“B A C K TO B A S I C S”

www.providentliving.com - calculator sheet to tell you how many pounds you

need to store for your family. You can type in any amount of time; start with one
month even; don’t get ALL of one food item, like rice, and then get another. Work
on all at the same time to equal it out, in little amounts…..thereby slowing
“building” a variety of food for your family.

www.providentliving.org – This site will let you see what the Bishop’s Storehouse
has in it for you to can. Along the top in blue you will see “No. 10 Can”…..that
tells you how much each #10 can weighs and the price of that one can. Looking
over to “Bulk” in blue you will see how that food comes ….as you can see, it
usually comes in a 25 lb bag and gives you the price.

To give you an idea of how many cans you’ll get from that 25 lb. bag, just look
back over to the weight of the cans. You’ll see black beans are 5.5 lbs per can. So
divide that into 25 lbs and you’ll see that you’ll get about 4 ½ cans. Look at a
“lighter” weight food like Oats……regular oats are 2.7 lbs per can and you’re using
the same amount of bulk bag. Divide that 25 lb bag by 2.7 and you’ll get over 9
cans! They package 6 cans into one box. This will help you figure how much
space you’ll need to store your food.

Here’s an example for you………

Storing food from using that “calculator” sheet for
2 adults, for 3 months, would be about 9 boxes total. (6 cans to a box).
see display.

When looking at “GRAINS”….you don’t have to store everything listed there of

course; they are suggestions. YOU STORE WHAT YOU EAT! If you want all rice
then store 185 lbs of rice for those 2 adults (you may get tired of that, but that’s
up to you….a variety of grains might add more nutrition, but it’s up to you.)

Under “LEGUMES”……I don’t like split peas or lentils; I just store the beans…….it’s
up to me and what my family likes to eat. I like nuts, but I understand they have
an under 2 year shelf life so I make sure and rotate them.
When starting to purchase your food storage; always buy from the Bishop’s
Storehouse because it will be cheaper.

When wanting to add more variety not offered at the Storehouse, these are 2
great sites to look at:

www.beprepared.com This site is also referred to as “Emergency Essentials”; I

refer to it as EE. Every month they’ll have sales on different items; you can ask to
be on their email list to be notified of this. Your ward reps should also be on their
list and notify their ward sisters of these deals as they come up. If you order
anything that is listed as a “Group Special”, your entire order has free shipping.
EE also has many recipes that can be helpful in learning how to cook with the FD
(freeze dried) food.

the other one I like is:

www.honeyvillegrain.com They can be cheaper than EE and offer better deals
when buying a case (6 cans), but their cans may have a few ounces less than EE;
but just check and compare. When EE has sales, then that item may be cheaper
to get it at EE.

Both are wonderful sites with excellent choices.

Here’s what FD (freeze dried) food means:

The item is first flash frozen at the peak of freshness, then a low-level heat is
applied inside a vacuum chamber. This process melts the ice crystals without
changing the cell structure of the food. Finally, the food is packed for long-term
storage. This process retains much of the color, texture, shape, flavor and
nutrition. They are guaranteed for freshness and taste for 10 years, but will last
much much longer.
I opened a can of my Mom’s that was 30-35 years old and although the color had
changed, the taste was still the same.

Another great site is www.waltonfeed.com They also offer many wonderful

varieties and different sizes of cans.
Here are two websites that I found most helpful when I was first getting use to
this whole food storage thing……

www.everydayfoodstorage.net
www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net

In referring back to the “Calculator” sheet to the categories we’ve been

encouraged to store…….

Those sites mentioned above will offer brown sugar, molasses, egg powder, dairy
products, etc.

I have also found a local dealer for raw honey……. there is absolutely no nutrition
in the regular “on shelf” honey at the supermarket. If it doesn’t saw “raw”, then
all the nutrients have been killed in the heating/processing procedure of
packaging.
Raw honey IS a FOOD – a very healthy one with many “healing” benefits. The lady
I get my honey from is near the Florida Mall. You can call her direct….Alease
Hansen; at 407-852-0712. They sell ONE GALLON of raw honey for $32.00; which
is about $15 less for the same raw honey from other sources. They have
wildflower and orange blossom. It gets my personal excellent recommendations.

