Peanut Butter Please!!

A favorite storage item is Peanut Butter. Kids love peanut butter and jelly and overall it is a pretty healthy snack. How is peanut butter for storage? These days there are some choices. Regular peanut butter or peanut butter powder. Here are some facts about storing and using each, beginning with regular peanut butter in the jar.

Peanut butter can be kept up to six months after opening. Unopened jars can be stored up to one year in a cool, dark location. Turn the container upside-down occasionally to help redistribute the oils and prolong shelf life. That said, it really is important to store peanut butter in the coolest place you can; it will extend shelf life. I have had peanut butter that has been kept in a very cool, dark place stay good much longer than a year.

Second, peanut butter is high in protein, fiber and micronutrients. The high fiber helps regulate blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels and has been shown to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis and colon-rectal cancer.

Peanut butter is about 24% protein by weight making it a good source of protein. It is a good source of Vitamin E (one of the most powerful antioxidants shown to significantly reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases), Vitamin B3 (Niacin- a water-soluble vitamin that aids in the recovery of cell DNA damage thus protecting from cancer; it also provides protection against Alzheimer's disease). Peanut butter has large amounts of beneficial minerals such as iron, magnesium, potassium (not as much as bananas but still a significant amount), copper and calcium.

Many people avoid peanut butter because of the high fat content. One thing to keep in mind though is that most of the fats contained are monounsaturated, and have been shown to lower "bad" LDL cholesterol. This effect is compounded by peanut butter containing polyunsaturated fats, which in turn help raising the "good" HDL cholesterol; making peanut butter a very good cholesterol regulator.

One of the most interesting nutrients found in peanuts is Resveratrol: this is a natural antimicrobial agent, produced by the peanut plant, found to ward off potential pathogens (bacteria, virus and fungi). Resveratrol is actually believed to be the cause of the French people having a lower risk of cardiovascular disease despite their diet rich in fats. Resveratrol provides anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties to the body.

Peanut Butter also contains p-coumaric acid, which combats oxidative stress (a syndrome believed to cause some neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases). Studies have found that women who eat least 1 ounce of nuts, peanuts or peanut butter each week (one peanut butter sandwich) have a 25% lower risk of developing gallstones. Also, peanut butter contains much higher quantities of antioxidants than apples or carrots. All things considered, peanut butter contributes to a healthy diet.

Another alternative is to store peanut butter powder. Peanut butter powder will not store as long as wheat flour. However, sealed with oxygen absorbers, plan on a storage life of 4-5 years at a stable temperature of 70º. It will keep proportionately longer if stored at cooler temperatures. One lady stated that because of the high amount of peanut butter her family consumes, she decided to try the powdered. She mixes it with a little olive oil and honey or agave nectar. Her family loves it and she said it has the deep taste of roasted peanuts and she will never buy commercial peanut butter again.

Dehydrated Peanut Butter Powder is an excellent substitution in any recipe that calls for peanut butter. It is easy to make and is a good source of protein. A #10 can of the powder makes about 89 2-Tbsp servings. The advantages of peanut butter powder is that it is peanut butter without all the fat. It stores well and is easily substituted in recipes as well as eaten like regular peanut butter. It works great for baking; add to recipes in powdered form or easily make into peanut butter. It is far less expensive than buying reduced fat peanut butter, and it is much healthier.

Here are some endorsements from peanut butter powder users:
“I add a drop of oil, pinch of salt & dollop of Agave nectar. My family didn’t know it was powder! My husband said he didn't recognize brand taste, but thought it was great! So good with celery! After mixing powder up, keep refrigerated because it has no added preservatives. Yea!”

“For dieters, the peanut butter powder has a third of the calories and fat of normal peanut butter -- and no added anything! You can even control the sodium, which is wonderful. As far as taste, it is very peanutty. I like it reconstituted with milk instead of water, for a little more flavor. Works great in baking! Gives baked goods a delightfully peanut taste without all the sugar."

“I use a tablespoon or 2 mixed in with a protein shake to add a little extra protein and to add the peanut butter flavor. It’s good stuff. I also mix it with some powdered honey, a great snack - instant peanut butter & honey - for spreading on toast, bagels, crackers or even sandwiches.”

Here are some recipes using peanut butter powder or try it in some of your own favorite recipes.

Peanut Butter Cookies
1 ½ c. dehydrated Peanut Butter Powder (Reconstitute before using)
½ c. Sugar
1/3 c. Shortening
1 ¼ c. Flour
½ t. Baking Powder
½ t. Salt
½ c. Brown Sugar
3 T. Dried Eggs (Reconstitute before using)
2 ½ t. Baking Soda
1 t. Ginger
½ c. Water (for peanut butter powder)
Mix peanut butter, shortening, sugars, egg, and water in bowl until creamed. Sift dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Roll into 1 1/2” balls and flatten with a fork in a criss-cross pattern. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Rounds
3/4 c. Butter - Softened
½ c. Peanut Butter Powder (Reconstitute before using)
1 c. Sugar
½ c. Brown Sugar
1 t. Baking Powder
½ t. Baking Soda
2 Eggs (Reconstitute before using)
1 t. Vanilla
1 ¼ c. Flour
2 c. Rolled Oats
1 c. Chopped Peanuts OR Chocolate Pieces
In large bowl, beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer until well blended.
Add sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda; beat until blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in as much flour as possible with the mixer then stir in remaining flour. Stir in rolled oats and peanuts. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool.

Peanut Butter Waffles
1 c. Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 c. Fat-Free Milk
½ t. Salt
2 t. Baking Powder
2 Eggs, Beaten
¼ c. Honey
½ t. Vanilla
½ c. Peanut Butter Powder (reconstituted)
1 ¼ c. Water
Combine flour, dehydrated milk, salt, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, honey, vanilla and peanut butter. Mix in water. Add egg mixture to milk mixture and stir until smooth. Bake on hot, oiled waffle iron. Variation: Peanut Butter Pancake: Use the same recipe, but use 3/4 cup of water instead of 1¼ c. of water.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter and Banana Muffins
1 ½ c. Flour
1 c. Instant Oatmeal
1/4 c. Brown Sugar
1/4 t. Maple Powder or 1 t. Maple Extract or 1 t. Maple Flavoring
3 t. Baking Powder
1/2 t. Salt
1/3 c. Peanut Butter Powder (reconstitute)
1 c. Milk
1 Egg
2 c. freeze dried Banana Slices (reconstituted-Mash after reconstituting)or use fresh bananas
In a large bowl, combine flour and oatmeal. Mix brown sugar until no clumps. Add maple powder (if using liquid form add with milk), baking powder and salt. Mix until well blended. In another bowl, combine peanut butter, milk (liquid maple flavor, if being used), egg and bananas. Mix well. Combine peanut butter mixture with oatmeal mixture until oatmeal mixture is just moistened. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.

