It is vital that you have more than one change of clothes. You need to choose the correct type of clothing for your evacuation. On top of changing your food and checking to see if your gear isn't expired, you need to make sure your clothes still fit and that they are the right clothing for your condition. For children, update this every 3-6 months and shoes every time they change size- it is better to be on the larger size than smaller.
Clothing Suggestions:
Colder Climates:
Weather gloves (snow gloves)
Winter hat
Ear Muffs
Scarf
Jacket
Sweater
Snow Pants
Snow Boots
Jeans
Shorts
Sandals. You can leave these in your BOB. Make sure they are sandals that wont break easily.
Tennis shoes. Break these in!!
Socks- Several pair. Always choose comfortable socks that are thick and go mid ankle. For example, I went hiking once with those heel socks- huge mistake. First, I kept getting weed stickers cutting my ankles up, not to mention that the socks held the weed stickers inside of my sock, then, when I got home, my socks- that were the thinner material- had holes in the heels. Granted, I had owned them a while, but in my option they were relatively new as socks go. If you have to walk a long while, wear 2 pairs of socks to make it easier on your feet.
Sun hat. A hat that can keep your neck covered is important.
Visor
Bandana. This is a must. You can use it to remove large particles while purifying water, as a pot holder, dishrag, wet and put on your head to cool while walking, to wrap stuff in, to make slings in injury, if a bright color, signal someone or tie to your tent, etc. Pack several in other colors.
Vest
Swim Suit. Not needed, but if you have to go through water...
Belt. This can be a life saving item. You want to have a real sturdy leather belt that can carry a lot of strapped on wheight or be connected at the buckle to another belt to make a rope if caught in a trench. Hubby bought already cut belt "blanks" at a leather working store and attached a buckle that would hold weight for each member of the family. Each belt is long with a lot of slack or "room to grow" on each person on purpose.
Work gloves. You want something heavy duty. If you have to build a shelter, clean up a disaster, or collect fire wood, your going to want to avoid as many cuts and scrapes as possible.
Undergarmets
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
How to Start an Extended Food Supply 7 Day- 1 Year
Here is a packet that was sent to me from our last yearly Sake Emergency Preparedness day. The information here is how to create and plan a food supply from 7 days to 1 year. I was going to write a post on it, but the way it is written here is just perfect and easy to understand. I apologise for not being able to have the charts in a printable version; I am still not a master of the world wide web. Just highlight the area, copy, and paste to a word file and print out (that is how I do it). I take no credit for the following information.
Food Supply
“We encourage Church members worldwide to prepare
for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money
in savings.”
"We ask that you be wise as you store food
and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for
example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With
careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a
financial reserve."
—The First Presidency, All Is Safely Gathered In:
Family Home Storage, Feb. 2007, 1
Longer-Term Food Supply (One Year)
For
longer-term needs, and where permitted, gradually build a supply of food that
will last a long time and that you can use to stay alive, such as wheat, white
rice, and beans.
These items can last 30 years or more when
properly packaged and stored in a cool, dry place. A portion of these items may
be rotated in your three-month supply.
From www.lds.org
Short-Term Food Supply (Three Month)
Build a small supply of food that is part of your
normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra items each
week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your
supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated
regularly to avoid spoilage.
From www.lds.org
The Meal Planning System
This system was first developed by
Wendy Dewitt, a food storage specialist.
It has since been modified to work for the three-month supply. 1. Plan a menu for a week’s worth of food for your family. Choose 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, and 7 dinners. If you want a little more variety you can choose 10 days worth of meals, or 14 days worth of meals.
2. List out the ingredients for each of those meals.
3. Now multiply each ingredient by 12 to get 3 months worth of meals. (If you are doing 10 days you can multiply by 9 or 10, if you are doing 14 days you can multiply by 6).
