (J. Devn Cornish, Of the Seventy, October 2011 General Conference)

How many of us try to do things our way, thinking we know best, and only end up hitting a brick wall, making things harder on ourselves and becoming unhappy? We all need to follow the Lord and his guidance. We will be much happier if we do and we will receive rich blessings. Now how can we apply this to Emergency Preparedness? If we are striving to set up and increase our Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness items, we will much happier in having peace of mind knowing that we have followed the counsel of our Church leaders (General, Stake and Ward), who follow the Lord, and we are striving to be prepared for whatever might come our way. The Church has provided us with wonderful information on setting up our Food Storage and Emergency Supplies, this blog will also help you. The Lord will help us in our endeavors. We will receive great blessings and provide for our families when the time comes that we need to use our Food Storage. We are becoming self-reliant, as we are counseled by our leaders.

This week a Ward member called me about their concerns about not being able to set up their Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness items fast enough. We are all on a budget and in these more difficult financial times it is not easy. As long as we are striving, trying our best, adding may be only an extra can or package, or two, of food each week, or even each month, we are striving to follow the Lord and our Church leaders, we are striving to be prepared. The Lord will bless us greatly for trying and we will feel peace of mind knowing we are trying!

Temporal Assignments (72 Hour Individual Emergency Preparedness Backpack):

1) 72 Hour Individual Personal Hygiene Kit (This week add the following items. One of each item for each family member's Personal Hygiene Kit. Put them in the large plastic zip lock bag with the other items we have added and put it in each family members 72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Backpack.)

I purchased both of these items at the 99 Cent Store.

1) Small bottle of hand sanitizer
2) Heavy work gloves

For all families to do this week:

1) Have a fire drill in your home. If you have not talk to the family about this then have a Family Home Evening on Emergency Preparedness and talk about fire safety in your home. Set up emergency escape routes, make sure they know where to meet at outside, put older ones n charge of younger ones (especially if they share a bedroom), and put the escape plan for each bedroom on the back of each child's bedroom door. Check the smoke detectors in your home to make sure they are working properly, if none, put them up. The Fire Department sometimes gives these out free. Purchase a fire latter if you have a second story house and teach your children how to use it. We had Fire Drills in our home every few months. We would call out "Fire, Fire, Fire in the living room", or where ever, (but we would also let them know it is a practice so they would not break any windows as we can taught them if they had to go out the window and could not get it open).

Note: For a spiritual side of FHE, talk about fire safety---Paying your Tithing.

2) Have an earthquake drill in your home. Talk about this in FHE too. Show the family what to do, the best and safest places to go in the house in the event of an earthquake. Have these often too, maybe 3-4 times a year.

Spiritual Assignment (continue to read the Book of Mormon as an individual or family, read the following scriptures this week):

Date------Page----Thru Chapter

Oct 31----186 ----Mosiah 20
Nov 1-----193----Mosiah 23
Nov 2-----199----Mosiah 26
Nov 3-----204----Mosiah 28
Nov 4-----210----Alma 1
Nov 5-----215----Alma 3
Nov 6-----223----Alma 5

Food Storage Ideas:

Where can I purchase food and non-food items for our Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness?

1) The best source is your local grocery store. Only purchase items when on sale and watch the expiration dates. Be very careful of discount stores like the 99 Cent Store, Dollar General, etc., their food items usually expire pretty quickly. You want them to last at least a year, some items are only good for 6-9 months. Do not purchase dented cans or opened packages.

2) LDS Dry Pack Cannery (2730 E. 12th St., Los Angeles, nex to the DI)--You can make an appointment and put together you own dry pack #10 cans of food (dehydrated). Let them know which food items you want to do, usually best not to do more than 2-3 different kinds of food. When there you can also purchase any food items canned by members on the shelf, these are extra they did and did not want. Their prices are very reasonable. Good family activity or get together with a friend or another couple. You must be 16 to run the machine. 14 years can go and can fill the cans but not use the machine. Check to see if you can bring younger than 14 years old to help out. Check out the church LDS Dry Pack Cannery website to see what food items you can can and the cost. I am hoping to set up a day on a Saturday at the Dry Pack Cannery for our Ward. There is a limit of how many can go due to space.

Great News! I just found out you can put your food in the Mylar Pounches too at the Dry Pack Cannery. Now you have a choice, the #10 cans or the pouches.

LDS Dry Pack Cannery website: Go to providentliving.org, click on Home Storage Center Order Form or put in search box. Choose the way you want to down the form to print it out, I used the PDF file.


You can also purchase cases (6 #10 cans) of pinto beans and rice for a reasonable price.




3) Freeze-dried or Dehydrated Foods are your next best choice, which come in the #10 cans or Mylar bags. There are some great companies out there you can order online from and one you can go to in Rancho Cucamonga, about an hour from us.

a) Online Companies--If you want to purchase from an online company I have found EmergencyEssentials.com have the lowest prices. Even with sale items from other online companies I have found they are the lowest. They also carry Mountain House products. And another great thing, the most you will ever pay for shipping is $12, even if it is a truck full. Their shipping prices are either $6, $9 or $12, depending on how much you order.

Great News! EmergencyEssestinals.com has new smaller freeze-dried and dehydrated cans--MyChoice--What a great idea! They have just started selling freeze-dried and dehydrated foods in smaller cans, #2.5 cans. They still offer the #10 cans. The new #2.5 cans are great for those who want the option of the smaller cans and not having to open the larger ones and worry about using it up fast enough. Check out their website for this new size can.

Other online companies are Shelf-Reliance and Food for Health International. There are many others online too.

Shelf-Reliance I find expensive.

Food for Heath International--I like their products, can be a little expensive, but I like the way they package their food, it is all natural, no preservatives, just add water and they taste good. They come in packages, each package usually make 5 servings, and then the packages are placed in a large plastic bucket. They keep for 20+ years. Why I like this way? When you open the #10 cans of freeze-dried or dehydrated food cans you have to use them within a few months, plus the cans can rust if not stored properly. Watch for sales. We have some of these ourself.

b) Honeyville Foods in Rancho Cucamonga (11600 Dayton Drive). The store is clean, organized and well stocked. Go with a friend or two to check it out.

