I wrote an add on comment farther down but so it isn't missed I'll say it again. You gals need gamma seal lids if you're having problems opening buckets, they're a life saver making it possible to work day to day from your buckets.

Great resource for Self Reliance and Food Storage for the rough times ahead.

I decided to really jump in and do some emergency preparedness at our house (72-hour bags, water storage, food storage, etc.), and I keep reading “eat what you store, and store what you eat”. My problem with this is that canned foods – a staple of many people’s home storage – use Bisphenol A (BPA) in the can lining. (Even the white lids for home canning have it.) This is a dangerous additive. I need some ideas for BPA-free packaging!

I made the homemade macaroni and cheese last night following your recipe. Everyone loved it! It was so quick and easy!

yea I won a prize THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hi guys my email is messed up can get but not send so hope you will screen this
here is my adress
Linda Sorden
409 S Adams
Burlington iowa 52601

how often will you be doing these 7 day challenges? b each day i wait for the next day's challenge and then i mourn the previous days challenge.

I have been watching several vidoes on using mylar bags & large buckets. I need only store for 2 people. I had a thought & did not know if it would work. My husband & I use about 5lb rice, 5lb wheat, & varing amounts of other food. Is it possible to put different items into one bag/bucket if they are individually vacume sealed first then placed in & O2 absorbers placed in mylar bag? That way when I open a bucket it will contain approx 1 month or so of rice, wheat, beans & oats. The remained of the year supply will be in approx 12 buckets. Please let me know what you think of this idea. I have approx 8-9 month so far except for the wheat, rice, oats & beans for approx 4-5months for us. I use a combanation of #10cans & vacume sealing other dry items. If this will work I could buy in bulk from the church & repackage into buckets. If not I will have to get most of my longterm storage in #10 cans. I south Louisiana I will not use a full bucket before it goes bad. Too much humity.

That sounds like a great idea to me. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I would see nothing wrong with storing different foods together, especially if you separate them into bags. If you can buy in bulk and save money that's a bonus. It would also be nice only having to deal with one open bucket at a time. My buckets are REALLY hard to re-open and close and I always have to make my husband help.

Nothing wrong with storing multiple items in buckets, just make sure everything is labeled. I have half a dozen buckets of varying soup mixes, with lists on the side so I can find what I want. :-)

Also, Jodi, if you can't open your lids, you really need to invest in gamma seal lids!!! The inner lining of the lid goes around the lip of the bucket and the inside of the lining is threaded with a threaded lid that you just screw on and off. Pure genius!!!

We have a collection of buckets with gamma seal lids that I work out of saving our harder to open buckets for longer term items.

I see the $20 rebate on your site and the free shipping for the handmill. Is this still avaliable and if so till when? Jody

Jody, the rebate period ended last Saturday. Sorry! But the free shipping will be good through the end of this month at least. Hope that helps :)

When are all of the updates to the babysteps/binders going to be made available for those who purchased the binder before the updates.

Watch your email box this week!

Great site! Keep it up. Came across this doing my own research (to be honest)

I think there's a definite market for what you guys are at.

Is there any information on this website about the pros and cons of different ways to store food such as mylar bags, buckets, or seal-a-meal bags. Also where do you buy your bulk foods?

I started with mylar bags, but mice easily broke into them when we moved. The mice problem is long gone but I have since switched to #10 cans. FYI: I live in a dry, cool climate and storage is in basement.

We actually haven't done a lot of research on that yet as our whole intention with food storage is to really use and rotate through the items we've bought, so we didn't care TOO much about ensuring REALLY long shelf lives. However, we have had a lot of questions about this lately so it is definitely something we will be looking into and posting about in the future.

I am so glad I am not doing this alone!

Is there any way I can purchase more than 1 binder. I have gone through the whole process and nowhere is there an opportunity to change the # of binders. I could like to purchase 3.

Thank you

Barbara, we have emailed you a response, but the link to purchase additional copies is http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/fsme/binderinfo....

Qution about storing vanilla and other flavorings and spices. I would like to store about 10 bottles of vanila but do not have the space for that many little bottles. I was wondering about decanting them into a glass bottle with a very tight screw top to it. Do you think that would be ok?
Also, what about bulk amounts of spices. Could you store them in "tupperware" air tight containers I would label everything properly.

You site is a life saver as I am not worrying like I use to Thanks for all the other helpful hints like the newspaper flower pots. Do you know that you could plant the pot also and it would break down in the dirt and the roots will "brust:" thru.
Thanks for your help.

