This post contains a list of local resources and websites that have been recommended by members of our ward who have found them useful in budgeting for groceries and storing food. Perhaps a little money saved each week on groceries could be set aside for acquiring basic food storage.
Thanks to everyone who shared their ideas!
Websites with helpful information:
Finances information and budgeting worksheet.
Click here for a link to the Family Finances page of the LDS church's Provident Living website
Click here for a budgeting worksheet
Recipes using basic ingredients published by USDA.
Click here for a link to this USDA site. Halfway down the screen you will see a "Recipe Finder" box. Enter an ingredient. A list of recipes will come back, each one rated by people who have used them. I entered "beans" and a quick, easy recipe for bean burritos came back. It used inexpensive ingredients, was quick to make, and looked delicious.
$70 weekly menu planning. This is a website with many recipes and ideas for budgeting.
Click here for a link to a page with a week's worth of menus for $70. A good idea starter.
Coupons and Online Grocery Ads
Many people use coupons and online grocery ads very effectively to reduce the money spent on groceries. Here are some websites that have been recommended as helpful:
Local grocery store online ads:
Click here for a link to the Aldi ad
Click here for a link to the Hy-vee ad
Click here for a link to the Price Chopper ad
Click here for a link to the HenHouse ad
Also, keep in mind that stores (such as Price Chopper) will often have different prices depending on the part of town in which they are located.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
More Ideas for living within a grocery budget
This post is a companion post to the previous post abaout budgeting. It contains ideas for wisely budgeting/using food storage that have been submitted by members of our ward and others.
Thank you to everyone who has sent ideas. I will continue to update this post with new ideas as they are submitted.
Store what you use and use what you store
Keep a can or bag of each item in the kitchen for easy access. The #10 cans (from the church's Home Storage Center) are nice because they sit on kitchen shelves/cupboards compactly and come with plastic lids.
Buy baking supplies in bulk
Buy items such as spices, yeast, baking powder, and baking soda in bulk. Warehouse stores such as Sam's Club and Costco are a good place to find good prices on bulk items such as these. Some people purchase a membership to Sam's Club or Costco every other year, but purchase enough for a year's supply to last during the year without the membership. Also, the church's Home Storage Center sells some items used for baking, such as dried onions, in bulk.
Use powdered milk (reconstituted) for baking and for sauces.
You can't tell the difference between store-bought milk when you use powdered milk for baking. If you are interested in recipes that specifically call for powdered milk, please contact me. You can also make powdered milk more palatable for drinking by mixing it half and half with regular store-bought milk. Even a mix of 1 quart powdered milk to 3 quarts store-bought milk will help stretch your grocery budget. (The price of powdered milk varies from brand to brand, but typically it amounts to $1 or $2 a gallon).
Using wheat without a wheat grinder
Wheat can be cooked and added to chili, rice-a-roni and even fruit salad. It can be run (dry) through a blender to crack it, then cook it, then add a little to raw hamburger to stretch the meat. Whole wheat berries are also delicious in rice for any side dish. Cook some wheat, keep it in the fridge, then toss it in with your rice. (Start with 1/4 cup of cooked wheat to 1 cup of cooked rice). This adds variety and nutrition. It also helps to rotate food storage and stretch your grocery budget.
Using other grains in baking
Cooked cereal can be added to muffins, pancakes, etc.
Dried carrots
The church's Home Storage Center sells dried carrots. You don't have to peel or chop them, just toss them in to casseroles, soups, chili and just about anything that calls for carrots. If there is enough liquid in the dish (such as with soups and some casseroles) you don't even need to reconstitute them first. They are easy to reconstitute, though. Soak for 10 minutes, drain off the excess water and use the same as you would use chopped carrots. They can be added to fried rice, rice-a-roni, even cookies. Many store-bought foods (such as Betty Crocker carrot cake mix) use dried carrots as an ingredient, too.
Dried onions
The church's Home Storage Center also sells onions. Toss them into soups and casseroles and ground beef for tacos or chili.
Dried beans
Beans are an excellent way to provide valuable nutrients at very inexpensive cost. They can be easily made in a crockpot. Measure 1-2 cups dried, rinsed beans. Add enough boiling water to cover the beans by about 2 inches. Set crockpot to High and cook for 2-3 hours. They are now ready to add to any recipe. They can even be cooked, then frozen for later use.
Stretch meat by using beans
Many meat dishes can be stretched by using beans. Beans can even be used as a substitute for meat in some dishes. For example, in lentil soup, use half hamburger and half beans. In tacos use half hamburger and half beans (pinto, kidney, or great white northern beans all work well). Store bought chili can also be stretched with home-cooked beans (sometimes you also need to add a small can of plain tomato sauce). The church's Home Storage Center also sells refried beans which can be used in similar ways. Taco seasoning can be added to them and they can substitute or replace taco meat in tacos and taco salad.
Stretch store-bought mixes with cheaper products from food storage
For example, toss in an extra handful of pasta when making macaroni and cheese. The flavor will still be the same, but the amount is greater. For another example, store-bought spaghetti sauce can be stretched by adding 1/2 can spaghetti sauce, 1 can plain tomato sauce and 1 can diced tomatoes. Another examples is stretching Hamburger Helper with some of the "extras" suggested right on the label, such as canned tomatotes, dried or fresh carrots, rice, pasta, beans, etc. In the taco variety of Hamburger Helper it is easy to add black beans, corn and canned tomatoes.
Find the cheapest and tastiest brand
If there are store-bought products that you use a lot of, experiment with different brands until you find the one that you like best. It might end up being the top-of-the-line name-brand product, but it might be a less-expensive product. For example, if you eat a lot of garden salads with store-bought salad dressing, try buying the cheapest brand of dressing. If its taste doesn't suit you, next time by the next brand up. Continue this (from least expensive to most expensive) until you find the brand you like best. Then, continue to use that brand. Watch for sales or coupons and stock-up when that brand is sold at a good price. This system works well for any item in a grocery store: yogurt, jam, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, milk, cold cereal, etc.
Thank you to everyone who has sent ideas. I will continue to update this post with new ideas as they are submitted.
Store what you use and use what you store
Keep a can or bag of each item in the kitchen for easy access. The #10 cans (from the church's Home Storage Center) are nice because they sit on kitchen shelves/cupboards compactly and come with plastic lids.
Buy baking supplies in bulk
Buy items such as spices, yeast, baking powder, and baking soda in bulk. Warehouse stores such as Sam's Club and Costco are a good place to find good prices on bulk items such as these. Some people purchase a membership to Sam's Club or Costco every other year, but purchase enough for a year's supply to last during the year without the membership. Also, the church's Home Storage Center sells some items used for baking, such as dried onions, in bulk.
Use powdered milk (reconstituted) for baking and for sauces.
You can't tell the difference between store-bought milk when you use powdered milk for baking. If you are interested in recipes that specifically call for powdered milk, please contact me. You can also make powdered milk more palatable for drinking by mixing it half and half with regular store-bought milk. Even a mix of 1 quart powdered milk to 3 quarts store-bought milk will help stretch your grocery budget. (The price of powdered milk varies from brand to brand, but typically it amounts to $1 or $2 a gallon).
Using wheat without a wheat grinder
Wheat can be cooked and added to chili, rice-a-roni and even fruit salad. It can be run (dry) through a blender to crack it, then cook it, then add a little to raw hamburger to stretch the meat. Whole wheat berries are also delicious in rice for any side dish. Cook some wheat, keep it in the fridge, then toss it in with your rice. (Start with 1/4 cup of cooked wheat to 1 cup of cooked rice). This adds variety and nutrition. It also helps to rotate food storage and stretch your grocery budget.
Using other grains in baking
Cooked cereal can be added to muffins, pancakes, etc.
