Disaster Preparedness - Freecycle USA

12 Foods That Give You The Best Bargain For Your Money

When it comes to feeding your family on a budget, cheap foods are your best friends. However, the word ‘cheap’ doesn’t always mean inferior quality. In fact, plenty of cost-effective food items are also nutritious and wholesome. With so many groceries costing you a pretty penny every week, you need to know what the cheapest options are and how to find them. To save money on your grocery bill without compromising nutrition, look for cheaper cuts of meat and smaller whole chickens instead of prepackaged ones. Store-branded products can help cut costs without sacrificing quality. And by staying aware of prices and sales cycles, you can get more bang for your buck while keeping an eye on your monthly budget at the same time.

Beans and Lintels

Beans and lentils are great sources of protein and fiber, making them a cheap, healthy option for vegetarian and vegan meals. You can also find different varieties, like red kidney beans or black beans, in your local supermarket or health food store. They are very versatile and can be used in soups, casseroles, salads, and many other recipes, making them a good investment. Depending on the type of bean or lentil, the price can vary between $0.25 to $0.50 per cup. Beans are also extremely easy to cook and must only be soaked overnight. In terms of nutrition, dried beans contain iron, zinc, folate, fiber, and B vitamins. Lentils are also rich in nutrients like iron, B vitamins, and fiber, and they are a good source of protein as well. Soaking dried beans and lentils also helps break down the complex sugars that make them hard to digest. Beans and lentils are an inexpensive and healthy way to feed your family.

Eggs

Eggs are inexpensive and packed with essential vitamins and minerals. They contain high-quality protein, B vitamins, selenium, zinc, iron, and vitamin D. They are also incredibly affordable, costing about $0.20 each. You can use eggs as part of a delicious, nutritious meal that is budget-friendly. Omelets, scrambled eggs, and classic sandwiches like egg and cheese are delicious, easy options for using eggs in a meal. You can also use eggs for baking cakes, bread, muffins, and even cookies. They are a good protein source packed with vitamins and minerals. Eggs are a great option if you have some extra cash to spend. Not only are they cheap, but they taste great in various dishes.

Frozen Fruits and Vegetables

Frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh produce. They can be purchased in bulk and stored in your freezer, which makes them last longer. Frozen vegetables are also cheaper than fresh vegetables and can be used in a wide variety of recipes. Frozen fruits are the perfect addition to your cereal or oatmeal in the mornings. Frozen fruits and vegetables often cost less than the fresh version because they are harvested and frozen immediately after picking. Frozen produce comes in a variety of different types, including fruits and vegetables, grains, beans, and even peas and corn. Frozen produce can also be a good source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Frozen fruits and vegetables are easily available in grocery stores and can be stored in your freezer for longer shelf life. They can be used in a variety of meals and desserts and are an inexpensive and healthy option for your family. Frozen produce is a great way to save money on your grocery bill without sacrificing nutrition.

Oats and Other Whole Grains

Oats are a whole grain that is packed with fiber and B vitamins. It can be eaten for breakfast with fresh fruit or used in baking recipes. Whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, and barley can be used as side dishes or added to salads and soups. Whole grains are better sources of fiber than refined grains like white bread and white rice. They are often less expensive than other alternatives. Whole grains can be cooked in many different ways. They can be eaten or added to salads, soups, and stews. They can also be eaten as a side dish. One of the best ways to save money on food is to buy whole grains. They are cheaper than many other alternatives, like refined grains or white rice. Whole grains can also be used in a wide variety of recipes.

Rice, Pasta, and Noodles

These are staples in many kitchens, and for a good reason. They are easy to prepare and versatile regarding recipes. They are also cheap and convenient options for busy families. There are many different types of rice, pasta, and noodles in your local supermarket. They can be used in a variety of dishes and recipes. They can also be eaten with your favorite side dishes. Rice, pasta, and noodles are often used as a side dish or added to soups and stews. They are also used in many different desserts. Rice, pasta, and noodles are some of the cheapest options in your local supermarket. They are also easy to prepare, so they make great quick meals or side dishes.

Chicken and Beef

Chicken and beef are common ingredients in many meals. They are both high-quality proteins that can be used in various dishes. There are many different cuts of chicken and beef, so you can choose a cheaper cut that can be marinated and seasoned to make it taste delicious. Chicken and beef are great sources of protein and iron. They can be used in many different dishes, making them versatile. Both chicken and beef are easy to prepare and very cost-effective. They can be used in many different recipes and are great sources of protein. They are also easy to store in your fridge.

Conclusion

Keeping a budget is a necessary part of being a responsible adult, but it doesn’t have to be boring. If you keep your eyes open for sales, use coupons when possible, and buy items you can make multiple meals out of, you’ll be able to get the most bang for your buck. The key to eating healthy on a budget is to be creative and not be afraid to try new things. With some careful planning, you can eat well on a budget without having to resort to plain old peanut butter sandwiches!

