Website Alert! "Dinner in a Jar"?

The Old Coot Who Married Me is a member of an amateur radio group, and last Saturday night there was a group social. Since The Old Coot was in charge of the social, I decided that it was important for me to attend as well, mostly to support him. I was so glad that I went! My Friends Jay and Lauren were both there, and as always, it was so great to see them. Even better, My Friend Lauren, who is always on the prowl for new ways to use food storage, was all excited about her latest find. It is such a simple idea, I can't believe that I haven't seen it used in this way before, but I'm glad that I know about it now.

The website that she referred me to is called, "Dinner is in the Jar". The idea is similar to all of the "Cookies in a Jar" that many of us have seen at Christmas: the dry ingredients for cookies are layered in a Mason jar, ready for mixing, and all that you need to do when you are ready for cookies is add the sloppy stuff like eggs and oil. Well, the lady on this website has decided to do the same thing for meals by putting dry ingredients like rice or pasta, along with spices and dehydrated vegetables, etc., in a jar or a sealed mylar bag, and then when it's time to cook, there are just a few "add-ons". The cook book that she offers has the recipes for the items that go in the jar, as well as labels that you can photocopy and attach to your jars that list the add-on items and directions for cooking.

For example, the recipe for "Pasta Soup" lists macaroni, lentils, plus some spices that go into the jar, with the add-ons being simply 1 pint of cooked chicken cubes (I like buying the canned chicken just to have on hand for "crunch" times) and the 10-1/2 cups of water required for cooking. Since I just bought the book, I haven't had a chance to try the recipes yet, but they sure look good, and it is definitely an intriguing idea. "Gan"-"Green Thumb" and I will report back soon with the results of our first dish. In the meantime, please check it out!

Winter Storm – A Chance to Test Our Emergency Preparedness

As I have stated before, watching the events that unfolded in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina forever changed my thinking, and I have become determined to make my family as self-reliant as possible. Being a novice at many things, I have just had to guess on how prepared we really are, especially since I live in an area that (so far, at least) is not prone to earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. Well, this week Texas saw snow, and our area actually saw more snow than we have ever had in a one-day time period. It was pretty fun, well, up until the point that our power went out. But even that had its “up” side because we got a chance to see where we really are as a family as far as being prepared goes (our home is all electric). Like pretty much everything in our lives, we learned that we had our strengths and our weaknesses.


A big thing that I did right was that I actually listened to the weather forecast for once. In our area, the weather can be so hit-and-miss that many times when you hear a forecast predicting inclement weather, it is easy to roll your eyes and say to yourself, “Oh, whatever.” This time I took the report seriously and went to the grocery store before things got bad. There was plenty of fresh bread, milk, etc., in the house. In addition to a house full of food that needed cooking/heating, we had lots of things to eat that didn’t require cooking. We were set. If we did need to cook, Robert had a little camping stove and fuel squirreled away that he bought at a garage sale (garage sales are a great source for acquiring that type of thing at a great price). I did realize, however, that while we had plenty of food in the house, we didn’t really have a decent supply of drinking water. Not a problem for a power outage for us, but if there was ever a major problem with our water supply, we might not be so happy. Need to work on that.


One thing for which we have always been grateful is the fact that we made it a point to buy a house with a fireplace. While it isn’t exactly an inferno, it did keep the house pretty warm, especially when we closed the other rooms off and congregated in the family room. Another plus was that we had plenty-o-plenty of firewood, all of which was free. Living in a residential area, there are at least one or two trees each year that get a good pruning, or even cut down. Unless those home owners also have a fireplace (most don’t), that wood ends up on the curb, waiting for collection on trash day. Robert volunteers to haul it off, and so far no one has ever turned him down – it’s a win/win for everyone.

The fireplace is definitely an asset, although I will say that now that I seem to have so many problems with breathing and sinuses, I will probably get a wood burning stove if I ever get my house in the country. With no electricity to operate a blower, we have to leave the doors on the fireplace open in order to get maximum heat, and the burning wood drives me nuts. There is a new product I have seen advertised that I am quite taken with. The Vermont Bun Oven is a wood burning stove that will not only heat your home, but also allows you to use the top surface for some basic cooking and there is an oven on the bottom for baking. Yes! My little house on the prairie will have one!

