Residents invited to learn about long-term food storage

FAIRFIELD — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fairfield will host a food storage workshop on Saturday, Oct. 8, and is sponsoring the speakers that day to allow the public to attend at no charge.

The church is located at 2143 S. 32nd St. on the west edge of town, and the program that day will consist of three presentations from local people knowledgeable about food preservation.

At 8:30 a.m., Jefferson County Health Center Dietitian Colette Banda will give a presentation on “Nutritional needs for storage” about how to choose foods that are the most nutrient-dense.

From 9-10:30 a.m., Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Specialist in Food and Health Sara Sprouse will give a talk on how to “Preserve the Taste of Summer,” which will cover canning, pressure canning, freezing and drying.

Lastly, Lisa Trent and Weda Boolos will speak about long-term dry storage and long-term water storage starting at 11 a.m. Trent is an Iowa City Stake Self-Reliance Specialist, and Boolos is a Fairfield Ward Self-Reliance Specialist, and a member of the church hosting the program.

Boolos said the church feels strongly about the importance of food storage, which is why it has sponsored the speakers and opened it to the public.

“Our prophets have advised us that we need a year’s supply of food put away for the future,” she said.

Boolos said she became interested in long-term food storage 18 years ago, and has been doing it ever since. She said food storage is useful in response to any number of emergencies. She mentioned that her sister-in-law lives in Louisiana, and earlier this year her city suffered a horrible flood, destroying the homes of her family members. Seventeen people had to take refuge in her house.

“None of the grocery stores were open,” Boolos said. “That is a perfect example of where food storage would have been a wonderful thing to have.”

Boolos remarked that when members of her church have lost jobs, they’ve had to go through lean times, pinching every penny.

“They’ve talked about how their food storage saved them, because they didn’t have to spend money on food,” Boolos said.

Boolos said she’s found that there are four obstacles that keep people from storing food: They don’t know how, and they don’t think they have time, space or the money to do it.

“In my presentation on long-term dry storage, I’m going to show them that they absolutely have all those things,” she said. “We’ll teach what they need to store, in a way that won’t cost a lot of money, and which will last for 20 years.”

Boolos said she will cover how to store staples such as rice, beans, oatmeal and quinoa.

“I opened a bag of rice a few days ago from 2008 and cooked it. It was delicious,” she said.

Boolos said the secret to long-term storage is using mylar bags with an oxygen-absorber, then sealing them with an iron so they’re airtight. She said food must be shielded from three things: oxygen, light and moisture.

“The church is sponsoring this because we want everyone to get the knowledge,” Boolos said. “Like it says on our flier, ‘When the emergency arises, the time for preparation has passed.’”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com