Super cheap food from the Mormons

Made it to the Springs store today which is open 9-2 on Thursdays and you can't can 30mins prior to closing . I got there a little late so I wasn't able to can but they have prepackaged items. I bought 8 cases of food which is 48 #10 cans and is about 215lbs of food that is good for 30yrs and it cost $164 not a bad deal at all. The people were really nice and did not push any religion plus they were really knowledgeable. I plan on going back and canning some more provisions. If you haven't been you need to go. Oh if you buy a starter kit it includes basic recipes using very basic item which is great.

I went by the cannery at Chambers and i70 on Saturday around 10:30am. Like others have said, they're very gentile people, happy to help any way they can. We got a tour of the cannery room, and would have been shown how it all works if we were interested in doing our own.
My wife and I didn't get much, but we did get one of the "starter kits" that has 6 #10 cans in it, of varying contents (oats, 2 types of wheat, rice, pinto beans, and flour). This is the kit online for $31, but we only paid $22 out the door. http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stor...003_-1__195787

Thanks Sawin, I'm going to check it out! And thanks Tim K for posting this. [Beer]

Glad to hear the word keeps getting out about these facilities. Most of my family's food storage (about a years worth) was purchased through the facility in Colorado Springs. I've recommended many of my non-Mormon friends (yes, I'm a Mormon) and I've never heard of any of them having a negative experience. The hot chocolate is delicious!

They were out of hot chocolate when we were there (the i70/chambers location), or we would have gotten some. That's one thing I know my wife would love to keep around in bulk. She seems to have a mug of hot cocoa constantly in months with an R in them.

I've done a good bit of boiling water and pressure canning. It all comes down to the prep work. Everything (food, jars, lids) has to be very clean, and you need to inspect for mold/rot and defects in your jars and lids. The actual canning process is fairly easy and usually takes only ~15 minutes once the water is boiling. I'd be happy to run a demo for anybody here but you really need farm-fresh vegetables/fruit, not stuff from the grocery. Best time to start this up will be early summer when the farmers markets start up.

Dry food storage is a great method, but also consider your water storage needs. I'm guessing you need at least equal parts water and grain/legume to do anything with it. This is where the benefit of canning comes in, everything is already constituted in water, and you are essentially storing the energy with the food since the food is already cooked. You will only need minimal energy for reheating, which isn't even necessary in a pinch.

I think having a mixture of bulk dry grains/legumes and canned produce is a good way to go.

I was raised LDS but have since left the church.

When I was a kid, we got a lot of financial and food support from the LDS church. We also contributed by working at the food bank, canning, pressing apples into juice & sauce, stocking shelves, etc.

I still have 2 brothers that are LDS; Utah & Idaho.

LDS is HUGELY patriotic and humanitarian as well as being VERY Constitutional and pro-2A.

Got to get down to the CoS store.

I'm thinking some may be reluctant to go do their "own" canning. I'll attempt to give a quick break down of our experience there today. The wife and I determine which door, the double set BTW. A man meets us and tells us what they offer and gives us a tour and detailed instructions on the two different methods to buy. A) buy what's on shelf or cased. 2) go inside and can your own.

canning your own:

couldnt be easier. You go into the room. Put on hair net, gloves and apron. Choose what kind of food you want from stacks of dog food type bagged product. Carry it to a table and place empty cans inside a plastic tub. You then pour, from the bag, into the cans. Shake to settle. Take full can to press, place small bag of absorbent on top, place lid on can, set under press, switch power on, pull handle down. This causes the lid to be pressed down and sealed. When it stops spinning, you switch power off and remove can. (If your safety minded) we did multiple cans and left it powered up as we were told this was ok) when done you wash your tub, label your cans, ditch the hair net , etc and pay out. I can not stress how simple the steps above are.

the sacks mentioned above, may be more than you want to purchase. In this case they just ask you to do the "work" of canning the remaining. They then place this outside on the shells for those who don't wish to can, just stop, shop, and go. The canning is easy and fast. We did our canning of 14 cans in maybe 20-30 minutes counting clean up and paying out.

Absolutely no reason to be reluctant about going. They encouraged us to tell our friends as they felt it was a service to the populace.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Limited GM

I'm thinking some may be reluctant to go do their "own" canning. I'll attempt to give a quick break down of our experience there today. The wife and I determine which door, the double set BTW. A man meets us and tells us what they offer and gives us a tour and detailed instructions on the two different methods to buy. A) buy what's on shelf or cased. 2) go inside and can your own.

canning your own:

couldnt be easier. You go into the room. Put on hair net, gloves and apron. Choose what kind of food you want from stacks of dog food type bagged product. Carry it to a table and place empty cans inside a plastic tub. You then pour, from the bag, into the cans. Shake to settle. Take full can to press, place small bag of absorbent on top, place lid on can, set under press, switch power on, pull handle down. This causes the lid to be pressed down and sealed. When it stops spinning, you switch power off and remove can. (If your safety minded) we did multiple cans and left it powered up as we were told this was ok) when done you wash your tub, label your cans, ditch the hair net , etc and pay out. I can not stress how simple the steps above are.

the sacks mentioned above, may be more than you want to purchase. In this case they just ask you to do the "work" of canning the remaining. They then place this outside on the shells for those who don't wish to can, just stop, shop, and go. The canning is easy and fast. We did our canning of 14 cans in maybe 20-30 minutes counting clean up and paying out.

Absolutely no reason to be reluctant about going. They encouraged us to tell our friends as they felt it was a service to the populace.

---

Wish i knew you were going. I need some of the apples and pasta.
The spouse and i did 3 cases in the "canning room" in about 30 min too. The hardest thing they ask of you is to clean up and disinfect the area, wash, sanitize, rinse and put away the flour scoops and other misc food use items.

NOCO food run?

Anyone know the hours of the Aurora location? Might go next week.