Who here has been storing food for years - and want to post pictures?

[Karen sn]

I amazed that folks think storing food is bizzare.

How many of your great, great grandmothers canned enough summer produce to last all winter?

 

I think it is far more weird to depend on the infrastructure of this country to run smoothly with no upset whatsoever. To say nothing of natural disasters.

 

 

So I am curious - who here stores food, how much, and care to share pictures?

 

I will be back to post mine in a few minutes.

 

ETA - well, we are low on rice and actually have very little cereal...... but here are my shelves.

We store food and then something financial happens and we eat alot of it.

Then we store more.......

 

OK - how do I attach a picture or insert it?

Edited May 2, 2009 by Karen sn

[Tree House Academy]

Well, I don't have pictures, but we have stored food for years. We have a closet that is starting to get full and will only be moreso by the end of summer (growing/canning). We have a chest freezer (in the school room closet of all places LOL) that is full of meat and our pantry and fridge are stocked. I wish it wasn't spread out over the house like that - I would love a whole room devoted to food storage...but alas, it will have to wait.

 

I will add that my MIL has a much better storage area than I do and it is like going to a country grocery store. There is a little bit of EVERYTHING there. :)

 

ETA: We buy flour in 50 pound bags and seperate it out into containers. We do the same with 20 pound bags of sugar. We buy bags of rice and pasta, large quanities of butter and cheeses (we freeze those). A lot of our storage is canned goods and dry goods that can be made into something if the need arises. We don't stock potato chips, little debbies, and pepsi. LOL Just the staples. We may get *tired* of the food we store if we ever had to eat it over and over and over again, but we wouldn't starve in the face of a crisis and that is our goal.

Edited May 2, 2009 by Tree House Academy

[Ravin]

I would love to be able to store food. But other than stocking up a few staples and faves when on sale and I happen to be flush at the moment, I haven't, mostly because we've been living on a shoestring for so long. I simply can't afford to buy things in bulk, even when I find a really good sale or I know the bulk price would save us money in the long haul--when you need milk, eggs, bread, and cheese, and have ten bucks, buying the cheese in bulk just isn't going to happen, kwim? When I had a real food budget, I'd buy the maximum allowed on a 10/$10 breakfast cereal sale, Last time I came across such a sale, I only bought five boxes, because I only had $5 I could spend!

 

In an absolute emergency, we could probably live on the food in the house for a few weeks, at least. I've got enough grain and flour to last us months and months at our regular consumption rate--but I'd go through it quick if I started baking bread or biscuits every day instead of buying bread, for example., and some of our meals would start to be monotonous or wierd. You can only eat beans and rice so many ways before it's just more beans and rice!

 

If something happened to our freezer/fridges, we'd have a lot less. I tend to buy frozen rather than canned veggies, and I rely on the freezer to keep grains and flour longer than "room temperature", which at times tends to be more like 85F (Right now I've got the A/C set to 86, because I dread another electric bill like some of the ones we had last summer).

 

Ideally, we'd have a full tank or two of propane, a camp stove along with the grill (for camping and for cooking in case of power outage), various dry foods stored in vacuum-sealed/neutral gas containers, and plenty of canned goods. But we just don't eat those canned goods, and I can't afford to rotate them from my pantry to the food bank.

 

I also can't even manage to keep up with the landscaping in our yard, never mind starting a garden. I really don't know how some people do it all.

[Tree House Academy]

How many of your great, great grandmothers canned enough summer produce to last all winter?

 

My great, great grandma, my grandma, and my dh and I (my mom lives by the day..she is a whole other post!). We still can what we grow and we try hard to make it last the winter. We can and freeze corn, beets and tomatoes. We grow regular and new potatoes and store them in a refrigeration system that never gets too cold, but doesn't let them get warm enough in the winter to sprout. We freeze our own broccoli and spinach as well. Dh grows lettuce, peppers, and more squash than we can even eat in a year. Unfortunately, our methods of keeping zucchini and yellow squash are poor. The winter and spaghetti squash does take us through the winter, though.

 

Each month, for 4 adults, we spend around $250 on ACTUAL groceries (we spend more, but that buys the other various essentials like toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, etc.).

