Week 3: FOOD & MESS KIT: Cereal, peanut butter, oatmeal, dry soup mixes, MREs, jam juices, fruit cups, energy bars, dried fruit, nut crackers, PLUS a mess kit or utensils to cook with, manual can opener, ziploc bags. (again, remember the baby and provide whatever the little ones may be used to eating) No need to go to the store, try to find things right from the cupboard!
You should store with meals in mind, however, BASIC meals for survival, not company sit down feasts. Store extra water if you are storing meals that need water in a recipe, such as soup. Store only those things you currently eat. If you don't eat MREs on a weekly basis don't store them. Also if you can find canned goods with the pop tops, that illuminates the need for can openers.
3 Meals and two snacks per person each day. Store this in your containers that you gathered last week. You can place all the meals in one pack or give each person their own meals in their own pack/container...it's up to you. Think about freshness, stability, and expiration dates. wrap or re-wrap to discourage spoilage and pests. Label the food and also the outside of your container so that you know what you have, the suggested meal menus, and when you need to rotate it out with a fresh batch.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Do One Thing: Week 3
Friday, April 22, 2005
Organize Yourselves!
Last night was my class on organization. It went fairly well with the evening beginning in a way I think should become a tradition for "Enrichment Night"a. Fondue! In the familiar LDS exclamation: OH MY HECK!
Is there anything as delicious as naked fruit dipped in chocolate and caramel? So simple, yet yumminess was at it's height. Who knows, maybe I was the only one who wanted to take their shoes off, grab a snorkel and just swim in the pot with fresh pineapple rings as my water wings.
I have never visited the wardb where I taught last night and I must say the ladies there were interesting and welcoming, as well as fun and interactive. The speaker before me gave a very informative talk on tackling the paper tiger we all seem to cage on our desk. Simple file systems followed by a question and answer period. There was a small debate over how long to hang onto bills and other documents for legal and tax purposes, other than that -smooth sailing!
One sidebar: The question of a home safe came up. Advice from our Fire Fighter son came to our family quickly after the large CA fires a while back. If you store your precious papers, documents or belongings in a "fire-proof" safe know that the safe will indeed be fire proof, your item inside will not be. It makes sense when he explained why. The fire proof safe is made to withstand a certain degree of heat before becoming invalid. If the fire becomes hotter than the safe is made to withstand, the hinges and locks, etc. can melt and weld the safe into a huge metal block without means of entry. Something to think about. Your items inside are not made to withstand those same degrees of heat without becoming baked to a cinder! Imagine taking your insurance papers and baking them for an hour in your oven set on broil. They would come out very fragile if at all. It works the same in the safe. Most home fires get pretty hot and you should not risk truly important unreplaceable papers anywhere other than a safety deposit box. Last night one lady brought up that banks also catch fire, what's the difference in safety? Banks and bank vaults have fire sprinklers which if they don't eliminate the fire will at least keep the heat degree down and the articles inside the vaults have a better chance of survival.
The meeting was to end at 8, and it was 7:45 before I even began, so it was a rather short and hurried version, but went well. The gal in charge gave me an extra 10 minutes, but I could have gone on for much longer and there were so many unanswered questions! I stayed afterwards and caught up as many queries as they wanted and still made it home in time to watch the Donald say "your fired". (yeah, I know, but for whatever reason I like that stupid show)
As always the big hit was a chart I made for our family to eliminate arguing and disobedience. It, basically, is a training for mom! I think when we realize that we are indeed the mom, the kids will catch on and that's where the change begins.
I don't have the space to review all my personal ideas and tips but a great resource on line is
More on the whole organization later. I need to send some good mojo vibes to Flickr and see if I can help them get back in gear! ugh!
a. Formerly "Homemaking Night" or "Work Meeting", a once a month meeting where LDS women (18 and older) gather together to be enriched and educated on a variety of Spiritual and Temporal subjects. Usually very informative, fun and social, sometimes with dinner being served or refreshment. b. An LDS term having the same meaning as "congregation".
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Bins and Purge
About a year ago I gave a class to about 25 women on home organization and storage. I think the initial thought was, "Physician- heal thyself!". I have lived in the same area for the past 27+ years and frankly, folks know me! So there was some skepticism all around on my ability to express any coherent objectives that would be received with any form of acceptance. (I am not known for my model home appearance.) But those who truly know me know that I enjoy (not suffer from) certain OCD benefits that have helped me be organized, if not tidy. So the class was on; and to my surprise I actually had attendees.
Since then I have been asked to travel to other groups and teach the same class about 6 times. Next week will be another trip into the junk drawer and hopefully these ladies will laugh along and have a good time while we talk "dirty".
I like to survey ahead and get some ideas from the attendees, things they are having trouble with or things they would like information on. Questions from the past have included everything from, "How do I throw away things my mother-in-law gave me?" to "How do I get my kids to help without it becoming punishment for all of us?" Answers to the above: Just throw your mother-in-law away first. And, That's impossible. Actually there are more realistic answers, but I'd bore you here with the long dissertation.
Basically being organized is a matter of getting rid of all the "stuff" you have accumulated over the years and being consistent about storing the "stuff" you keep in well labeled clear containers. Then get some OCD of your own to stay on top of things. This way, tidy or cluttered, when someone asks if you have those tiny gold safety pins you know the answer and if the answer is yes, you know right where there are.
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