In keeping with this months theme: Getting Started, we have a personal, story and testimony of food storage from a member of our stake. This is a wonderful story with some great examples of why you should store food and how you can use it.
them for muffin tins. First we took a pair of pliers and smoothed the edges of the can to reduce
possible cuts and easy of muffin removal. Then we used spray cooking oil for non-stick and finally
filled and baked in the round. We made muffins in a fraction of the time with a great deal less work.
We could also use apple sauce and different spices to produce different flavors. Since we had lots of
time and no money we spent a lot of time playing in the kitchen inventing new types of food. We had
lots of oil in our storage, so we deep fried all kinds of wheat products. We made pasta and wheat
thick crackers. I call them thick because they were. We tried to make them thin, but never got them
thin enough. They still tasted good, so we ate them. We really didn't have any uneatable failures
except one. My first pressure canning experience was with Chicken. It turned out great, so I thought
vegetable should be easy right? Wrong. lover cooked the green beans and they tasted burnt. It
made me sick to think of all that time and effort and blessings in growing green beans in rotten
northern Georgia red soil, just to be pressure burned into an uneatable green brown lump. To this
day I still shy away from pressure canning and prefer freezing instead.
Eventually we received one of the greatest blessings I thought I could ever received, it was the house we live in now. If you had asked me then if I ever thought I would live in a home larger then the 900 sq ft home we had in West Valley, I would have said no. We didn't make enough money, we didn't have the job history, and so on, but once again I found myself the recipient of a blessing I never thought possible. In the eight years that we have lived here we have once again waded through the mire of unemployment; this time for 2 years. Yes, it was hard, but we were once again blessed with creative ways of using food storage, a great garden, a good attitude (most of the time), and a change in desire. What I mean by a change in desire is that some times we would eat nearly the same thing for several days in a row and I didn't desire a change in food. I didn't desire or even really think about things that I could not have. I still have little desire for what the world may consider the "necessities" of life. I've tried to follow inspiration not only to help my family but also to help others. Several times I found myself on the receiving end of inspiration that came as a fleeting thought to shop at a certain place at a certain time where I would find food items at a great discount.To sum up my thoughts and experiences with food storage is ... just do it. It's OK to start small. It's OK to do it different from others. It's OK to made mistakes. It's OK to not be perfect. All you need to do is ask Heavenly Father for help and help will come. Ask for the courage to try something new when inspired to do so and it will come. Pay a full tithe, live worthy of Temple blessing and you will receive them. I know I have been richly blessed and am happier for it all. May you also be blessed according to your faith and the effort you put into it.
If you don't believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you, know your potential, and can
help you develop your potential, then these experiences won't help you, but ... if you believe and you
trust Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ to inspire you, then ... this might help. When I was 24 I became
a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Previously, I was not a church goer. I
soon realized that there was a lot to learn and do after baptism. I was truly converted and therefore
worked hard to learn the gospel and follow the commandments. It wasn't until much later that I
realized just how inter-woven all the principles of the gospel are. Now, you might ask. .. What does all
that have to do with Food Storage? Well, it has everything to do with food storage. I had never heard
the principle of food storage before I became a member. It was new along with everything else.
Where to start? I was single, renting an apartment, working in retail, not making a lot of money, and
had no money left over each month. But I had the desire to do what Heavenly Father wanted me to
do, so I started by buying one or two extra cans of vegetables each time I went to the grocery store. I
only bought items that I ate and stacked them in my spare bedroom closet. I also saved from time to
time about 25 cents from each pay check. It wasn't much, but it was obedience.
help you develop your potential, then these experiences won't help you, but ... if you believe and you
trust Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ to inspire you, then ... this might help. When I was 24 I became
a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Previously, I was not a church goer. I
soon realized that there was a lot to learn and do after baptism. I was truly converted and therefore
worked hard to learn the gospel and follow the commandments. It wasn't until much later that I
realized just how inter-woven all the principles of the gospel are. Now, you might ask. .. What does all
that have to do with Food Storage? Well, it has everything to do with food storage. I had never heard
the principle of food storage before I became a member. It was new along with everything else.
Where to start? I was single, renting an apartment, working in retail, not making a lot of money, and
had no money left over each month. But I had the desire to do what Heavenly Father wanted me to
do, so I started by buying one or two extra cans of vegetables each time I went to the grocery store. I
only bought items that I ate and stacked them in my spare bedroom closet. I also saved from time to
time about 25 cents from each pay check. It wasn't much, but it was obedience.
