Tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes are just a few of the very common reasons why Legacy Food Storage, as a company, exists. Having shelf stable food in an emergency is always welcome. In times of crisis store shelves become bare, trucks are unable to complete deliveries or are delayed due to storm damaged roads, you may have no electricity and be unable to communicate with those you love. Great examples would be the unexpected Texas ice storm or the damaging hurricane winds in suburban Iowa. The year 2020 brought us a whole new reason to have backups and be prepared. Welcome to the pandemic.
In March 2020, the food storage industry was turned upside down with requests for emergency food. Grocery stores country-wide were unable to keep up with the demand and you could not just go to the next town - or even the next state - and buy what your store was missing. Shelves were empty everywhere and purchase limits were set. Legacy’s inventory was depleted in just a matter of days. "Days to ship" turned into weeks, and then months as time progressed. Some supplies were harder to obtain and took much longer to arrive. Production lines were held up due to these delays and we simply could not produce fast enough. Any shipping issues were just additional salt in the wound. As time has passed, we are grateful to have healthy stock levels and quick ship times once again.
We heard from many new people anxious to get some shelf stable food, such as our ready-made meals and even fruits and vegetables, in preparation for not knowing what would happen next or how worse things might get. Understandably, it can be overwhelming to anyone trying to prepare for their family’s safety. Not to mention being scared and blindsided by an immediate emergency scenario.
Thinking ahead and planning to have some extras on hand for your most basic essential needs can keep you out of the dangerous situations you are not ready for. You don’t want to be one of those people fighting over the last gallon of milk or in the middle of the riots trying to get food for your family. Uncontrolled violence can happen anywhere as tensions can run very high in times like these while people are scrambling to gather supplies. A wise man once said, “better to have and not need, then need and not have.”
Later in 2020, the term “prepper” suddenly lost the stigma it had before the pandemic. Additionally, the word “pandemic” no longer brought up old school day memories of the black plague from the late 17th century, where we remember the black and white images of hospitals with beds at capacity and people dressed in black with bird masks. It was now a reality and real experiences were taking place before our very eyes.
School closings, warehouses lined with beds, daily news reports of overwhelmed hospitals and new deaths numbers were no longer fiction but becoming history. Physicians pleading for equipment and supplies, people afraid to leave their home and the economy grinded to a halt in many areas with mandatory shutdowns and lockdowns. This pandemic event illustrates just how dependent we all are on all the “cogs” to work correctly together.
Who would have thought toilet paper would have been a protected commodity and you would be limited in your purchases? The saying, “Hindsight is 2020,” has taken on a whole new meaning! Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the crazy events are over, so what can you do?
We’ve included a short list to aid anyone in achieving a most basic emergency plan, hopefully without the head spin. With a minimal goal of these 10 items, you will be considerably ahead of those who do nothing the next time something shows up unexpectedly.
This list by no means is comprehensive but is concise enough to give anyone a manageable start to preparing for the next crazy event. Have at least 2 solutions for each line item, keeping in mind your area might become unsafe and necessitate an evacuation.
Sure, an iXP34c ray gun would be nice, but start with the basics first and then add your luxury items over time. With weather patterns changing, economy booms and falls, changing legislation, and future Mother Nature events making their way up the list, it’s time to take some action. As intelligent human beings it would be prudent about having backups for your most basic needs. You never know what surprises lie around the next corner!
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If you are on a general diet, typically you welcome the familiar dishes most people enjoy, such as delicious creamy pastas and chunky potato or rice medleys. However, if you are diabetic, at first glance these meals might not seem ideal, as you envision your glucose soaring with the high carbohydrate ratio.
With so many food storage companies using these high carbohydrate ingredients, customers with diabetes are left questioning what options are available for having some emergency food stored without putting their health at risk during emergencies. For diabetics, eating correctly is even more important when medical assistance might not be available and medications or insulin might need to be carefully rationed.
Basic principles of healthy eating for diabetics include portion control and counting carbohydrates to help limit blood glucose spikes. Many use the glycemic index (GI), which is an index of how certain carbohydrates may affect blood glucose levels. Carbohydrates with a low GI value (55 or less) are more slowly digested, absorbed, and metabolized and cause a lower and slower rise in blood glucose. However, research shows that both the amount and the type of carbohydrate in food affect blood glucose levels. Therefore, portion sizes are still relevant for managing blood glucose and no one single measurement works. Using the GI as an additional tool for guidance in combination with considering portion size in meal selections is recommended.
Overall, there is no one diet or plan that works for everyone with diabetes, as individual results and patterns can vary. The general rule of thumb is to favor lower carb items and limit the carbs which can cause spikes in blood glucose.
A person with diabetes can still eat our tasty meals by dosing correctly with insulin (if prescribed), or can simply reduce the serving size and add other low carb options like meats and vegetables. These increase the calories and bulk while lowering the overall carbohydrates.
Legacy includes items such as these in their Essentials line to provide healthy options or additions to their Premium food storage line for any eating plan. This provides a real benefit to those with special dietary needs to be able to enjoy good food in an emergency, including those with diabetes, gluten intolerance, low sodium, and certain food allergies.
This specialty line consists of high quality, low carb/sodium ingredients like powdered eggs, vegetables, meats, fruits, and other specialty items to be used in conjunction with our meals, or by putting together various ingredients for a complete meal creation.
Meal plans created by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommend 45% of calories from carbs. This includes 45–60 grams per meal and 10–25 grams per snack, totaling about 135–230 grams of carbs per day.
Here is a sample meal plan showing how someone with diabetes can use Legacy food by making some portion adjustments:
Assuming you are targeting 2000 calories per day, the meal plan above can easily reach that by adding a couple of snacks or increasing a few of the meal components.
Many food storage companies offering 2000 calorie packages will add extra calories in the form of cheap fillers, such as sugary desserts and drinks. As a diabetic or one with other dietary needs, it is better to have the option to choose these additional items on your own, than to select a package that includes these types of foods.
Rather than sugary calories, Legacy chooses to give you larger meal servings and let you pick the extra items to add calories for how you want to eat. This allows for better control in what you decide to store in your long term plan.
Below are some items included in our Essential line, many of which are fantastic lower carb options for adding additional flavor, taste, and calories. Even someone with diabetes or other needs can enjoy these foods. For additional calorie ideas, a diabetic might also choose to store nuts, dried cheese, or even some fats, like oil or butter, which can be added to meals or milk to increase the fat and calories without adding extra carbohydrates.
While someone with special dietary concerns, such as diabetes, needs to be more careful of what foods they consume, even long term food storage can be a good option by simply making some adjustments to portions and adding some additional low carbohydrate items.
If you would like a personal consultation in putting together a package, our non-commission representatives are available Monday through Friday, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm.
]]>Thinking about purchasing food storage?
Food is often one of the first things we think of when we consider disaster preparations. Though we can survive for weeks without food, it’s neither an easy nor comfortable thing to do. Without food, not only will you be distracted by hunger, but you’ll be weaker, have slower reaction times, and more apt to make bad decisions. All of which impede your chances for survival. So, even though it’s not always at the top of the priority list, it’s still a very important consideration in your preparedness plan.
When creating your food storage plan, it’s a good idea to use all of the different types of food available. By doing so, you can maximize your dollar and maintain a high level of flexibility in meal planning.
The first type of food to store is what you eat everyday. Freezer and pantry food is the easiest to obtain because it’s the food you already buy at your grocery store. The average household has about 3 days worth of meals. However, it is fairly easy to increase this to two weeks or more, by simply buying a little extra each trip to the grocery store. Make sure to always rotate the food, so the oldest foods are used first. This helps ensure the food on hand is always the freshest.
Once you have obtained about two weeks of your everyday foods, the next step is to start working on your long-term food storage. There are several types of food suitable for long-term storage, and you should consider using all of them in your plan, depending on what your overall goal is. Each type has advantages and disadvantages, and you’ll probably find a mix of them will suit your preparedness needs best.
In general, the foods you’ll want to look at for longer storage purposes are: MREs (military Meals, Ready to Eat), bulk foods, Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods and meals, and home canned foods.
Military MREs are great for evacuation and short term traveling foods. Since they don’t require any cooking or preparation to eat them, they can be eaten right out of the package. The disadvantages to MREs are their high cost and relatively short shelf life. MRE’s are also very calorie dense, so ensure to always drink plenty of water to avoid digestion issues.
Bulk foods are items you use when cooking regularly to create meals, like wheat, flour, rice, beans, salt, sugar, honey. For storage, bulk foods can also include individually freeze-dried and dehydrated items, such as fruits, vegetables and meats. Most of these foods, when stored properly, can last a very long time, making them a good option for preparedness plans.
Remember, to have recipes on hand to use these items and store any of the additional seasonings or ingredients to do so. For example: 50 lbs. of wheat flour won’t help much unless you have other ingredients to make something with it, such as yeast to bread. Bulk foods can be purchased in larger quantities, saving you money, but you typically need to properly repackage them for long-term storage.
One of the more convenient foods to store are the pre-packaged meals consisting of freeze-dried and dehydrated components. These meals typically only need to be reconstituted, either by adding hot water to the pouch or adding the food to pot of boiling water. Though not as inexpensive as bulk foods, they offer a high level of convenience coupled with a nice selection of meals. All the work has been done for you to create tasty meals, rather then having to put together ingredients yourself. These meals are relatively lightweight, making them easier to take with you during an evacuation (and also easier to use under less-than-ideal conditions).
Home canning is another option for long-term food storage. This takes a learning curve and good amount of work to accomplish, but allows you the benefit to put away foods customized for your family’s palate and dietary needs. Canning can also be a way to set aside and preserve seasonal produce, either through grocery or garden surplus.
When considering the purchase of long-term food storage, make sure to understand specific storage conditions for each option so you maintain the longest shelf life possible. It’s important to clearly mark the expiration dates on both the food container and in your preparedness plan. Ideally, you would also create a preparedness calendar, so you can keep track of dates and when the food needs to be rotated out of storage. Along with your other preps, food storage should be inspected on a regular basis to ensure conditions have not changed, or if any products have become compromised during storage.
Even though these storage foods have a very long shelf life, as much as 15-25 years, they will still need to be replaced eventually. Much like your pantry food, in order to prevent wasting money, you should eat your food storage before reaching expiration dates. The best way to rotate out stored foods is to incorporate them in your everyday cooking. This not only utilizes the investment you made years ago, but has the additional benefit of getting your family used to eating storage food, which is often different from the foods your family eats everyday.
Illustrating the different options in food storage available, here’s a example of a smart preparedness plan, using the various food storage guidelines above:
Let’s say you live in a hurricane zone and your plan includes both sheltering and evacuation scenarios. If sheltering, you will likely be doing so without power and you (hopefully!) have a camping stove with plenty of spare fuel. Your sheltering plan calls for you to eat as much from your refrigerator and freezer foods as possible, then to start eating what’s in your pantry.
If the emergency continues, you’ll start using the freeze-dried meals you’ve stored, along with the extra water storage you’ve put away to account for what you will need to cook these meals. You will also stretch your freeze-dried meals by including bulk foods, such as pasta, rice, beans, and potatoes.
If you decide to evacuate, you’ll do so before the storm hits, but you also know you’re likely to be in heavy traffic until you get out of the area. Wanting to maximize your drive time, you’ll be using MREs for the time you anticipate it will take you to get to your out-of-the-zone destination. After that, you’ll rely on the freeze-dried meals you brought along in the convenient storage bucket, as local food sources are likely to be tapped for a week or two.
As you can see, food storage is an important aspect in any preparedness planning. Factoring this into your own Personal Threat Analysis, you can visualize how the different options might work better in your “highly likely” events to occur whether you shelter in place or need to evacuate to a safer location. Having a variety allows for a flexible plan, tailored to your family’s dietary needs and preparedness goals.
In our next article, we’ll be covering water storage.
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Whether you’re just beginning to write your preparedness plan, or if you’ve had one for a while, one of the best planning tools you can have is a threat analysis, also called a risk or threat assessment. Properly done, an analysis highlights the hazards and situations most likely to occur, and which are the most dangerous.
Once complete, your threat assessment tells you which disasters or events you should prepare for first. For example, you may be highly concerned with nuclear detonations and pandemics and may be thinking you need to focus a large part of your plan on these events. However, though the effects from these can be severe, both have a relatively low possibility of occurring. When you consider the potential damage from more likely disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and storms, these are the disasters you should prepare for first.
It’s important to update this assessment on a regular basis. If you live in a well-established area, with little to no new development, a reassessment every one to two years is likely sufficient. However, if your home is in an area undergoing continual development, such as a new neighborhood or a booming commercial and industrial area, it’s better to update every six to twelve months, as new development can introduce new threats.
Start your analysis by writing a list of all the disasters, events, and situations you can think of, particularly those with the potential to directly affect you. Do some online research and drive around your area, writing down anything posing a potential threat, such as power plants, industrial chemicals, and nearby railroads or highways. If you’re unsure of what hazards they pose, you can check this Ready.gov list of disasters and hazards, which also has good information on how to prepare for these events. You can also check this comprehensive list of disasters and hazards, as a way to check the possible disasters.
Don’t forget to include frequent locations like work, school and anywhere you spend a lot of time. It’s important to keep in mind the proximity of a disaster can lessen or increase the severity of impact to you personally. Group your list of disasters into the following categories:
If you know how to use one, now is a good time to put your list into a spreadsheet, as you’ll soon be adding several more columns of information. This additional data will help you make decisions on the first threats to focus on. Below is a sample spreadsheet you can use as a guide on how to set up your spreadsheet, whether on computer or paper.
As you can see from the example, once you have the list of disasters separated into proximity, create four additional columns:
Onset is how fast a disaster occurs and how much time you have to prepare. A Slow Onset means you have more time to prepare, as with a hurricane or winter storm. A Rapid Onset happens with little to no warning, such as with earthquakes and car accidents.
