Store This, Not That! The Quick and Easy Food Storage Guide by Crystal Godfrey and Debbie Kent was printed and released in 2016.
The book is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Deseret Book, and other online sources. The cover price is $21.99 but you can find it for less. The price may seem high but books continue to go up in price. This one is also printed on heavy paper and has LOTS of full color photographs which increases the price.
This is a larger book (8-1/2 x 11) but it has a nice binding that allows the book to open fully when you read it. It has an appealing layout and graphic design, though it can get busy at times. The colorful photography and graphics add to the appeal of the book.
Since I write and publish, I tend to see things others don’t. Store This, Not That! has very wide line spacing – almost double spaced. That means there may not be a lot of text on a page but it also means it’s easy to read. Some title fonts are not easy to read and the light gray font tends to disappear on a white page. There are also occasional typographical errors and the use of a word that isn’t actually a word.
The Table of Contents is not ordinary. Each chapter has a subtitle and each chapter is summarized below the chapter heading. Again, the font color isn’t the greatest. The page numbers are white in gray circles that blend into the page. One section has a blue background with the chapter heading in a gray that blends into the blue. The longest chapter (chapter 4) is broken down in a side bar so you can see in more detail what it contains. That’s helpful.
The authors have combined experience of over 18 years (in 2016). Debbie Kent has 14 of that so Crystal Godfrey had just over 4 years in 2016. They have both worked with or for big food storage companies so they have some insider knowledge. They have a website, email, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts listed in the book as well as the offer of classes. That was in 2016. The website blog hasn’t been updated since August 2018 and the “deals” page hasn’t been updated since March 2018. The Facebook page closed in September of 2019. I haven’t checked the other accounts. Information, recipes and videos are still available on the website and on Facebook but they are not actively being added to or changed.
Crystal is also the author of I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage, which was updated in 2017, and used to have the website www.everydayfoodstorage.com
Before I go into more detail, let me give you some things to watch for:
• Remember that a lot of the products the authors think are the best are only the best in their opinion. They may not be the best for you or for your budget or for your location.
• Remember that Crystal lives in dry Utah. Storage methods she talks about may not be good in humid climates. This link tells you how to store in all climates.
• The price comparisons are good but do your own, too.
The book uses a friendly approach. The authors use a chatty writing style that is sometimes humorous and sometimes frank. They are not intimidated by the popular hype in food storage and preparedness. As they put it on page 8, they can be “stunningly blunt” about some popular food storage foods. (See some of my soap box speeches – Freeze Dried Foods and Powdered Eggs)
The book has a long introduction (including chapter 1) and much hype. It reminds me of infomercials on television or long sales pitches. The real practical information doesn’t actually start until page 13.
Chapter 2 – they have a good idea to taste test survival bars but they may not be for your family. They recommend survival bars over other food for emergency kits and I agree that they are the easiest to use. Their “not that” choices need to be rotated more often (that’s one reason they don’t recommend them) but they have the advantage of involving your family more in the preparedness process and allowing them to have foods that they like and will be more comforting to them than survival bars. If you have a yearly preparedness review in your family, you can make emergency food rotation part of the review.
Powerless Cookers – remember they are expressing their opinions. They are giving general overviews of the equipment and not specific instructions for using them. Be sure to read the manuals that come with the equipment. Their “Not This!” recommendations tell me they haven’t had the experience of needing to stay in their homes during an emergency. Very few alternative cooking methods are safe to use inside. If you understand that canned heat stoves are only for heating food then you will find them an inexpensive way to fix a hot meal INSIDE during an emergency.
Chapter 3 – “If you don’t have electricity for extended periods of time, then your long-term supply will step in and help.” I couldn’t disagree more. Long-terms storage foods usually need more time to cook and can use a lot of fuel. Short-term, or a 3-month supply, is much easier to work with when there isn’t electricity. I have examples to support this.
Chapter 4 – This is the longest chapter and is about long-term food storage. Their basics list is low on milk and isn’t quite the basics found here at Basic Food Storage, but the list is similar.
“most can even be stored in a garage” – I don’t think so unless everyone lives in a dry, cool climate.
Storage life needs to be looked at as a guideline. It’s not completely accurate. Neither are the storage life numbers for grains.
I’m not sure why they don’t like the price of whole oat groats.
They are biased towards white wheat and make red wheat sound like a bad choice. It’s not. Store both for different reasons.