Dried carrots
The church's Home Storage Center sells dried carrots. You don't have to peel or chop them, just toss them in to casseroles, soups, chili and just about anything that calls for carrots. If there is enough liquid in the dish (such as with soups and some casseroles) you don't even need to reconstitute them first. They are easy to reconstitute, though. Soak for 10 minutes, drain off the excess water and use the same as you would use chopped carrots. They can be added to fried rice, rice-a-roni, even cookies. Many store-bought foods (such as Betty Crocker carrot cake mix) use dried carrots as an ingredient, too.
Dried onions
The church's Home Storage Center also sells onions. Toss them into soups and casseroles and ground beef for tacos or chili.
Dried beans
Beans are an excellent way to provide valuable nutrients at very inexpensive cost. They can be easily made in a crockpot. Measure 1-2 cups dried, rinsed beans. Add enough boiling water to cover the beans by about 2 inches. Set crockpot to High and cook for 2-3 hours. They are now ready to add to any recipe. They can even be cooked, then frozen for later use.
Stretch meat by using beans
Many meat dishes can be stretched by using beans. Beans can even be used as a substitute for meat in some dishes. For example, in lentil soup, use half hamburger and half beans. In tacos use half hamburger and half beans (pinto, kidney, or great white northern beans all work well). Store bought chili can also be stretched with home-cooked beans (sometimes you also need to add a small can of plain tomato sauce). The church's Home Storage Center also sells refried beans which can be used in similar ways. Taco seasoning can be added to them and they can substitute or replace taco meat in tacos and taco salad.
Stretch store-bought mixes with cheaper products from food storage
For example, toss in an extra handful of pasta when making macaroni and cheese. The flavor will still be the same, but the amount is greater. For another example, store-bought spaghetti sauce can be stretched by adding 1/2 can spaghetti sauce, 1 can plain tomato sauce and 1 can diced tomatoes. Another examples is stretching Hamburger Helper with some of the "extras" suggested right on the label, such as canned tomatotes, dried or fresh carrots, rice, pasta, beans, etc. In the taco variety of Hamburger Helper it is easy to add black beans, corn and canned tomatoes.
Find the cheapest and tastiest brand
If there are store-bought products that you use a lot of, experiment with different brands until you find the one that you like best. It might end up being the top-of-the-line name-brand product, but it might be a less-expensive product. For example, if you eat a lot of garden salads with store-bought salad dressing, try buying the cheapest brand of dressing. If its taste doesn't suit you, next time by the next brand up. Continue this (from least expensive to most expensive) until you find the brand you like best. Then, continue to use that brand. Watch for sales or coupons and stock-up when that brand is sold at a good price. This system works well for any item in a grocery store: yogurt, jam, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, milk, cold cereal, etc.
Living within a grocery budget using food storage
The purpose of this post is to give some ideas of how to live within a grocery budget, especially how having food storage can help with a grocery budget.
Getting started with a budget:
First, determine how much you typically spend on food each month.
If you have not lived with a grocery budget in the past, you may be unsure of how much money you typically spend on groceries. If this is the case, it may be a good idea to spend one month keeping track of how much is spent on food (including eating out, snacks, and trips to the grocery store). You can easily keep track of how much is spent by posting a paper on your fridge and writing down the amount spent on food every day. Or, you can keep a folder taped to your fridge, and put every receipt in it. At the end of the month, add the amounts on each receipt. It would also be helpful at the end of the month to categorize the money you spent on food. Three or four simple categories will help you see where your money has been spent. Three good categories are: "Eating out", "Grocery expenses for food", and "Grocery expenses for snacks." Doing this may be a good motivation for creating and using a grocery budget. If the amount you have spent on food in one month is surprising, then you may find that even simple changes will decrease the amount of money spent on food each month.
Second, create a grocery budget.
The first step is to know how much you have available for a grocery budget. Write down your monthly income. Write down fixed expenses for each month, such as rent or mortage payment, utility costs, transportation costs. Then, figure out how much is still available for grocery expenses. If there is not much available, it will be necessary to shop very wisely in order to live within that allotted amount of money. If your income is large enough that there is a lot of money available for groceries, it is still wise to create a grocery budget that uses less than you earn. By doing this, there will be money to set aside in savings accounts.
Third, set a goal for motivation to live with a grocery budget.
If the amount you currently spend on food is surprisingly high to you, then that may be enough motivation! Create a budget for a little less than what you currently spend. Each month, adjust your budget to be a little less than the month before. Continue this pattern until your grocery budget is what you consider to be a reasonable amount.
Another motivation for living within a grocery budget is to have a plan for what you will do with the money you have saved. Perhaps you can use it to save for a big purchase, perhaps you can reward yourself (if you save $50 a month on groceries, perhaps you can save $25 and use the other $25 to go out to dinner, or to purchase a new item of clothing, a movie, or book, etc.). If you have children they might notice that there are some food items you don't buy as often anymore. Include them in your budgeting. Perhaps if you save $50 a month on groceries then you can use $25 for a family activity that your children would enjoy. Help them look forward to it.
Other factors to consider when budgeting:
Balance
Grocery budgeting is all about balance. Each person's budget will look a little different. Your grocery budget will reflect these unique factors about your life:
"Big" expenses in grocery budgets
Typically, the biggest expenses in grocery budgets come from purchasing foods that are "convenient." (And, depending on your lifestyle and your income, that convenience may be more important that limiting your grocery budget, which is fine). However, if you are under the necessity to live within a limited grocery budget, here are some guidelines about eliminating big expenses:
As mentioned above, the least expensive way to eat is to grow your own food, buy ingredients on sale/in bulk and prepare your foods from scratch. The most expensive way to eat is to eat out for every meal, every day. Most of us have food budgets somewhere between "least expensive" and "most expensive." The extent to which our eating habits are near the "least expensive" end of the spectrum is the extent to which our grocery budget will decrease.
Finding a balance between the least expensive and the most expensive is the key to creating a budget that works for your income, your lifestyle and your tastes and preferences.
So, here are some ideas how home food storage can decrease your grocery budget:
Getting started with a budget:
First, determine how much you typically spend on food each month.
If you have not lived with a grocery budget in the past, you may be unsure of how much money you typically spend on groceries. If this is the case, it may be a good idea to spend one month keeping track of how much is spent on food (including eating out, snacks, and trips to the grocery store). You can easily keep track of how much is spent by posting a paper on your fridge and writing down the amount spent on food every day. Or, you can keep a folder taped to your fridge, and put every receipt in it. At the end of the month, add the amounts on each receipt. It would also be helpful at the end of the month to categorize the money you spent on food. Three or four simple categories will help you see where your money has been spent. Three good categories are: "Eating out", "Grocery expenses for food", and "Grocery expenses for snacks." Doing this may be a good motivation for creating and using a grocery budget. If the amount you have spent on food in one month is surprising, then you may find that even simple changes will decrease the amount of money spent on food each month.
Second, create a grocery budget.
The first step is to know how much you have available for a grocery budget. Write down your monthly income. Write down fixed expenses for each month, such as rent or mortage payment, utility costs, transportation costs. Then, figure out how much is still available for grocery expenses. If there is not much available, it will be necessary to shop very wisely in order to live within that allotted amount of money. If your income is large enough that there is a lot of money available for groceries, it is still wise to create a grocery budget that uses less than you earn. By doing this, there will be money to set aside in savings accounts.
Third, set a goal for motivation to live with a grocery budget.
If the amount you currently spend on food is surprisingly high to you, then that may be enough motivation! Create a budget for a little less than what you currently spend. Each month, adjust your budget to be a little less than the month before. Continue this pattern until your grocery budget is what you consider to be a reasonable amount.