The second item for which I was grateful has also served to humble me through the years. You see, my husband is a tool collector; I can’t even tell you how many different tools and “toys” he has. I just know that he has stuff everywhere, and his “stuff” has been the subject of many discussions. When he told me a few years back that we really needed a gasoline powered portable generator, I found myself thinking, “Woof – another new toy to clutter up the garage.”

Well, today was not the first day that I was glad that he bought that thing. We have used it a couple of times before, after losing power during thunder storms, and it always comes in handy. Our big thing is that our freezer is usually pretty stocked, plus there’s the refrigerator, and we hate the prospect of losing all of that in the event of a long-term power outage. The generator provides enough power to run our refrigerator and freezer, plus something small like a lamp, and my husband always runs an extension cord over to our next-door neighbor’s house to help him out. (Note: If food safety is a concern, the Texas Cooperative Extension has a neat fact sheet, “Handling Food and Drinks When Losing Power” that is quite informative.)


We did learn a lesson today: You need to fire the generator up once in a while, when you don’t actually need it, if you want it to start right up when you do need it. I believe The Old Coot said this was in the instructions, and was something he meant to do, but just never got around to. It took him quite awhile, and a lot of struggling, to get it going today. We will be performing regular maintenance on our generator in the future.

I also learned to appreciate my cell phone. I am not a fan of cell phones; I generally find them intrusive and annoying, and I think most of us talk way too much. But it did come in handy today because we recently “bundled” our cable, internet, and land-line phone service. Even though we had purchased the battery back-up pack for our land-line “black box”, it died way before we were able to get our generator going, leaving us with only our cell phones, one of which I used to report our power outage. I guess I’ll have to rethink my opinion of both cell phones and bundled services.

A tiny hero in our “emergency” scenario was actually something I had bought as a fluke, as stocking stuffer gifts for many members of our family. I’m a big fan of QVC and they have something known as a “Today’s Special Value” (they pick one product each day and offer it for a 24-hour period at a really great price). Right before Christmas they had offered these really cute, little flashlights . Initially I liked them because they were in a set of five and came in really cute colors like lime green and purple:


They are exceptionally bright:


But what really sucked me in was the “glow-in-the-dark” ring that makes the flashlight easy to spot in the dark:


In fact, Mom was the first one to know that the power had gone off when she got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. When her table lamp would not come on, she was able to easily spot her flashlight’s glow ring (she keeps the flashlight on her nightstand). She then came and told me about the power outage, and it was easy for me to spot my flashlight, too. Who knew that something so insignificant could be so helpful?

We were too busy taking snow pictures and trying to get the generator going to listen to the radio, but we do have a crank-powered radio available to get important information if we need it.
Well, that was our winter storm experience. Our power DID finally come back on, and we DO love electricity. There are some things we still need to work on, but overall, the steps that we have been taking towards being prepared did pay off – the day was not too bad!

How to Get Kitchen Staples With a Long Shelf Life at a Great Price

If you are trying to accumulate a 3-month supply of basic food, or if you just like cooking from scratch and using basic ingredients, there is a resource that few people know about, and even fewer utilize. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has long encouraged its members to try to accumulate at least a 3-month supply of food (a longer-term supply is even better) and a small supply of drinking water and other essentials, and they are masters of providing for the welfare of those members in need, so they actually operate canneries throughout the country. These canneries have some basic foods such as white flour, oats, sugar, etc., that are stored in the cannery in large bags (think 25 pounds or so), and basically you provide the labor of canning the food that you want in #10 cans or in mylar pouches. Since the church does not make a profit on the food, the prices are very reasonable. Currently you can buy a #10 can of white flour (4.8 lbs), with a shelf life of 10+ years (when stored in a dry place at 75 degrees or lower), for $3.05 a can. A #10 can of regular oats (2.7 lbs), with a shelf life of 30 years, will set you back $2.10 a can. (Note: prices are subject to change.)

The reason that I like the cannery so much is that it has everything you need: the food is there (no outside food is allowed in to prevent contamination), as well as the cans, the oxygen absorption packets, the lids, and the canning equipment. Like I said, you just pretty much provide the labor. If you plan on what the food storage goals are for your family and go to the cannery on a regular basis, you will be surprised at how quickly you will progress toward those goals. I also like the fact that the #10 cans have such a long shelf life.

