Gifts for Preppers: Practical, Creative and Buy-It-for-Life Ideas

[…]

The post Gifts for Preppers: Practical, Creative and Buy-It-for-Life Ideas appeared first on The Survival Mom.

from The Survival Mom https://ift.tt/AvuLr4J

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

This is a Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe that’s been in my family for years. There’s something about the smell of banana bread baking in the oven that makes a house feel like a home. Add a generous handful of mini chocolate chips, and you have a loaf that disappears almost as fast as it comes out of the pan. This chocolate chip banana bread recipe is one I come back to again and again, especially when I have a few bananas on the counter that are spotted, soft, and past the point of anyone wanting to eat them plain.

I love recipes like this because they fit right into the way I try to run my kitchen. Nothing goes to waste, the ingredients come straight from a well-stocked pantry, and the finished loaf freezes beautifully. If you’re building a food storage plan or simply trying to stretch your grocery budget, banana bread is one of the best ways to turn overripe fruit into something your whole family will love.

Why You’ll Love This Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This loaf is moist, tender, and full of banana flavor without being heavy. The combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar gives it a soft crumb with a hint of caramel flavor. A little cinnamon adds warmth, and the mini chocolate chips spread evenly through every slice so you get chocolate in every bite. It’s easy enough for beginners and kids to help with, and it uses one bowl for the wet ingredients and one for the dry. No mixer is needed, which means fewer dishes and less fuss.

It’s also a wonderful recipe to have on hand during an emergency or a power outage, when you still have a gas oven or an outdoor oven. Most of these ingredients are shelf-stable, and bananas are easy to freeze ahead of time so you’re ready to bake whenever the mood strikes.

Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Let me walk you through each ingredient and why it matters. Understanding your ingredients makes you a more confident baker and helps you know where you can make swaps from your pantry.

1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas, about 3 large. Bananas are the heart of this recipe. The riper they are, the better. Look for bananas with plenty of brown spots or even mostly brown peels. As bananas ripen, their starches turn into natural sugars, which gives your bread more sweetness, more moisture, and a deeper banana flavor. Measuring the mashed bananas instead of just counting them keeps your bread consistent every time, since banana sizes vary so much.

1/2 cup unsalted butter ( I used salted), melted and slightly cooled. Melted butter gives this bread a rich flavor and a tender, moist texture. Using unsalted butter lets you control the amount of salt in the recipe. Let it cool for a few minutes after melting so it doesn’t scramble the eggs when you mix everything together.

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar. Brown sugar contains molasses, which adds moisture and a lovely caramel note that pairs perfectly with banana and chocolate. Pack it firmly into your measuring cup for an accurate amount. If you store brown sugar long term, keep it in an airtight container with a terra cotta sugar saver or a slice of bread to keep it soft.

1/4 cup granulated sugar. A small amount of white sugar helps the bread rise nicely and gives the top a slightly crisp, golden crust. Together with the brown sugar, it creates the perfect balance of sweetness and texture.

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature. The whole egg binds the batter and helps with structure, while the extra yolk adds richness and moisture. Room temperature eggs blend more smoothly into the batter. If you forget to set them out, simply place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for about ten minutes.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Vanilla rounds out the flavors and makes the banana and chocolate taste even better. Pure vanilla extract is my favorite, and it keeps for years in a cool, dark cupboard.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled. Flour gives the bread its structure. The way you measure it truly matters. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife. Scooping straight from the bag packs the flour down and can leave you with a dry, dense loaf.

1 teaspoon baking powder. Baking powder helps the bread rise and gives it a light, soft crumb. Check the date on your container, since baking powder loses strength over time. To test it, stir a little into hot water. If it bubbles, it’s still good.

1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Baking soda reacts with the natural acidity in the bananas and brown sugar to give the bread lift and help it brown nicely. Using both baking powder and baking soda gives you the best rise.

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt. Salt balances the sweetness and brings out all the flavors. Fine sea salt blends evenly into the dry ingredients, so you don’t end up with salty pockets.

