By Kellene Bishop

Can you imagine walking along the shores of a fresh water lake, seeing some fossilized algae and saying to yourself, “Hmmmm. I think I’m going to try and eat this?”  Or worse, how about someone who notices that this fossilized algae kills insects and then decides to eat it?  Crazy, huh?  I don’t know how things like Diatomaceous Earth ever get discovered, but I sure am glad they do.

Diatomaceous Earth--a microscopic view. photo c/o www.holocaust-history.org

With Diatomaceous earth, you have one of the most wonderful natural remedies for removing all kinds of toxins in your body AND a highly effective remedy at eliminating pesky bugs from your home, garden, and stored grains.  Allow me to take you into the world of Diatomaceous earth today.

For starters, let’s talk about the vital benefits that Diatomaceous earth has on your body. Personally, I drink about 2 teaspoons of it daily in my water bottle.  (I follow that with 2 teaspoons of Redmond Clay in the next water bottle I fill, but that’s another story.) Why? Because like everyone else who is reading this, I have parasites, tapeworms, bacteria, viruses, and toxins in my body.  Diatomaceous earth is HIGHLY effective at completely removing them from your body.  Since we accumulate these kinds of undesirables in our body every day, I’ve incorporated daily doses of DE in my water every day in order to win the long term battle. If you refuse to take DE regularly, at least give small amounts to your pets and cattle every day. I give my small dogs ½ teaspoon daily for maintenance, and a bit more if they ever get an ear infection or are throwing up. They readily eat it and in fact, when I started them on it, it caused one of the dogs to stop getting into the soil of my plants.

Parasites, tape worm, and weevils--oh my! photo c/o historyfilms.net

How do we get parasites, tape worms, e-coli, etc? Kind of a yucky topic, but let’s put our iron stomachs in for a moment and learn a little bit.  First of all, you can easily get parasites/worms from the foods you eat. For example, if you eat wheat or other whole grains, you are consuming weevils.  It doesn’t matter how often that wheat was cleaned or how much you paid for it, you’ve got weevils. If you consume regular commercial red meat you also have parasites, and most likely some e-coli in your body as well. There are internal and external parasites associated with cattle.  If you eat pork, regardless of how long you cook it, you definitely have parasites and bacteria in your body. The fat in the  pork is made up primarily of the toxins and waste that the pig eats. It’s just a fact of life, folks. Lungworms, which are rampant in the intestines of cattle, cause viral and bacterial pneumonia.  Sushi also houses parasites, salmonella, and a myriad of other bacteria.  The raw fish is the least of my worries.

Dogs, Cats, and most pets carry parasites, which can be transferred to humans. photo c/o www.javno.com

Secondly, if you have pets such as dogs, cats, hamsters, rabbits, etc. you have parasites as well—that is if you ever pet them, let them sit on you, lick your face, etc. Parasites from pets particularly dwell in your intestines leaching the nutrition that you had otherwise intended for your own body. It is virtually impossible to have pets and not have parasites as a result—unless you use DE in your body and in there’s another story. (I’ll get to that later.)  In fact, just  one kind of internal round worm known as Toxocara, has infected 14 percent of our population according to the CDC. Toxocara comes specifically from dogs and cats. Toxocara is particularly predatory among children. This doesn’t mean that 14 percent of the population has pets. It means that there are sufficient  number of pets in our surroundings. Even those without pets are exposed to parasites that originate from them. Toxocara is easily accessible simply by playing in a sandbox or a playground of dirt or mulch.

Soil is another source of such body invaders. If we work with it in our gardening, we’re going to get it in our bodies.  Hanging out at a farm which uses pesticides and herbicides also brings unwanted toxins in our body.

Giardia and other water-born parasites photo c/o physorg.com

Unfortunately, water, whether it’s treated by the city or not, is one of the biggest culprits of introducing unwanted bacteria and viruses into our bodies.  In a disaster scenario in which we would have to forage for water, we are likely to consume even more. This is another reason why I’m grateful for the existence of Diatomaceous earth.  Not only can I use it to filter any questionable water, but even if I use other methods, I can also consume the DE regularly to help counteract anything I may have missed in my water filtration or cooking.  DE is a very effective water filter!  All you need to do is take a bucket and drape a tight-knitted cloth on top of the bucket, then a cup or two of DE on top of the fabric in a small mound. Slowly pour the questionable water through the DE into the bucket. Not only will you have drinkable water, but you will also have mineral and vitamin enriched water. This is why I often refer to preparedness as a source of peace in my life as opposed to panic. I can’t help but look at DE and say to myself, “Wow, Heavenly Father. You’re just full of nice little miracles all over the place.” I mean really, a substance that kills unwanted bugs of all kinds, but is good for humans and cattle! Cool!

So, what are the consequences of parasites and other like critters in your body? Blindness, obesity, anemia, frequent headaches, weakened immune system, irregular bowel movements, depression, stunted growth, autism, and even death  (although the benefits are so vast and innumerable that it requires a whole “nother article). That’s just what can happen to humans. Imagine what is taking place inside the animals we love or are trying to raise.  The great thing, though, is that de-worming doesn’t need to be an unpleasant one-time event that you hope you’re doing often enough. Keep your body optimal by paying attention to extracting toxins from your body every day by incorporating DE in your daily regime. After watching a medical video about what parasites can do in my body after only 72 hours, I’m definitely converted to the every day approach. Ugh!  Besides, wouldn’t you rather use an organic method of de-worming you and your pets/cattle etc. instead of nasty chemicals?! I know I would. When I teach about water consumption, I teach that adding flavoring to your water changes the chemical make-up and causes the body to have to work harder to process the water into a distilled state so that it can use it. However, when you’re adding the DE, all you’re adding is organic vitamins and minerals that your body will readily assimilate and not have to work hard to extract from the water.  If you must, you can consume the DE in juice or something else like that, but I have found that I seriously don’t notice the taste in the water at all.  Besides, is there anything that can taste bad enough to prevent me from trying to fight THIS? (yuck alert!)

Colonoscopy Demonstrating a Moving Worm

or THIS?!

2008-11-22 – BBC News – Worm removed from woman’s brain

Bacteria can thwarted by minerals and diatomaceous earth. photo c/o www.hubtesting.net

Let’s leave the parasites alone for just a moment. One of the other assets to DE is that is also absorbs bacteria AND viruses.  Bacteria and viruses are essentially the tiniest of little critters. They are no match for DE’s effectiveness.  The fact that you have something that will absorb and get rid of both in your body is great. Even modern medicine isn’t effective at fighting viruses. One of the reasons why bacteria is no match for DE is because of the vast amount of minerals found in DE. Bacteria simply can NOT survive amidst minerals. (This is why I love using mineral make-up. It doesn’t go bad because of bacteria, because the bacteria can’t survive in minerals. Thus I may pay a bit more for my make-up initially but it lasts me a lot longer.) So the more that minerals make up your organs and blood, the less of a happy home it is for the bad guys trying to infect you.

