Crazy Cheap Croutons

Okay, for some of you this is going above and beyond in the Betty Homemaker category, but if you are like me and run out of croutons and still want a crunch on your salad, this is an EASY way to save a couple of dollars! Those of you who laughed when they read my post about making homemade breadcrumbs can just skip past this post ;)

Okay, to make homemade croutons, all you need is old/stale bread, butter, and seasonings. I had a package of dry hamburger buns that I kept for this very reason, so they came in handy the other night for dinner. Just cut them up into small cubes, put them on a pan (I put mine on my baking stone), drizzle some melted butter over your bread, season with garlic powder/spread, parsley, oregano, pepper, or whatever seasonings you like, and bake at 350 until they are golden brown. For leftover croutons, just store in a tupperware and they will last for a couple of days. Because you used fresh butter, they will begin to taste stale if you keep them on the shelf too long. I am sure you could keep them in the fridge if you needed to.

Put these delicious and EASY croutons on your favorite salad for the perfect crunch!

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Money Saving Tip

I was making a recipe the other day that called for 3 cans of chicken broth. I couldn't remember if I have shared my chicken broth tip with you or not? There are several items in my kitchen that are 'must haves'--for example: lime juice (we go through this like water in our kitchen), Montreal Steak Seasoning, Costco's Garlic Spread, etc. The list could go on and on. One must have in my kitchen though is Chicken and Beef Base or Bouillon.

Many recipes call for chicken/beef broth or chicken bouillon in recipes and to buy it by the can is extremely expensive. I was just at Walmart the other day and their Great Value can of chicken broth was almost $1--ugh! If you add 3-4 cans in a recipe that is an expensive addition.

So, the tip: Keep your kitchen well stocked with Chicken and Beef Base (this is least at Costco or Sam's Club-McCormick or Tone's makes are good brands) and large #10 cans of Chicken and Beef Bouillon (you can get this online, Maceys, or most Walmarts).

I keep a glass mason jar in my spice cabinet filled with the chicken and beef bouillon so I can easily measure out a tablespoon or teaspoon, add with water and use in my favorite recipes. The chicken and beef base needs to be kept in the fridge once it is open, but will last at least a year once it is opened. The base is a little more expensive but has an awesome flavor, so I ration that on my 'high end meals' and use the powdered bouillon for large soups, stews, etc.

These are also great items to have in your food storage in the event we had to live out of our storage and eat all of our dried beans, rice, noodles, etc. we would want some flavor!

That is probably the longest post in history about bouillon, but it really is one of my FAVE items in my kitchen! Have fun cooking!

**One other benefit is they are MSG free!

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Three Easy Steps to Getting Your Food Storage

**Clarification: 14 gallons of water for a TWO WEEK supply..NOT 14 gallons per day :) It is recommended to have 28 gallons for two weeks of drinking, washing, & cleaning water per person.

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Green tomatoes, what do you do with them?

If you are like me, you have several green tomatoes from your garden. Did you know that if you pick your green tomatoes (before the first freeze) and put them in your garage, over time they will gradually turn to red? I used to always throw my green tomatoes in the garbage until my wise mother taught me this trick :) I have noticed that not all the tomatoes will turn red, but a good majority will. So what do you do with your green tomatoes? You can dredge slices of green tomatoes in egg & cornmeal and then fry them in oil, you can chop up green tomatoes and add to your mincemeat pie, or you can make raspberry jam with them. Here is a great recipe someone told me about that looked fun to try for the Raspberry jam--they claim it is delicious! Hey, if it is, you can't get jam cheaper than this!

Green Tomato Raspberry Jam

2 cups sugar

3 cups finely chopped green tomato

1 3 oz. pkg raspberry jello

Use food processor to chop tomatoes fine (once washed & cored). Boil combined ingredients for 15 minutes. Let cool 20 Minutes. Store in fridge or freezer.

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Need some more fiber in your diet?

