Hooray for food storage!!!

I went to a beautiful baptism yesterday for Alyssa Walburger and Darina Pierre-Louise. Alyssa has been such a great example to Darina and invited her to church for quite a long time. Now they both have testimonies and were able to get baptized on the same day. It was a wonderful baptism and I'm so proud of those little girls. It just goes to show that anyone can do missionary work.

Okay so, I have been feeling a great push to get my years supply of food storage. Partly because when my mom came out she saw how piddly it was and started worrying about us. Then, my in laws came out in August and I guess they felt the same thing so they decided to send us some money to get a jump start on it. I guess I can't delay this any longer huh? In the past I have had about a two month supply, but definitely not a years supply, so here goes....

I have to admit that it scares me a little. I know that sounds weird, but for so long I have heard of getting years supply and in my mind I see buckets and buckets of wheat that I never use because I don't have a wheat grinder and I hardly ever make bread.... Hmmm.. The water also scares me. I have to clean every container I use with bleach and then make sure it's in a safe container that won't leak and also find the space for all the water. Well, I decided that I just have to do it and if it goes into our unfinished bedroom (that we have the plans to finish in the next year) then so be it.

So, after the baptism I quickly fed Raegan and headed down to the church store house to do some dry pack. I got there a little late, but they were just starting so it turned out fine. I ended up with 34 #10 cans of food! Yay! I can't believe I'm so excited about food storage.

I guess the thing that I need to remember is that you need to get food storage that you actually use. Then you can rotate through it and you won't waste those buckets and buckets of wheat that you have. So, if anyone wants to go again, we can make reservations every 3rd Saturday with our stake. Just let me know and I would love to go again!

Well, we finished our dry packing about 4:00 and I rushed home because I needed to rescue my two younger kids from Brian who was taking the two older ones to a birthday party. He gave me a call and said he would feed Raegan (which she hadn't eaten since 11:00!) so I wasn't too worried about her. Well, I rushed to the Columbia Sports Park where they were miniature golfing and finally got there about 4:30. Turns out that Bri forgot to bring the bottle for Raegan and so she hadn't eaten four five and half hours! She was smiling though and looking quite happy. How does he do it? Anyway, we had a fun evening and even Ashty got to golf (which she loved!) and then I finally got home and crashed at 7:00 after being gone since 9:30 that morning. Whew, what a day!

The other day Raegan turned five months. I had little Selena Obering over that day who was loving to hold her. So, here are some pictures of Raegan and Selena on her five month birthday....


Comments

Joni said…
Good for you! I keep putting it off because I say to myself, why bother? I'll be moving in 18 months. But the floods definitely showed me how quickly things can change. Hopefully you can guide me through the whole process when I get back to Md.! I am afraid of water storage and how to rotate, too.
October 21, 2007 at 1:28 PM
Julia said…
First I just have to say, Raegan is so adorable! Your photos make me so baby girl hungry!

Good luck on the food storage. I've really tried in the past too, but I had the hardest time keeping up with expiration dates, etc. I keep thinking maybe when we finally stop moving around so much and buy a permanant home... but in the meantime I'd love to hear any great tips you learn!
October 21, 2007 at 4:15 PM
Mendy said…
Good for you on the food storage stuff, Brenda! I will totally go with you sometime. I really want to build up my supply as well.

What a crazy Saturday. I hope you had some rest today!
October 21, 2007 at 6:23 PM
Meg said…
I feel the same way about the food storage thing. I'm going to try for a 3 month supply to rotate and go from there. Right now I'm trying to make some freezer meals before the baby comes (short term food storage I guess) :)
October 21, 2007 at 7:35 PM
Jann said…
Go Brenda. That is one long day. Your baby is getting so big. They change so fast.
October 21, 2007 at 7:40 PM
Jeri said…
I am proud of you for getting your food storage in order! My Mom is constantly asking me about mine. I could have written the first part of your post....except the part where you were sent money. =)

I would love to go to the cannery with you. I would love to go with someone that can show me the ropes!
October 21, 2007 at 9:03 PM
Tracy said…
You've given me guilt -- you have to take me to get my food storage started. Those pictures are adorable. Selena is a natural mommy!
October 21, 2007 at 11:13 PM
Jenni said…
Great job on beefing up your food storage! Add me to the list of people who would love to go to the cannery with you! I used to be so good about buying food storage items every time I went shopping, but I've been slacking off and need to build our storage up again.

Raegan is getting so big - what a cutie she is!!
October 22, 2007 at 7:38 AM
Cami said…
I have no space for a year's supply. I'm sure I could find it somehow, but it is so intimidating. I decided to stick with 3 months. Here's what I did:

I made a month's menu of food I know my family will eat. I made a shopping list for everything I need. I multiplied that by 3. Also, I added in flour, sugar, toiletries, etc. Now I have 3 pages of laminated shopping list with a dry erase marker and I'm supposedly supposed to mark it if I take it out of the storage room and grab the list each time I go to the store so it is always replenished. This worked for a while, but I get lazy from time to time.

Anyway, I think it's a good system anyway. Maybe you could have your cans and wheat and whatnot for 9 months worth, and then do my strategy for 3 months. :)
October 22, 2007 at 8:36 AM
Brenda said…
Good idea Cami! When we went to the enrichment on food storage with Buffy, she gave us the same basic idea. I will have to try it.
October 22, 2007 at 11:22 AM
Julia said…
Good for you!! I need to do that too, maybe we can schedule a Saturday together? Party at the Cannery!!

Raegan is so adorable. Selena is too, particularly when she's holding a baby :D
October 24, 2007 at 12:55 PM
Teresa said…
Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!
October 28, 2007 at 11:15 AM
Elizabeth said…
Hey Brenda!

I haven't heard from you forever and decided to check out your blog!

This is kind of funny, but I get excited about food storage too. I love to stalk up when Macey's has their case lot sale every 6 months or so. For whatever reason, canning and making bread make me feel like a real Mormon mom and very domestic.

Elizabeth Reed
October 29, 2007 at 6:36 AM
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