We rotate our 72 hour kits when we have the time change and change the clocks. It is just a reminder for us and we are able to change out the clothing for the expected weather for the next 6 months (and medicines etc)
Love your compassion for those with ‘barely enough.’ Those are hard times….but, they honestly can make you stronger, prouder. You are a great instructor. Thank you.
I’ve so appreciated your ideas and videos over the years! I can tell this was out of your comfort zone, so thank you for doing this! My hubby and I live in Louisiana (hurricane area) and a lot of my stock pile of food has come from grocery stores. I do try to can and do homemade things as much as possible but with working full time, that can be hard. I would love to give some meal suggestions if you all read the comments. You’ve helped me so much, maybe some of these would help you. I only have a 2 member household and neither of us have food allergies or issues. So I know that all these suggestions may not work for everyone. 1. Bag of rice, canned Chinese veggies and soy sauce. Could add a can of chicken if you wanted protein. Or can of diced ham. 2. Rinse a can of black beans and mix with cooked rice, taco spices and drained canned of Rotel. 3. Big can of baked beans mixed with a can of pulled pork or roast beef. 4. Multiple styles of pasta with multiple different jarred sauces like pesto, Alfredo, vodka cream (not just spaghetti sauce). 5. Canned cream of potatoes, canned broccoli and cheese sauce or canned cheddar cheese… mixed with water and a little instant/powdered milk will make a pretty good potato soup. 6. Multiple canned veggies (corn, beans, black eyed peas, carrots and so on) with a can of crushed tomatoes and spices will make a good veggie soup. 7. Canned white beans, canned zucchini, canned spinach, canned carrots, crushed tomatoes and small shell pasta will make a decent minestrone soup. 8. My husband loves spaghettiOs and meatballs and the canned Hormel tamales are actually not bad. 9. The Progresso canned soups/stews/chowders aren’t too bad (especially if you’re hungry) lol 10. Canned chicken broth, canned chicken, canned English peas and carrots with some egg noddles mixed in will make a good chicken noodle soup. 11. One can cream of mushroom, one can cream of chicken, one medium sized block of Velveeta, one package no yoke egg noodles and about 2 cups water makes a really good cheesy noodle soup. I actually make this regularly because my husband loves it. I try to store things that will only require water to make. Maybe some of these will give you or anyone else some ideas! Thanks again for all y’all do!!!!
Yes thank you, love your suggestions. Some of these you can find at Dollar Tree, just enough for two people for one meal and you don’t require refrigeration during stressful times.
Great suggestions. I've also started stocking up on mayo packets. Each time we visit a convenience store, we scan the hotdog area and pick up a few of the small packs of condiments they supply for hotdogs, etc. They are shelf stable so I toss them into a small (shoebox size) tote in my pantry. I don't care for tuna without mayo so this solves that problem.
Your meals except the black bean one are more like something kids would eat. But they would have to be doubled to meet criteria of feeding a family of 4. Great suggestions.
Marie Callendars makes a corn muffin mix just add water Idahoan instant potatoes in a pouch, just add water Knorr sides, pasta or rice just add water (sometimes butter but not really needed) Slim Jim beef sticks can be sliced into veg, rice, pasta, potatoes Instant oatmeal packs and instant grits in packets just add water Bear Creek instant soup bags with a can or two of beef, chicken, spam and a package of rice a roni or pasta roni makes a big hearty meal Egg substitute for baking, use 1 Tbspn Chia seeds,2 Tbspn water, mix and let sit 20 minutes
For the egg substitute, practice making and using it. The first few times I used it I struggled with it. Not something you want to be trying for the first time in a stressful situation.
You need a can-opener, a church key, matches and spoons in EACH container. Don't assume you'll have all your containers. Buy as many pull-open cans as possible. Sardines are protein, cheap, small, and supply extra oil. Instant rice adds calories and can be made with room temp water if needed. Plan for survival rather than for what you like to eat. Don't forget a DYI funnel-shaped solar cooker to boil water:)
Pam, our family has always enjoyed "hot water" cornbread. You simply boil water with a tablespoon of butter. You add the hot water slowly to a bowl with cornmeal in it and make something like playdough from the mixture. Fry in oil and drain. Put a little butter on each one and salt. No eggs and no milk.
Boil up a larger amount, pour it in a greased loaf pan, then chill and slice, then fry it. It’s called cornmeal mush! My grandfather and my mother both made it often and cooked it for breakfast. I like it best sliced very thin, dusted with a little flour and then fried. Ijust eat that with butter, but some eat it with syrup. All good!
Mayo (a small jar) can be an egg substitute in baking, and a small jar of ghee for butter, if no refrigeration is available. Trader Joes or Aldi have inexpensive ghee.
Great idea. I'd forgotten about the mayo substitute. My mom made 3-ingredient muffins that called for mayo instead of oil and eggs and they tasted a lot like a buscuit. Later on, she branched out and added sugar and blueberries to make a sweeter muffin.
My Dollar Tree has started carrying small jars of Kraft Mayo and Kraft Miracle Whip. I buy them because as a single household, I can't use up those larger jars. They would be great for the emergency meal bins too.
The juice in a can of chickpeas can be used as egg substitute. Also, 3 tbsps of peanut butter is equal to 1 egg. Hope this helps. Greetings from Scotland.
The Floridians should have explained to you and your audience why we don’t cook after a storm. It’s just to damn hot and the humidity seems to get extremely worse after a storm. By the time, you are done cleaning up after a storm all you want to do is eat something fast, and then shower and try to go to sleep in the heat.
Last week a straight line wind storm came through that caused 90% of town to be without power for a week, with temps in the 100’s… it was devastating on travel, food storage, indoor safety, everything. Even Walmart was out of power. The town is still cleaning up trees and power lines and with one stop light still not working 12 days later. My refurbished jackery arrived today. My ac to dc cpap converter arrives today. I’m stocking up on ryobi batteries and different inverters and light sources. I feel I can be better prepared. Not fully prepared, but better. Of course all of my pressure canned food under my bed is still great! Sadly many friends and family lost $1000’s worth of food. So thankful for you and others that inspired and helped me learn the basics in pressure canning and just being aware of things I can do better at :)
There is mac & cheese box mix that comes with a pouche of real cheese sauce. No need to add milk or butter, just add the pouche to your cooked noodles.
Dollar General has individual packages of Velveeta cheese sauce for just a dollar. Also packages of cheese with jalapeno . These cheese sauce packs are so convenient for easy meal preps.
Another off grid cooking idea: Save your canned chicken cans, rinse well, fill with a coiled strip of cardboard cut to fit inside the can. Carefully fill with melted candle wax. Set the lighted " can burner" beneath an opened and emptied #10 can with holes (from a hand-held can opener) around the top edge for air flow OR place the can beneath a slightly elevated rack. We learned how to make and use these in Pioneer Girls back in the 70's.
Fun video.👍 Life in coastal Florida is interesting and educational. Been through 20 hurricane seasons with little pain. Being without A/C is the worst part. Guess what broke last night? Yes, our A/C, again, and they can't get out until Monday. It's 90 degrees in the house but we still have power, cold packs in the freezer, POOL, and lots of fans going. Had to move all the canning jars of meat to the coldest room in the house, where it's 81 degrees. We learn, we adapt, and we don't whine about a little suffering.👍😄 It builds character.
Powdered butter 🤔 I’ll have to look into this. I’ve searched around for powdered lactose free milk. It’s expensive. Closest solution I could find was goats milk. So many good suggestions on here as I try to figure out preparing going forward. We haven’t had a harsh winter yet since I’ve been back but I’ve had the mindset this time & been making investments. Still so much to learn & im glad it was mentioned about budget because I’m single mom & it’s hard to prep & pay bills.
@@Wide_Eyed_Wandererlook for enzyme supplements to break down the lactose. Lactaid is one, but there are lots of good ones. Put some in labeled snack bags within your emergency kits so you can enjoy some of the better testing shelf stable milk products like Nido dried milk, or Anthony’s Heavy Cream Powder, or even freeze dried cheeses.
@@Wide_Eyed_WandererI am a senior with a tight budget, and it never seemed that I had much money before I retired, either. One of the things that I do that actually saves me money is to put certain shelf stable foods on my Amazon wish list. Amazon tells you on your list when a price goes down. You have to double check that the item still has “Prime” delivery. When an item is reduced in price enough, I order it. For example, I purchased a #10 can of Auguson Farms powdered eggs when the price dropped to about $25. I believe that a #10 can holds the equivalent of 72 eggs. That’s still not cheap at over $4 per dozen, but frankly the eggs from my own chickens costs me more than that. I need a backup during the winter when the hens don’t lay, and having egg powder in my grab and go kit is great. I also keep tomato powder on hand. Add water and seasonings to make pasta sauce, soup, etc. I just use a few tablespoons at a time, so it’s economical, as long as I get it on a good sale. Their cheese powder goes on sale regularly, and also their peanut butter powder. The vegetable soup base is pretty good. I add some to my “leftover soup” of odds & ends for more flavor and nutrition. I also keep Nido powdered milk and Anthony’s powdered heavy cream on hand. The grandkids seem to like the Nido milk, and I like the cream powder in my coffee. The best thing is none goes to waste. I hope that this helps. Sometimes the prices of dehydrated and freeze dried foods looks scary, but it can actually be economical in some instances.
Thank you Pam and Jim! You have made a difference in so many lives-even though you may not see it! I’m glad you two can read the comments and share the wealth of knowledge!
Thank you for sharing this experience. Remember that for most stores you can shop online. Whether you purchase online or you plan to shop in-store in person, checking online enables you to compare prices, ingredients, availability, container sizes, identify sales, et cetera. Meal planning is easier because you have time and can be more budget conscious. You can select products from different stores when there are significant savings to be had. I start my pickups or in-store shopping at the store farthest from my home. Sometimes that means going to only one store, at other times it could be as many as four. The stores I use are all within a few blocks of each other so there is effectively no waste of fuel or time due to driving. I hope this is helpful.
You can also use finely ground flaxseed in place of eggs, per egg, you combine one tablespoon of flaxseed meal and three tablespoons of water and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. I think you can buy small containers of ground flaxseed. It's another option, if you can afford it, I'm not sure how much it costs. I have a friend who is vegan and this is what she uses.
Adding to your suggestion: if you are not going to use flaxseed a lot, ground flaxseed loses its value quickly. If you have the option of knowing that you need to prepare for a coming storm, keep a small bag of cheap flaxseed in the freezer. Take it out only as you need it on a normal basis...but if you know that a storm or situation is approaching, then grind it in a blender or a spice mill and use snack bags to portion out the amount of eggs that you will need per box mix. That way, you add water to the bag and just let it sit for 5-10 minutes before using.
