Weekly Assignments and Food Storage Ideas (Week of October 2nd)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Congratulations to Sally Salcido! She won our September FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing last Sunday. She won a One Burner Butane Stove with two cans of Butane fuel.

This is great to cook on in an emergency situation, or in fact, any time. You can use them in your home, outside, and on camping trips. Make sure you take the stove out of the plastic case before using it and read the instructions. Keep extra cans of Butane fuel on hand. You can purchase the Butane Stove and cans of Butane fuel at Marukai in Gardena (Western and Arestia, there is a $1 annual fee to join) and Torrance (across the street from Toys R Us on Sepulveda Blvd) for about $13.00 and the fuel for about $1.25 each.

Quote:

The only thing you have to fear is not being prepared!

Being prepared both spiritually and temporally for any calamity that might come our way, be it a natural disaster, loss of a job, financial problems, family trials, health and/or emotional issues and so on, will bring us peace of mind. Over and over the scriptures say, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." Let us all strive for preparedness, both spiritual and temporal.

Temporal Assignment:

72 Hour Emergency Food Kit:

Add the follow items to your 72 Hour Emergency Food Kit (Remember, 3 of each item for each family member. Put the snack items in a separate plastic zip lock bag from the regular food items, mark it Snacks.)

Regular food kit--

1) Dry soup mix (chicken noodle, onion, etc. Usually comes two packages in a box, you will need 3 packages per family member.)

Snacks--

1) Beef Jerky (package or long stick)
2) Fruit snacks (like Fruit Roll ups, dried fruits, etc.)

Note: I put these snack items in a separate plastic zip lock bag marked "Snacks". We will be adding two other items next week. If you have mint flavored candy or gum, you want to keep it from the rest of your regular food, or everything will taste minty.

So far you should have the following items in your Food and Snack Kit:

Granola bars
Juice Box Drink or Fruit Drink mix
Instant hot chocolate drink mix
Small box of raisins
Instant Oatmeal
Fruit cups or Apple Sauce (or some of each)
Dry Soup Mix (chicken noodle, onion, etc)
Peanut Butter crackers or Cheese crackers
Water (at least 2 Liters, remember, water is heavy and you will have to carry it. Only for drinking and instant and dry mixes)
Today's
Snacks--
Beef Jerky (package or stick)
Fruit Snacks (Fruit Roll ups or Dried Fruit)

Next week we will finish up the 72 Hour Emergency Food Kit, including the snack items.

Spiritual Assignment:

Read the Book of Mormon--Of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith said, "a man would get closer to God by abiding by its precepts, than any other book".

Today I visited one of my Visiting Teaching sister and we talked about the importance of faith and a having a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days. That even though difficult times are ahead of us before our Savior's return, having strong faith, a strong testimony and always being in tune with the Spirit, they will help us through these difficults times ahead. Reading the Book of Mormon daily will build our faith, strengthen our testimony and bring us closer to the Spirit.

My Spiritual assignment, if you are not already doing it, follow the Book of Mormon 90 Day Reading Schedule in the back of our Stake Directory starting tomorrow October 1st. If you do not have one, see the schedule below for the first week.

Day Date Page Thru Chapter

1 Oct 1 7 1 Nephi 3
2 Oct 2 12 1 Nephi 6
3 Oct 3 19 1 Nephi 10
4 Oct 4 23 1 Nephi 12
5 Oct 5 30 1 Nephi 14
6 Oct 6 36 1 Nephi 16
7 Oct 7 41 1 Nephi 17
8 Oct 8 48 1 Nephi 20

How to complete this assignment--Carry a paper back Book of Mormon (like the blue ones the Missionaries hand out) with you, read in the morning, during your lunch break at work/school, read at night, while waiting for an appointment, anytime you get an opportunity.

Food Storage Idea:

Vacuum sealing foods (cool technique):

"Many foods with high oil contents cannot be stored in #10 cans because of the interaction with the metal (Chocolate chips, nuts and raisins for example). You can significantly increase the shelf life of your foods by placing them in mason jars and using a Food Saver and a Jar Sealer attachment to vacuum the air out of the jars. Put your ingredients in the jar, put a lid (flat part) on the jar, place the jar sealer attachment over the lid and start the machine. If a jar won't seal, try placing one lid down and one facing up or heating the lid in boiling water. The jar can be opened and resealed over and over. If you take the lids off carefully, they can be reused indefinitely.

You can seal nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, brown rice, cornmeal, candy bars, egg noddles, poppy seeds, dried apricots, malt-o-meal, cookies, granola bars, just about anything in the pantry. Shelf life should be 3 years or more if you keep the foods cool. Remember, the warmer the temperature, the shorter the shelf life.

You cannot vacuum seal foods that need refrigeration..., only foods that sit on your pantry shelves.

Don't vaccum fine powders..., they gum up the works of your machine. If you want ot seal powders, put a plastic or zip lock bag in your jar, fill the bag, express the air, zip lock it, then vacuum seal. "

(From Everything Under the Sun, by Wendy Dewitt)

Do not buy a new Food Saver, they are expensive. I purchased my on ebay for about $20. Make sure it has the port hole on top of the machine where the jar sealer attaches. Jar Sealer attachments come in regular (for small mason jars) and wide mouth (for the larger mason jars). I purchased both the small and large ones on line new, about $6-$7 each. The mason jars can be expensive and sometimes hard to fine, check Walmart, Kmart and other department stores that might carry them.

This is a great way to store the types of food listed above for a longer period of time. I love this technique. Get a group of friends together and vacuum seal your food storage items together.

Remember: Post your name and comment for our next FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing to be held the 4th Sunday in October, October 30th.