In the end, you will be just what you want to be. Justin Hayward

FOOD STORAGE TIPS 

Food storage is one of those philosophies that can contribute towards being an organized person that anticipates and plans ahead for the needs of their family and friends.  Although with the LDS religion, it is a part of the temporal preparation that is encouraged, people that decide to accumulate food storage are not of a “dooms – day” mentality or have any desire to cause panic. It is rather a school of thought that desires to plan ahead and store some food for a “rainy day,” whether it is prolonged illness, unemployment, unavailability of food, etc. 

In 40 years of marriage, we have been very glad several times that we had a large stockpile of food because of loss of employment.  We turned to our food storage to help supplement our budget until he could find employment again. Another time was during the trucker’s strike in the 70’s. We felt less vulnerable than other people because we had extra food on hand.  We lived in Florida many years and when a hurricane was forecast, everybody was at the grocery store buying food, water, and supplies.  It is a good feeling to see the shelves empty within hours and feel OK because our plans and action had already been made and we could then help others. 

Especially as Americans, we just expect everything we need to be there all the time.  It would be quite a shocker for those who like very much to eat, as does myself, and there be no food available to purchase. 

Recently, in our small city of 50,000 people, about half the people were without water for almost 24 hours, including ourselves.  I was shopping and found out the news when I saw a crowd of people in the bottled water aisle and asked what was going on.  I didn’t feel panic or near as much vulnerability as some of the people there because I knew I had gallons of water stored at my home along with a stockpile of food.  Within a few hours, the bottled water in this town could not be found in stores at any price. What an eye opener and thought provoking situation!  Interesting enough, the attitude with many was how could the City do this to us!  Unexpected things happen and we need to be prepared.

Here is a dozen considerations you might want to consider as you build your food storage or food stock pile, however you refer to it: 

1. Start with basic foods. The more basic foods you store, (flour, sugar, salt, yeast, rice shortening, etc) the longer shelf life it will have and you will avoid many additives and your cost will be less. Buy only what you and your family WILL EAT, so you can cycle it through and do not buy most foods that you cannot eat within ONE year. If you do it this way, it will not be a negative experience because you will still have fresh and flavorful food. 

2. Start small. “ Rome wasn’t built in a day” and you can build your food storage week by week by buying extra each week. When you get extra money from a mortgage escrow reimbursement check or IRS refund, you may be able to use part of that money to build your food storage. Hopefully, you will be able to buy items on sale. If you are so fortunate, the faster you acquire it the better. 

3. Date everything when you buy it.  Buy the freshest canned goods and food you can find. Even though a lot of foods have an expiration date, you will want to know when you bought the food to plan on how long it took you to eat it and when to replenish that item. 

4. Physically organize your food. If you do not take care of your “investment” you will not get your monies worth.  Clear an area in your cabinets, closets, or use your pantry wisely and pretty soon you will have what looks like a mini grocery store! If you do not have the space to keep it all in one place, prepare dry locations that have temperature control in order that your food will last longer. What a more secure feeling seeing all of the food gives a person. 

5. Take care of the food you have purchase.  If you can’t build a pantry or buy racks with shelves that will allow the cans to roll as you take one out, turn your cans every 3 months or so to keep the food fresher longer. Buy the freshest canned good and do not buy dented cans. 

6. For your dry foods such as wheat, flour, sugar, rice, use oxygen absorption packages. They have available 100cc, 200cc, 300cc.  Of course the bigger the packet the less you have to use. Read guidelines in a book or on the Internet for how much to use depending on what size pail or container you have. 

7. Place emphasis on foods that store well.  Food likes rice and pasta are “miracle foods” because after cooking you have twice as much bulk as you started with.  It is great especially when you have a BIG food storage because you have lots of children at home. These tend to be the less expensive items (rice) that you can store extra for family and friends that may not see the need or do not have the money to do this until there is a crisis and they will love you for sharing with them. This goes for your supply of water also. 

8. Consider your facilities that you have to store your food.  If you mainly have kitchen cabinets, then you need to think about what will fit in your shelving space and heights when considering what sizes of packages to buy or what size containers (5 lb buckets) to buy to divide up a bulk amount of a certain food such as rice.  If you buy many items of the same thing, it works out well to buy all the same size of that item because it helps them stack well and utilize your space efficiently. If you have a big pantry or food storage area, it might not be such an important consideration, but most people have space limitations.  More so nowadays, big packages of food items aren’t necessarily the most economical way to go.  Especially for older people, it is a lot easier to buy and handle the smaller packages or containers. Check each size and compare prices. 

9.  Think about complementary food storage items. This would include such items as water.  It is recommend to have at least enough water for EACH person for THREE days.  This does NOT include water to flush toilets (gallon jugs of water filled up with tap water are great for this) or for gallon bottled water for cooking.  It won’t matter if you have tons of pasta stored, if you do not have water to cook it. The same goes for macaroni & cheese.  If you do not have dried MILK to use in your recipe, it won’t matter if you have the macaroni & cheese. Also, you will need powdered EGGS and BUTTER. (Honeyville Grain on the Internet is one source) In my opinion, when you buy quality foods, these items are not negative to use or eat. There is a lot of planning that goes into this process, but it is well worth it.  It is a very wonderful feeling to have planned and acted upon all of this. It doesn’t matter what canned goods you have if you do not have a manual CAN OPENER, so be sure to start with this item! 

10. Select a portion of foods that do not need to be cooked in case the electricity goes off for any reason, such as a hurricane or tornado.  It is each person’s choice what they store, of course, but I like to have canned goods of baked beans, Vienna sausages, etc., that can be opened (now a lot of them have pop-up lids) and eaten. I know most beans are usually less expensive if you buy them dried, but I feel more secure if I can have these beans, etc. as close to being able to eat as possible.  I may not have the extra water or electricity (if I am running off a generator) to soak and cook them for hours. 

11. Learn skills relating to food storage.  You may NOT want to tend a garden now or do your own canning, but if you are not into doing this, in your spare time READ about it and have the knowledge in case you HAD to do it!  Even if you have a few tomato plants and peppers, you can experiment and find out what works for you and the “whys” and “hows” about such an endeavor. It is a very good idea to buy basic seeds and store them in a dry air-tight jar for a future time when you may need them. An employee of a store that sells plants and seeds said that sales of these items have really increased, so more people must be planning ahead and trying to cut food costs. 

12. Buy complementary appliances that facilitate your food storage. You may want a deluxe mixer with a dough hook such as Kitchen Aid, and a dehydrator (we love banana chips), maybe a pressure canner, a wheat grinder (for a rainy day if you are not into this). An electric bread maker is a wonder for those not into doing the whole process of making bread.  The loaves you can make with bread makers are great! 

We can use our time and money for whatever choices we make, but I know from experience that it gives great peace of mind to have food storage or food stockpile. There are many items we can spend our money on that will not matter one bit if we are hungry or see our family and friends in need. 

If you decide to get started on food storage, take these points into consideration.  If you have any questions or concerns, email me: editor@ ldsjunction.com.