Peanut Butter & Brown Sugar Oatmeal
2 c. water
½ t. salt
1 c. quick-cooking rolled oats
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
¼ c. dehydrated Peanut butter powder (reconstitute)
2 T. butter or margarine
Bring water and salt to a boil in medium saucepan. Add oats and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, peanut butter and butter or margarine.

Pressure Canning Beef Chunks

Learning to can beef chunks was a fun experience. I put it off for quite a long time, pondering the best way to can it. I must have canned it in my mind 30 times before I actually got up the nerve to try it. I am so glad I did.

We had part of a beef in our freezer that we weren’t eating. Lots of steaks with not a lot of meat on them. Lots of roasts that had quite a bit of fat on them. Some were good, some not so good. Every time I opened my freezer, which as I have mentioned before is an ancient vessel, I would look at that meat and wonder what I was ever going to do with it. There was so little meat on the T-bone steaks that it would take several just to feed us a meal. I cringed just thinking about all that I would throw away. It wasn’t great meat, nevertheless, it was meat and I knew I had to do something with it.

Let me just skip to the ending of this long story to say that after pressure canning the meat it was awesome. Tender and delicious, easy to use and so handy to have on the shelf. I must say I wish I had done it much sooner instead of just thinking about doing it. It was hard for me to believe that this was the same meat that I had dreaded cooking before.

Watch for sales as you shop. Often, if you find beef you want to can and tell the butcher you want to buy a large quantity, you can get a better price. It's worth checking and watching the sales.

Here is the process I use. Considering my situation, if you are buying meat to can or have some you want to use, just get it done. It was very easy to do. In one day I had enough meat canned for many meals.

I did the steaks first. Thawed them in my sink overnight, as many packages as I thought I’d have time to do. In the morning, I cut the meat from the bones and removed any fat. My cats were a happy crew that day. I cut the meat in chunks and put it in a large kettle with a little water. After all the cutting was done, I cooked the meat, stirring it until the pink was gone and it was just starting to cook up.

I canned the beef chunks in quarts and pints using a beef bouillon cube in each bottle I used a slotted spoon to remove the chunks from the broth. If your meat is lean and you wish to save the broth, you can put it in jars and can it also, adding a beef cube to each pint or quart as well. (If canning the broth it helps to refrigerate broth overnight and remove fat in the morning before canning.) When the jars were filled almost to the neck with beef chunks, I filled each jar with boiling water, wiped the jars and put new flats and rings on. They are then ready to process in a pressure canner as per instructions, processing at 15 pounds pressure for 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.

With the roasts I canned, I cooked some in crock-pots, some in my roaster oven and some in my regular oven. I did about 10 roasts at a time. It was a big job but so good to have done. I roasted them until they were starting to get tender, cut or shredded the meat removing any bone and as much fat as possible. You can also cut the roasts in chunks and cook with a little water in a large kettle till pink is gone. Fill the jars and process as above.

This meat will be very tender and is great in stew or soup, ground up with pickles, celery and onion for sandwich filling, used in stroganoff, quesadillas or any casserole. Here is a fun, quick meal using your canned beef chunks. If you don’t have home canned beef chunks use leftover roast beef and prepare as directed.

Beef Taquitos
1 bottle beef chunks, drained
Choice of sauce – Taco sauce, barbecue sauce or pizza sauce
1 c. shredded cheese, your choice – cheddar, pepper jack, or mozzarella
Flour or Corn Tortillas
Kosher salt
Butter or olive oil flavored cooking spray
Preheat oven to 425º. Use a silpat or spray a baking sheet (line with foil for easy cleanup) with cooking spray. Shred beef until there are no large chunks. Combine beef with your choice of sauce (basically just enough to moisten your meat, you don't want it runny)and mix well; stir in cheese. Heat tortillas one at a time in the microwave (put between slightly damp paper towels if desired) until soft and pliable, about 20 seconds. Fill one tortilla at a time with about 3 T. meat mixture down the center of the tortilla. Roll tortilla as tightly as possible and place seam side down on baking sheet. Fill remaining tortillas. When all tortillas are filled and on the baking sheet, spray tops of tortillas with cooking spray. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake 15-20 minutes or until tortillas start to get brown and crispy on the edges. Serve with leftover taco, barbecue or pizza sauce or with Ranch dressing. *Note: these freeze very well. Bake them as directed; cool any leftovers completely and wrap individually in saran wrap and store in Ziploc freezer bags. To reheat, microwave until heated through or heat in the oven.

Food Storage Friendly Friday – Menu Idea and Tip of the Week

It’s Friday again already and time for another reader submitted recipe. This is so fun reading your ideas about your favorite recipes using food storage. Please email any recipes you would like to share to preparedness365@gmail.com . I’ll include your first name and where you are from when I post your recipe. I know you all have recipes that use food storage in them so email them to me and everyone can increase the usage of food storage in their baking. If you have a food storage tip or even a preparedness no-no, send those too.

One of the readers here told me that she loves taking regular recipes and converting them to food storage. We should all look at some of those ideas as we increase or food storage preparedness. Feel free to send any recipes that use food storage items. They do not necessarily have to be a main dish, but can be a beverage, side dish, bread, breakfast idea, snack idea or of course desserts. Any recipe that you like and use will be appreciated by the rest of us.

Tip of the week: Prices on everything are climbing at an alarming rate. Some things are going up faster than others but expect your food budget buying power to decrease a lot this year. One of the things that is increasing in price and has for some time is aluminum foil. I have tried to store as much foil as I can because I think it is a great storage item. You can wrap food in it and cook over hot coals. Use it to line Dutch ovens or make a cardboard oven with it. In an emergency it would be invaluable for many uses. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the heavy duty foil, although some of that would be good to have too, but any foil will be a handy thing to have. You will probably never see it on sale but know it is cheaper in the big box stores than the grocery stores and whenever you can afford a box or two, do it. You’ll be glad you did. We will go over some uses for foil in a later post.

This week’s recipe is a cornbread recipe with a variation. It looks so good. I hadn’t thought of using cream corn in my cornbread but I plan on trying it soon. I may need to stock up on a few more cans of cream corn and even the chilies too.

Food Storage Friendly Friday Recipe of the Week submitted by: Megan M – Utah

Cornbread with Creamed Corn
2 c. yellow cornmeal
1 t. kosher salt
¼ c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
1 c. buttermilk
2 eggs
1 c. canned creamed corn
2 T. melted butter
2 T. canola oil
Preheat oven to 425º. Place a 9 or 10” cast iron skillet in the oven to preheat. In a bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, sugar, baking powder, and soda. Whisk together to combine well. In a large bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, and creamed corn, whisking together to combine thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients to the buttermilk mixture and stir just to combine. If the batter will not pour, add more buttermilk to the batter. Swirl canola oil in the hot cast iron skillet. Pour the batter into the skillet. Bake until the cornbread is golden brown and springs back upon the touch, about 18-20 minutes. Notes: This was the best cornbread I have ever made. I used stone ground corn (Bob's Red Mill). It is essential to preheat your skillet. For one batch I added a small can of diced green chilies with the creamed corn. That was excellent too.

