Are you Stocking Up or Preparing for an Emergency? Support Thread - Page 4

[Krisis]

if I didn't have the Internet I would probably die. So basically, all this food storage will do me no good if my power goes out. Goodbye, cruel world! :

I told my mom about making an oven from a cardboard box and she looked at me like I was crazy. Then she said "you know we have a generator, right?" HA. Apparently they have all sorts of awesome stuff, plus live right on a river, plus have room for us if TSHTF majorly. Yay!!

I visited my dog while I was at my parent's too... I wish we could bring him here but he's too big for an apartment (if he stands up he's 5'5'' - as tall as me!!) Anyway I was thinking about if I should stock up on yarn since I love to knit, and then I decided I'll just use my dog's hair. He's a golden-doodle so he's got a ton to spare! :

[A&A]

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[captain crunchy]

Originally Posted by Krisis

if I didn't have the Internet I would probably die. So basically, all this food storage will do me no good if my power goes out. Goodbye, cruel world! :

:

Hilarious!! I feel the same way.

I think we are all at different stages and that is fine! I personally am not planning for the collapse of the whole society -- more like, really tough financial times akin to the Great Depression -- only with the internet -- like on Craigslist there will be ads "will work for food" or "will trade coffee for sugar" which will be scary and sad if it came to that

We are closing our accounts tomorrow and going with the local federal credit union. It is secure, small, local, FDIC insured, member owned, and I don't believe it has its hand in any mortgage crisis (like sub-prime). It seems safer to me but also I want to have *some* cash on hand in case of a bank holiday.

Oh you guys, pleeeease remember Monday is Columbus day and the banks WILL be closed so don't have a breakdown if you forget and go to the bank for something and it is closed (which is so something I would do )

[A&A]

From the other thread:

"Sorry this is sort of OT.. but I've been thinking about stockpiling, saving cash, etc. How do you balance that $-wise with other, non-essential things - I"m thinking about dd's dance class, her piano lessons, etc. I know we're doing pretty well to be able to afford those extras, but we've cut other things to be able to afford it. We have food to eat and to buy extra to set aside, but now I'm wondering if I should go ahead and pay $200 for dd's next session of piano lessons this coming Monday or use that to do more food stockpiling. It's such a fine line and I keep going back and forth...."


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We're still paying for that type of thing. Life's a balancing act!

[A&A]

Originally Posted by captain crunchy

:

Hilarious!! I feel the same way.

I think we are all at different stages and that is fine! I personally am not planning for the collapse of the whole society -- more like, really tough financial times akin to the Great Depression -- only with the internet -- like on Craigslist there will be ads "will work for food" or "will trade coffee for sugar" which will be scary and sad if it came to that

We are closing our accounts tomorrow and going with the local federal credit union. It is secure, small, local, FDIC insured, member owned, and I don't believe it has its hand in any mortgage crisis (like sub-prime). It seems safer to me but also I want to have *some* cash on hand in case of a bank holiday.

Oh you guys, pleeeease remember Monday is Columbus day and the banks WILL be closed so don't have a breakdown if you forget and go to the bank for something and it is closed (which is so something I would do )

Technically, credit unions aren't insured by the FDIC. They're insured by something else similar (which I never remember the name of.)
And check your institution on bankrate.com

[captain crunchy]

Blame my husband for telling me that (the FDIC thing) :P but yeah, similar... and I will go check! Thanks!

[EyesOfTheWorld]

Check this out canning ladies! Bottled butter

A&A - We solve that problem partly by making lessons the girls' Christmas gift from Nana (my mom). So she pays for DD1 to take gymnastics, and DD2 takes little kid soccer (OMG so cute!). If she didn't make that her gift, they wouldn't do it. It's just not in our budget right now. If you can afford it and your kids really enjoy it, I say go for it. I don't want to freak out my kids. I think saying" Sorry honey, we have to cut out your piano lessons so we can stockpile for food for the apocalypse" might be a little scary.

[dubfam]

Originally Posted by EyesOfTheWorld

Check this out canning ladies! Bottled butter

That is GREAT to know!! Thanks for posting that. I will be watching for some good deals on butter. I feel like if food prices skyrocket that would be one of the more expensive/hard to get things...I am not even sure WHY I think that. Maybe all the stories I heard about people fighting over the last tub of butter/loaf of bread in the grocery stores in Russia???

I was thinking about adding all of the links to the OP
If I miss one just pm me and I will add it. Then when we start our new thread we can just copy and paste....and everything will still be at the top

eta I added all the links and I will try to keep up on new ones that get posted. Hopefully we will be able to retain info better that was when we change threads!!

