Vacuum sealed chocolate got too hot

 We moved into a new house last fall, and later found these melted chocolate chips that I had vacuum sealed the previous year.  We think they got too hot in the truck.
I was going to throw them away, but my husband said, "Don't throw it away. That chocolate is still good."

He melted the chocolate in the bottle in a pot of water, and dipped graham crackers in it.  Mmmm mmm good!  I'm so glad I didn't throw those jars all away.

Vacuum canning Chocolate Chips

 I like to buy chocolate chips when they are on sale, and then vacuum seal them into canning jars.  I use this white attachment that fits into the port on my FoodSaver vacuum sealer.  I own a "wide mouth" and a "regular mouth" attachment.

Here are the chocolate chips after I vacuum sealed them.  They are supposed to stay fresher longer without the oxygen surrounding them.

Can of seeds

I buy at least one can of canned garden seeds per year, and keep it in my freezer.  Then the next year, I use it and buy another can to store.  I am hoping that this strategy will enable me to grow a garden even if some big catastrophe happens.

Tick Key

We found this tick attached on the top of my husband's head. (Yuck!)  This tick key was very simple to use, and as you can see, the tick is still alive and intact.  They say that pulling the tick's head off is a bad thing, I suppose you don't want the head to stay imbedded in your skin.  I have also heard that you don't want to upset the tick because it will excrete more poisons/lyme disease into you.  I would buy a couple of these if you don't have one.

Bio Lite Campstove can charge your phone

 I got one of these stoves, and it works great.  You just light the fuel (twigs, sticks, etc.) and as the stove heats up it creates electricity for the USB port.

A post by someone who lived through Hurricane Sandy

http://ldsemergencyprep.org/2012/12/16/things-learned-from-hurricane-sandy/

I love the things this guy wrote.  Here are some of my favorite parts:


16. The electrical grid is way more fragile than I thought.

17. Think of the things that are your comfort, your escape, a cup of hot chocolate, a glass of milk and a ding dong before bed, tequila, etc. Stock up on those too. You will need that comfort after day 3.

30. All of the expensive clothes in the closet mean nothing if they don’t keep you warm.

45. Things that disappeared are never to be seen again for a very long time.

8. 1. Fuel, of all kinds
   2. Matches, lighters of any kind, etc.
   3. Toilet paper
   4. Paper plates, plastic forks and knives
   5. Batteries, didn’t really see a need for them. (flashlights??? I guess)
   6. Milk
   7. Charcoal
   8. Spark plugs (generators)
   9. 2 stroke motor oil, (chainsaws)
   10. Anything that could be used to wire a generator to the house.
   11. Extension cords
   12. Medicines (Tylenol, advil, cold medicine, etc)

Suggested Amounts of Food for one adult

Suggested Amounts of Basic Foods for Home Storage Per adult for one year
(From Letter from First Presidency, Jan. 20, 2002)


Grains            400 lbs

Legumes        60 lbs

Powdered Milk    16 lbs

Cooking Oil        10 quarts

Sugar or Honey    60 lbs

Salt            8 lbs

Water (2 weeks)    14 gallons

This provides 2200 calories per day and 45 grams of protein daily.

Kimball said "Acquire a year's supply of food"

WHY CALL YE ME LORD, LORD, AND DO NOT WHAT I SAY?

“…We reaffirm the previous counsel the Church has always given, to acquire and maintain a year’s supply---a year’s supply of the basic commodities for us….

We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”  How empty it is as they put their spirituality, so called, into action and call him by his important names, but fail to do the things which he says.” 

Spencer W. Kimball, “Family Preparedness,”
Ensign, May 1976, Conference Report May 1976

Changes to our Greensboro Food Storage source

 Here is the article that came out from the Church today.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/concern-over-changes-to-home-storage-centers-unnecessary

They have announced that only 12 food storage facilities will still have self-canning.  The other 89 (including our Greensboro Home Storage Center) will discontinue all self-canning, and will only provide pre-canned food.

The nickname for the Greensboro Home Storage Center has always been "the cannery".  I guess we are going to have to stop calling it that now.

20-hour Experience without electricity last week

Our power was out for 20 hours on Thursday and Friday, because of a big storm that came through Thursday evening.  It was an awful feeling without my phone and computer, plus I couldn’t use water because the electric pump for our well wasn’t working. 

Luckily I had a few bottles of water so I didn’t have to filter any from the cistern, or go out to the manual pump.  I cooked a microwave dinner in the solar oven, it only took about 10 minutes to warm up.  We used solar yard lights inside that night and had quite a bit of light.

When I came home late Thursday night after working at the temple, my husband was in the house.  He said he was so bored because of nothing to do, he had fallen asleep.  Then we thought of our little  5” battery powered TV that we have for emergencies, and we laughed because he hadn’t even remembered we had a TV that didn’t need electricity.

Some things to think about before a hurricane

Prepare now for what could be an active hurricane season.  If we had a direct hit, we could be without power and without grocery stores for 7 days or longer.  (Think worst case scenario like Katrina.) 

Ask yourselves:

Do we have alternative lighting, and batteries?

Do we have alternative ways to cook food?

Do we have enough water stored or ways to purify water?

Do we have cash on hand if there are no ATMs?

Do we keep at least a 1/2 tank of gas in our cars at all times?

Do we have easily prepared meals which do not need refrigeration? (These are called "shelf stable" meals.)

Do we have a non-electric can opener?

Do we own several weeks worth of baby formula, diapers, food, toiletries, and prescriptions?

Do we have a battery powered radio?


Can we save some clean sodapop and juice bottles to store more water in the back of closets?  This could be used to flush toilets.

Can we fit more canned goods under the bed?

Can we buy some solar powered yard lights? (These work great as indoor lighting when the power is off.)

Can we get another 20 lb. propane tank to use with our grill?

Can we buy an alternative recharger for our cell phones?

Do we have a paper copy of the phone numbers of friends and family, if our cell phone is dead?

If the GPS is dead, do we have a paper map to help us evacuate?

Can we buy a generator, or at the minimum, a small solar battery charger and rechargeable batteries?

Biggest Food Storage Challenges

I love the blog "FoodStorageMadeEasy.net".  They asked their readers for their biggest challenges in doing food storage.  Here are the answers.


http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2013/04/25/how-to-overcome-food-storage-challenges/