Holy Cow! Food Storage!

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)
Song Of The King (Seven Fat Cows) - Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

And here is Joseph’s interpretation of Pharoah’s Dream:
Pharaohs Dreams Explained - 1992 Original Canadian Cast

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!

I saved $34.77

Melinda — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 02:33:27 +0000

Bi-lo has been sending out these awesome coupons in the mail. Your choice - $7 off $75 or more or $10 off $100 or more. Tonight I used a $7 coupon and I always try to get exactly the $75 or the $100 to make the coupon really worth it. So I add the groceries in my head. As long as I’m not buying a lot of produce, I can add it pretty well. I did a pretty darn good job tonight and my total added up to $75.24. Awesome. So including my bonus card savings, I got a $103.01 worth of groceries for $68.24. A total savings of $34.77. Not bad. I mostly stocked up on ground beef, mozarella cheese, and bought the regular 4 gallons of milk and 5.60 lbs. of bananas.

The Prices I Pay
Milk $4.19/gal
Shredded Cheese $6.99/2 lbs. (sale - reg $7.99)
Store Brand 100% whole wheat bread $1.59
Bananas $0.59/lb.
Ground Beef $2/lb (sale - reg $3.99)

I’m Back

Melinda — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 03:17:51 +0000

I’ve decided to end my Holy Cow! Food Storage! hiatus and continue my blogging. I was a little overwhelmed with my other blogs and I didn’t quite know what to do with this one. I gave up on living off of food storage because I’m pregnant and a pregnant woman should be able to eat what she wants. But I’ve been inspired to continue maintaining this site despite my failures and intimidation and make improvements at a slow rate and hopefully turn it into a success. At the moment my plan is to blog on Saturday evenings and record my grocery savings for that week. At the end of the year I can total my savings and give myself a big pat on the back for the hard work and determination to be a savvy shopper. Also, on Wednesdays I will blog the extra good grocery store deals for my area grocery stores and blast it out in an email as a link to my friends who are also interested in knowing what to buy that week.

Cupcake - Frosting = Muffin

Melinda — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:15:05 +0000

I sorted through my cake and muffin mixes today. They must always look so good in the store, but I have a habit of not using them. I sorted them by “use by” date and found the oldest with a use by date of August 2004. I decided to give it a try. I figured I only wasted 3 eggs and 1/4 cup of oil if the mix turned out not to be any good. It turned out to be a successful activity for me to do with my kids while the two youngest were napping. I allowed them to lick the batter and spatula. Thankfully the “muffins” turned out just fine and my kids were pleased to eat them plain without frosting. Cupcake, muffin…same thing. Saves me the hassle of messy frosting!

I threw together a fabulous and nutritious dinner of Progresso Chicken and Rice soup with grapes, cantalope and a Romaine lettuce salad with carrots and tomato. I went to the grocery store last night and picked up some basics such as produce and of course, some more Chocolate Trinity ice cream.