If you have a large food storage, and eat out of it regularly, most trips to the grocery store consist of buying mainly perishables. I use and rotate my food storage, and for the most part only buy produce at the grocery store. This week, I did what I usually do, I logged onto Deals to Meals to pick out what produce was on sale at stores around the state, and made my list. This video below shows you how I did it. The site has change SLIGHTLY since I made this video, but the steps are still the same, AND they are in more than 12 states, so check it OUT!

In case you don’t like watching videos, or your computer is slow, here’s the summary of how I use Deals to Meals:

• I sign in and pick my state
• I choose the best deals from all 12 grocery stores in Utah
• The items are added into a grocery list
• I print the grocery list and bring that one paper to Walmart
• I price match and get the best prices from all 12 stores at one store
• DID I MENTION I ONLY GO TO ONE STORE!
• I pat myself on the back because I save a lot of money with virtually no work!
• I even sent my husband with the list once… and it WORKED?!?!?

*Check your Walmart for their policies – but it’s worked for me at 3 different Walmarts.
If your store wants the actual ads, use Deals to Meals to do your homework, then just shove all the ads in your purse.

Like I mention on the video, there are a ton more services that Deals to Meals offers, like making meal plans based on sale items, and letting you know which food storage foods are on sale that week to make stocking up even easier.

You can try a FREE 2 week trial and see if it works for you. The savings with only using it 1 time a month are WAY more than worth the $4.95 a month fee.

Benefits of Estate Planning

• Avoid having your assets tied up in probate
• Clear directions on what will happen to your children should you and your spouse both pass away
• Beneficiaries can pay less inheritance tax
• Allows YOU to make decisions, rather than the courts
• Peace of mind in knowing things are taken care of

CREATE A WILL

A will is the foundation of your estate planning. Without a will the courts will decide what happens to your children and your assets, and your family that is left behind could be in for a mess. Your will should include the following items:

• Nominate a guardian for any children you have
• List your assets and how you want them distributed
• Name an executor of your estate to take care of fulfilling your wishes

A few things to consider:

• Beneficiaries on life insurance policies and financial accounts will take precedence over a will, so make sure they are all updated appropriately.
• EVERYONE that has assets should have a will.
• Review your will each year, modify it should any major life changes occur such as the death of a beneficiary, addition of new beneficiaries, major changes in financial situation, etc.
• Don’t hide your will in a safe deposit box. Keep a copy somewhere your family can easily find it.

ESTABLISH A REVOKABLE TRUST

A trust is used to distribute your assets without the use of courts or attorneys. If a husband and wife both put their assest into a trust, only ONE inheritance tax is charged rather than one on each of them (I wasn’t exactly sure what this stuff means but it sounds like a way to let your heirs keep more of a your money which is a good thing, hehe). Here are some things to note about trusts:

• Money and assets in your trust are not protected from lawsuits against you.
• IRAs should not be included in the trust as they are able to roll directly into the IRA of an heir with no penalties
• You should select ONE trustee to manage the assets in your trust according to the directions you leave in your will
• The trust should be updated if your trustee changes or your beneficiaries change
• You should include a “Pour-Over Will” which is a safety net to administer property that is not in your trust due to accidental exclusion or that was acquired after your death

HAVE A LIVING WILL

Having a living will allows you to decide whether or not you want to remain on artificial life support when there is no chance of recovery. It relieves your family of the burden of having to make that decision. This is a very good thing to have.

HAVE A DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY

A durable power of attorney allows you to name someone of your choice to handle your affairs in the event that you become unable to do so. You can specify what those circumstances are.

Summary

If you have less than $10 million in assets, these four documents should be sufficient for your needs and are very reasonably priced to have established. If you have more than $10 million you will need to explore some more complex estate planning options.

Hopefully that was a helpful little overview for you. Now you should be able to at least know some of the questions to ask if you go to have a meeting with a lawyer to get your affairs in order. Please remember we’re not trying to give legal counsel, just give you some things to think about for you to research further.

INSTA-FIRE OVERVIEW

Insta Fire is a safe, simple, and versatile new fire starting product. It has water-repellant properties, a fifteen minute burn time and a thirty year shelf life. Use it to light campfires, prepare charcoal briquettes, or as a safe and reliable fuel source for cooking or heating in emergency situations. In an emergency you will most likely need to boil water, cook your food and heat your shelter. This fuel can be used in a wide variety of cooking stoves, even ones you can make out of #10 cans! Proper ventilation is always necessary.

