boxes and trash and just junk

Oh what a day!  We managed to get a lot done in the garage.  We got 5 or 6 boxes to turn into 2 Rubbermaid totes.  Once I finish organizing that'll be gone too.  I need to sort them out and put toys in toy boxes in the house, books on shelves (in the house), kitchen things in the kitchen (back in the house).  See a pattern?  There were sooo many things we pulled out of boxes and shouted, "I've been looking for this!!!".  It was pretty comical.  Once we get all of those things put back in their proper home, move one more shelving unit down to the garage and purchase just one more shelving unit, we should be well on our way to having a good food storage set-up going for us.  I'm pretty excited to have it all in one place so I can see it and judge where we stand. 

here... no there.... no back over there... aahhhhh!!!

So, we're both pretty new to food storage and all that goes with it.  We've read a lot of books and watched a ton of YouTube videos in our attempt to learn how to do this.  One thing I've seen more than once is temperature.  The temperature you store your food can affect the shelf life.  I currently have the majority of our food storage in a closet upstairs in the house.  I have no air conditioning in the house.  I'm thinking this is not the most ideal location for my food.  So today and yesterday I'm spending making room in another room: the garage.  The temperature doesn't go to extremes out here.  But my garage is a wreck of boxes and old mess.  So, I'm cleaning, throwing things away and organizing.  Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have moved my food storage to it's new home in the garage.  Fingers crossed I don't throw out my back in the process!!

cooking from food storage

I recently ordered a sample case of canned meats from the internet grocer and had it delivered right to my door!

I opened up my package to get my canned beef, hamburger, pork, chicken, turkey, butter, and cheese. REAL canned butter that can sit on my shelf for years in my food storage? I had to try it out. I'm from the south, I use butter a LOT.

My husband and I wanted to try everything right away! Reading the information on these meats, I learned that they are 100% natural... meaning no artificial anything! Meat and salt, that's it! We put the butter on some rolls, and OH MY GOODNESS... it was delicious!! We cut the cheese up and put it on some crackers... yummy as well!!

Then we decided to make a meal using our food storage. I made sloppy joes. The only things that didn't come from our storage were the cheese and buns. I used the ground beef and packet of sloppy joe seasoning which required water and a small can on tomato paste. All those things were already nicely stored away in the closet!

The final product was delicious!! And I'm super happy to have one more meal I know I can make out of my storage!



well, that's all for now from this coastie wife

home remedies

I'm always looking for ways to help my family. Whether it be coupons at the grocery store, or staying up late to finish those cupcakes, no matter how big or small, I like to do it. I think that prepping has so many different meanings and one for me is helping my family. I recently told my sister about the plans my family has made to prepare for "the end of the world as we know it" and though it isn't her cup of tea, she has given me her support. She and I are both sick right now (the nasty cold/cough/exploding head/runny nose yuck) and she came across a recipe for a homemade cough syrup. I jumped at it! It's made with all natural (as in from nature) ingredients. I don't have a cough yet, but if it starts, I'm gonna make this! She's been drinking it and swears it works, so I thought i'd share it with you.

Home Cough Syrup

3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 Cup honey
1/4 cup warm water

Mix all ingredients together and take 1 tsp as needed.

She needed 1 tsp every 2 hours. The great thing here is, all these things are yummy so I wouldn't mind taking some every couple of hours! My favorite part is I don't have to worry about what I'm putting in my mouth or my kids mouth. I LOVE it and hope you do too!

the other parts

I started yesterday by talking about how much I like food and thus making food prep an obvious first move on my part. Food storage is not the only part of prepping for my family though. We want to be ready for "The End of the World as We Know it", whenever that may be. I'm a stay at home mom, and my husband is a Coastie, we're not rich by any means. We do what we can when we can in regards to prepping. I'm always looking for coupons and sales at the grocery store, and when needed items go on sale, I stock up! We are also preparing with weapons. We aren't limiting ourselves to one particular type of weapon, nor will I tell you everything we have and where they all are :) I will tell you some plans we have for our weapons stockpile. We're planning to have weapons for defense, and weapons for hunting. Living here, there is plenty of hunting to be done, so we're getting into learning how to hunt and trap for our food. With my husband's military background, it make sense for him to be in charge of the weapons. He's teaching me as we go. I'm learning the ends and outs of our guns and I'm looking forward to learning how to shoot them. Our goal is to have long range rifles, hand guns, hunting rifles, knives, and anything else we could use. We're learning how to take ordinary items and use them as weapons.

We are reading books, watching video, and learning from those that have gone down this road already. We're learning how to garden, how to sew, how to make fire, and how to properly store food so we're ready for whatever might happen tomorrow. We're looking into land off the beaten path and building our retreat house. We want a safe place to go when our current home is no longer safe. We have a long way to go before we are fully prepared, but we're getting there!