How can DE kills bugs but not people? It’s all about the water content. Suppose that you needed to thicken 5 gallons of a very brothy soup. You wouldn’t expect to accomplish this using only a ¼ teaspoon of corn starch would you? (For those of you who really don’t know you way around the kitchen, the answer is NO WAY! hee hee) So the benefit in using DE  has to do with the overwhelming amount of water content we have in our bodies as opposed to insects. Insects have very little moisture (contrary to what you may believe when you step on a cockroach), whereas our bodies are made up mostly of water.  This is also why DE doesn’t absorb all of the water that it inevitably grows near.  DE has also been used to help clean up toxins and oil spills.

So, what kind of DE do you need to obtain and where can you get it?  Well, that is the most important question.  You must use only FOOD GRADE DE.  If the manufacturer or seller of the product cannot tell you it’s food grade unequivocally, do not purchase it. For the longest time there were only two kinds of DE, pool grade and food grade. However, in an attempt to avoid paying the FDA the necessary fees to call DE “food grade” some manufacturers have started labeling their DE as “filter grade.”  Again, I implore you to accept no substitutes for FOOD grade DE. While you can do just about everything you want with the other forms of DE such as killing insects, detracting flies, using it in your garden etc. you should not consume any DE that isn’t food grade.  The reason is how it is processed. Just like grains intended for animals should not be consumed by humans due to the regulations that permit chemical additives in order to get more out of the product per package, so too should we humans not consume DE that isn’t labeled as food grade.

diatomaceous earth perma guard food grade

You can purchase food grade DE at most health food stores. However, I found that it’s pretty pricey that route. I prefer to get it in larger quantities and save a boat load of money.  I do know that Five Star Preparedness offers DE in two different formats. They offer it in 5 and 10 pound increments that’s simply “food grade” DE. However, for those who want to be extra sure in their internal consumption, they also offer it in as “fossilized phytoplankton powder” (FPP) format.  This is in a 10 ounce jar that runs about $18.00. But I wouldn’t recommend you wasting your money on it since it’s the exact same thing that you can get in the 10 and 20 pound increments,  just with a more friendly “food” label for those who need that kind of reassurance, because for only $25 you can get the 10 pounds (that’s what I use daily). Both are food-grade.  And please don’t buy into the whopper of a lie of a company telling you that the FDA won’t “let” them label their DE food grade. The FDA is all too happy to allow someone to label something food-grade so long as that company pays for the licensing and testing to do so.

I wish that we didn’t need something like DE as a result of our surroundings. But this is just how things are, folks. If it’s there, we get to inhale it, absorb it, or eat it. But I’m sure grateful that there’s a very economical solution out in the world. To see more on what DE can do for the world around you, check out the previous article I wrote about it here Diatomaceous Earth.

Remember, being physically prepared for the future also means being as healthy as you can now. So, let’s have a little DE sprinkled in our life. Cheers.

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

by Kellene Bishop

Do you have enough toilet paper in your storage? photo c/o scrapetv.com/

Yesterday I came across an “emergency preparedness blog” that was alarmingly incorrect. It was a basic topic, but it was addressed in a very misguided manner. The author wrote about what she plans to use in an emergency for her toilet hygiene—rags instead of toilet paper. So as not to risk educating anyone incorrectly, rather than providing a link to the article I will instead provide a few summations of the article which she posted on this national “preppers” site.

First of all, she was a big advocate of NOT using toilet paper during an occasion in which you had to rely on an outhouse, a hole in the ground, or some other such scenario. She labeled such a premise as useless, expensive, and unrealistic.  Instead she offered up a suggestion of using old rags and then storing the “used rages” in a lidded bucket filled with borax, bleach, water and laundry detergent.  She believes that such an option is “more eco-friendly” than toilet paper is.

While I read the article, I could sense the enthusiasm that this person had for sharing her knowledge with the rest of the world. I believe she was also trying to make the alternative solution as easy as possible for others. I certainly don’t believe that she was attempting to mislead anyone. However, I physically cringed while I was reading it, realizing that she was setting up herself and anyone else who bought into her instructions, for a major sanitation problem—even a deadly one.

To understand why planning on using a rag as opposed to TP or another like product, I think I should first point out a few things about feces and urine that some folks may not realize. First of all, sewer treatment employees receive HAZARD PAY because of the danger of their work. In fact, sewer treatment employees receive more “disaster prevention training” annually than police officers do to improve their firearm skills.  In other words, working with urine and feces is not a task to be taken lightly. The hazard in working with sewage isn’t just about the chemicals used to treat the sewers, but it’s also about working with the unavoidable—the waste itself.

Sanitation...a necessary preparedenss topic! photo c/o www.corecentre.co.in/

Urine contains compounded amounts of toxins, nitrogen, nitrates, and ammonia. As such, it is NOT recommended that it is simply thrown out somewhere uncontained or unprotected.  For those of you who are considering having two containers for solid and liquid waste in a worst case scenario, I beg you to rethink that plan. Solid matter actually needs the liquid to help it break down. Plus, it’s simply not realistic from a physiological standpoint to perfectly separate the two while someone is heeding a call from Mother Nature.  Separating the two compounds will only create more problems which I don’t have room to address in this post.

As urine and feces sit—especially in a heated environment—it develops deadly pathogens, dangerous combinations of microbes, bacteria, and viruses—including the well-known e-coli.  This compound attracts flies which feed on it and then spread it from one location to another. The point being that handling such a compound in any way is not a wise decision.  Staying away from it and disposing of it in all cases is critical.

Ye Old Outhouse photo c/o www.thegreenestdollar.com

Let’s also understand that a scenario that’s accompanied by the symptom of limited access toilet comforts that we’re presently used to is indicative of a serious scenario. Think about what would have to take place in order for a rationing of toilet paper to take place. (Other than the toilet paper shortage caused in 1973 by Johnny Carson jokingly telling his audience that there was a TP shortage. As a result, he actually CAUSED a shortage because millions of people cleaned off the shelves of TP that night. *grin*) Perhaps a natural disaster, a financial collapse, or act of war would cause such consequences.  Any of these scenarios would mean that we could no longer take our present state of sanitation for granted. 

One of most important aspects of establishing a society is to provide a community with reliable sanitation solutions. The reason is because poor sanitation can literally kill an entire community within a 50 meter radius in as little as 30 days. Bacteria, disease, and viruses are no respecter of persons, borders, or bank accounts.  Thus preventing the spread of such must be diligently practiced at the root of its origins. If sanitation is not practiced with the utmost of our capabilities during everyday or dire circumstances, then disease and death will speedily run rampant.  Remember disease is not easily curtailed to a specific environment. Disease is no respecter of persons, boundaries, or social positions Keep in mind that due to our easy methods of travel, disease can spread faster than it ever has in history.  That’s a significant statement considering that the Spanish Flu spread to over one-third of the earth in a matter of only three months—this prior to the availability of speedy international travel.

Anyone want a corn husk? Anyone? photo c/o thefuntimesguide.com

Preparing for alternative sanitation solutions can be practical, comfortable, and realistic.  The use of toilet paper should not be viewed as a luxury that can be easily dismissed.  While we should be aware of alternative options such as corn husks, phone book pages, or newspapers, it’s important that we recognize the need to provide us with a safe distance, minimal exposure, and safe disposal of our hazardous waste. Seaweed is also a good alternative as it’s got healing properties with it as well. The fact of the matter is ALL of these aforementioned alternative options are much safer options for you versus you planning on using rags and cleaning them as you go.