For example, if you picked spaghetti for one of your dinner meals, you list out the ingredients for that dinner. It may include one jar of spaghetti sauce, one box of spaghetti pasta, and two cans of green beans. Now multiply that by 12. So now you need 12 jars of spaghetti sauce, 12 boxes of spaghetti pasta, and 24 cans of green beans.
1 jar of spaghetti sauce x 12 weeks = 12 jars of spaghetti
1 box of spaghetti pasta x 12 weeks = 12 boxes of spaghetti
2 can of green beans x 12 weeks = 24 cans of green beans
Continue this process for the rest of your planned meals and you will know EXACTLY what you need to buy to have a three month supply of food.
Tips for the Meal Planning System
1. Plan meals that your family likes to eat. That way it’s easy to rotate it into your daily eating schedule.
2. Pick meals that use store-able ingredients. They can be pantry items that can be kept in closets, cupboards, or shelves. Or they can be freezer items that can be stored in a kitchen or storage freezer.
3. Use meals that have a relatively low amount of ingredients. Remember you have to calculate and store everything so simple recipes are better.
4. Choose meals that have relatively low cost ingredients. You will be quicker at accumulating all the ingredients if it doesn’t strain your monthly budget.
5. Each time you go to the grocery store just pick up a few extra items from your list for your three-month supply. You can add 1-2 extra meals to your list, or maybe just a couple items. Even one extra item gets you closer to your goal.
6. Notice sales at your grocery stores. If an item on your list goes on sale it’s a good time to stock up on it.
Meal Planner 7-Day
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Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Day 4
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Day 5
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Day 6
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Day 7
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Breakfast
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Lunch
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Dinner
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Meal Planner 14-day
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Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Day 4
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Day 5
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Day 6
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Day 7
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Break-fast
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Lunch
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Dinner
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Day 8
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Day 9
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Day 10
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Day 11
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Day 12
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Day 13
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Day 14
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Break-fast
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Lunch
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Dinner
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Meal Planner 10-day
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Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Day 4
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Day 5
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Break-fast
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Lunch
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Dinner
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Day 6
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Day 7
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Day 8
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Day 9
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Day 10
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Break-fast
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Lunch
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Dinner
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Ingredient Calculations
Recipe:
Ingredient
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Amount
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Multiple
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Total Needed
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Recipe:
Ingredient
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Amount
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Multiple
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Total Needed
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Recipe:
Ingredient
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Amount
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Multiple
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Total Needed
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Ingredient List for 3 Months
Ingredient
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Amount Needed
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Purchased
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Kitchen Measurements
Use the following measurement equivalents to help
you when you are multiplying out your ingredients for the three-month
supply.
Cup
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Tbsp
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Fluid Ounces
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1
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16
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8
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1/2
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8
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4
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1/3
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5 + 1 tsp
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2.67
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1/4
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4
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2
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1 Tablespoon (Tbls) = 3 teaspoons (tsp)
Gallon
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Quart
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Pint
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Cup
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Fl. Oz.