This is the beginning of our journey and we invite you to come along and experience it with us!

Each day brings a new experience, a new thought, a new technique, and I want to share it with you as my family goes through it!

that's all for now from this coastie wife

change change change

I started this blog back in January. It's now September and I haven't touched it since my first day (whoops!). My first, and only post, was about our upcoming move. We have since moved up the hill, and got a 4 bedroom instead of a three bedroom!! WOOHOO!! On top of that change, I also have both of my little girls in pre-school now. I have about 3 1/2 hours to myself each day. I have plans of grandeur for that time: dishes, laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the fish tank (oh yea, we got one of those too), and then there's the garage. The "dump zone" as I call it, needs some work, to say the least! I've made some progress, but not enough.

This brings me to my next big change. Prepping. Don't know what prepping is? I'm not sure if there is one definite answer that works for everyone. I don't remember how my husband and I were first introduced to prepping, but we're both on board now. How do I look at it? Glad you asked! I love food. I love to cook it, I love to eat it. I really love to buy it, just ask my husband :) When I open my cabinets and there is no food, I even have mild panic attacks. That is just no good! I LOVE knowing that I have food in case of any kind of emergency. My biggest part of prepping is currently food storage. It's an obvious and fairly easy thing for me to do. There could be a natural disaster in my area (which is VERY possible, I DO live in the Pacific Northwest) that leaves me with no power and no way to get to the grocery store. Having a food storage in that scenario would be VERY good. There could be a financial difficulty where I had no money to buy food, widespread sickness, you name it, it could happen, and in those situations I FEEL safe and comforted knowing there is enough food in my home to feed my children and myself for an extended period of time. Prepping makes sense. That's why I do it. I try to encourage those I know to store some food. It's smart. As a Christian family, I also try to store more than my family needs. I want to be able to help others in their time of need.

I'm changing the direction of my blog. I'm still a Coastie wife. Now I'm a Coastie wife who's trying to prepare for what may happen next. Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. I'm going to blog my challenges and my successes. I'm going to share what works for us and what doesn't. I hope to help someone else in this world prepare their family for the future. Feedback is always welcome. I'm new at this. I invite you to learn with me and teach me and maybe I can help teach someone else.

that's all for now from this Coastie Wife!

The next move...

Well, here I am again, finding myself in the middle of another move. A year and a half ago we arrived here in Astoria, Oregon in a much smaller home than we anticipated. And now, after many visits from family, sharing one shower and living in what can only be described as "cramped quarters", we are getting to move into a bigger house. That's right, we will be moving into a 3 bedroom up the hill with a magnificent backyard! I can hardly wait. But first, the daunting task of packing, moving, and cleaning this house with no help from professional movers. *Sigh* So far, all of my beautiful decorations and pictures have been removed from the walls and the holes have been patched. That was a rather large task in itself. I'm putting together plans for the move day and trying to sort through our things as I go. I'm biting the bullet and forcing myself to "purge". *BIG sigh* I did not realize how much stuff we have accumulated over the last 5 years. It's amazing to think we started with a bed and a couch and now have all of the things we have! So I have half of the basement sorted and packed and if my pile of things to be removed isn't gone by Thursday afternoon, i'm taking it all to Goodwill. That should reduce the things we have to move drastically.

On another note... I am planning out where to put everything in the new house, and I'm pretty excited about it all. I have to share here. I am going to get to use my coffee table again (yay!!) Not quite sure yet how I'm going to arrange the living room, but I know it will have the coffee table. The dining romm will get the hutch back and the beverage cart. The deep freezer will probably go in there too; however, if there is enough room i the garage, I'd rather put it there. The other room off the kitchen will be home to the girls toys. Their kitchen center, train table, picnic table, and some other things will go there. I'm also going to move this cube shelving unit I have in the basement now to their toy room. It's 6 cubes and it will hold all of their art and craft supplies ad hopefully some baskets and rubbermaids full of toys. I'm hoping to build some sort of shelving unit to hold their books in this room too... it sounds over crowded right now, but it'll work and look good :) The computer room will again have the futon for overnight guests and of course all of our office things and a bookshelf full of our numerous books. I plan on using the closet space there to hold all of our out of season and baby clothes i'm storing. The girls room will have their art desk and some other toys. I'm pretty excited about all the new space and being able to actually use all of my things again.

So, I have given away the last of my pile today, thanks to freecycle! Kierra is finally sleeping. And I have gotten quite a bit done in a short period of time. Trying to think of what else I can pack and get set aside now so we can just grab and go once we get the keys. I'm off to do some more work in the basement for 30 minutes and then start dinner. It's meatloaf night, so I have to get an early start. Making enough meatloaf to have sandwiches with it tomorrow :) Yummy!

Well, folks, that's all for now from this coastie wife...