Do the Math

Once you have your recipe book it's time to do the math!

The basic process is to multiple each recipe's ingredients by how many times you will eat it in a year.
For instance, say I have 7 items for breakfast I would multiple each recipe's ingredients by 52 to cover a full year's food supply.
I would repeat this for each of the other recipes.

When I did this I put it all in a spreadsheet to make sure the math was correct and to keep up with duplicate ingredients.
Some useful equivalencies to know are:

3 Teaspoons = 1 Tablespoon
16 Tablespoons = 1 Cup
2 Cups = 1 Pint
2 Pints = 1 Quart
4 Quarts = 1 Gallon

Doing the math takes a while, but it helps keep things accurate so that you don't end up with twice the amount of flour and not enough yeast for your year supply of food.

This is a great FHE activity (hint hint to get the men involved)!

Recipe Book

Once everyone has their list of meals it is easiest to put them in a book so you can physically see what each recipe requires and what you will need to buy for food storage. I made one for my family. This is just what our cover page looks like:

Breakfast
• Granola pg. 2
• Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal pg. 2
• Plain Oatmeal pg. 2
• Malt-O-Meal pg. 3
• Eggs and Toast pg. 3
• Jam and Toast pg. 3
• Cereal pg. 3
• Biscuits and Gravy pg. 3
• Pancakes pg. 4
Lunch
• Beans and Rice pg. 5
• Shepherds Pie pg. 5
• Cottage Pie pg. 5
• Tuna Casserole pg. 6
• Alfredo pg. 6
• Roast and Potatoes pg. 6
• Spaghetti pg. 7
• Chicken Pot Pie pg. 7
• Salmon and Rice pg. 8
Dinner
• Peanut Butter Sandwiches pg. 9
• Tuna Salad Sandwiches pg. 9
• Chicken Salad Sandwiches pg. 9
• Chicken and Rice Soup pg. 9
• Lentil Soup pg. 10
• Chili pg. 10
• Taco Soup pg. 11
Desserts
• Chocolate Chip Cookies pg. 12
• Brownies pg. 12
• Chocolate Lava Cake pg. 12
• Cake/Cupcakes pg. 13
Misc.
• Kool-Aid pg. 14
• Milk pg. 14
• Butter Milk pg. 14
• Bread pg. 14
• Egg Substitute pg. 14
• Instant Potatoes pg. 15
• Traditional Frosting pg. 15
• Chocolate Frosting pg. 15

I then proceeded to have a copy of each recipe.
I keep it all in a folder to keep it all in one spot.

I you want any of these recipes just let me know and I will email it to you.
Also a great source for food storage recipes is from Wendy Dewitt's book of Everything Under the Sun. (The same one she talks about in the video)

Here is the link:
http://theideadoor.com/Preparedness/everything_under_the_sun.htm

Then click on either the pdf or the word document. (it is 17 pages)

Wendy Dewitt Video

To get started I recommend you watch the Wendy Dewitt video. It is available on you tube. (I embedded them at the bottom in order to watch them.) If anyone would like a copy of the Wendy Dewitt Video let me know. I can either email it to you or burn a copy on to a disk for you to have. This is the process for which I use and what I am basing the blog off of. T
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Some Reason's Why Not

I've had a request for my Top 10 Reasons Why I Don't Have My Food Storage. (Wendy DeWitt)

10. My neighbors have a TWO year supply! No, they don't. They don't have any food. Did you know that 85% of the members of the church don't have any food storage at all? If your idea of food storage is to eat someone else’s food………..this is a really bad plan.

9. I've paid tithing for 20 years...the church can give me a little food. Many members believe that when the times get hard, the church is going to come through like Joseph in Egypt. Absolutely not true. All the church storehouses and welfare farms across the country would only feed 4% of the members of the church. The church has been asking YOU to store food for 75 years. They're NOT storing food for you. Thus, another bad plan.

