What have you done to prep this week?

[AlphaTea]

Suckied 100 lbs of sugar (which came out to about 208 cups), 30 lbs of dog food and 30 lbs of cat food today. Everything hurts but due to circumstances going on I think I'll get going on all the chicken and pork I have frozen waiting to get canned.

I have noticed that when I vac pack sugar, I sometimes get a very large very hard sugar cube.
How did you overcome this?

[AlphaTea]

Recently discovered that some things just dont store well.
A few years ago I replaced my worn out foodsaver and the new one came with some vacuum canisters.
I decided to try storing some of the mini saltine crackers that had just appeared on the WM shelves.
I took a couple of boxes and filled up the larger canister, added an O2 absorber and sucked the air out with the Foodsaver.
Last month Wifey asks if we were ever going to try them, so i opened the cannister which still had a good vacuum on it.
The crackers were still very crisp, not the least bit stale.
However, they tasted and smelled un-appealing. Kind of like an old gym bag smells.
Not much luck with peanuts long term. The oil in them seems to putrify.
Peanut butter seems to be ok even way past the date on the jar.
I seem to remember a large can of peanut butter back in my Navy days...it was in the mid 1980's and we came across a rectangular can that was probably 18" tall X 10D X 10W. The date on it was 1965. So it was at least 20 years old. It had about 3" of oil on the top, but once we mixed it back in the stuff was fine.

[2die4]

Found a water to bleach ratio from clorox on how to boil water and how much bleach to use if boiling is not an option. Created a few laminated cards with the ratios and it's Going into the BOBs and GHBs.

If anybody wants I can create a few more and I can send some your way. Just pm me.

[Sniper-T]

Can you post them up? then we all can just print them off.

[ak474u]

Can you post the ratios they recommend? That's a pretty cool find.

[bacpacker]

My thoughts to. That would super useful.

I worked on putting some pl-259 connectors on coax. And making a mast mount to put up a portable HF antenna I have. (Outbacker multi tap) I hope to have in fuctional by the end of the weekend. I also plan to remount my dual band rig and antenna in the truck.

[Sniper-T]

I have noticed that when I vac pack sugar, I sometimes get a very large very hard sugar cube.
How did you overcome this?

I found that all I have to do is drop it before I open it, and cube turns to powder pretty quick. Just don't get too crazy or you'll be sweeping! lol

I am wondering about utilizing rice. you know, the way you put it in a salt shaker??? I was thinking of opening a large bag of sugar, seperating it into ??? and adding some breathable bags of rice for a few days, suck out any residual moisture

???

[2die4]

Here you go:


How to use Clorox Bleach for:

Emergency Water Purification

The following is the text from a full page ad by Clorox .

Boiling Is Best

Short of using a very high-quality water filter, this is the most reliable method for killing microbes and parasites. Bring water to a rolling boil and keep it simmering for at least several minutes. Add one minute of boiling to the initial 10 minutes for every 1,000 feet above sea level. Cover the pot to shorten boiling time and conserve fuel.

Liquid Clorox Bleach

In an emergency, think of this (one gallon of Regular Clorox Bleach) as 3,800 gallons of drinking water.

First let water stand until particles settle. Pour the clear water into an uncontaminated container and add Regular Clorox Bleach per the chart.* Mix well. Wait 30 min. Water should have a slight bleach odor. If not, repeat dose. Wait 15 min. Sniff again. Keep an eyedropper taped to your emergency bottle of Clorox Bleach, since purifying small amounts of water requires only a few drops. See chart* suggestions for storage bottle replacement.
Don't pour purified water into contaminated containers. To sanitize water jugs first, see instructions** at right.

==============================
*Ratio of Clorox Bleach to Water for Purification

2 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per quart of water

8 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per gallon of water

1/2 teaspoon Regular Clorox Bleach per five gallons of water

If water is cloudy, double the recommended dosages of Clorox Bleach.


Mix 1 tablespoon Regular Clorox Bleach with one gallon of water. Always wash and rinse items first, then let each item soak in Clorox Bleach Sanitizing Solution for 2 minutes. Drain and air dry.

[AlphaTea]

I found that all I have to do is drop it before I open it, and cube turns to powder pretty quick. Just don't get too crazy or you'll be sweeping! lol

I am wondering about utilizing rice. you know, the way you put it in a salt shaker??? I was thinking of opening a large bag of sugar, seperating it into ??? and adding some breathable bags of rice for a few days, suck out any residual moisture

???

Why not just add a desiccant pack or two? It would do a better job than rice.

[Evolver]

I have noticed that when I vac pack sugar, I sometimes get a very large very hard sugar cube.
How did you overcome this?

It's best not to vac-seal or put in 02 absorbers when packing sugar. The best way to store it is by putting it in Mylar and bucketed or just in a bucket with a lid that has a O-ring in it or just Mylar. For sugar we use 2 gal size buckets and make 2 mylar bags out of one 6 gal mylar bag by using the iron and 1''x2'' on edge method to make the seal after purging out all the air that you can.

After time it still hardens some but if it's bagged you can take a rubber mallet or a rolling pin to it and turn it back into granules quite easily before opening.