Monday Message

"Store a provision of food which will last for at least a year wherever it is legally permissible to do so. The Church has not told you what foods should be stored. This decision is left up to individual members. . .From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the Lord’s counsel, wheat should have high priority. ‘There is more salvation and security in wheat,’ said Orson Hyde years ago, ‘than in all the political schemes of the world’ (in Journal of Discourses, 2:207). 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)

That wheat should have high priority is very interesting because sadly wheat crops have not done very well this year due to flooding and fires etc. and wheat is in an awful lot of what we eat. 

Also the locust problem is causing problems with food security in several countries.

Here in Iowa they are saying it will be a wet spring again with flooding.

With all that is going on I am sure you will agree with me we should really be building our supplies.  

At the time of this writing we have spent the most part of this week in the hospital with my husband having a hernia repair. After recovery we had to wait for hours to get a room as the hospital was full of influenza patients. It made me think of the Coronavirus and how it has overwhelmed hospitals in China and how food is flying off the shelves and also they have food rotting in shipping containers while they need food, somehow this seems wrong.

So one needs to watch and learn from others. I have said this years and years ago that we learn from our experience and that of others as well.

It will take years to get back from some of these things but we will do well to work on this and skills.

If you store wheat, have you used it? Do you know how to use it? The best way to store it?

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/10/23/7-great-ways-to-use-wheat-without-a-wheat-grinder/ - just in case you have wheat and no grinder.

If you store wheat and don't have a grinder you may want to work on getting one.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-itm-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=itm&p=how+to+use+wheat#id=6&vid=7b95b3a5b64176a19db7be82c40add7d&action=click - this is helpful.

I have mentioned this before to look for old cookbooks put out by churches at your thrift store as these will help you in cooking from scratch.

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/self-reliance/cooking-from-scratch/ - this will give you some recipes.

https://www.thebalanceeveryday.com/grocery-stockpile-list-1388297 - this will give you an idea on how to start your list.

Something else I want to point out that we have talked about quite a bit is storing basic ingredients. For example - popcorn instead of microwave popcorn. Your dollar goes further plus if you have no electricity for some reason you can also cook it on the stove top, but more product for your dollar.

A can of black beans as compared to dry beans, more product for your dollar.

Ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies compared to buying a package of cookies. You see a pattern here, right?

I do get it, you are tired. We all are tired but to stretch our money we must push ourselves to cook from scratch. It is healthier and cheaper besides what people have said on the internet and elsewhere. You can do basic math and check that for yourself.

It went from totally cooking from scratch to getting packaged food to fast food, it is time we start over and go back to cooking from scratch.

Commercials show people having a great time eating out but they don't show how happy they are to get the bill do they? Commercials are trying to make you feel like you NEED their product and believe me you do not need it. 

The theme for now is to do everything quick, we don't need to do that either. Just cook your meals and make things your family will like, you can create great memories and pass on the skill of cooking from scratch.

Books like Make-A-Mix help you to take scratch cooking and make it faster to fix. It's a great book and there's also are recipes online for that as well.

You can also cook more than you need, like a big pot of soup and freeze the leftovers for fast meals for busy days. You can do this.

https://www.contrado.co.uk/blog/sewing-for-beginners-sewing-kit/ - everyone should have a sewing kit to mend, so make a list and get the cheapest and put it in a box so you know where it is.

Every home should have a sewing machine. If you can find one that works from a thrift store it would be a good thing. If you do not know how to use it then find a way to learn.

It just pays to be frugal and having the skills you need when you need them.

I ask the question again, if you had to shelter in place could you?

For how long?

I find not spending money when you don't need to is very helpful as well.

Doing things free like going for walks, going to playgrounds with kids, and popping corn and playing games is a great thing. Reading is a great thing too. I use to read the Little House on the Prairie books to our girls when they were little. You don't need to pay for fun!

Money is tight for so many we just need to do frugal things and have a mindset that it is okay and not a punishment. It is all in how we think. We don't always have to have the things that cost money and we do not need to have things that entertain us, we can do that for ourselves.

If you don't have to live frugally you need to start doing it anyway when you do not have to, this is a skill too.

Time to think about a garden and study on how to do it. Soon it will be time to plant one.