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New Website Announcement

I am happy to announce The Apartment Prepper’s Blog is now in the following website:  http://apartmentprepper.com/

Please change your bookmarks to the new site, as that is where I will be posting new articles.  I will not close this WordPress blog just yet, but all new articles will soon be posted on the new site.  So please change your bookmarks to http://apartmentprepper.com/

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will visit my new website!

Upcoming Blog Changes

These last couple of days I have been working on a new project to move The Apartment Prepper’s Blog to a new self hosted site.  Since I am fairly new at this, I am still learning and it has taken me a while to make the move.  I am excited about the upcoming change and hope to announce the new site very soon.  Please stay tuned for the latest.  I thank you for your support!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.   It is a day of celebration with no pressure to buy gifts, put on a costume or be the perfect host if you don’t feel like it.  Sure, you may have to cook, but if you choose, you can go celebrate at someone else house.  Adopting a preparedness mindset I have become aware of all the things that can fail in our system.  But I am grateful for things that have not failed.  We have a roof over our heads, we turn on the lights and they go on, get in our cars that have gas, find a variety of food at the grocery and enjoy a bountiful Thanksgiving meal with family and friends.

I also want to express my appreciation to all my readers; this is a work in progress for me and I thank you for your support.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Take Advantage of Thanksgiving Food Sales

There are lots of supermarket sale items this Thanksgiving week, so it is a good time to stock up.  You can easily supplement your emergency food supplies by picking up a few extra cans or boxes of the following:

• canned corn
• canned green beans
• instant mashed potatoes
• canned cranberry
• canned mandarin oranges
• canned peaches
• gravy packets
• pumpkin puree
• flour
• sugar
• yeast
• baking powder
• baking soda
• bread mixes
• canned evaporated milk
• canned condensed milk

Make sure you check expiration dates before you buy.   Don’t pick the items from the front; those usually have the shortest expiration dates.  Reach way back in the shelf.  I realize some store clerks don’t like this, one pointed out there is no difference in reaching way back.   The stores usually keep the earlier expiration dates in front, so I reached to the back of the shelf anyway.

These deals won’t last.  Last year I waited until after Thanksgiving, thinking the low prices would continue.  But I found out that inventory gets really low after Thanksgiving, and prices go back to normal levels.  This time, I am not waiting around.  If I had more space, I’d have picked up more.

What “The Walking Dead” Can Do for You

We started watching the new zombie series on AMC called “The Walking Dead”  I actually found out about it from reading the following post over at TEOTWAWKI website:  http://teotwawkiblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/review-walking-dead-premiere.htmlPlease know that the series is very intense, with much blood and gore, especially the 2nd episode.  We had the kids play in another room as the show is not appropriate for children.

Now that I have covered that disclaimer, I have to admit, I actually like the show.  We had recorded the first and second episode and since our relatives missed the show, we invited them over to watch with us.

After watching the two episodes, we got to talking about what would we do if something like that happened to us, hypothetically, of course.  Everyone agreed the first thing to do would be to leave the city.  But then the discussion progressed to what would we do if some other disaster, a more real one, such as pandemic, really did happen.  Questions came up regarding what would we do as a family.  This topic then led to a discussion about being prepared for anything.   To be honest, we had never told our relatives about our prepping efforts because we did not know how they would feel about it.  Turns out, they were just as concerned about the times we live in and have already taken some steps to be more prepared.  They had not brought it up before either; they did not want us to think they were wacky.  They even have a suitcase packed with seasonal clothes for each member of the family that they keep in the trunk of their minivan.  While not a true bug out bag, it’s a good start.

Before you know it we were having a lively discussion about long term food storage and where to buy mylar bags and other supplies.  I feel relieved the “big secret” is out, as this family lives closest to us of all our relatives and I was worried how they would fare in an emergency.   It was purely unintentional, but watching “The Walking Dead” was a great way to get a conversation started on a very important, but possibly touchy subject.

Survival Food Storage

After shopping around for bulk survival food http://apartmentprepper.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/survival-food-shopping/ and storage materials, http://apartmentprepper.wordpress.com/2010/11/13/items-needed-for-storing-survival-food/ I am finally ready to start storing.

First, I gathered up all my supplies on the dining table:

• Food items such as rice, pasta, pinto beans, etc.
• 5 gallon food grade buckets
• 1 gallon size mylar bags
• oxygen absorbers (300 cc)
• measuring cup
• iron
• masking tape and sharpie marker for labeling
• cardboard to place over the table (under the iron)
• airtight jar to keep extra oxygen absorbers
• bay leaves to ward against weevils

The photo shows the mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, masking tape and jar.

• A few things to note:  Before you start, set the iron to the hottest setting.  Make sure you set the iron on a covered surface to avoid burning.  I used recycled cardboard from a large pizza box, but you should determine what works best for you.
• While these steps are doable with one person, it is easier to do them with two people, so you have someone holding the bag while the other person is ironing across.  My husband helped me out on this so it went a bit faster.
• You will need to set aside a solid block of time to do this:  Oxygen absorbers start activating as soon as you open the package.  If you have to stop and leave them for later, you must store them in an airtight container or they will become useless.
• DO NOT use oxygen absorbers for storing sugar.  This will cause the sugar to harden into a block.

