What I'm Doing to Prepare

I know, so cliche...a conservative right wing wacko prepping. First let me tell you what I'm doing, and then I'm going to give a real life example of how it has helped already.

It's been about 2 years now (wow, only 2 years?) I know it's been two years even though it feels like 3 because it's the second anniversary of the passing of the Health Care Mandate. I refuse to call it a bill. I've seen how it affects me already, but that's another blog. I got into politics because I made the mistake of reading the first bill about 2/3rds of the way through. It didn't pass, so they did another one. I read it about half way through. It didn't pass either, and they did a "compromise" and created a third one. I read a bit less than half of it. I know some of the key things to be afraid of. I know that pretty soon all health care transactions (paying bills, premiums, etc.) will have to be done electronically. The government wants access to our bank accounts. If they have to go in to get our premiums, they can take a look while they're in there. But I heard Glenn Beck say about 3 years ago, stock up.

So, we stocked up. Slowly at first. I searched the web to find a good prepping site. I'm Southern Baptist, not a Mormon. I found a really good common sense site put out by two Mormon women. The Mormon church has been saying for a really long time that all their members should have a stock of at least a year of food. I'm gluten intolerant, so I tried to alter their diet to suit my family. I don't want pounds and pounds of wheat or even rice that I have to grind into flour to make bread. I do have bread recipes, but they require things like chick pea flour, tapioca starch, and sometimes obscure ingredients that I know I won't have access to if society collapses.

I came across another suggestion about taking all of your recipes, finding ones you could substitute shelf stable foods for and putting them all in a notebook. Then you stock up on THOSE ingredients. That seemed the best way to me. I sat down with the recipes my family already eats and decided what could be done with canned meat. Could I make Hamburger Noodle Casserole with rice noodles (yep, already do) and some sort of canned meat? I had a recipe for Caribbean Chicken, could I do that with canned chicken? I started making some to see if they were edible. I started stocking up on those ingredients. I haven't inventoried in a while, but I'd estimate I have about 2 months of food, as in recipes I can make adding only a few key ingredients. If you count all the side dishes and just "I need to eat to survive" food, I probably have 3 months. I need to get some powdered butter, but I do have butter flavored Crisco. I know, not the same thing, but in a pinch.

Being a Celiac (as well as both my children), we can't just buy MRE's and forget about it. MRE's are the best way to go because they last about 30 years. I alternate between feeling collapse is imminent, to feeling like it could be years before it happens. I guess it depends on what lie the President is engaged in pushing. So I had to stock up on shelf stable goods. Besides things specifically for my recipes, I stocked up on things like canned potatoes (shish-ka-bobs with any meat we could hunt), corn, green beans and other side dish stuff, as well as sloppy joe mixes. I got spices at Sam's in bulk and left the containers unopened. If I need one, I use it, and then replace it. I stocked up on dry milk, oil and Crisco. I also stocked up on yarn, or am trying to. How long do you think your socks are going to last if society collapses? And also, I know those accustomed to nice things are still going to want them, even though they can't run to Walmart and get them. I can knit and crochet. I can knit socks, hats, mittens, gloves, sweaters and if I have to, bras and underwear. I can crochet doilies if I have to, but the tiny hooks are getting harder to work with the older I get. Maybe they'll be lacier because I use a bigger hook. I can trade these goods or even teach the skills to others in trade for something.

We realize that things can go south really fast. Thus the term WSHTF - when $hit hits the fan. We got together 72-hour kits for each family member. It consists of food items packed into a milk container that's been modified. You can look it up on the Food Storage site. I have a button on my site for it. It consists of enough food that I could stuff into it for one person, so that if rationed and added with water will keep you alive for 3 days. I also included Tang to mix with water. We're planning on making hobo stoves to add to it, but haven't gotten around to it. I also made 2 para cord bracelets with whistle buckles. Only two because I ran out of para cord. I still have two more to make, plus I want to make a belt for my husband. That would be a lot of cord, should we need it. My husband also takes a Get Home bag with him to work that includes some simple things to tide him over should he have to get home to us. Luckily, my son's school is on his way home. He can swing by and get him. My son also walks to his grandparents' house after school, so he can swing by there just as easily. My son carries a map of the area in a plastic bag so he could walk the 2 miles to our house if he had to.

I have a grab and go binder that contains instructions for how to hunt, fish, clean game, and make in-ground stills and water filters, etc. It contains everything I think I'll need should I need to leave the house or shelter in. I also have backpacks for the 4 of us that include clothes, extra shoes, etc. I've been throwing my spare change into one of the outside pockets for some money. I have a sling backpack hanging on the side of my closet door for throwing all of our medicines into should we have to "bug out."

In addition, I'm learning how to spin cotton yarn from cotton balls. Never would have thought of that, but what if I can't get yarn? I can also use dryer lint, but I figure if society collapses, I won't have an electric dryer anymore. I learned how to make my own laundry soap. For about $15 I can make enough for (they say) 6-9 months. It uses Borax, a special soap that I can't remember the name of right now, but you can use Ivory and Arm and Hammer baking soda washing powder. I made a triple batch, and only used half the Borax and washing powder. I'm going to keep track and see how long it lasts. I know how to make homemade toothpaste (I stocked up on store bought though because it tastes a bit odd). I can either make my own and use the store bought for bartering, or use the store bought and make my own when it runs out. I'm making hard copies of recipes, patterns, etc. because how long will we have our electronic devices that they're stored on?

In addition, we raised a small garden last year and are planting one this year as well. Last year was a learning experience, and we're making the necessary changes in placement and what we grow this year. It came time for frost last year, and I had a ton of green tomatoes, so I learned how to can green tomato relish. I can stew tomatoes also. This year, depending on the crops and price of groceries, I may just can what I pick instead of eating it. I imagine jars are going to get expensive as people go back to canning. As long as gardens are not outlawed, I'll keep it up. I have a couple spices already; sage and rosemary grow really well for me.

We had come across some free lumber and cinder blocks, so we built shelves along one whole living room wall to hold our excess canned goods. Since it's in the living room, we draped a sheet over the front to disguise it a bit. We also put together shelves at the end of our dining room wall, and put the table right up against it. The one shelf is just the right height to put our table stuff on. I have a double drop leaf gate-leg table so we're able to drop one leaf because everything but the food goes on the shelf (salt, pepper, paper towels, etc.)

I promised a real life application of how this could be helpful, should the economy not crash. I was diagnosed last year with cancer. I had been under treatment quite a while, and was still recuperating, when my husband broke his leg and was out of work. We still had all of our bills, and only his Navy Retirement check coming in for 2 months after we burned through all his vacation time FOR THE WHOLE YEAR. We ate out of our storage and only had to buy refrigerator items. This is how I learned to make some of the recipes with strictly shelf stable foods. It also helped me rotate my items. As soon as he got back to work and we got caught up (we had run up about $500 on our credit cards), we replaced our food storage.

That's another thing. We only put on our credit cards what we can pay off each month. Meaning we budget it, and only use the credit card for the 1% back at the grocery store, or for gas, etc. We have an Aldi's now, and we used to use the debit card. I may be paranoid, but I don't want the government knowing how I use my debit card and for what, so I started holding back my grocery budget and paying cash. It also helps me realize how much money I'm spending. When the cash is gone, I'm out.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. This writing has been interrupted so many times, my thoughts are a bit scattered.