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Cinnamon adds a cozy warmth that makes this bread perfect for fall mornings and holiday gatherings. It isn’t overpowering, just enough to make people ask what your secret is.

1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips, divided. Mini chocolate chips are the star of the show here. Because they’re small, they stay suspended in the batter rather than sinking to the bottom, so you get chocolate in every slice. You’ll stir most of them into the batter and save a few to sprinkle on top for a pretty, bakery-style finish.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Your full recipe card will include step-by-step instructions, but here’s a quick overview of what to expect. You’ll mash the bananas, then whisk in the melted butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, you whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until no streaks of flour remain, then fold in most of the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan, sprinkle the remaining chips on top, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

The most important tip is to not overmix the batter. Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour and can make your bread tough. A few small lumps are perfectly fine.

Tips for the Best Banana Bread

Toss a tablespoon of the measured flour with your chocolate chips before folding them in. This helps them stay evenly spread throughout the loaf.

If the top is browning too quickly before the center is done, loosely cover the pan with foil for the rest of the baking.

Let the bread cool in the pan for about ten minutes, then move it to a wire rack. Cooling completely before slicing gives you clean, neat slices.

How to Store and Freeze Banana Bread

Banana bread keeps well at room temperature for about three days when wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container. For longer storage, wrap the cooled loaf in plastic wrap, then in foil, or slice it first and freeze the individual pieces with parchment between them. Frozen banana bread will keep for up to three months. Pull out a slice for a quick breakfast or lunchbox treat, and it’ll thaw in no time.

I also like to freeze ripe bananas whenever I have extras. Peel them, place them in a freezer bag, and label the bag with the date. When you’re ready to bake, thaw them on the counter and use the bananas along with any liquid that collects in the bag. That liquid is full of flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can I use regular chocolate chips instead of mini chips? Yes, you can. Regular chips are larger and may sink a bit more, so tossing them in flour first is especially helpful.

Can I add nuts? Absolutely. Chopped walnuts or pecans make a wonderful addition. Add about half a cup along with the chocolate chips.

Why is my banana bread dense? The most common reasons are packed flour, overmixing, or old baking powder. Spoon and level your flour, mix gently, and make sure your leaveners are fresh.

Can I make muffins with this recipe? Yes. Fill lined muffin cups about three-quarters full and bake for a shorter time, checking for doneness around 18 to 22 minutes.

What You’ll Need to Make This Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Print

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Linda Loosli

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas about 3 large
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips divided

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C). Lightly butter the sides and bottom of a 9×5-inch loaf pan to help the parchment paper adhere, then line with a strip of parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until glossy.
  
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
  
• Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined – do not overmix.
  
• Fold in 3⁄4 cup of the chocolate chips.
  
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, gently tap the pan on the counter to level the batter, then sprinkle the remaining 1⁄4 cup of chocolate chips evenly over the top.
  
• Bake for 60–70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean with no wet batter. Melted chocolate is normal.
  
• Let cool in the pan for 10–15 minutes to set, then lift out using the parchment overhang and cool completely on a wire rack to prevent sogginess.
  
• Once cooled, slice into 8 thick pieces.
  
• Please note: For a slightly firmer loaf, use 1-1⁄4 cups mashed banana. For a denser, moister banana bread, use 1-1/2 cups mashed banana.

The Best Banana Bread & Muffins

What Can I Do With All These Bananas?

Bananas: Everything You Need To Know

Final Word

This chocolate chip banana bread recipe is proof that simple pantry staples and a few spotty bananas can become something truly special. It’s a recipe to share with neighbors, tuck into lunchboxes, and keep in the freezer for those days when you need a little comfort. I hope it becomes a favorite in your home the way it has in mine. May God bless this world, Linda

The post Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe appeared first on Food Storage Moms.

from Food Storage Moms

The 10 Commandments of Lazy Prepping

Our grandparents never once called it prepping, but they had a knack for making things work for them without wearing themselves out. Somewhere along the way, we traded that knack for gadgets and gear we hardly ever use. That’s why so many of us have a dehydrator still sitting in its box in the closet. And right next to it, there’s usually a garden plan from three springs ago that never made it off the kitchen table.

