Fruit leather is one of the easiest ways you can use leftover fruits, or take advantage of abundant fruit crops to create tasty and healthy stacks for your family without the added sugars and chemicals from most store bought varieties. No sugar is needed in most recipes. Fruit is generally sweet enough on it’s own. […]
You prepare your home, your car, your bags, your workplace, and your family …. but is your city prepared? How would you know? You simply ask. Most municipalities probably have a Civil Emergency plan in place, and as a taxpaying citizen, you have a right to know what it is. So ask! Call your city […]
When disaster strikes your community, don't sit idly by while waiting for emergency response teams to act? You can volunteer to help your community!Ways to Volunteer in Your Community for Disaster Preparedness If you are interested in becoming more involved in your city's preparedness planning and helping during a localized crisis, here are some ways you can help! These programs may not be
You prepare your home, your car, your bags, your workplace, and your family .... but is your city prepared? How would you know? You simply ask. Most municipalities probably have a Civil Emergency plan in place, and as a taxpaying citizen, you have a right to know what it is. So ask! Call your city hall to find the department that deals in such things, and ask if you can be directed to the city's
Period Preparedness• Are you ready for yours in the worst of circumstances?There may come a time when the longer-term emergency does happen. A natural disaster forces you from your home or invites newcomers who are at your mercy for shelter (think Louisiana after this last flood episode or refugees in Syria), there is a strike on city utilities (remember those in NYC?) so no trash pickup, or
Emergencies aren't just about localized weather events or job losses, but can be much more personal. And what's more personal to a girl than her period? Consider a DIY Period Emergency Kit for your preteens to have at stored in her locker or backpack for just such times.I bet many of us can say that puberty was one of the worst phases of our lives. The shame, the uncertainty, the ridicule --
PREPAREDNESS IS NOT ABOUT EMERGENCIES, IT'S ABOUT A LIFESTYLE. But not necessarily the lifestyle you think .... Scenario 1 Take the scenario of my friend who is highly focused on being prepared for an earthquake. He lives in the middle of earthquake country in California. He has bags at the ready, his family does routine earthquake drills, and he is uber-focused on being prepared for the big
When we were introduced to the idea of making your own popcorn that didn’t come from a microwave, I finally fell in like with popcorn. I’m not a fan of theater popcorn or microwave popcorn, but I love homemade popcorn as long as it has tons of popcorn salt!There are a few different ways making your own popcorn – Whirly Pop, in a big metal bowl covered in aluminum foil like Alton Brown
Mother's Day is just around the corner, May 08 to be exact. If you normally get your mom a bouquet of flowers or take her out to a restaurant, think outside the box and get her a gift that keeps her more prepared and self-reliant! Here are some ideas that can get you started to give her something unique that says, "I love you, Mom, and I want to help create a better life for you!"Great
When emergencies come, we sometimes find that we are not as prepared for all the needs that arise as we would like to be. While we all know the typical items to have in a home to be prepared for most emergencies, you might find that you have household items that will help you that you may have never thought of!This isn't a complete list of every item that can be multi-tasked into a survival
Can I tell you just how excited I am to get a Sun Oven?! I have wanted one forever, and when Paul Munsen from Sun Ovens, International, approached me and offered me a Sun Oven to try out, I jumped at the chance! (If you missed tonight's seminar, here's a replay of it for you!)But why was I excited?The ability to cook without heating up my house The ability to have an alternative to
Fruit leather is one of the easiest ways you can use leftover fruits, or take advantage of abundant fruit crops to create tasty and healthy stacks for your family without the added sugars and chemicals from most store bought varieties.No sugar is needed in most recipes. Fruit is generally sweet enough on it's own. You just need to puree it completely smooth! Add a little touch of honey if it's
Do some of your vegetable plants in your garden need some new best friends? Might was well plant some that make sense! Good friends with good benefits!!! You may already know the benefits of planting marigolds by just about everything, but there is so much more! I've got a handy visual companion planting chart for you! Finding a good companion for your tomatoes and other garden vegetables are
