Motivational Monday

"It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. 

The question is: what are we busy about?

Henry David Thoreau

Food Storage WIN!

Our congregation at church is very transient.  It's full of students and medical/dental residents, so every spring we have a huge turnover of people.  Over the next 7 weeks, 14 families are moving out of our congregation and we'll probably get about a dozen more (or closer to 2 dozen if it's anything like last year!).

For some reason, food storage seems to fall by the wayside for many people who are moving.  They would rather just leave it behind and start over in their new home.  I understand that reasoning, especially if you are trying to move "light".  Food storage takes up a lot of space and is anything but light.  It can also be bulky and just hard to pack. In fact, in both of our moves over the last two years, we have opted to eat through our storage so that we wouldn't have to move it (we ate it rather than selling it).

So, I scored big time a couple weeks ago when an email went out to everyone in our congregation.  A woman was selling boxes of wheat for $8.  Yes, those boxes of 6 #10 cans that sell for $28 online!  I called her right away to confirm that she was sure on the price, and when she said that she was, I told her that I would come pick them all up right away.  When I got there, she also threw in 2 cans of oats, 2 cans of powdered milk, and 2 canisters of salt.  Oh, and half of a BIG bag of wheat gluten (not pictured).  So, I basically bought about $250 worth of food storage for $64.  Score!

While I am happy about my purchase, I also have to say that I was a little disheartened by the fact that only one other person at church contacted this woman about buying her food storage (and she did sell her an extra box, by the way).  Even at this great a deal, no one was even interested.  I understand that many people don't eat/store wheat for whatever reason, but I would have hoped that more people would have responded to this great deal (although, let's be honest, I was happy to not have much competition for it).  I would hope that most people would have at least $8 laying around that they could have spent on just one box.

Great deals like this are another reason it's important to save money as well as saving food.  When great deals come along, you can jump on them and pay with cash!  When I was first married, I certainly could not have afforded to spend $64 on a bunch of food storage (we could only afford $100 per month on food to eat!), but I hope that we would have been able to scrape up at least $8 for one box, just to get us started.  Every little bit helps, and when a great deal comes along it's nice to be able to take advantage of it.

As more and more people are moving out, I've been asking around to see if anyone needs any help "unloading" on some food storage before they go. :)  This is a great way to find a good deal, especially if people don't want to move it anyway and are looking to get rid of it.

Have you ever gotten a great deal on food storage?

Food Storage Tuesday

Every Tuesday, we post specific items you should gather in order to supplement your emergency car kit, your three-month supply, and your longer term storage.  If you are new to our blog, don't worry!  You won't be left behind.  Just start up where we are and follow along.  You will eventually have everything completed.  Once the car kit is complete, we'll be putting together 72-hour kits again (week by week).  Once those are done, we'll gather the car kits again.  So don't worry, just jump on in and join us where we are today!  


This week for your emergency car kit, add a basic first aid kit.  You can find these in any big box store.  The small pouch kits would probably be fine, but find whatever you think will work for your family and add it to your kit.  Make sure it will fit in your car kit box.


How's your three-month supply coming along?  It can be hard to plan a three-month supply of food based around meals that you don't normally eat.  In my family, I mostly prepare meals from fresh ingredients.  I rarely cook prepared meals or things from a box, so it's hard for me to think of possibly eating these types of foods for three months if an emergency came up.  Keep in mind that you don't have to only store these kinds of foods for your three-month supply!  A bag of pinto beans, some dried onions, and a variety of spices simmering in the crock pot all day make an incredibly delicious meal, and it's very filling.  Add rice and it will go even further.  You don't have to only store Ramen and cans of prepared soup!  Check out our food storage recipes for some more ideas as you plan your three month supply.


This month for our longer-term storage, we're gathering rice.