Preparing Deseret, one blogger at a time
“Wives are instrumental in this work, but they need husbands who lead out in family preparedness. Children need parents who instill in them this righteous tradition. They will then do likewise with their children, and their stores will not fail.”
Keith B. McMullin, ‘Lay Up in Store,’ Ensign May 2007
Today’s guest post comes to you courtesy of Becky W. who is a freelance writer that loves to write on a number of things such as safety, food, and health. In her spare she loves to try new dishes in the kitchen and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
While nobody anticipates that an emergency is actually going to befall them, these things happen before anybody can begin to plan. There are a few items you can keep around the house that will be of great use to you and your family if you ever experience a wide-scale emergency.
A first aid kit should be at the top of your list of essentials. It is inevitable that somebody will be hurt by a cut, burn or scrape. Your kits should include latex gloves, bandages, gauze pads and antibiotic moist towlettes. You should also have tweezers, saline solution and scissors on hand. If anybody in the family takes prescription medications, have a bottle on hand. Do not forget to include any inhalers, pain medications and antihistamines.
It is also vital to have a well-stocked pantry and emergency supply of food available. Water is essential. It never hurts to have a few cases of water in plastic bottles around the house. You should also keep some drinks with electrolytes in them for their minerals. Canned fruits and vegetables that are ready to eat and have a long shelf life are great. You may even keep some canned meat, like tuna or chicken. Don’t forget to pack some granola, protein bars, peanut butter, dried fruit, nuts, crackers and cereal. If you have an infant, you want to keep some jarred baby food as well. Check expiration dates regularly and be sure to pack a can opener along with paper cups, utensils and plates.
There are a few personal items to keep in a safe place. It is good to have an area stocked with old prescription glasses, a pair of sturdy shoes and sleeping supplies. A sleeping bag that can be used outside is a must. You also want to pack warm clothing and a few books to read. Keep a stock of personal hygiene items, such as menstrual pads and toothpaste, on hand.
Other practical items, such as a sump pump, are great to have on hand in case a pipe bursts. You should also have a self-powered flashlight. There are flashlights you can turn a lever to power, and they are easy to maintain. You can also find a self-powered radio. You should also have a car charger for your phone and other important electronic items. Of course you also need to have a sturdy container to hold all these items.
Saturday I had the fun opportunity to join with other people at a multi-city mock disaster for CERT members.
This event was sponsored by the Lehi CERT team, and they put a lot of work in getting this running. Members from all over northern Utah County and Southern Salt Lake Counties got together and quickly had their hands full with a variety of disasters. We had a UTA bus with smoke billowing out, and very hurt people, to a school with a massive disaster in the gym, as well as very small, dark hallways that made for difficult rescues. Attendees had the opportunity to practice a wide variety of skills, often in far less than ideal situations. Continue reading “Recap: Multi-City Cert Mock Disaster”
It’s been a while since we’ve had any public meetups, and I know I have a few supplies I need to top off on. So what a better chance to meet some other preppers than to get together at a gun show.
On Saturday the 16th a few of us will be attending the Rocky Mountain Gun Show. It’s always fun to browse the various shops, negotiate a few deals on supplies, and take some time to mingle with other folks. Let us know if you’ll be there so we can meet each other, and let’s plan on a 12:00 lunchtime at the crown burger across the street.
Following their link, you can pre-purchase tickets to avoid a line, and you can also get coupons for $1 off entrance.
We love it when local stores have good deals for preppers, even better when it’s the stuff we want the most. Emergency Essentials let us know that this month they are featuring a 20-25% discount on Mountain House cans and we wanted to make sure to pass the word along. Most people involved in preparedness or camping will have some familiarity with the Mountain House products. They are the original commercial freeze-dry products, and have an incredible choice of entrees available.
The big #10 cans of freeze dried food are something we don’t say you should solely base your food storage on, by any means. But they are an amazing part of your overall plan. The large cans allow you to get more food, in a longer-life container. Just remember two key factors when using freeze-dried food from a can. First, contents have settled, so some of the flavor is on the bottom, you’ll want to mix it up. Second, once that can is open, there is no more long-term storage. So entrees you like you need to use within a few days. In a real emergency, that’s not a problem as long as you are aware.
If you do any scouting, or larger group events. Can’s make it so it is a more economical choice vs other options. So if you need to augment your storage, looking to expand the menu, or are even just starting it’s worth checking out their sale.