Judi

Judi, I think you would be ok to store the bulk amounts as you are suggesting. I would just think it would make it harder to rotate through things. So it might be worth at least splitting it into two containers so you can be depleting one while the other one remains sealed. Then when one gets emptied you refill it and start depleting the other one. Just an idea! Hope that helps.

Hey I will be teaching a home canning and long term food storage class at our Ladies Day Out event at our church on Saturday. I will be sharing your site (My favorite!) and your Youtube and FaceBook sites too. Keep up the good work girls.

Anne Marie, Tang is a powdered drink mix fortified with Vitamin C and a few other vitamins, like B6. It was originally orange-flavored, but now comes in many other flavors as well. I'm sure you can find something similar to substitute in Europe.

Do you ever do Relief Society enrichment classes to talk about food storage ideas?

I was wondering how you open your #10 cans? regular can opener doesnt really do the job easy at all!

Amie, I just use a hand can opener and it works fine for me!

Help, I can't find "Beanie Weenies" in the almost 8 oz can anywhere in Spokane. I haven't been to Walmart yet but that is the only store I think I've missed .

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Sue

Susan, I actually found them at Wal-Mart. If you can't find them it would be fine to substitute with something like an extra beef stew.

I absolutely love this site!

I am just wondering if you have any way to convert from US to European measurements, and also some of the items in the 72 hour kit are completely unknown to me - Tang - if you could describe it I could put in my own subsitute. I love this site, thank you so much for your hard work I appreciate it. I'm a Relief Society President in a small branch and this really helps us and connects us. Thanks again. Anne Marie.

I live in Puerto Rico. We get hit by huricanes to tropical storms and they cause havoc; no water, or elec for 6-8 weeks! I am LDS and help church with info for all aspects of preparedness. Have you ever thought of having all this information in spanish? You will help all Central, South America, Carribean, and European spanish countries,oh, and Filipines, too. It would be okay for me to translate to my sisters and family, but how awesome it would be for all to be blessed with your expertise. Thanks for your talents. Heidi

I first want to say, THANK YOU!
I am a grandmother, with 5 sons and 5 grand daughters. I have been working on my storage for YEARS.
Now that the family has flown the coop I have let this storage idea fall through the cracks. You two very smart and inspired young ladies have, re sparked my desire to get my act together.
I have just begun to explore your web site and see you have done very much work.
I have one question, for the time being. Since I have let my old bread mixer go and the wheat grinder as well. I wondered what bread mixer you use to make our good hearty wheat bread? I found the Bosch to be efficient, but because I made such large batches, sometimes the dough would raise and get into the holes at the top of the bowel where the mixing arms attached, and goodness that is a mess to try to get out.
Can you tell me please what you have found is a good machine and relatively in expensive. I'm open to suggestions.
Keep up the good work.You gals are an inspiration!

Hi to you all I have found your site great and I thank you for the effort you put into it. I notice you don't have many men respone but I am sure that will change. Can you tell me if food grade buckets have the hdpe #2 on the bottom. I thought I seen it on your site but not sure. Thanks again

Hi! Love what you have here. It has been such a huge motivation for me when I was starting to get bogged down with food storage anxiety. I signed up for the Baby Steps reminder emails about a month ago and haven't gotten any yet. did I do something wrong?

Megan, Try signing up again and make sure to add info@foodstoragemadeeasy.net to your safe address list. If you don't receive an email right away when you sign up please email us and we can troubleshoot the problem for you. Thanks!

Wow! What a great site! I just "found" you and am very happy about it! I'm the E-prep specialist for my ward and stake, so will be referring everyone to your site!
I'm a "lol"...little ole lady...single and a preparedness fanatic! Having never baked bread in my life, I'm anxious to learn "new tricks". Thanks for all your hard work. Loa

oops, I thought the website would show up in the comment--leve and learn. The website is www.marketamerica.com/bbates this particular article will only show on the front page today.

There is a good article on the above website about how built ins help with storage. some good ideas that creative people can use almost instantly.

Just found your site through the Millionaire Compass and I think it is great. We are sailors and plan to spend longer and longer times on our boat. Food planning and storage it always an issue. I'll definally use your page!. thank you

TIFFANI!
YOU GET IT! We often get comments from people who don't understand that we're not the intense fanatics! We love learning and sharing as we go.

Hi, Girls!!

Thank you so much for putting this website together. It is so nice to visit a website where I feel like I am among likeminded friends who take the protection and preparedness of their families seriously without making me feel like I've warped into a world run by crazies! There is a fine line between the two as I'm sure you know!! I am a mom just like all of you, and I am thankful to have found you all more than you know. Please continue your good work and know that you are blessing many other families around the country. Blessings to you all!

