An Experience with a Broken Furnace

Here is an experience from a family in our ward. Thanks, Brittania, for sharing your family's experience this winter!

 So I have a little bit of insight about staying warm in the winter with no electricity(before we do our little test.)  Our furnace has been going in and out all throughout this cold spell (work for a day and a half and then go out again.)  We mostly rely on our fireplace for heat in the winter but with all of this single * weather and dropping down into the negative numbers, our wood stove has just not been enough.  But when the furnace goes out and you don't have money to replace it, you learn to be really thankful for that wood stove.  However, in the low low temperatures it has NOT kept our house sufficiently warm.  Even with running space heaters in the bedrooms at night and putting wood on the fire throughout the night, we would still wake up in the morning and our living room (where the stove is) would be 57*.  I got news for you...that is not warm enough.  I have a baby that is crawling around on the floor and I have her dressed in 3 layers of a onsie, long johns, and a fleece sleeper and her little hands and feet are still like ice, and her cheeks are red and chapped, and my kids were sick for a month because I believe, quite frankly, they just couldn't stay warm.  One thing that I noticed (for when you do this little test)  Going one night without heat or enough heat isn't too bad...your house will retain some of that heat. However, after the second night, your temperatures will drop even further, SIGNIFICANTLY. And if there is an extended period of power outage (for example a bad snow storm or blizzard, which is very much a possibility where we live,) you need to make sure you can stay warm.  My suggestion is from a quote I once heard along the lines of "all the clothes in the world are no good if they can't keep you warm." Also, you'd be surprised how grumpy and stressed you get when you are cold and you know your children are cold!  I had to go out and purchase several clothing items for my children to keep them warm.  My other suggestion is this, if you are going to put money into your home, before you do the "stuff that looks pretty" make sure you have enough insulation in your home.  Walls and ceiling   We live in an older home and it is NOT very efficient   So before we replace the carpet, or redo the wood floors, or get a new oven (which I really want) we will be adding insulation, and updating a few windows at a time. Because, quite frankly...I would rather be warm in the winter and cool in the summer, despite the fact that some may say my house looks old!  Thankfully now our furnace is working (yeah for a brilliant husband) and we are warm...and best of all, the weather isn't as bad the last couple of days.  

     And one last note to remember when times are hard.  It's better to laugh than cry, so when you're cold...laugh, and remember that it could be worse (you could be outside in a cardboard box!) And remember to thank your Heavenly Father for your blessings and be grateful for the things you do have and not angry about the things you don't. 

     We wish all the best in this upcoming challenge.

Hope this helps,

The Butlers

Some Tips for Keeping Warm

Brother and Sister Bickham have provided us with these tips for staying warm during our first challenge.


·  Solar Heat: An appreciable amount of heat can be gained through large windows on the southern side of the house
·  Heat Packs / Hand Pocket Warmers:  These heat packs / hand pocket warmers can usually be found in the "camping" section of your local drug store and are really recommended for such emergencies. They only cost a dollar or so and work well for small areas.
·  Rice Packs: "Two pounds of rice placed in a pillow case and tied, is not only great for aches and pains, but will stay warm for long periods, especially if kept under goose down quilts. Since microwaves differ, start heating - 1st 2 minutes, then 30 second intervals, thereafter, refrain from getting wet, and be careful not to burn.
·  Heated Bricks  If you have a gas oven or fireplace, you can heat bricks up to a high temperature. If you have an electric oven and expect a power outage, you can warm the bricks up as a precaution. Remove the bricks when they are warm, but still touchable. Bricks hold warmth for a long time, sometimes days. You can wrap these bricks in towels and warm up your bed.
·  Hot water: Filling your bathtub with hot water will help if your power isn't out for long.
·  Beds may be the safest, warmest place. Use of adequate blankets and coverings to trap and conserve vital body heat, and several people in the same bed can share heat.

Word of Caution:  Do not use charcoal in your home.  It produces carbon monoxide.

12 Month Challenge

I'm sure you've heard of the 12 month challenge that we, as a ward, will be implementing this year. Well, it's starting February 8th. For the first challenge we are going to learn how we can best care for our families in the event that we have no heat. So at 3:00 P.M. Friday, February 8th, turn off those furnaces, space heaters, and any electrical heat source. If you have a fire place, go ahead and use it, or any other means of heating that doesn't involve power or city gas.
Don't worry, it's just for one night. Saturday morning at 9:00 you can turn your heat back on. Let's see what we can learn! And don't forget to take pictures, then return and report! You can post comments on any of the blog posts, or email me with your experiences.

Cream Soup Mix Recipe

I don't know about you, but I use cream of chicken soup all the time when cooking. I've tried to get some cans in food storage, but when I have a large store, I tend to let them expire, (bad Melanie!). So now I have just about a months worth stored, which feels very unsatisfying.
That's why I'm really excited to try this recipe that Carrie Dayley submitted. It's a way to make your own cream of chicken soup mix with everyday ingredients, and you can store it dry. When you want to cook with it, just add some water. Carrie said she just prints the recipe and sticks it in with the prepared mix.

Try it out and let us know how it works for you, by commenting on this post.

Chicken

Cream Soup Mix Recipe

Prep/Total Time: 5 min.

Yield: 9 Servings

Ingredients

2 cups nonfat dry milk powder

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken bouillon granules

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Store in an airtight container.

For a condensed cream soup substitute: Whisk 1/3 cup mix and 1-1/4 cups water in a small saucepan until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Cool. Use as a substitute for one 10-3/4-oz.-can condensed cream of chicken, celery or mushroom soup.

For 1-1/2 cups soup: Whisk 1/3 cup mix and 1-1/2 cups water in a small saucepan until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Yield: 3 cups.

