How to Acquire Food Storage

Last year at this time I was trying to figure out what would go prettily on a plant shelf in my living room and would be suited for all seasons since I'm just too old and lazy to decorate with the seasons. I'd rather do other things if possible. So I bought a large vase/urn and started painting things pink to put in it. It has branches, cards, watches, ribbons, beautiful things my group has made me or things I've made and a sweet tutu-ed ballerina on the top. Just a froufrou tree in silver and pink and red.

The ballerina is the tree topper but can't be seen very well from down on the floor.

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The snowstorm we had recently is one reason to have food storage. Oh, we also have a generator so if power goes out we'll be fine. But with dried milk we don't even have to worry about anything but fresh salads. We have it all in case of power outage due to snow, ice storms, or anything like that. We're not in a flood zone so not much need to worry about that.

There is no hard way to get food storage; it's all easy. While it looks daunting, it isn't. It can be done. You just have to do it.

What I first started doing is putting the date on the food cans and containers we bought, on the lids we'd put 5/08 or 8/09 or 11/10. But rotate them. I've had to throw out some things because they were so old as to be inedible. Tomatoes are one thing that will deteriorate in a can. I had an explosion in one house because I had not noticed that the can was "rounding" at the top. Tomato sauce all over a certain section of our garage. Not pretty.

On boxes of soap, detergent, fabric softener, I'd put the actual date I purchased it and then when I started using it, I'd put that date to let me know how long it lasted. So if it took me 6 months to use the detergent then I knew I needed 2 boxes, but I'll usually have 3 big boxes on hand. I'm compulsive about it. (There are too many stories from friends about losing jobs and having to live off of food storage or having some of it destroyed in a basement flood. I'm one of those who lost a good part of it in a flood but it didn't take long at all to get it back up to where I needed it.) Buy cans that are on sale but be sure and check the "close date" so they won't be beyond that date before you eat them. I don't ever buy just one can of corn or beans. I buy 8-12 at a time. Just figure out how many cans you'll need for a week or month and multiply that for a year's supply. Don't just depend on pantry items, get freezer items also. I recommend vacuum sealing HIGHLY!!! Foods vacuum sealed in the freezer can last for years with absolutely NO deterioration.

Start collecting soda pop bottles to put water in if you can't get a water storage tank like I have. Just put some aside. Start with a 3 day supply and work up. It's all up to you. Personally, I don't want to risk being without food.

Dried foods also. I have dried carrots, onions, beef jerky, etc. Those work well. You can buy a lot of stuff from LDS canneries. They will sell to anyone! If you have one near you, go and purchase.

Our church recommends the basics for life: wheat, rice, corn, oil, sugar, pinto beans, rolled oats, pasta, potato flakes, apple slices, non-fat dehydrated milk and carrots. Every single one of those items can be stored for 30+ years with no deterioration in food value. Those are the necessities, but I prefer normal food so I have it all stored.

This is a sheet of what we use. I created it as a spread sheet and just put all the items we use on it. We simply went through our cabinets and marked down just about everything in there. Yes, this takes a bit of time but it is well worth it to see where you stand with your food storage. BTW, if anyone would like this inventory, just email me from the address on the sidebar and I'll zap it over to you. That way it's already done for you and you can add or cross off anything that doesn't apply to you. I'd be happy to do it for you. It's 5 pages total. You can just print it off for your own use.
Storage in a bedroom closet with the food storage list hanging on the right side.

Another pantry closet in the laundry room. Some items will go in here soon. I've been rearranging things to make more room for the food.

One shelf is for my painting and cleaning supplies and two shelves will be for food.

We keep the dried carrots, onions, soap, detergents, bleach, etc. out here.


You can store under your bed, but we bought those risers to raise it up enough to put cans under there.

Two bags of potato flakes are under there along with candles, which would melt outside in our summer heat.

Kitchen pantry where I normally keep a good supply on hand.



Candy is essential for periods of stress also, but you can use it to bargain if the need ever arises.

Please understand: we are NOT survivalists, just realists. Hard times are coming. Prices will go up. Food shortages are predicted. You may lose your job or source of income. We just like being prepared. If you do nothing, then you'll suffer the consequences when you could have been prepared. Our church leaders encourage us to be prepared temporally, spiritually and financially. We try to be good Christians by following their advice.
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What We Woke Up To This Morning

It's a beautiful snowy day here. Snowed about 8", hubs went out to shovel at 8 am and at noon we had the sidewalk and driveway packed with another 2". It was grand. Of course, I'm not going out in it. I think I need to buy hubs a snow blower, but not today.

