Well I understand all about our own personal WTSHTF situations.

Welcome to you. Some land around Peterborough, Lindsay and Fenlon Falls area's fall into your catagory. They are still considered agricultural, so less problems there.

Welcome mamaizzy:
You sound like you got your hands full but also are firmly in touch with what prepping is all about.
I am glad to see you on the site and look forward to reading your posts. You have a lot of information that all most all of our younger folk have never had experience with like canning and preserving. We need all the information we can get on how to make the foods we grow or buy in summer available for us to eat in the winter.
I am very lucky that my wife had a mother who lived the old lifestyle and did all the preserving of fruits, vegetables and various meats and took the time to teach her daughter.
My wife’s mother was the wife of a preacher and they lived in a remote cabin in Alaska in the early 1940‘s if you can imagine and she like everyone else didn’t have much money so she had to not only stretch every dollar but prepare the summer bounty in such a way so that it could be available to eat in the dead of winter.
I don’t mean for a second to insinuate that you are old (God knows if anyone is it is me) but you have experience in preserving food and that knowledge is what will help folks through the hard times.
I hope I didn’t put my foot in my mouth (Lord knows my mouth is big enough) and say something to offend you and if I did I apologize but knowledge is a valuable thing and we all need to learn before what I fear will be coming - comes.

Nice one ~Iz !

Sounds like a great journey and prepping you are on! Looking forward to hearing more from you as we are all teachers, all students...

Ahoy

Welcome mamaizzy:
You sound like you got your hands full but also are firmly in touch with what prepping is all about.
I am glad to see you on the site and look forward to reading your posts. You have a lot of information that all most all of our younger folk have never had experience with like canning and preserving. We need all the information we can get on how to make the foods we grow or buy in summer available for us to eat in the winter.
I am very lucky that my wife had a mother who lived the old lifestyle and did all the preserving of fruits, vegetables and various meats and took the time to teach her daughter.
My wife’s mother was the wife of a preacher and they lived in a remote cabin in Alaska in the early 1940‘s if you can imagine and she like everyone else didn’t have much money so she had to not only stretch every dollar but prepare the summer bounty in such a way so that it could be available to eat in the dead of winter.
I don’t mean for a second to insinuate that you are old (God knows if anyone is it is me) but you have experience in preserving food and that knowledge is what will help folks through the hard times.
I hope I didn’t put my foot in my mouth (Lord knows my mouth is big enough) and say something to offend you and if I did I apologize but knowledge is a valuable thing and we all need to learn before what I fear will be coming - comes.

LOL I am an old soul. Always have been.
I grew up on a farm, caught chickens, made butter and candles, learned to knit, crochet and sew at a young age. Then we moved to the big city as a child and I lost a lot of my skills gained at a young age. When I hit 22 I thought "I want to can stuff." and have been making salsas, jams and jellies, sauces and whatever else I can since. I canned oranges once that were given to us. Learned quick that we weren't fans of marmalade flavored stuff but, it tasted ok with ice cream lol

And I have a thick skin so no worries there. It takes a lot to offend me. I think sometimes people become over sensitive to things said on line... I knew what you meant 🙂

Well I understand all about our own personal WTSHTF situations.

Welcome to you. Some land around Peterborough, Lindsay and Fenlon Falls area's fall into your catagory. They are still considered agricultural, so less problems there.

Nothing like life giving you a swift kick to get in gear! I am prepping for everything... not just a doomsday scenario like you see on tv. I wish more people would use their heads and even just have enough in their homes for a week! I am amazed at how much people waste and think is useless or no good. I didn't have that luxury and I had no gov. assistance to get on my feet, I had to do it on my own with 3 lil ones... we survived and are stronger for it. I am kind of grateful we went through it.
I am a but farther east than that but, have a specific area in mind to move too. Patience has become second nature for now lol

Nice one ~Iz !

Sounds like a great journey and prepping you are on! Looking forward to hearing more from you as we are all teachers, all students...

Ahoy

Thanks! I am a life learner and I am more than willing to teach what I know. I am constantly reading old books, googling ideas, asking people for advice/lessons. And as I learn I am passing the knowledge to my kids and my friend's kids. When we made sauces last summer I had 6 kids in my kitchen, hands washed and covered in rubber gloves, cutting boards and knives in hands... cutting, stirring, adding to the pot and then the next day they all came back to get their "payment" a jar of salsa and freezer bag of homemade tortilla chips. We made over 30 quart jars and 2 dozen smaller ones. 🙂 and every single child brought back the jar for me to reuse. Something got through to them that day! YAY!

