Arts &Crafts, How-To's, Upcycling & Repurposing

Imagine- you’re having one of those days… no weeks. You’re having one of those weeks. Nothings going the way you want it to in life, you’re broke, not a lot of food in the house. All your money went to the bills. You’d like to make pancakes but you don’t have baking powder. For dinner you want spaghetti but don’t have the spaghetti sauce.

We have a vegy garden or go to the neighbors to borrow tomatoes. You could even use the tomatoes in a can or you can do a basic olive oil with garlic and cheese.

If you were in an emergency situation, what would you do?

Prepare –

By having the basic staples handy and even making your own; it puts us in a more organized state for when we do actually have an emergency. Such as a hurricane or a tornado. A blizzard even.

Put up shelving in the basement or garage. You can keep extra jars of food, boxes of pasta, non perishable food. If an emergency has come up, you’ll be prepared.

Some examples include-

• Can your vegetables
• Make your own bisquick
• Rice
• Flour
• Sugar
• Baking powder & baking soda
• Can water. ( boil the water if it’s not filtered, then can it).
• Can potatoes
• Ground coffee
• Dehydrate lemons , oranges, bananas,
• Make beef jerky
• Packages of noodles
• Glass eggs (a way of preparing eggs to can them)

There’s much more you can do for an emergency preparedness. Below are some ideas for you to help yourselves in case of a emergency/disaster –

Keep a container of things like cups (ceramic or metal that you can warm over a fire without it melting)

*Plates

*Utensils

*Ladle

*Cups or tumblers

*Put a first Aid kit together. Making sure you add the Tylenol, ibuprofen, ASPRIN, bactine spray, rubbing alcohol , bandages, scissors, needle & thread.

*Some people keep a change of clothes, enough for everyone in the house put in the bin.

*Bars of Soap

*Pot and pan

*Fire starters- you can make your own with drier lint and melted wax or even using sawdust and melted wax.

*Matches

*Towels and wash cloths

*Blankets- There are a few stores that also sell things like a drinking straw that filters water or even those thermal blankets/foil blankets. Theres also the soap that is made into a little piece of paper. (Not sure of the name)

*Keep a notebook and pencil in the bin. Write down a list of names and numbers for emergency contacts. If you have access to a laminator then I’d laminate that page in case of water damage.

I could keep going. Those are just a few ideas.

Having yourself prepared, is the best thing we can do for ourselves and our families. During the COVID outbreak, we had 2 big Rubbermaid bins prepared with food and necessities. We didn’t need half of it but we were sure glad we had thought ahead. It didn’t matter if we thought the world was coming to an end or not. Knowing how vicious people get grocery shopping … is enough to make us store an emergency stash.

If you wanted to, you can build your own root cellar by your home.

I did not mention toilet paper and paper towels. Back when we had the Covid outbreak, everyone had to stay home. That was horrible! Then having people buying toilet paper like we were never going to see it again! In reality, there are other things we can use. Really. In the olden days they used leaves. In 1890 toilet paper was invented. By the year 1930, it was sold. Manufactured as “splinter free”. So yes, we can use leaves.

There’s a cookbook on Amazon called “the Self Reliant Kitchen”. By Michelle Mullennix. She gives you simple recipes like homemade bread and homemade pasta from scratch, even preserves and homemade pickles.

I highly recommend it! Also learning how to make things from scratch and teaching our kids won’t put us in as tight of a spot.

I hope by reading this, it helps some of you whether you’re prepping for an emergency stash or you’d like to learn the basics in the kitchen. We all could be better prepared, healthier by making our own staples/ingredients, and happier in the end cause we got it done.