Deal on Wheat!

Thanks, Judy, for letting me know about this deal. Lehi Roller Mills is having a sale on their wheat and some of their other products. I'll post the flyer that Judy sent me. This advertisement is good from March 15th to April 15th.





For those of you new to buying and using wheat (and even for those of us that are just starting to use wheat and are figuring things out the hard way) - here is some good information about Wheat. This is from the September 2008 South Mountain Emergency Preparation Newsletter that went out from Amber Edmunds in our ward (oh I have so much to live up to :) )

Different Types of Wheat
Wheat comes in a number of different varieties. Each variety is more or less suitable for a given purpose based on its characteristics. The most common classifications for wheat varieties are spring or winter, hard or soft, red or white.

Winter: Planted in fall, over winter in the field and harvested the next summer
Spring: Planted in early spring and harvested in the fall
Hard: Kernals tend to be small, very hard, and have a high gluten content. As a general rule, hard varieties have more protein than soft.
Soft: Tend to be larger kernals, plumper and softer in texture. They have less gluten content and are often used in pastries, quick breads, pastas, and breakfast cereals.
Red: Comprise most of the hard varieties
White: Comprised most of the soft varieties
Recently, hard white wheats have been developed that are suitable for raised bread making. Some feel the hard white varieties make a better tasting whole wheat bread than the hard red.
The most commonly stored are the hard red varieties, either spring or winter, because of their high protein. They should have a protein content of no less than 12%, with higher the better. The hard white spring wheats are still relatively new and are not yet widespread. They have the same excellent storage characteristices as the hard wheats.

Ok, it is me again. In my experience, with my bread recipe that we LOVE - the white wheat works better. It seems not quite as dense and it makes higher, prettier loaves for me. When I use the White wheat, the bread turns out closer to the kind of bread that you typically buy at the store. Also, we have noticed that it works better for making a puffed wheat cereal, (that is when you soak the wheat kernals overnight and then warm them in the oven the next morning - drizzle honey over them and YUM). This is just my experience but I sure wish someone had shared it with me before I stocked up on wheat!

Group Orders!!!

I am going to attempt to organize some group orders. If you see any bulk deals or know where to look for group items, let me know. For now, I am going to start with this month's special at Emergency essentials. You can go online to see what it is that I'm talking about, but the prices are even better than listed!


Our items this month will be:
Large Red Backpack (for 72 hour kits) - $7


4.2 oz water pouches -30 cents/piece (great for stuffing in kids bags)





You can order anything else you see on the website in the same order and save on shipping - just let me know!

Now - here is the catch - you must get me your order and a check made out to me by Sunday March 20th. If I don't have your money by that date, I can't order it for you (I wish I could float money over for people, but I just need to make it a policy that I don't).

If you have any requests for group orders, let me know. I will be looking for Gas turn off keys, pry bars, and I would love to find a good portable water filter for a great price.

72- Hour Kits - What should you have in one?

I saw a great article today on the Pinching Your Pennies website. I'll post it below and then after that, I'm posting images of 2 different checklists I picked up at the Emergency Preparedness Vendor Demonstration a week or so ago. The key point is to be prepared. I read another article about how the missionaries serving in the Santiago East Chile Mission had been prepared by an inspired mission president. The mission president visited each one in the 2 weeks prior to the quake and made sure they had emergency kits, ways to contact leaders (with and without phone service) and checked their apartments to make sure they were safe. Every one of the missionaries escaped that tremendous quake without harm and were able to help others because they had their immediate needs met through preparation. One simple thing to think about is keeping a pair of shoes and some sweats just under your bed. If there was a fire or earthquake in the middle of the night and you needed to escape, how many of you would be less than thrilled to end up in the middle of the street wearing what you sleep in and no shoes? Just a thought.

Here is the article:
With four major earthquakes occurring around the world in the last two months (three of them just in the last 2 weeks, and one of those just yesterday), emergency preparation has probably been on quite a few minds recently. I even heard a spot from our state's governor on the radio yesterday letting everyone know of our state's preparedness web site and other resources.

One of the main things that is suggested on most of the government and community preparation web sites is to have an emergency "kit" (sometimes called a 72-hour kit or a bug-out bag) for each member of the family, that contains items that would be useful in possible emergency situations.