My favorite oils to store that have many years of shelf life without going rancid is
at www.tropicaltraditions.com . They have a very high “smoke” level, meaning
they can be heated at high temperatures without turning hydrogenated; they
have NO trans fats. You will find the information most interesting.

It’s easy to take basic food storage and add the essentials that make
it tasty, and it needs to be done.

If you have stored only the basics, there’s very little you can do with it. By
adding even just a few things, it greatly increases your options, and the
prospect of your family surviving on it. ……..
like:
tomato powder
tomato stew, sauce, paste…..@ Costco
bouillon
powdered cheese
onions (dry onions available at the Storehouse)
spices
powdered eggs, powdered butter
peanut butter….organic @ Costco
oil (see my Tropical Tradtions site ….. www.tropicaltraditions.com
baking powder and soda
yeast

I can’t tell you how many “miracle” stories I have read of newly married couples
struggling with money (and other situations, etc.) but wanting to start their food
storage and how sales would just pop up right when they needed them….how
other things would just fall into place!

Heavenly Father WILL PROVIDE THE WAY AND MEANS…….if we just do

it…..obey……store and learn…….He will open doors; inspire you with where to
look, who to talk to, EVERYTHING will be opened to you……I’ve seen it happen like
a miracle in my own life!

When Steve and I had our oldest boys and when they were little I had figured out
what it would take for us to start our food storage (we had a start, but to
“complete” what I needed). We needed exactly $200. I can’t remember how
much I was figuring on or the length of time I was shooting for and this was 20
years ago too, but I remember praying over it about how to get this money. We
saved where we could and were trying hard to obey the commandment of storing
some food.

Steve had taken pictures on his mission in Thailand and the newspaper in Ft.
Lauderdale where he lived had printed some of his pictures before; well out of
the blue; they called the phone number they had on file; and asked for his current
number (we were living in Gainesville at the time). They wanted a couple of
pictures to print for some article……..would you like to guess EXACTLY HOW
MUCH they were going to pay him to use those pictures? Yes, $200.
I tell you, just have faith…..the Lord knows all; knows our circumstances…….He
will help and open the doors for us to do this!

My favorite all time quote concerning food storage...is from Pres Hinckley...
"There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give
heed." 

Here is another very interesting one that I bet not many are familiar with…
from Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone.....
"Now what about those who would plunder and break in and take that which
we have stored for our families' needs?  Don't give this one more idle thought. 
There is a God in heaven whom we have obeyed.  Do you suppose he would
abandon those who have kept his commandments?

The Lord won’t abandon us. In fact, He has declared that if we obey Him, He is
bound to bless us. In my opinion, this divine declaration applies to the
commandment to obtain our food storage just as it applies to any other
commandment.

The Lord has prepared a way for you to obey His commandment to obtain and
use long-term food storage. Once you start down that path, you will start to
receive the blessing He has in store for you and your family. The Lord will make
it possible, if we make a firm commitment, for every Latter-day Saint family to
have a year supply of food reserves……All we have to do is to decide, commit to
do it, and then keep the commitment.

Miracles will take place; the way will be opened.”

Pretty cool, huh!!!! 

I am teaching “food storage” classes at my home every month. A couple of sisters

representing each ward come and receive all the information. This is available to
you through them. Just ask your RS President who your “ward rep” is and they
can pass this info along to help you learn how to start using your food storage.

These are the subjects we have already covered:

Natural Remedies:
concerning skin care…making our own moisturizers, exfoliations, masks; how to
take care of our skin’s health naturally;
how to take care of ourselves during illnesses using natural remedies; all about
raw apple cider vinegar;
How to make cream cheese and sour cream with yogurt.

Soups:
Using potato flakes, dry milk and freeze dried vegetables to make soups. Many
varieties of soup recipes given; discussing FD tomato powder for soups, butter
and cheese powder; making your own Cream of Condensed Soups and
cornbreads.

