GUEST POST - Does The Bible Say Anything About Storing Food

By Daymond Duck

Prophecy Plus Ministries

While teaching on Bible prophecy I often point out that Jesus mentioned that famine is one of the signs of the Beginning of Sorrows (Matt. 24:1-8). This usually leads into a discussion of the rise in food prices and the impact that natural disasters are having on food supplies. It is about this time that I am asked if it is okay to store food. Some people seem to have the impression that storing food is a sin, or at the very least, it demonstrates a lack of faith. This is a good reason to ask, “Does the Bible say anything about storing food?” Yes! It does.

In Genesis chapter six, God told Noah to build an Ark, board it, get his family to board it, put animals on it (verses 14-20), “And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he” (Gen. 6:21-22). Simply put, God intended to send a great natural disaster upon the earth (the Flood) so He commanded Noah to gather a variety of food and store it on the Ark for him, his family and the animals. Could God have spoken food into existence anytime Noah or the animals needed it? Of course, He could. But He didn’t. He commanded Noah to gather food and store it. Did God provide for Noah? Of course! He provided food for Noah to gather and plenty of time for him to gather it.

For those who may wonder if Noah sinned by obeying God and doing this, Paul said, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Heb. 11:7). Noah was obeying God and acting by faith when he built that Ark and put food on it.

In Genesis chapter forty-one, Pharaoh dreamed about seven fat cows and seven lean cows. He had a second dream about seven fat ears of corn and seven thin ears of corn. When he got around to asking Joseph to interpret his dream Joseph said, “What God is about to do he showeth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. And there shall arise after them seven years of famine’ (Gen. 41:28-30). This is a second story about God planning to send a natural disaster upon the earth. And to make that everyone understands that it was God would send this natural disaster the Holy Spirit said, “And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass” (Gen. 41:32).

Did God provide for His people? Yes! God blessed Egypt with bountiful harvests and more food than they needed for seven years. And Joseph said, “Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine” (Gen. 41:34-36). Pharaoh believed this was a good thing to do; he put Joseph in charge, and the food that God’s man stockpiled became a blessing to others and saved the lives of many.

It is important to understand that God often provides for His people before they have a need. He provided the seven fat years before He sent the seven lean years. He provided extra manna on the day before the Sabbath so the Jews could collect and store food to consume on the Sabbath (Ex. 16:5). He provided triple crops in the sixth year so the Jews could store plenty to eat while they let the land rest during the seventh year (Lev. 25:20-21). He even considers the ant wise because it stores food for the winter during the summer (Prov. 6:6-11; 30:24-25).

Natural disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity. This is a major sign that the end of the age is near. The good news is that the Rapture will be before Jesus breaks the third seal in the Book of Revelation that leads to worldwide famine (Rev. 6:5-6). The bad news is that no one knows the day or the hour of the Rapture or how far Christians will go into the natural disasters and famine before God removes His Church. When it comes to something like food it is better to be over prepared than under prepared. If we wind up not needing it, we won’t have any problems finding people who do. If the Rapture happens and we haven’t used it, that’s great. Others will benefit from it.

PZ SPECIAL OFFER

3 Month Food Supply With 55 Gallon Water Storage & Deluxe Wheat Grinder
 

Hello PZ Partners, PZ Insiders and PZ Site Users.
As many of you know these last few years we have been raising up a warning regarding the present days we are now entering. Because scripture tells us that perilous times would come; Tracye and I have looked for other ways that we can help our Prophezine family to better prepare. After months of research we decided to become independent representatives of a company called Shelf Reliance. This company produces special shelving units that automatically rotate your canned goods so that you are always eating the oldest first and the newest last.
Shelf Reliance also produces some of the best tasting and healthiest long term food, that can be stored up to 25 years. But the food is also good enough to actually integrate into your dinner plans today. This is what Tracye and I are doing.
 We joined this company knowing that after preaching about the "Coming Storm"  for these past few years, our Prophezine family will need not only solutions, but trusted people to help them with their solutions. That is why we have been keeping our eye on this company for so long, we knew that they were the best out there and we also knew that they would be opening up to independent representatives.
 Well, now is the time to pass on one of our first benefits in being with this company to your our Prophezine family.
 With approval of Shelf Reliance we are able to offer a Complete 3-month, 2-person (or 6 month, 1 person) Food Supply with 55-gallon Barrel Water Storage System & Deluxe Wheat Grinder. 
 This package will basically give two people a major head start on their long term food storage solution.

