EP - Food Stamps Or Food Storage?

Food Stamps Or Food Storage?

The latest statistics surrounding food stamps and other food assistance are astonishing.  According to a recent CNN money article, food stamp usage reached a record 45.8 million in May.  That’s up 12% from a year ago.  According to the article:

The highest concentration of food stamp users were in California, Florida, New York and Texas — where more than 3 million residents in each state received food stamps in May. Original Article Here

That’s 1 out of every 6 people in the United States that cannot buy their own food!  This economy has really taken it’s toll on families all across the country. With so many struggling to  put food on the table, now is the time to do your best to store as much food in your pantry as possible. How do you stock up on food storage when things are tight?  That’s a tough question, but it’s not impossible.  Here are a few things you can do to get ahead:


1. Budget wisely
There are surely people that are spending their money wisely and don’t have extra money leftover, but the majority of Americans could change their spending habits and invest the savings into some extra food storage each month.  The Department of Labor conducted a survey and 43% of the money spent by a family on food went to “food away from home”. Cutting back on eating out or other frills could go a long way towards building your food storage and emergency preparedness plans.


2. Grow a Garden
Gardens are a fantastic way to fill up your pantry for a lot less.  Even if you have limited space, or you need to grow indoors, its worth it.  Gardens will not only make you more self reliant, but they will also help you eat a more healthy diet. Square foot gardening is a great space saving option for some people.


3. Food Co-ops
Check the internet for local food co-ops.  Many times you can save big on fruits, veggies, and even meat through a co-op.  You get way more for your money this way.


4.Coupons
With a little extra effort, you can find amazing deals on food with coupons.  Check your local store ads, and the internet for fantastic websites that help you find the very best deals anywhere. Of course you will need to be focused on buying what you need, don’t let that 20% off coupon on a filet mignon derail you from the track.



5. Pool Your Resources
Many times companies will give bulk discounts to groups of people who are willing to pool their money together to buy in bulk.  This is a win, win for both you, your friends, and the companies. (By the way we do this too, call our customer service line fore details)
People have had to  learn many tough lessons from this economy but those who have learned to go back to the basic principles of self reliance that our parents and grandparents taught us, are those who will be able to weather the storms of life best.


Article from TheReadyStore.com, 10/13/2011

EP - The Great Utah Shakeout

The Great Utah Shakeout earthquake exercise will occur April 17 - 19, 2012.  See more details at http://www.shakeout.org/utah/, 

Review the section “Drop, Cover and Hold On” - drill at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17. 

The official Twitter feed is @UtahShakeOut.  See Great Utah Shakeout on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Great-Utah-ShakeOut/125494150858309.

EP - Sister Julie Beck, General RS President

"I have a sense and a feeling as we have watched some of these disasters in the world, that this is a time for us to learn and prepare from these experiences. Sister Thompson gave an testimony of that, and the preparation happens in our own homes. There are not enough tents in the world to furnish every person with a tent unless the members of the church have a tent in their own homes...a simple thing like that. And then the storehouse is pressed down, heaped over and running over in our own homes. 


Some of you have student apartments, how prepared are you? If an earthquake or economic disaster happened, would you have enough water to drink for 24 hours? would you be able to get by until help could come to you? 


Those are the kind of the things we need to be thinking about in our day and time, the Lord expects us to do our little part and then He can bring on the miracles and then we don't need to fear."


Sister Julie Beck, General Relief Society President 
Training for Relief Society Leaders
March 2011, Salt Lake Tabernacle

EP - SLC Self Reliance Expo

On October 7th and 8th, the Southtown Expo Center will be hosting a 'Self Reliance Expo'.  Please follow this link for more information:

http://www.selfrelianceexpo.com/

Local vendors as well as nation vendors will be presenting information about their emergency products.

Presentation will include the following and more...

