Wednesday Prep Day

Good morning everybody! And what a lovely morning it is....ahhh. Today is a good day for 72 hr. kits because we're going to begin collecting water. Hooray! (We all know how important water is). Each person needs a minimum of two gallons, three is better. You can store water in five gallon jugs or cleaned Pete bottles. Milk jugs can be used too, but they may begin leaking after a year, so rotate them. Because this water will be with the 72 hr. kits, it's best to have something that can be carried - don't buy a 55 gallon drum for this. Another thing to remember about water storage...keep it off the floor as much as possible. And, always remember, water absorbs the smells of the place it's stored. If you keep it in the garage, it could taste like gas. Leave it on the cement, it may taste like dirt. Sweetened Tang, Kool-aid, or other drink flavoring can help mask unwanted flavor if you're worried.

For more information on water storage and purification, visit ProvidentLiving.com.

Now, how is your three months of storage coming? Do you have a plan? If so, keep pluggin' along. You'll get it. If you don't have a plan for your three month supply, lets make one together. To start, make a menu: seven breakfasts, seven or fourteen dinners. Seven's easier to plan, fourteen gives you more options.

1. Write the recipes for each breakfast and dinner down.
2. If you do seven meals, multiply the ingredients by 13 to find out exactly how much of each item you need for three months. If you do fourteen, you can multiply all of the meals by seven or half by seven and half by six. It's up to you.
   
3. Make a master shopping list.
   
4. Begin shopping always remembering to stick to your budget. Little by little you will cross all the items off. Just be persistent and patient.

This month, we are collecting Oats for our long-term storage. Liesa Card suggests a food storage program that fits the way we collect long-term storage on this site; although, there are many ways to go about gathering your storage.

Another way that makes sense is gathering a one year supply for one person at a time. (When you have one year gathered, just do it again). If you have one year for one person, you will also have a six month supply for two people, a four month supply for three, and so on. Isn't that COOL?! (I thought you might like it)! Happy collecting...