Hi Pam I thought I would share with you something that my kids always enjoyed growing up and that is chicken and rice. I would make a pot of rice by adding 2 cups water and one cup of rice. Then I would add a can of cream of chicken soup. I would bring it to a boil and stir it one last time and turn the heat down to low/simmer and let it sit for 20 minutes. This would make a good addition to your meals.
We are so very blessed to have plenty, good and healthy food set aside, mostly from canning and dehydrating. Your vids are a real eye opener for what financially disadvantaged people deal with on a daily basis. When eggs were $7 a dozen I looked at the senior citizens that use eggs as their last resort for protein and stood in the grocery store and cried.
What a fun video! I love your attention to and sensitivity for those that struggle to make ends meet. Three weeks after my husband and I married he was laid off. I had left my job and moved to his community to live. Prior to his lay off I would sweep up the occasional penny he had dropped while changing his clothes. I have not swept up or walked by a penny since 1970. I spent his entire last paycheck on food. It is from those days that I learned to take one chicken and make five meals. It was from then that I learned to budget and cook and the lesson of waste not want not. Fifty three years later I am still applying those lessons. God bless all of our young people facing these uncertain times. I pray they have elders to turn to for guidance as they and we all face this uncertain future. Blessings Pam to you and Jim.
Pam, re boxed mac/cheese: there are boxes where the cheese sauce is already completely mixed in a can. You just open and pour it over the cooked mac. No butter or milk required.
As I put in the other comment for egg substitute, practice with it. For me it did work better than the chia seed substitute but we could taste the apple in the recipe and that was a little weird. But that’s what prepping is for, practice.
My Mom used to make spaghetti with a can of peas, chopped onion, a can of tomato paste with a can of water for the spaghetti sauce, 2-3 cans of vienna sausages cut up, 2 bay leaves, oregano, crushed, granulated garlic, and Morton Nature's Seasons Seasoning Blend, which has salt, pepper, celery and other seasonings in it. It is still one of my favorites.
There is also an egg substitute in a dry form from Bobs Red Mill. Or the ground flaxseed with water- 1 TBSP ground flaxseed with 3 TBSP water and let sit for a few minutes. Also canned beef or chicken stock in a few of those meals would save water for other uses. Great ideas!!!
Hi Pam and Jim. My name is also Pamela and I leave in a farm in Chile. I already have my emergency meals and emergency backpack for me and each of my children. I leave on the slopes of a Volcano so is a must. I start prepping years ago and try to be the most self sufficient of companies as I can.Watching your videos has been a great help. Thank you so much.
Off grid or camping clean up after cooking: three basin system - wash water, rinse water, bleach rinse water for final rinse/disinfecting. Your basins can be actual basins, buckets, or even black garbage bags stretched out on the ground between branches in the woods. And then dump the wash basin out, dump the rinse basin into the wash basin, the bleach basin into the rinse basin, and so on in order, to clean the basins themselves.
I think simple cooking during an emergency would be comforting. More like normal. ( but I make everything from scratch). I raised 4 children as a single parent and you just have to start buying in bulk and then you don't have to shop like this with packaged stuff. Get rice , beans and oatmeal to start. And of course I've always had chickens. Powdered milk will get you through but when raising children I had goats to milk. But that doesn't work out economically unless they can forage for their food. You could buy a lot of powdered milk for the cost of purchasing a goat.
Pam, thank you so much for this series. I purchase “Idaho Spuds” so we can have potatoes while camping. They are freeze dried hash browns that come in a sort of small milk carton (like milk from school) and all you do is add water to rehydrate. They taste wonderful and are really inexpensive. I have added different things to jazz them up, like onions, cheese, mushrooms etc. I even put them in muffin pans with egg and cheese and bake in my toaster oven while camping. I hope this helps someone. Love your channels❤❤❤
For those on a very tight budget buy one large container quick oats. Canned tuna or chicken can be served with saltines in lieu of bread. If you have mayo and spices you can add it in. A couple pounds of pasta and a couple jars of sauce would make several dinners. In an emergency I don't think anyone will mind eating the same thing 3 days in a row. Fills bellies and keeps the cost way down.
Love your channel. Longtime listener and have learned so much from you. But did want you to know that 1 lb of pasta barely feeds my family of four one meal, let alone two! 😂
Yes I agree, my kids were small and a pound wouldn't fill them up. Most older people eat tiny meals & forget what hungry kids are like to feed. They are bottomless pits. And pretty picky eaters Plain Jane foods. No fruit glazed carrots and black beans ect for most kids. And no kraut.
I highly recommend The Storm Gourmet: A Guide to Creating Extraordinary Meals Without Electricity by Daphne Nikolopoulos. It's aimed at people living in coastal regions but I've found it very helpful where I live in the landlocked Blue Ridge Mountains of rural southwest Virginia. Our grid goes down regularly for no apparent reason.
Thanks for the suggestion. I live in rural Pennsylvania and our power goes out for no reason as well and sometimes stays out for days. We are able to cook with solar ovens grills and a Bio Stove. We do have a small solar generator that's able to keep our refrigerator going but it's always good to have other ideas on how to prepare meals without electricity.
Another Florida resident here. Once we get notified about a hurricane headed our way, the stores get emptied quickly. Luckily, we have a nicely stocked pantry, especially after discovering Rosered Homestead it's even more well planned. I don't mind cooking. Our advantage is we have a gas stove and propane grill as well as a wood or charcoal grill. I'm nearly 60 and have lived in Florida my entire life, so being prepared for off grid is second nature. If we lose water, we better have some stored. I live somewhat in the country, so finding wood to burn hasn't been a challenge. Water is the trick for us. I've watched your water storage video a couple of times. Yesterday we had to go about 5 hours without running water for plumbing work and well, I've failed. Instead of knowing what needs to happen to actually do it, it is another story. I've got some improvements to make. Thank you both for your knowledge, efforts, and entertainment.
Thank you for sharing ideas and caring about your viewers safety. I’m a 4th generation Floridian we are accustomed to being without electricity during hurricanes season. We always keep on hand the Bristol cooked hams and Bristol smoked hams. They are in the large triangle shaped cans. They have an unbelievable shelf life. I have ones from 2020 and the expiration date is 2027. We always have packs of instant grits, Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix, and instant coffee you just add boiling water. When we have advanced warning we fill our bathtubs, washing machines and anything that a hold water. The water is used not only for cooking, but also for flushing toilets. Ravioli, beefaroni, large cans of Dinty Moore stew are alway good to have. It’s especially hot in Florida when hurricanes hit with no air conditioning or fans, so we don’t want to cook. Pop tarts, dry cereal aren’t that nutritious, but they are fun to munch on when your hungry. Koolaid drink packets are cheap and you just need water and sugar. Dry shampoo, hand sanitizer, and baby wipes are important for hygiene. I’m not that knowledgeable on bread making, but tortillas can be made with lard instead of butter. I hope this helps.
@@1nganucheaupurchase a tortilla press it makes it so much easier than rolling them out. The prices have really gone up on them so you’ll need to shop around.
Thank you for all you are doing. I live in Florida and have prepped for many of hurricane seasons. 2018 was one of the worst I seen, was with out power for 28 days. To keep all of are frozen food from going bad, we cooked on outdoor grills and open fires. Very blessed are home was spared, and were able to live off the food and water we had stored.
We did the same in 1996. Cooked as much of the freezer and fridge as we could on the grills. We were lucky to have a neighbor that ran our freezer a few hours each day to keep it cold. My granny wrapped the freezer in every quilt we had to help insulate it!
The welding blanket and the coleman oven is a super idea. I guess you could also use thr welding blanket to help insulate a dutch oven or similar, too.
I appreciate how open you are with what you know and what you are also learning! It makes watching your channel more enjoyable and real . Just reading comments today i have learned several options for egg substitutes, flax, mayo, applesauce, vinegar plus dehydration or purchasing shelf stable eggs. Some I had heard and forgotten. Your openness is what makes your viewers so willing to share. Thank you for all you do.
Thank you Pam! Great ideas! I live in south Louisiana and have to be ready for hurricane evacuation at short notice. You've inspired me to put together a Bug Out Meals box - items that are ready to eat and shelf stable. There are lots of options these days. I just got back from DOLLAR GENERAL today. I put together a Bug Out Necessities box for around $100. I bought plastic flatware and plates, toilet paper, wet wipes, travel sizes of all toiletries like toothpaste, floss, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, sunscreen, razors, anything you need is available in small sizes. Great for traveling light. I got hand sanitzer, flashlights, socks, underwear, laundry detergent, instant coffee and creamer, aspirin, Pepto Bismol, flu medication, a small tarp, small bag cat food and litter for our cat who will travel with us. All of this fit into a 70 qt box with room to spare. Also consider rain ponchos, battery chargers, hats and bandanas, extra reading glasses. We'll throw in a case of bottled water, a sleeping bag, and hit the road. If we encounter unexpected problems along the way and have to sleep in the car or a shelter (worst case scenarios), we should be able to manage without too much trouble. We're prepped and ready for sheltering at home, but if we have to leave for a few days this box will make it so much easier to have things we need.
Check your thift stores for emergency equipment and even paper plates are plastic silverware I have found almost all my emergency supplys cheap there like butane stove 1 for 10 and another for 5 often get paper plates and plastic silver ware both .79cents
I’m 66 and I’ve been through the tough times too. It teaches you a lot. It teaches you how to survive. AND OMG! I have the same fridge as you and just fixed mine! There was water in the crisper drawer and it had stopped cooling well. The freezer was still fine. If this is your problem, I’ll send you the video I followed and the guy sells a $50 kit that fixes it. I did it myself. So proud of myself and my beautiful fridge is working like new.
Breakfast: 1) Although I have quick and regular oats for my working pantry, I have a small stash of oatmeal packets that can be cooked by either microwave or using boiling water. If you buy the packages that already have sugar, fruit, milk...all you would need in a grid down situation is hot water. 2) Make up your own pancake mix (using powdered milk) and divide into zip lock bags in amounts that would serve your family size). I heard that apple sauce makes a good substitute for eggs. In that case, buy the individual 6-serving apple sauce cups. Store 2 in each bin. You'll have apple sauce pancakes!
One can purchase envelopes of velveeta (I can't spell) cheese sauce for mac and cheese or whatever. At Dollar Tree they come three to a box for $1.25. Then you don't need the milk and butter. Dollar tree also carries shelf stable milk in a box.
