"Acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life. ... As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year's supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness." L. Tom Perry, "If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear," Ensign, Nov. 1995.
http://www.foodstoragemoms.com/2016/07/easy-homemade-breadsticks/ easy bread sticks in place of dough enhancer, use same amount as yeast in vinegar.
http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/food-storage?lang=eng food storage video
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-0001-family-home-storage-meet-jean?category=food-storage&lang=eng food storage video
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-0002-family-home-storage-meet-maureen?category=food-storage&lang=eng food storage video
I can’t stress enough - cook your own homemade foods. I usually have six to eight a day food recalls come through my computer. Eighty percent of what I get are E-coli and listeria, the other twenty percent are milk and peanut allergy related. Those are the ones I hear about, how many don’t I see and hear about??
What gets one to wonder is last month there was a flour recall for listeria. I did not think about it as I had never heard of that brand but then the other day I happened to look up at the TV when they said Betty Crocker cake mixes on recall. I needed more information as I use some for a jar cake I make. It never reported so I went online to find it involved two flavors, carrot cake and rainbow chip. And the reason for this they said was that recalled flour was used. Yep. So while I thought no big deal, I had never heard of that brand. We need to think what products we purchase that do use the recall products hmmmmm.
Food for thought. That being said here is the recipe that I use to make the mix for my jar cakes….
Jar cake mix
One cake mix (any flavor - our favorites so far are strawberry, cherry chip, lemon, chocolate)
One package of a one step angel food cake mix. This is a mix you add only water, stir and bake not the two step where you have two packages, one you mix egg whites with water then fold in packet two - you want the one step.
I mix the angel food cake mix and regular cake mix. I store these in a two-quart jar.
When I get ready to serve I put four Tbsp. of this mix into a pint jar. Don’t grease or spray, then add two Tbsp. water, stir well and microwave for one minute only, then I top with fruit or pie filling or pudding and top off with lite cool whip.
For a quick dessert this is a healthy thing, convenient and the mix goes a long way. What makes it healthy is the angel food cake mix which is half of this mix.
Along this line…
When making an angel food cake from mix or scratch if you add a packet of unsweetened drink mix i.e. koolaide, my favorite is strawberry. Just add the packet in the cake with dry ingredients and what you have is a wonderful flavor and colorful angel food cake - terrific.
www.howtosew.com/blog/sewing-basics/how-make-custom-seam-guide - great to look at things that people come up with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGITrkYdjJs - part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU3JOK3prZU - part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ef--qhq25s - part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOsuxTPzqXA - part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBsddRoihVk - part 5
There you go for this blog post. Keep doing the best you can on working on your storage and building your skills.
"The best place to have some food set aside is within our homes...
"We can begin ever so modestly. We can begin with a one week's food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. . . . I fear that so many feel that a long-term food supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all.
"Begin in a small way, . . . and gradually build toward a reasonable objective." (Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, Oct 2002 and quoted again in April 2007)
I have been thinking on skills and Joseph Smith’s mother came to mind. When they had a financial reversal she used one of her skills painting oil cloths to help her family.
We can use our skills whether it be sewing or some other skill you have developed. When we cook from scratch it helps to stretch our family money.
How are you doing at building your storage? Building your skills? I would like to hear of your successes bshook@huxcomm.net. Also, if there is something you want me to cover, e-mail me. I would be more than happy to spotlight what you would like.
I know how to sew but I want to better that skill, so that is one skill I am working on.
I know how to knit. I can knit socks even but I continue to improve that skill.
I continue to grow what skills I have learned.
Learning to weave, ha! You might think that is easy to learn, after all, I know how to weave baskets. Believe me, it is a lot harder than I thought but I put in study time and have learned more than at the beginning.
Tatting is something I have always wanted to learn and I have learned a lot. Now you ask, how does that fit in with skills…? I read about a lady who kept learning to tat and building on it. Her answer was she wanted to be the best she could be at it. In the end when her family was in financial down turn she was able to earn needed money from tatting.
I once read an article about how the pioneers had little space to bring things with them so some would bring their tatting shuttles and thread, this fits in a pocket. They designed edgings for pillow cases, slips and curtain edges to beautify their homes. Some were dugouts but they could bring a bit of civilization to it. It was once called poor man’s lace…but now it is sought after.