To be blunt, planning on using cloth or rags is not an ideal “plan B.” Just by nature of the rag method you are more prone to come into contact with the fecal matter. The longer it “hangs around,” being stored in buckets, being washed, etc, the more likely that contact is.  Additionally, the rag method requires storage of the fecal covered rags until you wash them. The storage—especially with any heat involved, will compound the hazardous toxins as the bucket of used rags sit. Something else I think we underestimate is that smells, especially unpleasant ones, strongly affect our morale. Unpleasant smells are not simply an affront on the senses. They are also an inhalation of dangerous microbes and airborne bacteria. If you’re storing the used rags, the smell lingers throughout your entire living environment. Instead it should be burned or broken down with something like Chemisan. It would definitely stink (excuse the pun) if you couldn’t enjoy the smells of sautéed garlic and onion because the wafting aroma of the outhouse overpowered it.

Use Thieves essential oil, or other essential oils instead of chemicals. photo c/o www.ylessentialoils.com

Lastly, in order to use rags for this particular hygiene care, most believe they need to use heavy chemicals such as borax or chlorine—neither of which are eco-friendly.  Where can you safely dispose of those chemicals?? If you absolutely HAVE to use rags, consider instead using essential oils to clean the rags with such as lavender, Thieves, and tea tree oil.  Exposing yourself to potential contact with fecal matter is such a bad idea, that even the reusable toilet wipe companies don’t recommend their product for use for anything else except straight urine. Additionally, it requires much more physical energy and water to take care of than does TP. You can never underestimate the importance of conserving physical energy and maintaining as much “normalcy” as possible during a crisis scenario.

On the other side of the debate, toilet paper can easily be broken down or safely disposed of.  It can easily be burned or buried. My favorite method of breaking down fecal matter and TP is the use of Chemisan. Chemisan eliminates a great deal of the smell, deadly pathogens and breaks it down completely in as little as two weeks leaving behind the equivalent of a soil.

Portable toilets use Chemisan photo c/o www.fivestarpreparedness.com

Contrary to some opinions, toilet paper does not have to be expensive.  For over a year now, thanks to coupons, I have put my mandatory price point on toilet paper at 25 cents a roll.  I don’t pay any more than that, ever.  But when I get it at that price, I do purchase as much as my budget that week will permit me.  I also use that same strategy on anything else I purchase and bring into my home. I set a price point and stick to it. This means that I don’t have to choose BETWEEN having wheat or toilet paper. I get to have what I and my loved ones need for every anticipated event. Planning well everyday means that you don’t have to choose between one vital necessity and another. Knowing you have all of the bases covered means more mental strength for you to deal with the other aspects of a survival scenario which may test you.

Also as an alternative view of the blog I’m referencing, toilet paper is a multi-purpose product. It’s often used by cost conscious individuals in lieu of facial tissue. It’s also used by some as a source of cooking fuel (along with isopropyl alcohol)—a waste to me considering so many other cooking alternatives, but to each his own. And hey, TP has even been used by the US. Military as camouflage during the Gulf War!

The comfort factor of toilet paper should not be underestimated either.  Promoting familiarity during a crisis scenario is as important as your medical supplies. This is why a survey two years ago revealed that over half of all of the respondents said that they would choose food first, then water, and then toilet paper as their supplies on a deserted island. In other words, it’s more important to peoples psyche and comfort than perhaps this author realized. I suspect more people didn’t mention toilet paper simply because it was off their radar. Perhaps a gorgeous companion and their favorite rock band made the list instead. When there is any kind of an “ick” factor involved, it’s much harder to expect persons to change their habits, even in a survival scenario. Trying to do so will inevitably bring about stress. If you’re using moss and leaves right now everyday, then you won’t have any problem with those items in the future—unless you don’t stock up. Otherwise, having what you’re familiar with for such an inevitable part of life is critical to your mental health.

Bottom line, in the event of true emergency scenario, having ample toilet paper will NOT be the least of your concerns. It falls in line with the Physical and Medical aspects of preparedness which puts it in the position of priority number 3 and 4 out of the Ten Areas of Preparedness.  So, watch for the sales, know how much your family uses in a week, and plan accordingly.

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

by Kellene Bishop

Water storage--do you have enough?

As you know, I’ve strongly recommended in the past that you store at least one gallon of water per person, per day in order to be prepared for unforeseen events. However, what if you don’t have the luxury of benefiting from that which you have stored in your home?  Well, here are a few “plan B” options for you.

1)      Dry Creek Bed:  If you see a dry creek bed, you’re most likely in luck.  Follow the creek bed down-slope until you come to a bend in which the flow “s-curves” to the outside. Dig a hole about 2 feet away from that external part of the s-curve. You should only need to dig about a foot down. Voila. There should be water there, and you should be able to drink it due to the soil cleaning it. When in doubt though, always filter your water prior to drinking it.

Standing water is still an option--just follow procedures photo c/o redbaron.bishops.k12.nf.ca

2)      Standing Water Pond: Chances are if you see a standing water pond that water is NOT safe to drink.  It very likely has animal feces, a little dash of West Nile Virus, and a sprinkling of other lovely bacteria.  So, dig a hole about 2 feet down, two to three feet outside of the standing water spot.  That water will also be filtered from the soil. Grant it, it will be dirty, but it won’t have the feces and other bacteria.

3)      Leafy Tree Limbs: If you’ve got leafy trees, you’ve got filtered water.  Simply take a piece of plastic and secure it tightly around the leafy tree limbs. You can use rope, or rubber tie downs.  Allow the plastic wrap to rest around the limb during the sunny part of the day. This will create a solar still for you, thus extracting the water from the leaves. You can then carefully take the bag off of the limbs, and consume the collected water.

Find water photo c/o www.dralisyed.com

4)      Moisture in the Air- Yup. It can be yours if you simply capture it. This bodes true even if you’re out in the middle of the desert. Dig a 6-19 inch deep hole in the ground. Place an open container (i.e. bucket, can, pan, etc) in the middle of the hole. This will be collecting your water.  Place a plastic sheet securely over the top of your hole. Secure and “seal” the outside perimeter of the sheeting with heavy rocks and even some dirt and sand.  Place a rock in the center of your plastic sheeting directly about your collection container. This will concave the sheeting a bit so that as water condensation occurs, it will naturally drip into your container. After about 12 hours, you will have drinking water.

While this last strategy may not be a water source help to you, it may be useful if you have access to water but no fuel with which to clean it.  Simply fill a clear 2 liter pop bottle with strained water (to get rid of the big stuff.) You can simply run the water through a cloth or a sieve, etc. You just want to get the big pieces out of it such as sand, silt, leaves, etc.  Set your pop bottle out in the sun for 6 hours. The UV in the sun will kill all of the virus’ and bacteria after 6 hours.

Once again, I hope this information puts you more in the driver’s seat of any curve balls life may throw at you.