Remember: This Sunday by 9:00am is the last time for this month to put in your name and comment on this blog posting for this Sunday's FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to be held Sunday, October 30th. Everyone will want this item for their 72 Hour Family Emergency Bag.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of October 23rd)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Quote:

Paraphrased from a talk given by Carl B. Cook Of the Seventy, October 2011 General Conference---

" 'It is better to look up' )President Thomas S. Monson). Looking up leads us to God. Looking up can be a metaphor to remember Christ. We can be released of our burdens, stresses, sins, trials, hardships that are holding us down in life. Always remember him, always look up. We need to have a hearing ear, a seeing eye, look up, God wants us to be happy, he wants to heal our wounds, he leads us along, are burdens are lightened and our sins are forgiven. It is better to look up."

I would like to tie this to Spiritual and Temporal Emergency Preparedness, of course! I love the statement from President Monson, "It is better to look up". What great advise for when we are going through trails in our lives. What a great thing to remember when a disaster hits our lives, either personal or natural. This statement will give us hope and faith in a loving Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ who are always there for us. It reminds me of the talk given by the Temple President's wife at Stake Conference last Sunday when she asked a temple worker how she was doing and she said there was "only one set of footprints today". No matter how difficult things can be or get, our Savior is there holding us up through the most difficult trails. Keep looking up and you will receive his strength and feel his love and guidance.

Temporal Assignments:

Since some of you already have your 72 Hour Individual Emergency Kits/Backpacks I thought I would give another Temporal Assignment for you, really for everyone.

1) 72 Hour Individual Personal Hygiene Kits (add the follow this week):

You can purchase all of these at the 99 Cent Store, the Dollar Tree or $1 bin at Target/Walgreens/CVS, etc.

1) Comb and/or brush (this should not be too big, need to save space)
2) small bar of soap or liquid soap (put the bar of soup in a small zip lock bag and include a small wash cloth)
3) small bottle or tube of hand lotion

2) Add some plastic sheets (or roll of plastic) and duck tape to your emergency supplies. You may need to seal your windows and doors to keep as much contamination/germs from coming in as possible. Figure out how much you will by the number of doors and windows you have in your home.

Spiritual Assignment (This week read the following in the Book of Mormon):

Date---Page---- Thru Chapter

24----- 143------ Omni
25----- 151------ Mosiah 2
26----- 157------ Mosiah 4
27 -----162------ Mosiah 7
28----- 167------ Mosiah 10
29----- 174------ Mosiah 13
30----- 180------ Mosiah 17

Food Storage Ideas---Warning!:

Potato Pearls Excel: I had a case of some Potato Pearls Excel (they come in bags) stored, you can purchase them from the LDS Dry Pack Cannery in Los Angeles, buried in the back of a closet. I did not write the expiration date on them and called the company that makes them to see when they will expire or expired. Turns out they expired in 2007, oh dear! I also learned from the company, they only store for 8 months. I was told by the LDS Dry Pack Cannery they store for 2 years, not the case. They said they are usually used by restaurants and not meant to be long term food storage. OK if you rotate them every 7-8 months. This product is not cheap. They are about $45-50 a case. A costly experience!

I am not saying to not store them as a part of your Food Storage. I love the Potato Pearls Excel, they are really good! You just need to remember to ROTATE them about every 6 months. I would start then since they expire in 8 months. One bag makes a really huge bowl of mashed potatoes and so easy to make. Just add water, or you can use milk, but water works great.

The best way to store instant potatoes for long food storage is dyhdrated or freeze dried, usually good for 20+ years depending the tempature stored.

If you go to the Basic American Foods website, "baf.com", who produces the Potato Pearls, there are some great recipes there and ways to use their, or other, instant dyhdrated and freeze dried potatoes (perals, slices, shredded).

I cannot say enough, I learned even I need to remember this rule of Food Storage--ROTATE, ROTATE, ROTATE WHAT YOU STORE AND CHECK THE ITEMS ABOUT EVERY 3-6 MONTHS!

Remember: Post you name and comment at the end of this blog posting to have your name entered into next Sunday's, October 30th, FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing, it is something for your 72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Family Bag, a must for all families.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of October 16th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Sooooooo Excited!!!

I get so excited when I hear from Ward members and others that they have put a 2nd story fire latter in their home, when they go onto the Carson Ward Emergency Preparedness Blog at work and their co-workers see it and ask what it is and you explain it to them, when they are telling their neighbors to be prepared by storing food and water and other emergency essentials, and when I hear about their food and water storage. It means you are reading the blog and preparing.

It was great to see so many of you order the Seychelle Water Filtration Pumps and extra filters. Our Ward will be one of the best prepared Wards in the Stake when it comes to being able to filter out contaminated water and have drinking water for our family and having extra food on hand. Congratulations to all of you who are striving be become more prepared each month!

I was watching a TV program last night where the President and CEO of Seychelle was a guest. They were talking about being prepared. One of the fellows made a statement I really liked.

"One day it will be to late to prepare!"

What if there was a disaster, would you have food to cook, safe water to drink and cook with, shelter, a way to cook, heat, light, sanitation, first-aid supplies, etc.? Each time you go grocery shopping add a couple of extra cans or packages of something, especially when they are on sale. Each month add an emergency supply your family will need, like a sleeping bag, some type of cooking stove, etc. Before you know it, you will have a 3 months supply of food and a month supply of water and emergency supplies you will need. You just need to start now! No more procrastation!

Christmas is coming soon! Why not buy emergency preparedness gifts this year. I know of families that have done this and how great they felt about being more prepared. Involve the whole family. Children love to feel a part of things, get them involved too.

"One day it will be to late to prepare!"

Temporal Assignment:

Now that we have completed our 72 Hour Individual Food Kits we are going to start on our 72 Hour Personal Hygiene Kits. Please add the following this week and put the items in a large plastic zip lock bag, one for each family member with their name on it. The best place to buy these items is the 99 Cent Store, Dollar Tree, the $1 bin at Target, or Emergency Essentials as indicated.

