Eat what you store

First.  A few weeks ago I went to get some cooking oil from our storage area.  I discovered to my dismay that well over half of my oil had gone rancid.  I’m not sure if I had a tempurature fluxuation or what happened.  Bottom line:  I was almost out of oil.  Fortunately it didn’t ruin my dinner plans, but imaging discovering that your oil was bad in the middle of a crisis?  The oil was out of date, but my previous experience has lead me to believe that generally oil has more longevity than is stamped on the bottle.

Second.  I was really craving a pot of beans.  I soaked the beans over night, and gave them plenty of cooking time.  At dinner time I had a nice tasting but crunchy bowl of soup.  I was really bummed.  Not only did the beans not turn out, but now I need to replace that bucket, because the beans were too old.

These two stories are related in that I discovered old/past date food, but not in a time of crisis.  I’m eating my food storage, so I have the ability to find these kinds of things before I’m in a serious pinch.

Store what you eat

This brings me to my second point.  It is really important to store items that you will eat on a regular basis.  There are a number of reasons for this, most of which have been brought up before, but which probably are worth repeating:

1. Keeps your food storage fresh.
2. Makes sure that you don’t have dietary issues when you suddenly switch your diet in a time of emergency.
3. Gives you the skills to make and prepare your food storage items.
4. Lowers food costs.  It is sort of silly to have two complete sets of food in your house.  Make those bulk sales work for you.

I’m sure there are more reasons but this is why I use my food storage.

To finish up this post I thought I would share a funny article I came across today.  Disclaimer: I seriously doubt this would actually store well, but it proves my point of storing what you will eat.

Everyone loves pizza right?  Why not store pizza in a Jar?

Photo by 1 Fine Cookie

Photo by 1 Fine Cookie

To help with this, coupon/frugality blog “Living Richly on a Budget” has a nice list that gives general timeframes that should give you ideas on when to buy. The list breaks out on each month the various holidays that have sales associated with them, as well as general harvest times, and grocery themes that most chains subscribe too. These are important as manufacturers and stores often work together to get the best deals during these sales. Combine smart use of coupons, along with planned bulk purchases and you can get that much more food into your families budget and storage.

An example of their January information:

National Oatmeal Month: Quaker
Diet Foods: Healthy Choice, South Beach, Lean Cuisine, Special K, Kashi, Smart Start, 100 Calorie Packs, Yogurt
Super Bowl Sunday: Pepsi, Coke, Chips, Dips, Cheese, Sandwich Items, Crackers, Snacks, Wings
Seasonal Produce: Oranges, Pears, Grapefruit, Tangerines, Broccoli, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Chard, Collards, Kale, Kiwi, Avocado, Cabbage, Spinach
Clearance: Christmas Decorations, Toys, Wrapping Papers,
Winter Health: Cold Medicines and Vitamins

Living Richly On A Budgets’ Grocery Sale Cycles. I’d recommend using their nice printable version to keep a list along with whatever binder/clipboard or other organizational tool you use to keep track of your preparedness supplies.

After the break you’ll find a complete unboxing and review of the 7 liter Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker as well as an introduction to thermal cookers and why they matter to preppers.

Unboxing

First things first, here are some pictures documenting the unboxing process.

This is what is shipped to you, a fairly plain cardboard box with the shipping label, etc. attached.

Opening the box reveals a well packaged inner box cushioned by some foam peanuts.

Here is the inner box removed. It has a handle built into the box to facilitate removing the box from the packaging. It also makes a nice storage box for the cooker later on.

Saratoga Jacks has done a nice job in branding the box.

The full logo is on the side of the box.

Once the box is opened, there is an instruction sheet with some bad English translations. We’ve been told that a new set of instructions and a recipe book will be included in any cookers purchased in time for Christmas. The cooker is cradled by an upper and lower piece of Styrofoam to protect it while in the box.

Further protecting the finish on the cooker is a plastic bag.

Finally, the cooker is revealed. What you can’t see in these pictures is a sturdy fold down handle for carrying the cooker.

With the lid open, there is an pot lid and some foldable handles in evidence.