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Copyright 2010 Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.  All rights reserved.  You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to www.PreparednessPro.com & Kellene Bishop.

by Kellene Bishop

You might be surprised to learn what is made from corn. photo c/o www.faqs.org/

Did you know that batteries, diapers, cheese, peanut butter, Coco-cola, Motrin, vanilla extract, baking powder, white vinegar, saccharin, Sweet and Low, charcoal, a slew of household cleaners, drinking alcohol, condiments, toothpaste, dental floss, toilet paper, iodide salt, finger paint, crayons,  and margarine all have corn products in them? This list is in addition to the obvious corn products that you are already no doubt familiar with.  Corn is in a slew of food additives as well such as maltodextrin, pumaric acid, di-glycerides, Ethel acetate, xanathan gum, semolina, absorbic acid, gluten, citrus cloud emulsion, saccharin, calcium stearate, xylitol, and sorbitol as well as a litany of other “ides, ites, and tols.”  Did you also know that fish, meat, poultry, and pork usually contain corn and have been fed the cheap food of corn? In fact, it’s nearly impossible for anyone to completely avoid contact with CORN nowadays!  Corn starch is dusted on your frozen vegetables, corn wax is coated on your fresh vegetables, fish is washed in a corn-derived citric acid, and even when you make that homemade bread from scratch, you’ve still got corn because the baking yeasts often feed on corn based ethanol.  (As a bigger eye opener, you may want to view the movie “King Corn” or enjoy blogs authored by Chris Ellis)

So, OK. Our life is permeated with corn. It’s come to be such thanks to the fact that corn has historically been a cheap commodity. But what happens when corn stops becoming cheap but we find ourselves in a society that’s wholly dependent on corn?  You see, the price of your diapers are what they are today based in part on the easy and cheap access to corn. What happens when the price of corn goes way up or corn becomes hard to come by?

Corn crops: 2009. Too wet to plant until late in the season. Too wet to properly fertilize to get a greater yield. Too wet to harvest. Harvested corn repeatedly tested as too wet for dietary corn and storage. And finally there’s also the demand to meet the standard ethanol productions. While drying portions of the crop is possible, it’s also very costly. Corn is typically sold at 10-15% moisture. However this year some of the largest corn growing areas are harvesting it at an average of 22% moisture.  (Remember, the more moisture, the more expense to either dry it, or the faster it will go rancid, thus causing a loss of product.  Ironically, there have also been some spotty bouts of shortages on propane which is necessary for the drying process.  Hmmm…(*note to me, get more propane tanks filled.*) All of this following a 2008 growing season that experienced dramatic rise and drops in harvest prices and expensive fuel prices making harvesting nearly 12% more expensive than previous years. In the first week of January, USDA estimated that 29% of the Midwestern corn crops were STILL in the fields. That is the demise of our nation’s corn crops this year resulting in anticipated high prices with high demand. http://www.commodityonline.com/crops-weather/IowaIllinois-corn-harvests-extend-to-December-2009-12-03-23491-3-1.html The domino effect continues as late corn and soybean harvests delay winter planting as well.

Have your food pantry stocked and ready to go!

So, how does all of this translate into for your preparedness efforts?  Understand how your food production is reliant on a system as equally tenable as a tightrope act. Pay attention to how the key players are affected so that you can strategically acquire necessary goods before the price hikes come into affect.  Attempt to eliminate any food scenarios in which you’re wholly reliant on what is given to you as opposed to what you really want for your family. Become as self-reliant for your nutrition and medical needs as possible. It’s primarily a matter of education and planning.

In parting, I just had another thought.  What if 90% of our corn crop were infiltrated solely with genetically modified seed like the soy crops have been? Hmm…

Copyright 2010 Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.  All rights reserved.  You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to www.PreparednessPro.com & Kellene Bishop.

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Having a nice house isn't everything photo c/o www.merchantcircle.com

The party was so wonderful. The house was warm with hugs, greetings, and shared tales of joy and heartache from the previous year. So and so had a new baby on the way. The hostess had just received a new customized dining room table so that she could seat her burgeoning family at meal time. A young man had just been honorably advanced in the military. Seeing old friends and making news ones was a great way to start the New Year. So why was I so distraught as I walked home?  What was it that was interrupting my happiness from attending such an event? What a beautiful home.  The food was scrumptious. What a choice person—such great hosts. What a great family. I was thrilled that they had opted to show me what they had done with all of the new food storage space they had built into their basement. That’s practically my favorite part of any home. As I reflected back on what I saw, I realized the source of my distress. A thriving family of nine. Plenty of space. Beautifully decorated. But a large food storage area that was frighteningly sparse.

As I had mentally viewed the intermittent stores of food, my mind quickly calculated that starvation would come to this family within only six weeks if they were required to survive on the fruits of their preparedness efforts. To add insult to injury, it would be a very boring and unappetizing six weeks as well. Oh how I didn’t want that for this family. Fifteen years of friendship makes me feel like an aunt to their children and a sister to her. I adore her. I look up to her. I cringed as I recalled her answer to my question. “Is this your entire food storage?” “Yep”, she replied. I couldn’t tell by her voice…was I detecting a sense of good intentions to rectify the situation or was it a sense of being overwhelmed with the task?

A half-empty pantry won't be as much of a comfort in times of need as a full one would be photo c/o www.mlive.com

What good is a lovely home when an unexpected need for food, water, clothing, and fuel hits you? Who cares whether or not the sofa is frayed or if there’s a spot on the carpet when your family is hungry?  I don’t know about you, but I’ve moved heaven and earth when I’ve had a specific craving for something. Imagine such a craving occupying your mind regularly, except it is simply for food and water.  I realize that it requires some mental work to accept that such a scenario WILL occur in the future, but I promise you that it will.  The Wii games, the latest reality show, the latest action-adventure film, or even what shenanigans the Administration pulls that week will be meaningless when one is unexpectedly thrust out of their modus operandi and has to actually THINK “how will I provide food for my family?”  Most of us have never had to question the availability of food and water.  For those of us who have, there has usually been a ray of hope right behind such a question in the form of an anticipated new job for the one lost, or even the ability to move in with family until things get better. But will the same hope be present when the supply of food, water, clothing, and fuel seems to be solely reliant on our own previous preparedness efforts?

I completely believe in being content and nurtured by ones surrounding. A home should be a person’s castle, inviting, comfortable.  I love to spoil my family members and friends with gifts of love and acknowledgement. I like to look nice and wish that more “preppers” would portray a more polished and intelligent image to the community lest their message be minimized as an unrelatable and unreliable one. But just as the priorities for college students need to be their education—and thus traditional corners of comfort are cut to survive—so should we do the same in our basic preparedness efforts, sacrificing luxury for the security of being prepared.

As yourself before buying anything--Need or Want?

So here’s my rule of thumb. Don’t even think of gidgets, gadgets, generators, and the non-essentials in your life until you have at least the very basics of food, water, clothing, and fuel (where permissible) taken care of. Yes, you’ll never be satisfied that you are fully prepared for whatever may come your way.  But yes, there IS a finite amount of food and water, etc. that you can at least start with and know that you’ve got a great foundation. THEN you can start building on it. 

