Dec. Challenge: Buy Preparedness Gifts

December Challenge: Buy emergency preparedness items as CHRISTMAS GIFTS for many of your friends and family members.
Gifts for lighting or making a fire during a power outage. Flashlights, lanterns, oil lamps, glowsticks, solar powered yard lights, candles, Bic lighters.


Gifts for keeping warm in a power outage. Winter clothing, down coats, down blankets, ski pants, knit caps, mittens, snow boots, wool socks, tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, wool or down blankets, indoor emergency heaters.


Buy gifts for auto emergencies: Battery charger, fix-a-flat, wool blanket, emergency kit, star wrench, jumper cables, car phone charger, flares, fire extinguisher, maps.


Buy gifts for coping with disasters: medical emergencies, cooking without power, camping, etc.


I am sure you can think of a lot more!

October's Challenge was to practice your skills at the Ward Campout.

At our recent ward campout, what did you learn?   Did you realize that while you were camping you were using the same skills and supplies necessary for coping with a disaster?  For example, you cooked without electricity, slept without your normal bed, had no fridge or freezer, and lit your tent without electricity.

Now ask yourselves:  

Did you pack enough food for your family, and were you successful at preparing it outdoors?

Did you have enough lighting, did your tent protect you from bugs and from the weather, was your bedding adequate?

Did you have the right type of gear, or do you need to obtain something better?

We are all familiar with that statement “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.”  (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30).  But we must also bear in mind that this most powerful statement has an equally powerful but completely opposite meaning—“If ye are NOT prepared, ye SHALL fear.”

You might think camping is no fun, but when you look at it as a dry run for a disaster, you can practice your skills and test out your equipment, and know that each camping trip is making your family more prepared.

My Experience Doing the No Fridge challenge: Monday

(This is a continuation of my report of doing the Shelf Stable challenge in my ward.  I had to live without a fridge or freezer for 2 1/2 days.)

Monday breakfast for 1 adult

  I wanted cold cereal but couldn’t deal with putting warm powdered milk on it.  Instead, I made hot cereal,  so the warm powdered milk didn’t bother me.

1 banana

2 packages of Maple and Brown Sugar instant oatmeal

1 tsp. powdered milk

boiling water

Monday lunch for 2 adults

I made one box of Hamburger Helper.   

1 box Hamburger Helper

a little powdered milk

tapwater

1 pint canned ground beef (I canned this last year.)

Ingredients for Turkey and Dressing Casserole (substituting chicken)

Monday Supper for 1 adult 

I made Turkey and Dressing Casserole, but substituted canned chicken.  (There was about 3/4 of this left over.)

Sauce:

1 can chicken

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 Tablespoon powdered milk and 1/4 cup water.

1 can peas.

Dressing:

Water

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil instead of butter

1 box Stovetop stuffing

 I realized that I could only make a small meal each time, we couldn’t open more cans than we could consume since there is no refrigeration.

I am accustomed to making more than we can eat, and putting the rest in the fridge, and eating it for leftovers the next day.

I might rethink buying large cans.  Small cans would be quicker to consume before they spoil from lack of refrigeration.

Monday night snack for 1 adult

I craved sweets so I made a little amount of buttercream frosting (powdered sugar, powdered margarine, powdered milk, water), stirred it until it was the right consistency, and ate it on graham crackers.

(To be continued)

My Experience doing the No Fridge challenge: Sunday

I was out of town for both weekends that our ward was doing the Shelf Stable challenge.  The rules were to tape your fridge and freezer shut from Sunday after church until Wednesday breakfast.  Don't use anything from the fridge or freezer during that time.  Don't use any ice.  See if you have enough shelf stable food in your house to make nourishing meals for those 2 1/2 days.

On Sunday Aug. 26 after church, I surprised my husband and 18 year old son by taping shut the fridge and freezer and telling them we were going to participate in the challenge.  (It was a week late, but I say, Better late than never.)

My son never really went along with it.  He cheated and kept getting the milk out.  My husband is on Nutrisystem so he was eating separately.

I was a little stricter on myself than I had required in the rules of the challenge.   I decided not to go shopping at all, so I could see what I would run out of.  I also decided to leave food out, since in a disaster you couldn’t put leftovers away in the fridge to keep them fresh.

