Wednesday's Prepping Challenge - 05-14-14

Today I saw the eye doctor.  Prescription remains the same.  That was the good news!  The BAD news - I drove by McDonalds!  One Caramel Frappe later I arrived at my appointment!  Good news - I behaved ALL the way home - which was about time!

Meals
B:Poached eggs, toast Eggs I have on hand.  Toast from WW bread I made earlier this week from homeground flour 
L:Cheese sandwich - bread is pita bread made from WW.  Cheese purchased last weekend.

D:Fish croquettes, mashed potatoes, parsnips, green peas and mushrooms, baked apple.  Fish - tuna - cans on sale - I bought 6 cans - need more for once a week fish (salmon, sardines, tuna, mackerel) for year - Working on 3 month food supply = 13 cans of fish (any combo).  Potatoes, parsnips, green peas, mushrooms and apples - bought in last week - I ate all my potatoes, the parsnips didn't, and you can never have too many peas or mushrooms or apples!

Other Things to Do Today
Yesterday in addition to a lot of other stuff, I also tried to focus on an emergency kit.  Some folks call it a "bug-out" kit.  some call it plain silly!  But then those latter folks probably have never been in zero weather with an inoperable fireplace (idiots who lived her before converted to gas heat - which doesn't work now either!) with a chimney that needs MAJOR attention - like re-building type of attention! - and had the electric go out with, according to what I was told, no way to reconnect for at least 2 weeks.  I'd like to say I'm allergic to cold!  Yup - that's what I would like to say!  For sure I don't like it!  And this is something that definitely needs attention in my overall preparedness.  I can cook - using a dutch oven or even a chicken frying skillet to hold charcoal briquets or even a small (VERY small) wood fire.  But that HAS to be done outside because of concerns re the smoke and carbon monoxide poisoning.  which, of course, means the house is STILL unheated!  I can't afford a generator - so not sure what the answer is.

Anyway - back to the emergency kit - which came in handy - grab and go - where?  to Nathan's, of course.  To be sure it was a modified emergency kit (which means I also grabbed some other stuff as well!)

At any rate - that needed to be replenished.  As does the water which I used up intending to replace it - and didn't!  However, water is easy - unless I want something hermetically sealed - which is a whole different thing.

However I also want to start focusing on my 3 months storage as well.  Which means thought out meals, etc. and is still fairly easy and doesn't have to be done at once.  Again Food Storage Made Easy http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/ is my guide.  Just buy in, or can, a bit extra each and every time.  First however it is necessary to figure out WHAT I want - and then how much I like whatever it is (I write down the item and then use a rating scale 1-3 with 3 being most liked! Then multiply each rating by the number of units - cans, jars - that I need.  Thus - for strawberries - being a strong 3 I would probably want once a week - so would need 13 cans or jars or frozen bags, while for gooseberries, I would want once every 3 - 4 weeks - and so would need only 4 cans, jars or frozen bags.

At the same time Ball canning used to suggest that for a family of 4, 57 quarts of fruit would be needed.  I'm sorry, but that wouldn't last very long at all in this household!

GO AND DO

• DONE Post office
• DONE Eye appointment
• DONE Exercise - 15 - 30 or more a day
• DONE 3 meals a day

HOUSE - springtime decluttering - and freecycling

• ZONE 3 
• DONE Bath - Zone 3
• DONE Laundry Room - Zone 3

STUDIES - (NOTE - will work on week's assignments - Mon AM to update from weekend frenzy)

• THE EARTH
• DONE Review TOL 72 - 75
• DONE Lapbook - notes
• EXERCISE - week 5 (increase times and add a routine - date/3 + R)
• Yoga B wk 5  (date/3 +2)
• DONE 05/14
• MATH
• DONE 89
• RUSSIAN
• DONE Continue Daily review
• DONE Lesson 9
• HANDWRITING
• Book A
• DONE W

KITCHEN

• MAIN DISHES
• DONE Fish croquettes

QUILT  (Depending on what I finish today - I may add other projects!)

• SOME ARE DONE LE - Jamestown Landing - String  blocks

Learned

1. While Ball Canning may give an AVERAGE number of jars, etc. to be canned for a family of 4 - they haven't figured on MY family!  Therefore - figure out WHAT I like, how much I like it - and go from there!
2. Emergency kit  - needed - both in terms of the car (who HASN'T been stuck in a really bad snowdrift - esp. when low on gas! and miles from wherever!) as well as personally (a grab and go for those lovely times you are evacuating due to power outage, nasty REALLY  nasty cold weather, and plummeting thermostat temps - or when all the creeks in the area decide to stage a major uprising and your house runs the risk of flooding with or without you in it!)
3. Prescriptions of meds - still a major thingy - but what about eye glasses, hearing aids, batteries and so on.  Those need to be attended to as well.  I'm lucky - appt today - and I don't need to change my prescription - but I DO have a copy of my prescription just in case I develop a really bad case of lose-my-head-itis and I need my glasses after all.
4. When in doubt - buy tuna or other basic staple food.  Comes in handy!  
5. Homemade lemonade is every bit as good as McD's caramel frappe!
6. So is my homemade hot mocha! (NOTE to myself - I'm out of Nestle's Quik - an essential mocha ingredient!)