Two years ago, we organized a water tank group buy and received a good response. I’ve now organized another water tank group buy.
These are new (unused) food-grade plastic bladders housed in new/used metal cages. 285 gallons! And it stores in a lot less space than you’d think. While I’m aware of others having stacked their tanks three high, due to space constraints (and a lack of a death wish) ours are stored two high. I’ve now had mine stored in the garage for three years without any incident; I rotate one tank every six months.
It has become cliché for people to suggest that their preparedness efforts consist of a gun and ammo, so that in the event of an emergency they can forcefully demand that their Mormon neighbors give up some of their food storage. But do Mormons store as much food as people think they do? Do we all have a year supply of wheat, beans, rice, and freeze dried snacks?
A few weeks ago, I was called by my Bishop (pastor) to be the new emergency preparedness coordinator for our ward (congregation). In order to better serve those in the ward and help them prepare, I thought it important to begin my efforts with a survey to gauge where our ward stood. I had a fairly good idea due to previous surveys conducted over the past couple of years in our community (see here and here), but wanted a bit more detail, and with the high turnover in our ward, needed updated information.
Case lot image from http://tightwadmomsfrugalforum.blogspot.com
Inevitably, each year in the weeks preceding the LDS General Conference sessions in April and October grocery stores in Utah begin their Case Lot sales. In case you aren’t familiar with the term, a Case Lot sale is a sale that allows you to purchase food (and other) items at a discount from a regular grocery store. The only catch is that you need to buy them a case at a time.
This can really help build of your emergency food supply quickly. Given that there are generally 12 to 24 cans or jars in a case, this is the perfect opportunity to scratch that Food Storage To-Do off your New Year’s Resolution list. As we have touted many, many times before, there are many reasons to have at a minimum a three-month supply of food you eat on a regular basis be it financial, natural disaster or otherwise.
Lucky for you (and all of us for that matter), our friends at Prepared LDS Family have updated their Case Lot spreadsheet. As always, we are greatly appreciative of the work and effort that went into this.
In addition to the spreadsheet will help you find the best deals this Case Lot season, there is also a 3 Month Supply post. This excellent resource details out what a basic 3 month supply for one person should consist of, then lists prices for items to fill that list along with the case lot costs for both Macey’s and Smith’s.
Many of the Bulk Food Suppliers on our Resources page also offer case lot sales during this same time period.
Here at UtahPreppers we try to keep an eye on prepping topics, trends and products from all over the country and often the world. Even though we try to keep a global focus we still like finding and supporting local businesses that fit into the prepping niche. We recently met up with a Bluffdale company to take a look at some of their innovative solar products.
One of the most important skills as a prepper is the ability to learn from our experiences and mistakes. Additionally, examples of others doing the same can help us learn the same lessons without having to go through the experience. To that end, I’m posting in an email that was forwarded to me, second-hand from the source. The email is from a lady whose family is currently stationed in Japan, and relates their experiences with the earthquake. What I like best in this is her own analysis on her preparedness level, and what she wishes she could do better.
Email edited for screen readability only (spacing), and redacting names.
The following is from one of our readers who has organized another group buy on Volcano Stoves. See here for my review, or here for a similar group buy we did two years ago.
I’ve contacted the Volcano Grills company and they have agreed to a group buy on the Volcano Collapsible Propane regularly $149.95 with 20 orders we can each receive a 20% discount on this amazing product. The group price will be $120.15. The deadline for this buy is April 15th (See details below). This is a great product; see the review post to make sure it’s something you want. Some of the stove’s highlights: it uses three types of fuel – propane, charcoal or wood. It is built to work with a regular 12″ dutch oven and collapses to 5″ for easy storage. The stove is also very efficient, it only needs 12 briquettes to cook one meal.
Now a bit of the background story on me and the stove. I’ve been gathering the necessary preparations for my own family and my thoughts have turned to cooking stoves and fuel. After doing a bit of research on this website I found Connor’s review of the Volcano Stove. After reading that I’m now fully convinced of the design and efficiency of this product and must have it.
I made several calls to a few local retailers and found the product to be out of stock nearly everywhere. Following Connor’s example, I decided to call Volcano Grill company and they are very friendly and willing to offer a group buy discount. The people at Volcano Grill tell me the recent popularity of this item has caused shortages everywhere. Most places are backordered 6 weeks and the places like Costco may not receive delivery even as late as this fall. I’m excited to receive a discount and share this with as many as possible.
