Do you have a basic emergency kit?

Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply Kit:

• Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
• Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Whistle to signal for help
• Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
• Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
• Local maps

Additional Items to Consider Adding to an Emergency Supply Kit:

• Prescription medications and glasses
• Infant formula and diapers
• Pet food and extra water for your pet
• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
• Cash or traveler's checks and change
• Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov
• Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate.
• Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes. Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.
• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper - When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
• Fire Extinguisher
• Matches in a waterproof container
• Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
• Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels
• Paper and pencil
• Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children

If you want a Pre-Assembled kit, check out a few I found on Thrive Life and Amazon. 

• 4 - Person Kits
• 2 - Person Kits
• Travel and School Kits
• http://astore.amazon.com/iha03-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=25

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A Storm is Coming! A Storm is Coming!

If you are anywhere near the East Coast right now...You are (hopefully) preparing for the Monsterous Hurricane Sandy.
I think it's appropriate that we create a short list of the very basic items that you should have prepared.  If you haven't prepared and you head for the grocery store right now...You'll probably see this:

1 - Potable Water
At least one gallon, per person, per day...That's just for drinking.  Remember - You'll also want extra water for, cleaning, cooking, and other sanitary reasons.  I think it is best to plan on 3 gallons of water per person, per day.  Keep in mind that if you have stored Freeze Dried or Dehydrated food, you will need more water to re-hydrate your foods.  Another post to think about.  Water, Water, Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink

2 - Food
At my home, we have a lot of store bought canned food, but honestly...we don't use much of it.  We prefer the canned food that we grow and can ourselves.  Store bought canned goods have a long shelf-life, so it's good idea to have a bunch of it on hand.  If you are prepping for a storm or earthquake or even civil unrest, you can, and most likely will...lose electricity.  With Hurricane Sandy, Officials are estimating that approximately 10 million people will lose power. If you do lose power, the food in your fridge will spoil, plan to eat those perishable foods first.  After that, the food in your freezer will begin to thaw.  Use it next.  After all other food is gone, go for the canned and or dehydrated foods.
IMPORTANT - If you plan to use canned food, don't forget a non-electric can opener

3 - Battery Powered or Hand Crank Radio
Not many people listen to the radio anymore.  There really isn't much of a need anymore...right?  You've got the internet and your cell phone.  Heck, even your cell phone has the internet.  If you are in a storm or earthquake situation, that will likely change.  What do you plan to do if the internet and/or cell service is dead?  You will need a battery powered AM/FM radio to get information.

4 - Cash

I recommend having at least $200 in cash.  If there is no power, there will be no ATMs.  If there is no power, there is a chance that stores will re-open, but they won't be able to accept anything other than cash.  In this situation, it doesn't matter how great your credit is...If you don't have cash, you don't get to purchase. Remember, SMALL bills.  A lot of places won't have change to give back to you.  

5 - Batteries

It seems like it's easy to find a flashlight when the power goes out, but the batteries are ALWAYS dead.  Don't skimp on batteries.  Get them...Get lots of them.  You won't regret it.  I like Eneloop rechargeable batteries.  They come Pre-charged and have a low self discharge rate.  While you're at it...Make sure all of your gadgets are charged fully.  You will want these to be fully charged to keep yourself entertained.



6 - Toilet Paper and other sanitary supplies
This doesn't need much explanation.  Make sure you have what you need.  It would also be helpful to stock up the First Aid Kit

7 - Bug Out Bag
Some people have to bug out, some people have to bug in.  If there are mandatory evacuations being enforced, you will need a bug out bag.  Some people call them 72 hour kits.  The bug out bag is simply a supply of the items listed above.  You will also need to add a change of clothes along with important papers for identification etc.

Well - This really is just a quick list.  I obviously didn't spend a lot of time on it.  It covers the very basics.  Prepare what you can, with the time and resources you have.  For a more extensive list, I recommend you check out - Top 100 Items to Disappear First in a Crisis

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World's Best Bread Machine Recipe

Maybe not the World's Best, but pretty dang good if I do say so myself!

A while ago, I read that a bread machine can and should be considered an "Emergency Prep" tool.  I hadn't ever really thought about it before, but it makes sense.  Sure, you won't be able to use it if there is no power, but for most situations, you will have power.  Don't get me wrong...I believe it is very important to know how to make bread and bake it without a traditional oven, but for most situations, you will have some way of powering a bread machine.  If you don't have grid power, you have other problems, and bread probably isn't at the top of the list.  For those situations, I would recommend getting a Sun Oven.  I really like the Sun Oven from Shelf Reliance.  I don't have one yet, but My Shelf Reliance Consultant has one and absolutely loves it.  She has written quite a few articles on cooking with a Sun Oven.  Check it out. I hope to get one in the spring.

But...Back to the Bread Machine.  We tried to use a Bread Machine years ago and had a few horrible experiences.  We just assumed that all Bread Machines were bad.  Turns out, we just picked a bad recipe.  We actually got rid of that machine back in the day, so we had to search for a new one.  I hit one of my favorite Deals Sites...and found that there was a Rosewill Bread Machine (I had never heard of the brand before) on sale for about $60.  It had awesome reviews, so I decided to give it a shot.

