Jiffy Mix

Walmart has the corn bread jiffy mixes on sale for .25 right now.

December Food Storage Monthly/Challenge

I passed out a paper copy at church

December Food Storage Monthly

Decide as a family this year that 25 or 50 percent of your Christmas will be spent on a year’s supply. Many families in the Church spend considerable sums of money for Christmas. Half or part of these Christmas monies will go a long way toward purchasing the basics. I recall the Scotsman who went to the doctor and had an X-ray taken of his chest. Then he had the X-ray gift-wrapped and gave it to his wife for their anniversary. He couldn’t afford a gift, but he wanted her to know his heart was in the right place. Brethren, give your wife a year’s supply of wheat for Christmas, and she’ll know your heart is in the right place. (Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric)

This month’s food storage challenge is to sit down and figure out where you are at and set a plan. My husband and I have been actively working on our food storage for about 5 years now. We even took out a chunk of money to purchase a 3 months’ supply of what we felt should be in our food storage. Through the years we have learned what things we would actually use and things that were on our list, because of old traditions and cooking.

Today we really do not have storage at all. What happened to our 3 month supply you ask? It got eaten with all the other pantry food. We use to stock our pantry. That was our food storage and we “rotated it out.” I was racking my brain trying to figure out how come I couldn’t keep things stocked up. Then it was finally brought to my attention that we needed to have a separate pantry and food storage. A storage that you don’t rotate for 1,3,5,30 years. However long the longevity of the food is. Then you rotate that into your pantry and restock the storage. Since you will have different shelf lives you won’t have to be repurchasing everything at once.

We have also learned that you don’t have to store things you don’t cook with, won’t cook with, or don’t like. You might think well duh, but tradition says you need to store wheat, rice, beans and powdered milk, and other ingredients that you may have never cooked with. If you desire here is part two of this month’s challenge.

Take 14 note cards and write down 7 breakfasts and 7 dinners that you would like to have once a week for one year. There are 52 weeks in the year, so you will be having these meals 52 times. Write on the left side of the card everything it takes to make the meal and on the right side everything multiplied by 52. Don’t forget to add the water you will need for cooking. My food storage has 14 dinners (x 26 weeks) 7 breakfasts (x 52 weeks) a daily loaf of bread (x 365 days) and a variety of desserts. This is a very simple system that saves time and money because you only store what you need and will eat. It can easily be adapted from a years’ supply to a 2 weeks’ supply or a 3 months’ supply.

After reading this from Wendy Dewitt’s book, my husband and I started to realize how much we were trying store, with really no plan. We just guessed how much we might need for a year. I’ve wondered how we would really have fared. This system is so exact that you know you will have exactly what you need, no more no less. It’s simple and I think it brings an ease to putting together you food storage.

Let me know if you would like a CD from the Food Storage Fair. It has almost all of the information covered, and also includes Wendy Dewitt’s Book Everything Under The Sun

A good place to shop

We learned about this store when we were in the Honeyville store in Brigham City. It's a huge store with probably anything you'd want to store including containers of all types. The pricelist is in Adobe Reader and is 14 pages long. I hope Honeyville succeeds here as they're our only option for most of these items. I have had to pick up things in SLC or Brigham City in the past, so we're grateful for this store. Feel free to share the Price list with others in your ward - especially your food storage specialists
Or canning specialists if they aren't aware of this store.
They have all kinds of grains, flours, baking supplies (including cupcake cups 500 for $4.19 - much cheaper than supermarkets. You might want to browse through the pricelist. They have lots of things in bulk and also In cans. They also have a gluten free section on bottom of p 11 and top of p 12. I don't know how those prices compare to other gluten free products since I > don't buy those.