My Army years taught me never to carry what a truck can carry for me, and I’ve prepped by that rule ever since. So you can call it lazy if you like, but my back and my wallet both call it plain smart. The old-timers would have agreed with me, too, because they had neither the time nor the money to do anything the hard way.

10. Let the Water Heater Hold Your Water

Chances are you already have 40 or 50 gallons of clean water stored inside your water heater. In fact, FEMA and the American Red Cross both list the water heater as a backup source of drinking water in an emergency. On top of that, the tank refills itself every time somebody showers, so you never have to rotate a drop.

So the moment you hear about a broken water main, you shut off the power or gas and close the cold-water valve on top. That keeps dirty water from the city line out of the tank. Then you open a hot faucet to let air in, and the water drains from the valve near the bottom.

Still, water that has sat in a tank for months needs treating before anyone drinks it. You can boil it for one minute, or add about 8 drops of unscented household bleach per gallon and wait 30 minutes. And once the city water returns, you refill the tank before turning the heater back on, so the elements don’t burn out.

Even so, 40 gallons goes fast, because FEMA figures at least one gallon per person per day. That’s why it pays to build a stacked 3-barrel rainwater harvesting system from 2x4s and three drums. A spigot on the bottom barrel fills your jugs, and every storm tops the whole rack off. Before drinking, you treat that water the same way as the tank water.

The project is easy to set up, and it will last 20 year or more:

9. Grow Fresh Greens in a Mason Jar

Fresh vegetables are usually the first thing to vanish from store shelves in a crisis, and a garden needs months to catch up. But a quart jar and a spoonful of seeds can put something green and crunchy on your plate in about four or five days.

All you do is soak the seeds overnight and drain them in the morning. After that, you rinse them twice a day and leave the jar tipped upside down so the water runs out. Lentils and mung beans are the easiest seeds to start with, and a pound of dry seed lasts a long time.

Still, the FDA advises older adults to skip raw sprouts because of the bacteria risk, so you’ll want to cook them lightly first. A minute or two in a hot skillet takes care of it. And lentil sprouts come out of the pan tasting a lot like fresh peas.

Sprouts only carry you so far, though, so a few grow bags on a porch or patio can handle the slower crops. You can start an easy vegetable container garden with just three 19-gallon bags filled with compost, coco coir, and perlite. One bag holds peas, lettuce, and radishes, while another grows a cherry tomato alongside basil and peppers. The third takes carrots and beets, and since the soil sits higher than a regular garden bed, there’s less bending and almost no weeding. Click here to see how!

8. Let the Sun Cook Your Supper

A solar oven runs on nothing but sunshine, and on a clear day a good box model can climb past 300 degrees. That’s hot enough to bake bread or roast a whole chicken, and it doesn’t burn a lick of fuel doing it.

Better yet, it cooks slowly enough that you can walk away from it for hours. You put a stew in a dark, lidded pot around mid-morning and set the oven facing the sun. After that, you only need to turn it a couple of times as the sun moves. And because the heat builds gently, food almost never scorches, so there’s no stirring or standing over the pot.

You don’t even have to buy one, since a solar oven is simple enough to put together at home. You should build your own solar oven in a box, and you’ll have a way to cook that never needs fuel.

Winter sun does the job as well, as long as the sky is clear, because bright light matters more than warm air. Cooking just takes longer, and the best window runs from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., when the sun sits highest. Still, clouds can stall the cooking halfway through, so on a hazy day you’ll want to finish meat and beans on the stove to keep them safe.

Also, water held at 149 degrees for several minutes is pasteurized, which means the same oven can make questionable water safe to drink. A WAPI, which is a sealed tube of wax that melts at that temperature, tells you when the water is done.