Newlyweds, let me address you specifically.  No, you can’t afford a new television or cable or unlimited text messaging until you have your basics obtained and stored. It is a matter of life or luxury. Yes, I know that you’ve been quite accustomed to the leather upholstery, the beautiful automobile, and the abundance of comforts as you grew up in your parent’s home or when you were the sole beneficiary of your salary, but marriage is different. It’s a new life. It’s not a continuation of the one you had with your parents.  Start new. Make it yours. Make it self-reliant. Make it solid by a good foundation of spiritual and temporal strength.

Ok. So what’s the absolute bare minimum emergency survival amount of food, water, clothing, and fuel (where permissible) you should have on hand?

photo c/o grain.org

• 400 pounds of grains (i.e. pasta, wheat, rice, barley) per person per year (whole grains are preferred in order to benefit from sprouting)
• 40 pounds of honey (or sugar, or molasses) per person, per year
• 60 pounds of dry milk per person, per year
• 5 pounds of mineralized salt, such as RealSalt (not iodized) per person, per year.

If you only had these 4 food items, you would at least survive a year in the midst of a major food crisis.

• 60 gallons of water, per person MINIMUM. (This amount may at least get you through until you can find another water source—again, remember this is bare, minimum, emergency, survival amounts. In actuality, every person needs one gallon, per person per day just to take care of the minimum requirements of hydration, sanitation, medical, and cooking.)

• 2 sets of appropriate, rugged, warm weather clothes and 2 sets of cold weather clothes per person. Anticipate the upcoming year. Store these clothes away, not have them be a part of the everyday fashion repertoire.

• 52 cans of butane and a small butane stove for cooking and cleaning.

• Enough fuel for warmth during the winter months

• Enough fuel for light for about 4 hours a night, for one room, for a year.

So, here’s my challenge to you. It’s the very beginning of a new month. How about you put yourself on a non-essential fast when it comes to spending this month? In other words, if it’s not absolutely necessary (such as utilities, groceries, diapers, etc) don’t spend money on it. Instead use that same money on what you need to be prepared with at least the bare minimum amount of preparedness.  If you’re already prepared in the basics that I’ve outlined above, how about you focus on adding to your preparedness this month?

Copyright 2010 Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.  All rights reserved.  You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to www.PreparednessPro.com & Kellene Bishop.

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Ok Folks, here’s the conclusion of the generator series, including the authors overall recommendations. We hope you found this series helpful!

by Guest Author Ted Blanchard

Ag diesel, or “died diesel” or “red diesel” costs less photo c/o commons.wikimedia.org

Operational economy depends in part on the cost per unit volume of your fuel. Diesel generators are generally more fuel efficient (quarts burned per hour for a given power output) than gasoline units, but the overall cost efficiency can be lower depending on what the fuel rates are at the pump.  Ag diesel, or “died diesel” or “red diesel” which is only to be used (legally) in agricultural equipment like farm tractors will run a diesel generator just fine and costs much less than automobile diesel because there are no taxes added to the per gallon price.  Use of died diesel in street automobiles is not legal and the fines are very high if you are caught doing so.  Because a warmed up diesel engine may also be able to run on other fuels such as kerosene, cooking oil and even home heating oil (also generally tax exempt), it gets high marks for flexibility in a TEOTWAWKI environment.

Author’s Recommendations

Given the various pros and cons of the different fuels and their associated generators (note that I did not put it the other way around), my preference for an emergency, backup or transportable generator is a diesel-fired unit with an integrated water blocker and sequential fuel filters.  I even have a recommended family of units, all military surplus.  They are the MEP-002, MEP-003, MEP-004 and even MEP-006 systems, which can be found on auction sites including this one. A MEP-002 is 5kW continuous, 6.25kW peak generator; a MEP-003 is 10kW/12.5kW and so forth.  They are all battery start units and ruggedly built.  They can be used for 120VAC single phase, 120/240 single phase and 208 VAC three phase which makes them very versatile machines.

10KW - 2 cylinder Onan Diesel photo c/o battlegradeelectric.com/

An MEP-002 can typically be acquired at auction for something under $1000, and a MEP-003 for $1000 to $1200.  Often, they have very low hours on them (mine had 163 hours on it, meaning it was barely broken in).  A brand new commercially available 10 kW gasoline powered generator will generally set you back more than that, and have a fraction of the usable lifespan.   Granted, you may have to drive a ways to pick up your military surplus unit, but the results will be well worth it.  Be sure you read and understand the auction site’s rules regarding buyer’s premium (if added) and sales tax for the location currently housing the unit.  Some units are trailer mounted so you may have to do title transfer unless you plan to park it in one place indefinitely and don’t care if it isn’t titled in your name. One other consideration is the 24Volt starter on the MEP-00X units.  They use two car batteries in series, so to keep them charged, you either need to get a 24V trickle charger, or charge one battery at a time with a 12V charger, or run the generator unit regularly to top them off.   The last approach is best because relying on any system that you do not regularly test and maintain is unwise at best and outright dangerous in the worst of situations.

The MEP-00X series have a setup where you can draw fuel from the integrated tank or an external source such as a 55-gallon drum and the unit includes the pumps necessary to make this work.  Some units will even come with the bung adapter and extra fuel line.  Some also come with a long, high capacity power cable.  Some have a sound enclosure already installed, so the noise is very tolerable, without having to build your own enclosure.  They run at 1800 RPM, consume little fuel and – when properly grounded – have decent EMP protection for the internal circuitry.  Spare parts are readily available from a variety of sources.  The units are designed to be operated and maintained by high school grads, so no special skills are required (no offense to you high school readers).  They are all made to mil-specs and come from some of the best manufacturers out there.  They cost you and I (as taxpayers) eight to 15 times what you can get them for at auction, depending on the rated capacity, so it’s your duty to derive some benefit from all that Government spending.

Regardless of your choice do your homework, take necessary safety precautions, test the system regularly, rotate liquid fuels if you use them, and keep the tank and generator well maintained.  It could be the difference between surviving and thriving in a grid-down world.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.  You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

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By Guest Author, Ted Blanchard

Honda Generator photo c/o hayesequipment.com

I confess. A generator is not one of my chosen tools for preparedness. But then again, I tend to prepare more for a serious survival scenario i.e.: a widespread national crisis, in which case I feel that a generator is useless and simply paints you as a target of the morally deficit and desperate individuals. However, in the event of  a more temporary power outage scenario due to a hurricane, snow storm or such, a generator would certainly be a worthwhile tool to have. As such, I have solicited the assistance of Ted Blanchard, last week’s guest author to provide for us a 3 part series on understanding, protecting, and utilizing a generator. So here is part 1.

