Weekly Food Storage: Catch-Up Week

This is one of those rare times when there are five Tuesdays in one month. So, since we only do the food storage system four times each month, this is your week off! If you're totally caught up and organized, then don't lift a finger. But, if you've fallen behind at all, or if your food storage closet needs organizing, use this week to tidy up a bit. And then, be ready in a week to start April's lists. Happy Spring!

Spring Yard Clean-up and Projects

I kindof like spring yard clean-up. Sounds crazy, but it's one of those instantly fulfilling jobs. You can take a grayish, dead-looking area, and just by pulling back some

You can take a grayish, dead-looking area, and just by pulling our the leaves and cutting back the dead growth on the plants, things look fresh and green and ready to go!

There is green everywhere under the leaves and old growth. And now that it's uncovered, and the sun can reach it all, it will grow and fill out the garden in no time at all!

Rubber Mulch in Limberlost

We have an area all along the back of our lot that used to be the dog run. Now that we don't have dogs any more, we are in the process of making it a play area for the grands. We affectionately refer to it as Limberlost. When Bob was in grade school, he has wonderful memories of coming in after recess and listening as his teacher would read a chapter of A Girl of the Limberlost. Which, by the way, is also an old favorite of mine. So, when it came to naming our spot for the grands, it seemed like a natural -- full of sweet memories, and at the ready for a lot more to come!

Last year we had a cement pathway (all the way around it) poured, so that the kids could ride their bikes, skates, wagons, etc, around the perimeter. And then I proceeded to spend hours upon hours spraying the weeds that would pop up in the dirt area All. The. Time. We love the old orchard trees that run down the center of it, so we couldn't really put any kind of complete vegetation kill in there. 

This year we decided to solve that problem. Rubber mulch. Amazingly wonderful invention. The first thing we had to do to prepare the ground, was to remove dirt and even it all out. Bob made a screed board that leveled it off at about 3" from the edge of the concrete. This picture below is looking down Limberlost down the opposite way from the photo above.

We took the extra dirt and piled it in the crevasse that was between the cement path and the back fence. Fewer lost balls and toys. And okay, I'll say it... fewer places for snakes to lay in waiting.

And here's the screed board in action. Bob and I each took one end, and dragged it across the dirt several times until there was a good pile of dirt to be removed. Then we shoveled it into the wheel barrow and dumped that into the tractor, and then he drove that down the street to our daughter's house, where she'll be using it after we remove a little pond in her backyard. 

After the dirt was leveled off, we put down a landscape liner. We got that at Home Depot, along with the little staples that attach it to the dirt.

It was so nice to see the blossoms just starting to peek out from the apple-pear trees in Limberlost.

The preparation was really the hardest part of the whole project. 

We decided that before we put the rubber mulch in, we should put in a couple of things for the grands to play on. I found a great teeter-totter airplane from Lifetime that can fit up to 7 kids! We had a few of the kiddos here while we were assembling...

We put the airplane right onto the liner, so the mulch can go all around it.

... And it appears to be grandchild approved!

We also put together a Little Tykes play structure

There is a bigger slide that goes off the back side. It's pretty fun for the kids to play around on.

After we got the toys in place, we started dumping the bags of mulch. We had 3 pallets of rubber mulch delivered to the house -- 6000 pounds worth. It sounds like a ton (well... three tons), but it went pretty fast, and made such a beautiful difference! I love how it looks!

The rubber mulch is really great for a lot of reasons. It doesn't decompose like natural bark mulch does. We won't be replacing this every other year. It is made from old tires, which makes it feel like I'm doing something good for the environment. It is a soft landing for the kids coming off the slide, or if they happen to fall in it. It is heavier than bark mulch, so it stays in place better. And lastly, it is clean. The kids can sit in it and play with it, and they come out clean as a whistle. 

After we got that area done, we started on the area just in front of Limberlost. There are orchard trees all along that fence, too, and the garden beds were solid Mexican Primrose. I love the look of Mexican Primrose when it's blooming, but after that, it looks like a bunch of weeds, and let's just be honest here... it also was a great place for snakes to hide. I have seen many a snake back there in those Mexican Primrose beds. So, because of my relationship with snakes, the Primrose had to go.

The guys are clearing the beds below...