7. Cook Dinner in a Box of Blankets

Our grandmothers called it a haybox, and during World War II the British government encouraged families to use them to save fuel. It works because heat trapped inside a well-insulated pot keeps cooking the food long after the flame goes out.

First you bring a pot of beans or stew to a full boil for 10 to 15 minutes and clamp the lid on tight. From there, the pot goes into a box or cooler packed with blankets or hay. The food then finishes cooking slowly over the next several hours.

That saves a good deal of fuel, and nothing can scorch on the bottom while you’re out in the garden. Still, if the food has cooled down by suppertime, you bring it back to a boil before eating to keep it safe. It’s also the only cooking method I know of where taking a nap counts as tending the stove.

6. Grow Firewood That Never Needs Replanting

Putting up firewood the usual way means felling big trees, hauling them home, and splitting rounds until your shoulders give out. Coppicing skips most of that work, because certain trees don’t die when you cut them close to the ground. Instead, the stump sends up a cluster of new shoots that grow fast on roots that are already full-grown.

So you plant a short row of willow, hazel, or black locust once, close to the house, and never plant again. From then on, you cut a few stumps each winter and let them grow back on their own. Willow is the laziest of the bunch, since its shoots can be cut every few years with nothing more than loppers or a bow saw.

Better yet, the regrowth comes up as poles instead of thick trunks, so most of it goes straight into the stove with little or no splitting.

5. Make Your House Look Like a Bad Idea

Most break-ins are decided in a few seconds from the sidewalk, and a thief would rather walk one more house down than work for it. So the laziest security money buys isn’t a camera or a lock, it’s giving him an easy reason to pass you by.

A sign for an alarm company you’ve never hired does a surprising amount of that work. Same with a well-worn dog bowl by the back door and a chewed rope toy on the step, even if the dog itself is long gone or never existed. And a pair of muddy size-13 work boots left on the porch tells anybody watching that somebody big lives here and comes home at odd hours.

Timers on a couple of lamps finish it off, especially on a radio set to a talk station in a back room. Burglars listen at the door before they try it, so voices inside send them elsewhere.

Still, the quiet part matters as much as the show. A hunting magazine with your name on it visible through the window, or a gun-brand sticker on the truck, tells a thief exactly what’s worth stealing inside. That’s why the smartest thing you can do is keep the house looking thoroughly boring from the street.

4. Mulch Like Ruth Stout

Back in 1955, a Connecticut gardener named Ruth Stout published How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back. She had quit plowing altogether and kept her garden under a thick blanket of old hay all year round.

So whenever she wanted to plant, she pulled the hay aside, dropped in the seeds, and let the hay rot down into rich soil. That thick layer smothers weeds and holds moisture, which means you end up weeding less and watering less. Seed potatoes do especially well with it, because you can lay them right on the ground and cover them with hay. Come harvest, you just pull the hay back and pick the potatoes up instead of digging.

Stout kept gardening that way well into her nineties, which says plenty about how easy the method is on an old back.

3. Make Your Freezer Work as a Battery

A full freezer holds the cold much longer than a half-empty one, so every empty spot inside is wasted space. According to FoodSafety.gov, a full freezer keeps food safe for about 48 hours if the door stays closed. A half-full one, on the other hand, only lasts about 24 hours.

So if you fill those empty spots with jugs of water, you buy yourself an extra day of cold during the next outage. And once the jugs thaw, you’ve got clean drinking water on top of it. Just leave a couple of inches of room at the top of each jug, because water expands as it freezes and can split the plastic.

Still, two days is the best even a packed freezer can do, and big storms often keep the power off much longer. A gas generator can bridge the gap, but somebody has to haul fuel and refill it every few hours, often in the middle of the night.

By comparison, it only takes one weekend to build a modular backyard power plant, and after that the sun does the rest of the work. Once it’s set up, there’s nothing to refuel or crank, because the panels recharge it every day while you’re sitting on the porch. Ron, the homesteader who designed it, says it’s practically maintenance-free, and he and his wife haven’t paid an electric bill in almost five decades. On top of that, the first module alone keeps a small fridge running for three days straight, and a second one carries a medium-sized freezer.

