Cans and pans — 2 Utah-based cookbooks offer food-storage suggestions

There's more than one way to store food for emergencies.

Two new locally written books outline systems that depart from the stereotype of buckets of wheat and giant cans of dried food languishing in the basement.

Both books advise storing specific ingredients for meals and using them on a regular basis so the food isn't wasted. But each book has a different way to go about it.

For many years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints urged its members to store a one-year supply of food and water. Its latest pamphlet, "All Is Safely Gathered In," advises members to build up a three-month supply of foods that are part of their normal daily diet and regularly rotate this supply.

The pamphlet adds, "For longer term needs, and where permitted, gradually build a supply of food that will last a long time and that you can use to stay alive, such as wheat, white rice and beans. These items can last 30 years or more when properly packaged and stored in a cool, dry place."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency also advocates storing an emergency supply of food and water in the event of a natural disaster.

"Food Storage: It's in the Bag!" by Trent and Michelle Snow (Cedar Fort Press, $14.99), came off the press last spring. The core of the plan is homemade meal kits, complete with cooking directions and water, each stored in 8-by-5-by 10-inch plastic gift bags.

The Snows have 422 of these bagged kits on the basement shelves of their Kaysville home, and they cook with them about five times a week to rotate their supply.

Michelle Snow is finishing a doctorate in public health and has taught at Weber State and the University of Utah. When Hurricane Katrina hit, she saw the situation from her public-health perspective.

"I realized that bulk food storage didn't help," she said. "People didn't have food or water they could transport to the Superdome with them. They were hungry and thirsty, and chaos broke out."

The clincher came when she asked her family if they knew what to do with their bulk food storage in the event of a disaster, should she die or be off volunteering with rescue efforts.

"All of them said no, even my husband," she recalled. "I realized I needed to come up with a plan that would have the meat already cooked, in the event that my freezer goes out. It had to be transportable, and have potable water. It needed to feed my family. and be ready in 10 or 20 minutes. And, if necessary, it could be eaten without being heated."

She and a friend started a provident living group where members shared ideas with each other. One member, Belinda Craft, shared an idea for "bag meals" she had seen demonstrated by Christina Van Wagenen, owner of the Wooden Spoon Cooking School.