There was a time when colorful jars of home-canned fruits and vegetables lined most everyone’s basement shelves. Canning was a normal part of the harvest season – those jars of preserved summer crops made the budget stretch and added a little warm weather flavor to the root crop drudgery of the late winter months. Because modern food storage is so inexpensive and easy, many families have stopped canning food – especially in the last generation, and the oral tradition of how to preserve food and keep it safe for later consumption has been lost. However, with the urban farming and self-sustainability movements, there’s a resurgence in learning how to preserve homegrown food. While long, hot days in the kitchen may have caused an entire generation to give up the annual preservation ritual, modern conveniences like food processors and air conditioning (and the thought of enjoying summer corn in February) have given rise to a whole new generation shopping for Ball jars and wax.

Canning food can save a family hundreds of dollars a year, provide a nutritional and emotional boost during the winter months, and add another element of peace of mind to your self-sustainability plan. Think about it: in a Plan B scenario, if you can grow your own food and the preserve it, you’ll be able to supplement your emergency food supply all year round. If you can’t preserve it, you can only have fresh vegetables in the summer months.

Before you haul out the pressure cooker it’s important to learn Canning Safety 101 as improperly canned or spoiled food can make you very, very sick.

Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium that causes botulism—a deadly form of food poisoning. Botulism is sneaky in canned food because the spores can survive in soil or water for many years. Botulism bacteria actually proliferate in an absence of air – so canned food is an ideal place for them to grow. In fact, botulism loves moist, low-acid foods, temperatures between 40° and 120° and environments with less than 2% oxygen. In other words, a badly canned jar of green beans in your basement. This unique and lethal little critter is why you want to pay close attention to your canning method and throw out anything that is suspect. 

Correct processing times and methods (a complete list can be found in the USDA's Complete Guide to Home Canning available as a free PDF download here.) are vital to prohibiting bacteria, yeast and mold in your food. The rules are simple but varied – processing times and temperatures depend on your elevation, the acidity of the food and where you’ll be storing your jars.

Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the safety basics in the PDF (represented pictorially – it’s a fast read), brush up on the recommendations for ensuring safe, high-quality canned foods, also outlined in the PDF.

• Begin with good quality fruits and vegetables
• Can fruits and vegetables within 12 hours of harvest
• Can meats without delay
• Obtain high jar vacuums and air tight jar seals
• Fill hot foods into jars and adjust headspace as specified in recipe
• Tighten screw bands securely
• Store jars in a cool, dark place preferably between 50°and70°F
• Can no more food than you will use within a year

If you’re thinking of learning to can as a survival skill, it’s a great idea. Canning can be done without modern conveniences if you’re skilled at sterilizing and processing. However, taking a few practice runs on the stove (in your air-conditioned kitchen) can help you get confident with the process as well as the necessary safety measures. 

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when we are conscious of our treasures." – Thornton Wilder

“May you live in interesting times.” – ancient curse

A lot of us are very good at disaster planning. We know how many calories every member of our family will need at every meal, we can cook anything over an open fire and know how to dig a latrine. We’re ready for the worst and if we’re being honest, we might even be a little bit excited if we finally get to use the generator.

However, while preparing for the worst it’s easy to forget how nice a normal, non-interesting day is. We take for granted simple comforts and conveniences like drinking water out right out of the tap or flushing a toilet or microwaving popcorn. It’s easy to forget that, no matter how prepared we are, a lights-out, long-term disaster is hard – and today, in all of its drudgery, still comes with all the conveniences and comforts that we would really miss.

We were reminded of this when one of our readers shared yet another excellent use for dehydrated food: One Friday night a month their family has family-style dehydrated meal dinner instead off going out for their usual weekend kickoff dinner of pizza and FroYo. They take the savings, which they calculate at around $40 every month for their family of five, and donate it to a local children’s hospital. Families that stay at the annex to the hospital stay for free thanks to donations, and it’s easy to imagine that they’d give anything for the kind of normal, non-interesting, non-emergency day that many of us enjoy on a regular basis.

We thought it was a very touching family ritual – and someone here mentioned it would be great for fundraiser parties. Instead of spending money to cater, why not serve inexpensive but tasty dehydrated entrees and donate the rest of the money to a local food bank or charity? What a great idea – and so many people are interested in sampling modern dehydrated meals that it would be a great conversation starter.

