We all know about storing food and water and keeping some cash on hand, just in case. We keep our cars gassed up and some extra medication because things happen and we don’t want to be caught short. But what about things that are not so obvious? Are there some important holes that you should be plugging now?
Footwear: I have shoes.As the mother of a teenaged girl I find myself tripping over shoes all the time. But somehow, I suspect that the blue sequined dancing shoes will not be very helpful should there be heavy work or a lot of walking to do. What does your shoe supply look like? You need shoes to walk in and shoes to work in. You also need boots that will keep your feet dry and warm boots too. You should also have moleskin, waterproofing and shoe goo. Extra laces are a must as are ice grippers if you live where you get that kind of weather. Add a good pedicure kit to your stocks and learn how to use it. An ingrown nail could be a lot more than inconvenient. As you can afford it, have back-ups to all footwear. It can be second-hand if it’s in good shape and fits well. I’m a big fan of muck boots and Sorrels. You can buy extra liners for them. Add socks. Cheap socks are the pits. Learn to darn.
Spices: I hear all the time about the shelf-life of spices. Ignore most of the numbers. Spices kept dry and away from too much light and heat last a very long time. All that stored rice and beans and the cellar full of potatoes will thank you. I get big bottles of spices from BJ’s and keep them sealed.
Wind up watches and clocks and timers. Time can matter and if the power is out is a real pain not to be able to time something. It’s dangerous not to be able to time your canning kettle.
Hard copies of phone numbers: My kids are all children of the new age and not one of them has an address book. Why would they when all that important information is in their smart phones? Not so smart really.
A hard-wired phone. It doesn’t need electricity and it doesn’t have a battery to go dead and it will make a call with no satellite input.
Non-electric fun: Get some puzzles and some good books.
I’m a sucker for lists. Feel free to add to this one.
I had such a good time with my 4-H kids this week. We made self-watering containers out of old soda bottles. The only hard part was finding the bottles as we don’t drink soda. Just cut the bottle in half, fill the part with the neck with soil and a plant and insert it in the bottom half. When it need water, put enough in the bottom to reach a bit past the bottle top. The plant will get water from the water reservoir with no danger of over-watering. They aren’t pretty but they work really well. I’m always on the look-out for ideas on how to grow food in small places. The container potatoes are doing very well although how anything is growing in this sunless weather is beyond me.
Things are going very well with the new household members. There’s always a comfort curve but my DIL is a truly thoughtful and considerate person. She works so darned hard at her paying job and still manages to pull more than her fair share of household tasks too. I wish this place were just a bit bigger so they had more room to spread out. I feel guilty even thinking that as so many live with so much less.
Interesting news out there. It’s a real education to read about how people in Europe are handling austerity. I have always enjoyed reading about real families living during the depression. There is much to learn and the time is growing short to learn it.
June 5, 2012 at 8:09 am
I’ve been looking for sales on socks and underwear and picking up extras, including in sizes the kids aren’t into yet. I’m not sure that darning works with commercial cotton socks – when ours get holes, they get cut up and become bathroom cloth. They’re wonderfully soft and absorbent. Since we have two kids, and one on the way, I keep all outgrown-and-still-wearable shoes in a shoe organizer under our bed. I also have a stockpile of pencils and paper. Most of our non-electric things aren’t for emergencies, they’re things we use every day – clocks, crank radio, kitchen appliances, etc.
June 5, 2012 at 10:47 am
If you’ve seen the series on Britain’s 1940s House, in which a family relives for nine weeks the day-to-day survival in war-ravaged London, then you know how important shoes are in an extended crisis. The narrator explains that for over five years during the war new shoes were unavailable, so folks would scrounge whatever they could find. They wore shoes that were too large, too small, too old. Corns and calluses were constant reminders or wartime austerity. Children suffered particularly badly as they outgrew everything.
Extra laces, liners, and above all, thick comfy socks. Best wishes.
