New Home Pictures - Basement

I love going into other people's homes to see how they decorate and organize things. I'm still not done decorating but I know our extended family would like to see our "new" home. Here are some pictures of the basement.

Our old dresser painted black now for our 10 year old son

His bed - I need to make a black headboard

3/4 bath

Cold Storage - half that stuff is my mom's that she needs to come get so I can fill it up with our year supply of food and toiletries.

I LOVE the food storage shelves.

There's another longer wall like this to the right.

Food Storage Challenge update

I should have chosen a shorter month not to shop for food... like February. I never, ever thought I would crave salad. Last week, my neighbor, who knew about my challenge, was so sweet and brought over a head of lettuce and a tomato. I ate them w/o dressing! Tasted so yummy. That satisifed me for a few days.

Saturday we went to the temple and drove with our neighbors and the wife asked my husband, "So Troy, how are you liking Food Storage Month?" He didn't even know what she was talking about. I explained what I had been doing and he said he hadn't even noticed! Wa-ha-ha. Of course, he goes out to eat for lunch every day and honestly, he's not so good at noticing changes. Still love him though. :)

Then today I started CRAVING salad again. That and crunchy cucumbers, carrots (which we had just run out of) and what I wouldn't give for a fresh crisp gala apple... Guess it didn't help that I was watching Twilight. So I thought, "why am I doing this again?" I KNOW I have enough to survive but do I have to deprive myself? No. So I decided to jump into April early. Too bad I don't have an indoor garden. I bought some fruit trees and plan to start another square foot garden this summer. I think I'll try the challenge again in the middle of the summer. It was making me nervous having a fridge that was only 1/4 full. I learned I have a bit of OCD when it comes to having things stocked.

I love Costco... *sigh* So what food do you think you wouldn't be able to live without?

72 hour kits

N's excited because it's that's time of year again! I love listening to General Conference. That weekend we break open our 72 hour kits and gobble them up. We also assemble our new ones. I've been doing this for several years now and found that I like to put in things that require NO cooking and NO preparation. My kids won't eat MREs and the lemon butter squares would get boring after one day. Here's what we plan on putting in our kits:

6 people in our family times 3 days = 18 of everything except 32 granola bars and 180 candy

Breakfasts we have a breakfast bar and OJ packet.
Lunches we have beef jerky, 2 granola bars and fruit punch packet.
Snacks we have fruit leather or fruit snacks.
Dinners we have a small V8, protein bar (don't worry, I know the Twisted bars in my picture were recalled. We won't eat them) and grape juice packet. You could do a hot cocoa but then you'd need hot water. We have buddy burners in our backpacks but prefer not to use them.
Treats we have hard candy and gum wrapped in foil so the minty fresh smell doesn't spread to all your food. AND it keeps your gum fresh and soft. We kept ours a year one time and it was still soft


When shopping remember to check expiration dates!!!! It only needs to last 6 months (till the next General Conference). It would be a good idea to put in a prepaid phone card as well as some quarters. This all fits in a gallon size freezer bag. Don't forget to include a meal plan paper in there so they know when to eat what.

Breakfast: Breakfast bar, orange juice packet
Lunch: Beef Jerky, fruit punch packet, 2 granola bars
Snacks: Fruit leather/snacks
Dinner: V8, protein bar, juice or hot cocoa packet
Treats: 3 hard candy and 1 stick of gum

Put any leftover food in your car. This is great if you're stuck in traffic or the kids say "But I'm starving Mom!" We also keep a 2 liter bottle of water in our car as well as TP and trash bags. Extra outfit, diapers and wipes are under our baby's seat. Just in case...

I'm the crazy wheat lady in my ward

Wow! This Crystal is one amazing woman. She's even coming out with a book in March that's filled with wonderful recipes that use mainly food storage items. I'm now a huge fan of whole wheat cookies, blender wheat pancakes and cookie clay dough. Check out her website at http://www.everydayfoodstorage.net/ You gotta try these recipes! I taught part of a Wheat 101 Enrichment and it was a piece of cake thanks to this website.

I was so inspired that I've been working really hard these past 2 weeks and I can now say that we finally have our year supply. (This includes long-term and short-term food items as well as basic necessities like TP, soap, laundry & cleaning stuff, shampoo, etc. ) We could live off our food storage for 6 months and my kids wouldn't know the difference... I don't think they'd ask "Hey Mom, where's the salad?" Unfortunately some things only have a 6 month shelf life like fruit snacks and graham crackers. :(

My challenge this month of March is to NOT shop. Well, only once and that's because Macey's is having their annual sale starting Wednesday and it includes powdered eggs that are $6 off their normal price. So other than one #10 can, I'm not shopping. I challenge you to work on your food storage and see if you can go one week, then one month w/o shopping. This is a great way to see what you're missing in your food storage.

