Shelf Plans

I thought some of you might be interested in making some fancy food storage shelves.  Here is a link with free plans.

The Prudent Homemaker

I glimpsed through a blog about a sister that feeds her family of eight for less than five dollars a day (her blog was recently featured in the BYU alumni magazine).  She highly recommends food storage and shows you how to use it effectively.  I'm looking forward to learning more about what she has to share.  The blog is here:  The prudent homemaker.

President Benson taught the basics of food storage

"From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the Lord’s counsel, wheat should have high priority. Water, of course, is essential. Other basics could include honey or sugar, legumes, milk products or substitutes, and salt or its equivalent." – President Ezra Taft Benson

More Information on Long Term Food Storage

I found another website that offers some great information on long term food storage.  Utah State University offers an extension service that includes great info on storing food.  The website is here.

Storing Water

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a web page with information on how to correctly store water.  For more information click here

The following information (found at the website named above) may be helpful for those storing water in pop bottles:

If storing water in plastic soda bottles, follow these steps


Thoroughly clean the bottles with dishwashing soap and water, and rinse completely so there is no residual soap.Sanitize the bottles by adding a solution of 1 teaspoon of non-scented liquid household chlorine bleach to a quart of water. Swish the sanitizing solution in the bottle so that it touches all surfaces. After sanitizing the bottle, thoroughly rinse out the sanitizing solution with clean water.


Filling Water Containers


Fill the bottle to the top with regular tap water. If the tap water has been commercially treated from a water utility with chlorine, you do not need to add anything else to the water to keep it clean. If the water you are using comes from a well or water source that is not treated with chlorine, add two drops of non-scented liquid household chlorine bleach to the water.Tightly close the container using the original cap. Be careful not to contaminate the cap by touching the inside of it with your finger. Place a date on the outside of the container so that you know when you filled it. Store in a cool, dark place.Replace the water every six months if not using commercially bottled water.

Food Storage Starter Kit & Water Purification Bottle

If you are interested in purchasing a food storage starter kit ($31 includes shipping )  click here.

If you are interested in purchasing a water purification bottle that will clean 100 gallons of water- removing 99.99 % of all pollutants and contaminates ($22 includes shipping)   click here.  

Long term food storage by the month

 

Sister Penny Brown, from Midland 2nd ward,  has come up with a way to get her long term food storage organized.  She has broken down her year supply into the amounts she will need for one month. 

She found some boxes that will hold her long term storage (she kept her oils and vitamins out where she can rotate them more frequently).  Then she put what she needs for one month into each box. 

I tried to copy and paste Penny's list of products here- but I wasn't able to get that to work. Penny has graciously included the products she stored, the amount she stored for the month and the cost of the product- thanks Penny!

Oops- having trouble linking to her list- I'll try to get that up tomorrow- :0)

6/25/2011  I'm still having trouble getting a working link- so, I'll type out the highlights for you.  Penny suggests that you will need:

5 lbs. pinto beans        grocery store $3.25 

                                   Bishop's storehouse  $4.25

5 lbs. of honey            grocery store $ 16.00

     or sugar                 grocery store $2.50 

1/2 lb. salt                   grocery store $ .50

25 lbs. of white wheat            Emergency Essentials $20.00

8 lbs. or nonfat powdered milk

Items to store separately- need regular rotation to prevent spoiling:

2 lbs.  Oil or Crisco   grocery store    $2.50

Multivitamin 30 count  grocery store  $8.50

Yeast, 6 (3 pack)       grocery store    $7.20

If you'd like to purchase boxes to store each months worth of supplies:

10  boxes costs about $14.00

 



Lds.org

You may want to check out the product recommendations on the new lds.org website. The link is here. You may notice that the first two long term storage items that they list are grains and legumes. Those are followed by this quote:

You may also want to add other items to your longer-term storage such as sugar, nonfat dry milk, salt, baking soda, and cooking oil. To meet nutritional needs, also store foods containing Vitamin C and other essential nutrients.



There are many websites and philosophies of "experts" giving you a large list of items that "you should store" --- but I feel that there is safety in following the modern day prophets and what they recommend. Prayerfully consider the many quotes found on lds.org about why the prophets recommend wheat and the importance of purchasing basics first- then when you have those basics feel free to add other items to your long term storage.

Wonderful Water Filter Bottles

After our stake women's conference many of you were interested in the water bottle that filters out impurities. You can find it here. Remember to store water with your water bottles so that you will have something to filter :0)

Some of you are STILL waiting for me to email out the handout- sorry I've been so slow- after spring break I hope to be able to catch up on a few things. Thanks for your patience!

Why Store Grains and Legumes?