It is my understanding that those who are not members of the LDS church but want to utilize the cannery are encouraged to go to the cannery with a friend who is LDS. However, many canneries will not turn non-members away, even if they cannot attend with a member of the church, as long as they adhere to the policies and procedures of the cannery. I would encourage you to call the cannery in your area to verify this before you go, just to be sure, as it may vary by individual cannery.

Want to know if you have a cannery in your area? There are canneries located in Canada, the eastern United States, Utah, the western United States, and South Africa, Tonga, and American Somoa. I have heard that there is a new cannery in Georgetown, Texas, but could not find it on the list.

The order form for the cannery is available on-line. It lists the the items that are available, the shelf life of each item, and the weight of the packaged item. The PDF even has a feature that allows you to fill out the form and it will do the math for you so that you can pre-plan your trip and take the form with you to the cannery. The price per can includes the cost of the food, the can, the "oxy" packs, and the lids. You will receive two free plastic lids for each 6 cans that you buy, but you can buy additional plastic lids if needed. If you are into dehydrating food and/or using your Food Saver and like to use oxy packs, they also sell oxy packs separately. (I buy a bag of 100 for $8.00.) Prices and item availability are subject to change, so check regularly and before each trip so that you aren't surprised.

I would encourage you to call the cannery that you plan to attend to get all of the information that you need; however, I will share my experience with the cannery nearest me and hopefully you will find the information useful for your next trip.

1. Our local cannery generally is by appointment and they like to make the appointments for groups of between 2 and 8 people. However, at our cannery, each Wednesday morning, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., is reserved for individuals and no appointment is needed. Be aware that even though they are open until 3:00, they want you to be leaving by 3:00, not showing up at that time. The people at the canneries who are there to assist you are volunteers and generally have a set shift that they "work". Plus there will be a "group appointment" coming in around 5:30 for which the cannery will need to prepare.


2. Children under the age of 16 are not allowed inside the operating area of the cannery. If you have small children, maybe you can sweet-talk a friend into watching them for you in exchange for a can of hot cocoa mix!


3. Open-toed shoes are not allowed in the cannery. Trust me, as a total clutz I am always glad to wear my sneakers for protection!


4. Don't wear your "pretty" clothes. You may think that you can delicately scoop all that stuff into the can (okay, maybe you can do it, but some of us can't!). My Friend Lauren and I recently canned 36 cans of flour together, and for a little while there we looked like we had been in a snow storm!


5. When you first go into the cannery there is a shelf that has some food on it that has already been canned. This is food that someone did not purchase, and you are encouraged to look on this shelf first for items that you want (it might save you some time).


6. As I said earlier, the food at the cannery comes in large bags or boxes (around 20-25 pounds or so). If you open a bag and only want, say one can of pinto beans for example, you do not have to purchase the contents of the whole bag, but you do have to can the whole bag. The cannery does not want any opened bags of food attracting unwanted pests. The excess cans that you don't want will go on the shelf for someone else to purchase. This is why I try to plan each trip in such a way that I am buying several cans of the same thing instead of "one can of this, one can of that, and one can of something else". You could end up doing a lot of canning without much to show for it!


7. Our local cannery is not set up to deal with electronic transactions of any kind. It is strictly cash or personal check, so plan accordingly.


8. Our cannery is a little bit of a drive, so on one of my early trips I decided to "make it count". I loaded my little 4-door sedan down. Unfortunately, I learned that just because all of those boxes will physically fit into my car doesn't mean that my shock assemblies can handle it. That early trip resulted in my poor husband having to do a total replacement on said shock assemblies. He was a much better sport about it than he should have been! I'm much more careful now: I'm reasonable in my loads, I mix in some light items like oats or macaroni when I'm getting flour and milk, I spread the weight of the load all throughout the car, or better yet, I try to go with a friend who has a vehicle who can handle it!


9. There are some prepackaged cases (6 cans/case) of specific items that you can just swing by and pick up: pinto beans, quick oats, white rice, hard red wheat, and the "starter kit". The starter kit has two #10 cans of hard red winter wheat, two #10 cans of white rice, one #10 can of pinto beans, and one #10 can of quick oats.