Thanks for the welcome! I am really liking what I have seen so far. Lots of great ideas and like minded people, I like that!
~Iz

Welcome Mamaizzy

Foxglove

Hi mamizzy and welcome! Sounds like we might have had similar backgrounds, I grew up around a lot of self sufficiency too. Good on you for surviving your own personal shtf, sounds like you all rallied well ... Looking forward to reading you on the boards!

Hey mamaizzy:
Glad you didn’t take offense. I know what you are saying about people being extra cautious about what they say on-line. Too many folks are just looking for an opportunity to take things the wrong way instead of believing the best of their fellow man/woman.
You hit on an incredibly hard to believe but valid point - and that is about people having enough food in their house for a week. The last statistic I read was that the majority of American homes had enough food to last them for 3 days. That is actually very scary if it is true.
Anything these days could shut us in or down for 3 days and after that what will people do? Rely on neighbors?
I hate to see so many people relying on the hand-out system to make it and while I am glad that it is there for them I fear that if we are ever hit with something nasty many, many folks will be devastated in almost every way.
The Mormons (LDS) have a great philosophy when it comes food and I tend to follow that part of their path.
I don’t know about you being an “old soul” but you sure sound like a lady for these times.

Welcome to the list, I am currently in ontario as well, was raised in alberta and spent ten years in the north, both in NWT and Nunavut, was raised mostly in northern alberta bush coutry, and now have a small farm where we work hard to be as self sufficiency as possable, look forward to learning more about you and your plans.

Hello all!
Nice to "meet" you all!
😀

Today my friend and I were out collecting some first aid stuff (LOVE the buck store!) and she is a doll but, not too bright. Her idea of stocking up is buying 3 instead of 2 but eating all 3 by the end of the week (frustrating). I have tried budget planning for stock ups, showing her how to use coupons to her advantage, shopping surplus & discount stores etc but, she just does not get it.
So many people I have met in real life and online think Harper is going to send them a box of special K and some rice when the SHTF. Stupidity. I have been trying to surround myself with people who think like I do...even if it is just to an extent. For the most part I find "preppers" are very like minded. Some new people have unrealistic expectations, some give up way too easily (My first stock pile took me 3 years to build up and was depleted in less then 5 months, the second took me 5 years to pile and less than 4 months to deplete... growing kids made that difference. Boys have to eat! And oh boy they do!).
Now to be honest I didn't have a deep freeze. I had no references I was pretty much winging it. It was cans, packages and boxes plus toiletries. POOF gone...twice! I thought I had had enough to feed us for a year the second time. I was wrong. I had to learn to make soap and cleaners with what I had on hand and shampooing our hair with homemade soap was common for months! We lived on pennies for over a year and I somehow made it work. I had help from neighbors and a few friends once and a while but for the most part it was me, myself and I all the time trying to make things work.
Now I have been rethinking, restocking and planning more. It doesn't take a lot of time to do, I do spend about an hour a day reading online about various techniques I can execute (gardening, canning, survival stuff etc.) and about once a week I go into my pantries and count up what I have, what else do I need. We eat from our pantries so everything is consistently rotated and nothing expires. If something is on sale I try to buy 6 instead of 2 or 3 and if it a really good deal (like a dollar sale and I have a coupon or two) I try to buy 10 or 12. I buy things like mayo in small containers so I can use them quickly and nothing would be wasted if there was no power but for our everyday use those are the regular sizes.
It really doesn't take much and in the end, we would be better off for doing it. I even rented house on a hill just in case there was a flood so my house would outlast others. I over think the "Expect the worst hope for the best" philosophy but I would rather be safe than sorry. 🙂

I think I am done my ramble for tonight. lol I am looking forward to getting to know you all better 🙂 Have a great night all!

Hi, mamaizzy

Your post made me think of a topic I haven't seen mentioned on prepper blogs, maybe alluded to, but not really talked about. That is, rationing, being very careful how much is being used over a specific period of time. When more than one person is taking from the preps then over-consumption can be a problem. Your idea of buying mayo in small containers is something I have wondered about, because contamination over a period of time is an issue, especially with more than one person is stampeding thru the fridge.

But I jumped the rails there. Glad to see you found Canadian Preppers, it's a great community. Hope you find info and friendship here.