[MamaSheep]

I'm working toward the country grocery store...lol. But so far I'm mostly focusing on the basics. I try to keep at least several weeks' worth of what we normally eat around, except perishables, of course. We have a well-stocked pantry, and a chest freezer for meats and frozen veggies, and a storage area in the basement where I keep some of the bulkier items like cases of canned fruits and veggies, and bags of flour and sugar, pinto beans, split peas, wheat, and popcorn (which mostly gets used for popping, but makes pretty good corn meal too, when ground). And I try to have a garden every summer to help with fresh veggies, with more success some years than others. We also try to keep about 2 weeks' worth of water stored. How much of anything we have at any given time depends on a lot of things, like finances, sales, and other circumstances. It's been really handy over the years, especially since my husband is self-employed and his income tends to fluctuate a bit. During the slow times we know we'll still be able to put food in the children's mouths. I also try to keep at least a few packages ahead on things like toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes, hand soap, laundry and dish detergents, and disinfecting cleaner. Stuff I wouldn't want to run out of at the end of a paycheck and have to wait two weeks to get more of...lol.

[Loupelou]

We do! I have a 15 foot space with shelving about 7 feet tall in the garage loaded with things we eat daily and other staples. I would post pics but it's an unsightly mess right now due to my recent visit to Aldi:D! I also have another 6 x 6 shelving unit with first aid supplies, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, shampoo, etc. I keep a 6 mo. to 1 year supply of basic essentials and canned food in my basement too. The freezer has frozen meat, make ahead meals, and 10 for $10 finds. We also have several 50 gal. water barrels if that need ever arises. It makes me feel more secure knowing that no matter what we won't starve!:)

[TN Mama]

I haven't been doing it for years, but for approximately one year. I haven't been stockpiling for any other reason than to save $$ although it is nice not to have to worry about going to the store in a panic. I have enough toilet paper to last a year. Seriously. :lol: I got a good deal on the good stuff and so, I bought lots. Also, dishwashing detergent - one year supply. I don't know when I'll need to buy toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and the like, but it won't be soon.

 

Food - I have several jars of pb, several canned goods that we use often (corn, black beans, diced tomatoes), soups, pasta sauce, pasta, honey, etc. We could definitely get by on what we have for an extended period of time, with the exception of milk, bread, eggs & produce. I wish I had an extra freezer, because then I could really rock a frozen department sale!

 

ETA: I don't have any pictures, but tp and paper towels are stored in the garage. Landry detergent & the like are in shelves in the laundry room (which is truly more like a laundry closet). Everything else is stored in a computer armoire. I have food stuff on one side and non-food on the other. The non-food actually has a drop-down table stored up against it. Don't know if you're able to get that visual or not, but it works!

Edited May 2, 2009 by TN Mama

[Renai]

I would love to be able to store food. But other than stocking up a few staples and faves when on sale and I happen to be flush at the moment, I haven't, mostly because we've been living on a shoestring for so long. I simply can't afford to buy things in bulk, even when I find a really good sale or I know the bulk price would save us money in the long haul--when you need milk, eggs, bread, and cheese, and have ten bucks, buying the cheese in bulk just isn't going to happen, kwim? When I had a real food budget, I'd buy the maximum allowed on a 10/$10 breakfast cereal sale, Last time I came across such a sale, I only bought five boxes, because I only had $5 I could spend!

 

I hear ya. But, I've figured most of those 10 for 10 sales are GM cereals. GM *always* has coupons! ALWAYS. I invest $1 in the Sunday paper every week and wear. it. out. I've bought 5 boxes of cereal for $3. And we're picky due to food sensitivities. Last week, I bought 5 bottles (on sale) of Suave conditioner and shampoos for $1.69. Total. And they don't double coupons. I use so many coupons, Smiths (my grocery store) now sends me coupons in the mail for the stuff I normally buy-- eggs, milk, cheese, butter. I've come to love it.

 

Some people say that clipping coupons takes up too much time. I say, time is money, and I'd rather spend 1 hour clipping and organizing with the weekly sales and save $20-30. That's an average of $25 an hour I'm making!

 

But, we've been, (and actually still are) in your situation. We make every dollar SCREAM.

Edited May 2, 2009 by Renai
really bad grammar!

