Electronic books vs. print books, for information storage.

 

 

As preppers we have a lot of information we want to save and have handy at our fingertips when we need it.  In the last few years we've moved more and more to electronic forms of storing that information.  We buy kindle books, or save pages to our computers, hoping that we will be able to access it no matter what.

 

In our case, we have a solar electric power system for our house, and we were smug that we would be able to access books and information stored on our computers and other devices long after any possible "SHTF" situation.  Even if the batteries would no longer hold a charge, we could power the devices directly off our solar panels. 

 

Oh, sure, sometimes we'd fork out the money for an actual print book, but right now on my kindle I have over 500 books stored.  So does my husband.  Not all of them are things that will be essential to survival if the world collapses.  The books containing 30 excellent muffin recipes and 15 hacks for a better work-out can probably dissolve into cyber never-land and I could continue on.  But the books about edible wild foods and how to set a snare for small game are a little more likely to be useful.

 

We know that electronics have to be replaced from time to time.  They get viruses or become outdated, or they have other problems.  Yet it didn't really occur to me how much information could be lost if this happened at a time when we can't easily retrieve the information on them.  When I bought a tablet I was able to add my kindle account to it.  I left all the previous books on my old black and white kindle and just started downloading any new purchases to my tablet.  

 

When the handwriting was on the wall that my computer was giving out two year ago, I emailed all my document files to myself so I could download them to my new computer, and then backed up all my files and pictures. 

 

However, we have had two things happen recently that have undermined my confidence in being able to access our books and information.  The first one was that my tablet would not turn on.  My grandson had been playing games on it and I figured he had just drained the battery totally into darkness, so I charged it.  And charged it and charged it.  It still would not turn on.  I was about to grudgingly take it in to see if it was fixable and I had resigned myself to losing the pictures on it. 

 

Then someone suggested I try a different charger cord.  My tablet has a weird connection for the charger cord and nothing else we owned used that same one.  So I bought a new cord and that took care of the problem.  Big relief, right?  No.  I realized that even if my tablet continued to work after a "SHTF" event, if I didn't have a working charger cord the tablet would be useless. 

 

The suggestion here might be that we buy and put away a few charger cords for our electronic devices that we expect to need if something were to happen and we could not buy a new cord.  That's something you'll have to each decide for yourself.

 

The other thing that happened is that my husband's old black & white kindle won't turn on.  He plugged it in and charged it, and the light obediently turned to green when it felt like the battery was charged.  The advertising picture that sits on the screen when the kindle is turned off is there on the screen like it should be.  But the kindle doesn't come on when he pushes the button.  We've tried over and over.  Short pushes, long pushes, nothing makes it come to life.  We still have not solved that one, but at least he can retrieve all the books and move them to another device such as his tablet.

 

If the "SHTF" he could not have that information transferred since it takes the internet to do so, by going through amazon's "manage my kindle" feature.  All those books would be lost.

 

We can have a store room full of spare computers, tablets, kindles, etc., and still risk losing all our information.  The answer would be to have "hard copies", such as print books, or by printing information off the computer.  Some information is harder to save and print than other information.  I've recently had a few people ask how they could print up some of my blog posts.  Unfortunately I am not very "techy" and I don't know how it can be done.  If something doesn't have a "printer ready" place to click on the page, I just assume it's beyond the scope of my technical knowledge.

 

I've recently learned how to do a "screen shot" (okay, young people, stop laughing!  I know it was easy for you!  lol) and save it to my computer like a photo image.  From there I could theoretically print it like a picture, after enlarging it enough to read it.  That might be one option for technically-challenged people like myself.

 

The copyright laws that cover information published on the internet have a lot of gray areas.  But generally if you're printing something for your own use, it's "okay".  If you present it to others as your own writing, that's bad.  If you re-publish it in your own name, that's plagarizing and it's bad.  If you sell the information to others, even with the original author's name on it, that's bad.  If you quote parts of it in your own writing AND GIVE CREDIT TO THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR, that's okay. 

 

The exception is "free downloads" from pirate or bootleg websites that illegally offer kindle and other electronic books.  Please make sure you are getting your books from a legitimate site and not a 'stolen' book offered on these book download sites.  If you get any of the kindle books that I have published from anyone except amazon.com, you are getting an illegal download. 