There are many options for kits out there - you can purchase pre-assembled kits, you can make your own, or you can do a combination of both. As an aspiring "frugalista", I really wanted to make my own because I was pretty sure I could do it for pretty cheap, and doing my own meant I could customize it for my family's needs.

As I've done research on this, I've found so many lists of suggested items, and so many ideas. But I also found that it's easy to get bogged down in trying to plan for every possible scenario. It can become overwhelming, and it's hard to not get stalled in our efforts or abandon our plans all together because of the perceived complexity of the whole endeavor.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that ANY preparation is better than no preparation at all. So I wanted to find a way to put together a bare-bones, bare-basics kit that wouldn't cost much money and could be thrown together in a matter of a few minutes so that it would be done and ready should the need ever arise.

In an emergency situation, the top priorities are water, wound care and sanitation/hygiene. You can go a few days without food. You can go for weeks without a shower or brushing your teeth or shampooing your hair if you had to (no, it wouldn't be pretty, and it might be downright miserable, but you'd at least survive).

But you CAN'T go for very long without water. And if you happen to get a wound (which is quite likely in an emergency) and it gets infected and is untreated, you just plain WON'T be able to go for very long - period.

With that in mind, I rummaged through my house to come up with the items that I felt were a bare-minimum for an emergency kit. These are kind of the essentials for sustaining or preserving life. Here's what I came up with:


small backpack
sweatshirt/jacket
bottled water [it's not the recommended 3 gallons, but it's certainly better than nothing, and you can add more if space and weight allow]
assorted adhesive bandages
antiseptic wash (or alcohol wipes or iodine)
antibiotic ointment
otc pain relievers
any prescription meds you take on a daily basis
food for 1 day [I just grabbed 6 granola/nut bars - convenient, no cooking required, and could be easily rationed if needed]
bar of soap
washcloth
roll of toilet paper
(for the gals) feminine hygiene products

[If you have a young child, you might want to include a baby blanket, cloth or disposable diaper(s) and possibly a bottle and formula]

It took me about 15 minutes to gather all these items. There was still about 6 inches of room at the top of the backpack, and even with the water bottle included, the entire pack only weighed 5lb 10oz. It was fast, cheap (all items came from around my house already) and lightweight.

Remember, this is not a deluxe version. This is just a quick put-together kit that you can do on the cheap that will get you started. But even this bare-basics kit will still get you a lot farther in an emergency situation than having no kit at all.

Of course, the idea is that you can then add to and customize your kit as time and finances and circumstances allow. There are many more things you might want to add if space and weight will allow. But even if you don't add anything else, at least you'll have something put together should the need ever arise (but hopefully it won't).

Here's a quick list of other things you might want to add on (and this is by no means an exhaustive list):

flashlight
trash bag/rain poncho
copies of important documents (birth certificates, IDs, contact information, etc.)
additional first aid supplies
change of clothes and additional cold weather items (hat, gloves, etc.)
additional personal hygiene items (shampoo, toothpaste, wet wipes, razor, etc.)
knife or survival tool
additional food
whistle
matches
solar blanket
water purification tablets or water filtering device
hand sanitizer
etc.

I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions on emergency kits or other things you've done to "get prepared".

[For additional resources, check out www.ready.gov or www.fema.gov/areyouready.]


Here are the check lists I picked up. They may end up being impossible to read - I can e-mail you a pdf if you want to comment and give me your e-mail address.

Being Prepared

"Be Prepared" is a term we hear used a lot. I don't think it means "Be afraid" or "Live in Fear until the disaster!" On the contrary - I think it means have your possessions and life in order so that you can enjoy peace today and will be ready in the event anything happens. Being prepared is not necessarily having a stockpile of 30 year old wheat in your basement and commercially made 72 hour kits in your car. It means that you have a surplus of supplies in storage and those supplies are things you use everyday. It means that you have preparedness items in your car so that when you get a flat tire or a dead battery - you know, those everyday things, you are prepared.
That being said, there is always a desire to have a list of items, or a magic kit that you can buy so that you can put it somewhere and feel that you "are prepared." I have tended to look at it differently. What am I preparing for? Let's look at my car. I would like to be prepared for a dead battery, a flat tire, no gas (and having to walk a long distance to get some), hungry/thirsty children if I were to get stranded, and an accident. So, my car kit contains: jumper cables, fix-a-flat (as well as my jack and spare tire), blankets, a winter coat, outdoor shoes for myself, granola bars, bottled water, a small shovel, small first aid kit, a disposable camera and accident report form, and extra diapers and wipes. My husband's car has those things plus rope/chain and work gloves. I feel at peace when I go anywhere in my car - I know that come what may - I can handle it.