Another motivation for living within a grocery budget is to have a plan for what you will do with the money you have saved. Perhaps you can use it to save for a big purchase, perhaps you can reward yourself (if you save $50 a month on groceries, perhaps you can save $25 and use the other $25 to go out to dinner, or to purchase a new item of clothing, a movie, or book, etc.). If you have children they might notice that there are some food items you don't buy as often anymore. Include them in your budgeting. Perhaps if you save $50 a month on groceries then you can use $25 for a family activity that your children would enjoy. Help them look forward to it.
Other factors to consider when budgeting:
Balance
Grocery budgeting is all about balance. Each person's budget will look a little different. Your grocery budget will reflect these unique factors about your life:
- Your income.
- Your lifestyle (single, single parent, married parent with both parents employed outside the home, married parent with one parent employed outside the home, young children, teenage children, employment that requires travel, etc.).
- Tastes and food preferences.
"Big" expenses in grocery budgets
Typically, the biggest expenses in grocery budgets come from purchasing foods that are "convenient." (And, depending on your lifestyle and your income, that convenience may be more important that limiting your grocery budget, which is fine). However, if you are under the necessity to live within a limited grocery budget, here are some guidelines about eliminating big expenses:
- Eating out is more expensive than buying prepared foods at a grocery store.
- Buying prepared foods at a grocery store is more expensive than buying ingredients from a grocery store and preparing foods at home.
- Buying ingredients at a grocery store is more expensive than buying ingredients in bulk or on sale at a grocery store.
- Frequent trips to a grocery store are typically more expensive than limited trips to a grocery store.
- Buying food in a grocery store is more expensive than growing food in a garden.
As mentioned above, the least expensive way to eat is to grow your own food, buy ingredients on sale/in bulk and prepare your foods from scratch. The most expensive way to eat is to eat out for every meal, every day. Most of us have food budgets somewhere between "least expensive" and "most expensive." The extent to which our eating habits are near the "least expensive" end of the spectrum is the extent to which our grocery budget will decrease.
Finding a balance between the least expensive and the most expensive is the key to creating a budget that works for your income, your lifestyle and your tastes and preferences.
So, here are some ideas how home food storage can decrease your grocery budget:
- Buying in bulk is almost always much cheaper than buying in smaller quanties. For example, 20 pounds of rice is cheaper per serving than buying a small box of rice. (I will post some more specific examples soon). Stock up on foods in bulk quantitites (items such as flour, sugar, grains are easy to store an inexpensive to buy in bulk. They are available at a very low price at our church's Home Storage Center in Kansas City. See www. provident living.org for a price list). There are several posts on this blog about buying/storing bulk foods. See them for more information.
- Buying on sale is cheaper than buying regular price. Watch the sales, then stock up on grocery store items that you regularly eat. Canned goods, box mixes, baking ingredients and many other items such as salad dressings and condiments will store for a long time (at least a year or two). Some foods (such as cheese, meat, tortillas, and butter) can be successfully stored in the freezer for a year or two. Use your freezer (especially if you have a deep freeze) to store foods that you have bought on sale.
- Every shopping trip costs money. Try to limit shopping trips to once a week (or less). For example, a shopping trip once each day is typically going to be more expensive than a shopping trip once a week. Also, a shopping trip once a week is going to be more expensive than a shopping trip once every other week. If you have food on hand, you will probably make less trips to the store and that alone will save money! Many families who live on tight grocery budgets shop once a month for the majority of their groceries, then make one or two other "quick" grocery stops during the month for milk and fresh produce.
- Plan menus and stick to a grocery list. Impulse buying is one of the most expensive parts of a grocery trip. By planning menus in advance, writing a grocery list, and sticking to the grocery list, you can eliminate impulse buying at the store. More importantly, you can plan menus that use your food storage and that include items that are on sale at the grocery store this week. This does take a little advance planning, but it pays rich dividends in the money saved on groceries. Also, it is easier for me to stick to my grocery list if I'm not hungry when I go shopping.
- Breakfast foods can be expensive or inexpensive. Breakfast foods can be one of the biggest expenses in a grocery budget. I have a lot of information about breakfast foods in a limited grocery budget. This topic will probably get its own post soon. However, if you eat a lot of cold cereal, consider replacing just one breakfast a month with something that is much more inexpensive (such as oatmeal).
- Use inexpensive foods from storage to stretch more expensive foods. This topic, too, will have its own post soon. Here is a quick idea. Look at your grocery budget. If many of the expenses come from more expensive foods, such as meat, consider using foods from storage, such as rice, to "stretch" the meat. For example, chicken served over rice will require less chicken per person (and, therefore, less expense) than plain chicken.
- Don't waste food. Use leftover food in creative ways for future meals, or freeze leftover portions for a ready-made meal a few weeks later. Even one leftover portion can be frozen and later taken to work for a lunch for one person. By wisely using all the food you buy, the same grocery budget can stretch even further.
- Without food on hand, you have to pay full price when you need something. If you have stored the majority of the main ingredients that you use for cooking, then when you need something, you already have it on hand. (And, hopefully, when you bought it for storage, you bought it at a sale price or a bulk quantity price). If you don't have a good storage system, then every time you need an ingredient you must buy it at the store for whatever price it is currently selling for. The same principle applies to the concept of eating with the seasons--buy fresh produce when it is in season because the price is much lower than at other times of the year.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Store what you eat and eat what you store
This post is an overview of some basic ideas of how to get started with your food storage.
Start small--set a goal to have enough for one month:
By gradually setting aside food, it is possible to accumulate storage for one month, then three months, then six months, then a year.
First idea to get started with food storage--Make a list:
Write a list of main dishes that you regularly prepare for dinner.
For example, your list might include: Stir fry with vegetables, chicken and rice, spaghetti, taco salad, chicken noodle soup, sandwiches, etc.
Next, categorize food items needed for the meals on your list:
On a separate piece of paper, title five columns:
1. Grains/Bulk foods 2. Canned goods 3. Frozen foods 4. Fresh foods 5. Other items.
Now, take each main dish that you wrote down earlier and write the ingredient for that dish under the appropriate columns.
For example, the main dish of "stir fry" would have "Rice" in the "Grains/Bulk foods" column. It would have "vegetables" and "chicken" under the "Frozen foods" column. It would have "soy sauce" and "corn starch" under the "Other items" column.
Calculate amounts needed:
If you have 30 main dishes on your list, then that is about the amount of food needed for a one month supply. If you multiply that amount by 12, you will have the amount needed for a one year supply.
Remember lunch and breakfast:
Repeat this same exercise with lunch foods and breakfast foods.
Side dishes:
Of course, most meals aren't just a main dish, they also include side dishes. It is probably a good idea to store food for side dishes, but I personally haven't worried too much about side dishes because most of our side dishes are fresh fruit and vegetables and garden salads which are hard to store. Also, in hard times, I figure if we have ingredients for main dishes we'll still have something nutritious and filling. (Also, knowing how to make something such as bread is useful for "hard times" because bread is so filling. If we were living exclusively off of our food storage and were able to make bread to eat if we were still hungry after a meal, that would be very helpful) (For this reason, we also store plenty of flour and other bread ingredients).
Another idea: keeping a record of foods eaten and used over one month:
If you are trying to figure out what food to store for your family and in what quantity, and the idea listed above doesn't suit you, here is another idea:
Tape a paper to your refrigerator. Then, for one month, record the meals you ate, and the ingredients used. At the end of the month, you will have a good record of what is needed to feed your family for one month. Multiply this by 12 and you have the amounts needed for a year's supply. You can then divide the items on this list into the columns I suggested above.
This is actually the system we used when we were beginning our food storage, and it was helpful and accurate, but painstaking to keep track of everything for an entire month.