I don't know why, but boys and tractors....

And these are what the beds looked like after we pulled the old dead primrose growth out of them. Then, they removed dirt and put the liners in.

And voila! Beautiful beds with no primrose and no snakes. Woohoo!

We are really working towards less-maintenance in our yard. I will always like working in the flower beds, but there are some areas that had become a very unwieldy and took way too much time to keep up. Now that our grands are getting old enough to play out there, we want to spend time playing with them, instead of always having more work to do out there. Everyone is a winner now!

We'll continue to add and tweak in Limberlost in the coming years. It is definitely a work in progress.

March Week 4: Rice

This week's food storage item is a simple one:

March Week 4: Rice -- white, brown, instant

We eat mostly brown rice in our family, so I buy bags of brown rice and store them in a tub (just to keep them from slipping and sliding all over the shelf). I also buy a case of Minute Brown Rice whenever there is a case lot sale, just to have on hand. Sometimes I need to be quicker about cooking my rice, if you know what I mean, and then Minute Brown Rice is just the thing.

Now, one thing that I LOVE to do is go to the Home Storage dry-pack cannery and load up on things that I want to have on my shelf for a really long time. One of the items they offer is White Rice, as pictured above in the can. I canned the rice in March of 2011, and it will be good for 30+ years. Can't ask for much more than that! To see if you have a Home Storage Center near you, click here.

This is a photo of our youth group working at the dry-pack cannery as part of our Amazing Race Youth Conference that Bob and I were in charge of. Even the youth had fun while doing the canning.

I printed the most updated order form, and as you can see, they have quite an offering of goods for food storage. To see the full form (which includes bulk prices), click here.

You can see that there are prices for both the pre-packaged items that may be available and also the prices for the pack-your-own items.

To see the items that you can order on-line, click here. They have quite a few different items, including rice. If you don't have a Home Storage Center near you, then this might be a good option. There is also some very helpful information on anything from storing drinking water, to finances, to short and long term food supply here.  It's definitely worth checking out, and the information is very useful!

Now, go and decide how much rice you and your family will need in the coming year (and way beyond, if you have the space), then add it to your grocery list. Next time you're at the grocery store, pick up the items, and get them on your shelves. Doesn't that feel great?

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.

Family History Pie Chart

There is so much out there on the internet that makes family history work interesting and accessible to everyone. I am by no means a genealogist. My sisters and mom have done hundreds and hundreds of hours of work in searching for connections and names. They are amazing in what they have done and what they continue to do. I dabble. There is no other way to put that. I really just dabble. I have time here and there, and it interests me to look things up on FamilySearch and Ancestry.com.

The other day, my husband's cousin sent me a link (from BYU) that brought up a version of a pie chart that shows the nationalities that make up my family lines, up to 6X Great Grandparents. It's a website called Grandma's Pie, and you sign in using your FamilySearch (or LDS login). And then, it automatically makes up the pie chart for several generations going back.

After signing in, you click on "Show Multiple Generations", and then move the slide up at the top, according to how many generations you want to show. For instance, when I moved the slide just slightly to the right, it showed going back to my Great-Great Grandparents. In the center circle, it shows my mom and dad. My mom's color is green, because she is still living. My dad's color is dark orange, because he was born in the United States. His parents were both born in the U.S., so they are dark orange in the circle extending out from him, and my mother's father was born in England, while her mother was born in the U.S., so the circle extending out from my mom's green half circle, show a dark orange and a light blue. The legend at the left shows what countries are represented, and the legend at the right shows percentages.

When you scroll over the circle, the names for the various individuals show up, so you know exactly who is represented. 

It's pretty fascinating to see the makeup of the nationalities, as the lines go on. Below, I slid the bar all the way to the right, to extend as far out as the program allows, which is 6X Great Grandparents. 

Pretty interesting to see how it looks all out there on one page. It's still amazing to me how much is available at the touch of a button. Literally a touch. 

To try your hand at getting your own pie chart made, click here.

March Week 4: spices, herbs, seasonings

This week's food storage items are:

March Week 3: spices, herbs, seasonings (salt, pepper, seasoning salt, taco seasoning, chili powder, etc.)

