Getting Food Storage Started

[amightyfortress]

I always stored six months of food and I'm not even LDS. But I knew people who were LDS and I always thought that was an excellent idea to store food, clothes, water, and other items.

When I began to see the economy going bad about 1.5 years ago and I've also been having a little voice inside keep saying "be prepared" I decided to up my food storage. My goal is a seven year supply. I don't know why seven (not six, not eight... hahaha) but like I said, there's an inner voice urging me to store for seven years... anyway...

The first thing I did was buy a one year supply of the Mormon Four: Wheat, powdered milk, salt, honey. I also bought the Back-to-Basics handcranked grainmill, some Crisco, and a decent sized bottle of vegetable oil.

So in one fell swoop, I had a full one-year supply of food storage for a really reasonable price and I instantly felt a weight lifted from me. Plus, I already had six months food on hand (so it really became a 1.5 year supply). Now, everytime I stock up more, it just expands my food/menu options.

I'd suggest getting the Mormon Four right in the beginning to give you peace of mind... and then adding the additional items to make it more pleasing.

Oh, and don't let the food storage just sit there for decades, use it. I use my wheat, dried beans, etc. all the time so it's always getting rotated.

One more thing... store water, too. Plus other non-food items like clothes, blankets, first aid, etc. But water is very important. The more, the better.

Edited October 5, 2008 by amightyfortress
Forgot to add "store water" :)

[a-train]

Spend $100 extra dollars on canned goods at the grocery store each time you shop.

-a-train

[Iggy]

Spend $100 extra dollars on canned goods at the grocery store each time you shop.

-a-train

What I do is I buy extra of the things we like when they are on sale. EXCEPT fresh foods. I don't have the space to dehydrate right now. (My counter space is practically nil.)

Oh, and that includes non-edibles: T.Paper, soaps, toothpaste. I am going to stock up on baking soda for use as toothpaste. It is cheaper, and if you vacuum seal the box it will last forever on the shelf.

I went and bought plastic tubs that fit on the shelves of my DIY cupboards. I now store all the enveloped foods (soup, gravy, sauce mixes, mashed potatoes, rice/pasta sides,etc.), boxed mixes (rice-a-roni, hamburger/tuna helper,etc.) and instant oatmeal packets in. The boxed items I vacuum seal in plastic, box and all -need the instructions. This keeps the bugs out and the freshness in.

I also am NOT buying any more Mac-n-cheese. It takes milk, butter and water to make. It tastes worse than awful when you make it with powdered milk too, at least to us. I store pasta- either the large elbow macaroni or the twisted rototini, which I prefer, in the Food Saver vacuum sealed canisters. Then I have the Bear Creek Cheese & Broccoli soup mix in the LARGE tub. This makes the best cheese sauce. There isn't enough broccoli to notice either. Though I love broccoli. To reconstitute this all you need is water. So I use the water I cooked the pasta in. When you do this, use more water because pasta water has starch from the pasta in it. Starch is a thickener.

Where I used to live, the local stores had a case goods sale in October. That is when I stocked up on mushrooms, corn, string beans, soup, fruits and also on Top Raman.

Where I live now, they don't do this. So when RTE Soups are on at 10 for $10.00 - I get 20. The next time mushrooms are 10/10.00 for the large can I am getting 30 or 40. We use them in lots of dishes. Same for the vegetables, except I try to wait until they are 20/$10.00. I finally used up the canned tomatoes I had. We just don't use them. Husband discovered he likes the canned spaghetti sauce w/ my additions to them. I do have 12 of the really small cans of tomato paste. I use them instead when a recipe calls for catsup.

puf_the_majic_dragon wrote:

When some people think food storage, they envision an over sized cupboard with regular kitchen ingredients. Other people think "staples" and have case upon case of flour (but no eggs or milk to make anything with it).

I have mine set up like a grocery store. Why store items you don't normally eat or use? We hate the typical boxed mac-n-cheese. We like Velveeta Shells and Cheese - but we can't eat a lot, so the cheese goes bad.

