A look back at how I have prepared for C-Day! (Collapse
Day) I started back in 1999 and then
when Y2K fizzled I slowed down to a crawl and even stopped a lot of my
prepping. Don't get me wrong I didn't
get rid of anything that I had acquired I just started living off of it. My husband lost his job and we had to give
our house up and eventually had to go bankrupt.
We moved into a rental and lived off the food storage that I had worked
so hard to can and dehydrate as well as the rice and beans and canned veggies. My son also had a similar story and he and
his family also ate from our food storage.
We ended up using most of the food and as we used it I didn't replace
it.
Then a few years ago when our house value started dropping
severely I started realizing that we needed to start prepping again and I
started getting back on the net and studying what I needed to do again. I refreshed my skills of canning and started
canning. I canned pear sauce and pear
butter from free pears I got from friends.
Then I started going to farm stands and picking up bushels of string
beans and tomatoes. I made salsa, and
tomato juice and canned tomatoes. Then I
started thinking about meat and every time chicken breasts went on sale I
canned between 10 and 20 pounds of it.
That got to be scary thinking we may be living off of chicken and tuna
only so I started buying large fresh pork roasts and canning them. Next came the beef roasts, mind you I got the
cheapest cuts possible such as chuck or round roasts then they were cut up to
fit into the jars and canned. The last meat I canned has been ground
beef. I learned a nifty way to do it
from the lady on Homestead Acres and I am still canning this ground beef as I
can find it on sale. I tried canning ham
and corned beef as well but the ham turns really dark when it is canned and it
doesn't look very appetizing . So I have
bought about 40 12 oz. and 1 lb. cans of ham from Walgreens when it has gone on sale for $2 a can. I also bought their canned crabmeat and clams
when they were on sale as well. Corned
beef I bought in cans from the commissary and Sam's Club but their price went
up and now neither of them seem to carry it anymore around here.
My canned vegetables I bought when they were on sale for
between 25 cents and 39 cents at the grocery stores as loss leaders. I would buy the limit and go back every day
during the sale for the limit again. I
also went many times to multiple stores and took my husband and granddaughter
with me to buy their limit as well so I now have about 400 cans of a variety of
vegetables. Most of them are corn,
creamed corn, string beans, and peas.
But about 175 cans of them are beets, limas, kidney beans, pork and
beans, sauerkraut, spinach, black eyed peas and garbanzo beans of which I bought
at about 50 to 65 cents. I also have
quite a bit of refried beans and some canned potatoes as well as many cans of
whole or diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste. I found many of my large cans of tomatoes for
88 cents and the 15 oz. cans for 45 cents at places like Big Lots and Ollies. You need to be careful of the dates when
buying from places such as these because some of the exp. dates will be within
6 months and that is why they get them cheap and sell them cheap. But I do buy the short exp. date cans if I
can use them in my kitchen pantry and use them up before the exp. date.
The next group of items I have stocked up on was rice which
I purchased at Sam's Club. I got enough
to feed 15 people for a year or two and also enough to make rice milk for those
members of my family who are allergic to dairy.
I purchase 24 boxes of various Betty Crocker potato products such as
scalloped, and au gratin for 40 cents a box after sale and with coupons. I purchased a rice a roni type mix at savalot
grocery for 49 cents a box and keep about 30 boxes on hand. I also bought two cases of macaroni and
cheese like Kraft makes for 25 cents a box.
I bought instant mashed potatoes when on sale at the commissary and got
probably 100 lbs. of a variety of dried beans and lentils and peas from the
commissary which I accomplished by buying 4 packages every time I went shopping
over a year or so.
Now for condiments, that was fun, I tried buying them a
couple at a time as I went to the grocery and then I got into extreme couponing
and started watching for rock bottom prices in June and July and saved my
coupons and ordered many from Coupon Masters on the net. I ended up getting almost all of my mustards,
barbeque sauces, salad dressings, and ketchups for less than 15 cents each and
some were free. Mayonnaise and Miracle
Whip style salad dressing I got for
about half price. I did the same thing
with jellies, jams, and preserves. I
couldn't get very good deals on steak sauces and Worcestershire sauce so I went
to Dollar Deals which is a Dollar Tree store.
The sauces were $1 each. Not bad
considering many of these are $4 or more such as Heinz 57 or A1 Steaks. Of course they are a generic brand but they
taste very similar to the name brands.
Over the last few years I made several orders to Emergency
Essentials and Honeyville for dehydrated foods and wheat berries when they were
on sale. I then kept reading that LDS
Cannery was allowing non members to can foods and buy bulk grains and beans so
I called and made an appointment and showed up.
They were very nice and helpful.
They taught me how to do it and even jumped in and helped. Didn't take but about 2 hours for me to can
50 lbs of mashed potato flakes, 50 lbs. of oatmeal, 50 lbs. of non instant milk
powder, 25 lbs. of Tang, 25 lbs of hot cocoa mix, and 50 lbs of onion flakes
and 50 lbs of carrots. I then bought
bulk red and white hard winter wheat and bulk pinto beans. I also bought a few cans of Navy Beans and
Black Beans. Of course all of their
foods are dried and dehydrated and are not freeze dried but their prices were
super reasonable compared to EE or Honeyville.
