From the Ensign - 1977 FAQ's about Home Production and Storage - has the council changed much?

The Most Frequently Asked Questions about Home Production and Storage

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What is a good way of knowing what you have on hand?

Inventories are most important when a family has a complete food storage program that includes rotation. First, tabulate what the family needs. Often the foods are labeled by date and arranged into categories such as those that supply mainly calories (e.g., fats and sugars), those that supply mainly protein (e.g., meats, eggs, and cheese), and those that supply vitamins and minerals (e.g., fruits and vegetables). Second, when a category has been partially depleted through rotation, it may be replaced with a different food that serves the same general function. This type of flexibility lets a family take advantage of seasonal fluctuations in price and availability.

Taking inventory is a good way of inspecting the quality of the food. It also makes the food storage program a living, flexible program that can change with the needs and likes of the family.

What is the best method of storing seeds? How long do they last?

How can we store needed medicines?

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What are the common problems in storing powdered milk, and how do you avoid them?

Powdered milk must be rotated, even if you package and store it correctly. Powdered milk will store well at 70 ° F. for twelve months and at 40 ° F. for twenty-four months—but only for three months at 90° F. The short storage time is due to a chemical reaction involving certain amino acids in the milk protein (lysine and arginine) which react with the milk sugar, lactose. This reaction reduces the protein quality. Lowering the storage temperature slows this chemical reaction and preserves the protein quality longer.

Powdered milk tends to absorb moisture from the air and become lumpy. If the moisture content of the milk is too high, the flavor and odor will change. Consequently, it should be stored in a moisture-proof container.

Powdered milk will store for extended periods of time in a vacuum or in a nitrogen atmosphere, but we don’t know exactly how long it will be good. That depends on the moisture and oxygen in the sealed can. These factors, in turn, depend on the techniques used in sealing the can.

Powdered milk may be purchased in both instant and regular forms. Both forms are processed in the same manner, but the instant powdered milk receives an additional step known as agglomeration. According to USDA Handbook No. 456, Nutritive Value of American Foods, there is no nutritional difference between the two products. If both forms are stored in moisture-proof containers, the storage life would be equivalent.

What should you do if your wheat is infested with insects? How do you guard against insect infestation?

I have heard that wheat should not be stored in chemically treated garbage bags. Is it true that they’re dangerous?

What is the best kind of wheat to store and the best method of storing it?

Hard wheat is best for making bread, and it should contain 12 to 15 percent protein. Soft wheat contains only 6 to 10 percent protein, but it will make a tender, cakey bread and other food products. Whatever kind you purchase, it should be clean and dry (10 percent moisture or less). The supplier should be willing to verify low moisture, protein content, cleanliness, and absence of living insects.

After purchase, the wheat should be placed in a sturdy, moisture-proof container. Since there may already be insect eggs present that will hatch in due time, the stored wheat should be checked periodically for signs of insects. Wheat should be stored in a cool, dry place.

How can I dry my own fruit?

Good drying fruits are apples, peaches, apricots, pears, plums, prunes, cherries, figs, grapes, and berries (except strawberries). Apples, pears, and peaches are usually peeled, cored, and/or pitted and sliced. 

Apricots, plums, and prunes are pitted and cut in half, and cherries are just pitted. Berries should be steamed and grapes (use only seedless varieties) blanched before drying. Fruits can be sulfured or dipped in a sodium bisulfate solution (1 1/2 tablespoons sodium bisulfate per gallon of water) to preserve the color. Fruits may be dried in (1) sunlight; (2) the oven, at 150° F.; or (3) a dehydrator. After sun drying, products should be placed one-inch deep in a tray and heated in an oven at 175° F. for fifteen minutes. After drying, fruits should be sealed in containers and stored in a cool, dry area.

Detailed information on drying fruits and vegetables can be obtained from local sources, such as universities and government agencies.

How do you test the quality of sealed storage foods you would like to purchase?

Are dehydrated foods acceptable?

What are good substitutes for those who live in tropical or semitropical climates?

What are the basic food storage items, and how much of each of them is needed to last the average person a year?

Why is there so much emphasis on home gardening and production? These things are so time-consuming and troublesome. Hasn’t mass production proved to be cheaper and much more efficient?

There are several reasons.

First, from the time that the early Saints moved West right down to the present, home production has been encouraged in the spirit of our knowing how to be self-reliant. The issue is not purely economics or preparation for emergencies, either; it reaches deeper into life than that. There are a great many satisfactions in self-reliance and provident living.