For emergency prep and camping, I hit the dollar tree for small bottles of EVOO, powdered milk, velveeta cheese packages, suddenly salads, Vienna sausages/various tinned meats, and they have REAL Parmesan cheese. They still have 6 packs of ramen for $1.25 which will do in a pinch, just add a protein and if you don’t like the seasoning packet, you can add your own. Add pasta sauce and you have quick pasta dish. Much less expensive for prep than the bigger containers from the store. Since it’s for prep/ camping, it takes up a lot less room. Definitely saves room in the containers. A lot of what was purchased is available there. They even have Craisins! I’m not feeding a family of four so it works out fine. I haven’t completely mastered solar cooking but I’ll be making the diy one you did. I have learned the one using car windshield reflectors which absolutely worked to eat up canned chili. I also picked up the little backpacking cook stove that uses stereo which is still prettier cheap at Walmart especially with camping season almost over, they’re going on clearance. I have the 3 gallon and the 5 gallon water containers with the manual pump. Picked up collapsible containers as well that I could fill with the hose before leaving. The life straws work great as well in case of “iffy” water, filters great and are on clearance at Menards.
This is a silly question so please forgive me, I'd like a smaller stove with the small cans as backup to our grill BUT has anyone else noticed the cost of propane (we have gas stove and gas grill) going up? Is there a cheaper resource I could use to refill propane vs the trade in the cylinder at the big box stores?
An idea to get stocked up on eggs is to freeze 2 out of every dozen you normally buy. Then, swap the frozen for fresh when you're baking to keep them rotated. Applesauce is a really good substitute for eggs if you get caught without any at all. You can also add a pie plate with hot charcoal inside your oven. It really works even with the box ovens.
I'd like to share a couple of tips/tricks. One thing I know to be true, the smaller the pieces of something, (ex. Canned whole potatoes/ sliced or cubed canned potatoes), the more servings you can get from 1 can. Another example, sliced green beans/ whole green beans. You can purchase ghee. Cans of evaporated milk can be reconstituted by adding more water. I a mm enjoying this series very much. Thank you and your other subscribers for all the tips and ideas.
We often hhave power outages in the winter if there are ice storms and one thing to note for emergencies, you always need to use what you have on hand in the refrigerator/freezer or on your shelves first. We try to have plastic jugs of water in our freezer, even if it's just a quart in the freezer of our refrigerator (gallons in our chest freezers) because: 1) They will keep the freezer compartment cold for quite a while even without power because they are essentially blocks of ice; and 2) They can provide drinking water when thawed. The other thing I wanted to mention was a quick flat bread option if you have sweet potatoes on hand. Just cook the sweet potato in whatever way possible. Peel and mash. Add a pinch of salt and then start adding flour and working it until it forms a dough. I like Einkorn flour for this. Whole wheat with a bit of bread or unbleached flour or just unbleached flour all work. When the dough holds together and isn't too sticky, you can divide it up into balls about the size of a ping pong ball and roll it out. Then just heat up a griddle of any kind (cast iron works great) or even a pizza stone or anything that is a smooth, heated surface and cook the flatbreads for about a minute on the first side and then 1/2 a minute on the second side. A bit of trial and error may be necessary to get them to your desired doneness. You'll want them just starting to turn brown in spots. Super easy and fast. I make them a lot. It's just a cooked sweet potato, flour and a little salt. They are wonderful for wraps and as your "bread" with things like chili. I make them a lot. Sometimes I'll bake a bunch of sweet potatoes when I have the oven running for something else anyway, and then freeze the potatoes so I have already cooked sweet potatoes on hand for a lot things including salads, casseroles, and of course, this bread. Since I always have flour and salt, it is a good emergency way to get a bread substitute that tastes excellent. It's particularly good with leftover chicken and lettuce as a wrap. One consideration though: you might want to be careful when thinking about having to boil a big pot of water (e.g. for pasta) because boiling water takes a lot of energy and it takes a lot of water. We have a well so water can be a consideration when we lose power (we lost power for nearly two weeks once, but we did have a generator that we alternated between the freezers and the well pump). If you are going to boil water for pasta or something, you should consider what else you can cook in that same water after the pasta for use later in the day (you could even use it to boil sweet potatoes! for example). And when you're done cooking, consider keeping whatever water remains to use for things like flushing toilets... Also, although most pasta packages tell you to use a lot of water, you can use a lot less water than it says as long as you stir the pasta at first to separate the pieces. (I mention these things for folks who may also have wells where water becomes very precious if you lose electricity for any length of time.) We've had to go into "full camping mode" several times in the past and I've even "showered" by standing outside in heavy rains (a very cold shower, mind you) in order to conserve water during outages. You'd be amazed at how creative you can get when necessary. Of course it helps that our closest neighbor is a mile away so taking a shower outside behind the house is not as risky as it sounds as far as public decency standards. :) Hope some of these tips help. But it's good to remember that even in an emergency, you'll most likely have a little bit of fresh stuff already on hand to add to your stockpile. Eggs will last quite a while without refrigeration. Milk can be frozen and in fact will provide another "block of ice" to keep things cold longer in your freezer when there's no power. You can get one of those butter crocks that keep a chunk of butter submerged in water so that the butter doesn't require refrigeration. (We use one--it's great because the butter is always soft and spreadable.) THere are a lot of options if you expect to shelter in place and many emergencies don't require 6 months or a year's worth of goods, especially for folks who may not be able to afford that. You just need to think of keeping food on hand you can prepare quickly and easily when electricity and water may not be available for maybe the next two or three weeks. (The longest we've had to survive without water and electricity was almost two weeks after a hurricane...) Fortunately, in the case of hurricanes at least, there is usually a day or two of warning (maybe longer) so we can supplement our supplies, fill the bathtubs with water, and generally prepare. Hope this helps a few folks.
Also, be very careful of canned pineapple. You must rotate through this every year. The acid eats the lining from the interior of the can and dissolves it into the juice. You will be throwing up right after you eat it. I know this from experience.
Love your new series with great ideas thank you! We live in Fl here’s a few tips and ideas to share. Dollar Tree has canned heat in the party section I recently discovered for 1.25. We also have stocked in our hurricane pantry Dinty Moore 38oz beef stew you can cook or eat out of the can and Sweet Sue chicken and dumplings. Goya also makes pinto bean soup that is really good with canned collard greens. We also buy thin spaghetti because it cooks faster and uses less gas or butane. We ate all these foods last year during hurricane when we had no electricity.
Great video! Although my idea isn't for emergency, but for when a family travels to a "long-stay" accommodation for vacation but can't afford to eat out three times a day. As long as there's a stove or oven, they could use your food-prep combo ideas! Simply make a list, and wait for everything to go on sale throughout the year, slowly adding to the piles, and then when their vacation comes, pack everything up and you're ready. :)
I clean large drink containers when they are empty, with bleach, and then fill them with tap water and mark them as such for drinking and cooking. I got this other tip from a commenter on your site. When my large dish soap and laundry soap containers get empty I leave a bit of the soap in and fill it with water and mark them for cleaning. That way my drinking and cooking water doesn't have to count towards cleaning dishes and such. So far I've had room to store the containers but it will become a problem in time as I keep adding.
For water, I have saved the extra large laundry detergent bottle, the one with the spout. We it is "empty" I know there is still some detergent inside. I filled the bottle with water, and we used this as handwashing water. This stores for a very long time. We were without power for 8 days when we had a very bad ice storm, and we never ran out of handwashing water. Also, what about paper products? Plates, bowls, cups, plasticwear?
Brilliant idea about the empty laundry detergent bottles for hand washing! We have a shared well that doesn’t have a generator, so if the electricity goes out- no running water. I have a jug of water under every sink for hand washing, but I’ll switch those out as I get laundry detergent bottles.
@@clydesdalehomestead3807, same here...those 8 days were very difficult. I was very thankful that my wonderful father, who built the house we live in, had the foresight to make the well accessible for a bucket and a rope! He was a child of the depression, and he was always prepared.
When you make the "Suddenly Salad", you could add canned chicken, black olives, (dried/reconstituted) celery, etc. to bulk it up and help tone down the salty flavor in the mix.
I love your videos. You guys really help pull people along, it’s hard for people who have never been off grid for long or on purpose. God bless y’all for your attention to the reality of how life is becoming. Keep them coming you will save a lot of lives. Friends you’d be smart to grab what there passing out. They do know what they are teaching.
I have just ordered and plan to try powdered egg substitute. Also, we have realized that we consume one gallon of water a day. More water than we had anticipated. Kraft makes cups of Mac n cheese add water only. I learned so much from these videos. Thank you for all your time and energy to produce these videos
FYI when freezing eggs, use a little salt in the yolk to keep it from turning rubbery. Blend up the egg if yu want or separate the yolks out and use a little salt in the yolks. and then measure them back into a 2 tbs of white to 1tbs yolk, that should do it for 1 egg
Watching the 1st video in this series is a good example of how most of us who grocery store shop would panic shop. You might forget things that seem obvious. I am on social scurity only & i take care of someone who uses a feeding tube. So much of his healthcare needs occupy my mind, i forget my own needs except for water. My home is a studio apartment, my storage game is strong thanks to a Cornell University Low Income Correspondence course (from the eighties), and the DHS Preparedness checklists. Pam, your info is up to date, pragmatic, relatable. Storm last month, no electricity for 4 days! It was good practice.
Stress is such a major factor during a disaster or power outage, it becomes difficult to think and plan, so ease and accessibility is important. I have experienced grid down several times when ice storms came thru, just warming food on the wood stove was all I could manage.
I got to get me a wood stove. I got buddy heater, a camp propane stove but I’m worried about accessibility. I have 6 canisters of propane but safety is a concern for me.
Thank you Pam!!! 🙏 I am in South Florida and I am hyping up my preps. My goal is to can everything in my deep freezer and move all my preps to my bedroom closet instead of the garage for ease of access. It's gonna be an interesting September here. 😅🙏
That is a great idea and in the event of a shelter at home, its less likely anyone would get to the stores in the house vs in the garage. Not to mention this dreaded weather! (Melting!)
In 1957, The first house we lived in, my parents could have bought for $1200. built around 1900 or earlier. It had electricity, a cast iron cook stove, a coal oil space heater in the front room, a bedroom suite with real marble tops on the dresser, chest of drawers and night tables but no running water and a dirt cellar. My Dad was a barber and charged .25 per hair cut. They couldn't afford the house so we had to move. We couldn't afford to buy much food and my Dad hunted for game and fished. In 1975 my husband and I bought our first house for $21,500. It was built around 1945, had central heating, a full basement, electricity and running water. Both houses were about 600 sq ft per floor and were 1 1/2 stories, meaning the second floor walls were only 3 ft high then angled in from the pitch of the roof. In the 60s we were paying .25 per gal gas. Just like now a days, prices varied by location. Those prices we'll never see again but the poverty and difficult times are always lurking around.
