“A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. Proverbs 27:12

Remember having a deep pantry isn’t just about having extra food on hand. It is also about having the means to survive in an emergency situation, having all the extra food isn’t going to do you much good if you can’t cook it when the power is out.

If you are having a hard time trying to afford filling a deep pantry, read my post on having a Deep Pantry on a tight budget.

Don’t forget to share what you were able to do this past week to have a deep pantry/food storage. Let’s encourage each other. And if you have a question feel free to ask or if you have the answer to a question feel free to answer. If you have a tip or idea you can share that also. As I said let’s make this a place where we can share and encourage others to get that deep pantry.

A deep pantry a good thing to have.

8 Bars of soap/ Vinegar

8 Bars of soap, if you make your own stock up on lye (or learn to make your own) and fats (lard, tallow, or shortening). If you plan on making your own learn now if you don’t already know how, so you know what you are doing when you have to make it. During a crises is not the time to be trying to learn how to make and do things.

If you buy your soap get the kind you like. Bar soap will store for a very long time, it will get harder and dried out but it is still usable and it actual will last longer.

Vinegar, White for cleaning and canning. Cider vinegar for cooking. You can also make your own for cleaning. Remember though you have to have at least 5% acidic for canning. I hope to have a post this week on making your own vinegar. You can go here to see how to make your own vinegar.

The extra item for this month is Kids clothes. If you have small kids look at second hand stores and yard sales for clothes that are larger sizes than what they are in now. If your kids are grown still get children’s clothes when you find a good buy on them, this way you have some put back for grand kids or someone who may need them. I look for baby clothes and things now even though neither of my girls have kids yet. I know how hard it is for young families, so I want to be able to help them out when the time comes for that. I also put back kid’s clothes just to have on hand.

The Action item this month is to get all your information off the computer. If you are like me you find things on the internet then save them on your computer. It is a good idea to get in the habit of printing or at least putting on a flash drive (if on a flash drive be sure to have a protected computer) all that information just in case your computer crashes or you have no power at least you will have all the information that you need (when my computer got a virus a few years back I had a ton of stuff on it that I couldn’t get off). Get some notebooks and store the information by subject then when you need it I you will be able to find it. eg. all cooking in one note book all medical in another.

Put back some more money in your stash. Try to set a weekly or monthly goal of how much you ant to try and put back. You might even have a goal for every six months of how much you would like to have set back.

Add more water to your water storage.

What I was able to get done this week.

A friend of mine opened a new second hand store for children’s clothes, I picked up several things at a really good price, I bought several more bananas to dehydrate, several boxes of tea, hamburger helper ( just to have on hand),Cheese, planted a few more things in the garden,  organized my spare room that I turned into a pantry, made some tepache out of my pineapples peels and cores, We had some adult drinks left over from the party so I put them in gallon sized baggies and put in the freezer. There was also a lot of cakes (every Birthday person had their own) so I put several pieces in the freezer, the meat that was leftover I separated into individual servings and put in the freezer. 6 loaves of banana bread in the freezer, 7 quarts of plain pinto beans canned. I started another 21/2 gallon jar of kombucha ( that gives me 3 21/2 gallons going), started the second fermentation  of a gallon of kombucha,  started a gallon of apple cider vinegar,  I think that is it for this past week.

What were you able to get done this week?

Have a great week