Black Beans - Learning to love black beans!

Black beans have certainly increased in popularity over the last few years. They have become a staple for many, used not only for their flavor and to add a southwestern flair to meals, but also as a meat extender. They are healthy as well as inexpensive. Black beans can be one of the main ingredients in any dip, adding other ingredients such as corn, tomatoes, avocados, salsa, chilies or anything else you like. They are a great addition to soups or chili. Black beans have certainly earned the reputation as one of the most versatile beans you can use. They are healthy and can be added to lots of meals. A great way to teach your kids to like beans.

Black Bean Tips:
Freezing: My favorite tip for using black beans is to soak them overnight, cook 1 ½ - 2 hours till tender. Drain and cool the beans. Spread on a baking sheet or tray on waxed paper or and freeze till firm. Store in a Ziploc bag in your freezer. Take a few out whenever you wish to add to any dish or salad. You eat more beans because they are already cooked and ready in just a moment. They are a great way to make the meat in your favorite dish go farther.

Chili substitution tip: To use black beans in your favorite chili recipe, substitute half the kidney beans for black beans.

Money-Saving tip: 1 lb. (2 c.) dry black beans cost about $.77 (at Winco). Much cheaper than buying by the can. If you freeze them they can be used in any amount, for example added to a salad, without having to use a whole can and maybe throw some out.

Black Beans Cooking Tips & Cooking time tips:Sort beans to be sure there are no small twigs or stones that might break a tooth. Depending on the age of dried black beans, they could take 2 hours or longer to cook. Fresher dried beans will contain more moisture and cook in less time. Pre-soaking black beans overnight will significantly reduce cooking time. Cover with 2” water and allow for expansion in the container. Drain and cover with fresh water before cooking.
Quick-soak method: cover beans with water, bring to a boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 2 hours. Drain, cover with fresh water and continue cooking. The beans may prematurely break up with a quick-soak method. Use the overnight method for dishes where it is essential the beans stay whole, such as salads and relishes.
Do not add salt or acidic ingredients such as lemon, vinegar, wine, and tomatoes until the beans are finished or nearly done cooking. Adding earlier can cause the beans to toughen.
If additional water is needed during the cooking process, use boiling water rather than cold water.

Equivalents and Measuring tips:
Amount of beans in1 can of black beans = 1 2/3 cups
1 cup dry beans = 2 ½ – 3 cups cooked

Today we’ll share some recipes that use black beans and some ways to incorporate them in your cooking and maybe even baking. These recipes are a great way to introduce black beans to your family and learn to use them on a regular basis.

Lawry’s Burrito Casserole
1 lb ground beef
1 2/3 c. cooked black beans or 1-15 oz can black beans
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1½ c. water
1 (1.4 oz) package Lawry's Chimichurri Burrito Casserole seasoning
8 flour tortillas
1 ½ c. shredded Mexican Cheese blend
In a large skillet brown your ground beef over medium high heat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
When the beef is browned, drain the fat off. Add cooked black beans or drain and rinse canned black beans and add them to the browned beef. In a small mixing bowl, or glass measuring cup mix together water, tomato sauce, and Lawry's seasoning packet. Pour 1 c. red sauce into beef and bean mixture. Stir to mix. Fill each tortilla with some of the meat mixture. Troll up. Lay in a 9x13” pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat with other 7 tortillas. Pour rest of red sauce over the top of the rolled burritos. Cover with cheese. Bake at 350º for 15 minutes or till heated through and cheese is melted. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes green onions and sour cream, cilantro or avocado if desired. Yield: 8 servings *Note: these freeze well. Make and roll burritos. After topping with red sauce, cover with foil, label and freeze. Thaw before baking, top with cheese and bake as directed.

Jenny’s Crock-Pot Aztec Chicken
1 2/3 c. black beans + ½ c. cooking liquid or use 1 can black beans, undrained
1 can whole kernel corn – drained
1 jar salsa
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 oz. cream cheese
Garlic Powder
Rice
In a crock-pot, layer beans, corn, ½ jar salsa, chicken breasts and remaining ½ jar salsa. Sprinkle with garlic powder. Cook on high for 3-4 hours. At the last half hour, cut up chicken and stir in cubed cream cheese. Stir occasionally till cheese is melted. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Black bean brownies (gluten free)
1 2/3 c. cooked black beans or substitute 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 T. vegetable oil
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. white sugar
1 T. brown sugar
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional)
Nuts, optional
Note: For a healthier recipe substitute the oil with 3 T. unsweetened applesauce + 1 t. coconut oil
Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish. Combine black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, vanilla extract, sugar, and brown sugar in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Chicken and Black Bean Quesadillas with lime dipping sauce
3 large chicken breasts
1 ½ c. water
1 T. canola oil
1 envelope Fajita Seasoning mix
1 2/3 c. cooked black beans or substitute 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 c. corn
1-2 c. shredded Cheese, Mexican blend or cheddar
8-10 flour tortillas
Put chicken in a crock-pot sprayed with cooking spray. Mix seasoning packet, water and oil; pour over chicken. Cover and cook for 4 hours, or till done. Shred chicken and return to crock-pot. Simmer for 1 hour longer. Spray a skillet with cooking spray; over medium heat, lay a tortilla on the skillet. Cover half of the tortilla with some chicken, black beans, corn and cheese. Fold over the other half of the tortilla. Heat until the cheese has started to melt. Flip it over and let the other side of the tortilla get heated; melt the cheese completely. Cut in wedges; serve with lime-sour cream dipping sauce.
Lime-sour cream dipping sauce
1 T. lime juice
¼ c. sour cream
¼ c. mayo
1 ½ T. grated lime peel
Blend together sour cream, lime peel, mayo and lime juice until smooth.

Black bean soup
¼ c. chopped onion
W garlic cloves, minced
1 T. olive oil
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. dried oregano
½ t. chili powder
2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce
1 2/3 c. cooked black beans or 1 can drained and rinsed
1 c. beef or vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
2 T. lime juice
1/6 t. hot pepper sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste
Optional garnishes: Sour cream, tortilla chips or strips, cilantro, shredded cheese
Sauté onion and garlic in oil till tender. Stir in cumin, oregano and chili powder. Sauté 2 minutes longer. Add tomato sauce, beans, broth and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in lime juice; simmer 10-15 minutes longer. Discard bay leaf and add salt, pepper and hot sauce. Garnish as desired. Y: 2-3 servings

Black Bean Cola Chili
About 3 cups dried black beans soaked overnight
1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 cup cola soda (Coca Cola, Pepsi or Dr. Pepper)
About 3 c. chicken broth
Water
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. chili powder, or more to taste
1 t. kosher salt, or more to taste
Garnish: sour cream, fresh chopped cilantro, lime wedges
Place black beans, chopped onion, and garlic in a large heavy pot. Add cola, chicken broth, and enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until black beans are tender, about 1½ - 2 hours. Remove 1½ cups of the black beans and place in a blender with lime juice, cumin, coriander, chili powder, and salt. Puree the mixture and return to the pot of black beans. Stir to combine. To serve, garnish with dollops of sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro, and lime wedges to be squeezed into the soup at the table. *Note: if you wish to add meat, add 1 lb. cooked and crumbled ground beef or sausage after you puree’ the beans and heat through.
Yield: 8 servings

Black Bean Salsa
1 2/3 c. cooked black beans or 1 can black beans
1 1/2 c. frozen corn, thawed or 1 can corn
1 can petite diced tomatoes (With or without chilies)
1 c. finely diced celery, optional
1 green pepper chopped
¼ medium Red onion chopped
½ c. Italian salad dressing
1 diced avocado (optional)
Drain beans & corn. Mix all ingredients. Add Avocado just before serving and do not store salsa with avocado. Serve with tortilla chips. Y: 6 c.