These kits are wonderful for inspiration. Thank you, Pam and Jim! To make them completely shelf stable, perhaps incorporating OvaEasy packets to the kits for the kits needing eggs? If room in the totes, perhaps including a few bottles of water, enough needed for each recipe, to ensure you're not using precious drinking water for cooking. Happy Prepping, everyone!
One of the things I read was that cinder blocks can be hazardous for a rocket stove since they may crack with the heat. I found some used bricks (not pavers), and have those set aside in my storage area to assemble into a rocket stove if needed. I have enough to make a double rocket stove (2 half brick sized holes) or a wide single hole (1 brick sized hole) or a half brick sized hole depending on my needs. I also found a piece of wire grill for a chimney that works great as a place to layer my wood on and lets air through. I just saved a pair of my horses old shoes to work as a top spacer for the pot to sit on. I found if I sat a large pot directly on the hole it didn’t let the air/smoke vent well. I might set aside a bag of quick concrete to use as mortar if I need to use the rocket stove for a long period of time.
You can also make a small rocket stove using a large can like pineapple juice comes in. You have to cut a hole in the side near the bottom and add a smaller can like tomato paste or soup horizontally to feed the sticks into the larger can which is the flue or chimney. You also put some holes in the larger can to help with air flow. I followed instructions from another RUclips channel.
As a former vegan, I know there are lots of substitutes for eggs and butter. One of the easiest ones for emergency meals would be apple sauce, preferably unsweetened. It is sold in the individual serving packs that would work well in these food kits.
Another idea, is too gather all breakfast items, lunch items, and dinner items, in large bins. Or organize shelves this way. You will have more choices, and not need as many small bins. Thank you for all the work you do Pam!
There is shelf stable milk in cartons that can be used. Have seen small boxes (1 cup or so) & have also purchased 1 quart boxes that we keep on shelf. Also do gave dry milk. Thanks for all the ideas. Still learning @ 72. Not quiting yet!!
Yes I store dry milk powder to use if I have run out of the fresh stuff I add 1 teaspoon to my instant or sachet coffee mix and hot water there are times when you can’t be a coffee snob. I make my own chai latte mix with dry milk powder to have in emergencies and store in glass jars and just spoon it out into hot water sometimes the mix is perfect and sometimes I have to add more to get fuller flavour …..
Somethings you might want to add…..a small jar of instant coffee. Helpful if you don’t have a pour thru coffee maker,French press or old fashioned percolator. Hot chocolate mix and tea unless you are counting it in your household stables. I would have bought solid pack tuna as you get more tuna than the chunk tuna. Also if your power is out you might want to use up the stuff in the frig and freezer first before food goes completely bad. That way it won’t be a total loss
This was a fantastic video. This may not be what we do because we can most of our food, but putting them together in a bin and doing basically the same thing is just a great idea. Several years ago, I taught a class at a conference about how much you should store. We made a list of 15 breakfast meals and listed everything that we would need in each for a year. it was stunning to see how much you really need for a year's worth of food, even just for breakfast. Thanks Pam and Jim for your hard work! May the Lord richly bless you for it!
One of the ways we combat food prices at the grocery store in my family (in California) is to plan meals that use the same ingredients. I was shocked the other day when they wanted $7 for a head of cauliflower. Food prices have risen so much we only buy what's on sale. We always check food sales before we make up the menu and it is impossible to get everything at one store, so we go to around 3 stores a week and towards the end of the week, we eat whatever is left over in our cupboards, even if its just side dishes. We keep extra loaves of bread in the freezer. You can also buy powdered butter and powdered eggs. You can also look around your local community for unwashed fresh eggs. Since they are unwashed, they will last longer than the grocery store eggs.
Another Floridian here! When we are impacted by hurricanes and have no power, we either cook outside on our gas BBQ that has a side burner or I connect my air fryer to the generator. To get around the butter and milk issues, try replacing the mac & cheese and other items with the individual packs of Idahoan mashed potatoes, Knorr Pasta Sides and/or Knorr Rice Sides, etc. that just require water. Before purchasing, make sure to check the cooking directions because not all varieties are "water only." Some of them require milk (I suppose you can use powdered or canned milk.) Others say oil/butter optional so you don't need it but you could always use ghee if you think you can't live without the butter. During these post-hurricane times I use as much disposable cookware, bakeware, dishes, utensils, etc. as possible. It may be wasteful but when we have no water for days and/or are under boil water notices for days, we don't want to use our stored water for washing dishes. My area of SW Florida received a direct hit by Hurricane Ian last year (the third most costly disaster in history) but we did well at our house because I prepared. We were very fortunate. So many other people lost everything. 😥😥😥 EDIT: Also, I don't think a one pound pack of spaghetti would serve a family of four two separate meals. My family of three (which includes a teenage boy) use about one pound per meal.
I do not know where to start: You have done a fantastic job checking the milk, water, and butter/oil issues. I agree, that the disposables are the way to go. (In those cases, I do not see your solutions as wasteful; they are very practical. You are right about the spaghetti. Thanks for your comments and watching our channel. Jim
We sometimes order out and the restaurants send us foil packets of things like red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, soy sauce, etc. We tossed those into our emergency meal bins. They don't take up much space and didn't cost us anything.
Wow!!! You have just kick started me again! I have food storage BUT...when you are in a stressful situation your brain is overwhelmed and if you have something like this already 'thought out' and organized you won't have to think about what to do and stress out trying to pull meals together! No one is immune to unsettling situations and I am going to organize a Family Home Evening with my family and try to get MYSELF better prepared. It was eye opening to see how even you and Jim struggled just a bit at the store going in 'blind' and trying to pick out meals. Can you even imagine what it's like when there's a storm coming and people are panick buying and grabbing anything they can and the shelves are empty! PREPARE A LITTLE AHEAD OF TIME! YOUR LIFE WILL DEPEND IN IT! Thank you again for this!!! Much love to ALL of our RoseRed community!!!❤ ❤❤
I started cooking food then freezing. I just cooked 10 lbs of ground turkey and placed 2 cooked cups in each freezer bag. Did 10 lbs baby back ribs. Cooked, grilled and package in meal size foil packets. Grilled chicken, pork chops. All in my freezer, ready to eat. I also freeze my butter, and do buttermilk and eggs in muffin tins. I imagine now I could freeze milk in small portions. love your show. You have helped me so much.
Congratulations with all of your canning successes. Yes, you can freeze milk, but use it within the first month. Freezing changes the texture of milk. Jim
When you look at what has occured in Maui...it seems a torndo, earthquake, vocano, hurricane or any disaster can disrupt gas lines, electric, etc so until an area is deemed safe...any thing with flames seems kinda dangerous to me. I am in Kansas...tornados and high winds, blizzards,enourmous snowfall causing power fails,earthquakes, and lightning strikes are my biggest threats...well, occadsonal flooding, but i live on a hill...so my home is not likely to flood, but getting out to get help, food, give assistance etc is .
I bought some bread mixes that only require water. The other possibility to make bread is that pan-baked Arabic or Asian bread, it's a quite dry kneaded and flat rolled dough you just roast from two sides in a pan. I made several times an Afghan recipe that has shredded zucchini in it - very good. For the eggs: raise chickens. Yes, that can't be done by everybody, but some people have time and a garden to do it. And the roosters can be eaten in an emergency, too. (Sorry 🐓).
We rotate our 72 hour kits when we have the time change and change the clocks. It is just a reminder for us and we are able to change out the clothing for the expected weather for the next 6 months (and medicines etc)
thats a great ideal
That makes an easy timeline for people to remember. Thank you.
Good idea
Great idea!
Such a great series!
Love your compassion for those with ‘barely enough.’ Those are hard times….but, they honestly can make you stronger, prouder. You are a great instructor. Thank you.
I’ve so appreciated your ideas and videos over the years! I can tell this was out of your comfort zone, so thank you for doing this! My hubby and I live in Louisiana (hurricane area) and a lot of my stock pile of food has come from grocery stores. I do try to can and do homemade things as much as possible but with working full time, that can be hard. I would love to give some meal suggestions if you all read the comments. You’ve helped me so much, maybe some of these would help you. I only have a 2 member household and neither of us have food allergies or issues. So I know that all these suggestions may not work for everyone.
1. Bag of rice, canned Chinese veggies and soy sauce. Could add a can of chicken if you wanted protein. Or can of diced ham.
2. Rinse a can of black beans and mix with cooked rice, taco spices and drained canned of Rotel.
3. Big can of baked beans mixed with a can of pulled pork or roast beef.
4. Multiple styles of pasta with multiple different jarred sauces like pesto, Alfredo, vodka cream (not just spaghetti sauce).
5. Canned cream of potatoes, canned broccoli and cheese sauce or canned cheddar cheese… mixed with water and a little instant/powdered milk will make a pretty good potato soup.
6. Multiple canned veggies (corn, beans, black eyed peas, carrots and so on) with a can of crushed tomatoes and spices will make a good veggie soup.
7. Canned white beans, canned zucchini, canned spinach, canned carrots, crushed tomatoes and small shell pasta will make a decent minestrone soup.
8. My husband loves spaghettiOs and meatballs and the canned Hormel tamales are actually not bad.
9. The Progresso canned soups/stews/chowders aren’t too bad (especially if you’re hungry) lol
10. Canned chicken broth, canned chicken, canned English peas and carrots with some egg noddles mixed in will make a good chicken noodle soup.
11. One can cream of mushroom, one can cream of chicken, one medium sized block of Velveeta, one package no yoke egg noodles and about 2 cups water makes a really good cheesy noodle soup. I actually make this regularly because my husband loves it.
I try to store things that will only require water to make.
Maybe some of these will give you or anyone else some ideas!
Thanks again for all y’all do!!!!
Yes thank you, love your suggestions. Some of these you can find at Dollar Tree, just enough for two people for one meal and you don’t require refrigeration during stressful times.
Thank you for these suggestions! I was wondering how to make a meal out of my preps for two people. I'm stocked up on all of these.
Great specific ideas for meals!
Great suggestions. I've also started stocking up on mayo packets. Each time we visit a convenience store, we scan the hotdog area and pick up a few of the small packs of condiments they supply for hotdogs, etc. They are shelf stable so I toss them into a small (shoebox size) tote in my pantry. I don't care for tuna without mayo so this solves that problem.