[Ravin]

I'm all about store brands and my Wal-Mart associate's discount. I'll also ad-match. I find I seldom have a use for coupons, even though I'll clip ones I might use, because inevitably I find generics cheaper than even the with-coupon price...and the best sales around here tend to be on generic cereal at Albertson's. I flatly refuse to pay more than 0.10/oz for breakfast cereal. If we run out (which we might here soon), DD can just tough it out on oatmeal and pancakes.

[Renai]

I'm all about store brands and my Wal-Mart associate's discount. I'll also ad-match. I find I seldom have a use for coupons, even though I'll clip ones I might use, because inevitably I find generics cheaper than even the with-coupon price...and the best sales around here tend to be on generic cereal at Albertson's. I flatly refuse to pay more than 0.10/oz for breakfast cereal. If we run out (which we might here soon), DD can just tough it out on oatmeal and pancakes.

 

Oh, yes, I definitely price match. But, many generic cereals specifically, have ingredients my daughter can't eat. (Some brand names too, which is why I said we're picky.) But, I won't pay more than a certain amount for any cereal, regardless of brand. And if I can't get it cheaper with a coupon, I don't buy it. I go with what's cheaper. I'm not an indiscriminate shopper :D. Albertsons here usually has sale prices more expensive than Smith's regular prices. Except when they have a meat sale (buy one get one), and they have better cuts of meat.

 

I still need to get around to putting together a price book, though. But, knowing me, I'd lose it :tongue_smilie:.

[Greta]

I'm a little confused about this. I always have more food on hand than I might eat in a week or two, but why would I have years worth of food stocked up? I just looked at a random can in my pantry and it expires in 2011. So if I went nuts and stocked up a bunch of stuff, it would surely go bad before I got to it. I know, I know, I probably would be fine to eat some of the stuff after the expiration date, but really people stock stuff up for years? Why?!

 

Or am I misunderstanding this concept?

 

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the advice given by most food-storage gurus is to keep a three-month supply of food, not years' worth.

 

I haven't been doing this, but I have a friend who does. Between that and the conversations here, I'm getting inspired to get started. Seems like a lot of work right now. Anyone have any good advice for a newbie?? I'm thinking about maybe just working on ONE month's worth of food first. I've gotten into a bad (lazy) habit lately of going to the grocery store several times a week because I'm not planning out my meals and keeping food on hand. I do cook a lot, we don't eat out, but I'm not very organized in the way that I do it.

Edited May 2, 2009 by GretaLynne

[KidsHappen]

I stockpile but I am not very consistant about it so sometimes I'll have three months worth and other times only three weeks worth. I have a fairly large pantry plus shelves in the garage for papergoods, case goods and canned goods. I have two fridges and one deep freeze. Plus I keep large amounts of bottled water on hand. I posted my emergency supply list just a very short time ago. I'll see if I can find it and if so I will link otherwise I will just post again. I will have to get kiddos to help me with posting pictures so not sure if that would happen soon. They are so busy you know. :tongue_smilie:

[Sharon H in IL]

Yup. I think my Grandma is looking down and smiling at my full pantry and deep freezer.

[Carrie12345]

I have some pics of my closet stockpiles on this blog. I'm still working on rounding it out, and I'm having some trouble keeping my freezer stocked right now, but we're getting there.

 

We don't store 3 months of food and hide it a way, only to have to replace it when it expires. We rotate it just like supermarket stock. So far, the only thing I've had expire on me is a bottle of Advil that I bought WAY before I started doing this, lol.

 

I also keep a running total on that blog. We're averaging just over $100/wk!

[TN Mama]

Love your pics, Carrie. I'm a GGer as well and still get giddy when I walk out of the grocery store saving 50%.

[Ravin]

Part of stocking up food to last a long period is choosing foods for long-term storage that last longer, part may involve extra preparation of some foods for long term storage, but a good part is also simply rotating things. If you want to keep a six-month supply of your regularly used canned goods, for example, you might spend six months buying twice as much each month as you would normally use. Each time you buy the item, you store the newer cans behind the older cans, and when you go in to get some to actually use, you use the oldest stuff. After six months, you'll have your stockpile and can go back to buying the regular amount of the item, and just keep putting it to the back and using the older cans.