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Liter
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1
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4
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8
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16
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128
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3.8
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¾
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3
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6
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12
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96
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2.8
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½
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2
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4
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8
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64
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1.9
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.26
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1.06
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2.11
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4.22
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33.6
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1
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¼
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1
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2
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4
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32
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.95
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Storage Times
Remember: Cool, dark, and dry
Shelf Life:
FOOD
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APPROXIMATE STORAGE TIMES:
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Wheat
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25 years
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Oats, Cornmeal, White Flour,
Dried Fruits, Freeze-dried meats
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5 years
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Legumes/Grains: White Rice, Pasta, Barley,
Dried Veggies, Freeze-dried fruits/veggies
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8 years
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Dry Milk
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3-5 years
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Oil/Garden Seeds
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1 year
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Sugar, Salt, Baking Soda
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Indefinitely
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Canned fruits, veggies, Legumes, & meats, Instant potatoes, dried
eggs, powdered butter & shortening
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3 - 3 ½ years (2 years for optimum color and texture)
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Water
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6 mo
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Canned Tuna
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2 years
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Freezer Foods:
FOOD
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FREEZER
STORAGE TIMES:
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Ground beef
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3-4 mo
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Bacon, Hot dogs
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1-2 mo
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Lamb/Pork Roasts, Pork Chops
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4-6 mo
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Whole Turkey/Chicken
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1 year
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Chicken/Turkey pieces
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9 mo
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Raw fish
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Fatty: 3 mo, Lean: 6 mo
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Steaks, Beef Roasts
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6-12 mo
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Butter, margarine
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Butter: 6-9 mo, Margarine: 12
mo
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Egg whites or egg yolks
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1 year
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Food Storage Location Ideas
1. Closets (floor & on shelves, create extra shelves)
2. Under beds/cribs
3. On shelves (book shelves, storage racks, etc)
4. Under stairs
5. Under furniture
6. Hard to reach corner cupboards
7. Shelves on back of doors
8. Use trunk for decoration & store food inside
9. Can make furniture out of boxes of storage (i.e.
lamp/bedside table)
10. Laundry room
11. Move items out into garage that won’t be hurt by heat
to free up space in the house for food and water
Notes on particular foods:
1. Wheat: hard red & white wheat store best. Once ground, it is
good for up to 3 months. If stored at
high temperatures, the flour made from it will not
rise well.
2. Rice: white stores best. Brown has fatty acids that cause it to go
bad fast & stores only 6 mo.
3. Beans: old beans take longer to tenderize. Very old beans will not
tenderize.
4. Oils: Store in cool, dark place. Olive oil stores longer than veggie
oil.
5. Sugar: stores indefinitely if kept away from moisture.
6. Dry milk: sometimes adding vanilla can improve the flavor.
7. Cheese:
a - Old English processed sharp cheese spread - use
only to add flavor, but decrease salt in recipe. Stored indefinitely.
b - Freeze dried sharp cheddar cheese - good
flavor, & good when hydrated to put on top of baked recipes.
c - cheese sauce mix (cheese powder + white sauce
ingredients)
d - cheese blend - has
blue cheese in it
8. Yeast: good for 7 yrs in deep freezer, 5 years in refrigerator, and
1 yr in fridge after opening.
9. Dried eggs: #10 can = 100 eggs. 1 T. dried whole egg + 2 T. water =
1 egg. Once opened, it lasts a year if stored in a cool, dry place.
Substitution: gelatin.
10. Powdered shortening: 1 #10 can = 11 c. powdered shortening = 2.25
can
regular shortening. Good for quick mix, not good for cake & cookie
recipe.
11. Powdered butter: 1 #10 can roughly = 11 c. powdered butter = 8.25
lbs real butter. Makes good white sauce/soup base. Not good in cakes &
cookies.
12. Canned foods: safe to eat almost
indefinitely as long as the can is not bulging or dented, and stored in cool
place. Tomato products will not last as long because of their acidity content.
13. Dried foods: freeze dried is really good, but expensive. Must use
twice as much as dried in recipes. If make own, make sure to freeze at 0 degree
temp for 2 days to kill any insect eggs.
14. Seeds: Store in opaque container with lid in a
cool dark place. Lasts fo 1 yr.
Rotation Tips
Rotation Tips
1. Only store what you eat.
2. Make at least 1 meal a week from your three
month supply and you should have no problem using the food before it goes
bad. (This is a good way if you don’t
want to keep a written inventory).
You will also save
money as you stock your food storage from items on sale and avoid last minute
trips to the grocery store.
3. ALWAYS
place the newest food items in the back and use the older items first. (Yes, it takes more work but its much easier
in the long run).
4. Writing the expiration date on items with a
sharpie marker can help you rotate things.
It’s easier to see the dates and know which items to use first. It also makes it easy to see upcoming expiration
dates so you can use that food quickly.