I could tell you stories of how people made it through hard times, for there have been many hard times in history to go around.
Like one of our leaders went to a war-torn country would fill suitcases with oranges to give the women he spoke to at a women’s conference. They would have them come up and get one. When one woman saw a small sewing kit in the suitcase she asked if she could have that instead and they gave it to her. As she went back to her seat other women said we expect you will share it.
Can you imagine? We take needles and thread and oranges for granted. I think that is why I have picked up at yardsales things like sewing notions, thread and needles, fabric and even sewing machines, even a couple treadles that are foot driven too. I think of these stories and others as incentive to help me prepare needful things.
All we need do is look to those who have gone before us for examples of what you should do to be prepared.
www.simplyprepared.com/spiritual_aspects_of_self-reliant_living.htm
http://recipegoldmine.com/scratch/scratch.html recipes to help
http://www.simplyprepared.com/preparedness.htm
We did not have a lot of money and still don’t but we tried to never wah wah wah about, I tried to find fun for free. For example, we could not afford a funnel cake so we came home and I found a recipe for one from scratch and made us funnel cakes, everyone loved them.
Find ways to show you are happy and come up with fun or a recipe.
We need to learn to stay within our incomes not take a second job or go into debt because you want things…things. Think about it. If your husband has to work a second job just for things you need to rethink what is more important, your husband's family time or things? Things are not important and could easily be found at yardsales. What are you teaching your children? To get the things at any cost? Is that what you want them to learn? Or to say no to a husband because he can’t get stuff…or do you want them to be like this…
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/youth-curriculum/11-november?lang=eng&_r=1
If this does not hit home then start studying on love and sacrifice.
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/01/happily-living-within-our-means?
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/07/powdered-milk-budgets-and-blessings?lang=eng this is touching an answer to prayer
http://www.foodstoragemoms.com/2016/07/make-finger-jello-kids/ while it is hot keep these in refrigerator.
Keep working on building your storage, keep working on those skills and keep working on living within your means. You and your family will be truly blessed.
"Signs of the Second Coming are all around us and seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity. ... While we are powerless to alter the fact of the Second Coming and unable to know its exact time, we can accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us. We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming." Preparation for the Second Coming, Dallin H. Oaks (2004).
http://www.foodstoragemoms.com/2016/06/make-childrens-first-aid-kit/ you should be working on your first aid kits too.
http://www.foodstoragemoms.com/2016/06/grind-whole-wheat-make-bread/ nothing tastes better then grinding your wheat, such a fresh taste and healthier too.
http://www.foodstoragemoms.com/2016/06/organize-pantry-cheap/ being organized helps us save money and saves times.
http://www.foodstoragemoms.com/2016/06/35-reasons-store-vinegar/ good things to know
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=General+Information+On+How+to+Adjust+Sewing+Pattern&&view=detail&mid=244C33B5CEAFA4080557244C33B5CEAFA4080557&FORM=VRDGAR
building sewing skills
I have decided no matter what age or skill level we can still build further. I had some basic sewing in seventh grade.
When we first got married I found some cut fabric for cheap and I then sewed a quilt. We used it for many years. I wanted to make homemade bread, it took years and years. I knew how to make cookies as I had three brothers and three sisters so I learned those.
It took six years before we had kids so I learned the skill of embroidery and made pretty things for our home. I continued to learn to sew. At church we had classes on baking bread, on making soup, on hair cutting, on making fruit leather (yum!), on canning, on learning so much.
I know I am old, I get it, but these skills taught me so much and I have made our home better for it.
I wish I really knew how busy I would be after the children came. I wished I had made bibs, blankets, clothing for then. I just thought I would be able to.
When Laura was three I would sew with her little feet straddling my back leaning over to watch. I learned from a friend that I could pick up jeans with broken zippers, all adult size, free from the free box at yard sales. I would open the whole inseam on both legs and lay inside matching it inside. I pinned the little pants pattern together to make one piece then I laid it so that outside seam of jeans ran down the center. I put the center of the little leg pattern so it ran down the center so when I sewed the inseam of the tiny jeans and put in the elastic waist and hemmed the ones up high on the big jeans. The smaller size I slid down to incorporate the hem but in the very end I had authentic looking jeans for the girls. Did this for years. My friend taught me to make t-shirts and I took it one step further and appliqued Carebears on the front.