Black Bean Burgers
3 cups black beans, prepared
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
2 T. plus 1/2 c. chunky salsa for topping
1 t. cumin
1 t. onion powder
1 t. chili powder
1/2 t. Tabasco sauce
Soak beans overnight. Cook 1 ½ - 2 hours until soft. If using canned beans, drain liquid from 2 cans beans. Mash beans, add ingredients mixing well together. Form into patties and cook on a skillet over the stove in a little oil, or on the grill. Be careful when flipping so they won't fall apart. Cook on a grill over low heat for 3 minutes on each side or until they develop the crust you want. Top with salsa or other toppings.

72-Hour Kit Wednesdays - A change of Clothes

One thing that is a must to include in your 72-Hour kits is a change of clothes for each member of the family. Depending on the circumstances, the clothes you are wearing maybe wet, torn, filthy, inappropriate for weather conditions or depending on your situation even just plain inadequate.

Consider your climate when choosing extra clothing. Most people can’t afford to put a whole change of regular clothes, Levis, and shirts, good sturdy shoes and etc but here are some ideas.

First, if you have extra Levis, shirt, sturdy shoes etc that you can include in your kit, great. Just make sure that they will fit children or others in 6 months to a year’s time. Some choose to include sweats for each family member. These are pretty inexpensive, especially this time of year when they start to go on clearance in many stores. If you are worried that sweats would be too warm in a summer disaster, throw in a t-shirt. However remember nights are cooler most everywhere and you may be sleeping in these clothes.

Some people opt to change out the clothes in their kits every 6 months for the season ahead. If you wish to do this, go for it. With my luck, I’d forget the put the colder season clothes in and then I’d need them. Personally I think sweats can be adapted to almost any season by cutting of sleeves or pant legs if necessary. Whatever you choose to do, just make sure you include a full change of clothes for each person right down to the underwear.

I’ve heard people say, it’s only for 3 days; we’ll make do with what we have on. Just remember, it is a 72-hour kit but not necessarily a 72-hour disaster. And if it is a disaster of any magnitude, what you have in your kit that you don’t need, will certainly help someone else out.

Choose good sturdy shoes if you can, unless you know for sure that each person will be wearing good sturdy shoes when a disaster hits. Also at least one pair of sox for each person is a must and a pair of gloves also. Stocking caps and other items to keep small ones warm (and big ones too) will always be appreciated in cold weather.

Don’t forget the baby or toddler who may need diapers or more changes of clothes than everyone else. If you keep a well stocked diaper bag that you can always plan on being ready to go in a moment’s notice that would be great.

Begin gathering what clothing you can now and make sure to do it for everyone in the family. On lady said, when I rotate every 6 months, I remove the clothes that the kids might grow out of in another 6 months and replace them so they can wear them before they outgrow them and replace them with clothes that might be a smidgen too big. Good advice.

As you start to collect clothing for your kits, you’ll get a feel for what you need. Remember, in a disaster no one is going to care what you are dressed like so don’t be too worried about fashion. Comfort and warmth is much more important.

Pressure Canning Ground Beef

This is one of the best things you can do to save both time and money. I put off canning ground beef for a long time because first, I thought it would be hard, and second, I’m pretty fussy about the meat I eat. When I did finally can ground beef, I did it in a big way. I started with about 15 lbs. which ended up being about 15 pints canned then did another batch that was bigger than the first. I had quite a bit of ground beef in my freezer that I wanted to get out of the freezer and use up. Besides, my freezer is older than dirt, well 2 years older than me, and I didn’t really trust it but it is still going strong.

Watch for the Lean Ground Beef to go on sale. Extra lean ground beef was on sale in the store where I shopped this weekend for $1.99 a pound which is a great deal. I like to use pint jars because 1 pint holds about 1 lb. hamburger, but if you use more than 1 lb. at a time, can it in quarts. I might mention here that you don’t have to can the extra lean ground beef. If you cook the meat in a kettle with some water and rinse with very hot water as described below, you will get rid of most of the fat.

Decide ahead of time how many pint jars your pressure canner will hold at one time and calculate how many pounds you can process at a time. Wash canning jars; keep on a tray in the oven on low while preparing ground beef. If you have a large enough kettle you can cook 10 lbs. or more at a time. Cook beef in a little water, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. Cook and stir until the pink is gone.

Drain ground beef; be sure not to pour the greasy water down your drain! I also like to rinse the cooked beef with very hot water to get rid of any extra fat that may be lurking in there. This is more important to do if you are canning beef that is fatter. Put a beef bouillon cube in each pint jar (This is optional but I love the flavor it adds) and fill with cooked ground beef. Pour boiling water in each jar to the bottom of the neck of the jar. Wipe off jars well; add flats (which have been kept warm in a pan of water on the back of the stove while you were preparing meat. Screw on rings and you are ready to go.

Following directions in your pressure cooker manual exactly, put jars in pressure canner, add water (mine suggests adding 2 T. white vinegar with the water to avoid rust stains which I always do) and put the lid on. Process exactly as your manual suggests. Process pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes.

When processing is completed and pressure has dropped, remove jars, wipe good with a hot soapy dish cloth, label with contents and date. Make sure to put on the label that it contains 1 lb. ground beef. Canning ground beef make take some time but it is definitely an easy project and you’ll love having canned ground beef on your shelf all cooked and ready to go. You find that Taco salad, sloppy Joes, chili or many other dishes are just a few minutes away from your table when the beef is already cooked. It frees up your freezer for all those extra ready-to-eat-meals you want to make ahead of time and the other good deals you find and can stock up on!

Food Storage Friendly Friday – Meal Idea and Tip of the week

Thanks to all who have submitted their favorite food storage friendly meals. Each Friday I’ll be posting a meal that is shelf stable and has food storage friendly ingredients. I’d also like to post a tip each week to either help save money on your food storage or to give an idea that might help in your preparation. Keep sending your recipes to me at preparedness365@gmail.com and I’ll post one each Friday. If you have a tip that has helped you save money or prepare better or more efficiently, send those in too. We’ll keep posting recipes as long as you keep sending them. From time to time I may make a request for a certain type of recipe. The more we send in the more we can help each other prepare and have a variety of meals at our fingertips. I appreciate your participation.

