Just a quick head’s up for our readers. We are the featured site over at the Fun With Food Storage network today. Head on over to learn a little more about us, download our FANTASTIC “party favor”, and don’t forget to leave a comment on our post TODAY to get your bonus entry into the giveaway. We KNOW you are dying to win that Shelf Reliance shelf!  And remember to check out http://www.internet-grocer.net who  sponsored our site’s giveaway by donating three $50 gift certificates to their online store where you can buy great food storage items like canned butter, meats, etc.

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YEAH!!! It’s finally here! Can you believe it? The day we have all been waiting for. The Fun With Food Storage Network is officially up and running. We can finally reveal the details of our one-stop shop for all your food storage needs. We have linked up with Crystal from Everyday Food Storage who is AMAZING at teaching you how to use your food storage foods in your cooking EVERY DAY. And we are thrilled to have also linked up with Shauntell from The Obsessive Shopper who is constantly providing EXCELLENT tips and tools to save money on ALL of your food storage items. The four of us are working together to help make this the year you get your food storage done. Hurry on over, we’re telling you how to enter the giveaways and you don’t want to be late for this party! Click HERE to join the party now!

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p.s. Can you believe tomorrow is the BIG launch?  Just a few more hours and the excitement begins!

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What should I include in my Emergency Binder?

• birth certificates
• passports
• social security cards
• copies of your credit cards front and back
• homeowners insurance policy
• auto insurance policy
• life insurance policy
• bank statements
• retirement statements
• internet passwords (banking, personal, work etc)
• immunization records
• utility statements
• work/tax documents that would be difficult to replace
• CASH - keep a variety of small bills on hand

We like to put each item in a sheet protector and add divider labels to put them into sections. This makes it easy to pull things in and out when you need to access them.

Do I store copies or originals? This is a personal choice but we recommend storing the originals IN your emergency binder and store photocopies of them in a filing cabinet, and also scan a digital copy and give it to a trusted friend or put it in a safe deposit box. If your house burnt down or was flooded it would be so relieving to know that you don’t have to go through the hassle of replacing those documents. If you already have a water/fireproof filing cabinet or safe you may choose to just put copies in your binder so that you can have the information on hand in an emergency but know that you can return home and find the originals intact at a later time.

What should I store my binder in? Even though the idea is to grab the disaster kit and bring it with you, there is always the chance that you won’t be home during an emergency. In this scenario you would still want to return home and find your binder in good condition (especially if your original documents are IN the binder). We recommend storing your binder in a fireproof/ waterproof locked box that is small enough to be transported with you in an emergency.

Technorati Tags: 72 hour kit, disaster kit, emergency binder, Emergency Preparedness

Isn’t this so exciting?!

We’re only a couple of days away from the BIG party!

We want to make 2009 the year that you really have success at planning, buying and using your food storage. As we mentioned in our Gift #2 post, we’ve linked up with some great girls to make a one stop shop for you to come to GET IT DONE … while having fun, of course! The HUGE week long celebration starts Monday, January 5 with giveaways, party favors, plus more personal interaction with all of us including live chats, question and answer sessions, and videos. You won’t want to miss it!

In case you just can’t wait until Jan. 5th to see what our site is going to look like …
we’re offering you a little SNEAK PEEK.

The giveaways for our launch week include:

Three $50 gift cards to internet-grocer.net to purchase food storage items

Three $10 gift cards for groceries and a coupon organizing kit

Three adorable retro style hand made aprons that will get anyone in the mood to spend time in their kitchen!

Come back Monday to join the party and find out how to enter the giveaways. Make sure and tell all your friends - you won’t want to miss this!

