A 7-day test of your preparations. . .

**NicJean** · 09-15-2011, 06:30 AM

I like the simple outlines and to-do tasks at Food Storage Made Easy | Your Home for Food Storage and this week they are having a 7-day challenge. Each day is a different 'emergency' to get a wide range of experiences. I think about what I would do, practice as much of the challenge as possible (around work, our situation) and keep records of what worked, what I still need to work on, things I need to make do with or purchase.
A disclaimer: these women love pink, so the website has lots of it, they are also LDS, and their site is geared for those just starting in prepping. The 'babysteps' list has helped my family a great deal.

**imagine** · 09-15-2011, 08:04 AM

I could not find what you were talking about on the lnk you provided I also did not see pink

**NicJean** · 09-15-2011, 11:46 AM

Oh, how embarrassing - (foodstoragemadeeasy.com) is not what I meant, Food Storage Made Easy (it's .net, not .com). . .

**Daisygirl** · 09-15-2011, 12:53 PM

Personally, I LOVE pink!

Great link - now I have something to read!

**madhen** · 09-15-2011, 01:16 PM

Wow, I see what you mean about the pink!!

**Daisygirl** · 09-15-2011, 01:28 PM

I've added this link to my favorites - just can't stop reading it!

**imagine** · 09-15-2011, 01:46 PM

Thanks for the link.

The sanitation challenge is interesting.

Have to shower for the challenge? How long would the sanitation have been out to need to take a shower. I must have been enough roughing it camping trips to think that is strange. Wash cloth baths save lots of water.

Although I do know how to make a camp shower. If you had enough water and really wanted to shower maybe wash your hair (although I have found basin hair washing easier)

And why would you not be able to use the sewer system. You could use very dirty water to flush or do not all sewer systems work this way?

**Daisygirl** · 09-15-2011, 01:49 PM

What are everyone's plans for using the bathroom? Pee would be relatively easy to get rid of - poop - ugh!

**imagine** · 09-15-2011, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by Daisygirl

What are everyone's plans for using the bathroom? Pee would be relatively easy to get rid of - poop - ugh!

Did you see the link on the site to the sanitation kit list?

Looks like they are suggesting you to dig and bury.

I am still trying to come up with s senerio where you could not flush a toliet with gray water. Can anyone think of one?

**Daisygirl** · 09-15-2011, 02:11 PM

Yup - I did see that. But if it's the middle of winter, that would be pretty tough - you could break many a shovel on the frozen ground.

I'm sitting here on my day off thinking about the disposal of poo. What is my world coming to?

**imagine** · 09-15-2011, 02:20 PM

They make composting toilets you can buy.

The internet has instructions on making them too.

**madhen** · 09-15-2011, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by imagine

Did you see the link on the site to the sanitation kit list?

Originally Posted by imagine

Looks like they are suggesting you to dig and bury.

I am still trying to come up with s senerio where you could not flush a toliet with gray water. Can anyone think of one?

In my case, if my power goes out, my well goes out, and I wouldn't necessarily have ANY extra water. I have a big stock of paper plates and cups and disposable utensils for just such a situation. I have bottled water available, but don't know if I'd have enough to do much more than cook and do "bird baths" with.

Happily, a bucket with some pine shavings and a lid will work as a composting toilet, in a pinch (no pun intended), so no big investment necessary.

**imagine** · 09-15-2011, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by madhen

In my case, if my power goes out, my well goes out, and I wouldn't necessarily have ANY extra water. I have a big stock of paper plates and cups and disposable utensils for just such a situation. I have bottled water available, but don't know if I'd have enough to do much more than cook and do "bird baths" with.

Happily, a bucket with some pine shavings and a lid will work as a composting toilet, in a pinch (no pun intended), so no big investment necessary.

I understand unusable water (unsanitary or unaccesable) but could you still flush your toilet by dumping water (rain or old washing water etc) down your toilet. Here that is enough to flush them. Still having a hard time picturing a no flushable toilet senerio.

**imagine** · 09-15-2011, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by madhen

Happily, a bucket with some pine shavings and a lid will work as a composting toilet, in a pinch (no pun intended), so no big investment necessary.

For comfort the boy scout method is to put pipe insulation on the rim of the bucket so you can sit comfortably on it, Of course some people secure an actual toilet seat on it.

and in case someone doesn't know how to use a composting toliet, you put more saw dust ( pine shavings) on top after you are finished. Sort of what you do instead of flushing. lol

**madhen** · 09-15-2011, 03:00 PM

If you have a rain catchment system or large source of stored water, of course, but if you are talking about leftover water from dishes, I've tried dumping dish-washing water into the toilet, and you actually need quite a bit. When I am in a power outage/no water conservation mode, I am measuring out washing water by the 1/4 cup, and reusing it until there is almost nothing left. I've never been satisfied with the results of using dish water in the toilet (typically, even when it works, you have food bits floating in the bowl), and if you guess wrong, you've just wasted water that could have been used for watering plants or boiled, filtered, and reused for washing. Again, from a pure "conservation mode," I could think of situations where I would want that water for other things, rather than just flushing toilets, and when you have other simple options (pee outside, pee in a bucket), why waste the extra? (Also, urine is an excellent fertilizer!

)