My wife and I went overboard as newlyweds back in 1987, trying to accumulate a year's supply of food, as recommended by the LDS faith. Last week it became evident that much of that food had come to life and was moving around on its own. We decided to give the food a decent burial in our garden. So I dug three large holes, and we put the stuff out of its misery.
We have now embarked on a more sensible course of only storing what we eat, and eating what we store. I just don’t know what to do with that 25-pound bag of granola.
Has anybody had any experience with food storage rotation or living off their storage? Does anybody have some good food storage recipes for staples such as dried peas, lentils, or beans?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Two words: canned goods. Most will keep for a LONG time, and assuming it's all stuff you eat at least occasionally, rotation shouldn't be a problem.
Specific recommendations (but these are mostly what works for us, not necessarily for anyone else): tuna, tomato sauce (jarred and in a can), beans, salsa, mushrooms, fruit. Additional non-canned items that I always have in my pantry: pasta, peanut butter, rice.
And I know I always have ingredients for supper in a pinch. Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Out of interest, how do Mormons in apartments fulfill this requirement?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Dunno 'bout Mormons, but I live in an apartment and I have large amounts of stored food. Did back when I was first married and in a much smaller apartment too, although there it was a challenge.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:Out of interest, how do Mormons in apartments fulfill this requirement?
I tried to think of something funny for this, but I guess I'll go with a straight answer.
Often, you can store those huge buckets underneath the bed or out in the storage space on the patio.
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
When we first got married, we rented a two-bedroom apartment and devoted the extra bedroom to storage.
I think a lot of LDS apartment dwellers store the food under their beds, sometimes replacing the entire bed frame with food. I've also seen living room couches shaped out of cases of canned goods.
Back then waterbeds were still popular, and we sometimes kidded around about storing koolaid or jello in the mattress.
I would at least keep enough emergency food in the apartment to last until you were able to get to the home of a parent or relative. Arrange with a home-owning relative, living within a couple of day's car travel to store the rest.
Posted by beatnix19 (Member # 5836) on :
*jumps in blissfully unaware of mormon customs*
um... why exactly is it advised to store a years worth of food in the mormon household? Just curious. I am actually quit interested in customs of other people (wether it be religion, race or creed). I've always found it fasinating to see how other people live, beacuse there are so many huge variances between different customs and things I think are normal some may find to be odd and vice versa.
edited to add: because I find it very odd to keep that much food in the house unless your house is on a farm or something... in the middle of nowhere... where the nearset grociey is hours away.
[ July 04, 2004, 10:08 PM: Message edited by: beatnix19 ]
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Storage tips =
Keep stuff cool and dark as possible.
If you're storing beans or grains, a good thing = use containers that have lids you can screw down -- keeps bugs from getting inside. Clean out 30-lb veggie oil containers (you can get them from restaurants) and they work great for this.
Most flours go rancid after several months (except for white flour). If you really want to keep stuff for long, buy the whole grains and grind your own.
Natural nutbutters (like we make here at East Wind) are good for a year at room temperature; at cooler temperatures, they're good for another year or two. Raw nuts store longer than roast nuts.
I think storing food for a year is a GREAT idea, economically... personally, I'd keep to stuff like grains, beans, oil, sweeteners, a few canned things like tomato sauce. Most commercially canned veggies taste horrible to me (but, I'm a farmer and grow my own).
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
Food storage is part of the self-reliance program of the Church. We store food against times of individual hardship and also in preparation for the prophesied calamities of the last days. Having food storage has been likened to Noah building the ark before the flood, and also to Joseph in Egypt, storing food during the seven years of plenty.
Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
(1) Food storage helps people to be self-reliant. For example, if you encounter financial troubles, you don't have to worry about how to afford food for your family. Just eat your stored food. (2) You can use your stored food, etc., to help yourself and others if disaster strikes; say, a huge blizzard or a flood or something. This would be especially important out west, where they have all these little towns stuck in the middle of nowhere.
