Jack of Some Trades or One Trick Pony?

All of us have something we are good at or something we do for a living. You might be a carpenter, plumber or a nuclear scientist. Something we specialize in, something not everyone else does as well as we do. This is usually how we pay the bills and if we are real lucky this job allows us to make ends met at the end of the month.

For emergency planning your daily job is a good place to start. If you crunch numbers all day odds are you are going to be organized. If you work with your hands, odds are you going to have tools to work with. From this starting point we want to broaden our knowledge base and skill set.Why? During an emergency situation there is going to be a time period you are on your own. Might be anything from a few minutes, hours or days. Although you might be able to send rockets into space, if you do not have some knowledge in other areas odds are it is going to be a very long day when you are faced with some sort of emergency.

Skills go with you everywhere. Sure you can start a fire with two sticks but can you change a tire? Once you have an idea how to do something nothing can take the knowledge away from you. Tools enhance skills and allow you to do things you might not be able to do with your bare hands. Need to build a shelter to get out of the sun? Doing this with tools is easier and saves energy. The trick is you have to know how to use the tools. You can fill your home with tools or a bag you carry with you everyday. Problem is you have to have some idea how to use the tools or they are useless.

Your emergency might be a car wreck, can you get yourself off the freeway? Can you treat yourself if you are injured? Can you help others? Do you know how to use the flares and reflective panels in your trunk? Sounds kind of silly right? Being on the freeway a lot I personally have seen people with no idea how to do any of this! Your emergency might be a simple disabled car where you have to wait twenty minutes for a tow truck. Your emergency might be a natural disaster and you have to wait several days before the authorities get any help to you. In either situation you are responsable for YOU during this time period. What skills you have will make the difference during this time period.

The broader your planning and skill set the better odds you give yourself to deal with situations. first on the list of skills to try to learn... First aid! Being able to perform even the basics of first aid could be the difference between life and death for someone.

Knowing how to use some basic tools, saws, shovels and other hand tools are a vital skill. Some of you might be giggling at this idea...... Some people have no idea how to properly use a shovel let alone a chainsaw if needed. During an emergency is not the time to figure out how to use tools. Why? Because the odds of someone getting injured rises due to the stress and lack of experience.

We all should try something new! Maybe you never cook at home? Maybe you never cook on a BBQ? This is a skill set everyone should have some knowledge in. BBQ'ing means you can properly build a fire, be safe with fire hopefully and cook under "primitive" conditions. If you can BBQ try learning how to do more with an open flame.

Cooking a whole meal using a Dutch Oven is not as easy as one might think!

Knowing how to communicate is another skill folks should learn. Maybe using a HAM radio is not something you have time to learn. Knowing S.O.S. is the international symbol for distress is something we all should know! Having an understanding of how to communicate with aircraft could come in handy.

These people were able to tell a helicopter where the bad guys were without having a radio!

Maybe you need to learn a few skills involved with counseling others? Not all the skills we could work on are physical.

Maybe you need to learn how to organize events for large groups of people? Being able to organize kids is a whole skill set in it's self!!! Something which can come in handy during a situation!

Maybe you need to learn to use a new set of tools to protect your loved ones?

Maybe you need to learn to be more aware of the news and events in your area? Gathering intelligence and being able to use the information is a vital skill to everyone.

Maybe you need to learn more about the law? Understanding what you can legally do during situations is also vitally important knowledge we all need to better understand.

All of us have a skill base, something we can start from. From this skill we should work to broaden our personal base of knowledge or skill sets. Not just for emergencies but for life in general! Sit down, grab a piece of paper and make a list of what you are good at or have knowledge in. Next, write down what you have no idea how to do. The list of things you should know how to do needs to include;

First aid
Utilizing hand tools
How to BBQ
How to change a tire
Self defense
How to build a rudimentary shelter

The list can go on and on. There is really no limit to the things we can learn or new things we can try our hand at. In the end having a little knowledge of a broad range of subjects will serve you better than being a specialist in just one subject. Knowledge gives you the ability to come up with different answers to problems and allows you to be more flexible in your response to situations. Adaptability is a great ability to have and a broad base of knowledge gives you this. Besides learning new skills is kind of fun!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe.  

Planning #3 - How to Cook?

Now that we have sat down and started to think about planning a bit more let's take a trip into the rabbit hole. Grab your government suggested list, coffee and find your favorite place to sit. Think about the situation we have been using for this example, the 'Big One' hits Southern California or whatever the greatest threat to your family is in your area.

Your prior planning has worked out so far and after a few hours of being scared your entire family has made it home and are safe. Why, because everyone already knew the plan was to go home and met there. Your home is standing and you will be able to shelter inside for the duration of this emergency. You look at the stuff you put away for just such an incident and feel good about what you did. Now it is time to make a meal, sit around the dinner table and be thankful everyone is safe. Going to the cupboard you grab a couple cans of chili, some cornbread mix, along with some onions and other vegetables to add to the chili from the fridge.

