The Survival Mom Preps For the Seasons

3 thoughts on “The Survival Mom Preps For the Seasons”

1. 

   Tina

   September 17, 2010 at 6:36 am

   I must say that I am SO SORRY that I missed that Webinar. I needed to be listening. I am fairly new to this…while I have always had the mindset of a prepper, I never (food) prepped for more then 1-2 months at a time. This new phase of prepping started about a year ago with the purchase of some PM that I’ve been building on, then with other preps. (I know that you are going to tell me that I did it backwards but anyway…it was a start).

   My husband and I live in the country and all my grown children have married into families that are somewhat farming families, although none of them currently do it for a living.  
   LONG TERM Prepping is definately a mind set that I’m having a hard time instilling in my children (without freaking them completely out). We have spoiled them…always wanting to give them more then we ever had…and we did just that. Now, we (I’m incl the masses in this) have raised a generation that does not know what it is like to do without ANYTHING.
   At first my children thought that I was joking, then… when they realize that I’m serious…they then thought that I’ve lost my marbles.  My husband did the same thing but now realizes that it is important and has helped me organize and make list of what we have and what we need. Sometimes I think he looks at it like the Y2K thing (prep for nothing) but he humors me anyway.

   I have tons of questions and I’m not sure where to post them. I posted some on the shtf.com but those guy’s are…well…let’s just say “too filled with testostrone” to answer some of the questions I have. Any suggestions?? 

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2. 

   Tina

   September 17, 2010 at 7:43 am

   As I mentioned above I have many questions. Here are a couple:

   1). How do you calculate food portions…ie “how much rice per person for a year”…so you do not buy too much of any one thing.

   and more importantly

   2). What type of containers do you buy to store this in so that it remains free from contaminates….like bugs and mice.

   Tupperware is the only container that I know of that is truely…”air tight” other state they are but after using them I find that they are really not air tight.

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3. 

   Tess Pennington

   September 19, 2010 at 8:31 pm

   Tina,

   The webinar was great, and there were a lot of people from different prepping backgrounds listening.  The Survivor Mom did a great job.  Luckily for you, she will have more webinars to join in on.  It really was time well spent!

   Deciding to prepare for emergencies (big and small) is a big undertaking.  I broke up some of your questions to keep this organized.  I also linked to some articles I have written that will go into more detail.  I have a feeling it may be a bit long…. Here are a few things I learned that may help you out:

    

   Talking with Family Members

    

   Don’t worry about convincing family.  They will come to this realization in their own time.  My biggest piece of advise on this is to plant the seed and let the idea grow on them.  I have found that sitting family members down and talking to them scares them and they start thinking you are paranoid and need psychiatric help.  Let it happen naturally.  Start prepping, and show them some of your emergency supplies and typically they strike up a conversation about preparedness. 

    

   Surviving in a Crises

    

   I want to stress this, survival isn’t about stuff, it’s about skills.  Start developing your skills to help you survive.  Start gardening, take some EMT classes (emergency medical training).  Here’s an article I wrote on this subject.  Start dehydrating foods to store for a short term emergency, start learning how to make noodles to dehydrate, make your own bread (something I have not developed the knack for), etc.  The more practice, the better off you will be. 

    

   Getting Started

    

   To get started make a “list of lists.”  List your basic survival needs first (food, water, shelter, etc) and add Equipment, etc.  Here is a link to a spreadsheet over at James Rawles’ site:  list of lists information.  The best way I have found to prep (so that you don’t forget anything), is to start prepping for a 2 week emergency, and then add to that by prepping for a 3 month emergency, etc.  Since you are only adding to certain preps to each list it won’t overwhelm a person as much as prepping for the TEOTWAWKI. 

    

   Something that a lot of prepping sites are talking about is to make a Grab and Go Binder.  This will have detailed checklists, protocols, etc. on hand when you need it the most.  It basically is a guide to help you keep your preps and information organized.  Since all the school supplies are on sale right not, it shouldn’t cost you very much.  Here is an article I wrote on the subject.  Also, here are some checklists that I just made to go in my binder.

    

   Measuring Food Amounts

    

   Knowing how much a family needs requires you to sit down and make a list.  What foods do your families eat in a months time.  For instance, we eat a lot of canned tomatoes, so I normally have a lot of tomatoes in my pantry.  When you have made that list, multiply by 12.  Here is a link to help you out that has a lot of prepping calculators.  Once you get the food calculated out, just by a little each time you go to the store.  We don’t want you to break the bank! 

    

   Regarding wheat/flour – this is an essential item that needs to be in abundance.  Use this calculator to help you in calculating how much food a person needs per year.  Hard red wheat has the most vitamins, so if you can stock up on this.  To make flour, you will need a hand cranked wheat grinder – the best you can afford.

    

   Containers

    

   You want food quality containers.  This company has different size containers.  Basically you would want to buy a large enough container to store your rice, wheat, beans, etc in.  The lids are the most important part of the container, so get some good quality lids to go with the container.  And remember to label the containers!  My husband and I label the contents of the containers and the date that we packed it.  It helps in the grand scheme of things.

    

   Research

    

   The more reading you do on the subject of survival, the more informed you will be.  I have read a lot of book and manuals and they are all stocked up in our survival library for me to reference in case something happens.  Also there are free e-books that may be helpful.  I will try and list some on the site soon to help you out (check back in about a week and I’ll make a new section on my menu bar).  Here are a few subjects that may be of help to you:

    

   Homesteading The Little House on the Prairie cookbook, Homestead by John Seymour

   TEOTWAWKI – Patriots by James Wesley Rawles, How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It by James Wesley Rawles, One Second After

   Gardening – The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Edward C. Smith

   Survival – Special Forces Survival Guide, Survive! By Les Stroud

   Preparedness – Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage Stevens (one of the best in my library)

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