Hi Everyone,
NOTES:
I thought this was a good article. If you don’t have a water filter for your 72-hour kit, his suggestion is a good one. It’s more expensive than what I use, but it looks like it might do a better job.
Best Off-Grid & Emergency Water Filters (2025): What I Use—and What I Don’t – M.D. CREEKMORE
Another article with information it would be good to know.
How to Siphon Gas from a Car with Anti-Siphon – Ask a Prepper
So…. we had a pipe burst in the downstairs bathroom. LUCKILY we were home, but we were busy elsewhere and didn’t notice it for about 10 minutes. Water was spewing like a geyser and everything in the bathroom was soaked. Plus, there was about 2 inches of water on all the tile floors. Under the stairs was soaked, and that’s where we store a lot of our food storage. Anything in a can or bucket was okay, but we have cardboard containers of oatmeal that are now ruined, and containers of Tang and fruit punch that are ruined. Any boxes that were sitting on the floor had to all be thrown away. My house is a disaster!!! We are lucky to have friends with mops and shop vacs and rug shampoo-ers, and industrial air blowers, and dehumidifiers! We can’t put anything away until the carpets are thoroughly dry. Ugh. If you didn’t know, you can get boxes that hold 6 #10 cans at the Home Storage Center near you. They are only $1 a box!!!
GARDEN HAPPENINGS:
My broccoli never recovered from the first harvest, so I finally just pulled them all up. My newly planted beans look good. My tomatoes are nearly done producing. I’m going to miss those juicy vine-ripened tomatoes!!! The green peppers are FINALLY getting going. I have three plants and just picked two peppers off of one. Lots of blossoms though. I remember it was like this last year. Everything else was exhausted and the peppers were going strong.
Other than the beans, there ARE things you can plant for a fall harvest. But frankly, at the end of summer I’m kind of over it. I don’t think I’ll do any fall crops.
LONG-TERM PURCHASE: powdered milk
There are two types of dry milk. Instant powdered milk mixes easily and is available in most grocery stores. Regular powdered milk needs a blender or wire whisk to mix it. Whichever type you use, if you want to drink it, it tastes best chilled for several hours.
It used to be that powdered milk was considerably less expensive than store-bought milk, and mixing it 1/2 and 1/2 was a good way to save money. This is not true anymore. Mixing is still a good idea if you need to start rotating your stored milk. If you are NOT a rotator, then just let it go bad and buy more.
How much milk do you buy? That’s what you’ll want to store.
You can buy powdered milk at the Home Storage center for $6.83 (it’s in a pouch and makes several gallons of milk).
OR order it online from any reputable food storage site.
SHORT TERM PURCHASE: juice, kool-aid, water flavors.
In an effort to drink less soda and more water, we have been using water flavors. My favorite is Wylers brand because it’s only $1.00 for 10 servings at Winco. I don’t look forward to drinking the water in our 55 gallon drums. But I imagine that the flavoring packets will make it a little better at least. That, and the water filter we have.
72 HOUR KIT PURCHASE:
Each kit should have some type of emergency blanket or plastic rain poncho. They are very inexpensive and fold up small.
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES:
The BEST Homemade Biscuits (in just 20 minutes)
These milk recipes are all made with whole milk. You can still make a lot of these things with powdered milk. I love this little book:
I was quite surprised by the $31 asking price. I remember that my neighbor and I each paid $1.50 to buy one book that we shared between us.
This one is only $13, but I don’t have it so I’m not sure what’s in it.
Orange Banana Smoothie
1 small can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 medium banana
3 c. ice water
1/2 c. non-instant milk powder (3/4 cup instant)
1 TB sugar or honey
Marti Shelley
