You Don't Have To Be A Prepper To Be Prepared - 7 Everyday Tips To Be Ready For Emergencies

These days, between civil unrest and strange weather, I think preparing for emergencies is even more important than ever. You don't have to be a prepper to be prepared but you do have to start. I will share some of the ways I prepare for emergencies. Plus, September is National Preparedness Month so a good time to focus on readiness.

If watching the news doesn't motivate you to at least get a couple days full of supplies going, then maybe nothing will. But here is how we started several years ago to get prepared for disasters and the whatevers. Like I said in this post, we had no power for three days due to just a Mylar balloon but boy was I happy to have a generator and lots of lanterns and battery operated lights.

Easiest Way To Start Getting Prepared For Disasters

1. Start with water. I talk about free ways to store water here.

    Buy a case of water every time you shop and store in your house until you have enough. If you have     a large family you will need more, but a single person will not need as much.

2. Have some source of light. Walmart has small led flashlights for 99 cents. Get a few. Keep one near       your bed, one in your junk drawer and another in your car. We have solar lanterns and battery                 operated as well and one oil lamp.  I want to get another one. I also store lots of candles. Don't

   forget some extra matches.

3. Easiest and cheapest way to stock a deep pantry, one that will feed you for a couple of weeks, is to         start buying two of your common shelf stable foods you eat weekly. This is how I started to stockpile     and you can read about it here on How To Stockpile When You Have Very Little Money.

4. Never let your gas tank go below half a tank. Heck, these days 3/4 of a tank might be smarter but           imagine you are 40 miles from home and something happens? You want to be able to get home if gas     is not available. This is the hardest thing for me to convince my girls to adhere to. Awe, youth!

5 Situational awareness is so important. We all need to pay attention to where we are out in public at all    times. Know where the exits are. Watch for crowd situations that may be unsafe and leave if you need    to before the situation becomes urgent.

6. Keep an eye on your kids. Let your kids play and have fun when you are out but you be the eyes           watching what is around them. Increasing homelessness in our state has made parks and other areas       visited by more than just kids. Many mean no harm, but often some are unstable and drug abusers         and you have to watch them.

7. Carry some pepper spray our mace with you. Our gun carry laws are strict where I currently live but      you can bet my girls and I all have pepper spray on our key chains. I have it ready in my hand often      in most parking lots. I no longer will give folks the benefit of the doubt if I feel threatened. Sadly, it        is not the world it was even 10 years ago.

This is the exact one I carry with quick key release.

You Can Call Me Paranoid - That's Okay

Does not hurt my feelings if folks call me names. I am too old to care, but what I do care about is my family and friends and fellow citizens trying to get by and prosper in this life. For me, being prepared and smart means peace of mind. It's easy once you tick things off your list of preparedness tasks, to start feeling a sense of accomplishment and peace of mind like I said before. None of these things costs much if anything to just be a little smarter these days to deal with our changing world.

There are so many more topics to cover and I will share as I continue to update and tick things of my to do list.

Are We Prepared? - Friday Vlog On Disaster Preparedness

Are you and your family prepared in any way at all for a disaster? Hurricane Harvey should be a warning to us all to get ourselves in gear and get prepared for being on our own in the case of disaster.

I know many folks were flooded out and this may not apply, but the vast majority of people in Texas were not flooded out but are on their own, cut off from the ability to get out of their neighborhoods.

Get Yourself Prepared For Disasters

In my Friday vlog I talk about what is on my heart regarding disasters and getting our family prepared.

Please start now to get ready. You can read my other emergency preparedness posts to see how to start storing water.

How We Do Laundry While Camping Right In Our Trailer

Camping means dirty clothes and camping for a week I need to do laundry so I am sharing my how I do laundry while camping right in our trailer. You all know I love camping gadgets but my favorite this year is a way to do some small loads of laundry while RV camping,

How We Do Laundry While Camping:

Stock Up Alert - Vanilla Bean Shortage

Stock Up Alert - Vanilla Bean Shortage!! Get ready to start paying a whole lot more for vanilla. 

Due to a vanilla bean shortage in Madagascar, vanilla prices have been skyrocketing.  According to CBS News:

Seventy-nine percent of the world’s vanilla fields are in Madagascar. A shortage there has helped drive up the cost of vanilla beans from about $11 per pound in 2011 to $193 by the end of 2016.

via CBS

So if you bake or use vanilla stock up now before prices rise even more. Vanilla lasts a long time to I always keep an extra bottle or too in my deep pantry. How to stock the pantry on a budget.