As far as Coffee and Tea.
I have bought them both on sale 2 to 4 cans or boxes at a time when I
find them on sale. Sam's has large
containers of Non Dairy Creamer which I buy 1 or 2 each time I go there. The non Dairy Creamer will be used to make
Dry milk creamier and a better consistency for drinking or cereal as well as
for coffee. I have bought Koolaid on
sale for 10 cents a pack and stocked up on Lemonade or Pink Lemonade mostly but
also got punch and grape and a few other flavors for a change of pace. The Tang that has a 100% of Vit. C daily
allowance will be kept for breakfast drink only to make the Tang last for as
long as possible. If someone catches a
cold they will be allowed 3 or 4 glasses a day.
As far as treats are concerned I have bought hard candies
when they are on sale after Halloween and Christmas. I have lots of mints, red hots and a variety
of other candies. I bought brownie mixes
when they were on sale and used coupons.
But I think my best buy was when I happened on Betty Crocker cake mixes
at the commissary for 65 cents on sale
and they had coupons and there were no limit on what you could buy. It ended up costing me 32 cent a box and I
bought 27 boxes of German chocolate, fudge and yellow cake mixes. Now I have to find the recipes to turn these
into cookies and snack cakes so that I don't have to make just cakes from them. We are not really fond of eating cake with
frosting but do enjoy a variety of desserts. I also have bought a large variety
of jello and pudding mixes. Puddings
taste just fine with instant milk or non instant dried milk. I was surprised at how good it tasted.
I am now trying to buy jars of cheese whiz and nacho
cheese. I figure they will last longer
than fresh cheese in my food storage. I
have some Cheddar Wheels that are waxed that should last for years in the
refrigerator. I guess it will just get
sharper with age.
I have many other foods such as condensed soups, home canned
soups, chili, corned beef hash, sardines, and a good quantity of Salmon. I have about 400 cans of chunk light tuna
because it is a favorite of our and versatile.
Of course since they are 5 ozs. each they will go pretty quickly if our
extended family is with us after the collapse.
I also have a few packages of dry soups and couscous. I got a really good deal of canned spaghetti
sauces in many different flavors. I bought
about 50 cans at about 69 cents a piece. I also have lots of spaghetti, rotini,
macaroni, penne, fettucini, etc. and
also egg noodles.
I have 45 lbs of grits which we like for breakfast and we
use it with seafood and it is even good with cheese added to it to serve as a
starch with a meal like chili or with ham.
I bought several cases of ravioli which I got for 59 cent a can. I figured they would be good for times when
we can't do more than heat food slightly.
In a pinch you can eat them cold and you don't need water to fix them.
My canned fruit is a variety from #10 cans of apple slices
and banana slices to 1 pound cans of peaches, pears, pineapple, and fruit cocktail. I also have a good supply of raisins, cranberries,
dates, and prunes in dried forms.
I have not mentioned some other things in my storage. 200 lbs of bread and all purpose flour, 400
lbs. of sugar, 300 lbs. of salt and lots of very large plastic bottles of
spices. I have approximately 6 large bottles
of cinnamon ( Hubby and I are diabetic) so we use a lot of cinnamon. I have Curry powder, cumin, Italian
seasoning, oregano, basil, bay leaves, lemon pepper, chili powder, turmeric,
paprika, Steak rubs, and chicken rubs,
cayenne, garlic, and some others I can't think of right now. I also have 2 gallon bottles of black pepper. I have 6 lbs. of yeast and large bags of
baking soda and a large jar of baking powder.
I have 6 pints of vanilla and many smaller jars and bottles of less used
spices, herbs and flavorings. Also I
have about 5 lbs. of chicken bouillon cubes and 5 lbs of beef bouillon cubes.
I know this sounds like an awful lot of food but I have 13
people in my household and extended local family. I am the one in the family doing the food
storage. If anyone does come to stay
with us long term they will be required to bring with them all their food from
their homes as well as all their clothes, bedding, weapons, ammo, portable
lights and batteries as well as portable radios, walkies, etc.
There is no way we can support everyone so everyone has to
contribute, cutting wood, helping with the garden and fruit trees, helping with
the rabbits, trapping squirrels and wild rabbits, fishing, purifying
water. Canning and dehydrating foods,
washing clothes and hanging on the lines, trapping wild geese, I would try to
domesticate the wild geese by clipping their wings and feeding them well. Their fresh eggs would be very welcome. At that point I don't care what the city will
allow. Someone in the group will be in
charge of sprouting seeds and beans probably one of the children or a couple of
them. Someone else will be in charge of filtering water and
boiling it or treating it. I will be in charge of menu planning and probably
most of the cooking. I want to stretch
the food as far as I can and still keep everyone fed well enough to keep them
healthy. I am the only one who can make
bread at the moment so I will be teaching that skill to one of the other women
or a couple of them so that they can share that load. I believe it will be quite
a bit of work to keep everyone in bread, rolls and buns. All dishes of course will be washed by hand
and every member of the family will wipe their own dishes off and then wash
them in a tub of hot soapy water and rinse them and put them in a drainer.