BASIC DESCRIPTION

- 4,251 Total Servings 
- Averages Over 2,000 Calories Per Person Per Day 
- 96 #10 Cans (one gallon sized cans)

Folks, You can not get this from our standard Shelf Reliance Website. This is a special that Shelf Reliance has put together due to the concerns of many people who are currently witnessing the events in Japan, as well knowing that food prices will go up in the coming months. This is not something that will be continued to be offered either.

Just so that you understand the regular price for this package when it is offered is $1,399.99.

But understanding the environment that we live in, they have marked this price down to $989.00

Folks, this is saving you $410.00.

Listen, Shelf Reliance produces some of the best food out there, or else I would not be putting my good name nor Prophezine's good name behind this product and company.

This complete 3-Month, 2-Person Food Supply with Water Storage System was designed to provide you with one package that is complete with a supply of food and water.

This package provides two people with over 2000 calories per person/day for up to 3 months.

The contents of this package was based off of the USDA Food Pyramid to provide a person with a well-balanced daily diet.

Here is one more point - If ordered BEFORE April 1st, there will also be no tax added!

WHAT IS INCLUDED - THE DETAILS

• 4,251 total servings
• Shipment arrives on a pallet
• Simple re-hydration instructions and recipes included on each can
• Foods are contained in 96-- #10 (gallon size) cans
• Over 2000 calories per person/per day for up to three months

Grains/Starch

• 6 Hard White Winter Wheat (44 servings per can/170 calories per serving)
• 4 Potato Chunks (42 servings per can/80 calories per serving)
• 6 Elbow Macaroni (25 servings per can/210 calories per serving)
• 6 Six Grain Pancake Mix (46 servings per can/140 calories per serving)
• 3 Cornmeal (48 servings per can/150 calories per serving)
• 3 Quick Oats (24 servings per can/170 calories per serving)
• 6 Instant White Rice (48 servings per can/80 calories per serving)

Fruits/Veggies

• 6 Sweet Corn – Freeze Dried (46 servings per can/35 calories per serving)
• 6 Green Peas – Freeze Dried (41 servings per can/50 calories per serving)
• 3 Broccoli – Freeze Dried (52 servings per can/10 calories per serving)
• 3 Raspberries – Freeze Dried (48 servings per can/20 calories per serving)
• 2 Strawberries – Freeze Dried (45 servings per can/20 calories per serving)
• 6 Apple Chips (47 servings per can/35 calories per serving)
• 3 Carrot Dices (49 servings per can/90 calories per serving)
• 3 Mixed Bell Pepper (42 servings per can/50 calories per serving)
• 3 Potato Beads (44 servings per can/20 calories per serving)

Dairy/Cheese

• 6 Non-Fat Powdered Milk (43 servings per can/110 calories per serving)
• 4 Chocolate Drink Mix (48 servings per can/190 calories per serving)
• 2 Cheddar Blend (52 servings per can/140 calories per serving)

Meats/Beans

• 2 Bacon TVP - Textured Vegetable Protein (47 servings per can/80 calories per serving)
• 2 Beef TVP- Textured Vegetable Protein (45 servings per can/100 calories per serving)
• 2 Chicken TVP - Textured Vegetable Protein (45 servings per can/80 calories per serving)
• 2 Taco TVP- Textured Vegetable Protein (42 servings per can/130 calories per serving)
• 2 Pinto Beans (58 servings per can/60 calories per serving)
• 2 Black Beans (65 servings per can/70 calories per serving)
• Kidney Beans (44 servings per can/90 calories per serving)
• Whole Eggs (236 servings per can/35 calories per serving)