If you have a lot of wheat in your food storage like I do, I am always trying new ways of incorporating it into my families diet. If you have had this as a child, I would recommend trying it again. I have enjoyed it much more in my adult years than I did as a child ;)

Wheat is a GREAT source of fiber. For one cup of wheat you will get 23 grams of fiber--wow! If that won't get you regular, I don't know what will!

How to make wheat berry cereal:

Put 2 c. of wheat in a crock pot with 4 c. water. Turn on medium heat for 2-3 hours, or until wheat is tender and soft. Watch to make sure the crock pot does not run out of water. Add a little extra water if the wheat absorbs the water more quickly than is expected.

When wheat is soft and tender, serve with milk and honey for cereal or add to several of your recipes. Wheat is great to help many recipes stretch. Add a 1/2 c. to your meatloaf, taco meat, meatballs, etc. and you will NEVER know it is their. I just added wheat to my homemade chili and you would never be able to tell it was in there--it was great! Not only will the wheat help your recipes stretch but it will add extra nutrients to your meals as well. Keep a tupperware full of cooked wheat in your fridge and you will be surprised at how many recipes you can throw it into.

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One of my favorite time saving tips!

This is one of my favorite tricks to help save you time and frustration during dinner! If you are like my family, we eat chicken based meals about 2-4 times a week. Sometimes you don't have the time to cook chicken, cut it and add it to a recipe. Well...here is a quick and easy solution! When chicken goes on sale for a GREAT price, stock up! Bring the chicken home, trim off any fat that needs cutting off and then throw several pounds of it in a large crock pot or roaster oven. I usually crock pot 10-15 lbs. of chicken at a time. I cook it on medium heat and season the chicken heavily with Montreal Steak Seasoning (my absolute favorite seasoning!) and McCormick Chicken Base (it's like chicken bouillion but in a spreadable form--you can buy it at Costco for really cheap!). Once the chicken is cooked I let it cool and then divide the chicken into several portions. I put 2-3 chicken breasts in each Ziploc bag and then freeze them until I am needing the chicken for dinner. When you are using the chicken for meals, just defrost or microwave for a minute or so, and then you can easily shred, chop or cut into large chunks for any meal that calls for chicken. Once the chicken is in the recipe you can season it however you desire. Having cooked chicken on hand can cut your meal preparation time in half!

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Powdered Milk made Drinkable!

I read about this great trick on a food storage blog http://www.everydayfoodstorage.blogspot.com/ to help your powdered milk taste better. We ran out of milk yesterday and DID NOT want to go to the store to buy more--mostly because I knew I would leave the store spending more than $2.50. So..we made powdered milk, added a T. of vanilla and a little sugar and it tasted MUCH better! It was a great trick! Even my husband didn't complain :) According to the blog above she said that powdered milk from the Cannery ranges around $1.15 a gallon--that's awesome!! We might just wait a little longer to buy milk at the store.

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My favorite Taco Seasoning!

If you have never made your own Taco Seasoning, now's your chance. It is SO good and So easy! We make several pre-portioned amounts and put in Ziploc bags for easy storage. The other best part about this seasoning is that you can get almost ALL of these spices at Walmart in their .50 spice section. Spices are VERY important to have in your food storage, so stock up at a really great deal!


Taco Seasoning
4-6 tsp. instant minced onion
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cornstarch
½ tsp. crushed dried red pepper (cayenne)
½ tsp. minced garlic (OR 1/8 tsp. garlic powder)
¼ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. pepper

Seal tightly in small Ziploc bags. Store in a cool dry place.

Once you have put together your taco seasoning, then add the following to your meat for AWESOME tacos, taco salad or burritos!!

Taco Meat
2 lbs. Lean ground beef
2 -8 ounce cans tomato sauce
1 package Taco seasoning (see above or use 2 T. premade Taco Seasoning)
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. sour cream

Brown the ground beef and drain off grease. Add tomato sauce, taco seasoning, and brown sugar. Simmer 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Serve immediately. YUM!!