 

You should probably do your own searching regarding legal issues, but I'm giving you permission here on this post to print up anything you can off of my blog IF IT IS FOR YOUR OWN INFORMATION and you are not going to try and sell it to others.  You can even make another copy for a friend or relative, since this information is here on a blog that I have given the public access to, and your friend or relative could print it up themselves for free, too, if they wanted.  But instead you have graciously used your printer ink to provide them with a copy of information that I hope is helpful for people both before and after a SHTF event. 

 

But back to the original subject.... if you're relying on electronic devices to store your potentially life-saving information, consider having back ups and extra power cords and anything else you deem necessary to sustain this form in information.

 

Please leave comments or questions below or at: povertyprepping@yahoo.com

 

Thank you!

 

Susan

D.K. Richardson Guest Post - Nutrition: Food and Cooking

Nutrition: food & cooking

 

This segment focuses on putting together your own meal, ready to eat. Using commonly available long shelf-life commercial products, you can make your own tasty and easy-to-cook or heat-to-eat meals. I discuss several common problems with home-made MREs and show you how to avoid the problems. Finally, since you should store what you eat - and eat what you store. Here, I show you how to incorporate your homemade MREs into your day-to-day diet so that rotation and out-of-date foods should never be a problem.

 

I'm going to focus on ~about 72 hours of food for an individual. You should be able to eat most the items without cooking; the items should have a good shelf life - more than 6 months in the kit and be relatively low cost.

 

Food for your kit should require no refrigeration, be easy to make and simple to clean up. The food should also provide real calories - in a disaster you'll need anywhere from 2K to 5K calories per day, depending on the weather. Minimal water use is also something you should factor in as well.

Remember, even if you eat nothing, you will still need at least two liters of water, per day.

 

Let's look at some possible choices for your kit food. I'll stick with brands that can be had here in Alaska - you should have no problem finding them where you live as well.

 

Clif Bars - 230 Calories - 30 from fat

 

Oatmeal (fast, not instant)- 150 Calories per 1/2 cup serving (4 days is only 2 full cups)

 

CoffeeMate dry creamer 15 calories per packet (1 tbsp) shows 1 g of fat

 

Sugar, packet 15 calories

 

Instant potatoes - (Baby Reds) 4 oz pouch - 110 calories (no serving size listed, I'm assuming per oz as it is a carbohydrate)

 

Minute rice - 250 Calories per 1/2 cup serving per the producers website

Note - other sources show 150-185 calories per single cup serving or 'rice'.

Note - With Minute Rice brand rice - 1 cup dry is a 1 cup serving. For unprocessed rice, it is 1/2 cup rice = 1 cup cooked.

 

Peanut butter (JIff to go) 250 calories, 150 from fat. per 1.5 oz serving

 

SPAM (classic, slice in bag) 250 calories per 3 oz serving. (Other choices are tuna in the larger bag, chicken breast in the pouch, and dry salami. See below)

 

Trail mix (Planters, 6 oz) 150 calories, 80 from fat per 6 oz bag

 

Lipton Soup (dry) Chicken noodle - 60 calories per packet

 

Sun Maid raisins 1.5 oz (28g) box 90 calories

 

StarKist light tuna in water (Pouch, 2.6 oz) 80 calories, 5 calories from fat.

 

Bumble Bee chicken breast (pouch, 4 oz) 150 calories

 

Sailor Boy Pilot bread - 100 calories per cracker

 

Hormel roast beef and gravy (12 oz can) ? The product page lists servings as "varies' then shows 130 calorie per serving. Lean roast beef is about 46 calories per oz. Call it 500 calories per 12 oz can.

 

A Mountain House Beef Stroganoff (2 serving pouch) gives you 500 calories for 4.6 oz.

 

A single MRE gives (about) 1250 calories and each one weighs in at between 0.8 pounds and 1.8 pounds (depends of menu item and packer) stripping out some of the packing will shave off some weight. Cost of a single MRE is around 8 US dollars as of the time of writing.

 

Hormel Dinty Moore Beef stew, DAK premium canned had (16 oz), Corned beef & corned beef hash, and other canned meats may be more to your taste - this is an exercise in counting calories and trying for some balance in your food choices.