For each disaster on your list, assign an onset value, as follows::
1 = Slow Onset (more time to prepare)
2 = Rapid Onset (happens without warning)
Likelihood of Occurring is a value of how likely an event is to happen:
1 = Not Likely to Occur
2 = Somewhat Likely
3 = Likely or Unsure
4 = Probably Likely
5 = Very Likely to Occur
Severity of Impact is how much the impact would affect you or your family personally:
1 = Little or No Impact to You
2 = Some Impact
3 = Moderate Impact or Unsure
4 = Impact likely to Upset Normal Everyday Life
5 = Will Impact You Greatly or Severely
In the last column, take all three scores and multiply them together to provide an Impact Score:
Impact Score = Onset x Likelihood of Occurring x Severity of Impact
The Impact Score is an indexed number of all the factors considered, which makes it easier to see which events are likely to affect you the most. The higher the number, the greater the direct impact a disaster has on you personally. In our example spreadsheet, the disasters or events having the greatest impact are a tornado, home fire, vehicle accident, and winter storm and are where you should begin preparing first.
Once you’ve finished your risk assessment, you can start focusing on preparing for those events with the highest Impact Scores. When those preparations are complete, move onto the next several highest scores on the list. Many disasters have a common set of needs, such as food, fuel, water, shelter, and so on. This allows you to get prepared for a wide range of disasters rather quickly.
Our next article will focus in on tackling the food storage component of preparing for these events and will cover things like why following lists online is not always a good idea, and food storage questions to ask.
]]>Once you’ve decided it’s time to become better prepared, the next step is to take action. This can be a daunting task, as there are many things to do in order to be well prepared. Unfortunately, many people stop at this point, as they become overwhelmed with all that needs to be done.
An important point to keep in mind is it’s not necessary to prepare for every possible contingency. Starting with a small plan is a great way to start and is much better than waiting until your plan is perfect. In other words, start today, and improve as you go. Which means, the first thing you need is a plan.
Your Preparedness Plan
A preparedness plan is a written document containing several different aspects of your preparedness. In it, you should include what you and your family will do in the event of an emergency or disaster, along with important information and what you have stored, where items are stored, and the actions you need to take when certain events occur. Basically, if it’s important or needs to be remembered, it should be written down in your plan.
Writing down your plan is very important, as everyone in your family needs access to the plan and the information contained within, especially when you’re not available. Your plan needs to contain contact information for family and friends and where to look for extra information (books, documents, TV, radio, internet, apps, Twitter accounts, and so on). It should also have a list of actions to take and the locations of your preparedness supplies. You should review your plan with your family on a regular basis, but life often gets in the way and having it written down allows everyone to quickly access the information when needed.
Additionally, your plan is a great place to write down those items you already have and which you plan on buying. Itemizing your next purchases can help to stay within budget and ensure you’re focusing on those items actually needed to survive the aftermath of a disaster. While you may want that Remington Custom Shop M7 Scout with Burris 2–7x32mm Scout Scope, you should first ensure you have enough food, water and other supplies on hand.
As an example, in the event of a widespread power outage, your plan would outline which local radio stations to tune to for information (ideally, those having emergency power) and to remind you or your family to fill the tubs and extra containers with water. Other parts of your plan may explain how to work the camp stove or how to use the water filter, as well as where to locate these items. You plan should also include things, like, who is going to pick up the kids from school or check on elderly family members.
A proper plan starts with a risk assessment of your area, so you know which local hazards exist. Local events have a greater chance of affecting you and your family, so don’t overlook these. For example, if you have a rail line or refinery near your house, a greater chance for a chemical spill exists. Be sure to put this in your plan, along with any actions needed, like how to shelter in place or whether to evacuate. Fires, both urban and wild, are likely causes for a quick evacuation and require a quick response.
Other things to include in your plan are important phone numbers (family, friends, neighbors, doctors, veterinarian, plumber, handyman, local emergency services, etc.) and your evacuation plan, which details when to leave and where to go, in addition to which items to grab before you leave. Having an evacuation grab list increases the likelihood of grabbing critical supplies when you’re under duress from having to evacuate.
As mentioned at the start of this article, when you’re making your plan, it’s quite easy to become overwhelmed by information overload. Thinking about all that goes into being prepared, it’s easy to throw your hands up in the air and pretend you’ll come back to it later. Luckily, however, you can achieve a decent amount of preparedness fairly simply.
Historical events have shown us there is a common set of needs in almost every disaster, and this is where you should start your preparations. In general order of importance, the things you will likely need to provide for yourself after a disaster include:
The exact order would depend on your situation, but in general, you can consider all of these important enough to include in every preparedness plan.
To help you get started, each month we’ll focus on one of these items. Simply follow along and build your emergency preparedness plan and supply with us!
]]>When asked that question, there are, generally, three basic responses: "Yes," "I think so," or, "Prepared for what?"
Even among those who responded affirmatively, believing they are sufficiently prepared for disasters, many do not realize they are, most likely, not prepared enough. Recent studies by FEMA found a rather wide margin between survey respondents stating they were prepared and the actual number of people prepared when stuck by a local tornado.
Starting at the beginning, let's address the simple question, "Be prepared for what?" It's an honest question, though one that isn't always easy to answer. People intuitively understand it’s a good idea to be ready; they take a look around them locally, in their state, in the country and in the world and see the disaster happening. However, most never make a direct connection of this happening to themselves and cannot justify the expense.
Yet, hardly a day goes by without some disaster occurring, somewhere in the world. And while it’s easy to wave off those happening in far and distant lands, there are a good number of disasters and emergencies happening on a regular basis in our country, our state and right in our own neighborhoods.
Though these may be small or far enough away, so as not to impact you directly, there will come a time when they do. Every state in the US is affected by disasters, from the annual wildfires in California and Arizona, to the hurricanes in the south, to brutal winter storms in the north and east. Globally, terrorism is nearly a daily occurrence, and there exists the very real possibility of a solar flare so massive, it can wipe out the power grid. Are you ready for any of these events? You should be.
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, including the damage in Puerto Rico, show us why it’s important to cover the basic necessities, at a very minimum. This way, you are not amongst everyone else who has to drive miles or fight for food, water and basic supplies. Assuming supplies are even available.
Three common events not typically considered disasters, but are likely to strike everyone at some point, include home fires, job loss, and crime. Losing income is never easy and especially so when your family depends on that income for daily life, such as paying the mortgage, rent or bills and buying food, toiletries, school supplies, shoes and clothes. Worse still, is what happens when your home catches fire and quickly reduces your possessions to ash, or a home invasion resulting in a personal crime and injury. The additional emotional trauma associated with these events compounds our ability to cope with them.
If you haven’t thought of these events as something needing to be prepared for, you’re not as prepared as you thought. You’re not alone, however, as many people would prefer to watch a sitcom on television instead of contemplating these horrible events. However, having a comprehensive preparedness plan means you've already planned for, not only the common disasters, but also these types of “everyday emergencies,” too.
Part of being comprehensively prepared means you're better able to better handle any crisis or disaster situation, because you took the time to make simple preparations. This includes having things like food storage and a cash reserve to help see you through. Preparedness is simply about giving yourself options and opportunities. When the disaster, crisis or other out-of-the-ordinary event occurs and you're prepared, you have options available to you that you wouldn't have if you didn't plan ahead. But, only if you are prepared.
Think you’re really prepared? Let's look at a typical power outage. At first, it's an inconvenience, not having the lights come on when you flip the switch, having to keep the refrigerator closed so your food doesn't warm up too fast, or not being able to fill up your gas tank because the pumps aren't working. What happens if the outage is for more than just a few hours?
The sun has set and it's now nearly pitch black, both inside and outside your home. Do you have a way to light your home with flashlights and extra batteries? When's the last time you've checked those batteries? What about that flashlight, does it still work or have the batteries inside it leaked and destroyed it? Candles are a logical choice for a long-term light solution, but they are dangerous. Many people have lost their homes, possessions and even their life from fires started by candles and open flames. Everyone needs to understand fire safety and how to use a fire extinguisher. You do have fire extinguishers, right?
A much safer option is to employ one of the newer solar solutions. These can not only provide a long term lighting solution, but also provide power to recharge your mobile devices. Keeping your cell phone charged is critical for communicating and getting information.
Let's fast-forward a bit, the power has been out for over 12 hours now, how's the food in your fridge? Let's say you have a generator and you're running it to keep your refrigerator and deep freezer cold. How much fuel do you have on hand? How long will this fuel last? Do you even know how much fuel your generator uses per hour? Have you planned for neighbors demanding to plug in an extension cord? That fuel you've been storing in the hot garage for the generator, has it been treated for long-term storage, or did you just put degraded fuel into your generator, which is now beginning to sputter?
The power outage has gone on for 24-hours now. How much water do you still have on hand? Have you been using your stored water faster than you expected because your family flushes the toilets far more than you thought they did? Is the water safe from the tap? There’s no way to know, so be sure to filter it before consuming it (which includes drinking, cooking, and brushing your teeth). It’s dark again, and you’ve decided to stay awake all night because the house across the street was broken into last night. Speaking to your neighbors confirmed this, but it did not explain the screaming you also heard last night. Do you have a home defense plan? Are you able to make coffee, so you can stay awake throughout the night?
Preparedness isn't really all that difficult. It just takes forethought and planning. It's about looking forward and thinking, "What happens if...?" and then doing what you can to prepare for it and making sure you've covered the basics. Being prepared doesn’t mean you have to live off-grid or isolate yourself with a wall around your home. It’s about being prepared to face the common and uncommon events we experience throughout our lives. Though it can be a lot of work, the rewards for knowing you’ve prepared your family is worth it.
In our next article, we’ll discuss some things you can do to start getting better prepared.
]]>The antics of North Korea and its leader have grasped the attention of the American people in a way we have not experienced since the Cold War. Though it remains unclear as to what their real capability is, the potential of a nuclear strike is a very real threat.
When planning for a nuclear event, it is prudent to have supplies available for sheltering in place, as well as for evacuating to a safer location. Sometimes, the solutions might be the same, other times a lighter, expedient option is necessary during travel. For both, it’s always a good idea to start with the basics: food, water, shelter, warmth, tools and protection.
Nuclear explosions are scary and intimidating, not only because of their massive explosion, but also for the other effects. Learning more about what these will help you react swiftly and properly, should this event happen. Let’s look at some of the effects from a nuclear explosion.
The first noticeable effect is the flash or thermal pulse. This immensely bright light is hot enough to start fires, cause blindness and char the skin. At night, the flash can cause blindness over 50 miles away. Luckily, most of the blindness caused is only temporary. However, if you’re caught in the thermal pulse of a nuclear explosion, immediately shield your eyes and get behind something to limit your exposure.
The next significant effect is the blast or overpressure wave. This is the high winds rushing outward from the explosion. The closer to the detonation, the stronger the winds will be and are strong enough to completely destroy buildings and houses. The bigger the yield of the bomb, the farther out these devastating winds can reach. Once the bright flash has diminished, immediately seek better shelter in preparation for these winds. Depending on your distance from the explosion, it may take up to a minute for the blast wave to arrive.
All nuclear explosions have an EMP, or electromagnetic pulse that occurs at the time of detonation. This EMP is limited to a relatively local area, unlike the EMP caused when a nuclear device goes off in the upper atmosphere. The effects of this localized EMP aren’t something we need to be too concerned with, as the area affected will have bigger concerns than which devices have been affected by this EMP.
Another significant effect from a nuclear explosion is radiation. The initial radiation caused by the detonation is significant, though most of this occurs in and around the blast area. The residual radiation, better known as fallout, is of greatest concern, as it can affect a very large area downwind from ground zero. The closer you are to ground zero, the higher the levels of radioactive fallout.
Fallout can have long lasting and far-ranging effects. Areas tens of miles downwind can become irradiated with levels high enough to cause both short and long term health effects. Worse yet, radiation is undetectable to humans without special equipment.
Fallout is comprised of radioactive isotopes, many of which have a half-life measured in tens or hundreds of years. One of these isotopes is radioactive iodine, I-131, which has a half life of only 8 days. This is significant, as Iodine-131 is readily absorbed by the thyroid, causing damage, which in turn creates lifelong health effects.
By taking potassium-iodine (KI) or potassium iodate (KIO3), before the fallout reaches your location, you can saturate your thyroid and prevent the absorption of I-131. This is especially important for children, because they are more susceptible to thyroid damage. Even small amounts of I-131 can cause thyroid cancer.
When taking KI or KIO3 tablets, it’s important to take the correct dosage. Here is the dosage for potassium iodide (KI):
Be sure to check the CDC website for precautions on taking KI. (link: https://emergency.cdc.gov/radiation/ki.asp)
An alternative to KI is KIO3, which is more shelf stable and has a longer expiration date then KI tablets. Here is the dosage for potassium iodate (KIO3):
Taking either KI or KIO3 will provide protection from radioactive iodine-131, if taken before radioactive fallout arrives. This includes nuclear emergencies from nuclear power plants. How long you need to take these pills depends on the emergency. While you may only need to take them two weeks in the case of a power plant crisis, you’ll need 100 days worth for a nuclear explosion.
Remember, the most important aspect is having these pills before they’re needed. Trying to order these after the radiation is in the environment is too late!
]]>Regardless of what your preparedness plan looks like, it undoubtedly includes some form of food storage. Whether you’re planning for a week-long power outage or the worst case scenario, food and water will be at the top of your list of items to store.
When it comes time to buying storage food, do you know what you’re getting? Will the food on your shelf see you through to the end of the disaster? The time to make sure you have the right storage food is before you buy it, not when the horde is pounding on your door. But, what questions should you be asking? How do you know what to look for?
On the surface, it seems as though all food storage companies are alike. They sell the same kind of foods, so they must all be the same, right? That’s a mistake many people make; they assume food companies are looking out for them and have their best interests in mind. Like most things, you need to do your own research to ensure you’re getting the highest quality product and package for your money.
