Four years of FoodStorageMadeEasy.net

FoodStorageMadeEasy.net  is one of my very favorite food storage blogs.  This week they are celebrating their 4th birthday.  It is amazing that the two ladies, Julie and Jodi, only started learning about food storage four short years ago, and have become such a great information source for all the rest of us.

In this post, http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2012/06/26/birthday-party/, they list some of their very best posts, best products, and best recipes which they have included over the past four years.

Water saving tips during a disaster

Here are some good tips by FoodStorageMadeEasy.net:

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2012/03/29/how-to-deal-with-long-term-water-loss/

How to use crystallized honey

I have lots of honey that is 15 or more years old.  It has gone crystallized and hard inside the 5 lb. plastic jugs.  When I can melt it, it is perfectly usable.  But how do I melt it?

BOILING ON STOVE:
I just put a grate in the bottom of a pot and put the opened jug on top of the grate, and boil it in water until I can pour it out into smaller containers.  (Never put the jug directly on the bottom of the pot, and never boil a jug with the lid on.)

The honey stays reasonably soft, soft enough to use it for spreading on toast.  It doesn't go back to completely liquid and pourable, but it is usable.


IN THE MICROWAVE:
These jugs are too tall for my microwave.  However, if the honey is in plastic jugs, you can saw the top part off with a serrated knife and then set the jug inside the microwave.  Microwave it long enough to make some of it liquid, pour that off, and repeat.


SOLAR:
Another way I have melted the hard honey is by putting the jug out in the sun on a sunny day.  The outer edges will melt and you can pour that off and keep repeating.  An even more effective way to do this is by putting the jug inside a turkey roasting plastic oven bag.  Puff the bag out away from the jug, put a twist tie on the opening to keep the heat inside.  The sun will shine through the bag and the heat will collect inside the air space, like a car in the sun.  If you're doing this on a sunny day when it isn't very hot outside,  set the bag/jug on top of something insulative, like a board, to keep it off the cold ground.

NEVER BUY HONEY IN 5 GALLON BUCKETS OR GLASS JARS
I never buy honey in anything other than small plastic jugs or containers.  Why?  Because if it is in a huge container, you can't put it in the microwave or boil it on the stove.  My friend had to chisel chunks of hard honey out of a 5 gallon bucket to try to melt the chunks on the stove.  That does not sound fun.

And I don't get glass jars, because then I can't saw off the top of the jug to fit it in my microwave.

Face it, with food storage honey, it is going to go solid eventually.  So you better have a plan on how you are going to soften it.

Lana Richardson on video

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6255&Itemid=200049

This is an excellent video by Lana Richardson, who tells about sanitation, laundry, cooking in a disaster situation.  Some of the best information I have seen in a video.

Challenge: Use Stored Water for Cooking, Drinking

I have already put this challenge on my blog on June 1, but since we are having 2 challenges in June, I need to remind you that it is time to do the 2nd challenge.

(Have you done Challenge #1 yet?)

2012- A Year of Preparedness

Our June challenge is: Use Stored Water.

Challenge 1:  Pick one day during the first two weeks of June, and flush toilets with stored water for the entire day.  

(You will need to refill the containers, because later this month you will be choosing one day to cook and drink with stored water.)

Goals:

Learn to use stored water to flush the toilet, using a bucket of water poured into the bowl, not the tank.  You’ll need about 3 quarts of water per flush.

Learn to flush the toilet less often.  (Ever heard the old saying, "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down"?)

Rules:  Early in the morning, shut off the valve leading from the wall to the toilet.

Put masking tape over the flush levers on all your toilets.

Keep track of how much water you use for flushing in 24 hours.  Email Amy with what your family learned. 

Challenge 2:

 Our next challenge will consist of choosing one day to cook and drink with stored water. Please complete this challenge during the second half of June.

Goals:  Use purchased water or stored tapwater for all cooking and drinking for one day.  Find out how much water it takes for one day, and email your experiences to Amy.

