robin tidwell « Robin Writes

Big announcement: I now have enough pasta for three months!

Just kidding, but not really; I mean, I have enough pasta, thanks to that 67-cent sale last week, but it’s not really a big announcement. The death of our freezer, however, is a pretty big deal.

Seems like it happened yesterday. There was a trail of water on the floor this morning, and since we’ve had trouble with that outlet before, but none since the replacement, we plugged the freezer in another spot and waiting. Well, the poor thing is trying to turn on, but alas, no luck.

So, we’re in the market for another freezer, at some point, but in the meantime . . .

I’m drying out the green beans, hoping to be able to re-freeze them, but the kale and leeks are a loss. There were a few packages of meat and a forgotten frozen lunch-thingy, and few unidentifiable containers—all tossed.

Looks like I’ll be making a couple jars of strawberry preserves, and cherry, and some cranberry relish. I’d already had tomato sauce and granola on my list for today, so I’ll be heading into the kitchen soon for the rest of the day.

You know that whole procrastination thing? Yeah, I’m bad. The good thing about the freezer issue is that now I HAVE to get back to my food prep list. I moved some stuff around in the inside cabinets this morning, and took a couple boxes of saved and washed containers to the garage. Now I need to do inventory. A necessary evil, or we’ll truly end up eating nothing but pasta . . .

Last week I talked about breakfast—let’s do lunch!

What do you normally eat for lunch? A frozen lunch? Deli? Go out? Leftovers? None of these things will be available when SHTF. Think about it.

Even leftovers, usually my own choice, are going to be almost non-existent because you’ll have no power and no refrigeration. Or will you?

You could build a coldhouse, use a spring or a cave—there are solutions to short-term fresh food storage. As long as you like to eat cold food. I mean, cold food that should be served hot. I’ve said it before, you might have to get used to not having things the way you prefer, but let’s try to minimize the discomfort.

I’ve mentioned bread, and baking, but if you’re planning on sandwiches, what can you use as the filler? Peanut butter, or other nut butters, are good choices—plenty of protein and fats which, yes, you’ll need. You’ll be eating less, remember? And of course, you can make your own preserves and jellies. I just started canning this summer, and guess what—it’s pretty darn easy! Doesn’t take a lot of time, either.

You can even make your own peanut butter, if you can stand the noise—just dump some peanuts, or other nuts—into your food processor.

Of course, in the winter especially, you can build a fire and cook your lunches, just like dinner. Remember, though, a fire should only be as large as you need it. Chopping and stacking wood is hard work, and when SHTF, firewood will be at a premium.

You can’t ignore that ol’ food pyramid, just because the world has gone crazy, so stock up on protein sources—you can make your own jerky—and fruits and veggies. Don’t forget carbs, either. Really, making things from scratch is so much better for you, and not as difficult as you might think.

Dehydrating has two advantages: food preservation and minimal storage. I’ve done fruits, several kinds, some of which I use in granola, and potatoes. You know those Betty Crocker potato dishes, the kind in the box with cheese powder? Yep, my dried potatoes look just like those. Took about 6 or 7 hours—but you do have to cook them a bit first or they’ll turn black. Ick.

The point is that, however you preserve food, make sure it’s something you like and that will be full of nutrition. Three meals, snacks, however you prepare them, you want to use the least amount of food possible to maintain your strength—both physical and mental.

A reader asks, “As a writer, how often should I blog?”

Oh, mercy, there are as many schools of thought on this as there on comma usage . . . but in general, you don’t want to irritate people with a barrage of irrelevant content and, at the same time, you don’t want them to forget about you.

Let’s start with content. You can write about anything, of course, or you can use your blog as a journal of sorts. Now, some people might want to hear about your daily life, some won’t. “Relevant” content is simply something of value that most of your readers want.

You can blog about the writing process, your own writing career, or something at which you have expert status—if you’re an author, what is your book about? Make yourself an expert.

Who are your readers? That’s what you have to figure out. Look at the list of those who follow your blog, and see what they have in common. Look at past posts and see which get the most hits and the most comments. This will tell you what your followers want.

Then tailor your content to that. Don’t make every post a “buy my book” pitch, but you can certainly do that once in a while, and even mention it in passing. I’ve found the best way is to have permanent buy links in the sidebar of my blog. They’re there, they’re visible, and people can click if they want.

Frequency—again, that’s up to you and what you have to talk about. If you can create enough content to blog on a daily basis, go for it! Just be sure it’s interesting to your readers and not repetitive. And, too, watch the length. A blog post of two paragraphs often isn’t worth clicking on, and one that lasts for more than 1000 words can become tiresome to read.

I recommend blogging once a week, at minimum. Or even every two weeks, if you’re short on time. Once a month just isn’t frequent enough; your readers may well move on. Seven days a week might be too much.

And be consistent. Pick a day, or two days, or whatever, and make sure your blog is live on those days, every week. Most blogging platforms allow you to schedule posts; take advantage of that. Readers will start to look at those days and be expecting your post.

It might take some time to find what works best for you, and that’s okay. Experiment, and when you find your formula, let your blog take off.

I’m now posting four days a week here at Robin Writes; I’ve done the twice a week, three times, and even once weekly. The latter just doesn’t cut it for my readers . . . Why four days? Well, I’m experimenting again! I do two posts a week related to prepping, and two related to writing (one is answering a reader-sent question, like today’s). I split up the prepping because I realized I do two separate sub-topics: prepping in general, and our “journey” in moving out to the country and being self-sufficient.

Another tip is to write your blog posts all at once. I do mine on Sundays, my day off, when I have time to actually just write. Then I upload and schedule them, and I’m all finished!

Finally, keep a list, on your desktop where you can find it, of potential topics. That way, if something doesn’t come to mind right away, you can pull from that list and whip up a post pretty quickly.