Every Family Should Have Food Storage

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Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Tsunami Early Warning System - SMS to Mobile phone. Free membership

Tsunami Early Warning System - SMS to Mobile phone. Free membership



East coast be prepared. The El Hierro volcano in the canary islands is bulging and they are on alert. This would cause a tsunami into the east coast.



The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a DisasterUltimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Food Storage Recipe - Nacho Bake

This recipe is so yummy and so easy. The local grocery store always has this velveeta shells and cheese on sale for 10 for $10 also. So I have this on hand all of the time. In fact , I got this recipe from the side of one of the boxes.



Nacho Bake

1 box of velveeta shells and cheese

1 pound of ground beef

1 pack of taco seasoning mix

1/4 cup of water

3/4 cup of sour cream

3/4 cup of shredded cheese

3/4 cup of salsa

crushed tortilla chips

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the shells and cheese as on box directions. brown the ground beef and drain well. add the seasoning mix and water to the ground beef and simmer for a few minutes. Stir the sour cream into the prepared shells and cheese. Put half of the shells and cheese into a oven safe cassarole dish , layer the meat mixture on top of this and half of the shredded cheese. Then place the rest of the shells and cheese on top of this. Cover and bake for about 15 minutes. Top with the salsa , shredded cheese and the crushed tortilla chips. bake uncovered a few more minutes. Serve.









The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Garden Update

The beans, baby, corn , and tomatoes are doing great. Tons of tiny green cherry tomatoes that I just cannot wait to get to. Really surprised about the beans. Have tried growing them the last 3 years and this is the first year they have grown. Huge bushes, only bad thing about them is that they over run the Brussel spouts! :( Which I wanted so bad. I love Brussel spouts. Oh well. Next year will plant them some where else. By their selves. We are in a drought though, so I have been having to water them every evening. Thursday we are supposed to have heat index of about 120 degrees so they might have to be watered 2 times. The local weather man said that "it will be the hottest that most Hoosiers will have ever felt in their lives"! I grew up in Texas so I have felt hotter. But for Indiana this is super hot.

The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Yellowstone Supervolcano

This is what I watched this morning. Kind of scary. How do you prepare for something like this? We live in Indiana and it would pretty much be messed up to by the ash cloud. Something like this would be the worst thing to happen to the world.

There is some information online about the supervolcanos. But, I really think that it is something that no one can really know how bad it will be. Most likely be worst than we could ever imagine and would affect the whole world. Keep track of the recent earthquakes in that area on USGS recent Quakes List. Looking at it now there have been a few in that area. My husband was out in that area a couple of weeks ago and they had shut down some of the park and roads because of rocks falling. Pretty scary stuff going on and something to keep an eye out for.



The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

An Organized Food Storage Pantry

There is nothing worse then trying to find something in a pantry and not being able to find what you need or because the Pantry is so disorganized you don't even know what you do have. You have got to have a plan and an ongoing shopping list so that your food storage is well-stocked and organized. In a pinch you will have what you need to make your family a great meal.

Know what you use the most of and what your family likes. Don't fill your pantry with foods that you do not use often. That is just a waste of space and money. For example: If your family doesn't like rice, then don't rush out and get a 50 pound bag of it.

Only buy in bulk the stuff that you use the most often. You do not want a lot of bulk items in your pantry that will not be used and end up going bad.

Stock up on canned items as often as you can. Canned tomatoes, beans, veggies, etc are a great thing to have a lot of on hand. They can spruce up a soup or any meal in a pinch. Especially when you do not have fresh items on hand. In an emergency you will have canned items on hand to be able to make great food.

Sometimes unwrapping items will make them fit better in your pantry and make room for more of that item. I have to do this a lot since I have such a small place to put food and paper items.

Keep your Pantry cool. Don't store long term food storage next to any appliance that might give off heat. This can greatly reduce the shelf life of your food storage.

Manage your pantry by keeping an ongoing inventory. I have a notebook right with my stockpile where I keep track of what is used and what is added. That way I know exactly what is needed. Also this helps remind me to rotate the food storage! The new goes into the back and older in the front so that it gets used first. No risk of wasting food with this set up. Saves us money and keeps up stocked up. Right now I am pretty confident that we have about 6 months worth of food storage. Slowly building up to a year. Now that I have a bit of extra money each week it will be built on a bit quicker.

The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster

Guest Post - Frugal Family Meals

Frugal dinners don’t have to be boring or tasteless. In fact, some of my most frugal dinners are the most loved by my family. My easy, go-to meals are so inexpensive to make, that I usually splurge on a special dessert just because I have money left over in my budget. Here are my top three fabulous, frugal, family meals.

