Monday, May 7, 2012

Week 19 - The Long Haul

Again, we are working on storing grains for the long term.  So we are looking for grains that have a shelf life of 30+ years.  This shelf life is achieved both by the product itself and the packaging you use to keep out moisture, etc.  I'd continue to encourage you to read the material on providentliving.org, if you have not already.  It's good stuff.

Feel free to be using your food storage budget this week to stock up on more grain (any that fit the above criteria) or to save up for our trip the the HSC on May 22nd.

Sometimes it is nice to take each week and focus on one kind of grain.  It you like that approach, this week, let's focus on our rolled oats.  Again, this is a discussion, you may want to have with your family.  If we need to be putting away 300 lbs of grain for each adult (and some percentage of that for each child), how much of that do you want to be in oats?

From last week, I'll repeat that on Tuesday, May 22nd, I'll be leading groups over to the HSC for any of you interested in doing some of your shopping there. We'll meet in the church parking lot both at 2 p.m. and at 7 p.m. Please let me know if you are interested in coming with us, so I know who to expect. If we have a large group going, we may need to alert the HSC staff so they will have enough volunteers on hand to help us.

Have a great grain filled week!

Week 19 - Provident Pantry

Morning,
This morning, as I ate my oatmeal for breakfast, I realized that we had worked on storing our cold cereal earlier, but had not yet addressed the hot cereal. So let's take that on for our goal this week.
It looks like most of you have some variation of oatmeal in your ingredient lists. Some of you like the individual packets. Others of you prefer the bulk. Some of you like regular rolled oats. Some of you like the "prepare in 1 minute variety". It is all good. Because there is so much variation in preferences, there is also a lot of variation in expenditure.
We will schedule "Hot Cereal" for 3 weeks. So if there are other hot cereals you want to put in your 3 month storage, feel free. Some of you will have (or be working on adding) rolled oats in your long term storage that can double here for your 3 month storage, so if you want to take these 3 weeks to work on adding items your family normally adds to their oatmeal, i.e. brown sugar and raisins, feel free.
Whatever your approach, let's use these 3 weeks to make sure we have enough hot cereal for our families in our 3 month supplies.
When I was a child, my mother used to assure me that eating my oatmeal in the morning would keep me warm and make me a better student. When I was an adult, my father used to assure me that eating my oatmeal would lower my cholesterol. Either way, it was good for me.
May you life be filled with good things today.
Love,
Marie

Week 19 - 72 Crew

OK, now let's work on some of the other things that we may need in a 72 hour kit.  So let's put in a pocket knife!!!  I have seen usable pocket knives on sale from $4 to $140.  I have seen pocket knives with simply one folding blade to 12-in-1 combinations.  You may want to do some talking to the Scouts and/or campers in your family to get their recommendations.  And you may want to do a little internet research.

I tend to favor a Swiss army knife configuration, but that may just be because our pocket knife (a Swiss army knife combination) was a gift from my dad.  When you look at the configurations, think through how the various functions might help your family.

We'll calendar this item for 3 weeks, both because the more common prices are between $12 - $20 and because you may need a little research time.  If you want to check out the $4 knife, feel free to send me an email, and I can direct you to it online, however I am not endorsing it or any particular pocket knife.

For those of you that already have your pocket knives, we would love to hear what you have and why you chose it.  Please give us the benefit of your experience.

And optionally, if you already have a pocket knife in your 72 hour kit, put your $5 this week into an envelope to start saving for your radio.