Tailgating with Food Storage

With football season starting back up again, it's a great time to whip out those great recipes for tailgate parties! I always love getting together with friends to watch a good college football game. Not only is the company great but usually there are some great treats to snack on while we watch.

While I was with some friends the other day, I started thinking about how to adapt some of my favorite recipes for football parties so I could use my food storage. I realized that I could easily use food storage to make bean dip (one of our favorites) and that we could even use food storage to make tasty BBQ sandwiches.

Here are a couple of recipes that I found in the recipe section of the Emergency Essentials page that can serve as a great starting point:

Wheat Thins

Scotty's Southern Caviar

Fiesta Bean Dip

Spicy Refried Bean Dip

Apricot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Strawberry Milkshakes

There are so many great tailgate party snacks and foods out there and the more variety you have in your food storage, the more you can create with your food storage. What are some of your favorite tailgating recipes that could use food storage?

MSR® Miox™ Purifier Video

Check out our latest video to learn about the MSR® Miox™ Purifier. There are many great features that make this water purification system a great option for camping and emergency preparedness. Watch the video below for more information!

Emergency Plan for Pets

Today as I was looking through a few news sites online I ran across an interesting article from CNN about making sure you have an emergency plan set up for your pets. I was mostly surprised by how similar the suggestions for pet emergency kits were for the suggestions for human emergency kits. Here are a few tips from the article that particularly stood out to me:

1. Try camping, or at least learn a few skills - It's important to keep in mind that many hotels and other places you might think to stay during an emergency may not allow pets. If you find yourself in this situation, you will probably be happy that you have some camping supplies like a tent or water filter set aside and a few skills that can help you get through until you find a more permanent place to stay.

2. Invest in sturdy pet carriers - No matter where you end up during an emergency, your pet will need to sleep somewhere. Get a carrier now and have your pet sleep in it and get used to it. Make sure it is big enough for your pet to be comfortable in and that it has space for a water and food bowl.

3. Carry copies of documentation - It is pretty common to hear that we should keep copies of credit cards, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and other important documents with our emergency kits. The same thing applies to important papers for our pets. Some papers that you might want to consider are lists of medications or allergies, vaccination records, and disaster contacts.

4. Carry photos that show you with your pet - This can work as proof of ownership. You can put pictures of you and your pet on it's carrier and also carry them with you in your emergency kit.

Click here  for more ideas of what you should consider when working on preparing an emergency kit and plan for your pets and to read the article from CNN in it's entirety.

Freeze-Dried Zucchini - Customer Review

Freeze-Dried Fruits and Vegetables make a great addition to any food storage program. They can add a great variety to the traditional storage foods that you might already have tucked away. You can also use Freeze-Dried Fruits and Vegetables in the recipes you make daily.

Kim, from California, had this to share about her experience with Freeze-Dried Zucchini:

"The first time I used the slices, I hydrated too long and they became too infused with water and were very rubbery. The second time, I wanted to make a zucchini omelet so I sauteed chopped green bell peppers and onions and just before adding the zucchini slices, I hydrated them with chicken stock and IMMEDIATELY put them in with the sauteed vegetables. I sauteed the slices with the vegetables and then I added beaten eggs over the top and it made a GREAT omelet. Don't forget to add lots of garlic, garlic salt, red pepper flakes, and pepper. Wonderful! It was like using fresh zucchini!"

Have you tried our Freeze-Dried Zucchini? If not, click here for some great recipe ideas from our website. If you have tried it, what is your favorite way to use the Freeze-Dried Zucchini?

September Groups Specials

If you aren't familiar with the Emergency Essentials Group Program, it is a great way to get amazing discounts on preparedness products. Not only are the deals great on these products but when you meet the minimum purchase amount, your group order will qualify for free shipping.

The items available for the group specials often change each month. If an item comes on special that you absolutely love, it's a great time to make a bulk purchase since the prices are so low. Group specials also provide a great opportunity to try out something that you may have been wanting to try. You can get together with your friends, family, or neighbors and make an order so you can share the discount and each get an item at the discounted price.

Here are the great group specials for the month of September:

Tomato Powder

This Tomato Powder is perfect for making sauces, soups, juice, to use as a thickener, or for adding color, nutrition, and flavor to your home storage recipes. Since the Provident Pantry Tomato Powder consists only of dehydrated tomatoes, you can use it in almost any recipe and make it exactly what you want it to be. 

When you buy 12 or more cans of Tomato Powder, you will save 35% off the regular price of $30.95 and get each can for only $20!

Peggy Layton Cookbook Set

This set has four books that would make an excellent addition to any preparedness library. The information Peggy Layton provides in Cookin' with Powdered Milk, Cookin' with Dried Eggs, Cookin' with Beans and Rice, and Cookin' with Potatoes can open your eyes to what can be done with Powdered Milk, Dried Eggs, Beans, Rice, and Dehydrated Potatoes. You might be surprised at what tasty things you can create with each of these ingredients.

When you buy 5 or more Peggy Layton Cookbook Sets, you will save 31% off the regular price of $40.80 and get each set for only $28!   

