Hi everyone! How are you? Have you gone crazy yet, with this spring-winter-spring-summer-winter-type of weather we've been having?? I'm certain (almost) that spring will officially be here....one of these days!!
A few things today.....Did you see this article by John Hawkins? It's entitled '5 Things That Will Happen To You When America Goes Bankrupt'. I don't know about you but I like to read articles like this because they bring me back to reality. Not the day-to-day reality of life, but the reality of what I truly believe it coming. It's impossible to think that we can continue on in the way we've been going in this country. There is a big crash coming. I fear that the longer it takes to get here, the worse it will be. MMPaints, a contributor here, lives in southern IL and she says that the economic tide in her area is very rough. Things are not going well at all, and the downturn in the economy is quite obvious. Well, I live in the northern part of the state, and it's pretty much business-as-usual up here. Shopping malls are full of shoppers, Walmart is as busy as ever, restaurants are jammed packed with eaters. Aside from an increase in foreclosed homes, you'd never think there was any financial trouble by looking at what's going on up here. If you live in an area like I do, make sure you keep reading articles like the one I mentioned so you remember what's really going on and why you should continue to prep.
Have you heard of this 'exercise' that the state of IL and a few others states are taking part in? The Great Central U.S. Shake Out! It's taking place April 28th. It's a drill that coincides with Earthquake Preparedness Month. The New Madrid and Wabash Valley seismic zones are located in southern IL (and continue through other states). The exercise is an opportunity for schools and businesses to practice the instruction to 'Drop, Cover, and Hold On'. During an earthquake we're instructed to Drop to the ground; take Cover under a desk or table; and Hold On to the furniture until the shaking ends. If you're interested in learning more about this Great Central U.S. Shake Out, or other facets of earthquake preparedness, visit the ready.illinois.gov website and click the earthquake preparedness link.
I'm always looking for good recipes that use food storage, and I found a good one this week in one of my recipe books! Oats are a big part of my food storage and they're extremely healthy. The problem is that many people don't like to eat them. I love to eat them, but even I have gotten tired of my regular bowl of oatmeal lately. So, I was more than excited to find this scrumptious recipe! You'll use ingredients that (I hope) you already have in your pantry.
Crispy Breakfast Slices
3 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups quick-cooking oats (or whole oats and cook longer)
butter
In a saucepan, bring water, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg to a boil. Stir in oats. Return to a boil; cook 1 minute. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Pour into a greased 8-1/2-in. x 4-1/2-in. x 2-1/2-in. loaf pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Unmold and cut into 1/2-in. slices. Fry in butter in a skillet over medium heat until browned, about 6-8 minutes. Serve with syrup if desired.
*I also added some of my dehydrated apple slices and raisins. You could add any dried fruits or nuts that you have on hand for added nutrition and taste.
I hope you like the recipe. I thought it was quite tasty!
Prep On!
Gen-IL Homesteader
------------------------------------------
Join the APN Forum at www.AmericanPreppersNetwork.net
Visit the Illinois Forum at www.IllinoisPreppersNetwork.net
Showing posts with label food storage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food storage. Show all posts
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
How Much Is Enough? (Making Food Storage a Priority)
Hi everyone! Do you ever look at your food storage and wonder if you have enough?? Sure, there are lots of cans, boxes, and 5-gallon buckets full of food, but will it be enough to last through a major emergency? How can you be sure you have enough?
Well, first off you have to decide how many months of eating out of your food storage you want to prepare for. I'd say the absolute minimum should be 1 month, but you'd be better off aiming for 3 months or more. Remember, there could be damage to your food storage or you could end up feeding more people than you anticipated, and your food storage could be depleted faster than you thought. While I'm not into hoarding, when it comes to food storage more is better!!!!
