Food Storage

There is a case lot sale this week at Macey's, a local grocery store. Being a good Mormon girl, I strapped my littles in the car, and drove on over after the big kids were in school. I put Z in a front carrier so I actually had room in my cart, and put S in the nifty little race car seat.

Let me back up. LDS people are counseled to have a year's worth of food storage at all times. Well, that's not technically true. When we lived in Japan, it was only a 72 hour kit per person. I've been told by my military friends that they've been told to keep cash that would last a while. I can't remember whether they were supposed to keep that money in the bank or not. However, since I am a Utah Mormon, it is a year's worth of food, and two weeks worth of water. As a point of reference, one adult needs 14 gallons of water for two weeks. Nursing mothers like me, and pregnant women need more.

Why a year's worth of food storage? It's anticipated that some hard times are ahead of us, and we are counseled to be prepared for that. Do I personally think it'll be a year's worth of hardship and no food shopping? No. I think we will be expected to help those out who don't have any. After all, we are a Christian church, and would it be very Christ-like to turn away starving kids with a shotgun? Of course not!! I had a girlfriend have her husband lose his job, and they didn't have much money in savings. They lived off of their food storage until he got a new job. She said having that food saved was truly a lifesaver for them.

We have some food storage on hand, but definitely not a year's worth. This was the inspiration for today's trip. That, and the fantastic deals.

You are supposed to store food that you will actually eat and use. Then, once you get a pretty good supply going, rotate the food through, buying a few cans here and there so it's not something you go into debt for. With these tips in mind, I bought a case of diced tomatoes, a case of tomato sauce, a case of tomato paste, a case of water chestnuts, a case of cream of mushroom soup, 25 lbs of flour (I will go through that within a month or two, given my penchant for baking) and 20 lbs of sugar.

I am exhausted, trying to get all that stuff in my cart without crushing Z while lifting it in, dealing with a hungry and cranky toddler. But, we are that much closer to being prepared.

K begged my to make salsa today, using our veggies from the garden, so I need to take a breather before she gets home from school. I am sure she'll want to help. She did a lot of the work for our pasta sauce, so I expect she'll want to help again. I expect I'll blog about that, including pictures of our soon-to-be-made beautiful salsa.

If you would like to read more about food storage, and living wisely, visit this website: http://providentliving.org/