The paper items I have stored in our bedroom. The soaps and bleach I have stored in the laundry room. The bath soaps I unwrap, put in baskets and have them on a shelf in our bedroom. Smells great, and the soap is then drying out. Lasts way longer once you use it. I keep a small basket of unwrapped, dried out soap in the bathroom too- and refill it when needed. Thus when I buy bar soap, I get the 8 or 12 bar packages and get them on sale. I also do not get the moisturizing bar soap. Drying them negates the moisturizing so why pay extra for that?

Also on that shelf with the bar soap are our body cream. Palmer's Shea Butter cream. I only go to Wal Mart once every 6 weeks (to get kitty litter and cat food), that is when I get the Shea Butter cream. Whether it is on sale or not! It is the BEST for super dry skin and cracked skin on your feet!

If I find an off brand of a canned meat at a great price, I buy one. Eat it that night or the next to see if we like it. If we do - I go right back to the store and buy as much as I can afford. Tried a lot of canned meats and am thankful I only bought ONE can!

[pam]

One thing I consider when buying extra canned goods is...if I had no way of cooking them...what things could I eat just out of the can. I've been stocking the little propane cannisters to use on a camping stove if I had to. But I hate stocking too many of them thinking about the safety issue. You just never know what might happen so I've been considering all options.

[NateHowe]

Don't fret about that list to start. The suggested items are a good guideline, but the Church emphasizes that you should store items that your family will eat. If a catastrophe occurs, will you and your family immediately like and know how to cook a 50-pound bag of unmilled wheat? Maybe, but doubtful. Here's a better approach:

Every week, many grocery stores advertise "loss leader" items. This means they promote and sell a few items below their cost in order to get you into the store. They figure they will make up for that loss with the other items you buy while you're there.

My wife and I look in the weekly ads (or look at the specials when we stop in at the store), and if the "loss leader" items are foods we actually use, we buy a large number of them - some to eat now and some to store. This obviously applies to canned goods, but also to fresh foods. For example, we buy strawberries at their cheapest point of the Summer, and then we make jam and freeze some whole berries for use during the winter.

The list you have is probably useful to give you an idea of quantities on categories of foods - you need so many pounds of grain per person per year, etc. However, when the list says you need 10 cans of peas, you shouldn't buy peas unless your family likes them. Maybe build up your green bean supply a bit more to compensate.

Choosing foods your family eats will also help you with rotation. Canned foods don't last forever, and if you aren't eating consistently from your food storage, you are wasting money when things go bad.

Additionally, consider the brands your family enjoys. For example, we eat oatmeal at our house, but the Family Canning oatmeal which you can get from the Church does not taste as good to us as Quaker Oats. We could buy a case of Family Canning oats for storage, but we wouldn't go through it before it expired. It's worth the money for our family to buy the name-brand product because we will use it faster.

[dalepres]

Spend $100 extra dollars on canned goods at the grocery store each time you shop.

-a-train

Spend $10 extra dollars each time you shop. :) Or even $5. In Oklahoma, canned vegetables are about 50 cents a can. Tuna about 75 cents. Then there's Spam and canned hams for $2.50. Canned chili meat without beans (we already have those separately, right?) is about a dollar. At those prices, you can begin to build up a pretty decently short term supply (a few months' worth) within, well, just a few months. :)

[BenRaines]

Spam is a major component in my food storage. Remember the guy in Forrest Gump and all the ways to cook shrimp. I can do the same with Spam.

Ben Raines

[funkymonkey]

I took the lazy route because I've been trying to get my head around food storage for years and just never could get it started... so I just bought all of it at once (2200 calories a day) and it gets shipped to my house for free. :)

[CatchTheRedeye]

As a young non-Mormon single guy the whole idea of a year's supply of food sounded so silly and Chicken Little-ish that it made me laugh. It sounded desperate. But, now, with the way the economy is going my young naive mind can see some wisdom in it. Things could really snowball to head south quickly, and I'm not talking about natural disasters, but man-made economy disasters.