To learn more about the product, and see it in action:

Benefits:

• Useful for lighting and drying wet wood, building a campfire or bon fire, quickly lighting charcoal, etc.
• Great complement to a Volcano Grill for quick cooking or boiling water
• 2 cups burn for ½ hour to an hour with periodic stirring
• 30 YEAR SHELF LIFE. Safe to store indoors. No limits on quantity stored
• For more info see the FAQ

The owners of Insta Fire introducing us to the product last year – they even made us lunch! We enjoyed having them cook for us, and learning about the product:

Anyways, I found this recipe on Pinterest a few weeks ago. If you’re not already following us on Pinterest make sure you do – we post, and repost cool stuff!. It was for a healthy energy ball. The thing that really caught my attention were the words NO BAKE, and HEALTHY. Hmmm I thought, maybe I could try those one day. My kids love granola bars, I don’t love the ingredients that always come with them, or the price tag for the healthy ones. I figured it would be worth a try.

Sunday night we were feeling an itch for a treat and I didn’t want to turn on the oven. I had about half the ingredients the recipe called for (I don’t always have cocunut or ground flax seed). I read the full post on the Smashed Peas and Carrots Blog, the recipe came from and decided substitutions would work just fine. I ended up with this mixture and JUST for you, I paid special attention to my measurements so I could share it. Not that I’ll ever actually measure when I make these again!

Ingredients
2 cups old fashion oats (original recipe called for 1 cup coconut, 1 cup oats, but I substituted)
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used organic – the kind that has JUST peanuts)
1/3 raw honey (doesn’t really have to be raw)
1/2 cup of chocolate chips (I chopped them, to make them go through out more of the mixture)
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. You then put the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes to cool. If you’re going powerless, you can skip this, it will just make the mixture tougher to make balls out of. That’s when you just grab a spoon and eat the mixture right out of the bowl. After the mixture is cool, roll into balls. Store in an airtight container in the fridge – if they last that long.

What I love about this recipe, is that it uses Food Storage, it has no refined sugar (outside of the chocolate chips), or butter, or baking, or REAL need for measuring. If it’s too sticky, add more dry stuff. If it’s too dry, add more honey. Substitute whatever you like. I think I’ll do raisins instead of chocolate chips next time, maybe craisins, chop some nuts… whatever you like. I think I’ll make these again for sure!

Powerless Cooking Event – Hosted by Food Storage Made Easy

Date/Time: May 10th 7-9 pm
Location: Draper, Utah
Cost: FREE

Join us for an evening of free information on different options for cooking when the power goes out. Representatives from great companies such as Sun Oven, Volcano Grills, Humless, and InstaFire will be combining with us to help you learn about these products as well as several free or inexpensive tools you can make yourself. Come and enjoy free handouts, event discounts, giveaways and more!

This is the event that WE are putting on which we posted about a few weeks ago. Click here to view full details and RSVP if you haven’t already. Seating is limited and it’s filling up!

Self Reliance Expo

Date/Time: Friday 5/18 -> 10AM-7PM, Saturday 5/19 -> 9AM-7PM
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Cost: $10 per adult

There are several Self Reliance Expos in different locations throughout the year. This one in Colorado is exciting because they have an entire panel of women presenters including some of our favorites like Lisa Bedford (The Survival Mom). This expo will be worth going to just for the exhibits alone, but there also looks to be a huge line-up of classes, workshops, and presentations to attend as well. Click here for more details and to get ticket information.

Please note: If you are aware of any local events in your area please ALWAYS let us know so we can get the word out either through our newsletter or our Facebook page. We love to support local expos and help connect our readers with them!

Butterbeer in Hogsmeade

Bikini Beach Babe

A Few of My Favorite Things

A “Wheatie” Plane Ride

My daughter and I sat by a really nice Grandpa on our flight to Florida. He gave his extra cookies to her, and she let him play “Temple Run” on our iPad. I had a nice chat with him, and during our conversation I discovered that he owns a little farm in Minnesota. I told him about my Backyard Chickens and asked him what he farmed. When he told me he grew wheat I actually squealed and said “I have a basement FULL of wheat!” I think I took him by surprise. lol. He was impressed that I grind my own wheat and cook with it, and he was awesome about answering my questions for the next thirty minutes or so.