Shopping and storing:
Once you have your food listed into columns, it is easier to start accumulating a supply. The easiest and least expensive to purchase and store are the "Bulk/Grain items." This is a good place to start, too, because these foods are nutritious and very filling. Bulk grain items are available from the church Home Storage Center at very good prices. You can purchase them in bulk and bring them home to store in your own containers. Or, you can put them in the #10 tin cans or mylar pouches. If you have questions about the Home Storage Center you can look on the church's Provident Living website (www.providentliving.org) or call the local center at (816) 453-2398. I can also help answer your questions.
Next, begin storing the "canned foods" and "frozen items" and "other items." These items often come on sale and then you can stock up. Some stores will give you a discount when you buy large quantities, and retailers such as Costco and Sam's Club often have good prices on bulk foods such as these. Also, every year in early June, Diana coordinates a bulk purchase of frozen food from Bithell farms. This is excellent fruit and a good price. If you are interested, call Diana.
The last category on your storage list is "fresh foods." Obviously, we cannot store fresh foods in our long term storage as "fresh" foods. However, we can often find many of those foods "frozen" "canned" or "dried." If "fresh" foods are a large part of your menus, then it is a good idea to find the same foods prepared a different way to keep in your food storage. Diana also coordinates a bulk purchase from Emergency Essentials each month. They sell many of these types of foods in bulk quantities. Contact her if you would like to have information about Emergency Essentials.
Find a good system for storing and rotating food:
I have posted a few ideas of how to store/rotate food in earlier posts. I hope to post some more ideas soon. A good system will have the food easily accessible when you cook. This usually means that some of the food is in or near the kitchen. The other food can be in a basement or other storage room. Find a system that works with where you live and how you cook. If any of you have good ideas, please comment and I will add them here.
Freezers:
Many food storage items can be stored in buckets and on shelves. However, if you have a deep freezer, it can be a valuable asset to your food storage. Many items store well in a freezer, such as meats, cheese, yeast, bread, fruits and vegetables. If you do have a freezer, you may want to consider what you would do if the power were out for a long time. A generator is a good solution for this.
A note on storing/rotating food:
For the most part, we regularly eat what we have stored. The exception to this is that we don't eat a lot of powdered milk at this time. In times of unemployment and very limited grocery budget, we have used powdered milk exclusively, because it was just $1 a gallon. Since we currently drink store-bought milk most of the time, this is how I rotate my powdered milk storage: I try to keep a pitcher of re-constituted powdered milk in the fridge, and I use it for cooking (soups, breads, almost any recipe that calls for milk) (except for puddings--puddings won't set up if you use powdered milk). I also have a few recipes that call for dry powdered milk. One recipe is for homemade pizza crust and the other recipe is for a chocolate shake that tastes quite a bit like a Wendy's frosty. I found that recipe on a website called Hillbilly Homemaker.
So, while it is a good idea to eat and rotate the food that you store, if there are foods that you want to store, but don't want to regularly eat, there are probably still ways that you can use them a little at a time. Another example is with flour. If you prefer white flour, but want to store wheat flour, you can try mixing a little wheat flour in with your white flour (from as little as one cup of wheat flour in a big bin of white flour to a half wheat/half white mixture).
Another note on bulk/grain items and bread:
Bulk/grain items used to be the main product in food storage. There has been a shift from that now, and it is recommended that we store what we eat instead of storing 500 pounds of wheat that we will never eat. However, I think it is a good idea to learn to use bulk/grain items, even just a little bit. Here's why: They are economical to purchase, they store well long-term, they don't take up much storage space, they are nutritious and filling, and they are in keeping with the Word of Wisdom. So, even if you don't "like" wheat or other grain items, I still think it is a good idea to use them every once in a while (maybe a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast once a month, for example), and to have a little of them stored. I think it is also a good idea to know how to make at least one bread item (white bread, wheat bread, rolls, breadsticks or biscuits) and to store the ingredients to make that time (yeast, flour, sugar, shortening, or whatever your recipe calls for).
A note on menus that don't use bulk items/grains:
Some people (such as diabetics, for example) have a particular type of diet. Others prefer a menu of fresh vegetables. If your diet does easily fit into the guidelines listed above, then it is important to find food storage items that will fit into your specific menus. An easy way to begin would be to think: If I needed to live off of my food storage for a few days or weeks, what would I want to have stored? (This is probable for a number of reasons from personal financial needs (unemployment) to wider economic circumstances, to a natural disaster (such as a flood, tornado or earthquake) when access to grocery stores may be limited. In this case, you might not be able to eat like usual, but what foods can you store that would be closest to what you typically eat? The answer may be in purchasing high-quality freeze-dried foods (from a company like Emergency Essentials, for example). These are more expensive and you may choose NOT to rotate them, but to keep them on hand for an emergency. Another alternative is to grow a garden which would provide food in the summer and fall. Many vegetables and herbs can be grown in small quantities inside a house. Potted plants can be grown year-round on a kitchen counter or on a table near a window in any room of the house.
A note on "other" items in food storage:
Some of the "other" items in your storage list may be nice ingredients to have, but not essential. Others, such as baking powder, yeast or oil, may be necessary to make foods such as bread. Be sure to store those "essential" items are part of your food storage. It is also nice to have "other" ingredients on hand to give flaovr and variety to the foods you have stored. Some examples are below:
Spices and flavorings:
Most spices and flavorings are very inexpensive and store well for a long time. They are an invaluable part of food storage, because they can create variety and good flavor in many ordinary foods. Some ideas of spices and flavorings to keep on hand are: vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, honey, jam, jelly, bouillon, garlic, salt, pepper, ketchup, barbeque sauce, salad dressing and cheese.
Snacks:
Many families, especially with young children, are accustomed to eating snacks throughout the day. Although it is not practical to have a year's supply of snacks on hand, it is a good idea to have some snack items in your food storage. Examples of snack foods that store well are: raisins, dried fruit, flavored drink packets and crackers.
Holidays:
It is a good idea to think of holidays and birthday or other traditions that your family has which involve food. For example, if you celebrate birthdays in your family with cake, and you don't make cakes and frosting from scratch, it might be a good idea to store cake mixes and frosting for the birthdays in your family. An easy way to do this would be to buy a cake mix for every person at the beginning of the year. Put them on a shelf in your food storage and use them during the year. Replace them at the beginning of the next year.
Medicine and Illness:
If you have certain dietary needs or medical needs, be sure to include those items in your food storage, too. For example, for a while one of our children took a medicine that was mixed with applesauce. We kept several packages of applesauce in our food storage. Other items to think about are soda crackers, chicken broth, juice and Gatorade.
- The purpose of food storage is to have food on hand for yourself and your family in time of need, so the food you store should be food that you like to eat.
- Regularly eat the food you have stored, and regularly replace it. This way, the stored food will retain its nutritional value, and will still taste good.
- Of course, if properly packaged and stored, many foods will last for decades.
Start small--set a goal to have enough for one month:
By gradually setting aside food, it is possible to accumulate storage for one month, then three months, then six months, then a year.
First idea to get started with food storage--Make a list:
Write a list of main dishes that you regularly prepare for dinner.
For example, your list might include: Stir fry with vegetables, chicken and rice, spaghetti, taco salad, chicken noodle soup, sandwiches, etc.
Next, categorize food items needed for the meals on your list:
On a separate piece of paper, title five columns:
1. Grains/Bulk foods 2. Canned goods 3. Frozen foods 4. Fresh foods 5. Other items.
Now, take each main dish that you wrote down earlier and write the ingredient for that dish under the appropriate columns.
For example, the main dish of "stir fry" would have "Rice" in the "Grains/Bulk foods" column. It would have "vegetables" and "chicken" under the "Frozen foods" column. It would have "soy sauce" and "corn starch" under the "Other items" column.
Calculate amounts needed:
If you have 30 main dishes on your list, then that is about the amount of food needed for a one month supply. If you multiply that amount by 12, you will have the amount needed for a one year supply.