Mormon Times has an article today about four reasons for storing grains and legumes in our long term food storage- she missed the main reason though- the main reason we should store grains (especially wheat) and legumes is because that is what our modern day prophets have asked us to do :0)

Food Storage orders

Sister Norma Wren has graciously planned another trip to El Paso to pick up orders from the bishop's storehouse. If you'd like to place an order please contact her asap-

Creative Provident Living Gift Ideas

If you are looking for creative ways to encourage provident living with your friends and family you might want to check out this list of ideas.... just click here at Patty's Pantry.

Interesting blog

I came across this blog today and thought some of you might enjoy it. It's called iprepared This is not an official church website just some ideas from a sister that is working on provident living. She has developed a free worksheet to help people determine what they might need for their 3 month supply. Enjoy!

Some Tips for Storing Powdered Milk

Mormon Times ran an article with some helpful tips for storing powdered milk- check it out here- remember that new studies have shown that powdered milk can be stored for up to 20 years and it is one of the basics that the our church leaders suggest that we have.

Order Food Storage Items from Bishop's storehouse

Sis. Wren is helping to put together order for the Bishop's storehouse in El Paso. If you would like to order something her number can be found on the Midland 3rd ward roster. Go to lds.org and look under home and family, provident living,in the right hand column their is a link for home storage form download- click and that and you can print your own order form.

Don't Forget to Store Water

At lds.org, provident living, we are instructed to:

Store drinking water for circumstances in which the water supply may be polluted or disrupted.

If water comes directly from a good, pretreated source, then no additional purification is needed; otherwise, pretreat water before use. Store water in sturdy, leak-proof, breakage-resistant containers. Consider using plastic bottles commonly used for juices and soft drinks.

Keep water containers away from heat sources and direct sunlight.

New Prices for Bishop's Storehouse

When ordering from the bishop's storehouse make sure you use their new (as of Jan. 16) order form. The prices have increased- but are still a great deal!

Cans/ Pouches Needed per Order

Thanks to Sis. Wren for figuring this out! Sorry it is a bit sloppy. I can't figure out how to change formats between documents and blogs-

How many cans or pouches you will need for each product:

Item                      Cans      Pouches
Beans, Black           5.5--------3.7
Beans, Pinto            5.2 -------4.1
Beans, White            5.3------- 3.8
Milk, Nonfat Dry       6 ---------5
Rice, White              4.3------- 3.6
Sugar, Granulated    4.---------3.52
Wheat, Hard Red      5.8------- 3.57
Wheat, Hard White   5.8------- 3.57

Apple Slices              11.5------ 9.3
Carrots                     8.9------- 6.9
Macaroni                   5.8------- 5.
Oats, Quick               9.6------- 8.1
Oats, Regular            9.25----- 7.5
Onions, Dry              12.5------10.2
Potato Flakes            13.8------10.8
Spaghetti best in P    5.8------- 5.

Beans, Refried          10.4------ 8.9
Cocoa mix, Hot         4.3------- 3.5
Flour, White             5.2-------- 4.5
Fruit Drink mix         4.1-------- 3.5

Do You Need Something From the Cannery?

Sister Wren is making a trip to the Cannery and she has generously offered to pick up your order for you! Here is how she would like you to do it:

You can get a current price list at wwwprovidentliving.org. or I will have a
few copies printed up to hand out. I will not be passing a list as I used to do. Your order should be only in the column to the far right side of the order form or from the already packaged items at the lower left side of the page and also Potato Pearls and Pancake mix as they are already packaged.

You must purchase an entire bag or box of an item (you can find someone to share it with if you'd like to do that on your own).

Your order needs to have the number of cans, lids, plastic lids and oxygen
absorbers along with enough boxes to take care of your cans. The boxes hold
six ( 6 ) cans. If you are doing pouches order the number of pouches you want
and how many oxygen absorbers you need. Everthing gets an absorber except
sugar.

The labels are free, but you must ask for them You may have one for each can
or pouch. You will need to write what you want on the bottom of your order form.

When your order is completed, please add 10% to help with gas since we will have to pull a trailer to transport the food.

When you go to providentliving.org you can fill out your order and it will total it for you. You can also email it to me as well as print out a copy for yourself. There is no place to do labels, so you can email your list to me

I will need all orders turned in by 21 February 2009 and we will pick it up after the second Tuesday of April. I will let you know the exact date later.

I have made a chart that shows how many cans and pouches are in each product. I will have them with me Sunday.

Checks need to be made out to Mdland 3rd Ward and then our Ward Clerk will make out one check to me taking the 10% out for Norma Wren's expenses.

If you have any questions, my phone #432-458-3321.

Sincerely,
Norma Wren

Penny's 100% whole wheat bread

Penny Brown has discovered and tried out the following 100% Whole Wheat bread recipe. She says it is delicious. She especially likes that it is so versatile- click here to get the recipe.

My paste button won't work- that's why there is the extra step of downloading the file- SORRY. This would be a great recipe to keep and use with your food storage.