72 Hour Kits

I am very slow at getting around to things, but it's time that I recycle my 72 Hour kit. Layla suggested that we remember go through it every April conference. I thought that was a good reminder, so we emptied ours out in April, but we have yet to refill it. So, this is me putting together a list of what I need. Also, I hope to encourage ALL of you to put together your own 72 hour kit for everyone in your household, and build your food storage.

*PLACE SUPPORTING QUOTE FROM GENERAL AUTHORITY HERE AS TO WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO BE PREPARED BOTH TEMPORALLY AND SPIRITUALLY* -we all know one, just look in the last year of Ensigns and conference talks.

The last time we got a 72 hour food kit was in our Provo ward. A lady volunteered to put one together for everyone, so she could buy items in bulk. It was an inexpensive alternative for us to do relatively little. However, as wonderful as it was, there were quite a few items in there that aren't to Richard's and mine taste, for example: Vienna Sausages. Nevertheless, when I opened up our food kits this past April, the sausages were the only item yet to expire. So, I fed them to Michael for lunch. He threw up that night, and although I don't think it was the sausages fault because of his flu symptoms, I still didn't like cleaning up the mess, and will never look at Vienna sausages the same. 

So I guess the point of that story is: Don't put something in your 72 hour kit that will make you puke. 

I remember a family home evening activity from my childhood. My parents pulled out all of our 72 hour kits. We updated them with new food, and fitting clothing, and then my parents challenged us kids to try to survive on our 72 hour kit food for the next, well, 72 hours! And if we did it successfully, we would be treated dinner at a restaurant. Going out to eat was always the best thing, so we all agreed immediately! It really wasn't as easy as it sounds. My school lunch was pretty lame compared to my friend's. My stomach gurgled a lot, and I'll admit, I have a very distinct memory of waiting for my mom to walk upstairs one afternoon, so I could sneak into the kitchen and grab a piece of bread. Although, I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one of my siblings who cheated. :P

It was a great activity and lesson to me, and it is something that I am definitely going to try with my kids as well. 

Alright, so here's a website that I found that had some great month-by-month tips for building up food storage, and also preparing and checking the 72 Hour kit. 

And, here's my tentative list for 3 days of food. (Any suggestions/tips/advice welcome). I tried to have one breakfast and dinner meal item for each day, and then snacks.

Day One:

Oatmeal

Hot Chocolate

Canned Chicken

Nabisco Snack

Granola Bar

Hard Candy

Juice Box

Day Two:

Oatmeal

Nabisco Snack

Tuna

Trail Mix

Power Bar

Fruit Can

Juice Box

Day Three:

Oatmeal

Hot Chocolate

Beanie Weenies

Granola Bar

Fruit Can

Beef Jerky

Juice Box

Soup Mix packet??

There's currently a lot of coupons on coupons.com

Like for the nabisco snacks, individually packed, that I was planning on buying anyway.

Also, I am going to buy two boxes of crackers (saltine and graham) and instead of separating each cracker into individual packs, I'll just place the entire box in the backpack, and then it can be shared, and is less likely to get crushed up. 

Anyway, there will probably be more items than I stated, room permitting. But that's a good general list of foods that we would eat.

Here's some additional items that should be included as they come to mind:

Can opener

Utensils

Bowls/Plates

Water

Hand Sanitizer

Feminine Needs (I wouldn't want to be without, just in case)

Deodorant (I just packed away our 1/2 used sticks of deodorant, because I don't think you need a full stick for 3 days)

Cash

Extra clothing and Underwear and socks

Toothbrushes and Toothpaste

Toilet Paper

Medicine

Bandaids

Matches

Chapstick

Flashlights AND batteries

Foil Blankets?

Extra contacts stored away and eye drops (if you have contacts.)

If you have a baby, don't forget to stash extra diapers, wipes, baby medicine etc...

Also, Richard and I have tried to put our important paper work together, although not stashed away since we still have to get into it from time-to-time. But, at least we know where it is, and can grab the file folder as we EvAcuAte! Can you sense the urgency to be prepared?!

