Christmas the Self-Reliant Way

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I really can't believe that December is almost here. Time to think Christmas and what to get your family and friends for gifts this year. Food storage items make great gifts, especially for those hard to buy for people. I recommend Emergency Essentials for some great gadgets. My favorite right now is the hand crank radio that also charges cell phones and plays MP3 players. (as the mom of a teenager, this is a must for entertainment) It is called a Kaito Voyager (model KA500). I also want the solar battery charger. You supply the rechargeable batteries and the sun does the rest. Then worries over having the right amount of batteries is taken care of. They have almost every emergency item available and right now their water barrels are on sale- 55 gallon is $39.99- 30 gallon is $34.99-and the 15 gallon is $24.95. Check out their website for all the fun things- emergencyessentials.com or visit their store on 33rd S. and West Temple. (I don't get anything for talking about them, I really love their stuff :)

Another gadget that I recently purchased is a hand crank for my Bosch mixer. Kneading dough by hand is not my idea of fun and I am so excited to try out the hand crank. I found it at bestkitchenmachines.com and it ran $14.99 with free shipping. I know several ward members own a Bosch and thought this would be a great gift idea.

The top item on my wish list is a Sun Oven. This handy suitcase sized box cooks your food with the sun. Cold temperatures don't affect the cooking, you only need the sun. Check out the website HERE and see what they can do. The Bosch Kitchen Center on about 6200 S and Highland Dr. carry these. They are pricey, around $300.00 but you can use them all year round. Think how great it would be to have dinner cooking outside in the middle of July.

And lastly, click HERE to read a great post from the Preparedness Pro of her gadget must haves. I really like her website and get a lot of information from her.

I know that many of us don't "need" anything, but home storage items would make wonderful gifts. I would talk to your family ahead of time to make sure the items that you want to buy are items they really want and could use. I really want "real" sleeping bags for my family this year. I think my children would be ok with that as a gift.

I will post grocery lists by Wednesday morning. Thanksgiving threw off the shopping schedule. Get excited for baking items to go on sale.

Grocery Deals

This weeks grocery deals will be postponed until Saturday. Most stores run their ads through Thanksgiving and then put out small ads for the week after. Fresh Market did come out with an ad but I'll get to it after the holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gear Up For Winter Driving

"Gear up for winter driving" on page D6 of the Sunday Tribune. Just thought I would let you all know. It has a list of items to keep in your car. Get ready, the snow is coming.

Surviving The Flu

Swine Flu, we hear these two words on a daily basis now. I hope and pray that you have not been affected by this flu. If you have been you have probably learned what would help and what didn't while you were sick. My children haven't been sick, but they get quite a few headaches and we were down to the last bottle of Motrin. It made me think about how much medicine that I would need to last a year and I realized that I definitely don't have enough. I know all moms can understand the helplessness when children are sick in the middle of the night and nothing seems to work. Well, I don't want to have to worry about getting pain reliever for my children and stocking up on medicine and sickness related items are my focus for awhile.

Click HERE and read a handout from a mom who was ill along with her children and came up with some great ideas of what to have on hand when you and your family become sick. It is labeled a Moms Survival guide, but I think it applies to all of us.

Some items that I always have on hand are hand sanitizer, sports drinks, 7-up, crackers, pain reliever, Clorox wipes, and other disinfecting cleaners. I am a germ obsessed mom and I have to be able to disinfect everything when someone becomes sick in my family. I don't want the virus to spread to everyone.

Medicine Deals:

I have found Walmart to have the lowest prices on their store brand medicine. It contains the same ingredients as the name brands and is usually half price. Look around at Fresh Market (formerly Albertsons) as their store brand is being discontinued and you'll be able to find some great deals. Rite Aid and Walgreens will also have great sales on medicine. I just recently got a rebate check from Rite Aid for $91.00 from the month of October and it was all free medicine. When you look at the ad look for the words "single check rebate" and those are items that are usually free with rebate. Their rebates are so easy, just enter your receipt information on their website and the computer does all the work for you. At the end of the month you request a check and they mail it to you in about 2 weeks. October and November are the 2 biggest sale months for Rite Aid and Walgreens for medicine. So watch the ads and save big! The medicine is also mostly name brand items.

You might want to also check with your pharmacist to see if you are able to get more than just one months worth of your medications. Especially if they are medications you can't go without.

Make a list of medicines that you and your family use and decide how you will can get enough for at least a 3 month supply. Look for sales, or maybe just by one extra every other week when you grocery shop.

Baking Items

In November we are stocking up on baking supplies because they go on sale for Thanksgiving. (Make sure to check the blog on Wednesdays to see all the grocery deals) As you will see after getting your food storage of wheat, water, beans and rice, there is not much you can do with those items without adding spices and leavening ingredients.Now is a perfect time to take stock of what you have in your cupboard and make a list of what you are missing.

As you buy your baking items you'll need to rotate them with what you have at home. Keep a sharpie close by when you bring your groceries in your house so you can mark the date and place them behind the old one in your cupboard. That way when you do need it, it will be easy to see and you won't have to search for the teeny, tiny date printed on the food.

Another way to save money on baking supplies is to know when they go bad. There are several ways to test leavening agents to see if they still work.

Yeast: Add a spoonful in warm water along with a pinch of sugar. It should bubble in 10 minutes. Store yeast in the freezer for indefinite storage. I haven't had yeast go bad since doing this. I use instant yeast and I just add it straight from the freezer to my recipes and it works great.

Baking Powder: Add a pinch in warm water and stir. It should bubble immediately.

Baking Soda: Add a pinch to vinegar or lemon juice and it should bubble immediately. Store baking soda for cooking as well as cleaning.

