Water Storage

                                 
With everything that has been going on back east and around the world lately I thought I would share one of my tips on storing water for an emergency.  Perhaps the only thing more important than food in a long-term emergency is water. FEMA recommends that you store at least one gallon of water, per person, per day
Even the food you do have probably needs water to be cooked. Where we live we only drink bottled water so once we are done with our 24 packs of water we save the cardboard that is in the bottom of the pack and I fill the empty bottles with tap water and I put a C on the cap (standing for cooking or cleaning) then this way I know what water to use for things as simple as washing our hands, boiling water for meals etc... the nice thing is with these they are easily stack able with the cardboard as a divider and two, they are in a smaller portion size for smaller uses where you don't have to open your long water storage for a small project. I am sure there are TONS of ways out there for storing water but this is something that works the best for my family.  If you are already drinking bottled water you have an easy storage idea right here, give it a try here is some pictures on mine to give you an idea . Enjoy :-)

Freezer Jam!?

I am all about simple. Some of you might think this is a not so fun thing to blog about but, let me tell you, I am SOOO excited I tried this. I can not tell you how EASY freezer jam really is! Why have I not been making this for YEARS??? I have always heard people talking about making jam and slaving in the kitchen all day long. My thoughts were, not for me. So I never thought I would make jam until...I found out they make instant pectin!! I am telling you this is the most DELICIOUS jam you will ever taste and it literally takes no time at all to whip some up. Today I made 28 batches of some raspberry and strawberry jam. Here is what I did:

• Buy some packs of instant pectin (you need one per batch)
• Get the fruit you want (I think raspberry and strawberry work the best) you need 2/3 cups of mashed or mixed fruit for each batch
• Sugar (it says to use 2/3 cups but I used 1/2 cup or you could even use 1/3 cup)
• Potato hand masher or blender ( I used a whisk for the raspberries and my Ninja Pro blender for strawberries)
• Shallow square stack able freezer safe containers

Here come the hard stuff...wink wink ;)

Mash your fruit to the consistency you want

 pour the sugar and pectin in a separate bowl

dump in 2/3 cups of your mashed fruit stir it all in

dump it into your container (the ones I used let 2 batches fit into each one, you don't want them filled to the very top though)

Let it sit for 30 mins

THAT IS IT!! I told you it would be a simple. Then just put the ones you wont be using right away after they sit up for 30 mins into the freezer they will stay good for a little over a year. You can't beat that! You will want to have a piece of toast in the morning with it, a PB&J sandwhich with your kids for lunch...ok I will stop. Ya, I am excited =)

Emergency SOY Candles

Soy candles that will last 40 hours, great for an emergency. Soy is all natural and not harmful. I saw this on a website and thought I would try them out myself too. They are super easy to make. If you think about it, when you don't have any light in an emergency. You really only need about 4-5 hours a night for candle use. Here is what I did.

 

                         You will need 5 lbs of Soy candle wax, I got mine at Hobby Lobby, mason jars,
                                                    candle wicks (I got mine on amazon)

Put the wax in a double broiler until melted

I put foil on a cookie sheet so it would catch the drips while I poured

What the wax looks after it is melted

Just dump it in all your jars and leave a little room at the top. You can see in this picture how it starts setting up.(I only wish I had a candle wick center, holder. it would have made it easier but, it worked fine without one too.)

                                                I cut the wicks after they were all set up

The finish product. These are so easy to make. I feel good that I now have 400 hours of light if we need it!!

Being Prepared

Since I am a coupon shopper. I have been working on getting our food storage and 72 hour kits all up to date. My goal for the next couple of months is, to have a 1 year supply of water and food. Here are some great links that I LOVE for this kind of stuff. There are a lot of FREE printables as well. Enjoy!
Monthly Helps
http://freebies2deals.com/2011/08/72-hour-emergency-go-bags.html
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/08/emergency-survival-72-hour-kits.html
http://dealstomeals.blogspot.com/search/label/Emergency%20Preparedness (this is one of my Fav. so much info)