Emergency Preparedness

I really loved my previous calling in church as an Emergency Preparedness Specialist. Yes, I store food like a pack-rat (under beds and in closets) and actually drink powdered milk and use my whole wheat *gasp* :)

The most important thing is to rotate and EAT what you store. My grandmother and mother spend a lot of money getting their year supply but hardly ever used it and we ended up throwing it all away this past year. Nobody wants to eat anything 30+ years old.

Always start with a 72 hour food and water kit, then make an emergency kit for your car/work. Next you'll want to store water in your home. 55 gallon barrels are great if you have room to safely store them. Recycled soda bottles work great too. You'll need 1 gallon per person per day. After that you can get non-perishable food items that you already eat like canned soup, vegetables and fruit, PB&J, cereal, etc. Then add basics like wheat, flour, oats, rice, pasta, sugar, and powdered milk stored in #10 sealed cans. The people at the LDS Cannery are so helpful. Visit www.providentliving.org to find one near you. Work yourself up to a year supply. An easy way to figure out what you eat is to write down what you eat for one month then multiply it by 12. Every time you go to the store just buy a few extra cans. Another important thing to store is TP, soap, shampoo and other basic necessities. Some people who have lost their jobs are so thankful they followed the counsel to "get their houses in order." My biggest problem is we're always using our food storage so I have to keep track of what we eat so I know what to buy to replenish.

Items in your 72 hour food kit that will last 1 year if stored in cool, dry place:
(Just remember to eat it every October General Conference. We do this but the kids tend to go thru it in 2 days but I could make it 3 days if we HAD to in an emergency)
Tip: Wrap your gum in aluminum foil to prevent smell from spreading to other foods!

72 Hour Kit Meal Planner (Put this in with the food so you can make it last 3 days)
BREAKFAST 1 breakfast bar (Kelloggs brand is yummy) & 1 hot cocoa packet
LUNCH 2 granola bars, 1 beef jerky, 1 apple cider packet
DINNER 1 protein bar or can of soup (with pull-tab lid), 1 small can of peaches or fruit leather
SNACK 4 pieces of candy, 1 stick of gum
Don't forget your water bottles! All these items you could eat without heating if you had to.
If you want to round it out more you could always add a large can of V8 :)
*When shopping: Multiply all these items by 9 to get 3 meals for 3 days.

My Comprehensive 72 hour kit

¨ BIG backpack or duffel bag to hold everything
¨ mini set of scriptures
¨ compass and map of local area
¨ change of clothing in Ziploc bag and pair of sturdy shoes
¨ 72-Hour Food and Water Supply (at least 2 liters of water per person per day)
(It's best to use non-perishable food that doesn't require cooking)
¨ water sanitation tablets
¨ solar/handcrank radio with flashlight & extra batteries (test it every 6 months and replace batteries as needed)
¨ whistle
¨ 100-hour emergency candle
¨ 12-hour lightstick or flashlight with extra batteries (need 2 sources of light)
¨ multifunction pliers/pocket knife w/ can opener for food
¨ mess kit: plate, utensils, and cup
¨ wool blend blanket
¨ emergency sleeping bag
¨ (3) 20-hour hand and body warmers
¨ poncho with hood
¨ tube tent
¨ waterproof matches
¨ firestarters (need 2 sources of fire)
¨ tri-fold shovel
¨ nylon utility cord
¨ leather gloves
¨ duct tape
¨ memo pad and marking pens
¨ mini-sewing kit
¨ chapstick with sunscreen
¨ toilet paper
¨ soap
¨ 2 washcloths (one for personal use, one for dishes)
¨ toothpaste and toothbrush
¨ baby wipes (no showers unless it rains)
¨ feminine items and/or baby items (diapers, formula)
¨ prescription/medications
¨ first-aid kit
¨ basic first-aid & CPR booklet
¨ antibacterial gel
¨ sunscreen w/ insect repellant
¨ flat-fold stove & sterno can fuel
¨ several large trash bags for various uses
¨ important papers in Ziploc bag: financial documents, photos of family members, driver’s license, etc.

*Have child’s kit contain at least food, water bottle, emergency blanket, flashlight, change of clothes and ID card.

I highly recommend First Aid, CPR, and CERT training as well. When I went to do it they were offering CERT training for free and once you completed the program, you got to go and have First Aid and CPR certification for FREE! Call around to your local Fire Stations to find out.