Where to begin

I, like many people I know, knew that I should be gathering my year supply of food and other essentials. I kept using the excuse that we moved all the time, that we were too broke, that we didn't have the space, I didn't know what do to with all that wheat that my family doesn't currently eat, and I just didn't know where to start.
I started with a desire to follow our prophets counsel. My husband and I had family home evening to discuss what meals we liked best and what ingredients went into those meals. I wrote out a weeks worth of meals and I started watching sales for those items. Using coupons and sales I purchased all the items for 1 week of meals. And look at that I had "Food Storage".
I started this blog to help those who also feel overwhelmed at the daunting task of storing a years supply of food. I am here to show you how to start small, use what you store, and have some delicious meals along the way.

Family Home Evening:
Thought: "Perhaps nothing is as unifying in the course of a family's week as to eat together" (Jeffery R Holland, Roundtable Discussion, Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Feb 9, 2008)
Song: "A Song of Thanks," Children's songbook, no 20
Scripture: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20)
Lesson: Tell the story of Jesus feeding His disciples at the sea of Tiberias, as found in John 21:1-17
Jesus had a very important lesson to teach His disciples, and He chose to do it during a meal. Julie B Beck, General Relief Society President, stated,
He [Jesus] had a fire there and coals and fish, and He said, "come and dine." Now, that describes quite a bit of preparation. A meal had been prepared- a family meal, you could say- and He invited them to come and dine, not just run in and eat, but to come and dine. And then the scripture says, "When they had dined." He then began to teach them that wonderful teaching about feeding His sheep (see John 21:9-15). There is something about eating together and mellowing out and having that feeling there... He created the setting for that marvelous teaching, and it was a mealtime. And I think that wasn't accidental. (Julie B Beck, Roundtable Discussion, Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Feb 9, 2008)

Discuss
1. Why it is important for your family to set a specific dinnertime. Then decide on a time that works best for everyone. Be sure to plan enough time for everyone to help prepare the meal, eat the meal, and help clean up.
2. Get everyone involved, and let each family member have a say in what the family eats. Give each person a piece of paper and ask him or her to write down his or her ten favorite homemade meals. If you have young children, you may want to write down what they say. (If you are worried about hearing "mac and cheese" and "chicken nuggets", give options of meals and have the children choose their favorites.)
3. Have the family vote on the meals and list them in order of popularity, then plan that weeks meals.

Game:
Have family members share their most memorable dinnertime stories by drawing one of the following sentence starters out of a hat and finishing it with a dinnertime memory. You can ask only the person who pulled out the starter to answer it, or have everyone answer it.
When I was five or six or something, I remember dinner being....
My earliest dinner table memory is....
My favorite part about eating together as a family is...
The funniest time at the dinner table was when...
My favorite meal my mom makes is...
If I could have a perfect meal, it would be...