Daylight Savings Time always brings big groans at our house. We dislike the change to our routine, to our sleeping pattern, and the sun setting so late in the day for most of the spring/summer when we tend to not be sun-lovers in the first place.It does have one benefit, though. I've also always found it hard to remember when to do certain chores when they don't happen often. I used to mark my
For me, square foot gardening is my favorite method of gardening for our home, and I spend so much time online looking at awesome DIY raised bed garden designs to expand the 'square' of my gardens. It works well for our home and our lifestyle. It allows me to plant based off the light of our yard (certain crops in the shade, other crops in the sun), and for the need of our yard. We have a
I'm excited to share that I've written another post for The Allstate Blog on how to dress for extreme weather. >> WHAT TO WEAR IN EXTREME WEATHER << Tips to help kids dress warm in milder winters: While dressing in the summer seems to be fairly easy for most, for those of us who live in milder climates, those spikes of winter weather can really throw us off
There’s nothing like picking up a glass of water, expecting a nice refreshing drink, only to find it tastes ‘dirty’, ‘dusty’, ‘flat’, or tastes sort of like the chemicals it was treated with. If you've ever left a glass out on your nightstand for a day or two, you'll know exactly that taste. Water gets 'flat' just like soda does, and can taste different. HOW TO MAKE STORED WATER TASTE BETTER The
I've put together a collection of a lot of PVC projects you may be able to use in and out of your home. Have you used PVC on a project we might like to hear about? Please feel free to share in the comments below!PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is an inexpensive vinyl tubing that is used primarily for plumbing in homes. It's one of the most widely used plastics in the world, and for a reason - it's
Green onions (or scallions) may seem one of those foods that doesn't seem worth dehydrating....but think again! You can do something amazing with them to make them more versatile in your PREPared kitchen! Are they Scallions or Green Onions I grew up always thinking that green onions and scallions were different things. I actually mistook scallions for being similar to chives and green onions
Let me start out by saying that I am not a proponent of the over-use of paper products in our society. I am far from it. Every household should make an effort to move to cloth wherever possible and most practical to reduce the amount of paper we waste. However, like with every tool ever invented, I feel that every PREPared household needs to stock some paper products.There are good reasons to
Remember those Extreme Couponing shows where the participants had a wall full of toilet paper? They had the right idea! At least for me, I'd much rather waste a whole wall of my home with a mountain of toilet paper than think of doing without. However, in an extreme post-poop hits the fan world (get it? I said poop-hits-the-fan in a blog post about toilet paper and the end of the world!),
Don't leave home for vacation without first PREParing your home! The last thing you want to sorry about, when you're trying to get away, is how secure you've left your home! 13 Tips to PREParing Your Home for Your Vacation Stop Deliveries The USPS now has a quick and easy way to stop your mail, and you don't even have to go to the post office to do it! There are even ways to redirect it if
It's time to look back at the Top 15 PREParedness Posts of 2015, and capture what has really moved me, and moved you as readers! It's been a year of growing at Mom with a PREP. Our focus shifted from merely getting PREPared, but actively living a more self-reliant life. Don't get me wrong, emergency PREParedness* is still at the top of our mind for our family, but we've also expanded
Have you ever run into this problem? The power goes out and you run all over trying to find the flashlight you knew you put in a kitchen drawer, but realized you moved when you were looking for something under your bed? Or you worry that the smoke detector that is next to the kitchen won't be heard in the upstairs bedrooms at the other end of the house?Well, you really don't have to worry
You've purchased the gifts and you've wrapped them with care. But you spent so much time picking out the perfect gifts for your family, that you're now scrambling for stocking stuffer gifts at the last minute.But don't make those stocking stuffers be gifts of things that don't matter! Use that precious gift space to PREPare your family to become more PREPared and self-reliant in the new year!
