Growing up a member of the LDS church (official title *inhale* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint *exhale.*) and with a father who was adamant about food storage, I had a foot up on some of this when I became an 'adult.'
When we were little, it was a huge comfort to be able to go into the basement, and find literally a complete hallway, probably about seven-eight feet tall, as long as the house, full of shelves of food. All for a rainy day. There were canned goods, soups, cans of HI-C, and generic Kool-Aid.... anything we might need, it was there. On top of this food supply, was also a supply of basic needs: shampoo, laundry detergent, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, tylenol, etc. A year's supply.
And having been snowed in, tornadoed in, thunderstormed in, we made good use of it.
The LDS church has been teaching about self sufficiency and provident living (those are the buzzwords) for I think over a hundred years. Making the most of our resources when we have them, to lay up store for those days when we don't. That's another reason gardens are so very very common and truly urged among the LDS community. So while, like I said, these things are basic common knowledge to me, to some others who didn't grow up with my upbringing or cultural background, it's not.
That's why it's in the Little Known Gems.
When I got married, and moved all of across the street, my husband and I started on our own food storage. We canned tomatoes that first year from our garden. We made jams and jellies, and pepper relish. We made applesauce.
But really, who wants to live on applesauce and raspberry jam? Just those two things? No one. So we needed to expand our pantry. Of course the canned goods started lining the shelves. But it was expensive.
And then going to church and talking about Food Storage to some of the members there, we got instant reactions about "You must have X amount of pounds of Hard Wheat in your storage. You have to store Wheat!" As if this is going to build you an ark during the next great flood. I don't even know what to do with straight wheat..... But You have to HAVE WHEAT. Or else you have three heads and speak Kling On.
It got to be really overwhelming. really. There were all these words or phrases, like "Dutch Valley Orders" or "Atlantic Spice Orders..." My head started to spin. I was handed a catalog for one these places and I just couldn't focus. It was like handing someone the telephone book and telling them to pick out their next ten best friends.
Dutch Valley and Atlantic Spice are both places where you can buy Bulk Foods. Atlantic Spice specializes in - drum roll please - Spices. OOoohhhh, Aaaahhh.. Dutch Valley bulk foods specializes in - keep that drum roll going - Bulk Foods. Once again, Oooohhh, Aaaaahh.
From Atlantic Spice company, you can order 5 pounds of cinnamon. Really. But the question you beg to answer is, what do you do with five pounds of cinnamon when you get it? How long does it keep for? and really, do you need five pounds of cinnamon? Or five pounds of chamomile, which due to its fluffy make up is surprisingly, a lot of chamomile.
Well this past month, we just placed and received our first order from Dutch Valley Foods. We ordered the basics, King Arthur Flour, some chicken broth mix, some dried pineapple, a heck of a lot of raisins....
All in all, it works out to being a lot cheaper to buy in bulk. But then what do you do with fifty pounds of flour? or fifteen pounds of flaxseeds?
Well, you get out your Food Saver (or you borrow from someone), start making vacuum packed packets, and then put them in buckets.
But where do you get buckets? Does your grocery store have an in house bakery? If so, then there. Go to the bakery and ask for Buckets with Fitting lids. See what they'll give you. Our store here gives them away. Just have to go ask. some stores charge fifty cents a bucket. It depends on the place.
get it home, wash it, dry it, line it with a clean, white, unscented garbage bag, and then add contents. Pour in flour, sugar, whatever. Or if you're keeping things in their original packaging, like that giant thing of Ramen you bought, or in our case, Kraft Mac and Cheese, you can stack them in there. Then twist tie the garbage shut, put the lid on, and label it, And you're good to go.
(Another awesome thing about the buckets is, aside from being free, is that they are air tight. If you, like us, have ever battled Pantry moths, those stupid little bugs that will eat their way through ANY container, including cardboard, plastic, etc - you know you absolutely have to go with something that's air tight. And these buckets are completely air tight. and even if they weren't, the bag that lines the inside of the bucket and then is twist tied shut, creates an air tight environment.
But why should anyone do this? It's just easier to go to the store and buy it when you need it. Yes it absolutely is. But you're paying extra for that convenience. you're paying extra to be impulsive or not impulsive.
I am very guilty of this. I have been known to go to the store a few times a week. I'm awful. I don't do meal plans. I need to do that. I don't do a lot of things the Super mom does...
But I thing having a few things set aside for a food storage, is definitely worth noting here.
How do you begin? You begin by making a space in your cupboards, or your basement, and when you go to the store, instead of just buying one can of soup, you buy two. Do this little thing, every time you go to the store. Other options are bulk stores like Sams Club, Bjs and Cosco.... you can buy an entire case of green beans, thus making you ready for the world's largest green bean casserole. Or just on those off nights when you have no idea what vegetable to have with your dinner, you can just go grab a can.
Look at things you use a lot of. We bake here, a lot. We make our own bread. So we need more flour than someone else might. Start with little things. Do you have to go for the whole years' supply? No. you go for a week. then go for a little longer. But make sure you store stuff that you're going to eat and use.
If you want to check out bulk food places like Dutch Valley, or Atlantic spice (http://www.dutchvalleyfoods.com/ http://www.atlanticspice.com/) go ahead, make a list of things you might be interested, and absolutely of course shop by price. Just because they have fifty pounds of dried cream of mushroom soup, doesn't mean you have to get it.
And don't forget about storing water. In moments when the power goes out, and your well is run off electric, you then have no water. every large soda bottle, every juice bottle, rinse out, fill with water, assuming your tap water is fine, and then seal it up, and put with your storage. This will give you water to drink, water to flush toilets with, water to do dishes with, water to wash with.
One other note: well two actually. anyone out there remember the Far side cartoon, with the man and woman in the underground bunker full of food, and there's a large mushroom cloud over head. the woman is scolding the man. "How many times have I told you to make sure there's a can opener in there? How many times? It's not any good to us, if we don't have a can opener...." Ditto that. keep a can opener in the food storage area, along with one of the bucket wrenches to get those lids off. http://www.bungwrench.com/
You can save some money, add food to your pantry, create a little more organized household, and help secure that you'll have food on the table in times of emergency.
While you may think I've been drinking the Apocalyptic Kool-Aid, just think of it as being practical, frugal, and slightly organized.
And just for the record, I STILL don't have Wheat.
Now back to washing those buckets.....
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