Cakes:
Many varieties of cake recipes given; making your own different flavored “cake
mixes” and “pudding mixes” to be used in cake recipes. Making cake flour, icings;
information on all the dyes and chemicals that are put into our “prepared” mixes;
and the best hot cocoa mix ever.

Substitutions:
Fantastic information on how to sub oil in recipes; honey/sugar, etc.; making
your own evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk; homemade
mustard/ketchup; and all about flour.

Dry Powdered Milk:

Not just for drinking; in fact you don’t have to drink it at all, there are plenty of
ways to use it in cooking to use it all up! Everything you need to know about
making milk, chocolate milk; making Magic Mix as a base for sauces, gravy,
pudding and fudgsicles, etc.

Rest easy and don’t worry 

Think about it – if you only had the very basic items suggested on that
“Calculator” sheet; you wouldn’t go hungry…even if you didn’t know what to do
with them; you’d figure it out if you were hungry……your family WOULD HAVE
food.
So don’t think there’s a lot out there to learn…….it’s only extra stuff…….store your
food; you will have food to eat.

But of course and reasonably so….storing some extra items, like spices, bouillon,
etc. and maybe some FD or canned fruits and vegetables will make that “hungry”
time more endurable! BUT….it will come…………

….each monthly class at my home for the ward reps will cover ALL THE BASICS……
and then branching off to combining some of those basics together……like doing
breakfast foods, learning to “sprout” those beans, wheat stored, etc. You will be
able to receive all that information right to your own computer via email from
them to you and at your own pace and when time allows, can read it over and
start to become familiar with these items.

You can always “google” an item too for many recipes, for example this is what
you could type on google…… “recipes using black beans”, something like that and
tons of info will come up.

***Just make a goal of learning one food item from that Storehouse
list, once a month……use the information that you can obtain from your
ward reps, or use the info below…and just use one of those recipes one
time in that month……

Here are some food items available at the Storehouse and a recipe for them ~

First……BEANS ~
Our March class will be all about BEANS, so more detailed information will soon
be available to you……but for now……beans are SO SIMPLE.

Black, pinto, white beans…….rinse dry beans and put in bowl. Pour water over
them allowing enough water for them to expand alittle while soaking. Cover and
place on counter overnight. In the morning, drain and rinse. Put right into crock
pot; cover with more water with room for expanding, and cook on high for 5
hours! That’s it! Beautiful, wonderful beans ready for eating.
Here are spices, flavorings that work well with beans:
tomato sauce and chunks, Tabasco sauce
basil, thyme, cumin, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, sage, chili powder or cayenne,
parsley, crushed red pepper, minced onion
lime juice
molasses, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar
ketchup, dry mustard
green chiles can
onions, celery, garlic, all peppers, corn, all broth flavors, all salts and pepper

**Here’s a recipe using each on the beans available at the Storehouse:

refried beans are made from *Pinto beans. (Using cooked pinto beans, mash 2
cups of them. Add in alittle oregano, minced garlic and onion and alittle oil)….
…OR, this recipe: (kinda smiliar to making the condensed soups with white beans,
ground up, next page)…..

¾ c. ground (throw dry beans in electric grinder) pinto beans

2 ½ c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. bouillon
¼ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. chili powder
Cook while stirring over medium heat til thickens.

*White beans –grind into flour to replace your can of condensed soups:

Cream of Condensed Soup

(equal to 1 can of store bought condensed soup)
5 T. white bean flour
1 ¾ cup water or little less
1 – 1 ½ tsp. chicken bouillon
1 T. minced onions
pinch of pepper
½ - ¾ tsp. basil
¼ tsp. thyme
Whisk all dry ingredients down into water; bring to boil, reduce to medium while
stirring or whisking til thickens (just a few minutes).
For Chicken cream of condensed soup – all a little chicken if desired
For Mushroom soup – add either some fresh, FD or can of mushrooms
For Celery soup – throw in alittle FD celery

This will appear “runnier” than the can which is thicker, but it will cook up
beautifully!! and you will NOT believe how much BETTER the taste is!! And tons
healthier

I keep a baggie of this flour in my freezer and use it from there….easy as pie. It
will keep 6 weeks in the freezer, but then need to start fresh again.