Tip of the week: One of the things I have included in my preparedness that I feel very strongly about is Thermal Underwear. We live in a very cold climate and have a long, cold winter (this winter being one of the coldest in a long time). I’ve found some thermals that I really like. The best time of the year to buy them is about right now as they are being cleared out of the stores for other items. I bought some tops last year in January for $3.00 and under. Check it out. My favorite brands are Cuddle Duds for women and Terramar Polypropylene for men. I’ve found the Cuddle Duds at JC Penney and Sam’s Club and a cheaper brand by the makers of Cuddle Duds at several other places. The “real” Cuddle Duds brand are the best and warmest I’ve found so far. The Terramar brands are also found at Sportsman’s Warehouse as well as some other sporting good stores that carry warm weather clothing. They also make thermals for women and children which are awesome. They are a little more expensive than the cheap brands you find in Wal-mart but well worth the investment. Here is their website: http://www.sockcompany.com/terramarsports.html

One thing I think I have mentioned before but is worth repeating is this cold weather tip. If you are ever outside or have been outside and are preparing for bed or just to warm up, change your clothes, all of them right down to the skin. Your body temperature will go up more quickly because your skin warms up faster if you remove the clothes that trap your body oils against your skin and keep you from getting warm. This is a great tip and it really works! It is especially important for sleeping outside and staying warm.

Food Storage Friendly Friday Recipe of the Week submitted by: Jeri B. – Arizona

Burritos in a bowl
Cooked rice
1 can of black beans. I heat them in the juice, then strain them with a slotted spoon or (you can use cooked dried black or pinto beans as well)
1 pint of canned ground beef or taco meat (Beef TVP is a great substitute)
Ranch dressing to replace sour cream if you'd like
Dehydrated cheese if you have it or fresh grated cheese if you have it
Salsa
Layer ingredients in a bowl.
Optional: Use Homemade Flour tortillas and make your burritos in a tortilla.

Speaking of Ranch Dressing: here is a recipe for a Buttermilk dressing that is similar to Ranch. It is not totally shelf stable (it has mayo and buttermilk) but you can make your own buttermilk and if you have mayo on your shelf you are good to go!

Buttermilk Dressing
3/4 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 t. parsley flakes
1/2 t. dried minced onion
1/2 t. salt
dash of freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed or dried minced garlic
Mix all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours to blend flavors. Cover and refrigerate and remaining dressing.

Epsom Salt - Do you have some?

Being prepared for the unexpected is a major part of food storage and preparedness. One product that is a great one to have on hand is Epsom Salt. It is useful for many things in everyday life as well as the little unexpected things that catch us off guard. I’ve just lately begun to learn about all the benefits of Epsom Salts. In fact, I had some in my cupboard for years and never used it. It's great to take the soreness out of cuts and punctures, infected injuries on hands and feet too. I've used it twice just in the last two weeks on an injured finger and a nasty cut. I'm a believer!

Epsom salts have amazing health benefits! Here are 11 ways to use Epsom salts, including a relaxing bath, a face scrub and a hair volumizer. It’s also a miracle cure, helping to get rid of splinters and reduce swelling of sprains and bruises. One ingredient really does fit all!

Soaking in a tub full of hot water with a few cups of Epsom Salts was good for relaxing muscles and drawing toxins from the body, Epsom Salts—made of the mineral magnesium sulfate—are also a sedative for the nervous system.

When magnesium sulfate is absorbed through the skin, such as in a bath, it draws toxins from the body, sedates the nervous system, reduces swelling, relaxes muscles, is a natural emollient, exfoliates, and much more.

11 Wonderful Ways to Use Epsom salts:
1. Relaxing and sedative bath: Soak in warm water and 2 cups of Epsom Salt.
2. Foot soak: Soothe aches, remove odors and soften rough skin with a foot soak. Add 1/2 cup of Epsom Salt to a large pan of warm water. Soak feet for as long as it feels right. Rinse and dry.
3. Soak sprains and bruises: Epsom Salt will reduce the swelling of sprains and bruises. Add 2 cups Epsom Salt to a warm bath, and soak.
4. Splinter remover: Soak in Epsom Salt; it will draw out the splinter.
5. Face cleaner: To clean your face at night, mix a half-teaspoon of Epsom Salt with your regular cleansing cream. Just massage into skin and rinse with cold water.
6. Homemade skin mask: Apply the mask to damp skin. For normal to oily skin, mix 1 tablespoon of cognac, 1 egg, 1/4 cup of non-fat dry milk, the juice of 1 lemon, and a half-teaspoon of Epsom Salt. For normal to dry skin, mix 1/4 cup of grated carrot, 1 1/2 teaspoons of mayonnaise and a half-teaspoon of Epsom Salt.
7. Skin exfoliator: Massage handfuls of Epsom Salt over your wet skin, starting with your feet and continuing up towards the face. Have a bath to rinse.
8. Remove excess oil from hair: Epsom salt soaks up excess oil from hair. Add 9 tablespoons of Epsom Salt to 1/2 cup of oily hair shampoo. Apply one tablespoon of the liquid to your hair when it is dry; rinse with cold water. Pour lemon juice or organic apple cider vinegar through the hair, leave on for 5-10 minutes, and then rinse.
9. Remove hairspray: Combine 1 gallon of water, 1 cup of lemon juice, and 1 cup Epsom Salt. Combine, cover and let set for 24 hours. The next day, pour the mixture into your dry hair and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then shampoo as normal.
10. Hair volumizer: Combine equal parts of deep conditioner and Epsom Salt; warm in a pan. Work the warm mixture through your hair and leave on for 20 minutes. Rinse.
11. And Last but not least a recipe for your Own Spa formula!
This wonderful bathing mixture help to relieve soreness and aching joints and muscles. Soothing and relaxing, Healing salt crystals draw out impurities from your body and deodorize, too! With many of the healing properties of a seaside spa, this formula is perfect for the day after a strenuous workout, or for any time you need a little healing time-out.
SPA FORMULA
1 cup borax
2 cups Epsom Salts
½ cup coarse sea salt
¼ cup baking soda
¼ cup white clay
½ cup dried lavender
10 drops lavender essential oil
1. In a large bowl, mix together the borax, salts, baking soda, and clay, then mix in the dried lavender, stirring with a wire whisk.
2. Scent the mixture with the oil, mixing well with the whisk. Cover the bowl with a towel and leave overnight to fix the scent.
3. In the morning, thoroughly mix again and package in jars, zip-seal or muslin bags, or envelopes.
To Use: Add ¼ to ½ cup healing salt crystals to a tubful of warm water.

72- Hour Kit Wednesdays – Let there be light!

Did you get your containers for your 72-hour kits this week? That is a good hurdle to be over. I love using the backpacks I got each person for their clothes and other personal items we’ll store. I use the duffle bags for food and misc. other items. I might note here that if your backpacks or duffles are larger than most, you may not need more than just one for each person, my duffle bags were pretty small – but cheap. Your choice.