Remember lunch and breakfast:
Repeat this same exercise with lunch foods and breakfast foods.
Side dishes:
Of course, most meals aren't just a main dish, they also include side dishes. It is probably a good idea to store food for side dishes, but I personally haven't worried too much about side dishes because most of our side dishes are fresh fruit and vegetables and garden salads which are hard to store. Also, in hard times, I figure if we have ingredients for main dishes we'll still have something nutritious and filling. (Also, knowing how to make something such as bread is useful for "hard times" because bread is so filling. If we were living exclusively off of our food storage and were able to make bread to eat if we were still hungry after a meal, that would be very helpful) (For this reason, we also store plenty of flour and other bread ingredients).
Another idea: keeping a record of foods eaten and used over one month:
If you are trying to figure out what food to store for your family and in what quantity, and the idea listed above doesn't suit you, here is another idea:
Tape a paper to your refrigerator. Then, for one month, record the meals you ate, and the ingredients used. At the end of the month, you will have a good record of what is needed to feed your family for one month. Multiply this by 12 and you have the amounts needed for a year's supply. You can then divide the items on this list into the columns I suggested above.
This is actually the system we used when we were beginning our food storage, and it was helpful and accurate, but painstaking to keep track of everything for an entire month.
Shopping and storing:
Once you have your food listed into columns, it is easier to start accumulating a supply. The easiest and least expensive to purchase and store are the "Bulk/Grain items." This is a good place to start, too, because these foods are nutritious and very filling. Bulk grain items are available from the church Home Storage Center at very good prices. You can purchase them in bulk and bring them home to store in your own containers. Or, you can put them in the #10 tin cans or mylar pouches. If you have questions about the Home Storage Center you can look on the church's Provident Living website (www.providentliving.org) or call the local center at (816) 453-2398. I can also help answer your questions.
Next, begin storing the "canned foods" and "frozen items" and "other items." These items often come on sale and then you can stock up. Some stores will give you a discount when you buy large quantities, and retailers such as Costco and Sam's Club often have good prices on bulk foods such as these. Also, every year in early June, Diana coordinates a bulk purchase of frozen food from Bithell farms. This is excellent fruit and a good price. If you are interested, call Diana.
The last category on your storage list is "fresh foods." Obviously, we cannot store fresh foods in our long term storage as "fresh" foods. However, we can often find many of those foods "frozen" "canned" or "dried." If "fresh" foods are a large part of your menus, then it is a good idea to find the same foods prepared a different way to keep in your food storage. Diana also coordinates a bulk purchase from Emergency Essentials each month. They sell many of these types of foods in bulk quantities. Contact her if you would like to have information about Emergency Essentials.
Find a good system for storing and rotating food:
I have posted a few ideas of how to store/rotate food in earlier posts. I hope to post some more ideas soon. A good system will have the food easily accessible when you cook. This usually means that some of the food is in or near the kitchen. The other food can be in a basement or other storage room. Find a system that works with where you live and how you cook. If any of you have good ideas, please comment and I will add them here.
Freezers:
Many food storage items can be stored in buckets and on shelves. However, if you have a deep freezer, it can be a valuable asset to your food storage. Many items store well in a freezer, such as meats, cheese, yeast, bread, fruits and vegetables. If you do have a freezer, you may want to consider what you would do if the power were out for a long time. A generator is a good solution for this.
A note on storing/rotating food:
For the most part, we regularly eat what we have stored. The exception to this is that we don't eat a lot of powdered milk at this time. In times of unemployment and very limited grocery budget, we have used powdered milk exclusively, because it was just $1 a gallon. Since we currently drink store-bought milk most of the time, this is how I rotate my powdered milk storage: I try to keep a pitcher of re-constituted powdered milk in the fridge, and I use it for cooking (soups, breads, almost any recipe that calls for milk) (except for puddings--puddings won't set up if you use powdered milk). I also have a few recipes that call for dry powdered milk. One recipe is for homemade pizza crust and the other recipe is for a chocolate shake that tastes quite a bit like a Wendy's frosty. I found that recipe on a website called Hillbilly Homemaker.
So, while it is a good idea to eat and rotate the food that you store, if there are foods that you want to store, but don't want to regularly eat, there are probably still ways that you can use them a little at a time. Another example is with flour. If you prefer white flour, but want to store wheat flour, you can try mixing a little wheat flour in with your white flour (from as little as one cup of wheat flour in a big bin of white flour to a half wheat/half white mixture).
Another note on bulk/grain items and bread:
Bulk/grain items used to be the main product in food storage. There has been a shift from that now, and it is recommended that we store what we eat instead of storing 500 pounds of wheat that we will never eat. However, I think it is a good idea to learn to use bulk/grain items, even just a little bit. Here's why: They are economical to purchase, they store well long-term, they don't take up much storage space, they are nutritious and filling, and they are in keeping with the Word of Wisdom. So, even if you don't "like" wheat or other grain items, I still think it is a good idea to use them every once in a while (maybe a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast once a month, for example), and to have a little of them stored. I think it is also a good idea to know how to make at least one bread item (white bread, wheat bread, rolls, breadsticks or biscuits) and to store the ingredients to make that time (yeast, flour, sugar, shortening, or whatever your recipe calls for).
A note on menus that don't use bulk items/grains:
Some people (such as diabetics, for example) have a particular type of diet. Others prefer a menu of fresh vegetables. If your diet does easily fit into the guidelines listed above, then it is important to find food storage items that will fit into your specific menus. An easy way to begin would be to think: If I needed to live off of my food storage for a few days or weeks, what would I want to have stored? (This is probable for a number of reasons from personal financial needs (unemployment) to wider economic circumstances, to a natural disaster (such as a flood, tornado or earthquake) when access to grocery stores may be limited. In this case, you might not be able to eat like usual, but what foods can you store that would be closest to what you typically eat? The answer may be in purchasing high-quality freeze-dried foods (from a company like Emergency Essentials, for example). These are more expensive and you may choose NOT to rotate them, but to keep them on hand for an emergency. Another alternative is to grow a garden which would provide food in the summer and fall. Many vegetables and herbs can be grown in small quantities inside a house. Potted plants can be grown year-round on a kitchen counter or on a table near a window in any room of the house.
A note on "other" items in food storage:
Some of the "other" items in your storage list may be nice ingredients to have, but not essential. Others, such as baking powder, yeast or oil, may be necessary to make foods such as bread. Be sure to store those "essential" items are part of your food storage. It is also nice to have "other" ingredients on hand to give flaovr and variety to the foods you have stored. Some examples are below:
Spices and flavorings:
Most spices and flavorings are very inexpensive and store well for a long time. They are an invaluable part of food storage, because they can create variety and good flavor in many ordinary foods. Some ideas of spices and flavorings to keep on hand are: vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, honey, jam, jelly, bouillon, garlic, salt, pepper, ketchup, barbeque sauce, salad dressing and cheese.
Snacks:
Many families, especially with young children, are accustomed to eating snacks throughout the day. Although it is not practical to have a year's supply of snacks on hand, it is a good idea to have some snack items in your food storage. Examples of snack foods that store well are: raisins, dried fruit, flavored drink packets and crackers.
Holidays:
It is a good idea to think of holidays and birthday or other traditions that your family has which involve food. For example, if you celebrate birthdays in your family with cake, and you don't make cakes and frosting from scratch, it might be a good idea to store cake mixes and frosting for the birthdays in your family. An easy way to do this would be to buy a cake mix for every person at the beginning of the year. Put them on a shelf in your food storage and use them during the year. Replace them at the beginning of the next year.
Medicine and Illness:
If you have certain dietary needs or medical needs, be sure to include those items in your food storage, too. For example, for a while one of our children took a medicine that was mixed with applesauce. We kept several packages of applesauce in our food storage. Other items to think about are soda crackers, chicken broth, juice and Gatorade.