A home 72 hour kit is a bit different. My parents had people show up in Tennessee that had been evacuated due to Katrina. They were so grateful for their changes of clothes, toothbrushes, and financial information that they had ready to go when they were told to evacuate. What would we want if the hillside was on fire and we were given 10 minutes to leave? Would we want to waste those precious minutes finding changes of clothing, toothbrushes, hair brushes, diapers/wipes? Having these types of items in a bag ready to go can allow you the time to pack heirlooms, pets, scrapbooks, ect. We keep these items in garbage bags inside our backpacking backpacks. When we need to use these backpacks, we can unload the garbage bag and still have all of our things together. We also have an Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (I will post about this later) that we can grab and take with us that has all of our utility accounts, insurance accounts along with other important information and contact numbers. I can go to sleep at night knowing that if I had to leave quickly - my family would be fine.

For the people who love creativity, we have also stashed changes of clothes and toiletries, ect. at our inlaw's house. If we had to leave here - we know we would have what we needed in Midway. Different - but I'm sure those people from Katrina's devestation would have loved to have a place to go that had some familiar items waiting for them.

I know that a lot of people love to have the "food in a can" 72 hour kit or something like that that is already put together and they can check it off their list of preparedness items. But I think it is more important to have an idea of what you are really preparing for and have those items that you would need - ready to go.

If you are interested, Draper City is hosting a Vendor Demonstration for 72 hour kits. At the very least, they may be ideas to get you started on your own.

UFA is hosting a 72-hour Emergency Kit Demonstration that we would like to invite you to attend. The details are as follows:

What: 72-Hour Emergency Kits - Vendor Demonstration
When: Thursday, February 25, 2010

Time: 12:00 PM-4:00 PM

Where: Draper City Council Room

Food Storage - the BASICS

This is a write up done by Earlene McDonald. It is very interesting in that she goes through how using the basic grains to suppliment your food intake - will help to save money. I know of families who are needing to tighten the belt right now and being able to utilize their BASIC food storage is helping tremendously.



If you have less than a year's supply for your family PLEASE do not dismiss this as not for you without reading further!!! There will be more to come for greater variety, with recipes, how to sprout and how to use them for more nutrition, web and blog sites to help you provide that variety, and heads up on local sales to get fresh fruits and veggies in the diet. BASICS are NOT the only thing you would be eating!!! This is just where we start.

It is possible to acquire a nice supply of food by doing it in increments slowly and steadily. I am going to assume that with our economy the way it is today that most, if not all, are working within a tight budget. If we are not, we probably should be. There is no way to be certain our own personal financial crisis won't occur sometime soon so we need to set food and money aside if we can. We certainly need to eat as well as we can for good health. Illness or an accident makes all vulnerable to income or savings loss.
By being good stewards NOW we can have peace of mind by having enough to feed ourselves and our family under most circumstances.

First, acquire BASIC survival supplies that you are, or will become, familiar with and that give you bulk in your diet to fill your family at dinner time now and later. Learn to use them NOW! I will be giving you some recipe suggestions to add to what you already know and do, and our RS food specialist will show you how to cook even more.

1 pound of rice gives you 10 servings. ( For teens figure 8 servings. ) The cannery sells you 25# of white rice for $8.45 or 3.4 cents per serving. Costco has 50# of white rice for just under $18 so the price per serving is about the same. Macey's also has it for about $9 per 25#. Yes, brown rice costs more and fancier rice does too. We are thinking survival first and will increase to higher nutrition rice as your budget allows.

1 pound of beans gives you 10-16, 3/4 cup cooked servings. The price also varies by type of bean. You can buy 25# bags at the cannery. Black / $14.50, Pinto / $16.30, White / $14.10 If you use 10 servings per pound your price per serving is 5.8, 6.6, or 5.6 cents, respectively. Costco, Sam's and the local grocery stores have good bulk quantity prices also.