One of the most essential items to have in a 72-hour kit is a flashlight. Get enough for every person in your family to have one in their own bag. I think the flashlight idea is essential, not only for light but for comfort – especially for any of us who might be scared of the dark, or maybe more specifically, what’s in the dark. My choice of flashlight for my kits are the flashlights that you shake and they produce light – no batteries needed. Have you seen them? Here is how the work; when you shake the flashlight, a magnet passes through a metal coil which, which induces voltage in the coil generating electricity. Simple as that. No need worry about batteries going bad and having battery acid eating through everything in you kit. Who would worry about that? Me! They are not real expensive either, you can expect to pay between $5 and $8 on amazon.com and they are available at preparedness or sporting good stores as well.

If you wish to use battery flashlights you already have, rather than buy new ones, just remember you will need to change out the batteries every 6 months just to be sure they are safe and strong should you need them. You’ll probably also want to have extra flashlight bulbs too, just in case.

Light sticks are also a fun item to have in your kits. If you were ever in a situation with no power and in the dark, light sticks have a 12 hour life when opened and that would allow some light for a nervous child to get them through the darkest part of night. These are available at Emergency Essentials as well as Wal-Mart or sporting good stores as well.

Having experienced a cold and dark power outage ourselves just this week, and waking up to no light or heat at 3 am with a -2º temperature outside, I will say the first thing you think about is finding a flashlight or other source of light. You really can’t do anything till you find a way to see. Then you can think about all the things you wish you’d done to prepare for an outage. Grab some good flashlights for your kits this week and you’ll be one step closer to being prepared for anything.

Sharing your Food Storage Friendly Recipes: Yesterday I posted a request for recipes that are food storage friendly that you would like to share with us. The response has been awesome. I will now post your recipes on Friday's our new Food Storage Friendly Recipe Day each week. If you have not submitted a recipe yet, be thinking. The more recipes we can gather for our short term food storage, the happier we'll all be. And if you have sent some in and find more you'd like to submit that's great too.

Remember any recipe is awesome. They don't have to be for main dishes, maybe for a side dish, bread, vegetable or whatever you wish or even if you have a special way of doing something that you'd like to share, send them in.

Recipes, comments or suggestions can be sent to me at Preparedness365@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from more of you.

Inventory Organization and Sharing Favorite Food Storage Meals

We talked earlier this month about organizing your food storage and using inventory sheets to evaluate and make a plan. I'm including a couple of sheets to add to your food storage binder. One is an inventory for food and non-food storage inventory compliments of Marie Ricks. Print off some of these pages and begin your inventory or as the case may be, your food storage wish list.

The second sheet below is just a list to print off and begin making your list of short term food storage meals.

I'm also reprinting the link to the food storage calculator from foodstoragemadeeasy.net just to make it easier to see how much you need to store for your family. Click on the "food storage calculator" link on the middle of the page and you can save this calculator to your computer and update the totals or recalculate at any time. This is a great tool!

Share your favorite short term food storage meals with us. You can email the recipe to me or leave it in the comments section and I'll post it in another post, or simply mention that you have a recipe you'd like to share and I'll contact you for the recipe. The best way to increase your short term or food storage friendly meals is to share with others. Hopefully we'll have lots of shared recipes here to help us all increase the variety of our food storage meals.

Copy and paste the list below to create a list of your family’s favorite “food storage friendly” meals for short term storage. Fill in your favorite meals and keep the list in your new food storage binder. Your next step will be to write down EVERY ingredient you need to store to make these meals and multiply by the number of times you will need to make these meals to have a 3 month supply.

Food Storage Menu List
Breakfast
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Lunch
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Dinner
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Canning Chicken

I love having canned chicken, already cooked, ready to go on my shelves. I have so many recipes I can use it in and continually find new recipes that are easily adaptable to canned chicken. With canned chicken on your shelves it is so easy to compile a list of food storage recipes using chicken for your short term food storage.

If you have a pressure canner it is very easy to can your own chicken. If you don’t I’ll also include instructions on how you can freeze your cooked chicken and the chicken broth for your favorite chicken recipes.

This is a good time of year to buy chicken for canning. I prefer canning chicken breasts – boneless and skinless – because it is easier and I like the meat. However, you may wish to can mixed dark and white meat or any combination thereof. You can also buy the whole chicken or any combo of chicken parts and cook, remove meat and can.

Here are the basic directions for canning both the chicken meat and the broth, which you will also love having on hand. I’m also including the recipe for frozen chicken mix and frozen chicken broth that is great if you have freezer space. This is a great idea to have chicken and broth ready to go for your favorite recipe. It is also a good way to take advantage of sale prices you may find on chicken. However just a suggestion: Start hinting to Santa now that you want a pressure canner for Christmas next year…He may have to start saving his pennies now!! I’m also including my favorite recipe using canned chicken. Having the chicken cooked and ready to go makes this a quick dinner favorite.

Home Canned Chicken
In a large pot on the stove, cook chicken with water to cover the chicken,until done. De-bone if necessary and cut into small to medium size chunks. (If using chicken breasts you can either cut the meat into chunks before cooking or after it is cooked.

While meat is cooking warm clean jars on a baking sheet in your oven, on low heat. Keep canning flats warm in a pan of hot water on low on your stove top. When chicken is cooked and cut up, add 1 chicken bouillon cube to each pint or quart jar (you can add 2 per quart if you wish). Fill with boiling water, (NOT the broth it was cooked in) leaving 1” headspace per jar. Wipe jars, add canning flats and rims.

Follow your pressure canner directions exactly. Process pints for 75minutes and quarts for 90 minutes at 13 lbs. pressure (15 lbs. if using a weighted canner instead of one with a gauge).

For broth:
Take reserve broth from cooked chicken and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Skim off fat, reheat and pour into jars leaving a 1” headspace. Process pints for 20 minutes and quarts for 25 minutes at 13 lbs. pressure (for gauge canner) and15 lbs. pressure (for weighted canner).

Remove jars from canner when pressure has dropped completely and wipe with a clean dishcloth, label with date and store.

Frozen Chicken Mix
11 lbs. chicken (any combo of white and dark you wish)
4 quarts water
3 T. parsley flakes
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 t. salt
½ t. pepper
2 t. basil
Combine all ingredients in a large kettle. Cover and cook over high heat until water boils. Simmer until meat is tender, about 1 ½ hours. Remove from heat. Strain broth and refrigerate until fat can be skimmer. Cool chicken, remove any bones or skin and cut into chunks or pieces. Put into 6 freezer containers or freezer bags or use a food saver and freeze. After removing fat from broth put into 6 more freezer containers or jars leaving about ½” headspace at the top. Seal and label containers; freeze. Use within 3 months. Y: 6 pints chicken and 6 pints broth.

