Food Storage Baby Steps

Kim — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:23:43 +0000

It’s been an incredibly crazy month! I just returned from the Alison’s Pantry Food Show in Pleasant Grove, Utah where I enjoyed, among other things, a presentation on food storage organization. If you’re new to food storage, you need a plan! And, there’s no better time to start than now. September is National Emergency Preparedness Month.

I think the simplest method for putting one foot in front of the other to build a supply of food and gear for emergencies is found at Food Storage Made Easy. These lovely ladies have compiled a very practical, organized system of ”baby-steps” in easy-to-complete checklists. It’s a great place to start!

Celebrate National Preparedness Month by inventorying your current food storage, and making a plan to improve and rotate your food storage every month. Then come back to All About Food Storage often, and I’ll help you enjoy all of the foods with which you’re filling your pantry!

Update Your 72 Hour Kits

Kim — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:47:14 +0000

Water storage and 72 hour kits should be treated or rotated once a year. It’s easy to forget to do this, so many families coordinate these chores with General Conference to make it easier to remember. I had to laugh when I read online about a woman who was advising others not to store pop-top fruit cups in 72 hour kits. The pop-top lids weren’t the problem. Her fruit cups had exploded when she checked her kits…3 years later. The canned items that we store in these kits aren’t meant to last long-term, so we have to update them in order to have edible food in an emergency. If you are updating your 72 hour kits, here is a sample menu for simple items to include:

DAY 1

Breakfast:

(1) Granola Bar

(1) Hot Chocolate packet

Lunch:

(1) Beef Jerky

(1) Apple Cider drink packet

Dinner:

(1) Beanee Weenee

(3) Crackers

Snack:

(6) Candies

(3) Sticks of Gum

DAY 2

Breakfast:

(1) Cereal Bar

(1) Hot Chocolate packet

Lunch:

Peanuts

Fruit Snack

Dinner:

(1) Cup of Soup

(3) Crackers

Snack:

(6) Candies

(3) Sticks of Gum

DAY 3

Breakfast:

(1) Box of Raisins

(1) Instant Oatmeal

(1) Hot Chocolate packet

Lunch:

(1) Cup of Soup

(1) Can of Juice

Dinner:

(1) Cup of Soup

(1) Fruit Roll-up

Snack:

(6) Candies

(3) Sticks of Gum

Add 2 liters of water to each kit. Include cups to use with drink packets. We have our kits in a large plastic storage container so that an adult can grab them all at once. Many families use backpacks to store their kits. Just find something portable and closed so that family members don’t pilfer pieces of the kits throughout the year. We tease our kids, telling them that if they eat their candy and gum we’re not sharing ours during the crisis.

All About Food Storage » preparedness

Food Storage Baby Steps

Update Your 72 Hour Kits