Links/Resources

These are some of my favorite sites and resources that I've come across as I've worked to prepare our family.

Provident Living – www.providentliving.org
The Church’s website about being self-reliant, includes links for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Family Food Storage, Gardening, Family Finances.

Provident Living - Home Storage Information
Information from the Church about Family Home Storage, including: Family Home Storage Pamphlet, Family Finances Pamphlet, Home Storage Center Order Form, Quotes and Talks from Church Leaders, Family Home Storage Lesson Materials, Frequently Asked Questions.

Provident Living - Home Storage Center Order Form
This is an interactive form that allows you to see pricing of items purchased at Home Storage Centers. Our local Home Storage Center is in Colton, but I've heard that you can order food storage online from the Church and have it delivered to you.

Home Storage Center - Colton
Colton Home Storage Center
791 N. Pepper
Colton, CA 92324
(909) 824-0486
Hours: Tuesday 9am-1pm
Thursday 9am-1pm & 6pm-8pm
Saturday 9am-12pm
Things to remember when using the Home Storage Center:
*Make an appointment, the evening and Saturday slots fill up fast. There are three stations and the appointment slots are typically two hours each. Back-to-back appointments (9-11am and 11-1pm) can be scheduled if they aren't too busy.
*You can purchase items in bulk and not can them there, refer to the above link to see the items available and their prices.
*Typically items are stored into #10 cans, but they also have Pouches (metallized storage bags) available.
*You can only can items that you purchase from the Home Storage Center (no outside items can be brought in to can).
*Once you open a product bag, you have to can the whole bag, even if you only want one can. The extra cans go onto a shelf to be sold to others.
*You can only purchase 6 cans (at a time) that other people have canned that are sitting on the shelf.
*You are able to can as many items as you want as long as you are within your appointment time (no maximums).
*The canning process goes faster if you have a couple of people helping you.
*Children under 16 are not allowed to operate the canning equipment, but they can help with other things (pouring, labeling, packing) as long as they are behaved.
*There are labels available to put on the cans for every item that the Home Storage Center offers.
*Make sure to write the date on the label so that you know when that can was stored.
*The Home Storage Center does not accept debit or credit cards.
*Some items come prepackaged (already canned for you), specifically: Pinto Beans, Quick Oats, White Rice, Hard Red Wheat.
*The cost difference between canning it yourself and purchasing prepackaged items is minimal (0.65-$1.45 more per box). I tend to purchase prepackaged items, and spend my time on items that are not prepackaged. I also heard that the quality of the beans is better (not as many rocks) with the prepackaged.
*They also have a prepackaged 'Starter Kit' that includes: 2 cans of White Rice, 2 cans of Red Wheat, 1 can of Pinto Beans, 1 can of Quick Oats, and 2 plastic lids (box also included). This is a great way to get started and try things out.
*When canning at the Home Storage Center, a box and two plastic lids are included with every six cans. This deal isn't available if you purchase the product in bulk and can it yourself.
*Six cans fit into a box. When I'm purchasing, I usually think in terms of six so that I fill a box at a time.
*Most of the items available at the Home Storage Centers have long-term shelf life, they do have some items that have limited and shorter-term shelf life. See the above form for more information.
*Non-members can use the Home Storage Center, but they must have a member with them.
*The people who work there are Missionaries on a service mission. They are very helpful and will show you what to do if you let them know that you are new to the process.

Emergency Essentials - www.beprepared.com
Every month this website offers some products at a discounted price. They also have a monthly ordering opportunity called ‘Group Specials’ (click on the tab with the same name to see an example). They offer certain items and if we can place an order and meet the minimums, we can get that product at the reduced price and pay no shipping. We will be trying to place a monthly group order, I will keep you posted about what is on special each month on this bulletin board. If you go to their site be sure to sign up for the email newsletter and the free catalog. They also have a fantastic food storage analyzer!

Emergency Essentials - Food Storage Analyzer
This is a great way to see exactly HOW prepared you are. I took inventory of my long-term food storage items and inputted them into the analyzer (even if I purchased something from a different retailer, they had a similar item that I substituted for as I put in the items). I put in information about the members of my family - age and gender. It figured out how many calories the members of my family needed on a daily basis and based on the food that I put in, figured how many calories I had stored. The figure it gave me was how many days our family would have calories for. It will also give you (in percentages) how you are prepared nutritionally - calcium, vitamins, etc. with a link for a list of items that contain those nutrients. This information along with a list of your stored items could be printed. When you create an account you can continue to access your information online (to add new products as you get them, or adjust if you use items).

