Monday, August 25, 2008

FOOD STORAGE

UPDATE:
After posting about my food storage I was feeling a little unprepared for my year's supply so I did what any good woman would do...I jumped into action. (now I'm jumping into bed...) I made 2 batches of blackberry jam, 2 batches of peach jam, two quarts of peach syrup (YUM!), sliced and froze 6 quart bags of yellow/zucchini squash, made three batches of zucchini bread and peeled/sliced 12 quart bags of fresh frozen peaches. There...now I feel better.

Look at all this deliciousness. I promise to share if you come visit me...
Nothing says lovin' like bread from the oven! (amen sister)
My frozen peaches - just waiting for pies or smoothies...mmm...
Frozen summer/zuchinni squash. This makes my heart swell just looking at it...
At the end of the day I was left with this, took me over an hour to finish the thousands of pots and pans and bowls needed for my day in the kitchen. (can you even believe I made it out of the house for a night out with my husband?)
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Here's a little game I like to call..."Take a picture of your food storage and share for all the world to see". As you probably have noticed, I don't have more than 3 months here - although I do have buckets of wheat, rice, pasta and a few other things that are stored in my crawl space....but I am NOT crawling in there to take a picture of it. (that's what I have children for) Anyway, I wanted to throw the challenge out to

you

to do a post on your food storage because it's always a good motivator to try and do better.

Here is our pantry. It is located in our basement underneath the stairs. It was a perfect little spot to turn into a place for food storage. I love the #10 cans that fit perfectly underneath the stairs - click on the picture and you can see it better. (don't judge me that I have froot loops and corn pops in my storage - that's my husband's purchase)
This little spot is located in my wash room - we have extra shelves for our paper goods but I didn't take a picture of those because I am really embarrased for you to know that we have probably two weeks left of toilet paper. (I'm on it, alright? Back off!) But...I didn't want to leave my sweet Benjamin out. Since he can't eat what we eat, I am showing you that yes...I do have food storage for him too. I only have 4 months supply here, I'm still working on that too. He uses a formula, pictured in the white boxes, protein and fiber supplements in the cans and the box in the middle is his feeding bags.

Besides working on my "dry" stuff, I also have a freezer that is full of beans, yellow squash and other goodies from my garden and sister Jenny's orchard. I really probably should be canning this stuff so it can sit on my shelves but I am a sucker for "fresh" fruit and vegies in the winter. (it would be a problem if my power went out for days...then I would lose all of it.)
Behind my house I have numerous amounts of rasberry and blackberry bushes. I take full advantage of this free fruit and like to make jam with it. I send my kids out every day in the month of August and they bring me back cups full of berries to work with. (they love me for this, really they do...especially when their cups aren't full enough, then I send them back out into the wilderness where they crawl through the noxious weeds. Good times I tell you!)
Here is the finished product...aren't they beautiful? I will probably get around 20 pints this year as the town cut some of the berry bushes down.
BoldHere is a picture of my sister Amy Jo...I am including her in my blog today because she is the one that sent me this email below. Look, she's actually telling me to go and share. She's shy like that. So...here I am, dutifully sharing, and now I'm passing the torch to you, my dear bloggers. Do share...really, it's fun. (fun tied in with a little bit of pain -


knowing I'm not totally prepared, but hey...I'm working on it!)

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(Church Public Affairs is asking Church members to share their experiences with maintaining and utilizing food storage by posting video, text or other content on personal blogs, video-sharing sites like YouTube, social media sites like Facebook, or other Internet sites. Members can then e-mail a link to their story to publicaffairs-slc@ldschurch.org. The Newsroom site may link to some of them in an upcoming Web package on the Church welfare program, but in any case the stories may be beneficial to others who read them on the Web.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long encouraged its members to store extra food to provide for possible future needs caused by economic hardship, disasters or other emergencies. Encouraging individual members to be prepared is part of the Church's overall welfare plan.

15 comments:

Jeannette said...

