President Spencer W. Kimball - "The little gardens and a few trees are very valuable. I remember when the sisters used to say, `well, but we could buy it at the store a lot cheaper than we could put it up.' But that isn't quite the answer, is it, Sister Spafford?
Because there will become a time when there isn't a store." General Conference April 1974.
I think we need to keep in mind this when I stress learning skills, such as learning to can and dry foods, learning to grow gardens, sewing and more.
I know you probably think this is just her thing, actually no it is not my thing but having to go through many ups and downs, I say no one has security and everybody should be learning these skills. It is just my calling to help you all. I am glad to share with you what I have learned, to help you to be ready for when they happen to you. And things will happen, they happen to everyone. That is just the way it is. Either you can learn now and prepare for them or you can wait and try to learn them harder when you have no money to keep the computer hooked to a server, no money to get gas to go to the library to learn. Then there is trial and error. What happens if you did not have storage? Look at your family and think how will you help them through this trial and ones they will have? Take the time now when you are not stressed out by the trial.
Practice now how to make successful bread. Start working it into your children’s diet so they get used to having the different things. We have so much available to us right now. It used to be red wheat was the only wheat we could get and it is harsher on some bodies than others. I can tell you I could not eat bread made from it totally. I would be very sick. But now there is white wheat and I love it and if you think no way will your kids eat wheat bread... oh yes they will. Made from white wheat you can’t tell by color or taste so these things you NEED to learn. If you have wheat stored, have you ever used it? Do you even have a wheat grinder??
I have some, not much, but some red wheat I will have to use it very little in my recipes but I store flour and white wheat so I can add very little to those and still be able to eat it.
Those in my ward, we have a wheat grinder in the building. Check with the relief society president.
Do you know how much wheat grinders are? I bet if you saved the money of eating out you will have enough to buy one. Everyone who stores wheat should have one. I also have a hand crank mill, an all metal kind. These you should get and are not much. I would hate to have to grind flour with it but if I had to we could. It also makes great cracked wheat, but having an electric one is a blessing for me now.
If you made everything from scratch - biscuits, breads, cake, flour shells, cookies and pies and such, how much flour a month would you go through? Well because we do that and there is only the two of us, I can tell you that we use twenty five lbs a month. How many do you have to feed? How many buckets does that work up to be? I had a lady tell me once she had her year's supply in of flour and sugar then said she had a bucket of each… depending on how many kids she had, I think she had four and her husband, how far will she get on those? One third of a month or less.
I had one lady mention she did not think she could buy the twenty five lb bags. Yes, you can. One of those will fill one five gallon bucket. Never store it in the bags. I put the flour in the bucket and place two bay leaves on top, put the on lid, date it and write flour and rotate newest in back, oldest in front. This keeps flour from getting infested.
Do not buy wheat flour to store like this because once the wheat is ground you have three months to use it before it goes rancid. That is why we store wheat berries not wheat flour. With wheat berries I do the same, fill a bucket, put two bay leaves in, put the lid on and it date and write what it is on the bucket.
One more thing, and this is huge, do not store your buckets on the concrete floor. Put a piece of wood down first but keep the bucket off concrete. Moisture seeps up into your bucket and will ruin the food.
Store yeast in the freezer and don’t buy the packets, they're too costly. Get the big bags of it and freeze. I keep a quart jar in refrigerator to use from but all other bags are frozen.
What else do you need to make bread? Well salt, sugar and shortening, water. But if you are using wheat you will want to store vital wheat gluten. Hmmm can you think of what else?? Yes, bread pans. So be haunting thrift stores for them.
Getting supplies is just as important.
Now, I would like you to watch these grocery videos. I know in the fourth she will ask for money but these are free so I only put these in this blog post.
http://grocerybudgetbootcamp.com/plc1/
http://grocerybudgetbootcamp.com/plc2/
http://grocerybudgetbootcamp.com/plc3/
http://iowasue.blogspot.com.br/2017/01/keeping-track-to-use-it-up.html - I think we need to be aware of what we use, what we have and how to repair, learn to mend, etc.
Have you ever thought to look up on the internet how to fix something?? That should be a first option. Learn how then see if you can fix it.
Remember also to haunt thrift stores to buy used, remember that the store will let you plug things in to see if they work.
If you don’t know how to do something, look it up. Learn. Being frugal is huge in managing our resources better, thrift stores are one of our resources. Also, put the word out that you are needing something, if someone has an extra this may help you. Be sure to be thankful for your blessings and thank others always.
Once you master bread making, what will you have on it??
Do the best you can now that you have an income, it gets way harder when you don’t.
I want to remind you that as you work on this, pray for help. Amazing what prayer can do.
I have covered a lot of material over these many years. Review the blog and relearn things. I wish I had this information when I was a young bride but you get all my learnings in this blog. Remember, things happen usually we get no warning. Learn to do as much as you can for yourselves and others.
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