Paper Plates in my Survival Kit - What are they good for? Absolutely EVERYTHING!

Paper Plates - such an ordinary object, with extraordinary abilities!  It is one of the many ordinary household things that make a great addition to your survival and emergency kit.
I bet you have a stash of birthday plates that didn't get used up last year - throw them in your emergency survival kit!

Here is a list of 10 uses for paper plates in an emergency situation - if you have more to add to the list, leave a comment and let me know, I'd love to hear more ideas!

1. Conserve water, use paper instead - in an emergency situation, water might be a precious asset and you don't want to waste it for washing dishes.  So, don't bother using your plates from the cupboard, just eat off the paper plates!
2. Fuel for your fire - if you are ready to throw a soiled plate out, don't!  Use it instead to help get your fire started.
3. Funnel - roll it up so that one end is smaller and one end is larger to make a funnel.
4. Make a paper cup/bowl -  If you are using it for liquid, this solution will only work temporarily until it is soaked through.  Fold your plate in half, and then fold the left and right side inward securely to make a temporary cup or bowl to scoop or transport almost whatever you want!  Use it to scoop rice or grain; use it as a temporary cup for water; use it to gather berries or nuts, and more!  When it does soak through, lay it out to dry and then either use it again, or use it to start the fire.
5. Entertainment for the kids - paper plates can become endless craft projects for the kids to help them pass the time - mask, Frisbee, crown, paper airplane, etc.
6. Protect food from flies - you can use them to cover your food if you have to step away, to help protect against flies and other bugs from spreading disease or germs onto your food
7. Use them to leave a Hansel & Gretel style trail to aid rescue efforts - you can write your names on the plate and use them to mark your trail and you can also leave instructions on the plates for how to find you.  You could set a rock on top, or attach it to a tree to reduce the chance of it flying away.  Don't forget to put a pencil in your kit!
8. Make a visor - if it is sunny and you are stranded without your sunglasses, you will want eye protection as well as protection for your nose from the sun. You can cut a circle from the top so that hopefully the plate is large enough to place onto your head to serve as a visor.
9. Fly or Mosquito Swatter - just roll it up like a roll of newspaper, and swat away!
10. Megaphone - although it doesn't work quite as well as a real megaphone, it can help direct the sound of your voice so that the sound doesn't disperse as quickly and will carry a farther distance.  This will help your call for help be more effective.  Just roll it up so that one end is smaller and one end is larger, and call for help through the smaller end.

I don't have room for Long Term Food Storage... or, do I?!

Earthquake, tornado, pandemic, hurricane, tsunami, terrorist attack - oh my!
When I first decided to start putting together an emergency supply of food, I did a little research and found that most people suggest to work up to having a year's worth.  YIKES!  Just thinking about having a month, a three-month, let alone a year's supply of food stocked up on the shelves conjured images of canned food taking over my kitchen cabinets and spilling out onto the counters... or images of spending countless hours preserving foods in jars, sticky everywhere (preserving food is actually really fun, but I shutter to think about making enough to feed our family for 3 months straight, or even buying and making space for that many glass jars).  I don't really buy canned food because of the studies done on the harmful effects that BPA has on your body, and most canned food can liners contain BPA.  After doing more research on the subject of long term food storage and emergency food supply, I came to realize that it doesn't have to be canned or preserved jar foods, and it doesn't have to be in my kitchen AT ALL!  I could store dehydrated and freeze-dried food in the garage, under my bed and even in the coat closet!

Some of the most compact food solutions we found are made by Wise brand in a square-shaped bucket so they are more efficient with space than a round one, and are easily stacked in the coat closet, with plenty of room left for our coats. Each freeze-dried or dehydrated meal is individually packaged and safely stored within the bucket. They are also more compact than stacks and stacks of #10 cans like the Thrive brand (which we also own, and are good but I like the efficient storage Wise brand provides). So, the Wise food buckets are the ones we decided to sell in our store.

Having a stockpile of food is a really good idea so that you wont be left with bare shelves and an empty refrigerator if disaster were to strike, or if you get laid off from work and you have to change your budget drastically and suddenly. A "run on the stores" is another concern, wiping the store clean due to looters or genuine buyers of the food during a crisis.

In addition to our long shelf life food supply, we have a garden and just bought a greenhouse this summer so we can try our hand at growing over the winter! So far, we have 6 months of "Long Term Food Storage" food stored up; I'm working towards a years worth as our budget allows.

p.s. These food packets don't have to be reserved for an emergency, they are GREAT for busy moms or bachelors needing a quick dinner solution!  Just pour the package contents into a pan, add water, stir and cook... in about 12 minutes, dinner is ready on the table!  Or, if you have a last-minute potluck to attend!

MONSANTO'S GENETICALLY MODIFIED CORN COMING TO A PLATE NEAR YOU!

MONSANTO'S GENETICALLY MODIFIED CORN COMING TO A PLATE NEAR YOU!
This is the title of a horror film to give you nightmares for weeks... but this is a true story about Zombie Frankenfood that will come to life this Fall, find its way to your home, and you might unknowingly invite it in for dinner.

Monsanto co. plans to launch a Sweet Corn Fall 2011 that is intended for our grocery stores and you wont be able to tell the difference between natural corn and this FrankenCorn.  In addition to the corn in the fresh produce section, Monsanto is also in talks with companies who will can or freeze their corn - contaminating your long-term food storage options too!  You may already be familiar with the Monsanto's genetically modified, Round-Up Ready corn they developed for the feed and fuel industries, but this corn is intended for human consumption.  The corn is genetically modified to be resistant to RoundUp herbicide being sprayed directly on it, killing everything around it BUT the corn.  ICK!
Being genetically-altered is creepy enough of an idea by itself, but to make things worse, independent laboratory studies have found that these gmo corns causes organ failure, sterilization and other serious problems in rats.  DOUBLE ICK!
Now is a better time than any to start budgeting so you can afford to spend a little bit more at the grocery store to choose Organic over generic foods. 
If your budget is tight, the best solution would be to grow your own garden using seeds that are Non-GMO, Non-hybrid.  You can grow an entire garden that will provide vegetables for months for the price of only a few vegetables from the grocery store!  You control how your garden is grown, and which chemicals (or lack thereof!) you have (or have not!) used.  Plus, with your own garden, you can be ready for whatever the future may bring... job loss, inflation, disaster or emergency that causes a run at the stores, etc.

Here is a whole can full of seeds for your garden that are non-hybrid, non-gmo from Survival Products Direct - click HERE - this is great because each of the cans contain several pouches of seeds.  Instead of the paper pouches you see in the stores that can rip open or get wet, these are in resealable mylar pouches... resealable so you can plant a few seeds now, then reseal the pouch and then plant more a couple weeks after, so you can stagger your harvests (so you don't have 30 squash all ripe in the same week, you can plant them so you'd have 10 ripe per week for example).  The can has a lid, so you can keep all of your pouches handy and tidy all in one place instead of open and spilling all over the garage!


P.S. Here are some links about this recent development about Monsanto's Sweet Corn, so you can do the research yourself:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-04/monsanto-to-introduce-engineered-sweet-corn-in-u-s-this-year.html?cmpid=yhoo

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/08/monsanto-biotech-sweet-corn-human-consumption.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/monsantos-gmo-corn-linked_n_420365.html

Some documentaries worth watching on the subject of Genetically Modified corn and other foods and our government's roll in assisting it's advancement:
The World According to Monsanto
King Corn
The Future of Food
Food, Inc.