Author: Margene

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Retort Canning - Make Your Own MREs - DIY Preparedness

Did you know that you can home-can food in a bag? You can with retort canning. It is basically the same as canning in glass mason jars, except you are canning in special Mylar-type bags called “Retort” bags.

This is a game changer!

says me

Just like being able to freeze-dry foods at home with the purchase of a freeze-dryer. You can now home-can in foil bags using a chamber vacuum sealer that can seal retort bags.

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If an earthquake, fire, other natural disaster or EMP/nuclear strike occur while you are away from home, having a “Get-Home” bag in your car could be a life-savor.  This is a great option for those who drive to and from work in their own vehicle. This bag is not a 72-hour kit or a car emergency kit, but a bag with items designed to help you get home as fast and safe as possible when you can no longer drive home.

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Family_Discussions_Before_an_Emergency_Post

Have you ever thought about how a calamity would directly affect your family?  Like natural disasters, disease outbreak, financial collapse or other events that would dramatically affect your lives. Maybe you’ve even bought some items to prepare of any possible situations, like extra flashlights, food storage, first aid kit and so forth.

One of the MOST CRUCIAL steps in being prepared for any catastrophe is to have a discussion as a family so everyone knows the plan and what to do.  When there is no discussion beforehand, there is more panic and fear when something does happen. And often no way of knowing what to do, especially for kids.

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Simple_Way_to_Prepare_for_a_Pandemic_DIY_Preparedness

When a deadly sickness rapidly spreads over a whole region, country or even the world, it is called a pandemic. A pandemic is known to emerge suddenly, often without warning, and be very infectious causing it to spread expeditiously.

Pandemics have been the deadliest threats in the history of mankind and have taken the lives of more individuals than all wars and accidents combined.  Nobody can predict when a pandemic might occur.

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DIY_Preparedness_Off-Grid_Cooking_Baking_Rocket_Stoven_Stove_Oven

I’ll just start out by saying that I love my Rocket Stoven!  It’s a Rocket Stove with a collar that allows me to add my stove pipe oven to it as well, thus it’s a stove and an oven, “STOVEN”.  I may actually enjoy cooking with this more than my cast iron Dutch Oven cooking!  We saw this demonstrated at a Preppercon Expo and decided to purchase one. (I am not affiliated with the seller or maker of this product). I will include a video of the demo I recorded at the bottom of this article.

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Solar_Power_for_Emergency_Preparedness

This is a guest post by my friend, Kenny Crandell

We live in an incredible age of technology that allows us amazing comforts. Even the poor these days live better than the kings of the past. One of the greatest achievements we have is the ability to harness energy from the sun called Solar Energy. This technology has come a long way and is quite affordable. We can have solar power for off grid situations such as cabins, camping or even emergency situations.

I’m going to give you a few ideas to start using Solar!

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DIY_Cooking_without_Electricity

When we are faced with catastrophic events such as EMP, earthquake, floods, natural disasters… and electricity is down how will we cook all the delicious food we have stored?

This part of your Emergency Preparedness mindset is essential. It begs one to think for every possibility and how to prepare for it.

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Chuck_Box_Rolling_Emergency_Kitchen_Kit

We went camping this October as a family as one last time to be together before my daughter headed out. It was a fun experience, yet I learned that I could be much more organized. We were making a Dutch oven dinner and dessert. I found that all the various items I needed were in different containers, on different tables. Often we were turning around asking where this and that was. It made things a bit more tedious than it needed to be.

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DIY_Preparedness_Art_Situational_Awareness

Keeping you and your family safe does not necessarily have to do with having the best gear. Self-defense knowledge and weapons are certainly helpful. A good security system can help you feel safer at home.  However, one single most important skill that can save your life above any gear you may have is learning the Art of Situational Awareness. Not only can developing this skill help you in a disaster scenario, but also in your current daily life.

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