Thursday, March 29, 2012

Budgeting For Food Storage

Budgeting for Preparedness

Looking at what you already spend on take out food and other junk food snacks can be your storage allowance. All it takes to set aside preparedness foods is about $15 a week to get started for an individual. How are you going to spend that $60 a month? Cut out all that junk food with these healthier choices and you have 2 new motives. Eating healthier and survival preparedness storage. Good Plan!




See Full Article: Preparedness Keys Successful Survival


Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Storing Foods

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Storing Foods At Home and In Emergency Kits

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Assure your food supply at home and in emergency kits is stored in the right container and at the right temperatures. 

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This makes a big difference in what you choose to store and how you go about storing foods. Use these foods! Rotating your home food stock is necessary to preserve it's freshness and quality. Plan regular meals around your food storage items and replenish products every now and then.



Preventing the infestation of food destroying bugs and preserving the quality of the food stored should be considered when selecting containers or when you are making the initial purchase.


Make a note of the expiration dates. Some foods keep for a couple years. Some only keep for a few months.


Whether you are using dry storage or a freezer, small pantry or a large bulk preparedness storage room, keeping the product usable is as important as what to store.


Pantry Emergency Food Store:

Canned goods keep for about 2 years where a freeze-dried food choice will keep at the right temperature for over 5 in a mylar bag and up to 20+ in specially lined cans. Store foods in cool dark places. Ideally temperatures should be between 60 and 72 degrees.


Storing Foods - The 72 Hour Kit

Collect foods for 3 days to set aside in a bug out bag or 72 hour kit. Food that can tolerate temperatures up to 140 like the Mayday High Calorie Emergency Bar will fit nicely in an emergency kit. They taste like Oatmeal, Apple Spice cookies and will store well up to around 5 years. They come in 1200, 2400, and 3200 calorie portions. 
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MRE's For Emergency Kits


MRE's are a great addition to emergency bags. They come in packages with a complete meal or just the entree itself. A complete meal has the MRE heater included and a few goodies such as a powdered drink mix and other items to make a balanced meal. The complete MRE Meals are normally sealed in mylar bags so the shelf life on these is recommended at around 5 years. A camping trip is a good time to be creative when using one of these meals. Test out the ones you like and set them aside for your pantry or emergency kit.


A Foodie Tries His First MRE:
for a serious MRE review check this video:


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EXTREMELY SILLY MRE VIDEO:
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That's the silly side of MRE's 

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Other Food Storage Ideas:

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Protein powders keep long as well. Items such as crackers and small canned meats shouldn't be stored in a car but should be stored in an emergency bag ready to go at home.


There are a variety of great emergency food companies in our market place and the value of these foods in an emergency is without question. No matter which company you chose to supply your food storage be assured that to have a balanced meal on hand in times where there is no other option protects our health, insures our comfort. and feeds our strength.
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What are your favorite storage foods?
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Related Articles: 
How To Properly Store Foods - How to properly store survival foods: Survival Food Storage ~ what's the best way to properly store your survival food for long term? Below you will find my favorite tips and tricks! There are some great ways to keep your goodies fresh and (more...)


Survival Foods Requirements  - No, we are not talking about Grandpa's MRE's!Requirements for food in survival are the same as your regular foods. Think about the nutritional guidelines already set forth in our daily requirements. How can I add this to my survival storage? (more...)

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Images: Morguefile; M Burgess

Monday, March 26, 2012

H2O - Vital to Our Survival



Image Credit: MorgueFile


Storing Water


H2O is vital to human survival. It is the one thing we can not do with out. We use it for health, meals, and hygiene. Consider keeping a good supply on hand for emergencies. Storing enough water to take a full bath probably isn't practical. We each need enough to drink: 8 - 8oz servings and probably about another gallon per person for clean-up purposes.


Learn how to do water purification properly and how to store it. You never know when you might need it. I keep at least 2 cases of bottled water because my city's water is not something I care to drink. Keep a minimum of 4 - 1 gallon containers on hand for cooking and hot drinks. If I had more room than I have here at my apartment I would keep the larger 5 gallon bottles designed for water coolers.


In areas that have frightening weather conditions such as earthquakes, hurricanes, or strong storms, keeping water on hand is a necessity. Make sure you rotate you supply at least every 90 days. If you use your stored supply on a daily basis your rotation is automatic. 


There are many great water filter systems available on the market as well as small tools and chemicals you can use to make water safe for drinking. I prefer the small stuff for my needs as I don't have a lot of room in my home. 


In what ways do you use water?


Related Articles:
h2O Just Good Water

H2O Posts on Survival Recovery (wordpress blog)
http://survivalrecovery.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/using-hydrogen-peroxide-h2o2-to-purify-water/
http://survivalrecovery.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/h2o-bsf-biosand-water-filters/





                                       










Sunday, March 25, 2012

Why Survival Preparedness?


