How to Gather Food Storage When You’ve Got No Space (or Money)


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Sometimes I think that if I were ever to write an autobiography, I would entitle it Amy Keim: The Real-Life Hunger Games and hope that Suzanne Collins wouldn't sue me. The title wouldn't refer to me living in a post-apocalyptic district, constantly shooting my crossbow, nor trying to decide between a compelling love triangle; rather, it'd be a direct reference to the fact that I'm literally always hungry. I just love food so much. That's why whenever I see articles about food storage, I panic. If an emergency were to happen, I'd first check on the whereabouts and safety of my family, and then I'd be like, "Where my food at? All this stress means I need a pizza and I need it now." But being a poor college student, I thought for a long time that I couldn't afford food storage, let alone find room for it in my apartment. Unsurprisingly, I was wrong. No matter how meager your circumstances, you can find room for food storage — and...

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Shortly after I left my first husband and before I married hubby #2 I built my food storage. I was on food stamps and getting some assistance from the church (hygiene, etc & items that food stamps won't pay for.

I had already bought a dehydrator and was getting to be quite good at drying foods. Frozen vegetables are already blanched so all you need to do is dump a 16 oz bag into a colander, run hot tap water over it to thaw, then drain well. I dumped it out on a cotton towel & patted dry. Then put one 16 oz bag per dehydrator sheet. I would take advantage of the Ugly Vegetable's sale. From mushrooms, sweet red/green/yellow/orange bell peppers, and many of the fruits. Once they were done, they got vacuum sealed. 1/2 of a sheet per vacuum bag.

In the last 8 years, I have been sprouting seeds, dry beans, lentils, etc. I buy my sprouting seeds from a local organic, GMO-free co-op, in bulk. Keep them in airtight containers, away from direct sunlight AND kitchen lights. I had my Handy-Gal make shelves to go over my kitchen sink - in front of the window (it is tinted and no ultraviolet rays get in) -between the cupboard on either side. The wood is 3/4" plywood, and someday it may even get painted. The containers are square plastic, clear - but I put foil wrapping paper around the outside, then labeled them.

Each winter the fresh salad greens are bitter. So I sprout a lot of greens (alfalfa, mung beans, radish, broccoli, etc.) and eat them instead of the bitter fresh spinach, romaine, leafy red & green lettuce.

Store a lot of dry beans & legumes. Pinto, black, great northern, lentils, green pea, chickpea, etc. In airtight containers. Sprout them 24 hours before you cook them. In doing so you reduce the flatulence power by 75% and increase nutrition by 75%. Now, these will go stale over time. They will never tender up when you cook them, so by sprouting them, you can see if they will tender up during cooking. I had some great northern beans for nearly 10 years. Those babies would NOT cook tender. I took the remainder of the 15 pounds and ground them up in my flour mill. I use that Bean flour when I make gravy or my savory breadsticks.

I went crazy buying long term food storage with a $1,500.00 windfall that 2nd Hubby and I got. The #10 cans of muffin mix bulged after 2 years in storage. The manufacturer told me that all I needed to do was add some more baking powder. They never said how much more, but that can only make 3.5 batches of muffins. In hindsight, it wasn't a profitable purchase. If you can get Marie Callendar's muffin mix in one batch foil envelopes that DON'T have fat or eggs in them for under $3.00 - THAT is the better buy.  Same with Betty Crocker Cookie & Brownie mix. Or boxed cake mixes (but vacuum seal the boxes). Just make sure they don't already have oil &/or eggs in the mix.

Don't buy large containers of baking powder either. Once opened, it goes flat fast. Unless you are a Bakery, only buy the small containers. Or better yet make your own on an as needed basis.

To Make 1 Tablespoon of Baking Powder
  1. Measure 1 teaspoon baking soda and 2 teaspoons cream of tartar into a bowl.
  2. Mix until thoroughly combined and use right away.

My non-LDS parents lived through the Depression, and learned to store foods when they could. Mom and Grandma canned & preserved. Mom baked 17 loaves of bread every Monday and we ran out on Saturday evening. Even then we wouldn't eat store bought bread - Balloon bread. So they made baking powder biscuits and cornbread. Mom also bought a few extra cans of whatever was on sale to add to our Grocery Store Pantry. She only bought elbow macaroni and spaghetti noodles. All other pasta she made from scratch.

Only buy extra of the foods you eat all the time. Remember the Use By, Sell Buy, Best By dates were intended for the retailer so that they would rotate the foods. Old to the front, new to the back. If you have a can or cans of corn with the date stamped on it that expired 3 to 9 months ago, and there are no bulges, chances are it is still good and nutritous. When you buy boxes of foods such as Rice-A-Roni, vacuum seal it as soon as you bring it home. Just stop the vacuuming once the bag is snug to the box. Now, these bagged boxes won't stand up, so store them in plastic totes that fit your shelf. Same for bagged pasta - vacuum seal it without removing it from its packaging. Stop the vacuuming once it has snugged up or else you are going to end up with pasta dust when you finally open it up. IF that happens, use the pasta dust to make gravy with or to thicken stews & soups and savory sauces.

Neither my 1st husband, myself or Hubby #2 like boxed instant Mac & Cheese. I bought Velveeta Shells and Cheese for a while. Love that stuff. BUT when the cheese in the foil pouch goes bad, it goes REALLY bad. Believe their dating on that one. So I now just buy the mini shells and the Velveeta 3 pack cheese sauce.

Also - it does NOT take 6+ quarts of water to cook 2 cups of pasta. I cook 2 cups of pasta in a 3 qt saucepan. If you are in a situation where water needs to be rationed - then IF you are going to have canned vegetables with your pasta dinner, drain the liquid from your canned veggie into the pasta saucepan, add water & cook. You can nuke your veggie without all that canned liquid, just do it for 2.30 min in a 1250 W oven, or 3 min in a 1000 W overn. Hubby and I love canned beets. Add that liquid to the pasta water and you get red pasta! Then add the Velveeta cheese and you get a deep ornage-red dish. Or if you decide to use Alfredo sauce you get a pink to magenta pasta dish.

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