From Brigham Young's time to the present day, latter-day prophets have
counseled Church members to store food for times of need. Recently, the First
Presidency spoke again on this subject:
"We encourage you to follow this counsel with the assurance that a people
prepared through obedience to the commandments of God need not fear" (Letter to
priesthood leaders, 24 Jun 1988). A year's supply of food storage is beneficial in several ways:
This article and other suggestions that will be printed in the following
months in the Random Sampler department of the Ensign will provide information
on how to store, prepare, and serve meals based on foodstuffs recommended in the
First Presidency letter. Other sources of information include ward and stake
priesthood leaders and Relief Society presidencies, Church welfare centers or
canneries, local extension agents or agricultural services departments, and
public and educational libraries.
The following guidelines will help in purchasing and storing basic food items.
GRAINS
Grains include wheat, rice, rolled oats, dried corn, pearled barley, and other cereal grains. Flour, cornmeal, and pasta products such as macaroni, spaghetti are also included. Each family should store various grain items that suit their individual circumstances. For example rather than storing three to four hundred pounds of wheat per person, a family might choose to store two hundred pounds of wheat, one hundred pounds of flour, twenty-five pounds of rice, twenty-five pounds of rolled oats, twenty-five pounds of dried corn, and twenty-five pounds of macaroni per person. This gives variety to the menu and encourages using and rotating the supply. It also provides choices for those who do not like or cannot eat a particular grain.
Most grains can be dry-pack canned in small containers (see below). This makes them more convenient to use and reduces the possibility of spoilage. Grains may also be stored in tightly sealed metal or heavy plastic containers.
LEGUMES
An inexpensive, nutritious protein food-include beans (soy, pinto, white, kidney, lima, winged, red, navy, pink, and black-eyed), split peas, lentils, and peanuts. They can be stored in clean, dry metal or plastic containers with tight-fitting lids. They may also be dry-pack canned.
POWDERED MILK
Nonfat powdered milk, instant or regular, is an excellent storage item. It contains all the nutrients, except fat, found in fresh milk.
In the past, storing large amounts of powdered milk has been recommended. However, this has often led to spoilage and waste. More recent studies show that smaller quantities of milk are adequate if people store and eat larger quantities of grains.
Powdered milk can be stored in the original sealed packages, or if purchased in bulk, it can be stored in tightly covered metal or plastic containers. It can also be dry-pack canned.
You may also use canned milk as part of the milk storage program, but you must rotate it regularly.
FATS AND OILS
Fat is essential to every diet. Shortening, cooking oil, margarine, and mayonnaise are suggested for storage. Store fats in sealed containers in cook, dry, dark places and rotate them frequently.
SALT
Nutritionists recommend iodized rather than plain salt, when it is available. Store salt in its original container in a cool, dry place.
SUGAR AND HONEY
Whether to store sugar or honey is a matter of personal choice. Sugar many harden; honey may crystallize and /or darken. Neither affects the safety of the product.
Store honey in small containers. Then, if it crystallizes, you can immerse the containers in hot (not boiling) water to reliquify it.
Store granulated sugar in a tightly covered metal or plastic container or place it on a shelf away form moisture in its unopened cloth or paper bag. Occasionally knead the bag to help prevent the sugar from hardening.
WATER
Water is more essential than food in sustaining life. Store a minimum of seven gallons of water per person for drinking and food preparation. Store an additional seven gallons per person of same quality water for bathing, brushing teeth, and dishwashing. Use heavy plastic containers with tight-fitting lids. Metal containers, which may corrode, tend to give water an unpleasant taste.
If you have any doubt as to the bacterial safety of stored water, you may purify it by boiling vigorously for one to two minutes or by adding chlorine bleach (5 percent sodium hypochlorite solution). Generally, half a tsp. of bleach will purify five gallons of clear water, and one tsp. Will purify five gallons of cloudy water. If you store it away from sunlight in clean containers, and if it is safe bacterially at the time of storage, water will remain pure indefinitely.
STORAGE GUIDELINES
President Ezra Taft Benson has said on at least three different occasions, "The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah." (Ensign, Nov 1980, p 33).
DRY-PACK CANNING
With the exception of foods containing fats, most of the storage items discussed here can be sealed by a dry-pack method of canning. Dry-pack canning is easy and inexpensive and uses containers that are small enough that they can be easily rotated and handled. In addition to dry-pack canning equipment available for use at some Church canneries, dry-pack canners may be checked out from the canneries for local use. For more information, contact your regional welfare agent (your stake president can tell you who he is), welfare cannery, or bishops' storehouse.
"We continue to encourage members to store sufficient food, clothing,
and , where possible, fuel for at least one year. We have not laid down an
exact formula for what should be stored. However, we suggest that members
concentrate on essential foods that sustain life, such as grains, legumes,
cooking oil, powdered milk, salt, sugar or honey, and water. Most families can
achieve and maintain this basic level of preparedness. The decision to do more
than this rests with the individual.
If families would think in terms of storing only foods basic to survival, or if
they would supplement the food storage they already have with the basics to
build it up to a year's supply, the task would be simpler than they might
think. They would then be prepared for food emergencies.
Once you have stored the basic food items, you need to regularly include them in
your daily meals.
No single food storage plan will work for everyone. Each family's needs differ, as does their financial ability to accumulate the storage items. But by working under the direction of the First Presidency "to concentrate on essential food," it can be done.