10. I like the fruit drink mix. It has a shelf life of 2+ years, currently costs $6.90 per can, and it is a powdered orange drink that reminds me of that powdered orange drink that the astronauts used to drink. It is high in vitamin C, and kids seem to like it. If you find that it doesn't mix as well as you like and is too grainy, I was told by someone who grew up drinking it that his mother used to mix it with hot-to-boiling water and then just let it cool before serving and this completely dissolved the crystals.

I go to the cannery on a fairly regular basis now, and I have come to actually enjoy these trips. It is a little bit of work (I won't lie), but it is so nice to know that my pantry is beginning to be stocked with lots of the "basics" that have a long-enough shelf life that I don't have to be constantly worried that it will go bad before I can use it. With my recent purchase of regular oats, stay tuned for some oatmeal-applesauce muffins that "Gan"-"Green Thumb" and I will be making soon!

Website Alert! Wonderful Websites to Visit!

In our never-ending quest for knowledge, "Gan"-"Green Thumb" and I spend a little bit of time "surfing" the web, and we never cease to be amazed at the incredible websites and blogs that are out there. There are people who know so much more than we do, and we are happy to introduce you to those people and resources that we have found so that you can judge them for yourself!

The first website that I want to share is pretty much just a recipe website (allrecipes.com), but it has a feature that I truly appreciate. There is actually a feature on there that allows you to list four ingredients that you want to use, as well as up to four ingredients that you don't want to use (think food allergies or severe dislikes), and it will look for recipes using the ingredients that you want. This is a great way to try new things using those basic food storage items that you are collecting! I love it!

The next website is one that I find simply amazing. If you want to get going with food storage, but you just don't know how to get started or what to do with it once you have it, a lady named Crystal has the most wonderful website. Trust me, if you have some spare time, you could certainly spend some of it here! She doesn't just take cheesy pictures of her thumb, either -- she actually has video of things you want to see! Crystal inspires and humbles me, all at the same time.

The last website that I want to share is another site found by my son-in-law, Jeromy. In fact, here is his e-mail, pretty much as he sent it:

"Also found this neat website tonight...
This site talks about what the Red Cross recommends for disaster preparedness... If you go to 'Get a Kit' then 'Kit Contents' you can download a spreadsheet that you put in the number of people who are in the family, and the number of days the kit will cover and it auto fills in the shopping list for you.

Also, there is an interactive website that goes with this... Once you 'click here to begin', you can watch the videos and hit next through the steps. On the page for 'Get a Kit' then 'Create Your Own Kit', you can fill in the number of people the kit will cover, the number of days, and if there are medications or pets to be concerned for. Then after it calculates the amount of water and food and other things for you, click the link in the lower right to email the list to you or your family members.

Pretty handy lists and ideas for those who just feel overwhelmed when they are trying to get started with a bug out kit." (Thanks again, Jeromy!)

Enjoy surfing with us!

A Thought or Two About Flood Insurance

Although I have known about flood insurance for awhile now, I must admit that I was quite surprised originally when I found out that most home owner's insurance policies DON'T cover damage caused by floods. Flood insurance is actually a separate policy. Although your insurance agency will usually help you purchase a policy, they are not the ones who are covering you. You are actually going through your insurance agent to purchase flood insurance from the federal government (FEMA). Prices may vary, but your insurance agent can help get the numbers for you and help you make it happen.

Flood insurance, like all insurance, is something that you might not appreciate until you actually need it. But if your area were to experience a flood, you would be very glad that you had taken care of this aspect of emergency preparedness. FEMA actually has an on-line map that can help you see where you fall within a flood-plain. Once I typed in my address and it brought up the map, I set the scale to 25% and used the "pan" feature to maneuver around the map. It worked well enough that even I could understand it!

Another thing that many people don't really think about is renter's insurance. For all those many years that we did not own a home I didn't think about it, either. Then, when my husband was in college, I actually knew two different families who suffered through losing everything in a fire. It got me thinking: even though we did not have a whole lot during this time, it was hard enough to come by the first time around. We would have been in a world of hurt if something had happened and we had to replace all of those towels, dishes, clothes, etc. So we actually purchased some renter's insurance which would cover the cost of replacing our household goods, or protect us in the case of theft. Our current insurance agent informed me that rates, etc., for renter's insurance are usually based on the county in which you live. Where we live, my insurance agency requires purchasing insurance at a minimum level of $15,000, and the rates vary from about $90 - $130 per year, depending on whether you are in a single-family dwelling or a multi-family dwelling. Most renter's policies will also protect you against liability, just in case someone gets hurt while visiting you.

