Sunday, August 30, 2009

My Mamma's gonna be so proud of ME!

Okay, lets start at the very beginning--- two Sundays ago at Stake Conference our Stake President asked all of our stake to have a 3 month supply of food, water and medications by SEPTEMBER 30th. WOW WEE! Have you ever sat down and really thought about what it would take to have a full 3 month supply for FOOD? Talk about overwhelming! I was a little besides myself, but knew that it was something that we needed to do. The spirit was so undeniably strong when President Ostler asked this of our stake. Flint and I sat down and talked about how we were gonna do this and decided we needed a plan, cuz you just can go to the store and start buying all sorts of random things! So luckyfor me one of my good friends mom is the "food storage lady" in her ward and she gave me all sorts of great information. Flint and I made a plan and have been working for the past two weeks to obtain a 3 month supply. It has been a very interesting and a HUGE learning process for me. First we made a menu for two weeks, then figured out what ingredients we needed for all these meals and multiplied it by six...wow it was so amazing to figure out what we needed to have to feed our small family for three months!!! Flint has been building storage shelves, I have been VERY busy learning new things and think that just maybe I have a new hobby...here are some pictures of my most proudest (is that even a word?) accomplishments!


NOPE, not dog food, HAMBURGER! Yep I canned almost 40 lbs of hamburger! It looks so disgusting, but I just don't have a freezer big enough (who does?)for all the chicken, roast, fish, hamburger, veggies, ice cream, etc. for a thee month supply. So the hamburger got the boot from the freezer! I hear that is tastes just like chicken hahaha just kidding, I've been promised that I would never know it was canned when we eat it! We shall see.
pardon the photography, Flint was at a church meeting tonight when I wanted the picture taken!


I also figured out that you can can somethings with the "Food Saver machine", so the experimenting began...
here is some powdered milk...did you know that if you DON'T put a napkin or paper towel in the top of your jar of powdered milk before you dry can it, that it can cover an entire kitchen in a fine dust in a matter of a few seconds? Trust me on this!


potato flakes, pecans, and of course CHOCOLATE CHIPS! (I also did brown sugar, but was too lazy to go get it from the storage closet for a stupid picture)
My food storage would not have been complete without some CHOCOLATE!
YIPEE for me I learned how to can food and now I want to can EVERYTHING in sight!
The next items I want to can is chicken and beans. I really want a pressure caner of my own, maybe Santa Clause will some through for me! I do still believe!

As of today all we lack to finish is more chicken and frozen veggies, and a few more cases of water! YEE HA

9 comments:

Tommy n DeAnn said...

Whoa. I am impressed. Wanna come visit me in Seattle and help me get started?

Michelle Woodland said...

YAY for you. I love "the food storage lady". I have canned chicken and hamburger as well. We tested the canned chicken, and it was great. Now just don't forget to store your non-food items!!! You want to have toilet paper, shampoo, and especially deorderant. It is easy to get hooked.

Unknown said...

I love it. Yes make sure you don't forget the non-food items. Have you canned the ingredients for cookies in a jar. Love it. Just do your favorite cookie recipe and layer all the dry ingredients. It's simple, looks great on the shelf and is easy to make when you want cookies. I also love my canned chicken and beef. I haven't done hamburger yet but it is next. As Michelle says it is easy to get hooked.

Chris and Suzette said...

You are the woman! I LOVE food storage!! Do you coupon? It a GREAT way to get toothpaste, deodorant, TP and paper towels, shampoo, etc because you don't need them now so you can save the coupons for when there are GREAT deals and pay next to nothing for your year supply :)
It's addicting! I LOVE canning, storing, hording, planning, and rotating. My latest favorite thing is canning pinto beans!
Good luck! I would love to know about the 3 months of meals you are working on.

Michelle Ashton said...

Very cool! We have been working on ours as well. I am learning to can as well. I have never done the hamburger. Was it easy? My mom was here over the weekend and we did tomato juice and tomato sauce with tomatos from our garden. Very interesting. I would love to do stuff like chocolate chips too.

Ammie said...

That is so awesome! You've got to show me how to do all this! I need to get started and have a plan. You're amazing!

Mary Anne said...

you are hilarious! good for you...you seem to be quite on the ball with this! i would have loved to see powdered milk all over your kitchen :)

TJ and Jen Sherwood said...

good for you Jan! I am so jealous, do you want to come to my house and can food for me?? You know you wanna!!

The Gardners said...

You've got to talk to Jane! She is so organized with a binder and everything! She even goes on several camping trips a year just to make sure she can survive with her supply!