Preparing For An Emergency - I Think We Are The Emergency!

I think we need to be prepared for an emergency.  Not just a natural one like earthquakes or severe weather, but the unnatural kind like terrorists bring.  There are many people that are already secure in their food and water storage.   We are just getting started.  After reading some other blogs about the kinds of food to store, I got worried.  All this talk about flour, sugar and rice has me very concerned.  Add to that a bunch of dried beans and I am scared to death! Why?  Because I can't cook.  I have no real idea how to make a meal out of those things.  I know how to cook rice.  Guess that's a start! 

So I told my husband we needed to learn how to cook so we could survive a disaster.  He agreed.  We decided the first thing we would do is learn to make bread without a bread machine.  (No, I have no idea why this came first, maybe we were hungry.)  Anyway, he wanted to make sour dough bread but the ingredient list included "sour dough starter".  So off we go to Walmart to buy flour, baking soda, active dry yeast and sour dough starter.  We were able to find everything we needed except the starter.  At the check out counter we asked the checker if she knew how to bake bread.  We told her we were looking for sour dough starter.  She said she thought it was a specialty item and suggested we check on the Internet.

When we got back in the car I pulled out my iPhone and looked up "sour dough starter".  Much to my surprise I learned that it is not something you can buy.  You have to make it yourself!  Hubby and I were in hysterics.  Maybe we should start with some plain old white bread :)

The next thing we decided to try was beans.  Many years ago I made Navy Bean Soup with Ham.  I think it was tasty - who knows, that was a long long time ago.  Anyway, we bought ham hocks and dried beans, and I found a recipe on the Internet.  Tomorrow we are having homemade bread and Navy Bean Soup.  Please say a prayer that we don't poison ourselves.  Thanks!