Your meals except the black bean one are more like something kids would eat. But they would have to be doubled to meet criteria of feeding a family of 4. Great suggestions.
Marie Callendars makes a corn muffin mix just add water
Idahoan instant potatoes in a pouch, just add water
Knorr sides, pasta or rice just add water (sometimes butter but not really needed)
Slim Jim beef sticks can be sliced into veg, rice, pasta, potatoes
Instant oatmeal packs and instant grits in packets just add water
Bear Creek instant soup bags with a can or two of beef, chicken, spam and a package of rice a roni or pasta roni makes a big hearty meal
Egg substitute for baking, use 1 Tbspn Chia seeds,2 Tbspn water, mix and let sit 20 minutes
👍👍👍😀💕🌸
Great ideas, the Bear Creek soup with the add ins you listed sounds very good
For the egg substitute, practice making and using it. The first few times I used it I struggled with it. Not something you want to be trying for the first time in a stressful situation.
Appplesauce is a better egg substitute
Canned pumpkin and flax eggs are two of my favorite egg substitutes!
You need a can-opener, a church key, matches and spoons in EACH container. Don't assume you'll have all your containers. Buy as many pull-open cans as possible. Sardines are protein, cheap, small, and supply extra oil. Instant rice adds calories and can be made with room temp water if needed. Plan for survival rather than for what you like to eat. Don't forget a DYI funnel-shaped solar cooker to boil water:)
Pam, our family has always enjoyed "hot water" cornbread. You simply boil water with a tablespoon of butter. You add the hot water slowly to a bowl with cornmeal in it and make something like playdough from the mixture. Fry in oil and drain. Put a little butter on each one and salt. No eggs and no milk.
I tried hot water cornbread a few weeks ago for the first time. I grew up with cornbread but had never heard of it. It was really good.
No eggs? I’ve gotta try that!
Boil up a larger amount, pour it in a greased loaf pan, then chill and slice, then fry it. It’s called cornmeal mush! My grandfather and my mother both made it often and cooked it for breakfast. I like it best sliced very thin, dusted with a little flour and then fried. Ijust eat that with butter, but some eat it with syrup. All good!
Mayo (a small jar) can be an egg substitute in baking, and a small jar of ghee for butter, if no refrigeration is available. Trader Joes or Aldi have inexpensive ghee.
Great idea. I'd forgotten about the mayo substitute. My mom made 3-ingredient muffins that called for mayo instead of oil and eggs and they tasted a lot like a buscuit. Later on, she branched out and added sugar and blueberries to make a sweeter muffin.
How much mayo would you add?
I'd not heard of this. Thank You for sharing.
Walmart also sells ghee.
My Dollar Tree has started carrying small jars of Kraft Mayo and Kraft Miracle Whip. I buy them because as a single household, I can't use up those larger jars. They would be great for the emergency meal bins too.
Applesauce is a good egg and oil substitute on mixes
The juice in a can of chickpeas can be used as egg substitute. Also, 3 tbsps of peanut butter is equal to 1 egg. Hope this helps. Greetings from Scotland.
Hello Scotland!
Thank you sunshine 🫶🏾
The Floridians should have explained to you and your audience why we don’t cook after a storm. It’s just to damn hot and the humidity seems to get extremely worse after a storm. By the time, you are done cleaning up after a storm all you want to do is eat something fast, and then shower and try to go to sleep in the heat.
What do you use to protect yourselves from mosquitoes?
Last week a straight line wind storm came through that caused 90% of town to be without power for a week, with temps in the 100’s… it was devastating on travel, food storage, indoor safety, everything. Even Walmart was out of power. The town is still cleaning up trees and power lines and with one stop light still not working 12 days later.
My refurbished jackery arrived today. My ac to dc cpap converter arrives today. I’m stocking up on ryobi batteries and different inverters and light sources. I feel I can be better prepared. Not fully prepared, but better. Of course all of my pressure canned food under my bed is still great! Sadly many friends and family lost $1000’s worth of food. So thankful for you and others that inspired and helped me learn the basics in pressure canning and just being aware of things I can do better at :)
There is mac & cheese box mix that comes with a pouche of real cheese sauce. No need to add milk or butter, just add the pouche to your cooked noodles.
Velveeta, yum! That’s what I choose for the camper. Let’s be honest, that cheese lasts forever (almost) if kept sealed 😉.
Dollar General has individual packages of Velveeta cheese sauce for just a dollar. Also packages of cheese with jalapeno . These cheese sauce packs are so convenient for easy meal preps.
Another off grid cooking idea: Save your canned chicken cans, rinse well, fill with a coiled strip of cardboard cut to fit inside the can. Carefully fill with melted candle wax. Set the lighted " can burner" beneath an opened and emptied #10 can with holes (from a hand-held can opener) around the top edge for air flow OR place the can beneath a slightly elevated rack. We learned how to make and use these in Pioneer Girls back in the 70's.
Thank you for all you do in sharing multiple ways for people to be self sufficient in times of need.
Fun video.👍 Life in coastal Florida is interesting and educational. Been through 20 hurricane seasons with little pain. Being without A/C is the worst part. Guess what broke last night? Yes, our A/C, again, and they can't get out until Monday. It's 90 degrees in the house but we still have power, cold packs in the freezer, POOL, and lots of fans going. Had to move all the canning jars of meat to the coldest room in the house, where it's 81 degrees. We learn, we adapt, and we don't whine about a little suffering.👍😄 It builds character.
I keep powdwered eggs, powdered butter and powdered milk in the freezer as it extends their shelf life dramatically. They work well for baking.
Powdered butter 🤔 I’ll have to look into this.
I’ve searched around for powdered lactose free milk. It’s expensive. Closest solution I could find was goats milk.
So many good suggestions on here as I try to figure out preparing going forward. We haven’t had a harsh winter yet since I’ve been back but I’ve had the mindset this time & been making investments. Still so much to learn & im glad it was mentioned about budget because I’m single mom & it’s hard to prep & pay bills.
@@Wide_Eyed_Wandererlook for enzyme supplements to break down the lactose. Lactaid is one, but there are lots of good ones. Put some in labeled snack bags within your emergency kits so you can enjoy some of the better testing shelf stable milk products like Nido dried milk, or Anthony’s Heavy Cream Powder, or even freeze dried cheeses.
@@Wide_Eyed_WandererI am a senior with a tight budget, and it never seemed that I had much money before I retired, either. One of the things that I do that actually saves me money is to put certain shelf stable foods on my Amazon wish list. Amazon tells you on your list when a price goes down. You have to double check that the item still has “Prime” delivery. When an item is reduced in price enough, I order it. For example, I purchased a #10 can of Auguson Farms powdered eggs when the price dropped to about $25. I believe that a #10 can holds the equivalent of 72 eggs. That’s still not cheap at over $4 per dozen, but frankly the eggs from my own chickens costs me more than that. I need a backup during the winter when the hens don’t lay, and having egg powder in my grab and go kit is great. I also keep tomato powder on hand. Add water and seasonings to make pasta sauce, soup, etc. I just use a few tablespoons at a time, so it’s economical, as long as I get it on a good sale. Their cheese powder goes on sale regularly, and also their peanut butter powder. The vegetable soup base is pretty good. I add some to my “leftover soup” of odds & ends for more flavor and nutrition. I also keep Nido powdered milk and Anthony’s powdered heavy cream on hand. The grandkids seem to like the Nido milk, and I like the cream powder in my coffee. The best thing is none goes to waste. I hope that this helps. Sometimes the prices of dehydrated and freeze dried foods looks scary, but it can actually be economical in some instances.
Thank you Pam and Jim! You have made a difference in so many lives-even though you may not see it! I’m glad you two can read the comments and share the wealth of knowledge!
Pam, I found all kinds of canned meat online! They have sausage, hamburger, roast beef! Beef strips, chicken, canned ham and more!
Thank you for sharing this experience. Remember that for most stores you can shop online. Whether you purchase online or you plan to shop in-store in person, checking online enables you to compare prices, ingredients, availability, container sizes, identify sales, et cetera. Meal planning is easier because you have time and can be more budget conscious. You can select products from different stores when there are significant savings to be had. I start my pickups or in-store shopping at the store farthest from my home. Sometimes that means going to only one store, at other times it could be as many as four. The stores I use are all within a few blocks of each other so there is effectively no waste of fuel or time due to driving. I hope this is helpful.
You can also use finely ground flaxseed in place of eggs, per egg, you combine one tablespoon of flaxseed meal and three tablespoons of water and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. I think you can buy small containers of ground flaxseed. It's another option, if you can afford it, I'm not sure how much it costs. I have a friend who is vegan and this is what she uses.
Adding to your suggestion: if you are not going to use flaxseed a lot, ground flaxseed loses its value quickly. If you have the option of knowing that you need to prepare for a coming storm, keep a small bag of cheap flaxseed in the freezer. Take it out only as you need it on a normal basis...but if you know that a storm or situation is approaching, then grind it in a blender or a spice mill and use snack bags to portion out the amount of eggs that you will need per box mix. That way, you add water to the bag and just let it sit for 5-10 minutes before using.
That's what I do when I bake for my vegan friend.
@@opal777good idea! I keep in flax seed in the freezer also to extend the life.
Hi Pam I thought I would share with you something that my kids always enjoyed growing up and that is chicken and rice.
I would make a pot of rice by adding 2 cups water and one cup of rice. Then I would add a can of cream of chicken soup. I would bring it to a boil and stir it one last time and turn the heat down to low/simmer and let it sit for 20 minutes.
This would make a good addition to your meals.
Or use the chickpeas in lunch and the water from the can as an egg replacer. It really works.
We are so very blessed to have plenty, good and healthy food set aside, mostly from canning and dehydrating. Your vids are a real eye opener for what financially disadvantaged people deal with on a daily basis.
When eggs were $7 a dozen I looked at the senior citizens that use eggs as their last resort for protein and stood in the grocery store and cried.
@lauriedavis329 - isn't that the truth. 😢
Applesauce can also be used a substitute for eggs- 1/2 cup = 2 eggs
I've used applesauce before and it works beautifully as egg substitute.
The Dollar Tree store has shelf stable milk $1.25!!
What a fun video! I love your attention to and sensitivity for those that struggle to make ends meet. Three weeks after my husband and I married he was laid off. I had left my job and moved to his community to live. Prior to his lay off I would sweep up the occasional penny he had dropped while changing his clothes. I have not swept up or walked by a penny since 1970. I spent his entire last paycheck on food. It is from those days that I learned to take one chicken and make five meals. It was from then that I learned to budget and cook and the lesson of waste not want not. Fifty three years later I am still applying those lessons. God bless all of our young people facing these uncertain times. I pray they have elders to turn to for guidance as they and we all face this uncertain future. Blessings Pam to you and Jim.
