Like most lifelong Mormons, I grew up hearing about the importance of “food storage.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long encouraged its members to keep enough food, water, and emergency supplies in their home to last at least three months—counsel that has spawned a quirky subculture within the ...
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long mandated that all members maintain months of food and supplies — in part to help less-prepared neighbors.
How much food storage do I need? Take the amount of food you would need to purchase to feed your family for a day and multiply that by 7. That is how much food you would need for a one-week supply. Once you have a week's supply, you can gradually expand it to a month, and eventually three months.
The First Presidency recommends that Church members “begin their home storage by storing the basic foods that would be required to keep them alive if they did not have anything else to eat.” After they have a year's supply of the basics, they may then add other foods they are accustomed to eating regularly.
Dried foods, like beans and grains, can last 20 to 30 years when stored correctly in sealed foil bags. Because storing dried foods in mylar bags sealed inside a food-grade bucket is the best storage method, foods stored in this manner can reach their maximum shelf lives.
Honey is known to be one of the only foods that can last forever. This is largely due to the fact that it is made up of sugar, which makes it hard for bacteria or microorganisms to affect the honey.
Most shelf-stable foods are safe indefinitely. In fact, canned goods will last for years, as long as the can itself is in good condition (no rust, dents, or swelling).
Mormons Are Called to Store Food for Times of Adversity
For many years, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have counseled members to have a year's supply of food and other essentials. This recommendation raises many questions: What should you store? How can you afford to?
The LDS Church stores enough food in each of its 100 food storage facilities to supply a small community for up to a year. In addition, many of the LDS Church's 16 and a half million members also store enough food storage in their homes to last their household roughly 3 months.
Children who have experienced neglect often turn to food hoarding as a means of survival. These survival behaviours do not stop when the child enters a secure, nurturing environment. Hoarding gives some children who have had these experiences a sense of comfort, security or control.
Official doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not forbid any foods; according to current teachings, only coffee, tea and alcohol are explicitly prohibited. Many younger cooks use wine in cooking (in the belief that the alcohol is cooked off) and wine vinegar in salad dressings.
Yes, Mormons eat french fries and bonbons.) From the beginning, we're immersed in a somewhat insulated, Christianese-y, lemonade-drinking, 1980s LDS world.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice the Biblical principle of tithing by donating 10 percent of their income to the Church.
Alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee and drugs
These are all specifically banned in the Word of Wisdom, except for drugs. The prophets have made it clear that drugs, other than for medical use, are also banned. Mormons are also strongly discouraged from drinking soft drinks containing caffeine.
The Mormon emphasis on self-reliance dates back to the mid-1800s when food storage began as a pragmatic way to ensure survival while church members trekked across the country to Salt Lake City, said Matthew Bowman, assistant professor of religion at Hampden-Sydney College.
The policy of companionships staying together at all times serves to discourage these activities. While missionaries may interact with members of the opposite sex, they may never be alone with them or engage in any kind of intimate physical or emotional activity (e.g., kissing, hugging, holding hands, flirting).
Mormons are taught not to drink any kind of alcohol (see D&C 89:5–7). Mormons are also taught not to drink “hot drinks,” meaning coffee or any tea other than herbal tea (see D&C 89:9), and not to use tobacco (see D&C 89:8).
The Word of Wisdom prohibits Mormons from consuming alcohol, coffee and tea.
You should have a 3 month supply of grains, legumes, fats, dairy products, sugars, salts, water, and whatever other additional items you may need. The reason the LDS Church strongly suggests its members have a certain amount of food storage at home is so that they are ready for anything when an emergency strikes.
Mormons store food for emergencies. Mormon beliefs include storing enough food, water, money, and other supplies to be used in emergencies.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), there is a general prohibition, deriving from the Word of Wisdom, against intoxicating substances; cannabis was explicitly banned by the church in 1915. The church has also sought to influence "appropriate" legal resolutions on medical cannabis.
Some astonishingly old specimens of cheese have survived the millennia, sort of, such as one about 3,200 years old found in a jar inside an ancient Egyptian tomb. It was made from a mix of milks, from African buffalo, sheep and goat.