Reunions X 5 -- You Gotta Love 'Em All!

Busy, busy, worky, worky. That sums up our summer. It is unmatched by any other of our summers, for sure. We both feel like we've been running from one thing to the next, and that our schedule or plans are just a running joke between the two of us. And yet, it has been full of some of the best experiences ever, with family especially.

It was the year of five reunions. Including one weekend that we affectionately referred to as the trifecta (because of the THREE reunions held on four days). So. Reunions. You've gotta love them. We grew up on reunions, traveling from California to Utah once a year to spend a day catching up with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. And we loved those reunions. I remember running around all day with my cousins, stopping only for a picnic lunch or homemade treats made by my aunts, and lazing around the grass listening to my parents and their siblings talk about the old days, growing up together in another time. Oh how I loved those reunions! And I'm certain that we heard the same stories year after year, with a few new ones thrown in for good measure. But we still loved hearing them, and hearing the grownups laugh and reminisce.

Fast forward to today's harried pace. We run from one thing to the next, and reunions and family gatherings come up, and we wonder if we really have time to fit that into the schedule. We had a reunion for my husband's cousins and aunt and uncle on his dad's side. We had the two more reunions for my cousins on my mom's and also on my dad's side. And we had a reunion for all of the family members from my parents on down. Last, but not least, we had the second annual reunion for me and my husband and our kids and grandkids. Now, let me stop right there. Anyone who knows us knows that our kids all live within 7 miles of us. Most of them are much closer than that. And knowing that, you might say, "Why a reunion? What is the purpose of 'reuniting' when you already see each other quite often?" And I would say to that, "We have a reunion so that we can spend a couple of days focusing just on our family, on our relationships. To play and laugh together without any interruptions. To reminisce and love and appreciate each other. To give our grandchildren (and each of us, for that matter) the opportunity to learn about their ancestors -- all of those who have paved the way for us today." That is why we have our little reunion, and that is why we might find ourselves going to five reunions in a given year.

My most favorite people in all the world
(Numbers represent order of grandkiddos)

And speaking of our reunion, we had a wonderful time together. It never gets any better than all of us being together. It feels so right, so complete. I love it! We started out with a trip to Hogle Zoo on a Thursday. It ended up being all of the mommies and kiddos, along with Bob and I. It also ended up being a scorching hot day, but we carried on and those mommies were real troupers!

This is our entourage... with 5 babies in strollers
and two walking kiddos.
LOVE those mommies and sweet kiddos.
And that man behind them all? Be still my heart!

After the zoo, everyone went to their homes, and then the next day we met up at the cabin to spend a night together. It turned out that Bob had to wake up early on Saturday and drive home for a funeral, and then hurry back up. It wasn't in the plan (remember that our "plans" are our running joke this year), but we adjusted and made do. And that is a whole other story which I won't go into right now. Suffice it to say, we were happy to have him back so that we could carry on with the fun. While up at the cabin we had a treasure hunt for the kids...

a pinata...

an ancestor game where they all got a stack of photos and had to put them in pedigree order...

Hmmmm. Mostly right, anyway.

a puzzle game, where they got a little packet and didn't know what the puzzle was, but had to try to be the first to put it together...

The box the puzzles came in (which they didn't
get to see til after the game was over)

and because it's not a reunion unless you do this, we had every couple bring a jar with treats in it for everyone to guess the number of...

We tried to fit in as much as we could to make it special for everyone there.

We also spent some time after most of the kids were in bed on Friday night, talking about how grateful we are for each member of our family, and also for our ancestors. We tried to punctuate the fact that it is so important to get to know each of their stories and understand them a bit so that we know who we have come from, and what kind of stock we are made of.

'Can't get enough of these photos of amazing, wonderful people that make up our family. These three bottom photos are from the trifecta weekend. Three different reunions in four days.  Makes me very tired... and happy that I have those sweet memories!

August Week 4: Canned and Bottled Fruits

This week's food storage items are: 

August Week 4: Canned or bottled fruits - mandarin oranges, pineapple, peaches, pears, etc.

This could be a fairly easy week or not, depending on how much canned fruit your family consumes in a year. If you bottle your own fruit, then obviously you will bottle this week's items whenever the fruit is ready to bottle. Either way, you will need to decide how much canned fruit your family consumes in a year's time. If you are buying the cans (as opposed to bottling your own), write those amounts and items on your grocery list, and in the next couple of days, go to the grocery store and pick up the items. When you bring them home, update your list and get the cans on your shelves. Done. Easy as that. It literally could take you a matter of a few minutes time to get this week's food storage items completed. Unless of course you are bottling your own, and then it definitely will not take a few minutes time.

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.

August Week 3: Tomatoes - salsa, sauce, whole, diced, etc.

This week's food storage items are:

August Week 3: Tomatoes - salsa, sauce, whole, diced, paste, pizza, spaghetti sauce

It's amazing how often I use some sort of canned or bottled tomato product. We love Mexican food and also some Italian food, so it's important for me to always have some on hand. 