(BTW I was wishing I had some stored water last summer, when our area lost electrical power for about two days. Either that, or a generator to run the well pump. We had enough to drink, but not to wash anything. Bleh.)
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I ought to try that if I get more money...
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
On a tangent... if you want worms to eat the stuff you throw out... a great way to get them to compost stuff for you is to take an old freezer chest, drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage, throw in some bedding (straw, shredded newspaper, old leaves), wet it down, put in some red wriggler worms (NOT earthworms, they like cooler temperatures), and give them food scraps (not much at first -- more once their numbers increase).
If you want to avoid smells and rodents, this is THE best way to have compost piles, especially in urban/suburban areas. Minimal work. And you'll great compost for your houseplants and garden.
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
How many of the young hatrack married couples are doing this now?
Jon Boy?
Posted by Dead_Horse (Member # 3027) on :
My husband said it was stupid until I became disabled. I have had no income (he is elderly and retired, with only social security income) for 31 months. Without our food storage, we'd have been in big trouble. We have recently been down to 41 cans of food left. Not much variety, and not enough fresh fruits and vegetables, but we're not hungry.
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
beatnix19,
I saw on a special once that in any given city there is only 3 days worth of food for the population if transportation becomes unavailable.
There are a lot of stories of Mormon's who get laid off or hurt, and the food storage is an extra cushion.
The problem is with rotating food and using it. There are a lot of stories about food storage going bad, but if it was rotated and consumed, then after the initial investment, it would not afffect food bill and would be quite nice.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I buy large quantities of staples when they're on sale and/or I have coupons. When a week or two goes by with no chance to do much shopping, I can manage with what I have.
And when I am not working for most of a year, as I was this year, it makes a BIG difference to have that cushion.
[ July 05, 2004, 04:09 AM: Message edited by: rivka ]
Posted by Snarky (Member # 4406) on :
quote:How many of the young hatrack married couples are doing this now?
Not enough money and space right now. If we were really in a pinch, we'd probably have to mooch off of my nearby family.
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
I love the food storage program! I just every time I am at the grocery store, if I have any money at all I will toss in an extra bag of rice, or dried beans, a box of powdered milk, some pasta, extra dry cat food, cans of stuff I know I will use like black beans or water chestnuts. Then I always use the stuff in order of oldest to newest.
I also save all 2 liter drink bottles and refill them with water for water storage. I have about 50 of those filled downstairs and another 100 empty ones ready to be filled, which I need to do. On 9/11 when we didn't know the full extent yet of the attack, and whether our water supplies were attacked or not, I was so glad to have that stored water which I knew was good.
I have been glad for my storage many times since I started it. It can be as simple as running out of some normal staple, then borrowing from storage until I can make it to the store. It's like a savings account only in nonperishables rather than money. It's not really necessary for there to be any huge disaster for it to come in very handy. Just being out of work temporarily, or if a local problem occurred and the stores were closed for a week or anything of the sort, I would be in good shape. I know I am prepared. It's a great feeling. I realized that this is just sound wisdom and everyone would be well-advised to do this.
I do more than just food. I do all supplies which I would not like to be without, like salt, toothpaste, toilet paper, soap, detergent, foil, trash bags, etc. You don't notice it very much on the bill if you buy it little by little during normal times. Just always buy a bit more than you need and put it aside. Then when hard times strike you do not have terror in your heart, you feel safe. It's a great feeling! I'm so glad my church got me to start doing this.
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
When I first joined the church I did not cook often at all and my sister in law joked that I could keep a year's supply of take-out menus on hand. I thought that was a great idea so I now also have a large collection of take-out menus that I keep for emergencies too. The ones that deliver I save out specially for the top of the pile. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
ak, wow! I've never managed to store more than 10-15 2-liter bottles of water at a time. And I live in earthquake country.
If you are going to store so many, it's even more important that you treat and/or rotate your supply.
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