Iam so excited about the storage rotation using a old dresser. I can't wiat to find one and convert it. I love this site already.
THankyou

I just found your website and am so excited to get started! Thank you for doing this for us all! Keep up the good work!!!

I just wanted to thank you for all the info on your site, it's been very helpful to me in organizing our food storage and helping us plan to do better. We've always had a good short term food supply but just recently have tried to increase our long term and making our short term work for 3 months...

I just wish I'd gotten started when living in Utah with all the great resources there AND when I only had two kids! We now have seven great kids but... it just makes the project bigger!

Anyway, thank you!

I stumbled across this site and LOVE it and your sister sites.
I have just started to put together a website to direct people to because I have gleaned a lot of info but needed it all in one place AND NOW I DONT HAVE TO!!!! You all have done it for me.
Thank you. You guys are doing a great job and I cant wait to continue reading your site and the other gals.

Misty, Jodi and I both get emails to info@foodstoragemadeeasy.net. We appreciate all your awesome contributions you have made in your comments lately.
-Julie

Jodi is there any way I could get your e-mail address? I have TONS of information I would love to share with you ladies, and I don't think posting it in a comment is the best way to do it. Currently I am working on a flyer with a 5 year Emergency Preparedness and Provident Living action plan to hand out among our Stake members as part of our effort to increase "motivation" about Emergency Preparedness. It will be broken down by month including information for getting out of debt, finding storage space, water supply and purification, 3 month normal food storage and budgeting for it, a 12 month purchase plan for long-term storage items for only $125 a month for a family of 4, building your emergency cash, emergency savings, and 3 month savings funds, and beginning the road to provident living including larger purchase items such as gas generators, kerosene heaters, a wheat grinder, pressure canner, and other essential items. I am an Emergency Management/Homeland Security major living in Northwest Arkansas and have an 8 month old son, so I am currently not in classes and have quite a bit of free time. I love doing this stuff and am very passionate about sharing it with as many people as possible as well as helping to motivate them to, "awake to a sense of their [awful] situation".

Thanks for all of the great tips! You are women after my own heart. I also am a food storage junky and have a blog I would love for you to check out ;) It is: www.myfoodstoragedeals.blogspot.com. I would love to link share with your website to my blog (and website) if you are interested. I think your website would be beneficial to many of our customers and friends who visit our blog. Thanks again!

If you live in Utah, I would LOVE for you to try our grocery service for FREE and see how we can help you obtain your year supply of food--one week at a time! We offer a grocery service that helps people know which items are on sale for great deals each week, tell them which items to add to their food storage, create a weekly menu planner for your family based around those items on sale and give helpful tips and information to help your family save time and money! Email me at Shandra@myfoodstoragedeals.com and I will set up a FREE account for you to try our service, if you are interested :)

Corby, I think the 72 hour kit video was down for a few hours but it looks like it's working now. The emergency checklist is a pdf document so you need to have adobe acrobat installed for it to display properly. I opened it just now and it seemed to be working for me. Here's a heads up though, we are going to be putting out a new and improved checklist within the next few days so check back soon for the revised version!

Your 72 hr video is no longer available on youtube and your simple check list in your emergency blog is also gone. Please tell me I'm just looking in the wrong place, I wanted to watch your video again~! Your site is GREAT with covering all the basics! Thanks for all you've put together!

Sara-

Thanks for linking to us on your site. I have been so busy I haven't had a ton of time to look around it and comment, but from what I saw so far it looked really informative. How does it work with being "group bloggers"?

Hi Mindy. In BabyStep 4 we refer to a great site called trackmyfoodstorage.com which allows you to enter the number of people in your family and will produce a report that is customized for your situation. So you can find out exactly how much you'd need to store for one person. Also, under our Getting Started section those tips would be applicable to a single person as well. You would just need to make ONE 72 hour kit, your emergency plan will be simpler, etc. Other than that I haven't seen anything that specifically is geared towards singles. But I hope you can find some value in the things we are teaching and apply them to yourself. Try cutting recipes in half, borrow a wheat grinder from a friend, etc. Maybe we will do some more research and write a few posts with some more ideas!

Hi.

I'm 23 and single. Most of the websites I've been looking at are geared towards families. Have you found any great lists or websites that are geared towards singles? Any information would be helpful.

Thanks!

Mindy

Thanks for the information on this blog! I really like the emphasis on the basics.

We have recently started a food storage group blog, linked above. We have linked to your site from that blog. Come over, take a look, and participate! We are looking for other group bloggers.

I am excited what you have to say about this important topic in all of our lives.