Beef
Cream Soup Mix Recipe

Prep/Total Time: 5 min.

Yield: 9 Servings

Ingredients

2 cups nonfat dry milk powder

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup reduced-sodium beef bouillon granules

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Store in an airtight container.

For a condensed cream soup substitute: Whisk 1/3 cup mix and 1-1/4 cups water in a small saucepan until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Cool. Use as a substitute for one 10-3/4-oz.-can condensed cream of chicken, celery or mushroom soup.

For 1-1/2 cups soup: Whisk 1/3 cup mix and 1-1/2 cups water in a small saucepan until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Yield: 3 cups.

If anyone has any great food storage recipes or tips that they would like to share with the ward, email me at yesmelanieis@gmail.com and I'll get it up on the blog. Thanks!

You know what they say about hind sight....

Welcome Caldwell 3rd ward-ers! And anyone else who may be visiting.
As you probably know, we are going to work on getting ourselves more prepared by following certain challenges that will be outlined here. It is the hope of the preparation specialists in the ward, that through these challenges, we can learn from each other, and our own experiences, how to prepare for certain contingencies.

Let me tell you a little story that just happened to my family, about how preparation, and knowing how to prepare, is so important.

My husband, David, and our four children, (aged 2-6) and I were driving home from my parent's house. We left their home around 8:45 at night, and started the half hour drive around the South-West side of the lake. 15 minutes into the drive we got a flat tire.
Well, that's inconvenient, but shouldn't be a big deal, right? David is more than capable of changing a tire. That is, if he had the proper tools. As it happened, there were no tools in the car at all. Strike one. So, while David parks the car in a more safe location, I call my dad with my cell phone. He agrees to come to the rescue, bringing tools and a nice car jack. My phone died almost as soon as I hung up with him, and we didn't have the cord to charge it in the car with us. Strike two.
The temperature outside was about 5 degrees. and I was thankful for the heater. But in no time at all the gas light went on. Strike three. Perfect. Now we have the option of keeping the car running and staying warm, but possibly running out of fuel before we could get to a gas station, OR, we could save the gas and freeze. The car went off. Then the cold came in.
After several minutes of waiting, my dad arrived. He and David set to work changing the tire. I made a mental note at about this time that I was happy that I was the woman, and didn't have to go out in the cold, lay in the snow, and touch the cold metal of the car. But while the kids and I were warmer than we'd have been if we had to go outside, the inside of our mini-van was no tropical paradise. The doors and the hatch had to keep being opened as the men did their thing, which pretty quickly depleted any reserved heat.
My kids were great though, considering. There were lots of comments about how "we're going to die!" but they had pretty good attitudes. :) Better than mine, especially when David came back into the car and informed me that my dad didn't have a screwdriver in the tool set he brought, and a screwdriver was necessary for removing the spare tire from the under carriage, so he was going to drive back home for one.
Splendid. We periodically turned the engine on to blast some warm air into the car, but it was never enough. And you know how you always hear about how you should have a nice blanket in your car at all times in the winter, "just in case?" I've heard that a lot. I've thought that was sound advise. But guess what we didn't have in the car? Strike four.
I called my mom from David's phone, and asked her to have some blankets ready to hand off to my dad for his quick return.
When my dad returned with the proper tools, the tire was changed in no time at all, and, now 10:45, we were on our way home. We finally had blankets, the tire was successfully changed, and we made it to a gas station, and then home.

Everything worked out fine, but it could have been a lot worse. It also could have been a lot better, had we been more prepared.

Let's take a look at our mistakes.
Strike one: No tools in the car. - Had we been wise enough to have a tool set stored in the car, none of the other issues would have even mattered, in this case. David could have changed the tire in a few minutes, and we would have been on our way. So guess what is on my shopping list? Time to pick up a cheap tool set. It's not going to be top of the market tools, (much to my husbands chagrin) since they will be in the car at all times.

Strike two: Dead phone with no way to charge it. - This could have been a lot worse. As it happened, my husband has his cell phone also. If he didn't, and if my cell died only 5 minutes sooner, one of us would have had to walk a long time before we even got to a house, and who's to say the occupants would have been willing and able to assist?

Strike three: Low fuel. - I don't know how many times my dad has told me never let my cars have less than half a tank of gas. There have been times in my life where I have faithfully followed his advise. This isn't one of those, but that night, I certainly wished it was.

Strike four: No blankets in the car. - The funny thing is, until about two weeks before this incident, we did have a blanket in the car. I had my boys help clean out the car, and when I noticed that they'd removed the blanket, I didn't take the time to put it back in.

I had all these regrets. All these easily remedied regrets. It isn't hard to keep tools and blankets in the car, it isn't hard to keep a phone charger on hand. And for me, the gas tank was empty only because of inattention, rather than thriftiness. Each of them contributed to the inconvenience and discomfort of the night. And, nearly all of them made it so we had to rely on outside hands for our well being.
I don't know about you, but I don't want my family to have to rely on the preparation or goodness of others; I want to be self-sufficient and prepared. This was kind of a wake up call for me. Hopefully I learned my lesson so that experience doesn't have to be repeated.

That was a long way to illustrate the importance of participating in this 12 month challenge. What better way to learn where you lack in preparation than to be thrown into the thick of a mini-crisis? The challenge isn't to give us bad experiences, but to help us learn how best to make a potentially bad experience comfortable.

All are invited to enthusiastically participate in the challenges, as well as return and report. We'd love to hear how things go with your families.

I look forward to learning with you all!

Welcome

Welcome to the Caldwell third ward preparation blog. Through the coming year, this blog will be filled with information and experiences from members of the ward, on our personal journey's to becoming more spiritually and physically prepared for the future. Please come back regularly and participate.