2. Let a Clay Pot Water Your Garden

Farmers in dry country have watered their crops with buried clay pots, called ollas, for a couple of thousand years. The pot sits in the ground up to its neck between your plants, and the water seeps slowly through the clay right to the roots. And because it stays underground, very little of it is lost to the summer sun.

A homemade one takes two cheap terra-cotta pots glued rim to rim, with the bottom drain hole plugged and the top one left open for filling. After that, topping it off every few days is all the watering your plants need.

And if you don’t have a clay pot, there’s another way to do it with an empty wine bottle. So don’t toss those bottles just yet, because the self-watering planter from a wine bottle can make your life a lot easier. It takes a few materials I bet you already have around the house, plus about an hour to build and set out in the garden. Then you get to drink your tea on the porch while this planter does all the work.

1. Plant a “Forever Garden”

Aquaponics joins a fish tank and a vegetable bed into one loop, so the fish waste feeds the plants and the plants clean the water for the fish. Researchers at the University of the Virgin Islands helped develop the method decades ago, and today plenty of homesteaders run small systems right in the backyard.

Since the plants grow on floating rafts above the water, there’s no soil to weed and no bending over rows. The water keeps circling back to the tank, too, so you never drag a hose around the yard. And all that’s left is feeding the fish once a day and keeping the pump running, which the solar power plant handles nicely. Here’s how to set up your aquaponics garden, so you’ll be picking lettuce from a lawn chair while your neighbors are out pulling weeds.

Out in the yard, a few old-fashioned plants come back every spring no matter how badly you treat them. An asparagus bed can keep producing for 15 to 20 years, and rhubarb keeps going for a decade or more, though only its stalks are safe to eat. Egyptian walking onions are lazier still, because the little bulbs on top of their stalks bend over and plant themselves. And once you plant Jerusalem artichokes, you’ll have them forever, with tubers that keep right in the ground all winter.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Lazy prepping is really an art, and it beats pouring years and a small fortune into building the perfect stockpile. Of course, it isn’t for everyone, since some folks genuinely enjoy the work and wouldn’t trade it. But it’s another way of looking at your whole survival strategy. Everything you already know can be applied smarter, so it was never about being lazy at all. It’s about working smarter instead of harder.

The Survival Man’s Library can teach you plenty more about prepping this way, whether you’ve got a homestead to look after, a full-time office job eating your week, or a few years on you and a back that lets you know it. And don’t mind the name, because it’s for everyone, men, women, and children too, supervised of course.

This is one of the most impressive book collections I have ever seen.

So that’s more than 1,500 titles in one downloadable library, for just $27, one time. There’s no monthly subscription and no recurring fees, just a mountain of practical knowledge sitting on your own computer, ready whenever you feel like digging into it.

So pick one trick from this list and put it to work this week, and let the next one wait until you feel like it. Our grandparents got through far worse with far less, mostly because they let the sun, the ground, and the weather carry the load for them. And a prep that runs itself keeps working on the days you’re too tired or too sore to lift a finger.

---

You may also like:

Why PPE Will Save Your Life in a Crisis

How to Stay One Step Ahead of Looters (VIDEO)

Economic Collapse Movies You Need to Watch ASAP

FEMA Myths You Need To Stop Believing

Your Financial Literacy Skills Can Make or Break Your Survival Plan

The post The 10 Commandments of Lazy Prepping appeared first on Ask a Prepper.

from Ask a Prepper https://ift.tt/JX3i04g

10 Prepper Items You Need To Get Right Now

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

If you’re one of our readers who likes to learn about homesteading and preparedness, but hasn’t taken any concrete steps, this article is for you.

Everywhere you look, there are signs that civilization has peaked and it’s all downhill from here. Thanks to wars, crop failures, political battles, and economic turmoil, food insecurity is on the rise, and the entire world is going crazy.

