Food storage

[Iggy]

One of the sisters in Relief Society is a group leader with Emergency Preparedness.

Each month she tells us what is on special sale and if we wish to purchase any, then we get the special price and NO shipping charges.

Last month I bought salt, baking soda, & powdered shortening. I went on line and signed up for a catalog to be mailed to me, and then I cruised their website.

I cashed in my life insurance policy (one my Mother purchased in 1954 through Prudential - husband has one already for me that pays out much more), and I used half of the money to purchase two 6' X 30" X 17" DIY cupboards and 167 lbs of dehydrated and freeze dried foods.

I haven't got the cupboards put together yet. Did make room in our bedroom for one of them and already have room at the end of the hallway for the other.

Yesterday I spent from 1 pm until 6 pm repackaging some of the food. The freeze dried green pepper bits, fd celery bits, fd sliced mushrooms, fd diced white onions, dehydrated vegetarian chicken flavored broth, double chocolate brownie mix.

Used my FoodSaver to vacuum seal in smaller portions. Most of what got vacuumed sealed I put back into the can.

I also bought some empty spice jars to put spices I bought already at Cash & Carry. Then I vacuumed sealed what was left in the large containers.

I made lunch yesterday using the FD Chicken, dehydrated diced carrots, fd celery, onions, green peppers, fd cauliflower and broccoli. Of course each one has a different serving size and each uses either warm, hot or boiling water and all for different times. Well, I figured I was just going to use boiling water, and let it re-hydrated until the carrots were ready.

Put approximately 3 servings of each into my new wide mouth 4 quart measuring/mixing bowl- then added 8 quarts of boiling water. The water got sucked up, didn't even overflow! Let it sit for 20 minutes while the wild rice was cooking in the rice cooker. Then I drained it, saving the excess water, all 1.5 pints of it, which I will use monday to add to my homemade Mexican Chicken soup.

Then put the 4 quart container full of re-hydrated food into the microwave and nuked for 3 minutes, stirred well and nuked some more for 2 minutes. By then the rice was done, and so was my version of chicken stir fry.

It tasted like I had used fresh everything!! It also made more than the 3 servings. Husband had two servings, I had one and we invited our neighbor for lunch and he had one. I sent him home with a serving, and tonight for dinner Husband had the remaining two servings!!

Last night I also made a batch of the Brownies. A #10 can equals 3 batches of brownies plus a short batch. A batch is 3 1/2 C. So I got 3 bags plus a bag that only had 2 1/2 C. It is a good tasting brownie mix too. Only add water. 1/2 of HOT water per 3.5 C of mix.

If I didn't already have 6 boxes of Swiss Miss hot cocoa in the cupboard, I would open the hot milk chocolate just to give it a try.

I also bought a #10 can of quick oats. What I was going to do was package them up in single serving packets. We like the instant oatmeal packets- but don't like the ones with sugar already in them. Would I have to vacuum seal them, or would they be okay in snack size zipper bags?

Anybody else use Emergency Essentials? I am really impressed with them. For the 167 pounds of food, the shipping cost was only $12.00!

I already have a list going for items I want to get later.

[pam]

I use Emergency Essentials. There is a store about 3 miles from me. I always wished I could find people to participate in the monthly group specials around here. There are some good deals on items if you buy in bulk.

Edited September 18, 2011 by pam

[Iggy]

I use Emergency Essentials. There is a store about 3 miles from me. I always wished I could find people to participate in the monthly group specials around here. There are some good deals on items if you buy in bulk.

Bring it up to your RS Emergency Preparedness sister. That is how this sister got interested in it. Go get a catalog from the store and any other literature aka sale ads and go ask the sisters to join.

There is our Branch and the ward in the next town that are involved. One person needs to be the one whose house accepts all the deliveries, and who re-boxes the food for each person who orders it. For us, the order doesn't go in unless paid for in advance. Once the money is in the bank, then the order is done via on line, using a credit card for payment against the bank account the payments were deposited into to.

Twice a year, at our evening meetings, our refreshments consists of meals, snacks, desserts made with foods from Emergency Essentials- complete with recipes! That is one of the reasons I decided to purchase from them. Tasted broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn salad with Colby cheese. ALL are FD!! Yummy, took a serving home to husband and he loved it.

Pam, if you lived within 50 miles of me, I would deliver to you.

I am just so excited about this bounty of food I now have - even have 25 pounds of whole grain hard red wheat. Tuesday, that pail gets opened and I start measuring & grinding so I can re-package into batches to vacuum seal.

[Dravin]

Anybody else use Emergency Essentials? I am really impressed with them. For the 167 pounds of food, the shipping cost was only $12.00!

Honeyville grains ships for $4.49 for the entire order if it's in the contiguous 48. Looks like Honeyville does bags versus Emergency Essential's buckets (50lb bag of wheat for $49 versus 45lb bucket of wheat for $47) so I could see the higher cost for the food and shipping being worth the convenience of it coming in the bucket. I haven't compared other items (Honeyville does more than just the grains the name implies) so one may become the clear superior depending on just what you are trying to buy.

Edited September 18, 2011 by Dravin

[Iggy]

Honeyville grains ships for $4.49 for the entire order if it's in the contiguous 48. Looks like Honeyville does bags versus Emergency Essential's buckets (50lb bag of wheat for $49 versus 45lb bucket of wheat for $47) so I could see the higher cost for the food and shipping being worth the convenience of it coming in the bucket. I haven't compared other items (Honeyville does more than just the grains the name implies) so one may become the clear superior depending on just what you are trying to buy.

I checked them out - and there is no way I can move a 50# bag around. I had to lay the bucket on it's side and roll it into the dining room from the front door. The FedEx guy refused to come further into the house! [[i had just picked up, vacuumed and dusted too:cool:]].