Hi there!

With the mayo, I bought a dozen small jars. They would stay decent for about 24 hours... give or take and depending on a cooling source.
So, being the "what if" person I am, I cracked one open and tried to make as much as I could with it but staying with in what I thought we should eat (rationing is something I am working on too... I have learned my lesson TWICE!)
I made a tuna & pasta salad. Ham sandwiches (made with canned ham) and had enough to use for a carob cake recipe I have made for years (I am learning to bake on the BBQ). That was the end of the jar. No waste, enough for a couple of meals and a treat. It wouldn't be something we use every day but it would be a nice change in a long haul situation.

Rationing is very important. I have really bad insomnia sometimes so at night is when I do most of my planning and figures in my notebook (I have notebooks for everything... sounds whacky but, it works) and I figure we have enough starches (rice, pasta, potatoes) to last us about 11 months right now. That is at so many cups per day per serving etc. But, if and when the SHTF my plan is to use up my fridge then freezers (I have ice bottles in each one to make them stay colder longer... did an experiment with that too and we figure we can go up to a week with freezer foods before we would have to devour the majority of it.. at 5 days the food was just starting to thaw. I pack it solid when I can so food stays frozen longer) and after those are gone to use the packaged foods first, then cans and finally the canned goods. It is great to have a stockpile but if you don't manage it effectively then you will have to go without. Which is preventable. I think planning the rations and deciding what to eat ahead of time is as important as stocking up.
I do not want to go without again if I can prevent it 😀

Hi again Mamaizzy,
I posted a file on my blog that has some good references to how much food you need and some explanation to the amounts of food and some other info. I would just post it here, but I can not figure out how to do it.
Here is the link there are two of them each is a bit different as I started them about 10 yrs ago now.
1st http://wildernessreturn.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/survival_camping-inventory.xls - http://wildernessreturn.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/survival_camping-inventory.xls
2nd. http://wildernessreturn.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/listoflistsspreadsheets.xls - http://wildernessreturn.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/listoflistsspreadsheets.xls

Hey mamaizzy:
I enjoyed reading your posts and agree with just about everything you said and especially like you getting a house on a hill in case of a flood. Smart thinking is good thinking.
You did mention one thing I wanted to touch on and that was when you said you have enough starches to last you about 11 months. What I wanted to say was (and maybe you are already aware of this but just in case) it is not starches you need to look for when getting food stuff. The big 3 are:
Protein - Carbohydrates - Fats (Essential Oils) and you can get a great assortment so that you and your boys need not get bored with the same old-same old even when the SHTF.
My wife and I are personal trainers and we have taught classes at our local church on how to shop for healthy foods and what to look for so that you are able to get the most bang (nutritionally) for your buck.
We are great proponents of the bulk food stores and using things like garbonzo beans (chick peas) as a protein source, buying great carb sources like whole wheat pasta, kamut pasta, quinoa pasta, spelt pasta, (all are made into various shaped noodles), and 100% whole wheat or 100% whole grain flours for baking.
It is interesting that certain manufacturers try to trick us consumers into thinking that we are buying 100% whole wheat breads and baked goods by putting whole wheat or whole grain on the label but when you read the label
you find out that it is actually a “blend” of grains and as long as it has a tiny amount of whole grain in it they can put the poor crap in it and still advertise it as whole grain but if the label doesn’t say 100% whole grain or 100% whole wheat it isn’t.
Wow, I kind of got off on a tangent but I really hate deceptive advertising.
If you are already aware of this stuff then you are ahead of so many others who have been duped and if you know about using all the best pastas and flours then again I tip my hat to you.

Hi there!
What I mean by starches is carbs. Pastas, rice, potatoes. With those we mix just about anything and everything with them and I cook a lot with beans. Black, white & red kidney, pintos, fava... we aren't big fans of chickpeas. lol There are about a dozen things we won't eat and chickpeas is like #2 on the list. I mix a lot of veggies in too. 🙂 We aren't big on store breads or the fake labeling. When you spend 3 hours in the grocery store with a list of hidden casein ingredient names, reading labels with 3 crabby kids in tow, you learn quick!
My bread maker is my bff and my flour is unbleached white that I mix other flours and ingredients into when baking. I am just glad he out grew the allergies! Makes life easier.
I used to work in the food industry for over a decade. Reading labels and cooking from scratch are second nature now.
Thanks for the welcome!