Food Storage Fridays- Cold Weather Car Rides

Happy Fall All!

As we are heading into the colder/ holiday season, we thought we'd mention a few tips to keeping your family safe while traveling.

Whether you are taking a drive up into the mountains to play in the snow, or just driving your regular daily routine during a rainstorm, your car should be equipped as a short-term safety shelter.  It’s easy!  Fill a small duffle bag or plastic shoe box with some essential items, and tuck it away under the back seat or in the cargo area for emergencies.  Be sure to include small water bottles, small packaged snacks, flashlights, rain ponchos, and heat-reflecting blankets.  

Thanks Alana, for the tips.

If you are interested in more detail on survival kits and 72 hour kits to keep your family safe in emergency situtations, please visit the following links:

http://www.lds.org/church/news/a-kit-in-time?lang=eng&country=au

http://www.lds.org/manual/family-home-evening-resource-book/family-activities/making-a-survival-kit?lang=eng&query=emergency+car+kits

Have a wonderful weekend! Be safe!

Food Storage Fridays- Water

Water is an important part of food storage.  The amount of water you need to store depends on several factors, including how many people it is expected to serve, and how much of your food storage is dehydrated or freeze dried.  Remember, unlike wet-packed foods (canned in juice or water), dried and dehydrated foods will require significant amounts of water to prepare.  Each person will need a minimum of one gallon of water per day, and more for dry food and hygiene.  Water should be rotated (large containers emptied and refilled) every 6 months.  Set up a convenient, repeating calendar reminder to rotate your water…the first Saturday in October and April, for example.

Food Storage Fridays- Oats!

Oats are solid nutrition.  They are high in potassium, have useful amounts of calcium and are a fair source of protein. They are also moderately rich in B vitamins, B1, B2 and especially Inositol, and their carbohydrates provide a long slow delivery of energy to our systems.  Oats have been shown in scientific studies to favorably alter metabolism and enhance performance when ingested 45 minutes to 1 hour before exercise of moderate intensity.   

Here are some of the health benefits of eating oats:

·  Lower Cholesterol Levels

·  Reduce Risk of Cardiovascular Disease & Stroke

·  Prevent Heart Failure

·  Enhance Immune Response to Infection

·  Stabilize Blood Sugar

·  Lower Type 2 Diabetes Risk

·  Provide Antioxidant Benefits to Reduce Asthma Symptoms

·  Provide alternative to wheat for people with asthma or celiac disease 

·  Reduce Risk of Colon and Breast Cancer

Thanks Alana, for the great tips on Oats!

Food Storage Friday- Whole Wheat Pancakes

This weekend is General Conference. A time for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to hear the words of the prophets through a television broadcast. General Conference weekend is full of wonderful family traditions that usually involve delicious goodies and time on the couch with the whole family. Alana has given us a delicious Whole Wheat Pancake recipe that is quick, simple, and good for the family. Not a bad treat for a conference breakfast right?

To learn more about General Conference and to see how and when you can view it, please click here.

Enjoy! This one is fast, super simple, and no wheat grinder required! 

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes

A 100% Food Storage Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup whole kernel wheat

2 cups milk              (6 Tbsp. non-fat dry milk mixed with 2 cups warm water)

3 Tbsp. honey            

1/3 cup oil

3 Tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1/3 cup white flour

Directions

Blend together wheat and milk for 4-5 minutes on medium speed. 

Add honey, oil, baking powder, salt and flour (last).  Blend only until well-mixed. 

Pour onto hot griddle or buttered frying pan.  Cook until bubbles begin to pop.  Flip over and cook until bottom is golden brown.  Yields approximately 2 dozen 4” pancakes.

Food Storage Fridays- Pumpkin-Cranberry Breakfast Cookies

Fall is approaching! Get pumped for the holidays, cozy sweaters, caramel apples, and plenty of pumpkin goodies! For our Food Storage Friday post this week, Alana has put together a recipe that will fill all your fall cravings and show you creative ways to use your food storage.
 

PUMPKIN-CRANBERRY BREAKFAST COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

2 cups whole wheat flour 

(or 1 cup white & 1 cup whole wheat)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

6 tablespoons applesauce (1 single-serving container)

6 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree

2 Tbsp. butter

1 egg

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS: 

       

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place all ingredients in bowl, stir together until combined.

Drop golf ball sized balls onto non-stick baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

Flatten slightly with spatula sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake about 8 minutes for moist cookies and 10-12 minutes for dry cookies.

Makes about 2 dozen.

The best part is, it's so easy, even a kid can do it!

Introducing Food Storage Fridays!

Does food storage overwhelm you? Need a friendly face to help?

Alana Kirkham is a friendly face who has gained her own testimony of food storage through trying it out herself.  She is a Mormon living in Mission Viejo, a mother of 8 and has a whole lot of great ideas to get you started on your food storage path.

Alana will be helping us with tips and tricks for food storage every Friday on the blog and facebook page, so we thought we'd ask her a few questions to get to know her better.

Why do you believe in the power of food storage?
I believe that a testimony of food storage can only be gained by doing it.  I was given my first #10 cans when I got married, but had no idea what to do with them. I hid them in the back of a closet until I received my first assignment as a preparedness specialist in the church.  In an effort to magnify my calling, I started by practicing what I was asked to preach.  I began building up my storage and learning to use it. My knowledge and understanding, and my testimony of food storage, grew with every effort I made.

How has having food storage blessed your life?
We have experienced a full range of economic times in our family.  The good times were very good, and the tough times have been very tough, but the Lord has been in our lives consistently through it all.  Danny and I both felt strongly that we needed to build up our food storage several years ago. When the economy crashed, and our family's finances became very difficult, we couldn't have been more grateful that we listened to those promptings.  Having food storage, and knowing how to use it on a daily basis brings me great peace of mind. Though we've never lived through a life-threatening earthquake or natural disaster, our food storage has been an essential part of our family's well-being.

How we can prepare our families in case of an emergency? What is the Power of 3?
The "Power of 3" is really just a way of thinking about Emergency Preparedness.  It's an organizational system that arranges our preparedness needs into periods of time:  the First 3 Minutes, the First 3 Hours, the First 3 Days, the First 3 Weeks, and the First 3 Months. Each step lists things that would help you make it through that amount of time following a major disaster.  After receiving my second assignment as a preparedness specialist,  I decided there had to be a way to break Preparedness down in a way that it didn't seem so overwhelming.  The Power of Three is what I was inspired to come up with.

Tell us a little more about your personal life...
I grew up in Lake Forest.  I met Danny when we both attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  We got married in the San Diego Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1994, and returned to Cal Poly to finish our undergraduate degrees and get our MBA's.  Danny was recruited to south Orange County, so we settled for a time back home in Lake Forest, and landed happily in Ladera Ranch ten years ago. I can't imagine ever wanting to live anywhere else!

We have 8 amazing kids ranging in age from 17 years down to 11 months. Four boys and four girls (tied score - game over).  We do a lot of fun activities as a family, including swimming, playing on our trampoline and swing set, and watching movies together.  We are secretly a family full of book worms!  Our idea of an awesome Saturday would be a blank calendar so we could all sit around in our jammies reading our most current favorite book and eating ice cream.

Thanks Alana! We are looking forward to all the helpful information you have in store.
 

Don't forget! Every Friday we'll be posting a new food storage tip from Alana on our facebook page, so make sure check it out, like it, and share it with anyone that might be interested! 

To read more about Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness, visit ProvidentLiving.org