What food do I put in my 72-Hour Kit?

What food should I put in my 72-hour kit?

I have been pondering that question for quite some time now. I know that our packs can weigh down pretty quickly by the time we load the food and the fuel to cook it with. Not to mention it seems like it doesn't pack the nutrition it needs. After reading and praying and trying to decide what would be required, I began by taking out all the cooking fuel, the MRE's, hard tack candy, (worthless for energy as it picks you up really quickly and almost as quickly drops you flat on your face) and chewing gum. I replaced these things with items that maybe weren't the most entertaining, but certainly more energizing and way more nutritious! Not to mention way, way, or should I say weigh, lighter!

First off was the organic wheat berries and water for sprouting, as I explained in my post about sprouts.

Second I put in some 100% dehydrated fruit leathers. Not the ones that have all the chemicals, sugar, MSG, and high fructose corn syrup-NOT THOSE! I repeat, 100% FRUIT leathers. You can buy them for a very reasonable price at COSTCO. You get a bunch of them for around $10. You can also find them at the health food stores for sale individually. However, you will pay more for them there. The advantages of these fruit leathers are simply this: they are light, take up very little room, they taste good and satisfy the sweet tooth, and they are real energy. They have not been heated to a high degree so they will still have some live enzymes in them that will help carry your body through what will be, if your using your 72-hour kit, stressful times.

The last food item that I put in my kits are little tiny things called Chia seeds that I bought from my food co-op. No, I didn't put them in there thinking it would be a fun activity for the kids to try and grow a Chia Head! I put them in there because of the amazing things I've read about them. Click here to read this article. It is a great, short explanation of the history and the benefits of Chia Seed. It is also recorded that the Indians running from the Colorado River to California to trade commodities would bring only Chia seeds for their nourishment. Knowing this story it was interesting to me to find out that Chia seeds are a muscle and tissue builder and an energizer, which improves endurance.

They have extensive hydration properties. They can absorb up to 12 times their weight, improving and prolonging hydration in anyone who eats them. The nutrition does not stop there. They have fifteen times more magnesium than broccoli, six times more calcium than milk (and it is good calcium that your body can assimilate), three times more iron that spinach!! It has been proven to be the richest whole food source of Omega 3's and fiber FOUND ON THE EARTH!

I was very intrigued to find out about some of the healing properties it has and so I consider it part of my 72-hour first aid kit also. But that, and the other items I consider vital for a 72-hour first aid kit are another post!

Sprouts! Sprouts! Sprouts!

Recently our family has learned to love sprouts. My two year old will stand at the fridge and beg for "sprouts, sprouts, sprouts" until someone gets them out of the fridge and gives him some. He eats them by the handfuls. We all do. Some of our favorites are Lentil sprouts. This is good, because they are also some of the easiest to sprout!

There has been so much research on the nutritional and health benefits of sprouting that you could spend hours upon hours reading about it on the web. Sprouts are the most nutritious food you can find. They are packed full of enzymes.

Enzymes?

We hear a lot about these little guys but what are they really? And why do we need them? Enzymes play a big part in the digestion of food, assist in the elimination of Carbon Dioxide in the lungs, attack wastes and build up of excessive food, and neutralize poisons that may enter our body. All of this keeps the immune system strong and prepared for any invasion that may occur. Also enzymes are most important to our cells, they bring the energy needed to our cells. If not for enzymes no cellular activity could occur. Heavenly Father knew we needed enzymes for survival. He gave each of us a reserve of them when we were born. These enzymes are called endogenous enzymes. They are stored in our stomach, gall bladder, and bones. But.....they are only a reserve. We can, and most of us have, depleted our bodies of this reserve. The reason why is because most of us do not eat enough of the things that contain enzymes: fresh, raw fruits, vegetables, greens, nuts, and seeds. (These should make up about 50% of our diet in order to keep our enzyme reserve full.) Every time we eat something that does not contain it's own enzymes our mind sends a signal that tells our digestive system that, in order to digest this meal, it is going to need to use some enzyme reserves because there is not enough enzymes present to assist in the digestion.

