Week #1 focuses on "Vitamins".

If you don't know what specific Vitamins do for your body, here is a quick and hopefully fun way to find out.

It's a new Month with new focus items.

Yes, I can read a calendar.  I know it is the actual date of Halloween, but we celebrated last evening to give us the opportunity to keep the Sabbath Day Holy today.  Soooooo, I am moving on.

As I look back over the past year, if you have been keeping up with purchasing needed items to stock your long-term reserves, you should be sitting in a pretty sweet place today.  In the past few months, several people have shared with me that they  now found themselves in a position where they need to use their long term storage items.  Some were ready, some were not.  The point is that we never know when we might need our Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness items.  It is a matter of belief and obedience.  If we are prepared...we really will not fear. 

As we are getting ready to share a season of gratitude with loved ones, take a moment to look at your reserves and thank Heavenly Father for helping you to obtain them.  In addition, ask him to help you with any areas that you still need to prepared.  He will help you, no doubt.

Here are the target items for the month of November:

Week #1:

Vitamins

Week #2:

Water, Juices, and Drink mixes

Week #3:

Shortening (Canned and Powdered)

Week #4: 

Oils (Canola, Olive, Vegetable, etc)

Course offering at Provo City Library..... November 4th

(Image courtesy of pics4.city-data.com)

My thanks to Cary W for bringing this event to my attention.  I am continually amazed at the course offerings in our area, and here is yet another to be held on November 4th at the Provo City Library.

"Meals in Minutes; Food Storage in a Bag" will be presented by Michelle Snow at 7:00 p.m. in room #201.  A raffle for her book will be held and she will have a limited number of her books for sale at a significant discount.  She will reportedly demonstrate her method and provide samples as well.

For more information on Michelle and Trent Snow's information, please see http://www.bagmealtestkitchen.blogspot.com/.  or http://www.michelle-snow.com/.

It's week #4 in October....and our focus item is... Spices!

 (Image courtesy of ttohotmomas.net)

What would cooking be like without spices?  I had a family member whose family lived off from their Food Storage for over a year.  What did she say she missed the most?  Spices! 

One question that I get often is "What is the shelf life of........?".  Just as with other items that we store, spices do not last for eternity.  The following information is from the McCormick's website:

• Ground spices 2-3 years
• Whole spices 4 years
• Herbs 1-3 years   
• Seeds  (except poppy seeds and sesame seeds which last for 2 years) 4 years
• Seasoning Blends 1-2 years
• Extracts (except vanilla extract which lasts indefinitely) 4 years

One other wonderful thing about this site is that you can check your own McCormick spices to see how old they may be by going to this link.

Storage Containers:  Now, how do you store your spices long term?  Here is some information from this site (Suite101.com):

Canning Jars

Another excellent container to use for storing larger amounts of herbs are pint size and quart size glass canning jars. Used canning jars can sometimes be found at local thrift stores. New seals and rings for the canning jars can be found at many grocery stores.

Metal Tins

Small metal tins may also be used to store herbs and spices. Make sure to label the tins as the contents can't be seen once the lids are closed. Metal tins can impart a metallic scent or taste to dried herb leaves, but they work okay for storing seeds and roots.

Ceramic Containers

Glazed ceramic containers can also be used for storing herbs and spices. Unglazed ceramic containers will cause the volatile essential oils present in the herbs to evaporate in a very short time.

Plastic Containers

The use of plastic containers is not recommended for the long term storage of dried materials as the herbs seem to absorb some of the odor of the plastic making them rather unpleasant to use. Plastic containers or resealable plastic bags can be used for the short term storage of fresh herbs in the refrigerator or freezer.

Wood Containers

Wood containers are not recommended for the storage of your herbs and spices. Wood is a permeable container and since it is not airtight it will quickly cause the materials to dry out and become stale. Wood containers also have a tendency to absorb the odor of any aromatic substances that are placed within them.

Stock up! 

New Article on Preparedness and Food Storage at Mormon Times...

(Image courtesy of.tv/images/Deseret_News_Mormon_Times.jpg)

The  Mormon Times has a great article on preparedness that was published on 10/20/10.  Please see this article at the following  Link.  There is lots of really good information for your to consider.