We don’t know when things are going to pop off, but you have to accept reality: hard times are coming. For many, they’re already here. The best thing you can do is get ready. Be prepared to rely on what’s in your pantry, basement, or wherever. It’s the only thing you can rely on.

Having a stockpile of food and other basic necessities will give you peace of mind. You’re going to sleep a little better. You’re going to feel your anxiety drop. When you hear the news about recession, war, or another pandemic, you can take a breath.

You don’t have to be one of the people panicking to get a bag of rice to feed your family. You can stay home, stay safe and stay calm.

The following list is a great way to get started securing your future, and you can always build on this list. Preppers will tell you that true preppers never stop. You keep stocking and adding little things that will make your life a little easier if there’s a disaster, manmade or natural.

If the shit were to hit the fan, would you be prepared to stay in your home for days? Weeks? If you’re not, you need to get started on this list. Most of these things are really cheap and plentiful right now. You can buy in bulk and pay pennies for some of the items.

Food

Food is pretty obvious and it’s a big umbrella. Essentially, you want to have nonperishable foods. Don’t waste your money stocking anything that requires refrigeration. There are countless lists you can find about what you should be putting away for a rainy day. We’ll give you some of the brief highlights.

There is one really important rule to remember—only store what your family will eat. Some other things you’ll want to remember are things like nutritional content. Calories count, but not in the way you are used to now. You’re going to need the calories when you’re busting your butt trying to take care of business.

You need energy. Calories are energy. You’re also going to need to think about nutrition. You need to stay as healthy as possible. Eating a balanced diet is important. You’re going to need plenty of protein, carbohydrates and the basic vitamins and minerals.

• Baking supplies i.e., flour, sugar, baking powder
• Canned fruit
• Canned meats
• Canned soups
• Canned veggies
• Dried beans; pinto, black and so on
• Freeze-dried foods are amazing, but they can be expensive. If you can afford it, go for it. If you can’t, you can still stock plenty of other foods.
• Honey
• Oatmeal
• Pasta in a variety of styles
• Peanut butter
• Powdered milk
• Ready to eat foods, i.e., chili, ravioli and so on
• Rice, white rice will store the longest
• Spices and seasonings

On a side note, it doesn’t hurt to store some of the little things that bring you comfort. Chocolate and candy can go a long way to making a horrible day a lot better. Think of the kids that are going to be desperate for their usual treats.

If you're wondering how much food to store, don't overthink it. Start with enough to feed your family for three days. Once you have that, work toward two weeks, then a month. Before you know it, you'll have a real stockpile and you won't even remember what it was like to live without one.

Rotation is just as important as buying. Put the new stuff in the back and move the older stuff to the front so you're always eating the oldest food first. Grocery stores do it, and so should you. Take a Sharpie and write the purchase date on everything. It takes a few seconds and saves you from finding a can of green beans from 2019 in the back of the pantry.

Water

It’s hard to store enough water to keep your family going, but there are some options. If you are going to store water straight from your tap, store it in plastic containers like washed and rinsed two-liter soda bottles. Don’t use milk jugs. They aren’t going to last long.

Bottled water is good for immediate short-term use. The larger five-gallon containers are great, and 55-gallon barrels are better if you have the space for them.

You’ll need to store plenty of methods to purify any water you store or collect. A nice filtering system is great. Basic household bleach will also work (use 5-8 drops of regular unscented bleach per gallon of water), but it’s only good for about six months on the shelf. Make sure you are rotating your supply.

So how much water do you need? The general rule is one gallon per person, per day. That's for drinking and basic hygiene. Plan for at least three days, but two weeks is a much better goal. Don't forget your pets. They need water too.

When you treat water with bleach, stir it and let it sit for at least 30 minutes before you drink it. It should have a slight bleach smell. If it doesn't, add another dose and wait 15 more minutes.