Heidi

Storage Life of food

How long can that bottle of ketchup stay in your fridge before it goes bad? I'm thinking 5 or 10 years but if you want an expert opinion, go to the web site below. This site lists all kind of foods and how to keep them fresh longer as well as when to get rid of them. If you have a question click on the particular picture, and a whole list of stuff appears..............
WHAT A GREAT SITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CLICK ON LINK BELOW:

http://www.stilltasty.com/

(Shared by Heidi Larkin)

Food Storage Fair

I just wanted to tell eveyone who helped out and participated in the food storage fair thank you! It was a huge success. Also just incase you didn't hear on Sunday, I have some extra CD's with most of the information that was shared at the fair. Let me know if you want one.

Dipping cheese in wax to preserve it

Bobbi Cook wanted to share this as well.

Another food storage method that I recently heard about is dipping cheese in wax to preserve it. I'll let you know how that one goes, it could be an adventure. If you want to read about it, I think this is a great link Cheese Wax Will Save Us All « Preparedness Pro .

Storing dry goods in PETE plastic containers

Bobbi Cook has a need method she is trying and wanted to share. Ask her if you have questions.
Did you know that you can store dry goods in PETE plastic containers? I guess the church is doing this in third world countries where they need to store food, but don't have canneries. Here's a link that tells you how http://www.instructables.com/id/Storing_Bulk_Dry_Foods_in_PETE_Bottles_using_Oxyge/. The only other thing that I heard to do that this person didn't is to use packaging tape around the lid of the container.

November Food Storage Challenge

I hope everyone was able to find a good deal on their November food storage items. This month I was wondering if anyone might have a suggestion for the item to purchase. Maybe there is something that you really need and this would help you to stock up on it. Let me know and I will make a decision what the item will be by Sunday.

October Food storage Challenge

The challenge for October is to buy (3 months worth if possible) sugar or flour. My family uses a variety, white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar. I know lots of people who buy two kids of flours as well. Whatever your family uses buy. Don't store something that you don't use. Good luck. Post a comment if you find any good deals.

Ward Food Storage Fair

November 21, 9am-12pm

We are going to hold a food storage fair that will have different booths. It will be kind of like a job fair. You can come when you like and leave when you like. You can go to what ever booths interest you. Some booths will be a continuous video that will teach you something. Others will be demenstrations on how to prepare your use something. Please let mandi Allen or Whitney Wertz know if you are willing to help run a booth. Even if you don't know anything before we will educate you so that you know and can teach and assist others. You can also just leave a comment with this post if you are interested in helping out. It will be a ward event so you could have a husband wife team or do a booth with another sister. For this to be a success we really need volunteers to help us out.

Food Storage Challenge

Sister I just was wanting some feedback about the monthly food storage challenge. If you are would like me to continue doing it, or change it up or try something completly new. Please leave your comments.

Be Prepared

The following is a letter that was given to sisters in another ward.

As I’m sure you have heard on recent news reports, those in the health and medical community are anticipating a very bad year for the flu virus. It has been estimated that at any given time during this flu season, 40% to 60% of the workforce in this country may be absent from their employment. That, of course, would include medical facilities, grocery stores and trucking companies. Our ability to obtain goods and services that we need to maintain daily living could be negatively impacted for an extended period of time. Hopefully, we have followed the admonition of the prophets and have established a preparedness plan for their families. If they have not, the task may seem overwhelming and with other economic and personal issues, they may have set this important and necessary project aside waiting for better times. In those situations, we have some suggestions that may help.1. Make a list of the food and hygiene items currently in your homes. When you know what is available to you, make a menu to establish how long you could survive if you could not get items from the store. Monitor to see how quickly your family uses soaps, shampoos, dish and laundry soaps, etc. to establish how much of a supply of those items you currently have in your homes. Include hygiene, paper supplies and medications on your list. Don’t forget diapers, wipes and basic first aid supplies.2. Establish what items would be necessary to be completely self sufficient for a 1 month period of time if a situation arose where you were unable to get any replacement supplies in your home. Again, in addition to food, remember hygiene and paper products as well as medications. Water storage also needs to be maintained.3. Review the family budget to see if there are any areas where expenditures could be reduced to provide means to purchase the items on that list. Pay attention to the items that you are using daily and adjust your list accordingly so that those items are replaced. Try to obtain and then maintain a 1 month supply of food and other items needed by your family. Once that is done, work on a second month supply.4. Check on your water storage. See if it needs to be treated or replaced and verify that you have at least a 2 week supply for every member of your family. The recommended amount is 2 gallons per person per day.Please have the sisters remind their children to wash their hands with soap and water several times a day while at school to avoid becoming ill. If they suspect that a member of their family may be ill with the flu, keep them home to avoid spreading it to other families. We are aware that many families are unable to take on any additional expenses at this time and are already in great need. However, we have seen great miracles take place when families live the gospel and work to follow the commandments of the Lord. The last sentence in the Visiting Teaching Message for September is a statement by Elder Hales, it says, “The reason we pray, study the scriptures, have good friends, and live the gospel through obedience to the commandments is so that when-not if, but when- the trials come, we are ready”.

