Hidden Treasures in Food Storage: Grandma's Secret Stash

My Grandma Shirley has been featured on this blog a few times over the years. First, when I gave you a tour of her awesome food storage. Then later on, when my mom and I made a big batch of freezer meals for her and my grandpa to cook up as their health started to decline. She passed away several years ago but I love keeping her a part of my blog by sharing her stories. Today I want to share a funny story about a hidden treasure we found in her food storage (scroll to the video below!)

Grandma’s food storage was pretty substantial. She kept everything from long term grains and legumes to jars and jars of home-canned items. Grandma had sanitation supplies and heat sources … and lots of water! She even had a whole box of games (and a drawer of candy) for the littles so her grandkids would be entertained in an emergency situation. Of course she stored seeds and a sprouting kit. And she also kept a hand-crank wheat grinder that could be powered with a bicycle! My grandma was seriously THE BEST! When I first started learning about food storage I was a little intimidated. But as I worked through our babysteps I came to appreciate all she had done so much more.

After grandma passed away we distributed her entire food storage to various family members and/or discarded or donated items. One day my aunt texted my mom and said “Did you know you could find hidden treasures in food storage”? And proceeded to tell her the following story about my grandma’s secret stash!

Grandma’s Hidden Treasures in Food Storage

As promised in the video, I wanted to share a few of the hidden treasures that were in my grandma’s food storage. According to my mom, the biggest treasure was the box itself. She distinctly remembers this was a little jewelry/knickknack box that Grandma Shirley kept on her dresser. My great grandpa made it and passed it down to his posterity so it’s pretty special to my mom.

Inside the box was an old prescription from 1963! This makes me think that she forgot about this treasure box herself. There were also quite a few old coins which made me pretty excited. You can see in the photos below there is a silver dollar from 1880. That was old when she stored it and even older now! I’m not an expert on the value of coins but I’m curious to know how much they are worth.

There were a few other random things like old letters and a warranty for a pair of nylons. The whole thing made me giggle and I’m sure my grandma is watching us from above and laughing at how silly she was to store these things in a barrel of beans.

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