So skills are like coin collecting, you just keep adding more and more.
And someday your little daughter’s friend who would come and get cookies everyday after school finally asked me how do I know how to make cookies different every day… that was cute. I made cookies so our kids could have something warm right after school.
http://storethisnotthat.com/ - this has three classes, the one on drying your food is excellent but so are the other two. Scroll down on the page to see.
Tip: I dry spinach leaves and crush some and put in jars. This is such a fast good food to throw in your soups and salads and casseroles, even to have in the pasta you make.
Tip: My favorite thing to dry is frozen mixed veggies when they go on sale. The hard work is done for you. All you have to do is open the bag and pour it on your dryer tray. I use mine in soups and casseroles.
So add to your skills. I could have bought the cookies but these I made from scratch were healthier and were warm from the oven :)
Learn and build your skills, I have several hard ones I am trying to learn but I push on.
"In words of revelation the Lord has said, "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing" (D&C 109:8). Our people for three-quarters of a century have been counseled and encouraged to make such preparations as will assure survival should a calamity come. We can set aside some water, basic food, medicine, and clothing to keep us warm. We ought to have a little money laid aside in case of a rainy day." Gordon B. Hinckley
Every needful thing is quite daunting to think about. I invite you to think about it, really think about it.
http://www.byui.edu/Documents/community-connections/Handouts%202011/Building%20Your%20Ark...Lessons%20learned%20from%20Noah.pdf - a wealth of information. Scroll down for info on what to store as well, but I think that the information you find here will help you have a greater understanding.
You will find this here as well…
"We need to stay close to the Lord every day if we are to survive the adversity that we all must face. If ever you are tempted to become discouraged or to lose faith…hold on a little longer. You can do this! You are part of a special generation. You were prepared and preserved to live at this important time in the existence of our beautiful planet earth. Know and remember this: the Lord loves you. He remembers you. And He will ever sustain those who “endure in faith to the end”. “Hold on a Little Longer” President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Liahona, Jan.2010
You will find this…..
5 Steps to Success
• Pray for confirmation, desire and means
• Inventory what you already have
• Make a List of what you still NEED; want
• Use It: Healthier, rotate, avoid problems
• DO IT! Your survival depends on it
Included in the Steps to Success are the Building Your Ark by Levels guide that you will find at the end of this handout. Start with Level One, checking off as you locate and organize your Ark.
I suggest you go through each lesson within this…it is the best I’ve seen.
I think we all can see fire to the West, flooding to the East. I think you will agree that we have no shortage of crisis.
If you are one who got laid off you would feel the pain of that family crisis. I am sure you see the pain on the faces of those directly affected by what is going on. Your heart goes out to them and prayers too.
So go back and think the every needful thing…how are you doing?
Do you have skills?
Like…
How to sew on a button….? If you don’t know how, are working on learning/practicing and then checking it off?
How about making laundry soap?
How to make bread?
How to knit scarves, mittens, sweaters, and socks?
How to make jam without it being freezer jam? Freezer jam is wonderful if you don’t lose power. Learn both ways so you don’t have your eggs in one basket.
There is so much we take for granted. We turn on our faucet and water comes out. Stores have so many things, why would one need to know how to do anything with prices lower? They won’t always be that way, then what would you wish you knew how to do?
Governments can’t always take care of the people.
Sewing is a huge place to start, also cooking from scratch...these help our families and our budget.
I guess if you have had a sure job go away quickly and you have been forced to learn quickly how to stretch your funds then you understand how hard things can get. If you have been blessed with no such trial yet then go on faith and prepare.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/follow-the-basic-topdown-sock-pattern.html read through this. Does it feel like reading another language?? Did you see it was a BASIC pattern - basic.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=basic+instructions+on+how+to+knit+socks&view=detail&mid=67AA300A98B746E77DD667AA300A98B746E77DD6&FORM=VIRE - does watching this video help? What?? If you don’t understand, then learn and add knowledge and supplies to your storage.