Also, don't forget about the water you already have in your house. Your water heater holds 30 to 50 gallons, and you can drain it from the valve at the bottom. Just turn off the power or gas to the heater first. If you know a storm is coming, you can also fill your bathtub. A bathtub water bladder keeps that water clean and covered so you can actually drink it.

Here are some other water purification methods to consider:

• Survival Straws
• Lifestraw Go
• Sawyer Mini

First aid

If you’re not able to get to a doctor, you need to be prepared to handle your immediate medical needs. You may not have the luxury of running to urgent care to handle a minor injury. Everything from the basic scraped knees to a laceration that requires stitches or a sprain.

A few supplies you want to have in your stockpile are listed below. Don’t be afraid to add to it and overstock. You can never have too much.

• ACE bandages
• Alcohol prep pads
• Aloe vera gel
• Antibiotic ointment
• Antihistamines
• Antiseptic wipes
• Aspirin
• Bandages in various sizes. This isn’t for nothing. If you don’t have ready access to doctors and antibiotics, you need to make sure you’re keeping a cut or scrape as clean as possible.
• Children's pain and fever medicine, if you have kids
• Cough drops and coughing meds
• Diarrhea meds (think about the changes in diet and what that’ll do to the gut)
• Electrolyte packets (dehydration is a real risk when you're sick or working hard)
• Extra prescriptions
• First aid manual
• Gauze in various sizes
• Gauze pads
• Hemostatic gauze for serious bleeding
• Ibuprofen
• Insect repellant
• Nitrile gloves
• Sunscreen
• Suturing kit
• Thermometer
• Tourniquet, a real one and not a cheap knockoff
• Tums
• Tweezers

Supplies are only half the equation. You need to know how to use them. Take a basic first aid and CPR class through the Red Cross or your local fire department. Look into a free Stop the Bleed class, too. They're taught all over the country and they'll show you how to use a tourniquet and pack a wound. A suturing kit won't do you much good if you've never held a needle driver.

Natural medicines

This is one of those things that will take some knowledge. You want to learn about some natural medicine cures and homeopathic meds. Buy a book—you won’t be disappointed. There are plenty of options available. Plenty of things you can use to fight infections that don’t require a prescription.

It goes beyond daily vitamins. Things like raw honey, garlic pills and essential oils all have their place in the world of natural medicine. When you can’t get access to prescription meds, know how to treat yourself without a prescription pad.

Consider stocking up on herbal teas such as chamomile, peppermint, and echinacea. Chamomile can help with sleep and anxiety, peppermint aids digestion, and echinacea boosts the immune system.

Also, keep a supply of activated charcoal on hand, along with a book on identifying and using wild medicinal plants. A word of caution on the charcoal: it doesn't work on every kind of poisoning, and it can make some situations worse. If someone swallows something they shouldn't have, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 before you give them anything.

And finally, make sure you have a mortar and pestle so you can grind up ingredients.

Tools

This is about as big of an umbrella as the food topic. When we talk about tools, we talk about the things that allow you to survive. To live without the most basic conveniences like calling a handyman to fix a broken door or maybe without electricity.

Think about what’s in your garage or pantry right now. Could you start a fire to keep your family warm and to make a meal? Can you secure your front door to keep people from coming to get the stuff you do have? Fix your car, bike or whatever transportation you might be relying on?

• Axe to chop wood
• Basic toolbox stuff i.e., screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches and etc.…
• Flint for starting fires
• Gardening tools (you might have to grow your own food)
• Generators are one of the big-ticket items you absolutely want to have
• Good work gloves to protect your hands from blisters
• Hand-crank radio
• Headlamps
• Manual can opener
• Multitool
• Paracord, cordage in general
• Propane heater or some other means to stay warm
• Shovel
• Tarp

A word of warning about generators and heaters. Every year, people die from carbon monoxide poisoning after a storm because they ran a generator in the garage or a heater that wasn't made for indoor use.

Keep your generator outside, at least 20 feet from the house, and point the exhaust away from doors and windows. If you're using a propane heater inside, make sure it's rated for indoor use. Pick up a battery-operated carbon monoxide detector while you're at it. They're cheap, and they could save your life.

