In this day and age, most people have a fridge and/or a freezer in order to store food. It is also common for food to be stored incorrectly or for longer than it is supposed to be. In order to keep food safe to consume, one must be knowledgeable on not only how to store food, but also how long it lasts for. A lot of food spoil easily, such as milk or dairy products, when they are kept below a certain temperature for too long. Also, foods such as fresh fruits or veggies are easily spoilable when kept for too long. An easy way to ensure your food stays fresh longer is to package/seal it in airtight containers or zip lock bags. Doing this helps to prevent microorganisms, mostly bacteria, from getting to the food. Another problem we have to contend with in regard to food storage is the trouble of power outages. Electricity powers the cooling systems within fridges and freezers, so when the power goes out so does the cooling system. The simplest way to ensure your food stays cold is to keep the doors to the fridge and freezer closed during a power outage. This prevents the cold air from escaping and keeps the food safe longer. After a power outage, even if it is only out for a few hours, always check the food stored in your fridge/freezer. Make sure the temp of the food has not dropped below 40°F, and if it has check to make sure the food has not spoiled and be prepared to throw it out if it has. Below are a couple of websites with more information on food storage, what to do with food during/after a power outage, and how long to keep certain foods. I also included a website with a tip on how to make sure your freezer is safe. www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/cooking/tips/a25129/food-storage-freshness/ http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/cooking/tips/a25202/food-fridge-infographic/ http://chfs.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/E5ADB3D5-6E6C-4633-8714-960A1BDD4EFB/0/PowerOutage.pdf http://en.newsner.com/why-you-should-always-put-a-coin-in-the-freezer-before-you-leave-home/about/taste,life-haks,tricks
0 Comments
Since the 1950's dishwashers have been standerd home appliances. They are very usefull in allowing one to wash and sanatize multiple dishes at once. However, sometimes one finds themselves with a stack of dirty dishes and no dishwasher (I tend to run into this issue when camping). You still need to wash and sanatize all those dishes, but how to do it? First you need to gather your supplies: - three buckets or good size containers (big enough to fit your biggest dish). -Dish soap -Clean sponge, brush, scrubber, and/or dish rag -Household bleach (preferebly unscented) -Hot water -Room temperature or cold water Second is preparing the buckets with the three solutions: -The first bucket needs to be filled with warm, soapy water. This is for cleaning the dishes of any food particles left on them. -The second needs to have a sanatizing mixture of bleach and hot water. Generally the ratio is one tablespoon bleach to one gallon water. -The third needs to be filled with clean, clear, and either room temperature or cold water. This is for rinsing off the bleach The third step is the washing process: -First scape off any large food particles left on the dish -Wash the dish in the first tub filled with the warm, soapy water -Rinse the dish in the sanatizing tub (the one with the bleach in it) -Rinse the dish in the last tub with the clean, clear water -Lastly dry off the dish by either letting it air dry or by drying off with a clean, dry towle. Here are some websites that relate to washing dishes without a dishwasher: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/10/hand-washing-dishes-tips_n_6211214.html http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/do-you-really-need-a-dishwasherreal-simple-173109 Surprisingly very few young adults know how to properly address an envelope. In the digital age we live in it is not very common to use snail mail, especially when it is quicker to send an email or text message. However, snail mail is still used today. Whether it is to simply send a Birthday card to a friend or to send in a resume and application when applying for a job.
Now, when addressing an envelope you need a few main things. The name of who you are sending the mail to, their address, (including street, house number, city, state, and zip code), a stamp (or two. or three. the number depends on the size of the package and how far it is being sent), and your return address. The stamp will go in the top right corner of the envelope and the return address (which is your address usually) goes in the top left corner. The name and address goes in the middle of the envelope. The first line is the persons name (First and Last name). Below that goes the street address and house number. And below that is where you write the city, state, and zip code, in that order. Below is a couple of example photos of envelopes for reference. I also included a link to a website that fully explains the in's and out's of addressing an envelope. http://www.americangreetings.com/blog/address-envelope/ Sales tax changes depending on what state you are in, and in some states it changes depending on what city/county you are in. It is normally only a few cents, but it is always good to look up what the sales tax is whenever you travel to avoid any misconceptions. It is also helpful to know what the sales tax is in other countries. In places such as Europe and Japan the sales tax is already included in the price. So what you see is what you pay. Handy, right?
When traveling to another country, whether it's Canada or China, you need to know the exchange rate between your home currency and the currency of whatever country you are traveling to. Knowing the exchange rate allows you to calculate how much something really costs. Sometimes the U.S. Dollar is worth more than the local currency, sometimes it is worth less. Before you travel you can always use google to find the rough exchange rate between US Dollar and ______. Or if you want a more exact exchange rate, here are some websites to use:
http://www.x-rates.com/ https://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/ http://www.exchange-rates.org/ Most often stores use percentages when marking down items. 50%, 40%, ect. Sometimes the store will include the price the item is marked down to, sometimes not. Being able to do percentages on the fly is really useful, especially when you are on a budget. Seeing as most people have calculators, whether an actual one or on their phone, figuring out the price of an item that has been marked down is relatively simple.