Lots of casserole recipes call for 2 cans, so use ¾ cup of bean flour and just over 3
cups of water. You can double the spices, or use just a little less than double. The
“thyme” is one of my favorite spices, but it can overpower the recipe if you use
too much

**Helpful note: If it’s been a couple of minutes on the stove and the mixture
doesn’t seem to be thickening much, you’ve used too much water and not enough
bean flour…..just throw another tsp. or two in of the bean flour, stir and give it
another couple of minutes to thicken.

*Black Beans:
2 cups cooked black beans
1 onion, diced
4 tomatoes, chopped and (1 cup salsa, if you like)
2 garlic cloves or 1 tsp. minced garlic
1 each of green and red pepper, diced
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 T chili powder
1 ½ cup vegetable or chicken broth
2 tsp cumin
2 cups fresh corn (about 3 ears)
¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
3 T brown sugar
Now you can really just throw in whatever you want and delete any of the above
if you want……

Saute onion, tomatoes, garlic and peppers for about 3 minutes. Add everything
else (except beans and broth) and sauté another 2 minutes. Then stir in beans,
lower to simmer and cover for a few minutes. (this is if my beans are warm from
just being cooked; allow more time if you are taking cooked beans from the frig
for them to heat through).

Dry Powdered Milk ~

*Homemade “Year Supply” Sweetened Condensed Milk:

This is considered a 14 oz. store bought can:
½ cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered milk

Stir dry milk and sugar together in bowl.

Add water and whisk until smooth.
Can be stored in frig or frozen.

(Some sources mention that the water has to be “hot”; they must be first mixing
the water with the milk, but whenever you have other dry ingredients, mix the
milk with them and then you can use regular ole’ room temperature tap water, it
is much easier and quicker that way and less hassle and “assured” good mixing.)

*Fudge (this definitely gets my “thumbs up”! …..very creamy and great)
2 ½ - 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 14 oz can of homemade sweetened cond. milk which is:
½ cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered milk
dash salt
1 ½ t. vanilla extract
2/3 cup chopped nuts, optional
Make the condensed milk in a bowl separately, whisking til smooth. In a
saucepan, melt the chips with the condensed milk. Remove from heat and stir in
remaining ingredients. (This recipe does NOT require having to bring to a soft ball
stage or to a boil…..it is so easy, just melt together and you’re done!)

Spread evenly into a 8-inch pan lined with waxed paper. Chill in frig til firm
(doesn’t take long at all). Cut into squares – it is so creamy!

(I’ll skip some food items that we’re probably already using and are more familiar
with)

Wheat ~ from the Bishop’s Storehouse is offered in Hard Red (winter) or

Hard White (spring). There is no difference in fineness of ground flour, rising,
baking, crumb cutting or outside “look”, but when you cut it you’ll notice the
darker “looking” red wheat….I prefer this because of it’s full flavor. The hard
white looks like a “white” bread and is very mild in taste.

Wheat: Red vs White; Spring vs Winter

Home millers have definite preferences when it comes to wheat. Many favor hard
spring (white) wheat …… over winter (red) wheat for it's somewhat higher protein value
(and stronger gluten). Furthermore, some prefer the red variety for it's robust flavor
while others prefer the milder taste of white. (You can buy Vital Wheat Gluten at
www.honeyvillegrain.com and add a little to your hard red wheat when making bread.)

Some Background: Hard Red Wheat vs Hard White Wheat

Hard white wheat was developed from hard red wheat by eliminating the genes
for bran color while preserving other desireable characteristics of red wheat.
Depending on variety, red wheat has from one to three genes that give the bran
its red cast; in contrast, white wheat has no major genes for bran color. The
elimination of these genes results in fewer phenolic compounds and tannins in the
bran, significantly reducing the bitter taste that some people experience in flour
milled from red wheat. Nutritional composition is the same for red and white
wheat.

