Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Let's Begin!


Hello everyone, this is Mary McBride your food storage specialist with some tips and links to help us in our 3-month supply goal. I fully believe gathering our 3-month supply is not just a temporal principle but a spiritual principle as well. All obedience requires faith and sacrifice, and when obeyed, even when it seems impossible, blessings follow. 1 Nephi 3:7 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."  We can choose to respond like Nephi and know that if the Lord requires it, He will help us obey. I testify this is true and have experienced it many times in my life. I hope to give ideas and encouragement with these monthly emails that will help us in our food storage goals.  Not every tip will work for every family, but I will send out enough that you can choose what will work best for you. Please feel free to respond and share your ideas, too.

Tip #1
Bake your own bread. Store bought bread is expensive, if you are like us, we go through at least four loaves a week with sandwiches for school lunches and all. On average a cheap loaf cost about $2 a loaf, that's $416 a year! If you bake your own bread the cost per loaf is about 75 cents, or cheaper if you buy your ingredients in bulk.  (And if you use a natural yeast starter instead of the store bought commercial yeast, you can save even more! But that is a whole other concept or another time.) That's $156 a year instead. With what you save, you can easily pay for a 3-month supply. I know that baking bread is a sacrifice, and quite honestly, I don't bake as often as I should, but every little bit helps. If it's about time, premeasure the dry ingredients into ziploc baggies and use a bread machine. I found a bread machine on KSL for $10. 

Bread for 3-month supply (depending of recipe)
3 blocks of SAF yeast
2 bags of bread flour
1 bucket of wheat
3 bottles of lecithin
box of salt

Tip #2
Make your own laundry soap
Each batch yields about 32 ounces (between 32-64 loads based on how many Tbsp used per load)
1 bar of shaved bar soap (Ivory, Zote, Fels-Naptha)
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of washing soda
Mix thoroughly, that's it folks! Use 1 Tbsp per load, 2 Tbsp for a really dirty load. If you have an HE Front-load washer, your in luck because this recipe works because it is a low suds recipe. If you prefer a liquid laundry detergent, here's another recipe:

Homemade Laundry Detergent
1/3 bar Fels Naptha Laundry Soap, grated
6 cups water
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
To make homemade laundry detergent, heat 6 cups water and soap in a large pan until dissolved. Stir in washing soda and Borax. Mix and heat until dissolved. Boil 15 minutes. Remove from heat. (It will have the consistency of honey.*) In a 3 or 5 gallon bucket, add 1 quart of hot water, then add the soap mixture. Mix. Add enough cold water to make a 2 gallon mixture. Mix until well blended. Let sit 24 hours. The soap will gel*. Use 1/2 cup for each load.
Makes 2 gallons. (Approximately $ .40 per gallon) *If the homemade laundry detergent doesn’t gel or reach honey consistency it will still work. You'll save quite a bit with this simple change. 

Thank you and please feel free to respond with questions or to share your ideas as well,

Mary McBride
Food storage specialist

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