Canned Chicken

Chris and I will be canning some whole chickens on Saturday September 19th. If you would like to watch or can some yourself please come on over. We will start canning at 9am.

Share your knowledge

Sisters,

Please feel free to post any knowledge or tips dealing with food storage like buying it, storing it, preparing it, ect. If we put all our knowledge together we will be great. Send me an email or comment and I will get it posted. Thanks

September Food Storage Challenge

Sorry for the delay, I have been out of town without the internet. I would love to here how people did on their August food storage challenge. My family did Macaroni, and with a little patience and prayer I was able to get them .25 cents a box. I was very pleased. Alright so on to this month. The challenge for you this month is to get a three months ( or as much as your budgeted amount allows) of a canned good. You may choose canned fruits, soups, tomato sauce (maybe it goes with your last months) soups whatever you might need and use in a can. If you do not purchase items from the store in a can, pick something from the cannery that you use. Here are the instructions in case you forgot.

-First decide how much you can spend out of your budget.
-Second I will help direct you with. This month you will work to increase a canned good. If your budget is a little larger and you think you can get 3 months worth of more than one thing go for it.
-Third Pray for help. Ask Heavenly Father to help you be able to increase your storage, maybe where to shop, or the right timing, or ask for a sale on a specific item. Ask him to have someone let you know of a sale, or help you find some coupons.
-Fourth Before the end of the month make your purchase.

Food Storage Helps

Whitney Wertz came across this website and has found it very helpful in organizing, gathering and using food storage. Go explore it at http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/

If you find something specific that you think it good or has worked for you remember to make a comment or email me so I can post it for all the sisters to read.

Give them a try receipe's

White Bean Frosting- Rachael Smith

Makes enough for double layer round cake, ready in 12 minutes,

• 1 1/2 c. Crisco= 1 1/2 c. cooked, drained & pureed white beans
• 1 t salt
• 1 T vanilla
• 3/4 t butter flavoring
• 1 t almond flavoring ( i just added extra vanilla!)
• 3 T dream whip powder ( 1 pckg)
• 2 pounds powdered sugar
• 1/8-1/2 c water (depending on bean moisture, frosting should be spreadable but not runny)
  

Mix first six ingredients, then add half the powdered sugar. Add the rest of the sugar. Beat for 1 minute then and add water a little at a time until spreadable, but not runny. Beat for 6 more minutes until fluffy. Ready immediately.

Peach Spice Cake (really yummy with the white bean frosting!)
Makes 13 x 9 pan, ready in 2 hours, Rachael Smith

• 1 quart (32 oz) Peaches
• 1 C. sugar
• 1 C. oil
• 2 Eggs.
• 4 C. flour
• 1 t. salt
• 4 t. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. allspice
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Put the peaches, juice and all, into the blender and puree. Add in sugar, oil, and eggs into the blender and mix together.In another bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, spices. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together.

Bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 350 F. for 35-40 minutes. Cool and frost.

