Friday, February 6, 2009

February: Be Prepared

"There is a wise saying, 'Eat it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without'. Thrift is a practice of not wasting anything. Some people are able to get by because of the absence of expense. They have their shoes resoled, they patch, they mend, they sew, and the save money. They avoid installment buying, and make purchases only after saving enough to pay cash, thus avoiding interest charges. Frugality means to practice careful economy." Elder James E. Faust

Spiritual Living Goal:
Schedule a time each day to read with your family from the Book of Mormon.

Provident Living Goal:
Plan and carry out a family home evening on home fires. Include planning an escape route and practicing it. Also include a natural disaster or other emergency plan of action.

Preparedness Goal:
Learn how to make wheat bread from scratch. This should include grinding your own wheat.

Food Storage Goal:
25 lbs. spaghetti
10 lbs. cornmeal
*10 lbs. dried or canned refried beans

Personal/Household Goal:
Cleaning supplies

72-Hour Kit Goal:
Gather personal products for each kit. This should include: hand towel, wash cloth, soap, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrush (floss of course!), deodorant, sanitary items, etc.

Water Storage Goal:
2 gallons drinking water

*I recently cracked open a can of dried pintos (roughly 3 years old or so) and attempted to make refried beans per instructions from a Hispanic sister in my area. They failed, miserably. I asked her what went wrong and I was told that using the cannery beans was mistake #1. She doesn't even bother with them and only buys fresh dried beans when she needs them. Instead she buys the dehydrated beans or just regular canned refried for her year supply.

4 comments:

Ryan and LeDawn said...

I agree 100% with your friend! I LOVE beans more than anyone and was excited to try to cannery beans... I almost threw up! They are miserable! So I always just buy cases of refriend beans at Costco!

Anonymous said...

WOW, i only make my own refried beans from food storage beans. here's how i do it: sort through the bean- take out any rocks or gross looking beans. i rinse the beans in a strainer while i'm bringing water on the stove to a boil. add salt to the water and add the beans. make sure the beans are covered completely in water and bring the water back to a boil. when they're good and boiling turn down heat to a medium simmer. you just want to see the water gently boiling. add a lid and if you crack the lid to help maintain your simmer just add water when you notice the beans are not submerged- keep the beans covered in water the whole time, VERY important. cook them for four hours like that and you'll have homemade beans that are ready to mash. i'm not kidding i've never had a bad batch and i've been doing it this way for about five years now. i've even left them on the stove cooking and went to church and came back to perfect beans. good luck and let me know how they turn out!

Heather said...

Thanks Nina, I will for sure try again. I have like 10 cans, so I better learn how!

Anonymous said...

Again, thank you thank you for these posts! You are the best!