Discretionary Calories

• THRIVE Orange Drink (88 servings per can/110 calories per serving)

Other Items Included Are:
Deluxe Wheat Grinder

• Sturdy and compact
• Cone shaped burrs are self-aligning
• Smooth, even milling
• Creates 1/2 cup of fine flour per minute
• Create grains at a fraction of the cost of store-bought
• Stores easily in drawers, cupboards, and other small spaces
• Adjustable texture settings
• Stainless steel construction

The Shelf Reliance Water Storage System which includes:

• 55 Gallon Water Container
• Barrel is made from high-density polyethylene (food grade/ BPA Free).
• Barrel comes in blue color to restrict light, which helps to control the growth of bacteria and algae.
• Barrel weight when full is approximately 480 lbs.
• Water Pump - (45" long, 3" wide) Hose (47" long, 1"wide)
• Sturdy Bung Wrench - doubles as a gas shutoff tool and provides access to storage barrels of all sizes.
• Water Treatment Solution - easy to follow instructions that allows for water storage for up to 5 years.
• Detailed instructions of how to prepare your water for long term storage.
  

YOU CAN NOT ORDER THIS FROM OUR SITE
Folks, this is a special that Shelf Reliance has put together to answer that need for people who want to get that jump start. Believe me, you can't get a long term food package of this quality anywhere else without sacrificing taste and quality.

If you wish to order, you need to contact me. Again, you can not get this from our Shelf Reliance site, you have to contact me to place this order.
Email me at ray.gano@prophezine.com and send me your phone # and a good time to call you. Tracye and I have free long distance so we can pick up the dime.
REMEMBER - Act before April 1. After that we will have to start charging sales tax.
Please take advantage of this special offer that we have brought to you.

Scripture says...

Proverbs 30:25  The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;
In His Service,

Ray & Tracye Gano
Prophezine / Ind Shelf Reliance Consultant
 Visit our online Shelf Reliance Store at http://gano.shelfreliance.com/

Q&A - What is the Shelf Life of Flour?

Hi Ray & Trayce,

Do  you know what the shelf-life is of flour, and how do you keep it from getting weevils? - Peg

Hello Peg,

This is a great question, specially for folks who are setting up their food storage.

To give you a short answer, it depends on where you store it.

You can store it in your freezer for up to 12 months

You can store it in your refrigerator for up to 6 months

Or you can store it at room temperature (your cupboards / pantry)  for  up to 3 months

GETTING THE MOST FROM FOOD STORAGE

Before tackling the question, I want to talk a little bit about food storage. When you store any sort of food, it is oxygen who is the enemy.  The more air you can take out of your food storage containers, the better. One of the greatest investments Tracye and I have made is our FoodSaver. The one we own is the V2420, which I think is outdated. But we love it and it still is chugging right along.  Probably today's equivalent is the FoodSaver V2240. These run about $100.00 and they are worth every penny. You do not know how much leftovers we have saved and not gone to waste because of this. This was one of the first "preparedness" products that we purchased.

I mention this product because with this you can help prevent getting those weevils in your flour and possibly even extend the food items you are storing.

If you do not have a FoodSaver, then you can also use 1 gallon Zip Lock Freezer Bags.

Don’t go cheap and get the regular 1 gallon storage bags, get the thicker freezer bags. They will prevent punctures a lot better instead of the regular bags.

Another item I want to mention are Oxygen Absorbers. These are the little packets you find in vitamin bottles, specialty chips, dried seaweed, basically anything that needs to maintain zero humidity in the package. What these packets do is "absorb" the left over oxygen in the package and helps prevent oxidization of the food product, which makes it stale and then rot.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

With the FoodSaver

FoodSaver Vacuum Food Sealer
1 FoodSaver Bag cut to size and sealed on the bottom.
1 Oxygen absorber (optional)
1 Bag of Flour

Without the FoodSaver

1 Gallon Zip Lock Freezer Bag
1 Drink Straw
1 Oxygen absorber
1 Bag of Flour

HOW TO…

1. Keep your flour in the packaging. This is yet another barrier to help keep your food safe and bug free.

2. Put your bag of flour into a FoodSaver bag.

3.  Add your oxygen absorber packet

4 Suck the air out and seal the bag

Once you have done this your bag of flour has a pretty dense feel to it because almost all the air has been taken out of the package.