Insurance: Hope you never need it, but be so glad to have it!

Dehydrating: Another Great Food Storage Option

We recently had our monthly emergency prepared-
ness meeting, and since I have already taught the group everything that I know, I asked My Friend Lauren and My Friend Jay to be our guest speakers. My Friend Lauren has been doing a lot of home food dehydrating, and she gave a presentation that absolutely amazed and inspired me!

Why would you want to dehydrate food? Dehydrated food weighs less (beneficial to those who move frequently), requires less space to store, and has a great shelf life when stored properly. The only drawback that I can see is that you need to account for water to reconstitute the food when planning water storage, or store some commercially canned vegetables, etc. (which contain water), in case there was also a problem with the water supply. But as long as the water supply remains good, this is a great way to go. Also, there are many foods, such as banana chips and pineapple tidbits, that are great eaten right out of the bag.

My Friend Lauren brought many visual aids, including her equipment of choice: her food dehydrator and her "Food Saver". The brand of dehydrator that she prefers is the Excalibur brand. Why does she prefer this model? In some dehydrators the fan is located at either the bottom or the top of the dehydrator. The trays that are nearest the fan get thoroughly dry, but the food in the trays that are the furthest from the fan don't always get completely dehydrated. The fan in the Excalibur is in the back of the unit; the air flows evenly over all of the trays, giving a more consistent result. If you search the website you can buy a new dehydrator, or you can purchase a refurbished model to help with your budget. My Friend Lauren is also a big fan of the "Food Saver" vacuum sealer, and she actually prefers one of the older, less flashy models (similar to the Model 2460A). She does use a heavier bag than they sell, however. She likes to use a 3-ply bag that she finds at a website called dcprocessingequipment.com. Even more exciting to me were the attachments that you can use on home canning jars; they come in both narrow and wide mouth sizes. My Friend places her deydrated food in the canning jar, adds an oxygen absorption packet, places the top on the jar (but not the ring), and then uses the Food Saver jar attachment. After it works its magic she removes the attachment and places the ring on the lid, and she has some convenient food storage packaging for her dehydrated food. (She likes to use oxygen absorption packets ["oxy packs"] in both her bags and jars for extra protection.)

There were some items that she did not recommend for dehydration, with meat being one of them (unless you like jerky, which is actually a favorite at our house -- The Old Coot Who Married Me will pay a crazy price for seasoned jerky from the meat market!). Because of health and safety concerns, she also buys the following items commercially prepared: dried shredded cheese, powdered eggs, powdered sour cream, and butter powder. She buys these items from a company called Emergency Essentials, but there are other companies out there if you want to shop around.

However, there are many things that CAN be dehydrated. Unlike me, My Friends are "green thumb" gardeners, and dehydrating is a great way to help them preserve their harvest. However, if that is not enough, she will buy fresh produce (the fresher, the better -- junk in/junk out!) or even bags of frozen produce and dehydrate those!

The whole presentation was amazing, but there were two items that My Friend dehydrates that I would have never thought of. The first is tomato sauce. She uses the tray insert for the dehydrator that you would use for making fruit leather, and sure enough, she gets sheets of tomato sauce that look like a fruit roll-up! Amazing! The second thing that she showed us was dehydrated Bush's baked beans. Wow! I would have never thought of that! My Friend Lauren stressed that it is important to have some fully-cooked foods that can be reconstitued and then simply warmed, in order to save cooking fuel (if fuel availability is a concern).

The amazing thing is the transformation that occurs when water is added to the dehydrated food. My Friend showed us some dehydrated corn and it pretty much looked like little rocks. However, she brought a large pot of soup that she made from her stash, and the corn looked as beautiful as ever! Bananas and some other foods can be a little brown, but Lauren's new motto is, "Brown is beautiful!"

Okay, now that we are all dehydrating, what will we do with all of this dried-out food? There are many books out there with recipes for dehydrated food, but My Friend Lauren was especially excited about a book that she had just bought: "The Dehydrator Bible". She let me thumb through it and I recall seeing a recipe that called for a hunk of tomato sauce, and it even gave the size of the piece that you need! My Friends love their fruits and vegetables, and I am a big berry lover, and there were recipes in this book to keep all of us cooking and eating for quite awhile!

