Hi Torrance Stake Family, Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,
"No one can do everything, but everyone can do something." Max Lucado
I love this statement above. It is impossible for each of us to do everything at once, but each of us can do something each day. I hear many people say I wish I had food storage, water storage and emergency supplies. Wishing does not make it happen. It takes setting goals and dividing the large goal into small goals to make it happen. If you want to have food storage then break it down into the different areas, vegetables, fruits, meats, soups, beans, wheat, grains, drinks (milk and juices), etc. and set goals to accomplish them.
Then figure out how much you will need for your family for the amount of months your goal is, 2-weeks, 1-month, 3-months, 6-months, a year. Remember, only store what your family already eats! Watch for sales at grocery stores, discount stores (watch the expiration dates), big box stores and long term food storage companies. I only buy when things are on sale. You can also follow the food storage monthly goals on this blog.
Albert Einstein said, "If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got." If you do not work towards for food storage goals you will never have any food storage or emergency supplies. Start now!
What are you doing to make it happen? Are you setting goals as a family or individual? Are you working towards them and checking them off the list. Are you adding to your food storage each week with canned and packaged foods? Are you adding to your emergency supplies monthly? What are you doing? Food storage is a life time process because you are always rotating what you store, especially commercially canned and packaged foods. Long term food storage will last for 15-30 years depending on what you are storing and how you are storing it. Be smart, be wise, and start doing!
New July Monthly Assignments
Summer time is a great time to work on condiments and paper products since they are usually on sale.
Food Storage . . . Condiments
This month we are adding condiments to our food storage, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, pickle relish, BBQ sauces, etc. Watch for sales in your local grocery stores and big box stores and stock up. If you purchase them at discount stores watch the expiration dates. Only store what your family uses. Remember to rotate them as needed and store in a cool, dry, dark place. Continually add them throughout the Summer while on sale. Before you know if you will have meet your goal.
Emergency Preparedness . . . Paper supplies
Another great thing to add this time of year is our emergency paper supplies. If there is a disaster or emergency situation you do not want to use your valuable precious water to do the dishes. Store those paper items your family will use, large plates, small plates, bowls, cups, napkins or paper towels and plastic silverware. You can keep these in your garage, attic, or back yard storage shed. Keep them in a large plastic container so they do not get wet or rodents chew on them. Watch for sales throughout the Summer at your local grocery store, discount stores and big box stores. Store what you family will need for the number of months you have set your goal, 1-month, 3-months, 6-months, a year.
Note: When ever we order take out food and take it home, I save the plastic silverware and use our home silverware. It is amazing how fast it builds up. I then put them in large plastic zip lock bags and store them with the other emergency paper supplies in large plastic containers.
Emergency Preparedness Ideas
Freeze-Dried verses Dehydrated . . .
When it comes to long term food storage many think freeze-dried and dehydrated are the same thing, can be stored as long and reconstituted the same way. There is a difference!
Go to emergencyessentials.com by clicking here and learning more about the differences between freeze-dried and dehydrated. You will probably store both types but it is good to know how to store them, how long they will store and how to use them.
Comments and Questions: Please share your comment and questions below. Remember, we all learn from each others experiences and knowledge. You can also email me at theark.carsonward@gmail.com. Thank your sharing.
Hi Carson Ward Family, Torrance Stake Family, Family and Friends,
Three thoughts this month . . .
Be Aware!
Each of us needs to always be aware of our surroundings and what is going on around us.
We need to stop, look around us, think what we can do to stay safe!
When you go into a store know the exit doors and places you can take cover if needed, especially bigbox stores where things can fall from above.
When
in a crowd of people look around and know places you can exit and take
cover to be safe. Be aware of the people around you.
Know
different routes to take when a familiar route becomes inaccessible.
Be aware of all those and the drivers around you. Know ahead of time
what you would do in different situations. Keep your car in good running order and keep at least a half tank of gas in your car at all times.
Know what is going on in your neighborhood, community, state, local and federal governments and around the world.
