Learn from our experience.... please

 If you have spent anytime watching preppers youtube channels- you are aware of all the tactics that they use to try to get your attention to watch their videos. And I know that many people shy away from that kind of thing. I do not like those types of videos either. But what I do know is that it is best to be prepared than to find yourself without the things you need and no way to get them. 

Today I want to share an experience that helps reinforce the importance of being prepared. Last week - my main focus was on the 4 appointments that my husband and I had coming up on Monday and Tuesday. Oh and throw in the mix a mri of the brain - which by the way - thankfully was normal. And I did not get the message that this week we would be in the middle of an ice storm. I wonder if it got past me or if the weather people did not realize it would be this bad... I don't know... what ever the case here we are. On Monday, thankfully we were able to get at least 2 of our important appointments taken care of and got home safely. We have not left the house since then. I had not intentionally prepared for an ice storm - but thankfully we have had mostly everything we would need or a way to work around it. Thankfully I even had bandages, gauze and medical tape to help my husbands 2 infected in grown toe nails that had to be cut out on money. This I am very thankful for. 

Had I not learned with 2020 the importance of having what you need and extras if possible - we might have been up a creek over the last several days. Oh and I have seen on Facebook where people have talked about going to store to get groceries because they were running out of food and guess what? Many stores don't have basics that are needed. I am guessing we will probably be smartest to wait till Sunday or Monday to go get groceries if possible. It would be better to wait and have the possibilities of getting more of what we need then to have to make several trips. 

So basically what this blog post is about- if you don't already do a bit of prepping for the possibility of not being able to get to the store or not being able to find what you need at the store- then the best time to prepare for those times is when there is not an emergency going on. It is on your weekly trip to the grocery store- to pick up an extra one of these and an extra one of those. And slowly have extras of what you use on a day to day basis. You do not need to do this all at one time. Nope. Just slowly get the things you need. With prices of things going up and up. It has been a bit helpful to have a few extras of things put aside so that maybe I can wait till something goes on sale before I buy more. Anyway I do hope that you learn form our experience - you never know when something might happen and you will not be able to get to the store for a few day or a week or what ever. Start now - doing a bit here and a bit there. 

A Twofer Post

 Today is a twofer post - that is a two for one post. I am combining a Best Deal Post - with a What I Learned in the Great Snow Event of 2021! 

As you all know almost a month ago - we went through a week and a half of pretty frigid temps, snow and such. Along with all of this - we also had some power outages. Some of them were planned and done on purpose some were not, like the time the power went off for 3 plus hours one evening. During this time period we learned a few things to have on hand. 

When the power goes out - especially in the evening or at night - you will want light. Flash lights are nice to have but in addition to flash light- these handy candle holders are great to have on hand!! We lit these and enjoyed the lovely light that they put out! 

 

Another great thing to have on hand are oil lamps. This is the newest one that we have - it was only $10.00 at Walmart - felt kind of cheap - especially when compared to the glass counterparts. But surprisingly it did very well!! I was very happy with it!  

So if you are going to keep some oil lamps on hand - be sure and have some "Klean-Heat" this stuff is very nice. It does not put off a stinky smell like some of the other oils do. In fact, my glass oil lamps were set up and we used them a bit several years ago - but the sticky smell that they produced made me think that I might rather be in the dark than have my house stink like that. But thankfully I have learned of this awesome stuff over the last year. And bonus - you can add essential oils to this and have a lovely scent. That is what I have heard - we have not tried it yet. 

So on to my Best Deal part of this post. I found a couple of useful things to have on hand. 

I found this adorable candle with the cute heart cover and a cute candle snuffer, that also has hearts on it, at a local thrift store! The candle was in brand new condition and smells of cinnamon. 

Candle ~ $1.50 

Snuffer~ $1.00 

A Monster Created? You Decide...lol

 In July my husband and I celebrated our 32 wedding anniversary. Little did my husband know what a monster he would create by getting me a nice dehydrator! The first week I dehydrated carrots and potatoes. I posted about that last week. Well about the same time that I began dehydrating the carrots and potatoes a friend sent me a link to this youtube video:

 She had no idea that I was getting into dehydrating! So I watched it and knew that this was something I wanted to try. So the next time I was at Walmart I picked up a large can of peaches and pears! 

These 6 pound cans of fruit made 2 pints of dried fruit. And believe me this these are so delicious! I am so happy to have gotten into this great way of preserving food! It took these 2 large cans of fruit that there is NO way that we would be able to eat through before the stuff went bad. And I would have never bought these cans otherwise. 

By the way - Now I am looking for different ways to use these awesome cans!  I know there must be great ideas and ways to use them! I will be holding onto them and researching what I can do with them! 

Be sure and come back next week - I already have a great project to do with my food processor lined up!! I can't wait to share it with you!! :O) Yes~ I believe my husband was right - a monster has been created!! LOL :0) 

What I Will Be Trying This Week

So I think I have shared with you before how much I enjoy Homestead Tessie's Youtube channel. I have learned some awesome things from her. And today I wanted to share with you something that I plan on trying this week. Dry/Oven Canning. I have some wheat and rice that I would like to get canned this week. I don't know if I have enough lids to get everything done that I want to do. You know, the canning supplies are hard to come by lately... I wish we had have realized that this was going to be something that I would get into before all this mess hit. Doing what I can now is better than nothing at all. 

Last week I asked my friends on Facebook where would be the best place to get canning jars. I was blessed by a couple of different ladies with some great canning jars. Some came with lids and rings, some not. And I am SO thankful that God had previously blessed me with this great canning book! I am disappointed that it is challenging to find the rings and lids though. But at least I have some and can at least get started on my project. 

What things are you doing to prepare for maybe a second way - of real or made up virus mess? Please share - it may be things that I need to do but just have not thought of. :O)