So recently with all of the crazy weather, natural disasters, and other things going on in the world, I've really begun thinking about how not prepared I am if something happens. I'm not talking about Armageddon, just a power outage/ice storm/hurricane, etc. One of the things I am really interested in right now is putting together some food storage. We have a little extra space in our apartment right now, and I thought there's no better time to start than now right. Then I realized that I have no idea what food storage consists of. I opened my fridge today and had to throw out TWO containers of spoiled milk. That's how clueless I am when it comes to food. So since today is a backwards Works for Me Wednesday, I thought I would ask everyone for any tips, advice, ideas, hints, websites, etc. that you have that have anything to do with food storage. What, how much, how long? I'm new at this whole marriage thing and even newer to the food storage idea so any help you could give me would be great. Thanks in advance!To help out some other fellow bloggers on Backwards Works for Me Wednesday... check out Shannon's blog at Rocks in My Dryer.
15 comments:
3 months of what you would eat that lasts and will not spoil (pasta Canned meat and veg is a good goal just pickup extra non perishables each time you shop not one huge outlay go here it is awesome
http://www.providentliving.org/
and where I ordered your kits
so
the stuff is on the way from us
As far as pantry items go I am CRAZY addicted to lock&lock bozes. They are neat and they are completely airtight and they really help. We only buy perishibles when we need them. At the beginning of every week i plan out meals and only buy the ingredients for those things. That way we only buy what we will use. Hope that helps! I have a lot more advice on my blog: hyperhomemaker.blogspot.com if you want. Good luck! :)
I haven't a clue, my dear. Most of our stuff is home-mde, which doesn't last very long.
I have been working on stocking up our food stores lately. I'm trying to buy things when they are on sale and I have a coupon. for instance, this week a local grocery store had a 10 for $10 sale on certain Quaker products. I bought 5 cereals and 5 boxes of oatmeal. I also had coupons for some of the items so I got all that for about $7. Now I have 4 kids so that won't last long. One of the things I've done to store my stockpile of food is keep the extras in a seperate cabinet. To keep my family from raiding the stockpile, I have a note posted in the cabinet that they aren't to take anything without asking. (they are allowed to eat anything out of our regular pantry) As you won't be going through food as quickly as our family of 6 does, you might want to use a sharpie to label each item with the date your purchased it. That way you can use up the older food first.
BTW, I can't imagine throwing away milk! We go through about 9 gallons a week and my problem is running out of milk! ;)
We lived for three years in apartments, and here's what worked for me.
Store what you already eat. I can't stress this enough. I know people who have food storage sitting around and rotting because they don't know how to use it. If there are certain things, such as rice and dry beans, for example, that you would like to store, well, learn to use them first.
Just buy a few extra non-perishables when you go to the grocery store. That's how I've been building up our storage lately. If I need oatmeal, I get two or three instead of just one, and then I have some extras.
One other thing I've been thinking about lately is what in the world we'd eat if we didn't have electricity. Just something to keep in mind. Most of what we eat needs to be cooked.
I don't have extensive food storage, but what I've done so far is just pick up an extra item (of water bottles, canned tomatoes, pasta etc.) at Costco and those are off limits in the basement. Saved for a rainy day. This way I don't have to go out and spend like crazy all at once. Just a gradual thing.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! We live in Tornado Alley and have an underground storm shelter. We have a plastic box with a lid that we leave down there with a case of bottled water, beef jerky, canned fruit, flashlight, and some tylenol/advil. My husband wants to get some of those MRI's (meals ready to eat) just in case we happen to be down there for a long time. I'm hoping that never happens!!
I think the most important things are to
1) start with things that you eat
and 1) stock up little by little when you see something on sale.
I know you saw some of my craziness on my blog. :) I've really started to get more things. Part of that is waiting for a great sale and then stocking up with coupons on things that are free/really, really cheap.
Oh you're making me feel bad.... we haven't even started our food storage! ahhhhh I really need to
we started ours a little at a time. the most important thing to have on hand is 72 hour kits. make those a priority.
I have emergency bags for both the house and car in case of a disaster. (granola bars in those) I have given some thought to food storage but have not taken it too seriously yet. I live alone so I don't have to stock pile a whole lot. I basically make sure that I have water (a gallon per person per day) crackers, dry cereal, peanut butter, canned fruits and vegetables. Try this link and see if it is helpful.
http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/current/FDNS-E-34-CS.html
Oh, and if you have pets don't forget about food for them! :-)
Great idea Brit! I was thinking about this the other day also. Like so many other people said you want to stock up on stuff you will actually eat- if you don't like spam, don't buy a case of it!!!
Make sure you have a good can opener stored with it because contrary to popular belief the pop top cans are not that great for food storage- they will actually explode over time and then you can't eat them.
Like someone else also said focus on your 72 hour kits first. FEMA has a great list on their webpage of things that you should include in a 72 hour emergency kit.
PS Ask your mom- I'm sure she knows all about this too! She could probably give you some great tips!
PPS Look on the church's website too. I think I saw something about this on there at one point or at least a link to info about it!
are you lds?
well start with what's most important water. stuff like salt and sugar will keep forever as long as it's dry. start small and then start working up to bigger things. don't forget stuff like batteries, candles, flashlights, sleeping bags, maybe a portable camp stove with propane, and an car emergency kit is also important! so much to think about!
As far as keeping food in the refrigerator and freezer from spoiling during a power outage, we put in large blocks of ice and blue ice in the freezer at all times. As soon as the outage hits, we transfer one or two ice blocks to the refrigerator. We have extra ones in our upright freezer too. In an apartment you don't have room for an upright, but it's still very doable. We survived the Northridge (CA) earthquake and only had a regular fridge/freezer combo at the time. The very second the earthquake hit my husband braved the streets in the middle of the night to go pick up extra ice (and water) before they ran out or it melted. Ice and water were the first things people ran out of and were desperate for. We did not lose any food from spoilage even though we were without power for at least a week. Be sure you keep your fridge closed as much as possible. Open only when absolutely necessary and know what you are grabbing so you can close again quickly. Eat foods from your freezer as they defrost if you are without electricity for that long.
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