This
is the time of year when many of us will be going on vacations, road
trips, by airplane, train, bus, etc. Know the areas you will going to
and what type of natural disasters they have during the summer season,
like flash flooding. Know what to do and not do. Know these for what
ever season you might be traveling in. Click here
to learn about different types of natural disasters that could effect
you. Have a Family Home Evening on it before leaving on your trip so all
family members know what to do. If on a road trip check the local news
often for any warnings of possible weather related danger while
traveling. Keep family emergency names and and phone numbers with you
and all family members.
Do not live in fear but,
Be Aware! Be Prepared!
Obedience . . .
The first principle of the gospel is obedience.
The Bible and Book of Mormon tell us of many times when the people of
that time listened to the warnings and prepared, many times not knowing
why, but were faithful and followed the promptings.
"We are blessed as we show our faith in God by being obedient to His will." (President Spencer W. Kimball)
"By
faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with
fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house." (Hebrew 11:7)
We to need to move with fear and faith in preparing our house spiritually and temporally!
What is food storage and emergency preparedness all about?
Patience, persistence and consistency!
And of course, being prepared!
It takes time and patience
to build up our food storage and emergency supplies. It does not happen
over night. We should never go into debt to purchase these items.
If we are persistent
in setting goals and working towards them we will accomplish them.
Before we know it we will have 3-Months of food storage, and may be even
a year's supply of food. Same thing goes for our emergency supplies. If we are consistent we will accomplish our goals and be better prepared for what may come our way.
Patience, persistence and consistency will bring us peace in knowing we are prepared!
New June Monthly Assignments
Food Storage . . .
Grains
Grains are one of the basics of food storage.
They consist of wheat (hard red and hard white), white and wheat flour,
barley, oats, corn (maize), sorghum, millet, spelt, quinoa, buckwheat,
rye, brown rice, wild rice, couscous, amaranth, chia, farro, teff and
others. Most of us do not cook with most of these. It is a good idea to
become familiar with others we do not use. Get a good cook book on
Cooking with Grains and try new recipes.
how
to use all types of grains in many interesting ways, making breads, in
salads, in casseroles and deserts. You can also find him on YouTube
doing demonstrations. I love his show, very informative!
How much to store per person:
Yous should store a variety of grains, not just all wheat. Only store
the types of grains your family will eat. Experiment with new ones and
add them to your list if you family likes them. The best way is to hide
them in recipes like Chef Brad does. Learn how to cook with wheat and
use often. If you spring wheat on your family, and they are not used to
it, in an emergency they will have really bad stomach issues.
Per person per month
1 month--25 pounds
3 months--75 pounds
6 months--150 pounds
1 year--300 pounds
Where to store grains: As always, in a cool, dry, dark place.
How to store: If
you are purchasing packages or boxes from the regular grocery store or
big box store they should store for a least 1 year in their original
packing. Since grains do attract insects I like to put mine in the large
Mason jars. Write on the jar what it is and the date so you can rotate
as needed. You can seal them in the Mason jar for possibly 3 years
(brown rice only keeps for a year) by using a FoodSaver to extract the
air or an oxygen absorber to draw out the air. You can also seal them by
using the oven method. Check on YouTube how to do these this methods.
Remember, the key to good food storage is rotation, rotation, rotation
and replace them as soon as you use them.
How to purchase, short term or long term? If
you are just starting out on your food storage first only purchase your
grains in their original packing (short term) until you have reached
your months goal. After you have at least a 3 months supply then you can
think about purchasing them in the #10 dehydrated/freeze dried cans or
super pails (long term), which can be expensive and requires extra water
storage to rehydrate. Wheat is best stored this way. The best place to
purchase your wheat (hard red and hard white) is through store.lds.org,
great prices. Click here to view their website. You do not have to be a member of our church to purchase from there, just set up an account.
Emergency Preparedness . . .
Sanitation
Emergency sanitation is a very important
part of emergency preparedness.
Each
family needs to plan for this, you may not be able to use your
conventional toilet or have running water. Human waste needs to be
handled correctly. Click here to learn more about
emergency sanitation.
I
ran across this picture and like how they have an emergency toilet for
"poo" and "pee" separately. Good idea since they are handled
differently.
Clean hands
are another important part of sanitation. It cuts down on infections
and serious illnesses. Have a way to wash you hands on a regular bases.