You will only need one of each item for this kit per family member:

1) tooth brush
2) tooth paste (do not buy at the 99 Cent Store or Dollar Tree, they usually come from South America were they do not have the fluoride restriction laws we have, too much fluoride)
3) deodorant (of course, not for the children)

*****New Seychelle Water Filter---Radiological Water Filter*****

On the program I was listening to with Mr. Carl Palmer from Seycehlle I learned about a new water filter that filters out 100% of radiation contamination. Wow! 100% He created the filter mainly for the people in Japan and had it tested at 4 large testing companies. It still has the regular 99.9999% filtering of contaminates and bacteria along with this new 100% filtering of radiaton. Two weeks ago he took them to the people in Japan, they are so happy to have them. This filter fits the Water Filtration Pumps and the water bottle you can get from the store.lds. org (cheaper than on the Sychelle website, about $16). He suggests that each family have at least 1-2 of these filters in their home, so if there is radiation contamination of our water, you can filter out the radiation, one filter filters 100 gallons. I will be contacting him this week to see I can get a special price like on the other filers.

Spiritual Assignment--Continue to read the Book of Mormon. It will help you and your family be spiritual prepared. This week read the following:

Date Page Thru Chapter

17th 104 2 Nephi 26
18th 109 2 Nephi 28
19th 115 2 Nephi 31
20th 119 Jacob 1
21st 125 Jacob 4
22nd 132 Jacob 5
23rd 138 Enos

Food Storage Ideas:

Keep track for a month of everything your family eats (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks), including all ingredients in the receipe, multiply by 3 and you will have what you need to store for 3 months. This includes all food from eating out as a family, at work, at school, etc.. You need to keep this in mind because if there was a disaster your family will be home for possible weeks/months.

Then set a goal to purchase extra of these items until you have your 3 months food supply. Then set a goal for 6 months food supply. Rotate what you store. When you buy a new item replace it with a new one.

Remember: Post your name and comment at the end of this blog posting to have your name entered into our FREE Monthly Giveway Drawing to be held Sunday, October 30th.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of October 9th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Quote:

Paraphrased: " The solutions to life's most perplexing problems can be found in the scriptures. They open channels of communication to God. Within the scriptures are stalwart friends, always available when needed. It is like filling our filing cabinets with truth by learning, pondering, studying, memorizing the scriptures, which we can call upon at any time to bring comfort, strength, understanding, inspiration, calm an agitated sole, take on new meaning when we face a new challenge in life, a source of testimony and blessings. " Elder Richard G. Scott, Quorum of the Twelve

All the talks at General Conference can help us with our own personal and family challenges and even our emergency preparedness by being spiritual prepared.

Wasn't General Conference great! This Conference focused on the scriptures, revelation, service, our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ, helping our youth stay on the right path back to Heavenly Father, families and children, our testimony, genealogy, exercising our faith, redemption, repentance, being an example to the world, the Book of Mormon, the atonement, prayer, encouragement, the blessings of a living prophet, covenants, morality and keeping the commandments, the spirit of missionary work, agency, blessings from Heavenly Father, inspiration through the Holy Ghost and so much more. It was full of ideas and ways we can become closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior and how to build and keep our faith and testimonies strong. How richly blessed we were to hear the words of our prophet, apostles and other church leaders. If you did not hear all of conference, I encourage you to get a copy of the November Ensign and read every talk given. Your life will be richly blessed in doing so.

Temporal Assignment-- 72 Hour Individual Emergency Food Kits:

This week we will finish up the 72 Hour Individual Emergency Food Kits. If you missed any of it, go back to the "Week of September 4th". Please add the following items this week, remember, 3 of each items for each family member's food kit.

1) Trail Mix (You can either buy one large bag and put in two small plastic zip lock bags so once you open it for day 1 you can divide the rest into day 2 and 3, or, you can purchase 3 small packs--I found these at Target for about $1.50 each.)

Snacks (Put the snack items in a different large plastic zip lock bag marked "Snacks", separate from the other food items) :

1) Hard candy---10-20 pieces (remember, if you buy mint flavored to put into a small plastic zip lock bag before putting it in with the other snack food to avoid everything tasting like mint)

2) Large pack of gum (same as for hardy candy above if minty/strong flavor)

Important: You will also need to include 3 Styrofoam cups and 3 spoons, or 1 metal cup and 1 metal spoon.

You should have the following meal and snack items, 3 of each item for each family food kit:

Meal items:

1) hot chocolate
2) small box of raisins
3) instant oatmeal
4) fruit cups and/or apple sauce
5) pack of 6 peanut butter or cheese crackers
6) trial mix
7) granola bars
8) dry soup mix--package
9) juice boxes or juice mix (will require more water)
10) water--2 liter or more

Put all the food items above in a large plastic zip lock bag, I doubled mine and sealed both. Put a copy of the 3 menu inside each kit to follow. See the 3 day Menu plan under the 72 Hour Emergency Kit posting on the right under "Postings". Keep the water separate from the food.

Snacks:

1) beef jerky
2) fruit snacks and/or fruit roll ups
3) hard candy
4) gum

Congratualtions! You have just finished the 72 Hour Individual Emergency Food Kit.

Next week we will start on the 72 Hour Individual Emergnecy Hygiene kit.

Spiritual Assignment (we are continuing our reading of the Book of Mormon:

This week read the following:

Day Date Page number Through to

9 Oct 9 53 1 Nephi 22
10 Oct 10 60 2 Nephi 2
11 Oct 11 67 2 Nephi 5
12 Oct 12 72 2 Nehpi 8
13 Oct 13 77 2 Nephi 9
14 Oct 14 84 2 Nephi 14
15 Oct 15 90 2 Nephi 19
16 Oct 16 96 2 Nephi 24

Food Storage Ideas:

Dried Beans and Legumes

Beans, peas, lentils, etc. provide an economical substitute for meat or other animal protein. The packaged beans, which are on the grocery shelf, are normally the highest grades. Dry beans are an easily stored food. They should be kept in a tightly covered, metal, glass, or plastic container in a dark, dry and cool location. The qaulity should be good for many years when stored under these conditions. Older beans will require longer soaking and cooking periods than freshly harvested beans.