As time passed I received pay increases and promotions, with them my food storage and savings
increased. Then I got married and started a family. We bought our first home and with it a yard.
Now I could have a garden, but I didn't really like gardening and because of that didn't know how to
garden. Luckily for me, my spouse did. He planted a wonderful garden and our first and only
almond tree. (We lived in California.) It produced almonds it's very first year and the garden was
very successful. I learned a lot that first year. Did I mention that I paid a full tithe and lived in such
increased. Then I got married and started a family. We bought our first home and with it a yard.
Now I could have a garden, but I didn't really like gardening and because of that didn't know how to
garden. Luckily for me, my spouse did. He planted a wonderful garden and our first and only
almond tree. (We lived in California.) It produced almonds it's very first year and the garden was
very successful. I learned a lot that first year. Did I mention that I paid a full tithe and lived in such
a way as to qualify for a Temple recommend and used it nearly every month; not always an easy thing
to do with a Temple 4 Y2 hours away? That's important. Food storage is much easier to put in with
the additional blessing that come from paying a full tithe and regular attendance of the Temple. I
to do with a Temple 4 Y2 hours away? That's important. Food storage is much easier to put in with
the additional blessing that come from paying a full tithe and regular attendance of the Temple. I
also quit my job at JCPenney and stayed home with our son when he was 3 months old. Soon a
second child came along and we moved our family to Georgia. We bought another home and rented
our California one. We also bought our first mini-van. I was so happy to have it. Life was good and
our food storage was growing, but still mostly canned goods and a little water storage. By now, I'm
about 32 years old and expecting our third child. My son is born and my father, in California, is
seriously ill. He dies only a few months later and I go into a pretty good depression. Just prior to the
end of the year I receive a very strong impression that we need to get our food storage in and soon.
We receive an offer to buy our home in California and we accept. From the proceeds we decide to
buy $1500 dollars worth of bulk food storage including wheat, oats, powdered milk, rice, some dry
beans, spaghetti, and a few other items that I knew the family would eat. We followed the guidelines
in the church publication "Home Storage and Production." One month later my husband is
unemployed and we learn for the first time how to live on our food storage and the blessings of
obedience.
second child came along and we moved our family to Georgia. We bought another home and rented
our California one. We also bought our first mini-van. I was so happy to have it. Life was good and
our food storage was growing, but still mostly canned goods and a little water storage. By now, I'm
about 32 years old and expecting our third child. My son is born and my father, in California, is
seriously ill. He dies only a few months later and I go into a pretty good depression. Just prior to the
end of the year I receive a very strong impression that we need to get our food storage in and soon.
We receive an offer to buy our home in California and we accept. From the proceeds we decide to
buy $1500 dollars worth of bulk food storage including wheat, oats, powdered milk, rice, some dry
beans, spaghetti, and a few other items that I knew the family would eat. We followed the guidelines
in the church publication "Home Storage and Production." One month later my husband is
unemployed and we learn for the first time how to live on our food storage and the blessings of
obedience.
If you were to ask me what I learned from this 1 year of unemployment and the next 10 years of
underemployment, I would have to say ... Where do I start. Food storage wise I learned that you can
almost live off the stuff. I had to buy eggs, butter, and cheese, but everything else came from what we
had stored. We ate waffles for dinner, made our own tortillas, crackers, pasta, bread, muffins, and
biscuits. We also had homemade granola, chili, and other things from the "Joy of Cooking," "Home
Storage & Production," and the wonderful "Make a Mix" cook books. Money was so scares that we
didn't want to use our oven unless it could be filled will bread. The problem with that was we had to
hand grind our wheat. We had the foresight to buy a hand grinder, but had no idea what hard work
it was to use it. 700 revolution cranks on the hand grinder produced exactly 1 cup of wheat flour. It
took 4 cups of flour for a loaf of bread and we could eat a loaf at one sitting. It soon became very
apparent that we needed better equipment. The electric wheat grinder that we wanted cost $365.
That seemed nearly impossible to obtain at that time. So while we pondered that problem we came
up with another solution. We had a Jet stream oven and in that we could make muffins. We didn't
own a pan that could be used in the round oven, so we saved our empty tomato sauce cans and used
underemployment, I would have to say ... Where do I start. Food storage wise I learned that you can
almost live off the stuff. I had to buy eggs, butter, and cheese, but everything else came from what we
had stored. We ate waffles for dinner, made our own tortillas, crackers, pasta, bread, muffins, and
biscuits. We also had homemade granola, chili, and other things from the "Joy of Cooking," "Home
Storage & Production," and the wonderful "Make a Mix" cook books. Money was so scares that we
didn't want to use our oven unless it could be filled will bread. The problem with that was we had to
hand grind our wheat. We had the foresight to buy a hand grinder, but had no idea what hard work
it was to use it. 700 revolution cranks on the hand grinder produced exactly 1 cup of wheat flour. It
took 4 cups of flour for a loaf of bread and we could eat a loaf at one sitting. It soon became very
apparent that we needed better equipment. The electric wheat grinder that we wanted cost $365.