Second, although it may cost more in terms of time, effort, and sometimes even money to produce certain necessities, it is cheaper in the long run because it is the beginning of self-reliance and independence. It will enable us to help ourselves and our neighbors during times of trouble.

Third, these activities keep alive the skills necessary for our survival in times of emergency. By and large we are no longer an agrarian society that could turn back to the soil and begin right away to make a living for ourselves. Many, many beginners in home gardening, for example, can testify to that! Learning these skills once again is very reassuring, as well as satisfying.

Finally, President Kimball recently said, “I remember when the sisters used to say, ‘Well, but we could buy it at the store a lot cheaper than we can put it up.’ But that isn’t quite the answer, is it? … Because there will come a time when there isn’t any store.” (April 1974 Welfare Session.)

Should students or those who move around a lot or those who live in small apartments try to store food and other supplies?

What can members of the Church do in countries where food storage is unlawful?

Why do we need a year’s supply? Doesn’t the Church have production projects to take care of its members?

A year’s supply costs a lot of money—money I don’t have right now. Since it is important that my family does have a year’s supply, should I borrow enough money to get it right now?

What exactly are our responsibilities in the area of home production and storage?

Responsibility for the well-being of members of the Church lies first with the individual, then with the family, and last of all with the Church. In keeping with this principle, our families should seek to become self-reliant and independent in home production and storage by:

1. Producing food on our own property, and also producing appropriate nonfood necessities of life wherever that is practical.

2. Learning the best methods of preserving that which we produce.

3. Properly storing whatever we have, using the methods that are best suited to our areas. The Church recommends that we store at least a year’s supply of food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel. A supply of water is also important. The food we store should be appropriate to our diets, beginning with the basics and adding what we are able to from there. (See Ensign, May 1976, pp. 116–18; November 1976, pp. 121–22.)

 

4. Using what we have in an appropriate manner, practicing thrift and avoiding waste.

How much would the Church be able to help its members in case of widespread disaster or economic collapse? Would the bishops storehouses be able to take care of everybody?

 

How does home production and storage fit into the Church’s personal and family preparedness program?

Like all other major programs of the Church, preparedness is centered in the individual and the family. Its central concept is one of provident living, not just reaction to emergencies. Home production is one of six important elements of the personal and family preparedness program (see diagram):

1. Literacy and Education. 
 The prepared person reads, writes, and does basic mathematics; regularly studies the scriptures and other good books; and uses local resources to teach these skills and habits to all family members. Parents and children should take advantage of public and other educational opportunities.

2. Career Development

Each head of a household should select a suitable vocation or profession and pursue appropriate training. Each young person should receive counsel to help him select a career that will satisfy family economic needs and provide personal satisfaction.

3. Financial and Resource Management. 

 The prepared person should establish financial goals, pay tithes and offerings, avoid debt, wisely use and preserve economic resources, and save during times of production for times of nonproduction.

4. Home Production and Storage.
Each person or family should produce as much as possible through gardening, and as much as appropriate through sewing and making household items. Each person and family should learn techniques of home canning, freezing, and drying foods, and where legally permitted should store and save a one-year supply of food, clothing, and, if possible, fuel.

5. Physical Health. 
 Every member should obey the Word of Wisdom and practice sound principles of nutrition, physical fitness, weight control, immunization, environmental quality and sanitation, mother and child health, accident prevention, dental health, and medical care. In addition, each member should acquire appropriate health-related skills in first aid and safety, home nursing, and food selection and preparation
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6. Social-Emotional and Spiritual Strength. 
Each person should build spiritual strength to meet life’s challenges and stresses with confidence and stability by learning to love God and communicate with him in personal prayer, by learning to love and serve his neighbor, and by learning to love and respect himself through righteous living and self-mastery. Each family should understand that social and emotional strength is a blessing that results from spiritual growth through obedience to revealed principles of family living.

If fathers and mothers will actively plan and prepare their families in all these areas, great strength in the proper balance can result—for the Church as well as the family. Families will not only be prepared for emergencies, but their ability to husband resources, to exercise wise stewardship, to prevent problems, and to make the best of everyday living will also be enhanced.

Personal and family preparedness is the key to self-reliance and family integrity in the Church’s total welfare program.

Click below for all answers to FAQ's

1977 FAQ's for food storage

To Them of the Last Wagon

By President J. Reuben Clark Jr. (1871–1961)

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The thousands of faithful, unsung Saints who endured the rigors of the westward trek and colonization left us a spiritual heritage to treasure.