June 5, 2012 at 11:29 am
Some financial guru said recently that things weren’t so bad that we needed to start darning socks. That struck me as funny since I learned to darn socks as a child and have never stopped doing it. My husband said once that he had gone to buy new shoes and discovered that he was wearing darned socks. At first he was a little embarrassed but decided that it wasn’t something that he should be ashamed of. I’m sitting at the computer with darned socks on. I use left-over embroidery floss and can get a good match to colors and have a very soft darn that wears well. I also darn small holes in my husband’s t-shirts since the holes seem to appear well before the shirt is worn-out anywhere else. I used a burned-out light bulb for backing socks for years before I got a good deal on an old wooden darning egg.
June 5, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Kathy, maybe you could do a video on darning socks? I’ve never seen it done.
Also, is it possible to find out if storage food for sale has GMOs?
June 5, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Kathy,
Do you have a post on growing potatoes in buckets? I’m giving it a try, and I need more info. Love your blog.
Thanks!
Chicago Gran
June 5, 2012 at 2:30 pm
ddu, thank you for the link to the film, I am going to give it a try. Outstanding reviews on amazon.com.
‘Mousse
June 5, 2012 at 9:39 pm
I would definitely add more buckets of various sizes… they come in so handy!
June 6, 2012 at 9:37 pm
I was thinking that extra gear for a bicyle would be good. patch kits, tubes, chain lubricant. Maybe and extra set of tires. We have a trailer for our bike that we used with our youngest son. We keep it around because it is good for hauling small loads with our bike. We also have a tandem that my son uses which makes small trips around tound easier that getting into a car somedays.
I keep extra vokda around for tincturing herbs. !00 proof for roots and 80 proof for leaves and flowers.
We darn our socks. I make nice handmade wool socks from Briggs and Little “Tuffy” yarn. It is warm and fairly rugged but they still wear out. So I darn these and then darn the darns. I have one pair that is nearly 5 years old. They are one of my favorite pairs. Each darn is in a different colors so I have rainbow soles
June 11, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Went to DC with DD Girl Scout troop. 9 girls 4 parents. Jrs/Cadettes. Very hot. Lil shade. First, the whining from one started before we got off a/c Metro. Within hour of arrival it spread. Some not dressed rt. We brought water but told there would be free water. Map showed bottled water icons. Free water was a hose you stood in line for an hour. Buy water hr and half. St vendors mobbed. Walked further out to buy. Lost kid on way back (TAG student). Left early. Learned more fr this event then reading hours of prep stuff online. Not happy w/ my own response. I packed TP b/c w/ crowd (250k+) figured porta potties would run out. First aid kit, wet washcloth in zip bag, aspirin, all set, but didn’t bring enough water relying on ‘free’ water. 1 girl had to go to fist aid tent, another flush on way home. No fun. Still upset. Thinking a lot about attitude during crisis, how bad ones spread, esp in light of scarcity and weather. Poss to improve bad attitudes? (PS – Associated Brownie troop had great time and left hour after our older girls. ) Figured if anyone would understand me thinking BIG picture, it might be you guys. Kathy, sorry for long post. BTW – My DD did great, but the few brought down the whole group.
June 18, 2012 at 6:53 am
I have collection of antique darning eggs I used to keep in a bowl on an end table to remind me daily of the value of frugality and using what we have. I think I need to go find them and set them out again!!!
June 26, 2012 at 8:03 am
I’m with you on the spices. I buy mine in one pound increments from Mountain Rose Herbs. I adore them – they are an ethical company throughout (organic/fair trade/responsibly wild crafted), their quality is outstanding, and they offer bulk discounts on one pound increments. They also have excellent quality teas.
The one caveat I would make is that the spices be *whole*. Whole spices have a shelf life significantly longer than ground. I have some whole nutmeg that is over 5 years old and still perfectly wonderful, whereas the bottle of ground nutmeg that I bought for convenience when I was doing a lot of baking smelled like nothing after 6 months. It’s not too difficult to mix up small batches of ground spices and blends to have on hand for convenience sake. An inexpensive coffee grinder makes a great spice grinder.
I try to grow most of my herbs, and if I buy them I do so in smaller quantities. Dried herbs lose potency even more rapidly than ground spices, even in ideal storage.
We need to get a land-line phone. And print out our contacts so we have a hard copy backup.