I kept notes of what I ate.  Here is the list:

Sunday after church:

Luckily I had just baked bread and made cookies the night before, so we had plenty for the first day.  

When I came home from church, I noticed we had very little butter in our butter dish (which we don't refrigerate).  That was gone within the first day.

Sunday Lunch, for 1 adult.  

Half a can of Beef Barley soup.

One slice bread.

some Doritoes

Half an apple.

Tap water to drink.

Because I was pretending the power was out, I left the rest of the soup out of the fridge.

Sunday afternoon snack for 1 adult.

The other half of the soup.  (I didn't want it to spoil.)

Some fritos.

Sunday supper for  7 adults, 2 babies.

Some of our married kids and grandkids came over. I made BBQ Pork sandwiches, it was a good supper.

1 quart canned pork (I canned this last year.)

BBQ sauce.

6 hamburger buns  (that was all we had.)

3 pieces of bread

1 can green beans

1 can pears

1 can baked beans

some Tostitoes

8 cookies (now the cookies are gone.) 

tap water to drink.

We pretty much ate everything, so there were no leftovers to spoil without power.

(To be continued)

Reminder: Today is your second chance to start the challenge

2012: A Year of Preparedness

Our August Challenge is:  Eat no food from the fridge or freezer for 3 days , while imagining it is a widespread power outage. Did you do the challenge yet?

Rules:

Choose 3 consecutive days, and during that time, make all your meals out of shelf stable ingredients.  

Tape your fridge and freezer shut from Sunday after church until Wednesday breakfast. (Start today!)

Using all other electricity is OKAY during this challenge. Using city water is also okay.

No using ice or ice chests.  We are practicing how it will be after power is out for several days, with no ice available.

If you have leftovers, you can store them in the fridge, but you can’t get them back out until Wednesday.

You are not restricted from shopping, but you can’t use anything refrigerated or frozen.

Goals:

Learn to cook with some substitutions.  Do you own powdered milk, powdered eggs, powdered butter, powdered sour cream, etc.?  If you haven’t used them before, buy one can of powdered milk and one can of powdered eggs, and begin using them in baking to rotate them.

Email Amy to tell her what you learned!

Reminder: Start your Shelf Stable Foods challenge today!

2012: A Year of Preparedness

Our August Challenge is:  Eat no food from the fridge or freezer for 3 days , while imagining it is a widespread power outage..

Rules:

Choose 3 consecutive days, and during that time, make all your meals out of shelf stable ingredients.  

Tape your fridge and freezer shut from Sunday after church until Wednesday breakfast. (Suggested starting dates:  today or next Sunday Aug. 19)

Using all other electricity is OKAY during this challenge. Using city water is also okay.

No using ice or ice chests.  We are practicing how it will be after power is out for several days, with no ice available.

If you have leftovers, you can store them in the fridge, but you can’t get them back out until Wednesday.

You are not restricted from shopping, but you can’t use anything refrigerated or frozen.

Goals:

Learn whether you have all the ingredients necessary for making the food you want to eat.  Are the meals nourishing?

Become aware of some unpleasant things you may have to endure.  For instance, you may have to eat cold cereal with room temperature powdered milk.  How will your children handle this?

Consider non-electric methods for cooling food, and plan to buy items which will help you for a future disaster situation.

Please email Amy and tell her what you've learned!

August Challenge: Tape your fridge and freezer shut for 3 days

August:  Eat no food from the fridge or freezer for 3 days.

Rules:

Choose 3 consecutive days, and during that time, make all your meals out of shelf stable ingredients.  

Tape your fridge and freezer shut from Sunday after church until Wednesday breakfast. (Suggested dates:  Aug. 12-15 or Aug. 19-22.)

Using all other electricity is OKAY during this challenge. Using city water is also okay.

No using ice or ice chests.  We are practicing how it will be after power is out for several days, with no ice available.

If you have leftovers, you can store them in the fridge, but you can’t get them back out until Wednesday.

You are not restricted from shopping, but you can’t use anything refrigerated or frozen.

Goals:

Learn whether you have all the ingredients necessary for making the food you want to eat.  Are the meals nourishing?

Learn to cook with some substitutions.  Do you own powdered milk, powdered eggs, powdered butter, powdered sour cream, etc.?  If you haven’t used them before, buy one can of powdered milk and one can of powdered eggs, and begin using them in baking to rotate them.

