December prepping

So what is everyone working on this month?  I am currently working on nothing, we are currently stuck in the house in an ice/snow storm and hoping the electricity doesn't go out. Overnight low's are scheduled to be in the single digits tomorrow night, the teens tonight and the wind chills are in the single digits, it's cold! Since I was pretty much stocked up on everything already, my last minute trip to the store consisted of grapes, apples, cheese and a case a water, all which I could have done without, but since they are saying this is going to last awhile, I figured I wanted my fresh fruit, lol.

This month I am working on my pet preps. I have two young cats (my cat babies lol), so I am working on getting a few 16lbs bags on standby (I'll probably buy some containers for them at Home Depot). Aside from that, getting the some allergy and calming medicine (they both have allergies and one has anxiety). Other than that, They are good on pet wipes to keep them clean.  I am working on my paper products, and I just cleaned out my fridge and have room to add more meat and frozen veg. I go through my meat in segments, as I repackage/vacuum seal and date everything I buy. More water. Also,setting up a BOB for my S.O. as he doesn't have one lol Even if we never needed to use it, and also that'd be a last resort. It'd be comforting to have one, because we have had to evacuate our dorms and campus apartments a couple of times due to flooding. I think that is it for me, for now. Hope you can stay warm as possible, Penham. Take care! I remember reading your blackout topic in the swineflu.org page. As for gifts, I got my father a utility knife, and my S.O. a new pair of cross-trainers (not sure if it'd be considered a prep gift, but he needed some sturdy new shoes that can be used for different occasions as his current shoes are weak and holey)

great site for inexpensive water filtration kits

http://www.homespunenvironmental.com/

check ebay for N95 masks

I've picked up a couple of cases cheap

jacksdad wrote: Just went to the doctors and a lot of people are walking around wearing masks. I don't think it's anything too significant - most likely just people getting more clued into the importance of wearing them around others that might be sick. I have a couple of hundred 3M N95's that I picked up at 80% discount when a local home improvement store relocated, and a couple of boxes of smaller ones for my son. Probably a good idea to stock up if you haven't already.

That reminds me of my time as a student ambassador in Japan. It's really common to walk around in masks there, but you do it here and everyone looks at  you like the plague... They sell the kind they wear in this little Japanese store by my school since it's right next to the Extension center where most the international students live. Most my school's students come from Japan, Korea, China, and Saudi Arabia. I've worked with all types. I'm gonna search Amazon to see if they have more of the masks since almost every time I am at Kmart (I live about a 5 min walk from it), they don't have any. I've seen the kind for children on Amazon before, they look kind of cute. I don't have any kids yet though. My school's health center also gives those cheap thin masks as well, once I went in for my TB test results, and almost everyone had masks on. Maybe it's slowly becoming more accepted here in the states. Would a surplus store have something like that?

   Bleach has a shelf life and you should use bleach in 6 months to use it at it's  full rated  strength . I would always use old products  first and replace them with new. Rotate you stock. You can use it in the laundry or for home made cleaners/ germ killer.

    You can find info if you search  " shelf life of bleach " . Clorox has some interesting facts and  info there.  Carl H

edprof - smart move

The benefit of using a sourdough starter is that you don't have to buy yeast.

I was told that it changes color over time, but that shouldn't be a problem.

?? Has anyone tried to make bread with dried eggs instead of fresh?

Elver,I meant that powdered eggs can be used in place of fresh eggs and you can used powdered milk in place of fresh milk. Some of my friends are already cooking like this. Johnray1

You can also substitute apple sauce, bananas, etc for eggs in the sense of baking. I substitute things all the time, but it also depends on what you are making, what you can substitute for. http://chefinyou.com/egg-substitutes-cooking/

I use powdered eggs all the time. When I'm baking I use them, then when I make scrambled eggs, I mix them half and half with regular eggs to make them stretch farther. I have a relative that gives me powdered eggs that they receive through commodities, so I get them free.

FluMom, have a look at the Little House on the Prairie cookbook for old time cooking. It's a good read.

another great preparedness resource

LDS PREPAREDNESS MANUAL:

https://www.ldsavow.com/PrepManualGeneral.html

free download or order a hard copy at cost

this manual does continue Mormon theology interspersed throughout

but don't let this deter you

this is an EXCELLENT resource