Taking a can over to the can opener you find yourself confused for a moment or two...... You put the can in the opener correctly? You pushed the handle down correctly? Why won't the can opener work? Of course one of the kids sees you doing this and pops off with "There's no power, duh!" Searching through the drawers you realize you have three wine bottle openers but no manual can opener!!!!!

"MY KINGDOM FOR A CAN OPENER!!"

You can have a pantry full of cans, enough for a year or two but forgetting just one thing can make them almost useless! We relay so much on electricity every day some of us might not have any idea how to function without it. For some of us "older and wiser" folks we remember the way back days...... before the internet....... before cell phones....... but see if you kids can operate a can opener.

Of course you panic looking for some way to open the cans..... until your better half hands you the can opener. Ok, this obstacle has been overcome!!!!

Going to the stove you turn the knob and nothing happens. No clicking, no gas sound, no gas smell? It takes you a moment to realize your home might be alright after the incident but the gas you use to cook comes from somewhere else! Now you have a pot full of chili, with the added parts you put in to make it special and no flame to heat it on.................. "OK NO BIG DEAL!" you tell yourself as you go to fire up your BBQ.

And down the hole we go........... Do you have charcoal? Do you have enough for three meals a day, for at least three days? Maybe you have a hiking stove? Do you have enough fuel to cook for the whole family for three days at the least? Do you have pots and pans you can put on an open flame, you know without the plastic handles which will melt?

You don't have another way to cook?!?!?!?!?!?!? OK........ Maybe you do not BBQ, go camping or do anything where you would have a readily accessible alternative way to cook with no power or gas. You need to find one! Without a safe way to heat up food or boil water if you had to the next few days are going to be long....... Even if you live in an apartment there are small grills you can buy for BBQing.

When you buy one you can get one which runs off of gas like the one in this picture. Just remember gas runs out. If you can find one which you can utilize by burning stuff. Briquets are good and most of these types you can burn wood in if you had to. Besides everyone should have a BBQ! Everyone can have an enjoyable time with friends and a BBQ. You also can get practice using your alternative cook system, always training! Even if you are the only one who knows you are training.

Were good now and your cooking with fire!!! You put the chili on the BBQ and go to figure out how to cook the corn bread.................. The oven doesn't work......... For most of us this means no cornbread to go with the chili. If you have a Dutch Oven and are cooking on briquets your in business!!! Of course now is not the time to try and figure out how to cook cornbread in the Dutch Oven, Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. A few weekends spent at the BBQ will pay off now when you "need" to cook.

 Alrighty, we got the BBQ going, chili is cooking and we got the cornbread baking!! What are we going to eat on? We could use our regular plates, silverware and cups BUUUUT we would need to clean all of those after we eat and the dishwasher doesn't work! Not to mention we only have a gallon of water per person per day...... Hopeful we have some paper plates and red cups sitting around from the last time we you had people over for a BBQ or kids party???? This sure will cut down on the amount of water we have to use to clean up after eating.

Speaking of cleaning up....... Do you have any dish soap? Do you only have soap for the dish washer? This is starting to take us down the rabbit hole a bit far so let's back up a bit........

When your planning you obviously can see we need to use some forethought in the planning. Something as simple as heating up a can of chili can go off the rails because of the littlest thing. For now let's not go too far down the rabbit hole when it comes to cooking!!!!

Do you have another way to cook without power? Can you open a can? Can you heat up food? Do you have the pots to cook over an open flame? Have you practiced cooking with your alternative method? Just cover the basics for now and make sure you have the options available to look after your family if the need arises.

As Always,

Stay Safe.    

Fire - make it safe

Fire, one of the greatest inventions or utilization of natural resources ever!!! With it we can heat ourselves, cook food, keep the dark at bay and gives us an excuse to sit around with friends and loved ones!!! Fire is something most of us take for granted on a daily basis. We turn on the stove or put food in the oven and eat when the food is ready. Heck some of us might just use a microwave or drive through a restaurant to get our cooked food. Most of us really do not know how to make a fire, feed a fire or cook over a fire. We kind of take for granted the clicking noise the stove makes and the flame which pops up.

The internet is filled with videos of how to build a fire from scratch, utilizing the most primitive methods possible. Something you rarely see is how long it really took to learn how to make the fire, how many times the person failed before they mastered the method. Learning these skills is important and something we should all try to learn. They also seem to never show the fire builder clearing an area or prepping an area to safely build the fire.

Now learning to properly build, light and feed a fire is a very important skill to have and every one of us should take the time to learn how to do it. What we are going to discuss for a moment is safety when you are making and using open flames! If we are faced with an emergency or just building a fire to enjoy with our friends and families we need to be safe while we are doing this.

