Food Storage

Let me start this by saying I am not Morman, nor do I know any people of Morman faith in my real life. I have read their statements of faith and I cannot agree with what they believe..BUT..I found the differences are smaller than what I thought they would be. There are many things about the Morman faith that I admire and respect; their focus on family, community, preparedness etc. So I choose to focus on those things and will learn from them in every way that I can...and we'll leave the matters of salvation to each of our personal faiths.

If there is any one group of people who have a firm understanding and plan for Food Storage...it is the Mormans! :-D Their faith teaches that they should have at least a years food supply for the entire family. This is not just a matter of faith though...but of sound common sense, and in todays economy the value of Food Storage is almost priceless. If you google "LDS Food Storage" you will have hundreds of websites of which to choose. Can you imagine what a burden would have been lifted from many families today if they had only had a planned food storage?? So many people out of work, for so many different reasons...but they all have the same worry..."How will we eat? How will I feed my children?" Food Storage is really a matter of prudence, one which we would be wise to observe.

So I have begun working on our pantry. I have focused on stocking up on the loss leader sales at our local Kroger and then storing them. I have only bought things that I would have normally bought with the exception of canned fruit...I saved so much money that I was able to invest in that, which I normally can't afford.

According to some infaltion experts the price of groceries will be going up significantly in 2011...that is not the news that people want to hear, but I believe it is the inevitable and necessary course that we will have to take. Sugar in particular will be going up quite high...so I am stocking up on that as much as I can. This past week at Kroger a 5 pound bag of sugar was $1.98...I bought 5 bags. We don't eat alot of extra sugar in things as it is. I don't bake lots of cookies, cakes etc...but there IS sugar in baking bread...and if it all hits the fan I want to at least be able to bake bread! While I was at it I picked up an extra 30 pounds of flour too.

My plan is to prepare to have the absolute basics...and then to flesh that out with food thats would make life a whole lot more enjoyable and nutrious. I am planning for reduced electricity, or none at all...and trying to figure how I would handle that situation.

Kroger has just finished one of it's Mega Events. Most things were "buy 10 and save $5." Things like Campbells cream of chicken or mushroom soup were only 49 cents! Broths, soups, diced tomatoes, canned fruit...and more all for 49 cent a can. I bought things like 60 cans of diced tomatoes, 30 cans of cream soups, 30 cans of canned fruit. By the end of two days shopping I had saved exactly what I spent...so I got $500 worth of groceries (and that was all our regular stuff too) for $250!! Next time they have a Mega Event I'll be stocking up again...and even more so!

My next goal to work on is menus. Food Storage is something that needs to be planned. I don't need a ton of one thing only to find I'm short of some necessary ingrediant to finish the meal. I also have to keep in mind that I may not be able to get fresh ingredients to go with the meals...and I may have limited power as well. What can I store and cook that would be fairly easy?? These are the meals that I need to plan. I'll be checking out several LDS Food Storage cookbooks for ideas...again learning from those who have mastered this instead of trying to reinvent the wheel here ;)

There will be more and more posts on this. I will be sharing what I buy, how much of it I buy, just how many I'm preparing for, other preparations I'm making, and how I plan to store it all. Any insight, tips, ideas for this you may have...please leave a comment and let me know!

Dia Duit, dear ones!