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Disaster Preparedness

7 years ago Disaster Preparedness 4 Min Read

What is an Emergency Shelter and Why to Have One

Any temporary shelter set up to protect people from hazardous elements can be called an emergency shelter. Emergency shelters are provided to people who have lost their homes or places where they lived due to a natural calamity, war, or disease. In some cities and towns, there are permanent emergency shelters. These are managed by private organizations and are used by people who may have lost their homes in a fire or any other disaster.

Any construction erected to provide people with temporary shelter can be termed an emergency shelter. The most common type of emergency shelter used is tents. International organizations keep stock of tents and send them wherever emergency shelters are required. Schools, churches, and halls have also been used as emergency shelters. During the Second World War, tube train stations were used as emergency shelters.

An emergency shelter can be made from a variety of materials. In a jungle or wooded area, branches are cut and placed in the ground, and leaves are spread over the top as a roof. This may be one of the crudest forms of an emergency shelter that can be constructed.

If people have to live for an extended period in an emergency shelter, then prefabricated homes may be constructed. A prefabricated home can be assembled fast and provides better relief against the elements than a tent. An emergency shelter can also be built using empty bags filled with local soil and placed in a circle. Poles are placed across the top and are covered with a tarp or plastic sheet.

Earth is mixed with straw, and water is plastered onto the tarp. The door and windows may be made by using salvaged doors and windows or placing a scrap wooden beam across the opening and hanging a scrap sheet of cloth, tarp, or any other material. These types of emergency shelters were constructed in Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake.

An emergency shelter has to be constructed from the material available at the emergency site. The emergency shelter has to be safe, protective, and cheap to construct. Women and children suffer the most in an emergency and require immediate shelter. Therefore, before any relief can arrive in an emergency, the materials available at the emergency site must be used to make emergency shelters.

You cannot expect people to sit out in thunderstorms, hurricanes, and cyclones and wait for aid to arrive. Fallen trees, branches, and salvaged materials from collapsed homes and buildings have been used to make emergency shelters. People have used common sense and available materials to set up emergency shelters.

A variety of emergency shelters have been made during emergencies across the world. China has had massive earthquakes and floods, and the government has had to provide emergency shelters to people. The United States witnessed a devastating hurricane that left thousands of people homeless. Again, the government and aid agencies moved in to provide emergency shelters. No single standard of emergency shelter is there that is constructed. You have to build an emergency shelter with whatever material is available.

Michael Anderson is an off-grid expert. You can learn more about self-sufficient shelters and off-grid living at the link below.

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How to Build Disaster Preparedness Survival

8 years ago How to Build Disaster Preparedness Survival 22 Min Read

To Bunker, or Not To Bunker?

So it’s the middle of August and we have only a few months left before the November elections in the

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Disaster Preparedness Survival Urban Survival

9 years ago Disaster Preparedness Survival Urban Survival 6 Min Read

How To Make Pemmican Survival Super Food

How To Make Pemmican Survival Super-Food

What is Pemmican? Pemmican is basically an energy bar made out of shredded jerky, dried fruit, and fat. These have been made historically by Native Americans and Homesteaders. Creating pemmican makes an energy source that has more calories and longer shelf life than jerky alone.

Pemmican Slices

Pemmican shelf life is very long because it has very low moisture and a very high-fat content. Fat does not grow bacteria. When fat goes bad (or rancid), it goes through a chemical process that occurs with light and air. This chemical change usually smells and does not necessarily harm people like bacteria can. To keep your pemmican smelling and tasting nice, make sure you keep it airtight and away from light. You may consider freezing it as well.

Pemmican has lots of recipes and is very easy to make. Most people suggest a 1:1:1 ratio of jerky, dried fruit, and animal fat. The fat ratio will keep it protected and decreases the chances of it going rancid.

Once the meat is shredded and the fat is rendered, this recipe also uses a 1:1 ratio. I will reference this recipe and talk about variations below.

Dry the meat

The Lost Ways use 6 lbs of lean red meat and a ⅓ cup of berries. Slice the meat into ¼ of inch strips or even thinner. Cut and keep any extra fat! Fat on the jerky will diminish its ability to dry appropriately for pemmican.

In the video, the meat is dried for 13 hours in the oven. I personally would never do that, because the heat would cook everyone in my house with the jerky! Alton Brown, a Food Network cook, has a great method of drying meat using air filters and a fan that works very well. You can find that method here. Of course, you could always use a food dehydrator or just buy some jerky all ready to go!

During a survival situation, hang your meat over a fire for at least 12 hours. Make sure your meat is brittle after drying. If it is still rubbery and soft, it is not dry enough.

Grind the meat and berries.

You can use a food processor or blender for this step. In a survival situation, shred the jerky and crush the berries into a powder.

Render the fat.