Power and Sizing of a Generator

Power and Sizing

We’ll start with an easy topic.  Power is the ability to do work, plain and simple.  It can be measured in horsepower (HP), watts (W) and a variety of other units.  For the moment, we will focus on horsepower and watts.  Electrical power (in watts) is the voltage times the current or 1Watt = 1Volt x 1Amp. In most houses a 75-watt bulb consumes about 0.625 amps, because US homes are almost all 120 volts AC (alternating current).  75W/120V = 0.625 amps of current passing through the bulb’s filament. You can think of voltage as electrical “pressure” and current as electrical “volume” if you need to wrap your mind around the details.  Higher voltage “pushes” harder through any electrical load, including you if you are not careful, and higher current means more “juice” delivered to the hair dryer or overhead lights. For convenience in comparing generators, we can also use kilowatts or kW, which is simply one thousand watts. If you want all the details click on watts, but for our purposes, one horsepower is a bit less than 750 Watts, or 0.75 kW of electrical power.  For this reason, you can dismiss as falsehood any claims by a manufacturer that their 8 HP generator provides 10 kW of electrical power.  A system’s Efficiency Factor – a number between 0 and 1, and often expressed as a percentage from 0% to 100% – is a measure of the efficiency of the system.  A generator with an efficiency factor of 0.8 (or 80%) converts eight tenths of the power developed by the engine into available electrical power, on a continuous basis, to run lights, heaters, appliances and other household items.  The rest is lost through engine heat, radiated sound and radio frequency (RF) energy and other “inefficiencies” of the generator.  As a result, a fair “rule of thumb” is that a generator can be expected to provide roughly 600 to 700 watts of electrical power per engine horsepower, with 700 being an extremely efficient generator, bordering on impossible.  So we have already arrived at Warning One: check the math in the advertisement and if they are claiming an electrical power level that the specified engine simply cannot produce, ignore the nice low price and look elsewhere.  As an example, I saw an ad for a generator allegedly rated at 8 kW continuous and 10kW peak, driven by a 9 HP engine.  Simple math tells me that 9 HP x 0.7 kW per HP –>6.3kW absolute maximum available continuous power.  “Peak power” is the rating that tells how much power the generator can provide very briefly during the first few milliseconds that a load such as a large motor or compressor needs to start up.  Examples might be found in your freezer or a furnace blower.  If they normally consume 1000 watts, they may actually require 1500 or more watts while they start from zero and approach their normal operating state. Such power levels can be attained briefly because of inertia in the generator’s engine and the generators ability to handle loads above the normal rating for a short period until the peak load brings the generator/engine system speed below normal – at which point you have a “brownout” for all loads connected to the generator.  If the spin up time is short enough, you probably won’t even notice the disruption.  This dual rating is why you often see generators listed with two numbers, such as 5kW/6kW.  Those are the continuous and peak power ratings.  Be wary of sellers who list a single number.  They may be indicating the peak power and hoping you think it’s the continuous power available.

What size generator do you need?  This can be determined in a couple ways.  The hard way is to add up the watts used by all your home devices and figuring out some sort of nominal percentage that represents the amount that may be on at a given high-usage time.  A much simpler way is to take your electrical power bill, divide the number of kilo-watt hours (kWH or KWH) consumed in a month by 720 (the number of hours in a 30 day month) and apply a “loading” factor of anywhere between 3 and 7 which takes into account the fact that there is not much electrical demand during the night and so a straight average will give you a much lower number than what you require during active periods.  Using a loading factor of 3 would require you to very carefully manage the household’s electrical consumption to avoid loading down your generator, but it can be done.  A loading factor of 7 (or higher if so inclined and if you have the finances to allow it) lets you to pretty much live as usual without fear of placing too large a load on your generator. Here’s an example from my own bill last month. I used 1060 KWH of power over the 30-day span.  A straight average would say that I consumed 1.47 kW continuously, but if I relied on a 1.5 kW generator to meet my needs, I would be terribly disappointed, to say the least.  In reality, I use a 10kW/12.5kW diesel fueled military surplus generator to power my home when our utility provider is down, for whatever reason.   I don’t have to “ration” my usage and my generator hums along happily, never missing a beat.  Could I get by with a 7.5kW generator?  Sure, and I did so for 3 years, but switched over to the current arrangement for reasons explained in later paragraphs.

Most generators use fuel at a rate that follows the power loading, so if you get a 10kW generator but have household electrical items operating that only consume a total of 3kW it will get much better “mileage” than if you put a full 10kW load on it.  Again, the fuel consumption is not linear with load, so try asking sellers what the consumption is at 100%, 75% and 50% loads.  Be wary if they give numbers that too closely match 100%, 75% and 50% of the max fuel consumption.  It should not be an exactly linear relationship due to the “inefficiencies” described earlier, which are near constant regardless of the power load.

Now, briefly venturing into the technical realm again, we must consider the frequency of the power generated.  North American homes run on 60-cycle or 60 Hz power.  Many European homes run on 50 Hz.  Ours is convenient because there are 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour.  Analog clocks (those are the ones with the moving hour, minute and second hands for those who have forgotten) maintain their accuracy because the power coming into your home is 60 Hz.  The motor simply runs at a multiple of the power frequency and as a result your analog clock is as accurate as the control circuitry at the power generation plant that provides your power.  As a kid, we marveled at how the “new” digital clocks always seemed to need adjustment, but the old sweep hand clock in the kitchen stayed right on the money for years, unless the power was interrupted. Digital clocks mostly use internal oscillators as the basis for their time standard and often that oscillator is ever so slightly fast or slow compared to a true 60 Hz.

Any generator worth owning has an engine that runs at a multiple of 60 Hz, but we call it revolutions per minute (RPM) since the crankshaft is spinning in a circle.  Most of the very good backup generators run at 1800 RPM, which is just our clocks’ favorite frequency multiplied by 30.  It’s fairly easy to “divide down” and have the output power delivered at a constant 60 Hz.  Some generators run at 3600 RPM, which is 60 times our reference frequency. There is nothing at all wrong with that, but consider the following: an engine’s noise level is usually related to the RPMs.  Rev your car and it gets louder.  Also, each revolution of your engine results in a tiny amount of operational wear on the moving parts.  Not surprisingly, an engine designed to operate at 1800 RPM will generally last longer than one designed to run at 3600 RPM.  The life span is not necessarily linear, however, meaning that an engine running at half the speed does not last exactly twice as long.  In diesel engines, for instance, a designed operational speed of 1800 RPM usually means a lifespan that is 5 to 20 times greater than one designed to run at 3600 RPM.  The slower engine also usually runs quieter, though for higher speed engines sound attenuating materials can be used, usually at additional cost.  At the risk of getting ahead of myself, diesel generator engines built by high quality manufacturers (such as Onan, Detroit Diesel, Caterpillar, and Cummins) which are designed to run at 1800 RPM will generally give you upwards of 20,000 hours of run time before requiring major repair or overhaul. That’s well over 2 years of non-stop use. Gasoline or diesel engines from inexpensive sources (mostly Chinese firms) and built to run at 3600 RPM typically give between 1,000 and 1,500 hours of service before some significant amount of repair or overhaul work is required. So we have reached WARNING TWO: don’t go cheap on something that may save your bacon down the road.  Saving a few hundred dollars now could make for some very uncomfortable days and nights if we should ever have grid power issues spanning many weeks or even months.  For a little light reading on that look up EMP and ponder for a while, the likely results of such an event.  And as an aside, those cheap Chinese generators (gasoline or diesel) have lots of poor quality electronics that are very vulnerable to an EMP.  Expensive electronics can be fried too, but they might at least have a decent protective housing that helps to shunt pulse energy to ground.