Cheddary Chicken Pot Pie
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. milk, divided
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 pkg. (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
¼ c. chopped celery
¼ c. shredded carrots
¼ c. grated parmesan cheese
½ t. salt
3 c. cubed cooked chicken (or 1 pint cooked chicken, drained)1 pkg. (10 oz.) Frozen chopped broccoli, cooked & drained
1 egg
1 T. oil
1 c. buttermilk complete pancake mix
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
¼ c. sliced almonds (optional)
Combine soup, ½ c. milk, onion, cream cheese, celery, carrots, parmesan cheese & salt. Cook & stir till mixture is hot & cream cheese is melted. Don't boil. Stir in broccoli and heat through. Pour into ungreased 2 qt. baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine egg, oil & remaining milk. Add pancake mix & cheddar cheese, blend well. Spoon over hot chicken mixture. Sprinkle with almonds if desired. Bake uncovered at 375º for 20-25 minutes or till golden brown. Y: 6 servings

Storing Comfort Foods

Think for a moment back to a traumatic experience in your life. What were your feelings? Was it a little difficult to think and function normally? Were you able to act calmly and rationally and to continue functioning as if nothing were wrong?

Anytime we are faced with an emergency or a disruption in normal routine life patterns change. Many people function well under extreme pressure, most do not. This is the reason it is always best to plan and prepare for an emergency before it happens even if we do not know what kind of emergency we are preparing for.

I may be able to handle the emergency itself and keep moving but to be able to make life continue in a normal fashion for those around me would be harder. We don’t even have to be talking about a serious emergency, just a change in plans or a disruption in routine.

I’ve learned over the years that one of the best ways to be prepared for an emergency or disaster is to have some “comfort foods” on hand that we can eat or share without much effort or planning. Many times things have happened that caused us to do things we didn’t think we would have to do; from something little like my husband being called out to work in the cold or heat for an undisclosed amount of time, not knowing when he would be able to get a meal, to being evacuated from our home thinking we’d be able to return soon to find that we could never live there again.

Now, I always try to keep some comfort foods on hand at all times so I can be ready for little emergencies or life changing situations that may arise. Depending on the people in your family and what they like or dislike or can’t eat, your choice of foods to keep on hand may be different. I have always read that little kids need fun foods that they like and are used to in an emergency but I think the same is true of us big kids too. The last thing I want to be doing when I’m in an uncomfortable situation is trying to find something that we can eat or take with us to eat if we have to leave.

I’ve compiled a short list of things that your family may consider “comfort foods”. Pick a few of these items to keep on an emergency shelf or closet. If you have a lot of kids, it may be difficult to keep much of this kind of stuff around for long, but make a place and keep it well stocked with foods you could grab or turn to in a time of distress. These are things that require little or no cooking, some are filling, some would be considered junk food. Sometimes it may be just the advance thinking of what a comfort food is so you could reach for it in a time of distress. However, hopefully if you are ever faced with an emergency situation you would have enough on hand to grab quickly and satisfy hunger until you can make other arrangements. These are separate from your 72-hour kits, these are just for little times when maybe the power is out, or your regular family routine is disrupted.

Ideas for “Comfort foods” to have on hand
Beanie Weenies
Beef & Cheese sticks
Bottled water (cases)
Canned fruit (pop top cans)
Canned tuna and crackers
Capri Sun drink packs
Chocolate
Chocolate chips
Chocolate milk mix & instant milk or instant chocolate milk mix
Crackers with cheese
Dehydrated fruit
Fruit roll-ups
Fruit snacks
Granola Bars
Gum
Hot Chocolate Packets
Instant cup of noodles
Instant Mashed potatoes and instant gravy mix
Instant oatmeal
Instant rice
Instant soup mixes (just add boiling water)
Jerky
Lifesavers
MRE’s (ready to eat meals)
Nuts
Olives
Peanut snack packs
Peanut butter
Peanut butter crackers
Pop tarts
Pre cooked bacon
Prepackaged beverages in foil packets
Pudding mixes and Instant milk to make pudding
Raisins
Ramen Noodles
Snack size canned goods
Spiced cider
Sweetened cereals
Trail mix
Vienna sausage

Storing Toiletries And Some Money Saving Tips

One important thing every good storage should have is bar soap. It’s portable and would be essential in a disaster or an emergency if there was no running water. The ability to have thoroughly clean hands would be a great asset in preventing the spread of disease and other illnesses. It is hard to plan how much soap to store for a year, however, if you know how much you use now, you’d have a pretty good idea. A good tip you might consider however, is aging your soap to make it last longer.

A fresh bar of soap is soft enough that you can make a dent in it with your finger. At that time it contains more water than if it is allowed to age, dry and harden. The longer you allow soap to dry before initial use, the longer it will last. The scent and color may fade with age, but this does not affect the quality of the soap. In fact, the soap will last longer if allowed to age. The scent will return when the bar is wetted.

Never store soap in plastic or airtight containers- it cannot dry this way. Store soap in a box, in brown paper, or on a shelf with your towels to make them smell nice. Direct sunlight will fade the color of the soap, but will not affect its quality. Some soaps are aged before they are packaged and sold but most are not.

The life of a bar of soap can be extended between 25 & 50% by aging them, unwrapped before use. There is no need to age all your soap at once, just a bar or two at a time.

Hand Sanitizer is another good item to store. It is cheaper in the large containers but less portable. It would be invaluable for short term emergencies if running water were unavailable. It might be a good idea to buy it in larger containers like at Costco or Sam’s Club and refill smaller bottles for daily use and 72-hour kits and it carry in purses and diaper bags, etc.

One item that I’ve always included in our storage is disposable razors. I’ve heard many comments over the years saying that if there is ever an emergency people would just go without shaving. That might be fine for a few days, but if you are ever faced with a long term emergency, people always find that they just feel better when they are cleaned up and able to have a small degree of normalcy. So having razors in storage is an important thing to do.

The downside of that is, however,that the price can add up and they can take up a lot of space if you have to store very many. Here is a money saving tip that will enable you to store less.

Did you know that razor blades can be sharpened and reused? Our grandfathers and great grandfathers probably used a leather strap to sharpen their straight edge razors. Some people use a sharpening stone or different methods. Here is a quick tip that will save you money.

When your disposable razor become dull and you are ready to throw it away, try sharpening it yourself. Just rub the razor blade BACKWARDS up your forearm about 10 times using a medium pressure. That is going the opposite way you usually pull your razor. It works like magic! Your blades are sharp again. You can sometimes make the blades last up to 2 years (depending on how often they are used and the thickness of a beard etc.) It’s worth a try! It also appears to work running them backwards 10 times on denim, but your arm is right there with you in the shower and easily accessible.

This method may not keep your blades sharp forever but if it doubles or even triples the life of the blade you are saving money not to mention the number of blades you’ll need to store will be less.

The options of what to store for a man to shave with are up to you. One of the easiest things to store, in my opinion, is the mug-shaving soap-shaving brush option. They take up little room and store well. Check it out. They used to be readily available. Check out your local drug store. If they are not in stock, chances are they can order some for you. They are always available on-line. Any other ideas?

Pay special attention to the toiletries you use each day and think about the amounts you’ll need to have on hand for a comprehensive year’s supply.

