Friday, May 8, 2009

Outplan, Outprepare, Outsurvive


So Tuesday at church we ladies had a Survivor night. It was all about how to be prepared in case of emergency. We all sat down at tables and started talking when all of a sudden the lights go out and we hear the emergency broadcast system screaching. A voice came on saying "This is only a test. If this were a real emergency, you would have to rely on the skills you already posess to survive." (Hokey, I know, but we are mormons, thats just part of our DNA.) So everyone immediatly turned on the flashlights that were sitting on the table.

Our first challenge was to find our "tribe", identified by different colored armbands, in the dark. We then had a first aid quiz. Things sure have changed since I took a first aid course. (Did you know that the only scientifically based cure for hiccups was to breathe into a paper bag?) We then had to list as many things as we could to put into a 72 hour kit. Then all three tribes had to race to put up a tent. Ours of course had no poles. The next challenge was a taste test. A member of our tribe had to try and tell the difference between dried eggs and fresh eggs. Everyone got that right but was surprised how difficult it was. They then had to tell the difference between freeze dried lasagne and store bought. That was no one was really able to tell the difference. Then the one that blew us all away. The taster had to tell the difference between baked goods that were baked with oil and the ones that had beans substituted for the oil. SERIOUSLY!? BEANS!? I kid you not, NO ONE could tell the difference. You use the same ratio between oil and beans (ie 1 c or oil = 1 c of beans). Use black beans for chocolate cake or brownies, pinto beans for chocolate chip cookies and white beans for white or yellow cake mix. Just match the color of the beans as closely as possible to the color of the goodies you are baking. You can also substitute applesauce or bananas for oil. Very cool.

We then found out that we can use a canner that the church has. For $1 per can we can use the supply of cans, lids and oxygen pouches. Then all we have to do is buy the stuff we want to put in the cans. It was soooo easy!

8 comments:

  1. That is awesome. Commander Zero (a Gentile) has talked about going to the LDS cannery with friends. I would love to have access to a setup like that.

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  2. Are the beans ground or just thrown in? I would imagine I'd notice a random bean in something.

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  3. TOR, you just puree them and add them in. I made some last night and the boys couldn't tell. They continued to eat them even after I told them how they were made. I am going to do another post on the specifics.
    As far as the cannery goes, you just have to make the right friends :D

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  4. I envy the Mormons their common sense approach to preparedness. It's also refreshing to find people who take out a little insurance for the future by doing something now, and not just sitting on their a**es and waiting for FEMA to come save them.

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  5. FEMA saves people? Wow, all that preparing for nothing! Who knew?

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  6. It IS kind of nice to be able to talk freely about prepardness and have everyone in the room understand and be on the same page.

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  7. Gracie, I will try that. I will also endevor to make LDS friends in the future.

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  8. This is too fun! I've been put in charge of a ladies night at our church to talk about food storage (not till September) and this survivor theme is a great idea to spice it up a bit. If I advertise food storage, we'll get the same 6 that always come to food storage/prep type nights and everybody else stays home feeling guilty I guess. Maybe we'll get more to come if we have some fun with it.

    TOR--Anybody can use the LDS canneries and buy stuff from them, you just have to know where yours is at and call for times you can go (they sometimes have wierd hours like only tuesdays from 5-8 or something like that). If you bring a few friends you can can a bunch of stuff in a short amount of time, and there are the people who run the cannery there to help you know what to do also. It might be easier with an LDS friend, but not actually necessary. :)

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