Being Prepared is more than Food Storage

[amightyfortress]

I now store a one-year supply of food (see my other post regarding my easy rotation method).

If I was going to help someone put together a one month "starter" food storage, I'd probably go with the easy whole-meal-at-a-time method. I'd ease them into it with familiar foods to show them how easy it is. Once they see it's easy, they may willingly expand to two months on their own. Then 3 months, 4 months, 5, 6, 7...

This would be for one person.

When you're doing your regular grocery shopping, add your additional "food storage" items to the cart.

Week 1:

Buy 4 boxes of noodles, 4 jars of spaghetti sauce, and a shaker of parmesan cheese (if you like it). You could also add 4 1-lb packages of hamburger to the freezer. POOF! You now have spaghetti dinner once a week for a month (plus leftovers!)

Week 2:

Buy 4 mac-n-cheese, 4 oil-packed tuna, 4 cans of peas or corn. Now you have macaroni-tuna-veggie casserole once a week for a month. (Using oil-packed tuna means you don't need to use butter--just open the can and dump it in. If you don't like tuna, you could use canned chicken, ham or turkey, but then you need butter)

Week 3:

If you like pizza, you could buy 4 and put them in the freezer. Then you can have pizza night once a week.

Week 4:

Like pancakes? Buy a bottle of cooking oil, a box of just-add-water pancake mix, and a bottle of syrup. Now you can have a pancake breakfast once a week for a month.

Week 5:

A bag of rice, 4 cans of those LaChoy meat-and-chinese-veggies, and a bottle of soysauce will give you Asian-night once a week for a month.

Week 6: ...and so on and so on. If anyone actually wants more meal ideas, I could provide more suggestions, but I think you get the idea. Just tailor it to what you like, make sure the product has a shelf-life, and buy 4 complete meals worth.

Continue doing this for 21 weeks and you'll have 3-meals-a-day-for-one-month stored up. (7 weeks need to be supper foods. 7 weeks need to be lunch foods. 7 weeks need to be breakfast foods) Don't worry about snacks, for a single person, you'll have plenty of leftovers.

I realize this isn't the most optimal nutrition, but with time, people learn to add beans, dried peas, wheat, etc. I think if beginners try to jump in with the more "skill intense" cooking and food storage all at once, it might scare them off and discourage them.