To be continued…

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.  You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

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Are you prepared if you get snowed in? photo c/o dmusic.com

Over the last two days I’ve heard from friends and readers recount their stories of the last few days of confronting the snow storm in the east.  Two of my friends attended a Christmas party at an upscale townhome in Annapolis, Maryland.  They drove their SUV and felt that all would be well in spite of the windy snow storm. When the party was over and the guests were leaving, it was quickly apparent that no guests were leaving—not even the driver of the Hummer. All of the vehicles were literally snowed in.  So what did the guests do?  I’m happy to report that 3 of them were able to get to the “bail out bags” in their vehicles, put on a change of comfortable clothes, and help the hostess get everyone settled down for the night. The fire place crackled with plenty of wood. The shelves were suitably stocked with something other than caviar and cream cheese. And the hostess dutifully earned her title as “the one with the mostess” as she pulled out a sufficient number of sleeping bags and bedding for all!  She was also able to supply the less prepared individuals with alternative clothing for sleeping. This is happy story #1. To make it even happier would be to know that YOU could do the same thing if you were such a hostess.

 Happy story #2: This is from a reader in New England. “Kellene, thanks for writing such a great blog that I can rely on. As you know, we’re preparing in this area for a “noreaster” storm. Going to the grocery store requires a hour of drive-time because of where I live. But since I’ve been reading your blogs, I’ve been going less and less and stocking up more and more. When I heard the news of the storm, my girlfriend called me in a panic wanting to go to the store and stock up. I told her that the news had just said that the stores were already empty and not to worry because she could stay at my house for a couple of days. I already had enough to see us through the storm.” Don’t you just love happy stories, folks?  Again, it would be much happier if you knew that you could do the same in your world.

Bail out bags work great as vehicle emergency supply bags photo c/o uncrate.com

 Here’s a so-so happy story. I was sent this via a tweet from a reader in the East. I don’t know exactly where they are though. “Thanks to you, I at least have my b.o.b. (bail out bag/box) Good thing since we’ve been stranded on the road for over two hours now in the snow.” Obviously, this would be a happier story if they weren’t stranded. But hey, stuff happens and we simply have to be prepared for it. I hope the have solar flares, heat packs, blankets, water, and something to eat as well as extra warm clothing!

 The point to all of this is that the storms in the East aren’t indicative of “the end of the world as we know it” but they sure did wreak havoc on “normalcy” in the lives of over 60 million people. (and they still are, of course.) I only got to hear from those who were happy with their efforts of preparing themselves. I think that at Christmastime we are especially vulnerable to not being prepared. Our efforts and energy are consumed by all of the Christmas activities that need to be done.  I’m very pleased to hear from these few individuals who didn’t put off some preparedness efforts “as a New Year’s Resolution.”

 Recently my husband and I were greeted by a Secret Santa gift of some cash. Want to know what we’re doing with it? We’re going to buy more molasses, sprouts, vegetable oil, orange zest, and diced tomatoes because I feel a little shy in those areas specifically. That’s a perfect Christmas gift to me! Hopefully you’ll all provide the perfect lifesaving gift to yourselves and your loved ones this year by having families ENTER the New Year being better prepared.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.  You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop. 

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By Kellene Bishop

Today I’m going to give you an easy way to cook in a do-it-yourself solar oven. Understand that I do so only in the name of independence as circumstances may prevent you from having access to a commercially made solar oven. However, if I had a choice between using my own homemade solar oven and a commercial one, I would go commercial any time. Why? Because the commercial solar ovens I recommend are specifically made to handle rugged third world conditions. They are intended for cooking everyday for a number of years (5-15, depending on which model you get). The DIY solar ovens are not likely to last that long, be as sturdy, or handle as much volume as a solar oven you may purchase commercially.

There are three key components to a solar oven. 1) You’ve got to have sun. So long as you have enough sun to cast a shadow, you can cook in a solar oven. It doesn’t matter the temperature outside as long as you have a suitably constructed solar oven. 2) You need a way of insulating the heat from the sun. This is typically done with dark colors which attract and absorb the sun, combined with layers of insulation which will keep the heat in the sun oven container. 3) You need a seal of some sort that allows the sun rays to get through but keeps the heat in (and small critters out). A reflector is not essential in solar cooking as they merely direct the available sun, making the heat more intense. So you can use a reflector or not, depending on the time you have available for cooking. It won’t affect the fact that you can still cook in a solar oven. So, now that you know what the components are, let’s talk about a DIY solar oven.

Spray paint a Mason jar. Photo c/o solarcooking.org

The easiest DIY solar oven I use requires a Mason jar, a roasting bag, a block of wood, some black BBQ grill paint, and a twisty tie. Simply spray paint the outside of the jar (lid and all) with the black BBQ grill paint. (Note: I put a strip of masking tape down the side of the jar when I spray paint it so that I can have a visual on how the food is cooking inside.) Then place the jar on top of a block of wood with the lid on it and place everything inside a large roasting bag. I also recommend that you put an oven thermometer inside so that you can keep an eye on the temperature inside the bag. Seal the top of the roasting bag with a twisty tie. Place your package in the sun, and cook away.

The roasting bag acts as your seal to let the sun through but keep the heat in. The block of wood allows the hot air to circulate, even under the jar. The dark paint on the jar is to attract the sun’s heat and light. You can cook in a small jar, a half-gallon size or even put multiple jars in a roasting bag. Bottom line is with a DIY solar oven, you can cook without the use of fuel on a sunny day. Simply put your ingredients in the jar and cook. You don’t need to stir or babysit it. Just keep it exposed to sun. So long as you’ve got a temperature in there of 180 degrees or more, you’re cooking.

Another common way to make a solar oven is out of the bottom of a thick box used for shipping apples to the grocery store. Paint the OUTSIDE of the box with the BBQ grill paint, then line the inside of the box with something dark to absorb the heat and help with insulation. I recommend lining it with dark colored towels (you can staple the lining in). Then cover your open box with a heavy pane of plexi-glass or tempered glass like you would use to cover a coffee table. Put a covered, dark, thin-walled pan with your food inside the box and cook away.

Dark, thin-walled pans like this are ideal for cooking with in your solar oven. Photo c/o sunoven.com

I recommend using a lid on your cooking pan whenever possible when cooking in a solar oven. It ensures that the moisture and the nutrients stay a part of your dish. If you don’t have a dark, thin-walled pan and lid, put your food in a regular Pyrex casserole dish, cover it well with foil, and place a dark towel on top. The foil is to keep the moisture inside the dish and act as a seal. But foil exposed by itself will simply reflect the sun’s rays away—which is why we put the reflectors in our car windshields during the summer. Putting the dark towel on top of it helps to absorb the heat instead of deflecting it.

Solar cooking with a DIY solar oven usually takes longer cooking time than a well-built commercial one. But it’s better than not having that option. And besides, the kids seem to get a kick out of being able to do it yourself.

Copyright 2009 Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.  All rights reserved.  You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.

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By Kellene Bishop

I’ve have to admit I’ve got buckets on the brain right now. A friend suggested that I share with you why that’s the case. To put it simply it could just be because that’s how I alleviate anxiety. But for some of you, buckets may be a way to peacefully organize your storage items, including food and preparedness supplies, in a more strategic manner.