Become aware of some unpleasant things you may have to endure.  For instance, you may have to eat cold cereal with room temperature powdered milk.  How will your children handle this?

Consider non-electric methods for cooling food, and plan to buy items which will help you for a future disaster situation.

Research shelf-stable menus, and collect the ingredients for them.

Find out how your children cope with this challenge.

“While it is sincerely hoped that members do not get caught up in any hysteria or obsessive preparations for disasters, the Church continues its long-standing practice of encouraging members to be self-reliant and reasonably prepared.” (Bishop H. David Burton, Presiding Bishop, “Conversation,” Ensign, Sept. 1999, 78.)

"Acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life. Obtain clothing and build a savings account on a sensible, well-planned basis that can serve well in times of emergency. As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year's supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness" (L. Tom Perry, "If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear," Ensign, Nov. 1995, 36).

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.

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

A reminder of our 12 month set of challenges...

We are almost 4 months through our "2012 Year of Preparedness", a set of challenges that Bishop B. asked me to put together for our ward.  


Here is the twelve-month calendar of challenges, in case you have forgotten.

2012: A Year of Preparedness

MV Ward

February:

No heat for one night

March: 

No lights, no powered entertainment for one evening

April: 

Learn about food storage, plan, and begin buying food from your plan

May: 

Obtain containers and fill them with water 

(and keep buying food)

June: 

Flush toilets one day with stored water.

Cook and drink using stored water for one day.

July: 

Plan 7 days of meals using only shelf stable ingredients (Shelf Stable means they don’t need refrigeration.)

August:

Make all your meals out of shelf stable ingredients for 3 days.

September:  

Cook 2 menu items without electricity.  Show off your cooking at the ward Labor Day picnic.

October:  

Practice your preparedness skills at the MV Ward Campout.

November: 

Don’t go to the store For 6 days.

December: 

Buy Emergency Preparedness items as Christmas gifts.

January 2013: 

Learn to bathe using stored water.

Are you ready for the June challenges, using stored water to flush toilets one day, and using stored water to cook and  drink a different day?

How to buy year's supply of grains, etc.

FoodStorageMadeEasy.net has some great tips on how to buy the long-term items in your food storage.

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2012/03/21/best-ways-to-purchase-traditional-food-storage/

A Plan for Buying 3-mos Supply All at Once

FoodStorageMadeEasy.net made a plan for the person who gets a big wad of cash and wants to buy their three month's supply of food all at one time.

Here are some helpful hints for doing that (if you have a great big hunk of money right now.)


http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2012/03/20/buying-a-3-month-supply-in-bulk/

Reminders: The April challenge, I'm giving classes on Food Storage

Our April Ward Challenge is: 

“Learn about Food Storage, and Plan Menus using your Family's Favorite Foods.  Begin buying food from your plan.”

Goals:  

Each family will plan a three month's supply of food.

Each family will begin obtaining a three month's supply of food.

Each family will learn the importance of obtaining their one year's supply.

Read “Family Home Storage: A New Message”,  Ensign March 2009. http://www.lds.org/ensign/2009/03/family-home-storage-a-new-message?lang=eng

Family home evening:  Make a list with your family of all their favorite meals and snacks.  These will become the basis for your three months supply of food.  

Figure out a way to buy all the ingredients for a  few of these meals, to make that meal 13 times (equals once a week for three months.)  Make these purchases over the next few weeks.

Food Storage Classes this month, for members of MV ward and guests

To help you achieve the April goal, I will be offering small group presentations about Food Storage this month   (April 2012).  I have the following dates reserved at our MV building. 

Mornings:  Tuesdays  April 24.  Tentatively 10am-11am unless the attendees want a different time.

Evenings:  Wednesdays, April  18, 25.  Tentatively 7pm-8pm unless the attendees want a different time.

What will I teach?  I will be giving a powerpoint presentation which I originally gave at the March 2011 Stake Women’s Day, called “One Thousand Pages of Food Storage Information in 30 minutes”.  I will be going through the contents of the CD which I will give to the attendees.  The CD contains all the documents you might need to help you plan your food storage.

I am also eager to answer any questions you might have.  Please email me with items you want me to cover in the class, and I will try to bring information geared to your interests.  (If you have already attended this powerpoint presentation, but still want to learn more about food storage, we can arrange something different.)

