Prep Diary - Backpacking Cover

Long time coming!  I finally released some journals/diaries to help people track their preps. 

Here is one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1691494836

Keep track of the preparations you make for a variety of emergencies…. all in one place.

With a small commitment of a few lines per day, use this book to track:
-notes on prepping
-supplies purchased
-first aid courses
-bug out locations
-items stored
-important papers and records
-where you store which supplies
-notes for rotating supplies

Different emergency scenarios need special kinds of preparations.

Spend a moment at the end of each day to capture what you did for your preps. You will soon see patterns appear as you progress through the diary year after year.

Notes: Cover is non-textured on firm glossy cover paper. Interior is white pages. Size is 5”x8”.

Food Prepping Supplies

I am still hoping to get back to working on my "Meals in Jars" book ... but wanted to show you just some of the supplies I'm working with to create recipes.

So much to do ... so little time!

Notebook to Track Preps

When I moved the last time, I kinda lost the book I was using to track my preps. Yes, I got rid of a lot of stuff, like I mentioned in a previous post, but I still have plenty set aside as preps.

I started thinking about my problem, and realized I'm not the only one. Within the next day or two, I'll post on this blog a few notebooks that will work for us.  A "prep diary"!

Stuck in your car for 24 hours

Situation:
It's summer ... very hot. People are cranky, making the drive home from work horrendous, and the highway filled with road-ragers  You come to a sudden stand-still, barely missing the car in front but having the car behind you crash into yours.  After talking with the person behind you, a little legwork shows there is a major traffic accident ahead of you. Traffic is stopped for miles.  Obviously, no one is going anywhere.  You realize you might be there a very long time, but the closest exit or town is miles and miles ahead. There are no cell towers where you're stopped.

Do you stay with your car? Try to walk it?

Assuming you are going to be there overnight ... what do you do for food, water, toilet-needs, and sleep?

No air conditioning in the summer heat

I am going to try something new.  Every once in a while, I'll post a "situation" that you have to think your way through, using preps or not. This is the first such post.

= = = = = =

Situation:
It's summer.  90+ degrees in the shade.  Everyone in your neighborhood is running their air conditioning and fans.  So much so, that it causes an electrical outage. Thus, you have no electricity and no running water. You haven't gotten around to prepping so there's not much in your fridge.  You can't, for any number of reasons, leave your home to eat at a restaurant, and don't want to order food to be delivered. 

You have five items in your fridge, plus condiments.  What are they?

You have two items in your cupboard. What are they?

You have only 1 gallon of drinkable (potable) water.

How do you use these things to prepare 3 meals for you and one other person?

Keep Your Perspective

I had been prepping since the late 1990s, when I had my baby and became apprehensive about his future. Any future. And what that would be like.

As the years passed, I read whatever I could, and stocked up a few supplies here and there.  I made it as important as my health or where we lived, or what books to write. I even married someone who talked about being on board with preps, although I later found it to be all lip service from a lazy man.

Then, my son developed epilepsy. I got breast cancer.  My son's epilepsy got worse. My marriage fell apart.

I moved halfway across the country with my son. The apartment was a whole lot smaller than our 5 bedroom 4 bathroom farmhouse with a huge workshop, so I had to make tough decisions about what to bring. Our new tiny 2 bedroom apartment had little storage space so many of my prepping supplies were sold or donated. All things considered, it wasn't that difficult of a choice to make.

Life is hard for me and my son. Surgeries. Physical and occupational therapy. Doctor appointments. Death of a family member.  All in all, though, it came down to one choice: starting preps back up, or trying to keep my son alive.

I chose my son.

My tiny courtyard has a few veggie plants, and in a small closet is freeze-dried and dehydrated foods plus "boxed" prep-water. That's about it.

Please, before you spend prepping for a catastrophe that may or may not happen, sit down and think ... really think ... about how much time, money and energy you want to devote to prepping. Can you prep without going overboard? Can you fit prepping into your everyday life? Prepare meals with your rotating supplies?

So many ingredients!

I am moving in a few months, and thought I'd go through my ingredients for my homemade healthy MREs. Maybe prepare enough meals for two for a few months.

Wow! I have so many ingredients, and still have more dehydrating in my Excalibur. Do I stop dehydrating and make the meals? So I leave my jars out and pack them last?

Seriously, if I needed ingredients for only my picky-eater son, there would be no problem. Pasta. Various cheeses and milk products. Dried fruit and dried peas.  That's about it.

BUT not only do I enjoy more variety, I still need to experiment with more recipes for my homemade healthy MRE book and blog ( http://homemadehealthymres.blogspot.com/ ).

What to do.  What to do.



As an aside, what kinds of posts would you like to see me add to this blog?