Creating a menu based on what you have and then only purchasing what is dramatically on sale is the mental shift I learned to accept over a decade ago. But I believe that it’s a necessary way for me to live as it required me to be diligent and focused on what I do have, rather than what I may want. That fits right in with my criteria of being more self-reliant. Sure there are times when nothing will do
As I’ve shared previously, “Alas, Babylon” is one of my favorite books relating to preparedness. I can read and reread it and still find myself making mental notes, “Oh yeah, I never thought of needing something like that.” For some reason the last read through had me really paying attention to the clothing aspect of preparedness. As such, I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts with you.
“In a crisis, your food supply is everything” claimed the front and center advertisement on a popular news website. Adding to the ridiculousness of the ad, a military scene is featured in the background, overtly attempting to insinuate that our nation’s faithful military will be helping those in need during an emergency scenario. Two things are really wrong with this picture. One, food is definitely NOT your “everything” in ANY crisis, and secondly, when there is a legitimate crisis, there’s absolutely no evidence that we have any reason to expect that the military will be present to render aid.
When it comes to milk, I’m fairly comfortable in my present state of readiness. I finally discovered a couple of palatable powdered milk options and so I’ve stocked up on that when it’s on sale, which brings its cost down to about 99 cents a gallon. It takes up quite a bit of space; but given the fact that I can make yogurt, ricotta cheese, sour cream, and buttermilk from it, I’ve been fine with that requirement. I was drinking my powdered milk regularly and using it for all of my cooking and baking needs until I read “The Untold History of Milk” by Ron Schmid. I became a convert to drinking whole, raw milk from that time on.
In light of California’s newest law to go into effect as well as the uncertain future regarding our access to quality foods, I am in a definite buying mood. “Buying what?” you may ask—ammo and seeds and just about anything that goes along with that including quality gardening tools, ammo storage containers, more range time for practice, etc. etc. If you’ve been too busy to see the recent news, allow me to catch you up to speed. (Important update: California ammo law has been shut down! Yah! http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=6128)
How would you like a chance to win a Global Sun Oven, a pressure cooker, a hand grinder and many other amazing prizes this year?
At least once a month in 2011 we will be promoting a special giveaway drawing. There are four ways to win:
1) Join our Preparedness Pro Facebook Group
2) Make a comment on the Facebook Group page
3) Make a comment on our blog on any of the articles
4) “Friend me” on Facebook (www.facebook.com/kellene)
What? You’re back again? Didn’t you get enough Preparedness Pro last year? No? Well, we’ll see what we can do about that this year. I mean after all of the reading you did last year, and the classes you attended, I expected you to be off and starting your own educational events and teaching others what you’ve learned. *grin* Well, there’s still nothing stopping you, but I still intend to be here and do whatever I can to help you help yourselves and those you care about to embrace a self-reliant life.
For those of you who are with us on our Facebook Group page, you may recall my posting a comment recently in which I vowed that in 2011 I would not hold anything back. (more…)
Last year about this time I recommended that all of our readers try a 48 hour experience in which they only used non-electrical sources for light for 48 hours. For those who did the experiment they discovered the hard way that what they had planned on for lighting didn’t exactly provide a suitable amount. Others found that the term “100 hours” is obviously broadly interpreted in the market. Still others found themselves a bit frustrated with the lack of mobility of light—something that we rarely take into consideration when we’re forced to use flashlights and candles everywhere we go in our homes. However, when I did this experiment I also realized some of these same inconveniences for myself when it came to needing alternative sources of light, but there was a problem revealed during my experiment that really gnawed at me for months. The problem was the serious compromise to the safety of my home as a result of needing to use candles, kerosene lanterns, and even flashlights.
Perhaps you may recall that several months ago I wrote an article that took the position that one of the greatest threats to our safety and security were actually your neighbors and friends. Sadly, this reality is being encouraged all over the nation at present in plain daylight. It’s undeniably reminiscent of the behavior of the German people during World War II when the friends of the Jews, even Jews themselves, would provide information to the German SS Army about their neighbors simply with the hope that they would be treated more favorably than what they were witnessing all around them. As such, some neighbors and friends even provided false information in exchange for a promise of a more comfortable life with the Third Reich in control. Sadly, today the DHS has kicked off their own version of such a scenario by encouraging Americans everywhere to be the eyes and ears of the community and to provide verbal testimony against any suspected perpetrator of domestic terrorism.
We truly wish for a very joyous and peace-filled season for everyone. I realize that there are some tables this year that will have an empty seat–a painful reminder of the loss of a loved one in times past. (I Read more…