I gained some insight this week on how we can help each other by sharing our preparedness knowledge.  I received a call from Brian Grobman, a staff member for the Anderson show (as in Anderson Cooper, *gasp*), who interviewed me about food storage and preparedness. Shortly into the call, I realized that a) a family with 5 kids is shocking to our friends in the East and b) there is much that we can share with each other to become more prepared for the unexpected. Brian explained that Anderson would be doing a segment with the Doomsday Preppers cast, and was looking for  a person who could share preparedness information that everyday people could relate to. Basic, practical food storage and emergency preparedness tips.

In our community of food storage bloggers, sometimes we forget that much of our country is just starting out in this process. As fun as it is to share tips on vacuum sealing and how to store large amounts of food in smaller spaces, sometimes we need the reminder that many people just need to hear how to prep a 72-hour kit and store some water. I thoroughly enjoyed my call with Brian, and later with his colleague Katya, chatting about food storage.  I didn’t end up flying to New York to participate in the show with the Doomsday Prepper cast. Alas, they chose Betsy of survivallady.com, who did a wonderful job sharing preparedness tips.  (I’m honored to see that she has included All About Food Storage in her blogroll. Thanks, Betsy!)

Anderson Doomsday Preppers Segment

I love that Doomsday Preppers is drawing attention to the benefits of food storage and preparedness, and that these skills of self-reliance are becoming mainstream. My husband quips that the new pick up line may become, “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be in a bomb shelter with than you!” Awww…

I hosted a Preparedness Night last month.  The goal of our night was to give an overview of preparedness principles, and to motivate those in attendance with new ideas for their food storage and preparedness goals.  For any Preparedness Coordinators out there who may be organizing a similar event, I thought it might be helpful to see some ideas I used.  (I know I appreciated the ideas I found online.) The internet is a wealth of preparedness resources, so I spent some time researching ideas and came up with a “BEE” PREPARED theme.  I advertised the event with posters and flyers that read like this:

“Our Church leaders have been buzzing about preparedness for decades now, so how prepared is your hive?

PREPAREDNESS NIGHT & POTLUCK DINNER

DATE / TIME / LOCATION

Sting your preparedness goals with sweet ideas to help you feel more self-reliant.  We will have a guest speaker and great handouts on food storage, gardening, first aid and emergency response that will help you stick with your goals.

HONEY, BEE THERE OR BEE…UNPREPARED!!

Please bring a potluck dish to share using at least one ingredient from your food storage.”

The decor for the night was VERY plain (after all, we’re talking about back-to-basics type principles and food storage just isn’t very glamorous!) On the walls I taped posters with quotes on preparedness and a large beehive.  I had the following displays and handouts set up on tables for guests (They were actually in a different order down the tables, but anyway, here they are…):

I copied 4 Family Home Evening lessons on preparedness so that families could get their members on board with preparedness goals.  These lessons had great information on the reasons to prepare, and inventories to get them started.  I also put out sign up sheets where guests could include their names under given skillsets (like construction,  medical training, education, etc.) that could be useful in the event of a disaster so that we can mobilize and help one another. There was also a sign-up to be included in a preparedness e-mail list.

DON’T BEE HUNGRY (food storage):  You can see some of this display in the photo above.  (I’m sorry there aren’t better pictures to post.  I was busy answering questions that night and forgot to take more pictures.)  The display included #10 cans, food storage buckets with gamma lids, a FoodSaver vacuum sealer, half-gallon mason jars to demonstrate the jar attachment for the vacuum sealer, jars of jam and jelly, and food storage cookbooks. 

Handouts included copies of Wendy DeWitt’s fireside burned to DVD and printouts of her “Everything Under the Sun” booklet (everything-under-the-sun-20081), and  a 52 Week Food Storage Plan (http://pgward.org/ep/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/weeklypurchasingplan-new.pdf),

BEE GREEN (gardening): Vegetable seed packets, a color photo of my trash can potatoes, and these quotes on small easels made up the display: “There are blessings in being close to the soil, in raising your own food, even if it is only a garden in your yard and a fruit tree or two.  Those families will be fortunate who, in the last days, have an adequate supply of food because of their foresight and ability to produce their own.–Ezra Taft Benson, October 1980.”

