BEANS! BEANS! THE MAGICAL FRUIT

When Braxton and I went to West Virginia to the Greenbriar Resort I was asked to do a cooking demo. I decided to prepare Pinto Bean Fudge.  This was a recipe I obtained from the book "I Can't Believe It's Food Storage" by Crystal Godfrey.  Click on the link below to view the demonstration

http://tv.yahoo.com/video/doomsday-preppers-112112-cooking-171803023.html

I made it for a room full of journalists. There were samples for everyone to taste and YES!  They couldn't believe it was food storage either!   A simple recipe that I gave to friends this Christmas season.  Nobody could believe that it had pinto beans in it.  You can make this recipe the "easy" way or the "easier" way. 

The "easier" way involves using canned pinto beans.  The "easy" way involves using your dried beans.  Beans pack a lot of nutritional value. That is why they are considered a staple in your food storage. They contain fiber, protein and carbohydrates.  Dried beans are low in cost.  They should be stored in tightly sealed containers.  If beans are stored incorrectly, they can absorb water and spoil and will need to be thrown out.  Beans, when stored correctly, can last for 30+ years.

For a one-year supply you would need about 60 lbs of dried beans per person per year, which is about 5 lbs per month.  This can include any kind of dried bean or legume.

How do I prepare dried beans?  It's true that you need to plan ahead if you want to use dried beans, but it's not difficult to prepare them.  Dried beans should be soaked before cooking to restore moisture, reduce cooking time, and most, importantly, to cut down on the gas they can produce inside of you.  Choose a pot that will be large enough to give the beans room to expand as they soak. Beans can expand to be triple in size. 

There is a quick soaking method-For each pound (2 cups) of dried beans, add 10 cups hot water; heat to boiling and let boil 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and set aside for at least 1 hour.

The overnight soak method-For each pound (2 cups) of dried beans, add 10 cups cold water, then let soak overnight, or at least 8 hours.  Once your beans have soaked, it's time to cook them.  Be sure to drain off the soaking water and rinse the beans. Check the package for specific instructions, but most directions require adding water, bringing to a boil and simmering from 30 minutes to 2 hours.  Beans are done when they are tender but not falling apart.  If the beans have been sitting in your food storage for a long time, you will need to cook them longer.  When the beans are done, cool them in their cooking liquid.

Cook a lot of beans at once and store the extra beans, covered tightly, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Start using beans in your family's diet.  Look for ways to use your dried beans in chili or soup recipes. Blend them and make refried beans as well.

Here is the recipe for Pinto Bean Fudge

1 C. Cooked pinto beans, drained and mashed into a thick paste
1/4 C. Evaporated milk (1 1/2 T. dry powdered milk + 1/4 C. water)
1 T. Vanilla
6 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate
6 T. Butter or margarine
2 Lbs. Powdered Sugar
1/2 C. chopped pecans or walnuts

In a blender combine beans and milk together, adding milk until the mixture resembles mashed potatoes. In a large bowl add mashed beans, stir in vanilla. Melt chocolate and butter and stir into bean mixture.  Gradually stir in powdered sugar. Knead with hands until well blended. Spread into lightly greased 9-inch baking dish. Chill 1 to 2 hours before serving.

Don't be afraid of using dried beans. They are a very economical alternative and easy to rotate since they are used in so many recipes. Get creative!

New Year Resolutions

Welcome to 2013!  What are your goals for preparedness?  Now is the perfect time to commit to your family's emergency preparedness plan.  Let's talk about food storage.  ARGHHH.......you say......feels like such a massive undertaking and where am I supposed to start?  These are the questions you ask youself as you contemplate embarking on the food storage journey.  I am here to reassure you that food storage is not the two-headed beast you imagine it to be.  Once we break it down to manageable pieces you will be amazed at the end of the year by just how much food you have accumulated. 

Here is what I want you to do:
The next time you go to the grocery store, take a look at your list and purchase an extra $20 of any non-perishable or canned good item.
That's right!  Only $20 per grocery visit! 
If you have room in your pantry start there and add those extra cans.  If you have a designated space for your food storage such as a closet, shelf or even under the bed, place those extra items there. 

Now, step away and look at it.  Take a deep breath and smile.  YES! You should feel so good that you have taken the first step in your food storage accumulation.  You can do this! 

I promise that with these "baby steps" you can have a  healthy accumulation of food storage by the end of this year. 

Later, we will talk about case-lot items, purchasing in bulk and easy healthy recipes using your storage.

Remember with any New Year Resolutions the key is to take it one step at a time! 

