The Perfect Refrigerator - August Idea of the Month

Most refrigerators are set at around 36 to 40 degrees, but the perfect temperature is right at 32 degrees. However, if you were to set your refrigerator at 32 degrees, the temperature would fluctuate enough that you would most likely end up freezing some foods. This is why most people tend to set their refrigerator temperatures slightly higher so that things stay cold, but not frozen.
  

If in an emergency, and ice is available, you can actually make a perfect refrigerator. Make this by putting clean ice in a cooler. Then, fill cooler with clean water to the point where it barely covers the ice. Now, put food items in the ice bath in a sealed container.

Make sure to use clean ice and clean water (do not add salt, it changes freezing temperature of water) 

This ice water bath keeps food right at 32 degrees but won't freeze it, and provides a longer shelf life to the foods because of colder temperatures. 

If you'd like to know the science behind this concept, check this out:

 

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/at-what-temperature-does-water-freeze-1120813/

Car Window Hammer - May Idea of the Month

Instead of buying an expensive car window safety hammer (used to break a car window in case of an emergency) you can buy a welders chipping hammer (used for chipping slag off of welds) for around 5 dollars and up.

When you watch REAL safety hammer testing on YouTube a lot of those safety hammers don't work very well. To break glass effectively you need a good sharp point and some steel behind it.

That is why a 5 dollar chipping hammer works so much better.

-----------------Traditional Car Window Safety Hammer Vs. Welders Chipping Hammer --------------------

You will also want to have something for cutting a stuck seat belt. For this you can't beat a good pair of scissors. Put the chipping hammer, scissors, and a pair of leather gloves in a safe but easy spot to get to in your car.

There are a lot of videos on YouTube of people leaving kids and pets in hot cars and people having to break glass to get them out. Having tools like this will make this a lot easier.

Camping Toilet - April Idea of the Month

Ever been out camping and had no where to go when nature calls? 

Here is the perfect redneck solution!

Oftentimes, camping stores will have small bucket toilets 

or regular camping toilets that are just too small. 

Using a regular toilet seat at a regular height is so much more comfortable.

This “toilet” is made from a plastic 55 gallon drum, 

and a toilet seat from a hardware store (the bolts come with the seat).

To make:

1.       Mark the drum, measuring from the bottom up to your preferred height. I chose to make mine 18 inches high, so I marked the drum at that height and drew a line on the drum. Then cut around the entire drum with a skill saw.

2.       Drill two holes where you want the toilet seat to be mounted on the bottom of the drum, then bolt it on. 

3.       Drop the seat and trace along the inside rim. Then, lift the seat up and cut out that hole with a jigsaw.

To use:

             1. Dig a hole approximately 12 inches in diameter, and the 
              depth that you desire. 

             2. Set your "toilet" over the hole and it is ready for use!

It is easy to clean; but most importantly, 

it's enclosed so you don't get splashes on your leg! (eeeeek!)

It also doesn't take up too much space in storage. 

The amazing thing about this setup is when it is cleaned, disinfected, and in storage, you can put other preparedness equipment inside such as cleaning supplies or toilet paper therefore using all available space.

Redneck Vacuum Sealing - March Idea of the Month

Freezing is a very common and useful way to preserve food.
Before putting food in a Ziploc bag and throwing it into the freezer (or fridge),

vacuum seal it to extend the shelf life.

There are many ways that this can be done,

but I find my method to be simple, cheap, and efficient.

How to:
Put food into a Ziploc bag.

Insert a straw into the bag and then seal it up to the point of the straw.

Use your mouth to draw the remaining air out of the bag.

While still sucking, pull the straw out and quickly zip up the bag the rest of the way.

Atmit - February Idea of the Month

What is atmit?

 

“Atmit is a nutritional supplement used to fight famine in impoverished countries. The creamy, nutritious food is indigenous to Ethiopia and is now used to feed the severely malnourished and weakened adults and children. The word atmit originated in Ethiopia and refers to a kind of "thin, nourishing porridge”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmit

 

My family loves my version of this recipe.

We often eat it for breakfast and make homemade “survival bars” for snacks.

 

 

Atmit

• 3 cups oat flour (you can make this by simply dry blending rolled oats in a blender until it is a powder)
• 1 ½ cups powdered milk
• ¾ to 1 cup sugar 

Directions:

This recipe can be made many different ways. If someone hasn’t eaten for a few days,

then a thin, runny consistency helps to ease their body back into eating food.

My kids like it thicker—some of them even like it with a bit of milk.

