Real Food Storage Resources (not MREs)

The history of the world is the record of man in quest of his daily bread and butter. ~Hendrik Van Loon

Food storage can be a real relief even if it's as simple as a few home-cooked casseroles stocked in the freezer for those "bad days," or a cabinet full of cans of chicken noodle soup when you have a cold.  Becoming prepared can seem like an overwhelming task, but it can be as simple as buying two cans of diced tomatoes and putting one in storage and the other in the kitchen.  Continue this with the rest of the grocery list.

Strive to have 72 hours worth of ready to eat food.  Then make it a week's worth and eventually 4 week's worth.  Next multiply that by 12 and I'll bet you will have a year's supply of food.  Do the same with paper products, hygiene, first aid, etc.

Of course storing a year's supply depends on whether you have the room.  Maybe you only have space for 72 hours or a week--it's okay to do what you can.  There is peace in knowing you can "shop" your pantry and not have to run to the store for every little thing!

Here are some sites I return to again and again for food storage knowledge and inspiration:

The Family Homestead is a site I enjoy exploring for inspiration.

http://thefamilyhomestead.com/
LDS Church Provident Living site runs the whole gammut of preparedness training.  I personally have used this site to buy a year's worth of food storage.

http://www.providentliving.org/

Provident Living is a source for food storage purchases.  They teach about preparedness and gardening and much, much more.

http://providentliving.com/

Food Storage Made Easy is your food storage 101 class for newbies.

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/

Preparedness Skills

Random Sampler of Great Ideas!  (Ensign, June 1974) Has a ton of useful information beginning with how to dehydrate all kinds of food from the garden and even meat!  It explains how to smoke and can fresh caught fish.  I get a thick sales paper each week in my mailbox that must be put to some use or thrown away.  An idea is given to turn newsprint into bundles that can be stacked and used like wood.  (Or make these cute pioneer haysticks with newspaper that I found at Martha Stewart).  Whether a camping enthusiast or survivalist wannabe, learning how to cook using a tin can is a useful skill.  Instructions are given for recipes, a buddy burner, stove and oven.

Food Storage Rotation

For the real enthusiast, the question is how to keep up with the food storage and rotate it out so that nothing spoils and is wasted.  "Tracking Our Food Storage," by Leslie O. Anderson (Ensign, Feb 1996) uses a system much like the old library cards where each section of food storage has a card or slips of paper that you pull when you take something from that shelf.  Then you put the slips with the grocery list and replace the items.

Love Affair with Pantries

I've had a love affair with pantries since I was a little girl. My next door neighbor had this whole closet right off the kitchen where she kept all her food.  This looks very much like the pantry she had in her early 1950's home. It's the type I want the most if I had a choice.  How convenient to just enter a room and be able to see everything you have at a glance!  I think all kitchens should have this included in the house plans.

My Grandma's kitchen had several mysterious rooms.  There was a mud room with a deep sink and updated with a washer and dryer. A screened-in porch where I'm sure many a pea was shelled and maybe used as a sleeping porch (the room was later closed in as an extra guest room).  Grandma had a lovely butler's pantry that she kept a giant, ancient freezer chest.  The room had windows in the alcove area and a built-in china cabinet.  But the most mysterious and unusual room was a long narrow closet that was her pantry.  From top to bottom the closet was lined with sturdy shelves.  It reminded me of the one the chauffer took a can of salmon out of in "Driving Miss Daisy." 

In The First Four Years, by Laura Ingall Wilder, Almonzo built the most amazing pantry in their new home.  The description includes flour bins!  I love to study the illustration shown in the book. 

Before Pinterest, I kept magazine clippings such as these, organized in a notebook, as inspiration for my ultimate pantry (I apologize for the picture's graininess.)  I've seen the first couple of pictures pinned on Pinterest that I clipped from a Martha Stewart Magazine years ago. 

From Martha Stewart Magazine

This is a great organizational idea for keeping up with and rotating food storage and supplies.  Another great idea comes from Ensign magazine for using an easy pocket chart system where even children (and husbands) can help.

From Martha Stewart Magazine

This is a great idea for those of us who must keep our storage in the garage or basement.



Here is an excellent way to use space inside the walls.  I love it cause you can see what you have, and yet it's still kinda hidden and there's the old-fashioned feel of a screen door.  Of course I don't find screen doors like this practical anymore on my front and back doors and opt for more energy-efficient storm doors, so getting to use a screen door somewhere in the house is nostalgic and you can often find them discarded and needing just a little TLC.