If you have been to any of the food storage company websites, you know it’s not easy to figure out how they differ. However, there are very clear differences between each company. From how they package their food to the ingredients they use, it’s important to know what the differences are and which will be best for you and your family. All family units are different, and what works for one, might not be the best choice for the other.
Here are 11 important questions to ask food storage companies. The answers to which can’t always be found on their website. All companies should be able to answer these, which will make the differences more apparent. If they cannot answer them, be wary, some companies will substitute lower-quality foods while charging you a premium price.
1. What is the serving size portion of your meals?
This is an area with the biggest differences. Some companies may seem less expensive, or another may have more servings for less money. How is this possible? As there is no standard serving size, companies are free to make them as large or small as they’d like. This makes it very difficult to compare one company’s offering to another company’s. The serving size for some companies might be as small as 1/4-1/2 cup!
Companies do this so they can increase the number of servings in a pouch to make it sound as if there’s more food than their competitors. That awesome deal you found doesn’t look as good when you realize you need to double or triple the amount of food you need to buy, in order to have a decent amount of food on your plate.
2. What is the average calorie per meal?
This is extremely important. While companies can determine how big a serving size is, they cannot change the number of calories per meal. If this is the food you will rely on in an emergency, you need to know your calorie intake. Let’s face it, the serving size listed on the bag will probably never be the same as what you consider a decent portion of food. However, knowing you need 2000 - 3000 calories per day, per person, makes it easier to know how much food you need overall. The more calories per meal, the less meals you will need to buy.
3. Are your products Non-GMO?
Are your products made Gluten-Free or with Non-GMO food? If this is important to you, ask for the certification to back it up. You might be wondering why this is important for some people. One of the main rules of preparedness is to store what you eat and eat what you store. This means, at some point, you will need to start rotating out your storage food and start using it up before it expires. Pulling them into your daily meals is not only a great way to rotate your food storage, but to also get your family accustomed to eating this type of food.
4. Where can I see the nutritional ingredients?
While this seems simple, not all companies will provide you with this information. If a company can’t post important information such as nutrition on the site and requires you to call them for it, consider this a red flag.
5. Do you need gluten free options?
If you or someone you love has gluten intolerance, you know how difficult it can be finding foods that are gluten free. It becomes even more of a challenge when looking for storage food. If you or your family needs or chooses to eat gluten free, make sure you have some options available in your food storage that won’t upset their digestive system.
6. What will my shipping cost?
Food is heavy and if you have to pay for shipping costs on top of the cost of the food, you’re likely to go over your budget. Some companies will offer free shipping, but if they don’t, make sure to find out how much it will cost to ship their food to you and add that into your comparison shopping.
7. Am I able to select meals I want and don’t want?
Some companies offer this as a courtesy on larger orders to ensure you can have more of your favorites and less of those you would rather not. Sometimes, it’s not available, but it’s good to know all your options before you make the final decision.
8. If you have protein in the meals, is it real meat or textured vegetable protein (TVP)?
If you are vegetarian, it’ll be good to know your storage food doesn’t compromise your values. Textured vegetable protein, or TVP, with its long shelf life and similar taste to real meat, does have its place in food storage. Being less expensive, it can be a cost-effective way to get more protein in your meals. However, real meat can be hard to beat, as TVP cannot replace it for taste or texture.
9. How do I prepare your meals?
You were sold by the nice looking images and marketing text on the website, but when you open the box, you find you a lot of nice package with fruits, vegetables, gravies, milk, noodles soup bases, flour and sugar - how do I make meals from these?
Storage food comes in many different forms. For some, all you need to do is add boiling water. For others, you need to “assemble” the meal, like you would from scratch. It’s important to know how the food needs to be prepared. You don’t want any surprises when it comes time to use it.
10. Are sugar drinks & desserts included in my package?
Set aside all the servings with these items and then recalculate your package. Empty calorie foods are food of a lower quality, such as sugary drinks, condiments, desserts, and those foods having calories, but very little nutrition. These might be nice as extras, but if they are counted in your servings, you are getting less quality food than you think. How many servings do the desserts, drinks, and rice make up this package? One trick some companies do is to pad their meals with cheaper foods to increase the overall serving and calorie count.
11. What’s the shelf life of your food?
This is a tricky question, because the shelf life of food is not all the same. For example, milk and meat, even when freeze-dried, only has a 5 to 10 year shelf life. While other foods can have a 20-25 year shelf life. In general, you’ll want to get the longest shelf life you can for your storage foods, but realize it won’t all be the same, and that a longer shelf life may mean less variety. You’ll also want to ask the best storing conditions and the shelf life for each of your stored foods, so you can properly rotate them and maintain the longevity of your investment.
Though not a question to ask, there’s one final important point to keep in mind. Don’t fall for the scaremongering or fear buying tactics. If you receive an email urging you to buy because stock is low, to act now before the government buys up all the food, or if the representative is pressuring you into purchasing immediately - consider walking away. Take the time to ensure the package you’re buying meets all your needs, before spending your hard earned income.
Not all storage food is the same. It’s up to you to do the research and make sure you’re getting the best value for your money. Food storage is an investment in your future. Make sure you’re planning ahead properly and get the foods that will serve you best.
Water is one of the most important aspects of preparedness planning. We cannot live long without an ample supply of clean water and most people underestimate their water needs. People need water for drinking, washing, cooking, and sanitation. Even if you store hundreds of gallons of water, you will at some point, need more water. This is especially true if you’re forced to evacuate your home. When looking at the options for filtering water there are three main types of filters: Straw, Pump, and Drip.
Straw filters are those used like an everyday straw. Simply dip one end into the dirty water and draw the water through it into your mouth. These are usually small and convenient to carry but they are limited on how you can use the water, as the water goes directly into your mouth. Straw filters are excellent at providing quick access to clean water when you’re on the go. Their small size is perfect for bug out bags and evacuation kits. They filter a relatively small amount of water, although better ones can filter hundreds of gallons. Straw filters are generally inexpensive enough for everyone in your family to have one in their go bag.
Pump filters require you to manually pump water through the filter media. These can also be conveniently small, giving you close to the same portability as straw filters, with the added benefit of being able to put the clean water into a container, such as a bottle or pot for cooking. This isn’t possible with a straw-type filter, unless you spit the water out of your mouth (Yuck!).
The downside to pump filters includes having to actively pump in order to produce filtered water. If you’re supplying water for several people, pumping water at the streambed can quickly turn into an all day rigorous event. Pump filters are typically bulkier and heavier than straw filters, making them a better choice for larger emergency kits.
While both straw and pump filters are an excellent option in certain scenarios, they each require you to actively use them in order to provide clean water. This is where the advantage of a drip filter comes into focus.
Drip filters are typically larger and produce water by using gravity to draw the water through the filter. A good drip filter can produce thousands of gallons of clean water. They are slower than using a pump filter but do not require any effort beyond filling the top reservoir and enjoying the filtered water that is collected in the lower reservoir. The lower reservoir has a spigot at the bottom for easy access to the filtered water, much like a common water jug. Drip filters are considerably larger than either the straw or pump filters but are excellent for when you need to provide large amounts of water for families or groups without any hassle.
Which filter is best for you? Considering the many different potential events we may face, you would be wise to have all of these filter types in your preparedness plan. Each filter type has advantages and disadvantages, so you should probably opt to have at least one of each of them. For example, straw filters for your small emergency kit, a pump filter for your larger survival pack, and a drip filter to easily provide large amounts of water for your family.
It’s important that when looking for any water filter make sure the filter media will remove harmful pathogens, such as bacteria, parasites and viruses. Not all filters can do this. A maximum filter pore size of 0.2 microns is considered the minimum level of filtration needed to remove bacteria and parasites. Anything above 0.2 microns will not be able to filter out all of these pathogens in the water and greatly increases the chance of you or your loved ones becoming very sick.
The best filters will have a 0.02 micron filtration, which will remove viruses, and a carbon filter to remove harmful chemicals. These are typically larger and more expensive, but when you are filtering some of the filthiest water, like flood water for example, you need to make sure you’re filtering out the harmful elements. Good pump and drip filters will be able to do this, but be sure to read the fine print as there are many insufficient filters on the market. Be careful of generic copycats and be sure to check the specifications to ensure they meet all your criteria before purchasing.
Remember, water is extremely important and key for sustaining life. Be sure to get a filter to provide clean, safe water for your family.
]]>Summer's here and for families this usually means hitting the road or taking to the air for family vacation. One of the more difficult times to stay prepared is while traveling but with a little planning, you can still maintain your preparedness level. Do some preliminary research before you get to your destination and find out what kind of disasters are possible and determine what you might need. It's also important to remember being prepared isn't just about disasters; wherever you may be there are plenty of everyday emergencies to be prepared for.
Carrying a standard complement of preparedness items with you while traveling is a daunting task, either due to lack of available space in your vehicle or luggage. If flying, you'll have even more restrictions placed on what items you can take with you. Some items, like pocket knives, can be packed into your checked baggage, but many items cannot, including firearms and anything pressurized or flammable, such as pepper spray and butane lighters. This makes for a much more difficult task of staying prepared.
While there is little you can do about airline restrictions, once you get to your destination, a quick trip to the local superstore, hardware or dollar store can provide you with some readiness items. Before you leave give them to your hosts or donate to the local thrift stores.
One of the more common issues with traveling, especially air travel, is dealing with the inevitable and numerous delays. While certainly annoying for adults, these boring delays are especially hard on kids. Have a plan for dealing with these eventualities including games, books, and other entertainment. Electronic devices are also a popular way to occupy time, so be sure to pack your charging cords and have external batteries.
If you'll be taking the family car but find you don't have enough space for both luggage and your emergency packs, swap out your prep items for smaller items or only take the most important. You can even supply each person with a small emergency kit that fits into his or her purse or small backpack. At the minimum, each of these kits should be able to handle the following areas: first aid, shelter, fire starting, water treatment, food, signaling and navigation. These are typically the most important areas in any scenario. Of course, make sure everyone knows how to use their kits safely.
Before hitting the road, make sure your Vehicle Emergency Kit is ready to go. You can either buy a premade kit, like the one from Legacy Foods, or assemble your own. Make sure you can handle roadside emergencies, like flat tires and dead car batteries, along with having a first-aid kit, gloves, flashlight and some tools. This is in addition to the emergency kits you and your family carry.
Whether on the road or flying across the country, it's a good idea to have water and snacks with you along with some basic first-aid and hygiene items. Note that carrying liquids through airport security is very limiting, so plan on stocking up on small items once you pass through the security gates. If possible, plan for an overnight stay in the airport. Severe weather, mechanical delays, disasters, and terrorism might be reasons for delayed plane flights. Being stuck in an airport with no personal amenities can quickly turn into a nightmare. If you don’t have room for a small pillow and blanket a long coat can serve as a blanket and a sweater or shirt can double as a pillow.
Once at your destination, take time to review the potential dangers of being in a new place, especially with your children. Make sure everyone knows how to get in contact with each other and where they can go for help. Before you head out, print out and have everyone carry an itinerary and a list of important addresses and phone numbers, including hotel and local police and fire locations. If you have younger children who have their own phone, consider changing their phone's lock screen to your contact information. This way if they get lost someone will know how to contact you even if their phone is locked. If you have very young children either a pinned note or a necklace with emergency contact information is a good idea.
Family vacation doesn't have to mean you reduce your preparedness level. In fact, traveling with your family in a strange or foreign place actually calls for more preparedness. With a little planning and creative thinking, you'll be able to enjoy your vacation and know you've taken steps to keep your family safe.
]]>By Phil Cox, CEO, Legacy Food Storage
Disaster can strike at any time, and when it does, you’ll be glad you took time to prepare for potentially challenging events. Survival experts and the Federal Emergency Management Association recommend planning for emergency situations, but knowing how to get started without exhausting your budget can be overwhelming—often so much so that you don’t even begin.
One way to start is to outline a food item or emergency supply each month in 2016, and then divide your emergency budget appropriately. By the end of the year, you’ll have a solid set of supplies to provide for your family in case of a natural disaster or even a job loss. “Which products should I start with?” you might ask. While the final order is up to you, consider following this month-by-month guide to ensure a safe 2016 and beyond…no matter what may happen.
January — Basic Nourishment. While the month is halfway over, you still have plenty of time to start with an essential supply of food and water to get you through any immediate need. Depending on the situation—severe snowstorm, electrical outage, or natural disaster—help may not be available for several days. Storing basic supplies will help make any potential emergency situation more comfortable…and potentially life saving. An easy way to obtain a several day supply of meals is a non-perishable emergency food kit with enough servings for each member of your family. Start with enough for at least three days per person, and with FEMA’s recommendations of storing one gallon of water per person per day to last at least several days.
February — Equipment. With the basics covered, now you can focus on things such as blankets, a first aid kit, flashlights, a radio, and extra batteries. You’ll also be glad you stored games, puzzles and books to keep children entertained…and their parents sane.
March — Young Children and Pets. If you have babies, young children and/or pets, you’ll want to make sure you have food specifically designed for them (such as infant formula or baby foods) and tasty enough that they will actually eat it, as well as diapers, extra clothes, etc. Stock up on extra dog, cat or even hamster food, as needed.
April — Seeds. Adding survival seeds to your food storage is an added layer of protection in your emergency preparations. As the spring planting season approaches, a seed kit will make it easy for you and your family to produce various food items for both long-term storage and use during emergency situations such as natural disasters or job loss. A quality kit includes thousands of seeds for vegetables, fruits and herbs. Be sure to buy an emergency seed kit with seeds specially stored in a way that helps them last for years with a high germination rate. Also look for kits that enable seeds to be planted indoors at any time of the year.
May — Long-term Water Needs. While you likely stored water a few months back as part of your basic nourishment purchases, plan to add even more for long-term emergency storage. While FEMA recommends one gallon per day per person for drinking and sanitation, it really isn’t enough for cooking, brushing teeth, watering seeds/plants, flushing toilets, etc. Two gallons per person per day will make emergency situations much easier. Consider purchasing food-grade water supply boxes, which will enable you to utilize your storage space efficiently, and water purification packets so you can keep your water safe to drink.