 

To reduce clean up, wet items can be served in a sandwich bag - used as a liner - held by a bowl. Doing this will reduce your clean up tasks. Rice and oatmeal only need hot water, the stew may be (carefully) heated in the opened can using a water bath, the water being saved for washing up after your meal..

 

What kind of meals can we make form these basic ingredients?

So, how about a big breakfast of 1 cup of oatmeal (300k), 1.5 oz of raisins (90) a couple of CoffeeMates in leiu of milk (30) and a packet of sugar (15) - you end up with 435 calories and a pretty filling start to your day. Requires hot water to be palatable for most people.

Optional items, Swiss Miss hot coca mix or freeze dried coffee.

 

For a lunch - as most folks are habituated to a noonday meal, even if not necessary.

Lunch of 6 oz of trail mix (150) + 1 Clif bar (230) consumed thru the day, will give 380 calories and will keep you going. No cooking required.

Optional items would be Crystal Delight or other low-cal drink.

 

Dinner of SPAM, diced (250) in a soup mix (60 ) over 1 cup of Minute rice (500) gives you a full dinner of 820 calories + drink. A 'desert' of a candy bar will add several hundred more calories.

This requires cooking, making a "One Pot meal".

 

Daily total 435 + 380 + 820 = 1635 - still short of what would be necessary except for the very short term.

 

Even the roast beef and gravy over 4 oz potatoes would still leave you a bit short of 2000 calories. Adding a Jif peanut butter packet on a couple of Sailor Boy crackers at mid-day would add an additional 450 calories - meeting the 2K goal per day.

 

Taking a few minutes to plan now and making a list of items to pick up as part of your regular shopping cycle will help keep costs under control. Since you know what you and your group enjoys to eat, these are suggestions to follow when planning your disaster kit food menu choices.
 

Why no MREs? Those are good enough for the Army!

You are correct. Each MRE retails for about 8 dollars, or about 25 dollars a day. You can do better - cost wide. You can certainly plan for the evening meal as an MRE and know you will go to bed with a full tummy and likely have some leftovers to eat the next day.

 

Canned food? That stuff weighs a ton! Why would suggest canned food?

This is a DIY disaster kit, not something you would use for crossing the high Sierras on foot. Canned food makes sense if you will be traveling by automobile - I'm sure most of us would prefer that over walking. Canned food (also called wet pack) normally doesn't require additional water to cook.

 

Why would I pick an MRE over a nice freeze dried meal?

Rarely is a back-packer 'meal' a full meal - a popular brand of FD food - like Beef Stroganoff is lightweight and tasty. Add two cups of boiling water and you have -- a bit over two cups of beef stroganoff.

With a single MRE, you get a lot more - for a couple of dollars above the cost of freeze dried - if that. Open that funky brown plastic bag and you'll find -

Entree - the main course, such as meatloaf

Side dish - lots of choices here, rice, corn, fruit, or mashed potatoes, etc. These are available separately of you wish to build your own custom menus.

Cracker or Bread choice - tortillas even!

Spread - peanut butter, jelly, or cheese spread. Yum.

Dessert - a cake or cookie choice.

Candy - This is normally a commercial product - in some cases, not even repackaged.

Beverages - coffee, tea, sport drinks and so on.

Hot sauce or seasoningare found in some menu choices

Flameless Ration Heater- if you don't have a stove or don't want the hassle of a stove - these work pretty well, with MRE packaged items.

Accessories - spoon, matches, creamer, sugar, salt, chewing gum, toilet paper, etc.
 

I was in the store and saw some "Heater Meals". Are they any good for this?

Good question.

Pros - These and so-called microwave pacs are lighter than canned food, these wet pack items can be readily heated in a hot water bath. The Heater Meal brand has something like the MRE flameless ration heater to warm the meal. I have eaten several different brands as lunch while working in Cubeville. Most are decent tasting - but I will caution you to try any of your choices first to avoid any ugly surprises later.

Cons - These are not as rugged as canned food. You must be careful on how you pack and carry these, least you open your disaster kit and find it full of spaghetti and meatballs. The same caution applies to the peel-top cans as well.

 

"How about those sandwiches from the new First Strike Ration?"

I was a bit excited when they first came out at the backpacking stores here. The reality was less than thrilling - long on bread, short on filler. At $4 or more dollars - per sandwich, I find them pricy. That said, I still have some in my bag because you can eat them cold and they are something of a comfort food.

