Issue
#2 November 2016
Why
Sprouts?
Sprouts
are one of those things that as seeds have an indefinite shelf life,
but are a live food. They are inexpensive, super packed with
nutrition, will grow in any climate, any time of the year, don't need
soil, rivals tomatoes in Vitamin C, and takes very little preparation
or clean up.
An
incredible story about the value of sprouting:
FROM
A 1977 FOOD STORAGE FIRESIDE IN SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
A
BISHOP’S EFFORT TO PREPARE
“This
is the story of one bishop, amongst many other leaders and members,
all who played
an important and tireless, behind-the-scene role in
the development of the Church’s Food
Storage Program. Bishop
West put forth considerable effort to first set his own house in
order,
after which he labored helping the members of the ward he
presided over to prepare. There
were many mistakes and much to be
learned, but what was learned has proven to be an asset to many of
the Saints today.
In the fall of 1977, Jack H. West was asked
to give firesides in the Sacramento, California, area on the subject
of food storage because of the part he played in its
on-going
development. Some of Bishop West’s comments are taken
from notes recorded in one of those firesides.
Bishop West
indicated that he was “set apart as the first bishop of Glendora
Ward” and
immediately set about doing surveys to determine who
in the ward had adequate food storage. The results indicated that
“less than 5% of our people had even a year’s supply of food,”
let alone a two-year’s supply. In order to set a leadership
example, he discussed with his wife that: “Maybe we had better set
the pace for the rest of the ward.” The results were that there
shortly appeared “two giant trucks and trailers” turning into his
driveway, sufficient
to meet the needs of feeding a “family of
eight” for two years. And I said, “You’re
kidding--we can’t
possibly be eating that much food.” Well, she took me to a
full-length
mirror and turned me side-ways and I didn’t have any
more questions.
What his family found out was that not only
did they have a great deal of canned food but
a lot of frozen food
as well, especially meat. He said they immediately began experiencing
a
number of problems. A freak loss of power in the Glendora area
resulted in the loss of their
meat. They then faced the problem of
how to organize and rotate cases of food that were
“stacked nine
feet high.” To correct this problem he built shelves and: . . .
angled the 2 x 4's just exactly one can apart and we’d fill those
slanted units with the cans of food. Then when we pulled a can out
from the bottom, every can rotated like they had asked us to do.
But
with this type of storage, the problem was that he never could tell
how many cans were left. Another problem which became apparent was
that Sister West could only estimate how much of any given food they
would use in two years, and so: . . . the first thing we knew, we
were using more of one thing than another. . . . Well, it did not
work.
As Brother and Sister West checked, they determined that
their diet became very unbalanced. Procrastination resulted in a
failure to replace used products as they should have, bringing: . . .
bulging cans everywhere you looked. . . . The first thing you know,
the whole thing was completely shot to pieces. . . .
Well, I
went back to the [ward] welfare Committee and said, “Look, one of
the things the Word of Wisdom tells us to do (and that’s the direct
word of the Lord) is to use the food in the season thereof. We are
using two-year-old food constantly in times of non-emergency and I
just couldn’t believe that was the program the Lord had in mind for
us.” So I said, “Let’s fast and pray about this thing--we’ll
get the whole ward to fast and pray about it and see if we can come
up with some better answers for a year’s supply of food, or even a
two year’s supply.”
So we did, and then we started to
search the scriptures, of course, and we found in some 72 places, as
I remember, it mentioned the “land flowing with milk and honey”
as the ideal land. So we made note of that--we marked down milk and
honey--there might be something to that. And then we went to the Word
of Wisdom and we found that the staff of life was “grain” . . .
particularly “wheat for man.” So we went to the scriptures again
and we found if the “salt has lost its savor” . . . We marked
down salt as maybe an important thing.” [Surprisingly, they didn’t
include olive oil, which is also in the scriptures.]