May — More Food. It’s time to purchase more food for longer needs, so add enough to feed your family for 10 days or even a month, depending on your budget. And don’t forget family members with special dietary needs. If you are vegetarian or one of your children needs to eat gluten-free because of a celiac disease diagnosis, make sure the food you purchase meets these requirements. Purchasing emergency food for a range of needs will ensure everyone in your home—family, friends and neighbors alike—can eat well during the challenging situation outside.
June — Stove and Fuel. Part of disaster preparation is having the tools necessary to prepare meals. You’ll want the option of enjoying a hot drink or the ability to boil water for freeze-dried emergency foods that need hot water. Consider a multi-fuel stove that is easy to set up and can quickly be folded flat so it can be stored in small places. Don’t forget a lighter or matches. There are also inexpensive heat sources such as diethylene glycol fuel cans that provide instant heat and burn cleanly, smoke-free and without odor for up to four hours.
July — Hurricane, Earthquake or Cold Weather Kits. As hurricane and storm season approaches, depending on your location, consider purchasing an emergency kit that you can take with you depending on your situation. A hurricane “bug-out” kit, for example, may include a basic first aid kit, hygiene kit, 2-man tent, food and water purification tablets in a heavy-duty backpack while a cold weather kit may add fire-starters, a stove, reflective blankets and hand warmers. Just grab them and go.
August — School Essentials. Consider stocking up on school supplies with the school year approaching. While they might not seem like emergency essentials, they will be when school starts later this month, and you can add pencils, crayons and paper to your emergency kits so your children will always have them available, even in an emergency.
September — Practice a Plan. In the U.S., September is National Preparedness Month, so what better time for you and your family to review disaster planning and drills for various challenging situations. Check that you have needed supplies stored and that each family member knows what to do in events such as flooding, tornadoes, extreme winter storms, extreme heat, wildfires or civil unrest. You may wish to discuss as a family which type of disasters are most likely to occur in your area. Also, plan to rotate your water, which is recommended every six months.
October — Vehicle Safety. With winter approaching, make Halloween your deadline for placing emergency supplies in your car in case of upcoming snowstorms or even a breakdown in a rural area. Be sure to keep your car stocked with some long-term emergency food, water and blankets. These supplies will help keep you and your passengers more comfortable should you be stranded in the cold. If you want to be even more prepared, stock your car with a first aid kit, flares and jumper cables. Other auto tips: keep your car as full of gas as possible at all times so you don’t have to fill up during an emergency, when lines might be long, or if stranded in the cold, so you can keep your heater running for longer.
November — Auto Kits. If you feel vulnerable while stranded after engine trouble or a tire blowout, an auto safety kit in your car can provide protective gear against a potential attacker. A kit from an emergency supplier will contain easy-to-use, non-lethal protection solutions.
December — Review. You’ve made a list throughout the year, so now is the time to check it twice. What might you be missing that you would need or simply want during a disaster survival situation? Then plan out how you will add to your supplies throughout the next year.
Getting started with emergency planning can be the hardest part, so following some sort of schedule that helps you stay organized and on budget will go a long way in helping make any emergency situation as comfortable as possible.
Stay safe. Happy planning.
]]>No one can argue our world today is fast paced. We are so busy with our daily life, proper nutrition sometimes takes a backseat to other things higher up on our priority list.
What if there was a quick way to get that nutrition without having to put together complex meals or take several pills multiple times daily? Legacy Foods, known for its premium food storage line, asked this very same question and came up with an answer.
Legacy Food Storage provides food storage for disasters, economically turbulent times, or personal crisis situations where food might run short. Legacy‘s solution was to create a product for extremely quick nutrition, but could be worked into a regular healthy diet for those needing that extra boost. Taking into consideration a variety of dietary needs, Legacy formulated their “Mega One Meals” to be complex, yet very accommodating to some of the most sensitive diets.
Mega One Meals uses a plant-based protein containing 55 organically grown super foods. Each 16 oz. serving contains up to 27 grams of protein, along with 21 vitamins and minerals. In addition to seven servings of fruits and vegetables, it also contains a complete amino acid profile and vitamin B complex. Adding a completely natural Kakato sweetener, along with 20 grams of fiber, this drink will keep you full and satisfied. Even better, all this nutrition provides tasty and balance meals, simply by adding water.
Exclusively sold by Legacy resellers, our customer feedback has been overwhelming, as people love its versatility. Here is what people like and why Buy Emergency Foods is proud to offer this this amazing drink:
Vegetarian/Vegan/Raw - since this product is all plant based protein and lactose/dairy free, this fits well for those staying within these guidelines.
Fiber Rich – With over 20 grams of fiber per serving, its an excellent source for those looking to add additional fiber into their diet..
Paleo/Fitness – For those on the Paleo diet or fitness minded people looking to add additional protein to their diet, each 16 oz serving contains 25-27 grams of protein.
Weight loss – At an average of 260 calories per serving, makes an excellent meal replacement for those wanting to shed a few pounds, while the fiber rich blend keeps you feeling full longer.
Gluten Free – For those sensitive to gluten, you can be assured this drink won’t upset your tummy.
Non-GMO – All of the ingredients are sourced from Non-GMO suppliers to ensure the highest quality ingredients possible.
Camping/Hunting/Preparedness/Outdoors - Convenient to store or carry in a pack, Mega One Meals satisfies hunger while providing quick energy and healthy calories. Simply add water, shake and keep moving while having calories and hydration in one.
Mega One Meals come in 5 delicious blends: Vanilla, Chocolate, Cinnamon Swirl, Banana, and Chocolate Mint. Each is packaged in high quality Mylar with a zip top for easy sealing. With a long 5-year shelf life, it makes sense to have several flavors sitting on your shelf!
Look to Legacy Food Storage to continue offering new and delicious food storage options, made of only the finest ingredients, which will provide peace of mind for your family in emergencies and everyday life. With the addition of Mega One Meals, having additional healthy nutrition options for everyday or on the go has never been easier.
]]>When unprepared for a disaster – whether natural, financial or otherwise, emergency food ends up being whatever is on hand such as dried mac & cheese, crackers or bottles of energy drinks. But during – and in the after math of – the situation, it’s important to have a stash of food that can deliver sustained energy.
Ensuring you have enough protein in your diet can go a long way toward sufficiently fueling your stamina, especially when you need to think clearly and replenish your strength.
Here are eight protein sources to have on your emergency supply checklist:
Freeze-Dried Meat: Adding a serving of freeze-dried meat to your meal is an easy way to up your level of protein. Available from emergency food suppliers, freeze-dried beef has approximately 23 grams of protein per 4.0 oz serving, and freeze-dried chicken has approximately 25 grams of protein per serving..Be sure to look for USDA quality beef or chicken, and test which ones you prefer by taking a package along on a backpacking or camping trip.
Beans: A traditional plant-based protein staple throughout history, beans have at least 15 grams of protein per cup. Keep a sufficient number of cans of cooked beans or dehydrated beans in an emergency package. You can choose varieties as simple as black beans or white beans, or anything in-between. To mix it up, store a dried chili mix that can be easily cooked on an emergency stove or camping stove.
Egg powder: Egg powder has a long shelf life, and it reconstitutes by adding water. Eggs are low in both calories and fat, and they are easy to digest. Powdered eggs supply the same health benefits of fresh eggs, without the need for refrigeration. A serving of powered egg has approximately 6 grams of protein.
Peas: Traditionally considered a vegetable, peas are really a legume. Peas were a common diet staple throughout the Middle Ages. Today, protein from peas has gained popularity and is formulated as powder in protein shakes or the basis for energy bars. Peas have 8 grams of protein per serving.
Peanut butter: Want a bit of comfort food during your emergency? Peanut butter isn’t just a tasty treat, it’s also a protein-rich spread with heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. For an extended emergency, powdered peanut butter has a shelf life of more than a decade, and you won’t have to refrigerate it after opening the seal. Just add water to hydrate.
Nuts: Speaking of nuts, the Mayo Clinic reports that eating nuts instead of a less healthy snack can help you better follow a heart-healthy diet. Mixed nuts contain Omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin E, both of which are good for your heart and arteries. If you want nuts with the highest amount of protein, stock up on almonds, which have 20 grams of protein in one cup. The American Heart Association recommends four servings of unsalted nuts each week.
Multi-grain cereal: Forget processed foods promoted by cartoons in the grocery store’s cereal aisle. A bag or pouch of true multi-grain cereal contains a blend of grains, and some add flax seeds. Such a blend can offer up to 14 grams of protein per serving. Check the nutrition label to make sure your cereal selection is offering sufficient protein, not just sugar and processed carbs.
Steel Cuts Oats: Often referred to as Irish oats, Steel cut oats are chopped oat groats and are cooked. Steel cut oats can offer a richer flavor than conventional oats because of their complex texture. They are also chewier and denser than traditional oats. Steel cut oats have up to 6 grams of protein per serving. While oats are also heavy in carbohydrates, they are a low glycemic index food, which means your blood sugar won’t spike. Oats are healthy because they are unprocessed grains and offer a good amount of soluble fiber. Cooking steel-cut oats is a cinch—the ratio is 4 units of water to 1 unit of oats. Bring water to a boil on an emergency stove or camping stove, pour in the oats, reduce heat to simmer, and let cook, usually for 20-30 minutes.
With these and an assortment of other well-balanced foods on hand, you and your loved ones will be able to survive if a disaster strikes. And with the right kind of advanced planning and selection, you’ll be able to enjoy your food, not just survive off of it.
NOTE: This month, BuyEmergencyFoods.com is offering 25 percent off Legacy Food Storage freeze-dried meets, including chicken and beef.
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]]>Legacy Food Storage, Others See 300 Percent Increase in Demand; Offers Five Tips to Help Prepare For Any Emergency
Consumers are stocking up on food and other emergency supplies due to concerns about a potential Ebola outbreak in the United States. In the last three weeks, Legacy Food Storage has seen a 300 percent increase in demand over the same three-week period last year – and the company isn’t alone.
“The demand for food, water, fuel and other supplies needed in case individuals or families are required to stay in their homes has simply exploded since the first mention of an Ebola patient in the United States,” said Phil Cox, CEO, Legacy Food Storage. “Not only have we experienced it here at Legacy, but one of the largest wholesale warehouses tells us they are seeing that same significant increase. Fortunately, more and more realize they need to be prepared now instead of waiting until it’s almost too late to storm the grocery stores for the last gallon of water or loaf of bread.”
According to Cox, those who haven’t prepared their homes for an inevitable emergency – such as a health scare or hurricane, earthquake or even a job loss – often cite a lack of knowledge about how exactly to get started.
Forfive tips to help prepare your family for any emergency, read http://blog.buyemergencyfoods.com/preparing-the-family-for-2014/
These tips include:
About Legacy Food Storage
Legacy’s pre-packaged emergency food storage meals and products provide consumers with good tasting, high-quality food that is convenient and provides peace-of-mind knowing good food will be available during times of emergency or need. For more information, visit http://www.legacyfoodstorage.com
Legacy Media Contact:
Kelly Wanlass
Snapp Conner PR
801-602-4723
The post Ebola Scare Results in Rush On Emergency Food and Supplies appeared first on Buy Emergency Food.
]]>In support of the Red Cross’s official National Hurricane Preparedness Week, Legacy CEO Phil Cox offers the following tips for how to prepare for hurricanes right now.
Weather experts predict that this year U.S. states along the Atlantic will experience only two hurricanes, another “below average” season like last year’s. How strong they will be and how much damage they will create, however, is still up for debate. While it is difficult to know with what force these hurricanes will approach until they are already in action, past experience shows how imperative it is to prepare for this force of nature to prevent as much damage to your home and family as possible.
Below are four tips to help you prepare before it’s too late:
Know Evacuation Routes/Community Plans
The worst time to ask what the evacuation route is for your area is the moment you need to evacuate. Determine the best route now so you can head for it without delay. Also, be sure you know your community’s hurricane response plan. Familiarize yourself with the location of public shelters and what the community expects each citizen to do in the event of a hurricane.
Prepare Your Home
If possible, prepare all your windows with hurricane shutters. If not, close and board them up when you first hear a hurricane is approaching. Bring in any lawn furniture or other items that could be turned into a hazard by the wind. Turn off any propane or gas lines and unplug small appliances.
In addition, make sure you know your insurance policy’s coverage of flooding—if you even have one. Many policies don’t cover flooding, so it important to be prepared if your house does flood. In that vein, protect your home from flooding with sand bags and remove any valuables from basements and lower levels.
Store Food and Water
When disasters strike—natural or otherwise—it can be days before food is made available, either because business as usual is impossible to resume, or because it takes a while for aid to reach the disaster area. For this reason, it is imperative to prepare ahead of time the essentials you need for survival.
It is recommended that you store enough food and water for three days; however, the more you can store, the better. There are many different kinds of food storage including:
• Freeze-dried food
• Bulk storage
• Military MRE’s (Meal, Ready-to-eat)
Because you are preparing for an emergency situation, it is important to remember any food is better than no food. However, because you are planning ahead, store food that you know you and your family will eat. This one comfort could be one less stressor in an already stressful situation.
In addition, don’t forget to store fuel you may need to cook your food. When it comes to water, the Red Cross recommends storing one gallon per person per day for three days. This might seem like a lot, but when it comes down to it, it’s not very much, which is why storing even more water is an even better idea. You really can’t store too much.
Water storage is essential for proper hydration, for cleaning wounds, and for cooking food, which is why it is so important to store as much as you can. Water can be stored through:
• Store-bought bottled water
• Self-bottled water
• Mylar water pouches
In addition to storing water, it is important to store water-purifying products such as water purification tablets, water filters, and bleach. You can also purify water by boiling vigorously for 15-20 minutes.
Prepare To Evacuate
When it is time to evacuate, you will need to grab what you can and leave. Prepare or buy “bug out” bags that contain basic survival gear, including food, shelter, fuel, first aid, etc. Also, make sure you have plenty of fuel in your car so you’re ready to get out of town without worrying about refueling right away.