Winter wheat versus spring wheat
A few years ago we did a post about the different Types of Wheat, so I was proud of myself that I could ask him what type he grew and sort of know what I was talking about. However, I discovered I was not very well-educated on spring versus winter wheat. I assumed he grew winter wheat since Minnesota is so cold, but he told me it’s the opposite. Winter wheat is germinated in the fall and then sits dormant over the winter, it resumes growing as the weather warms up and is harvest in early summer. Spring wheat is planted in April or May and harvested in August or early September. Very cold regions have too harsh of winters to be able to plant in the fall for winter wheat. This totally makes sense to me now. Also winter wheat produces more wheat per square foot, but spring wheat has a higher protein content.

Home-grown wheat
After learning about HIS wheat, I proceeded to hound this nice gentleman with questions about growing my own wheat in a small space. He told me I could grow wheat from my stored wheat kernels (as long as they will sprout you should be able to use them for crops). You can grow as much or as little as you have room for. If you have a yard that’s 20 feet by 50 feet, you could plant 6 pounds of wheat and harvest nearly 50 pounds of grain (source). You will need to learn the proper harvesting methods for home harvesting, but that information seems to be readily available online.

I told my new farmer friend that I would love to try to grow a little wheat and see how it works in my area. Then if some major long-term catastrophe occurred I would know that I could tear up my whole yard and plant lots of wheat if I had to. By the end of our flight he had asked for my address because he wants to send me a little packet of his wheat to try growing in my yard next spring. I thought it was really cute and nice of him and I’m excited to give it a whirl. I may even try doing a couple different kinds of wheat (using some of my stored wheat as well). We’ll see how ambitious I get!

Who knew you could have a food storage adventure in the middle of a Florida vacation?

Still however, we get asked questions about it, and started to do a little research when we came upon this article at LDS.ORG. We are highlighing part of the article here for you, but urge you to check out the full article for TONS of tips on storing your food long term. The part we are highlighting is the Oxygen Absorbers section.

Oxygen Absorbers

Oxygen absorbers protect dry foods from insect damage and help preserve product quality. They are used when dry foods are packaged in sealed containers. Oxygen absorbers can be purchased from home storage centers and Church Distribution Services, or they can be ordered from store.lds.org. (You can also find them at Emergency Essentials – type in Oxygen Absorbers in search)

What are oxygen absorbers made of?

Oxygen absorbers are small packets that contain an iron powder. The packets are made of a material that allows oxygen and moisture to enter but does not allow the iron powder to leak out.

How do oxygen absorbers work?

Moisture in the packaged food causes the iron in the oxygen absorber to rust. As it oxidizes, the iron absorbs oxygen. Oxygen absorbers rated for 300 cubic centimeters (cc) of oxygen work well for properly packaged dry food in containers of up to one-gallon capacity (4 liters).

Is the use of oxygen absorbers equivalent to vacuum packaging?

Oxygen absorbers remove oxygen more effectively than vacuum packaging. Air is about 20 percent oxygen and 80 percent nitrogen. Absorbers remove only the oxygen. The air left in the container is mostly nitrogen and will not affect the food or allow the growth of insects.

What types of products can be stored using oxygen absorbers?

Products should be low in moisture and oil content. If the moisture content is not low enough (about 10 percent or less), storing products in reduced oxygen packaging may result in botulism poisoning.

What types of containers can be used with oxygen absorbers for food storage?

Oxygen absorbers should be used with containers that provide an effective barrier against moisture and oxygen. The following containers work well:

• Metal cans with seamed lids.
• Foil pouches (such as those provided by Church home storage centers and available from store.lds.org).
• PETE plastic bottles with airtight, screw-on lids.
• Glass canning jars with metal lids that have gaskets.

Oxygen absorbers are not an effective treatment method for plastic buckets, milk bottles, or other types of plastic bottles not identified as PETE or PET under the recycle symbol.

What is the proper way to use oxygen absorbers?

1. Cut open the top of the bag of absorbers. Do not open the individual absorber packets.
2. Remove the number of absorbers from the bag that you will use in the next 20 to 30 minutes, and spread them out on a tray. Remove additional groups of absorbers from the supply as you need them during the packaging process, but do not open and close the bag repeatedly to get only a few absorbers at a time.
3. Reseal the remaining supply of absorbers by one of the following methods. Do not store absorbers in ziplock bags.
   • Seal the bag of absorbers with the special blue clamp provided by the home storage center.
   • Seal the bag of absorbers with an impulse heat sealer.
   • For longer storage when an impulse sealer is not available, remove the absorbers from the bag and place them into a glass canning jar that has a metal lid with a gasket. A one-pint jar (500 ml) will hold 25 absorbers.
4. Place one absorber into each container of food as it is packaged.