Pam, re boxed mac/cheese: there are boxes where the cheese sauce is already completely mixed in a can. You just open and pour it over the cooked mac. No butter or milk required.
could a small container of applesauce work as an egg substitute for the baked items? That would be shelf stable and easily available at any store.
Yes you can
Yes indeed!
As I put in the other comment for egg substitute, practice with it. For me it did work better than the chia seed substitute but we could taste the apple in the recipe and that was a little weird. But that’s what prepping is for, practice.
1/4 Applesauce instead of each egg. Better if used for baked goods/sweets.
My Mom used to make spaghetti with a can of peas, chopped onion, a can of tomato paste with a can of water for the spaghetti sauce, 2-3 cans of vienna sausages cut up, 2 bay leaves, oregano, crushed, granulated garlic, and Morton Nature's Seasons Seasoning Blend, which has salt, pepper, celery and other seasonings in it. It is still one of my favorites.
Sounds great! Jim
Instead of Spam, I buy small tins of ham, the oval/egg shaped ones that you open with the keys. Taste better to me and versatile
There is also an egg substitute in a dry form from Bobs Red Mill. Or the ground flaxseed with water- 1 TBSP ground flaxseed with 3 TBSP water and let sit for a few minutes. Also canned beef or chicken stock in a few of those meals would save water for other uses. Great ideas!!!
I have used the Bob's Red Mill egg substitute and it works great. Thanks for the suggestion.
Hi Pam and Jim. My name is also Pamela and I leave in a farm in Chile. I already have my emergency meals and emergency backpack for me and each of my children. I leave on the slopes of a Volcano so is a must. I start prepping years ago and try to be the most self sufficient of companies as I can.Watching your videos has been a great help. Thank you so much.
Off grid or camping clean up after cooking: three basin system - wash water, rinse water, bleach rinse water for final rinse/disinfecting. Your basins can be actual basins, buckets, or even black garbage bags stretched out on the ground between branches in the woods. And then dump the wash basin out, dump the rinse basin into the wash basin, the bleach basin into the rinse basin, and so on in order, to clean the basins themselves.
Great idea!
I think simple cooking during an emergency would be comforting. More like normal. ( but I make everything from scratch). I raised 4 children as a single parent and you just have to start buying in bulk and then you don't have to shop like this with packaged stuff. Get rice , beans and oatmeal to start. And of course I've always had chickens. Powdered milk will get you through but when raising children I had goats to milk. But that doesn't work out economically unless they can forage for their food. You could buy a lot of powdered milk for the cost of purchasing a goat.
Pam, thank you so much for this series. I purchase “Idaho Spuds” so we can have potatoes while camping. They are freeze dried hash browns that come in a sort of small milk carton (like milk from school) and all you do is add water to rehydrate. They taste wonderful and are really inexpensive. I have added different things to jazz them up, like onions, cheese, mushrooms etc. I even put them in muffin pans with egg and cheese and bake in my toaster oven while camping. I hope this helps someone. Love your channels❤❤❤
Thank you for what you do 💕 for a bread substitute you could make drop Biscuits with Bisquick ..you'd need milk but not eggs 👍🏼
Flour tortillas that are in the Mexican food aisle do not need to be refrigerated after opening. Great bread substitute.
For those on a very tight budget buy one large container quick oats. Canned tuna or chicken can be served with saltines in lieu of bread. If you have mayo and spices you can add it in. A couple pounds of pasta and a couple jars of sauce would make several dinners. In an emergency I don't think anyone will mind eating the same thing 3 days in a row. Fills bellies and keeps the cost way down.
Love your channel. Longtime listener and have learned so much from you. But did want you to know that 1 lb of pasta barely feeds my family of four one meal, let alone two! 😂
Yes I agree, my kids were small and a pound wouldn't fill them up.
Most older people eat tiny meals & forget what hungry kids are like to feed. They are bottomless pits. And pretty picky eaters
Plain Jane foods. No fruit glazed carrots and black beans ect for most kids. And no kraut.
I highly recommend The Storm Gourmet: A Guide to Creating Extraordinary Meals Without Electricity by Daphne Nikolopoulos. It's aimed at people living in coastal regions but I've found it very helpful where I live in the landlocked Blue Ridge Mountains of rural southwest Virginia. Our grid goes down regularly for no apparent reason.
Thanks for the suggestion. I live in rural Pennsylvania and our power goes out for no reason as well and sometimes stays out for days. We are able to cook with solar ovens grills and a Bio Stove. We do have a small solar generator that's able to keep our refrigerator going but it's always good to have other ideas on how to prepare meals without electricity.
Another Florida resident here. Once we get notified about a hurricane headed our way, the stores get emptied quickly. Luckily, we have a nicely stocked pantry, especially after discovering Rosered Homestead it's even more well planned. I don't mind cooking. Our advantage is we have a gas stove and propane grill as well as a wood or charcoal grill. I'm nearly 60 and have lived in Florida my entire life, so being prepared for off grid is second nature. If we lose water, we better have some stored. I live somewhat in the country, so finding wood to burn hasn't been a challenge. Water is the trick for us. I've watched your water storage video a couple of times. Yesterday we had to go about 5 hours without running water for plumbing work and well, I've failed. Instead of knowing what needs to happen to actually do it, it is another story. I've got some improvements to make. Thank you both for your knowledge, efforts, and entertainment.
Those relatively short periods without water or electricity are great teachers to show us where we can improve!
Thank you for sharing ideas and caring about your viewers safety. I’m a 4th generation Floridian we are accustomed to being without electricity during hurricanes season. We always keep on hand the Bristol cooked hams and Bristol smoked hams. They are in the large triangle shaped cans. They have an unbelievable shelf life. I have ones from 2020 and the expiration date is 2027. We always have packs of instant grits, Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix, and instant coffee you just add boiling water. When we have advanced warning we fill our bathtubs, washing machines and anything that a hold water. The water is used not only for cooking, but also for flushing toilets. Ravioli, beefaroni, large cans of Dinty Moore stew are alway good to have. It’s especially hot in Florida when hurricanes hit with no air conditioning or fans, so we don’t want to cook. Pop tarts, dry cereal aren’t that nutritious, but they are fun to munch on when your hungry. Koolaid drink packets are cheap and you just need water and sugar. Dry shampoo, hand sanitizer, and baby wipes are important for hygiene. I’m not that knowledgeable on bread making, but tortillas can be made with lard instead of butter. I hope this helps.
Yes! Watch RUclips videos on how to make tortillas instead of bread. So easy!
Great suggestions, but I never thought about filling the washing machine with water too...Thanks for the tip!
@@1nganucheaupurchase a tortilla press it makes it so much easier than rolling them out. The prices have really gone up on them so you’ll need to shop around.
Thank you for all you are doing. I live in Florida and have prepped for many of hurricane seasons. 2018 was one of the worst I seen, was with out power for 28 days. To keep all of are frozen food from going bad, we cooked on outdoor grills and open fires. Very blessed are home was spared, and were able to live off the food and water we had stored.
We did the same in 1996. Cooked as much of the freezer and fridge as we could on the grills. We were lucky to have a neighbor that ran our freezer a few hours each day to keep it cold. My granny wrapped the freezer in every quilt we had to help insulate it!
The welding blanket and the coleman oven is a super idea. I guess you could also use thr welding blanket to help insulate a dutch oven or similar, too.
I appreciate how open you are with what you know and what you are also learning! It makes watching your channel more enjoyable and real . Just reading comments today i have learned several options for egg substitutes, flax, mayo, applesauce, vinegar plus dehydration or purchasing shelf stable eggs. Some I had heard and forgotten. Your openness is what makes your viewers so willing to share. Thank you for all you do.
Thank you Pam! Great ideas! I live in south Louisiana and have to be ready for hurricane evacuation at short notice. You've inspired me to put together a Bug Out Meals box - items that are ready to eat and shelf stable. There are lots of options these days. I just got back from DOLLAR GENERAL today. I put together a Bug Out Necessities box for around $100. I bought plastic flatware and plates, toilet paper, wet wipes, travel sizes of all toiletries like toothpaste, floss, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, sunscreen, razors, anything you need is available in small sizes. Great for traveling light. I got hand sanitzer, flashlights, socks, underwear, laundry detergent, instant coffee and creamer, aspirin, Pepto Bismol, flu medication, a small tarp, small bag cat food and litter for our cat who will travel with us. All of this fit into a 70 qt box with room to spare. Also consider rain ponchos, battery chargers, hats and bandanas, extra reading glasses. We'll throw in a case of bottled water, a sleeping bag, and hit the road. If we encounter unexpected problems along the way and have to sleep in the car or a shelter (worst case scenarios), we should be able to manage without too much trouble. We're prepped and ready for sheltering at home, but if we have to leave for a few days this box will make it so much easier to have things we need.
Check your thift stores for emergency equipment and even paper plates are plastic silverware I have found almost all my emergency supplys cheap there like butane stove 1 for 10 and another for 5 often get paper plates and plastic silver ware both .79cents
@@sophiagrace8362 Excellent idea!
I’m 66 and I’ve been through the tough times too. It teaches you a lot. It teaches you how to survive. AND OMG! I have the same fridge as you and just fixed mine! There was water in the crisper drawer and it had stopped cooling well. The freezer was still fine. If this is your problem, I’ll send you the video I followed and the guy sells a $50 kit that fixes it. I did it myself. So proud of myself and my beautiful fridge is working like new.
Breakfast: 1) Although I have quick and regular oats for my working pantry, I have a small stash of oatmeal packets that can be cooked by either microwave or using boiling water. If you buy the packages that already have sugar, fruit, milk...all you would need in a grid down situation is hot water. 2) Make up your own pancake mix (using powdered milk) and divide into zip lock bags in amounts that would serve your family size). I heard that apple sauce makes a good substitute for eggs. In that case, buy the individual 6-serving apple sauce cups. Store 2 in each bin. You'll have apple sauce pancakes!
One can purchase envelopes of velveeta (I can't spell) cheese sauce for mac and cheese or whatever. At Dollar Tree they come three to a box for $1.25. Then you don't need the milk and butter. Dollar tree also carries shelf stable milk in a box.
Any reason for not including cans of soup? I’d love a video about the Dollar Tree!
