A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. Proverbs 27:12

Remember having a deep pantry isn’t just about having extra food on hand. It is also about having the means to survive in an emergency situation, having all the extra food isn’t going to do you much good if you can’t cook it when the power is out.

Don’t forget to share what you were able to do this past week to have a deep pantry/food storage. Let’s encourage each other. And if you have a question feel free to ask or if you have the answer to a question feel free to answer. If you have a tip or idea you can share that also. As I said let’s make this a place where we can share and encourage others to get that deep pantry.

6 Pounds Shortening / Cheese

6 Pounds shortening, oil, or lard I use lard, coconut oil, and olive oil to cook with since it is better for you than the hydrogenated shortenings. I do keep a little shortening and vegetable oil on hand. I use the oil in a spray bottle to spray the bottom of the pans. The shortening, I use in soap. As with everything be sure to rotate. If you plan to make your own soaps you might want to try and get a little extra.

Shortening does have a very long shelf life if keep unopened and in a cool place. I also have lard and tallow canned which extends the self-life. Oils not so long, they will get rancid a lot quicker than the solid shortenings.

Cheese. we eat a lot of cheese, I try to buy on sale and keep in the freezer. I get shredded because when you freeze block cheese it will fall apart when you thaw it out. You may also want to get some cheese powder. I have two different kinds and really don’t care for either one of them so I don’t know if I am just picky or if I just haven’t found a good one, the kids like them so maybe it is just me. I need to play around with them a little and see if I can tweak the taste.

You can also wax some cheese and store in a cool place. The only problem with this is if there is even a pin size hole it will get very moldy,( don’t ask how I know) and it does get sharper as it ages. I tried this using regular wax and it didn’t work I have since found out that if you use cheese wax it will work. I haven’t tried it yet but plan to soon. You can also buy the Tillamook brand it is already waxed and according to the manufacturer, it should last in storage without anything additional done to it.  I haven’t used a food saver on block cheese but plan to try this also and see if it would work.

You can also dehydrate grated cheese if you do this use cheese that you grate yourself not the prepackaged shredded.  You can also can your cheese, it is pretty easy to do. I have hard cheese and Velveeta canned.

I make most of our soft cheese like cream cheese, mozzarella, and cottage cheese. You don’t need fresh milk to do these you can use store bought milk to make any of these.

The Action item this month is learning to cook from scratch if you don’t already. It is so much cheaper and healthier.

The extra item this month is alternative lighting. Oil lamps are very affordable and you can use Kerosene and it keeps for a very long time. You will go through batteries in your flashlight pretty quickly so be sure to have lots of candles, oil lamps maybe even some solar-powered lights and other light sources in addition to extra batteries.

Put back some more water. Store-bought or containers that you fill yourself.

Add more money to your money stash. Even if a small amount it all adds up.

Add some more to your water, either fill your own containers or buy some gallon jugs of water.

Put a little more into your money stash.