So there you have a highlighted part of the article. Check it out for more tips on packaging food for longer term storage!

Feel free to add your tips and comments about packaging your foods for long term storage!

Bread in a Bag: A Creative Way to Store Bread! by Pam Emick

Background: We reviewed the book Dinner is in the Jar a couple of years ago … and when we were first approached by Pam Emick the author of Bread in a Bag we knew we would love her book too since it’s a similar concept. Rather than have to pull out all the individual ingredients for your bread every time you bake it, you simply stockpile the ingredients in the correct proportions all in one mylar bag or mason jar. GENIUS idea! She offered to give us a copy of her book to review and we were very happy to do so

What I Liked: Bread in a Bag is VERY thorough. It covers everything you will need to know, do, and buy if you want to use this storage method. There are a wide variety of different types of bread recipes in the book, and each one has detailed instructions on how exactly to store it, including if you need to put things in separate baggies for measurement purposes. There are also instructions for how to make the bread if you are using your “bag”, including what liquid or fresh ingredients you would need to add. Pam includes great labels for each recipe to make it SIMPLE when you pull out a bag or jar to bake your bread.

My Favorite Part: I love the recipes that are small enough to fit in a quart jar. I don’t keep mylar bags on hand so if I want to make this philosophy a big part of my storage I will need to get some materials for that. In the book it indicates recipes that can fit in a half-gallon mylar bag and those ones seem to work well in the jars too. I made the Hawaiian Bread (VERY delicious with the hint of lemon and the orange zest added in) and while I had everything out it was very easy to just measure the ingredients into a jar at the same time I was measuring them into my mixer. Then a few days later I had a FAST easy bread mix ready to go. LOVE!

Feedback: I think this is a great concept for making white breads, however I store more wheat than white flour due to the longer shelf life. We asked Pam about storing fresh ground whole wheat in the bags and she thought it wouldn’t be a problem. However, I would be concerned about the wheat going rancid unless I kept the whole bag/jar in the freezer. I think if you used commercially bought wheat flour you would be fine if you used it within the shelf life of that wheat. For me personally, if I’m going to do a jar for a recipe calling for wheat flour, I will just stick wheat kernels in baggies into the jars and then grind them up when I pull out the jar to make the recipe. This is still a very convenient way to do it and I won’t have to be concerned about my wheat flour going bad.

Summary: Bread in a Bag introduces a new way to think about your food storage and gives you all the tools you need to make these bread kits sooo easily. Her recipes look really great (I can’t wait to try the hamburger buns!). My plan is to go through the book trying a new recipe every few weeks and each time I do it just make a couple of jars or bags at the same time. Over a few months this should give me a GREAT supply of bread kits, ready-to-bake, and using foods already in my storage. If you are struggling with keeping up on making homemade bread consistently, or just want some new recipes to try out, I would definitely recommend Bread in a Bag

We’re excited to be hosting a free Powerless Cooking Event! The event will consist of 2 parts- instruction and booth time. The instruction portion of the event will last about 1 hour and include segments featuring various products, that will be taught by experts from the respective companies of each powerless cooking tool. Each segment will be long enough to give a good overview of the product and how it is helpful in a powerless emergency.

Following the instruction portion, we will have booth time where you can ask detailed questions on the products you’re interested in at individual booths. This will allow for you to learn as much as possible about multiple options, then delve into whichever options you may be more interested in. We will also be handing out special order forms that you can submit and get special event pricing and discounts.

We will also teach you about some free/inexpensive powerless cooking tools and include handouts with instructions for how to make them!

FEATURED PRODUCTS AND EXPERT GUESTS:
Global Sun Ovens:
Paul Munsen: President of Sun Ovens Int.
Insta Fire Fuel:
Frank Weston/Konel Banner: Owners and CEO
Volcano Grills:
TBA
Humless Solar Powered Generators:
St. John Holloway: Sales and Support Rep

FREE/EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS COVERED IN CLASS:
Brief Fuel Overview: Taught by JODI AND JULIE!
Cardboard Box Ovens: Taught by JODI AND JULIE!
#10 Can Stoves: Taught by JODI AND JULIE!
Indoor Cooking and Butane Stoves: Taught by Preparedness Expert Guest
Hand Wheat Grinders: Taught by JODI AND JULIE!