Low-Fat Cinnamon Almond Granola

 

This is a favorite around my house. It's great as a hearty breakfast cereal, makes a delicious snack, topping for cobbler or ice cream, and can be a part of a tasty trail mix. Each can contains 40oz of Low-Fat Cinnamon Almond Granola.

When you buy 12 or more cans of Low-Fat Cinnamon Almond Granola, you will save 33% off the regular price of $11.95 and get each can for only $8!

Group Entrée and Side Combo

Some great Mountain House (MH) and Provident Pantry (PP) favorites are combined in this flavorful combo. You'll get a great variety of entrées and sides including, MH Rice and Chicken, MH Noodles and Chicken, MH Pasta Primavera, PP Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken, PP Freeze-Dried Broccoli and PP Freeze-Dried Strawberry Slices.


When you buy 4 or more of the Group Entrée and Side Combo, you will save 27% off the regular price of $151.17 and get each combo for only $110!

Click here for more information about the Emergency Essentials Group Program.

Flooding in the Northeast United States

As I've been keeping my eye the news, one story in particular stood out to me today. Over 100,000 residents living along the Susquehanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania are being asked to evacuate their homes by this evening. There is major flooding expected along the Susquehanna due to remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. Schools in many areas that could be impacted by overflowing rivers and heavy rains are being shut down and sections of interstates may also be closed due to the weather.

I have experienced a few floods but I've never been in a situation where they have necessitated an evacuation. Water is much more powerful and can cause more damage than it might seem. Here are some great tips I found on the FEMA website that are great for everyone to keep in mind since flooding can happen anywhere.

If a flood is likely in your area:
• Listen to the radio or television for information.
• Be aware that flash flooding can occur. If there is any possibility of a flash flood, move immediately to higher ground. Do not wait for instructions to move.
• Be aware of streams, drainage channels, canyons, and other areas known to flood suddenly. Flash floods can occur in these areas with or without such typical warnings as rain clouds or heavy rain.

If you must prepare to evacuate, you should do the following:
• Secure your home. If you have time, bring in outdoor furniture. Move essential items to an upper floor.
• Turn off utilities at the main switches or valves if directed to do so. Do not touch electrical equipment if you are wet or standing in water.

If you have to leave your home, remember these evacuation tips:
• Do not walk through moving water. Six inches of moving water can make you fall. If you have to walk in water, walk where the water is not moving. Use a stick to check the firmness of the ground in front of you.
• Do not drive into flooded areas. If flood waters rise around your car, abandon the car and move to higher ground if you can do so safely. You and the vehicle can be quickly swept away.

The following are important points to remember when driving in flood conditions:
• Six inches of water will reach the bottom of most passenger cars causing loss of control and possibly stalling.
• A foot of water will float many vehicles.
• Two feet of rushing water can carry away most vehicles including sport utility vehicles (SUV's) and pick-ups.

If you find yourself in one of the areas that is expecting flooding in the next couple of days, keep these tips in mind and do what you can stay safe.

For more information on preparing for a flood, click here for an insight article written about flood preparedness.

New Provident Pantry Just-Add-Water Meals

This month we are introducing our five new Provident Pantry Just-Add-Water Meals and to celebrate, they are all on sale. Each of these meals are so easy to prepare. They are perfect for food storage, taking out on a backpacking or camping trip, or they are a great easy meal for a night when you don't want to cook. Click on each of the pictures below for more information about each entrée, including nutritional information, preparation instructions, and ingredients.

Mac and Cheese

SALE! $20.99 
 

Granola with Milk and Blueberries
SALE! $26.99 

Pasta with Alfredo Sauce

SALE! $22.99

Stroganoff and Noodles
SALE! $26.99 

Spiral Pasta Primavera

SALE! $24.99

The only ingredient for these meals that you need to add is boiling water. Once you have mixed the specified amount of water with the Just-Add-Water Meal mix, you are only ten minutes away from a hot and tasty meal. 

We recently asked our Facebook fans which of the new Provident Pantry Just-Add-Water Meals they were most interested in trying and we found out that most were excited to try out the new Granola with Milk and Blueberries. 

We would love to know which of these new Just-Add-Water Meals you are the most excited to try so leave us a comment and let us know! Each of these meals are on sale at their low introductory price through the end of September, so now is a great time to try them.

National Preparedness Month

Happy National Preparedness Month!

We started our celebration of National Preparedness Month early this year by introducing our current giveaway for our "Traditional 2000" Year Supply. This is a great giveaway and we are giving everyone a chance to win one of our popular "Traditional 2000" Year Supply worth over $1600!

The giveaway is super easy to enter and there are extra opportunities to get bonus entries to increase your chances of winning. Click here for entry details. 

Also, this is a great time to work on setting some emergency preparedness goals. There are so many different types of emergencies and ways that you can prepare. I know that sometime it can get really overwhelming and all it takes is making the first step.

National Preparedness Month is a perfect month to pick at least one thing that you can do to help you and your family be better prepared for whatever emergency you feel is the most important to prepare for. Maybe you are in the path of the tropical storm sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, you live in earthquake country, or maybe you are worried about the possibility of losing a job. Take some time and decide which potential emergency situation or natural disaster you are most concerned about and take that first step. 