I call this photo "Roses in the Snow." It's just your eye candy for the day. I'll have more soon but I'm so caught up in reading I haven't been doing much crafting lately, which is weird but I'm just being lazy. :-)

This little sachet was a gift several years ago. It kept its rose fragrance for a very, very long time. I've kept it and scented it again with rose fragrance and just can't throw something so gorgeous away.

Cream of Wheat! Tasted scrumptious when lots of sweetener and butter in it.

More snow on this later photo than the earlier one below. Looks like a snow cake.

This shot does NOT show off his bum to full effect. He's got a great bum but those insulated coveralls make him look like an old man.

Do ya see those huge flakes?

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Just My Thoughts

For eye candy, our little angel face for Thanksgiving in her blessing dress she wore in August. What could be more eye candy than a sweet baby? Forgive me, I'm biased! :-)

Her mummy is behind her nibbling on her heels to make her smile in this one.

I could be organizing my craft room and getting rid of some of the fabric in there, which I started several days ago. I could be sitting in the family reading a book, which I love doing and have read between 25 or 30 these past 8 or 9 weeks. I could be folding a batch of clothing I washed today and have 3 more to do tonight. I could be painting the holes in the kitchen wall where we finally got the cabinet put up after taking it down and relocating it the 2nd time. But I'm not doing any of those things. I'm blogging.

I'm been thinking and rethinking blogging recently. Since I've not blogged very much recently and had the extra time to do things, it was rather freeing. But then I realized how much I'd miss it if I didn't blog anymore.

I have been surfing a tiny bit lately but nothing like I'd been doing. I know "to each his own", but I truly do like large photos when viewing a blog. Oh, it won't stop me but I prefer the ones with larger pictures of their beautiful decorating or crafts. That's why it takes me such a long time to do a blog post: the photos. The scans of the magazine I've done recently—and there are more to come—are the best I can do with those photos but they still take a heap o' fixing, chicks. I prefer my own photos because there is less "middle man" involved in them.

Some bloggers say to turn off your flash, but every single photo I take has my flash on. I'm hesitant to tell anyone how to take photos because it isn't just one thing; it's a lot of things. Familiarization with your camera is essential also. I'm no where near perfect, but I'm well pleased with how most of them turn out. Plus I resize them with my Photoshop to 800 pixels wide for each one so they'll all be uniform. I know, I know, I'd OCD.

Hubs and I had a hunger for BLTs tonight and indulged ourselves. Of course, I had to take pictures of the process since the tomato looked beautiful, actually it look perfect in every way, which just goes to show you beauty is only skin deep because although, it was beautiful, it was not flavorful.

Put it together and what have you got: BLT! Yummy. Yikes! Yeah, I know, I forgot to photograph the bacon, but you can see a bit of it peeking out under the lettuce.

Just a bit of eye candy for you.

Birdhouse sitting on a shelf in my living room.

Roses on my living room lamps.

I just love my Canon Rebel and these closeups I get with it.

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Pink Saturday 11/27/2010

Once again it's Pink Saturday and the PS group wants to share lovely pink things with you. So please visit with Beverly of How Sweet The Sound and look at all the other participants by clicking on the logo below. Thank you!

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I love decorating magazines—just looking through them brings happiness to this ol' brain. It truly does! And I get such good ideas just looking at them. It doesn't have to be the exact same thing, but something in the photo may trigger my thought processes for something else. That happens all the time.

That little basket hanging on the wall under the stairs with the dried branches in it gave me the idea to put flowers in just about anything I can hang or attach to a wall. I have them all over my house.

I am not a huge fan of sunflowers, but they look elegant in those red and green buckets and the green and red plaid pillow. This photo just makes you feel good.

Pink and red and flowers and checks, some of my favorite combinations.

Another beautiful combination of yellow and blue and a scroll arm sofa with plush cushions for sitting.

The white and rose harlequin carpet is what first drew my attention to this room along with the pink chairs and that fabulous mirror.

Same home but the bedroom. Another fabulous mirror. I'd take that one in a heartbeat.

Along with this beautiful bed and its beautiful sheets and covers.

Formal style has always been a love of mine, but it doesn't suit this home of ours. I love it though, especially this little rendezvous area of the living room. Fringe on sofas is of particular interest to me. The sofa I have now I saw in the showroom with fringe on it, but when I went back to get it, they had an upholsterer take it off because the sofa wasn't selling! Idaho just doesn't get it yet! Ooooh, but I have to tell you it was truly gorgeous.

