Cornbread on the Grill

Part of emergency preparedness is having a plan for cooking your meals when the traditional methods are unavailable. There are multiple "alternative cooking" options. One is the back yard grill - it can be used for many more items than hamburgers and hot dogs. Our kitchen remodel has dragged on long enough and definitely made my traditional ways of cooking unavailable. We were in the mood for something besides a crock pot meal so I got a little creative. I used my cornbread mix recipe and baked up something simple yet scrumptious. 

Preheat the grill to 350 degrees. Mix up the cornbread. It took 1 1/2 times the batch to fill a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Spray the skillet with vegetable oil and pour the batter in. Adjust the burners on the grill to create indirect heat and maintain the 350-375 degree range. I turned off the center burners and turned the upper and lower burners to low. Place the skillet in the center of the grill and close the lid.

Resist the urge to open the grill and check on it until at least 15 minutes has passed. It took me about 25 minutes to have it pass the toothpick test and be golden brown on top. Depending on the size batch you are baking and how warm you keep the temperature, it can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes.

It was perfectly done with a slightly thicker crust than when I bake it in the oven. We loved it with a crock pot full of chili and enjoyed the leftovers for breakfast the following morning.

Emergency Preparedness - First Aid

The tornadoes that ravaged the Midwest yesterday have me thinking about Emergency Preparedness. I've covered shelter, food, and water recently so today I thought I'd share a few thoughts on the importance of first aid training and supplies.

First aid training is important for everyone. We take a few family nights each year and review some of the basic principles. Check with your local hospitals to learn if there are any classes happening in your area where you can actually get certified. Certification is helpful because you can feel more confident in your abilities to help someone, but it isn't required. There are many sources online that can give you the basic information. The red cross site can actually match you up with local classes or provide online classes that cover the basics. Camp manuals for boy and girl scouts also contain great information.

First Aid kits are important. Many of them even come with some basic first aid instructions. Kits are a great place to start, but usually don't have all the things you would need in a true, larger scale disaster. We have added triangular bandages, big pieces of cloth, large gauze bandages, etc. to our first aid supplies just to be better prepared. We hope they will never be needed, but we want to be ready just in case. You never know when the time will hit that you need it.

Just last weekend we went up sledding as a family. A man on an innertube collided with a teenager who flipped and landed face first on the hard snow. It bloodied his nose and scraped his face up pretty badly. His parents were not right there on the sledding hill. He had come with a few of his friends while his parents stayed behind at their cabin. We were the adults that were close enough to help. One of us ran to the lodge to call 911. We also put a call in to his parents - thank goodness the boy was coherent enough to tell us the phone number at the cabin. (Many families don't have phones in their vacation homes. We were thankful that they did and that the boy had the number memorized.) He had flipped so violently that we were concerned about a neck or back injury so we could not move him. We got the bleeding stopped and treated him for shock while we waited for his parents and the ambulance. We will never know the end of the story, but we are grateful we had our basic first aid kit in the car and the knowledge of how to help him until other help arrived.

First aid training is important for all of us. Having the supplies and knowledge available to help brings great peace to those who are hurt and also to those who are able to serve.

Shelf Life of Household Bleach

I recently attended a class on water storage and things to consider. It was a great reminder of many of the things I have learned in the past, and I also learned something quite important. Household bleach has a shelf life! Many of us at the class had not heard that bleach will break down and lose its potency beginning at about 6 months. If your bleach is older than 6 months you will have to add more bleach to your water storage to be sure it kills all the unwanted germs. It is recommended that you replace your bleach every year so you can trust its potency level.

I've included a link to an article from clorox that supports this information.

http://www.clorox.com/blogs/dr-laundry/2011/12/28/shelf-life-odor/

For more information on water storage click here.

Emergency Preparedness - Water

Water is probably the most important item to make sure you are storing to be ready for an emergency. We can live longer without food than we can without water! It is also important for sanitation purposes.

At the very minimum, you should store 3 gallons of water per person. This is meant to be part of your 72-hour kit and should get you through 3 days. It is better to plan on a 2-week supply of at least 14 gallons per person.

Many families have enough in their hot water heater. This water has already been treated and is very safe for drinking. Everyone should learn how to shut the water heater off from receiving new water in case the source is contaminated during the emergency. You should also learn how to drain it to access the water.

If your water heater is not large enough to hold what your family will need, there are many other options for safely storing water.

A quick search on the internet will lead you to appropriate information. This blog post is not meant to share all the details for proper storage, it is meant to encourage and inspire you to do something to build your supply.

In addition to the water that we store here at the house, we also have a backpacking water filter that will allow us to filter water from the nearby river and ponds. We store a large package of coffee filters as well. The backpacking filter will remove all the harmful bacteria, but it will not remove the floaties. By straining the water through a coffee filter it will be easier to drink.