 

"I don't think I could eat a whole can of...say, chili. What can I do?"

There are a host of smaller, peel-top cans which, when heated and poured over rice, potatoes or pasta make a good filling and hot meal.

 

"I don't like the taste of parboiled rice. I don't want to carry the fuel needed to boil the water for 20 minutes to make real rice. Any suggestions?"

I hate to make those kinds of choices as well. I carry a thermal flask and use it to cook 'real rice' and real oatmeal, for that matter. It's also great for heating water the night before to make a hot breakfast without fussing with a stove in the morning. Check out any number of "Thermos cooking" websites for more ideas. For this - practice makes perfect...

 

"What else will work for breakfast? It's a big deal for the start of my day."

There are several dry mix products that will allow you to cook pancakes, bannock (AKA fry bread or pan bread) - or you can roll your own and store the ingredients in a zipbag or plastic container. Make sure your fuel budget covers the extra cooking time and that you have enough water for both cooking and cleaning up.

 

"I dunno, this all looks pretty complicated."

Good point, if you eat out all the time or your meals are mostly fast food, this can seem intimidating. In that case, the MREs are your friend. If you have even basic cooking skills, you can mix and match to suit your tastes.

It is really as simple as making a 4 x3 grid - three meals for 4 days, and filling in the blanks. Remember to check the "Use by" dates on any food before it goes into your DIY kit and make a mote of the dates you need to swap out your food supplies.

If you only do one or two practice campout trips a year, you can eat the food before it expires and get some practice on your cooking.

 

Questions? Ping Susan and I'll get an answer back to you via the webaite.

 

Thanks and Happy Holiday!

 

 

(Thank you, Mr. Richardson.  Excellent information as always, and I'm glad to have you back with us.)

 

From all of us here at Poverty Prepping

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season.

 

Susan

povertyprepping@yahoo.com

");

Guest Post - Melting Snow For Water

Melting Snow for Water

By Steven Gregersen

Have you ever heard the old quip, "pure as the wind driven snow?" Well, it doesn't hold true in these parts! When the wind blows and the snow falls here we end up with snow that's full of pine needles, leaves, lichen and sometimes soot.

We don't know everything about melting snow for water but since most of our water in the winter time comes from melted snow we’ve learned a few things to make the job easier and more efficient.

First, it takes a lot of snow to make a gallon of water. It would be nice if there was a formula involved like "four quarts of snow equals one quart of water" but it isn't that simple. Any avid skier can tell you that there are different kinds of snow. Warm, heavy, wet snow and corn snow have a higher moisture content than cold, dry, fluffy snow. In addition cold snow doesn't pack as tightly as warm snow. Old snow also has more moisture by volume than new snow because it's had time to compress and may have gone through some thaw cycles which make it denser. What this means is that if you need one quart of water the amount of snow you'll have to melt may vary greatly depending upon the time of year, the location, the age of the snow and the temperature.

One way to estimate the moisture content of the snow you're melting is by weight. Say you're using a one gallon container. One gallon (US measure) of water weighs approximately 8.3 pounds. If the snow in your one gallon container weighs four pounds then the water content of the snow is almost 50 percent which means it will take two gallons of snow to make one gallon of water. The water content of most snow is way, way, way below that but you get the idea of how to get a quick estimate of the amount of snow you're going to have to melt to meet your needs.

Second, whether melting snow at home or while camping in the woods use the largest container you have! I love my canteen cups but in winter, even when backpacking, try to include a large, lightweight pot for melting snow. It makes the job go much faster.

Third, whatever container or utensil you're going to use for scooping up the snow should be cold and dry. If it's not then the snow will stick to the sides and bottom when you dump it into your melting pot. It's not a big deal but it's more hassle. Along the same line of thought, if your water is boiling and putting out steam when you dump in new snow, the steam will coat your "dumping utensil" and the next batch of snow will stick to it. Again, it isn't a big deal, just annoying.

 

Fourth, keep some water in the melting pot. For your initial use you may have to begin with just snow. If so, use low heat until you have at least an inch of water in the bottom of the pan. I've heard that you can scorch snow but I've never seen it happen. You can, however, seriously burn your pan if the heat's too high. The actual moisture content of snow is low so the base layer contacting the heated pan bottom may melt and turn immediately to steam. The steam is quickly absorbed by the snow above it and you have a "cave" of sorts in the bottom of the pan. This is dead air space and air is not as efficient at conducting heat as water. The result is a pan bottom that may become red hot in places while there is still unmelted snow only an inch or so above. When we empty the water from the kettle we leave at least a couple of inches of water for the next load.

