My major problem with food storage is that I don't have a lot of space to store it. I have had to convert a whole closet into my food storage space.
Diaper, Wipes, Water Bottles
Cereal, Brownie and Cake Mixes, Homemade Salsa
My shelf with everything else. It's a little unorganized right now.
I hope to have this filled to the top one day. As for now, I am slowly adding to it when I can. One thing that really helps me decide what to get and when to get it is a site called Deals to Meals. It tells me what stores have the best deals for specific things. When something I need is at a good price, I take that list to Walmart and price match. This has really worked for me the past few months.
My last shopping trip went like this: I spent $67.60 and got 53 items. Basically that averages to $1.27 per item. Here are the items I brought home for food storage:
- 5lb. bag of sugar
- 5lb. bag of flour-2
- box of pasta-3
- ramen noodles-8
- fudge brownie mix-4
- milk-3
Not a ton this week, but some weeks you may have better luck than others. The thing with Deals to Meals is that it is about $5 a month. Now if you are not convinced, here is one more thing that might persuade you to check it out. This site also gives me meal plans with the recipes and a shopping list that is easy to follow and all you have to do is print it and go. I know their site says you get 2 weeks free and I don't know how long it lasts. Check it out and see what you think.
This is what I do to slowly get my food storage. What about you?
1. What systems are working for you?
2. Do you like to get a little at a time or would you rather get your food storage all at once?
This is what I do to slowly get my food storage. What about you?
1. What systems are working for you?
2. Do you like to get a little at a time or would you rather get your food storage all at once?
4 comments:
Food storage is a hard one for me. I don't feel very educated about it and I don't know what to do with a lot of it. I like getting mine from the cannery, but I don't know how to go on my own and my ward hasn't been very diligent in setting up times to go. My biggest problem with food storage is once I have it I don't want to use it because I don't want to have to keep replacing it! Silly right?! Also I don't know where to store it. I want to be able to put it in the garage because it would still be convenient to get to, but I don't want it to go bad.
My favorite way to build up food storage is to do case-lot sales. I know that I use plenty of cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, tomato sauce, etc in my cooking, so when it's on sale I stock up. The only drawback with doing it that way is needing to store all the canned goods, and having the money to do it all at once. I look at it as an investment that we will use throughout the year. We also have a big storage shelf in our kitchen (apartments are notorious for not having a lot of storage) that we love to use. I also enjoy canning some things myself, like jam, or I'll get with my Mom and can peaches or applesauce or something, then it all goes onto our shelf.
I think I'm one that if I don't just do it all at once I won't think about doing it little by little. Plus, I love not having to remember to buy certain things, because I know we have them already.
I'm just a do what you can when you can person. I like case lot sales, but sometimes it gets pricy to do it all at once. Usually I just try and buy extra when something we use a lot goes on sale.
I also like to can with my mom, and have used it a lot as baby food. I usually just can applesauce and pears and peaches. It is so nice to have on hand, and if I do enough, I only have to can one thing each year, so it doesn't get overwhelming.
We store water in empty pop or juice bottles, which is practically free, it just takes a few minutes to wash the bottles out.
The last thing I have done is ask for food storage stuff for Christmas. It was my moms idea, but I liked it so much I suggest it now when our parents ask what we would like. One year she got us a 50 pound bag of dehydrated hash browns. They are so yummy! I rented a canner from the cannery and just had to buy the big cans for it to go in. It makes great hash browns or funeral potatoes. I also put it in soup.
Sara, you can also can your sugar and flour into #10 cans. They sell them at the cannery and it is free to rent the canner. They also have the boxes they fit in to keep them from getting dinged and then they fit great under a bed!
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