Emergency Preparedness and Provident
Living Newsletter
February 2016
Do you
use the FIFO system for Food storage?
FIFO is
short for First in, First out. This
means that the foods you bought first, are the first ones you are using. Use the oldest foods first. This is the best way to ensure that nothing
gets too old and will be wasted.
Even if you
do not have a fancy food rotation shelving system you can do this. Always put the purchase date on your foods
and pull your older items forward. Put
the newest items in the back or on the bottom.
This is what they do in the grocery store. There are many free ideas and plans on the internet, just search for DIY rotating can rack ideas.
How long
will food last in cans such as vegetables and soups?
Lately as I
have been buying new canned goods I have been checking the “USE BY DATE”
stamped on the cans. It looks like they
are suggesting that you eat the canned goods within 2 years of production. No matter how quickly you eat things, it is
always best to store your foods in the coolest, darkest and driest place
possible to prolong the shelf-life. I had some store-bought green beans that
were 3 years past the expiration date and were gross. We could not eat them and we threw them
away. Home canned/bottled fruits and
vegetables in glass canning jars can last a lot longer and will still taste
good. Over time they will lose some of their vitamins and nutrition but will
still be good to eat. Light colored
fruits though will turn dark and not look as appetizing. You may decide to
store the light colored foods in the original cardboard canning boxes. Tape a label on the outside of the box and
put a date on it.
You can eat
foods in cans that have dents. Yes, you
can. But, keep in mind that you really should use those soon as the dent will
eventually cause deterioration in the metal and the food can spoil sooner. Just get a marker and write “Use me up soon”
on the lid and put it in front.
Use what you
have and replace it as you use it. First
in, first out!
Growing
and processing your own foods for true independence.
No man who relies on others for his food is truly independent. Now is the time to learn how to grow a
garden, even a small one. This is the
time of year to start buying your seeds and gardening supplies. Dedicate a spiral notebook to be your
gardening journal and start to sketch your garden plans in it. Gardening rarely turns out as good as we
hope. There is a big learning curve. Now
is the time to practice your gardening skills so you can become more
independent.
Preserving documents:
Before you
ever need to evacuate your home or if it is destroyed by a fire, flood or
tornado…you should have a plan for your vital documents.
There are
several options for making copies of your vital documents. Whichever method you choose is up to you but
you should have the copies stored in a different location. The BEST thing to have would be the ORIGINALS
or course, but if something happened to those, at least you could have copies
and your photo ID to get you back on the road to recovering from a disaster.
Documents
you would want to have preserved:
1) Birth or adoption certificates for
every person in your home.
2) Passports or Visas
3) Social Security cards
4) Insurance forms for life, car, home,
medical etc (include photos of the items and rooms)
5) Pet and human vaccine records
6) Marriage certificates
7) Advance Directives if you have any
8) Church records
9) A Fairly recent photo of each person
in the family.
10) Anything else that you really should
save.
Options
for having extra copies.
1) Take a large 3 ring binder and make copies and
place in sheet protectors and keep that in a different location. Or, keep the originals in the binder and have
that in a place where you can grab it quickly as you evacuate your home. Label it in a way that if your home was
broken into, a thief would not know what it is.
You might choose to do BOTH of these methods.
2) Scan all important documents and save the
digital copies onto a thumb drive or disk.
Keep the thumb drive or disk at a bank in a safe deposit box or at your
work in a safe or a trusted relative’s home.
Some people also choose to keep these in their 72 hr kit or bug-out bag.
3) No matter which method you choose
above, it is a great idea to keep your vital documents in a water-proof and
fire-proof safe in your home. Bolt the
safe to the floor and keep well hidden.
For more ideas on this subject just use your favorite internet search
engine or check out www.thesurvivalmom.com and
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net
4) Keep in mind that there are some
ready-made binders for this purpose for sale on line. They are expensive, but you can make your own
for pretty cheap. It does not need to be
fancy. I made our binder using a 2 inch
3-ring binder, sheet protectors and some dividers with tabs.