Now that you have this, you can store it in your pantry, refrigerator or freezer.

If you do not have a FoodSaver, you can achieve something close to these results by putting your flour in  the freezer Zip Lock bag and zip it just about all the way.

Put your drink straw into the un-zipped portion of the bag and try to suck out as much air as you can. You can put your fingers around the straw and zipper opening and that will help you keep a better seal.

As you are sucking the air out and once you have gotten to the point where you are ready to seal, you need to pull the straw out while sucking and zip the bag all in one motion.

You may not get this on the first try, so do the best you can.

SAVING IN BULK

In today's world I have been telling people to start looking at food as an investment. The  on May 4rd, 2010 the commerce department released its Personal Consumption Expenditures Index  and guess what, food and energy prices have risen 18.7. This is compared to prices in February 2010. How many of you would like to see your mutual funds go up 18.7%? That is a good rate of return for your money.

Well, 18.7% is how much you have lost just by purchasing food in March verses in February. People need to start looking at food as an investment. Money saved is money earned. 

Folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the prices are only going to go up further as we progress more into the year and even further as the years progress.

So not only is buying in bulk wise, it is also prudent of you to do so.

BULK STORAGE - WHAT YOU NEED

1 5-gallon Plastic Storage Container- this needs to be HDPE, which stands for High Density Polyethylene. If you look on the bottom of the bucket you will see the recycle symbol, a triangle of arrows surrounding the number 2.

If the bucket has this, it is food grade.

Now check what was stored in the bucket prior to storing your flour. Often dill pickles are stored in these, if you get them used. To check, just smell the bucket. You can tell what was stored usually by the smell. It might smell like maple syrup, ketchup, mustard, relish, pickles, there are a lot of things. If they smell, you may want to find a different bucket because your flour may absorb some of the smell.

1 5-6-gallon mylar bag

1 2x4 approximately 12- 14 inches long

1 cotton bath towel

4-5 oxygen absorbers

6-7 whole dried bay leaves

A cheap or used standard iron for ironing clothes - if you have a FoodSaver, you can use this as well.

Bag of bulk flour

HOW TO…

Take your bucket and make sure it is cleaned out. In the bottom of the bucket put 1 oxygen absorber and 3-4 bay leaves.

Next, open your mylar bag and put it in the bucket. Push it down to the bottom and get a good fit.

Put an oxygen absorber into the mylar bag

Add your flour to half way

Add another oxygen absorber

Fill the rest of the bag to about 3 inches from the rim of the bucket

NOTE: You should have a good amount of bag left.

Put an 1-2 oxygen absorbers on top of the flour, and close up the bag.

Make sure the bag is NOT folded but both sides of the bag can touch each other.

Wrap the 2x4 in the towel and put it across the rim of the bucket

Lay a part of the bag on the 2x4 and with the hot iron, quickly seal the bag.

Depending on how your bag is situated, you can seal 2-3 places.

Cut off any excess mylar bag

Put 1-2 more oxygen absorbers on top of the bag with 4-5 bay leaves.

Put the lid onto your bucket and seal it up tight.

On the lid or on the side tape a label telling you the contents as well as the date you sealed the flour.

If you have the room, store it in your freezer and it will keep up to a year, 6 months in your refrigerator  or 3-6 months in your pantry depending upon the temperature.

Above all, make sure you rotate your stock and eat off of your food stores. In the end you will see your grocery bill start to go down because you are not shopping as much because you have purchased in bulk.

Now you can use this same method in storing dry goods like beans, lentils, rice and wheat. These items will keep for years.

Just to make a point, wheat discovered in King Tut's tomb was still edible and able to make flour from it even after being over a thousand years old.

I hope that this has helped answer some of your food storage questions. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me at raygano@mail (DOT) com.