Varieties of beans that may be stores are navy, pinto, kidney, black, lima, garbanzo, black-eyed peas, split peas, lentils and soybeans.

(Above information comes from the Magna Utah Central Eremgency Preparedness Plan, 1997)

Tip: When you bring your packaged beans home from the store, put them in the freezer for 24 hours to kill any moths, eggs or lava. Let cool, then store as recommended above. You could purchase larger bags from Sams Club or Costco and put them in the Mylar bags with the Oxygen Absorbers inside a 5 gallon food grade bucket tightly sealed with the lid, these will keep 20 years if stored properly.

Remember: Post your name and commnet at the end to have your name put in the FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to be held Sunday, October 30th.

Weekly Assignments and Food Storage Ideas (Week of October 2nd)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Congratulations to Sally Salcido! She won our September FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing last Sunday. She won a One Burner Butane Stove with two cans of Butane fuel.

This is great to cook on in an emergency situation, or in fact, any time. You can use them in your home, outside, and on camping trips. Make sure you take the stove out of the plastic case before using it and read the instructions. Keep extra cans of Butane fuel on hand. You can purchase the Butane Stove and cans of Butane fuel at Marukai in Gardena (Western and Arestia, there is a $1 annual fee to join) and Torrance (across the street from Toys R Us on Sepulveda Blvd) for about $13.00 and the fuel for about $1.25 each.

Quote:

The only thing you have to fear is not being prepared!

Being prepared both spiritually and temporally for any calamity that might come our way, be it a natural disaster, loss of a job, financial problems, family trials, health and/or emotional issues and so on, will bring us peace of mind. Over and over the scriptures say, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." Let us all strive for preparedness, both spiritual and temporal.

Temporal Assignment:

72 Hour Emergency Food Kit:

Add the follow items to your 72 Hour Emergency Food Kit (Remember, 3 of each item for each family member. Put the snack items in a separate plastic zip lock bag from the regular food items, mark it Snacks.)

Regular food kit--

1) Dry soup mix (chicken noodle, onion, etc. Usually comes two packages in a box, you will need 3 packages per family member.)

Snacks--

1) Beef Jerky (package or long stick)
2) Fruit snacks (like Fruit Roll ups, dried fruits, etc.)

Note: I put these snack items in a separate plastic zip lock bag marked "Snacks". We will be adding two other items next week. If you have mint flavored candy or gum, you want to keep it from the rest of your regular food, or everything will taste minty.

So far you should have the following items in your Food and Snack Kit:

Granola bars
Juice Box Drink or Fruit Drink mix
Instant hot chocolate drink mix
Small box of raisins
Instant Oatmeal
Fruit cups or Apple Sauce (or some of each)
Dry Soup Mix (chicken noodle, onion, etc)
Peanut Butter crackers or Cheese crackers
Water (at least 2 Liters, remember, water is heavy and you will have to carry it. Only for drinking and instant and dry mixes)
Today's
Snacks--
Beef Jerky (package or stick)
Fruit Snacks (Fruit Roll ups or Dried Fruit)

Next week we will finish up the 72 Hour Emergency Food Kit, including the snack items.

Spiritual Assignment:

Read the Book of Mormon--Of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith said, "a man would get closer to God by abiding by its precepts, than any other book".

Today I visited one of my Visiting Teaching sister and we talked about the importance of faith and a having a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days. That even though difficult times are ahead of us before our Savior's return, having strong faith, a strong testimony and always being in tune with the Spirit, they will help us through these difficults times ahead. Reading the Book of Mormon daily will build our faith, strengthen our testimony and bring us closer to the Spirit.

My Spiritual assignment, if you are not already doing it, follow the Book of Mormon 90 Day Reading Schedule in the back of our Stake Directory starting tomorrow October 1st. If you do not have one, see the schedule below for the first week.

Day Date Page Thru Chapter

1 Oct 1 7 1 Nephi 3
2 Oct 2 12 1 Nephi 6
3 Oct 3 19 1 Nephi 10
4 Oct 4 23 1 Nephi 12
5 Oct 5 30 1 Nephi 14
6 Oct 6 36 1 Nephi 16
7 Oct 7 41 1 Nephi 17
8 Oct 8 48 1 Nephi 20

How to complete this assignment--Carry a paper back Book of Mormon (like the blue ones the Missionaries hand out) with you, read in the morning, during your lunch break at work/school, read at night, while waiting for an appointment, anytime you get an opportunity.

Food Storage Idea:

Vacuum sealing foods (cool technique):

"Many foods with high oil contents cannot be stored in #10 cans because of the interaction with the metal (Chocolate chips, nuts and raisins for example). You can significantly increase the shelf life of your foods by placing them in mason jars and using a Food Saver and a Jar Sealer attachment to vacuum the air out of the jars. Put your ingredients in the jar, put a lid (flat part) on the jar, place the jar sealer attachment over the lid and start the machine. If a jar won't seal, try placing one lid down and one facing up or heating the lid in boiling water. The jar can be opened and resealed over and over. If you take the lids off carefully, they can be reused indefinitely.

You can seal nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, brown rice, cornmeal, candy bars, egg noddles, poppy seeds, dried apricots, malt-o-meal, cookies, granola bars, just about anything in the pantry. Shelf life should be 3 years or more if you keep the foods cool. Remember, the warmer the temperature, the shorter the shelf life.

You cannot vacuum seal foods that need refrigeration..., only foods that sit on your pantry shelves.

Don't vaccum fine powders..., they gum up the works of your machine. If you want ot seal powders, put a plastic or zip lock bag in your jar, fill the bag, express the air, zip lock it, then vacuum seal. "

(From Everything Under the Sun, by Wendy Dewitt)

Do not buy a new Food Saver, they are expensive. I purchased my on ebay for about $20. Make sure it has the port hole on top of the machine where the jar sealer attaches. Jar Sealer attachments come in regular (for small mason jars) and wide mouth (for the larger mason jars). I purchased both the small and large ones on line new, about $6-$7 each. The mason jars can be expensive and sometimes hard to fine, check Walmart, Kmart and other department stores that might carry them.