Oh man, I have to say I am ashamed to say I wont have much to share of my food storage...Ive got several boxes of mac and cheese and ramen?! Sad, I know. Actually, I think I do have some canned potatoe pearls and rice somewhere, I should dig them out so I can share at least something! You have officially motivated me to get started!

Unknown said...

Oh boy... the PRESSURE! I've actually been thinking about Amy's challenge ALL WEEK! When I did my painful shopping Saturday morning, I picked up extra canned veggies to 'beef up' my food storage shelves. I accept the challenge. My food supply won't look as tidy as yours... coming soon! (Thanks, beck.)

Smilin' sunshine said...

Way to be working on it!! I have quite a bit, but I can't take pictures of it because it is still in boxes!!

Way to go!!

Becky said...

C'mon smilin' sunshine...we have all the time in the world...we'll wait for you!:)

ChefTom said...

You need a vacuum sealer for your fresh veggies, they will keep a lot longer and will not grow frost and become freezer burnt. I have one that I use for blocks of cheese, veggies, and meats. It tastes as fresh as the day it was packaged when you thaw it out and use it.
Food Storage - we are working on it, but SLOWLY.

Becky said...

I have always wanted to get a vacuum sealer - but haven't yet done it. For now I use the ole' straw in the bag method where you suck as much air out as possible. I'm a little woozy right now as I'm freezing some fresh peaches. Scuse' me while I go lay down for a minute...:)

CubSctAnn said...

Food storage? We've got a room in the basement for such a beast. dates on some jars/cans might read 1999. Who wants to be the 1st to open one? Me neither! I could take a pic of ours, but don't know how to post it on the blog. Heyyy I LOVE that pic of AmyJo & Cooper ~ I took that snapshot on May 23, 2008 at the Stockyard Station in Texas! That sure was a Fun day! Love, Sis Bach :)

KeriLyn and Matthew said...

You are an inspiration....i have done some berry freezing, and freezer jam this summer, but we have a long way to go to stock up on other stuff!!! I love your new blog page....What a great family you have!!!!

-Keri

Rachel Durazzani said...

Wow! I am now inspired. And a little embarrassed to show mine. But I'm working on it, too.

smart mama said...

okay that means i have to go to the basement tomorrow-- I was actually trying to load on new stuff on sat and refill some of my poly buckets- nice that you turn rasp and blackberries into jam- i make mine in to pies- (blush)

Christy said...

We finally broke down, sold Jared's bike last year and got 30 shelf life freeze dried stuff. I couldn't mentally handle the year food rotation! The samples were very good actually. So I only have to worry about a few months really. My favorite is my rotating can shelf!
Sort of like playing plinko when you add new things hehe. I must get on my garden TOMORROW!

LL said...

BECKY! remember my post on Sunday. WELL, you're being that good example!
will i post my food storage??? um...i guess I could for a good laugh!

Anonymous said...

Great blog, Beck,
WHy couldn't dad take a shot of our storage.
We have some too.
Hope you inspire others.
love mom

Unknown said...

Hey-you're pulling a total Martha Stewart on us, updating the food storage post with MORE deliciously frozen and jarred foodage! What the heck! When I finally get the guts to post my storage, I'm linking to YOUR post so that people can see what a TRUE storage mama's supply should look like. Now STOP and get down here and do MY freezer jam!

Sabra Palmer said...

Now that I finally have a house to settle down in for 4 years at least I am beefing up mine again. We had to eat a lot of it so we didn't have to ship it from Italy.

Last week I did....

--14 jars of tomatoes
--10 jars of salsa
****Plus I showed my new neighbor how to do it too-she did 10 cans of tomatoes and salsa. (does that count?)
--Lots of strawberry freezer jam
--tonz of frozen peaches and strawberries
--Zucchini, zucchini, zucchini
--15 quarts of Blackberries and BB freezer jam

I went to the grocery store and found a deal on peanut butter, I bought 8 of them for $1.28 each for 32oz. The lady asked if I really wanted all 3--heck ya at $1.28!! ;)

Getting there slowly but surely.
Your my hero Becky!! Wish we lived closer.