Getting Prepared and Having Peace of Mind

August 2010

AUGUST PREPAREDNESS: BACKPACKS AND CLOTHING. While you are out picking up your school supplies, be sure to take advantage of the backpack sales. Now is the time to get your backpack or whatever you choose for your 72-hour container. You will need a backpack/duffle bag with wheels/or container to continue to put together your 72 Hour pack as we continue to prepare during this year. Also, as you may be shopping for new clothes for the coming year, put aside some older but wearable items for your pack. Consider: change of clothing including undergarments, extra shoes, extra socks, glasses or contacts, sunglasses, rain poncho, jacket, diapers, wipes, etc. Emergency Essentials also carries backpacks at BePrepared.com.

Food for Thought: Did you get your minimum of 3 gallons of water per person to go with your 72 Hour food kits? Remember…the body can only go 3 days without water and some times only 24 if the water is contaminated.

Upcoming Preparedness Events:

Cannery: Only 2 more Cannery dates left this year! Mark your calendar!

Tues., Sept. 21, 6 pm – 8 pm / Wed., Oct. 6, 6 pm – 8 pm

CERT TRAINING: Sat., Sept. 11 and 18, 6am-2pm. I have called all those who previously signed up and now I’m ready to take a few more names for some open spots. If you are interested or have questions as to what CERT Training is, please call June Ranck at 269-1807. Must be able to attend both days. Don’t miss out on this free and valuable training!

Did You Know: What is better than paper towels and a lot less expensive? Coffee filters .... Who knew! You can buy 1000 coffee filters at the dollar stores for almost nothing, even the large ones.

Recipe of the Month: Emergency Survival Bar

* 3 C. cereal (oatmeal, cornmeal, or wheat flakes)

* 1/4 tsp. salt

* 3 T. honey

* 2 1/2 C. powdered milk

* 1 C. sugar

* 3 ounce box Jello (optional)

* 1/4 C. water

* optional - raisins or other dried fruit (nuts/seeds shorten shelf life)

Place all dry ingredients except Jello in a bowl. Bring water, honey, and Jello to a boil. Add to dry ingredients. Mix well. Add water a little at a time until mixture is just moist enough to mold. Place two molded bars on a cookie sheet and dry in the oven under very low heat for an hour or two. Wrap and store. This will make 2 bars, each containing approximately 1000 calories or enough food for one day. These will store for a long time if they are cooked until quite dry, and are excellent for emergency packs, etc. Eat dry or cooked in about 3/4 C. water. You can vary the Jello and dried fruit with the type of cereal or use maple syrup or add spices to get different effects in flavor. HINT: The more water you add, the easier it is to shape the bars, BUT then the longer it takes to dry them, and the bars will be harder after a longer drying time. Adding the prescribed amount of water will sometimes give you a granola effect, which you may prefer.

A nutritional analysis of the above recipe's contents using rolled oats and powdered milk fortified with vitamin A. He found this to indeed be a very nutritious bar. One bar contains only half of the nutrients of the whole recipe and therefore you may wish to set aside two bars per day to get the following:

NUTRIENT PERCENT RDA

---------------------------------

Food energy 74%

Protein 135%

Total lipid (fat) 12%

Carbohydrate, by diff. 93%

Total saturated fat 8%

Cholesterol 10%

Sodium 441%

Total dietary fiber 60%

Vitamin A 121% (If Vit A fortified powdered milk is used.)

Ascorbic acid 16%

Thiamin 154%

Riboflavin 191%

Niacin 16%

Vitamin B6 38%

Folacin 113%

Vitamin B12 114%

Potassium 177%

Calcium 218%

Phosphorus 308%

Magnesium 116%

Iron 80%

Zinc 90%

Pantothenic acid 75%

Copper 55%

Manganese 212%

Linoleic acid (18:2/n6) 122%

Linolenic acid(18:3/n3) 9%

Histidine 234%

Isoleucine 491%

Leucine 615%

Lysine 610%

Methionine+Cystine 396%

Phenylalanine+Tyrosine 630%

Threonine 563%

Tryptophan 503%

Valine 488%

Probably the biggest problem is the low vitamin C. However, in a pinch, a person could live a long time off these bars alone. They are also a bit short in the calorie department, but are excellent in protein, over half of the B vitamins, and excellent in the minerals category. These bars, no doubt, nutritionally beat many of the expensive bars you can purchase from the different companies, and properly sealed would probably last as long.