 

Also, many things come with a "use by" or "sell by" or "best by" date which is much sooner than it's actual "going to be inedible by" date, iykwim. As long as the packaging is intact, and things aren't greatly off color or stinky, they're probably still edible. My DH is a professional chef, and has some curry paste in the fridge that's been there for like 3 years now, which he insists is still good. Admittedly, I don't use it, but I don't throw it out, either.

 

I might buy 10 lbs. of sugar when it's on sale, and put it behind the sugar already in the cabinet. Ditto breakfast cereal. I keep some things in the freezer, or freeze them before storing in airtight containers (such as flours; freezing it keeps bugs from hatching in it; keeping it in the freezer can keep many whole grain flours from going rancid as quickly).

 

I'm nothing resembling picture-worthy organized, and I've got a better stock of dry good staples than other things...mostly because I've been in this 'don't wanna cook' funk for about 8 months that precludes doing things like soaking beans or actually remembering dinner in time to cook rice.

[mcconnellboys]

My food storage sort of looks like Carrie's. I don't have the cabability to do pictures, sorry.

 

I have a very large pantry the covers an entire wall of my kitchen and it is full. Now, I tend to stockpile more canned things than things like cereals. And I'm wondering in seeing your pics, Carrie, does cereal store well long-term, if it's not opened?

 

In past, whenever I've tried to store something like meals long-term in a pantry, they've just gotten buggy. And when I've tried to store things like crackers long-term, they've gotten stale, even though still sealed in the packaging. I don't have a large enough freezer to store such things as that in there.

 

I am storing more bulk pastas, rice, dry beans, and things like that now than before.

 

Like Carrie, I also keep ahead with my stores of cleaning, medicinal, and toiletry articles, too. I have cabinets under my bathroom sinks, a small closet in the boys' bathroom, some storage space in my tiny laundry room, etc. where I stow such things.

 

When we got a new fridge, we put our old one right outside the kitchen door in our garage. I generally keep both of those, and both freezers, full.

 

Last year in May, for the first time, I did a big trip to Sam's and stocked up my pantry. I will be doing a similar trip again soon. The meats in my freezer from that trip lasted through the fall. By that time, a local grocery was putting better cuts of meat on sale on Monday mornings to clear out things that hadn't sold over the weekend. I've been shopping those sales all year with pretty good results most weeks! The pantry goods lasted much longer and I still have some things like buillon and cinnamon, etc., that I got on that trip. This next trip will help me fill in other gaps in my pantry.

 

I try to buy things that I'll use before they expire or that have very long expiration dates. I also try to rotate my goods so that I use up things before they expire.

[Kari C in SC]

I'm a little confused about this. I always have more food on hand than I might eat in a week or two, but why would I have years worth of food stocked up? I just looked at a random can in my pantry and it expires in 2011. So if I went nuts and stocked up a bunch of stuff, it would surely go bad before I got to it. I know, I know, I probably would be fine to eat some of the stuff after the expiration date, but really people stock stuff up for years? Why?!

 

Or am I misunderstanding this concept?

 

I have three basic reasons for stocking up.

 

Number 1 is that I don't really like grocery shopping all that much. I have been doing the grocery game and more recently switched to Couponmom. I also have bought some coupons on ebay because then I get exactly what I want and don't have to wait for the coupon to come in the paper. I then go buy as many of said item that I would use up until the expiration dates. For instance - I bought 27 jars of Ragu sauce for about 89 cents a piece. They have a pretty long shelf life. Now, I don't have to wonder if I have what I need to make chicken parmisan or pizza bread or whatever. It is there and I don't have to go shop for it. I have done this with many things we use over and over.

 

My number 2 reason is the savings. In my example of Ragu - I saved about 50% of what a jar costs at Walmart. I saved a higher percent if I had purchased from Publix. I can get more for our money by purchasing 10 coupons for a $1 off at the price of $1 on ebay. It really stretches our budget.

 

My number 3 reason is what just happened to our family. My dh was laid off last week. He can probably find another job soon, but for now, I can get by with very little money for groceries. I have just about everything we need with the exception of some dairy and produce. That is piece of mind for me.

 

I should say that I never really stocked up like this until we moved to SC because we simply didn't have space in our Florida house. I am much more content knowing we have all this on hand.

[Carrie12345]

 

I have a very large pantry the covers an entire wall of my kitchen and it is full. Now, I tend to stockpile more canned things than things like cereals. And I'm wondering in seeing your pics, Carrie, does cereal store well long-term, if it's not opened?