Store these bags in a place that is easily accessible so don’t have to go hunting for your emergency supplies—any wasted time can mean the difference between surviving an emergency, or not.
With these tips in mind, you are one step closer to being prepared for hurricane season and any dangers it presents.
The author of this post is Phil Cox, chief executive officer of Legacy Food Storage.
The post 4 Ways to Prepare for Hurricane Season Before It’s Too Late appeared first on Buy Emergency Food.
]]>Picture this: You have found yourself in a survival-type situation. Luckily, you were well prepared with emergency food, water, and supplies when the survival situation first began, but it has been several months, and your food supply is running low. It’s time to turn to nature for some added sustenance. You walk outside and look around you. There is enough plant life outside to feed everyone, but how do you know which plants are edible and which ones are potentially poisonous?
This situation is not the stuff of science fiction novels. Every single person who has found him/herself in a survival situation thought at one point, “That will never happen to me.” But it did. And it could happen to any of us. To ready ourselves for anything life throws our way, we must acquire survival skills along the way. Learning how to find edible plants in the wilderness is a survival skill that will allow you to:
1. Have a nearly inexhaustible food supply.
2. Add more nutrition to your existing emergency food supply.
3. Add more nutrition to your everyday life. (Wild plants are often less tampered with genetically than their domestic counterparts.)
4. Get free food.
5. Make hiking a lot more interesting.
GETTING STARTED
So you’re ready to go out into the world and begin some wild foraging. Common sense should tell you that you can’t just walk outside and start picking. Many plants are poisonous and even deadly, and you must first educate yourself on what to look for and what to avoid. Get educated first, and start exploring your new skill once you have the knowledge you need.
There are several ways to become educated on edible plants. Many longtime foragers highly recommend taking a class when you are just beginning. There’s nothing quite like seeing plants up close to give you confidence in your plant identification skills. Many community education programs, universities and nature centers offer guided classes on food foraging. Check out your local organizations to see what’s offered near you.
In addition to taking a class, purchasing a reliable, heavily-pictured field guide is an indispensable step for a wild forager. Local libraries are usually well-stocked with field guides, and you can also find plenty online. Here are a few I have come across as recommendations several times:
Edible Wild Plants by John Kallas
The Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer
A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America by Lee Allen Peterson and Roger Tory Peterson
Basic Essentials: Edible Wild Plants and Useful Herbs by Jim Meuninck
Once you begin looking for edible plants outside, keep a journal of your findings. In your journal, take detailed sketches of the plants you find to help you solidify your memory of those plants. People who keep journals of their edible findings are much more likely to identify them correctly because they have taken the time to become intimately knowledgeable of the plants’ parts. When you find an edible plant, experiment with different ways of preparing it to discover your favorite way to eat it. Eating the plants you find gives you ownership of them and means you will be more likely to recognize them in the future.
BONUS: FIVE COMMON PLANTS YOU DIDN’T KNOW WERE EDIBLE
Although we may not use them very often, edible plants are all around us. Take a look at just a few of the everyday plants you can eat:
1. Dandelions. Okay, maybe you’ve heard of dandelion wine or putting dandelion greens in a salad. But did you know you can also use dandelion roots to make a coffee-like drink, grind dandelion seeds into flour, and fry up and eat the yellow bloom? Dandelions present a world of possibilities to the wild forager. (Just make sure the ones you eat haven’t been sprayed with chemicals!)
2. Cattails. Cattails also offer a variety of ways to be eaten. Many foraging experts like to pick young cattail shoots and steam them like you would asparagus. Others like to take dried cattail pollen and use it as a flour. Still others boil up cattail roots and eat them with a little butter and salt. Who knew this prolific plant could be used in so many edible ways?
3. Acorns. Acorns aren’t known for their extreme tastiness, but if you’re in a pinch, they can add a bit of protein to your survival diet. Options for your acorn consumption are to boil them or soak them overnight to help eliminate some of their bitter flavor and eat their meat out of the shell, or blend the nut meat with a little water and use this mixture as a topping for vegetables or meats.
4. Purslane. Purslane is usually considered an annoying weed that grows rapidly with fairly shallow roots. But purslane is also apparently one of the best plant sources of Omega 3’s you can find. Steam it up like spinach for a boost of nutrients in your survival diet.
5. Stinging Nettle. Stinging nettle is vicious when it comes into contact with skin, and that’s why it’s such a surprise that stinging nettle is a reportedly delicious favorite of many food foragers. Much like purslane, stinging nettle can be steamed and eaten like spinach.
Get to know all of the edible plants that grow in your neck of the woods. Take some hikes, do some studying, and start to see the free food that waits all around you. If you find yourself in a survival situation, you’ll be glad you took the time to develop this unique skill.
FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION:
There are a variety of excellent wild foraging resources online. Following are a couple to get you started:
At WildCrafting, you can search by state to find known edible plants in your area.
WildUtahEdibles is an excellent site that documents edible wild plants in Utah.
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]]>If you are in the process of putting away food storage to prepare for emergencies, chances are at some point in the process, you have or are going to feel overwhelmed by the task before you. Planning for unknown circumstances is always a challenge, and to top it off, there is a variety of (often conflicting) information in the food storage world about what and how to store your emergency food. Before you get too frustrated and give up, take a look at the most important rules of emergency food storage.
1. DO SOMETHING. When we have a big task before us, sometimes we can feel so overwhelmed that we stop before we even get started. When it comes to gathering food storage, it can feel like an impossible goal to get enough food stored away to feed a family for several days, let alone months or longer. Too many people let the size of this goal scare them into putting their emergency preparedness off for another time. But now is truly the only time we have to prepare. And storing even small amounts of food storage is better by a mile than storing nothing at all. So do something right now, today, that will make you better prepared. Whether it’s buying extra canned food at the grocery store, ordering some food storage samples, or canning your own goods, whatever you can do, do it now.
2. MAKE A PLACE FOR IT. Make a place for your food storage both in your home and in your budget. Neither of these is as hard as it initially seems. Emergency food can be stored almost anywhere in your home; you are only limited by your creativity. How about adding risers to your beds so that you can fit more food storage under them? Or adding a long table cloth to a table so that food storage can fit underneath without being seen? Other ideas: in window seats, in secret compartments on the wall behind pictures or mirrors, or in the tops of bedroom closets.
As far as fitting money for food storage into your monthly budget, anything you can spare will be worth it. Even if you’ve got ten or twenty dollars extra a month, you can use that to buy a few extra cans of something your family likes when you see it on sale. Even better, you can save up your monthly food storage allotment to buy bulk food storage items that will last in storage for long periods of time.
3. STORE FOOD YOU EAT. This rule of emergency food storage might seem like a no-brainer, but its importance necessitates our listing it. Too often, well-intentioned emergency preppers stock up on foods that their family has never actually eaten. (Ten gallons of whole wheat berries, anyone?) Then an emergency situation arrives, and they either have no idea what to make from their food storage, or they make it and find they can’t stomach it. Or even worse, their kids can’t stomach it. Surviving emergency situations well is all about maintaining as much normalcy as possible. When everything else is scary and unknown, mealtime is not the time to introduce new foods. For all of these reasons, it’s important to store food that your family already eats and enjoys. If this means mac and cheese and ramen noodles, so be it.
4. SAMPLE, SAMPLE, SAMPLE. We can’t overstate the importance of buying emergency food that your family likes. If you have emergency food stored that tastes like cardboard, your family is not going to eat it. Take advantage of all the sample options food storage companies provide. Try them out on your family to see whether your kids will actually eat them or not. Legacy Premium offers a variety of sample packs that are not only hearty and nutritious, but also very tasty. Do your research before you make any big purchases you might regret later.
5. EAT THE FOOD YOU STORE. Once you choose the types of food you are going to store long-term, it’s important to cook with those foods often. Regularly practice making different meals with the food storage you have on hand. This will ensure your family is used to the things you have stored, and it will also ensure that you know what to do with it.
6. VARY YOUR FOOD STORAGE. One mistake first-time preppers often make is to buy a large quantity of two or three items in bulk and then call it good. Think about the variety of foods you eat during a typical week. In an emergency situation, things will be a lot more pleasant for your family if you aren’t stuck eating canned chili or boiled rice for every single meal. You might be able to survive on this, sure, but thrive? Not so much. Start by stocking up on staples, and then add sides and snacks as you go along to be sure you have a wide array of foods to nourish your body during emergencies.
7. DON’T FORGET THE BASICS. Along with all of your other food storage, don’t forget to have extras of the flours, spices, and oils you frequently use in your cooking. Things like baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and other similar items are commonly forgotten in food storage, but they make cooking a whole lot easier when other supplies are low.
8. GROW YOUR OWN. Having a bountiful garden that will supplement your food storage with fresh, healthy produce is an important part of preparing for emergencies. In survival situations, our bodies need all the nourishment they can get. At the end of your growing season, save and store your seeds to guarantee you’ll have fresh food next year as well.
9. STOCK UP ON TREATS. Whether your treat of choice is peppermint patties, potato chips, or plain old chocolate, make sure to add a few bags to your food storage. In everyday life, most people like to indulge in treats at some point during the day. In an emergency situation, the high stress can make treats even more desirable. Having something for yourself and your family to munch on can help you feel more positive about whatever situation you find yourself in and less like you are simply surviving.
10. LABEL EVERYTHING. It’s easy to make a purchase of emergency food, toss it in the pantry, and then find yourself a few months or years later wondering how long you’ve had it and whether it’s still good. Labelling everything in your food storage pantry eliminates this problem. Keep a pen and some tape near your food storage and make a habit of labelling food with its purchase date every time you add to the pantry. Then put all of your most recent food storage purchases to the back of the pantry and move older items up to the front to facilitate rotation.
Despite the abundant and often conflicting information to be found about storing food for emergencies, it doesn’t have to be a difficult or gargantuan task. Following these tips for emergency food storage can help you to avoid some of the common mistakes of first-time preppers and get you on your way to true preparedness and its resulting peace of mind.
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]]>All too often, people who find themselves in emergency situations realize that they may have food to last them for several days, but they have absolutely no way to cook their food without power. Emergency situations often include a loss of power for some period of time, and if you don’t have a backup method of cooking your food, you’re going to have to do a lot of raw eating. There are a variety of emergency cookstoves, dutch ovens, and barbecues to choose from if you’ve planned in advance, but today we are going to talk about solar cooking, a cheap, easy, and excellent option for emergency cooking if the weather is right.
Not only is solar cooking a great backup cooking method for emergency situations, it’s also great for non-survival times as well. Cooking your food with a solar oven outside in the sunshine helps you save money on your utility bill and keeps the kitchen from getting heated up on hot summer days. If you need a few more reasons to look into solar cooking, try these:
Solar ovens cook food at moderate temperatures as opposed to the higher heat of traditional ovens. This low, slow cooking preserves more nutrients in your food than higher temperatures can.
Solar ovens can double as water purifiers in emergency situations.
Solar cooking is hands-off. Just put your food in in the morning and come back at the end of the day to a ready meal.
There’s something uniquely delicious about food cooked with sunshine.
If you’re convinced now that solar cooking should be the next survival skill you pick up, here’s some how-to information so you can get experimenting in your own backyard.
How to Make Your Own
Solar ovens can be purchased for anywhere from thirty dollars to three hundred dollars, but making one at home is easy to do and requires simply objects you probably already have somewhere in your home. Last year I built a solar oven out of a car windshield shade, some velcro, a small wire cooling rack, and a large plastic bag. This oven works just as well as most, and it cost me less than five dollars to put together.
If you’re interested in making your own oven, you can find a variety of plans (including the one I made from a windshield shade) at www.solarcooking.org. Many of these plans simply need a cardboard box, aluminum foil, and tape.
Solar Cooking Tips
Solar cooking is all about experimenting to see what works best for your particular area/oven/food/etc. The more you practice, the better you will be, and the more you will want to cook in your solar oven. You will find as you experiment that you can cook almost anything in a solar oven, from stews and casseroles to breads and desserts. Temperatures in solar ovens only get to about 200-300 degrees fahrenheit depending on weather conditions, so it will simply take longer to cook. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you along your solar cooking way:
Of course, solar ovens need sunshine, so they work best on days that are nice and hot. However, they can work perfectly on mild winter days as well. Last year I used my homemade solar oven to boil eggs on a 45-degree day in early March. If you live in an area that has cold or rainy seasons, experts say you can cook in your cooker in all but the coldest three months of the year. The key is to make sure the day is a clear, sunny day when the sky is bright blue and there is not too much wind.
Optimal times for cooking are usually between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. as this is when the sun is highest in the sky. Experts say 20 minutes of sunshine per hour ensures your food won’t spoil.
You may want to stick around to keep an eye on your food the first few times you use your cooker. If the sun moves and shadows start to creep onto your food, you will need to turn your cooker to face the sun. After you have used it a few times, you will figure out the perfect placement for your cooker.
Solar cooking works best with dark-colored pots that aren’t too thick. (Cast iron pots, for example, are not ideal.) If you don’t have a black pot, you can paint its exterior.
Solar cooking works quicker at higher altitudes and slower at lower ones. Keep this in mind as you gauge your cooking time.
Now that spring is here for most of us, it’s the perfect time to start experimenting with solar cooking. If you use these sunny days to master your solar cooking skills, you’ll be glad you did if you ever find yourself without power and needing to cook a meal for your family.
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Did you know that in most parts of the U.S., right now (late winter and into early spring) is a good time to get the pruning scissors out and trim those fruit trees you’ve got growing? If you’ve hesitated to tackle the tree pruning before, today we offer some basics of tree trimming to help you get your fruit trees in their best, most fruitful condition.
Why is Fruit-Tree Pruning Important?
Pruning your fruit trees offers the following benefits:
1. Pruning helps a tree to have a good basic structure to be able to bear the weight of its fruit and avoid breakage.
2. Pruning helps a tree produce more fruit, and the fruit of a well-pruned tree is often bigger and less likely to be infected by disease.