I basically live on ramen noodles and spaghettios. How can I keep ramen noodles long-term without them going bad? I think am going to follow Mr. Raines suggestion and buy a bunch of the bachelor staple of SPAM.

[dalepres]

I basically live on ramen noodles and spaghettios. How can I keep ramen noodles long-term without them going bad?

I don't think you can actually make ramen noodles go bad. And I'm pretty sure that the FDA will tell you that spam combined with either ramen noodles or spaghettios makes a balanced meal.

I took the lazy route because I've been trying to get my head around food storage for years and just never could get it started... so I just bought all of it at once (2200 calories a day) and it gets shipped to my house for free. :)

I'm just curious. How does that stuff taste? And, assuming it is dehydrated, where do you store all the water it will take to reconstitute it? Though "store what you eat and eat what you store" has fallen out of favor in deference to long-term storage of something that will keep you alive, you may find yourself wishing you had some more familiar food in a shorter term shortage.

Maybe you can borrow some Spam to spice it up, though. :) But then when the rest of us are eating beans, rice, wheat, and oatmeal, you can pay it back with some dehydrated cooked diced beef. :)

[ThePhoenixLives]

I procrastinated the development of my food storage until I did the following:

Got on my computer.

Pulled up a Works spreadsheet.

Listed all the meals my family would eat for one week (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

Listed all the toiletries we would use in one week.

Then I went to the store, and bought 1 weeks worth of food and toiletries, and put it in my basement, organized neatly and labeled.

Then, when I had a bit of extra cash, I bought another week's worth.

And so on.

I call my version of food storage "MODERN Food Storage".

I do not have any of the following in my food storage:

Whole wheat

Wheat grinder

Peas (I really do hate peas)

In my food storage, I have all the stuff I actually use, therefore rotation is easy easy easy.

This is just my own way to do this successfully, and I do not mean any disrespect to anyone who follows the bulk whole grain method.

[dalepres]

You have a great start or a great finish on a short-term storage, Phoenix. But you can greatly increase the amount of time you can live on your storage by adding some long-term storage items to what you have. Many like to have a few months of storage using the things we use every day but many of those things won't last for longer term of even a year, let alone two years. That's where the grain and sugar and honey, etc., things that will last a really long time, come in.

You don't have to live on them. You don't have to rotate them. Just store them in a reasonably cool and dry place. Then if you have to live on your supply, blend them into your menu before the short term stuff runs out so it's not such a shock but there's no reason to live on or rotate those things. I have known some LDS kids who never had a fresh glass of milk at home or never had a meal at home that hadn't been dehydrated or freeze-dried.

[married426]

I have a list titled "A Year's Supply For $5 a Week" It's really awsome to use and you just start little by little each week. You can do an internet search with the title and you should find quite a few hits.

Hope this helps!

[amightyfortress]

As a young non-Mormon single guy the whole idea of a year's supply of food sounded so silly and Chicken Little-ish that it made me laugh. It sounded desperate. But, now, with the way the economy is going my young naive mind can see some wisdom in it. Things could really snowball to head south quickly, and I'm not talking about natural disasters, but man-made economy disasters.

I basically live on ramen noodles and spaghettios. How can I keep ramen noodles long-term without them going bad? I think am going to follow Mr. Raines suggestion and buy a bunch of the bachelor staple of SPAM.

Natural disasters happen, too. Did you see the footage from Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ike, the icestorm a few years back in Saint Louis area? Sure, if your home is utterly destroyed, your food storage won't do you much good (except that which you were able to quickly take with you as you evacuated).

But statistically the chances are in your favor that your home/apartment won't be destroyed. But that doesn't mean your life won't be miserable for a few weeks. Depending on the "emergency", there could be no water, no gas, no electric, a run on the stores and no food, no ATM machines, etc.

