Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat, rye, barley, and triticale. Gluten helps foods maintain their shape, acting as a glue that holds foods together. While gluten isn’t a bad for a person, it can be very harmful to someone who is sensitive to gluten. This often is called gluten sensitivity. Sometimes gluten sensitivity can be an autoimmune disorder called, Celiac Disease.
“Celiac disease … can occur in genetically predisposed people where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine. It is estimated to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide. Two and one-half million Americans are undiagnosed and are at risk for long-term health complications.”
– Celiac Disease Foundation
Obviously, people with gluten sensitivity and/or Celiac disease have very little to no gluten in their diets. This can be a problem when storing food storage because many freeze dried foods do have gluten in them. This doesn’t mean they all have gluten.
At Food Insurance, we strive to accommodate everyone. This goes for gluten free products. We do provide gluten free products, but please keep in mind, while items are inherently gluten free, they are produced in a plant that also handles wheat products, and consequently are not “certified” gluten free. There is potential for trace amounts of gluten.
Click here to see products that are gluten free.
https://celiac.org/
http://www.nakedavocado.com/gluten/
Coconut oil is definitely an item that should be in your food storage, bug out bags, and everyday life. On top of cooking, coconut oil can be used several different ways. It has a longer shelf life than most other oils, so it’s great to use for food storage and bug-out bags. Listed below are several ways you can use coconut oil in survival situations; however, the list could go on and on.
Skin Therapy
Coconut oil can be used as a lotion for your skin. Use it daily to help stop flaky, dry elbows, and help soothe eczema. It’s a great nail cuticle softener. It also helps with your pet’s dry skin, just rub it on the dry spots. Use it on sunburns to help with the pain and peeling. Best of all, it doesn’t clog your skin pores and it will not aggravate your skin problems (if you have questions about this, always consult your doctor).
Remedial
Add one tablespoon of coconut oil in hot tea to help recover from a cold. Use it on diaper rashes as a cheaper and more effective solution. It can be used to help with hemorrhoids when used topically and it helps fight yeast infections. It’s great as a natural chapped lip salve and it helps clear up cold sores. Ingesting coconut oil can help with your allergies and with mental awareness. It is also an effective daily supplement for energy.
Itching
Coconut oil helps reduce the itch and irritation from mosquito bites. It can act as a natural bug repellant by adding some mint essential oil. It also helps soothe the itch from chicken pox or poison ivy.
Always check the brand of coconut oil before buying because they all have expiration dates. As mentioned before, coconut oil stores longer than most other oils. Every brand has a different shelf-life, but most of them are between 18-months and 2 years. It all depends on the temperature its store and the brand.
Did you know that freeze dried fruits, vegetables, and meats can be substituted for fresh ingredients in your favorite recipes? Over our 50+ years of freeze drying experience, we have perfected the process to the point where, in all likelihood, your family or guests won’t even be able to tell that your ingredients are freeze dried. The taste, texture, and consistency are really that good.
Continue reading “Freeze Dried Vs. Fresh (Video)”
Daily Bread wrote an article about hygiene and sanitation that really caught our eye. We wanted to add to their list of basic hygiene and sanitation practices with five more steps that you can take to stay healthy, clean, and safe during an emergency. Below is the original article by Daily Bread.
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Prioritizing hygiene and sanitation are vital to you and your family’s survival in an emergency situation. Contracting a sickness and/or disease will extremely lower your chances of survival. Failing to practice these basic hygiene and sanitation steps could cost you and your family.
1. Keep your hands clean
• Wash your hands after handling any material that may carry harmful bacteria. This could be activities like carrying sticks or going to a cat hole. Always wash your hands before handling any food or water. Hand sanitizer is a great alternative in emergency situations.
2. Keep your hair clean
• Human hair can become a lair for parasites, fleas, and bacteria which could cause infection and diseases. Keeping your hair trimmed, clean, combed, and tied away, perhaps in a ponytail, in emergency situations will help keep dangerous parasites and bacteria away.
3. Keep your clothing clean
• Parasites and bacteria also infect and inhabit your clothing, which could be very dangerous and fatal as our clothing covers our body and sensitive organs. Keeping your clothing clean will also help keep unwanted parasites and bacteria from causing skin infection and disease. Clothing should be kept clean, dry, and in good condition as much as possible to retain better insulating quality. A very fast and easy way to do this is to have a hand-operated washing machine. For more information on a hand-operated washing machine, click here.
4. Keep your teeth clean
• Take care of your mouth and teeth at least once each day to keep it clean and free from bacteria. If you don’t have a toothbrush you can use a chewing stick chewing on both ends to separate the fiber and use it to brush your teeth thoroughly.
5. Take care of your feet
• Taking care of your feet is one of the most important things you have to keep in mind when in a survival situation. Your feet may be your only means of transportation during emergencies, so you need to take good care of them.
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Here are our five extra steps you can take to stay healthy, clean, and safe during an emergency.