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Breadcrumbs made EASY!

People always laugh that I make my own bread crumbs. I have to thank my mom for this funny habit! She used to always have dried bread around the house and I swore I would never do this--and of course, now I do too! Yes, breadcrumbs are only $5.99 for two tubs at Costco--but a few dollars here and there always adds up. So...this is how you can make your own bread crumbs without a lot of effort. Whenever you have an end piece to a bread loaf, a leftover hot dog bun, bread that you know you aren't going to eat..instead of tossing it out--save it! I have a container in my pantry (a washed out licorice container--that is how cheap I am :) and whenever I have bread that I am not going to use, I put in this container. You DON'T want a lid on this container because you want the bread to dry out. Once the container is filled to the top with dry bread I get out my food processor (this one was given to my mom 30 years ago for her wedding and is still kicking!). You simply put the bread in, turn it on and walla, you have breadcrumbs! Add a few of your favorite spices (garlic powder, parsley, salt, peppper, Italian Seasoning, and Garlic Spread (from Costco--I put it in pretty much everything!). Then, just keep your breadcrumbs in ANY container with a lid you would like. Having bread crumbs on hand make breading chicken a cinch! I also use my dried bread for egg casseroles and bread pudding. Yum!!

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Oat Flour--my new favorite food storage item!

About a year ago Oats went on sale at Albertsons for less then .50 for an 18 oz. container of oats. It was such a GREAT deal that I pretty much bought Albertsons out of their oats (three carts full!--you only need around 20 lbs. per person for a year supply). I have loved using my oats in cooking, for cereal in the morning, cookies, etc. but I just couldn't get through my oats fast enough. I was told that I could turn my oats into 'oat flour' and have LOVED this idea!! I broke my last wheat grinder by trying to grind flaxseed (don't ask me why I thought that would work?), so I was hesitant to grind anything but wheat. But..it worked and my wheat grinder is still intact :) I have now used oat flour in ALL of my baking since I started grinding it. I now take a recipe and do 1 part white flour, 1 part wheat flour and 1 part oat flour. You can't tell a difference and it feels great to be using up my oats. I have put it in cookies, pancakes, cornbread, pizza dough, and just tried it in my homemade bread recipe (recipe below). It turned out yummy and seems to make the dough a lighter color and gives it a little more texture. To help me rotate through my food storage I grind wheat, oats, pinto beans (into pinto bean flour--

another favorite!) once each month (or whenever I run out) and keep the flour in a large Tupperware in my pantry. I have them all labeled for which flour it is and this makes it easy to help me use up my wheat and other food storage items. Because the grinding is noisy and makes a small mess it is nice to grind a lot and keep it stored in your pantry for later, so you're not having to grind it everytime you need more flour. Make homemade bread with honey butter as your reward after your items are ground into flour and you will look forward to monthly 'grinding' day ;)

**The least expensive place to buy oats is at the LDS Canneries--$10 for a 25lb. bag.

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One of my favorite tricks!

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE making freezer meals! I don't do the traditional 30 meals in one day--I am not patient enough to do that. I just double whatever recipe I am making (assuming it can be frozen) and then I freeze the extras for another meal. Last night I made meatball sandwiches and rolled the extra meatballs, layed them out on a tray, froze them and then put them in a Ziploc bag once they were completely frozen. Next time I want to make Spaghetti and meatballs, all I will have to do is brown the meatballs, throw them in my sauce and I am done! Fabulous! Why spend $15 for a bag of meatballs at Costco when you can make three meals worth (for my family of 6) for under $7 (I bought my hamburger on sale for $1.49/lb.).