Technorati Tags: food storage, food storage blog, food storage blogs, food storage made easy, food storage network, fun with food storage

Types of wheat

• Spring or winter: Winter red wheat tends to hava slightly higher protein and is a bit harder than content than spring. Winter red is better for baking bread. There is not a significant difference in hard or soft white wheat.
• Hard or soft: Hard wheat varieties have higher gluten (protein) and are better for making breads. Soft varieties have lower protein and nutrients and are better for pastries, pastas, and breakfast cereals.
• Red or white: Red wheats tend have a stronger wheat flavor than white wheats. Most red wheat varieties are hard, and most white wheat varieties are soft, but you can find soft red and hard white if you really prefer one over the other.

Storage

• If unopened, the optimum shelf life of wheat is 12 years or more. It is edible for a lot longer than that, but won’t necessarily keep the same flavor or nutrient levels.
• If opened, wheat will stay good for about 3 years.
• Once it is ground into flour, wheat loses most of its nutrients within a few days unless you store it in the freezer.
• You can add oxygen absorbers, bay leaves, or dry ice to help keep critters out of your wheat.

A lot of people are intimidated by grinding wheat, or wonder how you grind wheat. It’s actually really simple and wheat grinders are available in a wide range of prices. The main thing you need to decide is if you are planning to use your wheat stores on a regular basis and rotate through them, or if you only want to use your wheat in an emergency situation.

If you plan to use your wheat frequently it is worth investing in a quality electric grinder. We recommend the Wondermill Grain Mill as it seems to be the fastest, cleanest, most convenient of electric grinders and only $239! (In fact, we liked this mill so much that we decided to apply to become an official dealer for them … more on that next week though!) For emergency-only usage, a hand grinder will be sufficient, but make sure that you get one that can still grind into a flour fine enough for bread. The Back to Basics grinder is the cheapest one we found that would still grind flour.

For a simple demonstration on how you actually grind wheat, please view our How to Use a Wheat Grinder video on YouTube.

After searching long and hard for the BEST whole wheat bread recipe, we finally found one that was darn near perfect. It was fluffy, delicious, good for sandwiches, and even the kids would eat it! Modified slightly from the One Happy Homemaker Blog, here it is:

You can half this recipe and make one delicious large loaf

• 3 c. very warm water (but not too hot)
• 1 T. instant or quick rise yeast
• 1/3 c. vegetable or canola oil
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1 T. salt
• 6 cups whole wheat flour (hard white wheat is best)
• 1/2 c. whole oats
• 1/4 c. gluten w/ vitamin C

Combine the first 5 ingredients and mix. Add 5 cups flour, oats, and gluten flour. Mix well. Continue to add the other 1 c. flour slowly until the dough forms a ball and scrapes the excess dough off the sides of the bowl. Let mix for 5-10 minutes. While mixing, preheat your oven to 100-125 degrees.

Oil the counter surface & your hands (Use oil, NOT flour). Put your dough on the oiled surface & slice WITH A KNIFE into 2 large or 3 small even loaves. Pat down and roll into loaf shape, then put into greased bread pan.

Turn OFF your oven, cover loaves LOOSELY with saran wrap, and put in warmed oven to rise till double (about 45-60 minutes, depending on humidity in the air).
Remove loaves from oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Bake loaves for 25-30 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and place on a wire cooling rack.

Technorati Tags: food storage, grinding wheat, wheat grinder, wheat grinders, whole wheat bread, whole wheat bread recipe, whole wheat recipes

Here are some tips and cool sites we were talking about on twitter this week in case you missed any of our “tweets”

Want to receive our tweets as they happen?

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Here’s our little Christmas update since we haven’t blogged for the past few days (been a little busy with Christmas and what not). Both of us received some of the items on our Christmas Wish List:

• Julie - Received a Wondermill Wheat Grinder for Christmas, YAY! Her mom is so sweet and bought one for all three of the daughters.
• Jodi - Got a great Peggy Layton book called “Cooking with Dried Eggs“. But her favorite gift was an autoshipment of The Ready Project foods that will come every month! Her mom took advantage of our referral program to get 5% off the initial order (you just enter code 61838, it’s so easy).

