3 Month's Supply

We've been hearing a lot about food storage, and being prepared in case of emergency lately, so Aaron and I sat down and talked it over and decided that it's time we get working on our food storage, our finances, our emergency preparedness plan, and all that kind of stuff. We've been keeping really close track of our budget, and trying to put away what we can for our savings. We've been buying a case of water every time we go grocery shopping, along with a few extra cans of food here and there. We had a family home evening on what we would do in case of emergency, where we picked a few meeting spots and wrote down all the emergency telephone numbers for our area. We have our 72 hours kits, thanks to my mom and Kerry (they gave all their kids 72 hour kits for Christmas). So the next step is to get a 3 month supply.

That's why I went to the cannery today. I've never been to a cannery before, this was my first time. It was an interesting experience. I went in having absolutely no idea of what to expect. When we got there they took us into a back room that looked kind of like a warehouse that was stacked with large bags of food. Beans, rice, wheat, oats, sugar, potato flakes, spaghetti noodles, powdered milk, and other things. They told us to pick out what we wanted. I had no idea where to even start. Luckily I was with other ladies from the ward and they were able to give me a few pointers. The Church has prepackaged starter kits that come with 2 cans of red winter wheat, 2 cans of white rice, a can of pinto beans, a can of quick oats, and recipes for how to make it all. So I got two starter kits.

The rest of what I got wasn't prepackaged. We had to haul the big bags from the warehouse into the cannery. The cannery had lots of long counters (all on wheels) so you put the big bags at one end of the counter. Then you take smaller pouches and you have to fill them to the right weight (the weight depends on what it is your are putting in the pouch) and then you take them over to the sealer and seal the bags shut. Then you load the pouches into boxes, 4 pouches to a box. It sounds simple, and it is, it's just a lot of scooping and lifting and weighing. Everyone there helps everyone else until everyone has what they want. I ended up with 4 pouches of regular oats, 4 pouches of white wheat, 2 pouches of black beans, 1 pouch of apple slices, and 1 pouch of dried milk. All this stuff will keep for 30 years! So we don't quite have our 3 month supply, but we got a good start on it today, and now I am exhausted!