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WEEKLY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: In the meal plan it says Food storage and then this week “Bran muffins” does that mean we make them up and then freeze them for food storage? I think I am missing part of the big picture to understand how the system works… Do you plan so many meals for your year supply and then multiple the ingredients to get what you need?
A: The ‘food storage recipe’ is a recipe that the ingredients can be pulled from the food in your food storage. These recipes are to get people to use what is in their food storage and begin rotating through the ‘basic’ items in their storage. Sometimes there will be an ingredient or two that you would need to make substitutions if you were unable to go to the store or use the items in your freezer. For example, if you didn’t have butter, or sour cream, in an emergency (or in a situation we had to live on our food storage solely) then you could substitute shortening, oil or powdered sour cream in it’s place. For oils you could also substitute applesauce, that is why I recommend having quite a bit of applesauce in your food storage. Either way, these food storage recipes each week are ones you can make from the items in your storage. I don’t make up the food and save it for the year—that could get messy and make for a big headache :) I just make sure I have a year supply of each of the ingredients I would need for each particular recipe (ex: a year supply of baking powder, sugar, powdered eggs, oil, raisins, flour, etc.). That way, if I were to have to cook from only my food storage, I would know I would be able to make all of the ‘meals’ and recipes from my food storage recipe collection (you can get the recipes and checklist on my website under the FREE DOWNLOAD tab on the homepage and download the FOOD STORAGE RECIPES download.


Q: This is just my personal preference but I would love to see the shopping list for the items created in Excel with columns for the ingredients, store, sale price and also the meal & area of store to find ingredient in (produce, canned/dry, frozen, bakery, meat/dairy, etc.). My reasoning is then it would be sortable – I could sort the list by meals and delete the meals I am not using for that week and then sort the list by store so my shopping list was ready to go, is that possible?
A: We are working with our programmer to help create a better format for our grocery list page. Would it help if we had the produce a certain color, canned goods another color, etc. and a chart at the top to help you know which items are which? We used to have the recipe/grocery list formatted per store and that seemed to cause more problems. People seem to enjoy it broken down into recipes verses store or grocery category because it easier to cut out the ingredients they aren’t going to buy (because they are not making that particular recipe that week). We are definetly looking into ways to stream line the process and make it easier to read—if anyone has suggestions, feel free to email me :)

Q: On the excel note it would be cool to have an editable excel meal plan file that would have the meal plan for the week and you could add the ingredients and then macros would actually generate the shopping lists after you edit – can you do that?
A: We are working on a simplified process, but we have found ‘excel’ may not be the answer because several of our customers don’t have this program, or have a Macintosh and wouldn’t be able to have access to the excel program. Kind of a tricky one—although that would be VERY cool and helpful if it worked. We’ll keep thinking.

Q: Can you freeze blocks of cheese or do they need to be shredded first? Can you chop and freeze green onions? (It would be great to get a list of items that one could buy on sale and freeze with prep work) I have heard you can freeze milk but I have never personally tried it – I also have heard you can freeze eggs… would love to know your thoughts.


A: You can freeze just about everything—here is a quick list of items I keep stocked in my freezer:
Butter, margarine, whipping cream/heavy cream/half&half, tortillas, bread, hamburger/hotdog/hoagie buns, cheese (shredded and blocks of cheese—you won’t have a problem with blocks of cheese being crumbly as long as you wait until it is COMPLETELY thawed and then it will slice just fine)—I keep parmesan, mozzarella, cheddar, Colby jack, provolone cheese, and swiss cheese in my freezer at all times (I buy these cheeses at Costco unless they are on sale for less at a store, and put them in smaller Ziploc bags for later), lunch meat, pepperoni, hamburger, pork, shrimp, steak, chicken, ham, sausage, bacon, frozen vegetables (corn, peas, stir-fry vegetables, carrots/peas (for chicken pot pie), broccoli, bell peppers in every color (just wash, cut in big slices and put in a Ziploc bag), onions (cut up and put in a Ziploc bag), freezer meals (lasagna, chicken cordon bleu, taco soup, Hawaiian haystacks, Homemade marinara sauce, taco meat, shredded chicken, shredded BBQ Pork, etc.), freezer jams, milk (if it is a great deal and I have room—this freezes fine, just make sure it completely thaws or you will have ice chunks in it for awhile), over-ripe bananas (for banana bread), yeast (it lasts longer in the freezer), frozen fruit, (and I think that is about it :) I am surprised it all fits!! **I have never frozen eggs, but I assume as long as you crack the eggs and put them into a Tupperware, it would be fine to freeze.


