Lunch Has Arrived

Welcome to September! I could not be more excited for this beautiful month to arrive (August was long and hot for us at the Spjute household). To celebrate the new month, I thought we could move on to a new mealtime to focus on for food storage. So, here is this week's food storage lunch idea:

Sandwiches
Fruit*
Chips/Crackers**

This week, I recommend you buy the fixings to make your family's favorite kind of sandwiches, and a few sides to go along with them.

Here's the recommendations:

• 1 jar peanut butter (the bigger jar), which should be enough for about 14 sandwiches (enough for 2 for a week)
• 1-2 jars jam/jelly (flavor of your choice - quantity depends on what you prefer)
• 1-2 loaves bread, to freeze in the freezer until you are ready to use them (but don't forget they're there - I can vouch for the fact that year old, freeze-dried bread is not a tasty find)

Here's some other suggestions if you're not PB&J fans:

• If you like fish, you may want to consider purchasing some tuna fish and mayonnaise for tuna sandwiches. I recommend 1 jar mayonnaise per two people (the bigger size, but not the GIANT size) and about 4 cans of tuna for two people.
• Or, if you have little kids that won't eat either of the above, another option might be to purchase 1 package hotdogs (per person) and some hotdog buns, both of which you can freeze.

 *To make the sandwich idea more of a meal, you might want to consider buying fruit to eat on the side. If you have kids, applesauce is usually a winner, especially when a little red food coloring is added to make it pink (I ate it every time my mom did that for me when I was a little girl obsessed with pink - in fact I didn't know applesauce wasn't pink until I was an adult). Now, I generally eat about half a can of fruit at a meal. So, for one person, you will probably want to buy about 3-4 cans of fruit. Winco usually has the cheapest deals on canned goods, but this is not always the case with fruit so you may want to shop around a bit.

**You can also consider purchasing some chips/crackers to go along with things. Vons and SaveMart are both having sales on certain potato chips and Nabisco crackers this week, so those might be good places to look this weekend.

In all of this, please remember that the goal is to purchase items your family consumes regularly enough that you will not have to worry, "Hmmm, will these go bad before I use them?" The purpose is to buy extras little by little, then when you open the extras to eat, to buy more to replace the food storage. This will eventually keep a constant supply of food storage items that your family likes, on hand, for your daily use.

Recipe of the Week

Now, in case you aren't already aware, I must confess that I'm a bit of a food snob: I pretty much only eat food that is homemade or home grown. So (in case you feel the same), if you wish to you can buy the ingredients to make your own homemade bread (rather than buying the premade loaves), here's a link to Aaron's and my FAVORITE white bread recipe (yum, yum, yum):

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amish-white-bread/detail.aspx

As a special note: This harvesty month is also a good time to put in a plug to get your winter gardens in. Fresh food cannot be stored long term, but it can be grown and it will add tremendously to your daily diet AND your three month supply.

Money Saving Tips

Sales I noticed this week include the following:

• Von's is having a sale on Safeway Kitchens Wheat Breads (great for sandwiches!) 22 oz. Crushed or 100% Whole Wheat for $1.49 each when you buy 2.
• SaveMart is having a super sale on corn: $0.98 for 7 cobs (Sept 2-5). Also, they are having a sale on 12.25 oz. boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios: $1.77 each when you buy 3.
• Also remember, FoodMaxx will price match sales going on at other stores. You take in the ads and show them at the checkout, and they will do a price match - provided they are the same brands as in the ad.

Additionally, Aaron and I have been on the hunt to find the cheapest gas in Fresno. Our latest find: Von's Gas. I was surprised because I believed that Von's was expensive, but when I went to fill up my tank the other day - using my Von's Club Card, which is free and doesn't require a yearly fee - it cost me $0.10 - $0.20 less per gallon than Bad Bud's (which normally has pretty cheap gas). This may not be cheaper than Costco (I don't know), but it was the cheapest non-Costco gas I've seen, costing me $3.53/gallon one week, then $3.43/gallon the next. It only added up to a savings of about $1.80 each time I filled the tank, but that adds up over time and, as I mentioned above, could have then been used to purchase a loaf of bread or a box of cereal for food storage. So, I wanted to pass along our little find in case it helped at all.