Keep a basin of water and hand soap near by. If there is no running
water available do not dump out the basin until needed.
If you cannot use your conventional toilet due
to no running water and you do not have an emergency portable toilet
here is a good example of how to use your conventional toilet in an
emergency situation.Use it the same way you would use your emergency
portable toilet and dispose of the waste the same way.
One of our blog followers asked how much of the enzymes should you use with the portable toilet. Sprinkle on enough to lightly cover the waste. It will break it down so you can bury it.
Emergency Preparedness Ideas
How prepared is your home for when a natural disaster hits?
I
find most people are not prepared. Each time hurricane season or
tornado season it upon us or we live in earthquake country, our homes
are not ready. We can minimize the damages by being prepared.
If you know you have hurricanes or tornadoes in your area, then always
have the supplies on hand to deal with them instead of each year
running off the to local hardware or home improvement center to purchase
the needed supplies only to find out they have run out. Keep them in
your garage or backyard storage shed. If you live in earthquake areas
then prepare your home the best you can. Anchor down items that could
fly off the walls/shelves or fall over and hurt you; If your home is not
retrofitted (the house is secured to the foundation) then look into
having it done, which can be expensive.
I
just learned of a program in California were they are issuing grants
(up to $3,000) to homeowners with older homes to help retrofit them.
Click here to learn more. A strong earthquake can knock your home off its foundation.
Always
keep flashlights with extra batteries on hand, a weather emergency
radio on hand if you live in areas were they send out warnings, and
extra canned foods and water.
Be prepared, be safe!
Comments and Questions:
Please share your comments and questions below. We all learn from each
others knowledge and experiences. Or you can email me at
theark.carsonward@gmail.com. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Torrance Stake, Carson Ward, Family and Friends,
"There are really only three types of people . . Those who make things happen, Those who watch things happen, And those who say, 'What happened?'" Ann Landers Which one are you?
Concerning emergency preparedness, are you the type that "makes things happen" by striving to be better prepared for what ever disaster or emergency situation might come your way? Or, are you the type that "watches things happen". You watch others prepare and listen to the warnings but do nothing. Or, are you the type that says, "What happened"? Once the disaster or emergency situation happens you wonder what could you have done to better prepare and not suffer so much?
Which one are you?
The great thing about all this is if you are the one that watches things happen or wonders "what happened" you can change it. You have an opportunity every day to become better prepared for a disaster or emergency situation that could effect you. This blog is designed to do that, to help you become better prepared.
May Monthly Assignments
Food Storage . . . Vitamins and Supplements
Vitamins, minerals and supplements are a very important part of your food storage.
As you know they will give you the extra vitamins, minerals and
supplements your body needs and that your food may not provide. Store
only those types of vitamins, minerals and supplements your family
takes. Also, store them for the different ages in your family.
How many to store? Store at least a years supply. Store a good
multi-vitamin (according to age) and additional vitamins and supplements
as needed and used by your family. Buy only from a good reliable
company and that are not filled with fillers.
How long to store? According to the expiration date on the bottle.
Where to store? Store in dark bottles in a brown paper bag in a
cool, dry, dark place where the temperature is 70 degrees or lower. Do
not store in cupboards near your stove or a heater, too hot.
Emergency Preparedness . . . Shelter
There may come a time when you cannot stay in your home due to the
damages from a disaster or other unforeseen reasons. It is a good idea
to have some type of shelter just for these emergencies.
Purchase a tent to accommodate your family. If you have a large family
you might want to consider several smaller tents. It is also a good idea
to store tarps, rope, nails, a hammer and duck take so you can
construct a shelter or other structures you might need. Learn different
types of shelters you can construct if away from home during a disaster.
The Boy Scout manual and the Internet has some good resources and
ideas.
If you already have a tent(s) for your family then check them regularly
to make sure they are good shape and repair or replace as needed.
We keep a small 3 person tent in our car just in case we are away from home when a disaster strikes so we will have shelter.
Click here to go to the posting on the right under "Postings" on "Shelter" for some valuable information.
Emergency Preparedness Ideas
How will you keep your clothes clean when you cannot use your conventional washing machine during a long emergency situation?