We all know those family members and friends who don't pay any attention to their PREParedness needs. They scoff at your efforts, they have good intentions but never follow through, or they always look to you for help when things come up.But you always want to encourage them to become more PREPared. You just have to figure out a good way to do it! The DIY 5 Gallon Emergency Bucket Gift So,
Beets can be an easy and productive crop in the home garden. They store well in a root cellar, but if like me, a root cellar isn’t currently available, they can up well in a pressure canner, as well. Because beets can be so productive, a person can be left with many jars of canned beets and wonder just how to use them up. {Jane's edit: Or, if you're like me, your family hates
We've lived so long in a throw away society, that we've forgotten the ability to reuse, recycle and repurpose those things that we have used up. Think how cheaply electronics are made now - instead of fixing them, they're made for us to just throw away and get a new one.The same thing happens in our kitchen. We have so many everyday food containers that we throw out from mass consumption,
I love when I get a book that is fully of juicy tidbits for me to glean and learn from. Bernie Carr's The Penny-Pinching Prepper is the latest of those books to have a home in My Preparedness Library. "HOW TO BOIL WATER IN A PLASTIC WATER BOTTLE Ideally, a metal container is best for boiling water; however, in an emergency, you can disinfect water in a plastic water bottle. Build your
With all the books that help you prepare, few do it in such a way as to be mindful of budgetary needs, DIY mentalities and an encouraging word that you can do this no matter what position you are in life. The Penny-Pinching Prepper: Save More, Spend Less and Get Prepared for Any Disaster by Bernie Carr is that kind of book. Full of practical, useful advice to get you started
I am no fan of beans. I dislike the texture tremendously, I don't like the taste of most of them, and I've never been able to convince myself that they're good enough to just get over and eat. I can handle a few in some dishes, but I will tell you a secret. I'm like a two year old who hides them in the side of her mouth and just swallows them without chewing. I mean...I really don't like beans. I
Trying to guess how much food you'll need for meals next week is a pretty daunting task, so can you imagine what it is like to calculate how much food you need for a month, or a year, or even three years?I'm going to introduce you to a few methods of determining your long-term food storage needs. This is just an introduction as I won't be laying out menus or recipes for you (there are
You have all of these ideas, but never enough money to make them come true. But have you thought of other ways of putting those projects together with materials that might not have cost as much and can be upgraded for a fraction of the cost of the original project idea?That's one reason why I love cinder blocks. They're inexpesive, sturdy and can help you create awesome projects for the
Every year I have to reorganize my pantry at least twice - usually during the spring and fall. Our food choices change, our stockpiles change, we get new equipment, and everything has to change to accomodate it. So I've put together a list of organizing tips to help you with your challenges. Whether you're an organizing pro or just getting started, I hope that one of these ideas helps you gain a
The Solar Light Flower Pot for Emergency Lighting Did you know that you probably have this emergency lighting solution in your yard already?It's one of my absolute favorite beginning hacks to introduce people to many of the quick and easy ways they can prepare for those everyday emergencies that happen - like the power going out. (See a few more of our tested hacks here.)I keep a
Even at your most vulnerable, you can be PREPared before, during and after a hospital stay.Not long ago, I found myself being admitted into the hospital for an emergency situation. It wasn't something I had planned for or wanted, but it happened. And while we were able to grab bags for the kids to sit in the ER waiting room and be occupied and sleep if they wanted, we were wholly unPREPared
One food I love and hoard stockpile stock in my pantry is canned pumpkin puree. The problem is, no matter how much I bake, make pumpkin granola, make pumpkin smoothies, make pumpkin pancakes and everything else pumpkin I do, I tend to hoard, stockpile, stock more pumpkin than I use in a season. Add on top of that the pureed pumpkin that I make fresh and freeze each year, I can sometimes be
When you have an impending emegency, like a hurricane or even neighborhood wide water cut-off, fill everything in your house you can think of with water. Fill It with Water - Emergency ContainersContainers Bathtub (this is a good place to use a Water Bob or similar product that can protect that water and keep it useful for drinking and protect small children and animals from being
