Thursday, July 02, 2009

Food storage & my wheat grinder

Since I was young the LDS church has encouraged its members to store a surplus of food or food stored up for a day of need. I remember living off some such stuff in our home from time to time as finances were tight from time to time.

While living in Utah we started to add a few things here and there to our food storage. It was so easy to run down to the cannery and pick up a bag of wheat, refried beans, or go with the ward once a month and can a few items. The grocery store also had tons of dehydrated items and containers to hold it all in. Easy peasy!! Not so in Hickville Oklahoma- "food what?!" "Storage buckets for food?!"

Since moving to Oklahoma I have not invested much effort into food storage...until now! A few weeks ago I came across a facebook group for food storage. I checked out the website (click here) and have loved every moment spent on reorganizing, charting, learning, and baking! Not only does this lady explain how to build up your supply (much like the churches new push), but she has oodles of recipes to use things you find in Grandma's food storage like wheat, dried beans, and dried eggs.

When I reorganized my kitchen I found 19cans of kidney beans but only 3 cans of anything else I cook kidney beans with, so I would only get 3 meals out of all those beans. I also found I had a three year supply of tampons, Q-tips, and dental floss after organizing my bathroom storage areas but only had one tooth brush and one tube of tooth paste. I found things I never knew I had and was able to better organize things so I can see everything in my cupboards making shopping lists easier. During the past few weeks I have been able to add a few more meals to my food storage adding variety (a special thanks goes out to Fred and a quick trip to the commissary).
Last year, I received a generous gift from a few gracious people around the time Jake graduated- A wheat grinder! I was thrilled. I love making bread and was excited to eat healthier whole wheat bread. My biggest problem was I was always adjusting the recipe especially after the move and the change in altitude and stuff. The bread was always crumbly! NOT ANYMORE!! This website has THE BEST recipe for 100% whole wheat flour. click here for recipe

I have been bit by the food storage bug and am super excited to continue to add to it. Now I just need to find more room for it all. We will be losing some of our storage area with the baby moving into our extra room, looks like I will be taking up the kids top shelf in their closets :-)

3 comments:

The McMullin Family said...

That's awesome! Way to go! And thanks for the links. They are awesome. We keep some of the storage under our bed. it works out great.

The Samples Sampler said...

Thanks for the links! As we are thinking about returning to the army, I have thought about how to keep a food storage with all the moving that army life involves. Reading your blog encourages me. It can be done!

Unknown said...

this is an awesome website! Thanks for blogging it!