Seminar for Emergency Preparedness

Last week I attended a seminar for Emergency Preparedness. The speaker was Becky Pritt who came all the way from Utah. She and her husband outlined several interesting ways to conserve energy during everyday life as well as in an emergency.

One of the main things demonstrated was the different ways to store energy. We saw a variety of lamps, flashlights and battery generators in action. The most versitile of them was of course the battery generator. It had enough energy (300-600 watts) to jump start a car, charge a cell phone and still light up a campsite at night. Xantrex.com has a variety of battery generators for a variety of uses-- see portable and back up power section. The generator was useful in so many situations such as camping, picnics or more predictably, in power outage situations.

Other forms of storeable energy included wood, charcoal, propane (gas stoves) and butane.

One of the most exciting things demonstrated was the Wonderbox. The concept is quite like a crockpot, but with no power cord! It's basically an insulated box that cooks with retained heat. Food is brought to boil in a pot and the pot is placed inside the Wonderbox where the food can continue to cook for another 2 or more hours. It usually takes 4 times the normal cooking time, but takes no extra fuel and will keep the food HOT until ready to eat without burning! Sister Pritt had made 3 different foods for us to try: Stew, ham and bean soup and BREAD! They were all delicious and all cooked in the wonderbox. This is such a neat idea, with many applications. As soon as I can get some pictures i'll post them.