For more on how we store and rotate water, you can check out my post from last Spring.

FEMA also has some good information on their page here.

Emergency Preparedness - Shelter

When thinking about emergency preparedness, take some time to think about our basic needs. What would you do to meet the needs of water, food, shelter, and sanitation if your everyday solution was no loner available?

This is where you allow yourself to start brainstorming the answer to the "What if?" question. Where would my family go if . .  . our home was left unlivable by a tornado, fire, or flood? Maybe your emergency will be as simple as a furnace that is not working in the dead of winter - you will still need somewhere to go or a plan to keep you and your children warm enough until repairs can be made. Shelter really is a big need in this life. 

I'll share a few thoughts that we have come up with and maybe they can provide some direction for you.

We are blessed with quite a bit of family in the area as well as close friends. We know that a disaster is unlikely to take out the entire Boise area. We know we would be able to stay a short while with friends or family until a long term solution could be reached. We have homeowners insurance that will cover the cost of living somewhere else while our own home is being repaired or rebuilt. It may take a few days to work this out so our quick solution would be to stay with family. 

We have a kerosene heater that would allow us to keep the master bedroom of the house quite warm. We could all sleep on the floor in there for a few days if our furnace were out or the power was off for some reason. It will be easier to keep one room of the house warm and all huddle together. We have collected quite a few blankets, sleeping bags, coats, snow pants, etc. over the years that can also work to keep us warm. We store enough fuel to keep the heater going for a few days. This is not a long term solution. It is meant to get us through a short term emergency.

We have a tent large enough to sleep our family. Again, this would be used as a short term solution if needed as we worked out more permanent shelter.

Hopefully, these thoughts get you thinking about your own situation. Everyone lives in different areas where the likelihood of certain disasters is different. Take some time to learn about what disasters are more likely to hit your area and then brainstorm a plan with your family as to what you would do if . . . A plan brings a lot of peace when you are faced with an emergency. It brings hope to know you have thought about it and you have an idea of what you would do.

Check out www.ready.gov for more ideas.

Is Your Family Weather Ready?

I recently read this article on CNN about all the severe weather disasters that hit the US last year. It caused me to reflect on the preparations we have tried to make as a family for the weather challenges that may hit our region. I have included the link to the article below. In case it is not working, I actually pasted the article here on my blog as well.

In preparing for weather disasters, you really need to do some research to learn how likely certain disasters are to hit your area. We are inland enough here in Idaho that we never have to worry about hurricanes or tsunamis, for example. Severe winter storms are the most likely weather disaster to worry about here. Knowing what disasters to prepare for, helps you to focus your preparations. Over the next couple of weeks, I will focus my blog entries on areas to consider in your preparations. Hopefully, they can inspire you to review what you have done and set goals to finish the preparations that you still need to do.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/27/us/extreme-weather-prepare-for-worst/index.html

Could you survive an extreme weather disaster?

By Katherine Dorsett Bennett, CNN

updated 5:28 PM EST, Fri January 27, 2012

Damaged buildings and cars litter Tuscaloosa, Alabama, following a deadly tornado in 2011.

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NOAA: 2011 record year for weather disasters

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NOAA: A record 14 climate disasters in 2011 caused $1 billion or more in damage
• Official says conditions are prime for more extreme weather disasters
• Weather Service director: Doubling efforts to be a "weather-ready nation"

Atlanta (CNN) -- Ranee Roberts feels lucky to have survived the impact of a tornado that hit her Alabama convenience store in April.

"Before the twister hit, I sent a last text to say 'I love you' to my best friend, and then the building began to come apart around me," said the 34-year-old from Henagar.

Roberts said she knew only about two minutes before impact that the twister was heading toward her store. The tornado was rated an EF-4, with estimated winds peaking at 175 mph.

"There was no time for preparations, only prayer," she said. "I felt utterly hopeless thinking I might be spending my last moments on Earth curled up on the stockroom floor."

Ranee Roberts, 34, survived a tornado that directly hit her Alabama business.

Looking back, she was ill-prepared for the storm and its aftermath. She felt that she got off extremely lucky walking away with "just a few scratches" to her body.

She learned from her harrowing experience to keep a first-aid kit, flashlight, bicycle helmet, battery-powered radio, power generator and Meals Ready to Eat in her storm closet.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a record 14 weather and climate disasters in 2011 caused $1 billion or more in damage, including the Alabama tornado that Roberts survived. At least 669 people died in these storms and thousands were injured.

View a list of the storms

2011: How to prepare for a hurricane

2011: Tuscaloosa damage before and after

2011: Lee's remnants flood upstate NY

2011 aerials show Vermont's Irene damage

"In my four decades of tracking weather, I have never seen extreme weather like we had in 2011," said Jack Hayes, NOAA's assistant administrator for weather services and the National Weather Service director.