To Them of the Last Wagon

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In 1947, the centennial of the arrival of Latter-day Saint pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley, many tributes were paid to those who set their faces toward Zion and wore out their lives in pursuit of that spiritual homeland. One of the most poignant of those tributes was voiced by President J. Reuben Clark Jr., First Counselor in the First Presidency, in a general conference address Sunday, 5 October 1947. That address is now reprinted in tribute to those early pioneer Saints as well as to the millions of Saints today who trek across plains of personal trial and deserts of worldly perils toward their spiritual homeland.

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But I should like now and here to say a few words about those who trod after where those giants led, some in the same companies that the Brethren piloted, some in later companies following that year and the years after, some in the fateful handcarts, with their unexcelled devotion, heroism, and faith, all trickling forward in a never-failing, tiny stream, till they filled the valley they entered and then flowed out at the sides and ends, peopling this whole wilderness-waste which they fructified, making it to fulfill the ancient prophecy that the desert should blossom as the rose.

I would like to say something about the last wagon in each of the long wagon trains that toiled slowly over the plains, up mountain defiles, down steep, narrow canyons, and out into the valley floor that was to be home—this last wagon: last, because the ox team that pulled it was the smallest and leanest and weakest, and had the tenderest feet of any in the train; it was slow starting, and slow moving; last, because, worn and creaking, it took more time to fix and to grease, for young Jimmy generally had trouble in getting the wagon jack under the “ex” [the point where a shaft called the “reach” crosses the axle]; last, because its wind-rent cover was old and patched and took hours to mend and tie up to keep out the storm; last, because the wife, heavy with child, must rest till the very moment of starting; last, because sickly little Bill, the last born, poorly nourished, must be washed and coaxed to eat the rough food, all they had; last, because with all his tasks—helping little Bill, cooking and cleaning up the breakfast (Mother was not able to help much)—Father took a little longer to yoke his cattle and to gird himself for the day’s labor; last, because his morning prayers took a few more minutes than the others spent—he had so many blessings to thank the Lord for and some special blessings to ask the Lord to grant, blessings of health and strength, especially for his wife, and for little Bill, and for the rest, and then the blessings for himself that his own courage would not fail, but most of all for the blessing of faith, faith in God and in the Brethren who sometimes seemed so far away. For they were out in front where the air was clear and clean and where they had unbroken vision of the blue vault of heaven. The Brethren had really visioned the glory of the Lord, who walked near them, put his thoughts into their minds; his Spirit guided and directed them, petitioned thereto by the thousands of Saints who were back in Winter Quarters, back in Iowa, back in the States, and beyond, even across the waters, for the faithful poured out their souls in fervent prayer to Almighty God that the Brethren should be inspired. The Saints buoyed up the Brethren out in front with encouragement, with praise, and sometimes even with adulation. Knowing the Brethren were prophets of God, the Saints gave them full confidence, daily, almost hourly, expressed. The Brethren lived in a world of commendation from friends and the tried and true Saints. Rarely was their word or their act questioned by the faithful Saints. This was as it should be and had to be to carry out the Lord’s purposes.

But back in the last wagon, not always could they see the Brethren way out in front, and the blue heaven was often shut out from their sight by heavy, dense clouds of the dust of the earth. Yet day after day, they of the last wagon pressed forward, worn and tired, footsore, sometimes almost disheartened, borne up by their faith that God loved them, that the restored gospel was true, and that the Lord led and directed the Brethren out in front. Sometimes, they in the last wagon glimpsed, for an instant, when faith surged strongest, the glories of a celestial world, but it seemed so far away and the vision so quickly vanished because want and weariness and heartache and sometimes discouragement were always pressing so near.

When the vision faded, their hearts sank. But they prayed again and pushed on, with little praise, with not too much encouragement, and never with adulation. For there was nearly always something wrong with the last wagon or with its team—the off ox was a little lame in the right front shoulder; the hub of the left front wheel was often hot; the tire of the hind wheel on the same side was loose. So corrective counsel, sometimes strong reproof, was the rule, because the wagon must not delay the whole train. But yet in that last wagon there was devotion and loyalty and integrity, and above and beyond everything else, faith in the Brethren and in God’s power and goodness. For had not the Lord said that not even a sparrow fall[s] unnoticed by the Father [see Matt. 10:29], and were they not of more value than sparrows? And then they had their testimony, burning always like an eternal fire on a holy altar, that the restored gospel was true, that Joseph was a prophet of God, and that Brigham was Joseph’s chosen successor.

