April Preparedness Plan

Preparedness Plan

One Bite at a Time

APRIL

SPIRITUAL GOAL:

·        Improve on your efforts to keep the Sabbath Day holy.

·        Pray as a family for missionary opportunities. Be aware of the promptings of the Spirit so you can know when to share the gospel with a friend.

FAMILY HOME EVENING ACTIVITY:

·        Prepare a lesson on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Come up with ideas, as a family to do on Sunday. Make a Sunday box with items only to be used on Sunday.

       

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS GOAL:

·        Place $20 in coins and small bills in your cash stash. Now you have $40. Remember, this is your emergency bank only.

·        Axe

·        Paper towels

·        Aluminum foil

·        Trash bags & ties

·        Dish soap & Laundry soap

FOOD STORAGE GOAL:

·        GRAINS-Wheat, Corn, Oats, Rice       

  

CHALLENGE: 

·        Prepare a “Storage Inventory” for your food storage.

APRIL TIPS FOR SUCCESS

‘I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order’.

Pres. Hinckley Oct. 1998

STORAGE INVENTORY: To evaluate the adequacy of your home storage program take a written inventory. Keep a sheet and paper and a pencil near your storage area. When an item is removed or added, it should be recorded. When the sheet is filled, it can be used as a shopping list to replenish the supply or to bring the inventory up to date. Also, it can help you see the quantity of certain items you use so you can better determine your needs.

GRAINS: It is suggested that we store about 300 lbs. of grain per person. This includes wheat, flour, rice, corn, oatmeal, pasta, ect. This gives variety to menus and personalizes for our family needs.

WHEAT:

*200 lbs. per adult is a general guideline.

Freshly ground wheat is one of the most nutritious foods we can eat.

Wheat is an excellent source of dietary fiber.

Wheat is very inexpensive.

RICE: 

*There are different kinds of rice.

Long grain rice is offered at the cannery and stores best.

Brown rice is very nutritious, but doesn’t keep as well as white.

CORN:

*This can include cornmeal and/or popcorn.

OATS:

*A #10 can holds about 12 cups of oats.

How much oatmeal will my family need?

Do I plan to use it for breakfast daily? Other recipes? Mostly cookies?

WHY ROTATE FOOD STORAGE?

It is Mandatory to rotate our food supply for the following reasons:

Prevent spoilage

Minimize loss of food value and flavor

Keep our taste buds acquainted with the food we may have to depend on

The idea that a person will eat anything in an emergency is faulty

Week Eight

We are into week EIGHT of MORE FIT FOR THE KINGDOM!  I hope everyone participating feels they are progressing in one way or another.  For those of us (yes, me included) who feel a little overwhelmed already and have slacked a bit, or haven't even started, let's take it one step at a time.  If doing all the goal areas seems a bit much, choose just one area to start with and master that for a week or two.  Don't be ashamed to report just a few drops of oil, you won't be alone.  Then, after a week or two, add another area.  Although it's fun to have a goal for all of us to reach together, the point of the program is to learn and grow and progress individually, no matter how long it takes.  President Hinckley sums it up well for us: "Try a little harder to be a little better."  If we try just a little bit harder than we did the week, or even the day, before, we have succeeded.  Good luck this week!

HALFWAY THERE!

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."
Muhammad Ali

This week's focus is SEEK OUT AND HELP THOSE IN NEED.  We're halfway through the twelve weeks! YAY for us!  Need a little motivation and don't want to think of your goals yourself this week?  Here is a plan you can adopt:

• The basics (of course): Scriptures, Prayers, FHE.
• Healthy Choice (exercise): Stretch for at least 10 minutes each day.  Stretching not ony improves flexibility, but also increases circulation and energy levels.
• Healthy Choice (nutrition): Add one more serving of vegetables to your day.
• Seek Out and Help Those in Need: Make a treat for a family member or friend you think may need a boost.

A Year’s Supply: One Bit at a Time

IT WASN’T RAINING WHEN NOAH BUILT THE ARK!
WE MUST BE PREPARED!

"The revelation to produce and store food may be essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah. Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquakes cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion."  (Ezra Taft Benson)

Preparedness Plan

One Bite at a Time

MARCH

SPIRITUAL GOAL:
Keep a journal. Include five things you are grateful for each day. Feel the joy that comes from putting gratitude first.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS GOAL:
* Place $20.00 in coins and small bills in a concealed location this will be your “cash stash” and you will be adding to it each month. Remember, this is your emergency bank only, not an ATM. 
* Start collecting items needed for a 72-hr kit. Place items all together in one location. (a box or duffel bag works great) Stock up on these items:
*Matches, candles, and lighters
*Toothpaste and toothbrushes
*Comb, brush, mirror, rubber bands
*Can opener, knife

FOOD STORAGE GOAL:
* Powdered Milk
* Hand/bath soap (anti-bacterial soap is best)

CHALLENGE: 
* Cook two meals this month using food storage items.