 If I can get at least three people to attend, I will hold the class.  Couples may attend, or one adult from a family is also welcome.  Please email me if you want to attend.  

If I cancel the class because of no one signing up, I will announce that on the MV RS google group.  Please phone me if you want to attend at the last minute, to see if the class is happening.

Please read this blog .  Almost every day I put up new information about the ward's challenge for that month.

I am offering Food Storage Classes at the MV ward building in April

Our April Ward Challenge is: 

“Learn about Food Storage, and Plan Menus using your Family's Favorite Foods.  Begin buying food from your plan.”

Goals:  

Each family will plan a three month's supply of food.

Each family will begin obtaining a three month's supply of food.

Each family will learn the importance of obtaining their one year's supply.

Read “Family Home Storage: A New Message”,  Ensign March 2009. http://www.lds.org/ensign/2009/03/family-home-storage-a-new-message?lang=eng

Family home evening:  Make a list with your family of all their favorite meals and snacks.  These will become the basis for your three months supply of food.  

Figure out a way to buy all the ingredients for a  few of these meals, to make that meal 13 times (equals once a week for three months.)  Make these purchases over the next few weeks.

Food Storage Classes this month

To help you achieve the April goal, I will be offering small group presentations about Food Storage the entire month of April.  I have the following five dates reserved at our MV ward building. 

Mornings:  Tuesdays April 3 or April 24.  Tentatively 10am-11am unless the attendees want a different time.

Evenings:  Wednesdays, April 4, 18, 25.  Tentatively 7pm-8pm unless the attendees want a different time.

What will I teach?  I will be giving a powerpoint presentation which I originally gave at the March 2011 Stake Women’s Day, called “One Thousand Pages of Food Storage Information in 30 minutes”.  I will be going through the contents of the CD which I will give to the attendees.  The CD contains all the documents you might need to help you plan your food storage.

I am also eager to answer any questions you might have.  Please email me with items you want me to cover in the class, and I will try to bring information geared to your interests.  (If you have already attended this powerpoint presentation, but still want to learn more about food storage, we can arrange something different.)

 If I can get at least three people to attend, I will hold the class.  Couples may attend, or one adult from a family is also welcome.  MV Ward members: Please email me if you want to attend.  (This invitation is also open to surrounding wards.)

If I cancel the class because of no one signing up, I will announce that on the MV ward  RS google group.  Please phone me if you want to attend at the last minute, to see if the class is happening.

Tested out the Solar Christmas Lights

 Here are the solar powered Christmas lights I bought on sale for $13 at Walmart the day before Christmas.

During our "No Electric Lights" challenge, I attached them to the bannisters with blue masking tape, and they shone for two nights before they ran out of power.  It was a very nice light, and since it was in the middle of the house the light shined a little into the other rooms as well.

Another report on "One Night Without Electric Lights"

Amy,

We went without power a week ago Sunday.  My favorite light was the headlamp I took from my husband.  Lots of light right where I needed it.....which was where ever I was looking.  I need to get a good one for each of my family members.  My husband's is lightweight, but durable.  I think a heavy one would bother me.   (Note from Amy:  I think she is right.  The heavy one I used needed a tight elastic band to hold it up, and it gave me a headache.)

Another winner was our solar yard lights.  We charged 4 of them.  My youngest children used them for night lights and they shone all night, plus the next night when they wanted to use them again for fun.  

We also used a oil hurricane lamp for the first time.  It was much easier to use than I thought it would be.  It wasn't as bright as the headlamp and the light was very yellow, which was a stark contrast to the bright white led light of the headlamp.  It was fine, but not as useful as I thought it would be.  I think having a couple of them burning in the same room would be more helpful, but I would need to store a lot more oil for that.  

-A.B.

Save bottles for water

To my ward:


If you drink juice or soft drinks, please start washing out the bottles to store water in.  In May we will be learning about "Obtaining Containers and Storing Water" for our May challenge.

IF you don't want the bottles, can you wash them out anyway and bring them to the Relief Society room on Sundays?  There might be some people who need yours.

Two more families report about No Electric Lights

These two families did the "No Electric Lights/No Powered Entertainment" challenge and reported on it:






"We enjoyed the challenge.  My daughter was devastated that she couldn't sleep with her night light, but she survived.  We lit three candles for usage at night.  It was difficult to read by candlelight, so we used a flashlight for a bit.  I found the evening much more relaxing than usual maybe due to the fact that I couldn't see all the messes around the house!  I think I could get used to evenings without electricity :-)  - L.H."

