In Response To All The Questions!

I have to say, I'm surprised at all the feedback through email, comments, and phone about my last post! So here are some answers to some of your questions:

*The binder is a compilation of different things we've been handed, collected, mailed throughout the years. I have had it all over the house in different places always intending to have it safely in the same place but never getting around to it. A while ago, the emergency prep person in our ward at the time put a small notebook together and I took that and expanded on it. I still need to do some tweaking, but at least it is all finally in the same place and divided into subjects.

*I have a pantry inside my kitchen, and then I have what I call a working pantry in my garage just off my kitchen. When I run out of something in the kitchen one, I rotate canned and boxed goods (ie: soups, spices, paper goods, veges, fruits, etc.) from the garage pantry to this one and then restock the garage.

*We consolidated and moved all our long-term storage to the garage on the opposite side of the house (Yes, I am so blessed to have 2 garages...but I don't have a basement which I lament every day...). Those are the cupboards with the #10 cans in them.

*We canned just about all of the #10 cans at the cannery in Fountain Valley and San Diego. You can now buy some of these items already done in cases of six from their warehouse, which we also do. Wheat and rice especially. The price is the same as if you did all the work yourself. Now that they are out of the boxes and onto shelves it makes the rotating into the house on these bulk items much easier and also knowing what we have and when to re-stock. For me, this makes it not so overwhelming a task.

*The canneries have what they call a 'beginner' case. It has quick oats, wheat, rice, in it and is a great way to get a few things started. Or as gifts to married children, etc.

*I also like to use Honeyville Grain company. If you don't live near one, you can order online from them and only pay $4.95 total shipping!!! I think they have excellent products.

*The site on Family Home Storage is an excellent one. It has a home storage calculator, all kinds of questions and answers, shelf-life, inventory, items available for purchase and to be canned. Just click on all the links and you can even print them out! But be prepared: you will get excited and spend lots of time! Now get ready, make a plan, and act on it. You will be completely pleased when you see how fast it adds up!

*We have six cupboards, but I only showed two. I do can/bottle fruits, salsas, veges, too and we have committed to start that up in earnest again this summer.

*Once you have food items, you have to also think about other emergency items, such as how will you cook it? fuel? shelter? water? you should probably have an electric grinder and a hand grinder, as well as a manual mixer. Solar radio, etc.

*There is SO much. Don't let it overwhelm you. Remember this: GET STARTED, and then just 'eat the elephant one bite at a time'!

If you have any more questions, let me know, and I'll do my best to answer them.

Good Luck. And Happy Storing!

Water Storage Information

I know this month is dedicated to 72 hour kits, but I just want to put this on since it is fresh in my mind and so in case my emergency preparedness binder gets lost or damaged, I have this information.

Water Storage

• MINIMUM: 1 gallon per person per day is the minimum recommended amount of water to have on hand. The Red Cross urges people to have at the very minimum a 72 hour supply of water stored.
• IDEAL: 2 gallons per person per day is highly recommended to ensure that there is adequate water for first aid and hygiene purposes. A 14 day supply of water is recommended for storage.

To determine the amount of water you need to store, fill in the following blanks:

