Provident Living-Three Month Supply (Part 2)

Did you make out your list of meals? Grab, that sheet and let's continue on. Now, you're going to want to decide how often you'd be willing to eat the same meal. I asked my husband about this one and he said that he could handle the same dinner twice a month. If that's the case for you, then the easiest I have found is to do a Menu A and a Menu B. This allows you to have some variety, but allows for easy rotation also. My examples from now on will be utilizing this notion-two meal plans (total of 14 different dinners). Now, if you aren't picky and you only eat 7 different meals, I'll adjust the final numbers so you can see what you need to do. When I originally at down and did my list of meals, I figured that we ate about 30 different dinners on a regular basis. I tried to use all 30 in my short term storage and flopped miserably! Way too many, and some were not possible at all because of all the fresh ingredients. So keep that in mind...

Look at your current list of dinners, and see if you can find 14 meals that are made predominantly from ingredients that are in your pantry (not fridge, or freezer). Keep in mind that if you do currently use food from the freezer, we might be able to find something that we could substitute from a panty. For instance, we eat frozen veggies. However, if I don't have any power, my freezer will only be good for so long. But I can substitute canned veggies easily. Same with our chicken-we use fresh or frozen. We could stock some canned chicken and substitute it into several meals. Depending on how you rotate your food, a good rule of thumb is to include food in your 3 month storage, that has an expiration date of at least a year out.

Now, for breakfast and lunch, I don't have 14 meals. Our breakfast menu has about 5 on it and our lunch is more like 4. So we'll have to up the amount that we store for those as we'll be eating them more often.

Your list should start looking something like this:

Dinner Menu A (Make 7 Times)

1. Spaghetti with veggies

2. Taco Soup

3. Chicken Pot Pie

4.

5.  (add 4 more dinners to complete your 7)

6.

7.

Dinner Menu B (Make 6 Times)

1. Alfredo with veggies

2. Chili and cinnamon rolls

3. Chicken salad tortilla wraps

4.

6. (add 4 more dinners to complete your 7)

5.

7.

When you plot three months on a sheet (2 months with 30 days and 1 with 31), you find that you need 13 weeks of food, not 12. That's why I'll be making Dinner Menu A 7 times and Dinner Menu B 6 times.

For lunches, you need a total of 91. The more variety you have, the less you'll have to repeat.

Lunches (Need it to total 91 days)

1. Peanut butter and jelly (make 22 times)

2. Hummus on crackers with veggies ( make 23 times)

3. Tunafish on bread, with crackers (make 23 times)

4. Macaroni and cheese with canned fruit (make 23 times)

Breakfasts (Need it to total 91 days)

1. Cereal and milk (make 18 times)

2. Oatmeal (make 18 times)

3. Waffles with canned fruit (make 19 times)

4. French toast (make 18 times)

5. Pancakes (make 18 times)

That's your challenge for today....come up with your menu for your three month supply. If you don't mind eating the same 7 dinner meals on a weekly basis, all you need to do is make one menu with seven dinners, and you'll serve it 13 times.

See you tomorrow when we start breaking down our meals in order to compile a shopping list....and I'll give you a GREAT tip on how to store and rotate this!

Provident Living-Three Month Supply

All right. We've talked about shelves, location, and how to inventory. Now we just need to discuss what to store! This is broken down into two parts-short term (three month supply), and long term (ultimately one year). We'll discuss the Three Month Supply first:

 

 

The Three Month Supply

Provident Living's website encourages us to "build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet."

Many believe in having a three-month supply of non-perishable food.  This ensures that you will not lose your food storage if your power goes out for an extended period of time, which is probable in any natural disaster (goodbye, freezer food!).  Also, if you have planned your three-month supply to only include non-perishables, you can truly live off of your food storage alone without ever visiting the store for anything.  Of course, this can make getting a three-month supply a bit more challenging, but it's definitely doable.  You'll have to decide what your plan is-will you include your freezer or not.

How do I do it?  You don't have to plan out 13 weeks of different dinners, breakfasts, and lunches!  You only need some favorite meals, and you just stock up on three-months' worth of those meals.  

What do I store?  Think of the meals that you and your family like to eat.  Most of these meals can probably be turned into "food storage friendly" meals - i.e.,  using only non-perishables.  Canned chicken can be used for fresh; canned veggies/fruits for fresh.  Cream can be replaced (in some cases) with evaporated milk.

