Food Storage

Where to begin???

You know what you and your family will eat. Learn how to prepare the food you buy. Make sure it sounds good to you! You don't want to be in miserable circumstances and then eat miserable food. 

INVENTORY. Keep track. When food expires, how many servings, how many cans/buckets etc. It is easiest to write everything down after every order. Its tedious, but it will pay off! I have made a blank one that works for us if you'd like to use it. 
Spreadsheet of Food Storage Inventory

Basics. The LDS Church Home Storage Centers  is an excellent start. They are usually the very cheapest supplies. They will provide the basics, such as: 
  • Apple Slices
  • Black Beans
  • Pinto Beans
  • Refried Bean (flakes)
  • White beans
  • Carrots
  • Hot Cocoa Mix
  • White Flour
  • Fruit Drink Mix
  • Macaroni
  • Nonfat Dry Milk (I have my own opinion of this) 
  • Quick Oats
  • Regular Oats
  • Dry Onions
  • Pancake Mix
  • Potato Flakes
  • Potato Pears
  • White Rice
  • Spaghetti
  • Starter Kit
  • Granulated sugar
  • Hard Red Wheat 
  • Hard White Wheat
An order form is found here. If you decide to go this route their options are in #10 cans or in bags. I have bought the bags and ordered food storage grade buckets from Home Depot. Pack of 10 buckets is $52.10 = $5.21/ bucket. Lids are $19.50 for 10. All = $7.16 per bucket. If you decide to do the gamma seal $39.64 for 6 pack= $11.82 per bucket. 

You can find many other basics at Walmart and Costco. You can order online or go to their stores. They are all fairly inexpensive. 

Other food. 
A comparison chart is found here. Pay attention to SERVING SIZES. 
Basics are an excellent place to start, but if I just had to live off of those I'd go crazy. No variety and no fruits, veggies, seasonings (or treats!).  I'll tell you this has been hard and has taken a LOT of time to do. So this is my finding. 

Breakfasts: They can be very inexpensive.
I have gathered a lot of:
-OATMEAL, cinnamon, and honey. (Costco)
-Pancake mix (beware, not a long shelf life), syrup (cheapest at Costco) 
-Creamy Wheat Cereal (Augason Farms)
- Cooked wheat is a delicious alternative

Lunches and Dinners: 
(Each have links to their emergency food)
1. Walmart
3. Costco

Specifics for Family
Our family drinks a lot of milk. I have decided to make that a priority in our food storage. I like the idea of instant milk instead of powdered milk. (You can read a comparison of the two HERE.) I have bought milk from Costco & Augason Farms. 

Other specifics might include: 
- Gluten Free Food
- Dairy allergies
- Non GMO
- Etc. 

Pre-made meals.
Every food storage company has their own pre-made meals. These are excellent!
In times of distress the preparation of food will be difficult, but so so important. This is a bit more pricey, but it is worth it to me.
Some options include:

Fruits and Veggies
This is a very high priority for my family. I have found a variety of resources, but I stick with these two companies because they're affordable and have what I need. 
  • Costco- They have been out of stock of many items but seem to restock fairly often.
  • Augason Farms
Gardening: I have also bought quite a few cans of a variety of seeds. I grow a garden now and I want to grow a garden in the future, even if I don't have access to new seeds.

SEASONINGS
I would suggest a variety. Some ideas may include

  • YEAST!
  • Taco Seasoning
  • Italian Seasoning
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Curry
  • Cinnamon
  • Vanilla
  • Creole
  • Anything your family eats now, stock up! Costco is a great place to find a lot of these

HOW TO COOK MY FOOD???
I wrote a post about that. You can find it HERE.

OTHER WEBSITES
Other really great and more in depth websites dealing with preparedness & food storage
- Prepared LDS Family
- Purpose Driven Motherhood
- Your Own Home Store
- The Survival Mom
- My Food Storage Cookbook
- Preparedness Pro
THIS is another list of more websites to check out. 

RECIPES

For recipes check out the RECIPES tab. 

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