Stock Up Tip To Save Money On Vanilla!!

But here is a tip on how I just bought two bottles at the old price. Be on the look out at your grocery store in the vanilla section. It looks like the newer shipments reflected the new high price for vanilla, but their were older stock of the organic vanilla, even better, at 3.99 a bottle. I bought two.

The newer shipments of vanilla the same price were triple that and already $22 for a large bottle. So keep your eyes peeled and stock up on vanilla now. This is why I really believe in food storage. You are not panicked because you already have stocked up at the lower prices.

Check out my 50 Best Frugal Tips for Saving Money

Review of Coleman Propane Coffee Maker

Good coffee while camping is a MUST! Here's a review of the Coleman Quikpot Propane Coffee Maker, my new purchase of the best camping gear for this year. 

Hubby and I love our pot of coffee every morning when we are camping. We have tried all ways of making camp coffee from a press to percolator and pour over coffee but we were never happy with either how little was made, how long it took and could we keep it hot.

Finally, I found the solution. I love the new coffee maker I bought. The Coleman Quick pot coffee maker runs off of the small propane bottles. With a quick little click of the automatic starter, your pot will start perking and in about the same time as our coffee maker at home we had a nice, hot pot of delicious coffee for our camping breakfast.

The Pros:

Easy to set up

Easy dial for one click starting and then for and several keep hot settings

Durable

Easy to clean

Makes great coffee

The Cons:

A bit more bulky than other options

You do have to add the water in the holding area twice for a full pot but it is very simple

Care should be taken with glass carafe though a metal option is available and I may get one eventually

Moderately priced

My Conclusions on the Coleman Quikpot propane coffee maker:

Was it worth the $60 - $70 price? YES! I loved how I could set the coffee maker up and for the week we were camping it only used the one small bottle of propane. It made great coffee and then you can switch it to a warm setting keeping the coffee hot which was important to me.

I did go ahead and order the coleman propane coffee maker carrying case to protect my investment. This might seem expensive to some to make coffee but we camp a lot and I also consider this a great addition to our emergency prep supplies as in the case of power outages, I could easily set this up on our patio and make great hot coffee at home. We keep a supply of propane bottles on hand for emergency cooking on our propane stove.

I did set this up on a folding card table and was worried about the heat of it on the bottom but it did not affect the table at all.

The Coleman Coffee maker makes great coffee that would go perfectly with my easy campfire donut recipe.

Read all our camping and RV tips here.

Affiliate links in this post.

Walmart Haul - Emergency Preps, Back to School and Coupon Deals

Today I popped into Walmart for some coupon deals, back to school items and some emergency preps.

I have been couponing to save money shopping and using my savings to purchase our emergency preparedness supplies.  I will share what I bought in hopes to help others save money and get prepared for fall and for emergencies.

Walmart Coupon Deals 7/11

• The Gain Flings are a great deal. A $3 coupon made them a little over a $1 but I read in some stores they are clearanced so with the coupon they are 50 cents. 
• Other coupon items I felt worth picking up were the organic gummies. With the coupons they were around 50 cents and will be nice to have for camping or for a movie night. 
• Pretzel crisps
• Stir Fry Sauce
• Ban deodorant

Refer to Grocery Smarts for the coupon details

Back to school deals 

Walmart has the best prices for school supplies. I picked up some items and will probably go back for more.

• Notebooks 17 cents
• Glue sticks 2-pack 50 cents
• Dividers
• Filler paper

I am hoping for some deals on computer paper and scissors as I need to stock up on those.

Emergency supplies from Walmart

• 6 gallon water container
• Propane
• Bleach
• Canned goods
• Zote soap (I can make so many cleaners from this bar)
• Extra toothbrushes
• Extra OTC meds
• Plastic school cases will be used for something else I will share later. So many uses for these.

You can see my video of my haul and tips here. You can comment and subscribe there too. I am going to do a couple of videos a week going over new topics as well as videos on some of my post viewed posts.

Stocking The Pantry On A Budget

Whether you live alone or have a large family, stocking a pantry on a budget is one of the biggest money saving moves you can make. Food and paper goods as well as hygiene products are a huge part of every home's budget. Why not save where you can. Here is how I stock the pantry on a budget.

I am going to break down in a series all of the ways we stock our pantry and how we use it and keep it organized and used because there is no point stocking the pantry if you are not going to use it and cook it up before it spoils.