As with all of the other weeks, store what your family uses. The one exception to that is that everyone should have iodized salt on their food storage shelves. It doesn't expire, so you can buy a case (or more) and you won't have to worry about having to throw it out... ever!  Most of what I've read online indicates that there is no expiration date, though there is some debate about whether iodized salt may expire at some point. The following is from Eatbydate:

How Long Does Salt Last?

A better questions might be – does salt expire? Salt, or sodium chloride, is an essential mineral needed by the human body (and all animals) in order to function properly. It helps maintain the fluid levels in the body, yet an excess can be harmful. The shelf life of salt, a natural ingredient found in both land and sea has been there since the beginning of time. It is has been used for flavoring and food preservation for ages.

So, the official answer to does salt expire or does salt go bad is… No, it does not expire! When properly stored, the shelf life of salt is

(Unopened/Opened)	Pantry
Salt lasts for	Indefinite

There are many, many uses for salt, whether it be used with food or for cleaning. I store quite a bit of salt, and I will only have to re-buy it once in a long while -- perhaps when I see a good deal in a case lot sale. Check out some of the many uses for salt at the end of this post.

If you go through other seasonings or spices, it wouldn't hurt to add them to your list. I use quite a bit of cinnamon, taco seasoning, seasoning salt and pepper, so I like to have at least one large jar of each on my food storage shelf. When I run out in the kitchen, I take from the food storage so that I am naturally rotating through my storage. These other items do have an expiration date and will lose some of their flavor after time, so don't overbuy.

Decide what you and your family will need as far as spices, herbs and seasonings go, add it to your grocery list, and next time you're at the grocery store, buy what you need and get it on your shelves. Easy peasy and it takes literally 10 minutes of your time! ...And you don't have to think about any more food storage til next 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.

24 Uses for Salt

We know that eating too much salt is unhealthy for us (or is it?), but salt has all kinds of uses around the home! From your beauty routine to cleaning, salt can really come in handy.

Table salt and Epsom salts are perfect for making green cleaning and DIY beauty products at home. They’re cheap, they’re readily available, and unless you’re drinking that salt scrub you made, they’re non-toxic. Regular old salt has some very useful qualities. It cuts grease like a champ, is a mild antiseptic, and those tiny crystals are great for scrubbing counter tops or your skin.

There are probably thousands of ways that you can use salt around the house, so think of this list as a jumping-off point!

Salt for DIY Beauty

Who needs expensive, store-bought beauty supplies when you have salt on hand? Check out these DIY beauty recipes that use salt! If you have sensitive skin, you’ll want to try out these recipes on a small area before you commit to scrubbing your whole face or body with salt.

1. Soothe Puffy Eyes – Soak a cloth in 1 cup warm water that has 1/2 teaspoon of salt dissolved in it to make a compress for tired eyes.

2. Exfoliate – After a bath or shower, use plain old salt to slough off dead skin from dry areas like your feed, elbows, or knees.

3. Homemade Facial – Mix 1 part salt with 1 part olive oil, and massage into your face and neck. Wash of with soap and water, and admire your glowing skin.

4. DIY Salt Scrub – Combine coarse salt with a little bit of olive oil and your favorite essential oils for a decadent salt scrub.

5. Whiten Teeth – A mixture of 1 part salt and 2 parts baking soda will not only whiten your teeth but helps promote healthy gums by removing built up plaque. This mixture is too abrasive to use daily, so only do this treatment occasionally.

6. Relax in a Salt Bath – A couple of cups of salt in the tub helps relax sore muscles. You can up the ante by adding some soothing essential oils, like lavender or chamomile.

7. Fight Dandruff – Who needs chemical-packed dandruff shampoo? Before your next shower, massage your head with salt to remove those dead skin cells, then wash your hair with your usual shampoo.

8. Make a Bath Bomb – Instead of shelling out big bucks for all natural bath bombs, check out this recipe for homemade bath bombs with Epsom salts instead.

Cleaning the House with Salt

Salt’s scrubbing and degreasing powers make it a perfect choice for cleaning the house on the cheap and without harsh chemicals. Just like with your skin, before you scrub any surface with salt, do a little test to make sure it won’t scratch the finish.

9. Cleaning Brass – Combine 1 cup each of salt, white flour, and white vinegar. After you scrub the brass with it, let it sit for 15-20 minutes, then wipe off with a damp cloth.

