It all started with my new wheat grinder. We had to buy more wheat so I could grind out all my own flour.
200 pounds of White Wheat later...
Then it was the sale on gallon jugs of water. We bought 60. This was just from the first grocery store we cleaned out.
Then another trip to the Cannery to get some more wheat, dry milk, beans, oats, rice, and sugar...
And a special "stock up" trip to Sam's club...
Having to step over it in my living room
Hoarding frosting buckets from all our local bakeries to store all the wheat, beans, oats, rice and sugar (and emergency toilet paper. You never know!) not already in #10 cans (easier to rotate this way)...
Hauling more palates down to our crawlspace cum food storage room so we could get it out of the front room...
The water looks like it's marching itself into place
And viola! My living room is mine again! Well, almost.
Kraig also built me some shelves above my washer and dryer today. I bought these shelves for this exact purpose back in June for $5 at a yard sale. Who sells all-purpose shelving?
Before
After**We got free buckets from the grocery store bakeries, but they were less consistant at having buckets available. So my sister told me she'd called a speciality cake bakery and they had plenty. I called the one close to my house and bought them for $1 each. They come with the lid, which is perfect because it has a ring to seal it. They're perfect.
We just put the wheat, rice, sugar, and beans in the buckets (after washing them really good and letting them completely dry) and put the lids on. I figure this is what I'll rotate for our own use and leave all the #10 cans for our long term emergency supply. The Missionary at the Cannery said he is currently using the wheat that he got in 1960 and has had stored in a trash can for 40+ years. I figure a few years in my white buckets will be just fine:) We're also putting our oats in the buckets, we just have to get more. Our emergency laundry soap will have a bucket too, along with 36 rolls of TP. We figure that way it will be protected if we had a flood.
I didn't buy the dry milk in bulk put it in buckets--we canned more in #10 cans that I'll rotate that way. I think it would go rancid long before I could use an entire bucket's worth, but a #10 can is just about the right size.
It was really fun to add all this to the peace of mind of our family's emergency prepardness.My dad built our crawl space for us when we moved in. He put palates down, OSB and carpet. We had the shelving. It only covered half the space, so Kraig put the additional palates down further towards the back where we wouldn't need access them as frequently. But our crawlspace is easily accessed off our family room, not out in the garage or anything.
21 comments:
HOLY SMOKES! That is incredible. I am jealous of your preparedness and mostly of your crawl space!
So, how did you get those big buckets (frosting containers?) and did you just pour the food in there or what? I don't know quite what to do with my huge bag of powdered milk.
This post inspires me and makes me nervous.
Ash, I started to write a huge comment in response to your comment, but decided to just add it to the post!
That is awesome! Sometimes I worry a lot about not being as prepared as I should be, but I do try to get things little by little. Hey, what wheat grinder did you get? Do you like it? How much was it? I need to get one. I did hear too, you're supposed to do like half wheat flour, to half regular flour - at least at first, so your bodies can adjust. You probably already know that though.
My parents got us a Wonder Mill for Christmas. We really like it!
Our first time grinding wheat we made 100% whole wheat pancakes. Uh, we should have eased our bodies into it, but we've adjusted nicely.
Is that too much information? hehehe. Well, it's my blog!
Can't wait for a tour of the crawl space! As Andy would say, "Holy Smokes!"
It looks great! I love the picture of the marching water. I was only able to get 30 gallons, but it still made me feel better. I like the idea of putting toilet paper in the buckets! SEriously, it looks great.
Inspiring-thanks for sharing!
I'm so impressed-unless I get a move on it-I might be knocking at your door(kidding). I'm totally inspired-thanks for the post.
Thanks for the follow up. I will start calling cake stores. I am also trying to figure out how to get our stake's take-home canner. Sort of a pain.
I just bought a bunch of powdered eggs, so at least there's that.
Wow, you guys always amaze me. I am in Ahh to you both. I see all of the Webbs doing such great things like this and i keep reminding myself that maybe someday I will catch up to all this goodness and maybe if I am lucky, be as half as good as Jacqui is. Thanks for motivating me. You are so great, Sure love you guys
Way to go, Rencher!! I've been on a food storage mission lately too - adding more to my food storage supply closet/aka/front room closet with each Costco trip. The only thing that bites is that out here, it's nearly impossible to get into the cannery! There is one, but you basically have to go with your ward to get in the door, which doesn't happen because I'm in a single's ward and food storage + singles doesn't really happen! Argh.
Anyway, GREAT JOB. Your family planning and management skills are, once again, astounding. :)
Oh and a trick I learned from my parents for using those buckets is to first line them with a normal white (kitchen) trash bag, put your wheat/oats/etc in the trash pack and seal it up, that way you have an extra layer of protection in the bucket.
it is amazing the piece of mind that comes from having a little food storage. I am looking forward to getting settled so I can start stocking up.
I really think you are the best Home Economist I know.
All I can say is I'm impressed!!
You and Kraig are both awesome!
Is your wheat grinder manual or automatic?
LOL to the "who sells ALL-PURPOSE" shelving.
You are great!
It's an electric wheat grinder.
That is awesome. I'm glad you showed me it CAN be done. Food storage is so overwhelming to me. We have probably a one week supply, not a year's supply. We better get on it before it's too late!
Way to go Kraig and Jacqui! The crawl space never looked better. You may want to invest into some good knee pads to use in the new addition. Without the carpet it can be brutal on the knees. Ask Mom about my experience.
J-
I love the pix's of your life. what a fun experience getting it all together. I have purchased my 5 buckets and they were $9 each -t hrough a group order. Way to go on finding yours through the bakery. that's terrifice! Happy to see you getting prepared.
So, who's in charge of remembering to rotate all that??? Do you have a purchase log with dates, etc.?
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