This is a great way to store the types of food listed above for a longer period of time. I love this technique. Get a group of friends together and vacuum seal your food storage items together.

Remember: Post your name and comment for our next FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to be held the 4th Sunday in October, October 30th.

Weekly Assignments and Food Storage Idea (Week of September 25th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Quote:

"The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah." President Ezra Taft Benson

"We will see the day when we live on what we produce." President Marion G. Romney

I will comment on these two quotes in a little later.

Temporal Assignments:

1. 72 Hour Individual Emergency Food Kit (Please add 3 of each item for each family member and place in the large zip lock plastic bag with the other food items you have purchased. One large zip lock plastic bag for each family member with their name on it. IMPORTANT: If you have any family members with food allergies, substitute any food items they are allergic too, also for the previous items.)

This week add the following:

1) Peanut Butter Crackers (usually come 6 crackers in each package and 6-9 individual packages in each package. I found them at Food 4 Less, Albertson and most grocery stores. Costco and Sam's Club also has them.) Water. IMPORTANT: If a family member is allergic to peanut butter, substitute with cheese crackers.

2) Water- 2 Liter bottle or large, just remember, they will have to carry it. You will need this water for drinking and to add to dry mixes in the 72 Hour Food Kit. This water is not for washing)

2. Temporal Assignment:

Regarding the quotes above, it is so important for us to learn how to and grow our own vegetables, even if it is just a small garden or a garden in planting pots. I truly believe there will come a time when we will need to grow our own vegetables and fruit, either due to the lack of them in the stores, or extremely high prices, possibly both. We should also buy and store extra seeds when they are available in the garden shops or through online companies for future use. They usually keep for about 4 years, rotate them as needed.

Being that we live in California, we are blessing with different growing seasons, spring, summer, fall and even winter gardens.

How is your summer vegetable garden doing? Have you harvested lots of good vegetables and fruit, and froze and/or canned the extra ones? With the cooler weather this year our garden did not do as well as last year, but still gave us plenty of extra vegetables to freeze and can. We still have tomatoes, zucchini, green onions, carrots and pumpkins growing, but they are close to the end of their growing season.

If you did not plant a summer vegetable garden, it is not too late to plant a fall/winter garden! I started some seeds, celery, broccoli and peas, in those container you get from the garden shop that flowers come in and some flower pots I was not using. Celery and broccoli seeds are too small to plant directly into the ground, bugs and ants carry them off or eat them, you have to germinate them in other containers and then transplant them when they are big enough. They usually germinate in about 10 days, celery seeds can take longer, and they have a longer growing time before harvest, about 4 months. Make sure to keep the seeds moist, water lightly each day, until you transplant them. Being sick all last week I was surprised how well they are are doing and how big the peas have gotten. In fact, I could probably leave them in the flower pots I planted them until they produce pea pods, but I will transplant them, along with the celery and broccoli ones. It is best to plant the seeds about every two weeks, that way you have a continuous growth of vegetables and that way they do not all have to be harvested all at once.

If you do not have a large enough place to have a garden in the ground, then consider growing them in large flower pots, my peas have proven that works well.

Google to see what other plants you can plant in our area, you will be amazed what you can still grow until the first frost, which in usually late December or January around here.

Spiritual Assignment:

We just received our Ensign in the mail today. I love the article about "Lehi's Dream" (page 32) and how clinging to the Iron Rod will help us temporally and spiritually when difficult times come our way. This will help us not only be temporally prepared, but spiritually too.

A quote from the article states, "Even with faith, commitment , and the word of God, the second group pressing forward along the strait and narrow path, clinging to the rod of iron, eventually was lost---perhaps because they only periodically read or studied or search the scriptures." I can testify to you of the importance of reading and studying our scriptures daily, if we do, we will have the knowledge, testimony and strength to get through the things to come.

This week, read the article "Lehi's Dream", reach the scriptures about his dream, and discuss as a family or with a friend, how holding onto the Iron Rod will help us both temporally and spiritually when times get tough and seem almost impossible.

Food Storage Ideas:

Salt and Fats and Oils--

Salt, fats and oils are an important part of our food storage.

Salt is one of the easiest food items to store. A years supply for one person is five pounds. Store it in its original container in a dry cool, dark location. It will keep indefinitely. Iodized salt is best as it will help in proper functioning of the thyroid gland. If you use sea salt, also store it.

Fats and Oil--Twenty pounds of fats and oils per person should be stored for one year (1 gallon equals 7 pounds). Most cooking oils and shortenings will store for two to three years if kept in a cool dark, dry location. Olive oil and corn oil are also very good storage oils and have a better flavor then soybean and safflower oils. Fats and oils may be stored int he following forms, cooking oil (vegetable oil), shortening, butter (fresh and dried), margarine or margarine powder, mayonnaise, salad oils and dressings, included mixes. (Magna Utah Center Stake Emergency Preparedness Plan, 1997)

Note: You can also freeze butter or margarine for up to a year. A good plan is, each time your buy butter or margarine, replace it with the frozen ones.

Remember: Post your name and comment at the end of this blog by 10am this Sunday (tomorrow), September 25th, to have your name entered into the FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to be held tomorrow.

Weekly Assignments and Food Storage Ideas (Week of September 18th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Quote:

I have used this quote before, but it best explains what I want to say. It is a Latin Proverb--"While we consider when to begin, it becomes too late." What a bold statement and so true. This month is National Preparedness Month. What a great time to start, if you have not already, or review what you have and need, preparing.

This Family Home Evening, sit down with your family, a friend or just yourself, and review your emergency preparedness supplies and goals. Set up categories like; 3 Month Food Supply and/or Years Food Supply, Water Supply, 72 Individual Emergency Backpack Kits, 72 Hour Emergency Family Bag, Car Kit, Emergency Medical Supplies, Sanitation Supplies, Shelter Supplies, Cooking Supplies, Lighting Supplies, and other Emergency Supplies you feel our family needs to be prepared. See the categories under "Postings" on the right side of this blog and go through them to help you with your "haves" and "needs list".