It is okay to buy socks but if you don’t know how or have the supplies you are in a compromised position. Sure, you can live without socks but if your feet are cold you would wish for socks. So if you never plan to learn to make socks then socks should be in your storage.
When you are in line with your cart full of groceries look at what is in your cart and ask yourself, could I make that from scratch? Make a note and then see if you can make it.
Build those skills.
If you have not had to rely on your skills then go on my experiences. We have had to stretch finances, have had the experience of losing the job that was safe, the whole company went down. We also saw a trucker’s strike, saw the effects of it.
Keep working on the skills and storage.
"In words of revelation the Lord has said, "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing" (D&C 109:8). Our people for three-quarters of a century have been counseled and encouraged to make such preparations as will assure survival should a calamity come. We can set aside some water, basic food, medicine, and clothing to keep us warm. We ought to have a little money laid aside in case of a rainy day." Gordon B. Hinckley
Every needful thing is quite daunting to think about. I invite you to think about it, really think about it.
http://www.byui.edu/Documents/community-connections/Handouts%202011/Building%20Your%20Ark...Lessons%20learned%20from%20Noah.pdf - a wealth of information. Scroll down for info on what to store as well, but I think that the information you find here will help you have a greater understanding.
You will find this here as well…
"We need to stay close to the Lord every day if we are to survive the adversity that we all must face. If ever you are tempted to become discouraged or to lose faith…hold on a little longer. You can do this! You are part of a special generation. You were prepared and preserved to live at this important time in the existence of our beautiful planet earth. Know and remember this: the Lord loves you. He remembers you. And He will ever sustain those who “endure in faith to the end”. “Hold on a Little Longer” President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Liahona, Jan.2010
You will find this…..
5 Steps to Success
• Pray for confirmation, desire and means
• Inventory what you already have
• Make a List of what you still NEED; want
• Use It: Healthier, rotate, avoid problems
• DO IT! Your survival depends on it
Included in the Steps to Success are the Building Your Ark by Levels guide that you will find at the end of this handout. Start with Level One, checking off as you locate and organize your Ark.
I suggest you go through each lesson within this…it is the best I’ve seen.
I think we all can see fire to the West, flooding to the East. I think you will agree that we have no shortage of crisis.
If you are one who got laid off you would feel the pain of that family crisis. I am sure you see the pain on the faces of those directly affected by what is going on. Your heart goes out to them and prayers too.
So go back and think the every needful thing…how are you doing?
Do you have skills?
Like…
How to sew on a button….? If you don’t know how, are working on learning/practicing and then checking it off?
How about making laundry soap?
How to make bread?
How to knit scarves, mittens, sweaters, and socks?
How to make jam without it being freezer jam? Freezer jam is wonderful if you don’t lose power. Learn both ways so you don’t have your eggs in one basket.
There is so much we take for granted. We turn on our faucet and water comes out. Stores have so many things, why would one need to know how to do anything with prices lower? They won’t always be that way, then what would you wish you knew how to do?
Governments can’t always take care of the people.
Sewing is a huge place to start, also cooking from scratch...these help our families and our budget.
I guess if you have had a sure job go away quickly and you have been forced to learn quickly how to stretch your funds then you understand how hard things can get. If you have been blessed with no such trial yet then go on faith and prepare.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/follow-the-basic-topdown-sock-pattern.html read through this. Does it feel like reading another language?? Did you see it was a BASIC pattern - basic.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=basic+instructions+on+how+to+knit+socks&view=detail&mid=67AA300A98B746E77DD667AA300A98B746E77DD6&FORM=VIRE - does watching this video help? What?? If you don’t understand, then learn and add knowledge and supplies to your storage.
It is okay to buy socks but if you don’t know how or have the supplies you are in a compromised position. Sure, you can live without socks but if your feet are cold you would wish for socks. So if you never plan to learn to make socks then socks should be in your storage.
When you are in line with your cart full of groceries look at what is in your cart and ask yourself, could I make that from scratch? Make a note and then see if you can make it.
Build those skills.
If you have not had to rely on your skills then go on my experiences. We have had to stretch finances, have had the experience of losing the job that was safe, the whole company went down. We also saw a trucker’s strike, saw the effects of it.
Keep working on the skills and storage.