After a lot of trial and error, I think we've come up with a pretty great recipe. We started with a recipe that was in an old church cook book, combined a couple of things we liked from other recipes, and came up with the recipe below.  

Bake this 2lb loaf of bread and then add some of that awesome Jam you made this fall, and you've got a winner!

Bread-2 lb. loaf

1-2/3 C. Water

2 T. butter, softened

1/3 C. packed brown sugar

2 tsp. salt

4-2/3 C. whole wheat flour (we prefer white flour)

1/3 C. potato flakes

1 T. gluten

1tsp. yeast 

Note 1:  We prefer white flour and use it more than whole wheat.   A lot of people store wheat, so when the stuff hits the fan, they plan to grind wheat for flour. If you are not already using whole wheat flour, It would probably be best to ease into it...Maybe go half white flour and half wheat flour to start.  Believe me, you don't want to go from white flour to whole-wheat flour directly.  Your body won't be happy with you.  

Note 2: This recipe includes Potato Flakes.  Try it!  You won't be disappointed.  The flakes add an amazing fluffiness and texture to the bread.

Note 3: We like to create our own bread mixes.  Mix all dry ingredients (minus the yeast), put them in a gallon bag and store in the fridge until you are ready to use.  We create 3-4 bags so it is really quick and easy to get a loaf of bread in the oven. :)

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Absolutely the Best Investment Ever for Homemade Applesauce

Our apple trees are really starting to take off.  This year the HoneyCrisp tree was absolutely incredible.  

We made a lot of Apple Pie Filling, but wanted to try something else.  My buddy at work talked a lot about how great homemade Apple Sauce is.  I have only ever tasted store bought Apple Sauce, and I really didn't like it.  I decided to go ahead and try it…who knows…maybe I’ll like homemade Apple Sauce.

I was able to borrow a Victorio Food Strainer from my favorite Shelf Reliance Consultant, Heather.  To be honest, I didn't even know such a tool existed.  I just assumed that my wife and I would be using the peeler/slicer/corer that we used for the apple pie filling.  Then I assumed that we would either use the food processor or the potato masher to get it down to the right consistency.  I had no idea that the Victorio Food Strainer would make the job so easy.

I was so worried that it was going to be such a big deal that I didn't even think to get out the camera to photograph the steps…sorry

1. Wash the apples
2. Halve or quarter your apples and put them in a stock pot.  Most of the HoneyCrisp apples were big, so we had to quarter them, but the smaller ones only needed to be halved.
3. Add a little water to the pot to keep the apples from scorching.  Cook them for ~15-25 minutes until they are soft.
4. Place the apples into the Victorio.  As you turn the handle, the core and skin comes out one shoot and the Amazing Apple Sauce comes out the other.
5. We ran the cores and skins back through Victorio a second time.  It was awesome to see more apple sauce come out, just by re-straining.
6. Add sugar to taste.
7. Fill quart jars and process using the water-bath method.

I said before when I was writing about the pie filling that I couldn't believe that it could be so easy.  I had no idea that making apple sauce could be even easier!  

If you can't tell, I'm really getting into this food storage stuff.  Eat what you store and Store what you eat...It's hard to keep our cold storage full of food storage when it tastes this good!

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Speaking of Pie...

Since my last post talked about pie, I thought it would be fitting that I did a follow-up to my Apple Pie Filling post a few weeks ago.

The apple pie filling that we canned is going so fast!  We can’t get enough of the stuff. 

For Canning, we continue to use the recipes found in the book “Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving”.

Apple Pie Filling (from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving)
12 c. peeled, cored, thinly sliced apples 
2 3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. ClearJel
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
1 1/4 c. cold water
2 1/2 c. unsweetened apple juice
1/2 c. lemon juice

1.       Prepare canner, jars and lids (water bath).

2.       In large pot of boiling water, working with 6 cups at a time, blanch apple slices for 1 minute, removed with a slotted spoon and keep warm in a covered bowl.

3.       In large stainless saucepan combine sugar, ClearJel, cinnamon, nutmeg, water and apple juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly and cook until mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Add lemon juice, return to a boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Drain apple slices and immediately fold into hot mixture. Before processing, heat, stirring until apples are heated through.

4.       Ladle hot pie filling into hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot filling. Wipe rim, center lid on jar, screw band down to finger-tip tight.

5.       Process in boiling water for 25 minutes. (35 for me)

Makes 7 Pints

I love the Marie Calendars Apple Crumb Pie.  I think this recipe is pretty close to the original…at least for the crumb topping. J

Crumb Topping

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Apple Crumb Pie

1.       In a medium bowl, mix the crumb topping ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal – set aside.

2.       Pour apple mixture into pie crust. (I cheated and used a frozen pie crust)

3.       Spread the crumb topping evenly over the apples. 

4.       Bake according to your crust recipe

5.       Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

A couple hints –

1 - This is probably a given, but…Make sure you have good apples.  If you don’t like the flavor, texture, etc…you probably won’t like them in a pie.

2 – Make sure you have an apple peeler/corer/slicer - When doing pie filling, you won’t use the slicer, but the peeler/corer is absolutely amazing.  I can’t believe how fast I was able to peel these apples.

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