Looking at ways we need to support ourselves in relation to preparedness planning brings me to address certain issues in uncertain times. 

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Scouring through reasons to plan  for crisis and disaster isn't difficult. 

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Look at the events in today's headline news with serious examples of why to prepare. Why Survival Preparedness? For me some of the reasons are clearly evident with natural disasters in the forms of floods, fires, storms, and financial difficulties. 

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Hedge your bets! Insure with your family for times when the budget is tight or the seasonal weather is rolling in. There are dozens of reasons to prepare! Bet it won't happen to you by planning ahead that it does!

From: The NEW! The Survival Recovery Blog on Wordpress
Author: RiaB


Descriptions of why you would need preparedness is as follows:
Severe storms ~ Image: MorgueFiles
Minor events vs Major Catastrophies

The lights went out last night in our home. Ok, so we won't be able to use the computer, and what else.

1) No electricity?

In our home in Florida this would have also meant the water supply was cut off because we have a drilled well with a water pump and a water softener filter system that both need electrical power to supply the home.

In my home in Nevada no electricity means the temperature of our home is increasing to unhealthy proportions in our blistering summers.

2) No water supply?

With no electricity and no water, we have no heat, no air conditioning or ways to cook, no bathing or showering.

Let's imagine this is a county wide situation. The absence of ...(more..)

Planning against disasters in these modern times is often approached with skepticism and views of preppers being paranoid. The events unfolding just in news headlines TODAY tell us otherwise. I am preparing for the same reason I would would fill up my car with gasoline. I want to make sure I have the things on hand I need. Fuel in the tank means I don't have to sit on a roadside because my car ran out of gas. Prudent planning is a smart idea! Two reasons are listed above for preparing. There are dozens more...




Saturday, March 24, 2012

Fussy Families & Food Storage


Fussy Families and Food Storage

My family has different needs for their meal choices.

One family member is allergic to peanuts, so there goes peanut butter for that one. Another one can't tolerate soy products. Label reading is a required study when shopping and cooking. Grandpa is a diabetic and the youngest one in our family only wants to eat cereal at every meal.

How do I plan a storage around that? 

Just like you plan your weekly grocery trips. Only for storage you plan it in bulk. How long do you want to have your storage last? Seeking ways to make sure that quality holds up?

Store what your family eats. Know the better your family can eat in times of stress the healthier your survival will be and the easier the crisis will be to get through.

These questions enthusiasts manage to work around in their quest for ideal preparedness for emergency survival.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Inventory and Storage Planning

Setting Up Your Food Storage?

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Inventory and Storage Planning


When you decide finally that you want to set up a food storage where should your begin? Storing your favorite foods and household items can be as easy as checking your grocery receipts and inventorying them into a structured list. 


It's tedious but it can be done. 


Put into regular practice, you have a basic storage plan. 


Multiply use x family members vs a set time goal and here is a simple version of a long term home preparedness storage system.


By adding the foods that can be stored long term and keeping in mind what your family REALLY eats, a food storage pantry can be a source of good nutritional support and foods your family WILL consume. There is nothing worse than stocking up on items your family won't use. You might as well throw that money down the trash chute!


Our survival foods may not come in the forms found in the grocery store. We can can items in mason jars or purchase dehydrated and freeze-dried foods already packed for use. Simply re-hydrate and use in a recipe. Make sure you are drinking PLENTY of water if you use these foods. They will cause gastric distress if you don't. Be warned! 


Use these foods in your meal planning. Here you may have to get a little creative. Make a survival food menu night about every 2 weeks to help your rotate your stock and prepare the routines you'll need to know for accessing this food when you need to. Let the family help you do this. Maybe assign something to each of them and make it a pot luck kind of night. This helps give you some idea of how to use these foods. And what you will need to get your family used to eating them if needs be.


Keeping your survival foods stock fresh and acclimate your family for the event you have to rely on your emergency stash.


When the foods we store are in basic forms such as grains, add them to mealtime favorites a little at a time to get the family used to the textures and digesting them. Wheat, if it can be tolerated (no gluten allergies!) , can be used in baking as flour and in cereals, as cracked wheat. Substitute it a bit at a time in creative recipes so that you know how you may use it when the time comes you have to cook with it.



Emergencies aren't always those major disasters we originally think food storage is for. Somethings to plan ahead for are crazy work schedules, medical leave, or situations with employment lapses. Think ahead. Plan well. Be Prepared

Photo credit: earl53 from morguefile.com




For Related Information:


Article: Preparedness Keys


Site: Survival Recovery


Additional Blog by this author: Survival Recovery on Wordpress