Cleaning supplies

You need to keep your space clean and as bacteria free as possible. If things get to the point you don’t have running water, keeping your home clean becomes even more important. You want to avoid cross-contamination with your food prep.

You also need to think about the stuff you’re going to be doing outside and tracking in. Keeping your home clean can make you feel better physically as well as mentally.

• Baking soda
• Bleach cleaning solution
• Borax
• Dish soap
• Disinfecting wipes
• Laundry soap
• Lysol—limited sanitation can lead to some stinky situations
• Microfiber cloths
• Mop, broom, sponges and so on
• Trash bags—you can’t have too many
• White Vinegar

Personal hygiene

Cleanliness is important to staying healthy. It also makes you feel a lot better when you don’t stink. You can’t afford to deal with issues that arise from being dirty. It can lead to sickness and even infection. Stock up on these things because they can also be very useful for bartering with your neighbors.

• Baby powder or some kind of powder to keep from chafing
• Chapstick
• Cotton swabs
• Dental floss
• Deodorant
• Feminine hygiene
• Lotion
• Razors
• Sanitizer
• Soap
• Solar shower – Fill with water and hang it up in the sun for a warm shower.
• Toilet paper
• Toothbrushes and toothpaste
• Vaseline
• Wet wipes—load up on these

Survival in general

Think of what’s in your junk drawer, garage or in the closet that catches all the weird little things that you need but don’t really have a space. The list below is not comprehensive, but it will help get you in the right mindset.

Think about all the little things that make life easier. Things that will help you survive in general.

• Aluminum foil
• Batteries
• Candles
• Duct tape
• Flex Seal, spray and tape
• Home protection—you can decide what that is, but you’ll need to protect your home, supplies, and your family.
• Important documents
• Lanterns—solar is best
• Lighters
• Long-range walkie talkies in case the phones go down
• Matches—you cannot possibly have too many
• Plastic sheeting (the higher the mil, the more protection)
• Propane tanks for your camp stove or grill. If you don’t have a camp stove or alternative cooking option, that should be at the top of your list.
• Sewing kit
• Solar panels for chargers
• Super glue
• Weather appropriate gear i.e., coats, gloves, hats
• Whistle

The list is a starting point. Having these supplies on hand will mean the difference between not just surviving but being comfortable and better capable of thriving. Don’t put it off. Make a plan, clear some space in your home and do it.

Where to Store it All

One of the biggest questions people have is where they're supposed to put all this stuff. You don't need a basement bunker. You just need to get a little creative.

Look under the beds. Bed risers give you even more space, and under-bed storage bins can hold a lot of canned goods. Clean out the back of your closets. Put shelves in the garage, though you should keep food out of there if it gets really hot. Heat is the enemy of stored food, and so are light and moisture. A cool, dark, dry spot inside your home is always the best choice.

Don't keep all your eggs in one basket, either. Spread your supplies around the house. That way, a leak or a fire won't wipe out everything at once.

And don't feel like you have to buy it all at once. Grab a few extra cans every time you go grocery shopping. Pick up an extra pack of batteries or a bottle of bleach. Little by little, it adds up faster than you'd think.

You May Also Like:

• 40 Essential Homestead Items for Beginners
• 25 Natural Medicines You Can Make at Home
• 30 Homesteading Tips for Beginners
• 40 Household Items That Will Be Priceless Someday
• 15 Most Important Homesteading Skills

The post 10 Prepper Items You Need To Get Right Now appeared first on Homestead Survival Site.

from Homestead Survival Site https://ift.tt/eRWFCKj

Flock Cameras Aren’t Speed Cameras: What They Record, Keep, And Share

There are cameras appearing along American roads that do not issue speeding tickets and do not care whether you ran a red light. They are looking at your vehicle instead. The license plate, the make and color of the car, where it was seen, and the exact time it passed. Most drivers go underneath them […]

from Survivopedia