When the train moved forward in the early morning sun and the oxen with a swinging pull that almost broke the tongue got the last wagon on the move, the dust in the still morning air hung heavy over the road. Each wagon from the first stirred up its own cloud, till when the last wagon swung into line, the dust was dense and suffocating. It covered that last wagon and all that was in it; it clung to clothes; it blackened faces; it filled eyes already sore, and ears. The wife, soon to be a mother, could hardly catch her breath in the heavy, choking dust, for even in the pure air she breathed hard from her burden. Each jolt of the wagon, for those ahead had made wagon ruts almost “ex” deep, wrung from her clenched lips a half-groan she did her best to keep from the ears of the anxious, solicitous husband plodding slowly along, guiding and goading the poor, dumb cattle, themselves weary from the long trek. So through the long day of jolting and discomfort and sometimes pain, and sometimes panting for breath, the mother, anxious only that the unborn babe should not be injured, rode, for she could not walk; and the children walked, for the load was too heavy and big for them to ride; and the father walked sturdily alongside and prayed.

When in the evening the last wagon creaked slowly into its place in the circle corral and the Brethren came to inquire how the day had gone with the mother, then joy leaped in their hearts, for had not the Brethren remembered them? New hope was born, weariness fled, fresh will to do was enkindled; gratitude to God was poured out for their knowledge of the truth, for their testimony that God lived, that Jesus was the Christ, that Joseph was a prophet, that Brigham was his ordained successor, and that for the righteous a crown of glory awaited that should be theirs during the eternities of the life to come. Then they would join in the songs and dancing in the camp, making the camp’s gaiety their own—as much as Mother’s condition would permit.

Then the morning came when from out that last wagon floated the la-la of the newborn babe, and Mother love made a shrine and Father bowed in reverence before it. But the train must move on. So out into the dust and dirt the last wagon moved again, swaying and jolting, while Mother eased as best she could each pain-giving jolt so no harm might be done her, that she might be strong to feed the little one, bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh. Who will dare to say that angels did not cluster round and guard her and ease her rude bed, for she had given another choice spirit its mortal body that it might work out its God-given destiny?

My mother was one of those babes so born in 1848, ninety-nine years ago.

Another morning came, when courageous little Bill, who, with a hero’s heart, had trudged through long days of hot sun and through miles of soggy mud in the rain, his little body drenched, little Bill, weak and wan, must be crowded in to ride with Mother, for he was sick from a heavy cold. Months before, on that cold winter’s night when they fled Nauvoo for their lives to escape the fiendish wrath of a wild mob, Bill became dangerously ill with pneumonia, which left him with weak lungs. This old illness now returned. He grew worse and worse. The elders came and prayed he might get well. But the Lord wanted little Bill with Him. So a few mornings later a weeping mother and a grief-stricken father and that last wagon swung into place in the line, leaving beside the road, under some scrub brush, a little mound, unmarked save for heaped up rocks to keep out the wolves, a mound that covered another martyr to the cause of truth.

So through dust and dirt, dirt and dust, during the long hours, the longer days—that grew into weeks and then into months, they crept along till, passing down through its portals, the valley welcomed them to rest and home. The cattle dropped to their sides, wearied almost to death; nor moved they without goading, for they too sensed they had come to the journey’s end.

That evening was the last of the great trek, the mightiest trek that history records since Israel’s flight from Egypt, and as the sun sank below the mountain peaks of the west and the eastern crags were bathed in an amethyst glow that was a living light, while the western mountainsides were clothed in shadows of the rich blue of the deep sea, they of the last wagon, and of the wagon before them, and of the one before that, and so to the very front wagon of the train, these all sank to their knees in the joy of their souls, thanking God that at last they were in Zion—“Zion, Zion, lovely Zion; Beautiful Zion; Zion, city of our God!” [Hymns, no. 44]. They knew there was a God, for only he could have brought them, triumphant, militant, through all the scorn, the ridicule, the slander, the tarrings and featherings, the whippings, the burnings, the plunderings, the murderings, the ravishings of wives and daughters, that had been their lot, the lot of their people since Joseph visioned the Father and the Son.

But hundreds of these stalwart souls of undoubting faith and great prowess were not yet at their journey’s end.

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Last Wagon

Cooking From Scratch

Food Storage Made Easy - cooking from scratch

Great recipes for some standard menu items:

• whole wheat pasta noodles
• whole wheat tortillas
• granola bars
• macaroni & cheese
• whole wheat bread
• hummus
• enchiladas sauce
• marinara sauce