Once you have decided what you want to prepare for, we have some insight articles available that can be very helpful as you are figuring out how to prepare. There are articles that range from Natural Disaster Preparedness, getting first aid supplies together, preparing for the first 3 days of an emergency, and more.

Also, there is a great resource available on our forum. If you come across a question as you are working on your preparedness that you can't find the answer to or you want to know from someone's personal experience, head over to bepreparedforum.com and post your question. There are so many people who are more than willing to answer your questions about preparedness and have a great wealth of knowledge and experience that they love to share. 

As you work on preparing your household this month, you will become more and more confident in your ability to handle whatever surprise might come your way.

 3-Day Emergency Kit

Experiencing an Earthquake

The recent earthquakes in Colorado and Virginia brought back memories of the first earthquake I ever experienced. Growing up on the West Coast, we had monthly earthquake drills at school and we were well informed from a young age about what can happen during an earthquake. Even though I had been well educated, I was still surprised when the Scotts Mills earthquake hit in 1993.

The Scotts Mills earthquake was a magnitude 5.6 and was the largest earthquake the Pacific Northwest had seen since 1981. It occurred early in the morning when most kids were out of school for spring vacation. When the earthquake hit, I was still in bed dreaming. In my dream I was in my bed and there was someone shaking my bed. I thought it may have been my mom trying to wake me up for breakfast but when I woke up, I realized that no one else was in my room. The strangest thing though was that my bed was actually shaking.

By the time I realized what was happening, the shaking was over. I went out to find my mom in our living room watching the news to find out what had just happened. We checked the shelves in our pantry to make sure that nothing had fallen off and then we waited for my dad to get home from his early morning walk. He had been walking at a park no more than half a mile from our house and when he got home he was surprised that we were awake since he hadn't felt the earthquake.

The Scotts Mills earthquake was felt from as far south as Roseburg, Oregon to as far north as Seattle, Washington. There was some structural damage caused by the earthquake including chimneys that had fallen down and failure of walls made from unreinforced masonry. The State Capitol building was damaged as well as a few local school buildings.

The earthquake in Virginia yesterday was a great reminder that although I no longer live in an area of the country where earthquakes are common, it is still just as important to always keep them in the back of my mind as a possibility.

It is always a good idea to have an emergency plan and make sure your entire family knows what to do in case of an emergency. Remember that cell phone service could be disrupted and other lines of communication may not work they way they normally do.

With the earthquakes and Hurricane Irene at the front of our mind, now is a great time to become familiar with the evacuation procedures at your workplace and at the school where your children attend. It's also a great idea to check your 72-hour kits and car emergency kits to make sure they are up to date with fresh batteries, food, water, and clothes that are the right size and will be perfect for the upcoming change to Fall weather.

Hurricane Preparedness Tips

Last week, as everyone on the East Coast was getting ready for Hurricane Irene, we asked our friends over on Facebook if they had any tips for hurricane preparedness. Between the possibility of a tropical storm forming in the Gulf of Mexico over the next few days and Hurricane Katia still traveling towards the Atlantic, I thought it might be a great time to share some of the tips from our readers who have experienced hurricanes themselves.

"Remember gasoline for the generators and vehicles, and water! When Hurricane Ike came through Texas, our power was out for a week. That meant grocery stores were closed and gas stations couldn't pump gas. The nearest gas station with gas and electricity was 50 miles away, so plan for that as well. Whatever stuff you normally use, have at least enough on hand for two weeks. Once the stores open again, the stores won't be instantly filled. Don't forget your pets. Have them tagged and get them extra food. Make sure you have batteries and flashlights of all sorts, a larger lantern or two, and several of those smaller LED type lights that either hang on the wall or set on a flat surface. Fans, either 12volt or the kind that run on batteries and electric can be helpful. You might need more than one of these if it is really hot out!"

"While we lived in Florida, we went through four hurricanes...We included games to occupy our time while we waited for the storm to pass. We made sure to charge all our batteries (including computer, cell, etc.) before the storm hit. We used one of the computers to watch a favorite movie with the children while we hunkered in the bathroom during the worst part of the storm...We included comfort food in our preps as well. Don't forget to fill up the car with gas or freeze water jugs to place in your freezer. Clear the yard of debris and toys prior to storm arrival. While most of these preps sound trivial, they made it a lot less scary for the children."

"Make sure the pantry food is water tight!!"

"Take pictures of everything in your house room by room, you may need them. Also when Charley came through, I put all our important papers in the dishwasher, they stayed nice and dry."

"Sometimes leaving early is the best thing to do. This is a very personal decision and there is no right or wrong answer. It just takes a hard honest look at where you are, what you have and who you are responsible for."

Head over to our Facebook page to see all of the other great tips that were given by our friends. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share in the comments!

Also, don't forget to enter our awesome Traditional 2000" Year Supply giveaway! We are giving away one of our popular "Traditional 2000" Year Supply combos and the winner will be chosen this month in conjunction with National Preparedness Month. Click here for more information on how to enter.