How can I afford it?  Many people are on a very tight budget.  Getting your three-month supply isn't something that most people can do in one day, or even a week.  Buy a few extra canned items every time you visit the store.  Watch for sales, and stock up when the items you need hit rock bottom prices. Do not go into debt to collect your food storage. The church strongly suggests that you start small, with a goal of one week, then one month, then two, and ultimately three.

Why three months?  Three months is a good amount to food to (hopefully) keep your family afloat during a time of crisis.  If the main breadwinner in your home loses their job, you could live off of your food storage for three months and use your grocery budget for bills.  For a natural disaster, quarantine, etc., three months of food can be lifesaving.

Won't all that food go bad?  Rotate, rotate, rotate!  I know, it's easier said than done.  Organizing and rotating food storage is actually the hardest part for many people.  Refer to the previous post on tips for rotating. I'll also include one more here, and it's my favorite if you're short on pantry or food storage room space.

Does my longer-term supply count towards the three-month supply too?  For me it does!  I purchase my beans, spaghetti, etc in bulk in my long term supply. I'd utilize these items for my three month supply if they were the ingredients I needed.

I'm going to issue a set of challenges, to help you work on your three month supply. You might have time to tackle them all at once, or maybe you'll need to spread them out over the course of a week. That's up to you. The point is to do SOMETHING!

Today's Challenge:

Make a list of all breakfast, lunch and dinners that you eat regularly. At first, you might think that this will take way too long. Fear not! It's amazing but most families don't have more than 30 different dinners that they routinely eat (especially if you have picky kids!). So grab a pad of paper and start writing while you're sitting in the carpool line today! 

I'm going to show you how to do this, the pen and paper way. If you're into spreadsheets, and want to make something that you will use for your inventory also, please visit:

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/babysteps/step-3-three-months-of-normal-food/

They have a spreadsheet, and multiple videos to walk you through the process of making your 3 month supply menu, shopping list, and inventory. I started mine using their spreadsheet, but I found that I can do it a lot faster on paper, and I wasn't going to use it for inventory so I didn't see that spending more time on theirs would be of any benefit to me.

If you'd like to do it the "pen and paper" way, you can use these worksheets from The Ready Store:
Download Ready Steps Worksheets

Wendy DeWitt is a name you'll eventually hear about, if you do food storage long enough. She has a similar system to this one. I have a post on her system a little later on that you can look up.

Provident Living Websites

I thought I'd share with you, some of the websites where I'm getting my information. My whole purpose of this part of my blog is to compile the best of the best, in terms of Provident Living information. I'm not making this stuff up, it's not my own. I'll try to give credit where credit is due. If you want further information and have the time, check out these websites. If not, I'll pull what I can (and what I think is most important), and post it here so you don't have to waste your days reading every blog out there. I'll probably add to this list as time goes by, as I'm constantly stumbling over other websites.


Church Website www.providentliving.org

Food Storage made Easy www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net

Everyday Food Storage www.everydayfoodstorage.net

Safely Gathered In www.safelygatheredin.blogspot.com

I Dare you to eat it www.idareyoutoeatit.com


These are just a few...it really depends on what you want...ways to organize, ways to cook and use it, recipes, where to buy freeze dried, etc. If you have some favorites that you want to add, please comment and I'll tag them on.

Provident Living-Inventory

Moving along....we need to come up with a way to keep track of what you have, and what you use. If you don't, you're likely to have groceries that expire. And when you're ready to make your shopping list, if you're organized, it should only take a couple minutes. Yes, you heard me right, no more than 5 minutes!!

I'm not sure why inventory is the hardest part for a lot of people. Maybe it's because we don't take the time before we run to the store to take stock of what we have, and then by the time we get home with screaming kids, we throw the groceries into any cabinet that has room, hoping it will close, and not even thinking twice about "rotating".

But I know there has to be some method out there that will work for you, in your situation. So I've been scouring the internet to find out how others do theirs. Here is what I have found....

How to Rotate Food - Sticky Note Method

Welcome to our series on how to rotate food! For the next 4-5 weeks, we'll dedicate Thursday's posts to showing you some different ways to keep your food up-to-date and ready to eat!

