An easy way to store water

This is one of the easiest ways to store water in your home. When you are through with your plastic 2 liter pop bottles or juice containers that are CLEAR, rinse them out with water and then fill them up for your emergency water supply. If you have bottles that have colored plastic, use that water for washing and NOT drinking. The die in the bottle can supposedly seep into the water and can be bad for you. I have these stored in my basement, at the bottom of my pantry, under my children's beds, and even in my car. If you live in a place that has treated water (check with your local city), you no longer need to put bleach in your water when you are storing it. If your water is not treated, you can use the measurements below to help ensure your water is safe to drink.

*Boil water vigurously for 3-5 minutes.
*Put 8 drops of Chlorine Bleach (unscented) for every gallon of CLEAR water & wait for 30 minutes before drinking
*Put 24 drops of Chlorine Bleach (unscented) for every gallon of CLOUDY water and wait for 60 minutes before drinking

If when you open the water and it tastes stale, you can flavor the water with Kool Aid, Hot Cocoa Powder, Fruit Drink Mix (you can get from the LDS Cannery for cheap!), etc. These items are good to store to help your children drink the water in an emergency if it didn't taste as fresh as normal. If you are worried about the flavor or purity of the water you can always get a water filter to guarantee the cleanliness of your water (my favorite is the Katadyne Filter). Having a water filter can ease your mind about safe water--many of them can turn muddy water into clean/safe drinking water.

You can't have enough water! Even if you didn't use this water for drinking, it would make good cleaning, washing, and cooking water! Another great tips someone told me that I have now incorporated into our storage is to fill up your empty plastic laundry detergent bottles with water. Don't rinse them out, the left over soap in the container will be great for cleaning or clothes washing in an emergency.

Each of our storage spaces are different, so just store as much water as your home is capable of and you will feel peace knowing you have water in an emergency!

The following are some websites with information on purifying and storing water if you would like more information:

www.providentliving.org
www.redcross.org
www.fema.gov

Read more...

Strawberry Freezer Jam--does it get any better?

Is there anything better than homemade strawberry jam? I have been waiting for strawberries to go on sale for a $1 a pound and last night when I was at Walmart they had them all marked down to $1. Yeah!! This is not their normal price, so call your Walmart and see if they have them for this sale price this week (I shop at the Riverton Utah Walmart). Sometimes Walmart strawberries are not the best quality, but the ones I got last night were huge and beautiful!

I don't have a favorite strawberry jam recipe, I just used the freezer jam recipe off of the liquid pectin box. It turned out perfectly and I had it done before the kids went to school this morning. We had whole wheat pancakes, strawberry jam and whipping cream...it was delightful! If you have never made homemade jam before, give it a try. It really is SO simple and is very economical if you buy the fruit on sale.

Here is my favorite whole wheat pancake recipe (this is a GREAT food storage meal, just substitute 2 c. water, 6 T. dry powdered milk and 2 T. lemon juice for the 2 c. buttermilk)

Buttermilk Pancakes
2 c. buttermilk
2 eggs
4 T. oil
2 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
2 c. whole wheat flour
¾ t. salt
¾ t. soda

Beat until smooth. Pour and wait for bubbles to pop, then turn.

Read more...