Removing the lid reveals a small pot inside a larger pot.

The small pot has been removed.

The thermal cooker with all the internal pots and lids removed.

What is a Thermal Cooker?

So, if you are like me you are wondering what a thermal cooker is and how does this fit into being a prepper? A thermal cooker is essentially a crock pot that does not use any electricty or fuel source to cook food. Given that cryptic explanation you might be asking yourself how this works. To illustrate this, let me explain how we recently cooked a nice dinner in our cooker. You might also want to review a post Jayce did several years ago on cooking oatmeal and cereals in a Thermos.

We started off by putting some rice in the small pot with some water. Next we put some chicken, chopped vegetables, potatoes and some stock and spices into the larger pot. Both pots were put on our gas stove and brought to a hard boil. After boiling for about 4 solid minutes we pulled both pots off the stove and placed them in the thermal cooker, sealing the lid.

Six hours later we opened up the cooker and had a nice, piping hot meal from straight from the cooker. The cooker is a highly insulated container which due to its insulation efficiency loses very little heat over time. When you place a partially cooked but hot meal into the cooker then seal it, the heat is contained in the cooker and the contents continue to cook due using the thermal mass of the meal itself.

Prepper Usage

From a prepper perspective this allows for a very efficient use of fuel. Rather than simmer something on the stove for hours you can instead minimize the amount of fuel consumed by putting the pots into the thermal cooker after a few minutes of heating. Your camping stove for example would be on for 5 minutes rather than for 40 minutes. We’ve also found that this is a great way to prepare food in advance to take along with us.

If we know we will be traveling for several hours we can prepare a meal in the thermal cooker and bring it along with us. After several hours, when it is time to eat, the meal has fully cooked without the need for continuous fuel use. This also removes the worry of leaving a crock pot on during the day while you are away. I don’t like to do this as it presents a possible fire hazard. A thermal cooker eliminates this concern for my family.

I don’t have direct experience with some other competing thermal cookers, but I do know that this product is made well from quality components. There are currently two sizes available, a 5.5 liter and a 7 liter model. In order to reduce heat loss to the air, you want to be sure to use the correct sized model for your needs. A partially filled cooker will not maintain heat with the same efficiency as a full cooker due to heat loss into the air gap above a partially full cooker.

The Thermal Cooker also makes for a nice cooler. In the same way that the cooker’s insulation seals in the heat, it can be used as a cooler to keep things cold for reasonably long periods of time. This provides a secondary usage for this tool and helps us to limit uni-tasker devices in our preps.

Critiques

The 5.5 liter model will cook a meal for 3-5 people while a 7 liter will hold a meal for 6-10 people. You’ll want to use the model that fits the size of the meal you are cooking. Sometimes it isn’t convenient to cook a larger meal just to fill a cooker, and I don’t want to have to buy two cookers to handle both small and large meals. To that end I hope that Saratoga Jacks comes up with an add on to the 7 liter model perhaps consisting of an insulated sleeve and a small pot that would allow you to efficiently cook a smaller meal in the larger cooker without needing to purchase a complete cooker.

Word of Caution

One additional note that perhaps doesn’t need to be said. The thermal cooker is NOT meant to be heated directly. You heat the inner pots OUTSIDE the cooker, then place the hot pots into the cooker. The cooker has plastic components which will melt should you attempt to put the cooker over a flame or other heat source. Heat the pots, not the cooker! :)

Conclusion

Overall my wife and I have both enjoyed using this new tool. It has the potential to save us money on gas and electric bills and can reduce fuel consumption in an emergency. If you are interested in this, give them a call. If there is enough interest we may try running a group buy as well to save our readers some cash on these cookers.. Please post a comment below and we can answer any questions you might have about this review.

Ova-Easy Hearty Whole Eggs.  My first thought was just another freeze-dried, or worse, powdered egg.  But I had to read.  Turns out this is a newer process to long-term egg storage. Crystalized whole eggs, no preservatives.