The recipe in the video calls for 2lbs tallow (or fat). You can buy this from a butcher, or slice if off yourself from un-butchered meat. Lard from a store would not be as fresh, but would also work. Do not use butter! The dairy will go bad far quicker than other types.

Next, you’ll heat up the fat to about 225-250 degrees Fahrenheit and stir every 2 minutes. Making this fat too hot will cook out the fatty acids that will work toward preserving the meat. Once the fat boils and is bubbling around the larger chunks of fat, you can reduce the heat (about medium heat) and let it simmer. Simmer for about an hour and strain the chunks out.

Combine the ingredients.

Once you have determined your jerky and fat are at a 1:1 ratio by using a scale, you can add the jerky and berries. Stir well.

Store the Pemmican.

The Lost Ways ask the reader to place the pemmican straight into an airtight bag and store it. In other recipes spread the pemmican out onto a baking sheet, let harden, and then slice bars. Either way, you’ll need to keep it airtight to keep it from going rancid. I would suggest Mylar bags and some oxygen absorbents increase shelf life. Ziplock works fine for convenience.

Other variations include nuts, honey, syrup, or almond flour. I would try to keep this as simple as possible. However, honey could make your pemmican bar hard as it crystallizes, and nuts go bad quicker.

Pemmican should be able to last for several years when made and stored properly. Store at home or in your Bug Out Bag for a quick getaway. When eating, try to chew slowly to increase the sensation of a larger meal.

Click below to check out the video for a thorough explanation and to see how it’s done!

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Disaster Preparedness How to Build Survival

10 years ago Disaster Preparedness How to Build Survival 6 Min Read

Looking After Your Family in a Disaster

A disaster scenario is not the easiest idea to cope with in the beginning, people generally are avoiding this subject as being too remote probabilistic-ally speaking to even consider it. But, if you think about it, taking care of your family in a disaster scenario should be your number one priority. And also, if you’re watching the news, you should take emergency readiness very seriously, with all these natural (or man-made) disasters happening all around the world.

There are all sorts of things to take care of, you just can’t wrap your head around this issue, doesn’t it? It seems so complicated, you don’t even know where to start. Well, here’s a crash course in disaster prepping in six easy steps. After you finish reading it, you can use it as a blueprint for making you and your family more secure and safe.

Step 1: You must store water.

Even if humans are able to resist without food for extended periods of time (for up to three weeks or even more), water is essential for survival, you won’t last more than three days without it. In a natural (or man-made) disaster, you can expect your regular water supply to get toasted/tainted with pollutants (the delivery pumps or the pipelines can be easily damaged in an earthquake or in case of an extended power failure), hence storing water is essential for your survival.

Now, the problem is how to store enough water for you and your family, especially if you live in a confined space. Well, there are a few possibilities to consider.

One possibility is to buy water rations (bottled water and the like), though it may be costly. You must keep in mind that the average adult needs about half a gallon of water/day, so you must make the right calculations and store enough water for at least a few days. Another (cheaper)possibility is to store tap water in food-safe plastic recipients and also to build a water collection system for rainwater.

Make sure that your water storage containers are sterile and were never used for anything but water before. Consider investing some money in a high-quality water filter and also learn a few tricks about how to sterilize contaminated water (there are a few products on the market used for sterilizing water).

Step 2: Store imperishable foods, canned goods, and the like.

Obviously, one must eat from time to time, it looks like a no-brainer, but most people don’t think about such things, because “it will never happen to me”. You can go for emergency rations or regular canned foods, but make enough supplies to last you for two or three weeks.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO KEEP YOUR FAMILY SAFE!

Step 3: Buy or make your own 72-hour emergency kit.

As the name suggests, the 72-hour kit must contain enough essential items for survival, for you and your family, in case you need to vacate your residence in case of an emergency. The kit should contain items like food ratios, flares, blankets, meds, and your most important papers, you get the idea.

Step 4: Get yourself a backup solution for cooking your food.

In case of a disaster, it’s very probable that your power supply (electric AND gas) will be off for at least a few days, and you don’t want to eat cold beans out of a can, or do you? A few tips and tricks: if you’re living in a rural area, obviously you can cook outdoors, using wood and stuff like that. Another option is to buy gas-powered barbecue or camping stoves. Use your imagination.

Step 5: You must know how to deal with human waste.

In a disaster scenario, it is very plausible that your toilet/piping systems will stop working. I know, it’s not a pretty picture, but these things happen. Consider investing in a sanitation kit, that contains heavy-duty garbage bags, powdered chlorinated lime, and a bucket with a lid. Don’t forget the toilet paper, by God!

Step 6: Be prepared for medical emergencies.

In a disaster scenario, it’s very plausible that your access to medical facilities will be impaired, to say the least. You should have first aid kits available and also store critical medications, like antibiotics, analgesics, or a supply of all prescription medicines your family members require.

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Ramesh Kanukollu is a webmaster and survival skills specialist for several years, You can learn more at https://freecycleusa.com/family-survival-plan

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