Different people will have to take their turn at scrubbing pots, pan, and
bowls. Foods will have to be cooled to
room temperature and then packaged and put into cooling jars or put in a winter
cooler on the porch. All this is if we
don't have power anymore. We have 180
kilowatts of PV solar power which will be for recharging computer, and phones
if they work and lights and fans. I will
probably use either the Kitchen Mixer or bread machine to knead the bread for
me to lighten that load but will bake the bread in the solar oven or box oven
on the wood stove or grill. All cooking
will be done by several different methods, solar oven, wood stove in winter,
rocket stove, propane grill, open fire (campfire) cooking, or buddy burner and
hobo stove cooking. Clothing will be
washed in a large tub or in my wonder washer.
I will reserve the wonder washer for underclothes and light weight
clothes like blouses shorts and the like.
They are not that sturdy to hold up to much washing of bed linens or
jeans. Pillow cases would do well in the
wonder washer though.
We live on 1 1/8th acre of land. The buildings take up about a quarter of it
or so and we will try to dedicate as much as possible to gardening or raising
rabbits or captured geese hopefully.
I hope that the gardens will
produce properly. With reports of
droughts and strange weather around the country I do worry about it. I will ask that everyone in the family put at
least 1 full hour a day into weeding and picking off bugs. The food grown in that garden will be worth
its weight in gold. The food I have will
not last forever especially if have all 13 and maybe more in our home. We have
2600 square feet in our house and a one car detached garage and 2 good size
sheds and one small tool shed. I have
thought of cleaning out the garage and putting screen door and windows in it
for air flow and then putting some of the party out there to sleep at night if
it seems safe enough with one or two people on guard to watch the garden at
night. I would hate to be almost ready
to harvest and then have it all stolen by the lazy neighbors who won't grow a
garden.
As far as the neighbors go, I was thinking about asking them
to grow gardens in their backyards if we till them for them and give them
seeds. Then they will have food for
themselves and their families. One of
the reasons I have so much rice is so we can give the neighbors something to
help them survive. If they grow a garden
of their own and have some rice they have a chance at least. Maybe we can teach them to trap squirrels and
rabbits. There is also a good size group
of raccoons in my neighborhood as well.
We live within walking distance of the river and some creeks so there
should be crabs and fish available with the right persistence. I know many will leave their homes and will
probably die the first winter. We live
in a neighborhood with many older retired folk.
I know we can't take care of everyone so we will be concerned with our
immediate neighbors on all sides of us which will be about 10 houses. I imagine some of those will be abandoned by
those going to stay with their families. We have a house across the street from
us that is a Veterans Home. There is 4
to 5 people there and they mostly are in their late 60's and 70's. They are men who can't really be alone for
health reasons or are recuperating from surgeries but don't need nursing just
some ordinary home care. The lady who
cooks and cleans is trained to give CPR, regular first aid and to give the men
their medication. There is a younger man
who is about 35 who stay there all night every night to watch over them in case
of emergencies. I would suppose that
some of these men might be able to stand a watch early in the mornings or later
in the evenings to help with security if we give them walkie talkies to use to
alert us. They have a full view of our
front area and we could also watch their front area when they are resting. Turn about fair play? Hopefully the
neighborhood will work together if it is needed.
As far a weapons go, we have our hunting guns and self defense
weapons which I hope never to have to use.
We have enough ammunition and cleaning equipment. I don't like to talk about the security side
of our preparations. That is not my
department and my husband does not feel we should let the world know what we can or
can't do to defend ourselves. That is a
taboo subject. Subject closed.
Well, I hope this gives you an idea of our
preparations. Of course I left lots out
like the camping gear we have and the candle storage as well as wind up radios
and wind up lanterns and the flashlights and batteries and all the medical
supplies as well as the many books to help us with our survival and medical
needs as well as all the board games and cards for entertainment. The three little kids 6,8, and 11 will be
doing chores to stay busy and home schooling and then will have time for games
and puzzles as well as reading.
hopefully the electronic equipment will be able to be used for watching
movies once in a while. We have one
laptop that is put in a faraday cage along with many movies that are put away
for the pleasure of the kids especially.
The changes will be hardest on them I believe. They will see a side of the world they have
never been aware of and have to adapt quite suddenly. I hope to have a Sunday School for them and
the adults that wish to attend each Sunday.
I have one hymnal and many Bibles
so I guess we could muddle through.
Prayer is always a comfort and singing is uplifting even if it is the
old time songs or the children's songs.
I will end this tome with this thought, with God's help and
our earnest preparation of all that we can accomplish no matter to what extent
it ends up being when the collapse
arrives we will not go down without heartily trying to survive to the best of
our ability. God bless everyone who
reads this and may God protect us all during the dire times ahead.
Gram of:
Gram's Survival
Kitchen
