January Message

It's now time to start off the New Year excited to "bee"come more prepared!! It has been fun for me to look back at my 2008 preparedness goals to see how very much can be achieved when I make a goal and write it down. Just decide to get started. Something is better than nothing!

For January, Mission Viejo Stake Relief Society encourages ward members to make a New Years resolution to obtain a 3 month supply of food. We can start by planning a menu. It's also a good idea to have an FHE about this and get the family involved in the menu selection. The next step is to acquire food at a rate that fits into the family budget.

I will post a sample menu and shopping list, but you can tailor your food storage to include familiar or favorite foods of your own family. This will just give you an idea on how to get started. You can plan a one week menu and purchase 12X each needed food item, or you can plan a one month menu and purchase 3X each item, or as in the sample menu here...15 menus X6.

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SAMPLE MEAL PLAN
15 MEALS/MENU

PASTA
1. Spaghetti (1 lb. noodles, 26 oz. spaghetti sauce)
2. Macaroni and cheese (2 boxes Kraft mac and cheese)
3. Tuna noodle casserole (1 lb. noodles, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 2-6 oz. cans tuna)
4. Pasta salad (1 lb. noodles, Italian dressing, 1-12 oz. can chicken, 1 can black olives)

RICE
5. Rice and beans (1 ½ c. rice, 1 can black beans, chili powder, 1 can corn, 1-12 oz. can beef)
6. Chicken rice casserole (1 ½ c. rice, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1-12 oz. can chicken, curry)
7. Beef stroganoff over rice (1 ½ c. rice, 1-12 oz. can beef, 1 can cream of mushroom soup)

SOUP
8. Canned soup/crackers (2 cans ready to eat soup, saltine crackers)
9. Potato soup/crackers (Bear Creek potato soup mix, saltines)
10. Beef barley soup (1-12 oz. can beef, beef broth/bouillon, 1 can green beans, 1 can corn, 1 can diced tomato, ½ c. barley)

BEANS
11. Chili/crackers (2 cans pinto beans, tomato sauce, tomato paste, chili powder, garlic, dried onion)
12. Burritos (1 can refried beans, flour tortillas)

MISC
13. Tuna sandwich (2-6 oz. cans tuna, mayo, bread)
14. Chicken gravy/mashed potatoes (1-12 oz. can chicken, gravy, potato flakes)
15. Enchilada (1-12 oz. can beef/chicken, 1 can enchilada sauce, corn tortillas)





BREAKFAST IDEAS

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Corn bread
Muffins (canned pumpkin/spice cake mix)
Pancakes/syrup
Oatmeal
Cream of Wheat cereal
Raisins, sugar, milk, cinnamon, dry apples, canned fruit



OTHER DINNER IDEAS

BBQ chicken on wheat buns (canned chicken, BBQ sauce, wheat buns)
Pea soup (dried peas, chicken broth, dried onion)

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SAMPLE SHOPPING LIST FOR MENU
3 MONTH FOOD SUPPLY

Pasta - 1 lb. (12)
Ragu/spaghetti sauce – 26 oz. (6)
Kraft Mac and Cheese (12 boxes)

Cream of mushroom soup (12)
Cream of chicken soup (6)
Canned soup (12) – variety
Beef broth (6) or beef bouillon
Dry potato soup mix (1) Costco

Tuna – 6 oz. (24)
Chicken – 12 oz. (24)
Beef – 12 oz. (24)

Black beans – 15 oz. (6)
Pinto beans – 15 oz. (12)
Refried beans (6)

Enchilada sauce (6)
Tomato sauce (6)
Tomato paste (6)

Italian dressing (3)
Mayonnaise (3)
Gravy mix (6)

Canned green beans (6)
Canned corn (12)
Diced tomatoes – 15 oz. (6)
Black olives (6)
Canned pumpkin – 20 oz. (12)

Rice (27 cups)
Potato flakes/potato pearls (1)