Q: Do you store frozen vegetables, dehydrated or canned? Or a mix of all? How about fruit?
A: It is good to have a variety of all kinds of fruits and vegetables (canned, dehydrated, frozen, etc.). In an emergency you would eat out of your fridge and freezer first, then your canned food and then lastly your dehydrated food. They all have different shelf lives and will be beneficial if you were to need to survive off of what is ONLY in your storage. The cheapest place to buy dehydrated fruits and vegetables is the cannery. You can either can each item in a #10 can or buy them in bulk and keep in a cool, dry place. Canned fruit and vegetables go on sale for less than ‘warehouse’ prices at least 2 times a year, generally during caselot time (Aug. & February--generallly)—watch for them to go on sale and then stock up!

Q: Where is the best place to buy a deep freezer? How many do you have and what brand is it?A: My husband work at RC Willey, so of course we bought our freezer there (great discounts!). I know you can buy freezers at Sears, Lowes, Best Buy, online, etc. You can also buy them used through the trifties. I haven't done a lot of research on how long they last, all I know is we have a Fridgidaire 15 cubic feet deep freezer and in 10 years we have not had any problems with it (I don't even defrost it--oops!) How many do I have?...I have the double sided fridge and freezer in my kitchen, a fridge & freezer combo in our garage, a fridge/freezer in our basement, and a 26cubic feet deep freezer in our garage. It’s funny that sometimes I wish I had another one! It may seem crazy, but I save SOOO much money by ONLY buying items when they are on sale and keeping my freezer well stocked. If I didn’t want to, I could easily live out of my freezer and fridge for 6 months (with only using minimal food from my food storage). I try and keep AT LEAST 3 months of meat in my freezer at all times. Doing this makes meal planning quick and easy! I don’t ever have to run to the store for anything unless it is fresh produce. That is the great thing about food storage—it is like having a complete grocery store in your own house :) When you get the weekly deals each week (if you’re not a member, it is only $4.95 a month) I will tell you which items to stock up on for your food storage and also tell you which items you can add to your freezer and how much you would need of each item for a one year supply. I take all of the guess work out of it—just follow the ‘deal sheet’ and you will be set! ***I have never frozen eggs, but I’m guessing as long as you crack them into a Tupperware and then freeze them, they would be fine. I will have to look into that :)

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Shandra@myfoodstoragedeals.com and I will do my best to answer them :0)

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Three dinners for UNDER $5 a piece!

How many of you have heard of the book "30 meals in one day"? I have an easier solution for you! Instead of spending a whole day in the kitchen, when you make a meal that works well as a freezer meal--double it and freeze the rest for a later meal. Lasagna is a good example of this. All of the ingredients for lasagna is on sale this week. Make several of them and freeze your extras for later. I don't know about you, but I can NOT stand Stouffer's lasagna. For LESS than a Stouffer's lasagna I made three homemade lasagnas last night and still have extra sauce for my Chicken Parmesan dinner later this week. For those who are meal planner members, I gave them our secret family recipe for homemade marinara sauce--it is awesome!! I make this one day and freeze TONS of it for later. I use one gallon ziploc bag of our homemade sauce and one jar of Prego and it makes the sauce stretch and it hides the flavor of the store bought sauce. Either way--it makes for a great dinner. Add a $1 Dole salad, a vegetable and homemade French bread and you are set--three meals for under $10. I am giving you my Aunt Cheryl's French bread recipe that is SO easy and YUMMY! Last night I made six loaves of French bread and three lasagnas in less than an hour. I freeze the extra French Bread loaves and use them for later meals (like Stroganoff Sandwich-yum!). Here is the French Bread recipe (this amount makes 3 loaves):


