Emergency Preparedness, Food Storage and Monthly Assignments (Week of March 29th)

Hi Torrance Stake Family, Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Spiritual and Temporal Preparedness 

 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

185th Annual General Conference 

Schedule:

Women's Session--Saturday, March 29th, 5PM (Pacific Time)

General Conference Session--Saturday, April 4th,  9am and 1pm (Pacific Time)

Priesthood Session--Saturday, April 4th, 5pm (Pacific Time)

General Conference Session--Sunday, April 4th, 9am and 1pm (Pacific Time)

Where you can watch it: 
on lds.org

KBYU TV Channel (Check your local cable or satellite channel)

Any LDS Stake Center in your area that is broadcasting conference.

Why We Need To Be Prepared

Many times I hear "why do we need to be prepared if a storm or disaster can wash it all away and someone could take it away in a civil unrest or if Martial Law was put into place". Why? It is all about obedience and peace of mind. When we are obedient, Heavenly Father will bless us with our needs. If it is not washed away we will be able to take of our family and help others. And, it is also our responsibility to take care of our own, no one else.

"But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." (1 Timothy 5:8)

"And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, ..." (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 4:14)

In other words, it is a commandment to take care of our own, our family. In John 14:15 we read, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." If we love our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ we will provide for
our own. In doing so, we need to be prepared both spiritually and temporally. Spiritually, we need to have daily family prayer and scripture reading, weekly Family Home Evening and attend church every Sunday. Temporally, we need to make sure our family will have sufficient for their needs if a disaster occurred.

I am amazed at how many people let their food run out before going grocery shopping, or only have enough food for a few days or one week. If there was a disaster or some type of civil unrest, the grocery stores only carry enough food in the back storage area for about 2 days to 2 weeks. Because delivery trucks could not get through they would run out very very quickly.


If you would just add a couple of extra cans or packed items your family eats each time you go grocery
shopping and store it, before you know it you would have a month or two months of food storage. 


It is our responsibility, not others, not our local government, not our federal government, not our church, but ours. If we cannot do it,  then we should go to relatives first for assistance.

We need to be prepared as much as we can. We need to be striving to be prepared. We need to be trying. If we are doing these things, Heavenly Father will provide for our needs, but we must be doing all we can first.

Being prepared brings peace of mind spiritually and temporally. "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30)

Food Storage Hint . . .

When purchasing sugar and salt for your food storage never purchase them from companies that offer dehydrated or freeze-dried sugar and salt in #10 cans or buckets. Sugar and salt will keep forever as purchased from your regular grocery store. Keep moisture out by storing several of them in their original packages in ex-large plastic zip lock bags. If they become hard after several years of storage, just break them up.

New April Monthly Assignments

April Food Storage Assignment: Rice . . .

Rice, like beans and lentils, is another economical item to add to your food storage. There are many different types of rice. Store only the types of rice your family will eat. Some families, because of their cultural, eat a lot of rice, you may need to store more than most families. 

Follow these steps: 

1) Figure out how much rice (include all the ones you eat) your family eats in a week. Multiply that by 4 weeks (month supply) and then by the number of months, 1-Month, 3-Months, 6-Months, a year, you want to store.

2) Purchase an extra package of rice, or more, when you go grocery shopping.You can purchase rice in the commercial packaging at your local grocery store. You need to rotate this type of storage about every 2-3 years.

3) You can also store rice for long term storage in #10 cans at store.lds.org (only carry white rice), emergencyessentials.com (many varieties) or other long term storage companies, or in super-pails at emergencyessentials.com, foodforhealthinternational.com (white rice) or other long term storage companies. These are usually good for 20+ years depending on how you store them, see #4 below. Another way to store rice is in Mason Jars using the Oven or FoodSaver Method. These methods are good for 5 years, some say for 20. I am not so sure about 20 years. See the videos below.
Note: You cannot Oven Can sugar, brown sugar or brown rice or whole wheat pastas. The sugars will melt and the brown rice and whole wheat pastas have too much moisture. It is also not a good idea to store brown rice or whole wheat pastas using the Oven Canning Method, once again, to much moisture. If you do your own dehydrated canning using the #10 cans or super-pails do not store brown rice or whole wheat pastas this way. They do not store well due to to much moisture.

4) Like all food storage, rice needs to be store just like other food, in a cool, dry, dark place. And Rotate, Rotate, Rotate.

5) If you rotate your rice often the regular commercial packaging will be fine.

6) If you want to store rice for long term storage, you need to use one of the methods in #2 above.

Note: You really should store rice both for short and long storage.
Note: Rice attracts moths. To get rid of the moths and their larva in your commercially packaged rice from the grocery store or big box store do the following. When you get home put the rice in your freezer for 24 hours. This kills all moths and larva in the rice. Then cool to room temperature and store in your pantry. After doing this I like to keep my rice in Mason Jars or containers with tight fitting lids to keep moths from getting in there again while stored in my pantry.

FoodSaver Mason Jar Canning



Note: I purchased my FoodSaver on EBay for about $20 and the Jar Sealers (Large and Small) for about $10. Do not purchase a new one. Make sure it has the port hole for the sealer cap tube.

Oven Canning in Mason Jars




April Emergency Preparedness Assignment: 
               Vegetable and Herb Gardening

This year set a goal to plant a vegetable and/or herb garden and do it! No more procrastination. 

If you know someone who plants a vegetable garden I am sure they would love to show you how or your local garden center. This blog can also help you.

 

In Southern California USA and most of the United States this is the time of year to plant your vegetable and herb gardens. In Southern California USA we can have vegetable gardens all year long, paying attention to what you can plant each season. Spring and Fall is also a great time to plant fruit trees. 

It does not matter how much space you have, everyone should have a way to plant some vegetables and herbs, either in the ground, a raised bed or in containers on a patio, balcony or any space where you get at least 6-8 hours of sun a day. 

 















Vegetable gardening is fun and for the whole family. It can teach our children responsibility and how much fun it is to plant, grow and eat your own vegetables. They are so much sweeter and organic. You can freeze them and can them for long term storage. I will show you how to do this in August.

Check out the blog posting under "Postings" on the right for ways and how tos of planting a vegetable under "Vegetable Gardening".

Emergency Preparedness Ideas

Portable Outdoor Fireplace . . . Love this idea

What a great idea, and it is portable. Great for any family fun time and an emergency if you cannot cook in your conventional oven in the house. This can be moved around anywhere in your yard. Here's how you construct it:

1) Use standard size cement blocks you can purchase at your local home center
2) Do not use mortar, that way it is portable
3) Recycled grill racks (from an old BBQ)
4) Collect tender and wood for the fire or you can use charcoal in a metal pan
5) Make sure you clear the ground area of all dry foliage and grass before constructing
6) Construct as shown in the photo

(Mother Earth News, created by Ronnie Norwood)

Comments:  Please share your comments below. We all learn from each others experiences and knowledge. Thank you for your comment.