Another benefit is that you'll be able to get more snow in the pan each time you "reload" it. The new snow is melted by the hot water until it cools the water off. Even then the cold water will saturate and melt the new snow so you can get a larger volume of snow in the pan. Eventually the snow you add will no longer melt until you add more heat. The thing to remember is that water is a better conductor of heat than air. Snow has a lot of air space which makes it a good insulator which means it’s slow to absorb the heat. The less air space, the faster it will heat up.

Fifth, purify and strain the water.  Remember what I said about pine needles, leaves, lichen and soot at the beginning? When the wind blows here the snow is full of debris. Depending upon what kind of debris we're talking about, it may not hurt to have a little in the snow. You can make a healthy tea with some kinds of pine needles and lichen! Decaying leaves and soot are another story! As the snow melts, strain any undesirable elements out with a dipper. Do it before the temperature increases or you'll be drinking tea instead of water. It's not so much a matter of purity as it is taste. If you bring your water to a rolling boil as we do, anything in it will be “purified.” But it will also have imparted some of itself in the form of taste and discoloration. After our water has boiled we pour it into a barrel using a coffee filter to strain out the undesirable elements. You can use any other filter of your choice for this. We use coffee filters because we have a bunch of them. The filters will become clogged so replace them when the water no longer flows through.

 

Remember, filtering does not purify the water. It only strains out the debris. You must either heat the water or use a chemical means to purify it.

At this point we'll use it for drinking or washing as the need arises. If we're drinking it we may filter it further. If we're melting water for livestock we won't filter it or bring it to a boil.

A caution on drinking melted snow. There's a lot of discussion about the purity of snow. It's possible that it may have picked up impurities from the air as it falls to the ground or pollutants such as jet fuel may be mixed in with it. You'll have to decide for yourself if this is a problem. In my opinion (which is only valid for me!) rain and surface water have the same risks. Even wells can be contaminated by underground pollutants. If it's not an emergency and you have reason to believe the snow is polluted then my advice is to not drink it. But that decision is one you'll have to make!

 

THE END

 

Thank you, Mr. Gregersen, for the post.  If anyone has questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section below or by email to povertyprepping@yahoo.com

Special diets and medical needs for preppers

Some people choose to follow certain diets, for a variety of reasons.  Some people must follow certain diets because of medical conditions.  Both groups of people already deal with these issues in every day life.  But when it comes to prepping it can present challenges.

What if you're allergic to wheat?  For a lot of people whole wheat and it's products are a major part of food storage.  If someone who will be eating with you, if the STHF, is allergic to wheat or is gluten intolerant, you will want to be sure there are things they can safely eat. 

Wheat allergy is an easy one to replace with other food items, and is not always the same as gluten-intolerant.  My husband is allergic to grass, and wheat is a member of the grass family.  He can eat things with gluten in it from sources other than wheat, but has the symptoms of hayfever when he eats wheat products: runny nose, scratchy throat, sinus headache.  For our food storage I make sure we have plenty of rice, oats, and corn.

People with gluten intolerance often have a whole list of grains and foods they have to avoid, including all the variations and names given to those products used in food processing.  Most of their grocery shopping is probably ingredients for cooking from scratch, rather than packaged foods.  These would make up their food storage, too.

Dairy is another common allergy.  There are soy-, rice-, and almond-based 'dairy' products.  For storage there are sources of powdered rice milk, and powdered soy 'sour cream' and 'cream cheese'.  We order ours from Azure Standard, of Oregon.  It's not difficult to make soy milk or rice milk, and many things can be prepared with water instead of milk, such as biscuits and pancakes.

Diabetics have special concerns to address.  First thing I'd do is to buy a huge bag of hard candies and divide it into small bags and vacuum-seal them.  That way they'd have a supply of quick sugar for blood sugar drops.  Be sure to put a handful in bug-out bags and spread them throughout your food storage.  Diabetics know better than anyone what they'll need.  This isn't the time to be shy about it.  Make sure to add these things to your storage.