There are times in a dehydrator's life when you have just bits and pieces left over of dehydrated vegetables andAren't going to be making any soups or stews or anything to use them in anytime soon, or Need the space for a new pack of that dehydrated vegetable and you just want to rotate out all the leftovers, or You want to create something new, versatile and awesome!All three fit the
Preparedness Quick Tip #45: Use Your Watch as a Compass: Besides the fact that they are just way cooler than digital watches, analog watches have another use - a survival tool!How it works:Simply take your watch off your arm, hold it parallel to the ground, face facing upward. Turn until the hour hand is pointing at the sun. 1/2 way between the hour and 12 going clockwise, in
Do you remember working on house or car projects with your father growing up? Were you an apprentice or were you the fetcher? Did you sit and watch and hand him an occasional tool or were you in there doing it with him? (BTW, this also works for Moms - whether you were the sole parent and did all the odd-jobs yourself, or translated into the kitchen). Or better yet, do you do house projects
With the move of technology going more and more towards cable packages and cell phones, we sometimes forget that there is a lonely old landline in our homes, feeling useless and neglected. But in the case of an emergency, that landline might prove to be a terrific tool for reaching 911 even when all other services are out!If you still have a phone that doesn't require electricity to work,
Picture this: A local emergency of some sort has emergency personnel knocking on your door telling you that you have 5 minutes to evacuate your house (fire, gas leak, railroad collision, earthquake). What will you spend those 5 minutes grabbing? Hopefully you'll say your children and your 72 hour kit (and then whatever else you think you have time to grab and can carry).The idea of creating
September is National Preparedness Month. All of the information, the how-to's, the lists, and all the websites can be overwhelming. I'm here to help make it a little easier on you! I'm going to share a few of the National Preparedness Month links and challenges to help you narrow down your focus of where to start, how to proceed, and what you need to do. Don't Wait. Communicate. Ready.gov and
In the continuing series of 150 Things You Should Know & Do, a great group have women have come together to create a list of Homestead, Preparedness & Survival Skills we should learn.150 Preparedness Items You Need to Stock 150 Preparedness & Homesteading Skills You Need 150 Reasons to Prepare for Life!In our modern age, few people could mark off 15 of these skills as
Those of us who try to live a more prepared life have a ton of reasons why we do it. Here are 10 reasons to be more prepared and 10 reasons to NOT be more prepared.Many of us are just regular folk who like to have a bit of food and water and safety plans in place for all sorts of reasons. A few might be a little more hard core and a few might just like to have an emergency bag
I'm part of a group of amazing women who are interested in keeping their families prepared for any of life's emergencies (big or small), and about creating a life that's more self-sufficient, self-reliant and sustainable. I'm proud to call them friend, to look to them for information and knowledge and advice.Recently, we've all gotten together to create the 150 Series, and I'll be sharing them
I didn't discover cherries until last year. My only experience with them had been when my grandmother would ruin a perfectly good cheesecake by topping it with whole can full of canned cherries. My grandfather loved it. I loathed it, and it put me off what cherries really tasted like. I disliked the texture in cherry pies, too.I've always loved them as a dehydrated snack in trailmix or
Q: What is a weed?A: A weed is a plant that you don't want growing in your yard.That's the fact, Jack.For some of us, weeds are nuisances that are just dealt with, possible food sources that are gathered, and for others, they are the bane of a nicely manicured lawn or garden.Our family is a dealer. We would prefer not to have milkweed or chicweed or bermuda growing in our yard, but
What's the real difference between the bargain dehydator sheet and the name brand sheet for the Excalibur Dehydrator? I put them to the test to find out for you! I am all about saving a buck, even if the product isn't quite up to the name brand product. There's little in this world I must purchase as a name brand when it comes to my daily household items. Even when I first invested in a
UPDATE: I wanted to say - in the fullness of honesty that I try to keep on this blog - this hack failed for me. Here's whyOver time, any ink left for a long while (like the two weeks I didn't have to buy groceries at all and didn't wipe off the old list), ink can become almost permanent. It took a good long scrub to get it off, and it still showed. Even though I tested the
You know that time that you are looking at a local grocery ad and seeing mushrooms on sale for 1.29/lb and you squeal? You just might be a food storage junkie!When Aldi's has a mushroom sale, I stock up HUGE! It's not unlike me to call and reserve 3-4 trays (each tray holds 12 8oz packages) to bring home because they prefer you don't purchase that many at once just walking into the store (but