Process

According to the Nutriom web site (the Ova-Easy manufacturer), crystalized eggs are dried in a very low heat evaporative manner so that the eggs arent’ cooked in the drying process.  This leaves a fine, sandy crystal instead of the powder you usually see with a dehydrated egg.

Using Ova-Easy Eggs

This is the part that can often be scary.  Up on a mountain with several very hungry guys, who are awaiting your breakfast.  Sometimes experiments like this dont’ turn out well, and you’d better have some backup oatmeal ready to go quick. However, this time I was lucky with my gamble.

I started out by opening the small package show above.  The package claimed it held one dozen eggs in crystallized form.  Based on the size I was a little leery, even knowing how much of an egg is water, it seemed awfully small.  I poured in the yellow sand and added the water required and watched for a second.  It really did look just like water on sand, and I had a quick fear that this was not going to mix!  The two just sat separate from each other, not even attempting a familiar clumping that you might see with most powdered mixes.  But then I began to actually stir, and it was amazing how quickly it turned into a quicksand, and then into straight up mixed eggs, just like you would see if you had cracked several for yourself.

Results

As the eggs were cooking, I tossed in the basics: Green onion, black pepper, salt, cheese, etc.  The resulting scramble mix was served on tortillas as seen.  And the hunger riots among my friends stopped. This was real egg, real good, on a backpacking trip.  As for the amount, it really was about a dozen “Large” eggs.

OvaEasy vs Powdered

No contest. The only thing powdered eggs have going for them here is that you can actually make them at home. But the taste is totally different. OvaEasy actually tastes like eggs, whereas the powdered always have a funny flavor.  Check out the OvaEasy page for some other great information regarding different molecule buildup in powdered eggs as well!

OvaEasy vs Freeze-dried

Apples to Oranges here. Freeze-dried eggs are simple, and tasty. But they are also more expensive, and you are buying a meal as-is. These are just eggs, that you can use for cooking anything. So if you’re like me and at times enjoy cooking something a bit more fancy on the trail, freeze-dried won’t work for you.  This is just a raw ingredient in packable form, instead of a processed meal.

OvaEasy vs Real

Now I’ve done plenty of camps where I’ve taken real eggs. Often I’ll just pre-crack the eggs into a small dish that I can seal, and often freeze them.  But for backpacking OvaEasy makes this much nicer, especially on a long trip.  They also have a well tested shelf life, tested at a true 7 years. Although companies may advertise a long shelf for a variety of reasons they generally never last as long as the label claims.

Should you be cooking something that needs just the whites, there is a separate “Just Whites” product.  The product being reviewed is an already mixed full egg in this package so you will need to purchase two products if you want to use both egg whites and whole eggs. Real eggs of course allow you to do this without having to buy different products.

Of course you’ll pay a premium to buy eggs processed and packaged in this manner, so of course plain old eggs will be cheaper but for quick and easy not to mention safe packability, OvaEasy is going to win most of the time.  Given these benefits, the price isn’t that bad.

Conclusion

OvaEasy is now one of my go-to products for camping. They taste ‘right’, they are lightweight and they store well.  In the case of long term food storage, it is obviously better to have some chickens around giving you fresh eggs. However, most people don’t have that, and with the powerful nutritional value of eggs, you should definitely look at adding these to your storage.

OvaEasy Powdered Whole Egg (4.5 oz Bag)

OvaEasy Powdered Whole Eggs – Case (12 x 4.5 oz Bags)

What made this choice even better was the timing. I just happened to be heading up that weekend with the guys for a little man-camp time.  What a better way to test things out.

One of my favorite things about this sample was that they sent the individual portion boil-bags, perfect for backpacking.  When you are storing for your long-term food supply, you’ll likely be looking at larger amounts of food, probably #10 cans.  For hiking though, these are perfect.

On a long hike, freeze-dried food really shines.  As a kid I remember hearing about it and wishing I could have some for camping, but back then it had an even higher cost margin over basic foods than today.  Thankfully with the growth of competition from companies like Daily Bread, prices have come down overall.  Freeze drying brings food down to the lightest weight possible.  And unlike normal dehydration you can have a wider selection of cooked entrees.