Other items to store:

• Another baking item that I keep on hand is Cocoa powder. It has an indefinite shelf life!! I have found the best price for cocoa powder at Costco. You'll get 23oz of Hershey's Cocoa powder for $5.59.
• During the week I want you to pay attention to the Spices that you use for cooking. Maybe even jot them down. Could you go a whole year without purchasing more? As bigger sales come upon us in the next couple of weeks look for the spices that you use and buy at least one extra. I know a lot of basic items seem palatable when sprinkled with the right spice.
• Did you know that you can substitute Unflavored Gelatin (Knox brand) for eggs when you are baking? (1 oz of unflavored gelatin=12 t of gelatin=12 "eggs") To use it in baking use 1t of gelatin + 3 T cold water+2 T hot water=1 "egg". If you are really adventurous you can bake cakes, or corn bread in wide mouth mason jars using this egg substitute and then seal the jars using a Food Saver machine and the cake can sit on your shelf for years. I personally have not tried this but it is done and the cake is devoured. I store powdered eggs in #10 cans that I get at Macey's when they have their caselot sale. I love them because they are pasteurized and you can lick the batter without risking salmonella poisoning. You just add the powder egg to your dry ingredients and then the water to your liquids. I save my real eggs for boiled and scrambled dishes.

This is our favorite hot chocolate recipe. I whip up a big batch and store it in an airtight container. The kids know how to make it by themselves and it save a lot of money on the pre-packaged hot chocolate mixes. And it uses all food storage items.

Hot or Cold Chocolate Mix

(from Cookin' With Food Storage by Peggy Layton)

7 1/2 C. instant powdered milk

1 1/2 C sugar

1 C cocoa powder

1 1/2 t salt

Mix all in a big bowl and store in an airtight container. To use stir 1/2 C mix with 1 C. boiling water. Stir to dissolve and chill if you want cold milk.

Pumpkin Shortage

Update: Walgreens has 15oz cans of pumpkin for .99 with their in-ad coupon. If you get the Sunday paper keep the Walgreens ad. Limit of 3 per coupon.

One of my favorite vegetabl-es (or is it a fruit?) is rumored to have a shortage this fall.

This article was in the LA Times:

By Jerry Hirsch October 10, 2009

"Pumpkin pie lovers be warned: You may not find your favorite can of pie filling at the supermarket. There's a national shortage of canned pumpkin and pie filling, a result of poor weather that reduced last year's crop. Shoppers report finding bare shelves, and the supermarkets say they have been put on an "allocation," or quota, system by Libby's, a division of food giant Nestle that controls more than 80% of the canned pumpkin market. Libby's typically uses surpluses from the previous year to stock store shelves during September and October, when the annual pumpkin harvest gets underway. Wet conditions during last year's growing season left canners without a surplus this year, said Roz O'Hearn, a Libby's spokeswoman. But this year's crop is on its way. "We began shipping Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin [filling] in late September, so it should be on grocer's shelves soon," she said.

Shoppers could find the filling a bit more expensive this year. Libby's has a suggested retail price of $1.59 for its 15-ounce can and a suggested price of $2.59 for its 29-ounce cans of pure pumpkin and pumpkin pie mix. O'Hearn said the prices represented a "small increase" over last year because of higher expenses for the steel that goes into the cans and higher grower costs. She did not provide a percentage increase."

• So it looks like we may pay a little more for our canned pumpkin this year and one way to save some money is to puree your own pumpkin. If you still have some cooking pumpkins left over from Halloween now is the time to actually cook them. It is really quite simple. Pumpkin can be boiled, or baked and both ways you'll need to start by scooping out all the stringy stuff and then cutting the pumpkin into pieces.

• Simmer Method: cut pumpkin into 3-4 inch pieces and remove skin with knife and boil 35-40 minutes.

• Baking Method: cut pumpkin in half and then into quarters if too big. Place flesh side down in about 1" of water and cover with foil. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours or until tender.

• After your pumpkin is cooked it needs to be mashed. A potato masher, blender or food processor will work, you pick your favorite. Now your pumpkin is ready to freeze. About 7 C of pumpkin puree will make about 2 pies so freeze according to your recipe. Remember that your homemade version will have a lot more water in it and you'll probably be able to omit the water or liquid in your pumpkin recipes. You could also strain your pumpkins before you freeze it. Cheesecloth would work in a strainer over a bowl in the fridge over night.

• I love pumpkin bread, muffins and pancakes. I love to sneak healthy food in yummy treats. Pumpkin muffins are part of my 3 month supply menu and I need about 4of the bigger cans of pumpkin puree to last my family 3 months. Don't worry if you use pumpkin and don't have any to cook because I am going to find the lowest price on canned pumpkin and we will all get our pumpkin stored.

Pumpkin Muffins (makes 24 muffins)

from: The Essential Food Storage Cookbook

By: Tami Girsberger and Carol Peterson (great Christmas present)

3 C flour (2 c wheat & 1 C white)

2 t baking soda

2 t cinnamon

1 t salt

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t cloves

1 C butter (2 sticks)

2 C sugar

4 eggs (I use powdered eggs)

1 150z can pumpkin

12 oz chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and ginger together. Cream the butter and sugar and then add the eggs and pumpkin; add to dry ingredients. (fold in chocolate chips if you like) Pour into 2 muffin tins. (this recipe makes 24 muffins) Bake for 22-25 minutes. I freeze 12 of them for a dinner later in the month and they freeze wonderfully.

This example of a pumpkin shortage just reinforces my belief in food storage. Brother's and Sister's, we are not just storing for a disaster. We are storing food for many reasons and food shortages are one of them. I encourage all of you to look at what food storage you do have and to find the parts that you may be lacking. Keep a list of items that you need and watch the grocery lists that I post on Wednesday's to be able to stock up on your items affordably. I know we can all do this and feel the peace of having food storage.