Prepping One Step At A Time...At Alternative Cache Locations.

I was reading through yet another terrific blog post at Rural Revolution regarding how much cash to keep on hand versus utilizing the current value of cash to purchase tangible assets. It all follows the bigger question of how to prepare for your family when it doesn't seem like there is any disposable income left after bills are paid. The answer: do what you CAN do and find some peace knowing that you are working towards a goal.

Save money by eating simple meals at work: soup & water.

How do you know what you CAN do? Write out a plan. Do the math. Figure out what you need for YOUR situtation and write it down. Then break it up into little steps. One source is the LDS food storage calculator. It says a family of four, for a three month supply of basic food, needs 300 pounds of wheat and 60 pounds of beans/legumes. That's $137.40 in wheat and $89 in beans, according to the LDS Family Home Storage Center pdf file. Total is $226.40 and divide by 12 months gives you $18.87 per month that you need for a (very) basic food supply that feeds four people for three months.

Now of course you'll want more than wheat and beans. This simple meal plan was simply to illustrate how to break down something seemingly daunting into smaller, more achievable goals. There are tons of food lists from all kinds of perspectives listed all over the internet. Find one that suits you and break it down into small, manageable chunks.

Food storage: start with a little and keep adding.

I need more space to store food, for example. I realized I had an empty locker at work which would make a great place to store a little canned food. Since I spend a lot of time at work and therefore eat meals at work, it makes perfect sense for me to store food there. It gives me more storage space AND decreases the chances I'll run out for a burger or tacos knowing that I have food already here. I can't afford to just run to the store and buy 30 cans of Campbells Chunky soup to fill my locker so I'll start with a few cans and add from there. Small steps towards a bigger goal of filling the locker.

Make a plan and get started...TODAY!

Adding Storage With a Wall Niche



Two niches cut into the living room wall (while the kids
watched an episode of Barney)

 Saturday was a very productive day at the Compound de Orange Jeep Dad. The oldest two daughters were dropped off at church by 7am. They spent a good part of the day volunteering at the Special Olympics in Mesa. Teenage enrichment activity...check.

Back home by 7:30 and planted pumpkins in the front flower bed. If calculations are correct, we should have PLENTY of pumpkins by halloween. Saving money on future halloween decorations and pies...check.

Planted cucumbers and watermelons in the backyard. Down to one small area of EMPTY garden now. Once it is gone, I may start re-planting in the raised box gardens if I don't see more growth from the carrots. Future veggies to munch...check.

Lots of space added where there used to be none

Then the biggest chore of the day. On the recent topic of extra storage, wifey asked me to add some shelving next to the main television. In my usual research fashion, I visited youtube for a quick lesson in carpentry. Turns out what I'm about to create is called a "wall niche."

The rest of the day was spent sawing, nailing, and arguing with wood. The shelves are in. Next will be sealing seams, a final sanding, and painting the finished product. Oh, and BIG trim to cover up my mistakes.

Improving sadly lacking carpentry skills...check.

Update: Wall niche is complete. Click here for the final pictures.

Extra Storage Ideas for Food Storage and Other Stuff

I was reading a blog about storing food in a trundle bed and it got me to thinking about under-utilized places in my own house. Storing things under the bed is a terrific use of space not to mention the old clothing that I might "someday" be able to wear again takes up much needed space. I already utilized my kitchen knock-out ledge for hidden storage.

"Where else might I find some much needed space," I wonder as I sit here at work. Did I say work? I meant AT HOME, yeah, I'd never blog while on the clock. Yeah, so, anyway...I have a locker here at work. An EMPTY locker I might add. Why not use that to stock up on soup and other storable foods? I mean, I live here twelve hours a day, four days a week. I eat a minimum of one meal...usually two meals while I am here. I think I'll watch the store ads for soup sales in the coming weeks and start stocking my locker with Campbell's soups. They'll stack nicely, keep for a while, and be super easy to make when I get the munchies at 2am (gotta love working the night shift, right?)

There are actually quite a few lockers at my work. I'd say only about half the lockers are utilized by employees. I might be able to pick a few in different locations and stock more than one locker? Well, let's start with one and go from there. I also have locker space at our other "sister" hospital. Ooohhh. That one's a STAND UP locker. Lots of space there.

If I didn't live in the East Valley of Arizona, I'd consider storing some lightweight foods in the trunks of my cars. You wouldn't want anything too heavy or it would affect gas mileage and we CERTAINLY don't want that these days. The heat would also speed up the shelf life of canned meats, vegetables, etc. Maybe I can stash away some Ramen in the trunk? Ramen seems pretty indestructible and I already blogged about 30 ways to cook Ramen.

We store our large cookware on a hanging rack over our kitchen sink. This free's up a cabinet worth of space. A storage shed in the backyard allowed me to move lots of stuff out of the garage (we have dry food storage out there.) We have mylar bagged food in the top of all the kids' closets where it is too high for them to reach.

In other ideas out there?

Caching and Schnepf Farms

What a productively active day at Case de Orange Jeep Dad! I plowed through as much sheetrock as my 18 volt power tools would allow on one charge, took the family (plus two more girls) for a fun filled day at a local farm, and ended the night with a bonfire and peep-smores.

An on-going project has been trying to move our food storage from plain sight to out-of-sight. It involves cutting some drywall in strategic locations and placing our mylar bags inside a "knock-out" area. The knock-out was already being used as a ledge for the bags. Now I've placed the bags inside the ledge...so to speak.

The technical school we both graduated Radiography from had a reunion/25 year anniversary today at Schnepf Farms. Along with free food, we enjoyed a train ride, roller coaster, swings, planes, and other assorted carnival-type rides. This is a working farm and we enjoyed a train ride through their numerous pastures.

Lastly, to wind down the kids and their sleepover friends, I tossed a few logs in the fire pit and lit a bonfire. Easter Peeps surfaced and before long those little marshmallow chicks were getting roasted over the fire.

Everyone had a great day today and it feels good getting back to life after working six 12 hour shifts a week for all of 2010.

Life is good.