~ from my home to yours, living the Working Pantry lifestyle ~ surviving today's economy ~ a can-do spirit and attitude ~

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Our Journey to a Mortgage Free Home ... #14

(You can read previous entries in this series HERE.)

Let's see, in our last entry I left you with us working on the big room and I showed you the almost finished half-bath  ... now, it's time to step to the left of the half-bath and look at our 'official pantry room.'  Now, you know I had to have a pantry room even if it it is kind of on the small size!  (The room is approximately 4 foot x 4 foot.)



This is what it currently looks like, there are a few more things that need to be done to finish it out completely, but it is in full use …



Update 6/25/2019:  We've remodeled our pantry since the above picture was taken.  You can go here to see what we did.  Here's a picture of how it currently looks …




... our front door!!!!
Little by little, we were getting the job done ... as money allows!

Stay tuned, there's more to come!  

Until next time,
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

Items I use in keeping my pantry well-stocked:

Dehydrator

Dehydrator Teflon Sheets

Dehydrator Cookbook

Food Saver Vacuum Sealer

Herb/Coffee Bean Grinder

Manual Food Chopper

Pressure Canner

Canning Supplies

Food Scale

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Preparedness: Power Outage Action Plan

In her post titled Preparedness and Pantries, Your Emergency Action Plan, Annabel talks about having an emergency action plan to impliment in the event that you have warning of a possible power outage due to storms, etc.

After reading her post I decided that I needed to get my plan on paper and post it where it would be easily accessible.  In an emergency situation, we don't always think of everything that needs to be done. By have a written plan and knowing where to look for it, it will be easier not to forget something that needs to be done.

Here's my written plan ...


Power Outage Plan

At the First Warning or as soon as you realize there is a threat …

Make a list and grocery shop

Do laundry 

Turn the temperature of fridge down a bit lower

Fill every gap in the freezer with bottles of water. (This will help keep frozen items froze longer and can also be placed in fridge to help keep items in it cool longer as well.)

Fill vehicles with gas

Check propane tanks and refill if necessary

Fill prescriptions if needed

Secure things outside

Fully charge everything... phones, iPad, Kindle, computer, etc.

Fill gas cans  

Fill water cans/bottles

Fill up every available empty milk jug, soda bottle, juice jug, etc with water

Check and restock bottled water


Hours Before

Get out flashlights, candles, etc.

Set up generator so it's ready for use

Cook next meal and as much non perishable/non refrigerated foods as possible

Get bath, wash and dry hair if time permits

* * * * * * * * * * * *  * * * * *  * * * * * *  

Do you have an emergency action plan? What does yours look like?

Patsi 

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You can view my privacy policy HERE

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Our Journey to a Mortgage Free Home # 13

(You can read previous entries in this series HERE.)

In the last post I showed you some of the work that was going on in the big room, but that's not the only room there was work going on in ... there was a half-bath right off the big room that we were working on as well.




The tile has been laid and the plumbing done ... and then it stayed that way for a looooooooooooooong time ... just being honest!  In fact, it became a 'catch-all' place where we put building supplies and stuff until they were needed!  My husband laid the tile and I grouted it.  I can still remember how badly my knees ached!




Here's what it looks like today.  There are still several small things to finish up but nothing that keeps it from being usable!  The shelf on the wall was made by my husband and usually is where I hang a hand towel.  There are two sections, one for handtowels and I'm going to make something 'quilty' to hang on the other section.  It really is quite the cozy little nook for taking care of 'business!'  ... and yes, I love to read!

 (The walls are an off white, muslin color which doesn't show up too well in the picture.)
(The raggady ann and andy were made by my husband's mother many years ago.)
(The q-tip jar and cotton ball jar are recycled candle jars.)
(The lamp is sitting on a stack of 3 books)
(The 'skirt' is made of burlap.)
(The trash can liner ... yep, its a plastic grocery store bag.)

Stay tuned ... there's more to come!

Until next time,
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

Items I use in keeping my pantry well-stocked:

Dehydrator

Dehydrator Teflon Sheets

Dehydrator Cookbook

Food Saver Vacuum Sealer

Herb/Coffee Bean Grinder

Manual Food Chopper

Pressure Canner

Canning Supplies

Food Scale

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Our Journey to a Mortgage Free Home: #12

(You can read previous entries in this series HERE.)

In our last entry we put the siding on the outside of the house and painted it ...



This week we're going back inside.

While we were living in the bedroom there was a whole lot of work going on in the big room ...



Advantech on the floor, windows put in and a nailed up door.


Insulation going up in the ceiling/attic crawl space and in the walls ...


Insulation installed and hardy board going up on the walls.  Sheet rock up on the ceiling (the hardy board was put in the ceiling too before the sheet rock was installed).  See the wiring hanging down from the ceiling?  We would later install a ceiling fan/light combo there.