Replace one of your can of beans with chick peas and use the broth from those beans to substitute your egg. Or vinegar
For emergency prep and camping, I hit the dollar tree for small bottles of EVOO, powdered milk, velveeta cheese packages, suddenly salads, Vienna sausages/various tinned meats, and they have REAL Parmesan cheese. They still have 6 packs of ramen for $1.25 which will do in a pinch, just add a protein and if you don’t like the seasoning packet, you can add your own. Add pasta sauce and you have quick pasta dish. Much less expensive for prep than the bigger containers from the store. Since it’s for prep/ camping, it takes up a lot less room. Definitely saves room in the containers. A lot of what was purchased is available there. They even have Craisins! I’m not feeding a family of four so it works out fine.
I haven’t completely mastered solar cooking but I’ll be making the diy one you did. I have learned the one using car windshield reflectors which absolutely worked to eat up canned chili. I also picked up the little backpacking cook stove that uses stereo which is still prettier cheap at Walmart especially with camping season almost over, they’re going on clearance.
I have the 3 gallon and the 5 gallon water containers with the manual pump. Picked up collapsible containers as well that I could fill with the hose before leaving. The life straws work great as well in case of “iffy” water, filters great and are on clearance at Menards.
This is a silly question so please forgive me, I'd like a smaller stove with the small cans as backup to our grill BUT has anyone else noticed the cost of propane (we have gas stove and gas grill) going up? Is there a cheaper resource I could use to refill propane vs the trade in the cylinder at the big box stores?
@@stephineellerbe3526 I’ve been checking into “alcohol pellets “, they still seem to be reasonable.
An idea to get stocked up on eggs is to freeze 2 out of every dozen you normally buy. Then, swap the frozen for fresh when you're baking to keep them rotated. Applesauce is a really good substitute for eggs if you get caught without any at all.
You can also add a pie plate with hot charcoal inside your oven. It really works even with the box ovens.
That’s great! Thank you!
Want more information about Charcoal use in standard oven. If/when there is a power outage.
Fumes when using Charcoal in kitchen oven ?
@@donnabartley2246 I was referring to the camp oven that would presumably be used outside. I never even thought about specifying that. Good catch!
Dollar tree has shelf stable milk 2% and whole milk in a carton. They had one kind that said it was for baking only.
1. Shelf stable Ghee instead of butter.
2. Powdered milk w/o refrigerator.
3. Powdered eggs or
4. 1/4 C. Applesause in baking.
I'd like to share a couple of tips/tricks. One thing I know to be true, the smaller the pieces of something, (ex. Canned whole potatoes/ sliced or cubed canned potatoes), the more servings you can get from 1 can. Another example, sliced green beans/ whole green beans. You can purchase ghee. Cans of evaporated milk can be reconstituted by adding more water. I a mm enjoying this series very much. Thank you and your other subscribers for all the tips and ideas.
We often hhave power outages in the winter if there are ice storms and one thing to note for emergencies, you always need to use what you have on hand in the refrigerator/freezer or on your shelves first. We try to have plastic jugs of water in our freezer, even if it's just a quart in the freezer of our refrigerator (gallons in our chest freezers) because: 1) They will keep the freezer compartment cold for quite a while even without power because they are essentially blocks of ice; and 2) They can provide drinking water when thawed.
The other thing I wanted to mention was a quick flat bread option if you have sweet potatoes on hand. Just cook the sweet potato in whatever way possible. Peel and mash. Add a pinch of salt and then start adding flour and working it until it forms a dough. I like Einkorn flour for this. Whole wheat with a bit of bread or unbleached flour or just unbleached flour all work. When the dough holds together and isn't too sticky, you can divide it up into balls about the size of a ping pong ball and roll it out. Then just heat up a griddle of any kind (cast iron works great) or even a pizza stone or anything that is a smooth, heated surface and cook the flatbreads for about a minute on the first side and then 1/2 a minute on the second side. A bit of trial and error may be necessary to get them to your desired doneness. You'll want them just starting to turn brown in spots.
Super easy and fast. I make them a lot. It's just a cooked sweet potato, flour and a little salt. They are wonderful for wraps and as your "bread" with things like chili. I make them a lot. Sometimes I'll bake a bunch of sweet potatoes when I have the oven running for something else anyway, and then freeze the potatoes so I have already cooked sweet potatoes on hand for a lot things including salads, casseroles, and of course, this bread. Since I always have flour and salt, it is a good emergency way to get a bread substitute that tastes excellent. It's particularly good with leftover chicken and lettuce as a wrap.
One consideration though: you might want to be careful when thinking about having to boil a big pot of water (e.g. for pasta) because boiling water takes a lot of energy and it takes a lot of water. We have a well so water can be a consideration when we lose power (we lost power for nearly two weeks once, but we did have a generator that we alternated between the freezers and the well pump).
If you are going to boil water for pasta or something, you should consider what else you can cook in that same water after the pasta for use later in the day (you could even use it to boil sweet potatoes! for example). And when you're done cooking, consider keeping whatever water remains to use for things like flushing toilets... Also, although most pasta packages tell you to use a lot of water, you can use a lot less water than it says as long as you stir the pasta at first to separate the pieces. (I mention these things for folks who may also have wells where water becomes very precious if you lose electricity for any length of time.)
We've had to go into "full camping mode" several times in the past and I've even "showered" by standing outside in heavy rains (a very cold shower, mind you) in order to conserve water during outages. You'd be amazed at how creative you can get when necessary. Of course it helps that our closest neighbor is a mile away so taking a shower outside behind the house is not as risky as it sounds as far as public decency standards. :)
Hope some of these tips help. But it's good to remember that even in an emergency, you'll most likely have a little bit of fresh stuff already on hand to add to your stockpile. Eggs will last quite a while without refrigeration. Milk can be frozen and in fact will provide another "block of ice" to keep things cold longer in your freezer when there's no power. You can get one of those butter crocks that keep a chunk of butter submerged in water so that the butter doesn't require refrigeration. (We use one--it's great because the butter is always soft and spreadable.) THere are a lot of options if you expect to shelter in place and many emergencies don't require 6 months or a year's worth of goods, especially for folks who may not be able to afford that. You just need to think of keeping food on hand you can prepare quickly and easily when electricity and water may not be available for maybe the next two or three weeks. (The longest we've had to survive without water and electricity was almost two weeks after a hurricane...) Fortunately, in the case of hurricanes at least, there is usually a day or two of warning (maybe longer) so we can supplement our supplies, fill the bathtubs with water, and generally prepare.
Hope this helps a few folks.
Also, be very careful of canned pineapple. You must rotate through this every year. The acid eats the lining from the interior of the can and dissolves it into the juice. You will be throwing up right after you eat it. I know this from experience.
Pam great ideas...I'd ad some paper plates. If your water supply is limited you won't want to waste it washing dishes.
Love your new series with great ideas thank you! We live in Fl here’s a few tips and ideas to share. Dollar Tree has canned heat in the party section I recently discovered for 1.25. We also have stocked in our hurricane pantry Dinty Moore 38oz beef stew you can cook or eat out of the can and Sweet Sue chicken and dumplings. Goya also makes pinto bean soup that is really good with canned collard greens. We also buy thin spaghetti because it cooks faster and uses less gas or butane. We ate all these foods last year during hurricane when we had no electricity.
Canned heat like the stern-o cans for catering or the chemical reaction heating elements like in a military MRE? Way cool!
Great video!
Although my idea isn't for emergency, but for when a family travels to a "long-stay" accommodation for vacation but can't afford to eat out three times a day. As long as there's a stove or oven, they could use your food-prep combo ideas! Simply make a list, and wait for everything to go on sale throughout the year, slowly adding to the piles, and then when their vacation comes, pack everything up and you're ready. :)
Absolutely! There are many reasons for learning about food storage and how to use it.
I like to add a can of mixed vegetables to my stovetop stuffing along with the chicken makes a full meal with apple sauce for the dessert 😋
I clean large drink containers when they are empty, with bleach, and then fill them with tap water and mark them as such for drinking and cooking.
I got this other tip from a commenter on your site. When my large dish soap and laundry soap containers get empty I leave a bit of the soap in and fill it with water and mark them for cleaning. That way my drinking and cooking water doesn't have to count towards cleaning dishes and such. So far I've had room to store the containers but it will become a problem in time as I keep adding.
If your tote is for a grab and go type situation you need to add a none electric can opener, paper plates & utensils.
For water, I have saved the extra large laundry detergent bottle, the one with the spout. We it is "empty" I know there is still some detergent inside. I filled the bottle with water, and we used this as handwashing water. This stores for a very long time. We were without power for 8 days when we had a very bad ice storm, and we never ran out of handwashing water. Also, what about paper products? Plates, bowls, cups, plasticwear?
Brilliant idea about the empty laundry detergent bottles for hand washing! We have a shared well that doesn’t have a generator, so if the electricity goes out- no running water. I have a jug of water under every sink for hand washing, but I’ll switch those out as I get laundry detergent bottles.
@@clydesdalehomestead3807, same here...those 8 days were very difficult. I was very thankful that my wonderful father, who built the house we live in, had the foresight to make the well accessible for a bucket and a rope! He was a child of the depression, and he was always prepared.
When you make the "Suddenly Salad", you could add canned chicken, black olives, (dried/reconstituted) celery, etc. to bulk it up and help tone down the salty flavor in the mix.
If you cant aford a lot of prep items, there are many community food banks, churches etc. Prayers! Blessings and Grace!
I love your videos. You guys really help pull people along, it’s hard for people who have never been off grid for long or on purpose. God bless y’all for your attention to the reality of how life is becoming. Keep them coming you will save a lot of lives. Friends you’d be smart to grab what there passing out. They do know what they are teaching.
If you know someone that raises chickens, you can get fresh unwashed eggs that are able to not be refrigerated.
I have just ordered and plan to try powdered egg substitute. Also, we have realized that we consume one gallon of water a day. More water than we had anticipated.
Kraft makes cups of Mac n cheese add water only.
I learned so much from these videos.
Thank you for all your time and energy to produce these videos
Don't just think about drinking water. You will need water for washing and flushing the toilet.
FYI when freezing eggs, use a little salt in the yolk to keep it from turning rubbery. Blend up the egg if yu want or separate the yolks out and use a little salt in the yolks. and then measure them back into a 2 tbs of white to 1tbs yolk, that should do it for 1 egg
Butter Buds is a great butter sub.
Storing water in the recommended quantities is extremely difficult if you live in a tiny apartment
Watching the 1st video in this series is a good example of how most of us who grocery store shop would panic shop. You might forget things that seem obvious. I am on social scurity only & i take care of someone who uses a feeding tube. So much of his healthcare needs occupy my mind, i forget my own needs except for water. My home is a studio apartment, my storage game is strong thanks to a Cornell University Low Income Correspondence course (from the eighties), and the DHS Preparedness checklists. Pam, your info is up to date, pragmatic, relatable. Storm last month, no electricity for 4 days! It was good practice.
