Anyway, in honor of National Preparedness Month we're going to have a little fun while we're getting something done. I've got some prizes that I'm sure you'll enjoy that I'm going to send to a few lucky winners. I haven't decided how many. And I might find something else I want to share while I'm in my food room . . . I know you want to win something, so here's how it's going to work.
You have a little over two weeks left of National Preparedness Month and I want you to get something done. So to be entered in the prize drawings, here's all you have to do. First, leave a comment on this post letting us know what you've been putting off that you're going to get done by the end of September. Then go do it. At the end of the month, I'll ask how things went. Leave a comment on that post that you got your something done. Now, I totally understand that plans can change in two weeks--you might not have been able to accomplish the thing you set out to do, so let us know what you DID get done and you're entered anyway. Fair enough?
Here are the prizes so far:
Brunton/Gerber Survival Combo with Gerber knife and Brunton compass and fire striker.
Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving
--my personal favorite.
45 piece Emergency Kit with lots of stuff in it. Perfect start for a car, home, or office emergency kit.
40 comments:
I've lived in this house over 4 years now since we built it and our food storage area has been overflowing (thank the Lord) partially due to laundry detergent and cleaning supplies taking up precious food storage space. I've been putting off installing laundry room cabinets (which I already bought but are collecting dust in the garage) and this may be the perfect kick in the butt to get them installed. It will tidy up the laundry area as well as open up several cubic feet of food storage space!
My plan is to move the food items temporarily stacked in the kitchen hall and the tv room into a more permanent storage location.
For a while now, I have wanted to put together a B.O.B. for each family member. So, by the end of the month, I will complete our Bug Out Bags.
Scott
I am not sure how much I can get down in two weeks, especially since we have are in the middle of an adoption, homeschooling, foster parenting, etc... but here goes:
1. I would love to find a new place for all of my buckets of food that is not in my small dining room.
2. I have frozen apricots in my freezer to make jam with and I would like to get those out of my freezer and make jam, so I have more room in my freezer.
3. I need to clean out our food storage areas and see what I am running low on etc...
We will see how realistically I can get done.
I have been putting off making a B.O.B. for my husband and myself. By the end of the month I will have these bags ready and waiting.
I've been canning garden produce like mad. Made 3 pints of pickled swiss chard and 7 pints of summer squash pickle relish this past weekend. But I still have 7 or 8 squash in the Fridge and just picked more tonight so now I'm going to make squash bread this week to put in the freezer and then we have to start cutting wood for winter heat. So I'm off to the forest service to buy a wood cutting permit at the end of this week so we can start hauling wood this weekend.
I got several pieces of double paned storm glass from a local glass company who is replacing all the windows in my office building so I'll be making cold frames for winter gardening this year.
I'm still focusing on canning and preserving. But, I'd like to get some more water stored by the end of the month.
So back in May we converted a closet into a pass-through pantry. It works great except that the doors haven't been fully installed and nothing has been painted. If we don't get hardware up we'll lose much of the food we're trying to protect in case of earthquake. And in CA that's a big risk. So my goal is to get the doors installed, the trim put back up, and everything painted and looking pretty.
Oh, and I need to find a place for the freeze-dried food in #10 cans that I just ordered . . .
OK, I'll play. I want to get more shelves set up in the basement and haul food and supplies down from current locations on the floor in the pantry, hall, and spare room.
I have to get shelves put up this month so I have the room I need for everything! Then I need to move everything around to where I want it. Right now its a bit scattered. Thanks!
Just found your blog it is a great read will be back!
I will make B.O.B for me and the Wife, finish packing the "run tubs" for the B.O.V, and clean and arrange the pantry!
I also want to revive my canning skills as well as my map reading and compass work.
My wife and I are adding more drinking water to our supply for the current hurricane season. My wife has become aware of freeze dried food supplies. Now if I can just get here aware of dehydrated food.
I have been planning to add more Mt. House #10 cans to my preps all year. Back in Jan. I said to myself I need more Mt. House and still have not got it yet, but will this week.
I have been trying to find out what size shuttle and bobbins my new treadle sewing machine takes. If I do, I hope to buy some! (And then I hope to learn how to sew cloth diapers on my treadle, but that's a more long-term project...).
I plan on:
1) restocking our first aid kits & herb supplies.
2) finishing the layout for our property
3) ordering weatherizing supplies
4) picking up recycled tires for wall
I really need to clean and reorganize my pantry. I was shocked, when baking bread the other day, that I had about 5 cups of flour left in my gamma bucket. If I were organized, I would have known that!
I want to put my food storage in my new food storage room and get my family more involved.
I too have been canning like a crazy woman of late. Alas, my shelf is full, so I need to spend time reorganizing (think cleaning out!) a small set of shelves in the basement so I can expand my storage. Then continue to can and dehydrate.
I *really* need to clear out the food storage room in the basement.
I also need to purge outgrown children's clothes and donate them my church's outreach center.