Dravin, I knew from the get go that I was going to be re-packaging the grains, it was just a matter of me moving the stuff around when it got here. No way did I want to open the bag in the living room, cart it gallon by gallon through the dining room and into the kitchen. The buckets I can put on our hand dolly and transport down the hallway to the storage cupboard.

[lds2]

I like to buy from Walton Feed in bulk and then put the freeze dried or dehydrated food into cans using the canner I borrow from the dry pack cannery. Freight is cheaper if you do a group buy. If I make a trip to Bear Lake I can bring the bags home with me!

I find that when I buy from the already packaged stores that some cans can be half full depending on what's in the can and where I buy it from. Here in the SLC area we have Emergency Essentials, Augason Farms, Honeyville, Saratoga Farms and Thrive and so we have a lot of choice and we can shop around to get the best deals.

But when comparing foods you need to make sure you compare not just the price but the amount that is in the can and the quality...like you wouldn't compare freeze dried bananas with dehydrated, or food from China compared to Idaho. I noticed that Emergency Essentials in their last ads whited out the ounces on their cans and its not on their online ads either. I had to call to find out how many ounces of peaches I would be getting if I bought their sale item.

Honeyville has a 15 percent off on their foods if you buy a case right now if you go to their store near the SLC airport their in store prices are cheaper and there is no shipping. If you want to buy beans like kidney, the other stores usually buy theirs from Honeyville and then mark them up, and you get a great selection if you are willing to can them yourself.

Of course the Macey's sale is coming up where they offer the Augason brand at usually good sale prices.

While it can be a little like "Black Friday" with people waiting in line before the store opens, Auguson's outlet store has had some great conference sales and so I always watch for their sales too.

The Ready Store has a new outlet in Draper, they look like they compete most directly with Thrive in that their products are not sourced from China and their cans are all the way full, at least those I have checked out so far. They are expensive but good quality, I particularly liked their "super sweet" corn, their brand name is Sarasota Farms.

But if I were going to buy pre-made mixes I would get the Make-a-mix type books at Amazon and make my own. You can use a vacuum sealer and many of the mixes are delicious and very easy to make. Larger portions can be stored in PETE bottles that you can use with an oxygen absorber...I buy mine for Industrial Container Supply in West Valley.

I also like to make soups using "Dinneri is in the Jar" method because then I can open the jar and have a meal that will last a while. You can vacuum seal jars using a special adapter and the food will last a long time.

Make a mix

Amazon.com: Make-A-Mix (9780762426027): Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward, Madeline Westover: Books

Dinner is the Jar

Amazon.com: Dinner Is In The Jar: Quick and Easy Dinner Mixes in Mason Jars or Mylar Bags (bw) (9781450550925): Kathy Clark: Books

I like to cook all at one time and then get the food out of the freezer in meal portion sizes...

Amazon.com: Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites: More Great Recipes That Save You Time and Money from the Inventors of the Ultimate Do-Ahead Dinnertime Method (9780312534042): Mary Beth Lagerborg, Mimi Wilson: Books

Amazon.com: Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family (9781603427265): Kati Neville, Lindsay Tkacsik: Books

If you have the storage, a meal in a bag is a great way to know you have everything to make a meal including the water (if there were an emergency that's good to know) and know how many breakfast/lunch/dinners you have...

Amazon.com: It's in the Bag a New Approach to Food Storage (9781599553856): Michelle Snow, Trent Sno: Books

The dry pack cannery has cases of foods already canned and packed in the cases and they will deliver them to your door if you don't want to go pick them up yourself or live too far away. Of course buying them yourself at the dry pack cannery is cheaper then buying them through the LDS Catalog where you will pay more because the shipping is included (at least the last time I checked.)

Home Storage - LDS Online Store

Costco and Sam's Club often have the best prices in bulk prices for grains, I really like Sam's price on 50 lbs of popcorn, it's been around $17 for years and it is excellent quality in popping and size. Again, many stakes or dry packs canneries have canners you can borrow and use.

It's case lot sale time in Utah!!!

Edited September 18, 2011 by lds2

[arwenmark]

Speaking of Pop Corn, I believe that popcorn makes the best ground corn meal for the grind it yourself person.

[Iggy]

The dry pack cannery has cases of foods already canned and packed in the cases and they will deliver them to your door if you don't want to go pick them up yourself or live too far away. Of course buying them yourself at the dry pack cannery is cheaper then buying them through the LDS Catalog where you will pay more because the shipping is included (at least the last time I checked.) Home Storage - LDS On line Store It's case lot sale time in Utah!!!

This is new- was not available the last time I checked on line. Thanks for the link. BTW- shipping is FREE! BUT tax is not.

I paid $46.95 for 45# pail of Hard Red Wheat. That is $1.04 pound. Shipping is $6.00 so now that cost per pound is $1.18 pound.

Through the church a case of #10 cans, total weight of 33 pounds of wheat, costs $28.00 w/NO shipping charges. That is $0.85 a pound.

Well, I will purchasing my wheat from the church from now on. Since I plan on making bread on a regular basis, and in grinding my own flour, then it makes sense to purchase the grain in case lots- two to three cases at a time. Done in #10 cans is perfect for me.

I don't want to vacuum seal in glass jars. I would rather do the bags. Though probably the long term cost will turn out to be cheaper for the jars and FoodSaver jar attachment. Nope, the jar attachment is $9.99 for just one lid- I'll stick to the bags. If the bags are dropped, they won't break. They might break a toe or bones in the foot if it lands on my foot! But the bag won't be damaged. Nor will the food inside.

Pop Corn- heard that too about it. My husband might object to his pop corn being ground up- BUT he does love his cornbread and syrup.