Rules:

Put tape over all your sink faucets early one morning.

Put filled water containers near every faucet.

Do not use any water from the faucet today. Drink and cook today using just stored water.

Also brush your teeth and wash your hands with stored water.

Prepare all three meals at home and wipe the kitchen counters with stored water.  

It is okay to shower, use the dishwasher and washing machine, and flush toilets as usual.

Ward member reported back on the Flushing Toilets Challeng

Our ward is doing a one day challenge of Flushing Toilets with Stored Water.  Here is the first email report I have received from a ward member:

Here is my report - 1780 oz used to flush toilets in one day: approximately 14 gallons of water. 

I had plenty of jugs, but that is a lot more water than we have stored per day. We are a family of 4 and I have 56 gallons of water stored for drinking. We would have no water left over for toilets. I am definitely considering a rain barrel. 

-R.M.

Cupboards may not be strong enough

I thought this was such a good idea for storing water, but maybe it isn't.

I just heard a woman in our ward say that many years ago she had stored water this way, and her cupboards couldn't hold the weight and they crashed down from the wall.

So be aware that this may not be safe.

Handwashing using stored water

I save these empty 40 oz. laundry detergent containers and store water inside them.  I label them "Water for Washing" because this water would be soapy and you shouldn't drink it.

Put one by each sink.  Since they have a little spigot, you can easily wash your hands when there is no water in the tap.

"Emergency Water Storage", Ensign 2006

See “Emergency Water Storage” Ensign, Aug. 2006, p. 71
http://www.lds.org/ensign/2006/08/random-sampler?lang=eng

Emergency Water Storage

Do you have enough water stored for your family in the event of an emergency? If so, is it stored properly? Adults need to drink at least two quarts of water each day. Children, nursing mothers, and ill people may need more. Additional water is needed for food preparation and hygiene—for a total of one gallon per adult per day. The Church recommends storing a two-week supply as a minimum. For an adult, that’s 14 gallons (53 liters).

According to providentliving.org, water storage containers should be thoroughly washed and should be airtight and resistant to breakage. Plastic soda bottles are commonly used. If the water has been treated with chlorine by a water utility, you do not need to add anything before storing it. If the water is not chlorinated and is clear, add eight drops of household bleach (5 percent sodium hypochlorite) per gallon. If the water is not chlorinated and is cloudy, add 16 drops per gallon. Seal the containers tightly, date them, and store them in a cool, dark place. Since many containers are clear, and light can permeate them, you may want to cover them or store them in dark plastic bags. Replace water every six months.

Other water sources in your home include the water heater and water remaining in the pipes, but in the event of contamination, this water would need to be purified. Having ready, potable water available for immediate use is one of the most important ways to help your family be prepared for an emergency.

Doing laundry the old fashioned way

Here is an article about washing clothing by hand.

http://daily-survival.blogspot.com/2009/02/laundry-by-hand.html

If we were out of power for an extended length of time, you would need variations of these things:  buckets or washtubs, something to agitate the clothing, something to scrub the clothing on, a way to squeeze the water out of the clothes, something to hang up the clothing to dry.

Do you have the supplies needed?

Tips for using the dry canner

We have a dry canner in our ward building now. (I am the one to call if you want to use it.) It weighs about 60 pounds, so be aware of that. One woman cannot lift it alone. When you get it, the two sticks will be screwed into the base, as shown in this picture.

Sticks screwed into the base, for transporting and storing.

You need to unscrew them both, and screw them into the holes at the top of the machine before using it.

Sticks in proper position for canning.

Notes from a Katrina survivor

This was written by a person whose home was right in Katrina's path, Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

"Our home didn't get drinkable water for about two weeks, and electricity came after about three weeks.  

The bishop described how travel was almost impossible in town because of the downed trees and wires.  

He explained that a 72-hour kit would have proved invaluable because it was about three days before the elders were able to start checking on members who weren't in their neighborhood.  

