Food Storage Introduction

Have you ever met someone with a food storage hobby? You know the Molly Mormon I’m talking about. Some people catch the Spirit of Elijah and do Family History like there is no tomorrow. But other people catch what I call the Spirit of Joseph (Gen 41) and do Food Storage like there is a tomorrow and they want to be eating then! Well if you haven’t figured it out by now, I am one of those people. I LOVE preparing for emergencies. Whether it be by ‘doing’ food storage or otherwise, it is honestly like one of the most interesting things I know of to pass the time.

BUT, if that’s so not you, never fear! This post is for you! Because long term food storage is for everyone or the prophets wouldn’t have told us to do it. It is true that you will have to devote some time and energy into storing food for your family, but it will be well worth the effort. It doesn’t have to take over your life (though I dare you to not get sucked in!), you just have to have a precise plan and follow it to the letter.  

Food storage falls into three categories: Long Term Supply, Year Supply and Three Month Supply.

Long Term Supply is staff-of-life, dry-packed food like grains, legumes, sugar, salt, heck even macaroni (honey is the miraculous exception). This food storage is the easiest and the cheapest to do because: A) It is basic life sustaining food and thus is widely available and does not have to be too varied. B) The less a food is processed the less it costs to get on the shelves, so buying whole/raw food is inexpensive. If you know where to get it! C) You don’t have to rotate it. HEAR THAT? Yes I said you don’t have to rotate it. Or at least I don’t think you have to and here is why: the Second Coming is coming. I know, I know. Call me crazy; but think about it. The food items I am talking about here have a 30 year shelf life (in optimal conditions) and if Jesus hasn’t come by then or my house hasn’t sunk into the ocean or been covered by a mountain in an earthquake with my food storage in it then I guess I will deserve to crack open my super-pails and eat my less then fully nutritious wheat. But by then my kids will have grown and moved out and so I won’t care about the quality of my food as much. Another reason is that I honestly believe that we have not been asked to store a year supply of food so our families can eat for a year without going to the market. I believe we are meant to share it. So when there is an emergency and I give all my rice away I will just start from square one and the 30 year timer on my supply will start ticking all over again. We need to learn to use this stuff in our daily diet, but we do not have to rotate it.

Year Supply foods are things like flour, powdered milk, cooking oils, baking essentials (yeast!) and spices, canned foods, daily vitamins and garden seeds. These food items are still basics for home cooked meals that are stored in the ‘pantry’, but they need to be used and replaced regularly. There is a wider spectrum of foods involved here so the cost depends on each family’s preferences.

The Three Month Supply is the most volatile of the three because this is basically just your weekly needs multiplied into 12 weeks. And this section includes water. (I know that with God all things are possible, and that is pretty much the only way most of us would be able to store more than three months worth of water for our families! See my Water Kit post.) Your freezer and refrigerator finally enter the picture here too. So in this plan you should include everything from breakfast cereal to cheese to frozen vegetables to… literally whatever your family loves to eat!  

I hope you are not feeling overwhelmed.  If you are feeling some trepidation just take a deep breath and keep reading. I promise this isn’t as hard as it may seem!

Over the next couple weeks we will be learning how to acquire and properly store your food storage. I hope to supply you with the tools you need to accomplish this task or at least point you in the direction of helpful resources. Here we go!

Let’s review the section I posted in physical preparation on food:

Eat Right- I say "right" instead of just "healthy" because physical preparation for an emergency is different from a good diet. It takes time for our bodies to learn to digest whole grains if we're not already used to them. Oatmeal and beans and rice every day is a bleak prospect for pop-tart and pizza type people. You don't need to cut those things out entirely, just add the right things in! In most cases (including in our family) sweets are a part of our daily lives; we need to learn self restraint in that area too. Try going without any sugar for a week, and you'll be surprised how your body reacts (I was!). And if you are a caffeine junkie (or addicted to any substance), you might consider kicking the habit now. It's not just that soda is bad for you, but that the last thing you want in an emergency is to have to deal with a crisis while also feeling the physical effects of needing an addiction fix! The current recommendations for caloric intake and food sources specific to your body type and stage in life can be calculated at http://www.mypyramid.gov/ .