Cooking the meal of course can’t be simpler.  Using my small stove pictured I boiled a small amount of water (2 cups), poured in the bag, and let sit for a few minutes.  Anybody who hasn’t actually tried a freeze-dried meal is really missing out on the joys of this process.  This bag of powder quickly reforms into real food. Actual noodles, sauce, and meat that reshape, and hold real color.

This is an important part, especially if you are feeding a family.  My kids can be the kings of picky, and yet unlike your average camp cooking you don’t fear dishing this out in daylight.  The food actually looks good, smells good, and has the correct texture.  Anybody who’s had partially rehydrated food knows why thats a big claim to make.

Specifically, this stroganoff is a winner.  I ate the two serving portion myself, of course. High altitude, extra calorie needs, please remember those when planning how much food you need! It tasted great, seasoned, lacking only a bit of pepper (which I like more of than most people).

Lightweight, less work, less water needs, less fuel needs, and real comfort food. All of these combine to make a winning product well worth bringing in as part of your long term food storage.

As for getting the food, Daily Bread’s concept is to take the work out of planning your meals by selling pre-designed meal plans. You can “subscribe” to get monthly deliveries of your food in a pay as you go plan. These deliveries give you #10 cans of foods such as this that you can then use as needed to feed your family, whatever the size.

Benefits to raising chickens

There are a number of benefits that people interested in backyard chickens generally cite. Some of the most cited benefits are below:

Fresh Eggs

Fresh eggs have a noticeably brighter, more yellower or orange yolk. Fresh eggs have also been scientifically shown to be more nutritious and are reported to be better tasting than store bought eggs which are often several weeks old.

Research conducted by Mother Earth News compared eggs from 14 flocks across the United States. The study found that when compared to official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs, free-range eggs contained:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 3/2 more vitamin A
• Twice the omega-3 fatty acids
• Three times more vitamin E
• Seven times more beta carotene
• Four to six times more vitamin D

Pest Control

If you allow your chickens out in your yard, even occasionally you will find that they are great at helping control pest bugs and weeds. Chickens will eat most bugs and weeds such as ticks, fleas, ants, beetles, grasshoppers, fly larvae, grubs and slugs. Our chickens even once attacked a mouse that was unlucky enough to jump into the coop. Fortunately for the mouse, it managed to get out of the coop before being pecked to death. Be cautious however as many chicken breeds will also love to eat some of the plants in your garden. You don’t want to eliminate the pests at the expense of your crop.

Fertilizer

Chicken droppings are great fertilizer for your garden. They are quite ‘hot’ though and need to be processed with compost or through another process and should not be applied directly to your plants or it could ‘burn’ them. To resolve this issue, many gardeners will add the droppings in to their compost in small quantities. This enriches the compost and distributes the nitrogen evenly.

Chicken Meat

You can raise chickens for meat, but generally meat birds are different breeds from egg producing breeds. Some egg producing breeds also grow large enough and in the right areas to be useful for egg production. You also shouldn’t forget that once an egg producer stops laying, they can still provide you with meat. Even the stringiest rooster can taste great in a chicken stew or after being bottled in a mason jar.

Teaching Responsibility to Children

Raising chickens can (some would argue should) be a family affair. Chickens need to be fed and watered daily, so assigning children to do these chores can help them develop a sense of responsibility. It can also reduce the psychological separation from our food supply that exists in modern day America. Knowing where your food comes from is the first step to learning how to produce it on your own and working towards being more self reliant. Isn’t that what we are trying to do?

What you’ll need

Chickens

Perhaps it doesn’t need to be said, but obviously you will need chickens. There are a number of ways to obtain chickens. You can often source them locally (although seasonally) through IFA or other similar stores. Many people enjoy having exotic and fun looking chickens. There are many breeds available and the only way to get some of them is through mail order breeders. A simple search online will provide you with a long list of mail order chicken suppliers. Determine what breed you want then find a reputable supplier, either locally or via mail order.

When determining what breed you should get, the breed chart at BackYardChickens.com is a good place to start.