For instance, all those people in Houston who's houses were fine after Hurricane Ike, but they quickly ran out of food and water and they had no electricity. Did you see them all standing there for hour-after-miserable-hour in the FEMA line waiting for their gov'ment handout of bottled water and some food the gov'ment decided they should eat? Do you want to be one of those people?

I know I don't want to have to stand in line like that. I'm also non-Mormon, yet I have about a three year stash of food now, and a few months of water (working on storing more, and I also own a Katadyn filter and can see Lake Michigan from my backyard).

Be prepared. It's a great feeling.

[amightyfortress]

Why are so many people so anti-wheat, anti-grainmill? My stash of a variety of wheat and my handcranked Back-to-Basics grainmill are my favorite part of food storage. The grainmill is always attached to my kitchen table (unless enough company is coming over that someone needs to sit on that side of the table) and I use my mill and my wheat almost every day.

I make yummy muffins, delicious pancakes, bread, cookies, cakes, flour for gravy, noodles, etc.

The cheapest and tastiest way to round out your food storage is to purchase bulk wheat, a grainmill, and then use it all the time.

[puf_the_majic_dragon]

How can I keep ramen noodles long-term without them going bad?

Ramen noodles go bad? You're kidding :| I think you're talking about cup-o-soups or something cause the regular Maruchan Ramen I buy will last forever.

[WANDERER]

I began with OAMC...I have freezer storage and menus worked out for three months ahead. This works well for everyday living.

I have almost got the one years storage where the priority has been tinned food variety stuff and packages. I divided it into groups: protein, veg, fruit and worked out what the daily consumption would be needed and multiplied from there and worked on variety...putting in comfort foods as well if the price was right. My rollover plan is to use and replace one third/to a quarter of it each year...moving it into the main pantry. Dried milk and flour also goes onto this list...cause I don't think they will store well long term. Not sure. 2/3 of the way to a yearly storeage in this category.

Stuff I already use that fits into the longer term storage plan: rice, sugar, pasta, beans and oatmeal. I already store most of these in larger amounts in 5L containers with handles as part of my usual pantry storeage cause I do bulk cooking and baking for the OAMC.

I figured that I would pick three and work on longterm storage. Rice is actually the most compact...one kilogram...gives you eighty meals: one cup weighs 50 grams, provides a meal for four... was my calculation. When I realised how easy this was to do I didn't know why I had procrastinated for so long.

Done.

With oatmeal and individual serve is 40g so one kg gives you 25 serves. I worked out sugar use as well. Pasta is a bit of a space hog...with one cup of pasta per individual meal...it would make more sense to have flour and make your own...so I don't think I will go into this in a big way. I don't actually incorporate dried beans into my cooking a whole lot so I'll start with minimal amounts. I plan to have this part organised within the next half year and the rest of the yearly storeage. I want to do it in a one year lot, three year lot and then to 5 years. Does anyone have a problem with setting limits on this!!!!!!! For some reason I have a psychological barrier to storing more than 5 years...for me it's the difference between moderate and starting to look a little paranoid.

Wheat grinding and storing grain I have looked at...but I think getting what I do normally happening is the priority...and I've put it as the reward at the end of getting this done and into the routine...I get to buy a flour mill LOL. I think it will start with the usual 5L amount in storeage and using it and then building from there. Flour mills and grain aren't that easy to access here. Two or three companies that retail.

The one thing I struggle with is oil...I have no idea what kind to store/how long..and dried shortening isn't readily available here. I've looked at ghee instead. It's the gap in the system. Oh yeah...and all this and no 72 hour bag...LOL. On the upside I've covered household basics like toilet paper, soap etc. Have seeds etc and herb garden and dabbling in vegetables.

Yes...I'm doing this for one person....so the space isn't horrendous. I take my hat off to anyone who does it on a family scale...oh my goodness.