Another view, this time of the opposite wall (this was after we had cleaned up the area one day) ... there was some serious work going on in this room and it was a challenge to keep things up and out of the way!

Stay tuned ... there's more to come!

Until next time,
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

Items I use in keeping my pantry well-stocked:

Dehydrator

Dehydrator Teflon Sheets

Dehydrator Cookbook

Food Saver Vacuum Sealer

Herb/Coffee Bean Grinder

Manual Food Chopper

Pressure Canner

Canning Supplies

Food Scale

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Building A One Month Preparedness Pantry ... part 6

You can read previous posts HERE along with an explanation of why I'm doing this series HERE. 

In this post we're going to wrap up this series talking about food. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this as building and maintaining a well-stocked pantry is what A Working Pantry is all about.  

Let me just say this, we saw many people and distributed food boxes to many people who did not have food due to the aftereffects of Hurricane Matthew.  Some of it was not preventable, most of it was.

Keeping a well-stocked pantry will prevent you from having to live on junk food or whatever else you can find that doesn't have to be cooked until help arrives.  

How long could your family survive on your current food pantry?  Would your family be among those who were helping provide food to others or would your family be among those waiting for someone to help them?

The difference could very well lie in whether or not you have a well-stocked pantry? A well-stocked pantry along with the other things we've talked about in this series would enable you to weather most natural disasters, which is what this
series has been all about.

I hope this series has been beneficial to you and that you can take the things I've shared and learn from them.









Patsi 

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You can view my privacy policy HERE


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Building a One Month Basic Preparedness Pantry ... part 5

You can read previous posts 
HERE along with an explanation of why I'm doing this series HERE. 

In this post we're going to talk about water … water to drink, water to flush your toilet, water for your animals and water to run your household.

In a disaster situation drinkable, useable water is often the first thing that becomes unavailable and is the one thing we cannot live without.

Several days after some of the stores in our area had electricity restored, they still did not have safe water to drink or bathrooms for customers use.  One store set up port-a-potties outside the store.  Another store limited the number of customers that could be in the store at one time to 25 because there was no water for the store sprinkler system. Both of these are very large nationally well-known stores.

Drinkable, useable water was trucked into our area by the tractor trailer loads for several weeks. Watering stations were set up in different locations so people could get the water they needed.   For those who were trapped by the flood waters or damaged roads getting drinkable water was a real issue.

So, let’s talk about water and look at some ways to be prepared in this area …

Bottled water (watch for sales and stock up if it’s not an immediate emergency), you would need to use and rotate to keep fresh

5 gallon size jugs of water you can purchase, you would need to use and rotate to keep fresh  

Fill up the bathtub or use a waterbob

Use Watering cans to transport water

Fill up clean empty milk cartons

Fill up empty juice bottles

Boil, treat and sterilize water from outside sources (you would want to be careful where you got the water).  

Catch rain water  

Patsi 

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You can view my privacy policy HERE

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Building A One Month Preparedness Pantry ... part 4

You will remember that the reason I started this series was because we are in the area that was hit the hardest by Hurricane Matthew when he made landfall on October 7th, 8th and 9th of last year.  While we had very little damage personally others around us were not so fortunate.


My husband and I along with others spent the better part of the rest of 2016 helping those who had been affected by the hurricane. The devastation was unbelievable!  As a result, I decided to write this series with the hopes that it would help others be more prepared for natural disasters, thus Building A One Month Preparedness Pantry was born.

You can read previous posts HERE along with a more in-depth explanation of why I'm doing this series HERE.

In this post we're going to talk about non-electric ways to cook food when the power goes out.

We saw lots and lots of people who were existing on snack crackers, chips, potted meat, etc because they had no means to cook. We also were told by many that they had lost the foods in their refrigerators and freezers because they had no way to cook it before it spoiled.  Many were without power for several days and some for several weeks.

So, let's talk about some non-electric ways to cook food.   There's the ...

gas grill ... There are all shapes and sizes to choose from, from tabletop size to the huge stand-alone kind ... and of course you would need propane gas to fuel it.

charcoal grill ... charcoal would be needed and here again they come in all shapes and sizes.

gas camp stove burner ... don't forget the propane gas

solar oven ... the right time of the year this would work

rocket stove ...this would do in a pinch

wood stove (you can get portable wood stoves) ... you would need wood and of course it would heat up the area around it, that's something that would need to be taken into consideration especially if you lost power in the summer.

fire pit (gas or wood) ... depending on the weather this would be an option for outside.  This would work for roasting hot dogs and such.

gas stove ... you would need to make sure that you had gas on hand to run it. These come in all sizes and shapes from appliance size to portable sizes suitable for camping.

propane cooker ... this would need to be used outside.

When considering options for cooking without electricity it would be wise to have as many back-ups as possible.

So many people we came into contact with were simply victims of not being prepared.

Patsi 

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You can view my privacy policy HERE