Coop

You chickens will needs someplace to stay warm and dry as well as a comfortable location to lay their eggs.

People raising backyard chicken are increasingly using Chicken Tractors, a smaller moveable coop that is great for a few chickens and is relatively inexpensive in terms of materials and construction time. Others prefer a more elaborate traditional coop some of which can be considered art (Art of the Chicken Coop: A Fun and Essential Guide to Housing Your Peeps). Another option is to allow your chickens to be completely Free Range. You will find that they will roost in the evening on railings, in trees, on fences or wherever they can get off the ground and huddle together. Here in Utah this can work well over the summer and for part of Spring and Fall. For Winter however you should have a way of keeping your chickens warm so a chicken coop or shelter of some sort will be needed. Amazon offers a number of books on building chicken coops from complete plans,  to tips and tricks, to a Dummies book on building coops.

Food and water

Most stores that sell chickens also sell chicken scratch and a supplement for egg producing chickens. Scratch is generally a mixture of corn and other grains. The egg mixture is oyster shells plus other ingredients meant to deliver calcium to ensure strong egg shells. This may also assist chickens in laying more frequently but I haven’t personally noticed a difference. If your chickens are free range, or at least let out a few hours a day you will find that the amount of food you need to provide will be reduced. They will make it up with weeds, bugs, etc. Given the relatively small size of most yards today, you will still probably want to supplement some. Observe your chickens and their laying patterns to help you decide what and how much to supplement with store bought food or vegetable based table scraps.

You should also be aware that chickens drink a lot of water. You will need to ensure that they have easy access to water year round. In the dead of winter a heat lamp is also helpful in warming the chickens and keeping the water ice free, but depending on your exposure to cold weather you may need a dedicated heated water container.

Other birds

Traditionally a number of other bird species have been raised traditionally in order to provide both meat and eggs for families. These are not as popular today for a number of reasons, both economic and practical.

Turkey – Turkeys produce about a third the number of eggs as a chicken, but have a lot more meat on them. It seems like these are more practical as meat birds. The primary value in their eggs seems to be in producing more turkeys. On a related note, most modern breeds of turkeys are produced as meat birds. They reach maturity quickly in order to harvest meat faster. This causes the turkeys to have a short natural life span. Like meat chicken breeds, when they are ready to harvest for meat, they may be too large and top heavy to walk.

Duck – Ducks can be a good addition or substitute for chickens. Depending on the breed, (Khaki Campbells for example) ducks can produce an egg a day on average, much like many chicken breeds. Duck eggs are typically the same size as a large or extra large chicken egg and are higher in fat and cholesterol, but are also rich in Omega 3 fatty acids. A downside is that ducks require a bit more space and care. You will likely need a small wading pool or tub of water for them as well.

Geese – Geese generally lay for only a portion of the year, typically from late Spring to late Summer or early Fall. They do not lay reliably like most ducks and chickens although their eggs are larger. The true value in geese is in their ability to help maintain established orchards by eating young undesired saplings and through their use as alarm animals. Many cultures have used geese in place of dogs or other animals as they will immediately alert you to intruders.

Quail – Quail produce very small eggs, often daily. These eggs are prized by chefs for their rich flavor. Caring for quail is more difficult than the aforementioned species as they are more sensitive to heat and cold and thus must usually be raised indoors.

Resources

News articles

Backyard chickens, bees cutting edge of growing local food movement

Why all the interest in raising backyard chickens?

Throwback at Trapper Creek Post on chickens

Chicken tour begins in Salt Lake on Saturday

Survival Blog – Raising Backyard Chickens

Cooped Up: Chickens Come Home to Roost for Urbanites With a Yen for Hen

Useful Links

Poultry Keeper

Country Enterprise

New Agrarian

Urban Homestead

Well, we didn’t have a wheat grinder and didn’t really know what to do with wheat, so that was out.  I’m not sure why we ruled out oatmeal or sugar or whatever else, but we did decide we both liked white rice so we meticulously counted up how much white rice we’d need if we ate it for every meal for an entire year.  True story.  And that is what we canned.  A whole lot of white rice.  Now I know you’re all giggling at the fact that you really can’t live on white rice alone for a year without suffering some serious nutritional issues, but we were young and didn’t think through this very well.

