Bringing young people into preparedness

In August of 2011, my wife and I had a child. Well, not had so much as acquired - a bouncing teenage girl! As you can imagine, going from childless to parenting a teenager was pretty life changing, on both sides. One thing our "daughter" (technically our niece) had to come to grips with was that she was now in a preparedness household. I figured I'd recount some of the ways we broke her into it and how she's adapted.

Food - One thing a teenager can do is eat. A lot. So shortly after arriving, she went with us on a run to our local bulk-food store. She found it fascinating that when she said she liked a particular cereal, I'd add 2 to the cart instead of one. I didn't make a big deal about it, but I did mention we like to have extra on hand. Having siblings, she understood it but found it odd for just 3 of us that we would buy hundreds of dollars of food all at once.

Over the next few weeks, she learned just how much food we had. When we ran out of tuna fish, she immediately cried for a store run. I told her where to look for more. I believe she made some comment to the tune of, "Holy cow, do you know how much food is down there?", at which point my wife pointed out the food in the closet as well. That prompted our first real discussion about what we do. She thought we were odd, but rolled with it.

Now, 1.5 years later, she's rotating food and letting us know what's low in various containers. She's even begun recommending things that should be added to the list!

Firewood - a wood stove wasn't completely alien to her, but she grumbled about helping lug in wood. Of course, when we lost power for while last winter and were able to keep warm with that same wood, it started to click a little why we have all that. She's helped stack and carry since then with a little less grumbling.

Finances - this is an ongoing battle. Honestly, and oddly, the holiday season seems to be what is driving home to her how much finances play into preparedness. Additionally, paying for her own rock climbing has made her notice how fast her money goes. This from a kid who had little to know experience with her own money before moving up.

Having a job has also been critical. While she doesn't get enough hours to pay for everything she wants, she's learning that needing to be somewhere on time and planning for your meals takes effort. Is this hardcore survivalism? Heck no! But these are the blocks that build towards that.

Security - A touchy subject to many, this is an area she's taken a slight interest in. After a date that we put a stop to, and a few poor choices since that time, she's started to carry the pepper spray I gave her a while back. She's expressed interest in some basic self-defense, and actually locks the doors when we aren't around. I think that having a large dog helps. We still have to work on letting strangers in for directions (which she did the other night while we were out), but she's moving forward. And no, she is not likely to ever carry concealed. She isn't interested, and honestly, she isn't responsible enough. She knows that and is good with it. So am I

Prepping on her own - this was a long time coming. For the past 18 months, my wife and I have planned around needing to have things in our Bug Out Bags (BOBs) to help support the teen if things required it. We both tend to over-plan, so that wasn't a hardship. However, after my last post on the 2013 plan, she said she didn't have a BOB of her own and wanted one. Well, no need to tell us twice! For Hanukkah this year, we picked up a pack at EMS (a very sweet Four Wheel Jive) and gave her a bunch of items to go into it. This was a hodgepodge, including a travel toothbrush, some snacks, wet wipes, hair-ties...the list was pretty long, but focused less on things like fire-starting and the like. Don't get me wrong, some of that's there, but we tailored it to here.

And the best part? She's now coming up with things to start for herself! In fact, she spent many hours this weekend working on her kit, making lists, and talking about when things would come in handy. They grow up so fast!

Testing the limits

One thing that bears consideration when you put a lot of time and effort into preparedness is how to know if you're ready when things go wrong. That involves testing the boundaries and seeing how your preps fair. I've slated 2013 for that purpose and buffing things up. Here, for your consideration, is my calendar for working on and drilling specific areas:

January - Food
My #2 priority. The goal is to take on one major task each week
1. Drag out all my stored food and review dates and quantities. Update existing spreadsheet. Hmmm, I should share that
2. Evaluate caloric intake and determine gaps for 3 month minimum for the household
3. Acquire additional long term-items, rotate into cooking schedule
4. Cook entire meal from nothing but preps, focusing on long-term storage items

February - Water
My #1 item, and also a serious weak point for me. The key points to accomplish before the end of February are:
- set up 50 gallons of drinking water
- develop water catchment system for rain water, with an eye towards watering the garden
- look into hand-pump options for the well, to be completed by mid-summer

March - 24 hour drill
The first of these, and a long time coming. Without deliberately preparing and without telling everyone else in the house, kill the power and get by on what is in the house, including using the fireplace for heat.

April - Power
Following on the heels of the March drill, I should have a better understanding of my power deficiencies. Known problems are having enough gas to run the generator for at least a full week. I also need to look into propane conversion options, solar applications, and assuring my existing Power Domes are up to snuff, including replacing the battery in one of them. Fix or plan for fixing of discovered problems.

May - Planting and gardening
I didn't put enough focus on this in 2012, so this year will be largely about getting the garden in place and ready for the year. I will also be renting a bobcat to play with swales and erosion control.

June - Bug Out Bag (BOB) shake-down
This was recommended by my family. It will mean taking everyone's bag apart and reviewing the contents, with an eye towards the July plans. By the end of the month, everyone's should be good to go. Also, a few mile hike will be done with our bags on our back to assure we can handle them.

July - Getting out
This is a drill of a different nature, but one focused on bugging out, not bugging in. The goal will be to pick a random time and load everything needed to get out within 30 minutes. Plans will be reviewed early in the month, then evaluation will follow afterwards.

August - 48 hour drill
Much like the 24 hour drill, but, you know...longer

September - Shelter
This one is still rather half-formed, but it rests largely on camping out with my various shelter options, as well as reviewing my shelter building skills. At least one night out with just the BOB will be part of this.