In each category set up two columns, "What you have" and "What you need". Under "What you have", assess those items and list them (and how much you have). Under "What you need", list them by using the idea above and set goals to purchase them. Make realistic goals, set up an emergency prepared budge/fund, either have a jar you put money into, loose change and dollar bills, or a special Emergency Preparedness savings account at the bank, add to it as often as you can. Put a label on the front of the jar, "Our Emergency Preparedness Plan". When you get a raise, do not think you have more money to buy things you really do not need, but save it and put it into your Emergency Preparedness savings account. When you have enough money, purchase one or more of the items on your list.

This can be an overwhelming task it you only see the whole picture at once. Take small steps and you will be successful! It is all about setting goals, setting up small steps, and before you know it you will have your Emergency Preparedness Plan and Supplies completed! We are reminded, "If you are prepared, ye shall not fear!"

Temporal Assignment (72 Hour Emergency Food Kit):

Add the following, remember, 3 of each item for each family member. Add these items to the last two weeks items, place them in the large plastic zip lock bag for each family member with the other items.

1) Instant Oatmeal
2) Fruit Cups

Spiritual Assignment:

Last week I used a quote from Wendy Dewit, a Food Storage Specialist, "Your spiritual foundation will depend on your food storage!" Have you pondered that statement? When Jesus went to speak to the people on the mountain, what did he do first? He feed them fishes and loaves of bread. He knew that if they were lacking physically (temporally), they would probably not hear him spiritually. It is a known fact by many churches that minister to the poor and needy in other countries and here in the United States, they need to fill their bellies before they will hear their spiritual messages.

My challenge is, start preparing temporally, if you have not already, and being obedient to the counsel of our leaders about being prepared both temporally and spiritually, and the Spirit will be with you continually and bless you and your family.

Food Storage Ideas:

Emergency Water Supply--the most important thing you can store! You can live without food for a month or more, but you can only live without water for a few days.

"The required amount of drinking water per person is two quarts and up to one gallon of water is needed per day, depending on the size of the person, the amount of exertion, weather, and perspiration loss. A minimum of seven gallons pure water per person would be needed for a two-week survival supply. With careful rationing, this amount would be sufficient for drinking, food preparation, brushing teeth, etc. (not bathing). Fourteen gallons per person would allow for hygiene care.

Keep an emergency supply of drinking water in plastic containers. Commercially bottled drinking water is available. It stays pure for months (not years), and has the expiration date clearly marked on it." (Magna Utah Central Stake Emergency Preparedness Plan)

There are several other sources for water in an emergency situation:

First, turn off your water supply to the house at the main water shut-off value located somewhere just outside the house.

1. You can drain the water from your hot water tank, that will five you 30-50 gallons of usable water depending on the size of your tank. You can filter the water using your Sycehelle Water Filtration Pump and drink the water or use for cooking. Without filtering you can use for bathing. Note: You should never use hot water from the tank for cooking during regular times, non emergency situations, due to sediments in the bottom of the tank.

2. You can use clear water from the toilet flush-tank, but not from the bowl.

3. You can melt ice cubes.

4. You can use the water/juice from canned fruits and vegetables, and liquid from other canned foods.

Water storage, containers, purifying water--see the blog under "Postings" on the right, "Water Storage", for more great ideas.

EmergencyEssentials.com has "Aquamarine Chlorine Dioxide Water Treatment" on sale this month for $13.99 (plus $6 shipping). This solution keeps water in a 60 gallon water container, in a properly sealed container, for 5 years. You can also purchase a similar one at Majors Survival Warehouse Store in Gardena for about the same price.

All comments and ideas are more than welcome! We all need to help each other be prepared.

Remember: Post your name and comment at the end of this posting to have your name entered in our FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to be held next week, Sunday, September 25th.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of September 11th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Quote:

"Your spiritual foundation will depend on your food storage!" (Wendy Dewit, Food Storage Specialist)


What would you do if you had no electricity? This is what part of Orange County, San Diego County and all the way to Mexico residents experienced this week. Homes were without electricity, stores and business had to close, you could not get gas due to the pumps do not work without electricity, you could not get money from the ATM machines without electricity, the freeways and roads were jammed due to signal lights and street lights not working.

Ways to prepare for no electricity:

1. Have propane or battery operated (with extra batteries) lanterns available.
2. Have candles and candle holders.
3. Have flashlights with extra batteries.
4. Always carry a small flashlight in your purse or have a small one on your key chain, and keep one in your desk at work so you can see your way out of places. Also store extra batteries.
5. Keep a flashlight with extra batteries in your car. You should have one in your 72 Hour Emergency Family Bag and/or 72 Hour Individual Emergency Kit in your car.
6. Have a small portable generator that will run at least your refrigerator and one light. You will need to keep gas stored in gas cans to run the generator.
7. Keep cash in small bills on hand at home, in your car and in your wallet.
8. Keep a battery operated or solar radio (with extra batteries) for instructions on road conditions and emergency information.

Being prepared ahead of time is the key to any situation you might find yourself in at any time!

Temporal Assignment (we are continuing the 72 Hour Individual Food Kits for your Backpack):

Please add the following (Remember, 3 of each item for each family member. Add these items to the items you put in the large plastic zip lock bag you started last week. Make sure you the expiration date is a year from now.):

1) Hot chocolate instant drink mix
2) Small box of raisins

For those of you who already have your 72 Hour Emergency Food Kits, replace any expired items, or purchase a portable toilet (good for everyone to do).

Portable Toilet--purchase options:

1) You can purchase the whole toilet kit (bucket, toilet seat with 2 Enzyme 300 Packets) from EmergencyEssentials.com for $14.95 plus $6 shipping. I would also purchase more of the Enzyme 300 Packets, probably 5-10 (60 cents each at EmergencyEssentials.com)

2) Or, you can purchase the items separately, 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot (about $5) and then purchase only the toilet seat ($8.95 plus $6 shipping from EmergencyEssentails.com)and 5-10 Enzyme 300 Packets (60 cents each from EmergencyEssentials.com).

3) Or, Majors Survival Warehouse in Gardena may have them too.

4) For the 4 above you need to purchase several bags of cat liter and heavy duty black plastic trash bags (large size).