Wow--thank you for your comment and for sharing your situation.
Stress is such a major factor during a disaster or power outage, it becomes difficult to think and plan, so ease and accessibility is important. I have experienced grid down several times when ice storms came thru, just warming food on the wood stove was all I could manage.
So true about stress affecting your ability to think.
I got to get me a wood stove. I got buddy heater, a camp propane stove but I’m worried about accessibility. I have 6 canisters of propane but safety is a concern for me.
Thank you Pam!!! 🙏 I am in South Florida and I am hyping up my preps. My goal is to can everything in my deep freezer and move all my preps to my bedroom closet instead of the garage for ease of access. It's gonna be an interesting September here. 😅🙏
That is a great idea and in the event of a shelter at home, its less likely anyone would get to the stores in the house vs in the garage. Not to mention this dreaded weather! (Melting!)
In 1957, The first house we lived in, my parents could have bought for $1200. built around 1900 or earlier. It had electricity, a cast iron cook stove, a coal oil space heater in the front room, a bedroom suite with real marble tops on the dresser, chest of drawers and night tables but no running water and a dirt cellar. My Dad was a barber and charged .25 per hair cut. They couldn't afford the house so we had to move. We couldn't afford to buy much food and my Dad hunted for game and fished. In 1975 my husband and I bought our first house for $21,500. It was built around 1945, had central heating, a full basement, electricity and running water. Both houses were about 600 sq ft per floor and were 1 1/2 stories, meaning the second floor walls were only 3 ft high then angled in from the pitch of the roof. In the 60s we were paying .25 per gal gas. Just like now a days, prices varied by location. Those prices we'll never see again but the poverty and difficult times are always lurking around.
These kits are wonderful for inspiration. Thank you, Pam and Jim! To make them completely shelf stable, perhaps incorporating OvaEasy packets to the kits for the kits needing eggs? If room in the totes, perhaps including a few bottles of water, enough needed for each recipe, to ensure you're not using precious drinking water for cooking.
Happy Prepping, everyone!
One of the things I read was that cinder blocks can be hazardous for a rocket stove since they may crack with the heat. I found some used bricks (not pavers), and have those set aside in my storage area to assemble into a rocket stove if needed. I have enough to make a double rocket stove (2 half brick sized holes) or a wide single hole (1 brick sized hole) or a half brick sized hole depending on my needs. I also found a piece of wire grill for a chimney that works great as a place to layer my wood on and lets air through. I just saved a pair of my horses old shoes to work as a top spacer for the pot to sit on. I found if I sat a large pot directly on the hole it didn’t let the air/smoke vent well. I might set aside a bag of quick concrete to use as mortar if I need to use the rocket stove for a long period of time.
You can also make a small rocket stove using a large can like pineapple juice comes in. You have to cut a hole in the side near the bottom and add a smaller can like tomato paste or soup horizontally to feed the sticks into the larger can which is the flue or chimney. You also put some holes in the larger can to help with air flow. I followed instructions from another RUclips channel.
Great video. It's probably been suggested, can of evaporated milk works great for Mac and cheese as a substitute for milk and butter.
As a former vegan, I know there are lots of substitutes for eggs and butter. One of the easiest ones for emergency meals would be apple sauce, preferably unsweetened. It is sold in the individual serving packs that would work well in these food kits.
Another idea, is too gather all breakfast items, lunch items, and dinner items, in large bins. Or organize shelves this way. You will have more choices, and not need as many small bins. Thank you for all the work you do Pam!
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
There is shelf stable milk in cartons that can be used. Have seen small boxes (1 cup or so) & have also purchased 1 quart boxes that we keep on shelf. Also do gave dry milk. Thanks for all the ideas. Still learning @ 72. Not quiting yet!!
Yes I store dry milk powder to use if I have run out of the fresh stuff
I add 1 teaspoon to my instant or sachet coffee mix and hot water there are times when you can’t be a coffee snob. I make my own chai latte mix with dry milk powder to have in emergencies and store in glass jars and just spoon it out into hot water sometimes the mix is perfect and sometimes I have to add more to get fuller flavour …..
Somethings you might want to add…..a small jar of instant coffee. Helpful if you don’t have a pour thru coffee maker,French press or old fashioned percolator. Hot chocolate mix and tea unless you are counting it in your household stables. I would have bought solid pack tuna as you get more tuna than the chunk tuna. Also if your power is out you might want to use up the stuff in the frig and freezer first before food goes completely bad. That way it won’t be a total loss
I always have many #10 cans of (dried or freeze dried) butter, milk, and egg for just such uses.
This was a fantastic video. This may not be what we do because we can most of our food, but putting them together in a bin and doing basically the same thing is just a great idea. Several years ago, I taught a class at a conference about how much you should store. We made a list of 15 breakfast meals and listed everything that we would need in each for a year. it was stunning to see how much you really need for a year's worth of food, even just for breakfast. Thanks Pam and Jim for your hard work! May the Lord richly bless you for it!
Marie Calendar's cornbread mix requires only water. Bisquick makes small packages that require only water to make biscuits.
Thanks for the information. Jim
Hoosier Farm has powdered cream. Can be mixed with nonf-fat dry milk. Makes yogurt better.
One of the ways we combat food prices at the grocery store in my family (in California) is to plan meals that use the same ingredients. I was shocked the other day when they wanted $7 for a head of cauliflower. Food prices have risen so much we only buy what's on sale. We always check food sales before we make up the menu and it is impossible to get everything at one store, so we go to around 3 stores a week and towards the end of the week, we eat whatever is left over in our cupboards, even if its just side dishes. We keep extra loaves of bread in the freezer. You can also buy powdered butter and powdered eggs. You can also look around your local community for unwashed fresh eggs. Since they are unwashed, they will last longer than the grocery store eggs.
Another Floridian here! When we are impacted by hurricanes and have no power, we either cook outside on our gas BBQ that has a side burner or I connect my air fryer to the generator. To get around the butter and milk issues, try replacing the mac & cheese and other items with the individual packs of Idahoan mashed potatoes, Knorr Pasta Sides and/or Knorr Rice Sides, etc. that just require water. Before purchasing, make sure to check the cooking directions because not all varieties are "water only." Some of them require milk (I suppose you can use powdered or canned milk.) Others say oil/butter optional so you don't need it but you could always use ghee if you think you can't live without the butter. During these post-hurricane times I use as much disposable cookware, bakeware, dishes, utensils, etc. as possible. It may be wasteful but when we have no water for days and/or are under boil water notices for days, we don't want to use our stored water for washing dishes. My area of SW Florida received a direct hit by Hurricane Ian last year (the third most costly disaster in history) but we did well at our house because I prepared. We were very fortunate. So many other people lost everything. 😥😥😥 EDIT: Also, I don't think a one pound pack of spaghetti would serve a family of four two separate meals. My family of three (which includes a teenage boy) use about one pound per meal.
I do not know where to start: You have done a fantastic job checking the milk, water, and butter/oil issues. I agree, that the disposables are the way to go. (In those cases, I do not see your solutions as wasteful; they are very practical. You are right about the spaghetti. Thanks for your comments and watching our channel. Jim
@@RoseRedHomestead Thanks Jim! I love watching your channel!
We sometimes order out and the restaurants send us foil packets of things like red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, soy sauce, etc. We tossed those into our emergency meal bins. They don't take up much space and didn't cost us anything.
Yes! I save those too. Also save the plastic cutlery or chopsticks.
Your day 1 has too much carbs-noodles at lunch and noodles at dinner. Why not switch either meal with the chili meal on day 2?
Fried bread: flour, yeast, salt in a zip lock. Add water and knead in baggie. Fry in pan.
God bless you for considering the cash strapped people of our country. They need our love, prayers and all your hints.
Wow!!! You have just kick started me again! I have food storage BUT...when you are in a stressful situation your brain is overwhelmed and if you have something like this already 'thought out' and organized you won't have to think about what to do and stress out trying to pull meals together! No one is immune to unsettling situations and I am going to organize a Family Home Evening with my family and try to get MYSELF better prepared. It was eye opening to see how even you and Jim struggled just a bit at the store going in 'blind' and trying to pick out meals. Can you even imagine what it's like when there's a storm coming and people are panick buying and grabbing anything they can and the shelves are empty! PREPARE A LITTLE AHEAD OF TIME! YOUR LIFE WILL DEPEND IN IT! Thank you again for this!!! Much love to ALL of our RoseRed community!!!❤ ❤❤
You could also order a Sun Oven. They used to stun and there is no smell or smoke time so nobody would even know you're cooking.
Gallons of spring water have gone up 40% in the last year at the Grocery Outlet nearby, which is one of the cheaper sources, from 99 cents to $1.39.
I used canned Campbell's cheese soup for mac and cheese.
You’re absolutely wonderful. I’m a visual person and have directions/instructions where I need them.
I started cooking food then freezing. I just cooked 10 lbs of ground turkey and placed 2 cooked cups in each freezer bag. Did 10 lbs baby back ribs. Cooked, grilled and package in meal size foil packets. Grilled chicken, pork chops. All in my freezer, ready to eat. I also freeze my butter, and do buttermilk and eggs in muffin tins. I imagine now I could freeze milk in small portions. love your show. You have helped me so much.
Congratulations with all of your canning successes. Yes, you can freeze milk, but use it within the first month. Freezing changes the texture of milk. Jim
When you look at what has occured in Maui...it seems a torndo, earthquake, vocano, hurricane or any disaster can disrupt gas lines, electric, etc so until an area is deemed safe...any thing with flames seems kinda dangerous to me. I am in Kansas...tornados and high winds, blizzards,enourmous snowfall causing power fails,earthquakes, and lightning strikes are my biggest threats...well, occadsonal flooding, but i live on a hill...so my home is not likely to flood, but getting out to get help, food, give assistance etc is .
I bought some bread mixes that only require water. The other possibility to make bread is that pan-baked Arabic or Asian bread, it's a quite dry kneaded and flat rolled dough you just roast from two sides in a pan. I made several times an Afghan recipe that has shredded zucchini in it - very good. For the eggs: raise chickens. Yes, that can't be done by everybody, but some people have time and a garden to do it. And the roosters can be eaten in an emergency, too. (Sorry 🐓).
Krusteaz brand makes just add water mixes; cookies, breads, etc.
Pam and Jim, you two are simply amazing !
I would buy a jar of ghee which could be used for several meals and would not need refrigeration even after opening.