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A homemade "Gatorade" kit in a quart canning jar

Homemade Sports Drinks

My homemade “Gatorade” has gotten us through many hot days working in the yard. Drinking it makes a big difference in how long we are able to work. We know we need it when we can’t taste the salt. It’s…

Before and after photos of Hurricane Harvey

Flood Prevention

After Hurricane Harvey, a friend in a neighboring county government office emailed me to see if I had any information that could help her. A resident had called looking for information on how to protect his home from flood waters.…

Wildfire on mountains in Southern Utah

Emergency and Forced Evacuations

A natural gas pipeline exploded the evening of 5 March 2021 in an upper middle-class neighborhood of northwest Harris County, Texas. Earlier in the day, a fiber optics crew had broken a gas line. The gas company came out to…

Dryer lint fire starters in a cardboard egg carton edited

Making Dryer Lint Fire Starters

Put your dryer lint to good use! Make some fire starters! I had collected dryer lint and cardboard egg cartons for a long time, intending to make fire starters but kept procrastinating making them. They were cluttering up my laundry…

Tabletop butane stove in its case

Butane Stoves

A butane stove is one of the most useful and practical ways to cook indoors when the power is out. A butane stove is a tabletop gas stove with one burner. The stove comes in a plastic carrying case smaller…

Packaged Sterno stove and fuel cans

Canned Heat Stoves

Canned heat (generally referred to as “Sterno”), and the stoves to use it, can be purchased in large sporting goods stores, discount stores, or online. A folding Sterno stove costs between $8 and $14, is very compact, and will hold…

Collage of indoor emergency cooking methods

Indoor Emergency Cooking

There are many ways to cook when the power is out, but most need to be used outdoors. So what do you do when you don’t have a wood burning stove or wood fireplace and it’s dark or raining, snowing,…

Shelf stable foods for an emergency food pack for a senior citizen

Emergency Food Packs for Seniors

Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston (IMGH) has a yearly project (Operation IMpact) that provides Emergency Food Packs to over 4000 home bound senior citizens in their Meals on Wheels program. The goal is to help these people survive a natural…

Illustration of a family practicing a fire drill

Physical Muscle Memory

Some time ago, I was made aware of the transcript of a FEMA podcast about preparing better for disasters. It specifically addressed some stories about the 2004 tsunami in Sumatra, Indonesia. The speaker included some advice on physical preparation. He…