[Krisis]

Can you freeze butter? Or milk? Or cheese? I am totally clueless about that sort of thing, and canning scares the crap out of me. I am planning on buying some powdered butter for long term storage, but freezing it would be nice (I'm thinking of the sales that are sure to start popping up with the holiday cooking season near...)

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by EyesOfTheWorld

Do you have any good recipes for diced tomatoes? DH bought a bunch at Costco months ago for some unknown reason, and they're just taking up all my pantry space now! And of course, I'm overrun with tomatoes from our garden too, and the kids hate tomatoes. I need to get a canner ASAP so I can make sauce.

One of my favorite one-pot meals would utilize many food storage items already! I don't really have a name for my recipe, but it goes like this:

1 cup rice blend (brown rice and wild rice)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can or 2 cups garbonzo beans
1/2 - 1 teaspoon garam masala (curry)

Cook rice until done. Add tomatoes, beans and curry, simmer for a few more minutes... and it's done! It's really good for how simple it is!

Originally Posted by Krisis

if I didn't have the Internet I would probably die. So basically, all this food storage will do me no good if my power goes out. Goodbye, cruel world! :

me too!

Originally Posted by captain crunchy

Oh you guys, pleeeease remember Monday is Columbus day and the banks WILL be closed so don't have a breakdown if you forget and go to the bank for something and it is closed (which is so something I would do )

[Jenivere]

Yes you can freeze butter and cheese; I've done it many times. In fact I have about 6lbs butter in my freezer right now. It will make cheese crumbly (but still edible) unless you let it defrost completely before slicing. I read recently that milk can be frozen as well but I don't know any details.

[runes]

Santa Ana winds are forecasted to blow this weekend in SoCal, and Gov. Schwarzenegger has put out an advisory for residents in this area to:

-create a family disaster plan
-stock up on supplies

This is perfect case in point for a potential emergency situation. Since my family is basically prepared due to prior planning and stocking, we will be one less family needing to go to the supermarket to stock up this weekend. That means more for others at a critical time.

In addition, I also read a report that the food banks in this area are running really low on supplies, so I'm going to go through my pantry to see if I have a few extra items to spare to bring down to the FB this weekend. Again, because of prior prepping and feeling that my family is prepared and safe, I am able to fulfill the important civic duty of helping out others in need in a timely manner.

So tell me again how prepping is bad karma for the community?

Ooops, sorry, I know this is the support thread, but here we have a perfect example of a very possible imminent emergency that is happening as we speak. I am hoping hoping hoping that we don't wake up to the smell of smoke and have to evacuate like we did last October. I certainly learned my lessons last year, remembering that feeling when the evacuation order was put out. I remember my heart sinking when I realized that there was less than a 1/4 tank of gas in my car and knowing that we would be driving almost 100 miles to our evac destination. Sure enough, we had to wait 45 minutes at the gas station to fuel up.

Be safe, So Cal families!!

[Satori]

Originally Posted by kidspiration

Santa Ana winds are forecasted to blow this weekend in SoCal, and Gov. Schwarzenegger has put out an advisory for residents in this area to:

-create a family disaster plan
-stock up on supplies

This is perfect case in point for a potential emergency situation. Since my family is basically prepared due to prior planning and stocking, we will be one less family needing to go to the supermarket to stock up this weekend. That means more for others at a critical time.

In addition, I also read a report that the food banks in this area are running really low on supplies, so I'm going to go through my pantry to see if I have a few extra items to spare to bring down to the FB this weekend. Again, because of prior prepping and feeling that my family is prepared and safe, I am able to fulfill the important civic duty of helping out others in need in a timely manner.

So tell me again how prepping is bad karma for the community?

Ooops, sorry, I know this is the support thread, but here we have a perfect example of a very possible imminent emergency that is happening as we speak. I am hoping hoping hoping that we don't wake up to the smell of smoke and have to evacuate like we did last October. I certainly learned my lessons last year, remembering that feeling when the evacuation order was put out. I remember my heart sinking when I realized that there was less than a 1/4 tank of gas in my car and knowing that we would be driving almost 100 miles to our evac destination. Sure enough, we had to wait 45 minutes at the gas station to fuel up.

Be safe, So Cal families!!