You know how I feel about grocery shopping and stocking my pantry. I can care less about clothes or purses but give me a stocked pantry and I get so excited. It means security and plenty for my family. You will want to use some of my tips cause see that basket above? It was jammed full and had steak and chicken breasts as well as craft beers and it was all just over $100. I think $107 to be exact. 82 items for that price is amazing to me.

On average when I coupon and shop the sale cycles I save anywhere from $50 to $70 off of my usual grocery bill. That is at least $200 a month and one benefit of a fully stocked pantry is that if money is tight one week and I don't want to spend money on groceries, I can skip to the following week and cook from what I have.

Budget Friendly Tips For Stocking The Pantry

1. Stock what you will use. Make a list for a couple weeks of what you are cooking with and actually using. That fancy bottle of olives may have looked good but at $8 you could have bought pounds flour.

2. Use coupons. I have started spending time each week planning my shopping list. I stopped couponing for a couple of years but deciding to really get our food storage accomplished as part of our emergency preps made me decide to get back at it so I could save money on groceries and have extra in the budget for long term food. Now when I see how much I am saving, I am so mad at myself for ever stopping.

3. If you don't want to use coupons, then make sure to check out your grocery sale papers when they come and then shop the loss leaders. Loss leaders are the items on special that week that they are selling at great low prices to lure you in and hoping you spend way more. Sometimes I will pop in a store just for those stock up items.

4. Here is the main way you will save big bucks. BUY way more than you need when the price is low. Here is an example. I was in Target, the hand soap I like was marked way low at .69, with a 20% off deal, that made each hand soap .55. Almost half of the usual $1 price. So I bought 20. Stock up on the sale cycles and then wait until they are on sale again before you have to buy them.

Shop at discount grocers or local markets. Our local produce market is such a good bargain and they sell bulk bags of beans and grains as well. You can watch my youtube video of my latest haul here.

5. Consider using subscribe and save from Amazon. We have been ordering groceries and paper goods from Amazon for years now. Once a month my box comes and it has a few regular items like our coffee and toilet paper and then I switch up other items that come every few months and you can't beat the prices if know your price points. I will do a whole post on what I feel is worth order from Amazon to stock your pantry or emergency food storage. And I always make sure I order five items because then you get an extra 15% off the prices. 

Amazon Prime Day is coming up in a few days too, so I am hoping to snag some really good deals. You can find details below.

6. Now cook up what you have and save money eating at home. I am experimenting with good shelf stable pantry foods so I always have what I need beyond just canned soup and beans.

We are now on youtube and am really loving that medium. A new video will be posted tomorrow on how to clean your vacuum and get rid of any smells and make it clean well again. Come subscribe and say hi.

Watch Our Videos On Youtube

Free Emergency Water Storage Ideas

How to store water for the long term and without spending any money. Free ways to store water for emergencies using containers you already have.

This last month I have been focusing on emergency water storage because in the case of a natural or man-made disaster, you absolutely cannot live without WATER!

Emergency Drinking Water Storage

When you begin emergency preparedness you should start with water. Without emergency drinking water storage you won't last long if a disaster occurs or there is some disruption in your water supply. Storing food for emergencies is what most folks think of first but water should be where you begin.

Drinking water storage is hard though, cause water is not the simplest thing to store. We all don't mind storing bags of beans or rice but water is bulky and requires safe conditions for it to remain drinkable.

Emergency Preparedness - How To Get Started

All of us should be prepared for disasters whether natural or man made and it doesn't have to be overwhelming. Follow in our emergency preparedness series - How to get started.

Do not let the feeling that this prepping or being ready is too much so you will just keep putting it off. I already cover why you need to start NOW. When you begin to gather emergency supplies and start a plan for emergencies, you will discover it gives you a sense of peace and in my case is a little bit addicting. I love working on my deep pantry food storage and getting items that we need checked off of our list.

Emergency Preparedness Series - Why You Should Start Now

I have had on my mind for my own family and to share on the blog, a renewed emergency preparedness series and why you should start now. It can feel overwhelming to hear the term "emergency preparedness" so I want to break it down into easy to follow steps. Some of the preps we have already done but also work we will share as we work along and do more prepping for what we hope will never happen but if it does, knowing we are prepared.

My husband and I have been working on actually listing and plugging away at our emergency kits and supplies for a few years but this last weeks events with four major earthquakes has made me glad we have been moving forward with our preparations. I live in earthquake territory and the threat is very real. But we should all be preparing for the emergencies that happen every day all over the world. For you it may be hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes. What happens if you can't get home or the roads near you are blocked or impassible. None of us knows when a disaster either man made or natural be occur in our area. This is why you must get started now and move to emergency preparedness planning.