 

 

 

We haven't had any issues (yet..knock on wood), but none of our cereal has managed to come close to it's expiration date. I try to store them according to date and, right now, the earliest we have are a couple boxes stamped 11/09. And those will be gone by the end of the week! :glare:

 

I did use my Food Saver to wrap up some sugars, but I just realized I can stick them in my chest freezer! I haven't adjusted to having that yet, lol.

[Karen sn]

Here it is - I hope.

I am low on rice but have quite a bit of cans - meats and beans.

The jars of applesauce were on sale - organic! $1.30.

I rotate everything.

I believe we should all buy Alaskan canned salmon (you can get generic as long as the top of the can says it's from Alaska). $2 or less a can. Can eat the bones.

 

I want more than this - but in a situation, I could feed us all enough to live for 3 months.

I want some dried milk, whole oats and wheat berries, we're canning this fall/summer.

Edited May 3, 2009 by Karen sn

[HeatherInWI]

I'm a little confused about this. I always have more food on hand than I might eat in a week or two, but why would I have years worth of food stocked up? I just looked at a random can in my pantry and it expires in 2011. So if I went nuts and stocked up a bunch of stuff, it would surely go bad before I got to it. I know, I know, I probably would be fine to eat some of the stuff after the expiration date, but really people stock stuff up for years? Why?!

 

Or am I misunderstanding this concept?

 

Two ideas on that:

 

You can check what you have saved, ideally twice a year, and donate anything that will expire in the next six or so months to your local food pantry. It will be appreciated. Of course some regular things, like honey, sugar, white flour, baking soda, etc., will last a very long time if you keep them sealed and away from pests and moisture.

 

or

 

You can buy long-term storage foods. My favorite place for that is http://www.beprepared.com You can get freeze-dried stuff and food in bulk containers that will last for years, or, if you have the cash and it meets with your nutritional approval, but MREs that can last decades. Obviously, you don't rotate those foods into your usual menu.

[Mommyof4ks]

I will have a room for storage in my new house, but for now we only stock up on things that are on sale (especially meat). It is nice to have some 'extra' food around in case of company or a disaster. We live in Tx, and when people from the coastal areas come up to escape the storm, our store shelves are bare around here.

 

My only question is how do you keep the kids from eating more if there are stock plies of food around? It seems like my kids will eat whatever is around, so if I have extra food then they eat it lol.

[dangermom]

Yes, we store staples and can produce. I don't have as much as I would like, but then I don't have a great place to store it either. We have a room in the garage with shelves of giant cans, and boxes more of giant cans, and then other stuff in the pantry.

 

We mostly store boring things like rice, flour, sugar, wheat, oats, macaroni, dry milk, potato pearls, etc. I can produce from my mom's garden, mostly cherries, peaches, etc. I keep a lot of cans of stuff I use a lot of on hand--pinto beans, crushed tomatoes, corn, cream soup, etc.

 

I also make some mixes to keep on hand--I make oat pancake mix, muffin mix, and sometimes a brownie mix. Also granola. I could make my own Bisquik, but I hereby confess that I love the flavor of Bisquik from the store. Please don't tell my mother, she'd kill me.

 

This is something I really want to work on, but it tends to get shoved down the list of priorities. However, if you want some tips and inspiring photos, may I recommend The Prudent Homemaker?

[wulfbourne]

This is something I really want to work on, but it tends to get shoved down the list of priorities. However, if you want some tips and inspiring photos, may I recommend The Prudent Homemaker?

Oh my gosh, I wish I could have something like that! I can't wait til we can get a house with decent storage :( We don't have a basement, crawlspace, garage, or even an extra small room I could use for a decent pantry.

Thanks for the link though. I'm gonna go through it more later and see if I can't at least do something better with my kitchen. I've got a good amount of food stored (I'd say a month or so) but I'm sure I could do better.

[secular_mom]

I REALLY like the shelving. We are living in a rental home, it was built in the '70s and it has one of those horrible, deep-dark pantries. I can't stand it because it's frustrating to dig for what I need. We put a set of shelves in the dining area to hold miscellaneous appliances so I don't have to dig them out of the cabinets...

