February Week 1: Juices and Drink Mixes

It's the first week of February! This week's food storage items are:

February Week 1: Juices: Gatorade powder, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light, lemon concentrate,  apple juice, grape juice

Notice that the highlighting is now in red. This will be the color for all of the items in the month of February, and will coordinate with the items on the main inventory sheets.

When I checked these items in my food storage yesterday, I found that the apple and grape juice jugs were close to expiring. So, I brought them upstairs to my pantry and refrigerator, and we'll be drinking that in the next while. I had used the lemon juice concentrate from my food storage, which is exactly what is meant to happen. That way, I won't be throwing away old, expired items. The trick is, to rotate through them, and that is why it's so crucial to check what you have at least once a year. So, I need to get more lemon juice and fruit juices to re-stock my shelves. If you use lime concentrate, you might consider adding that to the list.

We don't drink a lot of fruit juice anymore, though I do love it. Too many calories when I compare it to a glass of water. That being said, I like to have some on hand, and I'm pretty sure I would love to have some if there were a long-term emergency! So, I will have a few small jugs of juice on the shelves. I also like to keep Gatorade powder. (Now this is something I NEVER use in regular life, unless I'm on a pioneer trek in the middle of Wyoming. And there, in the middle of nowhere, I chug it down like it's the most glorious thing I've ever tasted) Because it might be really handy to have in an emergency, I like to keep a couple of containers of the powder concentrate on my food storage shelves.

I do have some fruit juice mix that I canned at the Home Storage Center Cannery, which is good for a few years, and it is actually something that kids really love! I've posted before about going to the cannery. If you have one in your area, you should really check it out. It's easy to do, and it makes you feel so resourceful, too. To find the locations of the Home Storage Centers, click here. And to see a list of what is available at the Home Storage Centers (both pre-packed, and ready-to-pack), click here. And to read all sorts of other useful Food Storage and Emergency Supply Information that the LDS Church has provided for anyone to utilize, click here.

So, now I have my shopping list in hand for this week. In the next day or two, I'll pick up the items I need in my food storage and update my inventory sheet, and then I'll be done for the week.

If you like different juices or Kool-Aid or Crystal Light, or any other fruit drink mix or juice, add those to your list and stock up this week! We'll be working on tomato juice at another time, so work on all the other juices this week.

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the most up-to-date post that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.