“A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. Proverbs 27:12
A deep pantry a good thing to have.
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.
50 Pounds Wheat / Flour, Feminine Products
50 pounds of flour or wheat, if you have a grinder you can get wheat, if not get flour. I don’t remember the exact price of flour at Wal-Mart, but I know it was right around 9.00 for 25 pounds. So a little under 20 dollars for 50 pounds.
White flour will last longer than wheat flour in storage. If storing in the winter and you live where it freezes a lot you can just pour in a bucket, add a couple pieces of spearmint gum, and put the lid on. If not, if at all possible put in the freezer for a couple days, if it freezes really good for at least a few days, it will last a very long time (This kills all the larva and other creepy crawlers in the flour, I opened some flour a few months ago from 08 and it was still good). If you don’t live where it freezes and can’t put in the freezer you will need to put it in some Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. If using Mylar bags you still need to put them in buckets, this will keep varmints from trying to chew through.
Feminine Products, Get enough for all the women of the home and if you have preteen girls get some for them. When you store these you need to have them in something to keep critters out of them. You can also make your own pads, learn how HERE. Even if you just store the stuff to make them then you will not need to worry about running out. If you are going to make your own you need to store some Flannel, thread and snaps or Velcro. You can also buy reusable online just search for Luna Pad, I know it sounds awful to use reusable but they are so much better for you.
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 grandkids 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 you will be able to find it. eg. all cooking in one notebook all medical in another.
Put back some more money in your stash. Try to set a weekly or monthly goal of how much you want 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,
We put a beef in the feezer, I got the fat and some soup bones soI will render down the fat for tallow and make broth with the bones. I canned 13 pints of strawberry/pineapple jam, 13 pints of pineapple syrup, 12 1/2 pints of pineapple syrup, 18 pints of bacon. 14 pints of BBQ pork. I think that was about it for the past couple weeks.
What were you able to get done?
Wheat/Wheat-Berries;
I’m a true believer in storing Wheat Berries, BUT one needs to invest in a good and I do mean good grinder. Expect to pay a good $400+ but remember it will last forever, so don’t buy cheap.
I have Wheat Berries that are will into their 20th year stored in Buckets with a stick of Gum. If storing Berries, make sure you also freeze the be-geese’s out of them first. Also don’t go opening them every 2 months to check on them, once sealed leave em alone, they will be fine as long as you keep them cool and out of the Sunlight.
Feminine Products and Kids Clothing is not on my list.
I will agree 1000% with your action item of computer storage. I worked Computers for many MANY years, every time someone would come to me asking to “recover” their Computer the very first thing I would ask is “Where is your ‘backup’?”. Because 99% of the time the Hard Drives would be toast.
Personally I like to print stuff, the ultimate backup, and keep binders of everything from recipes to operator manuals. Yes the Computer and the ‘Net’ are GREAT tools, but when/if…. Need I say more?
Ok I will….., hard for a Hacker to “hack” a Binder sitting on the bookshelf, much easier for them to ‘backdoor’ your online data and steal your identity AND your hard earned $$$$, happens every day, and I do mean EVERY DAY!