Homestead

• Gardening
• Hydroponics/Aquaponics
• Canning
• Nutrition
• Food Storage
• Nutrient Density
• Importance of Whole Plant Foods
• Greenhouses

Emergency

• Emergency Preparedness
• Home Safety & First Aid
• Home Medical Equipment
• Home & Personal Security
• Physical Fitness
• Self Defense
• Marksmanship
• Video Monitoring
• Lost Kits
• Hikers, Climbers & Campers

Financial

• Financial Protection
• Self-Directed Investing
• Wills, Trusts, Entity Structuring
• Land for Sale

EP - Outdoor Solar lights for Emergency Lighting

Consider this idea below:


No Power?  Lights For You. What A Great Idea!!!!!!!

BRING IN WHEN IT STARTS GETTING DARK
    BACK OUT IN THE MORNING TO  CHARGE
        ALL THANKS TO  MOTHER NATURE
            RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES  NOT NEEDED

Here's an idea so you're not in the dark -- Solar Lights! 

Last week, a thunderstorm rolled through our neighborhood and a huge oak tree came down on some power lines, creating a power outage for a large area  around us. We lost power for about 5 hours.

We were scrambling around in the darkness looking for matches,  candles, flashlights, etc.

We  looked outside and noticed our solar lights shining brightly all around our patio, stairs, dock, etc.  They were beautiful.  We brought several of the solar lights inside and stuck the solar light pipes into  plastic drink bottles containers.  They  made the nicest, brightest, safest lighting  you could ever  imagine.

We put one in the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, etc.   There was plenty of  light.

There are all types of solar lights  available.  We bought ours at Harbor Freight.   We  put them all around  our yard.  They look nice and they do not attract flying bugs like the outdoor lights around our doorway.
 

The lights we have fit into the small (20oz) water bottles and they also fit into most of the larger liter bottles. If you need a weight in the plastic bottle to keep them from tipping over, you can put a few of the pretty colorful  "flat  marbles"  that they put in aquariums and vases.  You can also use sand, aquarium gravel, etc., whatever you have available.

The lights we have were perfect inside our home.  They burn all night long if you need them to.
The next day, you just take your solar lights back outside and they will instantly recharge and be ready for you to use again any time you need them.
Perfect for power outages, hurricanes, etc.

This is the time of year to pick up clearance garden items, including solar path lights and such.  On the website for good ole Harbor Freight is a ten-piece set on sale for $29.99 instead of $39.99:  http://www.harborfreight.com/interests/solar/10-piece-stainless-steel-solar-light-set-66249.html.  


Says one reviewer of the set . . .
  "I bought two sets of these to put by the ends of tent ropes to keep people from tripping at night. They did a great job. The light is not too bright but bright enough to see the tent stakes. My only complaint is that each pack had one bad light that had to be tossed. But catching them on sale so the average cost was minimal I didn't get too upset."  Another reviewer says that the lights are only 13 watts; that's 3 times my night light.

Local Area Ham Radio Nets

Please review the above tab titled 'Amateur Radio'.  I have posted a list of local Ham Radio nets currently operating in the SLC South East Division.  If you know of other nets in the area, or have corrections to these listed, please email SLCFoothillNet@comcast.net with that information.

SE Division Emergency Communications Net

Amateur (HAM) radio operators in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area are encouraged to participate in the SE Division Emergency Communications Net. 

Thursdays, 9 p.m. on 147.50 MHz simplex.

Check-in is first by the seven community council areas of the division (Yalecrest, Foothill/Sunnyside, Sunnyside East Association, Wasatch Hollow, Bonneville Hills, East Bench, and Sugar House).  Visitors outside the division are invited to check in afterwards.  Everyone is welcome to participate, including giving announcements, asking questions and proposing topics of emergency communications and other preparedness for discussion.

This Thursday, September 22, 2011, Dick Leining (W7DML) of the Wasatch Hollow CERT team will give training about radiograms.

Please spread the word, including to people who may not be licensed in amateur radio but are interested in emergency communications, even inviting them to listen in from your radio station.  You never know when one of those people may be interested in becoming a scribe, even if he/she does not want to become licensed, as is already the case in one of our areas!