Family Home Storage Center & Bottling Potatoes

Yesterday had a chance to go to the Family Home Storage Center in Springville, UT on my “lunch” break. (I really, honestly went at noon!) The “staff” consists of unpaid service missionaries and they are SO helpful. They are there because they want to be there and are so ready to help people it’s silly. I bought 25 lbs of rolled oats, 20 lbs of elbow macaroni, and 1 #10 can of dry milk. My total came to about $27. They have order forms that you can fill out and bring with you or you can fill one out when you get there. You do NOT need to be a member to buy food from them. You can either leave ward info blank on the order form or just write in your city, etc.

I will end up using some of my purchase for meals in the next month, but I also really try to buy more than what I’ll need so eventually I can start building up my food storage. My husband and I were talking last night about how fragile are lives really are… It’s interesting because, yes, we all love the convenience of our lives, but really- the more convenient are lives become, the more fragile they become as well. That’s why I believe it’s SO important to be prepared. It’s not good enough to just have food in the basement or seeds for the garden. You need to know what to do with it all. What good is a dozen buckets of wheat in your basement if you don’t know how to make bread? So practice now. Become a good cook while you have the luxury of messing up and occasionally “wasting” ingredients. Look at it as an investment. J

Yesterday I also had a chance to bottle some potatoes. Bottled potatoes are my version of “instant” potatoes. They sure do taste a LOT better! It’s really very simple. Just peel and chop potatoes and add to a large pot of water with about 1 tsp Fruit Fresh or 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice to keep potatoes from darkening. When potatoes are all chopped, add to clean jars, leaving about 1” headspace. I used quarts. Discard water from pot. Add enough hot water to cover potatoes in jars. Add 1 tsp salt per jar if desired. Pack jars into cold Pressure CANNER. The water in the canner should be about ½ way up the jars (mine takes 3 quarts water). Add 2 tbsp vinegar to water to keep rims and pot itself from darkening. Close canner securely and allow it to heat and vent steam from vent pipe for about 5 minutes. (It will take at least 30 minutes for this to take place.) Once canner has been heated and vented, add 15lb weight. If you live in a different area, check for your proper weight. In Utah, it will almost always be 15lb no matter what you are canning. Let the canner build pressure until the weight gently rocks. Start timer- 40 minutes for quarts. Remove canner from heat and allow to cool until pressure dissipates. Do NOT remove weight or try to remove lid. This will take another 30-60 minutes. Remove jars from canner and allow to sit undisturbed in a draft-free area overnight. Remove rims, wipe jars clean. Label and store.