Two Weeks Preparedness--Lessons to Learn
Many people try living exclusively from their food storage for a week or two. This can be a very valuable experience to evaluate how well your food storage would serve your family in a true emergency.
A few people have written about their experiences doing this. I found it very helpful in evaluating my own food storage and personal preparedness. With their permission I will post them. Here is the first:
Karen M. wrote:
We decided to accept the challenge to start that very day to live off our food storage for two weeks without going to the grocery store. We went home to the food on our shelves and in our fridge.
At first:
We began with a Family Home Evening to explain to our children what we were going to be doing. We allowed them to participate by putting a paper on the refrigerator, and anytime they wanted something that we didn't have, they could write it on the fridge.
I was excited to not have to go to the store for two weeks! I thought of all the time and money that I would save. However, I found that the first few days were the hardest--emotionally more than physically. There is an immediate sense of panic when you realize you are "stuck with what you got." The second week was actually easier than the first.
The hardest part for children:
The hardest part for my kids was that we were out of cereal. The first morning we had oatmeal. The complained, "Oh no! We don't like oatmeal!" After they ate it they said, "That was so good! Can we have some more?" That taught me a lesson right there. Variety is a good thing, even if there is a little grumbling up front.
The hardest part for me:
The hardest thing for me was that there was no chocolate. I normally don't eat that much chocolate, but in a "crisis" situation I discovered it is a comfort food. I hadn't realized how much I enjoy a piece of chocolate here and there and here and there and here and there. I will definitely stock up on cocoa and chocolate chips.
Snacks:
I did a lot of baking and cooking during this time, mainly for snacks. I realized that I was lacking in snacks and in order to keep up with my kids and make this experience easier for them, it required a lot of my time and energy cooking.
Appliances for cooking in working order:
Our gas oven has been on the fritz for a while and we haven't had it fixed. Fortunately, we had already scheduled a repairman to come, and I was relieved when he came. You need an oven when you are baking bread, muffins, pizza, etc.! Unfortunately, the problem was more complicated than he anticipated and he wasn't able to fix it at that time. This taught me the importance of keeping our homes and appliances in good working order--before disaster strikes.
72-hour kits:
On one of the first nights of our experience, we decided to go through our 72-hour kits as well. I thought there would be some good "treats" in there for the kids. Unfortunately, almost all of the food was bad! The applesauce was out of date, and the fruit leather was rock hard. The only things we salvaged were the juice boxes and graham crackers. I realized that we need to rotate the food in our 72-hour kits more often, because we would have been in a lot of trouble if we had needed to rely on them for survival.
Unexpected illness:
During this time my daughter became sick with a sore throat, fever, throwing up, etc. I was grateful for the Gatorade we had salvaged from our 72-hour kits, but realized we needed a bigger supply for the future.
Comfort foods:
When my daughter was sick I also realized the importance of stocking up on "comfort foods" that are required during sickness (such as a certain brand of soup or soda crackers).
Trying new recipes:
The time of crisis is NOT the time to try new recipes. I had about a 1/2 gallon of milk and decided to stretch it by adding powdered milk to it. I had heard that adding vanilla to powdered milk really helped it taste better. Instead of waiting for the recipe, I "guessed" and added 8 times the amount of vanilla that I should have. We had "vanilla sting milk" for the next two weeks! When I tried to make yogurt with the new milk concoction, it turned out runny, for some reason. However, we made do.
Fruit:
My best relief came when I realized that we had strawberries and raspberries in the freezer. I came up with a new smoothie recipe and it was like liquid gold! we were all in heaven drinking up the fresh berries. I discovered that I would like to store more fruits--frozen, canned, dried. These were better than candy during this time.
Eggs:
I have been keeping about 5 dozen eggs on hand, so we were fine for the two weeks, but if it had been longer, I would have run out of eggs. I will be looking in to storing powdered dairy products--eggs, butter, buttermilk, etc.
Holidays:
We celebrated Easter during these two weeks. We had enough eggs for our children to dye, but we dyed them without hard-boiling them because I didn't want to hard boil my only supply of fresh eggs. We found an online recipe for dyeing eggs without food coloring. It is a good idea to think about holidays when planning our food storage.
Lessons learned:
Overall, this was a great experience for our family. The knowledge we gained was invaluable and definitely worth the sacrifice to obtain it. the biggest insight from this experience was that when an emergency happens, your resources are limited to what you have on hand, what you have prepared for, and what skills you have obtained.
Just as you are limited to the food you have stored on your shelves, you are also limited to the skills you have obtained.
In a time of crisis, you do not have the time, energy or resources to obtain new skills. You are limited to what you have already learned. You may have great books on food storage recipes and ideas, but unless you have tried them, they are not skills you can call on in a time of need.
This has encouraged me to expand my knowledge of food and my own personal recipe book so that I am regularly and consistently using my food storage in healthy and tasty ways!
List of food we wished we had:
Powdered eggs
Powdered butter
Powdered buttermilk
Cocoa
Chocolate Chips
Yogurt and buttermilk starter
Gatorade packets (electrolytes)
Lipton soup
Cereal
Snacks
Lunch meat in freezer
Bread in freezer
Frozen fruit: bananas, strawberries, peaches, raspberries
Canned fruit: pears, mandarin oranges
Wheat
Other things we wished we had:
Wipes
Oven and home repairs
A few people have written about their experiences doing this. I found it very helpful in evaluating my own food storage and personal preparedness. With their permission I will post them. Here is the first:
Karen M. wrote:
We decided to accept the challenge to start that very day to live off our food storage for two weeks without going to the grocery store. We went home to the food on our shelves and in our fridge.
At first:
We began with a Family Home Evening to explain to our children what we were going to be doing. We allowed them to participate by putting a paper on the refrigerator, and anytime they wanted something that we didn't have, they could write it on the fridge.
I was excited to not have to go to the store for two weeks! I thought of all the time and money that I would save. However, I found that the first few days were the hardest--emotionally more than physically. There is an immediate sense of panic when you realize you are "stuck with what you got." The second week was actually easier than the first.
The hardest part for children:
The hardest part for my kids was that we were out of cereal. The first morning we had oatmeal. The complained, "Oh no! We don't like oatmeal!" After they ate it they said, "That was so good! Can we have some more?" That taught me a lesson right there. Variety is a good thing, even if there is a little grumbling up front.
The hardest part for me:
The hardest thing for me was that there was no chocolate. I normally don't eat that much chocolate, but in a "crisis" situation I discovered it is a comfort food. I hadn't realized how much I enjoy a piece of chocolate here and there and here and there and here and there. I will definitely stock up on cocoa and chocolate chips.
Snacks:
I did a lot of baking and cooking during this time, mainly for snacks. I realized that I was lacking in snacks and in order to keep up with my kids and make this experience easier for them, it required a lot of my time and energy cooking.
Appliances for cooking in working order:
Our gas oven has been on the fritz for a while and we haven't had it fixed. Fortunately, we had already scheduled a repairman to come, and I was relieved when he came. You need an oven when you are baking bread, muffins, pizza, etc.! Unfortunately, the problem was more complicated than he anticipated and he wasn't able to fix it at that time. This taught me the importance of keeping our homes and appliances in good working order--before disaster strikes.
72-hour kits:
On one of the first nights of our experience, we decided to go through our 72-hour kits as well. I thought there would be some good "treats" in there for the kids. Unfortunately, almost all of the food was bad! The applesauce was out of date, and the fruit leather was rock hard. The only things we salvaged were the juice boxes and graham crackers. I realized that we need to rotate the food in our 72-hour kits more often, because we would have been in a lot of trouble if we had needed to rely on them for survival.