I have one suggestion to make that can help in the preservation of our enzyme reserve. Start each meal with a large fresh salad full of dark leafy greens, any salad veggies, sprouts (our favorite), and most importantly a healthy dressing! This will at least give your body some exogenous enzymes (enzymes stored in fresh, raw, fruits and veggies) with which to use to digest your meal, at least saving on it's own enzymes to be used for other important functions previously mentioned.

Why Sprout?

Once a grain, seed, or nut is soaked and begins to sprout it is no longer a grain. It changes to a vegetable! Sprouts are the most nutritious of fresh foods. So logically they are packed FULL of enzymes. Sprouts are predigested which means that the starches and the proteins are already broken down into amino acids which are easily absorbed resulting in quick, long-lasting energy. This is helpful and is backed by a long history of proof. It is said that the Roman Soldiers knew and took advantage of sprouting. They would soak grains in one leather pouch hanging at their side and sprout the grains in the other. They would snack on the sprouted grains all day as they marched and marched and marched, never stopping to eat a meal. Yet they were known for their strength and fierce fighting. Did you know that you can live a very long time on 1/2 cup of sprouted organic wheat a day? It's true.

How do you sprout?

Well, as with anything, there are the simple instructions and then there are many variables in the process. However, sprouting is really quite simple. I am still learning and I am not an expert but I will share with you my knowledge or trial and error. I will refer to the seed, nut, grain, or legume, as a seed just to simplify my instructions. Sprouting basically consists of three parts. First, soaking. You will soak your seeds overnight any where from 6-12 hours depending on the type. Second, you will drain your seeds and rinse them, making sure they are drained well, no sitting water. Third, you will let them sit for several days being sure to rinse and drain well each morning and evening until they are grown to the desired length. The general rule of thumb is that the seed contains the most nutrients when the tail of the sprout is no longer than the seed itself. However, they are very nutritious for you at any stage.

The amount of days that they have to spend sprouting varies. Lentils are easy and are done in about 24 hours or sometimes less. Bean sprouts take a lot longer around 5 days. Just remember to keep rinsing and draining WELL each morning and night until they are to the point you want them to be at.

Lentils we eat just as you start to see the tail budding, YUMMY!

Bean sprouts we like to wait until they are about two inches long because we like to put these on our Chinese stir-frys.

Our salad and sandwich mixes we let get quite long because we like the long texture on our salads and sandwiches.

This is a picture of our Broccoli sprouts.

I don't have any wheat sprouts going right now to show you a picture, but these we eat about the time that the tail gets the size of the grain.

Please, please learn to sprout! It is very easy, inexpensive, and it is a great preparedness trick. In fact I got out our 72 hour kits and revamped them a little the other day. I put in a pint jar filled with filtered water wrapped in a hand towel, a piece of cheesecloth (for draining and sprouting), and a sandwich bag with organic wheat and simple instructions for sprouting written on the sandwich bag. There you have it, your 72 hours worth of food! Actually I put enough wheat in the sandwich bag to last much longer than that but you would have to locate more water. Because we have a water filter I was planning on this not being a problem for us. Now of course I have other tricks up my sleeve for 72 hour kit food, but that is another post!

Some tips:

*I have various types of sprouting trays and I have found that I like my plain old quart canning jars with sprouting lids best. They seem to be the most successful for me. I talked to the ladies at Gingers Cafe (a raw foods restaurant in Springville) and they said that they use glass jars with the most success as well. These are also the cheapest! YEA!!!

*I have found that when it comes to storing your sprouts they last longest in these glass jars as well. I have tried sandwich bags, with no success and tupperware with almost no success. LOL They just don't last as long. I think it is because there is no air circulation. You will want to put a regular lid on your glass jar, punch holes in it for air to circulate, and your sprouts will last upwards to a week and a half without wilting or spoiling (going slimy)!

*I am finding that as a general rule of thumb you sprout bigger items like lentils, mung beans, and wheat, overnight for around 10-12 hours and smaller seeds like alfalfa, radish, and salad type sprouts for the lesser time of 6-8 hours. Broccoli is in the middle and needs to soak for around 8-10 hours.

*As you read you will find some people saying sprouts need to be in a dark place and some will say they need light. Some will also say they need dark until they start to leaf (if you are doing longer sprouts) and then they need light. I have found that they do better if I don't worry about this and just keep them on my counter out of direct sunlight so they don't get too hot.