That seemed nearly impossible to obtain at that time. So while we pondered that problem we came
up with another solution. We had a Jet stream oven and in that we could make muffins. We didn't
own a pan that could be used in the round oven, so we saved our empty tomato sauce cans and used
possible cuts and easy of muffin removal. Then we used spray cooking oil for non-stick and finally
filled and baked in the round. We made muffins in a fraction of the time with a great deal less work.
We could also use apple sauce and different spices to produce different flavors. Since we had lots of
time and no money we spent a lot of time playing in the kitchen inventing new types of food. We had
lots of oil in our storage, so we deep fried all kinds of wheat products. We made pasta and wheat
thick crackers. I call them thick because they were. We tried to make them thin, but never got them
thin enough. They still tasted good, so we ate them. We really didn't have any uneatable failures
except one. My first pressure canning experience was with Chicken. It turned out great, so I thought
vegetable should be easy right? Wrong. lover cooked the green beans and they tasted burnt. It
made me sick to think of all that time and effort and blessings in growing green beans in rotten
northern Georgia red soil, just to be pressure burned into an uneatable green brown lump. To this
day I still shy away from pressure canning and prefer freezing instead.
Our water storage also produced a few lessons. The first was discovered when we were rotating
our water storage that we had in empty 2 liter soda bottles. The first was great. It was from an old
Sprite bottle. It tasted great with a light citrus flavor. Then we tried the root beer container. It
tasted like extremely strong black licorice. That one got poured out. We had been previously warned
against using old milk containers, so we avoided that possible disaster. We also had been told to
elevate our water containers, so they did not come in contact with the cement floor. Evidently cement
floor flavor leaches into plastic containers and taints the water. Glad I missed that one.
our water storage that we had in empty 2 liter soda bottles. The first was great. It was from an old
Sprite bottle. It tasted great with a light citrus flavor. Then we tried the root beer container. It
tasted like extremely strong black licorice. That one got poured out. We had been previously warned
against using old milk containers, so we avoided that possible disaster. We also had been told to
elevate our water containers, so they did not come in contact with the cement floor. Evidently cement
floor flavor leaches into plastic containers and taints the water. Glad I missed that one.
To solve the food storage equipment problem I started my first business. I sold kitchen gadgets at
home parties. I started my business with two or three suppliers that I researched and contacted.
That was Inspired from my years with JCPenneys and the buying experience that it taught me.
Anyway, my ward and stake friends supported me and held parties in their homes. I sold enough
items to buy my own electric wheat grinder and other pressure canning tools that I needed. The only
thing that I can say about this small business is that Heavenly Father takes what you have and
inspires you and encourages you to try until you succeed. The business made enough money to buy
equipment, but not enough to live on and after all, I had three children and a fourth on the way. I
didn't have time to run a full time business.
home parties. I started my business with two or three suppliers that I researched and contacted.
That was Inspired from my years with JCPenneys and the buying experience that it taught me.
Anyway, my ward and stake friends supported me and held parties in their homes. I sold enough
items to buy my own electric wheat grinder and other pressure canning tools that I needed. The only
thing that I can say about this small business is that Heavenly Father takes what you have and
inspires you and encourages you to try until you succeed. The business made enough money to buy
equipment, but not enough to live on and after all, I had three children and a fourth on the way. I
didn't have time to run a full time business.
Food storage was only part of the survival equation. We worked at what ever came our way to
provide income. I was a housekeeper for $50 a week for awhile, got a job delivering the newspaper
just before I found out I was expecting my fourth child. I had morning sickness so bad that my
husband had to make the deliveries for the first couple of months for me. But I wasn't the only one
inspired to find work. My spouse sold our mini-van, I cried, but it had to be done and I supported it.
