Food Storage and 72 Hour Kits

First of all, a bit of eye candy for you. I've promised you beautiful things on this blog along with useful things also, but you'll pretty much see eye candy no matter what.

The vases I finished recently are now stuffed with some coffee filter roses I've made.

Little faux cupcakes that grace my living room end table.
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Right after Easter this year hubby and I went to the stores and bought up a bunch of marked down candy for emergencies. (Yes, this is a boring subject today but one that definitely needs to be addressed.) We vacuum sealed some candy and thought we'd open it after several months to see how it survived. This past week we opened up our Milk Duds.

This is how they looked when I cut the sealed bag. Hubs said to throw it out. I beg to differ, man!!! Throw out chocolate? Is the man nuts?! Never. I peeled the cardboard box off it and broke it into tiny pieces and ate it. While it doesn't look quite appetizing, I can assure you it was delish—hard but delish. It softened up after sucking on it for a few seconds and then it was just fine.

Hubby and I recently went through our 72 hour kits for emergencies. We do this periodically and it's a good thing. Listen up. You can do this. You need to do this. Remember Haiti, New Orleans and other areas hit by natural disasters? Those people could have survived if they had some food and water. Besides, our church leaders tell us to do it, and I'm obedient in as many things as I can possibly be because I'm pathetic is so many other ways.

Hubs and I started with backpacks and put them on luggage carriers in case I couldn't carry it on my back any longer. Easy peasy.

Then we added extra undergarments, shoes (good thing I checked it because I could no longer get my feet in the shoes in my pack after all the surgery 2 years ago), towel, washcloth, dry packed food, change of clothing, which can be just any old thing you want to put in since it'll be an emergency and the fashion police won't care. I hate MREs so we opted to buy Mountain House at WM and will now buy some that is even better called Dri-Lite from a local sporting goods store. We got 3 dinners but just put oatmeal, cereal and pancake mix in the backpack for breakfasts and snack type things for lunches. See the blue bag in the bottom right. Never hurts to have a few of those in there. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!! Pair of wool socks and gloves in case the disaster is in the winter time.

Hubs tent and plastic ware for eating and his little mess kit that contains cooking pot, plate and cup.

A ziplock bag can hold soap, toothbrush, shampoo and conditioner, comb and brush and any meds you might need. Rotate them for expiration dates.

I have a whole roll of toilet paper squished and put in a side pocket. You'll be very surprised how much you can get in a backpack. A coat need not go in there because in the summer you wouldn't need it especially, and if it's in the winter time, you'll be wearing it on your back. ;-)

A plastic bandaid can will hold an entire infirmary in it if packed right—bandaids, neosporin, pins and needles, lip balm.

I love having a whistle just in case we might get separated. Plus a length of cord can save a life. Side bar here:

Once with hubby was taking a scout troop for snow camping they came upon a pretty sheer cliff of snow and ice. Hubs is a large man—6"2' and about 200 pounds and the strongest man I've ever met. One of the other adults went across with the rope while hubs stayed on the starting side to sort of belay his across the chasm. Then the boys would have an adult at both ends to hold onto the rope while the boys were secured to it. A ways across this 300 ft. drop a boy slipped and started sliding. (He was an only child and very protected by his parents and I hate to think what would happen if he got injured or fell to his death on this trip. Anyway, hubs kept telling him to be careful but he got a bit cocky and started sliding. Hubs, in his best USMC drill sergeant voice told him to stop and grab the rope tighter to not slide so much. He listened and did what hubs told him but he was shaking badly when the guy on the other end got hold of him. He was sliding pretty fast and good on that rock covered with snow and ice. My man is a hero and I never doubt that he could save me from just about anything. But a rope can be used to throw to someone who might have fallen over a cliff or into a river.

Flashlight, my utensils and a foil blanket for warmth that packs down very small.

Lots of sweets and cocoa and herb tea. If you in a stressful situation there is nothing like sweet candy to help with the stress. And it's the best stuff for bartering you've ever seen. Have lots of it. During WWII cooking oil was the most precious commodity for trading. If you had sugar, candy or oil you could trade it for anything.

Hubby's jacket and the water filtration system. Easy and small to have. You don't want to get sick on the water if there is a major catastrophe. Light that goes around his head so he can help with hands free in the dark.

This is the back end of our garage where we have a 250 gallon water storage tank. I never worry about anyone stealing it because water weighs 8.3 lbs per gallon so that tank weight 2,075 full of water. And it's house water to drink. We got the tank from a man in our church who made them for about $180 each. Well worth it if a catastrophe hits. And there have been many lately.

Now, within the next couple of weeks I'm going to talk about food storage. We have a years supply of food and all the essentials. You can learn how and do it surprisingly quickly and easy. Here we had all our canned fruits, vegetables, pastas, peanut butter, nuts, ketchups, sauces, salt, pepper, spices, packaged dinners, cake mixes and frostings, vinegar, oils, canned meat, vacuum dried nuts, jerky, mayonnaise, mustard, candy, cereals, pancake mix, etc.

As you can see, I had a virtual grocery store in my basement. That was our former house and we have less than half the square footage here in our house now than this one—the former one. It's a bit tighter and we have to be more creative but it can definitely be done. The five gallon tubs contained dried carrots, dried onions, sugar, dried potatoes and dried beans. This was just part of it, the largest part, but there was more upstairs and meat in 2 of our freezers.

Here we kept toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, fabric softener, bleach, soap, toothpaste, lamp oil for oil lamps when electricity would be shut off.

So later on I'll tell you how to start your food storage. In reading an article this past week on food, there is no doubt it's going to climb in price and there are already shortages on some things. As Mormons we've been told to be prepared for these kinds of circumstances. Please, please listen and get some essentials for your home for the coming days. I doubt very seriously that you'll regret it but if it's not there, you'll regret not having it.
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