I did absolutely zero to prepare for Y2K. I mean nothing. No extra gas in the car, no canned food, no extra cash, no extra milk or water. Nada. But now that the apocalyptic hysteria is over, and no one expects Armageddon, I'm convinced this is the time to treat preparedness seriously. This dense workbook has long been considered the bible of the food storage and family preparedness crowd. Preparedness as in: be ready for any long-term disaster or crisis. A newly revised and expanded 10th edition has everything from how to store the basics (and how much), to how to cook 'em, and how to keep water and stay healthy. Up-to-date and exhaustive. Yeah, it's from Utah, so it dispenses well-worn, almost comfortable, anxiety.

-- KK

Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook
James Talmage Stevens
1997, 237 pages
$16
Amazon

Excerpts:

Water that is bacteria-free when stored in thoroughly clean containers will remain safe for several years. Tests of water quality after long-term storage showed that water stored properly for several years could not be distinguished by appearance, taste, or odor from water recently drawn from the same source. However the principle of rotation is the best guarantee for monitoring stored water's purity and taste.

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Treating Contaminated Water
Basic Bleach Method
For emergency treating of water of unknown quality, use any household bleach containing sodium hypochlorite (5.25% solution) without soap additives or phosphates. By using common household bleach as a chemical treatment method, large amounts of safe drinking water can be provided quite inexpensively.

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Inventory management for basic in-home food storage is very simple--and hopefully, by now, very familiar:
1) Store what you eat.
2) Eat what you store.
3) Use it or lose it!

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Fumigating Wheat for Storage
Carbon dioxide released from evaporating dry ice will kill all animal life in the container. The freezer will kill all live bugs--but not necessarily the eggs--over an extended period of time. It's always best to refreeze the previously frozen wheat after 30 days to assure that any eggs hatched since the last treatment are killed.