5 Gallon Buckets with Gamma Lid photo c/o Home Food Storage

I’ve stored food, medical, camping, and many other supplies in plastic buckets for as long as I can remember. They are tough enough to store nails in and very versatile. If there ever is a flood, I’ve ensured that a lot of the supplies in buckets will be undamaged, and if there is an earthquake, a great deal of the items will stay in tact and unbroken. I make sure that I use food-grade buckets only. When it comes to the lids, I use regular 5 gallon lids, but I have several gamma lids also. I replace the old lid with a gamma lid once I’m getting into the bucket regularly for items such as wheat, beans, and rice. The gamma lids have a great seal on the bucket, but can be easily unscrewed in the inner circle of the lid for my use. The gamma lids cost about $5 to $7, so that’s why I don’t just use them on all of my buckets. The 5-gallon buckets also have “toilet seats” for emergency sanitation. (I’d like to pat the guy on the back who came up with that idea.) I’ve been using 5 gallon buckets to store a great deal of my items almost exclusively until about 2 years ago. That’s when I discovered the 4 gallon square bucket.

4 Gallon Square Bucket with Flip Top Lid

Although only 42 years old, it doesn’t take much for me to throw my back out, so hefting a 5 gallon bucket isn’t exactly my favorite thing to do. Also, when I see a group of round buckets, I can’t help but notice the space I’m wasting—both inside and outside the buckets. So when I discovered 4 gallon square buckets, my biggest concerns were alleviated. They are manageable to lift, they store nice and tight with the wall and other items, and are easy to fill more thoroughly. They can also stack about 6 or 8 high comfortably (depending on the weight of the contents). While there isn’t a “gamma lid” contraption for the square buckets, there are rubber sealed lids with essentially a flip open top. Much like I use the gamma seal lids, I use these more rugged lids in place of the standard ones when I’m regularly using the contents of a square bucket. They even have a nice little “stay open” feature when I’m scooping contents out. Then all I have to do is snap the lid back into place.

Since discovering the 4 gallon square bucket, I’ve begun using them even more than before. One way I utilize them is by storing all of the contents of a particular meal in a bucket along with the recipe. This way, I don’t have to go hunting for the various ingredients when I go down to my pantry. And in the event of a survival situation, I can give myself some peace of mind without having to stress “what will I cook?” since I label the buckets according to the meals that are inside. Sometimes I have enough for 20 servings in each bucket, sometimes 50. It all depends on how “ingredient intensive” the meal is. For example, for my Chicken Poppy Seed casserole, I put the Rice-A-Roni in a FoodSaver bag (in its original box), along with the cans of chicken, cream of chicken soup, Ritz crackers, poppy seeds, powdered sour cream, salt, and pepper with a large label on the bucket that says “Chicken Poppy Seed Casserole.” I’ve created several recipes for items which are “pantry friendly” that I know the hubby and others already love and have buckets of these meals stored accordingly. Can I just tell you what kind of a peace it gives me to go into the pantry and see buckets of meals that actually sound good and are easy to make? I mean really, which would you rather see? A bucket labeled “wheat” or a bucket labeled “Beef Stroganoff?”

When I use items from the buckets (which I do all of the time) I simply replace the ingredients with future grocery shopping trips OR with other items I have in my supplies. Either way, what I don’t want is a false sense of security when I see labeled buckets. I want to know I can rely on them to have the meals inside. It’s also MUCH easier to take a semi-annual accounting this way.

Stacking Square Buckets photo c/o Preparedness Pro

Buckets are also great to keep other types of contents in them. For example, I’m frequently getting good deals on small bottles of olive oil. (Thank you, coupons!) Instead of stacking them on a shelf and leaving them to the wiles of an earthquake, I wrap them up with newspaper (again–thanks to coupons) and place them in a bucket marked “olive oil.” (Yes, I came up with that brilliant label all by myself. Hee hee.) Now, with these square buckets full of olive oil, I can easily and securely stack them on top of each other. Whereas with my large containers of olive oil that I got from a warehouse, all I can do is have their big selves take up space on the shelf or floor in a single layer. That sure is a waste of height, don’t you think? This way I’m not forced to shell out for expensive shelving for everything. The same goes with BBQ sauce, spices, salad dressings, etc. Some items simply come in awkward sizes and shapes, but the buckets sure make things nice and organized for me. Since I don’t buy my items “by the case” usually, I can’t store them that way. 

Here’s another thought. If I had only a day’s notice to move all of my things, wouldn’t it be a heck of a lot easier to take buckets out of the pantry than stopping to pack regular sized bottles or boxes of food and supplies?

I also use buckets for storing medical and hygiene items, as well as groups of supplies such as cheese waxing, egg preservation, sewing, dental, etc. This prevents me from purchasing or paying “too much”. What I mean by that is when I see deodorant on sale for 59 cents, I may think that’s a good deal. But when I go downstairs and see two buckets marked “deodorant,” I’m easily reminded that anything more than FREE is a bit expensive to me. In other words, when I know I’ve got a bucket full of a particular hygiene or medical item, chances are I already have enough and don’t need to spend the money.

Now remember, you can put diatomaceous earth IN your buckets of goods and prevent the insect critters from bothering anything. I would definitely put the DE in the bucket if it’s a grain, legume, rice, or pasta. But when you have a cluster of buckets full of items that don’t already come with their own supply of insects *grin*, then you can simply sprinkle DE around your grouping of buckets instead of putting it inside of them.

Where do you find these buckets? There’s several options. “Wally World” sells them, but I hate their prices. You can easily get used buckets that were used for food grade purposes. During the harvest season you can get them directly from fruit growers for 50 cents or so. You can also obtain them from bakeries in your local grocery stores for FREE. So try making a few calls and make the most of those options first. However, in many areas I’ve lived, getting them year round has been a challenge. Thus I’m in love with Five Star Preparedness as my bucket source for this reason. They have used, 4-gallon, food grade buckets all the time, and tons of them too. (You can get about 25-28 pounds of grain and such in each bucket.) Each used bucket and lid are $2 each. They guarantee that each bucket and lid will be in sound condition or they will replace it cheerfully. Even better, for those of you who are in Utah or who come through the area, if you pick up the buckets yourself they are only $1.50. They will ship them in increments of 20 all over the continental U.S. with no additional handling charge. Another option is that you can have them make a massive delivery to your area based on a minimum bucket order. Apparently they frequently have church and community groups that request these by the hundreds. The minimum bucket count for the order depends on where they are being delivered. You can also get the new lids that I mentioned as well for only $2.50 I found these same lids at “Wally world” for more than 3 times their price! You can visit them online at www.fivestarpreparedness.com or you can e-mail them at fulfillment [at] fivestarpreparedness [dot] com or you can call them during business hours at 801-734-9596 (which is answered in the same office as our executive answering service in Utah.)

So now perhaps you’ll look at buckets a bit more differently. Didn’t you know? Plastic is the new gold?

Copyright 2009 Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.  All rights reserved.  You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Preparedness Pro & Kellene Bishop.

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