Radio

I added an emergency radio to our 72 hour kits. I chose this one because it is small and lightweight. It also is self-powered and has AM/FM and weatherband radio. It is a flashlight too. I hope I never need to use it, but just in case it will be there.

Recipes

I was convinced that food storage was not the most tasty food in the world. I thought "Why store all that stuff? I will have to be starving before I eat it." I found a website with great tips and recipes: www.everydayfoodstorage.net. Crystal Godfrey really knows how to use her food storage and she made me believe that I could do it too. I tried out a couple of her recipes and did not tell my family that is was food storage before they ate it. (That's what she suggests.) They would have never guessed. After I tried a couple of her free recipes that are on her website, I bought her book. I was really sad that I didn't live in Utah. She is having book signings all over Utah. I wanted mine signed too. I think is it so cool to have books signed by the author. I ordered mine from www.amazon.com. When my book arrived, it was signed! How cool! I was so excited. I can't wait to try out more of her recipes.

Binder

This is my Food Storage Made Easy Binder. I bought it from www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net. I love it. It cost $17. It has tips about getting organized, steps to follow to get your food storage, 72 hour emergency preparedness, etc. After you buy the book you are sent an email with a link that allows you to download and print the book at home. It comes with step by step instructions on how to put the book together and a list of what you will need to do it.

If you do not want to spend $17 on the book, most of what is in the book and some things that are not in the book are available free on the website. The "babysteps" are easy to follow. If you follow the plan, you will have 72 hour emergency/disaster kits, a 3 month supply of foods you regularly eat and a one year long-term food storage within a year.

I refer back to my binder often. It is worth it to me to have the binder. It is just easier for me to find it in the book than it is to search the website. If you have a group of people that are interested in buying the book they give discounts for multiple printings.

I love my book. It was definitely worth the $17.

Bread

I made my bread. It was yummy. My kids couldn't even wait for it to cool before they had a slice.

My loaves were two different sizes for two reasons. One was that I didn't divide the dough equally between the two pans. The second was one of my loaf pans is bigger than the other. The loaf pan in the picture was my grandmother's. My mom told me it makes a great loaf of bread. She was right.

I made my bread by hand without a mixer and from wheat that I ground myself. Just in case anyone is wondering, my wheat grinder did a great job. It is very loud. As the hopper empties the grinder spit a few wheat berries out on to the counter. I recommend getting a new silicon-type pastry brush for cleaning out the grinder after each use. I used an older boars hair one and had bristles in my wheat flour. I borrowed a wheat grinder similar to mine a couple of years ago. I used a wet wash cloth to clean it. I do not recommend that method. It made the wheat flour stick in all the tiny corners. Not fun.

The recipe I used was great. I found it at http://www.safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/. It is a great recipe. The post about it has pictures and easy to follow step by step instructions with pictures. I used honey not sugar. I used a little more flour than the recipe called for because as I kneeded the dough it became too sticky.

Yummy.

Bread Calculation

I did a little calculating and thought I would share what I came up with.

I wanted to know what I would need to make bread for one year for my long term food storage.
I decided I want to make bread twice a week every week. That makes 52 X 2. I will make bread 104 times a year.

The last time I made bread, Thursday, it took about 7-8 cups of wheat flour. In order to get 7-8 cups of wheat flour I ground about 1/2 of a #10 size can of hard red winter wheat. I will need about 52 #10 cans of wheat.

My recipe calls for six ingredients: water, yeast, honey, oil, salt and wheat flour. Water comes out of the tap. I plan to purchase yeast at Wal-mart. My recipe calls for 1tbsp. I use Fleischmans in a jar. Each jar contains about 16 tbsp. (104/16=6.5 jars) 7 jars X $4.00/jar=$28.00. Honey must be a popular gift. I have received it many times. No need to buy honey right now. I am all stocked up on oil. My recipe only calls for 3 tbsp of oil. I have a large supply of salt. (I received it as a wedding gift 15 years ago.) The last time I made bread it took about 7-8 cups of wheat flour. In order to get 7-8 cups of flour I ground about 1/2 of a #10 size can of hard red winter wheat. I will need 52 #10 cans of wheat.

For now I will need to spend about $28.00 on yeast and purchase wheat, then I will be making bread like a mad woman.

Wheat

This blog entry isn't really about wheat, it is about my husband's wheat grinder. It was a gift. He got it for Father's Day! He will never use it. It is really for me!!! What a great way to get the things I need. I learned the trick from Brother Leckie. He gave his wife a tiller one year for Mother's Day (maybe it was for her birthday).

I researched wheat grinders online before purchasing. I weighed the pros and cons, then purchased this one. It is a Blendtec/K-Tec.

Pros: lightweight, small, grinds many grains and beans, makes fine flours, internal parts do not need to be cleaned, I have used a similar one before, less expensive than many other grinders

Cons: loud, cannot make cracked wheat

Paying less is always great as long as I am sure it is a quality product. I did not find any reviews with quality concerns. The only thing I was worried about was the noise. I will not be using it that often so it should not be a huge problem. Several of the reviews suggested a solution to the noise. The reviews suggested using it in the garage or outside. As for the cracked wheat, I do not eat it. If it becomes necessary for me to eat cracked wheat, a blender can perform that task.

My plan is to try it out tomorrow. I am excited. I make killer wheat bread and don't get me started on wheat crust pizza!