The Importance of Food Storage

by Miriam Caldwell | More from this Blogger

28 Nov 2006 11:01 PM

How long could you last without a trip to the grocery store? What if you didn't count buying fresh milk? If there was a particular reason that you couldn't travel would you and your family be okay? As winter weather comes, you may not be able to make it to the store for two or three days and they may be low on food due to an ice storm and a run on the groceries.

In addition to surviving an ice storm or a blizzard do you have enough food to last you longer than that? If you do have enough food to avoid the grocery store for a month or two what types of food would your family be eating? Would they quickly become tired of canned tuna and peas? These questions may make you step back and look at how prepared you really are.

One part of becoming self-sufficient is planning for the needs of your family. One large area is planning for the daily needs of food and shelter. This is just one reason that food storage is so important to have on hand. For many people a year's supply of food is the magic number. Others consider a few months worth of food a good supply. It really is up to you.

When you are planning your food storage you need to store foods that your family will eat. You also need to store a variety of foods. There may be a great sale on peanut butter, and so you stock up on that. Your family will protest if they have peanut butter every day or for every meal. You can plan by having a monthly menu that you follow or you may choose to stock up by what you need to make a specific meal.

It is important that you rotate and use your food storage. You really should store what you eat and eat what you store. This will make the transition easier if you are every forced to rely solely on food storage. You can also save money because once you have a stockpile you only need to purchase the item when it is on sale.

If you do not have any food storage you should begin with at least one week's supply of food. This supply should be easy to fix and easy to move. You can store it in your emergency kit. It is nice to know that you have enough to last your family at least one week.

Related Articles:

Five Ideas for Food Storage Christmas Gifts Five Reasons to Use Food Storage

Beginning to Store a Year's Supply of Food

Learn more about Miriam Caldwell

Miriam is a SAHM mom of three children. She has a daughter who is seven, and two sons, four and two. She loves being a parent and spending time with her children.

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Nola Redd (7081) 29 Nov 2006 07:28 PM

You are making me depressed. We just moved from a 2700 square foot home to a 36' motorhome. We have a decent amount of food stockpiled, including powdered milk (which my kids actually drink), but nowhere near as much as we used to have. On the other hand, we have a good sized water tank in our RV; we'd just have to live without milk for awhile!

Miriam Caldwell (8030) 29 Nov 2006 07:44 PM

Do you have a storage shed or a similar place in a central location where you could store some extra cans or something similar. Space is often an issue when it comes to food storage. The easiest solution is to save the money that you would use to purchase food storage to purchase food in an emergency. This works only if you have the ability to reach a stocked grocery store though. Good Luck!

Nola Redd (7081) 29 Nov 2006 07:51 PM

We don't. We sold off virtually everything from our house to eliminate the need for storage. But I like that idea. As a super-couponer, too, I'm accustomed to finding 'weird' and creative places to store things (we had toilet paper under our living room credenza for almost two years...but I wasn't going to pass up free-after-coupon tp!), and I'm sure the longer I live in this RV, the more places I'll find. I hope.

Thanks for the idea; we are looking at establishing a 'home base' campground that we hit most often and paying monthly. Perhaps we can find one with on-site storage, which will make 'unpacking' it a little easier. You've got me thinking, though...