I think we could do another set next to the first one and have much easier/organized access to canned items and other smaller items. Then I could just put the big items in the pantry, (cereal boxes, oatmeal containers, bags of tortilla chips, etc.)

I wouldn't want to put 'treats' out in the open though, LOL. Our garage gets really humid, and we really don't have space out there for more shelves.

I was already on another decluttering binge, LOL- now I have another project to focus on (reorganizing pantry items).

[FloridaMomTo5]

We don't store too far ahead, but we do store things in the summer for winter. I freeze berries and can jam, beans, spaghetti sauce and applesauce in the summer. Recently I've started making freezer meals to help out. I took one day last week and was able to cook/prep 7 meals for the freezer all while homeschooling!!! I've had a really rough year so it was great to accomplish so much and feel alive again, lol. The meals I froze were 2 bow tie pasta casseroles, 2 trays of lasagna, 2 whole chickens with seasoning ready for the crockpot and then I added a beef nacho casserole. The only one I'm not sure will do well is the beef nacho casserole b/c it has chips in it. We'll see.

 

Beth

[dangermom]

Oh my gosh, I wish I could have something like that! I can't wait til we can get a house with decent storage :( We don't have a basement, crawlspace, garage, or even an extra small room I could use for a decent pantry.

Thanks for the link though. I'm gonna go through it more later and see if I can't at least do something better with my kitchen. I've got a good amount of food stored (I'd say a month or so) but I'm sure I could do better.

Hers is a room in their garage that they built--stuck in some insulation and walls and a little AC. They live in Las Vegas, though you'd never believe it from the garden pictures.

[Tree House Academy]

I would love to have something that is all encompassing like that. :( Oh well. No one is willing to give up their space to create what *I* want. We have 3100+sq feet and still fight for space.

[Kanga]

I blogged about increasing my freezer space by turning off the ice-maker and removing the ice tray. I now use the ice tray to hole the floppy bags of rice and beans. I included a picture of my kitchen pantry since that is where the ice tray is now employed. So if you go to: http://premeditatedleftovers.blogspot.com/2009/04/making-more-room-in-your-freezer.html and scroll down you will see a picture of my kitchen pantry. I also have a cupboard on the back porch where I store food.

 

I buy food items that I use regularly in bulk when it they are on sale, this saves me quite a bit on our grocery bill. My grocery budget is 100.00 a week for a family of 5 (I usually come under though). Each week I devote 20.00 - 30.00 to buy sale items in bulk. This week I stocked up on salsa at 1.79 a bottle and cans of great northern beans at .68 a can. If you look closely at the picture of my kitchen pantry I only have one jar of salsa and two cans of nothern beans left. So I planned my last stock up purchase of those items pretty well.

 

To stock up without being wasteful you need to know two things:

 

1. How much do you usually consume of a particular item in a month. This enables you to quickly figure out how many you should buy to have a 3 month supply when it goes on sale.

 

2. What is the usual price for the grocery items you buy the most frequently. This week the sale ads are advertising cans of refied beans for 1.00 and it looks like a sale, but I can buy my favorite beans (taco Bell vegetarian refried beans) for .84 every day regular price at Walmart, so it would be foolish to stock up on "sale" beans. The everyday best regular price for my favorite salsa is 2.79, so I am saving 1.00 per jar (with coupons even more, but that is another post;)).

 

I might just have to blog about this, if I do I will include pictures of my other cupboard.

[Audrey]

I amazed that folks think storing food is bizzare.

How many of your great, great grandmothers canned enough summer produce to last all winter?

 

I think it is far more weird to depend on the infrastructure of this country to run smoothly with no upset whatsoever. To say nothing of natural disasters.

 

 

So I am curious - who here stores food, how much, and care to share pictures?

 

I will be back to post mine in a few minutes.

 

ETA - well, we are low on rice and actually have very little cereal...... but here are my shelves.

We store food and then something financial happens and we eat alot of it.

Then we store more.......

 

OK - how do I attach a picture or insert it?

 

 

Yep, we store what we grow -- canning, freezing, dry storage mostly, some preserves but I'm trying to get away from that.

 

It was the end of March when we ran out of potatoes and carrots from last summer. That was pretty good estimating!

 

I have my garden mapped out, but we still have too much cold in the evenings to plant anything yet -- that usually happens around May long weekend. I do have my tomatoes, cukes, cabbages, squashes, melons and annual herbs started in the green house though.