October - 48 hour drill
With any luck, this one goes flawlessly.
November - Security
I'm hazy on this, but my current thought is that this rests on 3-gun competition. I think it also will involve some basic skill-testing of self-defense skills, including pepper spray, with the women of the house. Additionally, they each need to show basic gun safety rules, specifically being able to assure a gun is unloaded.

December - Reflection, and Getting out part 2
No good plan or review works without taking stock in what went wrong and what went right. So, December will be a time for that reflection. Oh, and one more drill, you know, to make sure they stuck. Anyone have plans to push themselves in 2013? I'm not talking resolutions here. I'm talking plans!

The ongoing quest for the perfect chili

Skill time! When pondering on what next to post, my lovely wife pointed out I was in the middle of making a chili, so why not talk about that? It ties in a bit with my friend Ann's blog, Shopping in my basement as it can be made up with food you've put up. I love making up large pots of food during the winter and freezing portions for later, like chili, stew, or pot roasts, so here's a peek at one of them.

I think a lot of us are familiar with crock pot cooking. For those who aren't, it's one of the easiest ways to turn out an awesome meal with less work. Crock pots (technically "slow cookers", Crock Pot is a name brand) are easy to find. Chances are you can ask your friends and relatives and some one has one in their basement. In fact, if you're married, check your put aside gifts, you probably have one tucked away. Mine is a large 6 quart model that fits a lot of food. I've pretty well figured out the proportions by making my first stew from the included recipe book, then making up my own from there. What follows is as much of a recipe as I ever really use; I'm very much an improvisational cook.

Chili is a personal favorite of mine as every time is a little different for me. Different ingredients are available based on what's in my pantry, on sale at the store, or tickling my fancy. Thus it really becomes a quest to make the perfect chili, knowing I may never be satisfied. Major variables tend to be the meat (or lack thereof), overall heat factor (I LOVE spicy food, but not everyone can eat my level of spice), and the vegetables in season or stored. Based on what I have this time, I made what I'm calling...

New England Winter Warmer

Ingredients
1 pound spicy sausage
1 pound ground beef
1.5 pounds stew meat, cut into 1"x1/2" pieces
1 large onion
4+ cloves chopped garlic (my favorite vegetable)
2 cans Red Kidney beans (I usually use dry, but was lazy and forgot to soak)
1 can White Kidney beans
1 can Black beans
2 green bell peppers
2 Jalapeno peppers
1 Habenero pepper
1/2 dried ghost pepper
1 dried red pepper (not sure what kind. I have an assortment of dried peppers I pull from)
1 bottle Pilsner Urquell beer
1.5 quarts stewed tomatoes (put up from last year)
1 can tomato paste
1 tbsp Mexican-style chili powder
1/2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp dried Cilantro
1/2 tbsp smoked salt (magic, this stuff!)
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tsp mild smoked paprika
1 tbsp course ground pepper
1 heaping tbsp real maple syrup

Step 1

Begin by browning up the meats. The sausage will take the longest as it needs to cook through. If it isn't cooked brown all the through, it will finish in the chili. Just make sure it isn't raw in the middle and things should be fine.


I never sau-sage nice browning!

I like to throw the onions and garlic in with the ground beef while it browns to mellow them out a bit while imparting flavor to the meat. Chop up the garlic first...


My favorite vegetable

...then throw it in with the ground beef. Make sure you drain your meat before adding it to the slow cooker as liquid fat isn't tasty. At this point, you can use the beer to de-glaze the pan. This time I opted not to, as I wanted slightly lighter, sweeter chili. Add all the meats into the slow cooker.

If I were doing this solely from preps, this could be done with Freeze Dried ground beef or canned meat of many types.

Step 2

Chop up your peppers and add them to the pot.


Small, but potent

When chopping your green peppers, remove the seeds and the connective tissue inside the peppers, the white, spongy stuff. The same is true for the hot peppers, but I STRONGLY advise putting on rubber gloves before handling them. Capsaicin is a nasty chemical and will cling to your fingers long after you have washed your hands 2 or 3 times. Then, next time you rub your eyes or nose, you will essentially pepper spray yourself. Trust me, it isn't fun!


Two by Two, hands of blue

I like to chop the bell peppers fairly large, about 1/2" squares, the jalapenos in half then slices, and the small peppers I chop fine. This means someone is less likely to get bite down on a serious amount of heat! I also like to remove the seeds and connective tissue in the hot peppers with a spoon, which works especially well for jalapenos


SPOON!

Now pour in your beans, draining them first if they're canned. When using dried beans, I like to let the soak overnight, though you can also cook them in lots of water to speed up the process. Read your package directions for best results.

Done from long-term stored food, dehydrate your own, or grab bell peppers here and use dried hot peppers for the rest.

Step 3

Time to add the spices and liquid to the mix! I like to put the spices in first so the liquids will carry them around. No particular order here, and add freshly ground spices if you can. During the summer I use a lot more fresh, green spices, but winter calls for dried. That's the main reasons the amounts are as high as they are, since dried spices (especially old ones) don't pack as much punch.

Now the liquids. Home canned tomatoes...


See, we were worth the hours of work and steam burns!

and the beer.


The best beer in the Czech Republic. Out of 2 beers...

Throw in you maple syrup, and slap a lid on it!.


Primordial Chili

Step 4

Put it on to cook. This is where a slow cooker shines. When I have time, I like to set it on low for 8 hours, often timing it to start in the morning and be ready in time for dinner. Many slow cookers even have delayed time settings to make this easier. Put your chili in the fridge overnight, put it on in the morning, then enjoy when you get home. Serve with bread or rice if desired.

Once you figure out a nice base, you can mix it up next time as you continue searching for that perfect chili! So, what's your favorite winter slow-cooker food? I know I'm always open to ideas, so share them below.