"...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." Doctrine and Covenants 38:30 A years supply of food and equipment can be very overwhelming! As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we have been taught over and over to have on hand a years supply of food. Most of the questions that I get are where do I start and then where in the world am I going to put it!! It is my intention to answers those questions here and if I don't please feel free to email me and I will do my best to get you the answers! Over the last four years it had been my privilege to help the La Habra Ward prepare! I am moving to a new ward but I am committed to continue to help in any way that I can. Recently, I was invited to talk to the North Hills Ward. I came up with a Food Storage 101 handout and decided to use that as the template for the redesign. Hope you like it! Where to Begin? The best place to begin is to find out what you need to store. There are several ways to do this. You can make out a menu for one month, figure out EVERYTHING you need to make it happen and multiply by 12. This is a complicated method, but it can be done. The church has a computer program that will print out a list of the BASICS that you need to store. The basics means - wheat, sugar, honey, flour, vegetable, oils etc. Not very appetizing but you would survive it anything happens. Then there is my personal favorite. The Food Storage Planner by Revelar. This is a computer program that will not only tell you what to store but will help you keep track of it. It is also fully customizable so that you can store what you like to eat and not a lot of things you don’t. It is very important to store what you eat. Introducing foods that you do not normally eat, especially wheat, can cause digestive pain. Inventory Now that you know what to store you need to find out what you already have. This is an overwhelming spot. Now that you see ALL the supplies that you need, it seems that you will never be able to achieve it. Well, simply going through your cupboards and seeing what you already have I am sure you will be surprised how far you are without even trying. With the F.S.P. (Food Storage Planner) you can input everything in your cupboards and it will keep a running total to let you see what you are lacking. Once you know what you have to can start to purchase what you need. Where to buy? The Church cannery is an excellent starting point. At the cannery you can purchase a good variety of the basics and some extras like chocolate and vanilla pudding! Everything at the cannery gets canned into #10 cans by you. You need to schedule time in the cannery this can be done as a ward group or just you. Smart and Final, Costco and your grocery store are also great places to get food storage. A great practice to get into is to start buying 2 of things instead of just one when you are doing your shopping. You will be surprised at how quickly it adds up. Honeyville Grain is an excellent source of bulk wheat, sugar flour etc. they are located in Rancho Cucamonga and are very friendly to deal with. And of course the Internet is an excellent source for locating goods. More on this later. Rotation, Rotation, Rotation!! This is an extremely important aspect of food storage. When purchasing new supplies be sure to place them in back of what you already have. Eventually food will go bad and it is not a pretty sight. Where to find Help? Help is all around you. The Internet, the library, the church and anyone who has food storage - which should be all of you! The best source of info is asking. Don’t be afraid to ask a "dumb" question because it is probably something everyone else wants to know to. If you have access to email, there is a wonderful email list o join called the PREP List. You can join at www.ldscn.com ~ it is a large community of LDS and Non-LDS preppers who share information about how to and where to get everything on your list. Click here for more links! Click here for our Years Supply In a Year Program! Click here for handouts we have given out in the past! Click here for Newsletters! Click on the picture to email me!