American Poster Family for Responsible Gun Ownership

http://www.parismatch.com/Actu-Match/Monde/Actu/Les-survivalistes-attendent-la-fin-du-monde-453663/

Paris Match magazine flew out to Salt Lake to take pictures of us for their magazine. Doomsday Preppers on National Geographic is now being aired in Europe and our episode is airing next week.  They wanted to show our serious side.  Sadly, they commented that Americans use the 2nd Amendment to spread death. Our family takes great care with gun training and gun safety.  Our guns are locked up and our boys have all taken gun training at a licensed facility. Our girls will be taking that same training this spring.

There are tragic and sad examples of those who use guns for evil purposes, such as the Connecticut school shooting.  Braxton and I cried as we watched the news footage of this tragic event.  I was, and still am sick to my stomach when I think about the innocent people whose lives were abruptly taken.  We do not advocate violence. We are proponents of responsible gun ownership. 

Our family prays for the families and community of those whose lives have been forever changed by the violence at Sandy Hook Elementary.  May God grant you comfort in this time of need. 

MAYAN CALENDAR END!

You have got to love all the hype surrounding the end of the Mayan Calendar!  I am a Dooomsday Prepper but I did not spend 1 second worrying about it. I wasn't up all night waiting for, I don't know what, the big Kaboom, the aliens to abduct me into the sky or whatever was going to happen.

I enjoy all the comments made by those who mock doomsday preppers as if the end of the Mayan Calendar was what we all prepped for and are now seriously disappointed.

My family believes in being self-reliant to the fullest extent possible.  There is peace and comfort in knowing that in times of financial reversal, natural disaster or calamity we are prepared to take care of ourselves and offer assistance to others.    I don't know why that is such a radical notion.  Americans come from a long line of farmers, hunters and pioneers who carved out a life in the wilderness. They harvested food and used methods to cure that food so they would have stores put up to feed their family through the winter and hard times.  My favorite pioneer motto is "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." 

My family and I feel very honored to belong to an extensive American heritage.  They were resourceful, hard-working, God-fearing, freedom-loving people. During the Christmas season I can't help but be grateful to all of my ancestors and the legacy and example they provided to me. 

PINTO BEAN FUDGE

Christmas is the time of goodies-cookies, candy, breads, etc.  We love fudge at our house.  And yes, there is a PINTO BEAN FUDGE that I make for my friends and family at this time of year.  Pinto beans you ask?  The combination of pinto beans and sugary chocolate goodness just doesn't seem to be an appropriate pairing.  But let me tell you.....it's very yummy. I always serve it and after it has been eaten and eaten I spring on them that there are pinto beans in it.  Nobody can tell and it always gets rave reviews.
While Braxton and I were at the Greenbriar Resort in WV I had an opportunity to demonstrate my fudge-making abilities.  Check out this link from Yahoo TV   http://tv.yahoo.com/video/doomsday-preppers-112112-cooking-171803023.html

I found this recipe in the book "I Can't Believe It's Food Storage" by Crystal Godfrey.  I did make an adjustment to her recipe by adding chopped pecans.  The purpose of the nuts is to hide any pinto bean that might not have gotten blended up enough.  If you bite into a bit of pinto bean it has the same texture and consistency as the chopped pecan.  Perfect item to utilize your food storage and to give away to friends and get them excited about food storage!

Preparing for Christmas

Christmas is almost upon us. What have you gotten for loved ones this year?  Have you ordered your freeze-dried supply of strawberries and other goodies?  My family loves to eat freeze-dried yogurt and fruits all year long.  It's an easily portable and tasty snack.  We have only tried Shelf Reliance Thrive freeze dried foods so we are partial to that brand.  In light of Hurricane Sandy and all of the natural disasters that have happened in 2012 the greatest gift you can give your family is a 72-hour kit, back pack, bug-out bag......whatever you want to call it.
The idea behind a 72-hr kit is a back pack that each member of the family has that can sustain that person for 72 hours.  You can buy these kits already fully stocked from an emergency preparedness store or you can stock one yourself.  Back packs are relatively inexpensive and you can find the items that you need on sale.
Here is what we I recommend that you have in your back-pack as the minimum basics:
*Granola/protein bars
*Trail Mix/Dried Fruit
*Crackers(I like the peanut butter and cheese cracker combos)
*Canned or pouches of tuna, beans, turkey, vienna sausages, etc(1 lightweight can opener)
*Juice
*Water Bottles(1 gallon per person)
*Hard Candy or Gum

BEDDING AND CLOTHING
*Change of clothes and undergarments(short and long-sleeved shirts, pants, socks, etc) We have broken in hiking boots in all of our back packs
*Rain Coat/Poncho
*Emergency sleeping back
*Emergency Tent
*Hand Warmers