My friend described the area as looking as if a war had erupted and how pools of water stood in the streets with strewn powerlines nearby. He was able to get a generator but chain saws disappeared almost immediately and didn't come back in stores for months because they sold out immediately whenever they came in stock.  

When I was going through our belongings and trying to decide what to save I found myself saving the memorabilia and family history and leaving the rest. "

As you read that, just remember, we could get hit by a major hurricane this year, and it is wise to realize how bad it could be, and prepare accordingly.  TWO WEEKS without water, and THREE WEEKS without electricity!  Are you prepared for something like that?

Any container will do, if a hurricane is coming

Before I ever moved to North Carolina, about the only thing I had ever heard about hurricane preparations was "Always fill up all your bathtubs with water".

I wondered why?

Later, I learned that sometimes, the hurricane flooding will contaminate the municipal water sources, and then you will have to boil all your water.  Its best to store as much clean water as you can, so that if that happens you will have some that isn't contaminated.

So, lets say you are in my ward and we are having two ward challenges this month.  And the name of one challenge is "Flush all your toilets for one day with stored water" and the name of the other is "Cook and drink only stored water for one day".

If I were you, I would store water in every available container you can get, just to see how much water you will be using for those two challenges.

And it will be a pretty good trial run for if a hurricane ever hits here and swamps our municipal water treatment plant.

Flushing a toilet using a bucket

One of our challenges for this month is to choose a day, and use stored water to flush toilets for 24 hours. Record how much water you used, and email me with your experiences so I can put it on this blog.

I tested how to use stored water to flush toilets, and found out YOU HAVE TO USE A BUCKET.  Do not try to pour water out of 2 liter sodapop bottles, it comes out too slow.

My toilets flushed just fine pouring at least 3 quarts of water into the bucket, then pouring the bucketful of water QUICKLY straight into the hole in the bottom of the toilet bowl.  This created suction, and it flushed very well.

Things to avoid:

Do not pour the water slowly.

Do not pour in less than 3 quarts.  (Your toilet might have to have more, 3 quarts worked in mine.)

Do not use purchased bottled water, it is expensive. In times of disasters, you could even use recycled water, like dish rinse water or bath water, or even pond water, to flush your toilets.

Do not pour the water into the toilet tank.  I tried it with 4 quarts and it wouldn't flush at all.  I would have had to use a lot more than 4 quarts.  Just take my word for it, and pour the water into the bowl, that takes only 3 quarts.

Don't flush very often.  Remember the old poem, "If it's yellow, let it mellow.  If it's brown, flush it down."  Disgusting but true.

Challenge for June: Use Stored Water

2012- A Year of Preparedness

Our June challenge is: Use Stored Water.

Challenge 1:  Pick one day during the first two weeks of June, and flush toilets with stored water for the entire day.  

(You will need to refill the containers, because later this month you will be choosing one day to cook and drink with stored water.)

Goals:

Learn to use stored water to flush the toilet, using a bucket of water poured into the bowl, not the tank.  You’ll need about 3 quarts of water per flush.

Learn to flush the toilet less often.  (Ever heard the old saying, "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down"?)

Rules:  Early in the morning, shut off the valve leading from the wall to the toilet.

Put masking tape over the flush levers on all your toilets.

Keep track of how much water you use for flushing in 24 hours.  Email Amy with what your family learned. 

Challenge 2:

 Our next challenge will consist of choosing one day to cook and drink with stored water. Please complete this challenge during the second half of June.

Goals:  Use purchased water or stored tapwater for all cooking and drinking for one day.  Find out how much water it takes for one day, and email your experiences to Amy.

Rules:

Put tape over all your sink faucets early one morning.

Put filled water containers near every faucet.

Do not use any water from the faucet today. Drink and cook today using just stored water.

Also brush your teeth and wash your hands with stored water.

Prepare all three meals at home and wipe the kitchen counters with stored water.  

It is okay to shower, use the dishwasher and washing machine, and flush toilets as usual.

See “Emergency Water Storage” Ensign, Aug. 2006, p. 71