2 1/2 c. warm water
2 T. yeast
3 T. sugar
2 T. white vinegar
Add these ingredients together and let sit until bubbly
1 T. salt
1/3 c. oil (anykind will do)
6 c. flour (or a little more if it's too soft)

Knead for 2-5 mintues and then put in the oven with a small pot of boiling water. The water will keep the dough moist. Watch the dough and punch it down when it gets to the top of the mixing bowl. Do this every time it gets to the top of the bowl, as long as you have time to babysit it (2-5 times). Put the dough on a greased countertop and divide into 3 sections. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and sprinkle a thin layer of cornmeal on the bottom of the sheet. Roll the dough balls into rectangle/long French bread shapes. Slash tops of bread diagonally 3-5 times and cover with a beaten egg. Let rise 30 minutes (or until doubled). Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

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Bread Bargains

Here is a great tip from a lady in Orem. She says you can go to the following stores and get Grandma Sycamore & SaraLee bread for under $1 a piece. For those of you who live in the Orem or American Fork area--this is the place to go. Enjoy!! Keep the tips coming and I will post all of your great ideas :)

"The name of the store is Old Home Bakery Outlet. The address for the location in Orem is 1360 N State St Orem, UT 84057 phone: (801) 762-0253 and the American Fork location is: 66 N West State Rd American Fork, UT 84003 phone: (801) 763-9510. The location for the American Fork store is on a corner...across from Target...but kind of hidden...people might want to call and ask for directions their first time out. These stores carry Sara Lee and Grandma Sycamore...plus many random treats...packaged cookies, doughnuts, etc. at a discount. They always give a free loaf of bread when you spend ten dollars. There are also the Wonder/Hostess thrift bread shops. There are stores in Provo and Orem, but I'm not sure of any further north. The Provo location is: 1180 W Center St Provo, UT 84601 phone:801-373-8192 and the Orem address is 725 E 1000S Orem, UT 84097 phone:(801) 224-9886.

Another great place to buy cheap bread (Grandma Sycamore Bread for $1), bagels for cheap, etc. at the Sara Lee Bakery Outlet at 4700 S. and I-215. The store is just east of I-215 at the first light (it used to be a 7-11 store). The Grandma Sycamore white bread is $1/loaf, and the Grandma Sycamore wheat bread is $1.25/loaf. You can’t hardly make it for that price anymore! They also have tortillas and bagels for a good price! The bagels are $1.25/bag, which sell for over $3 in the stores.

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Catch the Vision!

Your Year Supply One Week at a Time

What's for dinner? Let's see what's in the basement "store"... Many people have asked to come and see my food storage room, so....here's the big unveiling :0) There are probably many more organized and well stocked food storage rooms out there, but here is mine.

My sister talked me into having a blog, so we are dedicating this blog to all of the food storage "nuts" out there like me. We are hoping this blog will inspire you to get your year supply, be a place where we can share helpful tips and a place to post our accomplishments and encourage each other to continue becoming prepared. Everyone will store and organize their food storage differently, but the important thing is that we are all working towards our goals.

So...here we go with some food storage tips that work for me--hopefully they will help you to. If you have any tips that work for you (or pictures) email me at Shandra@myfoodstoragedeals.com and I will post them for all to see--or just post a comment.

Where do you begin??