1 pound of pasta of any type gives you 8 servings. The cannery sells 20 pounds of macaroni for $12.10 and 25 pounds of spaghetti for $14.55. That is only 7.6 and 7.3 cents per serving,respectively.

1 pound of wheat gives you a large loaf of bread with a little flour left over. 25 pounds of wheat at the cannery is $6.35 for hard red wheat and $5.80 for hard white wheat. That makes a delicious plain whole wheat loaf of bread about 40 cents when you add in the cost of yeast, sugar and oil. Serving size and cost depends on how you slice it! Yes, I know you have to grind the wheat. If your Mom, your best friend or neighbor doesn't have a grinder come on over I'll gladly run it thru mine.

Believe it or not you don't need a machine to make bread. You can relieve a lot of stress just punching the bread. I mean kneading it. Most recipes make two loaves. Plan on grinding at least a few pounds at a time but refrigerate it after grinding.

You will need to introduce whole grains slowly if you haven't been using them already so plan on using just a cup or two in your recipe to begin with and gradually increase the whole wheat to white flour ratio every other time or so. Or start with pancakes or cookies to get your family's digestive system used to it! Again, use at least half white flour to start with.

1 pound of flour is about 3 1/2 cups, or a little more than is needed for a loaf of bread. Flour is considered a short term storage item because it has a flavor change after about four years. We are planning to use it now so there is no problem here. The cannery sells 25 pound bags for $9.35 so making baked items cost you almost twice as much as if you start with wheat. These are still great prices compared to buying at the store or bakery.

1 pound of oatmeal gives 11.4 servings per pound. 25 pounds of regular oatmeal is $7.60 and quick oats are $8.15. This makes 286 servings per bag or 2.7 and 2.8 cents per serving, respectively.

Regular oatmeal has more nutrition than quick oats and takes only 5 minutes to cook. Add some dried fruit, such as raisins or apples, and most who eat oatmeal will like it as well or better than the packets or quick oats the very first time they eat it. Some may take a few servings before they apppreciate the fuller texture versus the gruely instants. This is one meal even a child can learn to cook...and then they are more apt to eat it. It will naturally be hard for many to give up their dry, sugar breakfast cereals, but don't give up!


Use the following computations for ONE PERSON and you will see how the numbers work.

breakfast oatmeal 2.8 cents
lunch 2 slices of bread for sandwich 12 cents
dinner pasta or rice and beans 10 cents

TOTAL 25 cents or about a dollar for a family of four for the BASICS.

Using the highest priced choices consider that the following amounts will put you well on your way to your 3 month supply of every BASIC the first month! At the end of six or seven months you can have a years supply of survival storage, with quantity and variety for your family, and you will have eaten quite well the entire time on minimum dollars. (For an extremely tight budget you could go with only rice or only pasta to save money, and use things from your pantry for variety, and you still would have food left over for storage.)

25# rice $ 9.00
25# beans $16.30
50# wheat $12.70
25# flour $ 9.35
25# oatmeal $ 8.15
25# pasta $14.55

Total $70.05 for 700 main dish servings, 286 oatmeal breakfasts, 60 large loaves of bread, whole wheat and/or white, with enough flour for tortillas, muffins, biscuits, pancakes etc. every day for a month.

For a family of FOUR that leaves 580 main meal BASICS left over to put in storage. If you have a family of SIX that leaves you with 520 servings of beans, rice and/or pasta main dish servings (or almost 3 months of main meal BASICS) left over to put in storage. More than likely you will have some wheat and/or flour left also, along with 106 servings of oatmeal...more if you had pancakes or just toast for breakfast some days. Even families of six (unless four of them are teenagers! ) will not go through two large loaves of whole wheat bread every day if you make other bread type products.

For storage: begin picking up FREE storage buckets with lids at the grocery store bakeries. They are free everywhere except Kohler's, and they charge only a dollar for theirs. There are usually 2-8 buckets emptied everyday at each bakery, so start asking and save them from the recyle or the dump. Costco has more of the larger sizes but take along trash bags to protect your car as theirs still have a little frosting left in them.