Where did My Friend Lauren gain all of this knowlege and skill about food storage? A lot of it was obtained by just forging ahead and trying things (she's just that kind of gal!), but she swears by a certain website. Dehydrate2Store is an incredible resource that she highly recommends, and it will give you a good background to get you started.

I am so excited about learning this new skill! Thank you, My Friend Lauren!

Start Your Garden "On a Roll"!

When is an empty bakery box not really a bakery box? When is an empty toilet paper roll more than just a toilet paper roll? Answer: When you put them together and they become a mini-greenhouse! This is actually two separate ideas that I got from two separate magazine articles, but I decided to combine them. You just need to make sure that your empty container has a little height (growing room) to get the best results. Then you simply cut the toilet paper roll in half. Stand the rolls straight up in the container, fill with potting soil, plant your seeds and keep watered, and you can get a jump on your garden. When the final frost has passed and it is time to transplant your young plants, since the cardboard roll is bio-degradable and is also open on the bottom, you simply place the plant, along with its roll-container, directly into the soil (at least that's what the article claims). It's less expensive than buying the bio-degradable peat moss pots. I can't wait to try this!

My Favorite Food Storage Gadget!

One of the hurdles that many people face when thinking about food storage is wondering where to put it. I have stuffed it in the hall closet, under the bed, really just about anywhere I could think of. You do what you have to when you want to accomplish a goal, and I made it work for as long as I could. The main problem that I had is that I would forget where I had put things, and by the time that I had found them, it was already past the expiration date.

Then I saw a commercial on BYU television that changed my life in terms of food storage. This commercial showcased the most wonderful system! It was a free-standing rack that held cans. Lots of cans! The neat thing is that you load the new cans into the top of the appropriate row, and you use from the bottom of the row; therefore, you are always using the oldest food first.

I ordered my unit from a company called "Shelf Reliance". They have units in various sizes, and they even have little racks that fit on your existing pantry shelves. I won't lie to you -- it definitely was what my budget would call an "investment piece", but I figured that if it helped me to keep my food storage from going bad, it was worth the money. Plus, I waited until they had a sale, and I got a really good deal on it. They do have sales from time to time, so I would advise that you check with them often.

There are other companies who sell "first-in, first-out" can rotation devices. If you want to shop around then I would suggest searching the internet for "food storage racks" or "food can racks". I cannot vouch for this particular item because I have not tried it personally, but there is a site that has plans to build your own -- great if the ready-made rack is cost prohibitive for now. (I would love to know about anyone's experience with this.)

Whichever option is best for you, there is organizational help for food storage out there!

Help From Someone Who Knows! (The Queen of Food Storage!)

When it comes to striving toward the goal of long-term food storage, no one has helped me more than a lady by the name of Wendy DeWitt, and I've never even met her. She came and gave a presentation in our area a few years ago. I didn't go, but the Old Coot Who Married Me went, and he came home and told me all about it. What I heard changed my attitude about my ability to actually achieve having a decent level of food storage for our family.

For years I had been under the impression that having "food storage" meant having a ton of wheat -- with which I had absolutely no idea of what to do! Wendy DeWitt changed all of that! Her message was simple: store what you eat (plus a few of the basics). Instead of accumulating immense quantities of things I wouldn't normally use, I started looking at what we would normally eat for breakfast and dinner for one week. I then made a list of the ingredients that I would need to make all of those meals and multiplied it by 52 weeks. This would be what I would need to have a year's supply. I could then start buying items while they were on sale, and fill in my menu ingredient list. If you would like more ideas on buying food storage, including setting a food storage budget, The Idea Door has some great ideas!

Is a year's supply a little too overwhelming for you? Then strive for a 3-month supply. Is three months still a little much? Start with striving for a 2-week supply. Why two weeks? Because if there was ever a "health" scare that required a quarantine (is anyone thinking "swine flu"?), you could expect it to last a good two weeks.

The good news is that if you missed Wendy Dewitt's presentation, too, then you can watch it thanks to the internet! She also has a blog that is worth checking out, and she wrote a neat little guide on food storage and solar cooking called, "Everything Under the Sun".

