Christmas has come and gone... thinking about long term food storage.

The day after Christmas is a real letdown for some people.  The frenzy of gift buying and exchanging really ramps up the emotions, especially for the kids.

The three of us stayed home, warm and cozy.  I baked the pheasant our friend Erika brought us.  It was excellent.  I baked it at 350 for 2 hours, and then uncovered at 400 for 30 minutes.  I made stuffing with our homebaked bread, then covered the bird with our home raised bacon.  Yummy!

We have no plans for New Years Eve.  I probably won't even stay up... The "year" will roll along without my vigil..

I don't make a resolution each year.  I'm of the belief that I should make changes when I recognize they need to be made - not when some artificial event dictates.

I've been thinking about our long-term food storage, and I need to reorganize/inventory what we have.  Over time, I've used up some supplies & haven't restocked.  An example would be toothpaste.  My husband prefers a certain brand, and when he needed a new tube there wasn't any.  I need to pay more attention to items like that.  We have lots of band aids, not so many bottles of peroxide.

We have plenty of dehydrated fruits and vegetables.  Not much flour, because I've been using more than I have bought.  I needed to rotate through our stock to keep our reserves fresh... but I've used it all up.  I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention.

I have 4 different places I like to get my long term food stocks.  The first is Country Life Natural Foods.
The have a wonderful selection and excellent prices.

We also love to go visit Dalton Country Store. You can find almost anything here!  Bulk dried ingredients, chicken food, organic butter, pie, spices, cheese.  In fact, their deli selection is amazing!  People make a special trip just to have a sandwich made here.  The folks who run the store are very nice. And scenery along the drive is wonderful.

Smart Choice frozen foods can be purchased online through their community ministry.  We used to purchase from their selections almost every month.  But, I am allergic to legumes... and a majority of their items have either beans or peas.  If you didn't have any issues with food allergies, Smart Choice is a great resource.


Meadowbrook-Natural Foods West Plains, MO is a great store. Their wide selections of bulk foods makes it worth the drive for us.