Building 3-month Supply

Having food storage does not mean it just has to be wheat, oats, and dried beans. Yes, it is important to have the staples but what if your income comes to a whopping halt and you are left with just your savings. Think of your food storage as savings you can eat. Don't you want to still be able to make the occasional batch of brownies or a birthday cake for you kid? Who knows how long you may be out of work and when you are in a stressful situation that homemade pizza can be a staple to your emotional and mental wellbeing. So while building your food supply think about everything you use now as something you might want in that "savings account".

Where can you start? What can you buy? This is all about you and your family. What I buy, your family might not eat! Make a list of meals you normally eat. Which of them have a basis of frozen or shelf-stable foods? Some ideas: Pastas and sauce or ingredients for sauce, chili (canned or homemade from dried beans) and cornbread (from a mix or grind your own corn), Rice and chicken with frozen veggies. There may be items you can't store for three months. Ask yourself if you could still eat the meal without those items (sour cream, fresh veggies) if there was an emergency where fresh food wasn't available. If the answer is yes, store it! Here is a list of foods to give you an idea of where to start and get your thoughts flowing as to what you may want and need.

This is what I do: I decide on 14 days of different dinners, breakfasts (granted breakfast meals repeat so I just have 14 days planned but not all different), and sufficient snacks and lunches. I write out all the ingredients needed for those meals/snacks (making sure they can all be stored) and multiply the amount by 6 (you are having the meal once every 2 weeks and there are 12 weeks in 3 months, ergo 12/2=6). That lets you know how much you need for those meals.

Keep in mind there are several approaches as to how to plan for your food storage, whether it be short or long-term, and there really is no wrong way as long as you are building one!! One food storage "trainer", as she calls herself, and one of the many from whom I will be gathering information, recommends this inventory tracker to beginning the building process. The church offers this food storage order form that you can use as a guide for a more long-term supply (all of which can be purchased at the cannery). But do whatever works for YOU! Remember we are still in a transitory phase in our lives - students, growing families, many of us not homeowners yet, etc. Adapt to your family needs at every stage.

Key Points from the "food storage trainer":

• Make a list of foods you eat on a regular basis, and determine how much you would go through in three months.
• Gradually purchase these foods in bulk as they go on sale
• Use and rotate these foods in all your daily cooking.
• Constantly replenish the stocks of these foods as they go on sale again.
• Don’t forget to include non-food items in this step as well. Get a 3 month supply of NECESSITIES such as diapers, medications, toilet paper, toiletries, etc. Remember, only the essentials for now.
• Benefits include: saving money by buying foods on sale and having foods you normally eat in times of economic or any other type of hardship.