For the most part, these are the items (from the list) that I keep in my food storage:

As with most of the other weekly items, I try to estimate what I might use of each of the items in a year's time. And then I pad my numbers. At the end of the year, I want to still have a few on my shelves that I can rotate through. I really try to plan it so that I never truly run all the way out.

After deciding how many of each of the tomato items I will use this year, I update the totals on my inventory sheet, then check that against how many I actually have on my shelves. The difference is what I will go shopping for.

Now, case lot sales are a good place to pick up many of these items. Whenever our grocery store has a case lot sale, I check my shelves to see what items I might need a whole case of, and then buy the case and keep it in the rotation. You can decide which you would like to do -- wait for a sale, or buy the items you need now and move on. The problem with putting too many items on the "waiting for a sale" list, is that that list can get pretty long, and your shelves can stay empty for a while.

After I pick up my items for my food storage, I'll update my inventory list with the new totals, and I will be done for the week.

Remember, this is a rotating food storage plan, which means you will actually be using many of your food storage items so that there is very little wasted, expired food. I used to keep cases of cans on the shelves, never rotating through and using them, and every time I would clean out my shelves, I would end up throwing a lot of old food away. This plan should resolve that problem.

I've had a few people email me with questions this week, and I thought I'd share the questions and answers here so that maybe some of your questions will be answered also.

Q: I would be curious to know how much you budget for each week, how much are you spending to create this supply?

A: Since each week will be varied as to how much you will spend, I would recommend implementing a budget in which you set aside a certain amount from each paycheck for all food storage and emergency supplies. Then, when you go to purchase items, you can take from the money you have budgeted for it. As you get established, you’ll notice that some weeks you literally won’t have to spend anything, while other weeks will still require purchasing items. The money you set aside will also depend on how many you have in your family. Look at the monthly lists and estimate what a month might require as far as budgeting, and begin setting that aside. You may have to adjust that as time goes on.

Q: I have a couple of follow-up questions, if you don't mind. I recognize that this plan is to build a food storage and emergency supply. I have never really had the time or extra money to do such a thing and have always shopped week to week for the things we need right then. That being said, my first question is for each week's list do you intend to purchase enough of that item(s) to last until the following year's shopping? My second question is, how often do you shop for fresh items? Thanks again!

A: To answer your first question, when I first started out, I was not able to purchase an entire year's supply of every item. Sometimes (depending on the item) I would purchase only 3 or 6 months worth. After a while, I was able to get my storage to a year's worth of the items, so now I do try to purchase an entire year's worth of what I might use of each item; and, for your second question, I'll answer it two ways, since I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "fresh items". If you mean fresh produce, I usually pick those items up twice a week, or whenever I need them. I don't include any fresh produce in my food supply. If you mean items to refresh my food storage shelves, I am generally successful in only having to shop for them once a year, whenever they come up on my list.

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.

August Week 2: Baking and Cooking

This week's food storage items are:

August Week 2: Baking and Cooking - baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, vanilla, bouillon, chicken broth, beef broth

I know this looks like a conglomeration of items, but these are just a few miscellaneous things you may need in your kitchen for baking and cooking. (More baking items will come up in a future week)

For the all of the items, decide what you will go through in a year's time, and write the amounts and the items on a shopping list. I try to store a bit more than a year's worth of supply, so that in a year's time, I'm not completely out. Remember that everything on this list has an expiration date, so check the dates of the items you may already have on your shelves, and also the dates of the items you are buying. It does no good to have something sit on your shelf for a year, only to be thrown out later on. This system is made to rotate through, so you should have very little or no waste. It feels much better to have food storage that you actually use and rotate through. Every year, your needs may change a little, and in that case, you can change your list to accommodate your family's needs.

So, for this week, decide your needs, buy the items, get them on your shelves, and update your inventory sheet. Nice. Done for the week. It feels so good to know you're providing security for your family.

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.

August Week 1: Canned Meat

This week's food storage items are:

Canned meat: tuna, chicken, clams, shrimp, turkey, etc.

This is another straight-forward week. If your family eats any canned meat at all, then decide how much you might consume in the coming year, and get it on the shelves. We have a few recipes that include canned meat here and there, so I like to try to take all of those into consideration when I'm making up my list.

Also, in a long-term emergency, canned meat may be the only meat your family can get their hands on, so you really want to be sure you have at least something from the canned meat category. Oftentimes we don't go through all of the tuna I store, but I have no problem donating the cans somewhere along the line to a food bank (as long as they haven't passed their expiration dates).

So, come up with a list of what your family will eat in a year's time, and add a few extras, and then in the next couple of days when you are at the grocery store, pick the items up. Then stack the items on your shelves and get your lists updated. And finally, sit back and feel good about what you have done for your family this week. Yay!

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.