Bishop
West was acquainted with two well-known dietitians and wrote to them,
asking, “What would you think about it, if we were to use four
basic foods as an emergency supply-- wheat,
honey, salt, and milk?” They wrote back and said: “You’ve just
about hit the jackpot. There is just one thing you’d be low on and
that is vitamin C, and that you’d be dangerously low
on.” So
we went to vitamin C tablets.
As it turned out, vitamin C
tablets do not have a long shelf life, so Bishop West
reviewed
various alternatives as they tried to find a suitable
source for vitamin C; in relationship to this he related the
following incident:
Then I was over in Mesa, Arizona, one day
and--have you ever seen someone walking toward you on the street that
you were just absolutely certain had died two years before? That was
a real thrill. I saw this young fellow walking toward me who was all
hunched over the last time I had seen him and his bones were knurled
and he looked like death itself and he told me that he had less than
two months to live. Well, here he was walking towards me hale and
hearty and straight as an arrow. I said, “Ted, is that really you?”
He said, “Yes, it is me.” He was the brother-in-law of one of my
counsellors in the bishopric. I said, “What in the world saved your
life?” He said, “Wheat greens.” I said, “What? Wheat
greens--What does wheat
greens have in it that would save your life?”
He
said, “It is the highest known source of vitamin C in assimilable
form for the human
system.” And I said, “Great Scott, that’s
an answer to prayer! We have been looking for
something that would
give us vitamin C and here we’ve had the wheat
all the time.” You
grow greens as you need it from the wheat
you have on hand.
He then went on to relate that he had a
friend, Anne Wigmore, Ph.D., MD, and DD, who
had written a book
called Wheat
Grass--God’s Manna, who told him how to grow wheat
grass. He then called his two dietitian friends who confirmed the
value of using wheat
grass, especially as it relates to vitamin C.
A cousin of
Bishop West, Elder Harold B. Lee, wrote to him several times
requesting
information on the four basics. Bishop West
notes:
When he became President of the Church he twice asked
for more literature. Just before he passed away, he completely
changed his mind from asking people to get a year’s or a two-year’s
supply of their normal food, and rotate it, to reversing his field
and coming back to the identical four basics that we had found worked
so beautifully.
Out
of the prayerful and persistent effort that Bishop West and his ward
put forth came an
organized, functional food storage plan which
became a part of the cornerstone in the Church’s current food
storage program.”
What
an incredible story! Even if you feel like you would never use the
wheat in your buckets in your basement, you wouldn't grind them and
make bread, or you have a gluten intolerance so would never use it,
you could always SPROUT it! What a relief to know that you could grow
your own greens and not only survive, but thrive by using wheat, and
wheat grass.
There
is no better survival food than sprouts. Do your own research if you
don't believe me. You will find that as soon as a seed has sprouted,
it immediately increases the food value of that particular food,
exponentially.
You
can eat sprouts on sandwiches, in soups, in salads, in stir frys, and
so many other forms of cooking. You can eat them just raw by the
handfuls. They are wonderful and delicious.
General
Sprouting Method:
Soak
beans in a large glass jar, over night. Place a small piece of
screen or cloth over the mouth, secured with an elastic band. Drain
off water and rinse again and drain. Let sit on counter out of the
direct sunlight. Rinse twice a day until the desired sprouting is
finished.
Pretty
basic right? You can pay a ton for a fancy sprouter, or use a mason
jar. Either way you will get the desired sprouts. Do a little
research on the best times for certain seeds to eat, for they are not
all best sprouted the same amount of time. Some are better after
only a day or two, and some after a week or so.
November
Monthly To Do List:
$2
per week / person - store away for emergency cash on hand –
remember that container that has the lid glued on? Use it weekly,
adding in $2 per week, per person in your home. Keep it in a spot
so you remember to do it, but also one that won't advertise to
everyone that you have it.
Add
another 14 gallons of water per person to your water storage
Take
this month to add sugars to your storage – brown sugar, white
sugar, honey, molasses, syrups of all types, icing sugar, or any
other types your family may use
Add
things like a snow shovel, a new broom or mop and bucket
Winter
clothing, space heaters, winter boots, hand warmers, foot warmers –
These have a really long shelf life. Even though it doesn't say so
on the package, I have many of these that are almost ten years old
and they still work!