*I have found that a good rule of thumb for the amounts you should put in a jar are this: For bigger seeds use about 1/3 cup per quart jar. For smaller seeds use 2 tablespoons per quart jar. You need to fill the jar 3/4 to all the way filled with water. Some people say you should use warm, purified/filtered water. I always use filtered water because I have a filter but I have never warmed it. It comes out of the tap a bit cold and I use it because I'm all about easy and it seems to work. You are welcome to experiment with WARM water do not use hot! Let me know if it seems to be worth your time!

*If you see white cotton like, stuff that reminds you of mold growing on your sprouts, don't freak out! LOL I only say this because I did. In fact I threw a few batches of sprouts away before I finally set down and read to find out what I was doing wrong. I learned that this happens with some seeds just as they are beginning to sprout. Give them a day or so and you will see the "cotton" disappear.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

More About Anti-Plague

As mentioned earlier I am going to post some information about the Anti-Plague formula that I spoke of in my pandemic post. Anti-Plague is a formula that Dr. Christopher was inspired to tell people in Arizona to use for the plagues. Its main ingredient is Garlic and Raw Apple Cider Vinegar. Most of us have heard the story of the four thieves. I’ve heard two versions one says that they, as a punishment for their crimes, were to take care of the bodies of the dead who had succumbed to the plague in the late 1700’s. The other says that they stole belongings from off the dead during the plague. Either way the thieves lived through the plague and later explained how they survived. They used a combination of aromatic vinegar and garlic which they applied liberally to themselves.

Garlic has numerous healing properties. From common skin problems to tuberculosis and asthma. In researching garlic I have learned many remedies for treating the human body effectively and without side-effects. Well okay harmful side effects. Everyone knows that garlic is pretty smelly, but I also learned how to lessen the effects of the odor just by adding parsley to the preparation.

I also learned that you can grow garlic almost anywhere and harvest it in all season except winter! I was excited about that! It might be that we should consider planting this wonderful healing modality in our yards as a means of becoming more self-sufficient.

Recently I was inspired by a friend of mine to order the ingredients and make Anti-Plague myself. First off I didn’t realize that the kind I had been buying pre-made was missing one of the main herbs from the recipe. Secondly, it is considerably less expensive. (It costs around $32 + shipping to order a pint of the pre-made stuff versus around $65-$75 to make a whole gallon yourself.) However the draw back to this is that what you save in money you use in time. However, I still think that you end up with a much higher quality product. For one, it has all the ingredients from Dr. Christopher’s original formula and secondly it does not have to go through any extra processing in order to appease the FDA. (Processing always always is a trade off. You kill any possible germs, that is correct, but you also kill ALOT of the healing properties and ALL enzymes in a product.) If you are making the Anti-Plague yourself you can be confidant in knowing that the environment in which it is prepared is clean and safe. Thus you don’t need to process it, ensuring a more nourishing, healing product.

After receiving all the ingredients needed to make my Anti-Plague I proceeded to make my own. Well, this was a process! The recipe I had was not very clear and was obviously written for a more mathematically minded person that myself. Also I had to interpret the “Herbalist” lingo. Finally after hours of experimenting and a couple of mistakes that resulted in my starting over, bummer! I accomplished my goal! I have since made three gallons of Anti-Plague and currently have ½ gallon on my shelves to show for it! LOL This is perfectly fine with me. I felt impressed to give some to my parents, and two of my brothers. I feel much better knowing people I love and care about have ½ gallon of this stuff on their shelves to help protect themselves and their families in times of sickness and, just in case, plague. The other brother? Well his wife is doing awesome in this preparedness thing and actually took it upon herself to order the stuff and learned to make it with me! Yea Jeneil! (I am so proud of her, can you tell?)
I have posted my revised and, I hope, easier (as easy as Anti-Plague can get that is!) version of the recipe in the post below this one or you can click on the label that says Health Preparedness on the left hand column. Just so you know, I don’t just make this and put it on my shelf. However, that is better than not having it. We use it ALL the time. If my children start coughing or having a runny nose, if they start complaining of a sore throat, achy body, ear aches, almost anything, we start them on the Anti-Plague. Karl reaches for it any time he feels a sinus infection coming on and, since he is very prone to lung issues such as pneumonia, he also reaches for it at any sign of this. Often times it only takes one or two doses other times in more serious sicknesses or if you let the sickness go to long before beginning treatment you have to be more aggressive with it. You cannot take too much. There is nothing is this formula that will cause harm to you. You may get diarrhea. This needs to be watched because you want to avoid dehydration but it also could be a sign that your body is expelling the toxins that were making you sick in the first place.