Now with that in mind, take a look at these stats.

It is estimated that the following could sustain the average adult for a year on 2,300 calories a day:

300lbs of grains

60lbs of dried legumes

75lbs of powdered milk

20lbs of fats

60lbs of sugar and/or honey

5lbs of salt

Young men and nursing mothers need more than that, while children and the elderly would be fine with a little less. Learning to cook with just those things (and to digest them) can be difficult in today's world and with our typical eating habits and schedules. Only store what you would actually eat and know how to use.

All of the categories listed above are Long Term Storage items except the ‘fats’ section. Powdered milk can be stored for 30 years, but the conditions have to be constantly optimal or it will be considered inedible within 3 years, so it is safer just to plan on rotating it.

An excellent resource to purchase these items is www.providentliving.org which is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Under the ‘Home Storage’ link, click on the “Home Storage Center Order Form” on the right hand side and check out the nationwide price sheet of food storage products available at the food distribution center nearest you (look under the “Locations” tab at the top of the page for addresses and phone numbers). These really are great products and prices because they are literally selling them at cost straight from church welfare farms. Other than the white rice we found slightly cheaper at Costco (which might just be locally grown) these are far less expensive than anywhere else. But, if you follow sales and use coupons you might be able to save some money on certain items. The Lord doesn't give commandments without preparing a way for them to be followed, so this is possible! The Church printed a pamphlet called All is Safely Gathered In: Family Home Storage to help members get started (which again can be found on that same page). I think they made it almost overly simple to encourage people to at least do something instead of feeling overwhelmed when they see those few Molly Mormon food storage-rs and thus do nothing.

Now let’s talk containers for Long Term Food Storage. I think that we can all agree that 30 years of peace of mind is worth an investment in quality. Use only food grade containers so the integrity of your food is not compromised. Proper packing will ward off pests and prevent premature food deterioration. Storing conditions determine the shelf life of your food no matter the container.

·         Commercially packed super pails

·         Super pails with Mylar bags and an oxygen absorber you fill and seal yourself

·         Commercially packed #10 cans

(though this will not last 30 years, you get what i am refering to. we try to only buy pre-packaged things we can't do ourselves- like freeze dried food!)

·         #10 cans with an oxygen absorber you fill and seal yourself

(again, same story. we are only using super pails for long term storage, but i wanted you to see an example.)

·         Honey is the only non-dry long term storage item. And unless you are a beekeeper, just keep it in the jar you bought it in and it will keep indefinitely.

·         Keep your food storage in a cool, dry, dark place. 

·         High and fluctuating temperatures are detrimental to shelf life. Keeping your food storage below 75 degrees but never freezing it will lengthen the shelf life to the 30 year mark I mentioned.

I just realized that I may need to define “shelf life” for long term storage. We all know when a carton of milk goes bad because it smells sour and sickening. It is also easy to tell when a vegetable or piece of fruit has gone rotten and shouldn’t be eaten. These foods have passed their expiration dates or their shelf life. Long term food storage items don’t rot or sour like that, but they do expire. They begin to loose nutritional value (vitamins, minerals, and proteins) and then rapidly decrease in appeal via taste and texture. It is hard to tell just looking at it (unless you are an expert), it is when you go to cook and eat it that you realize there is a problem. That is why it is so dangerous- your stomach may be full of bread, but the nutrients your body needs aren’t there! The caloric content would only drop slightly so it would still sustain life, but eating expired foods like that for an extended period of time would compromise your health.

Now let’s talk menu. The stark reality is that long term food storage is survival based. So if you literally only store the things in that list above, your typical day would look like this:

Oatmeal with milk and sugar for breakfast. Some sort of unleavened bread for lunch (usually wheat, sometimes corn), possibly with honey on it if you don’t use sugar at breakfast. Rice and beans for dinner.

Yum, right?