To begin with I am going to give you a shopping scenario. Say you are buying a shirt. It's original price is $20, a tag says it's 25% off, how much does the shirt cost? To figure this out you first have to figure out what 25% of $20 is. You do this by multiplying the original price by the percentage. You need to make the percentage a decimal by either adding a decimal point in front of it or by dividing it by 100. (in this case you would type in .25 or 25/100). Then you subtract your answer from the original amount. In this scenario you would multiply $20 by .25 (or 25/100), which gives you an answer of $5. Then you would subtract $5 from $20 which leaves you with an answer of $15. That is your final cost. Coupons are always handy when buying anything. There are both paper and digital coupons. In the past, paper coupons were all the rage; and they still are, just not as much as they used to be. In recent years the digital coupon has become ever popular. With the creation of phone apps and the like, it is often easier to use a digital coupon rather than a paper one, but that doesn't mean you should just throw out all your paper coupons.
When deciding what type of coupon to use one needs to determine what has the best deal. Restaurants, particularly fast food restaurants, typically use paper coupons. They send them out in the mail, or sometimes they have them available at the store, but it is rare to see them there. Retail stores on the other hand, can use both paper and digital coupons, depending on the store. Sometimes they will have a digital coupon that you have to print out in order to use, or they might even have an app specially for coupons and sales. It is up to you to decide what type of coupon fits best for what you are purchasing. You may be asking, "Where can I find these coupons?" Let me tell you. Paper coupons are normally received through the mail, but you can also get them in newspapers, and some stores have some at their location. Digital coupons are often easier to access than paper ones. There are many different websites with coupons on them. I would suggest google-ing " _____ Coupons" before purchasing anything, especially on any online store, because there is almost always a coupon you can use. Something that I have come across in my life is that it is valuable to know how to read roman numerals. They are used on clocks, in books (to number the chapters or volumes), and, of course, for the Super Bowl.
When reading Roman numerals there are a few simple rules that can be followed. This way you do not need to memorize what each and every number looks like, you will just have to remember a few of them. First off, there are really only a few characters you will need to remember. They are I, V, X, L, C, D, and M. Now the first three numbers are easy, they are shown as I, II, and III. Then, it gets a little tricky. The number four is written as IV, which can be seen as 1 before 5. (The number five is written as V). Number 6 is written as VI, or 1 after 5; 7 is written as VII or 2 after 5; and 8 is written as VIII, or 3 after 5. With number 9 we switch it up a little bit, it is written as IX, or 1 before 10 (10 is written as X). Now you know how to count to 10 with roman numerals! I have attached some links to websites that are useful when learning Roman numerals, so you can go explore those or you can always find Roman numeral charts off of Google. Here are the links: www.roman-numerals.org/index.html http://www.wikihow.com/Learn-Roman-Numerals In America, we generally go by 12 hour time, so we have an AM and a PM. On the other hand, in 24 hour time this is distinction is not necessary. But for those of us who do regularly use 12 hour time, here is the difference between AM and PM.
AM stands for "ante meridiem" which means "before midday". It is the time between midnight and noon and is also referred to as "morning". PM stands for "post meridiem" which means "after midday". It is the time between noon and midnight and is also referred to as the "afternoon". The most common question people have is this: "Is midnight 12PM or 12AM?" or the other variation, "Is noon 12PM or 12AM?" Noon is generally referred to as 12PM and Midnight referred to as 12AM. In the digital age we live in, analog clocks are becoming less common. Sure you can find out the time from your fitbit or from your phone, but it is still good to know how to read an analog clock. The first thing you should know is that analog clocks are normally circular with numbers from 1 - 12 running around the edge. Here is an example of one. To read an analog clock you must first identify what the hour hand and the minute hand are. Generally the hour hand is smaller than the minute hand. To identify the hour, you must look at what numbers the hour hand is between. If the hour hand lies between the 3 and the 4, then it is 3 something. If it is between the 11 and the 12, then it is 11 something.
To read the minute, one must be able to count by 5's. Each number on the clock goes up in increments of 5, so the 1 on the clock means 5 minutes, the 2 means 10 minutes, the 3 means 15 minutes and so forth. Remember, there are 60 minutes in an hour (60 minutes divided by 5 minute intervals is equal to 12). Let's practice. Using the clock pictured above we see that the hour hand (the shorter, thicker one) is in between the 1 and the 2. This means it is 1 something. Now, lets look at the minute hand (the longer, thinner one). It is roughly half way in between the 9 and the 10, or about half way between 45 and 50 minutes. So, we can safely assume that the time is 1:47. The red hand is for seconds. In this case, the red hand is almost halfway around as it nears the 6. So to be even more detailed, the time could be listed as 1:47:27 (hour:minute:second). |
AuthorMy name is Erica. This blog is a part of my Girl Scout Gold Award project. Archives
April 2017
Categories |