3. Pruning a tree helps it to be healthier and stronger overall and increases its longevity as a result.
4. Trees that have been pruned correctly are more aesthetically pleasing.
Some Tips on Technique
In order to avoid damaging the tree and making it more susceptible to disease, it’s very important to cut its limbs off in the right way. In other words, you can’t simply take the pruning scissors and chop limbs off helter-skelter. There is a technique to follow to minimize trauma and damage.
Most importantly, always make a clean cut and never let a limb tear when you are cutting it off. This can result in the tree becoming susceptible to fatal diseases. If you are cutting off a very large limb, most experts recommend first making a small cut at the bottom side of the limb and then finishing it off from the top to avoid tears.
It’s also vital to make your cut at the right point on the branch: the branch’s point of origin. If you cut too much (cutting into the trunk) or too little (leaving a stump) off the branch, your tree may start to decay. The sweet spot is usually said to be just outside of the branch collar so that the branch collar remains intact. (The branch collar is the thick ring around a limb where the limb meets the trunk or the branch it is attached to. On some trees, the branch collar is very visible, and on others it is harder to see.) One way to check your cuts is to see the following year if a donut shape has grown up around the wound. If it has, your cut was just right.
What Should Be Trimmed?
The most important pruning in a tree’s life happens in its first ten years of life. During these years, you are helping a tree to develop a good structure. If your tree is young, you will want to work on allowing its scaffolding branches (the limbs that are directly connected to the tree’s trunk) to have plenty of space to breathe and receive sunlight. Remove any branches that are contending with others for either space or light. Most fruit trees need about 6 to 12 inches of space between branches, so aim for this. If your tree is young, you also want to make sure it does not have any contending leaders. (The leader is the main branch that runs up the middle of the tree.) Most trees are designed to have only one leader so they don’t crack and break in half. If your tree looks like it is developing a second leader, this contending leader should be removed.
The pruning of more mature trees will be a lot lighter and will center mainly on getting rid of problem limbs, which we list below. Keep in mind that with mature trees, you are mostly aiming to make the tree more open and airy, so most of your work will be in the upper branches of the tree, thinning and allowing more light down to the bottom.
Problem limbs that should always be removed:
1. Remove watersprouts and suckers. Watersprouts are shoots that grow vertically out of other branches. They sprout up very quickly and are a waste of the tree’s energy. Suckers are shoots that grow up out of the ground along the base of the tree and are also weak limbs that are energy-wasters.
2. Remove any decayed or damaged limbs.
3. Remove branches that are growing in a downward direction.
4. Remove limbs that rub against or cross other limbs.
Tree pruning doesn’t have to be a task reserved for the pros. If you have a simple fruit tree that needs some maintenance, start with the basics. Even if you just trim a little, if you do it right, it will benefit your tree greatly and leave you with bigger, better fruit in the summer.
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]]>OKLAHOMA CITY—March 19, 2014—Legacy Food Storage, a Utah-based manufacturer of emergency food storage and other essentials, is teaming up with a new emergency preparation store in Oklahoma City, Homestand Preparation Station, to make it easier for those in this tornado-prone region to stock their homes and storm shelters with food, water and other items critical during – and after – a natural disaster and other emergencies. Opening Thursday, Homestand is the first brick-and-mortar store to sell Legacy products, which have previously been available exclusively through online distributors.
According to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, the state sees an average of 53 tornados a year, with some years showing as many as 100. As of May, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has invested more than $57 million in 11,768 private and public storm shelters in Oklahoma, more structures than in any other state. The increased demand has resulted in a backlog of orders for more of these shelters throughout the state.
“Residents of Oklahoma and other nearby states know first-hand how important it is to take shelter during an emergency, but they often neglect to stock their storm shelters – or homes or cars – with essentials their family may need until help arrives,” said Scott Harper, general manager, Homestand. “Legacy Food Storage has everything needed in case of an emergency, with dehydrated meals and other emergency products such as water containers and fuel packages that are portable and easy to store. Their food even tastes good, which is more than anyone can ask for in an emergency.”
Legacy Food Storage provides complete meals in Mylar pouches that only require water (preferably boiled) to prepare. Water and other related supplies from Legacy, including cases of water bottles, boxes of distilled water, water purifiers, and purifying tablets will be available at Homestand to be used for preparing foods as well as other water needs.
After witnessing the May 2013 tornado that devastated entire neighborhoods in central Oklahoma, a group of Oklahoma City investors established Homestand to help Oklahomans prepare their families and homes for Oklahoma’s harshest weather conditions. In addition to carrying the latest emergency products and technologies, the 2,384-square-foot retail space will offer workshops to educate the public on emergency preparedness.
“This venture with Homestand is a giant step forward in helping Oklahoma residents be prepared in an emergency – and just as big of a step for our company as we strive to get closer to where are products are most needed,” said Phil Cox, founder and CEO of Legacy Food Storage. “In a place like Oklahoma, where natural disasters are more a matter of ‘when’ than ‘if,’ having the necessary supplies for safety and survival is essential. We want to make buying those supplies as easy and as painless as possible.”
About Legacy Food Storage
Legacy’s pre-packaged emergency food storage meals and products provide consumers with good tasting, high-quality food that is convenient and provides peace-of-mind knowing good food will be available during times of emergency or need. For more information, visit http://www.legacyfoodstorage.com.
About Homestand
Homestand Preparation Station is committed to delivering a well-rounded customer experience in order to help keep families safe, prepared and knowledgeable during times of duress and uncertainty, with the first store located in Northwest Oklahoma City at 63rd Street and May Avenue. Homestand features the latest products and technologies that supply power, water, food, light and shelter to families during times of emergency, as well as educational courses. A calendar of classes and product details are available at www.HomestandReady.com.
Media Contact:
Kelly Wanlass
Snapp Conner PR
801-602-4723
The post New Emergency Prep Store Opens in Oklahoma City, Offers Legacy Food Storage to Tornado-Prone Region appeared first on Buy Emergency Food.
]]>More and more these days, gluten-free options are popping up on fast food menus, the baking aisle at the grocery store, and most home pantries, but, unfortunately, the food storage world has been a little slow in adapting its offerings to meet the needs of a growing number of people. Legacy Premium is one of the only companies in the industry to offer such a wide variety of gluten-free food storage options. From tasty soups and dinner entrees to hearty breakfasts, Legacy’s gluten-free options will have your mouth watering.
Whether you have gluten-free needs or not, it’s a great idea to store gluten-free options along with your other food storage fare. Here’s why:
1. Chances are good that you or someone you love suffers from gluten-related health problems. Did you know that gluten-related health problems are on the rise across the world? The latest statistics show that Celiac rates are estimated to be doubling every 20 years, and 1 in 20 Americans suffers from a sensitivity to gluten. More and more people are being diagnosed with these illnesses, even older adults who have eaten gluten their whole lives. For all those who suffer from gluten-related problems, gluten-free meals are a must. In emergency situations more than perhaps any other time, it’s vital to have food that meets every body’s needs. Having gluten-free food storage that you can trust is vital.
2. You may have an intolerance for gluten and not know it until you eat a lot of it. Many popular food storage guides use wheat as their staple emergency food. If you do not regularly eat much wheat, and then an emergency situation arrives and you start eating huge quantities of it, you stand a chance of developing stomach problems. Including gluten-free options along with your other food storage fare will help you avoid an over-reliance on wheat during emergencies and make your experience a whole lot more pleasant.
3. Storing a variety of foods helps you avoid meal fatigue, and it makes good nutritional sense. When our bodies ingest the same foods over and over again, they can become lacking in some nutrients and overloaded in others. That’s why it’s important to diversify your food supply. Adding gluten-free foods is a good way to build up a way array of meals and avoid facing the same meals every day when you use your food storage.
4. Legacy’s gluten-free food storage meals are extremely tasty. There’s a common notion that gluten-free equals bland. With Legacy Premium’s options, this is not so. In fact, Legacy’s gluten-free meals are not about what they lack, but what they have. And what they have is plenty of flavor. With zesty bean and rice dishes, creamy soups and chowders, and hearty chilis, the options are varied and delicious. Check out the offerings on our homepage to see just how tasty gluten-free can be.
Whether your family has a medical need for gluten-free foods or not, adding Legacy’s gluten-free meals to your food storage is a great way to provide for any eventuality, add variety to your emergency menu, and bring tasty food to your pantry. Check out some of Legacy’s gourmet gluten-free options today.
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]]>Per FDA, Legacy Removes ‘No MSG’ Labels from Popular Meals
With many consumers identifying themselves as sensitive to MSG, Legacy Food Storage makes every effort to keep this common additive out of its foods and will never use MSG as an ingredient. However, new standards from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now require the removal of “No MSG” or “No MSG Added” labeling from any food source containing even the natural forms of MSG (ie cheese and tomatoes). As a result, over the next month, Legacy will remove these labels from several of our most popular meals.*
Why the change?
Although the FDA considers MSG as “generally recognized as safe,” these new requirements are designed to ensure consumers aren’t unknowingly consuming MSG of any sort when labels claim there is none present.
MSG is commonly known as a food additive to increase savory flavor, as well as a preservative. However, it does occur naturally in hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate as well as tomatoes and cheese, and the body processes it the same it would if the MSG was an additive.
While the FDA requires that these products be listed on the ingredient panel, the agency does not require the label to also specify that they naturally contain MSG. However, foods with any ingredient that naturally contains MSG cannot claim “No MSG” or “No added MSG” on their packaging. MSG also cannot be listed as “spices and flavoring.”
*Legacy meals with naturally occurring MSG:
Italian Pasta with Marinara
Cheddar Broccoli Soup
Potato Cheese Soup
Classic Chili
Beans & Rice
Stroganoff
Alfredo
Primavera
Loaded Baked Potato
Chicken a la King
Southwest Chicken soup
Mac n Cheese
Veg Rotini
Chili Mac
Creamy Potato soup
Vegetable Rice soup
Corn Chowder
White bean chili
Hawaiian sweet n sour
Legacy Foods without any form of MSG:
Oatmeal
Coffee
Creamy Wheat
Multi-grain
Milk
Chocolate milk
Orange drink
Apple drink
Mango dices
Banana Chips
Mashed Potatoes
Corn
FD Beef
FD Chicken
Pancake mix
Refried Beans
Parboiled Rice
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]]>T.S. Eliot said that April is the cruellest month, but he was wrong. February is surely the champion of cruel months. From the dirty snow that’s been heaped along the sidewalks since November’s first storm to the grey skies that make it seem like evening all day long, February, in my opinion, is winter outstaying its welcome, and even though it’s the shortest month of the year, it usually feels interminable. Worst of all, for many of us February is also a month of icy cold temperatures, resulting in pricey heating bills.
Here’s the good news: You don’t have to spend an outrageous amount on your heating bill this month. Check out these 7 tips for turning up the heat without touching the thermostat.
1. Work up a sweat.
Sometimes the winter months can make you feel cold to your bones. Getting your blood flowing will heat you up from the inside out and eliminate the need for your heater to be pumping out hot air all day. Winter exercise might seem like a tricky endeavor, but there are plenty of things you can do to get your body moving without venturing out into the cold world. You might try jump roping, running up and down the stairs, practicing yoga, dancing to your favorite music, or simply cleaning the house. Whatever your form of exercise, keep your body generating heat from the inside to avoid needing too much external heat.
2. Drink your tea hot.
Sipping hot drinks is a great way to stay warm in frigid weather. Not only do you warm up your insides, you also warm up your hands and fingers in the process. Keep a mug of coffee (Have you tried Legacy’s premium coffee yet?), tea, or hot cocoa handy all winter long to keep your internal temperatures nice and toasty. For an added boost of heat, try peppermint tea, which is said to be especially good at raising body temperature.
3. Sip warm soup.
There’s nothing quite like eating a bowl of hot soup on a cold winter day. Legacy Premium has a wide variety of hearty soups that will warm your belly up in a hurry. Try the cheesy potato soup, the spicy corn chowder, or the southwestern soup for a tasty meal your whole family will love.
4. Add a little spice.
There are some herbs and spices that have warming properties and can improve circulation in your body, helping you generate more heat naturally. Some of these warming spices are cayenne pepper, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, horseradish, cardamom, and black pepper. Experiment with adding more of these spices to your meals or drinking teas that contain them this month to get an added boost of heat. If you’re adventurous, you might also try adding some ginger to your bath or sprinkling some cayenne pepper in your shoes (be sure to wear socks). Many herbalists swear by these last two suggestions for keeping your body nice and warm no matter the temperatures outside.
5. Snuggle.
Nothing warms a body up quite like another body. That’s why winter is a good time to bend the rules a little. If you don’t usually let your kids or your pets sleep with you, you’ll all benefit from spending some quality snuggling time together. So share your bed at night with someone you love, whether that someone is your mate, your kids, or your devoted dog.
6. Soak up the sun.
Have you heard of Cody Lundin? He’s a survivalist who lives in the high deserts of Arizona. Although temperatures there range from the hundreds in the summer to single digits in the winter, his home is completely free of conventional heating and air. Instead, Lundin uses just the sun to keep his home at a balmy 70 degrees even when it’s 7 degrees outside. Even if you don’t have a carefully-designed home like Lundin’s, you can capitalize on the free heat of the sun. Open your blinds during the day to let the sunshine in and close them at night.
7. Focus on your feet.
You’ve probably heard it before: If you keep your head and feet warm, your body stays warm. This is especially true at night when you sleep. So heat up a rice bag or hot water bottle before you go to bed, then put it over your toes while you fall asleep. If you don’t have either of these, fill up a thick sock with raw rice grains, tie a knot in the end, then heat it up in the microwave for two or three minutes. Falling asleep with warm toes is one of the nicest feelings there is and will allow you to keep your thermostat set lower without you suffering.
We’ve almost made it to spring, but until sunny days are with us for good, try these simple suggestions for keeping yourself warm without spending a fortune on your heating bill.
