If you have a library full of books on preparedness, Preparedness Principles by Barbara Saslbury may not be for you. If, however, you have very little literature on preparedness, or are a novice, just getting prepared, then this is a great book to have. I don't have it all internalized, nor even all read, yet. There are a ton of great ideas here. It reads as easily as a fun novel, but must be thought about, read over, and the parts usable for you implemented in your life.I found this book well written and containing most of the ideas I've learned and a lot more. It explained why I needed certain things and the types of things I needed for all the various types of emergencies. I don't live where tornados and hurricanes are prevalent and am on the border of earthquake territory, so I can customize my preparations for my circumstances. (power outages, with hot or cold weather, and lack of food shipments.)
They listed several good inexpensive or free sealing containers for storing food, but missed one, two liter soft drink bottles. This is the only idea I use that I didn't find in the book, and is for limiting the waste caused when pests invade my cupboard. I used to have to throw away up to $1,000.00 worth of flour goods, clean and then buy more food to restock those shelves. Now, I pour my flour, rice, beans, cornstarch, sugar, etc. into clean, dry two liter soda bottles, label them and store them on a metal storage rack in my kitchen. If the bugs get into a bottle of food, I can see them without opening the bottle. When that happens, I throw that bottle away and only lose $1-2.00 worth of food. There were only enough metal shelves to space them a little over 3 bottles high. I cut strips of cardboard 1 foot by 2-1/2 feet, and used these to support the upper two rows of food bottles. (1/8 inch thick wood sheets would be better, but I couldn't afford a sheet when I started this idea. The cardboard works better when the holes run the long way.) My shelving unit is1 foot deep, 2-1/2 feet wide, and 5 feet tall. I put 7 bottles in a row one each shelf, with two more rows on top separated by the cardboard strips. This makes storage for 105 bottles of dry food. In the past 15 years, I've thrown away maybe 4 bottles of contaminated food, and the mice haven't been able to get into a single one. The clear ones are easier to see what is inside, but the green ones seem to minimize sun damage. Be sure to label each bottle. I have several that I have NO idea what is insde. Don't use with spagetti, macaroni, or anything that clumps. (too hard to get back out) I made a funnel by cutting the bottom off one of the bottles. I connected it to each bottle using a 1 inch wide strip of paper taped around the threads. I've since made one from a piece of PVC reamed to size, and a friend gave me a threaded connector used to connect two bottles together to make a liquid hourglass. The better the seal, the less dust on the counter, and the more food in the bottle.
Forever Friends Rating: 5 Stars.
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Cedar Fort Inc. (August 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0882908065
ISBN-13: 978-0882908069
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(2 customer reviews)Amazon.com Sales Rank: #631,421 in Books
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2 comments:
thank you for taking the time to review my book. Iam so glad that it helped you to get enth;used about preparedness again. And a huge thanks for sharing your fun idea on the bottle you use, along with your method of stacking them.
I grew up in the country, harvesting and canning every fall, very faithfully. My mother was very dedicated in preparing us for difficult times and taught us many great things.
Barbara Salsbury, in my opinion, did a great job in taking that knowledge and refining and triggering thoughts and ideas to improve my own food storage. Preparedness Principles is the book I'm using to completely revamp my food storage.
Thanks for reviewing this book, Teri.
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