Marinara in minutes

Marinara sauce needs few ingredients and is rich in vitamins and nutrients, especially if you choose to serve it over whole-wheat pasta. My recipe is very simple. In a large frying pan, I sauté a few chopped garlic cloves in olive oil until soft. Then I pour a large can of crushed tomatoes into the pan. I add in a pinch of dried basil and salt and pepper. I let it simmer for about 20 minutes. It’s a very simple sauce that is versatile and delicious. It’s also made with pantry ingredients that are very inexpensive. A green salad and garlic toast complete the meal, and everyone in the family looks forward to this simple yet elegant meal.

Creamy chicken and vegetables

For this recipe, all you need is a cup or two of cooked chicken to make a hearty meal for a family of four. Make a simple white sauce and boil up eight to 12 ounces of egg noodles. Turn your oven onto 350 degrees and butter a large, shallow casserole dish. You can use the vegetables of your choice. I usually defrost and drain a 16-ounce package of frozen mixed vegetables like a medley of broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Feel free to use fresh vegetables. Be sure to cook them until they are crisp yet tender. Now mix your drained vegetables, cooked chicken and white sauce together. Place your egg noodles in the bottom of your casserole and pour on the sauce, vegetables and chicken. Top the casserole with buttered breadcrumbs, Parmesan or cheddar cheese and bake until hot and bubbly for 20 minutes. You can substitute a can of cream of chicken soup for the white sauce if you wish, and it only adds about a dollar to the cost of your meal.

Freezer minestrone

Soup is good any time of the year, especially when it’s rich in flavor and texture. I keep a container in my freezer for any bits of leftover gravy, vegetables or meats. When it’s filled to the top, I defrost it and put it into my slow cooker. I always cut up the leftovers into bite size pieces before I freeze them, so this soup takes no time to make. Once the leftovers are in the slow cooker, I add in chicken, beef or vegetable stock and a can of tomatoes. Then I chop up some fresh veggies to add to the pot like onions, celery and carrots. After four hours or so, I take a handful of thin spaghetti and crack it into bite-size pieces. I add the uncooked pasta into the pot and let it cook for another hour or so until the pasta is tender. I serve this meal with homemade breadsticks that I make from a pound of pizza dough. Cut the dough into long strips, baste with olive oil and cook for about one-half hour at 350 degrees.

These three frugal dinners cost pennies to make, yet everyone in the family looks forward to eating these great tasting and easy-to-make meals.

My name is Nisha

The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Just Saved Us About $20.00 A Week!

I found out something on Thursday that really made me freak out. My son has been seeing a girl for the last 6 months whose family owns the local (really good) Mexican restaurant. Well, anyway, about 4 days a week he will go up there and sit while she works and when ever he comes home, he would come home with a cup of salsa. I never thought anything about it and it has been going on for 4 nights a week for 6 months. OK. Thursday he comes to me before he leaves and says "Mom, I need $5.00." and I asked him, "What for?" and he answered me with, "for salsa". I think my jaw must have hit the floor , because he asked me what was wrong. Come to find out he was not just bringing home salsa , he was buying it and $5.00 a shot. OMG. I immediately freaked out on him. Most likely too much. But , heck, I can think of better things to spend $20.00 on each week. Do you realize how much food storage I could have been getting with an extra $20.00 a week. So I got into my Homemadecookbook and found a salsa recipe and I made it Friday night. The only thing, and since it was my first time of making it, it is kind of too chunky. Next time I make it I will have to figure out how to make it less chunky. It sure taste good.

Spicy Salsa

3 medium tomatos, cored and chopped

3 small scaalions , trimmed and coarsley chopped, ( that is another thing wrong with my salsa - I had forgot to get scallions and only had onion on hand., but I think that is one of the great things about salsa - you can make it to your taste. maybe. LOL)

1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

salt

coarsley chopped cilantro

In a large bowl mix everything together, except the cilantro, let it sit for an hour to let the flavors mingle. Just before eating add the cilantro. Mix it all of up real good. Get your tortilla chips and enjoy. I was also thinking that this would be really good on a grilled hamburger.

Well, anyway , now he does not have to spend $20.00 a week on salsa. I can make it at home and he did say that it tasted just like theirs. maybe not as spicy. I am a chicken and only used half of the jalapeno pepper.

The tomatoes were 4 for $1.99 -Man, I wish my tomatoes that I am growing here at home would ripen up. The cilantro was 50 cents a huge bunch. The onion and garlic I already had. The jalepeno pepper was $1.00. And I have enough to last 2-3 days. If it last that long. It is yummy. I know since this is my first time of making this , that I will do some things different next time.

The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Painless Ways To Save Money

There are many ways to save money that will not cause anyone in your family any pain. You can still have a life.