THANK YOU FOR PREPARING!!

Earlene

Great article

I saw this article today on one of my favorite websites: Pinching Your Pennies.com

Practicing frugality is becoming more and more necessary for consumers as income remains stagnant or decreases and prices continue to rise. If the thought of stockpiling your groceries and other household needs seems to be a step in the wrong direction, consider the following......
At first glance, the concept of stocking up appears to be at odds with the concept of frugality. After all, by definition frugality means that one should practice economical strategies in the purchase and use of resources, natural and man made. Doesn’t the idea of stocking up seem to be contrary to this concept? Perhaps it does, but nonetheless, if practiced carefully, stocking up can be quite an economical strategy that leads to exceptional frugality. Using the strategy of stocking up on various products can lead to quite a savings on resources and finances.Stocking up on certain types of household, car, garden, personal needs, and other types of supplies or needs is something that should be thought out carefully. It begins with a knowledge of what you need on a regular basis, where you can store these items, and what price range makes it worthwhile to purchase in bulk. Following certain guidelines when making your purchases will circumvent potential problems while maximizing your savings.

Know the Amount of Storage Space You Have

Before stocking up on any type of product whatsoever, it is essential that you know how much space you have available for storing it. Where you keep your items is almost as important as whether or not you have a true need for it. After all, if you store your stockpile items in some out-of-the-way location, you might forget that you have them. If this happens, then the item can go to waste if it has a specific shelf life and you can end up spending even more money than you would have if you hadn’t done any stocking up.The best place to store your extra items is in a place that is easily accessible. A spare shelf in a closet, a built in or stand alone pantry, or even a back room can be used to store your stockpiled items. Plus, you should always store your items in the same location so that you remember where they are. The easier these items are to get to, the more likely it is that you will remember to use them.Categorize Your StockpileOne of the easiest strategies that you can use to stay aware of what you have in your stockpile is to categorize your purchases. Place similar items in the same area. Not only does this allow you to find them easily, but also, it decreases the amount of time needed to search through your stockpile when updating your needs. For example, if you are stocking up on personal hygiene needs such as body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant, they should all be stored in the same general area. Perhaps you can clear a shelf in the linen closet to make room for your stockpile. For food items, a stand alone pantry or a few shelves in the kitchen should be sufficient to hold your stockpile. Again, place similar items together.

Create a List of Needed Items

Whether you store the list in your head or you write it down, you need to maintain a list of items that you are running low on. If you maintain a list of items that need to be replenished, then you don’t miss out on an opportunity to stock up on something that you are running low on. It is too easy to bypass a good sale simply because you think that you don’t need an item. After all, buying too much of a good thing can easily turn into a bad thing if the shelf life of the item isn’t sufficient enough for your use of the product. Take this strategy a bit further and take into consideration the possibility of family gatherings or parties that might necessitate purchases on a slightly larger scale.

Stockpile When the Price is Unbeatable

If you want the best return for your money, paying attention to the price variations on any type of product is essential. If you monitor store sales for several weeks or months, you will be able to get a handle on the price fluctuations so that you know just how low a price might go. Manufacturers like to vary their prices according to their marketing schemes and therefore, different times of the month or year will bring about lower prices. Therefore, if you pay attention to these fluctuations on the market, you can plan your stockpiling strategies more efficiently.Resist the urge to purchase large quantities of items when the price is lower than usual but not a great deal lower. The best time to stockpile is when the price is as low as it is likely to get. The shopping lists provided at PinchingYourPennies.com are a key element in knowing when to stock up an item. Using our shopping lists, you can quickly spot 4 and 5 star deals. 5 star deals on the shopping lists are rock-bottom, stock-up prices. Our deal finders and listmakers have years of experience tracking sales and item prices.If you can avoid becoming brand conscious, then you can take advantage of clearance sales on discontinued brands and products. The savings on clearance items is often as much as 50% to 75% of the original purchase price. For example, after most holiday seasons end, most stores place their holiday items on sale. Even though you might not want any more Christmas candy, the stores often reduce the prices of products that they have overstocked including baking items, canned and candied fruits or nuts, spices, baking pans, and more. This fact makes after holiday sales a perfect time to stockpile a few items.

