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Preparedness Month – Store Water!
We all know the basic ideas behind having food storage. One of the biggest reasons is that it helps us be prepared for times when shopping might be impossible, too hard or too expensive. We all seem to focus on food and household items. Those are some of the most important things. Yet, I think there is something that we all would agree is as important as food. We need to store water.
Why would we need to store water? If your normal water source becomes unavailable or if you are unsure about its fitness to drink, you will need an alternative clean water supply for drinking, food preparation, and personal hygiene. The following are general guidelines for storing water.
Families should store enough clean water to allow each person in the household to use 1 to 1.5 gallons each day.
Increase the amount of water stored when there are children, sick people, nursing mothers, or pets in the household.
Families should store a minimum of a 3-day supply of water.
For Example: A four-person household would need to store 18 gallons of water. That’s 1.5 gallons per person per day for 3 days.
We’ll talk more about some ways to store that water tomorrow. Today we are going to focus on what to do with the water before we drink it. How to we make the water we have safe to drink? There are a few popular and safe methods to make stored or otherwise questionable water safe to drink.
Boiling water
Boiling water is the most common way to destroy potential pathogens. Water boiled continuously for 3 to 4 minutes can be stored in a suitable container at room temperature.
Aeration can improve the flat taste of boiled water. Aerate water by transferring water back and forth from one container to another.
Chemical treatments
Chemical treatments like chlorination and iodine tablets are also popular ways to purify water.
Chlorinate water using basic household bleach that is unscented and free of any other cleaner or color-safe component. The recommended amount of bleach to be used to disinfect a gallon of water would be: for clear water you would use 8 drops of bleach and 16 drops in cloudy water. After mixing in the bleach, let the water stand for 30 minutes. You should be able to detect a slight chlorine odor after the treatment. If not, treat the water again and let it stand for another 15 minutes.
Iodine tablets will eradicate heat-resistant pathogens. Iodine purification is more convenient and faster than chlorination, but it has limitations.
Distillation and Filtration
Distillation and filtration are newer procedures compared to boiling. In these cases, water is treated physically rather than chemically.
Filtration is a simple process where water is passed through a filter to remove impurities. Mechanical filters like strainers and sediment filters are effective in removing debris and some suspended solids.
Distillation involves collection of vapor from boiling water followed by condensation back to a liquid. The condensed water does not contain any impurities that may have been in the raw water. The “flat” taste of distilled water can be improved by aerating it.
Reverse Osmosis
Activated carbon filtration systems combined with reverse osmosis are effective in removing total dissolved solids, turbidity, asbestos, lead, and other heavy metals.
Reverse osmosis filters can remove pathogens of all sizes, but are not specifically designed to do so. Do not rely on a reverse osmosis water treatment system to remove pathogens from contaminated water.
(Information is what is recommended by the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida.)
Preparedness Month – Non-food Items in Storage!
We’ve been talking about National Preparedness Month and all of the different ways we can be prepared. We talked a lot last week about food storage and now we should talk about other items to include. I still remember a funny conversation I had with a neighbor a few years ago. We were moving to a new home and he was helping load the boxes containing my food storage into the truck. Suddenly he stopped moving the boxes and looked at me with total shock on his face. He said he had never thought of having so many non-food items in his food storage. He said he and his wife had never even thought to have something as basic as toilet paper in his food storage. I was surprised because this all seemed so natural to me. I wouldn’t want to be without these items for long so I included them in my food storage. It just made sense to me.
We all know the basic ideas behind having food storage. One of the biggest reasons is that it helps us be prepared for times when shopping might be impossible, too hard or too expensive. We all seem to focus on food and water. Those are some of the most important things. Yet, I think there are quite a few other non-food things that we all would agree are almost as important as food.
Toilet Paper
I think this is one of the top non-food items that I need to have in my food storage. I knew it topped my list even before my neighbor’s reaction of surprise and awe. I can’t imagine being stuck without toilet paper. I know there may be other things you could use but seriously, do you want to use leaves or newspaper or something else? I sure don’t!