 

We don't have commercial livestock anymore, just a few cattle and a couple of feeder hogs, mostly for ourselves, but also for family. I do have some new chickens coming (my last ones died recently) for eggs only. I can't eat chicken. I just can't. My dh has become quite good at smoking meat and we like to try new sausage recipes.

 

We try to buy in bulk, but have to be careful about what we buy. We're a small family and while many things will keep for a long time, most things do not.

 

I don't think I could be a qualified "food storer" though because I will not buy canned food. I will prepare and can things myself, but I won't buy cans from the store.

[Julie in Austin]

Anyone have any good advice for a newbie?? I'm thinking about maybe just working on ONE month's worth of food first.

 

Here's what I'd recommend. Think of a non-perishable item that you usually buy one of each week. Wait for it to go on sale and buy a dozen. Repeat the next week. etc. This will save you money in the long run, since you can get to the point (I'm about there) where you *only* buy things when they are on sale (plus perishables, of course).

[JFSinIL]

I have a kitchen pantry, and extra upright freezer in the basement...and a huge closet outside the downstairs bedrooms (originally intended as a linen closet I suspect;) ) that is full of 40+ lbs of pasta (hubby will only eat imported from Italy stuff, so we stock up at the Italian grocer once a month or so. Use up 4 - 5 lbs a week easily!) Also several bottles of various tomato sauces (kids only eat organic Ragu - hubby and I prefer more exotic stuff), several 5-lb bags of flour, bread flour, sugar, brown sugar, etc (kids and I all bake a lot!), granola for hubby, and other staples. We also have a small 'fridge from hubby's dorm days 30 years ago downstairs that holds 3 big containers of milk, extra yogurt, and several bags of romano cheese. I have about 9 boxes of Kleenex in the basement, a case of paper towels, and half-dozen big containers of kitty litter for the four indoor cats. About 40 single-ply rolls of t.p., too and plenty of girlie products. Am trying to only go to the store to restock milk and whatever else we need once a week (used to go far more often.)

[mamaof2andtwins]

I have buckets from my grain, flour, oat and sugar storage. In addition, I have two large metal shelves for canned goods, baking products, etc. Here are some pictures.

 

Pantry Pictures

 

Jennie

[Peek a Boo]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the advice given by most food-storage gurus is to keep a three-month supply of food, not years' worth.

 

I haven't been doing this, but I have a friend who does. Between that and the conversations here, I'm getting inspired to get started. Seems like a lot of work right now. Anyone have any good advice for a newbie?? I'm thinking about maybe just working on ONE month's worth of food first. I've gotten into a bad (lazy) habit lately of going to the grocery store several times a week because I'm not planning out my meals and keeping food on hand. I do cook a lot, we don't eat out, but I'm not very organized in the way that I do it.

 

 

actually, many LDS families DO have a year's worth.

That's not me tho :)

 

I had always bought stuff in bulk, i just never considered it "food storage" lol.

so i've always had a well-stocked pantry.

 

last summer, I started an emergency tote of 3 days worth for our family. We go thru it every 6 months: xmas and 4th of July :)

 

Once I had that, i started reading and watching the various groups and blogs.

There are a few things that I picked up w/ ridiculously long shelf lives "just to have" that we will likely not touch: like dry milk. we just don't use it that often. I realize its value tho.

 

next is water- I picked up a couple of water containers in the camping section at WalMart and filled them. i also fill "acceptable" bottles after we have emptied them [juice/soda] and stick them back in the closet.

 

I want dh to build this:

http://www.kirkhams.org/rotator.htm

[click to enlarge the Rotator Shelf pics].

we'll put ours in the dining room, behind a bookshelf :)

 

eta: freezer: i know there is some debate about relying on your freezer too much, but I have to admit, i am of two minds about this:

 

1. not all emergencies = electricity loss. and when they do....

 

2. A. insulate the freezer well [blankets] immediately while you eat up refrigerator supplies.

B. If you absolutely can't cook or eat somehow the items in your freezer, then you'll have plenty to share w/ the people around you by the time you get to that point.

 

So i keep my freezer packed: extra ice, frozen fruit and veggies, lots of meat. and desserts! :D

Edited May 4, 2009 by Peek a Boo