21 Foods to Stock Up on Before a Crisis

Okay so I was browsing around and came around this website that had 37 items that would go first in a crisis.... interested.... so I clicked on the video linked to it. He says get a pen and paper handy (get my handy dandy notebook---Blue's Clues) and I'm ready to start writing this stuff down to see what we need.... come to find out it's a sales pitch a HALF HOUR sales pitch!!! COME ON.... I asked for a list.... so I began my own quest and here's 21 of them :)

• Rice – Wheat
• Legumes: Pinto Beans, Black Beans, etc.
• Oatmeal, Cornmeal
• Canned Fruits – Canned Vegetables – Soups – Stews, etc.
• Milk – Canned/Evaporated, Powdered, Sweetened/Condensed
• Eggs – Powdered (dried)
• Peanut Butter – Nuts – Popcorn
• Dehydrated Fruits & Vegetables - learn how to dehydrate your own
• Jerky – Trail Mix
• Graham Crackers – Saltines – Pretzels
• Chocolate – Cocoa – Tang – Punch
• Honey – Syrups – White Sugar – Brown Sugar
• Garlic – Spices – Baking Supplies
• Soy Sauce – Vinegar – Bouillon Soup-base
• Tuna Fish (packed in oil has more protein)
• Canned Meats
• Cooking Oil
• Flour – Yeast – Salt
• Coffee – Teas
• Bulk Herbs (used for seasoning),
  (Herbs can also be used for first aid, or treating minor medical issues)
• Vitamins – Minerals – Supplements

Couponing

Mr. Dill and I have been consciously sitting down the last couple days/weeks thinking of ways to save money on our groceries... now our first trip to Walmart just by ad-matching saved us a TON of money. So now this week, we have some coupons that we found in our weekly ads that MATCH what's in the store ads, so we'll be taking them to Walmart... (Baby Dill is sleeping so first I've gotta check the coupon policy for Walmart and then print off our ad-matching. Last week, we just took some labels and wrote down what we had and the price match... this week... I typed up the ad matches on a return label sheet, I'll be taking a highlighter and scissors with me. Highlighter will be for more than 1 so that the checker knows there's more than one item with the ad-match... and scissors to cut and put each by the bar code...

Mr. Dill wants to try coupons, I again am not going to waste an entire day/week by becoming a "coupon crazy lady" (no dumpster diving or stealing newspapers for me) but we came across some great stuff.... Walmart has a coupon page where you can print and use at the store SWEET and better yet, there's stuff on our ad-matching that has coupons EVEN SWEETER....

In my quest to help my hubby, and to figure out this whole couponing thing ( I really have no idea how they know when stores "double" the coupons, that's still way confusing) but I found a Beginner's Guide to Couponing via Living Well Spending Less.... she also has some videos that are very informative.

This is a really big world of couponing that I have never traipsed into before and I'm nervous about it... I would love to save money so we'll see where this "using coupons as they come" will take us.

Here's some sites I found that are really neat to look into for couponing:

Living Well Spending Less

Super Coupon Lady - New to Couponing post

Sunday Coupon Preview

Coupons.com

Coupon Mom

Baby 72- Hour Kits

I was asked in my ward from the Relief Society ( I am LDS... aka Mormon) to create printables for the ladies in our ward with ideas those which young children to pack in 72 hour kits. So alas here I am, I had already done a kit for a baby, this is a re-post from my blog Latter-day Chatter.

DOWNLOAD COLOR HERE

DOWNLOAD BLACK AND WHITE HERE

TIPS:

-It is suggested to have 1 gallon per day for a person, however we're talking about a baby here. They need more water. Between washing bottles, formula, cereal, keeping the baby clean to avoid illness, it takes water, it's better to make more than you think you'll need then not having enough.

-Diapers, I added cloth diapers, because what happens if you run out of disposable and you can't get to a store or they are closed because of a power outage. A baby's gotta poop whether or not you have a diaper on him.

-I included disposable place mats only because you don't know where you'll be eating. I've seen them at both Walmart and Smith's by baby food and bowls, Target also has them.

 

-Now I know I put formula, even if you're nursing, pack it... reason... you don't know what will happen.. heaven forbid if something happened to you, the baby's gotta eat. For formula, pack the dry. Some sites say to pack the liquid, but  those need to be refrigerated, I don't know about you but I don't see a working fridge on the corner. You may be out of your home, and to keep that formula safe for your baby it needs to be in the fridge. If you are wanting to carry the liquid purchase the 8 ou bottles, they are sealed and would be safe, they do tend to be more pricey.

-For the bottles, to minimize the water storage needs, using bottle liners would do well only because you can chuck the liner and the bottle is still clean instead of having to wash the bottle each usage. But for those that don't mind don't forget your bottle brush and some dish soap.

-For hand warmers, we have the brand HotHands, and they seem to work well. We take them camping and our 4 year old loves to put them in his sleeping bag. We have 4 in each of our kits.

-You can also ask your pediatrician for samples of formula, lotion, soap, etc. (they're usually pretty generous)

-Small toys: linky toys, taggie blanket, stuffed animal

-Ziploc or Grocery bags will help contain mess. Between dirty diapers and clothes, you'll want them somewhere away from the clean stuff.

-For the picture/info/ and allergies, heaven forbid if something happens and you can't be there to give this information. Include a recent pictures, I'd try and take one a month and update it. Info includes the "driver's license" (birthdate, height, weight, eye color, hair color) info, you could also do any distinguishing marks (birth mark, mole, etc) And any allergies or medical needs they might have. You could put all that on the back of the picture

-Don't forget to double check and rotate wipes, they do dry out. 

Here's a tutorial on making a makeshift carrier just in case  :)

Life's Pickles

I am beginning this blog as a way to learn for myself the ways and steps getting to self sufficiency. My husband have seriously sat down, looking at our budget and our food storage thinking up ways to start saving more money to put away for the life's little pickles and to be ready for whatever comes.
Ideally I hope to chronicle our own journey with help from others around the web, to get to a 3 month supply and onto a year and beyond.
It's so hard for me to think up recipes that want me to get into the kitchen to cook. I hate cooking, it's just not my passion, but for my 2 boys, my husband, and myself I hope to be better and using what we have instead of taking the easy way and going out to eat and just using that money to put toward our food storage.

I am not a couponer, I do not use coupons unless I find them, but I don't use them for everything and have a stockpile in my basement. I have recently discovered a doable way for me to save money (and have) by price matching at Walmart.
Just this last weekend, my husband and my boys went to Walmart and shopped for what we needed, earlier last week I sat down with all the ads and went through each writing down what we needed and the prices from each store. At Walmart, we took labels and every time we had a price matched item, I would write on the label what the price match and where it was, then placed it right by the bar code, our checker loved us!! I think to make it easier though, my hubby suggested I type them all up onto return labels (2 to each) and then print, and cut them, so that I would save time by not having to write each. Love that idea and will be doing that from now on.... we spent $150 for about 2 weeks of groceries. I have budgeted $400 for the month for groceries, but I do this again, I'll have cut $100 dollars off the budget!!!! Which will go to food storage and to savings. GO ME GO ME!! You're asking where I go this awesome idea?

Here's the post that talks about the price-matching!! Great ideas!

The Fun, Cheap or Free Queen suggests another website called Deals to Meals, this website goes through all the ads in  your area and compares then for you to take to Walmart. I haven't tried it but it looks interesting enough to do so for $5 a month! For about $1 a week, they scour the ads, tell you where the best deals are, plan your week's meals, and create your weekly grocery list. SWEET!!