After awhile each of us will need a way to wash our clothes when a long emergency situation arises, especially our undergarments. Keeping clothes clean prolongs their life. Here are some supplies you should have as part of your emergency supplies and some great videos on how to make your own emergency washing machine.
Emergency Clothes Cleaning Supplies:
Home made washing machine (videos below)
Large tub (metal or heavy plastic)
Old wooden/metal scrub board (I found these at ACE Hardware, small and large, about $20+)
Laundry cleaning supplies (laundry soap, bleach, stain removers, water softeners)
Heavy clothes line (2-3, 50 feet each) (I found these at discount stores like the 99 Cent Store, Dollar Tree)
Wooden clothes pens (2 packages) (I also found these at discount stores)
Heavy long nails or hooks (to hammer or screw into a tree or structure to attach the clothes lines)
Hammer
Clean water (stored in barrels)
Keep all these supplies together in your garage or storage shed.
Water storage: Allow enough water storage for sponge bathing, cleaning and washing your clothes and dishes. Cut down on the water use by storing paper products.
The pioneers and Indians washed their clothes in large metal tubs over a camp fire or in streams using the rocks to pound and scrub their clothes on. (very hard on the fabric).
This one is a little more complicated and unfortunately does explain how to make it. Love this one, but if you are creative you should be able to figure it out.
Another way, but I feel uses to much water if water is not readily available.
Comments and Questions: Please share your comment or question below. Remember, we all learn from each others experiences and knowledge. You can also email me at theark.carsonward@gmail.com. Thank your for comments and questions.
Hi Torrance Stake Family, Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,
Money . . . Another Important Part of Emergency Preparedness
Money on hand for emergencies is just as important as your food and water storage, 72 Hour Individual Emergency Bags, Medical Supplies, Emergency Supplies and evacuation plans. Each household should have money stored in their house in small bills and change in a fire proof lock box or safe. I have read from many financial experts we should have at least one month's worth of our income stored in our house in cash, more if possible. We should have 6 months worth of income in our bank or credit union savings account. Some is better than none!
Why cash at home, at the office and in the car?
1) What if the economy started to tank? Look what happened in Greece awhile back, they could only get a few dollars out of the ATM machines each day.
2) What if there was a freeze on the banks and credit unions and you could not get your money?
3) What if the power grid goes down keeping you from using you ATM cards or other credit cards? Stores and banks today all use electricity to work their computers and cash registers. When this happens they will only accept cash.
4) What if there was a disaster, natural or man made? You will probably not be able to access your money.
Why store cash at home, at work and in your car?
Because if you cannot access it through your bank, credit union or using your ATM card at the ATM machine you will not have cash on hand. After a disaster or other emergency situation you will only be able to pay for the things you need with cash. Hopefully, you will have some food and water stored already and emergency supplies.
It is also a good idea to keep some cash at work in a safe place and in your car. You should also have small bills and change in each family member's 72 Hour Individual Emergency Bags. It is up to you how much that should be.
How to store your cash at home . . .
1) Store only small bills ($1 and $5 bills) and change. If you store larger bills when you try to purchase something the person selling it will say I cannot make change, causing you to spend more than if you had the right amount in small bills and change. Keep as much as you can at home, at least several hundreds or a few thousand.
2) Store the cash in a fire/water proof lock box or safe. Keep it hidden in a place where thieves willprobably not look.
How to save for a savings account and rainy days . . .
1) Get out of debt as soon as possible.
2) Stay out of debt.
3) Even while in debt start a saving account. Even if you only put in a few dollars a month it is a start. You will be surprised how fast your savings will grow.
4) Take your change at the end of the day and put it into a jar. Once the jar is full deposit it into your savings account.
5) Know needs from wants. If it is something you just want, save your money until you can pay cash for it, only purchase when on sale, do not go into debt for it. Let the wants go by until you have money at home and in your savings account. Try not to eat out so much, take a sack lunch to work, keep snacks in the car so you will not be tempted to go to a fast food place, leave out those sodas (drink water, healthier) and other unhealthy treats and put the money into your savings account or jar.