Just know this site is much more thorough than I am. I was very surprised at how much of this stuff I didn't pack last year. But, it's sort of understandable, because our bags were really FULL. I think we're going to accumulate one more backpack that just holds the food and utensils, and then the other bags can hold clothes and items. But, I don't know. It's supposed to be simple, ready-to-go evacuation packs, because you can't grab your entire food storage. 

Good luck and let me know your goal to prepare, or write a blog about your preparation measures and share it! I'd love to get some tips!

Dream come true

Guess what arrived in the mail today?!!?!?

Kinda funny, actually. I dreamt about one of these last weekend. I was cooking with it in my kitchen, and I woke up literally thinking I had one already had one. When I learned that I didn't, I told myself I had to have one because it was sooo great (in my dream). But, then I talked myself out of it, because I didn't really need it. Well, then on Tuesday evening I was watching The Biggest Loser and Tara, one of the contestants, was using the SAME mini food processor that I used in my dream. I pretty much hopped on Amazon.com, immediately after the show, to use the rest of my gift card money to buy one. It only cost me $12.99, and I got free shipping! 

So, it's definitely mini, but it works perfectly for how many veggies I usually chop up for my small family anyway! AND it literally cut my meal time in half, or close to it!!! I am one happy customer. And I know I'm definitely going to be creating more veggie filled dinners, just so I can use this gadget. 

OKAY-now to the good stuff. Click HERE to see what meal I created this afternoon using my new toy! Seriously. Go to it, and try it for yourself. You won't be disappointed. 

Free Meal from KFC

You may have heard this--it is quickly spreading around, but visit Oprah's website to receive your free meal from KFC

Happy Eating

Extra Extra

Does anyone want some coupons?
I typically get about two papers worth of coupons each week, but, I generally don't take all the coupons and I feel bad recycling them if someone else would like to go through them as well. Most of them will be non-food items, and occasional food items that we don't eat/need/or have stocked up on. Let me know.

Belated Easter Bunny

These Easter pics of Michael are on the Nelson's blog. I don't have copies, but I wanted to share.

House of Order--it feels good.

I have felt like I've done more than usual today. But, you almost would not be able to tell. I actually have this comic strip cut out and on my fridge. I'm sure many people can relate.

Today we pulled out new silverware!!! This nice set of silverware was given to us as a wedding gift, and it's been sitting in a box since. NOT because I didn't love it, but because we already had some junky, used silverware, and I insisted on being frugal and using them until they were all used up. Well, they've reached that point. I actually had one piece SNAP in half, just as a plastic fork would. Unbelievable! Anyway, I really like our new silverware. There's a lot of it though. Now we have two different sizes of spoons and forks, and some fancy serving spoons. Time to invite YOU over for dinner.

And of course, you can't pull out the new stuff without thoroughly cleaning their new home. Which led to cleaning out the fridge. Cleaning up papers. Storing big baby toys away in the closet. And officially packing away the bottles and other little baby items.

Next on the to-do list--clean my carpets. If any of my readers happen to have a rug-doctor coupon you don't want, feel free to share.

Toodles.

Dear Blog Readers

We love you.
And, here's a picture of Michael's first artwork. He did this all by himself, wouldn't let us hold the sticky pad or reposition the pencil.


And, Michael broke his jaw. Here he is with a bandage.

Just kidding. It's a head band thing...

Mid Sneeze

Good Deal #1

Alright! I know it sounds crazy, but I've been waiting all week for this shopping trip. Safeway is having a Living Well Promotion where when you buy $30 of qualifying products in a single transaction, you'll receive a coupon for $10 off your next order. As usual, the $30 total is before manufacturer coupons are applied. So, I have put together a decent shopping list, but am in no rush considering our fridge is full and the promotion goes on until the beginning of May. Here is part one of my shopping trip:

Total Paid: $21.31

Savings of 58%

And if any of you know how much that BIG box of Huggies cost, this was a deal! First I applied a $10 off coupon from a previous promotion last month. I had a $1.50 coupon for Huggies, and the Kashi item was FREE with the coupon I requested from their website. The price before coupons of those two items easily topped $30, so another $10 off coupon printed for me to take home, just so I can use it on shopping trip part 2.