“An almost forgotten means of economic self-reliance is the home production of food.  We are too accustomed to going to stores and purchasing what we need.  By producing some of our food we reduce to a great extent, the impact of inflation on our money.  More importantly, we learn how to produce our own food and involve all family members in a beneficial project.  No more timely counsel, I feel, has been given by President Kimball than his repeated emphasis to grow our own gardens.  Here is one sample of his emphasis over the past seven years: ‘We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property.  Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees–plant them if your climate is right for their growth.  Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard.’ –Pres. Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, May 1976, p. 124″

The handouts for this table were a local planting guide (you can get these for your area from a local university extension office or nursery), and directions for trash can potatoes: trash_can_potatoes .

BEE THRIFTY (“Fix it up,wear it out, make it do or do without!”):On this table, I had smart shopping tips, instructions for couponing (matching coupons with weekly sales), and I asked a woman in my ward to display her quilts and handmade children’s clothes to demonstrate thrift and industry.

BEE WARM (Fuel storage, blankets, and light):  On this table, I had blankets, flashlights, glow sticks, and (I intended to have…) charcoal, an oil lantern, and propane cans.

DON’T BEE THIRSTY (water storage): On this table I had a case of water bottles and a sign that said, “If this is what your water storage looks like, you are going to be thirsty!”  I had a printout for building water drum racks for your garage and also a printout from www.surewater.com that showed upright water storage tanks as one option for home water storage. (The Family Home Evening Lesson packets had info on calculating amounts of water to store.)

BEE READY:  For this display, I asked my friend to bring her awesome 72 hour kits to display.  She organizes her equipment into 5 gallon buckets–one for kitchen / food items, one for bathroom items, and one for first aid items.  I will try to get a copy of her lists to post the contents of her buckets.  I also copied this printout of an excellent 72 hr. kit checklist: http://pgward.org/ep/archives/120

BEE HEALTHY:  This table included information on first aid kits, reminders to store an extra month of prescriptions and vitamins. (One of our guest speakers gave detailed information on what to include in a home first-aid kit.)

The guests milled through the information on the displays and picked up handouts, then we enjoyed the potluck dishes made from food storage items (everything was delicious!).  Our guest speakers, a search and rescue EMT and a County Emergency Response Coordinator, wrapped up the night.  I have received good feedback from the event, and felt like it was a great jumpstart to preparedness goals.

1. If water is cloudy, smelly or therwise polluted, strain it through a paper towel or several layers of clean cloth into a container in order to remove any sediment or floating matter.

2.  Water that is boiled vigorously for one full minute will usually be safe from harmful bacterial contamination.  Boiling for 3-5 minutes is safer, if you have heat to spare.

3.  If boiling is not possible, strain the water as above and treat by adding ordinary liquid chlorine household bleach (4-6% chlorine) or tincture of iodine (from your medicine chest–2%chlorine) in the following amounts. 

     a.  CHLORINE:  Add 2 drops (with eye dropper) per quart of clean water, 4 drops per quart of cloudy water.  (This equates to 1/2 tsp. per 5 gallons of clean water, or 1 tsp. per 5 gallons of cloudy water.                                                            

FOR A 55 GAL. DRUM, USE 2 TBSP / 4 TBSP. of bleach).

     b.  IODINE:  Add 5 drops per quart of clean water, 10 drops per quart of cloudy water.

 Mix thorougly in container.  Let it stand for 30 minutes.  A slight chlorine odor should be detectable in the water; if not, repeat the dosage and let the water stand for an additional 15 minutes before using.

 It is a great idea to store powdered drink mix to improve the taste of stored water.  Drink mix and disposable drinking cups should be part of your emergency supply. 

Here are some guidelines to determine your family’s water storage needs:

• Ages, physical condition, activity and special dietary needs in your home.
• Climate of your area. Very hot temperatures can double the amount of water needed.
• Children, nursing mothers, and ill people need more water.
• Medical emergencies can require additional water.

Drinking water can also be found in ice cubes, frozen containers of water, or even the toilet tank (not the bowl, of course) provided a chemical disinfectant has not been added to the tank.  An important point to remember is to keep water coming into the home shut off to avoid contaminants, until the emergency has passed.