Still more gift ideas, part 3

Katadyn water filter- $80 (or sometimes on sale as low as $45).  Buy at REI or from Emergency Essentials.

Headlamp flashlight- You will look like a coal miner, but in a power outage, wearing your flashlight on your head enables you to see what you are doing with both hands free.  You can find these for $6-$30.  Get an LED one,  LED lights use less power to run, so the battery lasts longer.

Glowstick- safer than candles during a power outage, hang them from bathroom doorknobs for children to find their way in the dark.  $1-$4.

Bean recipes:  Who doesn't need more ways to cook beans?  I know that we don't use our food storage beans often enough.

Sprouting kit:  These are quite inexpensive, and make it so simple to grow alfalfa sprouts or other types of sprouts.  $10-$20.

Powdered Eggs-  I use these in ALL my baking.  Most people don't know how freeing it is to never worry if you have fresh eggs in the fridge.  Instead, you've always got the powdered variety in the pantry.  You can order these from food storage companies like THRIVE and Emergency Essentials.

Powdered Milk-  Ditto.  We use this anytime milk is required in any recipe.  (We don't like to drink it as milk, we'll have to learn to do that in times of trouble, but not now.) Again, you can order these from food storage companies like THRIVE and Emergency Essentials.

Herbs, Spices;  When the time comes that we are living off of food storage, herbs and spices will make all the difference whether we are bored out of our minds or making food taste good.  Just ponder eating plain beans and you will run right out and buy a bunch of chili powder and cumin. I think the big sized containers at Sam's Club are a good deal.

Well, those are all the things I could think of off the top of my head, you can come up with a lot more.  Have a very merry Preparedness-themed Christmas!

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Still more gift ideas, part 2

More ideas to buy for your friends and family members.  These will definitely help out in a disaster, and they can also use some of this stuff for camping.

Inverter

Inverter-  $25-$100 or more-  This one cost around $20-$30, and has one electric plug.  (You can buy inverters with two or three plugs, but they cost more.)  You can plug it into the car's power port/cigarette lighter and then plug any electrical device into it.  This one will run a computer, or a TV, etc.  I doubt if it will run a microwave, but I know my friend's inverter was bigger and it would run their microwave.  They plugged a long cord into the inverter and then ran the cord into their house and powered their freezer for a few hours at a time.  Honestly, I don't know how long their car battery lasted but thats the story I heard.

Mr. Heater Portable Buddy Heater- $100. Portable propane-powered heatger, auto shut off safety switch, for indoors.

Sleeping bag rated for 0 degrees- Dick's sells them for $69.  Something to think about owning if the power goes off and your house is frigid inside.

Sleeping bag rated for 20 degrees- Dick's sells them for $49.

JetBoil Zip Cooking System $69 at Dick's, $119 at REI. - Wayne is a big time camper, and he has coveted one of these for a long time.  It is a personal cooking system (only cooks enough for one person) but the fuel can attaches directly to the stove which is directly attached to the pot.  Wayne said it cooks very efficiently, and boils water in 2.5 minutes.

Tent- $70 and up.

Bikes- When times get tough, this will be a good way to transport yourself if there is no gasoline.

Wagons, Bike trailers- transporting things if you have no gasoline.  (Buy these for the kids for Christmas, but plan on using them for yourself in an emergency situation.  Anything with wheels will come in handy.)

Still more gift ideas, part 1

Only 13 more shopping days left until Christmas!  If you didn't buy any of the gift ideas listed in the FoodStorageMadeEasy.net posts that I have linked to lately,  here are some more gift ideas.

You will bless your family members if you give them "preparedness type" gifts, you may even save their lives someday.

Here are some ideas:

Solar powered radio, hand cranked radio.  You'll be able to find out the news during a power outage.

Little TV with an antenna, can be plugged into the car power port/cigarette lighter, or runs on batteries, about $100.  The one we bought in late 2010 has a DVD player in it, so it is even fun for a non-emergency.  None of our old TVs will run on an antenna anymore, because they are all analog so we can only use them by plugging them into the satellite receiver, so we had to buy this little TV especially to receive antenna signals when the power is out.

Recipe book of your favorite recipes.  Many people just find recipes online, and don't use recipe books anymore.  If the power is out for very long, you won't have recipes if they are not printed out.

Bake one of your favorite food storage recipes and bring it to a friend. 

Offer to teach one of your friends to bake bread, also show her how to grind wheat.

Book "One Second After" by William Forstchen.  This is the best book I ever read about the loss of electricity to the whole nation because of an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) and the breakdown of society which followed.  A real page turner that truly makes you rethink your level of preparedness.

The twelve Days of Christmas- Day 12- Checklists

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  

Here are their suggestions for Day 12.  The theme for the day is "Checklists".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day12/

(Note from Amy:  I hope you purchased or made some gifts using these Twelve Days of ideas.  It will bless the lives of your friends and family when times get tough.)

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 11- Non-Food Items

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  

Here are their suggestions for Day 11.  The theme for the day is "Non-Food Items".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day11/

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 10- Comfort Foods

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  

Here are their suggestions for Day 10.  The theme for the day is "Comfort Foods".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day10/

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 9- Fruits and Vegetables

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  

Here are their suggestions for Day 9.  The theme for the day is "Fruits and Vegetables".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day9/

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 8- Baking Ingredients

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  

Here are their suggestions for Day 8.  The theme for the day is "Baking Ingredients".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day8/

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 7-Legumes

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  

Here are their suggestions for Day 7.  The theme for the day is "Legumes".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day7/


I like the way Juli and Jodi include three gift suggestions for every day:  a free or $1 version, a $20 version, and an expensive version.

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 6-Grains

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  

Here are their suggestions for Day 6.  The theme for the day is "Grains".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day6/

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 5-Long Term Education

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  

Here are their suggestions for Day 5.  The theme for the day is "Long Term Education".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day5/

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 4- three month supply

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  

Here are their suggestions for Day 4.  The theme for the day is "Three Month Supply".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day4/

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 3-Water

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.

Here are their suggestions for Day 3.  The theme for the day is "Water".

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day3/

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 2-Shelves

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.

Here are their suggestions for Day 2.  The theme for the day is "Shelves" .

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day2/

The Twelve Days of Christmas- Day 1- Emergency Preparedness

I was browsing on one of my favorite websites, Food Storage Made Easy.net, and found that in 2009 they did a whole series on gifts you can give for the 12 days of Christmas.  Here are their suggestions for Day 1.  The theme for the day is Emergency Preparedness gifts.

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/12/01/day1/