BUT, if you buy a food storage cook book, or even look up recipes online, you can literally spice up your life! You just need to plan in advance! For example, you could sprout your wheat kernels and have a salad. You could make tortillas, bran flakes, pancakes, even pasta! But you have to get the recipes and instructions and try it out now! And you have to get your Year Supply functioning. After I finish with the information, acquisition, and storage portions of each type of food storage, I’m going to go back and document my adventures with trying recipes from each type of food storage, including alternative ways of baking and cooking! Such fun! Can’t you just feel the excitement? I sure as heck can. But then again I’ve caught the Spirit of Joseph. ;0]

This post is far too long so I will end now, although I could go on for pages more. If you made it all the way, high five! Until next week then--

pandemic preparedness

the first time i heard about and studied pandemics was in college when my cousin (who is an RN) told us about some training she was having to do for an avian flu outbreak and how she would have to report in to the hospital when it happens because they will need every person with medical experience they can find. i listened in stunned silence to the scenarios she rehearsed to me about government plans, statistics, historical records and the prophecies to back up the reality of the event. i'm not afraid anymore. but you might want to buckle up! 

…a desolating sickness shall cover the land- D&C 45:31; 2 Nephi 13:24; Revelations 9

Experts say and history shows that pandemics do and will happen, so get informed and be prepared. For example, the H5N1 virus (avian flu) has hundreds of confirmed cases worldwide, even though none have been reported in the U.S. And to date, there are only a couple confirmed cases of the virus being passed from one person to another person (infected people have usually contracted it from birds). However, as soon as the virus mutates and can be passed easily from person to person via contact or proximity it will be around the globe, some say, in a matter of days. The U.S. has plans in place to slow the transmission of the virus, but all experts agree there is no stopping it once it starts to spread. You can read those plans (and those of each state) at http://www.flu.gov/. The World Health Organization (WHO) has six stages of influenza outbreak and we are currently in stage four. Thus far there is a 60% mortality rate for those who contracted the virus, but experts say that may increase as the virus gains speed and strength and less medical attention is available for infected patients.

The plan to slow the spread of the virus in the U.S. is to shut down all airports immediately upon discovering an outbreak of human transmitted H5N1. All public gatherings will be banned, public places will be closed down, and all government buildings will be converted into hospitals. Essentially, the entire U.S. population will be quarantined to their homes for three months, during which time it is hoped the initial outbreak and follow up mutations that are projected will occur and subside. It is projected that 2/3 of the world population will contract the pandemic virus and of that 50% will die. The scary part is that healthy people are the most likely to die because the virus turns your body on itself. There are antiviral drugs available that have proven effective in lessening the severity of the flu symptoms (tamiflu and relenza), but there is no cure.

Some things you can do to prepare include the following:

Ø  stock your first aid kit with flu symptom relief medications, essential oils, herbal remedies, and fluids with electrolytes to ward off dehydration

Ø  stock your first aid kit with respirator masks, latex gloves, body suits, and antibacterial hand soap for caregivers

Ø  have a three month supply of food, water and essentials (all your kits)

Ø  practice flu prevention habits like washing your hands with soap and water regularly, sneeze into a tissue and throw it away, stay home when you have a fever, and don't touch your eyes, nose, mouth or ears with possibly dirty fingers

i'm not trying to be an alarmist here. i truly believe that an once of preparation is worth a pound of cure! good luck!

Quarantine Preparedness

The first time that I read about the U.S. plans for home quarantine I was living in Massachusetts. I told some friends about it while visiting teaching and we spent the rest of the time talking logistics. It just seemed so overwhelming—even impossible. I dedicate this post to them. We CAN do this!

Quarantines

And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land. But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die. -D&C 45:31-32

Quarantines happen when there is a pandemic or other biohazard, airborne or otherwise, that is spreading rapidly and the government is trying to stop it. The U.S. systems in place include three levels of quarantine. Level one means everyone is requested to stay in their homes or on their property. All businesses, stores, and community buildings are closed. Electricity and plumbing still work until something breaks. This is for a designated period of time and is also usually "self-imposed" for the most part. Level two is more serious, requiring everyone to stay inside. This is also called "mandated" or "enforced" quarantine because people will be confined to the inside of their homes by force. The military and/or police will ensure that the quarantine is followed.  And level three calls for underground long-term sheltering. The government will issue specific instructions when the quarantine is announced, but here are some general things to be aware of and prepare for. (You can look up these plans for your home state and community. The federal plans are a PDF file and thus I can't go to exact pages so i'm not providing hyper links here.)