All the methods are easy - it's just a matter of choosing the one (or a few) that works best for you. This first method is very straightforward.

I keep most of my food storage in cupboards, and on some shelves in my guest room closet, and I have posted small pads of sticky notes on the inside of my cupboards (and on the sides of the shelves, not shown). Whenever I pull something out of my food storage to make a recipe (this happens all the time, for many different recipes), I write the item on the sticky pad. Then, whenever I go grocery shopping, I peel the top sheet off the pad and add those items to my list. If my budget won't allow me to buy everything that week, I just keep the items on my grocery list and buy the food when I can (especially when it's on sale!).

This method can work very well for anyone - whether you have your entire 3-month supply, or if you are building it now. I used to have a habit of getting lots of food in my food storage (1-2 month's worth or so), but then we would eat though it, which is GREAT, but I wouldn't be replenishing it as we went along. Using this method has allowed me to stay on top of the game, and I feel a lot more secure knowing what I have. Plus, since I have my three-month supply all planned out, I know I can make the meals I need to if the opportunity arises!

TIP: Don't forget to put your new food in the back of your storage, so you are always eating the food you've had the longest.

How to Rotate Food: Sticker Method

We pooled our family and friends for ideas to share for this series, so thanks to all of you who contributed. Food storage is not something that any of us can do alone, we all need support and LOTS of information to do it. 

No one method will work for everyone, so keep looking for the method that works for you, and if you have any methods, ideas or tips, please share with us via email or comment so we can share with all our readers.

This was one of my favorite methods that came in. 

Buy colored circle stickers for a couple of bucks at the grocery store/office supply store.


Assign a color to each year (make a chart for easy comparison) and label your food according to its expiration date. Then when you are looking in your closet/under your bed/on top of....whatever, all you have to do is look for the sticker to tell you the current year, or earliest expiration, you don't have to keep peering at the tiny date on the boxes/jars.




After I go through all my current storage, I am going to keep my stickers in a kitchen drawer, so as soon as my groceries come home they get a sticker before being put away.

When you label, think about where the food will be stored, and which part of the food item will be visible, and attach the sticker to that side. You want to be able to look in your "food storage area" and see at a glance when your food expires.

You would only have to do this for the 3-Month supply, because longer-term storage should last more than 10 years. When 2008 is over, the green sticker will then be for 2012.

As I was typing this up I had an idea. (I love it when that happens.) The circle stickers come in two color schemes, so you could buy both and then have two stickers for every year. One denoting the first six month, and the second the last six. That would be an even more accurate system. Well, I'm off to the store for more stickers!

How to Rotate Food: The Two-Column Method

Please hang in with me on the pictures, I'm on vacation and had to raid my mother-in-law's pantry for the "photo shoot." Please pretend that all of these items are the same.

So we can all get on the same page, we have six boxes of "pasta." Obviously the number of items and the type would depend on you and your needs. I would probably not do this method with pasta because we have so many boxes on hand, but for items of which you need 6-10 total, this would be a great method.



I put them in two columns. Earliest expiration dates in the righthand column. When I need a box of pasta I will take it from the right hand column, first box first. Notice there are only two boxes on the righthand side. That's because I made Mac and Cheese for dinner. Hypothetically speaking of course.


One box left.


When the right hand column is empty, I move the lefthand column into the right hand column spot, and restock into the lefthand column.



Then we begin all over again. This way, items are rotated in the order in which they came in, and it's also easy to tell how many you have on hand.

How to Rotate Food: The Rubber Band Method

My cousin tipped me off on this idea which is from this book by Marie Ricks. Funny that I didn't pick up on it while I was reading the book, it's a great idea.

Again, please forgive me for using snack size raisin boxes. I would never employ this method on these. Vacation, vacation.


The basic idea is that you have a certain number of the same items.



As you use them...


...You will come across the last one which is rubber-banded. This means: "Hey! Go to the store, I'm out of raisins!" Or whatever it is. Great reminder, especially for spices, bouillon and smaller items that are used up at a slower rate.

I've used a method similar to this for my craft paints. I just put a black dot on the top of my last bottle of each paint color. Someone suggested putting the rubberband on the second to last box. That way you have one extra on hand, and then the one you intend to open.