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Happy Thanksgiving 11/25/2010

I'm most grateful this year for this little darling who chose to come to this family on earth. Her "do" is a bit frazzled today; after all, she just lies around on the floor all day. ;-) We'd trade her in for a more efficient model but we have high hopes for her and she's just so dang cute!

Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you today.

I'm thankful for a loving and kind Savior who loves me even though I fall so far short of his expectations (or maybe not, after all, He knows me better than anyone else in this world).

I'm thankful for a loving hubby who puts up with me no matter how nasty, mean, crazy, loudmouthed, obnoxious or unreasonable I get.

I'm grateful for my daughter and my son and grandchildren and for Miss Caroline who came to us fresh from Heaven this year. (She is getting more hair!)

I'm grateful for the health and stamina I DO have, especially when hubby told me recently—after complaining about my leg—to go sit down and count my blessings. What a man!

I'm grateful that I have a warm and cozy home and all the accoutrements it has inside like toilets, chairs, coconut pineapple cake(!), fridge, stove, bathtub which many in this world do not have.

I'm grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what it means to each and every single person on this earth, even if they don't know it yet or choose to disbelieve it.

I'm grateful for 2 cars in my garage because I can remember not having ANY car and having to grocery shop with 2 babies in a stroller and a mile walk to the nearest grocery store.

I'm grateful there are brave young men and women who give up the comforts of home and family to go overseas and fight a war that keeps us safe from harm. I love these people, but especially the ones who never came back and the sacrifice their spouses and children made for their country. That is the ultimate sacrifice.

I'm grateful for the food we have knowing full well that other people in other countries aren't as blessed as we are. The U.S. is truly a very blessed nation and God willing will continue to be so.

Just a few things for eye candy and what I may be working on at the moment.

I hope your holiday is wonderful!
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Random Musings on A Wintery Snowy Day

First of all, thank you all for your kind wishes for a speedy recovery and for ANY recovery at all. It is much appreciated—AND needed—along with prayers.

I'd like to catch all of you up on just what's been going on with me. It's been a rough 3 months but I'm finally feeling some relief. Two weeks ago in church I walked in and sat down in our usual spot—5th pew back from the front. My visiting teacher was behind me and leaned forward and asked me how I was doing. That did it! I started bawling and couldn't stop. I was totally embarrassed and realized later I should have just gotten up and gone home at that point. It just all came crashing down at that point. I was feeling lonely, depressed, unloved and much more, plus my makeup and mascara were totally gone. I can't even imagine what the men sitting up on the podium must have been thinking, but then men don't express their feelings as women do, so they probably had no idea how in bad a shape I was in.

I take a very mild dose of an anti-depressant, actually 1/2 a pill, and have for about 10 years. It was at that point I realized I needed to up it to the full pill and yes, that has helped. I'm a very, very active participant in my health care along with my incredible doctor. She listens to me and I listen to her. She agrees with me because she knows me to be a very strong, intelligent and capable women. I love her for that.

Now, besides the pulled hamstring and groin and probably from stress, I got a sore on the left side of my mouth. It hurt so badly I couldn't open my mouth or talk very well. The doctor and I tried 3 different things on it but nothing would help. Finally she suggested—as a last resort before sending me to a dermatologist—a hydrocortizone cream and that has worked. See below what I've been dealing with and I'm NUTS for putting up such a closeup of this old face. It looks much worse in this closeup. But let me tell you it HURT! The cream has cured that and I'm back to my lovely self. ;-)

Am I now sounding pathetic and depressed for myself? Yes, I am, but I deserve to feel that for what I've been through. I'm fine now or will be soon. Do not feel sorry for me; I do a great job of it all by myself and don't need any help, thank you!

Now for the 2nd part. I've been comfort fooding! You're probably wondering how I could do that with my mouth hurting so much and barely able to open my mouth. I adjusted; food never stops us, right?! Yep, isn't that what happens when we all have stress? So, I'm doing something about it. Hubs and I visited our local sports store and bought this equipment for me to start using for ALL my muscles. It looks simple, easy, inexpensive and doable. I got a 3 pound weight, a set of ankle weights for the legs and these cables. Easy to do. Hardly any room needed to do the exercises so I'm starting that to get these old muscles in shape. (Uuuuh, I may still have a melt down or two, depending on how hard it is to get hubby to take me out more often for eating.)

And that's the end of the whine...for today anyway.

