Wow! It's out last day. Let's not give out now. We need to do this step. Then we'll celebrate!
After watching the news this week, and the devastation in Haiti, I don't know how anyone could not have food storage and emergency preparedness on their minds. I know it's easy to say that we live in America where "this stuff doesn't happen". But it does!!! And if it's not a natural disaster, or bomb, it may be your husband losing his job, or having to take care of extended family that's moved in with you because they lost a job. It doesn't matter the reason-the fact is the prophets have told us to do it and that should be enough!!!
My fellow ward members here are probably sick of hearing about food storage from me (but I don't think they are reading this anyways!). I think it's safe to say that I have a "passion" for it. Why? My parents thought it was important and they instilled this belief into each of their kids. When I was three, our home was hit by a tornado. We lost literally everything except the clothes on us (most of us didn't even have shoes on). While food storage wouldn't have done much in this case, if our neighbors had some, it would be easy to share. We lived on our food storage quite a bit growing up as my dad wasn't physically wealthy. But I can say that our family was spiritual wealthy because of my parent's teachings. I was reading a book the other day and it said that less than 5% of the church has their year storage. I just cringed! Why do we "pick and choose" which commandments we're going to follow? This one isn't hard!! It takes a little time, a little money, and some effort-but that's most things in life. You have to decide what's really truly important in your lives. Do you want a new dress (when your closet is already full) or a bag of sugar and a couple bags of wheat? I'm like my dad....when times get rough, I don't want to hear my own children tell me that they are starving! (I probably hear it daily from them, but they aren't starving-they have no idea what that's like and I pray that they never have to find out!)
Ok, I'll get off my soap box. You're either going to do it, or not-your choice. One day isn't long enough to cover what you need, and how to get it. But we can organize what we have now so it's more functional. So grab some paper, pen and a clipboard (or something to write on) and le's go walking through your house.....
When I think of preparedness, there are several categories that come to mind: short term food storage, long term food storage, 72 hour kit, water storage, and clothing.
Short term food storage-This is your pantry to put it simply. We have been told that when we're building our food storage, we need to start with a 3 month supply of what we already eat. When you're shopping, if your shopping list calls for two cans of soup, pick up a couple extra. If you see a really good sale on something YOU USE, pick it a case or so (depending on the size of your family). Be sure to check the expiration dates when you're shopping. I don't know if it's just to commisary, or other stores but I'll find stuff that is going to expire in a couple months. So I don't buy it. I try to only buy stuff with an expiration date at least a year out. There are some things that you can't do this with, but you'll learn what they are (like some salad dressings, possibly mayo/salad dressing). Check the different brands because some brands have a lot longer shelf life (could be good or bad! ROFL)
If you're going to use the idea that Leigh posted under the day we organized our recipes, you'll have a good idea of what you need in your pantry. I sat down and made a list of what we eat for dinners. I think I had a list of about 40 (some are seasonal for summer, and some are seasonal for cold weather) so it comes out to about 30. All you'd need to do is triple the ingredients for these recipes and you'd know what to have in the pantry. It's not rocket science-it just takes a little time.
Long term food storage-This is all of the food you get from the storehouse, or other similar companies-your wheat, sugar, flour, beans, etc. Most of the food that the church carries will last 30 plus years. Now, this doesn't mean that you should let it sit in your house that long, without touching it. You need to learn how to use it (but that's another post in and of itself! lol)
So go look under all your beds, in your closets, etc and see what you have that qualifies as "long term". If you're happy where you have it stored, make yourself a "map" on your paper of where it's stored. We used to store ours under the beds and in the closets and I never knew where to look when I wanted a can of oats or potatoes. I think it's easiest if you have one location for each item. So designate under your oldest child's bed for wheat, for example. Then under another bed, put your sugar, and under another put your beans. You don't want to have to "dig" for these either. You can turn the cans on their sides (so they roll) and line them up under the bed (from left to right). Pull from the left, and fill from the right. This way you're rotating. If you need ideas on where to store your food, especially in small places, I'm attaching a helpful sheet with lots of ideas on what other members have done.
Download Smallspaces This is from www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net. If you are new to food storage, they have some good ideas. You can find instructions for building rotating shelves (for your cans) if you're interested in those. I HIGHLY recommend a system like those shelves to rotate your food.
Water Storage-Look around and see what kind of water storage you have. Is it enough? It's recommended that you have 1 gallon per day, per person, for 2 weeks. If you have a garage (and it's decently clean! lol), this one is pretty easy. You can get 55 gallon water barrels and this will statisfy the requirement for a family of 4, for two weeks. You can put it under a work bench so it's out of the way. Barrels can be pricy online. I know I've seen them for sale around $80-100 each! Check around your area. We have a company here locally that sells them for $50 (and they carry smaller sizes too). We also have Pepsi Co. here. I got mine from them, for FREE! You just have to wash them out good as they had syrup in them.
So take an inventory of what you have, and figure out how much more water you need to store. If you need ideas for other containers, I can give that to you. Just as a "plug", if you know that a hurricane or tropical storm is coming your way (and you're not evacuating), fill your tubs! That's one easy way to store water in case you need it.
72 Hour kits-Do you even have these? Do they still contain diapers and your youngest is 8?!?!? Or maybe you have 2, and your family has grown to 5. Take an inventory of how many you have, what you need, and if you have time, quickly go through them and pull out expired food. (just make sure you put a list of food on your shopping list and purchase and replace them soon!)
Clothing-This is probably the weakest of the categories for me. Well, at least for the oldest. My youngest will just get "hand me downs" so he's covered. And as my boys have hit the "growth spurts", I'm really seeing a need to work on this. Look and see what you have right now-what's in the back of your kids' closets that you've already bought them (for use later)? If you buy clothes a year in advance, you can get some good steals. Right now coats are on clearance, along with sweaters and other winter gear. I know that in the past I've purchased pajamas and stuff on clearance, and then stuffed them away and forgotten what I purchased. Then I saw another clearance and unknowingly purchased the same size! So I had probably 15 pair of pajamas-all the same size!!! So make yourself a list of either what you have, or what you need. I'd suggest keeping it in a planner or with your shopping lists, so you have it when you're out and about shopping. Decide on a place to put these clothes so you know where they are when you need them. Don't stuff them away where you won't find them till your child is old and grown!
Ok, that's it. We're just taking an inventory of what you have, today. Now, don't lose your inventory list!! (Don't laugh-I used to inventory ours all the time and then just as soon as I was done, I'd lose the dang list!)Two recommendations-either label a 3 ring binder as "Food storage" and put the binder on your bookshelf, with your inventory list inside. Or make a computer document (love Excel!) for your inventory list. If you want to keep track of long term food storage, I just keep mine in this Excel file-it's a calculator and inventory list all in one.
Download Food Storage Calculator
You can change the family size, and the size of storage (1 month, 2 month, 12 month, etc) that you want.
No comments:
Post a Comment