Sweet & Buttery Cornbread

Makes 13 x 9 pan, ready in 45 minutes, Rachael Smith

• 3 C Bisquick
• 3/4 t baking powder
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1 1/2 C milk
• 3 eggs
• 4 T cornmeal
• 3/4-1 C melted butter

Mix all together.

Bake 25-30 min @350 °(or until you push on top & springs back up, sometimes it takes 40 minutes, I use a glass pan)

Super Easy Chili

Serves 8-10 adults, ready in 45 minutes, Rachael Smith

• 1 lb ground beef or sausage or cracked wheat sausage
• 1 onion
• 1/2 t pepper
• 1 can kidney beans
• 2 cans pinto beans
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 1/8-1/4 C chili powder
• 1 t cumin
• 1 can green chili
• 1 T sugar
• 1 T Worcestershire
  Brown meat & onion, combine all & heat through. Serve with sour cream & cheeseserve with Cornbread

Pinto Bean Fudge

Makes 9 inch pan, ready in 3 hours, Cannery

• 1 c. cooked, drained & mashed Pinto Beans
• 1/4 c milk = 1 T milk powder + 1/4 c water
• 1 T vanilla
• 2 pounds powdered sugar (more if you beans are moist)
• 6 oz unsweetened chocolate= 1 c + 2 T cocoa + 6 T shortening
• 6 T butter or margarine

Nuts, chopped (optional) (but a wise choice if there might be beany chunks in your fudge! the lady that made it for our class said if there were chinks, she'd prefer to think it was a nut! not a bean!
In a large bowl, stir beans & milk together to resemble mashed potatoes in consistency. Stir in Vanilla. Melt chocolate & butter and stir into bean mixture. Add nuts. Gradually stir in powdered sugar until well blended.Spread into lightly buttered 8or 9 inch pan. Chill 1-2 hours. Cut into pieces, serve.

Cracked Wheat Sausage

• 2 c cooked cracked wheat (cook wheat like rice, 1c wheat to 2 c water)
• 2 t beef boullion
• 1 t parsley
• ½ t sage
• 1 t salt
• ½ t black pepper
• ½ t thyme
• 1/8- ¼ t crushed red pepper
• opt ¼ t MSG (accent flavor)
• 4-6 drops liquid smoke
• 2 t oil
• 2 eggs

Stir all together. Form into 1 inch balls & flatten into patties. Cook in oil over med/med hi heat until brown (just like sausage!)-you can also just put it in a pan and cook it up like you would hamburger meat, it separates more thatn hamuberger does, but still works! ps, don't tell your husbands if you feed it to them! i put some in spaghetti, and dave was going for his 2nd helping before i told him what it was, then he was all weird about eating it! but it was really good!

A Challenge for your Food Storage

Hello Sisters,

Food storage might not be on your high priority list, or you might be struggling with how and when you should purchase it. So to aid you in starting or adding to your food storage each month I am going to be challenging you to try and get at least 3 months (or as close as you can) worth of one specific food storage item. Here is your challenge.

-First decide how much you can spend out of your budget.
-Second I will help direct you with. This month you will work to increase an ingredient(s) that has to do with pasta. So you could buy noodles of plenty variety, you could buy top-o-ramon, hambuger helpers, macaroni and cheese. Or you could buy spaghetti sauce or stuff to make your own sauce. So decide what it is you want to purchase. If you don't have much to spend, pick only one thing. If your budget is a little larger and you think you can get 3 months worth of more than one thing go for it.
-Third Pray for help. Ask Heavenly Father to help you be able to increase your storage, maybe where to shop, or the right timing, or ask for a sale on a specific item. Ask him to have someone let you know of a sale, or help you find some coupons.
-Fourth Before the end of the month make your purchase.

Sisters I can't promise that you will get 3 months worth, but I know if you are trying and asking in faith for the Lord's help that you will see a definite increase in your storage and you will be blessed. So please accept this challenge and if you have suggestions for next month let me know. Also if you want to share what you bought and how much storage it gives your family that would be great.

