Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.mormontimes.com/mormon_living/health_lifestyle/?id=7188
Authors aim to prepare people for disaster
By Sharon Haddock
Mormon Times
Thursday, Apr. 09, 2009
Provo, Utah, resident Leslie Probert and fellow author Lisa Harkness, from Highland, Utah, can't be everywhere to speak about emergency preparedness.
So they're doing the next best thing.
They've produced a DVD that replicates their message when it comes to preparing for disasters: "Keep it simple. Don't panic but begin."
"Emergency Food in a Nutshell" is based on their popular preparedness manual and includes three 40-minute classes featuring Probert.
Its release is timely, given the current economic and social climate.
"People are hungry for information and answers. People are so anxious right now," Probert said. "When they get their questions answered and it's simple, they take off. They'll go on their own."
When they don't find answers or what is presented is complicated, people feel overwhelmed and do nothing.
"Our book is laid out simply and we designed it that way," Probert said. "But hearing a voice is even better."
Probert has spoken to thousands of people over the years. She's consistently taught at Brigham Young University's Campus Education Week and is often asked to do food demonstrations in wards, stakes and extension classes throughout the region.
"The classes on the DVD are the culmination. We have a class for the beginner on how to get started, a class on cooking delicious, easy meals with food storage items and one on storing fuel safely. We demonstrate making an apple box reflector oven and cooking in a cooler," Probert said.
Probert and Harkness, who serve as Relief Society president and stake Young Women president, respectively, are committed to finding and presenting the best and most up-to-date information. Therefore, everything offered in the book and on the DVD can be substantiated.
Everything is food storage-centric as well.
"Our recipes are made with only stored foods," Probert said. "People need to be thinking not only about what and how to store food but about how to cook and eat it."
Harkness and Probert also emphasize that disaster can be something as big as an earthquake or ice storm or as personal as losing a job.
Something like pandemic flu could isolate a family in their home for up to three months.
When disaster strikes is not the time to begin to make a plan, they say.
People need to be thinking ahead and doing what they can, even a little at a time, to prepare.
Probert recommends working on three things to start: a three-month food supply of the basics such as rice, beans, corn and wheat, enough water for everyone in the family for three months and a financial reserve.
Once the basics are in, it's important to start adding items such as fuel, seeds, a grinder, and the "extras" that make eating from food stores pleasant and enjoyable.
Adding dried eggs, yeast, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and bouillon cubes can expand meal possibilities from pastes and bland items to soups, muffins and pancakes.
Stored fruits and vegetables, along with spices, oils and evaporated milk, expand the menu options even further.
"This helps you to make food storage taste normal," Probert said.
"People don't believe food storage can taste good," Harkness said. "But if your husband won't eat it, what good is it to store it?"
The DVD is available at Deseret Book, at the BYU bookstore and at Grandma's Country Foods, 386 W. 9400 South in Sandy, Utah. It sells for $16.95.
Harkness and Probert also have a blog with updated information: www.emergencyfoodinanutshell.blogspot.com.
Authors aim to prepare people for disaster
By Sharon Haddock
Mormon Times
Thursday, Apr. 09, 2009
Provo, Utah, resident Leslie Probert and fellow author Lisa Harkness, from Highland, Utah, can't be everywhere to speak about emergency preparedness.
So they're doing the next best thing.
They've produced a DVD that replicates their message when it comes to preparing for disasters: "Keep it simple. Don't panic but begin."
"Emergency Food in a Nutshell" is based on their popular preparedness manual and includes three 40-minute classes featuring Probert.
Its release is timely, given the current economic and social climate.
"People are hungry for information and answers. People are so anxious right now," Probert said. "When they get their questions answered and it's simple, they take off. They'll go on their own."
When they don't find answers or what is presented is complicated, people feel overwhelmed and do nothing.
"Our book is laid out simply and we designed it that way," Probert said. "But hearing a voice is even better."
Probert has spoken to thousands of people over the years. She's consistently taught at Brigham Young University's Campus Education Week and is often asked to do food demonstrations in wards, stakes and extension classes throughout the region.
"The classes on the DVD are the culmination. We have a class for the beginner on how to get started, a class on cooking delicious, easy meals with food storage items and one on storing fuel safely. We demonstrate making an apple box reflector oven and cooking in a cooler," Probert said.
Probert and Harkness, who serve as Relief Society president and stake Young Women president, respectively, are committed to finding and presenting the best and most up-to-date information. Therefore, everything offered in the book and on the DVD can be substantiated.
Everything is food storage-centric as well.
"Our recipes are made with only stored foods," Probert said. "People need to be thinking not only about what and how to store food but about how to cook and eat it."
Harkness and Probert also emphasize that disaster can be something as big as an earthquake or ice storm or as personal as losing a job.
Something like pandemic flu could isolate a family in their home for up to three months.
When disaster strikes is not the time to begin to make a plan, they say.
People need to be thinking ahead and doing what they can, even a little at a time, to prepare.
Probert recommends working on three things to start: a three-month food supply of the basics such as rice, beans, corn and wheat, enough water for everyone in the family for three months and a financial reserve.
Once the basics are in, it's important to start adding items such as fuel, seeds, a grinder, and the "extras" that make eating from food stores pleasant and enjoyable.
Adding dried eggs, yeast, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and bouillon cubes can expand meal possibilities from pastes and bland items to soups, muffins and pancakes.
Stored fruits and vegetables, along with spices, oils and evaporated milk, expand the menu options even further.
"This helps you to make food storage taste normal," Probert said.
"People don't believe food storage can taste good," Harkness said. "But if your husband won't eat it, what good is it to store it?"
The DVD is available at Deseret Book, at the BYU bookstore and at Grandma's Country Foods, 386 W. 9400 South in Sandy, Utah. It sells for $16.95.
Harkness and Probert also have a blog with updated information: www.emergencyfoodinanutshell.blogspot.com.