Please let me know of any other deals you may become aware of this week, and let me know if you have any questions or concerns about food storage. I'm always happy to help where I can! You can e-mail me at peachwoodpantry@gmail.com.

Happy Storing!

Diana Spjute

Notes:
As ever, if you wish to receive our weekly e-mails, please contact me with your e-mail address and I will be happy to add you to the list.

The opinions expressed in this blog are the sole opinion of the author and are not meant to promote sales for any institution, nor to represent the opinions of any church, business, or institution.

Week 3 - Breakfasts

I had a personal experience that happened to me this morning, which I hope you will not mind me relating here. It went as follows:

By the end of this weekend, Washington, D.C., will have experienced two natural disasters in a week: an unprecidented earthquake and a sizeable hurricane. My sister is living there with her husband and four young children, so I called her this morning panicked about the upcoming storm. Her words were so reassuring as she said, "Diana, we are prepared." She then continued to outline their food and water storage, their backup batteries, the gas she had put in the car last night, and all of the preparations she had undergone to make sure she and her family would be ready for the upcoming disaster, which they are told could leave them without power and water for up to two weeks. I cannot stress enough how important those words are when facing a disaster, not only for me to hear (as her worried sister in Cali), but for my sister, her husband, and their young children to know: "We are prepared."

Now, my question to you is this: Are you prepared? Are you doing what you can to prepare? Could you calm the fears of your extended family when they called, and say to them, "It's okay. We are prepared," like my sister did to me?

If you are and do and could, then THAT'S AWESOME! I'm super excited and would love to hear about your successes so I can cheer with you!

If not, then you are not alone, but do what you can now - today, this weekend, or this week - to begin. After all, it is never too late to start preparing!


In light of these thoughts, I wanted to share this week's food storage purchase idea:

1 box (2 lbs.) of Pancake Mix (add water only mixes are easiest)**
You may also want to consider purchasing maple syrup or other, storeable pancake toppers.

Regarding the pancakes:

One mix = 28 pancakes (give or take, depending on the size).
According to the box (and my husband), one serving = 3 pancakes.
But, for me (and for survival purposes) one serving = 2 pancakes.

If you prefer to eat 3 pancakes for breakfast, one box would last one person for 9.33 days.
If you prefer to eat 2 pancakes for breakfast, one box would last two people for 7 days.

So, if you are a family who likes 3 pancakes each, you will want to purchase 1 box per person in your family. If you are a family who likes 2 pancakes each, you will want to purchase 1 box for every 2 people in the family.

**As a side note, if you are interested in a coupon and you want to buy Krusteaz brand, I discovered this morning that you can register your e-mail information on the Krusteaz website (http://www.krusteaz.com/) to get a coupon for $1.00 any two Krusteaz products.

If you wish to make pancakes from scratch (I admit, I'm a bit of a food snob and prefer the homemade ones), here is my favorite family recipe for homemade pancakes:

Laurel's Pancakes

2 c. flour
5 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 TBSP. sugar
2-3 eggs
2/3 c. powdered milk + 2 c. water (or, just 2 c. milk)
1/3 c. shortening, melted until liquid

Blend together in order mentioned above. Cook in a nonstick frying pan on the stove. This recipe makes about 18-24 pancakes (which may be thin, but they are very filling and tasty).

If you do choose to plan for the above recipe, you will want to make sure you have the appropriate ingredients on hand. Personally, I like the recipe not only because it's yummy, but it's a great way to use up powdered milk without your kids or spouse knowing! As an added bonus, the recipe requires shortening and not butter, which makes it easier to keep the ingredients on hand for longer since they do not need to be refrigerated.


Anyhow, I hope the above information is helpful. Please let me know if you have questions, thoughts, or know of any special deals going on right now regarding these (or other) breakfast food storage ideas. You can e-mail them to me at peachwoodpantry@gmail.com.

As always, I will post any coupons/deals I find out about here, on the blog.

I look forward to hearing and cheering about your food storage successes! Happy storing!

-D. Spjute-


Notes:
The opinions expressed in this blog are the sole opinion of the author and are not meant to promote sales for any institution, nor to represent the opinions of any church, business, or institution.