Diapers and Wipes
If you have a little person in diapers in your house, be sure to include diapers and wipes in your food storage. Again there are other things that can be used in a pinch, but do you really want to?
Soap and Shampoo
Make sure you have some of this in your food storage as well. Even if money is tight or there is a disaster or emergency you will be able to be clean. That’s a huge comfort.
Feminine Supplies
Another must have in the food storage. There are some things that will be needed no matter what, don’t forget these supplies. I’m not sure I want to try any of the other things that could be used, I’ll just keep a supply of the norm.
Laundry Detergent
Another non-food item that I think is critical to have on hand is laundry soap. This goes with the same idea of being clean is a must. I store liquid detergent because it seems to be easier to use if I need to do laundry by hand.
Dish Soap
I store both liquid dish soap and dishwasher soap. I really hate paying full price for expensive dishwasher detergent. I stock up when it hits a price I like. Again, keeping things clean is a big plus.
Toothbrushes/Toothpaste
Another personal hygiene plus, no one wants to be without these items. There isn’t a need for a huge amount of these in your food storage. I try to keep an extra toothbrush or two for everyone and an extra two or three tubes of toothpaste. It is a good idea.
I know there are lots of other options for non-food items to keep in your food storage. Have any great suggestions or tips? We’d love to hear them!
National Preparedness Month – Food Storage!
Yup, it is September! I’m really not sure how we got here already. It seems like just last week we were talking about getting our kids ready for the end of the school year and planning summer fun. Now the kids are back in school and we are getting ready for fall fun. There are so many fun things that happen in September – I love football, changing leaves, so many things about September rank among my favorites. There is also something about September that strikes a chord with me; it is something I am really pretty passionate about. September is National Preparedness Month. I love to talk/think/do things about preparedness. I am not one of those nutty people who is preparing for the end of the world or the zombie apocalypse. I am someone who knows that being prepared is important so I really like National Preparedness Month. There is so much to talk about because there are so many ways to be prepared. Being prepared means different things to different people. I think some of these differences are what makes it fun to talk about. National Preparedness Month brings up topics like food storage, 72 hour kits, and having some emergency cash. I think it is so important to talk about having food storage.
One thing I do to be prepared is pretty important to me. I think it goes hand in hand with National Preparedness Month. I believe strongly in the importance of having food storage – both the usable short term food storage we talked about yesterday and the more long term, years supply food storage. Lots of times when people hear about having long term food storage, they get turned off easily. It sounds hard to do, time consuming and expensive. It really isn’t hard, time consuming or expensive.
For long term food storage gradually build a supply of food that will last a long time and that you can use to keep you and your family alive in a long term crisis. These are items such as wheat, white rice, and beans. (A portion of these items may be rotated in your usable short term food storage but we’ll talk about that later.) These items do not need to be bought all at once. Once you know how much your family needs you can pick up a can of something here and a can of something there.
Water is also part of long term food storage. You need to store enough water for your family and enough product to purify water for your family. Again, it doesn’t have to be hard, time consuming or expensive.
Need a good place to start? Go try the long term food storage calculator HERE. It will give you a great idea on where your end goal needs to be as far as kinds of foods and amounts. Then come back tomorrow and we’ll talk about it and where to start.
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Keeping a well organized food storage!
Like so many other frugal moms (and dads) out there, I use almost any strategy I can to help save my family money. One of my favorite things is having well organized food storage or a home store. No matter what you call it, it is pretty much the same thing. You buy multiples of something you use when it is a great price. When items I use are at rock bottom prices I try to buy as much as my family will realistically use before the items go bad. Then when you need the items and they are full price, you don’t have to pay full price. You shop from your home store or food storage. Well organized food storage is also a great way to help ensure your family will have enough to eat if it becomes temporarily hard to purchase groceries. This could be because of finances or some sort of emergency. Having useable well organized food storage is a great way to be prepared and save money.