The other benefit this family gets from a regular rotation of dehydrated meals is that in a real emergency, the little ones are already familiar with their favorites - unfamiliar food-related meltdowns aren’t going to be a problem since everyone is already used to the drill.

The usefulness of dehydrated food goes far beyond emergencies these days and we love hearing how our customers and readers are taking advantage of the low cost, portability and easy clean up and preparation of Wise food. Thanks for sharing your stories and adventures with us. If you’ve got a story, be sure to share it with us on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll pass it along.

Drying food is the oldest method of food preservation. That’s because it’s so simple. As harvest and hunting season approaches, drying is a great way to prolong the enjoyment your fruits, vegetable and meat into the winter months. Though dried food is probably not the best plan to feed your family in emergency, it’s one more survival skill you can learn to supplement your emergency stores and reduce food costs.  Here are some drying methods and safety instructions:

Methods

Solar drying

Solar drying is attractive because it’s free. However, you have to live in the right climate. Safe solar dehydration takes 3 to 5 consecutive days of temperatures at or above 95ºF and low humidity. Those in the Midwest and along the coasts probably won’t have a suitable climate for dehydrating, but residents of the Southwest may be able to take advantage of all that dry heat. You can build a solar dehydrator or you can do what the pioneers did and use shallow baskets or screen trays (make sure the food doesn’t touch anything that might have toxic chemicals). Hot attics, garages or screened-in porches make great drying environments. Wherever you put your trays, make sure they are lightly draped with clean cotton mesh or sheet to keep insects and animals from getting too curious. Plastic screen material for window screens, obtained at your local hardware store also works well as it’s inexpensive and washes easily.

Oven

Drying food in the oven is too expensive and time consuming unless you have a convection oven that has a low heating range of around 120ºF.

Dehydrators

A food dehydrator is a small appliance with a heating element, fans and vents for air circulation. They stay at a constant temperature of 140ºF and offer a lot of options and features. If you live in a cooler or humid climate, dehydrators are your best bet. If you do live in a hot, dry climate, you’ll be able to dry a lot more food in the sun than you will in an appliance, and for a lot less money.

All dehydrators are not created equal – if you’re considering one, be sure to look for these features recommended by the National Center for Home Food Preservation:

• Double wall construction of metal or high grade plastic
• Enclosed heating elements
• Counter top design
• An enclosed, adjustable thermostat from 85ºF to 160ºF
• Fan or blower
• Four to 10 open mesh trays made of sturdy, lightweight plastic for easy washing
• Timer

Also, you’ll need to choose between dehydrators that have horizontal air flow and vertical airflow. Horizontal airflow dehydrators prevent juices from dripping into the heating element, so there’s no “flavor mixture” and you can dry different kinds of food at once. Vertical airflow dehydrators can allow liquid to drip onto the heating element so you’ll want to separate batches of different food.

Safety

Vegetables and fruits must be prepared for drying immediately after harvesting. First blanch them in boiling water for 30 seconds, then cool in an ice bath. Most fruits and vegetables should be sliced thinly and dried at an even pace that allows moisture to evaporate evenly. Also, don’t let the food cool once the drying process has begun or you run the risk of growing mold.

You can start with relatively high heat – around 150ºF  but decrease heat to 120ºF  to 140ºF as soon as the outside of the food begins to feel dry. Near the end of the cycle food will burn or “cook” easily, so keep an eye on it.

Remember that you want extended dry heat so use food dryers in areas where you can keep the humidity low – if you’re drying outside avoid hot, muggy days and with any method make sure there is good ventilation and air circulation. Also, be sure to rotate and/or “flip” the pieces frequently to ensure uniform drying.

Consider freezing your bagged dry foods before storing in airtight plastic buckets. Freezing will kill any insect eggs that might be on or in the food. Nothing worse than spending days picking and drying apricots to find them crawling with larvae and moths when you pry the bucket open in the winter for a snack.

Nutrition

Dried fruits are rich in riboflavin and iron and dried vegetables are rich in the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. Both are high in fiber. Good foods to dry are ripe apples, berries, cherries, peaches, apricots, pears, peas, corn, peppers, zucchini, okra, onions, and green beans, herbs, seeds, beef, lamb, venison and fish.  