Not taking a moment to properly clear an area, contain the fire and having the ability to quickly put out the fire can take a bad situation and make the situation much worse. Imagine your family huddled in an abandoned building. Your children are cold and you struggle to make a fire to warm them. In your haste you pile rubbish in the corner and light it. Of course now you feel better as you run around to add fuel to the flames, knowing at the very least your children will not be cold in a few minutes. The situation might suck but at least you will be warm. Yes we all can see where this is going! The curtains by the window catch fire or the wall behind your fire catches fire or the fire gets so large the ceiling catches fire and in the end you and your family are back outside in the elements. Of course you will have a fire for while….. At least until the building burns down.

Fires get out of control all the time. Someone leaves a candle unattended, a spark jumps from a fire place or the cook lets the grease catch fire in the kitchen. Any time we are dealing with flames we need to make sure the area around the flame is clear of anything which could catch fire. We need to have a way to put the fire out quickly if the flames start to become uncontrollable. We need to keep in mind the fire has a mind of its own. Ask a fireman, flames are creatures in their own right and have a mind of their own.

Build a fire on the ground, as in dirt not the covered floor of a house. Build a fire on concrete or cement, not on tiles. Build a fire in a container, a metal bin or surrounded by rocks. Maybe you can find cement blocks to surround the fire with? Place a bucket of sand or dirt near the fire. A fire extinguisher is a better idea.

On the weekend or during an emergency safely managing a fire is something we all need to take into account. The simple mistake of not doing this could compound a bad situation or simply ruin a family gathering. Take the time when using flames to look at what you are doing with safety in mind. The house you save could be your own!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!

Cooking - Dry Run

When we are discussing a bad day we have to take into account all the things we take for granted. Daily we cook food or maybe we order food. Either way food is a major part of all of our days. How do you deal with a day when our normal means of cooking food is unavailable? The power is out, the place you order food from is closed or any other issue which might cause you an issue.

Regardless of where you live each of us needs to have an alternative means of cooking food. A portable means is a bonus. If we live in an apartment, a small grill we can cook with on the balcony is good. If we live in a house a BBQ grill is great! A camp stove is good, a grill you can burn charcoal and wood in is better. Why? Because camping stoves use gas for fuel, fuel runs out, a grill you can burn charcoal and wood in allows you to use what is at hand even after the fuel runs out.

Take a day off and plan on trying out your ability to cook during a bad day. Pick a meal and cook everything on your alternate system. EVERYTHING! Do not cheat and see how much you can really do without using the stove or microwave. You can add a new skill to your tool box and if things go horribly wrong, you can cook your regular way and everyone still gets to eat. During a bad day if you burn the food or have no way of cooking the food, your family might go hungry...............

First item to consider is where are you going to cook? Please do not move a BBQ into your living room and try using it there! Find a location outside and practice cooking. Odds are if you have to cook this way you are not going to want the risk of also burning your house down on top of whatever is happening. Find a well ventilated area away from anything which might catch fire.

Next item would be what are you going to cook on? The pots and pans you have in your kitchen are not made to cook over an open campfire type flame. Most items made for a modern kitchen have plastic handles. These will quickly melt over an open fire and could burn you badly if you grab the handle with the melting plastic! Same goes for plastic utensils, they will melt if left in a hot pan or too close to the fire.

During a bad day you can use these if you have to press them into service. I would suggest cutting off the plastic cover on the handles first. Buying a few cast iron cooking pots and pans is a better idea. Add in some of my favorite wooden utensils and you are good to go. Maybe add an old school camping coffee percolator? Do not try to make coffee over an open flame using glass! Odds are the flame will get to hot and break the glass, which would be a waste of water and coffee!!!

Cooking with cast iron takes practice. The flame or heat is not consistent as you are used to. The great thing is you can still cook everything you want, with a little practice and the right tools. The best item to add first is a Dutch Oven. You can cook almost everything in these. You can make eggs, bacon, casseroles, biscuits and even pies!! Wouldn't it be great if your family could have beef stew, greens, biscuits and apple cobbler during an emergency???? This takes practice and cast iron items have to be cleaned differently than what you do normally.

The trick to cooking with an open flame or charcoal is timing the cooking of the food. Food cooks better on hot coals then over raging fires. you also will want to practice to try and have all the food cooked and ready to serve at the same time. This takes practice, especially if you are not going to be reheating anything in a microwave!

While we are practicing cooking we should take a look at what we would serve the food on? Do we have paper plates and cups to use? Do we have zip lock bags or tupperware to put leftovers into? Do we have chairs and maybe a table to sit on outside? The biggest thing to test or learn is what could you not cook? Can you figure out a way to be able to cook more things? What do you have in your food storage you would not be able to cook? No point in storing those items any more.

Most of all, have fun learning something new! Even if you are a master on the BBQ test yourself. Try cooking an item you normally do not cook. Ribs, hamburgers and hot dogs are your specialty? Cook eggs, make biscuits, corn, stew and go for a pie!!!!! Remember, Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance!!!

As always,

Stay Safe!!!!