Why is having well organized food storage important? Why won’t a bunch of things tossed on a shelf work just as well? If you can’t find it, see it, use it – it can’t help you save money. In fact, it could end up costing you money. This well organized food storage is pretty easy to maintain if you follow a few basic tips. If you don’t follow them, you will have food storage chaos. (Trust me, I know from experience.) There are a few basic tips I like to follow to help me keep on top of things.
Put items away
I try to put my items away shortly after I purchase them. Having everything where it belongs helps you see what you have and helps you keep track of your food storage. Sometimes life is crazy and I put the bags of groceries on the floor near the shelf. If I don’t get it put away soon after, more bags pile up. This leads to that dreaded chaos. You forget what you have and may buy unneeded items. Getting items put away quickly is an important part of having well organized food storage.
Store like items together
This step may be a little different for everyone, just do it how it works for you. I try to store things together that are related or seem to go together. I think if it like how a grocery store is organized. When you go to look for something in your food storage, it will be easier to find because it is on the shelf where it makes sense to you. This makes your organized food storage much easier to use.
Keep storage areas as close together as possible
I’ve lived in some places that had great food storage areas and some that had none. In many of those hard food storage places it took a lot of creativity to have well organized food storage. Even in the hardest of places, keeping the storage areas as close together as possible was a great help. Running all of the house to locate items can defeat the helpfulness and discourage the use of items. Again you may end up buying things you don’t need.
Set rules about use
Having a great, well organized food storage can lead kids (or adults) to feel like that can just grab a snack and use whatever they want. Be sure to set some basic rules with your family about who can take things from the food storage and when that can happen. It will help items last longer and keep people from using up that one favorite snack or other item too quickly.
Know what you have
Find some way to have a basic idea of the inventory in you well organized food storage. If it is organized and easy to find, this could be as simple as taking a visual look before you shop. Some people keep detailed lists and itemize everything. There are lots of ways to do it in between those two extremes. Find what works for you and make a habit of knowing what you have in your well organized food storage.
Do you have more tips on keeping well organized food storage? We’d love to hear them!
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What is Food Storage? Let’s talk about using coupons and pinching your pennies!
What is Food Storage?
The next and probably most powerful step to successful coupon use is building up a usable food storage or a home store. Usable food storage is a great way to save money and be prepared for emergencies. A useable food storage contains multiples of the items you commonly use. Having six months of a useable food storage is a great preparedness idea and will help you save money.
The concept behind building food storage is simple. When a great deal is found, buy in bulk. Stocking up at your preferred price will save you money. This means you are buying your groceries and other household items at your idea of a best price. By doing this you will almost always get to pay what you want for your items, not what the stores feel they should charge you on a regular basis. Take pancake syrup for example. If you find a great sale on pancake syrup, and maybe you can even use a coupon too, buy what your family will realistically use before the syrup goes bad. When you run out of syrup you will be able to go to your food storage, or home store, and get some from there. You have paid your preferred low price for it instead of paying whatever it costs at the store the week you run out.
As you shop for items and build your food storage it is important to remember to only buy what you will actually use. If you buy too much of something, it is money wasted. If you buy something you will never use, it is money wasted. Lots of new coupon users fall into this trap. When a deal is amazing, you want to get as much as you can. Using smart shopping skills and remembering to buy only what you need will save you money. Throwing unused food and other item away is just like throwing money away.
Donating items to charity can be easy and fun when you shop with coupons. This is the only time I think it is ok to buy things that you won’t use. If you buy things to donate, just be sure to donate them before they go bad. There are usually lots of items that are free and cheap with coupons that can be donated easily.
Building a usable food storage and a home store are the reason why accumulating multiple coupons is necessary. To do this you usually need multiple coupons. If you want to stock up on laundry detergent, be sure to gather multiple coupons for the brand you want to purchase. Remember you can use one coupon per item purchased.
Buying a lot of one thing at a great price can lead to never having to pay full price again. For example, buying six months of cereal at a great price means cereal will not need to be purchased again until you run out. This can be done with many food items and most household goods. This is probably most powerful step to successful coupon use. It will feel great and look great at checkout when you realize that you will never have to pay full price again. Stay tuned tomorrow when we talk more about pinching your pennies!
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