If you’ve got a store of emergency food, a stocked root cellar and a stash of vitamin-rich dried fruits, jerky and vegetables, you’re family is guaranteed a feast in the middle of any famine.

It used to be that dehydrated meals were strictly for emergencies or for use in the field by the armed services. Army green boxes of dehydrated food or envelopes of “heat and eat” dinners were bland at best and mysterious at worst. Fortunately for the rest of us, advancements in science and technology often move rapidly when it comes to the needs of the armed forces. NASA and the military have been hard at work on techniques to preserve food so taste and nutrition remain intact, translating to meals that are a long way from field MREs.

In fact, many people are taking advantage of the ease of dehydrated meals on busy weeknights when there just isn’t time to cook.  We love hearing from you how Wise gourmet entrees are making life a little easier this summer! It seems like schedules should slow down this time of year, but the opposite can be true. Kids scatter to friends’ houses, day camps or travel sport leagues and everyone lingers on the patio a little longer. We hear you: nobody wants to be trapped in the kitchen preparing a complex meal while there are fireflies to catch and sunsets to watch. Summer is the perfect time for easy, fast meals that fit a variety of schedules. Boil some water, then add a plate of homegrown tomatoes or lightly steamed vegetables from your garden and you’ve got a quick, healthy summer evening meal.

Recently we’ve heard from people who use our meals the night before vacation: the kitchen is cleaned up, the fridge is cleaned out and a fast, non-messy, simple meal is in order. Dehydrated meals are also useful on the night you get back from vacation – you can’t face another restaurant meal, nobody wants to go to the grocery, the fridge is empty and everyone just wants to eat something quick and collapse into bed.

Another great fast foundation suggestion: helping differently-abled family members remain independent. If your aging or physically challenged loved one can safely boil water, they can prepare tasty dinners themselves with minimal effort. Frozen steam-in-bag vegetables (some have sauces) mean good nutrition, endless variety and easy prep and clean up. Fruits that are easy to peel, like bananas, or don’t require peeling, like apples, are also good additions to a gourmet dehydrated entrée. 

Here’s one more clever fast foundation idea from one of our readers: stash a couple of cook-in-the-pouch meals in your carry on and you’ll be able to avoid terrible airport food and mysterious airplane entrees. Again, grab a piece of fresh fruit and a cup of hot water from a coffee cart and you’re no longer at the mercy of highly inflated airport prices.

Dehydrated food has come a long way since it’s Army days – today recipes are prepared by world-renowned chefs and preservation technology is courtesy of NASA scientists, making emergency meals a good choice for any occasion. Whether you want to stay outside a little longer, make vacation travel easier or help a loved one stay independent, feel free to dig into your emergency stash this summer.

In 2009 the CDC confirmed an outbreak of human cases of H1N1 (swine) flu in North America and the outbreak quickly spread around the world. Two months later the World Health Organization raised its flu alert level to Phase 6 – the highest level – indicating that a global pandemic was underway. Then Hollywood made a bunch of zombie movies that played on our reactions and fear of pandemics, and, well, the facts have gotten a little…muddy.

Pandemics are fascinating things – from a birds eye view we can watch the daily patterns of entire cities as organisms spread quickly. For a fascinating look at the cholera outbreak of 1854, The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson provides a modern look at the historical data. And, anyone can be an amateur epidemiologist by visiting nearly any cemetery in the world with turn-of-the-century graves. You’ll likely see groupings of headstones dating between 1918 and 1920 that tell the story of how the Spanish Flu claimed entire families or all the children in a family within days. It’s heartbreaking - and it wasn’t all that long ago.

Pandemic is fascinating from a scientific standpoint, but it’s not so fascinating from a real and personal perspective, especially when you start to think about how fast it can happen and how to keep your family safe. It pays to be educated – and not by Hollywood.

First, a pandemic is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region – over continents or worldwide. Some pandemics in recent history are smallpox, tuberculosis, HIV and, of course, H1N1. Because they are so unpredictable and fast moving, the time to prepare for a pandemic is now. Educating yourself on the magnitude of what can happen during a pandemic outbreak (again, keep your head and subtract the zombies) and what you can do to lessen the impact of a pandemic on you and your family will go a long way toward stability and peace of mind.

To begin with what you should have on hand, here’s a checklist from Ready.gov:  

• Two-week supply of water and food.
• Two-week supply of prescription drugs.
• Any necessary nonprescription drugs and other health supplies on hand, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes, and vitamins.