6. Get sufficient rest
• Getting proper rest is important to keep yourself going. Try to have regular rest periods and learn to be comfortable under less than ideal conditions, so you won’t have a hard time adjusting and getting enough rest.
7. Avoiding illness
• The dangers of contracting a disease will substantially increase when you are in a survival situation. Always purify your water obtained from natural sources before consumption.
8. Keep campsite clean
• Do not soil the ground in the campsite area with urine or feces. Use latrines, if available. When latrines are not available, dig “cat holes” and cover the waste. Collect drinking water upstream from the campsite. Purify all water.
9. Keep your water clean
• Never place a dirty hand, utensil, or soap into a storage container of clean water. Always dip or slowly pour the clean water over the dirty object, catching the waste in a different container. This waste water can rinse off soil or other grime from dirty hands or utensils before doing the final wash. Using this method gives you the maximum use of clean water.
10. Keep a positive attitude
• Cleanliness also greatly impacts our emotions. A big enemy in a survival situation is depression or hopelessness. Dirt can have a negative impact on our emotions whereas, cleanliness gives us an emotional boost and strengthens our resolve to press on.
Sources:
http://www.dailybread.com/blog/why-hygiene-and-sanitation-is-important-for-prepping/
http://www.livereadynow.com/cleanliness-for-survival/
One of the most difficult things a prepper has to figure out is where they should hide their valuables. A safe or vault is a good way to lock away valuables, but some burglars will just steal the entire safe or vault leaving you with nothing. This is the reason why Q-Line Design has done a fantastic job with their furniture. Here is one example of Q-Line’s SafeGuard Shelving System. It’s a great way to hide your valuables in plain sight.
As you can see from the video, the bookshelf blends in without alerting anyone that it has extra shelves or valuables inside. Furniture that blends in, but has hidden amenities, is essential to prepping. If you would like to learn more about Q-Line Designs, click here.
The number one rule that all preppers should know is to never talk about your prepping to anyone. There are many reasons for this rule that are obvious and can be life-threatening, which is why it is very important a prepper does not talk about their supplies or strategies. But, let’s say, someone does find out you are a prepper, what do you do?
You do not want to be the first person someone thinks about when a disaster strikes. To avoid this at all cost, even if someone knows you are a prepper is to change the subject as fast as you can. The less they know, the better.
If you do have someone asking about prepping and starts asking about your supplies, downplay as much as you can. Tell them you only have a few things stashed away for blackouts and a small emergency. You want them to think that you would be just as much in need of help as they would be to keep them off your radar.
Hiding your supplies is very important, especially when you have a lot of it. They know you have some supplies so having a few days’ worth sitting out will not look suspicious to those looking in.
If you have any suspicion of people counting on retreating to your house after disaster strikes, it might be best to bug out before they get to you. You can wait it out and return when things start to calm down. If you would like a list of things you can use to make your own Bug-Out Bag, check out this infographic.
When people become desperate for supplies and food, they are prepared to do anything it takes to save themselves. If they make it through your protection strategies it will turn into an all-out fight for your supplies. You need to be ready to protect what is rightfully yours.
This list can be avoided as long as you follow the number one rule: Don’t talk about prepping!
Sources:
http:// urbansurvivalsite.com/things-you-can-do-if-people-find-out-youre-a-prepper/
Camping with kids can be very overwhelming because you not only need to pack for yourself, but for your child(ren) as well. Not to mention you need to pack shelter, food, and other essentials. All of this preparation can become stressful and cause you to forget some of the most important items needed for your camping trip.
We understand how crazy this can be, so our sister company, Campfire Meals, made a checklist that’s downloadable/printable to help you with your packing journey.
Click here to download and print Camping with Kids Checklist.
Shop our Top Campfire Meals Bundles:
Good nutrition is an essential factor to help keeping you healthy and active. When a disaster happens, many forget that a main part of staying alive is eating nutritious food and drinking water. Having poor nutrition can impair our wellbeing and cause our bodies to slow affecting our ability to problem solve, our overall alertness, and muscle response time. These are vital abilities needed to survive a disaster.
When choosing food storage, it is important to choose food with a good nutritional value. It is important to remember that each person should have at least 1000 calories a day with meals that are well-balanced and nutritious. Be sure to include vitamin, mineral, and protein supplements in your food storage to help keep the balance in your meal. Also, make sure there is enough water to hydrate each member of your group.
If you need help finding nutritious and well-balanced long-term food storage, here is a list of our new long-term meal plans to help keep you and your group healthy and safe:
Sources:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/31172-effects-poor-nutrition-health/
Spring cleaning is upon us! There are three important steps that need to happen during your spring cleaning that will benefit your food storage and your family in the long run.
Continue reading “Food Storage and Spring Cleaning”
For many people, buying an emergency food storage supply feels like a daunting task. With all of the products available on the market, the amount of research needed to find the right thing for your family can be overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be. One our our team members, Tim Hemingway, recently met with the Studio 5 morning news program in Salt Lake City, Utah to discuss four simple questions you should ask before buying emergency food.
Continue reading “4 Questions To Ask Before Buying Emergency Food Storage”
