amightyfortress

hahaha I scrolled too fast and didn't see rameuptom's post. Nice to see your wife also discovered the great meal stretching and budget pleasing uses for wholewheat berries, too. They're great, aren't they? I don't know why more people don't use them.

Cook up the wheatberries until they are soft. Then knead them into raw hamburger meat so it's all mixed up. You can then use the hamburger mixture as you normally would to make meatloaf, or fry it up for taco meat, or make chili, etc.

I always stored six months of food and I'm not even LDS. But I knew people who were LDS and I always thought that was an excellent idea to store food, clothes, water, and other items. When I began to see the economy going bad about 1.5 years ago and I've also been having a little voice inside keep saying "be prepared" I decided to up my food storage. My goal is a seven year supply. I don't know why seven (not six, not eight... hahaha) but like I said, there's an inner voice urging me to store for seven years... anyway... The first thing I did was buy a one year supply of the Mormon Four: Wheat, powdered milk, salt, honey. I also bought the Back-to-Basics handcranked grainmill, some Crisco, and a decent sized bottle of vegetable oil. So in one fell swoop, I had a full one-year supply of food storage for a really reasonable price and I instantly felt a weight lifted from me. Plus, I already had six months food on hand (so it really became a 1.5 year supply). Now, everytime I stock up more, it just expands my food/menu options. I'd suggest getting the Mormon Four right in the beginning to give you peace of mind... and then adding the additional items to make it more pleasing. Oh, and don't let the food storage just sit there for decades, use it. I use my wheat, dried beans, etc. all the time so it's always getting rotated. One more thing... store water, too. Plus other non-food items like clothes, blankets, first aid, etc. But water is very important. The more, the better.

I have powdered cheese (the kind similar to what comes with macaroni and cheese). I also buy Aldi brand "Velveeta" in a box which you can only open if you have refrigeration afterwards. In a no-electric situation, I'd use the powder... with a cold storage space, the boxed cheese will work.

ADVICE for anyone who has their food storage already in place... I'm use to rotating my provisions and I know how to use all the foods I store and incorporate them into my daily living. However, I just spent an entire month living 100% on my food storage just to see what it would be like and to see where I would fall short. I now know I need more eggs, butter, meat, cheese. Also, beverages. Too much water, too much powdered milk (which I do like) get boring. Even making the milk into cocoa and making homemade lemonade got a bit tiring when you consider you're eating 90 meals in a month (3 meals a day x 30 = 90). And then sometimes you're thirsty between meals. Trust me, water-milk-cocoa-lemonade get boring fast. There were also days I was either busy or just felt "lazy" and didn't feel like cooking and on those days, ready made meals like Mountain House might have been nice. I don't have any "easy" ready made meals on hand and that needs to change :) Even if I don't go the Mountain House route, ravioli in a can or Chunky soup or something similar would be just as easy. So once your storage is in place... give it a test run. Better to test yourself now when you have a chance to correct any gaps in your storage... than to find out during an emergency that things aren't quite as pleasant as you thought they'd be.

Another note... if you don't put any sweetener in the pancake batter, you can use two pancakes in place of bread for sandwiches.

People should make a beans and rice dish every week. That way, you stay in practice of how to use the items and the family gets use to eating it. Same with bread, grind some grain and make a couple loaves of bread each week (or if you're "lazy" make wholewheat muffins or pancakes--those are alot easier to make than bread).

For a good laugh, this YouTube regarding food storage is a must see!

You are so right. I had a similar discussion with my mother who has one of those bookcases with doors on it she stores food in. She thinks she's stocked up. I pointed out she would need 365 cans of food if she was willing to "survive" on eating only 1 can of food per day for an entire year. You should have seen how big her eyes got. People have no clue just how much food they eat.Thing is, she's got the money and she's got the space, what she lacks is the conviction and the belief that anything "bad" can happen in America. The previous homeowners were LDS and raised 4 kids in that home, so space is not an issue. The entire lower level is completely set up for food storage with shelving and everything. She just won't do it.

I'm you've got kitty cats, toss the live weevils into a bowl. They'll love you for it.