First...you need a way to organize your food--wood shelves, metal shelving, rolling storage units, etc. My husband built these shelves-aren't they cute?? I organize my food storage room into categories. I try to keep all like items together-Legumes together, fruits, vegetables, oils etc. It makes it easy to glance and see what I have and keep an accurate inventory. Remember, grains aren't just wheat, grains includes pasta, rice, cornmeal, cereal, oats, flour, cornstarch, etc.
How do you store your grains? It is more expensive to can all of your grains in #10 cans, so I put them in plastic Rubbermaid totes. I go through my food so quickly, I have never had to worry about weavil or food going bad. The plastic tubs also keep your food dry and away from rodents. It works for me and is an inexpensive way to store your food :) You may think 48 bottles of BBQ sauce is excessive? I don't--I know I will use it in the next couple of years, so why not stock up when it goes on sale for .60 (or .05 each with a coupon)--fabulous! Remember, if you don't get funny looks from fellow grocery shoppers, you are shopping the wrong way :) Buy as much of each item on sale--even if people think you're crazy for having 69 bottles of ketchup (okay, so maybe I am a little!), you will save SO much money in the long run!

Since we all know we live in earthquake territory, my brilliant husband came up with the idea to put PVC pipe into the sides of the shelves to keep bottles and food from shaking off the shelves.

Is anyone thristy? The church recommends AT LEAST 14 gallons of drinking water per person for a two week supply. I have our drinking water in the form of water bottles because they are convenient and easy to rotate through. The water in the drums are for washing, cleaning and cooking. I don't think it is possible to have enough water!

Visit our website under the Free Downloads tab and see the recommendations on storing water. One thing that is important is to not have your water bottles or drum directly on cement. We have a piece of plywood under and on the side of our water drums.

Okay..so you have heard me talk about storing your flour, oats, sugar and wheat in large Rubbermaid garbage cans. A friend who was moving gave us these wierd looking large drums that we keep our "bulk" food storage items in. I'm sure you can't find these wierd looking blue containers anywhere--I know you're jealous of them-haha!--so, large plastic garbage cans should do the trick.

FLOUR: APPROX. 75 LBS. PER PERSON

These large drums holds close to my families year supply of wheat, sugar, oats and flour. I only buy these items once a year (because I buy a year supply when it is on sale for "red/great" prices. I label the individual bags with the date I purchased them (ex. 4/08) to help me make sure I use the oldest bags first. I then take out the old bags, put the new bags in the bottom and then put the oldest bags back on top. If you are only buying them once or twice a year, it's pretty slick! These drums keep your food dry and rodent free--it's lovely (and VERY cost effective).

OATS: 20 LBS. PER PERSON

WHEAT: 100 LBS. PER PERSON

SUGAR: 65 LBS. PER PERSON

Besides the long term storage, it is important to have food in your freezer. Having a 1-3 month supply of meat, butter, cheeses, vegetables, bread, tortillas, seafood, etc. make meal planning MUCH easier. When meat goes on sale for "red/great" prices, stock your freezers and save HUNDREDS of dollars! Many of you are probably saying you don't have room in your garage/home for a freezer. Just do what my sister did and use it as an end table :)

You don't need to have a large deep freeze (although I LOVE mine), you can get a smaller 11 cubic feet freezer for around $250. You will save that much in just a couple months.

Wow! How's that for my first post? I promise they won't always be that long--however, by now you all know I can get a little winded when I'm talking about something I am passionate about :0)

So...what works for you?? Share your thoughts, ideas, tips, etc. and hopefully we can all get excited about being prepared. It is a great feeling! Don't get discouraged if you don't have your year supply. The important thing is that you are working towards a goal. Anything will be FAR BETTER than nothing in an emergency or if food prices continue to skyrocket and the economy takes a turn for the worst. I love the quote from President Hinckley, I think it is so encouraging, he said, "We can begin ever so modestly. We can begin with a one week's food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. . . . I fear that so many feel that a long-term food supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all.
"Begin in a small way, . . . and gradually build toward a reasonable objective.
Inspired preparation rests on the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ, obedience, and a provident lifestyle. Members should not go to extremes, but they should begin."

Congratulations on "begining"!

Visit our website for more tips on food storage: http://www.myfoodstoragedeals.com/

Feel free to pass on this blog or our website to friends and family that are interested in food storage :)

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