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If you went out and bought three or four cases of tuna and a table round and covered it with a pretty tablecloth to make an end table, you have made me proud! I hope that you took a second look at the different ways you can incorporate your food storage into small houses or apartments. For those of you who have plenty of space for food storage – did you get your water storage filled and put into place? Two gallons, per person, per day, for a two week period. Of course you did!
Let’s talk about attitudes, food storage attitudes. There is a wonderful food storage book that I would recommend, called “Food Storage for the Clueless” written by Clark L. and Kathryn H. Kidd (Bookcraft). They explain the three different types of attitudes about food storage in the most succinct and clear way I have ever seen. They put food storage attitudes into three different categories, explaining the three different personalities, the benefits and/or downfalls of each group.
Siege Storers: They use money outside of their regular food budget to buy in bulk those foods that they hope they’ll never have to use. Barrels of wheat, jugs of water and cartons of powdered milk fill their shelves, but they really don’t know how to use them. They are waiting for the end of the world to use their food storage.
Practical Storers: Eat what they store and therefore don’t spend extra money to buy food that will never be used. Their shelves are full of foods they like because they buy a few extra cans or cases or boxes of those things each time they go to the store. Eventually, they will have a cache of tuna, or peanut butter, or frozen corn on hand that could readily be used in case of a winter storm, or a break of employment.
Provident Storers: Spend less money on food and less time in the grocery store because they produce and preserve many of the foods they eat. There is no “emergency food” for these storers. Their regular diet includes their food storage. They can/bottle, garden, dry, dehydrate, freeze, and culture their foods. Therefore, they’ve learned to not rely so much on others for their food.
Think about the descriptions above. Which category do you fit in? Which one would you like to fit in? What changes are you going to have to make in order to feel comfortable with your choice when you go to use it? We’ll look at each personality type, one each for the next three weeks, and talk about the “The GOOD, the bad, and the ugly” of each – giving you the information for you to choose which type of food storer you will become. I’m a Practical Storer with tendencies of being Provident.
Let’s start our food storage with something inexpensive (actually you will find that if you take it a “bite-at-a-time” your food storage won’t be as expensive as you might think). I want you to go buy SALT. Don’t buy it in the little cardboard cylinders Buy it in a 25lb. bag. You can find it with or without iodine (without for canning) and it only costs, on average, $2.79 a bag. (This price was in 2006.)
It is suggested that you have 8lbs. of salt for each adult, per year. At this time, we only have three adults in our family and so we need no less than 24lbs. (When my children were small, I counted them as adults because they were growing so fast.) I actually keep 50lbs. on hand because it is inexpensive, less than $6.00 for more than a year’s supply, and I could use it to preserve meats or bottle food in an emergency. It is also a good barter item. You can find 25lb. sacks at most grocery and bulk buying stores.
It is a good start, a really good start. (Hint – don’t store in a metal container, it will rust. A plastic 5-gallon container is best. This is from experience.)
A quick recipe using salt.
Tortillas
3 cups of flour 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking powder ¼ cup oil 1 cup of warm water
Mix ingredients together and knead until smooth. Cover with moist cloth and let rest for about 5-10 minutes. Cut dough into 12 balls and roll out, without flour, until round and thin. (They do not have to be perfect. They eat well in any shape.)
Cook on a dry, cast iron skillet, on medium high heat until it starts to bubble up, flip and take off heat when it starts to bubble up again. If you cook it in oil, it will make it crispy (chips), without oil it makes it soft and pliable. This is a good “kid-can-make” recipe.
Enjoy.