Here are a couple other methods I've personally used:

Bin/Shelf Labeling

Wipe-Off Sheet

Provident Living-Shelves

We're on a roll....We've learned the principles behind the guidance. We've talked about water storage. Now it's time to discuss where we are going to store our three month supply and long term storage.

Here are a couple amateur videos of my food storage room...

Food Storage Room-Part 1 (Location, Fridge/Freezer, Rotation Shelves)
 

Food Storage Room Part 2-(Short Term Storage)

 

 

Food Storage Room Part 3-(Long Term Storage)

 

Food Storage Room Part 4-(Mylar sealer, Cleaning/Personal products)

 

 

This isn't rocket science. But here are a couple tips to keep in mind:

• Food is suppose to be stored in a dry, cool, environment-less than 75 degrees. This means that you should not use your attic or garage.
• If you can't get to the food, you'll never rotate it. Now, this could be an ok thing, or a not so good thing. I'll come back to this...
• No matter what your home size, you can store something-be creative!
• You don't have to go purchase a room full of shelves at once. Start small, and purchase your shelves as your storage grows.
• Adjustable shelves are nice if you're storing a variety of different sizes of foods and cans.
• Do what fits your needs and budget!!

If you do not have a specific room, or basement for your storage, you'll need to seriously consider where you want to store your food. Believe me, the food gets very heavy when you're carrying it from room to room, trying to decide the best place to store it. I've moved mine way too many times!!! lol

Here is a handout to get you started, if you're dealing with small spaces. It's fromwww.foodstoragemadeeasy.net . Download Smallspaces (click here for the handout)

Basically if you're working with small areas, you need to decide how you want to break up your food. Do you want to put all of one food item in one location, or store a one month supply of the basics in one location? Make sense? You can line up your bags or cans in such a way that you can rotate them, even if they are under the beds. Fill from the right, and take from the left.

If you're using the mylar bags, and you have an animal problem (ie. mice, etc) you're going to want to store them on shelves, off the ground, or place in rubber bins (with lids). When we first started, we purchased large rubbermaid bins and filled them, and then stored in the back of a closet. Worked great if we didn't want to get to the food. But it was a hassle unstacking the bins (which are HEAVY when filled) and getting what we needed.

If you have a lot of cans, and want to rotate them easily, and have the money, a rotating system works great. But the are EXPENSIVE! You can make your own though, or scale it down some. If you want to invest in the large systems, www.shelfreliance.com is who makes them. I purchased two of these for all my cans, and the best deal was at Costco (online-free shipping). There are several different heights, widths, and can size configuration so make sure you're buying what you need.

If you don't have the money for those, you can build your own if you have the space. Here are some simple plans to get you started...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCnXfO7YMfk Totally love how she did this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wadjAWcR5M&feature=related Similar to the one above but you can see more detail to the shelves.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rotating-Canned-Food-Shelf

If you're serious about building your own, take a couple minutes and google it and you'll find several sets of plans-or make up your own.

If you already have shelves, but want to do something to help you rotate your cans, you can make or purchase plastic or cardboard units that will rotate your cans.

http://www.thecanorganizer.com/pantry.html These are small cardboard organizers that you purchase and fold together really easy to make the rotator.

If you have cardboard and want to take the time to build your own, here are detailed instructions:

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/02/16/build-your-own-can-rotating-rack/

I believe that www.shelfreliance.com and others have plastic ones that you can purchase also. Here again, google it and you'll find a lot of choices.

One last thing, if you don't love the location where you're storing your food, you can change it. Don't stress. I've moved mine lots of times. Right now you may not have the time to use your long term storage, so put it under the beds for a couple years. Then, when your kids are in school and you can devote time to using it, you can always find a better place. Don't give up and store nothing because you don't have the "perfect" food storage room-none of us would ever store anything!

Provident Living-Water!

Let's face it-most bodies cannot sustain life after a couple days without water, plain and simple. Yes, I have heard of people going for a week or longer, but what kind of state are they in by then. I'm not willing to try it and find out. If you do nothing else, store some water!

