The Basic Food Storage List is simple, but as always, great things are found from simple things.
Whole Grains & Legumes, when soaked/sprouted, are full of nutrients and no longer harbor their protective dormant substances (more on this later.) They become nutritious powerhouses of vitamins, minerals,
phyto-chemicals, and act as grains, vegetables and proteins. When used and eaten, as people have done since the beginning of time, they will sustain and bless us. As we enter cooler months, consider trying "new" methods such as a "5 min per day" 'artisan' recipe approach or a sourdough starter as our Grandparents did.
The oils and Butter are necessary both for taste and nutrition, the type taken into account.
At all costs, eliminate Hydrogenated fats. Replace with good fats. (My first two steps are replace margarine with butter and replace shortening with coconut oil and butter or Palm oil.
The fads of low fat and rancid fat have injured us for enough generations now. This needs to be part of our recognition of Whole Foods. Among other bodily needs, the amount of minerals you are in taking means nothing if you do not also take in fat-soluble vitamins A and D....
These vitamins are found only in the animal fats - - -
such as Butter (grass-fed/pastured for
Vit K2) and
Cod Liver Oil (preferably flavored, fermented).
Without these vitamins your body DOES NOT absorb the minerals, and your cells starve, don't form, etc. Just
ONE common (and uncommonly known) symptom of our populations dramatically increasing deficiency is underdeveloped, and deformed bones throughout the body (this includes tooth cavities, crooked, narrow, fragile.) The list of ailments from the deficiency of these Vitamins (A, D, K2) is staggering and includes every system in the body,... even fertility and learning disabilities.
The US recently updated their estimates with the majority of the population at being moderately to severely deficient in the vitamin D alone (Recent study showed that 70% of children are deficient.)
Common oils such as Soy, Canola, peanut, "vegetable" oil are to all over processed and are oxidized and rancid. These cause numerous health problems from the skin to the heart. Soy, in particular, contains multiple harmful substances and should be completely avoided. (I can provide sources of information for the "fat" topic, whenever, as this subject is potentially one of the primary reason for sooo many of our common ailments. - some is quite fascinating ;) such as K2 softening arteries that have been damaged and healing the dentin - halting and 'healing' cavities.)
So, Replace your sugar cravings with
healthy lipids (your body has been lied to) and after the withdrawal from the 'sugar drug', your body will thank you. --mmmm yummy animal fats.
The Salts are also for more than taste. "Regular" salt is bitter because of chemical processing and leads to high blood pressure because of its imbalance of minerals - It's only minerals are NaCl. Our bodies are very much like the ocean, and needs nutrients that are found in real sea salt; they are a great balance and taste good to us too. Additional danger regarding "regular salt" is that the iodine found in iodized salt is lab-created and masks the
thyroid's deficiencies by taking away the symptom of goiters. However, the US still estimates, at a minimum, 40% of Americans are deficient in Iodine leading to many other thyroid dysfunctions that are often accepted as normal life until they climax to a 'problem' (magnified by products such as soy.)
However; I don't store or use ALL sea salt; for frugality, I still store some "non-iodized table salt"; I also store a variety of sea salts (priced for different uses), dried kelp powder (rich in iodine as well as other minerals), and dried nearly flavorless seaweed (the last two used, unnoticeable, in stews, beans, crock-potted meals...).
(This mineral issue also comes into play in the garden; growing our own food gives the benefit of being able to supplement our soil for fully
nutritious and healthy vegetables unlike the mostly depleted grocery store supply. As we find ourselves at the 'end' of compiling food storage, perhaps we can enter a community of learning regarding this
LINK.
Fully "living a life of 'emergency
preparedness'" is hardly complete without also remembering that the Prophets have commanded us to also plant a garden.
)The Sugar group is, of course important for taste, but in regard to nutrition, mostly a negative; it actually pulls minerals, esp Calcium, OUT of your body (There is more "bad", but to know more is just painful.) In my storage I do store some white granulated as well as honey (raw and cheaper 'regular'), brown sugar, ethnic sugar (many names, more minerals), and fruit. No matter what sweetener used, try to use
at least Half as much as the recipe calls for. In many recipes, with time to become accustomed, you'll find you don't even need any sugar. This is especially true when you can use sweet vegetables or fruits in a meal; even fruit jams with no sugar.
The Powdered milk and Dairy group have multiple approaches that work, most of which I have information on that would need a direct email approach. Returning to the basic whole foods as much as possible, also, there are canned butter and cheese that are great.
Powdered Milk is as simple to use as flour. It's shelf life is determined by which type you purchase; Either way, You need to use what you are storing and rotate it in a timely fashion. Once you write down your ratio of dry milk to water, then you can use it in any recipe (although most can just be substituted with water entirely.)
Most families who choose to store it, are accustomed to using it on cereal. So if you would like to continue in that, store the cereal as well and use/rotate both. If that is
not your purpose, then in most cases you can entirely skip the powdered milk.
I do not store it because it's nutrients have been removed and the remainder denatured in the processing.
(The fat is the portion that has the vitamins (and dry milk is non-fat). The vitamins that the gov't has mandated to be added back in are in the form of synthetic vitamins that are toxic to our bodies. The protein and cholesterol portion has been oxidized (= the bad kind of Cholesterol) and broken by the heat and pressure used to process and dry the milk, thus making it a burden on our systems, not a benefit. Even minerals present are largely un-absorbable. And as a side-note, besides the skim containing skim milk (that is oxidized) as an additive for consistency, it is the skim milk that is fattening, not the whole milk; Hog farmers fatten their pigs on
skim milk....
) There are some sites that mentioned a milk that can be stored without refrigeration - I do NOT recommend this one either for similar and additional nutritional reasons.
For nutritional substitution for milk and dairy in our long term storage, especially if desired for babies as a formula substitute or transitional food, there are other much more desirable and beneficial foods and formula recipes that can be made almost entirely from long shelf life foods. Posts on this later.