DETAILS:
Date: Thursday May 10, 2012
Time: 7-9 pm (7-8 will be instructional, 8-9 will be Q&A at individual booths)
Place:

American Preparatory Academy
12892 S. Pony Express Rd. (Just off of I15 and 123000 S.)
Draper, Utah 84020

Cost: FREE! Bring a friend!

Please RSVP below so we can plan seating accordingly:

When I got married, my mother-in-law (Jodi’s mom – known as Grandma Lori around here) gave me a very special gift. She had each of my relatives and close friends fill out a recipe card or two of their favorite, most trusted recipes. I LOVE that little box of recipe cards because it contains a lot of family favorites that my husband and I both grew up loving from our aunts, grandparents etc. One of my go-to recipes out of that box has been my Aunt Debbie’s Vegetable Cheese Chowder (We call it Creamy Potato Soup). Over the years I’ve figured out a way to incorporate my food storage into this soup AND make it virtually fat free!. Through some creative cooking techniques (removing the flour, milk, and butter) I can feel good about eating this more often. I’ll share both versions with you here today!

CREAMY POTATO SOUP (Original)

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed potatoes
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced celery
1/2 cup minced onions
2 t salt
4 cups water
10 oz frozen broccoli (or 2 cups fresh)
3 T chicken bouillon
3 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 T dry mustard
1 lb shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
In large pot, place potatoes, carrots, celery & onions (also broccoli if fresh). Add water + salt. Cook about 20 mins until tender. Add broccoli (if frozen), chicken base & milk. Simmer 5 mins.

In saucepan melt butter, add flour and mustard. Stir to make sauce. Add to soup and stir until thick. Add cheese, stirring until melted. Keep hot, but do not boil.

CREAMY POTATO SOUP (Fat free)

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed potatoes
1/2 cup minced onions (or equivalent in freeze dried onion – about 1/4 c.)
2 t salt
3 T chicken bouillon
2 cups diced carrots (or equivalent in dehydrated carrots – about 1 c.)
2 cups diced celery (or equivalent in freeze dried celery – about 1 c.)
10 oz frozen broccoli (or equivalent in freeze dried broccoli – about 1 c.)
1 T dry mustard
4 T white bean flour mixed with 3/4 c. water (any white bean ground in your Wondermill will work)
Cheddar cheese for topping – if you’re feeling naughty!

Directions:
In one pot I cover the potatoes and onions with water, and add the chicken bouillon and salt. In a different pot (there’s a reason for the 2 pots), I put all the carrots, celery, and broccoli together with very little water and start cooking about 5 mins after I start cooking the potatoes. If I am using freeze dried veggies, I add a little more water, and let them cook and hydrate at the time (meaning I don’t add water and get them hydrated ahead of time).

Once the potatoes are done cooking and are soft and tender, I take a masher, and very LIGHTLY mash them. I mash them enough that there are still quite a few chunks left, but it’s slightly creamy. This is one of the ways I get the creaminess of the soup without the flour, butter and milk! After the potatoes are slightly mashed, I add the carrots, celery and broccoli WITH it’s water. A lot of the nutrients, get into that water so I want to keep it. That’s why I cooked it in the first place with very little water.

At this point it should be a little on the liquidy side, and that’s when I add the white bean flour/water mixture to get the rest of the creaminess without the flour, butter, and milk. This will thicken the soup right up. Make sure you leave it cooking (boiling) for at least 3 minutes to get the beans all the way cooked. Add the dry mustard here too. Here’s a secret, I never have that so I usually put about 1/2 Tablespoon of real mustard, not knowing if that really has any likening to mustard seed, but it flavors it a tiny bit so I go with it.

Since the soup is still fat free at this point, I’ll usually top it with a little cheddar cheese because I deserve it (freeze-dried cheese would work for this too).

So there you have it. Soup that uses freeze dried veggies and white bean flour. I ALWAYS use freeze dried onion, ALMOST ALWAYS use freeze dried broccoli, and often use freeze dried carrots, and celery if I don’t have any on hand. Next up, I’ll try it with freeze dried or dehydrated potatoes and really be ambitious!