How’s your Home Store looking? Does it make you happy when you open your panty or cupboard door? Does it bring you peace? My hope is that you’re pleased and have a sense of security that if your family were to “have an emergency”, the loss of a job, an extended power outage…whatever your personal emergency looks like, you’d be able to sustain yourself on the items in your home for the duration.

Let’s start with the item I feel is the most important: Water.  It doesn’t matter how much food is in your pantry, it’s useless without water. FEMA and The Red Cross agree…we should all have at least two weeks of water storage on hand;  A minimum of 2 gallons per person per day. That’s a MINIMUM. Remember water is not just for drinking and cooking but for cleaning (and flushing toilets), too. Young children, the elderly and the sick will have need for more water, so keep that in mind as you place it in your home store. I have been so strongly impressed with the importance of water storage; I made it the subject of myfirst blog post.

Next, be certain that you have a three month supply of the items you need on a daily basis. If your family eats spaghetti once a week, you ought to have enough noodles and sauce-makings for 12 weeks, etc. If you’re not there yet, build slowly adding just a few items at a time. This is your short term storage.

Now, to be sure your long term store is set properly for your family. Before filling your pantry with brownie mixes and freeze dried bananas, (both beautiful items) for the preservation of your loved ones begin with the basics. You know - the stuff that will keep you alive.

• Grains (suggested minimum for one person for one year 400 lbs.): wheat, rice, oats, quinoa, pasta, barley, are just a few of the available, viable options. 
• Beans and Legumes (suggested minimum 60 lbs. per person, per year). What are your favorite beans? We constantly rotate through pinto beans like no other.
• Milk and Dairy (suggested minimum 75 lbs. per person, per year). Unless you’re storing canned butter, the fat has been removed from your long term dairy for storage purposes.
• Fats and Oils (suggested minimum 20 lbs. per person per year): vegetable oil, olive oil, coconut oil. Some oils have a longer shelf life than others, so be sure to rotate through your oils in a timely manner.
• Sugars (suggested minimum 60 lbs. per person per year): Honey stores really well in buckets and has more health benefits than just for eating; sugar set aside for long term should not be stored with oxygen absorbers.
• Salt (suggested minimum 8 lbs. per person per year). This is table salt, Epsom salt should be part of your auxiliary supply just like shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste, but is not listed here.
• Fruits/Vegetables (suggested minimum 90 lbs. per person per year). A variety will help keep your family from appetite fatigue. A friend and fellow Thrive Life consultant challenged herself and her family to liveon their food store for 30 days; in a letter to her customers she wrote about what she had learned, “Store a lot more fruit!  I realized how much fruit we all like to eat.  We snack on it, put it in our oatmeal, add it to muffins, and use it in smoothies.   I thought I had a lot of fruit stored but I found that I need a lot more.  I highly recommend adding some or more freeze dried fruit to your pantry and food storage.”
• Auxiliary Foods (weight will vary): Vanilla added to powdered milk improves flavor. Liquid smoke is a great flavor additive if you’ll be making your own wheat gluten as meat replacement. Vinegar can be used to make cottage cheese, butter milk and sour cream. Rennet and citric acid are needed to make mozzarella. Cocoa, chocolate syrup and powdered drink mixes can help in the reduction of appetite fatigue.

If you’re blessed to have an LDS Home Storage Center near by many of these items can be purchase pre-packaged at cost. They have no need to cover overhead, as they are manned by volunteers. Check their current order form and maps to determine if this would be a cost effective way for you to bulk up your home store.

The best way to rotate these foods, and be assured that you’ll have the knowledge to use them, is to use them. Thrive-a-lize all your favorite recipes, gain a firsthand knowledge of at least 3 different ways to use each item, make your own bread perhaps even use yeast you’ve captured yourself. Set yourself up to more than merely survive your eventual emergency, prepare to THRIVE.

And now for the February Specials… *drum roll*

This month Thrive Life has compiled some beautiful (and beautifully priced) packages. Beyond that, on these packages they’re offering FREE SHIPPING!

The Q-pon this month is for freeze dried Ground Beef. Stretch your dollar by purchasing by the case or 10-pack for an additional 5% off.

Thrive Life has also introduced nine New Emergency Supplies. 

Happy Home Store Building-