6) If you do use your credit card for a purchase write a check for that credit card for the amount and set aside until the bills comes. If you cannot write a check for it immediately, do not purchase the item unless it is an absolute emergency and you have thought it through.
7) Try using the cash method for when you purchase items like groceries, things from Target or other department stores and when you buy gas. You will be surprised how you will think first before
handing over your hard earned cash. I know it is a bother to carry cash around, but it you have a problem with using your credit cards or ATM for all your purchases you will think twice before doing it. We have gone to the cash system and like it so much better than using our ATM or credit cards for everyday purchases.
8) Teach your children the value of money, saving and the difference between needs and wants.
Involve them in your savings goals.
Be Smart, Be Wise, Be Prepared!
The scriptures say,
"Organized yourselves, prepare every needful thing, . . . ."
(Doctrine and Covenants 88:119)
New May Monthly Assignments
Food Storage . . .
Vitamins and Supplements
Vitamins, minerals and supplements are a very important part of your food storage. As you know they will give you the extra vitamins, minerals and supplements your body needs and that your food may not provide. Store only those types of vitamins, minerals and supplements your family takes. Also, store them for the different ages in your family.
How many to store? Store at least a years supply. Store a good multi-vitamin (according to age) and additional vitamins and supplements as needed and used by your family. Buy only from a good reliable company and that are not filled with fillers.
How long to store? According to the expiration date on the bottle.
Where to store? Store in dark bottles in a brown paper bag in a cool, dry, dark place where the temperature is 70 degrees or lower. Do not store in cupboards near your stove or a heater, too hot.
Emergency Preparedness . . . Shelter
There may come a time when you cannot stay in your home due to the damages from a disaster or other unforeseen reasons. It is a good idea to have some type of shelter just for these emergencies.
Purchase a tent to accommodate your family. If you have a large family you might want to consider several smaller tents. It is also a good idea to store tarps, rope, nails, a hammer and duck take so you can construct a shelter or other structures you might need. Learn different types of shelters you can construct if away from home during a disaster. The Boy Scout manual and the Internet has some good resources and ideas.
If you already have a tent(s) for your family then check them regularly to make sure they are good shape and repair or replace as needed.
We keep a small 3 person tent in our car just in case we are away from home when a disaster strikes so we will have shelter.
Click here to go to the posting on the right under "Postings" on "Shelter" for some valuable information. .
Emergency Preparedness Ideas
Know how to protect yourself and others in your car when you hit a pole causing downed power lines on your car and around you. Very good advise! I will save your life!
Burn Treatment . . .
"Some time ago, I was cooking some corn and stuck my fork in the corn in the boiling water to see if the corm was ready. I missed and my hand went into the boiling water! A friend of mine, who was a Vietnam Vet, came into my house as I was screaming and asked me if I had some plain old flour. I pulled out the bag of flour and he stuck my hand in it. He told me to keep my hand in the flour for 10 minutes. He said, in Vietnam, there was guy on fire and in their panic, they threw a bag of flour all over him to put out the fire. Well, it not only put out the fire, but he never had a blister. Long story short, I put my hand in the bag of flour for 10 minutes, pulled it out and did not even have a red mark or blister and absolutely NO PAIN.
Keep a bag of flour in your fridge. When you burn yourself put your hand in the bag of flour for 10 minutes. The cold flour works even better than the room temperature flour. I use the flour and have never had a red spot/burn mark, or blister! I burnt my tongue once, put the flour on it for about 10 minutes, the pain was gone and no burn.
Try it, experience it! Keep a bag of flour in your fridge and you will happy you did.
Flour has an absorbent property and also has a strong antioxidant property, thus it helps with burn patients if applied within 15 minutes." (Donald Arbino) Comments and Questions: Please share your comments and questions below. Remember, we all learn from each others experiences and knowledge. You can also email me at theark.carsonward@gmail.com. Thank you for sharing your comments and questions. They are most appreciated.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Hi Torrance Stake Family, Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,
"By failing to prepare, you are prepared to fail." Benjamin Franklin
Are you ready for today, tomorrow?
As I look over our family's life I realized there have been things that have happened we were not expecting. Sometimes they happened during the day, sometimes the next day. Most of them were not from natural disasters nor expected.