In normal sickness between one and four tablespoons a day is a general dosage. You will be able to tell if you are getting enough or not by the way you feel. You can, and I recommend, that you take one tablespoon a day. This builds your immune system which makes it so that you will be more likely to withstand the plagues. In times of plague the descriptions I have read say you should take a tablespoon an hour. It is usually recommended to do half dosage with young children under ten. Warning: This stuff does not taste good! The vinegar and garlic, as you can imagine, does not smell appealing or taste that way, but none the less it does work and so you have to decide whether or not it is worth getting your children to take it but as for our house, they take it! I have found that the easiest way is to put it in an amber glass jar, a small one with a dropper and then just drop the syrup towards the back of their mouth. My seven year old will just take it, no complaining, no juice, just swallows it and goes on her way. Incidentally so does my baby, he is almost two. My older children whine and moan and complain, then they get a glass of juice, swallow the Anti-Plague, drink their juice to wash it down, and go on their way. They do get used to it if you start them early enough. But, I will willingly admit that I’m not used to it and I’m the worst in my family. In fact you should ask them one day about my Anti-Plague taking procedure! LOL

Anti-Plague Recipe

Anti-Plague Formula

Ingredients to make a gallon:

34 ozs. Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
22 ozs. Glycerin
22 ozs. Raw, unfiltered, honey
3 lbs. Fresh Garlic
8 Ozs. Cut comfrey root concentrate
4 Ozs. Cut wormwood concentrate
4 Ozs. Cut lobelia leaf concentrate
4 Ozs. Cut marshmallow root concentrate
4 Ozs. Cut oak bark concentrate
4 Ozs. Cut black walnut bark concentrate
4 Ozs. Cut mullein leaf concentrate
4 Ozs. Cut skullcap leaf concentrate
4 Ozs. Cut hydrangea root concentrate
5 Qrts Distilled Water

First peel the 3 pounds of fresh garlic. Place in a blender and blend in three parts. One third garlic to approximately 11 ounces of raw apple cider vinegar. Do not blend all the way to a liquid, pulse until all cloves are just blended. Place all of the garlic juice in quart jars (usually about 2 and a 1/2 to 3 quarts) and let it sit in a dark place for three days. You will use the full 34 ounces of vinegar in making the garlic juice. If at the very end of the process you are lacking a full gallon, don’t be afraid to add extra raw apple cider vinegar to make the formula equal to its full gallon. After three days you need to extract the juice from your vinegar by squeezing out the liquid. I use my wheat grass juicer and run the garlic mixture through it, this doesn’t chop or grate, it simply squeezes. You don’t need a wheat grass juicer, use your imagination.

Each herb concentrate must be made individually. After the concentrate is prepared then and only then, it may be mixed with the other concentrates. To make the concentrates you need to start by soaking them. Use 4 ounces of the herb and soak it in two cups distilled water. With the exception of the Comfrey, you will use 8 ounces of this herb, and so will need four cups distilled water. The root concentrates will need to soak over night. I also soak my black walnut bark overnight. The rest of the herbs need to be soaked for four hours. After soaking place the herb in a stainless steel sauce pan or double broiler, cover and simmer on very low heat for a half an hour. Strain the liquid and place into a clean sauce pan. This time place the herb back on the stove to simmer again at very low heat but this time uncovered. Simmer it down to where there is only four ounces of the herb left. This is your concentrate. Repeat until all nine herbs have been through the same process.

Once all the concentrates have been made and your garlic juice has been prepared then you mix your herb concentrates, your garlic juice, your honey, and your glycerin and stir until everything is dissolved and mixed well together. Place the anti-plague in glass jars and store in a cool, dark place. If you have fridge space, your Anti-Plague will store longer. Also if you can get amber glass jars (dark glass) it is also better for your Anti-Plague because the light can break down the formula after a while.

After your formula is put away and safely stored notice the feeling of intense satisfaction that comes from knowing you are one step closer to being prepared for the plagues.