repost on home-storage christmas gifts

Is there anyone on your Christmas list for whom you have a hard time finding a Christmas gift? Well, home storage gifts can solve all of your problems! It really is rare to find a person that is completely prepared. Here are a few ideas that might solve your gift-giving woes.

*Water Storage Containers ($3 to $80)
*Water barrel wrench and pump ($8 to $15)
*Food storage shelves ($40 to $300)
*Gamma lids ($4 to $8)
*Food storage buckets ($4 to $8)
*Three-month supply meal baskets (Put ingredients for a three-month supply meal into a basket. Add bows and gadgets for fun. This would be easy to do with pasta & sauce or pancakes & syrup. Add a cute card that tells how many servings are included as well as the expected shelf life. Here is an example: In a basket place a package of pancake mix, syrup, powdered milk or cocoa mix, and a jar of fruit.)
*LDS home storage kits ($24 to $44)
*Wheat grinder ($60 to $400)
*Bucket of wheat (around $20)
*Camp stove & propane tank ($50+)
*Canning supplies (bath canner, bottles & lids, or pressure cooker)
*Dehydrator ($40+)
*Fruit trees or bushes (weather dependent)
*Gardening supplies (varies)
*Grill/Dutch oven/Firepit/Woodburning stove etc.
*Generator ($500+)
*Home storage foods (#10 cans, bottles of juice, home bottled preserves, buckets, etc.)
*Water filter
*First aid kits($5+)
*Car safety kits.
*72-hour kits.
*Fire safety ladder.
*Money for financial reserves.


Want to have some fun? Give a lump of coal (i.e. a bag/bucket of charcoal)!

What are your ideas?

LDS Home Storage Centers

I loved this post on LDS Home Storage Centers by Self-Reliant Sisters this past week. They've included photos of the labels that are included with the products available at these Home Storage Centers. This is a great resource for both planning and inventory. You can see product weights and estimated storage lives in a glance. These labels also include preparation information for many of the products - which is great if you happen to lose a label.

Another fantastic information resource for inventory or planning is the Home Storage Center Order Form. These forms included updated prices, weights and estimated storage lives. They also have a form in Spanish.

Home Storage Centers are located all over the United States and Canada as well as in a few other locations around the world. You can find a Home Storage Center near you by clicking here. These products can also be order online here.

waxing cheese - not recommended

Last night I was made aware of this statement from USU Extension services:


"From time to time, dubious methods arise for preparing and storing various food items. Current information being circulated about the merits of dipping cheese in wax and placing it in storage for many years can be placed in this category. Consider the science.

• Waxing cheese is a method to minimize mold growth on the surface of cheese. It cannot prevent growth or survival of many illness-causing bacteria. In fact, it may promote anaerobic (absence of oxygen) bacteria growth, such as botulism. The practice of waxing cheese for storage is considered extremely unsafe.

• Before the days of refrigeration, cheese was dryer and fermented to a lower pH (higher acid). These types of cheeses were traditionally stored at room temperature with wax covers. The very low pH and fermentation byproducts could inhibit foodborne illness bacteria. An example is parmesan-style cheese. Acid, dryness and fermentation byproducts make this cheese storable at room temperature.

• Today, many cheeses are made strictly for storage under refrigeration. These cheeses may not have a low pH and other factors created in the manufacturing process to prevent illness-causing bacteria growth because the manufacturer knows the cheeses will be kept refrigerated. If someone waxes this cheese and places it in food storage, there is no science indicating any level of safety. In fact, there is evidence to the opposite ? placing cheese meant for refrigeration at room temperature is a significant risk and hazard for foodborne illness.

Contact your local USU Extension office for further information on safe home food preservation and for storage advice." (Brian Nummer, Utah State University Extension food safety specialist, September 9, 2009)


As a result of this information, I no longer recommend waxing cheese for storage.

earthquake safety: how to turn off your gas

Part of being prepared is being educated. It's a good idea to know how to turn off your gas in case of a gas-leak, which can happen at any time, but may be more likely in an earthquake. You should store a wrench next to the gas meter or in an easily accessible location so that you can turn the gas off if needed.