Four examples of how heeding the warnings blessed our family . . .
Several years ago I did not expect a few hours after my husband left for work that he would be in a serious car accident while on the job, spending the next several months recuperating from his injuries, unable to work. Disabilities checks, which we were grateful for, did not cover all the bills and needs for our young family during this time. We were grateful we had listened to the admonishments and warnings of the General Authorities and leaders of our church, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", and had been working on our food storage, we had about 6 months. We also had a little savings to help with the bills. We never had to go to family, church or others for help.
In the 1980's Southern California USA was hit by a strong El Nino causing huge storms. We live along the coast and during one of the storms, with hurricane like winds and rain for two weeks, we lost our electricity for a week, downed power lines were lying on the streets in our neighborhood not allowing us to get out, there was flooding in areas around us, schools and local stores were closed, we had to shelter in place for about a week with our family. The children thought is was great to camp out in the front room, some were to scared to sleep in their bedrooms, cook by using our emergency cooking equipment, I had an electric stove at the time, read stories and play games by lanterns and flashlights and make popcorn on our emergency candles. Once again we were grateful we had heeded the warnings by our church leaders. We were able to shelter in place and use our emergency supplies and food for a week with our family and feel safe.
After almost 30 years of working for the same company, my husband's employer shut their doors. This was a devastating blow to our family, now we had teenagers. Once again our small savings, being very frugal and our food storage got us through a difficult time.
In 1992 the Los Angeles Riots hit Southern California USA. There were fires, rioting, looting, many injures and some deaths. We live in a town about 30 miles outside of Los Angeles were the riots were. The area was blocked off, residences and businesses in surrounding towns were told to shelter in place, there was an 8 o'clock curfew. It was a scaring time, many were afraid the looting and rioting would start in their own neighborhoods. Our daughter and her husband came over to stay with us. We were admonished by the local authorities to shelter in place for a few day until it seemed safe to leave our home. Once again our preparing for emergency situations like this blessed our life. We were able to shelter in place with our family and keep an eye on our neighbors and neighborhood.
Are you listening???
As you can see if only takes a second or a day to have our lives, our family's lives, turned upside down, and it does not take a natural disaster. We need to always be striving to be better prepared for future events in our lives. You never know when they will happen or what will happen.
Yes, we can be forewarned of natural disasters (hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, flooding, etc.) heading our way, but we cannot know how devastating it will be to us and our loved ones until during or after the event is over.
Please be ready for those things that can change our lives in a second. If you have not started, start today. Have some canned foods and drinking water on hand, some emergency supplies, some extra medical supplies so you can take care of your own when the time comes. It is not the responsibility of our churches, local and federal governments to take care of us, they will not be there for days, weeks, but it is our responsibility. Why not be ready now? Why?
As Benjamin Franklin said above, "By failing to prepare, you are prepared to fail." Why not prepare ahead of time for those unexpected moments in our lives.
Spiritual Preparation
This past weekend we had the great privilege and blessing of being able to hear from our General Authorities and Leaders of our church, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". If you did not get a change to listen to the 186th Annual General Conference click here and hear all the talks. Even if you are not a member of our church take the time to listen to them. They will give you hope, faith, peace and comfort and encouragement from the turmoil in our world today.
Let me share just a few words from our prophet . . .
President Thomas S. Monson (President and Prophet of the Church)
(Paraphrased) "Choices determine our destiny. Will we reach our goal? We need to know were we want to go, our path in this life leads to where we go in next life. Our faith will sustain us, without faith we will go nowhere. Choose wisely. Repentance allows us to correct our course. Choose the harder right, rather than the easier wrong. May we ever chose the right."
We often think our choices only effect us, but they effect generations. Think and choose wisely before making a choice.
New April Monthly Assignments
Food Storage . . . Legumes and Rice
Two of the most basic food storage items are legumes and rice. Legumes are supper foods. Legumes include all types of beans (kidney, navy, great northern, red, pinto, black, garbanzo, lima, black eyed peas, lentils, and split peas). Legumes along with rice are a perfect protein. Rice also comes in a variety (white, long grain, medium grain, short grain, brown, forbidden, wild, basmati, and jasmine). They are economical and easy to store. They can extend other food items you store by adding them to soups, stews, casseroles and other recipes.