We did the following to steps:

1. Place one oxygen absorber in the bottom of the mylar bag.
2. Pour 12 cups of rice (or whatever you are storing) into the bag.  I used a 2 cup measuring cup to as this was quicker than doing it one by one.
3. Add another oxygen absorber and one bay leaf on top of the rice.  There should be about an inch clearance from the top edge of the bag to where the rice fills up to.
4. Line up the sides and across the top of the mylar bag flat.
5. Carefully iron across the top, leaving a 1 inch space open on the left corner.  Don’t worry, the iron will not stick to the mylar, it actually stays smooth.  Do not try to make a fold across the top and iron it:  we tried this and it does not seal as well.
6. “Burp” the bag to let any remaining air out.
7. Now you can iron the remaining space and seal it up.  Careful, as the iron can get too hot.  About an hour after we started, we noticed the bags were not sealing as well, then we realized the iron had gotten too hot and the automatic shut off activated.  Make sure your iron does not overheat.
8. Label the bag with a sharpie pen.
9. Place the mylar bag in the food grade 5 gallon bucket.
10. Keep packaging the same food item into mylar bags following the above steps until the bucket is full.
11. Seal up the bucket.
12. Label the bucket.  I used a masking tape and wrote the contents of the bucket with a sharpie market.
13. Store any remaining oxygen absorbers in an airtight jar.
14. Store the bucket in a cool, dry area.  I cannot store food in the garage as we live in a hot and humid area.  Heat and humidity will shorten the life of stored food.  For now, the buckets are hidden under the dining table with a long table cloth.

The next day, you will notice the bags look shrunken.  This is the oxygen absorber doing its job.

That’s it, the process was actually easier than I thought.

Items Needed for Storing Survival Food

I am happy to be back home after being away for a week.  Now I can proceed with my bulk food storage plans.

Last week, I posted about shopping for food staples such as rice, pasta, pinto beans, etc.  in “Survival Food Shopping”  http://apartmentprepper.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/survival-food-shopping/.

We then bought the materials needed to package these foods for long-term storage.  These were purchased online as I could not find a local store that carries them:

–food grade five gallon buckets with lids

–1 gallon size mylar bags

–oxygen absorbers (300 cc)

The following common household items will also be needed:

–iron

–flat surface such as a leveler tool or a wooden table with a cardboard liner

–permanent markers for labeling

–labels or masking tape so you can label the buckets

–empty jar

–measuring cup

Most sites I read recommended five gallon size mylar bags to fit into the buckets.  We chose one gallon bags instead for the following reasons:

• One gallon bags of staples are easier to transport than five gallon bags.  Since we live in an apartment, there is always a chance we may have to bug out.  If we had to leave on foot with only the bug out bags, we would be able to carry one gallon bags of food between family members.
• Since the goal is to keep the food fresh for as long as possible, if we open up the five gallon bag, we would need to use it all up.  Since we are storing in one gallon bags, they can be opened and used as needed, without affecting the rest of the batches.
• If we choose to, we can share one gallon bags of food with others in need, such as family or neighbors, without compromising the rest of the bin.

Here are a few of  the materials I have collected. 

On my next post, I will go over the steps that I am doing to store the bulk food items.

Traveling for Work this Week

I am traveling for work this week and thus have been unable to post.   My work schedule is packed from morning til night, with no private time to be on my own.  And the hotel has very slow internet,  I am lucky to connect today.

I liked this article “Hypothetical SHTF if Traveling for Work” found in http://suburbansurvivalblog.com/hypothetical-shtf-if-traveling-for-work

on Suburban Survival Blog.  I am sure paying attention to the list mentioned in the post!

I will post when I get back to the home base.  Sorry for the light content, the work day starts!

Survival Food Shopping

This month’s project is to store some bulk items such as rice, flour, pinto beans, sugar etc.

I was originally hoping to participate with the local Latter Day Saints (LDS) Cannery that I had found out about after doing a search for mylar bags and bulk food storage.  I called them and found out information and pricing.  The facility is about an hour away, but it sounded good so I planned to go as the prices were very reasonable.  You don’t have to part of their church to participate, but you do need to be “assigned” to partner with a church group to do bulk storage.  Unfortunately, the week I was all set to go, I called ahead and found out they were having major construction and was not accepting any appointments in the near future.  They also did not have an estimate for when the work would be completed so it was back to the drawing board for me.

My husband and I decided we will shop for the bulk items wherever we can find a good deal.  We do not belong to a warehouse club; the membership fee is too steep for me for number of times we shop and items that we need, but that is for another post.

This past weekend we visited a couple of ethnic groceries and found good deals on many of the items on the list.  We found out about these stores by chatting with people at work about where to find good deals on groceries.  The Mediterranean store had excellent prices on rice and pasta.   They also had great prices on spices, honey, vegetable and olive oil.  These items were not on the “bulk grain” shopping list but they were too good to pass up.  We also checked out a Hispanic market and they had good prices on flour, sugar, pinto beans and legumes.

Now all we need to do is repackage the foods into mylar bags and 5 gallon buckets.  I will post about that adventure as soon as I get all the packaging materials together.