So let me tell you what happens when you buy that much white rice.  After a while of having it fairly often because it’s easy and we always had it on hand, sweet husband decided he didn’t like white rice anymore.  We weren’t even eating it for every meal!  He rarely eats white rice anymore.

It’s a scientific psychological condition called “appetite fatigue”.  He has a mild form because he’ll still eat rice every so often especially if it’s doctored up like in rice pudding.  But what can happen in a disaster situation if you have very limited variety in your food is that people can decide they’d rather not eat at all than eat that white rice again.  Especially children and the elderly.  Children just don’t understand that they need to eat to live and the elderly may just decide it’s not worth it.  Most of us in the middle would still eat it because we understand that is all there is, but that brings us to the nutritional issues.

Every day we eat a variety of foods.  They each add something to our diet.  We need a lot of different vitamins and minerals in our diet to be able to keep ourselves in good health and functioning properly.  Variety is good.  365 days of white rice for every meal is not.

So here are a couple of suggestions for adding variety to your food storage.

1. Don’t buy all one thing to start with.  We could have just as easily gotten a variety of goods canned that day including dry carrots, beans, oats, wheat, etc.  Then we could have made more with what we had.  Once you have a little bit of a bunch of different foods, then you can get all rice if it’s a good price or a bunch of sugar if it’s on sale somewhere and you’re just adding to your stores.

2. Get some spices and flavorings in your storage.  Even white rice can taste different than white rice if it’s spiced up a bit.

3. Learn to use what you have stored in a variety of ways.  Like wheat can be sprouted, ground into flour and baked with, boiled either cracked or whole to use as cereal, grown into wheat grass, etc.  Powdered milk can be used as a drink or made into cheeses, added to soups, etc.  Just because you have a bunch of wheat doesn’t mean you have to eat a bunch of wheat bread.  Get creative.

On a side note, we have not purchased rice to eat since 1998.  I have purchased some more to replenish the storage, but we are still eating the rice we canned in 1998.  We have at least 2 more cases to go.  There might be more hiding somewhere.  They are a reminder every time I go into the food storage room of where we started and how far we’ve come.

The winner as determined by the random number generator is…

Paulfamilyinfo99!

Congratulations! Please contact us with your address information so that we can send you the DVD package. If we are not able to get in touch with the winner, we will arrange to select another winner next week.

Thank you all for reading our review. We hope that you all will become regular visitors to our site.

The host, Marjory Wildcraft is also not shy about referring the viewer to the books that they consulted when learning and direct you to them for more in depth information. This is in contrast to many other “experts” I have seen over the years who keep their information close to the vest. Marjory appears to genuinely want to provide information to help others get on the path to self sufficiency by sharing everything they can fit in to the 2 hours of video on the DVD.

DVD Section Summary

The DVD is broken down into a number of chapters that cover the 2 hours of content. I’ll include some brief information on each section.

Section 1: Overview about 4 minutes in length

Just like it says, this a basic introduction, describing the makers, their property and philosophies.

Section 2: Water about 10 minutes in length

An old saying is that without water you are nothing. Water is king, especially here in the high desert of Utah. This section explains the main sources for getting water and which ones are best for food production. Marjory and her family have tried several different ways to collect and store water, some of which worked better for them than others.

Section 3: Garden about 20 minutes in length

This is one of the longer sections of the DVD. While there is plenty of good general gardening information here but I would recommend that for anyone outside of their area of Texas you look into getting information focused on your specific are. Many of the techniques demonstrated can be used in most climates, but the plants and specific processes needed, fertilizers, local pests, etc. will need a local perspective. Your local Universities Extension program likely has an Agricultural department with this information publicly available. Here in Utah, the Utah State University Extension office is a great source.

Section 4: Rabbits about 9 minutes in length

One of the primary meat sources for the family are rabbits. This is a relatively short section explaining why the family chose rabbits, how to house them, what breeds they chose and why and mistakes that you can avoid.