Do your own price comparisons on ancient grains. They don’t have to be as expensive as the chart tells you they are. Also, the shelf life estimates are too conservative. They can compare to whole wheat and oats. One important thing about ancient grains they forgot is that several are complete proteins.
There is good information on beans but I wouldn’t necessarily regard them as “the ultimate superfood”.
They forgot shelf stable milk and canned cheese.
I don’t consider eggs to be part of a long-term supply but they forgot freeze dried eggs in their comparisons. They consider eggs a necessity (which they are not). You can read my take on dried eggs and even request a copy of Without Eggs, if you wish.
There is a good fruit chart but remember to consider what you will be using stored fruit for, your available options, and your preferences. They also omitted a few options but probably not purposely. The same is true of the vegetable chart.
Unfortunately, they fell prey to one of the big myths concerning sugar and oxygen absorbers. They also use some incorrect terms. Sugar cannot go “rancid.” Recommended sugar storage is for dry climates. “Make Your Own Sugars” is included but be aware that there really will be some differences when you bake with your homemade sugars. And they need to tell us why you shouldn’t microwave honey.
The pre-made food kits are addressed, both for long-term and for emergency use. They have 7 rules for buying “buckets and bundles” which you should pay attention to. Remember they have both worked for food storage companies and have some “insider” information.
There are 71 recipes. Many use some fresh ingredients and then give shelf stable substitutes. That helps you see how to adapt your own recipes. They should have been more careful with their recipe choices, though. The Peanut Butter Chocolate Smoothie uses the freeze-dried bananas which they earlier cautioned you about using. The Baked Omelet Roll uses the egg powder which they previously told you makes terrible scrambled eggs and omelettes. Lunch recipes are mostly snacks but there is a lot of variety in the dinner recipes.
They include a page of tips for using whole wheat flour. It is ONLY their opinion that white wheat is better than red. Decide for yourself which you like better and store both red and white wheat for different purposes. Their substituting rules have everything to do with flavor and nothing to do with food science. You cannot substitute straight across without affecting texture and other qualities of baked goods.
In the back of the book are some brief guides to gardening, dehydrating, canning, and sprouting. They make some good book recommendations which you should look at because you cannot follow their instructions and get good results without learning more about each subject. I take issue with some of their statements about dehydrating. Be aware that the steam canner information has changed and some of their canning information/instructions are faulty. On the other hand, they show how easy it is to sprout seeds and grains.
I like how they teach that food storage meals can be “normal,” that food storage helps you save money, and helps you eat better. They are not big proponents of freeze-dried foods nor of dried powders such as peanut butter powder, honey powder, vanilla powder, shortening powder, and others.
Here are some other things I like about this book:
• The monthly grocery shopping calendar for sales and seasonal items.
• The use of menu planning and back-up plans.
• Explanations of food storage “lingo.”
• A label decoder with some good advice.
• Food storage company secrets revealed.
• How to get a deal on your food storage.
• 40% of the book addresses long-term food storage.
• It addresses common anti-grain propagandas.
• Instructions are included for using beans in place of butter and oil.
• Multiple methods for cooking beans are included.
• Whey milks are discussed.
• Comments about freeze-dried foods support my views.
• Canned food is considered an important part of food storage.
• Information on freeze-dried foods is very instructive.
• There are valuable tips on dehydrated and freeze-dried vegetables.
• All meat options are discussed.
• Mixes are compared and there are good ideas and recommendations for mixes.
• It doesn’t forget your pets.
Here are some things I don’t like about this book:
• Different climates are not considered.
• Different areas of the country are not considered.
• The “whys” are not always explained.
• Some important things are missing such as what kind of container to store salt in.
• Most of the recommended storage solutions are not space efficient.
• 2/3 of the recipes have the fresh ingredients first with the shelf stable substitute in parentheses. Food storage recipes should encourage the use of storage foods first.
• Most of the baking recipes use powdered eggs.
• The lunch recipes are mostly just snacks.
• There is an anti-red wheat sentiment.
• There are a LOT of opinions and they lull you into thinking they are facts.
• The layout is tiring for me to read.
• Online support ceased less than 4 years after publication.
• There is no spiritual basis for what is being taught and encouraged.
Would I recommend this book? In spite of what I don’t like about it, I would recommend it, especially for those new to food storage. Even those who have experience can learn something from it. Just remember that their websites and other resources are no longer active (but information and recipes are still available) and it is full of opinions, though most are good opinions.
Their current website is Store This, Not That! (but it is no longer active).