10. Get Grease out of Carpet – Mix 1 cup salt with 4 cups alcohol to gently scrub grease out of rugs and carpets.

11. Stop Wine Stains – Did you spill that glass of red all over the tablecloth or rug? Blot up what you can with a rag, when pour on the salt to soak up the remaining drops. Once the salt is dry, rinse it with cold water, then vacuum.

12. Get Rid of Condensation Rings on Wood – Add a tiny bit of salt to a light oil, like sunflower oil, and gently massage away those ugly white rings left from cold glasses.

13. Make Sponges Last Longer – Soak your sponge in cold water with a handful of salt to de-stink and extend its life.

14. Clean Your Iron – Is your iron a little sticky? Sprinkle some salt onto a piece of paper and iron over it on low to clean it off.

15. Clean the Fish Tank - Non-iodized salt is a great scrub for the inside of your fish tank. Just make sure you rinse it well before refilling. Did I mention non-iodized salt? Make sure that you use non-iodized salt.

16. Prevent Weeds – Are weeds popping up between the tiles on your patio? Pour salt into those crevices to keep them away naturally.

Cleaning the Kitchen with Salt

You may not shake salt into your food, but it’s so handy for cleaning in the kitchen that it deserves a category all its own.

17. Clean Greasy Pans – Slice a lemon in half, sprinkle on some salt, and marvel at the grease-cutting power!

18. Get Out Coffee and Tea Stains – Is your favorite mug looking a little dingy? Rub those coffee or tea stains with salt to buff them away.

19. De-Stink that Fridge – Next time you clean out your refrigerator, use a mixture of salt and seltzer to scrub the inside. The scrub will remove stains and grease and cut odors at the same time.

20. Clean the Coffee Pot – If your coffee hasn’t been tasting great lately, it could be that the lines of your coffee pot have oils built up. Run a full pot with water and 1/4 cup salt through your machine, then run just water. Your next pot of coffee will taste so much better!

21. Deodorize Your Kitchen Sink – Pour 1 cup salt and 1 1/2 cups boiling water down the kitchen sink to bust up small clogs and bust odors.

22. Scouring Cutting Boards – Remember that tip about the half lemon for greasy pans? You can use the same one to clean your cutting board.

23. Get the Tarnish off of  Silverware – Scrub with salt and a dry rag to make your silverware shiny again.

24. Deodorize the Oven – Did a casserole bubble over, and now your oven smells like burning? Before the oven cools down, sprinkle salt – carefully - onto the spilled food. Let it cool, then use a scrub brush to remove the salt. No more stink

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/24-surprising-uses-for-salt.html#ixzz2wKQ25R7E

Primary Birthday Gifts

This year for the birthday gifts to the Primary children, we are giving a necklace to the girls, and a carabiner to the boys. 

It's pretty hard to come up with an idea that is inexpensive, but that the kids will enjoy and actually use. We have a fairly large Primary, so we had to keep the cost down.

That's where my husband comes in with his amazing metal laser machine. Our oldest son runs the metal shop part of our business, so he designed and produced the actual pendants that went on the necklaces. After his part, a jewel or pearl were added, and there you have it...

... a darling little necklace, that I'll be wearing, along with the kiddos.

As far as the boys' carabiners are concerned, I don't have a picture of that, but they were imprinted with the same words (the Primary theme for 2015), and packaged the same way. And what boy doesn't love a carabiner?

March Week 2: Mixes - pancake, cake, brownie, Bisquick, etc.

It's that time again! It seems like last week flew right by, but here we are again, talking about the Week-by-Week Food Storage Plan. This week's items are:

March Week 2: Mixes - pancake, cake, brownie, Bisquick, muffin, etc.

These items will vary widely from family to family. For instance, I can't remember the last time I used a cake mix to bake a cake. However, there are a few times a year I might need to make a batch of quick cupcakes or "cake mix cookies". So, for our family, we really only need a handful of cake mixes on the shelves. I use a pancake mix here and there, and I use Bisquick in a cookie recipe that I make fairly often, so I'll make sure I have enough of both of those items.

In an emergency, I could use the pancake mix and the Bisquick to go along with other things in our food storage, so they may come in handy that way, too.