(If you’re a regular reader and advice-follower of this blog, you’re going to be much better prepared than just stashing food and medicine. Don’t forget the card games.

Next, it’s important to determine if you’re at high risk for infectious disease:

• People age 50 or older
• Pregnant women
• People with chronic medical conditions
• Children age 6 months and younger
• People who live with or care for anyone who is at high risk

If you are at high risk, it’s especially important to follow the guidelines for limiting the spread of germs and preventing infection. Here’s a list from the CDC:

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.
• If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. You will help prevent others from catching your illness.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick.
• Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
• Practice other good health habits. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.

A little education and preparation goes a long with pandemics. Modern technology and medicine are hand in glove when it comes to predicting pandemics and notifying the public. If it happens, the best thing you can do is stay home for awhile – and make sure you’re prepared.

In our last post we recommended you keep a couple packs of regular playing cards on hand and learn the rules to some basic games in advance. We’ve found that a diversion helps pass time and soothe kids (even adults!) in an emergency, even if it’s just a power outage.

There is sound reasoning behind this plan; part of preparing for an emergency isn’t just making sure you have food, water and shelter. If you’ve got a family, preparing for an emergency is also about a plan to retain as much normalcy as possible.

Ready Kids is a great website you can use with your kids to help them feel involved with the plan. Helping your kids feel prepared is one of the best things you can do to keep them safe and calm if there is an emergency. The site teaches kids the difference between a Tornado Watch and a Tornado Warning, what kind of things they need in their emergency kit and even lets them graduate from “Readiness U”.

Experts know, preparing kids ahead of time and helping them feel like part of the plan is extremely important to their health and well-being.

Now, at Wise Foods we know that kids are notoriously picky eaters. We also know you don’t want a weeklong lights-out with a little one who refuses to eat the food you’ve stashed for just such an occasion.

We’ve found that most food-related meltdowns are averted if kids are already acclimated to freeze-dried food. Here are some tips:

• Choose some freeze-dried meals that are already familiar to your child. Our Cheesy Macaroni and Chili Macaroni are favorites with kids.
• Add some freeze-dried fruits with dipping sauces to their meals. Not only will it balance the nutritional intake, kids are endlessly fascinated with the freedom to dip food.
• Make a game of trying the various entrees and letting them pick their favorite. When they’ve picked it, they feel like it’s “theirs”.
• Keep their favorites in a semi-regular rotation on non-emergency days so freeze-dried meals don’t seem unusual. 
• Use the Ready Kids site to involve your child in the family emergency plan – let them help order and stash their own favorite meals.
• If they’re old enough to safely handle hot water, let them help prepare their own freeze-dried meals.
• Use your Smartphone to let kids record their own “cooking show” – let them be the star while they prepare and garnish their own just-add-water meal. Share it with us on Facebook!

If you’ve got tips for how to involve kids in emergency preparation, share with us and our readers on Facebook or Twitter!

When kids reach a certain age a beautiful thing happens for a brief period of time. They want to make their own snacks. This gives parents one less thing to do, gives kids confidence in the kitchen and teaches responsibility and independence. Lots of our customers use our outdoor meals, especially the fruit and veggie packs and dips, as an introduction to kitchen self-sufficiency and safety.

If your kids are starting to ask to help in the kitchen and are starting to express their little inner chefs, safety is the first thing to teach.

Here are some tips:

1. Establish a few simple things children are allowed to make on their own. Supervise them in the process until you’re sure they can safely do it alone.  
2. Take the time to explain kitchen tools and how to use them properly.
3. Teach fire safety right away. Explain how the fire extinguisher works, how to put out a grease fire, and when to call 911.
4. Teach by example. Even if you normally use a towel to move hot pants, start using oven mitts. Towels can catch fire too quickly on hot burners.
5. Teach sanitation. Wash your hands and explain how germs and can contaminate food.
6. Remind your little chef to never leave cooking food unattended.
7. Teach the restaurant mantra “Clean As You Go”. Spills can cause slips.
8. Decide which appliances the child is allowed to use then demonstrate how they work. Be sure they know that metal and microwaves don’t mix.
9. Teach portion control. When kids establish self-governance with food portions early, they’re less likely to struggle with weight gain as they grow.
10.  As your child gains confidence in the kitchen, consider investing in a kid’s cookbook or letting them experiment with adding toppings or seasonings to simply prepared foods.