Flour from hard red winter wheat is often preferred for artisan breads.
 Artisan bread flour, which is milled from hard red winter wheat, resembles
French bread flour in its characteristics, that is, it is relatively low in protein
(11.5–12.5 percent). The low protein content provides for a crisper crust and
a crumb with desirable irregular holes...Artisan bread flour often has a
slightly higher ash content than patent flour. This creates a grayish cast on
the flour and is thought to improve yeast fermentation and flavor.

Our September class will be devoted to “Wheat”. But you don’t have to make
bread with it; you can crack it in a blender or little hand (coffee) grinder and use
for cracked cereal; or leave as the whole kernel it is and “puff” it to a softness for
cereal also……here’s that recipe using a thermos bottle:

*Puffed Wheat (meaning it has been softened and looks more full and round):
1 cup wheat (either variety)
3 cups boiling water
½ tsp salt

Add together in a thermos; screw lid on and leave overnight. In the morning
you’ll have a nice soft cereal; add some raw honey and milk and be full for quite a
while.

Storehouse Apples ~
Of course, great right out of the can for eating.
Can be reconstituted as “applesauce”. This can also sub for oil in recipes and you
don’t “taste” any apple flavoring – interesting!

*Dutch Apple Pie

(I’ve tried apple pie from many recipes, but truly, this is my favorite.)

2 cups dried apples firmly packed

Pour 2 cups boiling water over apples and let set for 5-10 minutes.
Mix together:
1/3 cup sugar
½ tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg
2 T flour
Add to apples and cook until thick over medium heat; stirring constantly to
prevent scorching. Pour into pie shell (uncooked) and dot with 1 T butter.
Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup butter
½ cup flour
Cut in until crumbly. Sprinkle over the apple mixture.
Bake 350 for 55 minutes.
*halfway thru baking, I cover loosely with foil.

Storehouse Carrots ~
These carrots are great! You can throw them in almost anything – always in
stews, soups, also in spaghetti sauce as it is simmering.

Here again, like with the Apple Pie; I have tasted many Carrot Cakes and this one
is hard to beat……so delicious!

*Carrot Cake
Stir together:
2 cup sugar
1 ½ cup oil (or use reconstituted apples for applesauce, same amount)
4 eggs

In separate bowl, combine and add to above:

2 cup flour (you can do ALL whole wheat flour and it’s still light and great…..but
you can always do half white flour and half wheat in any recipe without changing
the taste or fluffiness.)
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

Fold in:
3 cups finely grated carrots or if using Storehouse ones, pour water over 3 cups
dry carrots; let sit 10 minutes; then drain. (Before you pour water over, you can
blend them in the blender to break up the pieces a bit, but not necessary; I don’t
do this, but you can.)
¾ cups walnuts (optional)
Bake 350 for 50 minutes.

FROSTING ~
Blend together:
1 stick butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese
2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Storehouse Potato Flakes ~

A great item to have. They can be stirred into any soups, stews, to thicken them.
They can also replace some sugar in recipes:

Try cutting the sugar by half the amount called for in a recipe and replacing the
sugar with potato flakes (pot pearls will not work). If you do this with cookies,
however, they will not brown as well. In chocolate chip cookies, use all of the
brown sugar called for in the recipe, but replace the white sugar. This also works
well with oatmeal cookies, applesauce cookies and brownies (because they are a
“softer” cookie).

*Mashed Potatoes – for 9 servings….

Potato flakes and water are in equal amounts to reconstitute for mashed
potatoes.
3 cup boiling water
3 cup potato flakes
1 tsp salt
¼ cup butter
1 cup milk

Combine boiling water with all other ingredients but potatoes, and stir until
butter melts. Add in potato flakes, continuing to stir until they are dissolved.
(You can use sour cream or cream cheese for part of the milk; delicious too with
some cheese powder from all food storage sites previously listed.)

Beat just like you would with regular potatoes. This adds “air” to the potatoes,
making them fluffy, but don’t over-mix.