1 gallon X ___ people X ____ days = ____gallons

2 gallons X ____people X ____ days = ____gallons

WATER BARREL STORAGE FILLING AND CLEANING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Rinse barrel thoroughly inside and out before filling. Take the barrel to the location you will be storing it. Once the barrel is filled, it is difficult to move by hand.
2. Store barrels in garage if possible or out of direct sunlight. If it is stored outside, place it in the coolest and shadiest part of your home.
3. Place barrels on 2 X 4's before filling to keep off concrete and prevent wearing as concrete expands and contracts slowly eroding the plastic barrel over time. If stored in a garage, try to keep them on the opposite side of your car's exhaust pipe so the fumes do not penetrate into the water.
4. Unscrew one bung on the top of the barrel.
5. Add 1 teaspoon of plain Clorox bleach per 10 gallons of water. (1 1/2 Tablespoons for a 55 gallon drum) Be sure that the label on the bleach states that sodium hypochlorite is the only active ingredient. Bleach containing soap or fragrances is not safe.
6. Fill the barrel with a clean hose (wipe it off first) and hold the hose above the barrel. Do not insert the hose in the barrel unless you are right there watching it to avoid contamination when the water level reaches the hose.
7. Allow the water to flow to the top and out the opening.
8. Replace the bung and tighten with bung wrench. Tighten the 2nd bung.
9. Place a heavy duty plastic bag around the bungs. Secure with a rubber band. This is to prevent dirt from collecting in and around the bung which may contaminate the water when it is opened later on.
10. Mark the date the barrel was filled with a label and a permanent marker. Place it on top.

NOTE: The water must be replaced every 6 months to ensure the quality of the water. Should the water be stored for a longer length of time than the 6 months, it is recommended that the water be boiled before using. This is a good idea even if using within 6 months.

6 MONTH CLEANING AND REFILLING

1. Drain the water from the barrel making sure not to drain into a planted area. The chlorine content may damage growing plants or grass. Recommend using a siphon, or a small garden hose set aside especially for this purpose.
2. Once emptied, place 1 cup of bleach in the barrel and fill 1/4 of the way with water. Close the bung tightly and turn the barrel on it's side. Roll it back and forth.
3. Turn the barrel upside down to allow the solution to clean the top of the inside of the barrel. Let is sit upside down for 10-15 minutes.
4. Drain the barrel making sure not to drain into a planted area. Rinse several times.
5. Refill according to the directions above.
6. Mark new date.
7. Recover bungs with new ziploc bags.

NOTE: If you live in a hard winter area, check with local authorities/officials for the water level as it will freeze solid during the winter and you don't want your barrel to burst.

(...not so subliminal message...)

Hi Family--

We really want you to read this article. It is straightforward and has great information and guidelines. We really like how it frames temporal preparedness and it's importance. We CAN do this. We MUST do this. Let's do it TOGETHER!

Love, Mom and Dad

“The Twelve Months of Preparedness” By Carolyn Nicolaysen

This has been the season to think of the Savior's love, sacrifice and example. It is the season for us to reflect on what we can give back to Him in the coming year. One of the greatest gifts we can give is a strong commitment to follow God's counsel to prepare and provide for ourselves and our families, to become self reliant.

While we celebrate the blessings of this season, we can set aside our fears of these perilous times, and focus on our faith and spiritual preparedness for the road ahead. We remember that anything is possible with Christ at our side.

Consider the Twelve Months of Preparedness we have seen in 2008 – where in every instance that faith was challenged by tragic natural disasters, there have been those among the rubble who were remarkably prepared for their challenge, who could not only protect their families, but provide for their neighbors as Good Samaritans. If you knew in January 2008 what you now know about 2008, what would you have done differently? Consider both natural events and man-made calamities, including the world-wide economic crisis. Surely all of us would have done something very differently, had we known the course of world events, and how quickly fortunes can be reversed. In one respect or another, we would have been better prepared had we known then what we know now.

Consider too, the remarkable natural disasters of the twelve months just ending, only a few of which I can include in this abbreviated almanac:

January 2008 brought a series of tornadoes caused by record-breaking temperatures to Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin.
February 2008 saw violent tornadoes rip through Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky and Missouri.
March 2008 - it was Georgia 's turn to experience the violence of a tornado. Major flooding caused severe problems from Arkansas to Illinois, and in Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio. Even in Texas and Pennsylvania people were forced to flee their homes.
April 2008 - three horrific tornadoes struck Norfolk, Suffolk, and Colonial Heights, Virginia. At least 90 people were seriously injured.
May 2008 brought more twisters, this time to Oklahoma, Missouri, and Georgia. Twenty-one deaths were reported on May 11th, and Oklahoma declared a state of emergency.
June 2008 brought tremendous floods to the Midwest - Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin saw some of the most severe flooding ever recorded as storms caused already swollen rivers and lakes to overflow. It was also in June that a tornado killed four Boy Scouts and injured 48 others when it tore through the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in western Iowa.
July 2008 was a warning to Southern California residents that The Big One is overdue. A 5.4 Richter earthquake shakes the metro area, and people scramble to buy batteries, bottled water and supplies from L.A. supermarket shelves.
August 2008 - Tropical Storm Fay made landfall four times in Florida and Georgia.
September 2008 - Hurricane Gustav forces the entire city of New Orleans to evacuate, leaves more than one million homes without power, and kills at least 26 people in Louisiana, Georgia, and Mississippi. Tropical Storm Hanna strikes Haiti, killing hundreds of people and leaving many more injured or missing. September then produced Hurricane Ike in the Caribbean, which ultimately landed in Texas where it caused at least 50 deaths, and forced thousands more to evacuate their homes, and millions to lose power for an extended time. As Ike traveled inland, the storm weakened to a tropical depression, but torrential rain caused severe flooding and power outages in parts of Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois.
October 2008 – A man-made crisis takes center stage: a financial crisis called the worst since the Great Depression began to unfold in September, and becomes Topic One in October, leading many to experience financial calamity, loss of their homes and jobs. Need we say more, as this still is unfolding…
November 2008 - Fueled by hurricane strength “ Santa Ana ” winds, three wildfires burned for several days consuming 40,000 acres of land, and causing thousands to evacuate their homes in Southern California. A state of emergency was declared in five counties.
December 2008 – In New England and New York at least 800,000 homes were left without electricity for several days during a severe ice storm. Canada, the Northwest, Midwest, and Northeast USA are blanketed by winter storms - residents of Washington State from the San Juan Islands to the Cascades suffer from blizzards, ice storms, and power outages. Also showing up on the radar screen in December – 150 cases of avian influenza in India are being treated, and medical teams from New Delhi have been dispatched, but so far no reports of the H5N1 virus have been verified. Since the virus surfaced five years ago, 200 people have died from it, and officials watch carefully that it does not become the next pandemic, which all nations fear.

As we look ahead to the next lap in life's journey, consider the counsel of modern prophets and apostles in declaring the value of self-reliance:

President Thomas S. Monson said, “ Self-reliance is a product of our work and under-girds all other welfare practices. It is an essential element in our spiritual as well as our temporal well-being. Regarding this principle, President Marion G. Romney has said: ‘Let us work for what we need. Let us be self-reliant and independent. Salvation can be obtained on no other principle. Salvation is an individual matter, and we must work out our own salvation in temporal as well as in spiritual things.'" (In Welfare Services Meeting Report, 2 Oct. 1976, p. 13. Thomas S. Monson, “Guiding Principles of Personal and Family Welfare,” Ensign, Sep 1986.)

Since President Brigham Young, every prophet has counseled us to become self reliant. President Marion G Romney also related the following as he emphasized the need for self reliance:

"Great flocks of Florida gulls were once starving amid plenty. Fishing was good, but the gulls did not know how to fish. Generations of gulls depended on the shrimp fleet to toss them scraps from the nets, but then the fleet moved. The big birds, once so free, never bothered to learn how to fish for themselves and they never taught their children how to fish. Instead, they led their little ones to the shrimp nets. People tend to be like these gulls. They see nothing wrong with picking scraps from spiritual, emotional, and intellectual shrimp fleets. The point is that ‘the practice of coveting and receiving unearned benefits has now become… fixed in our society… This practice, if universally accepted and implemented in any society, will make slaves of its citizens" (The Celestial Nature of Self-Reliance , Ensign, November 1982, 91).

Church leaders have asked us to plant gardens, learn basic skills, get out of debt, and to store a supply of food and supplies for our household. The messages may vary according to the resources available and the challenges of the time, but the message has remained the same. We need to be prepared to care of our own.

