Sprouting Wheat/Beans

As I research, I find women who sew their own clothes, quilt, can food, dehydrate everything (even cheese!), container garden through the winter, store their garden produce, use wood burning stove, use all natural cleaners, eat only what they grow, etc. etc. etc.  A little discouraging. 

My little drop in the bucket today will be, sprouting wheat, and beans.  Once the beans are just barely sprouted I will put them in chili and my family will never know.  The wheat sprouts I may put in a salad or on a sandwich. This link has a very simple instructions for sprouting, http://www.doctorgrandmas.com/nutrition/wheat-berries/how-sprout-wheat.php

Menu for 3 month supply

 Planning a menu and putting it on a spread sheet has been a bit overwhelming, but I did it!  I know I did not have to put it on a spread sheet, but it calculates the food needed for three months and organizes the information.  I used foodstoragemadeeasy.com.

Breakfast
Oatmeal w/raisins or apples
Pancakes w/orange drink
Muffins w/peaches
Granola w/applesauce

Lunch
Burritos w/sprouts
Tuna sandwiches
Pasta Alfredo w/veggie

Dinner
Spaghetti w/green beans
Tortilla Soup
Beans and Rice
Potato Stuffing  w/Corn

I made the meals pretty simple, easy to throw together. Since I have a lot of these items already I should be able finish up this month with one or two more shopping trips.

Food Storage Websites

This is a great list with tons of resources!  I got this from a friend in my ward, who got it from a speaker at a singles conference. 

FOOD STORAGE WEBSITES




SELLS FOOD STORAGE



Walton Feed

www.waltonfeed.com

Has a host of products, large downloadable catalog



Emergency Essentials

www.BePrepared.com

Sign up for catalog. Free shipping if you meet minimum order. Free recipes for freeze dried and dehydrated products



Honeyville Grain

www.HoneyvilleGrain.com

Check their prices before ordering from other sources. Shipping is very minimal.





FOOD STORAGE HOW TO SITES



Simply Living Smart

http://www.simplylivingsmart.com/

Contains free food storage lessons and videos, including how to sprout wheat and use it in a blender for a smoothie. Can expand to more in-depth videos for minimal cost per year. Has food storage calculator



Food Storage Made Easy

www.FoodStorageMadeEasy.net

Has food storage calculator, Baby Steps courses in food storage



Every Day Food Storage

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/tools

Free how-to videos, hand outs, food storage cooking, recipes, etc.





FOOD STORAGE CALCULATORS AND SPREADSHEETS



3 month food storage Excel Spreadsheet

www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net

For instructions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amJHsCAvxBo&feature=related



Food Storage Planner (cost involved)

http://www.revelar.com/fsp.html



The Food Guys

http://www.thefoodguys.com/foodcalc.html

Interactive Calculator

Why I prepare?

Three reasons I prepare. My church encourages all to have a 3 month supply of food and provisions, link below for great resource. Going through Hurricane Andrew (we were on the outskirts) was pretty good inspiration. Seeing grocery store shelves literally empty, and people completely reliant on others to bring them food and water. I believe in the not too distant future our economy will crash. A great site I have found to help with how to do your three month supply is, food storage made easy. This breaks it down into "baby steps" for those of us who are a bit overwhelmed.


http://www.providentliving.org/channel/1,11677,1706-1,00.html

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/

Parmesan Cheese

A great cheese to store is Parmesan cheese. It's fairly inexpensive (at Aldi) and does not need refrigeration.  This is my families main source of cheese.  We use dried parmesan in; chicken alfredo, steamed veggies, tortilla pizzas, garlic toast, and spaghetti sauce.  It's a good alternative that I've worked into our menu. 

Homemade Egg Nog

My family loves Egg Nog, though it is horribly expensive.  I found a very easy recipe that tastes just the same as store bought!  I guess this is little off topic.

Egg Nog

3oz. pkg. vanilla instant pudding
1/3 c sugar
8 c milk (can use powdered milk)
2 t vanilla
1/2 to 1t nutmeg

Combine ingredients and whip in blender.

Sour Cream

This was great!  In the mexican food section at Walmart, I bought the Nestle Cream (it's labled in Spanish, "Media Crema Table Cream").  I poured the cream into a small container, and put 3 tablespoons of white vinegar in it, and let it set for a couple of hours.  It tastes just like sour cream!  My family did not know the difference.  Though the color is a little darker than store bought sour cream.