Monday Message

This might better help you understand food storage...

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1980/10/prepare-for-the-days-of-tribulation?lang=eng

You might find fruit trees at mark down. We must try to plant if we have a yard where we can plant. It is such a savings later on.

Two years ago when we were having drought conditions and I was carrying water out to the fruit trees, my sister-in-law told me Kmart had some fruit trees marked down. We could only get two, they were ten dollars a piece. It looked doubtful as to whether I could keep them alive, then if I did could they make it through the winter being so late.  

I picked a ginger apple and a plum. It was limited as to what they had left. As we carried them to the vehicle I looked at the trees and thought they were like the Charlie Brown tree…had I made a wrong choice? I could have spent that twenty dollars so many ways on things we needed. They are still alive, too young yet to give me a harvest but down the road they will bless us. Want or need, we need to determine our wants from our needs…..and a huge don’t waste.  

The fruit we have in our yard was planted long ago but helps us now. I wanted fruit to plant instead of flowers on Mother’s Day and birthdays. The flowers would have died in a week but the fruit keeps coming.

I cannot tell you the joy it brings me to see so many of you canning. It will bless you so much that you took the time to learn and there is a bit of a learning curve and learning is a wonderful thing. Having the equipment for canning is something that is very needed in your storage, knowing how to use it invaluable.

I was vacuum sealing this week and my sealer just stopped. I was so sad but I pondered it then instead of throwing it away I opened it, found the problem and we fixed it up and on I go doing the dry harvest goods. So take the time to at least look, maybe it cannot be fixed and yet maybe it can... use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!

I have enjoyed hearing what you all are doing to actively get your storage in for my food storage challenge... I am soooo proud of you.

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2015/08/06/perfectly-popped-popcorn/food-storage-recipes did you even think of popcorn as a food storage item? Not the microwave type, the real stuff. When was the last time you had some? We would read the Little House books to our kids before bed. In one of them their friends move out from the East and when they got there the lady brought in popcorn and they all had fun. Well she said her husband said they had no room in the wagon to bring the popcorn, it would have to be left behind. So unknown to him she sat on it all the way there so it was such a surprise to him too. It is a good healthy snack and inexpensive.

I always read the Long Winter as the first snow is falling. It will encourage you to stock up like no other thing will. Things happen that you cannot even imagine. In this case they got only a small harvest from their garden. When they were warned by an Indian that the winter would be very long, they moved to town for the winter. They thought at least living in town they would have food but it ended up the trains could not make it through till late spring. It was hard very hard. They ground the wheat with a coffee mill. It had to be grinding all day by somebody to have enough to make each day's bread. How that little mill held up is a true miracle. Half way through they ran out of wood to burn. They twisted hay into logs. The family worked hard together to make it through. I encourage you to read it. You will want to have wheat in your storage for sure.…not to mention a whole lot of things.


Why wheat? We store wheat because of it’s long shelf life. A miracle food. When you grind it the flour goes bad in a few months unless you freeze it. But the wheat berries do not go bad they make the best storage food. It helps you to be healthy unless you cannot eat it….in which case you need to be gathering what you need in place of it.

http://www.laurenslatest.com/fail-proof-pizza-dough-and-cheesy-garlic-bread-sticks-just-like-in-restaurants/ because you can do things like this

Gluten free http://www.carolfenstercooks.com/index.php/2015/05/grainfree-almond-flax-chia-muffins-mothers-day/ if you have to eat gluten free be stocking up for it…as well as any other special needs.

gluten free http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Freakin_-divine-gluten-free-waffles-330963

http://theprudenthomemaker.com/living-on-food-storage I have had this in before if you did not read, do so. If you did read it, do it again.

I have diced zucchini after saving seed for next year then dried the zucchini in dices to use in soup. I also picked dried pea pods off the now dead pea plants to use for seed, also have a few beans that are going to be seed.

Try to think what can you do to build a storage with limited funds. Think what you can do to increase your storage when times are tough and you live mainly from storage.

Are you trying recipes that call for things that you have in storage? Like one of mine is green bean casserole which calls for cooked hamburger (or you can leave it out), a can of tomato soup, a drained can of green beans, a tbsp of dried onion, mix together and top with mashed potatoes. If we have cheese you can top with that. What? You don’t have hamburger canned or chicken or roast or pork turkey?  This is the time to watch for meat to go on sale. Also when you are rotating meat in the freezer, can the stuff that is the oldest. It is still good and canned meat on the shelf as well as in the freezer is huge. I saw Amish sell it by the pint at our little market in town for $7.95. So I guess if you wished to purchase it you could do that or cheaper still you can put up your own. But having it on hand in your storage is golden, means more recipes you can make like what you already cook. Also, as a bonus, it makes meal time a jiffy thing to put together...think about it.

If you get chicken breast for .99 a lb boneless it takes about that to can a pint, compared to the $7.95  that makes it 8 pints to one, provided you already have your supplies to can.

What would you have wished you had stored if you had to live off of your storage??

Do you have needle and thread and the know how to use it? The story of a general authority visiting a war torn area... they would hand out oranges which is something they never got. When one woman went up to get her orange she spied the sewing kit in the suit case and asked if she might have that instead and they gave it to her and going back to her seat others said they expected her to share with them... Can you imagine life that hard? Can you be so hungry that upon seeing the sewing kit you put that need above food? Something to ponder…

So keep working actively on getting in your storage. Do as much as you can to see what you get done by the end of the year. This is our food storage challenge. If you already have it in, fantastic! Look for gaps you might need to address or enhance it or start on your children’s storage as they are going to need to set up life after home. You can always look around you, there is someone you could bless with a case of veggies or fruit or wheat or powdered milk... there is always need.