Provident Living / Food Storage Booklet

My ward has been having a series of Provident living Relief Society meetings that have been wonderful. This past weeks meeting was on Food storage and the amazing Sister in our ward, Bonnie White, who is our provident living specialist, provided to all those in attendance, this wonderful booklet of all she has put together over the years to get her family's food storage organized and ready.

I asked Bonnie if she would let me put her booklet on my blog to share as a wonderful resource and idea for all the Relief Societies all over the world, who stop in for an idea look see, on my blog. She was so gracious and sweet and I understood where her heart is, because she feels about what she does, the same way I do about sharing those things we have with others. Anyway... Enjoy all of these wonderful resources and thank-you Bonnie for all the years of hard work and effort. You are a wonderful example to all.

Here are some important and helpful links to some basic Storage resources. If the links are not active, just copy and paste into your browser and go to the link that way.

(Click on the links below each topic to be magically whisked away to where I have them stored)
Home Storage - Build on the Basics: http://www.ldspreparedness.com/Files/dpEnsign.pdf

72 hour Checklist by Rachael Woods:
http://www.utah.gov/beready/family/documents/72-hourchecklistpdf.pdf

 http://lds.about.com/library/bl/preparation/72_hour_kit.pdf


Directions for storing water:
http://www.who.int/household_water/resources/emergencies.pdf
One Year Supply Cooking Fuel - http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/fsme/docs/cookingfuels.pdf

Waste/Sewage/Toilet: This link is no longer valid.

Homemade Solar Ovens for cooking: http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooking/cooking.htm
Card Board Box Solar oven http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-Box-Solar-Oven/
Build a solar cooker   http://solarcooking.org/plans/http://solarcooking.org/plans/

Bonnie has been collecting all this information over the years from different sources, and including a great booklet that you will see came from a prior ward that she attended, to give credit to them for their sharing as well. Also, the photos I have inserted all came from the basement of Bonnie's home. She practically has her whole basement dedicated to food storage, and it is so organized. This woman is AMAZING and so gracious for sharing her knowledge.

Enjoy! Katie G

I received an email from a reader telling me that the church now days encourages people to get a 3 month food storage supply rather than a years supply. Essentially telling me that a 1 year supply was outdated information.  My feelings are that yes, the church does encourage you to have a 3 month supply, but on Provident Living.org, they also say that the 3 month supply should be those things that your family would normally eat, but long term storage should also be stored.   This is exactly what they say copied from the website:

"Build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated regularly to avoid spoilage"

If you scroll down further on the site, it also has a Longer Term Food Supply recommendation that reads as follows:

"For longer-term needs, and where permitted, gradually build a supply of food that will last a long time and that you can use to stay alive, such as wheat, white rice, and beans.  These items can last 30 years or more when properly packaged and stored in a cool, dry place. A portion of these items may be rotated in your three-month supply.

I have written a letter to Provident Living in hopes to clarify further this question of a 1 year food storage supply.  I have not yet received an official reply as of yet, however I believe that a 3 month supply is to get us by in a short term crunch, however if there were such a disaster that lasted longer than 3 months, and it took more time to get on top of the challenges that come from such disasters, those who have only prepared for the short term, maybe wishing that they had heeded the words of our prophets who have for years, told us to get a 1 year long term food supply for our families.  I hope that life as we know it does not ever require us to have to live on a wheat and water and the few things like the pioneers had to live on while they crossed the plains.  I hope we always live in a land of plenty however we already know of countries whose population lives with famine and starvation. 

I believe that if we follow the advice and counsel of our leaders to prepare a 3 month supply, as well as prepare for long term needs of at least one year, that we will be blessed and will be prepared in the event that we may need it.  If you disagree with this, and only prepare for 3 months, then that is your choice, but as for me and my  house, We will follow the council we have been given for years to build a 1 year food supply.