Week 7 - The Long Haul

"Sweet is the Work..." I was trying to think of hymns or songs that had the words sugar, honey, or sweet in them this morning. Do any of you have any suggestions?

Well, we should be at least halfway there toward our goal of getting 100 pounds of sugar/honey per person into our long term storage. As I have not heard that anyone has made their goal (it may have been adjusted for your particular family usuage), we will continue on.

I have had one request for the canner. Anyone else? I will be looking at checking it out from the Home Storage Center later this month.

To recap, the task again for this week:

1. to either purchase at least 8.3 pounds of sugar/honey for every two people in your family

OR

to take an envelope, and put in $5 for every 2 people in your family so you can save up to buy it in greater bulk.

2. If you purchase this week, be sure to label it with the date of purchase. (Properly canned sugar and honey last for many years, but you will still want to be rotating it after you get your full amount in storage, and you will want first in/first out.) Then put the sugar in the place you have designated for your year's supply.

For those of you that would like to save up for a few weeks and then go out to the Home Storage Center in a few weeks to purchase, I would be glad to set up a time when we could go together. Just let me know if you are interested.

Sweetly,

Marie

Week 7 - Provident Pantry

I am munching on some jerky as I am writing this. Curious, since for the next 4 weeks we are going to focus on adding meat/fish to our 3 month food storage. I had to smile this morning. I felt we had gone back to hunter/gatherer designations. The last two weeks we were gathering in cereal (grain) and now we will be hunting meat.

On the plans you have sent me, I see listings for lunch meat, tuna, bacon, hamburger, hot dogs, canned chicken, canned beef, etc. And at $5 per week per every two people in your family, it may take you more than 4 weeks to get your meat all "salted" away. Not to worry. There will be other weeks where you already have the assigned item and meat will be your alternative choice. I do notice that the amount of meat per family is quite variable, so after this week, I will include alternate assignments for those of you that very quickly put away for your meat/fish needs.

So up to now, you have probably easily been incorporating the things you are buying into your pantries or under your beds. Now will start the storage challenge. If you have large freezers, hallelujah, you may have the space you need. If you are like me, you may have realized that 3 months of meat is NOT going to fit in your small above-the-frig freezer. I have had to go back and make some adjustments to my menus and rely more on canned meats. I have also located a new source for a canned hamburger that I am willing to try to see if it might be an option. Please share with us your own challenges in regard to meat/fish. Other sisters may have suggestions. Also, as you go out to purchase, if you find some good deals, please let us know. There may be others that would like to take advantage of the bargain.

Jill Waggoner and Linda Hancock have found a source for meat that seems to be more affordable than the local grocery stores and of good quality. It is a company that is looking to come into the Austin area. If you would like more information on their source, please contact them directly.

My daughter-in-law cans her own meat for her storage. She saves money that way, and it is REALLY good tasting. Please let me know if there are any of you who would like to have a RS class on meat canning. We would be glad to set that up this year if you would like.

Remember to put your stickers (where you have written the expiration dates) on each meat item before you store it away.

Happy hunting and fishing,

Marie

Week 7 - 72 Crew

Good morning, oh ye sisters who are diligently preparing.

We are still continuing to make sure we have the needed food items in our 72 hour kits. This is the last of the 3 weeks we had set for this endeavor, so be sure you have the food items you will need in your kits.

In brief, the assignment for all of you this week, whether you are refreshing or buying for your kits for the first time, is to spend your $5 (per every two people in your family) on getting food items for the 3 days of food for your family members.

If you already have 3 days of food in your kits for each member of your family, please put that $5 per every 2 people in your family in an envelope to spend on other things you will need as we go along.

Additionally this week, add vitamins. Check the expiration dates and make sure that they do not expire in the next 6 months before you include them. Ideally, you will just be including the regular multi-vitamins that your family usually takes so that it will just be a part of their regular routine to take them. There has been research that indicates that B vitamins are especially helpful in dealing with stress. You may want to check to see if your normal vitamins have a goodly amount of the B complex in them or you may want to add them. If you do not regularly take vitamins, you may want to decide whether this is something you want to include or not. Remember that some vitamins do better in a dark container. As you are going to need just 3 multivitamins per person, you may just need a very small container. I do not recommend putting vitamins in a baggie - too easy to get squashed, etc., but look around your house for a small little container that will do the trick.

Also this week you need to go to your calendar, and in the middle of August someplace, write "Change out food in 72 hour kits." This is a process that needs to be done every 6 months, so use whatever tickler methods work for you. Some families choose to use General Conferences as their "refresh the 72 hour kit" days. If you prefer to do it then, today write on your calendars on those first weekends in April and October that you are going to "refresh the 72 hour kits."

Have fun. I am looking forward to seeing the wide variety of 72 hour kits you are creating. Maybe we can celebrate with a special dinner and display when we get them all put together.

Love,

Week 6 - The Long Haul

How sweet it is!

Once again, we continue to get that sugar and or honey into our long term storage.  I haven't heard from any of you yet, so I am making the assumption that we are all still plugging away, either by purchasing sugar/honey this week or by putting the $5 per every 2 people in your family into an envelope for when you purchase it in bulk. 

Please start letting me know now if you are going to be wanting to package your sugar in #10 cans.  The canning equipment from the home storage center is pretty popular and I will want to be securing a date for us to check out the equipment  fairly soon.  I am thinking of doing the canning on a Tuesday evening or a Saturday late afternoon at the church.  If you have a preference, also please let me know, as I need to be scheduling use of the meetinghouse fairly soon as well.

Until we meet again,
Marie

Week 6 - Provident Pantry

As promised, this is the second week of getting 3 months worth of our cold cereal into our storage. I don't know about you, but I am having a fun time getting each of these things tucked away. Tonight when we got back from the grocery store, Mark even got out our green labels we are using and helped me get the cereal boxes stickered and stored. Hope it is catching on in your families as well.

One thing I realize I didn't address on your spreadsheets is that you probably need a column where you can check off items as you complete your 3 month supply of each item. I'm noticing a sense of accomplishment as that column is starting to fill in. We will get there sisters. We will get there.

Remember once you get the full 3 month supply of any item into storage you start rotating it into your regular food, using the oldest item first and immediately replacing it in the 3 month storage.

Cereally yours,

Marie

Week 6 - 72 Crew

Play it again, Sam.  As mentioned last week, we are still continuing to make sure we have the needed food items in our 72 hour kits.

In brief, the assignment for all of you this week, whether you are refreshing or buying for your kits for the first time, is to spend your $5 (per every two people in your family) on getting food items for the 3 days of food for your family members.

If you already have 3 days of food in your kits for each member of your family, please put that $5 per every 2 people in your family in an envelope to spend on other things you will need as we go along OR  use it to come up with an entertainment type item for each person.  For example, in our kit, we carry a set of UNO cards.

Carry on!!