5. Often food is still good well past its
expiration date. (Canned Food Alliance
said canned food is good almost indefinitely).
Rotation Systems
1. Every time you take something from your food
storage closet write that item down on a special grocery list so you know what
to buy and replace next time you go to the store.
2. Pocket System:
For years I
struggled with keeping track of my year’s supply of basic foods. I tried
keeping lists of what I had, but the lists changed weekly. I was taking
inventory much too often.
Then, while a
friend was visiting a bicycle shop, she noticed their system for inventory
control. Inspiration struck! We each adapted the idea to our own food storage
system with wonderful results. Here’s what we did:
1. On a
poster board, tape or glue pockets made of index cards cut in half, one for
each kind of food in your basic year’s supply. Each pocket is labeled by the
type of food, number of packages or units, amount in each package, and the
total amount needed for a year’s supply of that item. For example, one pocket
might be labeled “spaghetti—48 boxes x 2 lbs. = 96 lbs.”
2. We make an
inventory card for each package or unit. Spaghetti, for example, would need
forty-eight cards, each with “spaghetti—2 lbs.” written on it. Those
forty-eight cards are placed in the labeled pocket. Do the same with each food
item.
3. Whenever
someone takes an item from storage, that person also pulls a card from the
pocket and brings both items to the kitchen. We place the card in an envelope
taped behind a cupboard door in the kitchen.
We
color-coded the cards to represent the source for obtaining each food item.
Foods obtained from the cannery are kept on red cards, grocery store items on green
ones, warehouse items on blue, and home-canned items are on pink cards. It’s a simple matter before shopping to pull
all the green cards from the envelope when planning a trip to the store, or all
the red cards when I plan for a trip to the cannery. I know exactly what needs
to be replaced. As items are restocked, I replace the cards in the poster board
pockets.
We hang our
poster board in our storage area. Now we are able to keep our year’s supply of
food fully stocked.—Leslie O. Andersen, Kansas City, MO
3. If you need to keep food storage in several different places in your house then write down a system and store it according to which items need to be used first.
3. If you need to keep food storage in several different places in your house then write down a system and store it according to which items need to be used first.
For
example: Store the first two weeks worth
of meals in one location such as under a bed in bedroom #1. Then as you buy the next two weeks worth of
meals store that in another location such as a closet in bedroom #2. If you store your food chronologically you
know that you need to use the food under the bed in bedroom #1 first and then
after that you use the food in the closet of bedroom #2. And after you have emptied one area fill it
back up with new food and continue the rotation.
It is easier
to rotate food items if they are stored in groups by what needs to be eaten
first, rather than similar food items.
4. Sometimes it hard to use your food storage if
it’s not in your kitchen where you see it regularly. You can avoid this problem by setting up a
schedule to regularly bring items from you storage place to your kitchen. For example, on the first of the month you
can bring out a new bag of rice, several canned goods, new bags of sugar,
flour, etc and put them in your kitchen pantry or cupboards. You can even write those items on your
grocery list so you can replenish them on your next trip.
5. Place food for a needed month (or two weeks)
in a single box. Date and number the
boxes for easy rotation into your daily meals.
6. Use rotation racks to keep canned food in
order with the oldest cans being used first and the newest ones in the
back. You can find different racks on
the Internet; however, they are a little pricey. There is also a website to buy plans to make
your own racks. They suggest that the
price for a 4-celled rotation rack comes to around $10. www.canracks.com
Resources
Guidelines for
storing food.
Excel worksheet to
automatically calculate ingredient amounts for three-month supply of food. Video Tutorial included.
Recipes for
three-month food storage. Instructions
to make your own rotation racks for canned food.
Calculator to figure
out how much food you need for long-term food storage each member of your
family according to age.
Good printable
documents and ideas for three-month food supply.
Recipes for three-month
food supply.
Healthy food storage
recipes, including instructional videos.
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