First things first

I know I'm emphasizing a lot the need to build food storage. However, what do you do if a fire starts in your house? Or an earthquake threatens your safety? Or you, for any other reason, need to get out quickly? Food storage won't help you in those scenarios. I'm challenging you to decide on an exit strategy for Family Home Evening. Make sure important things are in easy-access places. Make sure nothing that can fall over and injure someone is ever able to block a doorway. Rearrange your furniture if you have to. In order to set an example, I made my little plan.

You don't have to make a fancy one. You don't even have to write it down! Just make sure that every member of the family, especially the children, know how to get out of the house in a fire or earthquake. Decide on the following things: 

1. Where potential fire hazards are

2. Where important "must-grab" items are located (and change the location, if needed)

3. The most appropriate exits for certain situations

4. Dangerous places in the house, places to avoid (like a walk in closet or room with no exit)

5. Where heavy things are that could hurt people or trap them in a room

6. Who grabs what in an emergency (for us, I grab the laptops and files and 72-hour kit, Conrad grabs Ninners our beloved chinchilla).

Food Storage Friday

Remember the homemade tortilla post that Becky recommended? Well, on her sister's blog, there's also a great recipe for homemade pinto beans and refried beans. Check it out here.

Buying canned beans is much more expensive per unit of bean than buying them dried. One of the great things about cooking your own beans is that you can make a big batch, and freeze them in meal-sized containers! Don't freeze them all in one big container, or you'll have to thaw all of them in order to only use a little bit.

I, however, am a buyer of canned beans. If your family, like mine (consisting of me and 1 other person), is small or definitely doesn't eat enough beans, buying canned might be best for regular dinners. Frozen food does actually go bad. We would never eat a whole batch of beans before they went bad in the freezer. That should tell you how often we eat beans.

However, for food storage purposes, I would recommend buying a bag or two of dry beans. You'll be provided with a great source of protein if a disaster strikes. Learn how to cook beans. If that means you only need tocook them one time, then do it.

Also, look around at all the different kinds of beans! There's such a variety!
-pinto (chili anyone?)
-garbanzo/chickpeas (make your own hummus!)
-cannelini (great for bruschetta)
-lima beans
-peas
-lentils
-black beans
-soy beans (edamame)
-green beans
-cranberry beans

There are tons more. I think these are the recipes I'm going to do this month. Add to the list if you like!
-making regular homemade beans
-hummus
-chicken tortilla soup
-sprouting your own beans (and herbs)

Tuesday Storage

A new month, a new food storage item! For the month of March, we are adding beans! Canned or dried, get going!



This week for our 72-hour kits, add 1 week's worth of necessary medications. This might include pain killers, prescription drugs, birth control, cold medicine, etc.

Keep your eyes peeled for deals this month on beans, both dried and canned. Share on the blog if you know of any!

Motivational Monday

"Diligence is the mother of luck."
- Benjamin Franklin

I thought this was the perfect quote to start the first week of March. We make our own luck with hard work. Providence is all about working hard, being self-reliant, and having wisdom.

Wheat Grinder Winner!

This month I held a Wheat Grinder contest, and the winner is...

Sonya Bingham!

sonyabingham said...

I have been practicing the art of making homemade whole wheat bread. Now that I am getting better I would love to add this tool to my routine! Thanks for the opportunity!

If anyone has any ideas or products they would like to donate for future months' giveaways, email me! I also love to hear food storage recipes, or other Provident advice.

Food Storage Recipe

So, today's recipe isn't completely food storage friendly, and it has nothing to do with the month's theme of wheat and grains. But it's so good, I just have to share! In high school, my first job was working at a sandwich shop. I learned how to cook all kinds of good food there, including seasoned chicken.

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• raw frozen (or thawed) chicken - you don't have to use breasts. If you want legs or to season a whole chicken (I commend you, if you're seasoning a whole chicken) you could do this the same way.
• different seasonings and herbs in your cupboard (all FSF). These are the ones I used:
• parsley
• Montreal steak seasoning
• paprika
• salt
• seasoned salt and garlic salt
• minced onion
• black pepper (or red, if you like the flavor)
• herbes de provence or Italian seasoning blend

If you want a more distinct flavor, you could also use curry, cumin, or 5 spice, or any other seasonings you like.

 Line a pan with foil. This helps you later, as you won't have to wash your pan. Spray with cooking spray, and sprinkle the pan with salt and pepper so that the bottom side of the chicken gets some seasoning.
Lay the frozen chicken on the pan, and spray with cooking spray. This way the seasonings will stick. I like to cook my chicken from frozen. I don't have to think about thawing it that way. If you thaw your chicken, just cook it for a shorter amount of time.
Sprinkle the seasonings on the chicken. It will look really pretty.
Note: It seems freaky to put 2-3 layers of salt on the chicken (reg. salt, seasoned salt, garlic salt), but it's really not as much as you may think. Careful, though! There is such thing as too much.

 Bake at 350 F until cooked through. If you don't cook chicken often, you know when it's done when you split the breast at its thickest spot, and there is no pink meat. Beef is good if there is some pink, but chicken can be really gross if it's not cooked all the way. Make sure you check.

Yum! This can be chopped and mixed with celery, apple, and mayo to make a chicken salad, or you can slice and serve on a sandwich, or with pasta! It's really versatile. You could even add to a soup, along with the pan drippings.