Here are some quick tips:

• Most sites recommend that you store at least 1 gallon of water, per person, per day, for 14 days.**
• If water comes directly from a good, pretreated source, no additional purification needed.
• Store in sturdy, leak-proof, breakage-resistant containers. Consider using plastic bottles commonly used for juices and sodas. (Do NOT use Milk containers as they will break!)
• Be sure to clean, rinse, and sanitize any containers that previously stored food products.
• Do not store your water on concrete-it eventually will start tasting like concrete. Put cardboard or wooden pallets under it to keep it off the floor.
• Keep water containers away from heat sources and direct sunlight.
• If you're storing it in your garage and you have cold winters, make sure you do not fill the container completely-to allow for expansion when the water freezes.
• Rotate your water at least every year (6 months is better). We do it General Conf. weekend so we remember.

Additional information:

***I've read several blogs of families that had to use their water after natural disasters. The one resounding comment was that the 1 gallon, per person, per day, was NOT enough. Yes, it will be enough to drink/cook a little, but you won't have any for sanitation/bathing, etc. They all recommended storing more.

Vary the containers that you store your water in so at least some is portable. A 55 gallon barrel is great if you're in your home the entire time, but you aren't going to be able to move it if you have to evacuate. There are several different options out there. I'm attaching a worksheet that discusses several of them. We have enough room to store water in our garage, so for our family of 4, we have 2-55 gallon barrels, several 5 gallon containers (think we got them at Walmart-they have a spigot on them), and then our 72 hour kits have the juice bottles that we've filled up. We also have some containers in our freezer, in case we loose power, we will use them to help keep the freezer cold.

If you need to treat your water, use 1/8 teaspoon (about 8 drops) of liquid chlorine bleach (5-6% sodium hypochlorite).  Let it sit for 30 minutes. If there isn't a slight smell of chlorine, retreat.Make sure that it does not have any scents, colorings, or additives in it. It's recommended that you have at least a gallon of bleach on hand in your storage. However, because liquid bleach is bulk and has instibility over time, many are turning to the chlorine used in hot tubs. See the attached sheet for more information.

Boiling is the safest way to purify water.

If you have to, you can use the water in your toilet tank (not the bowl) and your water heater. If you want more information on getting it out of your water heater, let me know.

Plan ahead. I live in Ohio and a couple years ago we felt the force on a hurricane that hit the coast. Yep, all the way up here we got it and hundreds of thousands lost power, some for a couple weeks. If I know that something like this is on the way, I fill my tubs. I do the same if I know there is an ice storm on the way, or a blizzard that's knocking out power.

Water Barrels

You can order used 55 gallon water barrels from Joe at www.ohiobarrel.com. If you order in bulk, you can get the price down to $7. 

We also have a local drum company that sales 55 gallon NEW drums for $50. They have smaller sizes, but they aren't much cheaper.

I know there are several emergency preparedness companies online that sale them, but they are pricy, especially with shipping. So check your local area first before you drop $100 for one barrel that you may have been able to get for FREE!

If nothing else, plan a trip up here to see me and we'll go get barrels for you!!!!

FYI-barrels come in different colors-blue, gray, white. Which is better you say? Blue. Why? Blue stands for water so it will let everyone know that water is stored in that barrel. Second, the blue is opaque so it keeps the sunlight out, thus reducing your chance of microorganisms growing in your water. If you have white, don't throw them out. If you're worried, just grab a large black lawn garbage bag and throw it over the top to block out the sun. Problem solved!

If you have questions about water storage, please comment or email me. I have a ton other information about different ways to treat water, but I don't want to post it all and overwhelm you.

Download Water Storage Handout

One last thing, for anyone who gets paranoid easily (yes, I do sometimes, I admit it). As I've done my research on water storage, I started finding articles that said if I used my garden hose to fill up my water containers, I was poisoning my family with lead. Additionally, if I used PETE containers (those that hold juices, etc), that chemicals from the plastic leak into the water and can be toxic. My poor husband probably thought I had gone insane. I was calling him up at work telling him that we needed a new hose, and that our garden was being filled with lead water, etc. I read and read (probably read way more than I needed) and this is what we have decided. Yes, some water hoses are made with stuff that has lead in them. And the water in the hoses has been tested by companies like Consumer Reports, and shows that after the water has sat in the hoses for extended periods of time, the lead does leak out. But I feel, #1-if I'm using new water, and just filling a barrel, the water isn't sitting in the hose long enough to get the lead. And #2-this is emergency water. When all is said and done, I may end up drinking water that is a lot worse off then a little leaded water, if I really need to use it. If you're worried about the lead in your hoses, go online and you can purchase "unleaded" hoses. As far as the chemicals leaking from the plastic bottles, well, if it's really leaking, I'm probably getting a higher dose from things I do in my "daily living" than with what I'd get if I had to use this water in an EMERGENCY.