Although no two years are alike, Hayes said, it's important for Americans to be prepared for the worst.

"The U.S. population has almost doubled since 1954, and trends such as urban sprawl and conversion of rural land to suburban landscapes increase the likelihood a tornado will impact densely populated areas," he said. "We have also become more vulnerable to coastal storms and hurricanes as more people are living in coastal areas."

Hayes said the 2011 Southern drought and floods across the northern U.S. represent the extreme temperature and precipitation swings that climate scientists project will become more common amid a warming climate.

As a result of these conditions, Hayes' agency has redoubled its efforts to create a "Weather-Ready Nation."

"We want the nation's response to and the outcome from severe weather to be different in 2012 and in the future," he noted.

The devastating effects of extreme events can be reduced through improved readiness. Hayes said a "weather-ready nation" is one made up of people empowered to make life-saving decisions that also prevent devastating economic losses.

Roberts said that neither she nor her neighbors and friends in Alabama felt they were as prepared as they could have been for April's tornado. They lacked basic supplies and relied on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, other community members and a local church to help them after the storm.

"That tornado was a clear reminder of our vulnerability," she said. "Your life can change in an instant."

One of the many lessons she learned from her experience was to create an emergency preparedness plan, something Hayes wants for all Americans.

In the end, emergency managers, first responders, government officials, businesses and the public need to be equipped with better weather information and a plan to make fast, smart decisions to save lives and livelihoods, Hayes said.

As part of creating a "weather-ready nation," Hayes' agency is launching pilot projects in the Gulf Coast, South and mid-Atlantic regions to increase "on the ground" capabilities.

In the north central Gulf region, for instance, a pilot team of meteorologists and hydrologists is developing methods to improve coordination to enhance preparedness and response efforts.

Family mourns teen killed in tornado

Deadly storms rip through Southeast

Family survives storm as house collapses

Hayes also wants Americans to understand that each type of weather condition deserves a specific type of preparedness. NOAA's website links to FEMA's ready.govsite, which offers detailed information on how to create a disaster plans for various conditions.

To prepare for tornadoes, for example, it's critical that families identify a "safe room" in their house to go to when they hear a tornado siren or learn that a tornado warning is in effect, Hayes said. If you are outside or away from your home, you should immediately get into the lowest level of a sturdy building. The safest type of room would be underground, such as a basement or cellar, he said

Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider, who appears on the various media platforms of CNN and HLN, has written a new book releasing January 31, called "Extreme Weather," which provides a guide to surviving all types of natural disasters. She notes the growing importance of technology and social media in becoming a "weather-ready nation."

"During natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes phone lines may go down so SMS and Twitter may be the only ways to communicate," she said. "It's important to have these types of accounts set up, and know how to use them, before an extreme weather event occurs."

Schneider recommends having a plan for pets too, including emergency food supplies and an accessible place to keep a picture of your pet and proof of ownership. This may be needed at a shelter, or if the pet is lost.

"You've got to be proactive in preparing for extreme weather," she said.

"An extreme weather condition, like the tornado I experienced, doesn't care if you are rich, poor, young or old," said Roberts. "What does matter is how prepared you are and how quickly you react when time is of the essence."

Generators and Fuel Storage

I started posting a comment in response to Jessica's questions on the Defrosting Freezer post here and decided the topic merited a post of its own. My camera is MIA right now or else I would have posted a few photos of what we have.

Generators - We went for the large potable Troy Built one that we could get locally. We waited until we had a 10% off coupon for the store and used it to save us some money. We researched sizes and capacities and decided if we really did have a big power outage we would be grateful to have a generator that could handle more items. We could run our freezer, fridge, and even our microwave off our generator at the same time.


Fuel Storage - We have a couple of 5 gallon gas cans that we keep in the garage along the outside wall as far from the house as we can. It would be better if we had a shed, but we don't yet have that at this house. We also never let our gas tanks in our vehicles get below half full so we could siphon the gas out if needed. This is really the safest bet for longer term storage. It is constantly being rotated and is always available.

To keep a freezer cold, keep the door shut and then run a generator 1 hour in every 4 hours. The frozen food in the freezer will last quite some time without even running the generator especially in the winter months when we are more apt to have a longer power outage due to a severe winter storm. I can't remember for sure how long 1 gallon of gas is supposed to keep a generator going. It seems like it is either 3 or 5 hours. If it is 3 hours then 5 gallons of gas will give me 15 hours of usage which will actually allow me to do the one hour on, 3 hours off cycle for 60 hours. So 10 gallons would give me 120 hours. With our gas cans and our vehicles we have more than 30 gallons so we could last quite some time.

Hope this helps -