[pam]

I feel like I hit oil yesterday. The store in which I am one of the managers was bought out by another company about 6 weeks ago. Many of the items we had on the shelves are not carried by the new company. Yesterday we marked everything down 75%...man I went crazy. Spent about $70 on what would have probably cost me $400 otherwise.

Everything from napkins, paper towels, toilet paper, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, bandaids, feminine hygiene products, light bulbs, baking soda, dental floss, shoe laces, jams and jellies, dehydrated meals,...the list just goes on and on.

And where did it all go? Right into my 3 month supply I am trying to get built up. Step by step.

[auntie54]

Pam,

I don't like the thought of the propane cannisters, either, and only keep two.

I purchased some smaller stovepipe (now if I can just figure out how to cut it) to make a rocket stove. You can cook with twigs, small brush, and any other tinder you can find using one of these. I have some unused bricks for a frame, and some rebar for the pot support. One of these days I'll get busy and put it together. Rocket Stove - Solar Cooking

I haven't tried to make a solar oven yet, but that's also on my todo list.

[Iggy]

Ramen noodles go bad? You're kidding :| I think you're talking about cup-o-soups or something cause the regular Maruchan Ramen I buy will last forever.

Yep, they go bad. Had it happen to me. Boy is it nasty too! :mad:They will only last about 6 months before they start going stale.

The plastic they are in just isn't thick enough to keep them fresh for very long.

I am the vacuum seal Queen. Vacuum seal them.

[yeti_mawl]

We hide a lot of food storage under beds or behind furniture. We have a Country Living Grain Mill mounted on a board hanging out in the garage plus water storage. If you don't have a garage or a basement it can become a challenge to keep everything with you.

[WANDERER]

The rocket stove looks a little like a Kelly Kettle/storm kettle. A small 1L kelly kettle and a dreampot (thermocooker) seem to be good fuel saving ideas. Also with the hot days here a solar shower type device would give you plenty of hot water for reconstituting dried food or steam cooking using a water bath/vacuum flask type method (think yoghurt maker).

[rayhale]

Here is a recipe book that the church made up, it has good recipes for basic food commodities, such as those in bishops’ storehouses. http://www.ldscatalog.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10151&productId=39247&langId=-1&sortId=3&sortOr=1&sTerm=Deseret&sNVPs=%26beginIndex%3D0%26pageSize%3D200%26searchTerm%3DDeseret%26searchType%3DALL%26sType%3DSimple%26pageId%3D1%26pageCt%3D15&retURLtext=Back%20to%20'Deseret'%20Search&retURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ldscatalog.com%2Fwebapp%2Fwcs%2Fstores%2Fservlet%2FCatalogSearchResultView%3FcatalogId%3D10151%26amp%3BstoreId%3D10151%26amp%3BlangId%3D-1%26beginIndex%3D0%26pageSize%3D200%26searchTerm%3DDeseret%26searchType%3DALL%26sType%3DSimple%26pageId%3D1%26pageCt%3D15%26sortId%3D3%26sortOr%3D1

[rayhale]

There are a few things people need to think about.

First is to find out what you buy the most of, then to bring a calculator, a pencil, and a notebook, to some local stores in the area. This way you can write down, not only prices of food, and other things, but also what they are per ounce (per item, or whatever it is). After you do this, find out what store will give you the over all best deal, look at local newspapers for specials, it could save you a lot of money, like Pam did.

Second is to really find out if the warehouse stores, like Sam’s Club, or Costco, are better deals then supermarkets; sometimes they are not. Do you really need 100 rolls of toilet paper? A five-gallon jar of peanut butter, ranch, or a 50-100 pound bag of sugar or flower? Not only that, but do you have the space for such items? Be careful of buying foods that need to be refrigerated or be in the freezer, again, do you have the space, or like some people had to do, throw it away?

[Guest DeborahC]

I have a rocket stove. I love that thing!

Do you know you can purchase some drypack canned supplies online with no shipping costs from the CHurch?

Here is the website:

Online Catalog - Home Storage