From FEMA:
"Check for gas leaks. If you smell gas or hear blowing or hissing noise, open a window and quickly leave the building. Turn off the gas at the outside main valve if you can and call the gas company from a neighbor's home. If you turn off the gas for any reason, it must be turned back on by a professional."1

From The San Fransisco Chronicle:
"It's estimated that 90 percent of the damage caused by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was due to fires caused by ruptured gas lines - over 30 fires leveled 490 city blocks. In light of this, it would seem prudent to shut off the gas main in the event of a major earthquake, right? Not so fast says Pacific Gas and Electric Co. spokesman David Eisenhauer. "If you do not smell or hear gas do not shut off," says Eisenhauer. "If you shut it off and there's no damage it could take days to turn it back on." Once shut off, PG&E also does not recommend residents turn it back on themselves. This is because either someone from PG&E or another trained professional should inspect the house first for any damage to gas lines."2

If you determine that you need to shut off your gas, simply turn the valve one quarter-turn with a wrench (as shown in the diagram above). You can significantly reduce the likelihood of a gas leak in an earthquake by securing your water heater. Water heaters often rock loose during and earthquake and sever the gas connection.



Sources:
1- FEMA
2- How To Prepare For An Earthquake (Paul Kilduff, special to The San Franscisco Chronicle)

Diagram Source: http://www.doh.wa.gov/phepr/handbook/utility.htm

recipes

I currently have about 9 to 12 months' worth of longer-term storage. I'm familiar with many of the products I've stored and I use them somewhat regularly in my day-to-day cooking. There are a few, however, that I am not as familiar with. I usually choose canned beans instead of using my dried beans. And I feel like I have a lot to learn when it comes to using cornmeal and sprouting wheat. Because I have the food stored, I feel like we would be okay in an emergency. But I would like to have more experience with these products before I might need to use them under more serious circumstances.

So, I've started collecting recipes that use the grains and legumes that I've stored. I try to experiment and practice using these recipes so I can gain a familiarity working with legumes and grains. My goal is definitely a work in progress. I might make one new recipe a month or try a new technique here and there. Hopefully, over time, I'll also have the added advantage of slowly rotating through my longer-term supply.

Below, I've included some links that are great resources for longer-term supply recipes and techniques. I want to emphasize that your three-month storage should be made up of meals that you normally eat. So, these recipes are more for experimentation and use of longer-term food supplies - not three-month supply foods.

Longer-Term Storage Recipe Resources:
All Is Safely Gathered In - Intermittent recipes both for three-month supply and longer-term supply.

Basic Recipes - From Provident Living (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

beprepared Recipes - beprepared.com (huge database of recipes - just click on category and go)

Emergency Bread - Suggestions for cooking bread in an emergency.

Everyday Food Storage - Fantastic Food Storage Recipe Blog. She includes pictures and videos.

Food Storage Recipes - Compiled by a Stake Food Storage Specialist.

More Recipes - Source unknown

Preparedness Brings Peace - An assortment of recipes and preservation techniques (3-month)

South Jordan River Stake Cookbook - featured by Preparedness Brings Peace

Using Food Storage - More from Provident Living

NEW GOAL: Find a recipe or new technique and try it in the next few months!

Found a great food storage recipe site? Let me know! I'll add it to this list.

Some have said, “We have followed this counsel in the past and have never had need to use our [home storage*], so we have difficulty keeping this in mind as a major priority.” Perhaps following this counsel could be the reason why they have not needed to use their reserve.

Elder James E. Faust

(The Responsibility for Welfare Rests with Me and My Family, General Conference, April 1986)

*Note: I have changed the words in the brackets from "one year's supply" to "home storage" to reflect current counsel from current leaders.

thinking about earthquake preparedness

We're still sick, but on the mend. I ultimately got both viruses that were being passed around our home. Now my husband is taking care of me. Our family is still eating chicken noodle soup. I'm surprised by how much we've used over the past week. For some, it was all they could stand to eat. I think I'll need to stock up on more than I had previously thought.

I'm not up to writing a full post today, but thought you might enjoy reading this post from Adventures in Mormonism - Remembering the Loma Prieta Earthquake (1989). If you live in earthquake country, it might give you some ideas about preparedness. This family experienced the earthquake just a few miles from the epicenter.

wishing for chicken noodle soup

I'm not sure if we've had H1N1 flu or not. The doctor didn't do the test - said that he wouldn't treat it any differently regardless. Still, we spent the past 48 hours with two members of our family having fevers, nausea, and in one case significant coughing and respiratory junk. We're crossing our fingers that the rest of us have dodged the virus (whether or not it is H1N1). The remaining three of us were immunized for H1N1 on Monday -- not quite long enough to have any immunity yet (apparently we need 8 to 10 days to develop decent immunity).