MARCH TIPS FOR SUCCESS

GET READY: Prepare a storage area for food. Cool, dry, and dark conditions are the best. Include a permanent marker to date items as they are added to the shelf. Locate a separate area for camping/emergency supplies.

POWERED MILK: Nonfat powdered milk, instant or regular, is an excellent storage item. It contains all the nutrients, except fat, found in fresh milk. (Regular milk is difficult to mix up and is more expensive. Therefore, instant nonfat milk is preferred). Powdered milk can be stored in the original sealed packages, or if purchased in bulk, it can be stored in tightly covered metal or plastic containers. It can also be dry-packed canned. You may also use canned milk as part of the storage program, but you must rotate it regularly (turn it upside down every six months).

How much powdered milk will your family need in a year?
75 lbs per child (bone growth)
17 lbs per adult (no bone growth)

VARIETY:  Most people don’t have enough variety in their storage. 95% of people with food storage have only the 3 basic items:  wheat, milk, and honey. We won’t be able to live on that diet. Variety is the necessary key to great food storage. Be sure to store flavorings like Bouillon, tomato, onion, cheese. Don’t forget your favorite spices. Practice cooking with your food storage items. That way you learn what you need.

FAMILY HOME EVENING ACTIVITY: Introduce the food storage plan as part of family home evening. It will be much more enjoyable if the entire family is involved. See what you have and what you need. Let small children help put their items on the shelves. Ask everyone for their input on menu ideas, favorite foods, etc. Make some goals as a family.

MOVE, MOUNTAIN!

“If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

Matthew 17:20

This scripture is not necessarily an unfamiliar one to most of us, but seems fitting as this week's personal choice goal is "INCREASE FAITH AND PERSONAL RIGHTEOUSNESS."  Most of us have probably been given a lesson regarding this scripture, possibly receiving a tiny mustard seed in a baggie to remind just how little faith it really takes for us to accomplish great things.

I remember being a little girl and thinking about how minuscule a mustard seed was.  I knew for sure I had that much faith - it was hardly any at all!  So, I put it to the test.  I placed a mustard seed in my small hand and headed to the swing set in the backyard.  I climbed to the top of the monkey bars, holding tight to the tiny seed, looked over to the mountain I could see most clearly and said “Move, mountain!”  Nothing.  I stared more intently at the mountain and held the seed even tighter.  “MOVE, MOUNTAIN!”  Still nothing.  I commanded the mountain to move and prayed that the mountain would move.  My attempts continued for a half hour or so.  Finally, feeling defeated, I went inside for dinner.

As a child I felt my faith was ten times the size of a mustard seed and I should have been able to move the mountain on my own.  Through the years I have come to realize that developing “faith as a grain of mustard seed” is a process, one that we must work at each day.  I also now recognize that we should look more at how our faith helps us accomplish the smaller, more important things in life rather than moving mountains.  I often wonder if perhaps that mountain did move for me, just a little, but I was expecting too much to notice that it had.

Click on the "Increase Faith and Personal Righteousness" tab above for ideas to help develop mustard seed faith!

"I BELIEVE HAPPY GIRLS ARE THE PRETTIEST GIRLS"

"I believe in pink.  I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.  I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls.  I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."

-Audrey Hepburn                 

It is week four of More Fit for the Kingdom, and the focus for this week is a "choose your own" goal.  If you haven't yet chosen a goal think about focusing on increasing happiness in your life this week.  There is so much in the world that we can focus on and convince ourselves that it's too depressing to be happy.  On the contrary, there is so much in the world that we can focus on and convince ourselves that it's impossible to NOT be happy!  It's all in the way we choose to view it.  We can be "raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil" (Alma 41:4).  It's up to us. 

So, think about ways you can increase your happiness this week.  Start a gratitude journal.  Pay someone a compliment each day.  Pay yourself a compliment each day.  Play.  Pamper yourself.  Focus on what you do have, not what you don't.  Whatever you choose to do to make yourself happier in life, just remember that "The happiest people don't have the best of everything.  They just make the best of everything" (unknown).

Let the Lord Help!

We’re now at the beginning of WEEK THREE of the MORE FIT FOR THE KINGDOM challenge!  I hope everyone is feeling motivated and ready for this week! 

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

The Lord has given us weaknesses that we may triumph over them.  He wants us to turn to Him in humility when we are weak so He may help those weaknesses become strengths.  We can’t do it alone, we must rely on the Savior.  This challenge is to help us realize this concept.  With prayer and scripture study as the foundation of the program, we are able to better know the Lord and He is better able to help us overcome our weaknesses.  Let us work to develop a healthy dependence on Christ that He may make our burdens light and that we can each build our faith in Him.