Today While The Sun Shines: What If The Grid Was Down?

Food Storage Amounts

1 gallon = 7 lbs wheat, rice or sugar
1 gallon = 5 lbs powdered milk or flour
1 gallon = 4 lbs macaroni
1 gallon = 3 lbs potato flakes, oatmeal, or instant milk
5 gallons = 35 lbs wheat, beans, rice, or sugar
5 gallons = 25 lbs powdered milk or flour
5 gallons = 20 lbs macaroni
5 gallons = 15 lbs potato flakes, oatmeal, or instant milk
55 gal drum = 400 lbs wheat, beans, rice, or sugar
55 gal drum = 275 lbs powdered milk or flour
55 gal drum = 225 lbs macaroni
55 gal drum = 160 lbs potato flakes, oatmeal, or instant milk

Substitutions

Cream Cheese: cottage cheese blended smooth with butter or milk

Eggs: 1 tbsp soy flour and 1 tbsp water or 1 tbsp ground flax and 3 tbsp water

Milk / Cream: 1 cup milk = 1/3 cup dry milk plus 1 cup water or 1/2 cup evaporated milk plus 1/2 cup water

1 cup buttermilk = 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make 1 cup, let stand 5 min

1 cup heavy cream = 7/8 cup whole milk plus 1 1/2 tbsp butter

Sugar: 1 cup granulated sugar = 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar or 1 cup packed light brown sugar or 3/4 cup honey

1 cup brown sugar = 1 cup sugar plus 2 tbsp molasses

Misc:
1 pkg yeast = 1 tbsp bulk yeast or 1/2 cake compressed yeast
1 tsp baking powder = 1/4 tsp cream tartar plus 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp lemon juice = 1/2 tbsp vinegar
1 cup butter / margarine = 7/8 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dark corn syrup = 3/4 cup light plus 1/4 cup molasses
1 chopped onion = 1 tbsp instant minced
1 clove garlic = 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 cup tomato sauce = 3/4 cup tomato paste plus 1 cup water
1 tbsp prepared mustard = 1 tsp dry mustard plus 1 tbsp water

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

What If The Grid Was Down?

Grid down? What does that mean anyway? It means much more than just a power outage. The electrical grid is such a fragile thing. There are a number of ways it could crumble. A snowstorm, thunderstorm, hurricane, heatwaves, extreme cold, any number of natural disasters could easily bring down large portions of the power grid.

If there were a country wide event that brought down the power grid, it could take much longer than a localized event. Imagine the manpower, the tools, the equipment, the resources that would be needed to rebuild the grid. It would be huge.

Worst case scenario, what if there were an emp (electro magnetic pulse) that completely fried our power grid? Worst case scenario.....we would literally be thrown back into the ages of no power, no technology of any sort, and we would completely have to rely upon our own preparedness and survival skills. Factories would not work, so it wouldn't be a matter of getting resources and equipment out there. We would have to start right from scratch and get factories up and running, find the resources, build the things needed, and then we could figure out a way to get out there and rebuild the grid. It would take years to rebuild it all.

What if....a solar flare big enough to knock it down, a terrorist attack to shut it down, cyber terrorism, or a nuclear plant explosion of some sort? What if?

Here is a great article that talks about different ways the grid could be taken down. The more severe drastic ways that most of us don't want to think about, but are real none the less. Take a few minutes to review this article and ask yourself some more what if questions.

Here is another article that talks about the same thing, but actually gives a bit of advice on what we can do to prepare for such a crazy event. Some good links to follow and check out. Again ask yourself what you can do if such an event were to happen.

What do you as a family need to prepare for if..... or when.... the grid comes down?

Think about it, plan for it! What would you do?