COMMENT if you LOVE a good deal!!!!

To be continued...

Until we meet again

If you've been to our apartment before, you will remember our set of matching, orange chairs. Aren't they lovely? While Richard and I were engaged we accumulated a lot of used furniture from and people in the ward, which basically filled up our entire apartment. I am SO grateful for it all, despite the fact that none of it really matched. But I'm no interior designer anyway. 

Our first apartment in Provo had shaggy green carpet (Richard's favorite), with dark brown, wood slated walls, and the kitchen linoleum was also a green pattern. Top that off with the orange chairs, and a few pictures and you've got a pretty radical/retro apartment setting. At first we hated it. The color combination made us want to puke! But, we couldn't afford anything else, and certainly didn't want to sit on the floor so we kept them. 

And then fell in love.

We joked about them so much that they actually became loved by us. They were actually pretty comfortable, the only problem was we could never sit together in them and you know how "newlywed" couples always want to cuddle. So when we were offered a couch by our neighbors here in Seattle, we bounced at the opportunity. 

Here is Michael on the couch. 

But alas, the couch and two chairs made our apartment much too crowded and I didn't like the cluttered feeling so I hesitantly posted our 2 orange chairs on Craigslist under free. How sad of me to assume that no one would want these chairs, even if they were free. They were gone very quickly.

It's hard to adjust. 

I wonder what setting they're in now.

Goodbye my orange chairs.

Out of the Ordinary

I've done two things this week that I have not done in a long time. OR maybe I should say, I haven't done two things this week that I have been doing for a long time. 

1. Not gotten on my Facebook. Actually, I deleted my account so it was less tempting. I was on it too much among other reasons. Although, I've found that I'm replacing the "facebook" time with blog time though, which was not my intention. Michael needs more attention from me, I think. 

2. Haven't worn makeup. This is just because I've been lazy, but I haven't really cared. No makeup saves money in the end, right? Although, I did get a killer deal on mascara this week at Walgreens. 

Speaking of great deals, today I got a rebate check in the mail from Organix, a shampoo/conditioner line.
They still have the rebate forms on some of the products at (Seattle) Target when I went in this last week. So, if you're in there this week, check on it. Free -minus postage isn't bad at all. I almost considered getting another one and having my check mailed to my neighbors, because it's only one per household. But, I guess that isn't really honest. 

Other cool things I've scored, are free magazine subscriptions, a bread pan for $1, Free product coupons from Pepperidge Farms and Del Monte. Yeah, I guess that's about it for now.

Tata

Utah Trip

We went to Utah for Richard's sister's wedding. It was wonderful and beautiful. Then the rest of the week was meeting with old friends, eating out, shopping, playing, BANG, and all that fun stuff.
Here's some of the family

Cousins Adam and Michael. Adam is adorable! It's crazy to what one year can do to kids. They are so big, and play much better with each other than they did then.

I think it's funny how Adam's face doesn't seem to change in either of these pictures. Michael just wanted me to hold him.

I was pretty lazy at taking pictures over our vacation. I don't think I got any pictures of our newest niece, Jamie. But I did get a few pictures/video to embarrass Suzy. 

Great Deals and Easter Jars

For Easter, I wanted to make something cute to hand out to my neighbors. Layla had the idea of Easter Jars. We used ModPodge to glue decorative paper on the top of the lids and give it a nice shine. Then I also glued ribbon around the rings. And last of all, filled the jars with lots of chocolatey goodness. I'm excited to hand them out! 

I definitely had to take advantage of Albertson's cereal deal this week. These cereals are $1.57 a box when you buy 2. Or pay $2.07 when you buy one. I had two coupons for $1/2. And then I bought one more box at the regular price, to total 5 boxes of cereal and I'll tell you why in a second. 

My total came to $8.35. 

Then I applied my two coupons. My new total is $6.35.

A Catalina coupon for $5.00 off my next grocery order was triggered when I bought 5 boxes of Post cereal. That's equivalent to making my order only $1.35. That's .27 CENTS PER BOX!

Anyway, I immediately went and bought a bag of flour for $4.99 with my coupon--and got a penny back. 

It was a good shopping trip.