And my big goal that will probably not get done: get the basement set up for additional living quarters.
-My Mother and I are working on Caning as many tomatoes as we can before they spoil.
-Dehydrate any onions we don't think will keep.
-I will be organizing my basement and creating a storage area for our camping gear and extra food. I am also planning on setting up my clothes drying racks so I can hang things up even when it rains. Which it has been doing quite often this past week.
-With luck I will also find time to pick and store some more wild apples too!
My main concern is an addition to water storage! Being as how the hurricane season is likely to run longer than expected, I don't think I have enough!
Shame on me for not getting this done earlier in the year!
We just added to our food storage with our daughter coming to live with us, along with her 3 children. So we have an additional 2000lbs. +/- to put into buckets, label and find storage places for.
I recently married and moved with my husband. So while looking for a job I've been trying to prepare some things for us. I'm learning to can and preserve foods: jellies, jams, pickles, and stuff like that. I'm also going to start dehydrating some fruits and vegetables for storage and snacking. My husband is building us a "food storage pantry" for all the foods that we are storing for longer terms to be prepared for whatever happens.
So far this month, I have put up applesauce,apple butter, dried pears and peaches, put up peaches, 3 different kinds of salsa (40 jars!), and gotten more wheat. I am in the middle of a dilema, I ran out of jars and have 50 pounds of cukes to turn into pickles!
I also plan this month to learn to make castile soap because I have always wanted to, but also because we are allergic to corn, and for some reason soap companies put corn sugar (sorbitol) in soap!
And then there's the wood. Been getting it split and stacked, and rotating the stuff from last year. fun..
I've been putting off getting a generator. I just need to figure out how many watts we need.
I finally got a inventory done put it into a food storage calculator. Woo hoo. I need to be rotating my storage better.
We've been putting off installing a transfer switch for the generator. We've been working on everything else but left that one to the wayside.
Hi there,
I`m a newbie to prepping but now mine eyes are open and Im prepping like crazy.
First off I and my dear wife are putting the house up for sale and looking to move to the country,Ive dug up my dormant veggie patch and planted some crops for a spring harvest,bought fifty cans of sprats in tom sauce,(I tried one first and they are delish),and Ive bought some silver and gold coins.
Not much you may say but its a start on a limited budget.
Keep up the good work :)
I have been canning like crazy and am running out of bottles! I need to keep going with salsa, tomatoes, juice and drying apples when they are ready. I am down trying to save the last $40 to get the dehydrator that I want, so I want to try and order that. I also need to go through the 72 hour kits and update them. A lot to do, we will see how far I get!
I need to update and restock my first aid kit, as it has been used and abused over the past year and on a recent camping trip I found that I had run out of non-latex gloves AND naproxen!
I'm fairly new to prepping but have made much progress over the past two months. But, oh, I have soooo much more to do and learn!!!
I've already spent more than enough for this month so can't do much more that requires money. Therefore, by the end of September I'd like to have a full two week water supply for my family of 5 and I'd like to start printing out information and organize a binder or two for future reference.
I have been trying to learn how to can so I am going to complete my first attempt at canning. Also, finish a BOB for each of my family members
I have GOT to put the clothes and hygiene kits into the bug out bags.
The components are sitting in a big jumble in my mudroom.
Okay, here are three goals for me. In reality, I hope to complete 1 by the end of the month:
1. Check/replace the batteries in the smoke detectors. I seriously need to do this.
2. Put away and organize all the food I just bought from the case lot sales.
3. Add updated clothing (new sizes, seasons) to our BOB.
I have been wanting to get binders set up for each family member and a household binder set up so that when I need to find something for one of us or for the home it is all in one spot. Or if we need to evacuate I can grab the binders and know that I have all the information that I need for each of us and our home. This is my plan for this month.
I've been putting off storing the bags of wheat, sugar and beans that are sitting in my foyer. I need to get them out of my foyer and packed into 5 gallon buckets for storage and everyday use.
I have been putting of going through all my jars of canned goods and getting rid of anything too old or that doesn't look still good. It is a job that I truly hate.
I also have been putting off cleaning out some cupboards so that I can make more room for more canning jars.
Need to update B.O.B. for fall/winter. Found new larger stainless steel water bottles for the vehicle and am anxious to purchase them.
Funny you ask....I have had 4 55 gal. water barrells for about 14 years...empty and moved 4 times! We finally filled all FOUR Wed.It was so fast and easy I don't know why we never did it before! We also organized our food storage and inventoried it AND put our 72 hr. kits together...we had the stuff it was a matter of separating and putting them in back packs. WHEW! all this week!
I meant to leave this earlier, but forgot. Something I've been putting off that is going to get done this weekend is rotating clothing in my 72 hour kits. I put them together a couple of years ago, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing in there for my oldest daughter that will fit. I also haven't updated since I had my baby, so I need to get on it. Thanks for the reminder.
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