Ø  Since it is important in quarantines to create a routine and stick to it, especially when children are involved, here are some suggestions: Change your sleeping schedule to match the sunlight and darkness hours. Make designated family and personal alone time each day. Exercise daily. Solidify gospel routines (family prayer, scripture study, etc.) and plan the day around them. Create routines around mealtimes. Plan a different kind of activity for each day of the week to break up the monotony. Knowing what to expect gives everyone, especially children, a sense of security and control even in extremely trying situations.

Ø  Plan for one gallon of water per person per day. Also store fluids with electrolytes.

Ø  Use your three month food supply plan. In addition, you may want to store healthy food that can be easily prepared by any member of the family, just in case both parents are ill and cannot prepare meals. Also include foods high in antioxidants to build up your antibodies like dried blueberries or mangos. Foods rich in Vitamin C (for example, oranges) might actually work against you with some virus strains (H5N1 for example), so concentrate on storing antioxidant rich foods to build up immunity instead.

Ø  Teach your family now to have good sickness etiquette: stay home from work or school when you are sick, sneeze and cough into a tissue or your arm, wash your hands frequently and thoroughly, and do not touch your eyes, nose, mouth or ears with dirty fingers. Practice healthy personal hygiene and cleaning habits in your family and home now so it will be natural while quarantined when it could mean the difference between life and death.

Ø  Do not plan on having electricity or gas for light, heat, cooking, etc. Store wood for fires (or an ax to get some), gas for a camping stove or grill, coal for a Dutch Oven, flashlights and lamps with extra batteries, etc. Remember that candles and fires not only use oxygen to burn, but also present a hazard, so have camping lamps and battery operated lights to use until they run out.

During quarantines:

4  Stay at least 20 feet away from other people, animals, and standing water. If you live in a rural area this shouldn't be a problem and you will most likely be able to go outside your house into your yard for some sunshine each day. But if you live in the city, especially in an apartment building situation this will be a bigger challenge. Do not open your doors or windows when other people are closer than 20 feet. Close your vents if they are connected to ducts shared by other apartments in the building. Even though you can't go outside try to let in fresh air and sit in direct sunlight each day. 

4  Designate one room in your home for the care of sick persons, preferably one with a bathroom attached. The sick person should stay in this room at all times, and only the care giver should have contact with them. The caregiver needs to be shielded properly with a gown, mask, and gloves that are disposed of after each exposure. Have extra bedding, entertainment, eating utensils, etc. that are set apart for sick persons. Have a bell or whistle for the sick person to call for aid, as they may be too weak to shout or even speak. Store bleach and other disinfectants to clean with. Use your First Aid Kit and herbal remedies if you have them.

4  Use your Sanitation Kit.

4  If you can't go to church, your family becomes the branch. Keep the Sabbath.

4  Being home all day every day in close quarters can be trying. Store a variety of things to do that are not only fun but productive. Collect reference books so you can learn new skills you never had time for before! Use your home schooling kit.

4  Since you will be spending the majority of your time inside, the air in your home needs to be recycled. Have at least one plant in every room, and more if you can manage it. Depending on how close your neighbors are, you may or may not be able to open your windows to let in fresh air. But do not attempt to seal your windows or door shut as you will quickly be oxygen deprived.

4  Listen to the radio for updates on the situation or watch the news if you can. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt.

This past week I used my birthday money from my grandparents to buy these two new plants for our house:

natalie even painted the pot for the one we put in her room. i would tell you what kind of plant it is but the old asian guy at the nursery didn't know the name in english =o] but it is an air purifier, only needs to be watered once every two weeks, doesn't need direct sunlight and only needs to be repotted once every couple years. meet "greenie" as natalie lovingly calls it. we will be getting two more of these babies for the living room and our bedroom when the money comes up next in the budget...

 and this beautiful aloe vera plant!! i was going to put it in the kitchen, but it needs 3 hours of direct sunlight a day which doesn't happen, so it is currently loving life in caleb's room.

we made flyers for all our neighbors telling them about BASIC preparedness and pointing them in the direction of providentliving.org. do you know your neighbors? might be a good idea to meet them because in any disaster working with your community is essential for success!

i also filled up the water barrel i got for my birthday =o]

heads up for next week: pandemic flu prep! and then on to food (which is taking me a while to get ready!)

sanitation kit

i'm giving you fair warning to not read this post while eating your lunch =o]

there are several reasons you might need to use this kit, but we created it with a home based quarantine in mind. in the united states there are three stages of quarantine, and the effectiveness of this kit depends on where you live and which stage your community is in. i bet you can guess what next week's post is going to be about...