My brother passed along a video today that fits right in here on the blog. As many people know, I have a long love of cured foods. Bacon, of course, ranks at the top of my list. Bacon, and country hams were an important staple for survival to people in the Appalachians for hundreds of years before refrigeration was introduced. While I don’t have a setup for curing my own bacon (yet), this video sure encourages me to get that setup sooner than later. This 10 minute documentary is about a man who run’s a business curing bacon and ham the old fashioned way.
As I told a friend, the subjects Appalachian accent is like a Barry White with the sequences of frying bacon and country ham.
Once you’ve watched, you’ll probably want to go buy bacon or ham from their site and then once you’ve tasted the difference, try to cure bacon on your own.
Join us for an evening of free information on different options for cooking when the power goes out. Representatives from great companies such as Sun Oven, Volcano Grills, Humless, and InstaFire will be combining with Jodi and Julie from Food Storage Made Easy to help you learn about these products as well as several free or inexpensive tools you can make yourself. Come and enjoy free handouts, event discounts, giveaways and more!
Cost: FREE! Bring a friend!
Date: Thursday May 10, 2012
Time: 7-9 pm (7-8 will be instructional, 8-9 will be Q&A at individual booths)
American Preparatory Academy 12892 S. Pony Express Rd. (Just off of I15 and Bangeter) Draper, Utah 84020
It should come as no surprise that the UtahPreppers site will accept advertisers to help cover the costs of hosting. It’s also nice when sponsors are willing to give out some of their products to our readers. So I’m pretty happy that one of our new sponsors here has a little contest . The Threat Journal is a free newsletter that focuses on different possible dangers to people in the US, and what you can do to be ready for those dangers. The newsletter covers a broad range of disasters, and discusses the plausibility of each. This should give you the reader a chance to become more informed about various dangers, and decide for yourself how likely they are to affect your family.
For the giveaway, the publishers of Threat Journal are having a drawing for three (3) radiation safety kits. These packages are designed to help with the three most basic tasks you face during a radiation emergency:
Interested in a day of workshops focused on preparedness? Who wouldn’t? Utah State University, BYU, and BeReady Utah have combined to host a day of classes and booths called the Utah Prepare Conference and Expo. Now, the title is rather similar to our name, but hey, it involves many groups that we rely on for well-researched information.
I’m really excited about this conference, in that it is *not* a sales machine. BeReady is the state organization charged with getting citizens ready for known disasters in the state, and it has teamed up with some of the best resources for preparedness around. Anybody who has done real research into local agriculture, animal husbandry, or food preservation has come upon materials published by the USU extension. They are the standard for food preservation testing in the country, and we love having them locally.
Of course, there are vendors there as well, so don’t fret about missing out on the “toys” and fun there as well, but the conference itself is not “consumer-first”, and that should mean a lot to real preppers.
Following up on last year’s very successful Emergency Preparedness Expo, a new preparedness based company Free Food 2 Go is sponsoring a preparedness event the first weekend this April. The expo will play host to a wide range of well know presenters in a variety of preparedness subjects as well as an expo hall for vendors, all at the UVU campus. This is the second year for this particular event which saw 1,500 attendees in 2011. This year the expectation is 2,500 to 3,500 attendees.
Free Food 2 Go, the expo’s overall sponsor appear to be a vaguely MLM/Co-op plan for food storage. As the sponsor, they will obviously have plenty of information prominently featured. However, if MLM sales pitches turn you off remember that while featured, they are just one of many vendors at the event. With the number of vendors and experts on hand this should prove to be a great chance to get hands-on with many of the suppliers and products discussed here on UtahPreppers.com and in other preparedness circles.
Continue reading “The Great Utah Emergency Preparedness Expo: April 6-7, 2012”
If you by chance missed out on the premiere of local prepper and UtahPrepper author Phil‘s show, “Meet the Preppers” (bio), then you have another opportunity this Sunday. Animal Planet is going to rebroadcast the pilot episode in order to test the ratings again. If you want an opportunity to see less doomsday, and more family practice, tune in and let Animal Planet know you want to watch more!
Meet the Preppers: My Pink Pistol
Mar 25, 2:00 pm
At times when I’m building up my various forms of disaster kits, I want to throw you hands up in frustration at how reliant I am on different forms of technology. As much as I enjoy the outdoors I’m always bending it back to my more technological side. While this may make things more fun, accurate, or whatever other benefits I get, it also makes me dependent on power.
A great example of this is my need for light outdoors. Now sure we’d like to never be reliant on non-natural light forms, but it’s a reality. Even if you just have a midnight bathroom run once and a while, there are times that you need light. Historically of course, man has relied on fire to provide this light, and now we have flashlights to give us nice, portable light whenever we want, provided we have charged batteries.
Continue reading “Review: UVPaqlite and ToobLite Glow Sticks”