Unexpected illness:
During this time my daughter became sick with a sore throat, fever, throwing up, etc. I was grateful for the Gatorade we had salvaged from our 72-hour kits, but realized we needed a bigger supply for the future.
Comfort foods:
When my daughter was sick I also realized the importance of stocking up on "comfort foods" that are required during sickness (such as a certain brand of soup or soda crackers).
Trying new recipes:
The time of crisis is NOT the time to try new recipes. I had about a 1/2 gallon of milk and decided to stretch it by adding powdered milk to it. I had heard that adding vanilla to powdered milk really helped it taste better. Instead of waiting for the recipe, I "guessed" and added 8 times the amount of vanilla that I should have. We had "vanilla sting milk" for the next two weeks! When I tried to make yogurt with the new milk concoction, it turned out runny, for some reason. However, we made do.
Fruit:
My best relief came when I realized that we had strawberries and raspberries in the freezer. I came up with a new smoothie recipe and it was like liquid gold! we were all in heaven drinking up the fresh berries. I discovered that I would like to store more fruits--frozen, canned, dried. These were better than candy during this time.
Eggs:
I have been keeping about 5 dozen eggs on hand, so we were fine for the two weeks, but if it had been longer, I would have run out of eggs. I will be looking in to storing powdered dairy products--eggs, butter, buttermilk, etc.
Holidays:
We celebrated Easter during these two weeks. We had enough eggs for our children to dye, but we dyed them without hard-boiling them because I didn't want to hard boil my only supply of fresh eggs. We found an online recipe for dyeing eggs without food coloring. It is a good idea to think about holidays when planning our food storage.
Lessons learned:
Overall, this was a great experience for our family. The knowledge we gained was invaluable and definitely worth the sacrifice to obtain it. the biggest insight from this experience was that when an emergency happens, your resources are limited to what you have on hand, what you have prepared for, and what skills you have obtained.
Just as you are limited to the food you have stored on your shelves, you are also limited to the skills you have obtained.
In a time of crisis, you do not have the time, energy or resources to obtain new skills. You are limited to what you have already learned. You may have great books on food storage recipes and ideas, but unless you have tried them, they are not skills you can call on in a time of need.
This has encouraged me to expand my knowledge of food and my own personal recipe book so that I am regularly and consistently using my food storage in healthy and tasty ways!
List of food we wished we had:
Powdered eggs
Powdered butter
Powdered buttermilk
Cocoa
Chocolate Chips
Yogurt and buttermilk starter
Gatorade packets (electrolytes)
Lipton soup
Cereal
Snacks
Lunch meat in freezer
Bread in freezer
Frozen fruit: bananas, strawberries, peaches, raspberries
Canned fruit: pears, mandarin oranges
Wheat
Other things we wished we had:
Wipes
Oven and home repairs
Saturday, May 16, 2009
It's not too late to plant a garden!
There is still time to plant a garden!
1. Find a place in your yard (preferably a place that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight each day).
2. Prepare it (if there is grass, remove it, and remove any large rocks or stones). Use a shovel to turn and loosen the soil, about six inches deep so the roots will be able to grow.
3. Make it level. Use a shovel or a hoe to level the ground. If it is really uneven, add dirt to the low end, or remove dirt from the high end.
Planting a garden in a small yard:
2. Incorporate the garden into the landscape or perimeters of the yard. Above are two pictures of grape vines. The first picture is a grapevine planted in a corner by the house and the deck. It is tied to a simple wood trellis with twine. The second picture is a grapevine planted at the edgeof the yard near the fence. It is growing on pipes which are cemented in the ground on one end and bent at an angle on the top end. The grapevines on top are over five feet high and provide some shade and privacy. If neighbors don't mind, grapes can be grown on the fence.
3. Many types of fruits and vegetables can be planted around a house or in a yard--and not in a "typical" garden plot. The three pictures above are examples of this. The first picture is a rhubarb plant growing at the edge of a flower bed. The second picture is a strawberry patch in the corner of a yard. The third picture is a raspberry patch along the edge of a house in a narrow side yard. Some vegetables that are frequently grown as landscaping are vegetables with lots of leafy vines such as squash and zuchini. The vines can sprawl along the ground or be tied to a trellis and grow upward along a house or fence.
4. Many garden vegetables can be grown in planter boxes on porches and decks (this is especially good when living in an apartment). This picture is a tomato plant in a planter box. Some vegetables (such as cherry tomatoes) can even be grown from hanging baskets.
Planting a traditional garden:
1. Find a place in your yard (preferably a place that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight each day).
2. Prepare it (if there is grass, remove it, and remove any large rocks or stones). Use a shovel to turn and loosen the soil, about six inches deep so the roots will be able to grow.
3. Make it level. Use a shovel or a hoe to level the ground. If it is really uneven, add dirt to the low end, or remove dirt from the high end.
Planting a garden in a small yard:
1. Build a box garden. (Buy wood from any hardware store. Nail it together in a square. Fill it with dirt). (Buy dirt from any gardening store, or get dirt free from Olathe city. Call 971-9311 to find out more about getting dirt from the composting facility on Hedge Lane). Picture above is a box garden.
2. Incorporate the garden into the landscape or perimeters of the yard. Above are two pictures of grape vines. The first picture is a grapevine planted in a corner by the house and the deck. It is tied to a simple wood trellis with twine. The second picture is a grapevine planted at the edgeof the yard near the fence. It is growing on pipes which are cemented in the ground on one end and bent at an angle on the top end. The grapevines on top are over five feet high and provide some shade and privacy. If neighbors don't mind, grapes can be grown on the fence.
3. Many types of fruits and vegetables can be planted around a house or in a yard--and not in a "typical" garden plot. The three pictures above are examples of this. The first picture is a rhubarb plant growing at the edge of a flower bed. The second picture is a strawberry patch in the corner of a yard. The third picture is a raspberry patch along the edge of a house in a narrow side yard. Some vegetables that are frequently grown as landscaping are vegetables with lots of leafy vines such as squash and zuchini. The vines can sprawl along the ground or be tied to a trellis and grow upward along a house or fence.
4. Many garden vegetables can be grown in planter boxes on porches and decks (this is especially good when living in an apartment). This picture is a tomato plant in a planter box. Some vegetables (such as cherry tomatoes) can even be grown from hanging baskets.What to plant and when to plant:
1. Most fruits and vegetables can be grown successfully in Kansas.
2. The growing season is from March to September. Kansas State University has published an excellent guide about when to plant each vegetable. Click here to read it.
May is the perfect time to plant these: beans, cucumbers, melons, peppers, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes. March and April were the perfect time to plant these: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, onions, peas, spinach, turnips, beans, carrots.
Good news!: Many of the vegetables that could have been planted in March-April can also be planted later (now!) for a second harvest later in the fall.
May is the perfect time to plant these: beans, cucumbers, melons, peppers, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes. March and April were the perfect time to plant these: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, onions, peas, spinach, turnips, beans, carrots.
Good news!: Many of the vegetables that could have been planted in March-April can also be planted later (now!) for a second harvest later in the fall.
3. You can plant from seeds (the cheapest alternative) or from "starts" (a little more expensive, but usually cheaper than buying produce at the grocery store). Grass Pad and Suburban Lawn and Garden are two local stores with good stock. However, you can buy seeds and starts at many other places, such as Ace Hardware, Wal-Mart and many local nurseries. You can grow your own starts from seed if you begin in February or early March, then grow them indoors (near a sunny window) until it is time to plant. The picture above shows "starts" that are ready to be planted in a garden.
Caring for your garden:
1. Water! Don't let your plants dry out. How often you water depends on how much it rains and how hot the weather is. Seed packages and starts will both have brief instructions on planting and watering.