Dehydrated food packs are an excellent introduction to cooking for kids - heating water in the microwave or on the stove is a simple way to introduce appliances. Also, clean up is extremely minimal and usually involves washing a bowl and fork. Younger kids might be trusted with running the tap until the water is hot and measuring the right amount of liquid into a bowl or right into the Mylar envelope.

Even if they are just measuring water and setting a timer for a few minutes, kids love the feeling that they “made” something. If you want to let them give it a try, we’ll even send you a sample pack for free, though we can’t promise they’ll share.

An article in this month’s TIME magazine (March 19, 2012 | Vol. 179 No. 11) reports that scientists at NASA and the military are working on innovative ways to preserve food, even highly perishable food like mayonnaise, so it can survive for years at room temperature. John Floros, the lead author of the recent report “Feeding the World Today and Tomorrow” writes that the biggest problem the world faces when it comes to food – especially critical but perishable food like fruits and vegetables - is that we lose 30% to 70% of it to rot.

The author also illustrates the three biggest challenges to food preservation, challenges that most of us interested in self-sufficiency know first hand: controlling moisture, atmosphere and organisms. Some of the new techniques mentioned are mixing in water-absorbing ingredients like glycerol and sorbitol, edible polymer films, including packets of oxygen-eating chemicals in wrappers and high-pressure processing (known as HPP). HPP uses pressure instead of heat to kill bacteria, a process that keeps the taste intact and may pave the way for preserving highly perishable food while ensuring it still tastes like it’s supposed to.

Most of us think of long-term food supply as insurance for our families in a disaster or supply chain interruption. But there are scientists with big labs and big budgets who are thinking on a much larger scale – not a day goes by that a government or rescue organization isn’t faced with feeding a multitude. New discoveries in long-term food preservation techniques are good for all of us.

Rising Food Prices

Last week we wrote about Rising Food Prices - and mentioned that one way to stabilize your food budget and keep food costs neutral during a global price spike is to keep a store of dehydrated or freeze-dried food that can be used to supplement fresh food. If you bought a store this year, you'd have the ability to have a meal in 2037 at $1.67 a serving instead of $2.67 a serving, which is where average inflation is taking food prices.

How We Do It

At Wise, we’re already using advanced techniques to provide tasty food with a long shelf life. We’ve also just started offering freeze-dried fruits and vegetables that not only provide variety, but critical nutrients.

In our freeze-drying process, food is flash-frozen then placed in a vacuum drying chamber.  This process removes the majority of the water and moistening without affecting the taste, color, form or nutritional value of the food.

In our dehydration process, food moves through a drying chamber where air removes the moisture from the food. This occurs at low temperatures so that the nutritional profile stays intact. 

We also use airtight nitrogen packed pouches.  This unique packaging process removes the majority of the residual oxygen and immediately flushes the Mylar bag with nitrogen. This technique also simplifies the preparation process by eliminating the need to locate and remove an oxygen absorber from each individual pouch. 

If you’d like to learn more, we’ve got some information and a video here on our website.

We’re keeping an eye on the new techniques – who knows, maybe someday we’ll be able to grab a very tasty, ready-made tuna sandwich from the food storage stash.

Are Food Prices Rising?

Every year the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) releases a report that details food prices and their predictions on whether food prices will rise or fall. Their predictions aren’t based on guesses or groundhog behavior, they are based on a landslide of data that has to do with things like weather, political climates, the economies of the world and population.

Last year’s report (the 2012 edition is forthcoming) reported that “high food prices are likely to continue and volatility may increase in coming years, making farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity”. (You can read the full report here.)

Why?

Some factors are the increasing demand for food in fast-growing economies, increased biofuel production and population growth, production and transportation costs inflated by the rising price of oil, major currency fluctuations, and food trade and energy policies.

Of course, weather is a major factor and we don’t need climate experts to remind us that extreme weather is getting more common and the trend is expected to continue. Extreme weather anywhere in the world affects food everywhere in the world. Last year Russia and Argentina suffered crippling droughts, Australia and Canada suffered devastating rain. Business Week reported that 10 million acres of wheat farmland went unplanted in Saskatchewan while a cold, wet summer in the Midwest delayed the harvest and drove wheat prices up 74%. The corn harvest was not spared - prices soared over 87%. China’s wheat crop, the largest in the world, suffered from widespread drought that affected almost half the wheat production in Chinese provinces.