Food Storage with Small Space and Budget

The following quotes are taken from the book Follow Me (Relief society personal study guide 4)



For more than fifty years, the church has told members that they need to be able to sustain themselves with a year's supply of food in times of emergency. " Recent surveys of church memebers have shown a serious erosion in the number of families who have a years supply of lifes necessitites. Most members plan to do it. Too few have begun" (Thomas S. Monson.)



In many circumstances, having a year's supply of these commodities is not possible because of limited budget or space. However, a smaller supply of a few essentials is possible in most situations. It is wiser to have food for only a few days, weeks, or months than to have no storage at all.... Our food storage should be adapted to meet our individual needs.



"The key to successfully storing food is to remember that it shouldn't be a one-time expensive purchase, but it must be many small purchases forming a regular habit, much like daily prayer and scripture study, ect. We supplement our basic storage by setting aside a small amout of money in our house hold budget for regularly purchasing a pre-planned variety of food items"



President Ezra Taft Benson said: " You do not need to go into debt...to obtain a year's supply. Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account. Save a little for storage each pay-check"



Food can be stored in limited space. Some member use space under beds and stairways and in closets and corners. Stacked containers can be covered with cloths to make nightstands and accent tables. Containers can be stored underneath window draperies, behind sofas, and even in space made available by other family members and friends.



Store canned goods in the coolest, darkest, and driest place possible.

Cereal Sale

There's a sale on Kellog's cereal this week at Target. Miniwheats, Cocoa Rice Krispies, Special K, etc. are $1.88. If you buy ten or a combination of 10 Kellog's products you can get a $10 rebate by mail. So that makes it a pretty sweet deal. I don't have the link to download the rebate form right now, but you can look it up. It's something like Kellog's fuel for school rebate.
Bobbi

Thanks for sharing Bobbi. 10 is a lot, but if anyone wants to combine forces and share the rebate just post a comment

Food Storage tip of the week

You food storage should be built up with food that your family likes and cooks with. If you don't have a wheat grinder, and aren't planning on getting wheat, don't store it. Store flour instead. If you don't like lentils, store a different bean instead. You should be rotating 0ut your food storage because you are eating it. Replenish as you go. There are a lot of good sites that have how much of different things to store. Each has a specified amount for Grains, sugars, beans, etc. You can take that and make it to fit your family. Use the suggestions and than modify it. Here are a few different site. Find one that works for you. Also if there are others out there that you like please leave a comment.

http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm

http://www.trackmyfoodstorage.com/default.aspx

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/04/26/food-storage-shelf-life-2/

Next weeks tip, ways to organize your food storage. If you have any thoughts or something that has worked for you, please send me an email so I can post it in next weeks tips.

Bashas

Bashas is doubling their coupons up to $2! until Tuesday June 2nd.

Food Storage- Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone

This is an excerp from a talk given in the April 1976 General Conference.

"Decide as a family this year that 25 or 50 percent of your Christmas will be spent on a year’s supply. Many families in the Church spend considerable sums of money for Christmas. Half or part of these Christmas monies will go a long way toward purchasing the basics. I recall the Scotsman who went to the doctor and had an X-ray taken of his chest. Then he had the X-ray gift-wrapped and gave it to his wife for their anniversary. He couldn’t afford a gift, but he wanted her to know his heart was in the right place. Brethren, give your wife a year’s supply of wheat for Christmas, and she’ll know your heart is in the right place."

You can find the rest at the link below. It's a pretty good one, even if it is from 1976.

Food Storage Talk

Mesa Cannery Food Storage Order Form

This is the updated list of items and prices you may purchase at the Mesa food cannery.

Cannery order form

Stocking up

I'm the new ward food storage specialist, on this blog I will refer to myself as the Specialist. I thought that with the ease and popularity of blogging that this would serve as a good resource for food storage. Please feel free to comment and share you thoughts and ideas. Also if you have something that you would like me to post just let me know. You can send emails to prepare.everyneedfulthing@gmail.com.