72-Hour Kit Wednesdays

I have made several 72-hour kits during my time and it seems that every time I complete one and feel so proud of myself, I think of things I wish I and added or something different I wish I’d done. I’m redoing and updating my kits this year and so each Wednesday I’ll be posting about the items I’m adding or the changes I’ve made. If you don’t have your 72 kits finished, work on them with me this year. Also if you have any suggestions, we’d all love to hear them.

The first things you need to get started are the containers. There are several things you can use to hold your 72 hour kits and you may have better ideas than mine. Here are some different options:

-I started with a back pack for each person and eventually added a small duffle bag for each person as well.

-Some people use 5 or 6 gallon buckets with handles thinking that the buckets will be useful for seating or holding water or even as a makeshift toilet in an emergency.

-Some use a back pack for each individual and then a large tote to hold the food for the family.

-Another option is a rolling suitcase for each person. This can get very expensive so be warned that the cheaper containers you can find the better. You can always upgrade later if you wish.

It doesn’t really matter what you use as long as you get started. I remember when I first started that I put it off for a long time because I was looking for the perfect bags to hold my kits. You can often pick up used backpacks or duffle bags or find them at discount prices. Gather what you have so you can get started. You may change your mind along the way and that’s okay too as long as you keep working on them.

If you have babies or younger children or family members who require special medications, etc, you may want to personalize your bags so everyone knows which is his. Otherwise it doesn’t really matter.

We will be gathering different items each week so if you want to start with a box for each person and gather containers as we go along that is fine too.

I will tell you that of all the preparedness items I have worked on, the 72-hour kids were the hardest for me. I think it was because I didn’t really know what I was doing and didn’t want to make any mistakes. When I finally finished putting them together the first time it was a HUGE relief. I’ve since learned that you are never really done. You will need to rotate your bags every 6 months. Be thinking of 2 dates that are about 6 months apart that will remind you to rotate the food contents of your bags. I used to do it on the days that daylight savings started and ended. They have changed those days now so they are closer together. Now I use the first day of spring and the first day of fall as my rotation days. You could pick birthdays or other special days that will remind you it’s time to rotate then always mark these days on the calendar so you’ll never forget.

Start gathering your backpacks, duffle bags, buckets, suitcases or whatever you want to use for your kits. Next Wednesday, we’ll begin gathering the contents.

Food Storage - Organization and Inventory

One of the first things I like to do at the beginning of every year is to inventory my food storage. I don’t necessarily count every item but I look at the things I have used and may not have replaced, things I have not been storing but want to store a little or maybe a lot of, and just look in general to see what I am missing. I’ve found that I am more likely to do this at the beginning of the year because if I don’t it may get put off indefinitely.

Theoretically, every time I use a can of this or that it should be replace and rotated into the rest of my food storage. It doesn’t always happen that way. I have also found that the way I store things and the things I store changes from time to time.

I have tried several different methods of keeping an inventory and found what works for me. Let me share with you some of the things I have tried and some of the successes and failures that you might be able to learn from. If you are just beginning your food storage, this is a good time to start. I like to keep an inventory of everything I have on hand. This helps me set goals as well as just being able to plan a meal and know if there is anything I need for that meal that I don’t have on hand.

First, know that I am a firm believer in food storage. I am dedicated to having a manageable food storage. If you really want to have a good food storage, and are really dedicated to doing it, it can be done. I don’t run to the store every day or even every week. It is not uncommon for me to go a couple of weeks or more without going to the grocery store. I hope that I would be able to go much longer without going to the store. Granted, I don’t have little kids at home anymore, but I have found that it is possible to shop less often by planning better. Here is how I manage my food storage on paper.

MAKE A LIST
First, start making a list of everything that you want to have in your food storage. I like to divide it into sections according to how I store it. Maybe on the first page you could make a list of everything you will store in 5 or 6 gallon buckets, another page would be your #10 can storage, another list would be your canned goods storage, a page for your condiments and spices, a page for paper products such as bath tissue, aluminum foil, garbage bags and baggies, another page for short term storage items such as cereals, cake mixes, granola bars and pancake mixes etc. You can divide your inventory in as many or as few sections as you wish. If you have a computer, begin making lists in each category and then add to them as you think of them. This list will most likely be an ongoing project that you will continue to work on as you build your storage. It doesn’t have to be done in a table or alphabetized or written neatly, that will come later. Just begin making your master list.

After you feel that you have compiled it as completely as you can, print them off and put them in a binder. This binder will be your brain and will become very important to you. Next, make a note next to each item as to how much of that item you want to have on hand. Do this in pencil. As you begin to keep track of how much you buy and how much you use, you’ll find your numbers changing.

It is also a good idea to collect price lists from different suppliers and put them in this binder so that you can have a ready reference of where to shop for different items you want to store. Most suppliers have downloadable catalogs or price lists that can act as a guideline for you. You will immediately be able to tell where you can get the best deals on any particular items. Realize that once you begin to make lists and write things down, it is easier to make a more comprehensive list and add different items. At some point these lists will become your shopping lists and you will make your shopping list from the items you have used.

As you learn to use your food storage better these lists may change. Let me give a quick example here: I used to store a lot of cream of chicken soup and a lot of canned beans. I don’t anymore. I make cream soup substitutes that I use in place of the cream soup. However, I like to keep maybe 6 cans of cream of chicken soup on hand for certain recipes. Same with the beans, I now use dried beans most of the time but have a couple of quick recipes that call for canned chili so I keep a few cans on hand for those specific recipes. As you learn more about your personal likes and dislikes your storage methods will definitely change.

COLLECTING VALUABLE STORAGE INFORMATION
I would recommend getting another binder, a little bigger one. Use this one for information you collect or have collected on storage. You may wish to divide it into sections; maybe a section on wheat which contains any information on wheat that you have as well as information on how to store it as well as recipes for using it. I have collected several binders of information over the years and as my food storage uses change, so does the information in my binders. I like the idea of having other people’s experiences with using food storage at my fingertips and learn so much from the knowledge of others.

ROTATING MY STORAGE
I have tried so many methods to rotate my storage. My space is limited so it is a bigger challenge. I tried different colored stickers for different years. That worked when my children were little and I would send them to the storage room. Sometimes I would just put a date on my boxes of case goods, in fact my husband was vigilant about marking boxes before we ever put them away – bless his heart. If you do this, keep several sharpie markers in your food storage area and keep everything marked. When you open a new case and remove the cans, mark the top of EVERY can. It is so easy to be tempted to use the newer stuff because it is easier to get to.

I also used to keep a list of everything from my storage and have my kids or myself mark off what they took from the storage room, but it didn’t always happen. It is much easier to keep a shopping list on the fridge and write down everything you use as you use it especially if you are using things from the basement, kitchen or maybe even under a bed. Try to be as consistent as you can about keeping track of everything you use.

Let me know how your inventory is coming. If anyone is interested in a sample inventory, let me know and I can email you one. Let’s make 2011 a successful food storage year.