Purchase and store food items for future use in case of crisis.
Preserving food has always served as a hedge against some future time when food is not as readily available. Grocery stores offer canned, frozen, dried and freeze-dried foods that have long shelf lives. People with gardens, or access to them, preserve foods for later use. In addition to the natural seasons of food production, it's possible for food to become scarce when a natural disaster strikes, with roads and other means of delivery closed for indefinite periods of time. If you are concerned about the availability of food at some future time, create a food storage plan that will see you and your family through a crisis. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Plan ahead by creating menus. The most efficient way to use your storage dollar is to cut as much waste as possible. Know exactly what foods you will need to buy to make the meals on your menus.
2. Make detailed lists of the items you will need to buy. If your menus call for the use of instant mashed potatoes twice in a month's time, don't purchase a jumbo box. Only buy what you need.
3. Decide where you will store your food. A typical pantry will not suffice for long-term storage, nor will the freezer in your refrigerator. Scout out areas of your home such as extra bedrooms, cellars and attics for additional freezer space or for shelving. Unused dresser drawers, trunks, under-the-stairs nooks and garages are also possibilities, but take into account weather conditions such as humidity, heat and freezing temperatures when considering any location.
4. Buy in bulk where possible. Warehouse discount clubs are a good place to find industrial-sized packages of various food items. Plan to repackage bulk items into meal-sized portions if if doing so will not interfere with the expiration dates. For example, buy rice in a large 10-pound bag, then portion it by one-cup measures into zippered plastic storage bags or in bags on a roll with twist ties. Do the same for other dried foods such as pasta or instant mashed potatoes.
5. Watch for sales and use coupons to make the most of your current spending allowance for foods. Many stores offer tremendous savings on a featured item to lure shoppers into their stores. Be diligent in sticking to your list so that your savings are not canceled out by rash purchases elsewhere in the store.
6. Organize your storage. Some people store like items together. Pastas, rice and dried potatoes are stored in one place together. Canned vegetables are put in one single place and boxed mixes in another. Alternatively, some people store a week's or month's worth of specific meals together. In this case, repackaging of bulk items comes in handy.
7. Label all foods carefully. Know exactly when the food must be consumed or discarded. Some foods, such as rice and pinto beans, have extremely long shelf lives. Others go bad more quickly.
8. Rotate your foods so that the newest purchases go to the back of the line. Once you have the quantity of foods you need, use your normal food budget to buy new items for storage while using the older items already in storage for your daily, non-crisis cooking.
9. Can, freeze or dehydrate foods bought or grown in season. Learn to use a pressure canner and a food dehydrator. Preserve fresh fruits, vegetables and meats, always labeling carefully.
Tags: bulk items, food items, foods such, foods that, future time, instant mashed, instant mashed potatoes