How to use the portable toilet? Check out the "Sanitation" blog posting under "Postings" on the right of this blog for the information.

Spiritual Assignment:

The most important thing any of us can do is to stay close to the spirit for guidance by reading our scriptures and praying individually and as a family daily.

Read the article in this month's Ensign, "Preparation of all Kinds Blesses Saints in Joplin, Missouri", page 74-75. Discuss as a family or with a friend. If you do not get the Ensign, you can look up the article on the church website, lds.org, under church magazines. Click on the Ensign for September 2011, scroll down to the article. Share this article with neighors and friends.

Food Storage Ideas:

An important part of our food storage is vitamin and mineral supplements.

"It is recommended that 365 vitamin or vitamin/mineral tablets or capsules be stored for each family member per year (store according to ages) to help compensate for possible deficiencies in the diet due to a lack of variety of foods, and because of vitamins lost during food processing, storage, and preparation. Shelf-life is about 3-5 years is stored in a cool, dry and dark location.

Despite careful food planning, women may still need an iron and calcium supplement, particularly if they are pregnant or nursing (or plan on becoming pregnant). Storage of iron and calcium should be carefully considered."

(The above information came from the Magna Utah Central Stake Emergency Preparedness Plan)

If you take other supplemental tablets or capsules, considering storing them also and in the same manor as above.

Remember: Post your name and comment below for the FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to be held Sunday, September 25th.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of September 4th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family, and Friends,

Congratulations to Angelita Vivo! She won our FREE Monthly Giveway Drawing last week. She won a Sycehelle Water Filtration Pump.

Quote:

"By faith Noah, being warned moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, ...." (Hebrews 11:7)

"...faith without works is dead." (James 2: 20)

Once again we are reminded of the importance of being prepared with the recent events on the East Coast with Hurricane Irene and the earthquake. A disaster can come to anyone at any time! It amazes me, especially in the areas that are prone to hurricanes and tornadoes, that they do not prepared ahead of time. Each time they wait until the last minute, knowing this season is coming, to purchase supplies to protect their home and food, water and emergency supplies, many times finding the shelves very low on supplies and sometimes empty. Why not prepare ahead of time for the things you know you might have to face? In our area, we never know when an earthquake might happen, or the magnitude of it, why not be prepared now? Later will be too late!

Several years ago, a hurricane type force storm hit our south bay coast for several days. We were personally affected by the storm. It knocked down power lines, which knocked out the electricity, there was flooding in some areas, making it difficult, if not impossible to get through. Stores, gas stations, banks, businesses, and schools had to close in our area due to no electricity. Many power lines were down, making it unsafe to pass by and be on the road. In areas, if you could get to them, where stores were open, supplies were limited or not available. For over a week we had no electricity and were advised not to drink the tap water unless we boiled it, stores and banks were closed, schools were closed, and we were advised to stay home.

Thank goodness we had listened to our Church leaders and had prepared for times such as this. We had food and water, we had lanterns and candles, we had an electricity stove which meant we could not cook so we had an alternate way to cook, and we had a family emergency plan. What could have been a very difficult and stressful time with 6 children, we were able to meet the challenge. The children thought it was fun camping out in the front room, reading, singing and playing games by lanterns or candle light, and cooking with our emergency cooking equipment. Luckily, we could still use our toilet, but what if we could not, that would have been a situation we found out we were not prepared for.

How will you and your family cope if there is a disaster in our area? How prepared are you with food, water and emergency supplies? This is our goal, to have our Ward members prepared. This blog is to help you do so! Use it and "prepare every needful thing" (D&C 109:8) so you will be able to take care of you and your family.

Let us be like Noah, "being warned moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house." Let us just not rely on our faith, but work towards being prepared!

Temporal Assignments:

Now that we have completed our Family Emergency Medical Supplies we are going to again work on getting our Individual 72 Hour Food Kits for each family member together. Why are we doing this again? We want every family member to have one of these 72 Hour Backpack Kits for each family member. The 72 Hour Backpack not only involves food and snacks, but also personal hygiene items, a stressor kit, clothing, and other items. It has been a year since we originally put these together, and many of us need to rotate the food/snack/water items. We will also be adding items to our 3 Month/Year Food Supply.

72 Hour Individual Emergency Food Kit (This week add the following):

Important: Remember, if you purchase any of these food items from the 99 Cent Store, Dollar Tree or any discount store, even your regular grocery store, check the expiration dates. You want them to be good for at least a year.

Add the following (3 of each item for each family member. Example: if you have 4 people in your family, you need to purchase 12 of each item. Since they come 6 to a box, you will need 2 boxes of each for a family of 4):

1) Granola bars
2) Juice boxes

You will find these food items are high in calories, you will need this since food is limited.

Place these items in a large zip lock plastic bag for each family member and put it in a backpack for each family member. We will be adding items each week until completed. If you want to see a list of the entire food items, see the blog posting dated September 12th (last year), or the 72 Hour Emergency Kit on the right side under Postings. Scroll down until you get to the first menu, the same menu each day. Do not buy an expensive backpack but make sure the straps are strong enough to hold weight. Check out the discount stores like the Salvation Army, Good Will or Carson Discount Center on Sepulveda & Avalon, wash and dry them before use.

3 Month/Year Food Supply:

This week, add 5-10 cans of soup. Costco or Sams Club may have good prices, unless you can get them on sale at a regular grocery store this week. You can eat the soup even if not able to heat up.

Food Storage Ideas:

If you are using your freeze dried or dehydrated foods, make sure you hydrate them first before cooking. It is usually the same amount of water as the food you are using, wait about 5 minutes, then cook. In an emergency situation and there is no way to cook, you can eat it cold.

Printing these postings: Many of you like to print these posting and ideas. and keep them in a notebook for future references. To print, cut and paste to Microsoft or another type of word document and then print.

Remember: Post your name and comment below to have your name entered into our FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to held the last Sunday in September.

Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of August 27th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Quote:

"We encourage you to follow this counsel with the assurance that a people prepared through obedience to the commandments of God need not fear." (First Presidency letter, June 24, 1988)

There may come a time in the future when food prices will be so high, you will not be able to purchase food for your family. Why not store some food for those hard times? Food continually rises and will continue to rise due to extreme weather conditions over the past year or so. Some items may become unavailable. Frank Davis, owner of Food for Health International in Utah, said he cannot get potatoes right now, there are none available for the dehydrated foods he makes, and prices have increase significantly over the past year and continue to rise. We need to be prepared for whatever might come our way!

Follow ups:

1) Water Filtration Pumps and Filters--I am doing one more order this Sunday, last day to order. The Water Pumps are $18.40 with tax and shipping. The Filters are $8.00 with tax and shipping. The water pump comes with one filter. The filters filter out 99.9999% of bacteria, viruses and contamination. Each filter filters 100 gallons of water. Please see the sign-up sheet this Sunday or email me by Sunday night how many water pumps and filters you want. Or you can call me at 310-835-0902. If all goes well, I should have them by next Sunday.

Note: If you use muddy or dirty water, it is best to pour the water through a t-shirt first to filter out as much mud or debris you can, that way the filter will last longer.

2) Water Barrels--When was the last time you replaced the water in your barrels or rotated any stored water. If you have bleach (1/4 cup per 55 gallons) in the water, you need to replace the water every year, if the water barrel is sitting in the sun, probably more often. If you do not have bleach in the water, then you need to replace the water every 6 months, more often if in the sun. If you have the Activated Stabilized Oxygen, 10% Strength in the water, it will last for 5 years, less if the barrels are in the sun a lot, maybe 3-4 years. I purchased it from Majors Survival Warehouse Store in Garden for $12.95. One small bottle will take care of 2 55 gallon barrels, half (1/8 cup) in each barrel. Never store your water in the garage, much to hot. Best place is where the barrel gets the least amount of sun during the day. If you want to purchase the barrels, see the Water Storage posting on the right side of the blog under Postings where you can buy them. 55 gallon barrel--$20-$25 each. Tell him Miss Nancy from the church in Carson on 228th and Main referred you, he may give them to you for $20 if you ask him. One will fit in the back seat of a Honda Civic.

Note: Electric Water Pump--we just purchased a 12 volt electric water pump at Harbor Freight for about $30-$40. First we purchased a more expensive one, $80, thinking it would work better, it did not pump out the water, must have been a bad design, we tried 2 of them. Then we purchased the 12 volt one and it worked great! Pumps out the 55 gallon water barrel in about 15-20 minutes. Requires a battery charger to hook it up to. The regular syphon worked as good, but we had to put the water a bucket and carry the water to another place and dump it out, to much work for me. The pump allows you to hook up the hose and direct the water to your lawn or flower beds. Great if you have several water barrels to empty.

3) Vegetable garden--For those who planted a vegetable garden or in containers, how is it doing? So far we have harvested lots of zucchini, yellow squash, lettuce, carrots, green onions, brown onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, green beans, beans, and cucumbers. We are excited to see pumpkins growing this year. It is not a huge garden, 6 feet by 10 feet. In September we will plant the cool vegetables, broccoli, celery, lettuce and peas. A great thing about living in California is that you can plant and grow vegetables almost all year long. It is such a great feeling to be able to go out to our garden and get fresh vegetables as we need them. I have made green salads and vegetable soup entirely from our garden. Our freezer is getting full from all the vegetables I have blanched and frozen, they will keep for a year. I am just about done using up the vegetables I froze last year. I will also can some this year.

4) 72 Hour Emergency Food Kits--If you completed your 72 hour food kits last August when we did them, please check them and replace any items that are about ready to expire and replace the water too. You can put the almost expired items in your children's school lunches.

Temporal Assignment--Family Emergency Medical Supplies:

This week we are finishing up the supplies. If you have not started or completed these supplies go back to the blog posting starting May 29th until you get to this posting August 27th, it took us 3 months to complete the list by adding a few items each week. Please add the following this week:

1) sunscreen
2) Potassium Iodine Tablets--only take if instructed to due to radiation fallout, do not take unless advised. I found them on EmergencyEssentials.com, 14 tables for $9.99. You may also be able to find them a Majors Survival Warehouse Store in garden or other survival stores or on line.
3) Burn Kit--I found this at EmergencyEssentials.com for about $15, or you may be able to purchase it at Walgreen, CVS, WalMart, or Target.
Optional: You may want to add the following if you wear contact lens--Extra pair of lens and solution.

Important: Once a year check expiration dates. Rotate all medications, prescriptions, ointments, liquids, pain relievers, solutions, etc.

Spiritual Assignment:

Read the article "Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus Christ" in this month's Ensign, September 2011, page 35, and share the importance of being prepared with a friend, a neighbor, and/or a co-worker. Discuss this article as a family or with a friend.

Food Storage Ideas:

Canned Foods: Due to various temperatures where canned food may be stored, it is difficult to determine the definite period of time at which all canned foods will hold. The short shelf life products are highly acid and pigmented foods such as grapefruit and orange juice, black and red cherries, all colored berries, prunes, and plums usually have an average shelf life of 1-2 years. Other fruits such as peaches, pears, apricots and applesauce average from 2-3 years. Vegetables such as beets, carrots, green beans, spinach, greens, tomatoes and tomato juice average 3-4 years. Vegetables and meats such as peas, corn, Lima beans and roast beef should average 4-5 years. Canned milk should be agitated every 30 days. This prevents the fats from separating, and should be used within one year. Most canned foods now have expiration dates. Keep track of them by setting up a chart and check if often to avoid having to through away expired food.

Canned foods should be stored in a cool, dry place, the cooler and dryer the longer they will last. Place the oldest canned foods on the shelves in the front so they will be used first. Rotation is the key to good food storage. Fruits, vegetables and meats properly processed in glass jars and stored in the home will keep in a cool, dry, dark place should last as long as those in cans.

Do not use canned foods when the can is bulged or leaking, bacteria has sat in. Same thing goes for bulged lids on glass jars. DO NOT USE THEM!

This information was issued by The General Church Welfare Committee.

Remember: Post your name and comment by this Sunday, August 27th, by 10am for the Monthly FREE Giveaway Drawing to be help this Sunday, August 27th.