Furniture Revamp

There's a Provident Living activity coming up on Thursday! Maria Rowe will be showing us all the different ways to re-purpose furniture! Bring a picture of a piece of furniture you are wanting to change, and get ideas from the workshop! And if that's not enough...
There will be treats and socializing!
If you need to RSVP or need the address, just leave a comment or email me (email found in the "Contact Me" section).
It starts at 6:00 at Sister Francis's house, but you can come late or leave early as your schedule allows.

Tuesday Storage Additions

This week for our 72-hour kits, we'll add a pocket knife.

For the month of February, we are adding a variety of grains to our Long term (and short term) storage. If you find any great deals or recipes including grains, let me know! I'll post them on the blog!

Motivational Monday

"Those who structure their standard of living to allow a little surplus, control their circumstances. Those who spend a little more than they earn are controlled by their circumstances. They are in bondage”

President N. Eldon Tanner "Constancy Amid Change," Ensign, Nov. 1979, 81

Food Storage Facial Scrub!

Food storage items can be used for purposes other than eating. For example bottled vinegar or lemon juice can be great cleaning agents.
Today, though, I used an exfoliating formula that I've used before, and I realized it's all food storage! There are tons of variations.

Main ingredient: Sugar
Other ingredients you can use: olive oil, honey, water, mashed banana or avocado, essential oils (just a drop), etc.

For most people, if an ingredient is natural and can be eaten, it's safe to put on the skin. I am highly allergic to peanut butter, so I would never eat it or put it on my face. Likewise, you should use wisdom when using kitchen ingredients.

 Use a spoonful of sugar...

 ...another spoonful of oil...

... and mix together. This could be where you stop. I've made facial scrubs with just oil and sugar, and I prefer it.

 Adding honey will make it very thick.

 Seriously, it will form into a little rock.

 If you've got some bad blemishes or bruises, you could add essential oil drops (these are my go-to guys) and use anywhere on the body.

 Wet face with warm water...

 ...and gently scrub face. I told you it was a little hard ball.

Be careful when scrubbing the sugar mixture into the face. If you scrub too hard, it can hurt. A small amount of redness is expected after using any kind of scrub (because you were basically scratching the dead skin off with a sand-like mixture).

If you are really wary of putting oil on your face, you can just use your regular face wash with a little sugar! I like using this scrub once a month or so, just to get my cheeks rosy and smooth.

Food Storage Friday

Today's recipe is totally FSF (Food Storage Friendly)!
Sweet Amish White Bread

All you need is
2 cups warm water
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1/1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour or all purpose flour

Dissolve the sugar into the warm water.

 Once dissolved, add the yeast.

Allow to foam up for about 10 minutes. It will look something like this.

Sorry the picture is skewed. Add the salt...

...and the oil...

...and stir.

Add the flour 1 cup at a time. It will start out really lumpy, but don't worry. As you add more flour, the lumps will work themselves out.

Knead the dough on a floured surface. Place in a well oiled bowl. Turn to coat. I sprayed a little extra PAM on mine.

Cover with damp towel and let rise for about 1 hour, until doubled in size. This is why you shouldn't preheat your oven until later, because there's a lot of rising to be done.

Again, sorry the picture is skewed. Look how much my dough rose!

So now would be a good time to preheat your oven to 350.

Ok, so your dough has risen. Punch it down and knead it a little more. This was the fun part for me. Your hands will get a little oily. Divide in half, shape into loaves, and place into well greased loaf pans.

Again, cover with damp towels and allow to rise until the loaf is 1 inch above the top of the pans.

Cook the bread for 30 minutes until golden, and remove from pans to cool. If you greased your pans really well, they will just tumble right out. 

Seriously, this bread is delicious! 

Wheat Grinder giveaway! Extension

I'm extending the cutoff day for the Wheat Grinder giveaway! You have one more week to comment on the original Wheat grinder giveaway post! I want as many people to enter as possible.

The cutoff date is now Thursday, February 24th.

Tuesday Storage Additions

This week for our 72 hour kits, we're adding a whistle.



For long-term food storage this month, add grains to your food storage! One year's worth of flour, oats, pasta, crackers, rice, corn, cornmeal, and even canned things like canned corn or hominy, etc.

How's your 3 month or long term supply coming?
Submit food storage recipes, questions, or ideas to my email, found in the "Contact Me" section of the blog.

Don't forget to enter the Wheat Grinder giveaway! It comes with 10 cups of whole raw red wheat berries! All you have to do is leave a comment on the "Wheat Grinder Giveaway" blog post. You can leave comments on other posts, but they won't count as a contest entry.

Motivational Monday

Love,
If you have it, you don't need anything else,
and if you don't have it,
it doesn't matter much
what else you have.

Food Storage Recipe

Today's Food Storage recipe is the simplest thing you will have ever done. EVER.
All you need:
1 cup wheat berries
4 cups water

Put both ingredients into a crockpot.

Set to the longest setting. My crockpot goes up to ten hours. I started this at night, and it was hot and ready when we woke up this morning.

Here's how it looks when it's done.

Then just treat it like oatmeal. Add butter, sugar, raisins, bananas, etc. My husband loved it. It's really hearty and dense, but very tasty.

I'm interested in using this with meat and veggies, instead of rice. It has a chewy texture similar to brown rice, and it's really delicious. It's super good for you, but it can be tricky to add this much wheat into your diet if you don't normally eat a lot of wheat products. It can make your digestive system very regular (if you know what I mean), so be careful.

This also stores in the fridge just fine, so make a big batch and stick it in the fridge for tomorrow morning! You could also easily double the batch, let it cook overnight, then serve a big crowd (like, on Conference weekend).