It’s Day 28 of our Let’s Get Prepared! Challenge, and we’re in Phase 5: Build Your Skills. We’ll list and discuss skills within specific areas this week, as a source for you to consider what you already know, what you think you’d like to or should know, and for you to develop a plan on how to research and gain that skill.
Today, we’re going to focus on Food and Water Preparation and Safety. Some of this will be about some basic skills, and some are a bit more extreme situations in which access to food or water may not available, and may not be available for a while.
We’ll break these down by category, and provide some ideas for skills you might have. Far from exhaustive, you may probably imagine many others to add. Not all categories will be meaningful to you, but they should show you the range of how independent and self-reliant you can become if you are focusing on providing food and water for yourself or your family.
Preserving food
- food preservation / canning
- use a dehydrator
- freeze dry foods
- maximizing leftovers / reusing ingredients in other meals
Growing food
- Garden – food and herbs, ground gardens or fruit trees, root propagation – specific to your zone or climate
- harvest and save seeds
- protect your garden from pests
- composting
- learn basic aquaponics / hydroponics (growing plants in water, without soil)
Harvesting food
- foraging – what is edible in your area, and what is poisonous (especially know about mushrooms)
- hunting
- fishing
- tap and make maple syrup
- how to safely find and eat insects (there, I said it)
Raising animals for food
- milk a dairy animal
- raise poultry or other animals
- make cheese or dairy products, including pasteurization
- keep bees and harvest honey
- cleaning and evaluating eggs (if you have hens and a rooster!)
Cooking food
- cook without electricity or gas
- cook or bake from scratch (make your own bread, make stock from meat, etc.)
- smoke meat
- brew beer or make wine
- how to filet a fish
- how to prepare an animal you’ve trapped or shot
Water Safety
- water purification techniques
- water storage
- capture and recycle rainwater
Today’s challenge:
There is a lot here — inventory what you know, and find some skills you’d consider growing. If you start with nothing else but thinking about Water Storage and Purification, you’re ahead of the game! Here’s a resource I found that walks through all areas of water storage and purification that can help you get started on building your knowledge and skill.
Join in the conversation over at the Clever Girl Organizing Challenge Facebook Group to learn from and to teach others as we all take on the Let’s Get Prepared! Challenge!
Reminder: Our goal here is to take steps towards improvement. The content in these posts is designed to inspire thinking, not fear.