And as a reminder, in case you missed any of our gifts to you this holiday season, here is a summary of what we have done for you:

• Gift #1 - Babystep Checklists: We’re starting a fantastic email reminder system that will help you build your food storage in one year. We break it down into assignments for every two weeks and provide you with simple instructions and free checklists to help you along the way.
• Gift #2 - A Big Surprise!: We are going to be teaming up with some other food storage bloggers to provide a fantastic overall system to help with your food storage. Check back January 1 as we will be announcing some more details about our January 5th launch party!
• Gift #3 - Revamped BabySteps: We rewrote our babysteps to include more information, better outside resources, and a great summary of each of our personal approaches to food storage. Not to mention we added cute new icons to represent each step

If you haven’t already subscribed to our RSS feed make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any of the exciting stuff we have planned coming up in the new year!

Technorati Tags: christmas wish lists, food storage, food storage gift ideas, food storage gifts, food storage wish lists

Here are a few highlights of things we have updated:

• Updated icons for each step
• Simple navigation tool at the bottom of each step to help you easily move from one step to the next
• More info about us and how we are approaching our personal food storage
• Updated some of the resources
• More clarity in some of the steps
• Last but not least, a CUTE new setup on the main BabySteps page

We are so excited to give you this gift right before Christmas. Hopefully it will help you be more motivated to get going on the BabySteps in the new year. And if you haven’t signed up for our checklists yet you better get on it asap!

Let us know what you think of the new icons We LOVE them!

Technorati Tags: food storage, food storage list, food storage made easy

Here are some tips and cool sites we were talking about on twitter this week

Food Storage Gift Ideas @ Food Storage Gift Ideas Ideas for gifts, neighborhood gifts, and wish lists.about 5 hours ago from twhirl

Don’t forget about your PETS when planning for emergencies and food storage @ Stealth Survival Some good reminders found here. about 6 hours ago from twhirl

Walgreens is becoming a favorite coupon shopping store. Check out this post for some great recent deals. @ Prepared LDS Family about 6 hours ago from twhirl

Last Minute Christmas Neighbor Gifts @ The Obsessive Shopper These are some great ideas using items that are on sale this week! 5:43 PM Dec 19th from twhirl

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe … YUMMMMM!!! @ Jacoubs Family Blog Scroll down to see the recipe. It sounds so easy and delicious. 5:32 PM Dec 19th from twhirl

Wow! “Goldfish and raisins and candy-OH MY!” @Food Storage Diva How to add extra comfort foods to your long term food storage. 4:21 PM Dec 18th from twhirl

If a recipe calls for canned beans, use your food storage dried beans and cut the amount by 1/2-1/3. Soak and cook the beans and enjoy! 3:20 PM Dec 18th from twhirl

In case you didn’t catch the blog post … we posted step 10 over at Food Storage Made Easy. The last step!!! YAY! Step 10: Non-Food Items 8:47 PM Dec 17th from twhirl

Making my kids favorite dinner, which happens to be a great food storage meal … Corn Cakes! Here’s the recipe … @ Food Storage Made Easy 5:14 PM Dec 17th from twhirl

Another great food storage neighborhood gift idea from Everyday Food Storage (I LOVE the cookie recipe used in this!) 2:40 PM Dec 16th from twhirl

Did you catch our 2nd gift at Food Storage Made Easy? It’s going to be a big surprise … very fun and exciting!!! @ food storage made easy 12:07 PM Dec 16th from twhirl

Retweeting @eatfoodstorage: WAHOOO!!!! Saved over $100…thank you www.theobsessiveshopper.net!!!! (I’ve got to hit Albertsons today too!) 1:09 PM Dec 15th from twhirl

Dried beans … canned versus dried @ My Food Storage Deals Some great info on where the cheapest prices are. Good to know for long term storage 9:32 AM Dec 15th from twhirl

Coupon Organizers @ Food Storage Info These look kinda cute and could be really helpful if you are a coupon-clipper for your groceries. 1:40 AM Dec 15th from twhirl

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