In the face of a very uncertain 2009, both economically and in every other way, we stand together as brothers and sisters in the face of challenges that may at times seem insurmountable. Will we have compassion for our neighbor, and the resolve and humility to obey the Lord's many warnings?

“Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their year's supply of food … and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year's supply of debt and are food-free." (President Thomas S. Monson "That Noble Gift—Love at Home,” Church News, May 12, 2001.)

It has been my experience that spiritual preparedness is much more difficult when temporal preparedness has been ignored. As we have gathered with family and friends these past weeks, we can and should commit to becoming self reliant in 2009. Take photos of your family and friends and display them everywhere in your home. When we are tempted to spend money on trivial wants, we can reflect instead on our real treasures as we think about those closest to our hearts. Let these photos become a reminder of where those treasures really lie.

Let 2009 be the year we seek help to learn how to be self-reliant.

Let this be the year we focus on paying off debt and freeing ourselves from bondage.

Let this be the year we set-aside things that matter least, and give priority to setting our homes, our property, our gardens and pantries in order.

Above all let this be the year we demonstrate our love for our Savior by following good counsel and becoming temporally and spiritually prepared.

Provident Living....

I just bought more food storage. Good deals just keep finding their way to me and I feel so strongly about it right now, so I add it to what we already have.

• 2 more 55 gallon water barrel drums
• freeze dried blueberries
• 2 cases of canned beef
• 2 cases of canned chicken
• 2 cases of bacon
• 2 cases of hamburger
• 1/2 case of butter
• 1/2 case of cheese

I have plenty of dried legumes and onions, carrots, so some meat to add to a good pot of beans would be good.

I think I need to concentrate now on medical supplies and I'm feeling insecure about water.

New Month for PROVIDENT LIVING---

Hi F-A-M-I-L-Y,

Check the side bar for this months new goals for food storage. It is broken down by weeks. If you can't get both items, just choose one. But just START! That is the goal. Find a cool place under your bed or in a corner of a closet and get a storage container with a lid for your items. This is especially good for you in apartments right now.

Good Luck!

72 Hour Kits

Yesterday my cousin, Roberta, was doing some very smart brainstorming about sharing our ideas, motivations, and progress about preparedness with each other. This way we could feel like we have a support system and have a good way to share information. So she asked if I would post some pictures of how we did our 72 hour kits. I have a friend who is VERY proactive and knowledgeable about emergency preparedness. She gathered all the information and supplies. This is roughly around $50-$60 and very thorough.
From lessons learned with Hurricane Katrina, it is a good idea to have your kit in a crush proof, waterproof container that can be carried out by hand in a 'flight' situation.

Double click to enlarge. This is a list of everything in the kit. The food is MRE's. Not the best in my opinion, but will keep you alive! The water is from AquaBlox/AquaLiterz. It has a 5YEAR (!) shelf life.

In the top compartments, you put prescription meds, extra set of car keys, etc. The list is on the above picture.

First aid supplies with a first aid book. My experience is that if situations haven't presented themselves on a regular basis for you to 'practice' first aid, it is easy to forget or freeze in an emergency situation--hence the reference book. A scouting handbook is also good.

2nd level, under the first aid tray. The turquoise boxes are the water blox.

This was the best view I could get of the whole thing. We keep them in the cardboard box to keep them clean. You should have one for each person.

Kids: get some water bottles and a small first aid kit (like one from CVS, Target), and maybe some ravioli in a cup, tuna and crackers packages, etc. to keep in your study carrels at school and/or in your office desk. That would be a GREAT start!

Any other ideas/suggestions/comments? Good Luck everybody!

Just Checking In...

Hi F-A-M-I-L-Y!

Just checking in to see how you are all doing with your 72 hour kits this month. Remember, we are just 'eating the elephant one bite at a time', so just concentrate on one of them. We have 1 week left in the month.

Call or email or comment to let me know if you don't have your 72 hour kit from Christmas with you. I'll make sure you get it.

Love, Mom