Create
a place near the door for the winter clothing, with high hopes of
keeping mittens, hats, scarves, etc all together and easy to find,
and easy to return to when you come in from the cold
Inventory
your breakfast foods, baking supplies, beans and proteins, paper and
plastic products. Get a thick notebook to keep inventory notes, and
to purchase notes in. Each week you will be inventorying items and
figuring out what you need to purchase. Keep notes on all of these
things, for your own knowledge, but also if your husband or kids
want to help out, you will all be working together and not repeating
each other
Gather
recipes for breakfast foods, and proteins like beans. Hopefully by
now you have started gathering your recipes and organizing them into
a binder with sections. Remember this isn't just another recipe
book. This book is to place your favorite recipes, as well as the
ones that are great for food storage, ones that you will always turn
to.
November
Weekly
To Do List:
Week
1
Set
aside $2 per person in your cash fund
Add
water to your water storage, at least 3 gallons per person
Purchase
white sugar, and honey
Make
sure you have a good snow shovel, and a winter coat
Create
a space near a door for all of your winter clothing and supplies
Inventory
your breakfast foods, cereals, pancake mixes, muffin mixes, rolled
oats and other cereal grains, yogurt starters, milk supplies and
things like that
Week
2
$2
per person add to your emergency cash fund
Add
another 3 gallons of water per person to your storage
Purchase
brown sugar, and icing sugar as needed
Purchase
a good broom, or a mop head, to have a spare on hand
Make
sure everyone in your home has a good pair of winter boots
Gather
winter supplies to the winter location, put summer supplies in a bin
and move to storage room
Inventory
your baking supplies. Things like baking powder, soda, salt, flour,
vanilla, etc
Week
3
$2
per person add to your emergency cash fund
Add
another 3 gallons of water per person to your storage
Purchase
molasses, corn syrup or pancake syrup as needed
Purchase
mittens, scarves and hats for winter use, if needed and add them to
the winter location you have created
Inventory
your beans and other proteins like canned meats, lentils, Tvp, etc.
Week
4
$2
per person add to your emergency cash fund
Add
any extra water you need to make the 14 gallons of water per person
for this month
Purchase
any extra sugars you would like to add to your food storage
Purchase
or find your space heaters and have them prepped and ready in case
of any power outages during winter storms
Purchase
hand and foot warmers and have them in your winter location for
mittens etc
Inventory
your paper and plastic products like: paper plates, utensils, cups,
napkins, paper towel, toilet paper. These things are very important
in case of power outages when water for washing might be scarce.
Throw away is a good thing in an emergency situation.
Sprouted
Lentil Vegetable Soup
First take the time to sprout whole
green or brown lentils. Make sure they are not the small red cracked
lentils. The seed needs to be whole, not split or your attempt at
sprouting them will simply turn to mush and mold. Soak and sprout
them until they have a nice tail sprout on them about 1/4 inch long.
At this point you can allow them to dry, either by sitting on the
counter spread out on a sheet, or in a dehydrator, or a freeze drier.
Why would you let them dry? Because
then they are ready to use in any recipe calling for lentils, and
they have the exponential nutrients because the sprouting has
activated them.
Okay now for the soup.
2 cups of sprouted lentils, either
fresh or dried
1/2 cup chopped onions or sub with
dried onions
1/2 cup chopped celery or dried celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots or dried
carrots
1 clove minced garlic
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste
1 quart of tomatoes canned, or large
can of diced tomatoes
Extras
you could add in:
pasta, rice, beef or chicken bouillon
or other vegetables, make dumplings to add on top
Bring all ingredients to a boil and
simmer for about 1 hour until all lentils and vegetables are tender.
If you add in pasta, don't add in until the last ten minutes or it
will mush.
Serve with crackers, biscuits, toast,
or fresh made buns.
Super nutritious, super inexpensive,
and super easy to make. Super delicious and it will likely become
one of your family's favorites.