So thank you Volcano Grill and Connor for helping out. Here are the details on the group buy.
Product: Volcano Collapsible Propane Grill aka Volcano II
Discount Price: $120.15, 20% off regular price with minimum of 20 paid orders
Deadline: April 15th at 5pm
How to Order: Send me an email at [email protected] with: full name, email address, phone number, and quantity desired. Once we have at least 20 stoves committed for purchase, I will then give you instructions on how/where to call in and place the order directly with the company.
Order will be ready 2nd week in May
Delivery Option: Pickup/Delivery Option: 1) Pickup your own order from the Springville office (preferred) 2) $12 shipping for northern Utah delivery
Please spread the word to your community and groups. Ask any questions below in the comments section. Thanks.
In the past few days, there have been a few earthquakes just west of Lehi. As this page shows, we’ve had three small earthquakes (2.5-2.8) in the past three days. Events such as these provide us a great reminder of the need to be prepared. If the earthquake were much larger, would you know what to do? What immediate action should you take?
The following is some information which may prove useful for your review, in preparing for a future earthquake that affects us at a substantial level.
First, as a summary of the situation here in Utah living along the Wasatch Fault, this 10 minute video by the Utah Geological Survey is a great starting point.
One question you might have is whether this succession of small earthquakes is indicative of a larger one in the near future. Here’s one answer on that:
The next installment in our Heat and Light series is Making a simple Emergency Stove from Household Materials. This stove is capable of boiling water in less than 10 minutes and is very easy to use and re-use. The materials required to make it can commonly be found in the home and should be stored in your preps. Required are: Paraffin Wax, cardboard and a couple tin cans. Continue reading “How to Make an Emergency Stove from Common Materials”
The next project in my Heat and Light series is Making Fire Starting Wafers out of reclaimed materials mostly available at home. These wafer candles don’t have the same burn time (but it’s plenty long enough to get a fire going) as the egg carton candles but they have a much smaller footprint. This project will again be familiar to most Boy Scouts and long term Preppers and Outdoorsmen. However, the purpose of this series is to get back to basics and review how to generate light and heat with common household projects. As has been mentioned in the comments on the other posts in this series, you can use old candles or other wax sources instead of the new bars of paraffin I use in the demonstration.
Continuing my series on Light and Heat, today I’m going to talk about making Fire Starting Candles. There are a variety of ways to do this, today we’re going to cover using cardboard egg cartons and dryer lint or cotton balls. This particular project will likely already be familiar to experienced Preppers and Boy Scouts. This post is aimed at those new to prepping who have never been exposed to this kind of thing.
Being able to start a fire is absolutely critical in many potential situations. It can literally mean the difference between life and death. Knowing many ways to be able to start a fire is an essential survival skill, practicing and maintaining those skills is just as essential. Continue reading “Making Fire Starting Candles”
One of the things that frustrates me in Preparedness is that many of the texts and resources out there don’t adequately cover “Pioneer Skills”. That is to say, they present material lists and instructions that include things that are only available via modern-day manufacturing methods. Often times what I’m looking for is how do I make something out of nothing – nothing being the great abundance that nature provides us with! This is very true when it comes to activities like candle, cheese and soap making. I want to know how to do it in a true collapse or long term survival scenario. Continue reading “Making Tallow Candles”
For those looking for some discounts on your food storage, and especially on a few bigger items, this might be exactly what you need. Our friends at Home Storage Basics are having their Harvest closeout sale. The following is from the email they sent out.
Home Storage Basics, American Fork Utah!
Harvest Inventory sale one week only! Ends October 23, 2010
Inventory IN the store is 15 % OFF, Except Shirley J Seasoning items.
In celebration of our Store Anniversary we are selling all our used floor models of the BOSCH, BOSCH Compact, Nutrimill, and Wondermill at great prices! All items have been out for a year- some gently used other have seen a lot of cookies in their day! Come visit us for pricing!
If you are in Utah or Salt Lake counties, you should make sure to check this shop out. The owner (a friend of mine) is the best resource around for all things wheat and grain related, and the bakery they have in the shop is excellent. Please check them out and support a great local business.