If I sit around and wait for the perfect water storage containers, stored in the perfect location, etc, I'll never get it done. We live in an imperfect world and we need to do the best with what we have. If you ONLY have milk jugs, fill them up. (Just store them somewhere where they won't harm stuff if they burst). But it's better than nothing.  

Provident Living-Be Prepared

"Members of the Church have been counseled for many years to be prepared for adversity. Preparation, both spiritual and temporal, can dispel fear. With the guidance of Church leaders, individual members and families should prepare to be self-reliant in times of personal or widespread emergency." (www.providentliving.org)

Emergency preparedness includes being prepared in the following areas:
- Family home storage
- Family finances
- Family emergency planning
- Ward and Stake emergency plans

President Gordon B. Hinckley gave us the following counsel in 2002:

"I wish to urge again the importance of self-reliance on the part of every individual Church member and family.

"None of us knows when a catastrophe might strike. Sickness, injury, unemployment may affect any of us.

"We have a great welfare program with facilities for such things as grain storage in various areas. It is important that we do this. But the best place to have some food set aside is within our homes, together with a little money in savings. The best welfare program is our own welfare program. Five or six cans of wheat in the home are better than a bushel in the welfare granary.

"I do not predict any impending disaster. I hope that there will not be one. But prudence should govern our lives. Everyone who owns a home recognizes the need for fire insurance. We hope and pray that there will never be a fire. Nevertheless, we pay for insurance to cover such a catastrophe, should it occur.

"We ought to do the same with reference to family welfare.

"We can begin ever so modestly. We can begin with a one week’s food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. I am speaking now of food to cover basic needs. As all of you recognize, this counsel is not new. But I fear that so many feel that a long-term food supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all.

"Begin in a small way, my brethren, and gradually build toward a reasonable objective. Save a little money regularly, and you will be surprised how it accumulates." ("To the Men of the Priesthood",Ensign, November 2002)

We had a great RS Meeting last night on budgeting and taxes. If you struggle with a budget and family finances, I recommend two pamphlets put out by the church, "All is Safely Gathered In" and "One for the Money". The basics of family finances are: pay tithes and offerings, avoid debt, use a budget, build a reserve and teach family members.

Over the last twenty years, the church has changed the plan for food storage. The ultimate goal is still the same-to have a year's supply, but they have broken it down into smaller steps and made it more individualized. In the "All is Safely Gathered in-Family Home Storage" pamphlet, we see that the basics of home storage are: drinking water, three-month short-term supply, financial reserve, and one-year long-term supply. This will be our focus and guide from here on out.

Provident Living-Catch the Vision

We're going to talk a little more over the next little bit about the why's of emergency preparedness and food storage, in hopes of helping you catch the vision of what this is all about and why it is so important. I know that the thought of emergency preparedness, and especially food storage, can be overwhelming - there is so much involved that it is hard to know where to start!

My hope is to put together a series of weekly assignments that are small, easy-to-do steps that will help us slowly but surely reach our goal of preparing every needful thing. The best way to climb any mountain is just by taking one small step at a time. (Or better put, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time...) If you can't tackle the assignments right now, please still be a part of our group. 

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." D&C 130:20 

Probably one of the single most important things you can do to prepare yourself and your family for difficult times, whatever they may be, is to keep the Lord's commandments.

Tithing is a commandment from God, and when we obey His law, He is bound to bless us. We will need His blessings on our efforts to prepare every needful thing for ourselves and our families.

Elder Marvin J. Ashton counseled, "Successful financial management in every LDS home begins with the payment of an honest tithe. If our tithing and fast offerings are the first obligations met following the receipt of each paycheck, our commitment to this important gospel principle will be strengthened and the likelihood of financial mismanagement will be reduced." When we pay an honest tithe, we receive blessings from the Lord.

