This Weeks Item

We will be working on chicken this week. Chicken is the backbone of many family dinners and it's a great item to always have on hand. I recommend having frozen chicken and also having canned chicken as well. I hate to rely on my freezer too much since it's always a possibility to have the power go out. So canned chicken is a necessity for our pantry. It couldn't be easier to use. Just pop open a can and it's ready to use in enchiladas, soup or a casserole.

This week's items--Oil & Shortening

Fat is your friend.

At least in cooking it is. It's pretty hard to cook without using oil, butter or shortening. Those are one of the Big Four must-have items in anyone's food storage. No matter whether you are trying to stockpile for a year or are just hoping to get a couple of week's worth of food, you need fat.

This week we're going to concentrate on oil and shortening. Get whatever oil you prefer. Make sure you don't get just olive, though, because that tastes awful in baked goods. I like to split my oil up between olive (my preference for cooking) and canola (my preference for baking and salad dressing.)

Also get some shortening. I rarely use shortening because, well, it doesn't taste that great (although it does add volume and a nice texture to some baked goods when it's combined with butter. Like in snickerdoodles. My recipe here is excellent.) But it's very smart to have on hand as a substitute for butter. It stays good for over a year, whereas butter must refrigerated and it lasts for only a couple of months.

The problem with all items that are high in fat is that fat becomes rancid with 18 months. Sometimes earlier. So nuts, chocolate, oil, peanut butter and anything else that's fatty will need to be rotated regularly. Fortunately these are the best-tasting items so using them up is not a big problem. We just need to be aware.

I recommend half a botttle of oil per person, and half a can of shortening per person. So if you've got four people in your family, you'll get two bottles of oil and two cans of shortening. If you have enough room in your freezer I'd recommend getting some extra butter, too. It freezes beautifully.

Everybody loves cereal!

This week we're going to stock up on cereal. Dry cereal, that is. Cheerios, Cookie Crisp, granola--whatever strikes your fancy. Cereal may not be the most filling food but it's something that just about everybody likes. And sometimes that's what you need most. It's easy and the only ingredient you need is milk (and maybe a little sugar if you get one of those healthy kinds).

If you're a mom, one of the most common complaints is that everybody will eat cereal up in no time. While that is a bummer (the stuff is not cheap, after all) at least you don't need to worry about rotating it!

I would recommend at least a couple of boxes per person. Yes, it's going to be expensive. But at least you know it's going to be eaten. Just bite the bullet and remember that the prophet commanded us to have a three-month supply of food we normally eat. So I guess that means the prophet wants us to buy cereal!

Let's start this New Year right!

OK, I am repenting of neglecting this blog. We're kicking off our New Year's plan this week and I'm excited to help everyone boost their food storage.

The plan is changing a little bit this year. We'll have a monthly theme as well as having a weekly item. The idea behind this being that it might be easier to keep the monthly theme in the back of everyone's mind. It also allows a little more flexibility if there are some items your family can't (or won't) eat. This month's theme, for example, is Family Favorites. The item for this week is Peanut Butter. If you happen to have peanut allergies you probably won't want to get this, Instead you might want to choose another food that is a family favorite. Next week we'll do another item that is a family favorite. Get how it works?

I'm really hoping that we can all get a little more prepared this year. There may not be any practical reasons; you might not have to face unemployment or a pandemic. But having a three-month supply of food is a commandment from the Prophet. Which is a commandment from the Lord. So just keep that in mind as you hit the grocery store each week.

This week's item

This week's item is FREE!  It costs absolutely nothing, but is extremely valuable.  This will require about a half hour of your time, but I promise you that you will be glad you did it!  

This is a valuable set of papers to be kept someplace handy.  It's probably not ever going to leave your house, except in case of emergency.  I keep my pages like this in the back of my binder where I have my ward list.  It's one of the first things I would grab in case I had to evacuate my house at a moment's notice.

On it you'll list important items such as:

-kids' cell phone numbers 

-the phone numbers of close relatives (in and out of state)

-the phone numbers of a couple of neighbors

-doctor's numbers

-your insurance agents number and your policy numbers

-your driver's license number(s)

-credit card numbers (including the 1-800 numbers for cust. service)

-Social Security number (s)

-prescription medication info

I also list my frequent flyer numbers, dentist/ortho numbers, license plates (I can never remember them!) and have a ward list.  

Feel free to customize this as much as you'd like.  It really gives you a lot of peace of mind to know that all this important info is in one place.  Now you'll just have to remember where you put it!  I have mine in the cupboard right next to my fridge.  My kids can't reach it, but I can see it right there, so I know where to find it.

This week's item

Vegetables (canned and frozen).  This is where a lot of your vitamins and minerals will be coming from so stock up as much as you can (at least five cans per person). 

A lot of young children may not care for veggies by themselves, but remember that canned tomatoes make great salsa and pasta sauce, beans are perfect for burritos and chili, and most everyone likes canned/frozen corn.

This week we’ll be canning dried carrots, so you might want to add those to your food storage as well.

This week's item

Paper plates/bowls and plastic utensils

Imagine if our water service were turned off even temporarily.  It’s not uncommon due to summer power overloads, water contamination or broken pipes.  If you couldn’t wash dishes what would you do? 

Having paper plates and bowls on hand is a great idea.  Also keep a supply of plastic utensils.