Another Successful Forum! This one on Rotation of Storage.

Items we can use daily from our storage!

If  kept in a seldom used location we will 

    tend to forget to use our storage. In the case of food storage, absence doesn't make

     the heart grow fonder!!

     Again, we are happy for all that attended the forum this Thursday.  Thank you for taking the time to come and learn as well as add to the knowledge.  We talked about Rotation this week.  In doing so we learned that the reasons to rotate are: 1) to keep our storage fresh as possible allowing our family to get the most nutrituon and taste out of the stored foods, 2) to get our family accoustomed to eating some of these foods so that an emergency doesn't become a crisis, 3) so that our items don't turn to dust and our money wasted.
    Food Storage is not going to jump out of the closet, track you down and let you know that it's shelf life is ending and it is time to eat it's contents.  When we place our storage out of site it is also out of mind.  Therefore, we need to keep some of the items in our kitchens where we will use them daily.  Things like powdered milk & eggs, rice, pasta, yeast, wheat, beans, dried fruits and vegetables, etc. can easily become apart of our daily use if we just put forth a little planning and thought.
    For example: Powdered milk can be used in place of  fresh milk when baking or cooking, the same with powdered eggs.  We can also use it instead of buying fresh milk on a regular basis or we can mix it 1/2 and half to stretch our milk out.  Powdered milk is great to use in making protein shakes, just add to the blender with the water and other ingredients and blend.  Use dried vegetables in soups and stews.  They look and taste like fresh!  Instead of candy and treats for our kids, give them dried fruit!  It is much healthier and gets them used to these great snacks.  Grains can be used for hot and cold cereal, breads, pancakes, waffles, muffins- the list is endless!   Beans is my challenge!!  I have recently used beans alot more, learning how to make them work for my family.  I am glad to say we are making progress!!  Dried Potatoes are great in soups, stews, casseroles, etc.  Dried onions, peppers and spices are things we used daily!! We just don't think of them as using our storage.  These are just a few examples of  daily usage which equals rotation. For more suggestions please contact us. In the case of food storage, absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder!!
     We gave out the challenge to make at least one meal a week with stored food.  Last Sunday at our house we made Chicken Stew in a crock pot, (ready when church was over), bread, and strawberry shortcake complete with whipped cream.  It was fun to see how using these ingredients out of our dried,  canned and boxed items really worked!  The reason for this challenge is to put your storage to the test!!!  You will notice that your food storage isn't as rounded as you'd like it to be. Perhaps you don't have enough breakfast foods, or protein, or vegetables.  It is better to find these things out now so that it doesn't become a crisis later.
      The next weeks forum is on Sanitation Needs.  This will be important informaton to have to remain heathy and disease free!!  Please come to gain this knowlege for your family.  Please see the ward program each sunday for that week's forum topic.  Also the ward newsletter has the topics each week for the whole month.  The topics for February are also listed on a previous blog, so scroll down to see them.  Please leave comments and questions by clicking the comment button below.  Thanks!! Remember it is better to be prepared years early than a day late!!

Keeping an Accurate Inventory Forum was well attended

Those that attended the forum on how to keep an accurate inventory left with much information, inventory sheets and ideas.  We talked about the different ways to keep an inventory on paper, spreadsheets and online.  There is a  good site to go to for an inventory paper form it is http://www.trackmyfoodstorage.com/.  Also the food analizer that you can get off of Emergency Essentials web site is very helpful. The analizer is great because you enter data about your family size and the amount of storage you have and they calculate for you the amount of storage you have in days. It is a really great tool.  You may need to adjust yuor storage to the items on their site but this is easily done. If you need help, please call.  Always keep a hard copy of online and spreadsheet inventories as they will do you no good if we have no electricity.  Thumbdrives will not help either in this situation. We also talked about the problems with having just wheat in your storage and how you can expand the possiblities of making different types of foods by adding just a few items to your storage. Doing this avoids diet fatigue.
The next forum is on Rotation of supplies.  We will from experience talk about what lasts in long term storage and what doesn't.  One of the people that signed on to this blog shared that raisens and noodles did not last for them (see comments)when being stored in #10 can from the storehouse after 12 years.  This is the type of thing we need to know.  Please come and share your experiences with us.  We want to learn from each other.  I hope you are all working on your storage plan.  Don't give up or feel overwhelmed, just a little at a time works well.   Thanks for login on---See you on Thursday!!

The forum on What to store, how to store it has been completed

We had a good turn out this week. Everyone left feeling like they learned alot from the evening together. A list of suppliers was given out along with charts on amounts you will need to store for your family according to age and gender. Long term storage conditions were discussed, as well as the types of containers to use and how to keep the food in good condition for many years to come. Next week is How to keep an accurate inventory. Computer methods as well as paper methods will be given. This is important to have so you can determine where the holes are in your storage. Please come and contibute to the discussion. Check out your January 2010 Ensign-it has many articles on food storage. Those that are prepared or are getting prepared are following the prophets that have been asking us to do this for many years. You will be rewarded for your efforts. Did you know that the first recommendation was to have 7 years supply of food? Now that is alot!! We can do 1 year!! See you Thursday!!.

Fruit Hts 2nd Ward Emergency Preparedness

Our Thursday Night forum began on January 7th. We had a great guest speaker, Rebecca Lee, who gave us an introduction into the years classes. She touched on several of the topics that we will be covering this year. Some of these are why and how we can start to prepare, dehydrating foods, wonder boxes, sprouting, freeze dried foods, car kits and so much more.

Our next forum which is on Thursday, Jan 14 will be--How much do you need for YOUR family and how to store it. Several types of available foods will be displayed, your needs for your family will be discussed and how to store the food for the long-term. We hope to see you there!!

The next 4 weeks of topics are:
Jan 21- How to keep an accurate inventory
Jan 28- Rotation to keep things fresh
Feb 4 - Sanitation Needs
Feb 11- Water Storage and filters

If you have the need to know or the knowledge from experience please come and share with us. Better yet bring your friends and neighbors with you.
Thanks!