2. Weed. It's a good idea to weed once in a while, especially as your plants get bigger, so the weeds don't overtake the plants. :)
3. Harvest. This is the reward for your planning and work. More information later about harvesting and preserving.
Other tips:
1. Olathe City has a community garden on Santa Fe (just east of K-7, near city center). You can reserve a patch of land in this garden for $25. For more information, call: 971-8817.
2. "Square foot gardening" is a useful way to garden in very small areas. More information about this is available on the internet, at the library, or at the Johnson County extension office. (As of today, this website has good and helpful content: www.squarefootgardening.com ).
3. The Johnson County extension office has a lot of information available for free. This information is specific to Kansas and is very helpful for learning growing seasons, when to plant, and where to plant. There are also Master Gardeners who are available to help as well. (I've posted contact information on the side bar of the blog).
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Where to put all this food storage
One of the most important principles with food storage is to store what you eat, and eat what you store. To do that, find a place in your home where you can store large quantities of food, such as canned goods and bulk items. You should also designate a place in or near your kitchen to keep smaller quantities of those items to use when you are cooking.
Most people already have a kitchen cupboard or shelf that they use for a pantry. Here is an example of kitchen shelves with small containers for items such as flour, rice, sugar, beans, etc.:
Larger containers of those same items could be kept in a storage room. When the smaller containers in the kitchen are empty they can be refilled from the larger containers in the storage room. This is a good system for rotating and using food storage.
However, even if you don't have a separate room for food storage, it is still possible to find places to store food. Below are a few ideas.
Build or buy shelves for food storage. These shelves could be in the basement or in a closet anywhere in the house:
You can also put food into boxes. Boxes are a good idea for storing smaller items (such as spices, cake mixes, or jello). Boxes are also good for stacking, so you can fit more food in a small space. (Be sure to label the boxes!)
You can purchase clear plastic containers, or you can use cardboard boxes. Many grocery stores will give you their cardboard boxes if you ask. Produce boxes are especially suited for stacking and storing. If you or your neighbors have a home-based business, you may have access to cardboard boxes of similar size, such as these boxes:
If you store a lot of canned goods, a rolling shelf such as this one makes it easy to organize and rotate the food. The shelves are slanted, so you put newly purchased items in at one end and they roll forward. When you need a can you take it from the forward end, so you are always using the oldest cans first. These are fairly simple to build.
Dry food items (such as grains) are easily stored in air-tight buckets (which were described in more detail in the previous post). It is recommended that these buckets not be stored directly on the floor (to avoid condensation inside the bucket). In this picture you will see that they are sitting on a small platform:
In the next picture you will see an island of buckets. This is a food storage room with shelves built along the walls. The room had a lot of empty space in the middle. There is a pallet in the middle of the floor. There are 27 buckets stacked up on this pallet. Most of the buckets are easily accessible, and there is room to walk all the way around this "island."
If you don't have a storage room, you can still have food storage. Here is another place to store food--under a bed. If you have a bedskirt, the food will not be visible from the room. If you store food around the house like this, it is helpful to keep a list of where food is. You can also keep a tally on the list and mark each time an item is used so you know when to replace it.
Here is another creative place to store food. This couch is at an angle in the corner. What is behind the couch is not visible from anywhere in the room:
But if you could see behind the couch you would find two buckets with bulk food storage:
This is an end table with a lamp on top:
But the end table is actually a bucket of food storage:
If you have more ideas, please comment and share them!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Food Storage Containers
There are several ways to store items purchased for food storage. Always use a food-grade container. (Food grade containers will be labeled "PETE" or "PET"). Store food in tightly sealed containers to keep them free from insects. Food will store best and longest if it is in a cool, dark, dry place, and in an air-tight container.
I have not seen these pails for sale at local stores, but you can do a Google search for "5 gallon plastic pail" and find many online retailers. A member of our ward orders items such as these each month from Emergency Essentials. By ordering as a group we can save on shipping. Contact me if you are interested in this.
These buckets come with this style of lid:
This type of lid works fine. You may wish to purchase a lid lifter to help open the lids. (A lid lifter is about $5 and you only need one lifter--it can be used repeatedly on multiple buckets).
You can also purchase a gamma seal lid which can be twisted open easily. If you are regularly using your bulk storage items, and if you don't mind spending the extra money (about $6 apiece), this is a very convenient lid.
You can often get similar buckets for free from a local bakery (including a bakery in a grocery store). Their frosting and other items come in these and they typically just throw them away. They will often save them for you if you ask, or they will tell you a good time of day/week to come and collect them. Usually the lids will seal fine, but sometimes they have been opened carelessly and don't quite shut tight anymore. If they don't shut tight, then use them for pre-packaged foods (such as raisins, Jell-o, pasta, etc.) because without a tight seal, they will not keep insects out of open grains, etc. This is a frosting bucket from a bakery:
You can purchase bulk foods from the church home storage center in Kansas City. You can also package these bulk foods at the home storage center. There are two options for packaging: in #10 cans, or in mylar pouches. For more information, you can contact the home storage center (816-453-4269), or you can ask me.
You can also use plastic containers such as Rubbermaid storage containers (see container with blue lid in the photo below). You can re-use thick plastic containers that have previously held other food items (such as the apple juice container which is now used to hold rice, also in the photo below). You can use other containers as well, such as these two glass or plastic containers that previously held other food items.
Just make sure that all containers are clean and dry and can be properly shut. Make sure they are food-grade and made of thick, sturdy plastic. (Milk cartons, for example, are not sturdy enough for long-term storage of liquid, and not thick enough to keep out weevil or other insects).
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Getting Started
Here are some ideas for beginning a food storage plan in your home:
1. Begin by storing one week's worth of food that your family eats.
Go shopping and purchase two week's worth of food, if possible. At the end of the first week, go shopping again and purchase another week's worth of food (you will still have one week's worth of food left from your shopping trip last week, plus, the week's worth of food that you buy at this shopping trip). Repeat this every week, and you will always have a week's worth of food on hand.
2. Store a basic food item.
If there is a basic food item (such as rice, pasta, flour) that your family eats regularly, purchase this item in bulk (such as 20 pounds worth) and store it in a clean, airtight container. Keep track of how long it takes you to use it. Gradually purchase a little more (for example, purchase an additional 20 pounds before you have completely used the first 20 pounds) and build up a storage in this way. I will write a longer post on storage containers soon.
3. Store water.
To begin, you could buy a case of bottled water and store it in your home. You can also re-fill sturdy plastic bottles with water. (By "sturdy plastic" I mean apple juice bottles, for example. Don't use milk bottles because they quickly deteriorate and will leak). I will write a future post about water storage and containers.
4. Grow something.
Begin by growing something. This could be a small potted plant of chives, grown on your kitchen counter. It could be a planter box on your porch or deck with strawberries or tomatoes. It could be a small box garden in your yard. Or, if you are ambitious, it could be a larger garden in your yard, a berry patch, or a fruit tree. I will add posts about all of those things soon.
There is an excellent article in the Ensign (March 2009) about this basic, simple approach to food storage. (Click on the link to read the article).
Why Home Food Storage?
Home Food Storage has long been recommended by the prophets and leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There are many reasons to follow this prophetic counsel:
1. More economical
Almost everyone can save on their grocery budget by buying in bulk, or stocking up on sale items, or using foods such as rice, grains or pasta as the basis of most meals, or growing and preserving some of your own food.
2. Prepares us for the unexpected
Having even a little food on hand can be a great blessing for unexpected events such as illness, unemployment, a local disaster or even large-scale disaster.
3. Teaches life lessons
Young children and adults can learn good lessons from storing, rotating and even growing food. Some lessons are: planning and preparation, living on a budget, the law of the harvest (reaping what you sow), and many others.
4. To follow the prophet
Prophets always teach us so that we can prepare. We will be blessed for our efforts to follow their counsel.
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