How to store: In original packaging, Mason jars, plastic containers that seal well, freeze dried/dehydrated #10 cans and 5-6 gallon buckets. As with all food storage keep in a cool, dry, dark place. You can store them under your beds, in closets, cupboards and your pantry. I would suggest removing them from the plastic packaging you get at your local grocery stores or big box stores. They will attract moths. Legumes will store about 3-5 years in their original packaging (they get hard and difficult to cook) or 20-30 years in #10 cans or 5-6 gallon freeze dried/dehydrated buckets.
How to treat: If you purchase your legumes and rice in their original packaging from your local grocery store or big box store, first put them in the freezer for 24 hours, then let cool down to room temperature before transferring to other containers. This kills all moths and their larva.
Note: Brown rice only stores for about 6 months in original packaging, a couple of years if kept in the freezer or 10 years in #10 cans and 5-6 gallon freeze dried/dehydrated buckets. It has a lot of moisture content not allowing it to store for 20-30 years like other rice.
How much to store per person per month: Legumes . . . store a variety, 6 pounds per person per month. Rice (included with grains), store a variety, 25 pounds per person per month. You should have 25 pounds of grains, which includes rice, per person per month.
Emergency Preparedness . . . Emergency Cooking
An important part of our emergency supplies is to have a way to cook without using your standard stove/oven. We need to be prepared with different types of emergency cooking equipment and the fuel to run them. Examples are a charcoal BBQ, gas BBQ, Butane Stove, Propane Stove, fire pit, homemade BBQ, solar oven, Dutch oven, etc. Make sure you keep enough fuel stored for the type of emergency cooking equipment you store. It may take days, weeks, even months before help can arrive and our normal way of life is restored.
When we lost our electricity in the story above regarding the 1980's El Nino storms, we were grateful for our emergency cooking equipment. We did not have a lot then, in fact, we only had our emergency candles you could cook with in the house that we had made at church and our charcoal BBQ we could only use outside. We learned a valuable lesson to be better prepared. Our stove was electric, the microwave did not work and it was raining outside for two weeks not allowing us to our charcoal BBQ. We quickly learned me needed better and different types of emergency cooking equipment for different types of emergency situations. Now we have several different ways to cook inside and outside.
When our kitchen was being remodeled for 3 months by our son I quickly learned how to cook on a Butane Stove, which I could use safely inside the house, our microwave and the charcoal BBQ outside. I was amazed how many dishes and meals I could make with the Butane Stove and microwave.
Love the creativity of how this person is cooking outside. It appears he cleared an area, need to do to keep from starting a wild fire, placed rocks (or bricks) around it, put down some kindling and wood, then looks like he placed a baking sheet over it and started cooking. You could also use the grill rack from your oven. When we are in an emergency situation and need to find a way to heat water and cook we need to use our imagination and the things around us.
For some great information on the different types of emergency cooking equipment click on the link under "Posting", "Cooking and Heating and Lighting", or click here to go directly to the link.
Set a goal to purchase at least 2-3 different types of emergency cooking equipment (inside and outside equipment) along with its accompanying fuel. If you already have cooking equipment you can use in an emergency situation check to make sure it is working probably and you have enough fuel for that type of equipment. Keep all emergency cooking equipment together along with the fuel needed.Check on it periodically to make sure all is well.
Emergency Preparedness Ideas
Some great videos on setting up ways to cook.
DIY Handmade Fire Pit . . .
Swedish Fire Torch . . .
Comments and Questions: Please share your comments and questions below. Remember, we all learn from each others experiences and knowledge. If you have a question you can email me at theark.carsonward@gmail.com. Thank you for sharing.
What are you doing to make it happen? Are you setting goals as a family or individual? Are you working towards them and checking them off the list. Are you adding to your food storage each week with canned and packaged foods? Are you adding to your emergency supplies monthly? What are you doing? Food storage is a life time process because you are always rotating what you store, especially commercially canned and packaged foods. Long term food storage will last for 15-30 years depending on what you are storing and how you are storing it. Be smart, be wise, and start doing!
