You can’t eat it, but…
April 24th, 2008 by KimYou can’t count laundry soap as food storage but I think you can call it a storage essential. My sister-in-law, Kim, has been experimenting with homemade laundry detergent recipes from the web and has posted her success on her blog. I love hearing someone else’s trial and error story before I endeavor to try something new, so I think her post is great. It provides the recipe for the detergent that she has liked best, and the step-by-step process she took to create and use it. Homemade detergent is certainly cheaper than buying store brands, and it can be helpful if you have family members with sensitive skin. I can’t wait to try it myself!
Posted in Gems in a Jar || 2 Comments
If it’s not one thing…
April 24th, 2008 by KimIn the wake of wheat shortages, it appears rice is the next product to send us scurrying to stock up before potential price increases. Our local new station had this report on Costco stores limiting the number of bags of rice that customers could purchase.
Rice stores well in buckets, #10 cans or vacuum-sealed bags. I vacuum-seal or freeze pouches of brown rice to extend the shelf life.
Posted in Home Storage & Preparedness Tips || 3 Comments
Simplify your calculations
April 24th, 2008 by KimIf you are still struggling to calculate just how many pounds of everything it will take to prepare your family’s food storage supply, the calculator from Simply Living Smart may be a great resource for you. Simply Living Smart offers a spreadsheet that can be used interactively on your own computer with Excel. Per their website, it was developed with the tables and charts from the book Making the Best of Basics by James Talmage Stevens (by permission) which their site will also have available for purchase.
I like this spreadsheet because it is simple, and can be customized to your family’s preferences. Some calculators are very extensive. This one just gives you a total number of pounds needed for your family in the basic categories of essential and supplementary items. You decide for your family how many cans of meats, fruit, soups or vegetables that equates to. You can click here to download the spreadsheet: Food Storage Master Plan
Posted in Home Storage & Preparedness Tips || 1 Comment
Cooperative Wheat Purchase
April 11th, 2008 by KimLike many in our area, I have been actively researching the best prices for hard white wheat to complete my family’s storage supply before prices potentially increase. This week the highest price in the area is $31.99 per 45 lb. bucket at Your Family Matters, and the lowest is $26 per bucket through Joseph’s Storehouse. The Church Storehouse may receive more red wheat, but the hard white wheat will be unavailable until the fall harvest. However, I have made a good contact and plan to purchase 360 buckets (each is approx. 45 lbs.) that should be available by the middle to the end of May. If the prices hold (wheat prices per bushel have actually been coming down slowly), these buckets will be $25 each (this includes shipping and tax). This wheat is triple cleaned and will be checked for moisture and nutrient content before packaging. When I know that data, I will post it as well. If you are interested in purchasing any of these buckets, please e-mail me and I will keep a list of names to inform when the wheat is available.
Posted in Gems in a Jar || 3 Comments