1. This is a great time of year for this tip - go to yard sales! Yeah, you can save a ton of money buying your families clothing at yard sales. I always find name-brand clothing for my kids and spend next to nothing in it. No one knows that you got them at a yard sale. Yard sales are also a great way to get new furniture and household items. Books are my number one thing to get at yard sales. 25 cents for an 8.00 book!! YEP that is for me. Toys are a great thing to buy at yard sales. My little man has all of that Little Tykes stuff , tractor, turtle with lid he uses for a pool, a huge boat that has to b used as a sand box because the other owners for some reason cut a small hole in the bottom to drain the water out even though there is a plug, he has the picnic table , and more Little Tykes stuff that I bet I haven't paid more than $10.00 for all of it. The boat and tractor were free!! You can also get a lot of home schooling items at yard sales. Plus going to yard sales can be a lot of fun.

2. Hang your clothes out to dry. Or at least most of them. My oldest son has to have his t-shirts done in the dryer, but since I am hanging everything else, it is still saving me a ton of money. His t-shirts only take a few minutes to get wrinkle free, then I take them out and dry them the rest of the way outside. He never has complained.

3. Take your lunch to work and make your own coffee to take with you in the morning. You will save so much money if you don't eat out at lunch and don't stop to get that expensive fancy coffee.

4. Make pizza, cookies, bread, etc at home by hand. It is fun doing this and it saves money. I can make my own pizza at home for a fraction of what it cost to order from a pizza place. Also it is better for your family than a frozen pizza. You can bake your own cookies and breads for pennies on the dollar.

5. This one took my family a while to do - STOP DRINKING SODA! The reason we really stopped was for health issues. Never even thought of money. It took about 3 months to totally get it out of the house, but now that it is totally gone and we don't drink it anymore, I realized we saved a ton of money. Like 15.00 a week!! We now drink a lot of water, homemade juice, and sun tea. None of us miss the soda and it has saved our health and our bank account.

6. If you have to have a birthday party for your little one or any type of party - make your own decorations and food for it. Fun and does not cost a lot. My daughter is already starting on some stuff for her wedding stuff. It really does save a lot of money to make your own decorations.

7. This one needs no explanation and benefits your health and your pocket book - GIVE UP SMOKING.

8. It actually saves a bit to substitute dry milk in your cooking. Just buy a bit of milk for cereal and use dry milk in your cooking. With how much milk is anymore this can really save you a lot of money.

9. Block the hot summer sun out of your house. This is one that we have to do anyway because we do not have one tree in our yard. I hate that so much. Next house is going to nothing but trees. I wouldn't even hate living in a tree house after living in this house. LOL.

10. Plant a garden. No matter how small it is or if you just have room for one thing, like tomatoes, DO IT!! Not too much work and you do save some money.

11. Have a STAYCATION. Do a search on this blog and you will find a whole blog posts on ideas for a staycation. Fun and low cost.

12. Just starting out with food storage, start small. Maybe each week when something is on sale that your family uses , like cans of beef stew, buy 3 cans instead of 1 and stick the 2 extra back. You will be surprised at how fast your stockpile will grow if you do this every week. It does not have to take a lot of money to get a food storage. I have had to do it this way. I do not have the money to go and buy 100 cans of tuna or whatever. I have had to do it small.

These are just a few ideas. I am sure that you can think of more to do to save money at home. The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Mini Survival Kits

Mini Survival Kits

This is such a great idea and with it being summer hiking and camping time would be of use. Make one for each person in your family or group.

Yard Sales Were Fun...

Saturday, even though none of them had much. Mostly baby clothes and toys. My mom came from out of town and we went to about 17 yard sales and I spent only 16.50 total!! So that was good. Kept in budget , but disappointing because I didn't find anything cool. Did find some hot wheels for the little man, books, a new floor lamp, and a few odds n ends. Wanted to take a pic of it all , but my son's cell phone broke and I gave him mine and I am now using my old phone that has nothing on it, just phone. LOL The yard sales were so bad though, that I do not think that my mom will be coming over here anymore to go to any. LOL Just were horrible. Very little stuff and most of the stuff just in boxes and stuff that I really would have thrown away.

The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

TVP Burritos

Love this recipe.

2 cups Taco Flavored TVP


2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup diced red pepper


1/4 cup diced green pepper

1/2 cup of diced onion

Toppings

four tortillas

First, hydrate the TVP (make it soft to eat). Place the dehydrated TVP in a bowl. Boil 2 cups of water . Pour the water over the TVP and let sit for about 5 minutes. In a skillet saute the onions and peppers , Add the tvp and "fry " it up. Layer everything with your toppings of choice, like shredded cheese, lettuce, refried beans, olives, sour cream, guacomole, tomatoes, etc onto a flour tortilla , roll it up and enjoy.












The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

eFoods - Remembering the Japan Earthquake & Tsunami

In remembrance of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan a year ago, we've created special family preparedness offers for bloggers and their readers: www.efoodsoffer.com. Don't forget to enter the special coupon codes, Food40 and Food50, when ordering to get this memorial discount. eFoods' mission is to empower every family to have food security in the case of storms, natural disasters, or even financial crises like shrinking income or the loss of a job.





The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!