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It's snowed the last couple of days and I've pretty much stayed in the house. I don't do well driving in snow since I've pretty much lived in warm climes before moving to Idaho. I absolutely love cold weather though, snuggling down with a cup of hot chocolate and some warm pumpkin bread. I made some last night, which brings me to a musing: Why do some people answer a question with a question or a "yes or no" question with no direct yes or no? Last night I asked hubby if he wanted me to slice him a piece of pumpkin bread for his lunch tomorrow. He said, "That would be nice." He always does this. Rarely ever a YES or NO. After 49 1/2 years of marriage I still don't understand it. Could it be his Marine training?

While out snapping the photos for this post I noticed the tinkle of water in the spout. I guess the bit of snow on our roof is melting fast. Loved catching the drips in progress.

Also while out there I listened to the tinkling of the wind chime and when I looked down I noticed one of its pipes laying in the grass at the edge of the patio. I'm going to have to re-thread the wind chime I think. Also I noticed the little flower trying to survive among the sheltering dead grass. How we all cling to life when it's our time to go!

And finally some eye candy of beautiful cups I have. We don't have many because we don't drink coffee or tea, usually just hot chocolate or an herb tea. But I love having them around just for their beauty.

While swiffering the kitchen today, I stepped on a tiny pebble or something. Why is it when you do that and try to find it you can't find it again to pick it up? Nope, I never did find it, just swiffered over the small area again hoping it caught in the swiffer pad.
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To understand the grandeur of simple things, one must humble oneself.
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You must do the thing you think you cannot do. Okay, I know I can fly on an airplane, but I choose to NOT fly on airplanes anymore. I flew for my company when I worked but when retiring I swore I would never fly again. So far, I've kept that commitment.
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I read this some weeks ago on the internet and was simply astounded of the arrogance and ignorance of this man. He is a brilliant theoretical physicist, which just goes to show you that even the smartest people are brain-dead. If you are religious at all, you have to believe God gave us this wonderful world. I never question my God.
Stephen Hawking declares God did not make universe. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7976594/Stephen-Hawking-God-was-not-needed-to-create-the-Universe.html
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While visiting with my doctor the other day, she mentioned she was having a jewelry party. I almost thought she was going to invite me. Mixed emotions: thinking someone you like will invite you to the jewelry/tupperware/candle party! I hastily changed the subject and departed.
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I also read a piece about Drew Barrymore cooing and gushing over visiting a third world country and going poo in the words. In her words, she thought it was just the best thing that could have ever happened, so freeing, so environmental. Miss Barrymore, what in the world is freeing and environmental about your poo sitting out there for someone to step in?! Hmmmm??? Give me a toilet! Please!! It seems to me she's standing on the corner of Ignorance and Bliss with no clue.
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More in a few days. If I sit too long, I'll have to do more exercise. Heaven forbid!!
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Pink Saturday 11/20/2010

Happy Pink Saturday. Go visit the participants and be delighted with all the pinkness your heart can bear!

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I'm healing nicely from the fall/flip I took at the end of August and am through with the physical therapy. Well, not really through exercising, but insurance would only pay for 8 weeks so hubby and I spent the afternoon shopping at the local sports store, and I picked up a couple of things to help me PT here at home.

And speaking of home, I want to show you some of my absolute favorite rooms. These are rooms I love and will love until the day I die.

I love French and English elements in decorating, but I love shabby romantic roses mostly. Throw in a bit of French and I'm in heaven. I like this living room.

I was into country about 25 years ago, but not so much now. But this living room is one I could live it. It's very romantic with the roses sofa and y'all know my favorite color combination is red/pink and yellow. That sofa is my sofa, just with different fabric.

This bedroom just appeals to me also even though it has elements of country. It's still very much romantic and kind of shabby.

Another one of my favorites. Any shade of red appeals to my senses like no other color.

Oh, squeal, squeal, squeeeeeeeeal!!! I love this bedroom also.

But THIS is my all time favorite living room. When I saw this in the Ethan Allen magazine about 17 years ago, my heart did flip flops. If I could achieve this look, I know I'd be in heaven. I cannot tell you how much I love and adore this room. To me it is just warm, snugly, homey and comfortable.

This is the dining room that goes with the above living room. Do you see what I mean? Is it not gorgeous? Oooh, how I love to look at these pictures and dream about being in that living room and dining room

Lastly, I've had this fabric for several years and have never used it. I've given up making pillows to sell so if anyone is interested in it, it's on eBay and it's 2 full yards at a very good price. I love it but I know I'll never use it or make anything with it. So with the Christmas season coming up, I thought I'd let you know in case you're interested. Here is the URL for it:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350415016392&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Be of good cheer, my chicks. I think I'll be trying to post more very soon. I've missed not surfing the blogs and I haven't because I know once I get started, I'll not be able to move my backside from this chair and that is NOT a GOOD thing!
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