Think about how much of each of these items you might use in the coming year, and try to buy and store those amounts. Be sure that you check the expiration dates of the items you're buying so that you can keep them on your shelves throughout the year. Remember, one of the things that makes this system work is that you will be rotating through and using much of the food. You shouldn't have to discard old, expired food, which is one thing I found myself doing quite a bit of before.

As mentioned in several of these posts, if you're looking at this plan for the first time, the beauty of it is that you can jump right in this week and have this be the start of your year. You don't need to go back and try to catch up on the earlier weeks of this year. Start now, and know that a year from now, you'll have your complete food storage system.

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.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter-Filled Cookies

Yummo. We've been having chocolate and peanut butter cravings in our family for a week now, and I've also been thinking about the Disneyland chocolate covered peanut butter sandwich cookies ever since we went last September. So..... I finally decided on Sunday that I needed to take a crack at making them. You can find several variations of the recipe online. And I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with any of them. 

The method and recipe I came up with is as follows:

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Filled Cookies

(Makes 24)

24 graham cracker halves

2 12 oz. packages of Guittard milk chocolate chips

2 T. shortening

2 c. creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. powdered sugar (or more, if you prefer a sweeter peanut butter filling)

1/2 t. vanilla

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. I actually used a glass heat-proof Pyrex bowl that I was able to fit over a saucepan (without the bottom of the bowl touching the inside bottom of the pan). Fill the bottom of the pan with about an inch of water, and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat off, and place your Pyrex bowl over the warm water. Put the chocolate chips and shortening into the bowl and stir until it is well combined and all of the chocolate is melted, keeping it over the warm pan of water.

Once the chocolate is smooth and melted, using a pastry brush (I use a silicon brush), brush the tops of the graham crackers with a coat of chocolate.

Set aside to cool and harden. You can put it in the fridge for a minute or two to speed up the process. While they are cooling, make the peanut butter filling. Mix the peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until they are well blended and the mixture is smooth. You can do this by hand, or using a mixer. It is easy enough to stir by hand. After mixing, scoop out a ball of peanut butter mixture onto each chocolate-covered graham. I used a 1-1/4" cookie scoop scraped flat, which is about 1-1/2 to 2 Tablespoons of filling. Spread the peanut butter filling over the chocolate. Place back in refrigerator to set up a bit.

Check your chocolate. If it has cooled down, turn the water back on for a bit, and stir the chocolate until it is thin. Once it is ready, turn the heat off. Place a peanut-butter covered graham into the bowl of chocolate. Using a spoon, coat the top with chocolate. Lift the graham out of the bowl with forks, and let the chocolate drip off the graham. Tap your fork gently on the side of the bowl to make sure the excess chocolate has dripped off. 

Place on a piece of parchment paper to harden and cool.

Once the tops have hardened slightly, you can ad some decorative drizzles of the remaining chocolate. I just flung my fork across the pan and let the drizzles go where they may, but you can do whatever your heart desires. You could even use a colored candy coating to drizzle over for a holiday like Christmas or Halloween or St. Patrick's!

Let the chocolate covered deliciousness cool in the refrigerator. These are best eaten cold straight from the fridge.

And enjoy. 

72 Hour Kits: Task 7 - Hygiene

Task 7 is quite comprehensive and has quite a list that goes with it.  As always, you will need to decide what is appropriate for your own needs and wants in your family's 72-hour kit. Remember, for my family, we have a main, larger kit that covers Bob and I and many general family items. We also have smaller, backpack kits for each of the kids so that they can grab and go, and have their basic needs met in their own packs.

For the main kit, the items for Task 7 are as follows:

2 - mirrors

2 - hand towels

bar soap

body wash

2 - shampoo (trial size)

2 - lotion (small size)

2 - deodorant (trial size)

baby powder

comb

2 pkgs. handi-wipes

2 - hand sanitizers

Scope mouthwash

toothbrush

1 - toothpaste

2 - toilet paper

feminine hygiene products

tissues

2 - vaseline

2 - chapstick

insect repellent

sun screen

2 - nail clippers (finger and toe)

Many of the above items don't expire, so those won't ever have to be replaced, but the items that do expire have a date by them on my 72-hour kit list, and I'll replace them when their expiration date comes up. I check my 72-hour kits every fall, and to do it quickly and easily, I just scan my list for the items that have or will soon expire, and then I write those items on a shopping list and grab them next time I'm at the store. When I have all of the new items purchased, I open my kit, take out the old and replace with the new. Very easy. I don't have to go through the entire kit and look at every item. In fact, I don't even have to open my kit up until I have the new items to go in to it.