With this in mind, the three ingredients up above are added to boiling water (very similar to making oatmeal or other such breakfast foods). The amount of water varies because of preferred thicknesses.

 

 

Atmit survival bars

• Dry atmit mix
• Peanut butter

Directions:

Add small amounts of peanut butter to atmit mix

and stir until you can mold it in your hand without being sticky

Note: additional ingredients of your choice can be added

such as mini chocolate chips, or shredded coconut etc.  

Medical Equipment - December Idea of the Month

Most communities don't have the medical capabilities to handle large scale disasters. There are just too many people. So for your church group, preparedness group, or large family it is a really good idea to have at least one set of basic medical testing equipment. When a disaster hits you will possibly have a doctor or nurse in your area, but they will need some of those basic tools to diagnose the sick and injured. A lot of doctors and nurses won't have those tools in their homes. Here is a list of basic testing equipment that you will want to have. All of these items can be bought online. Keep in mind that you will still need first aid supplies to go with it.

• Stethoscope
• Otoscope (for ears)
• Thermometer
• Pulse Oximeter (for monitoring a person's oxygen saturation)
• Glucometer including appropriate strips and lancets (for blood sugar)
• Blood pressure cuffs
• Reflex hammer
• Tongue depressors, preferably wrapped.
• Flashlight
• Masks, Gloves
• Alcohol wipes
• Lubricating jelly
• Alcohol gel for hands

Emergency Irrigation - November Idea of the Month

 

In an emergency situation, oftentimes you don’t have all of the parts and pieces that you need to build things and access to these parts would be difficult at best.

So thinking outside of the box can really pay off.

 

PVC Pipe Emergency Drip-irrigation for Garden

Materials needed:

• Heat source (hot coals from a waning fire, briquettes, etc.)

• PVC pipe (I use 3/4”, but any size will work)

• 5 gallon plastic bucket

• Hack saw

• Cotton rags

Directions-

1. Making the point: Take the PVC pipe and the hack saw, cut four slits about 3” long in one end of the pipe. Heat the pipe until soft and mold it tapering to a point (as shown). Let cool and file off excess edges.

 

2. Making the pipe-stop: Take the other end of that same PVC pipe and cut four slits down about 1” deep, then heat until soft. Smash onto a flat, hard surface so that the end flares outward. Hold until it cools.

 

This is the finished product:

3. Hole in bucket: Drill a 5/16” hole towards the bottom of the bucket. Then heat the area around the hole until soft. Then take the PVC pipe point that you made earlier and push the point through the small hole from the inside of the bucket. Note: This photo shows only a small part of a bucket purely for demonstrative purposes. You would use the whole bucket to hold the water for the irrigation process.

4. Cutting the point off: The point is used to aid in inserting the pipe through the small hole; but also to form a sealing shoulder on the bucket (as shown here).

Once the pipe has been pushed all the way through to the stop, the point is no longer needed. Cut it off. You will be attaching the rest of the pipes to this first pipe.

5. Making the bell: Take a regular piece of PVC pipe and heat approximately 1” of the end until soft. Then take another pipe and shove it into the soft end of the heated pipe, let cool and then you can pull the second pipe out. This makes a bell-shaped connection so that pipes can be easily connected together.

6. Making elbows (if needed): You may need to make an elbow if you need your makeshift irrigation system to turn a corner. To do this, you need to take a short piece of pipe and put duct tape on one end, then fill the pipe with sand, and then tape the other end shut. Heat the middle of the pipe and then bend it to your desired angle. Once it cools, dump the sand out.

7. Drip pipe: Wherever there is a plant, drill 3/8” holes clear through the pipe. Take a short piece of a cotton rag and roll it to fill the hole with a small amount hanging over both sides.

8. Assembly: Your five gallon bucket holding the dirty water needs to be sitting on something two or three feet in the air so that gravity will feed the water through the pipe. Use cinderblocks or an upside down barrel etc. Start connecting your pipes to the pipe coming out of the bucket and run the pipe alongside the plants. Start drilling holes wherever the plants are and stuff the rags into the holes (The reason why regular drip nozzles won’t work is that they plug with dirty water). At the very end of your system, plug the pipe with something or heat it and smash it until cool. Fill the bucket with water as needed and watch your plants grow.

Afterthought: If you do have steel pipe and desire to connect to the plastic pipes, heat the metal pipe for about 10-15 seconds, shove the metal pipe inside the plastic pipe, and cinch down with a hose clamp on the joint to embed the threads of the steel pipe into the plastic pipe. You can take the hose clamp off once it cools. This also works using plastic bottles if you desire to use them for a funnel or to connect another type of container to your piping system.