Section 5: Home Butchering about 18 minutes in length

This section is not for the squeamish. It centers around in depth video instructions on killing and butchering a rabbit. Hide tanning is also mentioned, but is not well covered. After this there are still pictures of the process to butcher chickens with a brief mention of other animals like raccoons, deer, elk, etc. that could all be sources of meat.

Section 6: Poultry about 8 minutes in length

This section provides a decent introduction to chickens, their predators, and some problems to look out for. Marjory outlines what breeds they use and why. Some Polyface Farms influence can be seen here as well as they rotate the chickens through different areas to help improve and maintain soil quality and to cut down on weeds and insects.

Section 7: Dogs about 5 minutes in length

The creators of this DVD are clearly sold on the benefits of having dogs in your life, mainly to fend off unwanted animals. They make some pretty convincing arguments. A short section is included on training, but as with most topics covered here, if you want to really get started in using working dogs, further research will be required, but this touches on some of the basics so you know what you are working towards.

Section 8: Perennials: Orchards, Food Forests, and Edible Landscaping about 18 minutes in length

This section has some really useful information, but again your best bet is to consult with your local University’s extension program to apply what you see in the DVD to your area. The types of edible foods that you can grow in your climate can vary greatly from those presented in this DVD or in books on the subject so do your homework on what works where you live.

Section 9: Other Essentials about 11 minutes in length

The second to last section contains information that the DVD creators think is important but doesn’t fit well in a previous section. There is plenty of good information here and is too varied to give a brief accounting of.

Section 10: Thanks about 4 minutes in length

As you might expect, this is the section where the creators thank those who helped in producing the DVD.

Bonus Material

Throughout the DVD Marjory references different books and documents for those seeking more detailed information on a particular subject. Included with the DVD is a CD-ROM loaded with many of the referenced documents in PDF format. My copy had 65 PDF documents included ranging in subject from Solar Food Dehydration to Insecticides to Hide Tanning. While I haven’t spent a tremendous amount of time reviewing the documents, they seem to have been compiled with care to supplement the information provided in the videos for those wanting more information. Often during the course of explaining what the document covers, Marjory will give a location to download the document. This is a good resource in case the information on the CD bonus disc were to become out of date.

Closing Thoughts

This DVD provides a quick introduction into many aspects of self sufficiency. As with any brief introduction, further research will be required. Having this documented example of an integrated home/small farm food production system has the potential to save you time and money by following proven, working examples.

The information in the DVD is optimized for southern climates, particularly the makers specific region of Texas. Viewers from other regions should also find it educational and useful, that being said, this is of course an introduction into many varied concepts that relate to self sufficiency. I don’t think it can be said enough, integrating all these ideas and concepts into your life will take some hard work, research and trial and error. The results should be well worth it however.

Giveaway Information

The producers of this DVD have kindly provided us a copy of this DVD to giveaway to one of our lucky readers. To enter, post a comment about this article letting us know what you would like to learn from watching the DVD. We will select one winner at random from all the comments on Friday June 17th and send them their own copy of this preparedness DVD.

A few weeks ago, I was called by my Bishop (pastor) to be the new emergency preparedness coordinator for our ward (congregation). In order to better serve those in the ward and help them prepare, I thought it important to begin my efforts with a survey to gauge where our ward stood. I had a fairly good idea due to previous surveys conducted over the past couple of years in our community (see here and here), but wanted a bit more detail, and with the high turnover in our ward, needed updated information.

With the Bishop’s consent, I circulated a brief, anonymous survey through the ward and got responses from over 50 families. Our ward is a fairly average ward in terms of income, being squarely “middle class,” thus the results are probably pretty indicative of the average (American) Latter-day Saint household. I don’t consider any of this statistically accurate, but it’s close enough to be reliable and representative of the average family, in my opinion.

Below are the results of this anonymous survey.

My impressions? This is about what I expected. It’s not encouraging, of course, when a few families skew the results upward with their year supply of food; far too many families responded that they only had a few days or a couple weeks worth of food in their home.

Time to roll up my sleeves.