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]]>From food shortages and natural disasters to political unrest and economic uncertainty, the world is not a predictable place. A National Geographic Channel survey conducted in 2012 found that even though 64 percent of Americans surveyed thought the U.S. would experience a significant earthquake or other major emergency state within the next 25 years, a staggering 25 percent said they have done nothing to prepare for it. Not good.
For many people, this inactivity is due in large part to a lack of knowledge about how exactly to get started. To help you take the first step, here are some basic emergency preparedness steps you can take to get you and your family ready for whatever comes:
Stock up on Food
Results from the National Geographic survey highlight another disturbing fact about Americans and their food storage. If a major natural disaster or emergency situation were to interrupt the current flow of resources, 18 percent of Americans say they wouldn’t be able to last two weeks on the supplies they currently have in their homes.
Again, this may be due to a lack of knowledge about how to get started, but it may also be because people believe storing food can be expensive. The truth? Storing food is not as overwhelming as it seems.
First, add it into your budget. No matter how tight things are, most people can afford to spare $10 or $20 or even $50 a month. Dedicate whatever amount to your emergency food storage. Buy what you can when foods go on sale, or put your money toward a bigger purchase of emergency food from a reputable food storage company that offers food with a very long shelf life. (Some offer 25-30 years.)
Keep these things in mind as you gather emergency food:
1. Store food you regularly eat.
2. Store food that tastes good.
3. Store a variety of foods.
4. Store food that has a long shelf life.
5. Store freeze-dried meals that only require boiled water (and a heat source to boil it)
5. Store an alternative way to cook your food should power go out. (Think camp stoves, dutch ovens, and the like.)
Our family of six keeps a 3-month supply of long-term emergency food storage in buckets (with mylar pouch food storage instead of cans. They stack better). In our pantry, we also keep a lot of additional canned items, as well as peanut butter, crackers and other items that can keep for 3+ months and then rotate them throughout the year.
Store Water
FEMA recommends starting with storing one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days. This is a very meager amount when the realities of an emergency situation hit, so store more if you can. You can never have too much water. My family keeps water bottles stored throughout the home, along with a 50-gallon water drum in the garage, which we then rotate every six months.
How to Store Water Safely
1. Store water in food-grade containers (but not juice or milk cartons, as the sugar will have created bacteria growth).
2. Store water only in containers that have been thoroughly sanitized first.
3. Store water away from heat and light.
4. Rotate self-bottled water out every six months and store-bottled water out every 12 months.
In addition to storing water, it’s also a good idea to store water purification tools. There are a variety of convenient and inexpensive water purification systems, from water bottles with built-in filter straws to gallon-size water pitchers. Other options are to use water purification tablets, apply the bleach method (16 drops of regular household bleach added to a gallon of water), or simply to boil water vigorously for 1-2 minutes. All of these methods should purify most types of contaminated water.
Put Away Fuel
Fuel is essential in emergency situations for heating, cooking meals and powering tools, generators and household appliances. There are a variety of fuel types to choose from, some more difficult to store than others. Gasoline, for example, must be stored according to strict regulations depending on your area and has a relatively short shelf life. Propane lasts for long periods of time but is fairly expensive to buy in large amounts. More traditional fuel sources like kerosene or firewood can be good options but require a little more knowledge and creativity. Many people (including our family) finds it convenient to store quick-lighting fuel discs or fuel cans to use along with their camping stoves, and these can be purchased through some emergency food companies or outdoor suppliers. Some only burn for 20 minutes; others will burn for up to 4 hours per cell, so do your homework well in advance to decide which type of fuel will work best for you (and your budget) – and stock up.
Gather Emergency Kits
FEMA offers a detailed list of basic emergency supplies, including practical items like batteries, flashlights, first aid supplies and other emergency essentials. Ideally, everyone should have a comprehensive emergency supply kit that stays at home with their other emergency items, a kit that is more portable for taking with them if evacuation becomes necessary, and smaller supply kits in the trunks of their cars, in school backpacks, and in work desks so that emergency supplies are available even if disaster strikes when not at home, which it often the case.
My wife has prepared 72-hour packs for each member of our family. We keep them above the washer and dryer in our laundry room. Each bag has a water filter, change of clothing, flashlights, food, emergency kits (band aids, stuff like that, etc), and a few other essentials.
Make a Family Emergency Plan
The Ad Council’s 2013 national survey found that 60 percent of Americans surveyed do not have a family emergency plan. This plan will help eliminate stress during an emergency, and should include specific procedures each family member will follow in case it happens when you are apart.
First, decide how you will contact one another to let each other know that you are safe and where you will be:
Also, discuss how you will reunite when the disaster is over. Designate meeting places in your neighborhood, outside your neighborhood, and out of town, and make sure everyone is clear about when to meet where.
In addition, try to keep your car tanks at least half full of gas at all times because you might not be able to refill during an emergency.
Summing It All Up for Real Life
Preparation is not about paranoia or hypothetical situations; it’s about doing all you reasonably can to protect yourself and your family from situations that occur regularly across the world. Once you have your emergency preparations finished, you’ll know you’ve done all you can to keep your family safe.
What have you done to prepare your family for an emergency?
The post Preparing the Family for 2014: Five Essentials for the Inevitable Emergency appeared first on Buy Emergency Food.
]]>In today’s society, our food and supplies come from all over the world. Because the stores always seem full, it is hard to imagine a real food shortage happening. If our intricate food system, so reliant on computers, should be disrupted, a food shortage is a real scenario we all should be planning for. Today, people are increasing their own personal preparedness for climatic, economic and everyday life events.
With the holiday just around the corner, many are making it a Christmas priority to be better prepared, in addition to gifting items to the ones they love. We at Buy Emergency Foods wanted to give you some great ideas for products to consider when thinking of some unique and meaningful gifts. Below are just a few items that might interest you:
Here is a great backup stove with fuel pack that can be used both indoors and outdoors, as a way to cook food, should there be a power outage when electric stoves won’t work. http://www.buyemergencyfoods.com/emergency-stove-fuel-kit
Here is a nice single bucket gift of freeze dried/dehydrated food that will last on the shelf for 25 years. Legacy Premium is known for the largest serving size, GMO free, and gluten free selections! This means more for your money, and high quality food. http://www.buyemergencyfoods.com/32-serving-family-72-hour-emergency-food-kit.html - Larger sizes also available!
This is a great kit to have in emergencies, either at home or on the go. You can keep as is or incorporate more items to customize just for you and yours. http://www.buyemergencyfoods.com/premium-family-survival-kit.html
Need a thoughtful stocking stuffer? Check out this survival gift bottle jam packed with preparedness goodies! http://www.buyemergencyfoods.com/survival-bottle.html
For the person that gluten sensitive, check out our gluten free food storage! http://www.buyemergencyfoods.com/gluten-free-emergency-food/
Or, how about this package that comes with one of everything, making for a great variety backup to have on the shelf. http://www.buyemergencyfoods.com/183-serving-mega-sample-pack.html
Lets not forget about a backup food supply for our furry friends! http://www.buyemergencyfoods.com/pet-food-storage/
Consider buying some preparedness items for family, friends, and even those who can’t afford to buy it themselves. Providing items for some backups, should any emergency situation occur, provides both you and them peace of mind! http://www.buyemergencyfoods.com
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]]>Cold weather is upon us and winter weather can fluctuate as the season progresses. Winter storms can range from a beautiful snow dusting to blinding, ice covered streets with freezing rain and large drifts of snow that can last for several days. Two of the main concerns with winter weather are dangerous driving conditions and loss of electrical power to homes.
If you are in, or plan to be in an area of the country that snowstorms are common, it’s best to have some preparations for road travels or extended stays indoors. Many deaths can occur from winter storms from traffic accidents due to inclement weather, or prolonged exposure, both inside and outside the home. A storm can turn dangerous very quickly, and it is best to make preparations before the heavy winter season hits to minimize the discomfort and possible fatal outcomes of not having the proper supplies with you.
The following is a list of what you can do both at home, and away to keep you and those you care about in a better position to weather the storm.
Welcome Visitors Safely
Make sure to welcome visitors with pathways that are free of snow and ice. Have the right tools such as a shovel and de-icing or traction items, such as kitty litter or sand to avoid visitor injuries.
Outside Fun
Walk carefully on snowy, icy walkways to avoid any injuries. Falling can be very dangerous in colder climates, especially if it happens in an isolated area, as help is not always readily available.
Dress in layers to keep warm and don’t forget about warm socks and a hat. The more of your body you can keep covered and sheltered from the cold, the warmer you will be. Pay attention to fingers, toes and extremities and look for pale appearance or loss of feeling. Be familiar with the signs of hypothermia: uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness, and apparent exhaustion. If you suspect these symptoms get to a warm location and medical help immediately.
At Home
Make sure to include bad weather scenarios in your family’s emergency plan. While not always a major disaster scenario, storms can turn dangerous, and may quickly become one.
Power outages are common with winter storms and it is best to make preparations before they occur. While you have the benefit of having the shelter of your home, things can go wrong when the power goes out and temperatures plummet. Unlike when the electricity goes out in many other disasters, you won’t have to worry about refrigeration during a winter storm. Just be sure to store your food away from your emergency heat source and any animals or insects that may be around.
If using an emergency heat source inside, like a fireplace, woodstove, or kerosene heater, always make sure you have proper ventilation. Conserve the fuel by closing off some rooms, either by closing doors or hanging up blankets between rooms. Consider using a carbon monoxide detector anytime you are using a heat source inside. Carbon monoxide is clear, odorless and very deadly. In addition, make sure to have plenty of blankets and warm clothing and don’t forget the benefits of cuddling up!
Just as in any disaster or event, having plenty of food, water and other backups is a good idea. Heading out to the store for supplies during a storm, when situations can rapidly change, is a bad idea. Make sure to keep a stocked pantry and some long-term food storage. This will ensure that you have plenty to eat and won’t have to leave and put yourself in harms way.
Along with the food, ensure that you have the tools to prepare that food. Non-electric kitchen tools such as a manual can opener, coffee press, and a backup cook stove. If cooking indoors, make sure that you have indoor safe fuel, or make sure there is plenty of ventilation. Because it can be extremely dangerous, never cook or heat with charcoal inside your home
Make sure to have battery-operated items, such as flashlights and a radio, along with plenty of spare batteries. Keeping tabs on what is going on outside will allow you to get any updates or reports that go out. Candles are great for lighting but can also be dangerous if left unattended. Try to look for non-flame solutions such as battery operated candles or LED lanterns. If candles are your lighting solution, place a fire extinguisher in every room where you are burning a candle.
Emergencies can happen any time and are typically unexpected. Make sure that you stay up to date on first aid items, as bandages can yellow and other first-aid supplies can expire. Proper injury management can be important until you can get the injured medical attention. Additionally, if you are reliant on any medications, ensure you have at least several days’ worth of medications at any given time.
Lets not forget our furry friends! Don’t forget to bring your pets inside during winter weather, and move other animals or livestock to well sheltered areas with non-frozen drinking water. Make sure to have some extra food, water and litter on hand for your pets. Legacy Premium has backups for pets are too: http://www.buyemergencyfoods.com/pet-food-storage/
Passing time can go slow but there are plenty of non electric things to keep you busy while the weather clears: books, magazines, cards, board games, crayons, paper, etc.
Vehicle Travel
Keep tabs on weather reports before long distance driving or driving into isolated areas. Driving in winter conditions means dealing with ice, sleet, snow and dangerous road conditions that can get worse in an instant. Make sure you do a regular weather check on your car checking for antifreeze, battery maintenance, full tank of gas, and proper tire inflation.
Drive in a winter storm only if it is absolutely necessary. If you must drive, avoid driving when you are fatigued to help reduce driving risks. Keep travel to daylight hours and keep others informed of your schedule. Let someone know your destination, your route, and when you expect to arrive. If you get stuck along the way, you will be easier to find when they search on your pre-determined route.
In extreme weather, rescuers can be busy, so have some extra supplies or a disaster supply kit in your vehicle. In addition to your regular supply kit, add some additional items for this time of year that are focused on winter travel. Keeping the supplies in a backpack is also a good idea, in case you need to leave your vehicle.
Traditional Supplies
Additions for Winter Travel
For more information if you become trapped in your car, visit: http://blog.buyemergencyfoods.com/be-prepared-for-winter-driving/
Winter is a beautiful season. Just make sure, as for any scenario, to have some back ups and a plan to see you though!
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]]>Sometimes we hear stories of people who have lived through drastic survival situations—the most dramatic example that comes to my mind is Aron Ralston, who cut off his own arm to free himself from a boulder that had pinned him down for 5 ½ days—and we think, I could never do that. The goal of mental preparedness is to make you more able to survive situations that are extremely challenging, situations you might not be able to handle otherwise.
First Things First
In order to get anywhere with mental preparedness, you must first be physically prepared by gathering all the food, water, and emergency supplies your family needs. Being prepared for all the physical necessities of an emergency situation will automatically put you in a better mental state during the emergency. When you are prepared with the resources your family will need, you don’t have the burden of figuring out how you are going to feed your family, what you are going to cook their food with, and how you are going to keep everyone healthy and safe. You also don’t have to bear the guilt of relying on someone else who is prepared (and generous) or worry about taking precious resources from them. This is why the first part of getting yourself mentally ready is to get yourself physically ready.
Once you’ve got the physical stuff figured out, you can then focus on sharpening your psychological readiness.
Five Ways to Mentally Prepare for Emergency Situations
1. Develop mental toughness. Recent studies have shown that while resilience can be an inherited trait, it can also be developed through certain habits. Here are a few practices you can carry out to help you toughen up mentally:
Get physically fit. You can’t toughen your body without automatically toughening your mind. Challenging workouts strengthen your mental ability to endure discomfort and pain, and they also give you more confidence in your physical and mental strength. Run an extra mile, do an extra set of squats, push yourself beyond your former limits so that you are constantly increasing your strength and stamina.
