Holy Cow! Food Storage!

I spoke today at a church event.

Melinda — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:17:03 +0000

I gave a talk/lesson at a Stake Relief Society Event today. I wasn’t nervous until I saw the 110 or so women sitting in the chairs in front of me. I think it went well. It went so fast. I’m pretty sure I held the microphone too close to my mouth.

I hope I got my message across. The message was supposed to be that food storage can be fun and that we should focus on our 3 month supply of food that we normally eat, and do the very best we can when it comes to long term storage food.

I focused on the pamphlet All Is Safely Gathered In. There is also an article in the March 2009 Ensign titled, Family Home Storage: A New Message (p.56), that focuses on the counsel in this pamplet. I learned some new things from people who shared comments. I’m inspired to add more information to this website on a regular basis. There is so much information about food storage that can’t possibly be covered in 30 minutes.

So if you are just tuning in, keep checking back as I add more info. I hope to post at least weekly. Food storage is a continual learning process and requires experimentation. I hope that others can learn from my successes and my failures. For those of you who attended today, thanks for listening. Here’s my love in the form of a potato:

Sugar page updated

Melinda — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:57:32 +0000

The sugar page has been updated. Check it out.

Salt - 8 lbs/ per person/ year

Melinda — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:03:53 +0000

It is recommended to store 8 lbs. of salt per person per year. Remember that many foods that are stored long term are bland, so salt will greatly help to improve the taste and make these foods more enjoyable.

It is recommended to store iodized salt to prevent goiter.

If you may want to store rock salt if you make homemade ice cream.

Food Storage Musical

Melinda — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:10:20 +0000

If you are familiar with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat you’ll recognize this song. Here is Pharoah’s Dream (Genesis 41)

And here is Joseph’s interpretation of Pharoah’s Dream:

Moral: Store food during times of plenty.

Quotes on Food Storage

Melinda — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:19:00 +0000

Quotes on food storage had moved from the right sidebar to its own page. These quotes are helpful if you are preparing a lesson on preparedness. There’s still a couple quotes that I need to verify source. Hopefully will post soon.

Vegetables Page Update

Melinda — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:25:38 +0000

The vegetables page has been updated. Check it out and learn what vegetables to store and grow.

Back at it

Melinda — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:48:27 +0000

I’ve been motivated to get back into Holy Cow Food Storage. I’ll do my best to blog my tips, recipes, and wisdom. Please come back often and contact me to give me some motivation to get back on the bandwagon. If you don’t see me here, I’m probably at www.melindabeth.com/blog.

Do you have your sponges?

Melinda — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:16:31 +0000

Today I finally broke down and replaced the old stinky sponge I was using to wash my dishes. I know it was way overdue, but the past couple of weeks I was just too lazy to bend over and retrieve a new one from beneath my sink. Ahhh! The new one is so firm and fresh. What joy! I tell you this as a reminder to think about your sponges. You wouldn’t want to have to use the same sponge for a whole year! I’m not sure if there is an official recommendation for replacing sponges, but I remember on Oprah once somebody said to replace it ever 1-2 weeks. That seems reasonable to me. So, do you have 26 sponges? But no need to hurry out and get them now. Wait until they come on sale.

A New Container

Melinda — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:16:32 +0000

Today was an exciting day in my household. My husband finished off a 40 oz. Jif peanut butter container. So now I have another one to add to my collection and store beans. I delightfully washed the #2 PETE plastic container and Goo Gone’d the label off and poured 2 lbs (actually 1 lb. 15 oz.) of lentils into it. A 40 ounce peanut butter jar typically store 2 pounds of beans. Therefore we need 30 of these containers for each person in my family to have 60 lbs of beans per person. Our family finishes off a 40 oz. jar in approximately 3 weeks which means we collect containers at a rate of 17 per year. Hmmm…that means it would take us about 14 years to complete our collection. I may have to enlist the help of friends or eat more peanut butter.

How many cups of rice in a #10 can?

Melinda — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:48:14 +0000

There are about 12.5 cups of rice in a #10 can.
A #10 can of white rice contains 88 oz. (5.5 lb.)
1 cup of white rice weighs 7 oz.
1 six gallon bucket of white rice contains 44 lbs.
1 six gallon bucket of white rice = 8 #10 cans.
1 six gallon bucket of white rice contains 100 cups.
A typical serving is approximately 1/4 cup dry rice (1.75 oz.)

Use these numbers to figure out how much rice your family should store for a year supply.

Example 1:

A family of six eats rice at dinner twice a week for a total of 4 cups of dry rice per week (2 cups dry rice/ meal.)

If they eat 4 cups per week for 52 weeks, they would need 208 cups of dry rice.

If there are 12.5 cups of dry rice in a #10 can, they would need 17 #10 cans of white rice (208/ 12.5 = 16.64)

They may opt to store 2 six gallon buckets + 1 #10 can of white rice.

Or 1 six gallon bucket + 9 #10 cans of white rice.

These amounts are equal to 93.5 lbs. of white rice which is approximately 30% (93.5 lbs/ 300 lbs.) the recommended storage of grains for one person for a year.

Example 2:

Since rice is easy to store, and easy to prepare especially in emergency situations, I like to recommend to plan for 2 oz. of dry rice/ person/ day. With this number, our family in the example above would need to store

6 people x 2 oz. x 365 days = 4380 oz. rice

4380 oz. rice/ 16 oz. = 273.75 or 274 lbs. rice for one year.

This is equal to:

6 six gallon buckets + 2 #10 cans

50 #10 cans

These numbers can also be applied to brown rice, however, brown rice will not store as long as white rice. Plan to use your brown rice withing a year or 6 months of opening. White rice is better for long term storage.

Happy rice storing!