Even if the weather cooperates this harvest season, economists predict grain prices will keep rising because importers are speeding up purchases to outrun inflation. American commodities buyers are feeling the global pain because production of all grain-based products can’t keep up with demand.

Food Insurance to Control Costs

We can’t control the weather, we can’t control currency fluctuation and we have very little say when it comes to policy, fuel production and population growth. However, we do control our household budgets and prosperity plans. If food costs continue to rise, will we react by simply increasing the family’s food budget or will we take other steps to keep that budget steady?

Recently we’ve been discussing Urban Farming, which seems to be the new national pastime. And, it’s a good one. If you’re growing your own tomatoes, it’s just one more thing that you and Mother Nature control instead of you, Mother Nature, a commodities broker and a global transportation infrastructure. Another way to stabilize the budget and keep food costs neutral during a global spike (or unemployment!) is to keep a store of dehydrated or freeze-dried food that can be used to supplement fresh food. The right kind of freeze-dried food stays stable and retains good taste for up to 25 years. If you buy a store of food this year, you have the ability to have a meal in 2037 at $1.67 a serving instead of $2.67 a serving, which is where average inflation is taking food prices.

Keeping a store of dehydrated food need not only be for power outages and other emergencies. It can be used to keep your budget in your control.

A recent study funded by the Meals on Wheels organization revealed that 5 million senior Americans, that’s almost 12% of the senior population, face hunger every day. Half of those 5 million are living above the federal poverty line and two thirds of them are younger seniors between the ages of 60 to 65.

These surprising statistics mean that, even if you live in an affluent neighborhood, it’s likely that a senior you know is going hungry, is not getting the major nutrients they need, or is “food insecure.” This is the Meals on Wheels term for “at-risk” – meaning there isn’t a consistent and reliable way for these folks to get healthy meals.

Besides poverty (some seniors are living on social security alone and the average check barely clears the federal poverty line), the causes are complicated:

• Seniors who have lost a spouse may not have the skills to cook for themselves
• Poor health or limited mobility may prevent them from shopping and cooking
• Those recently discharged from the hospital may find their circumstances drastically changed, temporarily making food shopping and preparation very difficult throughout the recovery period.
• For some, struggling alone (financially or otherwise) is easier than asking anyone for help
• Adult children may not live in the area and may not be able to provide help with or monitor healthy eating habits
• Medications may cause side effects that include lack of appetite or stomach upset
• Seniors who feel depressed or lonely often lose interest in eating

Added to the risks are different nutritional needs. As we age our metabolisms slow down and it’s likely we are not as active as we once were; dietary requirements at 70 are not the same at 40 or 50. Because the body doesn’t burn as many calories, it’s important for sedentary seniors to make every calorie count by eating nutrient-dense foods.

If you know a senior, or you are a senior, facing hunger or food insecurity, freeze-dried meals are may be the perfect solution. Because freeze-dried meals are so simple to prepare, seniors can maintain their (fiercely guarded!) independence without sacrificing the enjoyment of good-quality meals. If you are able to safely boil water, you can enjoy hot, restaurant-quality, nutrient-dense meals with variety – and little clean up. Freeze-dried meals can be ordered directly from us by phone and will be delivered to your door – eliminating transportation problems. Freeze-dried meals are packaged in easy to open Mylar envelopes, won’t spoil and fit into tight budgets. 

The Meals on Wheels crew will tell you, emergency situations pose additional risks for seniors. Ensure your senior family members have an emergency kit in their homes:

• An adequate supply or means of creating at least a 3-day supply of safe water
• A minimum 3-day supply of freeze-dried food
• Flashlight
• Battery powered or hand crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible)
• Extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Medications (7-­day supply) and medical items (hearing aids with extra batteries, glasses, contact lenses, syringes, cane)
• Multi­purpose tool
• Sanitation and personal hygiene items
• Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical information, deed/lease to home, birth certificates, insurance policies)
• Cell phone with chargers
• Family and emergency contact information
• Extra cash
• Emergency blanket
• Pet supplies (collar, leash, ID, food, carrier, bowl). See the post, Emergency Planning for Pets.