Emergency Essentials - Recipes
This link offers recipes for food storage items. Now that I have food storage, how can I use it? You can choose the category of food that you'd like to make: Appetizers, Bakes, Beans, Cakes, Casseroles, etc or you can choose the product that you have ex: Dehydrated Apple Slices, and then see multiple recipes on how you can use that product.

Shelf Reliance – www.shelfreliance.com
This site offers food storage products and their specialty is their food storage shelving systems.

Honeyville Farms (Online) – www.honeyvillegrain.com This site offers food storage products available online.

Honeyville Farms (Retail Store) - www.honeyvillefarms.net
Products, sale items, classes, coupons that are available at their local retail store. Their local store is in Rancho Cucamonga. Prices are typically less expensive at their retail store than if purchased online.

Honeyville Farms Retail Store
9175 Milliken Avenue
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
(909) 243-1050
Off of Milliken, between 6th Street and 7th Street. It's on the east side of Milliken. From Milliken, turn onto 7th street (light) and then right into the business complex and go back towards 6th Street. Close to the 10 and 15 freeway interchange.

Food Storage Made Easy – www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net
This is probably one of my favorite sites! It’s put together by two sisters-in-law in Utah. They have great ideas and information. They have a spot that you can sign up for their ‘Babysteps Checklist’. Every two weeks they will email you a list of things to do and things to buy to get your food storage/emergency preparedness stuff ready. They have some great forms here – Emergency Preparedness Plan Workbook, Three Month Food Supply, Long Term Food Storage Calculator (click on the ‘Tools’ tab).

Food Storage Made Easy - Tools
This site has LOTS of great tools to help you get going: Emergency Preparedness Plan Workbook, Small Spaces Storage Solutions Handout, How to Build Your Own Rotating Can Rack, Three Month Food Supply Excel Worksheet, Long Term Food Storage Calculator, etc.

Food Storage Made Easy - Long Term Food Storage Calculator - (Click on this link and then near the bottom of the page, under 'Long Term Food Storage', click on 'Long Term Food Storage Calculator') This is an interactive Excel form that allows you to put in how many family members you have in different ages, and how many months you are working towards. It will tell you how much of each product you should have based upon your family dynamics. It has a place that you can input how much of each product you already have so that you know how much is left to purchase of that particular product. You can then save the form to your computer so that you can update it as you purchase more items.

Everyday Food Storage – www.everydayfoodstorage.net
This also is a great site! It is a sister site to the FoodStorageMadeEasy site (a friend of theirs). This has recipes/suggestions on how to use your food storage in everyday cooking (useful to: save money, get your family used to food storage, and learn how to use what you have). She is really good at explaining the differences as you learn about food storage (red wheat vs. white wheat, instant milk vs. non-instant milk, etc.). She recently published the book ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage’. She also has LOTS of videos where she visually shows you how to do something cooking/food storage related.

My Square Foot Garden - www.mysquarefootgarden.net
This site offers information about gardening using the Square Foot method (planter boxes). This is great because most of us don't have lots of land available for gardening, so it maximizes the use of the land that we do have. You can sign up to receive her weekly emailed newsletter that tells you (based upon the conditions where you live), what you should be planting/doing in your garden on a week by week basis (we are in the Red Group). It also has information on Veggies, Tips for Gardening, and Recipes.

Living Essentials from BYUtv - Click on 'Emergency Preparedness' halfway down the page
This is a great show on the BYU channel that has experts from all areas including Emergency Preparedness. You can watch epidodes at their website. Emergency Preparedness titles include: Emergency Skills, Creative Uses of Dried Food, Disaster Survival, Using Your 72-Hour Kit, Canning Meat, Canning for Keeps, Community Gardening, Solar Ovens, Emergency Preparedness, 72-Hour Kits, Cooking with Grains and Legumes, Food Storage Basics, Cooking with Food Storage, Food Storage Planning

Sugardoodle – www.sugardoodle.net
This is a collection of LDS resources, ideas, suggestions. If you click on ‘E', and then click on ‘Emergency Preparedness’ there are a lot of great ideas!

Ready – www.ready.gov
The government sponsored website. It has lots of great information.

FEMA – www.fema.gov
The Government’s Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Red Cross – www.redcross.org
American Red Cross, links to Training, Getting Assistance, Giving & Getting Involved, and Working with the Red Cross.