Carolyn's Provident Living Column - March 2009

Planning and preparing your family for unexpected events that may happen, such as illness, loss of employment, economic downturns, or manmade and natural disasters requires planning, commitment, and effort. Being prepared requires an individual and family commitment. It just doesn’t happen with good intentions. I would challenge all ward members to actively prepare themselves, and make this a regular part of family planning and activities. Small steady steps eventually accomplish any goal, but it has to start with the first step. So make it a goal to start this month.
Start with an assessment of your family needs. Is it to do an inventory of your storage room, assess your food storage needs, update a first aid kit, buy some water storage containers, or prepare a budget plan that helps you? Each family will have different needs. The important words are “just do it!” There are multiple sources of information available, and a good place to start is the website of lds.org. Being prepared starts with you!
Pat Conrad was kind enough to pass on some valuable information:
Mountain Valley Seeds in Salt Lake City has non-hybird seeds available in a sealed #10 can for your food storage. I Googled that name and found their catalogue information, address and phone number. For those without Internet: 1438 So. 700 West , Salt Lake City. Phone number 801-486-0480. (Remember after March 1st we all need to dial the area code on all our calls.) Cost is $43.23, but decreases with bulk orders.
Next: A “to-die-for” homemade yogurt recipe, originally from Becky Nyman and now from Serena Warner. What is great about this, it gives us all a way to use and rotate our food storage powdered milk.
Yield: 5 quarts
1 gal 2 % milk
1 Cup sugar or honey
3 Cups powered milk, (it needs to be fairly fresh for best results)
1 Cup Vanilla yogurt (organic—need fresh yogurt culture as a starter)
1 tsp. vanilla
Pour half gallon of the milk in a large pot and half gallon in a large bowl. To the milk in the pot add 1 Cup sugar or honey. Bring to boil and then turn off heat and set aside.
To the milk in the large bowl add 3 cups powdered milk, 1 Cup vanilla yogurt, 1 tsp vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
Mix two milk mixtures together in the large pot, stir to blend. Then divide into 5-- Quart bottles. Will be full --- Makes exactly 5 quarts.
Put the lids on.
For winter months or homes with air conditioning in the summer, heat oven to 200 degrees and then turn it off. Put the quart bottles in a pan with towel wrapped around bottles. Leave in oven overnight. Next day, put in refrigerator to thicken. Enjoy!