My next goal is seven years on the grains, and a full year on the water storage. I currently have one month's worth of water. (However, I can see Lake Michigan from my backyard, so I have quite the "backup system" of water available...hahaha)

I like doom and gloom. That's what nudged me into taking my food storage from a six months supply to a two year supply (and three on the powdered milk). I started seeing doom and gloom reports last fall and that's all it took to put me into food storage hypermode. Now I feel fantastic knowing I'm prepared. I even stocked up on non-food items, clothes, blankets, etc. (and water :) I was fortunate to kick into hypermode starting last fall before the prices really shot up. I sleep well at night now.

This may seem a bit gross, but weevils are edible. If you don't want to eat them, you KNOW the cat would have an unbelievably good time if you sifted them out of the flour and added them to the catfood bowl.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

You're eating really healthy, but what if we have bad economic times, famine, or some upheaval of our government? How many of those foods you enjoy would still be available for purchase? It's something to think about.

I'm not an Asian immigrant, but I do eat rice almost every day. Usually 1/2 cup dry per day (which is about 1-1/2 cups once it's cooked). If more Americans ate rice everyday (and beans, wheat, oats, etc.), they might not be having as many financial difficulties. Rice is cheap and easy to work into meals. Same with wholewheat. My grinder is always attached to the table and ready to go. Need some flour to thicken gravy? A few spins of the handcrank and I've got my couple tablespoons of flour. Feel like yummy pancakes? One minute of vigorous spinning makes the flour. I would not stock up on brussel sprouts, I hate them. But I do stockpile wheat and when the wheat ran out (as well as the bulk spelt, oat groats, etc.), I upped the amount of rice I keep on hand. Normally, I'll keep 75 pounds or so of rice on hand, but I upped it to 150 pounds now that the wheat and other items are hard to get.

I only consider it to be "hoarding" if you're buying up particular items in a willy-nilly fashion and don't usually eat the items or know what to do with them. If I buy 104 cans of tuna (1 can per week for 2 years = 104 cans) I don't consider that hoarding. Same with rice, I do eat rice so I was down to 50 pounds and purchased another 100 pounds last week. It just happened to coincide with the recent surge in rice purchases. I actually use my wheat on a daily basis and my grainmill is always attached to my kitchen table. So, in times of trouble, I could be accused of "hoarding" because I have so much on hand, but I don't consider what I do to be hoarding. I just like being prepared and food storage is part of my lifestyle.

It's sad the wheat is out. I wanted to buy 2009's wheat supply now, but the wheat is gone. I'm glad to have 2008's supply gathered in, but I'm concerned that I'm not prepared enough. What if the crops fail? What if there are pests? What if a vulcano blows up somewhere and blots the sun and nothing grows? This is an uneasy feeling. Since wheat stores so well for so long, once there's enough wheat in stock again, I will expand my wheat (and rice, etc.) to a 7 year supply (just like in The Bible) because this current situation is making me feel skittish and unprepared. I never thought I could feel this way with having a two year supply of food on hand (one year worth of wheat and another year worth of corn, rice, oats, spelt, etc.) but with the current economic climate, I feel a pressing urgency to be even more prepared. p.s. I also have water, canned goods, meats, milk, honey, 72 hour kit, other stuff, etc, etc, too :)

Sounds alot better than that Frankenmargarine they sell in the stores. At least it's milk, salt, ghee, not a chemistry experiment :)

Ball Blue Book of Preserving, that's what you need.

oops, sorry, it posted twice :)

I agree with you about having a firearm and using it. If someone were to ASK for assistance or food, I'd certainly offer it, it's the right thing to do. However, if someone came to forceably TAKE what I have (especially when it comes down to provisions I need to survive) then they are basically threatening my existence and if I shot them, it's self-defence.

One of my favorite things about Emergency Essentials (besides all their great products) is their shipping rates: Up to $60.00 $6.00 $60.01-$120.00 $9.00 $120.01 or more $12.00 Shipping based on contiguous 48 states So, you could order a couple thousand pounds of wheat, honey, rice, sugar, beans, etc. and it's $12.00 for the shipping.

Go to Emergency Essentials - Be Prepared Emergency Preparedness Food Storage (click on the link). Right away you'll see a picture of the catalog and it says "click here to view our monthly catalog". Click on that. Then you'll see number 1, 2, 3, 4, .... the water barrels and free siphon info is on page 36.

Emergency Essentials - Be Prepared Emergency Preparedness Food Storage is offering a special right now where you get a free siphon if you purchase one or more water barrels. You need to type the word "siphon" in the box somewhere when you order it. You don't order the siphon, you type the word in. It's part of their March catalog specials.