“Honey, There’s Something Strange under the Bed”

Moving our family of four into a 10- by 55-foot mobile home presented a few challenges, not the least of which was trying to find a place for our food supply. Our solution is simple: we sleep on it!

We keep our year’s supply of wheat, beans, rice, peas, honey, powdered milk, and other dry foods in five-gallon plastic buckets that have been approved for food storage. When we moved into our mobile home, we abandoned our traditional bed frame and placed our box springs and mattress on our wheat storage buckets, which we stacked two high. We placed these stacks in strategic support positions: one under each corner of the bed and another halfway between each corner. We used our wheat buckets for the main supports because they are slightly taller than our other storage buckets. This gives us enough room to easily slide out buckets containing food that we frequently use. (We packed some wheat in smaller buckets so that we have plenty to eat without disturbing our bed frame.)

I sewed an extra long dust ruffle to conceal our cache.

We have received some comments and questions about our “high-rise” bed. But that gives us a chance to share our almost-perfect food storage solution with members who face a similar situation. And for those who aren’t familiar with the Church and the practice of food storage, it gives us a good opportunity to do missionary work.—Glennis Y. Roper, Rainier, Oregon