Next, you need to figure out how many breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks you're going to have to cover. If your storing for 3 months, that's 90 breakfasts per person, 90 lunches, and 90 dinners per person!! Those numbers are quite staggering, aren't they? That is alot of food! But, it's best to know and anticipate how much food is needed before the time comes. You don't want to get caught without enough. Now, look at your food storage and actually count how many breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals you can get out of what you have. Take good notes. Is it enough?
The thing that always confuses me is the bulk food. I have lots of 5-gallon buckets of oatmeal, soft wheat, and hard wheat. How many meals can I get out of that???? Well, for that stuff, I like to look at this LDS food storage calculator for guidance. (I'm in no way affiliated with the LDS church, but I have to give them props for being huge proponents of food storage. That church understands that we, ourselves, are in charge of caring for our families and for others.) All you do is enter the number of people in your family (or the number of people you think you'll be feeding), click calculate and scroll down to see the totals. I've done this and copied the results for a few different numbers of people that I think I may have to feed. Talk about simplifying the process of figuring out how much food you need! Now, obviously this is a guide. If something doesn't apply to you, ignore it. Take what you need, take whatever guidance applies to you, and leave the rest.
Over the next few weeks, my goal is to go over my food storage again, using the LDS results, and make sure I have 'enough'. I've got some new food rotation boxes on the way (I'll show you when they arrive!) and I'm going to be rearranging and refiguring my food storage. I'd recommend you do this every once-in-a-while. Your life changes, people change, and you need to take new factors into account. Maybe somebody lost a job, maybe a child moved out or moved back in. Things are constantly changing. You don't want your food storage to be short-changed.
Why don't you join me and make it a priority this summer to double-check your food storage situation?
Prep On!
Gen-IL Homesteader
------------------------------------------
Join the APN Forum at http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.net/
Visit the Illinois Forum at http://www.illinoispreppersnetwork.net/
Well, first off you have to decide how many months of eating out of your food storage you want to prepare for. I'd say the absolute minimum should be 1 month, but you'd be better off aiming for 3 months or more. Remember, there could be damage to your food storage or you could end up feeding more people than you anticipated, and your food storage could be depleted faster than you thought. While I'm not into hoarding, when it comes to food storage more is better!!!!
Next, you need to figure out how many breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks you're going to have to cover. If your storing for 3 months, that's 90 breakfasts per person, 90 lunches, and 90 dinners per person!! Those numbers are quite staggering, aren't they? That is alot of food! But, it's best to know and anticipate how much food is needed before the time comes. You don't want to get caught without enough. Now, look at your food storage and actually count how many breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals you can get out of what you have. Take good notes. Is it enough?
The thing that always confuses me is the bulk food. I have lots of 5-gallon buckets of oatmeal, soft wheat, and hard wheat. How many meals can I get out of that???? Well, for that stuff, I like to look at this LDS food storage calculator for guidance. (I'm in no way affiliated with the LDS church, but I have to give them props for being huge proponents of food storage. That church understands that we, ourselves, are in charge of caring for our families and for others.) All you do is enter the number of people in your family (or the number of people you think you'll be feeding), click calculate and scroll down to see the totals. I've done this and copied the results for a few different numbers of people that I think I may have to feed. Talk about simplifying the process of figuring out how much food you need! Now, obviously this is a guide. If something doesn't apply to you, ignore it. Take what you need, take whatever guidance applies to you, and leave the rest.
Over the next few weeks, my goal is to go over my food storage again, using the LDS results, and make sure I have 'enough'. I've got some new food rotation boxes on the way (I'll show you when they arrive!) and I'm going to be rearranging and refiguring my food storage. I'd recommend you do this every once-in-a-while. Your life changes, people change, and you need to take new factors into account. Maybe somebody lost a job, maybe a child moved out or moved back in. Things are constantly changing. You don't want your food storage to be short-changed.
Why don't you join me and make it a priority this summer to double-check your food storage situation?
Prep On!
Gen-IL Homesteader
------------------------------------------
Join the APN Forum at http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.net/
Visit the Illinois Forum at http://www.illinoispreppersnetwork.net/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