I made a surprising discovery about our preparedness in the process. I already have plenty of Gatorade, gloves, masks, Kleenex, ibuprofen, sanitizer, disinfectants, and food stored. I figured it would be easy to make chicken noodle soup and bake bread from storage items if we couldn't/shouldn't get to the store. What I discovered, though, is that the sick members of our family didn't want homemade chicken noodle soup. They didn't want applesauce (which I had plenty of). They wanted the old generic comfort standby of Campbell's chicken noodle soup. They wanted saltine crackers and jello (which I just used up). They also wanted flat soda to settle their stomachs.

I've now learned that especially when stomach-sick, it's important to have predictable bland foods. Plus, what if I had been sick? I wouldn't have been up to cooking at all. And having easy-heat-up soup would have been much easier anyway. In the future I'll include soda, crackers, more jello and plenty of Campbell's chicken noodle soup in my storage. I'll make all of these items a part of my three-month storage. Thankfully, I wasn't sick (and didn't need to be quarantined) and was able to get to the store to stock up on these items. I was surprised to discover that the store was almost out of chicken noodle soup -- apparently many other sick individuals feel the same way about "sick" foods.

What are some predictable sick-foods for your family?

More on flu/pandemic preparedness:

http://iprepared.blogspot.com/2009/04/peace-of-preparedness.html

http://iprepared.blogspot.com/2009/05/pandemic-preparedness.html

http://iprepared.blogspot.com/2008/11/flu-pandemic.html

sharpies

Strange as it may seem, one of my favorite home storage tools is my permanent-ink marker. I actually leave one on the shelf in my storage area.

I am constantly labeling and relabeling cans and buckets to indicate their contents and volume. I use packing tape, which I fold over on one side (to aid removal) on each bucket and write the contents on the tape with my handy marker. I also label all of my storage products as I stock the shelves both with the purchase date as well as the expiration when I can see/find it.

Last week, I stocked up on some olive oil, shortening and canola oil for my storage. I had to squint to see the recommended expiration dates on the bottles, so I rewrote those dates on the bottles with my marker. Doing this makes it much easier to pick the bottle with the closest expiration date, especially when I'm in a hurry.

You can get permanent-ink markers in many different colors. If you were really ambitious, you could color code purchase and expiration dates. You could also color code products based on contents. Click here for a previous post with more ideas for labeling home storage.

[Photo Source]

a one-year supply?

Do you still think of home storage in terms of a one-year supply? After decades of using the term "one-year supply," you might be surprised to know that "one-year supply" is no longer mentioned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the instructions for home storage - not even once. It's been 2 1/2 years now3 since the new program was introduced. It seems to be taking some time to think about home storage in a new way.2 It is definitely a paradigm shift that might take some getting used to.

Having a one-year supply is not a bad thing. In fact, if you already have a one-year supply, you can be pretty confident that you are fairly well prepared. You can still set a *personal* goal to achieve a one-year supply. You can do this by completing a three-month supply and then choosing a *personal* goal to have 9 months of a longer-term supply. However, you can also be obedient to the counsel of the prophet without having a one-year supply. The First Presidency said, "We encourage you to store as much as your circumstances allow." It is up to you to determine an appropriate amount of longer-term storage for your family.

There is a lot of peace that comes from knowing you've been obedient. And with the changes in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's home storage program, it is easier than ever! Instead of emphasizing a one-year supply as they have in the past, now the church emphasizes four aspects of home storage:

1) Three-month supply
2) Water storage
3) Financial reserve
4) Longer-term supply

Home storage is no longer just about powdered milk and wheat. Part of your storage should be a three-month supply of foods that you regularly eat. A three-month supply provides an important aspect of preparation and shouldn't be neglected. In fact, several quotes from the church indicate that we should worry first about our three-month supply, a water supply and a financial reserve before we worry about having a longer term supply.

So, be willing to let go of the "one-year supply" objective and instead think in terms of the new revelation which teaches 1) three month supply, 2) water supply, 3) financial reserve, and then 4) longer-term supply.


Sources:
1 - All Is Safely Gathered In - Family Home Storage
2 - Family Home Storage - A New Message (Ensign, March 2009)
3 - Lay Up In Store (Keith B McMullin, 177th Annual General Conference, April 2007)