Achievement Unlocked: Sealing Life!

Yep, for the first time since I have bought it, I have used my vac sealer. The one that I got is a Rival that I got about a month ago. It was just under $50 and so far on it's first test run, it works like a charm! I have had some experience with vacuum sealers a while back and they work well for frozen and dried food stuffs. If you are planning to stay at home or if you have a place that you plan to stay at long term during a crisis and can store dried goods, this might be a good route to go. This one is fairly cheap and does the job so far for me, though some more tests are in order, but I am impressed by just sealing that rice! I know I will be doing more of this in the future. So far, I love it!!

Right now I am also dehydrating some frozen store bought fruit. How do you do it you might ask? Take your fruit out of the bag, break it up into small chunks and put it in the dehydrator. No blanching needed. It is simple, and heaven knows, simple for someone like me is a good thing. I never realized that the sound of a humming dehydrator can be so comforting.

They're Here....

They're coming... You hear the moaning sounds... The muffled shuffling steps... The news reports of odd attacks... The zombies are coming. What would you do?

Well, a few months ago, I bought The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. And no, not because I think zombies are really coming. The reason why I got the book? It helps with the mental gymnastics. The book goes into in depth detail about prepping for a lot of situations, locations and senarios. It turns on the creative centers of the mind, and gets you thinking logically 'what if' and 'if then'. Yes, I know it is a fiction book. BUT, it gets you thinking out side of the box.

This book and the rough outline for thinking could also be applied to other situational disasters, and would be a good starter topic of conversation about it. What supplies would I need? What skills would be useful to learn? Should I stay or leave if this event happens? The pros and cons of staying or leaving? If I leave, what would be considered a safe and sustainable place to live? How could I MAKE this place sustainable if I had to stay here for an extended period of time? And these questions lead in to other areas of thought in subjects like construction, security, food production, and many other topics. I feel this is an excellent book for that.

For example, there is one section of the book talking about possible structures to live in. It covers everything from police stations and churches to manufacturing facilities and homes. Would you want to go to a hospital if the 'traditional zombie event' broke out? Weigh the pros and cons of that situation!

As far as the preps that the book talks about, it is a good way to think about what you would need, but it is a bare bones minimum. Remember it is a joke book and there are tons of other places to get good lists of items to get for any sort of situation. That is the downside that I found. Oh and if you are a zombie genre fan, you would get the jokes in it. This book is pretty funny, in a serious kind of way. I have it in my library.

Oh and BTW, Happy April Fools Day... though this article is not a joke, but for real about a funny/serious joke book that I do for real have.