Live a disciplined life. Set rules for yourself when it comes to work habits, eating habits, exercising habits, and sleep habits.
Don’t get too comfortable. On a daily basis, make yourself do something that takes you out of your comfort zone physically or mentally. In a great article on mental toughness, Erich at tacticalintelligence.net recommends randomly doing things like fasting for 24 hours, taking ice-cold showers, going sky-diving, or making yourself wake up at 3:00 in the morning every now and then. Many of these may sound like just plain torture, but anytime you make yourself do things you don’t want to do, you become tougher and better able to handle stress. Remember Woodrow Wilson’s famous words: “Let me remind you that it is only by working with an energy which is almost superhuman and which looks to uninterested spectators like insanity that we can accomplish anything worth the achievement.”
2. Practice a positive attitude. It’s on every motivational poster known to mankind, but that doesn’t make it less true: Attitude is everything. Especially when you are in a life-threatening situation. Last April, TIME reported on a U.S. military program being implemented in which drill sergeants were receiving what they called mental toughness training. In this training, the main goal was to make soldiers more resilient by helping them to—get this—think like optimists. The idea behind the training was that positive thinking makes people more able to endure and thrive in difficult situations. It’s classic psychology: You become who you think you are; you achieve the things you believe you can.
3. Know (and regularly use) some basic relaxation techniques. Practice calming yourself down in stressful situations throughout your daily life so that you can calm yourself during bigger, more stressful situations in an emergency situation. Consider practicing meditation, breathing techniques, yoga, or any other practice that works for you. The important thing is that you make use of these techniques now, when you are not in a survival situation, so that when you are, they will be second nature to you.
4. Do your homework. Spend time filling your brain with emergency procedure knowledge. Collect survival skills like they are scout badges. Whether it’s learning how to identify edible wild plants, perfecting your fire-starting skills, taking a first aid class, or learning how to gut a fish, any survival skill you acquire will give you a leg up mentally when the time comes to use it. Not only will you know how to do this new skill, you will also have more confidence in your ability to rely on yourself for survival in an emergency situation, making you more mentally prepared in the process.
5. Trust yourself. There are two things that most people discover quickly in emergency situations: (1) Life is hard. (2) People are tough. In general, people tend to be much stronger than they think they are and more resilient and adaptable too. Trust your instincts and trust yourself that you are going to be able to tackle any situation. Many people who have survived disaster situations are surprised to find that they didn’t even have to consider what they would do; they immediately found themselves stepping up to challenges and doing what had to be done. If you have prepared yourself physically and mentally, you will likely find this to be true of yourself too. Any time you doubt your abilities, remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”
Any survival situation requires a great deal of mental effort to keep you positive, long-suffering, relaxed, and confident, but these traits are what will ultimately keep you alive. Foster them now and increase your chances of staying alive later.
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Every good pet owner makes sure that pets are fed, groomed, exercised, sheltered, and sometimes even clothed, but one area of care that many pet owners forget is to prepare their pets for emergency situations. If you are in the process of gathering supplies and knowledge to get your family prepared for a disaster, don’t neglect your favorite furry, feathery, or scaly friend.
For the most part, pets’ needs in an emergency situation will be very similar to humans’ needs. The most important things you can do to prepare your pet for a disaster are to put together a basic pet survival kit, plan an evacuation location, and learn how to keep your pet calm during stressful situations.
Assemble a Pet Survival Kit
A good pet survival kit will include most items that a human survival kit will, with a few notable exceptions. Following are some crucial items to store to keep your pet happy and safe during any situation:
1. Food and water. When you are figuring out how much water to store away for your family, don’t forget to store enough water to keep your pet hydrated and clean too. When choosing emergency pet food, moist or canned foods can be a good option because they will help to quench pets’ thirst and thereby help you to conserve precious water resources.
2. Medications. Just like people, many pets have to take medications to keep them healthy. Don’t forget to store extra meds for emergencies.
3. Sanitation items. Store a brush or comb, pet shampoo, a blanket or towel, extra kitty litter, and whatever other sanitation items your pet needs to be clean and well-cared for.
4. First aid supplies. First aid supplies for pets will largely be the same as first aid supplies for people, but make sure to have a little extra of certain items, such as large bandages, medical tape, and gauze.
5. Portable food containers. If you have to evacuate your home, you will want to have some lightweight food containers to pack with you to feed your pet wherever you go.
6. Manual can opener if your pet eats food out of a can.
7. Leash or carrier. During chaotic situations, even regularly sedate and docile animals can become erratic and aggressive. It is vital that you have some way to keep your pet contained and calm until disasters settle.
8. A picture of your pet. Having a picture of your pet handy will be vital in case he gets lost and you need to ask people if they’ve seen him. It’s even better if the picture has you in it so that you can prove ownership.
9. A collar with ID tag, vaccination tag, and license tag. Also have veterinary records handy. These are all crucial in emergencies in case your pet gets lost, needs to be boarded, or requires medical attention.
10. A list of emergency numbers. Include the number for an animal emergency medical treatment center, your local kennel, your veterinarian, and the local animal shelter.
11. Comfort Items. Keep a favorite toy, blanket, or sleeping pillow close by, or whatever will help your pet feel more comfortable and relaxed. Don’t forget to store some favorite treats along with the pet food. Just as with humans, pets will need treats to give them a sense of normalcy in abnormal situations.
With all of these items, your pet will be well provided for in any disaster. You can also talk to your veterinarian to see what suggestions he or she has for you when preparing your particular pet for an emergency. In addition, the local animal shelter can be another good source for pet emergency preparedness tips.
Find a Sheltering Place
If you have to leave your home, know that many shelters will not accept animals. Most disaster experts warn pet owners against leaving their pets behind. Pets who are left to fend for themselves have very low chances of survival. One good option is to consider contacting a family member or friend now who lives outside of your area to see if you can evacuate to their house with your pet in case of emergency.
If you don’t have a family member who is willing to have your pet come to their house during an emergency evacuation, contact your local kennel to find out if they have a plan to board pets during an emergency. If so, see if you can reserve a spot in advance since space will be limited. Also call a kennel outside your area in case the disaster affects the one in your area and makes it non-functioning. Another option is to call hotels and motels that accept pets to see if they have a plan to shelter people/pets in an emergency.
If you absolutely have to leave your pet behind, don’t leave him chained up outside. Leave a note outside that says what kind of animal is in the house and where he is located. Also leave a number at which you can be reached. Remember that leaving pets at home puts them in serious danger. Avoid this alternative if at all possible.
Keep Them Calm
If a natural disaster begins to brew in your area, bring pets inside right away. Animals can often sense that a disaster is coming, and one of their instincts is to isolate themselves if they are panicked. To keep your pets safe and sheltered, it’s important to bring them inside before they can run away.
Remember that pets will be upset and emotionally weary too. Give them extra love. Expect them to be more than ordinarily needy and less than usually obedient. It will be an uncomfortable and unfamiliar situation for them, and stress can affect animals just like it affects people. Keep a close eye on them, pet them, snuggle them, and keep them close by.
For many pet owners, the family dog, cat, or parakeet is as much a part of the family as the kids are. As you prepare your family for emergencies, don’t neglect to prepare your pet too. Having a basic survival kit ready and an evacuation plan in place will save you from hassle and heartache in the event of a disaster.
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]]>A reliably long shelf life—specifically, 25 years or more—is vital in food storage products for several reasons. Long shelf lives that you can trust give you peace of mind knowing you have provided for your family in the event of an emergency, and that you have done so safely. In addition, investing in food storage with a 25-year shelf life can be cheaper in the long run because it saves you having to replace food storage that has gone bad. It also makes your life a little easier without having to deal with the hassle of frequent food storage rotation.
As you research different emergency food options, you’ll find that many food storage companies advertise a 25-year shelf life. Before you make a pricey investment, keep a few things in mind. Many companies use the claim of a 25-year shelf life as a nice-sounding marketing tool without having any real evidence to back it up. Watch out for these companies and make sure you are getting a product that will perform as well as it should. You can do this by becoming educated on the factors that affect the shelf life of emergency food: ingredients, preservation, packaging, and storage.
Factors that Affect Shelf Life
Ingredients
It’s a simple fact of nature: some foods last longer than others. Case in point: potatoes versus fresh greens. (I swear we had the same bag of potatoes in the pantry the whole time I was growing up. In contrast, I buy a bag of fresh greens at the grocery store, and if I haven’t eaten it up within a few days, I end up with a pretty slimy salad.) There are wide variations in the shelf life of different ingredients that make up food storage, and it’s important to keep these in mind so that you can judge how long your food storage will truly last—outside of marketing claims.
Brigham Young University has been conducting research on various food storage items and determining which types of foods last for long periods of time. Here is a brief summary of their findings:
For more information, you can check out more research here.
Preservation and Packaging
The way a survival food is preserved and packaged is monumental when considering its shelf life. Following are some common food storage methods and their relative shelf lives.
Whatever the packaging, food should be stored with a residual oxygen level of below 2%. Nitrogen flushes and oxygen absorbers can help to achieve this goal. Find out if this is a practice employed by the food storage company you are researching.
Storage
The last factor in the shelf life of any emergency food is its storage conditions. When selecting a place to store your emergency food, remember the four components of a good storage area: low temperature, low moisture, low oxygen, and low light. If your food storage is exposed to too much of any of these, it can cause the food to lose nutrients, have off flavors, or spoil. Aim for your food to be consistently somewhere below room temperature (garages and attics are not a good idea because of the high summertime temperatures they reach), and try to keep it out of unnecessary moisture and light. The oxygen level should be taken care of by the packaging if it is trustworthy.
Becoming familiar with the factors that influence shelf life will help you make wiser decisions when buying emergency food. Selecting food like Legacy Premium’s that is proven to last for 25 years saves you money and hassle, and it allows you to rest easy knowing that you can trust your food storage to still be nutritious and tasty when the time comes for you to use it. Make an investment in your family by storing food with a shelf life you can rely on.
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]]>Why compost?
Composting is a responsible and rewarding habit. One third of landfill space is reportedly filled with materials that could be composted. Composting our own waste keeps the landfills a little bit freer and is thus an efficient and self-reliant way to dispose of waste. It is also a supremely beneficial practice for the garden. Compost adds crucial nutrients to soil and makes it a wonderland for plant life to grow in. There are few things as advantageous as good compost for the vitality of a garden and for keeping soil healthy and productive. Composting is not hard to do, and when you get in the habit of it, you start to feel like you are participating in a beautiful process: consuming food and then putting it back in the earth to help more food grow. At the risk of sounding too cheesy, it simply feels good to compost.
And the best news is, composting doesn’t have to end when the first snow begins to fall.
Winter Composting
The big goal in composting any time of year is to help aerobic bacteria thrive and multiply within the compost pile so that it can decompose the pile and turn it into compost. Successful decomposition of any compost pile requires three things: proper aeration, the right amount of moisture, and the right carbon to nitrogen ratio.
Composting in winter time is different from composting in summer time for obvious reasons. In the winter time, you must battle cold temperatures and excessive amounts of moisture. Cold temperatures can slow or even stop the composting process, and if a pile gets drenched, it can lose its valuable air pockets and become ruined. However, with the right conditions, decomposition can still go on in the deep center of the pile, even in the cold winter months, and if it does stop, it will start again when things warm up.
Following are a few tips for keeping your compost pile viable through the winter.
Winter Composting Basics
1. Cover it up. Building a roof over your compost heap will help you control the amount of moisture it receives. If you don’t want to build an actual roof, you can also cover it with a tarp.
2. Protect it from the elements. To keep the cold from getting to the center of the pile, you will want to make sure it is walled in somehow. You could construct a basic structure out of cinder blocks, put your pile in a compost container, or surround it with hay bales for an excellent insulating measure. Having some kind of barrier around your pile will shield it from the cold weather and give it a better chance of continuing its processes. Another great option is to dig a hole and bury your pile for the winter. Then every time you add some fresh matter to it, put a layer of dirt over it.
3. Make it big. You can also make your pile very large to help it last longer. The bigger the pile, the more heat it will generate and hold in. If you have long and cold winters, build up a big pile in the fall to keep your pile strong through the winter. You will want your pile to be at least a cubic yard, more for very cold places.
4. Add more brown matter than usual. Brown matter includes leaves, tree branches, and other yard waste. Brown matter gives bacteria energy whereas green matter (like kitchen scraps) helps bacteria reproduce. In winter months, whenever you add green scraps, add a layer of brown material too, like leaves or shredded newspaper.
5. Keep scraps small. In the winter time, because the bacteria will not be as active, it will be harder for it to break food scraps down. Break your food scraps down before you put them in your pile by shredding or cutting them into pieces smaller than two square inches to give the bacteria a little help. This will allow the pile to heat uniformly.
6. Don’t turn the pile. Turning your pile is a great idea in warm weather, but in colder temperatures, it’s best to just leave it alone so that precious heat doesn’t escape.
Following these tips can help you extend the life of your compost pile and allow it to stay active until spring comes again, but if you don’t feel up to the extra work required to keep your compost heap going in the winter, you might consider simply moving your composting indoors. There are a variety of indoor composting systems available, including composting containers that heat up your kitchen scraps for you and turn them into compost within a few weeks, vermicomposting systems (worm boxes), and bokashi systems (anaerobic composting buckets). For more information on indoor composting, read this great review of three common indoor composting systems: http://www.chow.com/food-news/54730/indoor-composting-systems/.
Winter can be a desolate time largely because of the lack of growing things and working with the earth. Composting extends the satisfaction that comes from gardening into the dead winter months. Anyone who regularly composts their kitchen scraps knows that once you have started composting, you can never throw a banana peel in the garbage again without feeling wasteful. Composting in the winter is an earth-friendly, garden-loving, self-reliant habit, and it is entirely plausible if you take the right measures.
More winter composting resources:
http://earth911.com/news/2012/01/26/your-guide-to-winter-composting/
http://www.compostguy.com/winter-composting/
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