Don’t Worry about Stockpiling Everything All at Once

It is important to remember that you don’t need to do all of your stockpiling all at once either. If you need something and it isn’t on sale for a good price, then simply purchase one of the item or the quantity that you need. Otherwise, don’t purchase anything that you don’t need until you can obtain it for a good price.After a few months of shopping with a stockpiling strategy, you will discover that you rarely run out of any of the items that you typically stockpile. Your purchasing habits will become cyclical as they begin to follow the cycles of sales that occur on a consistent basis. Additionally, you will begin to see a savings in your monthly expenditure as you reap the benefits of not ever having to purchase any of these items at full price.

Avoid Stockpiling Items That You Won’t Use

As you begin to look for bargains to stockpile, you will come across great deals on items that you have no real use for or need of. It is so easy to get caught up in the terrific savings that someone would get if they purchased these items. However, there’s no bargain if you purchase something that you aren’t ever going to need simply because it is on sale for 90% off of the original price. For example, quite often seasonal items will go on sale at drastically reduced prices. However, if these items are products that you will never use, then you would waste money with a purchase of them. Buying something because it is ten cents is pointless if you are never going to use the item. However, if you are looking for a charitable donation, you can always purchase such items and donate them to a local shelter or food pantry that can use them.

Avoid Stockpiling Perishable Items

Perishable items such as produce, bakery items, and other items with a short shelf life are not good items to stockpile. Chances are that these items will go bad before you ever get to use all of them should you decide to stockpile them. For items with an expiration date, you can calculate how many you would be able to use before the expiration date arrives and purchase that quantity. In fact, check the expiration dates on a number of the product as this will probably vary by as much as several months. Purchase the ones that have the expiration date that offers the longest shelf life.Maintain Your StockpileOnce you set up a place to store your stockpile, you need to remember to maintain it. Since many of the items will have expiration dates on them, you need to rotate your purchase so that the earliest expiration dates remain in the front of the stockpile. This strategy pertains to both perishable and nonperishable items. One of the strategies that you can use is to take a black marker and label the items in large numbers with their expiration dates on them.

Have Realistic Expectations

One of the most important facets about stocking up that one needs to understand is that the financial benefits are not seen immediately. After all, it is quite possible that initially you will be spending slightly more money than usual. However, after several weeks, you will begin to see savings as you spend less because you already have the item at home. At the very least, you will be able to keep up with the rise in cost as you continue stocking up when the items are on sale.

Wheat, Rice, and Oats - Oh My!

When it comes right down to it -what do we use as a staple in our diets. Things such as flour (from wheat), rice, and oats provide a base for most meals in my house. When I think of what I need to have on hand to feed my family - these items provide a great stretching ability to make expensive items such as meats, dairy and produce go further!

With that in mind - what an awesome opportunity we have to utilize the Sandy Dry Pack Cannery. Here you can pack dry goods available for sale here (at GREAT prices) and then take them home to store them. There are several other products (other than just wheat, rice, and oats) available to preserve also.


Here is a short movie showing how easy the process is!


Ok, so now you are hooked, right? For the Draper South Mountain Stake, our next assigned day is Thursday, February 11, 2010 from 1-5pm. Having an assigned day just means that when you are a member of this stake, you get 1st preference in going in and doing your canning. You can just walk in at any time - but you may have to wait for those who are their for their assigned times to finish up their work.

Here is the order form that you can fill out online and print out and bring with you. You will need to bring a check because they don't take Credit Cards and they most likely won't have change for cash.

A few years ago when we were experiencing the world rice shortage - I STOCKED up! We use rice in a lot of casserolls and as a filler food in a lot of recipees. When I came home with dozens of #10 cans full of rice, the fun part of putting it away presented itself. Then I came up with a BRILLIANT idea (if I do say so myself!) - The space under my kids' beds were always getting packed with junk. Especially way under by the wall! I would find candy wrappers, books, toys, clothes, ect. and to get it out - well I had to think REALLY skinny. So, I took the rice and put a couple of rows of cans up against the wall to about 1/2 way under the bed. This allowed space for storage bins or other under the bed storage items, but kept the unreachable space filled up. See - pure genius. So don't let lack of a grand storage room stop you from storing food that you use - just be creative!