I've never know the Santa Ana's to cause to much trouble, more a strong warm breeze then anything. Do they cause problems where your at? Here the winds are always blowing, they only stop when a storm is coming (seriously, the wind stops blowing the day before usually)

[MaryCeleste]

I've heard that frozen butter lasts longer in foil wrappers rather than wax paper ones, and that salted butter lasts longer than unsalted. Either way, though, it will keep for several months at least. We've never had any go bad on us, even a few packages that were lost at the back of the freezer for aeons.

Milk that's been homogenized (i.e., the supermarket kind) will freeze fine, but it has to be thawed completely before using it, because the milky part thaws faster than the watery part. Kind of like when a child sucks all the juice out of a juice popsicle, and is left with a block of ice.

Cream top/non-homogenized milk separates when it's been frozen -- the fat does something funny -- but it's still drinkable.

We keep a couple of cartons of milk in the freezer. In case of power outage, they can be used as ice packs to keep other food cold, then we can drink them once they're thawed. Other than that, they're just good to have as back-up, in case we run out of milk at an inconvenient time.

[runes]

Originally Posted by Satori

I've never know the Santa Ana's to cause to much trouble, more a strong warm breeze then anything. Do they cause problems where your at? Here the winds are always blowing, they only stop when a storm is coming (seriously, the wind stops blowing the day before usually)

The hot, dry, strong, gusty Santa Ana winds are what drove the Southern California wildfires out of control last year.

[Krisis]

Thanks for the info! We don't drink a lot of milk but it's good to know just in case, and I will definitely be stocking up on butter! We never have more than a pound at a time, and it goes quick with how much I like to bake!

Well for those of you in Salt Lake County (Hi Lizzie! ) we've got a winter storm warning issued for all weekend. I packed all my winter clothes when we moved here. Luckily we got all our stuff shipped to us and we're moving it to a storage unit tomorrow, so I can unpack my sweaters!! :

[velochic]

Originally Posted by EyesOfTheWorld

Check this out canning ladies! Bottled butter

THIS IS NOT SAFE! (Yes, I'm yelling!)

I am a "canning lady" and I can everything... safely. This method is called "open-kettle canning", it is not canning at all, and it is very, very dangerous. Low-acid foods, which butter is, must be heated beyond boiling to destroy the botulism spores. That's the point of pressure canning.

What this process does is just seal the jars because of the vacuum created by a cooling jar. You have just sealed the botulism spores in with the butter.

Please see this link from the USDA Canning Guide about canning butter:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/questions/FAQ_canning.html#33

ETA: The USDA has not developed safe processing procedure or times for canning dairy at home. You should not can anything with dairy in it (which is sad for me because I would love to home can "cream of" soups!)

[velochic]

Originally Posted by dubfam

I feel like if food prices skyrocket that would be one of the more expensive/hard to get things...I am not even sure WHY I think that. Maybe all the stories I heard about people fighting over the last tub of butter/loaf of bread in the grocery stores in Russia???

I was living in Russia when Yeltsin came to power. People didn't fight over the last tub of butter or bread. There simply wasn't any in the state stores. You had to barter for them or pay hard currency at the open market (called "rynok"). Also, on weekends, people would line the sidewalks with their goods for trade or there would be a nearby park that everyone would gather in. You'd bring what you had to trade and walk down the sidewalk or around the park and look for what you needed and barter a deal.

It was the beginning of capitalism, not the end. People were becoming more and more resourceful. It was really an interesting time and completely different than what we'll face. In Russia people had nothing and they were learning to just *have*. In the US it will be the opposite. People feel entitled and will expect to continue to have no matter what it takes. That's why it will be more dangerous.

[fek&fuzz]

Originally Posted by velochic

THIS IS NOT SAFE! (Yes, I'm yelling!)

I am a "canning lady" and I can everything... safely. This method is called "open-kettle canning", it is not canning at all, and it is very, very dangerous. Low-acid foods, which butter is, must be heated beyond boiling to destroy the botulism spores. That's the point of pressure canning.

What this process does is just seal the jars because of the vacuum created by a cooling jar. You have just sealed the botulism spores in with the butter.

Please see this link from the USDA Canning Guide about canning butter:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/questions/FAQ_canning.html#33

You can make ghee, which is shelf stable.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2203795_make-ghee.html

[velochic]

Originally Posted by fek&fuzz

You can make ghee, which is shelf stable.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2203795_make-ghee.html

Yes, this is a good option. Clarified butter (ghee) is safe, even after opening. I buy my ghee from the Indian grocery. It's a little bit expensive but cheaper than butter powder. The jar I have here was less than 5 bucks for 14oz. I wonder how that compares in price to making your own. Thanks for the link.