He bought used cars and fixed them up and sold them. He also helped sew clothes for our children
and I made creative patches for there warn out spots. They had little characters on them. I made
them from scrap material and puff paints. I also designed and made washable diapers and saved a
ton of money. We finished the basement to our home and rented it out. It was like a small 2 bedroom
apartment with a kitchenette. We both worked on finishing a basement for a family in our ward and
was paid a very generous $1000.
provide income. I was a housekeeper for $50 a week for awhile, got a job delivering the newspaper
just before I found out I was expecting my fourth child. I had morning sickness so bad that my
husband had to make the deliveries for the first couple of months for me. But I wasn't the only one
inspired to find work. My spouse sold our mini-van, I cried, but it had to be done and I supported it.
He bought used cars and fixed them up and sold them. He also helped sew clothes for our children
and I made creative patches for there warn out spots. They had little characters on them. I made
them from scrap material and puff paints. I also designed and made washable diapers and saved a
ton of money. We finished the basement to our home and rented it out. It was like a small 2 bedroom
apartment with a kitchenette. We both worked on finishing a basement for a family in our ward and
was paid a very generous $1000.
As jobs came and went we eventually were inspired that we needed to move to Utah. We sold our
home on a long term contract to our renters, packed everything we owned into the largest U-haul that
we could rent and headed for Utah. Neither one of us had a job or a place to live when we reached
our destination, but we were blessed again when we arrived. Eventually my husband got a job and
we found a place to rent. Just around the corner from our rented home we found a home for sale by
an owner who lived in California. They no longer wanted it as a rental, so they sold it to us for "Take
over payments." It needed a lot of work, but what a great blessing it was. We lived there 11 years
and started another business that actuallyy supplied enough money to live on, but we never forgot the
lessons that we learned from our nearly solely food storage days. We continued to buy in bulk the
food items that we used the most and lived on less by applying the lesson we learned from living on
food storage.
home on a long term contract to our renters, packed everything we owned into the largest U-haul that
we could rent and headed for Utah. Neither one of us had a job or a place to live when we reached
our destination, but we were blessed again when we arrived. Eventually my husband got a job and
we found a place to rent. Just around the corner from our rented home we found a home for sale by
an owner who lived in California. They no longer wanted it as a rental, so they sold it to us for "Take
over payments." It needed a lot of work, but what a great blessing it was. We lived there 11 years
and started another business that actuallyy supplied enough money to live on, but we never forgot the
lessons that we learned from our nearly solely food storage days. We continued to buy in bulk the
food items that we used the most and lived on less by applying the lesson we learned from living on
food storage.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen
Sally B
Sally B
Notes:
1. starting out in an apartment, canned foods, stored in closet
2. Married with small children in Georgia, inspired to get my food storage in right away, sold a
house and took $1500 from the proceeds and bought food storage basics, followed the plan in the
churches' book "Home Storage and Production," equipment - hand cranked wheat grinder & no
muffin pans to fit round oven, extended food storage - foods that we eat every day, fuel storage-
chafing dish fuel, briquettes; water storage - do's and don'ts - 2 liter soda bottles, clothing storage
- material, sewing, needles & thread, sewing machine, homemade diapers, "Make a Mix" cook
books, the need for better equipment - electric wheat grinder, canning jars & pressure canner,
started a small business in kitchen gadgets to help pay for better equipment, my first canning
experience, Using all your resources - Spouse, Gifts & talents, endless inspiration,
house and took $1500 from the proceeds and bought food storage basics, followed the plan in the
churches' book "Home Storage and Production," equipment - hand cranked wheat grinder & no
muffin pans to fit round oven, extended food storage - foods that we eat every day, fuel storage-
chafing dish fuel, briquettes; water storage - do's and don'ts - 2 liter soda bottles, clothing storage
- material, sewing, needles & thread, sewing machine, homemade diapers, "Make a Mix" cook
books, the need for better equipment - electric wheat grinder, canning jars & pressure canner,
started a small business in kitchen gadgets to help pay for better equipment, my first canning
experience, Using all your resources - Spouse, Gifts & talents, endless inspiration,
Qualifying for blessings - desire, trying to keep all the commandments, obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel,
4. Meals for large families and individuals - home made TV dinners
5. Best time to buy - Case lot sales for canned goods and more, Holidays for baking products like
flour, baking powder, baking soda, & sugars, Turkey & Ham, Fall for tough chicken ... warning
about potatoes in the fall ... great sales sometimes means old potatoes to clear their stock before the new stock comes in.
flour, baking powder, baking soda, & sugars, Turkey & Ham, Fall for tough chicken ... warning
about potatoes in the fall ... great sales sometimes means old potatoes to clear their stock before the new stock comes in.
6. 72 hour kits for singles, newlywed, young family, single parents, older couples, older singles
7. "Provident Living" the next step in food storage