FUEL AND LIGHT
*Battery Lighting(lamps, flashlights)
*Extra Batteries
*Candles
*Flares
*Lighter
*Waterproof Matches

EQUIPMENT
*Dishes/Utensils
*Shovel
*Axe
*Radio with batteries
*Pen and Paper
*Pocket Knife
*Rope
*Duct Tape

PERSONAL SUPPLIES
*First Aid Kit
*Toilet paper and Feminine Items
*Cleaning Supplies (mini hand sanitizer, dish soap, shampoo, bar soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, etc)
*Medication (ibuprofen, acetaminophen)
*Prescribed Medication(3-day supply)

DOCUMENTS
*zip drive with copies of important documents or waterproof bag containing important documents
*Cash (small bills such as 1's)
*Credit Card
*Pre-paid phone card

1. Update your 72 Hour Kit every six months (put a note in your calendar/planner) to make sure that: all food, water, and medication is fresh and has not expired; clothing fits; personal documents and credit cards are up to date; and batteries are charged.
2. Small toys/games/deck of cards are important too as they will provide some comfort and entertainment during a stressful time.
3. Older children can be responsible for their own pack of items/clothes too.
4. You can include any other items in your 72 Hour Kit that you feel are necessary for your family's survival.
5. Some items and/or flavors might leak, melt, "flavor" other items, or break open. Dividing groups of items into individual Ziploc bags might help prevent this.

Our Bug Out Bags are tailored to each individual based on skill or needs. Since all of our children are older with a specific skill set each bag contains items specific to them. 

Bug Out bags are for you and your family to "Grab and Go" in any emergency. This can be a fire, earthquake, flood, hurricane, tornado, etc.
Conduct practice drills with the members of your family. Turn it into a game.  See how fast your family can get their bags and meet at the front door. Practice this drill once per month to keep your family well-practiced and responsive to an emergency.

Water Purification

Now that you know you need 1 gallon of water per person per day for your storage, let's talk about water purification.   Do you remember, back in the day, when you had to add bleach to your water storage as a treatment before you stored it?  Those days are gone. No additional household bleach is needed when water comes directly from a pre-treated municipal water supply.

There are pre-use treatments that you can use if the water you are going to drink is not pure:

Filtration-There are many good water filters on the market these days.  My personal favorite for individual use is the LifeStraw Personal Water Filter.  This tool is AWESOME!

   

• Easy to carry, award-winning, simple, and effective personal water filter
• Offers instant access to safe drinking water
• Lightweight and compact for easy packing
• Simple design allows you to drink straight from a lake or river
• Great for outdoors enthusiasts or an emergency kit
• Filters up to 264 gallons (1,000 liters) down to to 0.2 microns
• Exceeding EPA standards for water filtration
• Captures dangerous bacteria and protozoa
• Chemical free
• Comes with lanyard, end piece, and cap

Designed to provide clean water in the harshest of conditions, the LifeStraw personal water filter provides outdoorsmen instant access to safe drinking water. Lightweight and compact, this 2 oz. filter allows you to drink directly from lakes, rivers, or your water bottle by simply putting the lower part of the straw in the water and sipping. Perfect for hunting, hiking, fishing, and other outdoor pursuits in backcountry, the LifeStraw filters up to 264 gallons (1,000 liters) of unwanted impurities down to to 0.2 microns. This powerful filtration captures dangerous bacteria and protozoa, exceeding EPA standards for water filtration. Distributed as part of many public health campaigns or emergency responses by NGOs and other relief organizations, the LifeStraw's simple and effective design has won numerous awards (including TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions Award). Chemical free. Easy to pack. 1''W x 8.75''L. Durable plastic construciton. Five year shelf life. Manufacturer's one year warranty.

For every ten LifeStraws sold, Eartheasy will donate one to crisis-affected people in developing countries through the manufacturer’s partnership with Rotary International. We also have a tree planted for every order through partnership with Trees for the Future Foundation.

The LifeStraw Personal Water Filter:
Removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria (>LOG 6 reduction).
Removes 99.9% of waterborne protozoan parasites (>LOG 3 reduction).
LifeStraw removes bacteria, including: Escherichia coli, Campylobacter, Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella, Salmonella.
LifeStraw removes protozoa, including: Giardia lamblia ("Beaver Fever"), Cryptosporidium Parvum, Entamoeba histolytica.
The LifeStraw does not filter heavy metals or viruses, and will not desalinate water.

We have one of these in all of our bug-out bags with extras in our Food Storage.  This is so handy and really works.  I was a little nervous the first time I drank from a puddle and was pleasantly surprised with the taste. This product sure beats lugging around a bunch of water bottles while hiking.

A definite must for stocking stuffers this year!