For my kit, all of the above items go in to my rolling cooler, with the exception of the toilet paper. Those are in the duffel bag.

In the backpack kits for the kids, the list for Task 7 is as follows:

toilet paper

tissue

toothbrush

toothpaste

bar soap

body and face wash

sanitizing wipe pkts - 4

hand sanitizer

towel

comb

deoderant (trial size)

shampoo (trial size)

lotion (trial size)

chapstick

mirror

Again, decide what you want in your kids' packs, and adjust the list accordingly. Since this list is quite long, we'll take the month of March to collect all of the items. At the beginning of April, we'll start Task 8.

To see the other Tasks that we've covered so far, or to get a copy of my complete 72-Hour Kit List click on the 72-Hour Kit tab above.

March Week 1: First-aid kit

This week's food storage item is the following:

March Week 1: First-aid kit, gauze, Q-tips, cotton balls, band-aids, Neosporin, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, etc.

I like to do this one in two parts.

First, I have a first aid kit in our bathroom, and this week is the perfect opportunity to update it and replenish it. I have a list taped to the top of the lid (the whole thing is kept in a fishing tackle box, which I love!) and I'll go through and check the contents of the kit with the list, and write anything I need to purchase on my shopping list. By the way, you can get a Plano fishing tackle box on Amazon for about $15.00, and they're perfect for first-aid kits!

Below is my list specifically for my first-aid kit (which is on red paper and taped to the inside of my first-aid kit lid). I first list the items that don't really expire, but may need replenishing.

Check to refill:

10 Band-aid adhesive pads - 2.25 X 3

10 butterfly bandages

1 box Band-aids (regular)

1 roll bandaging tape - 1” X 2.3 yds

1 roll first aid tape - ½” X 5 yds

1 roll Dermi clear tape - 1” X 10 yds

1 roll elastic tape - 1”

8 gauze pads - 2 X 2

10 gauze pads - 3 X 3

6 gauze pads - 4 X 4

2 absorbent pads - 8 X 10

1 roll gauze wrap - 2”

1 roll gauze wrap - 1”

1 roll ace bandage - 2”

1 roll ace bandage - 4”

20 Q-tips    

3 pr. rubber gloves

25 matches

Then, I list the items that have expiration dates, and may need to be rotated out:

Items with expiration date:

Visine

Neosporin

Purell hand sanitizer

antiseptic wash

first-aid crea
After-Bite itch eraser

Benadryl (itch stopping cream)

20 alcohol pads

12 Pepto Bismol tablets

Dramamine

Tums

24 Tylenol

24 Advil

cough drops

And lastly, some standard items that I just want to check to be sure they are still in the kit:

Standard Equipment:

1 tweezers

1 scissors - large

1 scissors - small

2 needles

Thermometer (forehead)

nail clipper

safety pins

ice pack

quarters

First-aid kit in a fishing tackle box

Second, in addition to my first-aid kit, I like to keep some extra things on hand in my emergency supply. I keep Q-tips, cotton balls, extra band-aids, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, various sizes of gauze pads, medical face masks, and rubber gloves. I keep most of these items (except the larger things) in a medium-sized container with a lid. It sits on the shelves next to the other items in my emergency supply. This week, when I checked my items, I noticed that the hydrogen peroxide had just expired. So, I'll need to pick up another couple of bottles from Costco. Everything else is on the shelf from a year ago, so we're good to go!

First-aid needs will vary from family to family, so as you look at my list, you may want to add or remove items. Store what your family will or may need for the year, as well as some extras that would be beneficial during a long-term emergency.

Let me reiterate that this is a weekly food storage plan that doesn't have any particular order. I like it that way so that I'm working on different things all the time, and building up different areas of my emergency supply. You can jump in on this plan at any given week, and have that be the start of your Week-by-Week Food Storage Plan. You don't need to go back to January and start at the beginning!

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.