8. I'm moving in with my children / parents! Really....that’s just a bad plan all by itself. But it points out that most members don't have a year's supply because they're PLANNING on eating someone else's food! Of course, since no one HAS any food, we have yet another bad plan.

7. I have a year's supply...and the bullets to go with it! I've heard time and again, "How dumb is that to go to all the time and expense of getting food...just to have some guy with a gun come and shoot my family to take it away?" Here's a better question. Are you afraid of the guy with the gun? Or are you more afraid of BECOMING the guy with the gun? What would you do if your children were starving to death? Would you lie? Cheat? Steal? Would you shoot your neighbor for his food? I guarantee....if you were watching your child starving to death, you would do anything you had to to keep them alive. If you don't have your year's supply, you are putting yourself in danger of losing not only your temporal salvation, but your spiritual salvation as well.

So far, all the reasons we don't have our food storage involve eating someone else's food. Please, don't put your family's temporal salvation in other people's hands. No one is storing food for you. Not your neighbors, not the government...not even the church.

#6. The boat and the 4 wheelers are taking up all my storage space! (priorities!)

#5. 3 letters....Y2K. Ok, that's 2 letters and a number....but they're always making way too much out of everything! This is never going to happen!” (Every prophecy that has ever been given WILL happen.)

#4. If anything DOES happen, the government will be here within hours! (insert laughter) Did you know the government has been telling us that we need to have food storage? They're actually CALLING it food storage! We now have the government telling us to store food, water, medicines...whatever we will need to be able to stay in our homes for several months.

#3. I can't afford scrap booking AND food storage. The average food storage can cost as little as a dollar a day. We live in the richest society in the history of the world, and while there are cases where money may be a problem, most of the time it is a matter of priorities. We have chosen bigger homes, nicer cars, more tv's, computers, vacations ...everything is more important than our food storage. If I asked, "Who has a cell phone?" most of you would say yes. You pay at least $30 a month to have a cell phone....that's about a dollar a day...the cost of one year's supply of food for your child. Is your cell phone really more important than your child's temporal salvation? You have to make food storage a priority.

2. I'm waiting for the cannery to sell Papa John's dehydrated pizza! Food storage has always had a stigma attached to it. If it's not wheat, beans and powdered milk, it's not food storage. With the system I use, food storage can be sweet and sour chicken, tamale pie, chile and cornbread, beef stew, shepherd's pie, minestrone...even chocolate chip cookies! Your imagination (and your pocketbook) are the only limitations you have.

And the #1 reason why I don't have my year's supply of food? A year?? I thought it was 72 hours!!

You KNOW you should have your food storage. You WANT to have it, but it can be so overwhelming! How much do I buy? Where do I store it? How do I cook it? It seems like an impossible task.... but it's not. It doesn't matter if you use my system or just start buying extra food, the important thing is to do something. Good luck in your efforts! Wendy DeWitt

May's Goal

Why is a year or at least a 3 month supply of food important. A system for creating and sustaining your food storage. Creating a recipe book to use your food storage items. Water, water, water!

I know this seems like a lot for one month so if we need to we can have it extend into June. I know we can do it, we just need to take baby steps!

Compiled

Are there any people who have not completely compiled their 72 hour kits?
If so what are you missing?

I think with all the things happening this month, we may not get to have an activity.
So let me know and I will help on an individual basis to make sure people's kits are complete.

I hope you are thinking about your year supply of food. Start thinking about the meals you eat and starting making lists to get an idea as to what you and your family eat on a day to day basis. It is okay if they are meals that don't seem like food storage type meals. I just want to get you thinking about what you eat.

Good luck everyone!
Dianna

April Goal

This month's goal is to compile our 72-hour kits. We want to have an activity to assist in this effort. Also I will try to watch the sales and post when there are good deals on items one would need for their 72 hour kit. If you see a deal and I miss it, just post it as a comment for all to see. Lets all be as informed as possible. I love a good deal, and I try to never buy things at full price!