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A Simple Preparedness Plan

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All Is Safely Gathered InCome, ye thankful people, come;
Raise the song of harvest home.
All is safely gathered in
Ere the winter storms begin.

This preparedness plan is really simple:

  • Three-month supply
    Build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet.
  • Drinking water
    Store water in sturdy, leak-proof, breakage-resistant containers. Consider using plastic bottles commonly used for juices and soda.
  • Financial reserve
    Save a little money each week, gradually increasing it to a reasonable amount.
  • Longer-term supply
    Where permitted, gradually build a supply of food that will last a long time and that you can use to stay alive, such as wheat, white rice, and beans.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will recognize that this plan was detailed in the pamphlet All Is Safely Gather In: Family Home Storage. The plan can be simplified even further, at least for those beginning their family home storage, by focusing on the first three items.

The First Presidency wrote:

We encourage Church members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve.

This preparedness plan is simple and realistic. Newly married couples can easily follow this plan and build a decent food storage over time. Young Single Adults can too. When I was single I had 350 pounds of wheat, among other food supplies, that I sold to help pay for my travel to the United States when I emigrated.

Today I hope I have given you something to chew on.

God, our Maker, doth provide
For our wants to be supplied.
Come to God’s own temple, come;
Raise the song of harvest home.
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Beefy Bean Casserole

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Beefy Bean Casserole ingredients
Yesterday I reviewed the excellent new book It’s In the Bag by Michelle and Trent Snow. Everything you need for a meal comes from a bag out of your food storage. I figured I ought to try one of the simpler recipes so I went for the Uglier than Heck Soup. However, I didn’t have all the ingredients so I chose the Beefy Bean Casserole.

For tonight’s meal I grabbed my imaginary bag and emerged from my food storage with the items in the photograph above. The plants are for decoration, not for eating. The small sandwich bag contains 1/4 cup of dried onions.

Beefy Bean Casserole under construction

Beefy Bean Casserole under construction

I emptied all the contents of the cans, except for the sliced green beans (heat in a separate pan), into a pan and stirred until hot. The recipe calls for the gravy to be drained from the meat but I like to use it in the mix for an extra beefy taste. By the time the meal is heated, the dried onions have reconstituted. Serve with bread. For more about the author and her books see Michelle Snow’s website.

The casserole was excellent — I was surprised at how well it tasted. All the men in the family ate while Jill was with her visiting teachers. We went back for seconds. There was only a morsel left for Jill when she came to eat. No worries, I am bound to cook some more soon. Makes a break from beans on toast.
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Our Home Storage Center

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Kaysville Granary

Our Our home storage center is located at the Kaysville granary

My family is fortunate to live very close to a home storage center. We live in Kaysville and the center is located at the Kaysville granary — you can’t get any closer than that! There are home storage centers located throughout the United States and Canada. We still refer to our home storage center as the dry pack cannery — same place, new name.

Our home storage center assists my family with longer-term food storage like wheat, white rice, dry beans, oats, dried milk, and other basic food items. Our stake welfare specialist tells us when times are available at the center and we pack the food ourselves and purchase the items to take home that day. We go as a group and work together on everybody’s orders. We simply scoop the dried food into the cans, place a small packet inside to aid in sealing, and use a simple machine to seal the lid. Slap a label on the can and put six cans in a box and we are all done. It doesn’t take long to process even the largest orders.

There is a home storage center order form available that we use to plan our purchases. There are prices listed on the form. We like to use our computer to enter quantities and the form automatically updates our total cost. We then print the form and take it with us to the home storage center.

Drypack cans

A sample from our storage: instant potatoes, sugar, rolled oats, hot cocoa mix, and apple slices.

Our favorites are the fruit drink mix and the potato flakes. You really should try the potato flakes for they make the best mash potato you will probably ever taste. The dry onions work well in stews and the apple slices don’t last long if our children get a hold of them. Check out the storage life listed on the form. Most of the items are good for 30 years.

By keeping out of debt and having an active food storage program our family has a peace of mind that allows us to enjoy life to the full.

Resources

Distribution Services: Home storage products
Food Storage
Gospel Topics: Food Storage
Ready.gov: Build A Kit
Be Ready Utah
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