Sanitation Kit

Suggested Materials:

·         2 Trash cans with lids

·         Shovel

·         Black trash bags (small and large)

·         Bleach and/or enzyme 300

·         Bucket with a lid and plunger

·         Hand Sanitizer

·         Detergent

·         Wet wipes

·         Vinegar

·         Flannel Toilet Paper

·         Baking Soda

·         Mesh bags

·         Old #10 can with lid

·         Old tennis ball

·         Peri-bottle

·         Old Phone books

·         Rocks/gravel, pine needles/leaves/twigs

This sanitation kit is meant for “stage one" quarantine. This is the plan for when H5N1, the avian flu, hits- see pandemicflu.gov. It is projected that sanitation problems will kill as many people in quarantine situations as the disease or biohazard. We create so much waste!

Unavoidable Trash:

-Burn, compost, recycle/reuse what you can, then throw the rest away in a can or pit compacting as you go. If it is stage two and you can't go outside designate a room in your house as the garbage room and keep everything in doubled up black trash bags. The garage is most feasible.

Bio- Waste:

-Everyday Toilet- Use your current toilet with no water or a bucket. Plug the hole with an old tennis ball. Line the bowl with a black garbage bag. Use old phone book pages until they run out, just for bowel movements, or start with the flannel toilet paper right off (see below). Change the lining everyday and add bleach or the enzyme to the bag before sealing it and putting it in a larger black bag lined trash can. (Not the same one as your other trash.) When the can is full double up the current bag and then bury it. The waste must be at least 50 yards (about 80 paces) away from your living area and covered with at least 2 feet of dirt. Dig down 8 feet if you can. Use hand sanitizer after each contact with any part of this process.

To use Flannel TP you need three sets of wipes for each person. Each set has three wipes. Use one set a day. You can color code them if you want to make sure you use the same sets each time, or everyone can use everyone else's after washing. Plan on washing them every other day or at least every third day. If you are not using old phone book pages for bowel movements, designate one of your wipes for that and the other two for urine. Have a #10 can next to the toilet with a mesh bag for each person's flannel TP. At the end of the day put all the TP into a bucket of cold water to soak overnight. The next morning dump out the dirty cold water and wash the TP with  a mixture of hot water, baking soda (one large pinch per set) and detergent. Once the cloth appears clean, dump out the dirty water and soak the TP in a mixture of vinegar (one capful or less per set) and water. Wring out each TP square and hang up to dry in the sunshine.  Never use bleach on your flannel TP as it ruins the absorbency.

*To make Flannel TP: Prewash flannel alone in hot water. Dry in the dryer alone on hot setting. Cut flannel cloth with pinking shears into 6 inch squares. If you don't have pinking shears hem the edges.

 

-Feminine Supplies- Keep a three month supply of tampons (only keep pads if there is a possibility of childbirth) or purchase a diva cup.

           - Make flannel TP designated for just that week and use a peri-bottle

-Diapers-  Make or purchase cloth diapers. The old fashioned ones with the plastic pants for each size and diaper pins would not be my first choice. Cloth diaper systems made by Bum Genius or Gro Via are much more manageable.

-Make or buy flannel baby wipes. Be sure to scrape off everything you can into the 'toilet' then wash your cloth diapers the same way you wash the flannel TP.

Wash Water:

 If your drain systems aren't working, you will need to dispose of the water you use to cook, do laundry, and bathe because it is now greasy and not good for the soil and will attract pests if just 'thrown out'. Make a soakage pit to dump it into. Dig a hole roughly four feet squared by two feet deep. Fill the hole with rocks and/or gravel. Spread a layer of pine needles, twigs and/or leaves on top to catch most of the grease; occasionally burn and replace the topping to avoid the attraction of pests.

best of luck!