This pantry is what most new homes provide and is the simplest and least expensive for those of us who have an extra traditional closet to use.  I've seen a lot of good ideas on Pinterest for organizing pantry items using this storage system.

from Southern Living Magazine

I include this picture just because it is so inspiring.  Maybe one day I'll get my act together and have such an array of home-canned items.  Right now I'm lucky if I get jam or jelly done each year.

Learning Homemaking Skills

Sister Barbara Winder, General Relief Society President in 1986 said:  “It is important for all of us to learn homemaking skills; whether she is married or single, every woman is a homemaker.

"I know a single woman, a widow, who prepares meals on Saturday to last her through the week because she must work long hours each day. At mealtimes, she always has a tablecloth or a place mat, a napkin, and a flower in a bud vase. Her home is artistically decorated and full of wonderful books and beautiful music.

"There is an art to being a homemaker. For ourselves and for our families, it is important that we have a sanctuary—a place of refuge away from the world where we feel comfortable and where, if others come, they, too, can feel comfortable.

"In Proverbs 31:10–31 [Prov. 31:10–31], we read, 'Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.' In those verses we are told that a virtuous woman weaves fabric, sells linen—her hands are not idle: 'She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.' (Prov. 31:27.) I think that is one of the keys. We should not be idle. We should be constantly using our gifts and talents to build up our families, the kingdom of God, and the community about us.”  (Barbara W. Winder, Ensign, March 1986, p. 20)

Being a homemaker requires developing organizational skills first and foremost.  We are required to set priorities for those homemaking skills we need to develop.  I remember the first time I went to the grocery store as a newly married young woman.  I had $25 for the week's groceries (1988).  I had no list, no menu, no clue what grocery items cost, nor did I have anything at home in the cupboards.  After about 30 minutes, I walked out of the store crying in frustration.  The first thing I needed to learn was how to stock my pantry and prepare meals on a very strict budget—this was a priority. 

Other homemaking skills included washing clothes properly.  I remember receiving so many towel sets as wedding gifts that I need not replace my towels for a good ten years!  However, right off the bat, my towels started showing signs of mildew.  This had to be addressed immediately.  I also learned that I couldn’t spend all day cleaning out a closet.  I had to learn to place a time-limit on tasks—maybe break a large task into smaller ones.

Gooseberry Patch Xmas Bk. 5, p. 99

I had received a couple of recipe books as wedding gifts and began to read them.  I found a list of essential pantry items and budgeted each week to buy these.  I asked more experienced homemakers about the mildew and learned to wash towels with vinegar.  Also, I learned to make sure no wet items were placed in the hamper!  I read articles and books on organizing closets and cabinets and donated many boxes of unnecessary items so that my cleaning didn’t take all day.

My favorite section of the library became home improvement, decorating, cooking, and cleaning.  (I look forward to Gooseberry Patch Christmas Books each year for more homemaking inspiration!)  Educating myself in my spare time was job #1.  Once essentials of homemaking were taken care of, then I was able to concentrate on more advanced skills such as cooking in large batches or giving a dinner party, as well as purchasing furniture, painting, and decorating a room.

Throughout the more than two decades of marriage, I have relied heavily on the homemaking training I have received from issues of the Ensign (old and new).  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ website lds.org, has a Gospel Library where you will find church magazines.  There you can choose the Ensign (also called the Liahona) and look up topics found in past issues by using the search engine.  I have used this for the last ten years since the Church first made past issues available in this way.  I am always recommending this site to other sisters at church who have concerns over marriage issues or questions about raising children, cooking, organizing, cleaning—you name it, it’s there!


Did You Know...
Some of the skills required for a homemaking career include:
1.  Managing time, energy, and resources (including money)
2.  Communicating effectively
3.  Housekeeping
4.  Cooking skills and nutrition
5.  Sewing, mending, and handicrafts
6.  Making wise decisions
7.  Keeping abreast of the times
8.  Applying first aid and sound health principles
9.  Making a home a place of beauty
10. Providing an atmosphere of learning, cultural refinement, recreation, service, and spirituality
11. Mothering, child care and guidance and
12. Becoming a responsive, supportive, and loving companion and wife. (I believe I got this a long time ago from one of my favorite websites www.christysclipart.com --you can also find Christy's Clipart on Facebook).


Hopefully this Homemaker's Journal will incorporate all of these.

For more on the subject: Resurgence of Homemaking in the Church