Elder Sheldon F. Child of the Seventy said, "As we faithfully pay our tithes, the Lord will indeed open the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. I want each of you to know...that I know...that if you always pay an honest tithing, the Lord will bless you. It will be the best investment you will ever make." 

Your assignment this week is to read the following talk, "The Blessings of an Honest Tithe" by Elder Marion G. Romney, and then take stock of where you are at in paying your tithing, and make any necessary changes so that you are in full compliance with this commandment. It is such an important commandment, and in these troubled times, we need all of the blessings we can get!

Part two of your assignment: Sometime during this next week, purchase enough new 9V batteries for every smoke detector in your home.

Don't worry about changing them out yet - that's for next week. If money will allow, buy twice as many as you need, so you'll have extras on hand.

Provident Living

One of my goals this year is to work on our provident living. I don't know about you, but as I read the papers and watch the news, I can't help but wonder what's soon to come. It gives me the chills sometimes, just to think about how quickly our society could go "down hill" if there was a national disaster, or other break in the food chain.

I know there are many people out that that believe that food storage isn't worth the effort, for a variety of reasons. Some reasons include:

1. I don't have room (everyone can do something)

2. It's only for just before the Second Coming and that's not any time soon (I wish this were the case!)

3. When the prophet tells me "it's time", I will go get it (They have been telling us to for decades)

4. It's too costly (You'll actually save money)

5. I have no idea how to use it (Let''s learn together)

6. I'll share with my neighbor (your neighbor probably doesn't have theirs either)

7. My family doesn't eat that kind of food (you store what you do eat!)

8. I'm just plain lazy (turn off that t.v. and set your priorities!)

9. I have no interest (can't help you there-all I can promise is that if you will try, you will develop a testimony of this principle)

10. It's so overwhelming, I don't know where to begin (We'll start at the beginning and do this in baby steps)

Do any of these excuses sound familiar to you? If so, you're not alone. The whole concept of "food storage" may be a totally foreign concept to you.

Fortunately, I was blessed with parents who taught me while I was very young, about this concept. My mom was the "food storage specialist" in our ward and stake for a ton of years and we had the chance to help with the monthly orders from the cannery. Back in the days (I'm dating myself), they didn't have oxygen absorbers. We had to use a C02 tank and blow it into the cans. Just imagine trying to do this with flour or powdered milk. Oh the mess! We'd have white hair by the time we were done. But it was a bonding experience for my family. When we were older, we were allowed to go to the cannery and do the wet pack canning. We'd do tomatoes, peaches, chicken, stew, potatoes, etc. (I miss this as we don't have wet pack close by us now). I learned that food storage wasn't just for the "end of the world". We lived on ours when times were rough. I remember complaining about the bland soup mix! (Sorry mom, I know you tried to make it taste good!) I know that we were able to "stretch" our grocery budget because we purchased our staples (flour, sugar, oatmeal, etc) in bulk.

Food storage doesn't have to be costly, or overwhelming. It's not meant to be stored in the basement and never touched. And if you think that your neighbors are going to want to share when times get rough, think again, lol.

I think the biggest thing that hit home for me was when I had kids. I remember my dad talking to me about food storage and he told me that he never wanted to be in the situation where his grandchild would come to him and tell him that he/she was hungry. Now that I have kids, I don't want to hear my kids say that either (and really mean it).

G and I talked about it, and we've developed our plan and monthly goals. To help motivate me to keep moving forward, I emailed the sisters in my ward and asked if anyone wanted to join in. I was amazed at how many families wanted to join in. We have some families that have been storing food for years and others that no nothing about it.

I'm hoping that anyone out there with experience with join in and post your ideas and knowledge. I know that we can learn from each other. I've been searching the web for many months, trying to find ideas, tips, and recipes. There is so much out there! But I know not all of you have the time to do the searching. So I'm going to try and post the "best" of the best.

Please also keep in mind that food storage isn't an exact science, and that there are a lot of opinions out there on what's best. I'm going to try and post a variety of options, and let you choose what works for you. However, I'll be following the church's guidance on anything that they have posted about.

My goal is to post at least once a month (I'm really hoping it's more), covering topics such as 72 hour kits, water storage, short term storage, long term storage, cooking with food storage, etc.

How's that sound? Are you willing to toss out all your excuses and give it a try? I have to say, I'm pretty excited about working on this. So let's get started...