March Food Storage Meeting!

So, tonight we had a GREAT night of potato and dry milk taste testing!  It was an event for sure!  First off here's what you need to buy for this month and a few things to think about...

Month 3 – April 2009 

”As issues become clearer and more obvious, all mankind will eventually be required to align themselves either for the kingdom of God or the kingdom of the devil.  God will provide strength for the righteous and the means of escape I testify that it is time for every man to set in order his own house both temporally and spiritually.”  ~Ezra Taft Benson

This month talk with your family how to avoid debt.  Talk about the difference between what we want and what we need.  Talk about the ways the world shows us we need gratification now…There are commercials & other pressures that affect our decisions when we spend or save money.  Set a goal to be debt free…including a timeline when to have it done by.  Define specific objectives on how you will achieve this goal.  Let the entire family be part of the plan.  Be realistic but also determine a reward which will motivate you to your goal.  Remember the words of President

 Hinckley, “May the Lord bless you to set your house in order”.  Watch for the blessings.  They will come!

What to Purchase:

• 50 cans of soup
  
• 2 lbs salt

Add Laundry Soap, Dish Soap, Clorox, & Ammonia to your storage this month

So, about the taste testing....Sara Hoen put 2 different types of instant potatoes together.  The potato pearls from the church and a generic Wal Mart Brand.  The Wal Mart Brand you had to add milk, butter and water.  The Church potato pearls just need water.  In a disaster, you may not have milk or butter, but water you would more than likely have.  +1 for the potato pearls!  Now, when it came to the actual testing, the Wal Mart Brand had a thicker consistancy than the potato pearls.  The thicker potatoes made me think of actual potatoes that have been mashed up (+1 for wal mart brand), but they tasted like nothing was added.  No salt, butter, milk...nothing (even though to make them you had to add butter and milk).  Interesting I thought.  Then, the potato pearls, which only took water to make, tasted very buttery and had a great taste!  They were a

 lot smoother than the generic Wal Mart brand, but tasted a lot better. +1 for potato pearls.  So, in the end, +1 for Wal Mart brand, +2 for potato pearls!

As for the milk...we learned a LOT from Jen Ethington.  I'll attach the form she put together.  I'll also be attaching a conversion form that Kristin Bronson put together.  Both EXTREMELY helpful!  Here are our findings on the milk.  We had 5 different types of powdered milk.  They were....Morning Moo's Alternative Milk (has combo of milk and non milk), Morning Moo's Soy Milk, Carnation Instant, Country Cream & LDS Cannery.  When we tasted them strait (just added water to the powder) I think we all thought that out of all of these, the worst was the Soy and the LDS Cannery brands.  NOW...these might be ju

st great when it comes to baking or cooking with them, but to drink like a regular glass of milk...YUCK!  Now, the best we found was the Morning Moo's Alternative and the Country Cream followed close behind by the Carnation Instant.  The Carnation Instant was by far the most expensive and comes in a small box (only makes 3 quarts) but the others make up to 5 gallons.  I honestly can say that I would drink the Morning Moo's and the Country Cream straight!  And for those of you who don't know, that says a lot!  I LOVE milk!  We drink at least 4 gallons a week at our house, so to say that I could drink powdered milk, WOW!

Thanks to everyone who helped out tonight!  It was GREAT!

Next month we'll have the group meet on May 1st and May 2nd and we're actually opening it up to everyone in the Ward.  We have a canning machine scheduled that weekend, so we're going to try to get the building set aside for Friday night and all day Saturday for you to bring your own items and can!  More details to follow!!!!

p.s.  I made chocolate milk with the soy for my daughter....she couldn't tell the difference!  Either that, or she was just super excited to have chocolate milk before bed :)  Kids won't know the difference!  Just start feeding it to them now before they learn to not like it!