Week 2 - Breakfasts

Following on from last week's message about the weekly food storage reminders, here's this week's suggested purchase item(s):

• 1 box instant oatmeal packets per member of the family. There are 8 packets per box, however, so if you have 7 family members then you really only need to purchase 6 boxes as the remaining family member can use the extra packet per box per day.
• Because these are instant, you can mix them with just water. If you do not have any water storage, it might be a good idea to consider getting some to go along with these. About 1 water bottle per box should be sufficient as it doesn't take much water per packet.

If you wish for a more homemade option because you like to cook from scratch or you have sugar/salt concerns due to health, you may want to consider buying a tube of ROLLED oats - probably about 1 tube for every 2 people in the family because in an 18 oz tube you will have 6 cups of oats (or so).

If you choose to purchase the tube of oats, you may also want to purchase some of the following to help you cook it/to add flavor:

• canned milk
• brown sugar
• cinnamon
• salt

If you've never made homemade oatmeal before, but you want to give it a try, let me suggest two starter recipes:

1. Butterscotch Oatmeal - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/butterscotch-oatmeal/detail.aspx
(I recommend you cut the sugar by half in this recipe or it is too sweet - and it may need more milk. Reading the reviews on this recipe is very helpful.)

Or, if you're someone who doesn't have time to sit down for breakfast in the morning, consider cooking your breakfasts on Sunday night and cutting it out into portions to eat in the car on the way to work. Here's a recipe, then, for such an idea -

2. Baked Oatmeal - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-oatmeal-ii/detail.aspx
(This recipe is particularly good because it works well with dried fruits, so it helps to rotate through any food storage dried fruit you may have in your homes).

As a cooking note: The above recipes both require eggs and butter, which can be difficult to store long term. But, if you really, really want to be able to cook it from scratch instead of buying the instant, you can purchase canned butter and dried eggs from various online sources.

When deciding which option to choose,

please remember that whatever works best for your family's needs will be the better option.

If your family doesn't enjoy oatmeal, but you are a cereal eater, then you may want to consider purchasing more cereal this week. Many of the major grocery stores are having sales on namebrand cereals right now. Just check out their ads in the Wednesday mailer/paper to see a few. For example, SaveMart is having a sale on cereal and granola bars - $1.80 each if you purchase 5 at once. I know it is not the only store to have such a sale, and many stores will price match, so be sure to check the ads before you go out and buy! I will post any additional sale info I become aware of on the blog throughout the weekend, so you can always check that out as well if it is more convenient.

I hope all this information helps you and your family as you work towards the worthy goal of getting a useable 3-month supply of food storage in place.

Happy Storing!

Note: The opinions expressed in this e-mail are the sole opinion of the author and are not meant to promote sales for any institution, nor to represent the opinions of any church, business, or institution.

Relief Society & Coupon Deals

Last night there was a Relief Society meeting about alternative fuel sources, cooking with alternative fuel, and getting the three month food supply in place. Because of busy schedules this weekend, I won't be able to post any of this information on the blog until Sunday at the earliest. Don't worry, though, it will be coming.

 

I wanted to let you all know, however, that there are a couple really good deals on this weekend at local grocery stores. After all, part of food storage is saving money on weekly budgets so there's more to spend on storing up.  Remember, you certainly do not have to shop at these stores as many stores will price-match if you take the opposing store's advertisement in. This means that, regardless of where you shop, if you pick up the ad from these stores (they come in the mail for us) then you can get a price match anywhere you go shopping over the next three days. 

 

Anyhow, here are this weekend's deals:

 

SaveMart

- Roma Tomatoes are only $0.47 a lb.

- SunWorld Red Seedless Grapes are only $0.77 a lb.

- Chunky Ragu is $1.25 each, limited purchase of 4.

 

Vons (*with use of ClubCard)

- Foster Farms Fresh Whole Chicken is only $0.69 a lb. They limit you to 3 per person, so you may want more than one adult there if you're going to stock up on it.

- Lucky Charms are only $1.88 for an 11.5 oz. box.

- They're having a buy 1, get 1 free offer on Blueberries and Driscoll's Red Raspberries. YUM!

 

I hope these help some of you save a litttle cash this weekend!

 

Also, if anyone has any tips about ways that people can save money or improve their gardening and food storage, please e-mail me and I'll be happy to share them on the blog!

 

Best wishes,

Diana Spjute