Our Food Storage Experiment

As I said in the last post, last week (Monday through Friday) we decided to live only on the things that we had stocked in the pantry. We were excited to see how it would turn out. I have to admit that since I knew we were going to be trying this little experiment I made sure to have plenty of diapers and wipes on hand. In the event of a real emergency we would not have fared so well since I only keep a week or two of those things around.

Day 1: 8:45 a.m. While Curtis is making himself toast he realizes that we are almost out of jelly. "I'm going to go to the store to get some jelly," he says.

"Oh, no you're not!" I tell him. "You cannot ruin our experiment on the very first day. Besides, how will we know that we really missed that jelly and need to stock up on it if we don't go without it?"

"I don't care. I'm going to get some," he stubbornly replied.

Enter Grace: "Grace, dad is going to ruin our experiment because he wants jelly." I say, the minute I spot her.

"Dad! You said you would do the experiment and it's important to do what you say you'll do." she says.

Curtis was convinced. Unhappy, but convinced.

9:30 a.m. We get invited to the park for lunch. What to make without running to McDonald's for lunches? Turkey/lettuce/tomato wraps with chips and sour cream salsa. Not bad.

5:00 p.m. Dinner= Grilled bbq chicken, baked potatoes, Red Lobster garlic cheese biscuits (found the recipe online: super yum!!!). Things are going great. After we get dished up it's lights out for the evening.

We ate dinner to candlelight and had a real conversation with each other. After dinner we played "Scattergories" (I won, of course). Then I read a few stories to the kids about what the pioneers did in the evenings while on the trail to Salt Lake. After reading about how they would listen to music (fiddles and such) I heard this horrible sound. It sounded like someone's cat getting tortured. In walks Hannah with the violin. Everyone had to have a turn "playing" the violin. Then Zane got his harmonica and delighted us with a few songs. Finally Hallie got out her guitar and we sang along as she played. It was the nicest Family Home Evening I think we've ever had. I felt like our home was a safe cocoon.

At about 9:00 p.m. Curtis turned on the lights and announced it was bedtime. Instantly the spell was broken. The harshness of the lights (and the piles of laundry on the back of the couch) signalled it was time to get back to life. I felt a little sad that we couldn't stay that way a little longer.

Day 2: 10:00 a.m. We got everyone up and hurried them through breakfast. Then Curtis gave us a little lecture-errr, I mean, talk about being in a family and why it was important for us to come to Earth in families so that we could help each other. Then we pulled weeds. As a family. It was fabulous.

At 11:00 a.m. Debbie G. pulled up with a jar of strawberry jam for Curtis, courtesy his sister Geanna (I had told her about his unrighteous desire the day before). Now we owe her a jar of pear sauce and a roll of toilet paper.

4:00 p.m. Hallie gets lucky and ends up going to her Grandma's with her cousin to spend the night. Curtis happily volunteers to take them (actually he went to his mom's to do a few chores for her). Zane goes too. I stay home and make homemade granola from the cannery cookbook. It was tasty but I found another recipe that I like a little better.

5:00 p.m. Our neighbor sends over a jar of orange marmalade. She doesn't know about our experiment. See? The Lord blessed us with what we needed. :)

We eat Spanish rice and quesadillas for dinner. Not looking forward to the day when we don't have fresh cheese. I guess Velveeta will have to suffice.

Day 3: We make homemade granola bars (waaayyyy good!) and eat granola for breakfast. We're getting a little tired of not having fresh veggies. We resolve to do better with our garden this year.

We run out of laundry detergent and dishwasher soap. Yikes! Now I have to wash dishes by hand. Gack!

We're running low on toilet paper, but think we'll be fine. Paper towels have run out, though.

5:00 p.m. I make dinner to take to Pawranee's family. I'm very sorry that there are no fresh vegetables. I make Creamy Macaroni Casserole, Crumb-Topped Lemon Muffins, green jello (it was St. Patrick's Day after all) and canned corn (sigh). Not bad for food storage, though.

Day 4: Thursday morning I start dinner early. I planned to make beef stew. I love crockpot meals, the only drawback is the smell. Of course it is a delicious smell, but after smelling it for 6 to 8 hours, it loses it's appeal. We sort of break our rule and go to Home Depot to get an air filter for our lawn mower. I buy a couple tomato plants and a bag of mulch. But no candy bars or bottles of soda.

Curtis gets the lawn mowed while a few of us do some more weeds. The backyard looked so much nicer when we were done.

For dinner I make up a new biscuit. In a bowl combine shredded cheese, dried basil, garlic powder and a little melted butter. Then you take a can of Pillsbury Grands and flatten each biscuit into a circle. In the middle you place a drop of the cheese mixture and fold over, calzone-style. Flatten the edge with the tines of a fork. Brush with a little more melted butter and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake until golden brown. Really yummy! It went very nicely with our beef stew.

That night Curtis convinced me to go to the movies with him. Since he hadn't seen "Avatar" yet that's what we chose. We went to the 9:40 p.m. showing. So we didn't get home until 1:00. We were really tired the next day.

Day 5: Finally the day when we return to normal arrives. Funny thing is, I didn't want to. I kind of liked not going to the store. We ran out of cookies and crackers early in the week but I found that if it wasn't in the house, the kids didn't ask for it. We ate all our meals from scratch and found it to be healthier and more delicious than otherwise.

It kind of stunk when we ran out of laundry and dishwasher soap, but we survived.

Overall, it was a really fun week. We did alot as a family, we learned how to make yummy new things, Curtis realized that he can't live without jelly, and I know now that we are not even close to having a month supply, let alone a year supply.

You should try it!

Now I need to go make out my Sam's Club list.