In our series I will cover what you should do first.

-What food we are storing.

-How we store water.

-How to prepare for power outages.

-How to prepare your property.

-First Aid must haves.

-Having a family emergency plan

I am sure the list will grow as we move through our plans and share with you. We as always have to do our emergency preps on a budget but as we have been able to check items off our list, we have felt a real sense of peace of mind as one more thing gets checked off our list. It may seem daunting as you begin but each step, each item you store or prepare is one step closer to surviving and thriving as best as possible if the worst should occur.

Frugal Challenge - Factors Affecting Food Prices

Do you ever feel like this economy thing is never going to turn around? I think we may be looking at sustained high prices for food maybe from here on in. You buy a box of cereal that is the same price but it is barely the size of a book. Food costs affect us all. You have to eat.

Around here we have been tying to beef up some of our food storage. We do not have a nice walk in pantry. I have to deal with the storage in a 50s house. We did add the cabinet below in our service porch for more storage. We had other items in here before and some paper goods and we moved them somewhere else. Constant editing and reorganizing to find better ways to store more. That is my song. Here you will see we have lots of snacks. I stock up when I find deals but we having been buying more items that that are quickly going up.

We all know corn prices are skyrocketing due to wide spread drought. They say this will affect 75% of the food items you buy. We have been stocking up on extra oil, flour and grain products that are basics in so many meals. We had to spend an unexpected large amount on one of our older cars this week and also have two college age girls who we wrote check after check for this month. Whew! We are on one of our self imposed spending fasts. Food and gas is all we are buying for the next two weeks. If we cut back on all other spending we can rebuild our checking account faster. So to provide meals seven days a week three times a day, for six people, it takes a lot of food. Pantry basics are vital to cooking meals economically. Breads, muffins, soups, cookies are all items that fill tummies and can be made so much more cheaply from scratch.

 I really want to beef up my supply of pastas and canned tuna and other meats. We are also learning to eat more meals without meat. I mean when an average sized beef roast is $17 who can afford that. I am finding mark down meat even harder to find as others are snagging them up as quick as it gets put out. Many are finding it hard to stretch the food budget.

Tuna Noodle Mac is a great easy filling dish that can be made from pantry staples. I will make a huge bowl and we will eat it with some cut up fruit for a quick dinner and there will be enough left for lunches the next day.

This of course is not all my food storage but just some of it. I am looking into freeze dried items like veggies to have more long term food storage and more variety on hand to create entire meals.
Besides food, I am stocking up on the basic cleaning supplies for the home made cleaners I make on my own. My Homemade Laundry Stain Remover is really a great all purpose cleaner. I used it on the kitchen floor the other day and tonight I used it in my van to deep clean all the crud off the doors and cup holders. Worked great!

So gas is rising again and food prices are rising even higher. One thing we did wrong this summer was to keep our garage fridge plugged in. With hot temps, the amount of energy to keep it cool in a hot garage did not make it worth the small supply of bargain meat I had in there. It will be cleaned out and unplugged for the rest of the summer and not ran in the summer ever again. We left it unplugged last summer and it really helped with the electricity bill but we were attempting to stockpile some meat but for about half the difference of running it, I can just buy meat on sale and keep a small supply in the house freezer. Lesson learned.
Here is a link to a post I did in the Thrifty Living Series that links to a lot of former posts I have done on stretching your grocery budget. Next on this topic is where I shop to find the best prices.

Summer Hot Summer Cold

While the heat of August has settled in, our house has been struck by a summer cold. Three down this last week and boy has it been a doozy.

  For hubby to miss two days of work, he has to be in pretty bad shape. He still sounds like he is going to cough up a lung. I have been following my cold fighting practices and I swear there is something to them. After sleeping with the sickies, hubby and four year old, I barely felt a twinge of the cold. I fought it off and that is 2 1/2 years of no colds. I think that is the longest I have ever gone.

We have been staying home for the most part and I am busy with the chickens and my back to school house preparations. I hate for any of my loves to be sick but I never turn down an opportunity to stay home and hunker down. Car hasn't left the drive all day. We did run some errands yesterday, the hubby and I. We reorganized a lot of our food storage and are really trying to stock up as I see another hike in food prices coming real soon with the severe drought conditions. I will share a post on what we have done later this week. I am sharing at Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday.