CHEAP EATS
Right at the first of the year there was an AOL bit on how to serve inexpensive meals. Did you see it? I thought it was very interesting that AOL’s big money saving suggestion for 2010 was to simply prepare meals using rice, beans, pasta, and potatoes. Honestly made me happy to read, and smile only a bit to think that modern day prophets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been suggesting the
exact
same
thing,
FOR DECADES!
They believe basic staples like wheat, rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, oats, etc. are important enough to build dry-pack canneries across the United States and Canada so that members may can their own dry goods, acquire a stable long-term food supply, and do it as economically as possible. The LDS church is into helping people help themselves. I like that.
So here’s a shoddy shot of the dry-pack cannery on Welfare Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. I think it looks like money where your mouth is.
This next view is from the inside of the canning room. The cans, canning machines, boxes, bins, lids and labels complete with nutrition information, are all there and ready to go. Spotless too. They are NOT messing around when it comes to cleanliness.
You’ll easily be able to work the sealers at the dry-pack cannery. If you have questions there are always service missionaries on hand who are more than happy to demonstrate and teach the few basic steps. If you’re not a member of the LDS church, try asking one of your Mormon neighbors/friends/co-workers to take you on a little field trip.
I also think it’s interesting to know that Brigham Young University is continuously conducting food storage research. If you would like to share in their current project, please visit: http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/58457/BYU-wants-samples-of-vegetable-oil-from-food-storage.html
Tags: dry pack cannery, food for now and later, thanks for advance warning
January 21st, 2010 at 8:01 am
I love to be at the dry pack when families with young children are there. The children seem to have such a fun time helping scoop the food into the cans, put on the labels and even cleaning up!!
It gives them the feeling of saticfaction and a job well done that they are helping to contribute to the family. Even the service missionaries seem to enjoy having the children there.
p.s. I have a new wheat berry recipe to try. Just waiting for a crowd to help eat it. It’s like a pistachio jello salad type thing-e.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:51 am
WE WANT TO HELP EAT THE PISTACHIO JELLO SALAD THING-E!
Too bad we don’t live across the street from you, Kris.
I don’t think enough families know that they can bring their children to help with the work at the cannery. It makes a big difference to have more hands on the job. Rules may vary slightly between locations/local leadership, but people can locate cannery phone numbers through http://www.providentliving.org, and call ahead to find out if they will allow young children to help with the tasks not related to the actual canning machine.
My experience has been like Kris’s. Children LOVE doing this work. It’s a total kick! It’s REAL, and serious enough that they know they’re honestly contributing, and they get into that. Lizzie cleans up like no other! I seriously have to pull her away from the push broom, saying ” That’s fabulous and we’re going home NOW.”
January 21st, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Ummm…. ~raises hand~ I’m one of those who didn’t know you could bring kids to the canneries. All this time I’ve felt like I couldn’t get there because I couldn’t find/afford a babysitter. Thank you so much! I might just plan a trip with the whole family next weekend.
January 21st, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Check out the January Ensign article by President Boyd K. Packer. He begins by talking about the principles of self-reliance.
“The welfare handbook instructs: “[We must] earnestly teach and urge Church members to be self-sustaining to the full extent of their powers. No true Latter-day Saint will …voluntarily shift from himself the burden of his own support. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Almighty and with his own labors, he will supply himself with the necessities of life” ([1952]), 2)…
“When the Church welfare program was first announced in 1936, the First Presidency said:
“…The aim of the Church is to help people help themselves” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1936, 3;) It is a self-help system, not a quick handout system.
January 21st, 2010 at 1:16 pm
That’s great Nicole! (No shame.) Give your cannery a call, to make sure they’re cool with your plan, and invite a friend. It’s a super mommy-date, and I bet your kids will love it!!! It’s like a day at the Discovery Museum. Please let us know~
January 21st, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Wow. I have got to get myself to a cannery, just for the experience! That looks amazing.
-Laura, who has an empty bowl waiting for some of that pistachio wheat berry jello salad stuff that Kristine mentioned!
January 21st, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Laura, you know who to call! Your RS president, darling what’shername, could hook you up.
We’re all just waiting for Kris to post her new wheat berry dessert/salad (wink) recipe.
Open, open, open.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Even if there’s not cannery near you, don’t despair! The local LDS stake may have a portable canner available for use, so give the Relief Society president a call.
I could see replacing acine de pepe (frog’s eye pasta) with wheat berries in a pistachio salad. I want the recipe too!
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:48 am
Okay, my husband and I have a dinner party tonight and I am making the salad to take and try. Wish me luck!
I am also taking…fiesta wheat and bean salad!!! I love this stuff and I love sharing it even more because it shows other folks that wheat is wonderful. We have never eaten it as a salad but always as a salsa and everyone is always amazed at how yummy it is. Serve it with some tostisos scoops (i love the little bowl shapes and that you can really pile in the salsa) and I can garuntee that everyone will want the recipe. Thanks to Liesa this has become one of OUR FAVORITE RECIPES and it has changed our lives!
Thanks Liesa
p.s. I will post the recipe later tonight or tomorrow…if it turns out.
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Good suggestion Elizabeth. Thanks for thinking. And thank you for sharing the BYU research information. I don’t know why the link in the post doesn’t seem to work, but if you type it in yourself it does.
?
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:46 pm
While I was home today tending a cute little friend of ours, I decided to get the new salad recipe made. YUM! It reminds me of the pistachio salad but slightly different. I can’t seem to keep my spoon out of it (i’ve gone through a lot of spoons today).
For anyone who wants to give it a try, here ya go.
Grandma’s Wheat Pineapple Salad
2 to 3 cups cooked wheat (refer to “recipes” on this main blog page for making cooked wheat berries)
1 20oz. can crushed pineapple – drained
2 small pkgs. instant vanilla pudding
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese – softened
1 12oz. tub cool whip
2 Tbs. bottled lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Place drained pineapple in a large mixing bowl, sprinkle with pudding stirring until pudding dissolves.
In a smaller mixing bowl cream the cream cheese then mix in the cool whip and the lemon juice.
Stir the cool whip mixture into the pineapple mixture then stir in the cooked wheat berries and the nuts.
Cover and let refrigerate at least a couple hours for the flavors to blend.
Give it a try and let me know what you think!