A stay-at-home mother on a farm spent the next eight months preparing meals for her entire family in the event of a global disaster.
Kelsey Shaw of Crown Point, Indiana, USA uses her canning skills to create large food items for herself, her husband Nathanial, and their three children.
He claims to currently prepare a total of 426 meals for the family of five.
During the summer, the family is fed fresh farm-raised produce, including eggs from chickens and dairy products from goats. They survive the winter by preserved food that Kelsey hides in the pantry.
Kelsey Shaw (pictured with a dairy goat), 30, lives with her husband and three children on a farm in Crown Point, Indiana.
Kelsey says she takes pride in her pantry (pictured) always filled with preserved fruit, vegetables, and even whole meals.
The stay-at-home mom grows all her vegetables on the farm, where the family eats them fresh in the summer and stores them in the winter.
The family raises chickens and dairy goats for milk and cheese so they can have fresh eggs for breakfast every morning.
Brine and dry a variety of ingredients to ensure your pantry is always stocked with fresh, homegrown canned vegetables, ready meals, seasonings, rice and pasta.
Kelsey, 30, mother of three, said: “When we moved to the farm, we wanted to lead a slower lifestyle and wanted to know what we were eating and where it came from.
“I learned to store food by myself and learned a lot of tricks like making corn on the cob that tastes like honey.”
Kelsey, who is also a photographer, spends up to three months storing all her meals, from pickles to roasts.
“I spend at least two hours a day in the garden and so it can take days to protect things because I’m slowly getting back to everything,” she said.
“To be able to do all the protection is a skill. Every time I walk into the pantry, I feel so proud.
“I have it in stock to feed us two meals a day from October to May.”
The smart mom added that her preparations are beneficial during the pandemic, when certain foods are scarce in supermarkets due to panicked shopping.
Kelsey and her husband, Nathanial, first moved to the farm in 2017 – since then Kelsey has said her skills have come in handy during the pandemic.
Kelsey’s family has a no-waste policy, learning to store food by herself by watching videos and reading.
Kelsey grows an impressive selection of vegetables that are eaten fresh in the summer, including peppers, cucumbers and potatoes.
All of Kelsey’s phenomenal mindfulness skills are self-taught after falling in love as she moves to the Indiana Highland ranch with Nathaniel in 2017.
From there he started reading and watching videos about different protection methods.
“I save all the meals, so I make crock pots and then put them in a pressure cooker so they’re ready to store and use when I need them,” Kelsey said.
“If it’s been a busy day, it means I never have to worry about dinner.
“I have stored tomatoes in many different ways and try to use every bit of food possible.
“I use tomato skins and dry them to make powder that can be added to meals.
“I also have ready-made tomato sauce and diced canned tomatoes in my pantry.”
Every morning the family wakes up with a breakfast of fresh eggs just laid by the farm’s chickens.
During the winter, the family subsists on preserved items from Kelsey’s year-round produce.
Kelsey, who grows an impressive selection of tomatoes, uses the skins and dries them to make a powder that can be added to dishes for more flavor.
The family farm includes several dairy goats that roam freely on their huge land.
Kelsey uses an inventory to keep track of what’s in her pantry and manages food as she holds it.
“It takes a long time, so I focus on one thing at a time,” he said.
“One day I will collect and store all the peppers. Then I will make tomatoes.
Kelsey occasionally goes to the grocery store 40 minutes away to buy things like flour, rice, and pasta, in addition to canned goods.
“We eat our chickens’ eggs for breakfast as fresh as possible,” Kelsey said.
“We try to be zero waste, so leftover food is either fed to the chickens or used in my diet.
“It takes a long time to preserve food, but I’ve discovered a real love for it, and it makes eating easier for us as a family.
“We are ready for anything”
Source: Daily Mail