"Hi Amy,

Our family did the challenge Sunday night. We used mostly candles and a few flashlights. We have two small, battery-operated lanterns, but they take 4 D batteries each and don't provide the best light. We did not use them because of their past performance and because we didn't have any D batteries.

To begin with, we kept our blinds open as long as possible to use the sunlight until it was gone. Then we turned to the candles when we started to have a hard time seeing well.

We have 6 100-hour candles that we bought from Emergency Essentials years ago for hurricane season. They don't provide the biggest flame, but what we like is that they have a clear base (where the liquid fuel is) that actually acts like a lantern. We also used 8 tea lights. We lit the candles about 6 and blew them out around 10. We used the candles for cooking dinner, eating dinner, reading scriptures, and getting ready for bed.

We also had 3 battery-operated flashlights. They were LED, I believe. We found it worked best to point them toward the ceiling, whch then reflected their light to a larger area. One daughter actually used our brightest flashlight pointed towards her ceiling fan light (which was frosted glass) and two candles to light her room enough to do homework.

The candles worked really well in the bathrooms, where the light reflected off the mirrors lit the rooms very well.

As we reflected back on our experience, the idea of having the solar-powered Christmas lights to wrap around our light fixtures to provide light from above was one thing we would like to have tried. Also, maybe having a better lantern would have been nice, too, but we made it through the evening just fine with the candles and occasional flashlight use.

Thanks for the challenge!

-W.H."

And a little more from W.H.

"I wanted to make a few more comments about the challenge that I forgot to mention. We do not like using scented candles in this type of situation. The unscented kind are the best. Also, we read scriptures and then read stories by candle light for entertainment. Before it got dark, I played board games with our youngest (since it is no media week for the youth). It was a fun night."

"What I Learned" by B.D, No Electric Lights challenge

This family did the "No Electric Lights/No Powered Entertainment for One Night" challenge.

"So here is what we learned:

Doing it yesterday was great because everyone was wiped out by 8 pm because it felt like 9 pm because of daylight savings. (Daylight Savings time started that morning) We didn't have anything in the house up until now except a flashlight.  So Saturday night after the stake relief society conference I went to Target and bought at least one of every kind of lantern/flashlight I could find.   

After last night we determined that we LOVED the head lights, especially the kids.  They work great for reading and I think I might keep it around all the time because it helped so much for reading.  We also learned that walking with a lantern is not fun because of the glare.  I did get a small flashlight that converted to a lantern and that was my husbands favorite out of all the lanterns.   

We loved your idea about solar x-mas lights and will definitely get them after Christmas when they go on sale.  I discovered that all these flash lights are nice but I do want to stock pile now when things go on sale the solar ones so that we don't have to keep so many batteries.   

I will also start a collection of candles.  I hate candles and NEVER use them, but with seeing how many batteries we will need to keep on hand with all these flashlights I will start a collection that I hope we will NEVER use.  Hope this helps,  it sure helped us." -B.D.

Then I asked her to tell me how she entertained the children (and the parents) with no powered entertainment.  Here is her reply:

"It didn't get dark till after 7 pm and the kids went to bed at 8 pm.  We spent that hour getting all the flashlights ready with batteries and handing out to the kids their head lights.  They had so much fun going off by themselves to their room with a book to read with their new light that we didn't have to entertain them.  B. and I read our books.   

At 3 am S. woke up I saw him bobbing around with his head light on coming up the stairs and then he realized there was no TV so we just went back  to bed.  It was an uneventful night."
-B.D.

Challenge starts today: No Electric Lights and No Powered Entertainment

Choose one evening this week, March 11-17, and participate in the M. Ward challenge:

“No Electric Lights and 

No Powered Entertainment for One Evening.”  

Rules:  Put tape over your light switches!

Use no electric lights from 4 pm until the following morning.  (Other electricity for cooking, laundry, etc. is okay.)  

Use no powered entertainment or media.  

Goals:

See if you have enough emergency lighting.

Learn how to entertain the children and adults without power.

Afterward:

I am asking my ward members to email me and tell me what you learned.

Read the results on this blog.