Drop By Drop

Food Storage Working Pantry System This year let us strive to be more ready… this year I will be posting the “Drop by Drop” Preparedness Goals to follow each month.
————————————————————-
January goals: https://bepreparedandready.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/january-drop-by-drop-goals/ ‎

————————————————————-
FILL YOUR LAMP
Drop by Drop

Maricopa 4th Ward Emergency Preparedness

“The parable [of the ten virgins] tells what happened as all ten young women waited for the bridegroom. The bridegroom came at the darkest hour, when least expected. It was midnight, and the foolish five had run out of oil. You might wonder why the five wise virgins could not share their oil with the other five. It was not selfishness on their part. Spiritual preparedness cannot be shared in an instant because we each fill our lamps drop by drop in our daily living.”
–James. E. Faust

Throughout the year we will be focusing on six goals given to us from our Stake Presidency. As a Ward, each month we will focus on a Spiritual Goal, Emergency Preparedness Goal, and a Food Storage Goal. If you choose to “Fill Your Lamp” you will have succeeded in fulfilling these six goals.

The Spiritual Goal will be given to us from the direction and counsel of our Bishopric. As we accept these spiritual goals and act upon them, we will grow closer to each other as a family, a ward family, and closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Emergency Preparedness Goal will play a key part in assembling a 72 Hour Kit. There will be items you already have from the monthly list that you won’t have to purchase. The key will be putting those items into one location, so if there is an emergency, those items can be accessed quickly. You will need a plastic container to hold all of your items. The example shows a plastic trash can. This bucket should be able to fit in your vehicle—so if you have a very small car—you may not want to choose a trash can as your container. 2 smaller containers might work better for you.

The Food Storage Goal will help you and your family establish a 3 month supply of food. There are so many factors in assembling a 3 month’s supply (the number of people in your family, what you like and don’t like to eat, etc.) it would be very difficult to come up with a “One System Fits All” plan for the entire ward. We are offering one idea that may be helpful to you.

1. Write down 15 meals that your family will eat from storable foods.
2. Calculate how many ingredients are needed for 1 meal.
3. Multiply it by the number of times you will eat the meal in a month (with 15 meals it would be 2.)
4. Multiply that number by 3 for 3 months
5. Put together a shopping list of ingredients. It is helpful to sort the items based on the category so it matches up with monthly goals. (i.e. fruits, vegetables, fats/oils, grains, beans, etc.)
6. Compare this shopping list with what you already have in your storage and mark off what you do not need for your 3 months supply.
7. During each month of the year buy and store the items indicated in the “Drop by Drop” plan.

There is an Excel spreadsheet that utilizes this plan. You would just need to change the recipes to fit your needs and amounts to fit your family size.

Here is the spreadsheet to download:
Food Storage Working Pantry System

Find a plan that works for you and utilize it!

The purpose of “Filling Your Lamp… Drop by Drop” is so that the tasks at hand are spread throughout the year. It would be overwhelming to try and do all of this the last month of the year… so don’t procrastinate. It would be even more overwhelming, in the instant of a disaster, to try and get all of this together in a matter of minutes.

You Can’t Light an Empty Lamp!

Be Prepared!
————————

Fill Your Lamp… Drop by Drop (Year Goals)

* 3-month supply of food and water
* Start by ordering the home storage starter kit
□ Emergency Preparedness
* Develop a family emergency evacuation plan and coordinate it with the stake emergency plan.
* Make 72- hour Kits
□ Financial Planning
* Prepare a budget and learn how to use it.
* Teach gospel principles on debt, frugal living, and self-reliance.
* Have emergency cash for easy access in usable bills.
* Build a reserve; work towards one month salary in savings.
□ Documents
* Prepare an important documents plan including items such as birth certificates, wills, titles, insurance info. etc.
* Keep them in fire-proof storage, easy access, or flash-drive disk.
□ Self-Improvement/Self-Reliance
* Develop talents or learn new skills
* Play an instrument, participate in sports, develop computer skills, take a class, plant a garden, learn basic car maintenance, etc.
□ Develop Gardening Skills
* Grown something and learn how to can/store it.
* Begin a garden, big or small, in your backyard.
————————

FILL YOUR LAMP
Drop by Drop

Entire Year Overview

MONTH STORAGE GOAL PREPAREDNESS GOAL
January Water, Fats and Oils Food Storage Inventory
February Beans and Lentils Exercise,Fuel
March Seeds Gardening
April Milk(All Types), Cheese and Eggs Seek Knowledge
May Pasta, Spaghetti, Macaroni, Etc. Money Matters
June Grains, Corn, Oats, Wheat, Rice Alternate Cooking Methods
. Rice, Etc. and Sprouting
July Fruits: Canned or Dried Food Production, Canning, . Freezing, and Drying
August Sugar and Honey, Condiments Organize papers– Review policies
September Supplemental Foods First Aid Kit
October 72 hour kits Rotate Water, Food and Clothing
November Canned vegetables, Soups Utilities, Check batteries
. Fire & Emergency Drills
December Salt /Seasonings, Yeast, Stress Reducers
Baking Powder, and Baking Soda

BePreparedandReady

Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness Information

Drop By Drop

1 thought on “Drop By Drop”

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Share this:

1 thought on “Drop By Drop”

Leave a comment Cancel reply