I hope that you find her as inspiring and informative and "Gan"-"Green Thumb" and I have found her to be! She truly is the "Queen of Food Storage" for me!

How Long Will My Food Stay Fresh? Ask an Extension Agent!

Whether you are looking at long-term food storage, or just keeping the groceries for the month fresh, it's important to store items in the proper way and have a good idea of each item's shelf life. This is where I have found state/county extension services to be a great resource. Whether it is food storage, gardening, or emergency preparedness, extension agents have a wealth of knowlege to share and I always have found them to be more than happy to help.

One of my favorite information sheets on food shelf life is from the Texas AgriLife Extension: "Safe Home Food Storage" . Another good information sheet is from the Virginia Cooperative Extension and is called "Food Storage Guidelines for Consumers".

Our area is prone to thunderstorms with high winds and we sometimes lose electrical service; the longest that we have been without service is about a day and a half (just enough to start worrying about the refrigerator!). I found the information from the Texas AgriLife Extension Service that tells how long refrigerated food will stay fresh after the power is off to be very helpful. In fact, this website has a whole list of great information about disaster preparedness and recovery!

In Case of Emergency: Put Your Cell Phone on "ICE"

This was a tip that I saw on a local news broadcast. If you were in an accident of some kind and were unable to speak for yourself, who would you want to have notified? This news story offered that your cell phone could be a tool that emergency responders might use to reach the one person who needs to know most if you are incapacitated. By having an entry labeled "ICE" ("In Case of Emergency"), you are able to designate who you want to have notified first in case of emergency. This is an especially good idea if you have teenagers out there, driving around on their own. Of course, it's not a surefire thing: if you have your phone password protected, it might take emergency assistance personnel/healthcare providers awhile to figure out how to get into your phone, and phones are sometimes thrown clear of an accident scene. So it's a good idea to have other emergency information on you in other forms. But if you have a simple, ancient, no frills phone like this old lady has, and if you keep that phone in a purse, etc., it is another tool that offers some measure of help!

Let Me Introduce Us!

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my thumb. At the beginning of my venture into gardening (summer of 2008), I was praying that I would have what is commonly called a "green thumb" (even though it is short and stubby, and distinctly unmanicured). After two summers of gardening, I have come to the sad realization that my thumb is not "green", but alas, it is actually "gangrene". It is tainted, diseased, and toxic to all plant life. Whether it's planting too late in the season, or attracting every pest and fungus in the state, I don't seem to be on top of the gardening thing. But, I want to keep trying! I feel it's important.

I first realized that gardening, and self-reliance in general, are important after Hurricane Katrina. Seeing what the people there went through after the hurricane made me realize that sometimes the most reliable help is yourself. I truly think that the difference between being a victim and being okay can often be the knowledge and skills that you acquire before an emergency strikes.

The second motivation came when I was called to be the "Emergency Preparedness Specialist" at my church. It is my job to teach our church members about food storage and general emergency preparedness. I'm pretty sure that the local church leaders picked me after a discussion that went like this:

"Is there some knit-wit that we know who has never made bread, done gardening, does not know how to sew, and knows nothing about emergency preparedness?" our Bishop asked.

"I think I know someone," came the reply.

"Good," came the answer. "Let's call her to this position."

So I have had to learn as I have gone along. I am the first to tell you that I AM NOT AN EXPERT IN ANYTHING! The only thing that I have going for me is that I have found some really good sources of information, which I would like to share with as many people as possible. Oh, and there's the fact that I actually am enjoying learning about all of these things. There are things that I didn't know that I didn't know. I even enjoy my feeble attempts at gardening. When you are not very good at it, it makes every tomato and pepper that you harvest even more of a treasure.

The main thing is that I believe that the time to learn is NOW. I figure that I can learn what works and what doesn't during this early time, and hopefully by the time I really need to know what I'm doing, I will have it all worked out. I can honestly say that this year's garden was much better than last year's, and the things I learned this year will help me be more successful next year.

If learning about self-reliance and being prepared appeals to you, and if you are not faint of heart, then I invite you to follow the adventures of my thumb and me as we wreak havoc with nature and try to survive. Check in with us often (we plan to post items frequently). We need all the cheer leaders that we can get!