Some diabetics are storing their choice of artificial sweeteners.  I don't know if the shelf life on those vary, but if you use them, you're probably familiar with them.  If you live in a warm climate you can grow Stevia.  I grew it as an annual one year in our cold climate.  I harvested the leaves and dried them as I would any herb.  I put them right in with my tea herbs when I made tea.  I don't generally use artificial sweeteners but I wanted to experiment with this.  I could have brought one or more of the plants inside over the winter but I haven't had great success with houseplants.

Several people are following special diets for High Blood Pressure or Heart Disease.  I've been corresponding with a reader who wrote: "I am on the Dr. Esselstyn program for heart and diabetes. All bloodwork is now normal!!! There are no animal products or dairy plus no added fat. Normal suggestions for putting back do not fit in my case. I eat from the stored beans, rice, oats, etc." 

Some of the easiest and best storage foods fit with that diet.  Beans, rice, oats, and probably other grains as well as fruits and vegetables, would help stabilize high blood sugar.  For most of us we'd need and want some fats for energy.  If the SHTF ever does happen, we'll all be working hard just to accomplish daily tasks for survival; and a lot of heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure will probably improve or go away altogether.  We'll have fewer problems from fats and salt, and in fact might be struggling to find sources of them.

No matter what special diets or needs you, there are foods that can be stored so that you can maintain optimal health.  I hope you're encouraged to look for options and answers.

The best advice I can give for people on medications is to try to get off them if you can.  Not everyone can do that, but if you're just mildly diabetic or have borderline hypertension, changes in lifestyle and diet can often eliminate the need for meds.  Most people probably already know that, but maybe hearing it from another source helps encourage people to seek them out.. 

It's really hard to change our way of eating.  But if you truly believe it's possible that there will be any sort of long-term disaster, collapse, or war or anything that could interupt your meds, then it's worth making the effort.  For me it's easier to make little tweaks in my diet and add more excercise.  I find that going for regular walks or bicycle rides keeps my blood pressure lower than making dietary changes by themselves with little or no excercise. 

If some sort of disaster or collapse happens and it looks like it's going to be for the long haul, make sure you know how to go off your meds.  Some are dangerous to stop cold-turkey.  You need to know how to wean yourself off of them.  Be sure to keep your prescriptions filled as early as you're allowed to, and go for the 90-day supply whenever possible.  That way you'll have enough left to wean yourself off them by breaking them in halves, and then fourths.  When you reach the fourths, then cut back to every other day, then skip two days, etc.  It can take a few weeks.  It may vary, too, so check with your doctor for instructions.  Tell him/her that you're just trying to learn all you can about your meds.

Find out if there's any herbs in your area that can be used to make a fascimile of your drug.  Research this carefully and through reputable sources.  I have some knowledge of this but there are too many to put in a blog post.  If you have a medicine that you're concerned about, please email me and I'll see if I can help you find a substitute.  The substitutes are not my recommendation for stopping your 'real' meds or to stop seeing your doctor.  They're for emergencies or survival situations.  But having the knowledge could save your life or that of a loved one.

I have a friend who has diabetes and he uses apple cider vinegar in place of the Metformin he was taking.  He says it has to be 'real' apple cider vinegar, like Braggs, with "the mother" in it.  He uses a tablespoon of vinegar in a glass of water before each meal.  I did some internet research on that and found several websites that agree that apple cider vinegar helps with type II diabetes and also can help lower high blood pressure.  However I found a lot of variation in the amounts recommended. 

Type I diabetes is a whole different deal than Type II.  I've never known of any substitutes for Insulin until I came across this comment on a search today:  "I am storing dried blueberry leaves for tea for my nephew (in case of SHTF), he has Type 1 diabetes. From what I have found, 1 cup of tea is equal to one unit of insulin."  I've never heard that.  Does anyone know about this?  I'd hate to mess with anything as serious as Type I diabetes, but if your life is on the line and there's no more insulin, it's at least something to try.  However, if it was as simple as that, I'm surprised I didn't find it mentioned anywhere else.

I'm really stumbling my way through this post, but my heart is in the right place.  I'm hoping to help find answers for those with concerns about diet or meds.  These things make prepping even more of a challenge. This is definitely a post where I welcome comments, suggestions, and questions. 

povertyprepping@yahoo.com

Susan