Food Storage

I remember my mother, as did many old-time farm folk, always had a canning closet full of food that had been prepared during the summer (a time of plenty) to be eaten during the winter (a time of scarcity). Before the convenience of a market as close as your car will take you, folks routinely canned and preserved food for winter usage. In these uncertain times a lot of us are wisely trying to keep more food, fuel and emergency supplies on hand. My DIL wrote this guest post about food storage. (If you missed her post on couponing you can read that here. And check out her blog for ongoing coupons, deals, and more ways to save.)

Food Storage.
Also called stockpiling.

Chances are you either know what that means, or you couldn't care less.

So today I want to talk about:
What it is
How to get it
And why some people don't.

Food Storage is security.

Basically by building a stock pile of foods and goods that your family uses on a regular basis-you are preparing for the future. Kind of like the Biblical principle of the Egyptians storing away 1/5th of their grain in the "FAT" years. (Genesis 47:24) Then if one of those "rainy days" comes along and you have less pay then expected or NO job at all-you'll still eat. If you need to pay an unexpected bill-you can stop buying groceries and put that $ towards the bill.

Stockpiling food actually saves $ too. If I stock up on tuna when it's .25 a can and buy enough till the next sale-I don't end up paying $1 a can. That's just an example from 1 item. I try to do this with everything;)

How to store Food:

Simply one can or box at a time. That's the secret. Just get started. Before you know you'll have a nice little stash of goods. No one is saying to go stock the garage with a silo's worth of wheat! But if you see a sale on your brand of Peanut Butter for the week-by all means grab an extra one or 2 and tuck them away.

Most of the items in a food storage will have a long shelf life such as canned veggies, tuna, dry milk etc. There are plenty of commercial food storage sites on the net available to buy #10 cans of food from. While I have some of those, most of our food in storage comes from the good ol' grocery stores where I buy things in multiples, when they go on sale -with coupons of course:)

I find there are only really a few reasons people don't build a food storage.
Maybe 3.

1. They don't want to offend God.
2. They worry where they'll put it.
3. They're barely getting by now, so afraid they can't afford it.

#1: I don't know how many times I have heard someone say that they don't need Food storage because "God will provide". This is true. All that we have comes from Him. He is our great provider. But I can tell you I have never felt He is mad at me because I have had an extra case or 2, OK 5, of Hormel chili laying around. In fact I think He has been very happy when hard times have hit people like my Brother when he lost his job, or our neighbor's daughter and I was able to give them a good load of food and toiletries because I had a stockpile.

Trust me, we do not offend Him by taking some thought to be a little prepared. I mean really if our children do a little more then expected do we get mad? Why would food, an every day basic need, anger Him? Especially if there are children at home...He doesn't want us to wait for Manna, He wants us to get prepared for some of the things He's already told us will come: famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. (Matthew 24:7)

I have a feeling those will affect the food chain...

#2: Some of my first Food storage used to be in the cardboard cases I brought them home in and then tucked them under a bed. I now keep 5 Gallon buckets under another bed filled with Oatmeal, rice, wheat, dry milk, pastas etc. that we buy in bulk. Mac n cheeses, crackers, cereals, puddings etc. go on shelving. (We don't have a basement, so if we can do it-YOU can too:) Sugar is kept in galvanized trash cans with lids that I just throw the packages in that I bought for that reason alone, with flour in another as well.

#3: Might be the only excusable reason for not starting a stock pile. Most times though it can be just a mismanagement of one's $ that leaves them without even a dollar or 2 to put towards Food storage each week. I myself have had to ask if my kids really needed another $20 toy that would break in 2 days or should I buy 5 cases of canned Food at Aldi for that?


I put the toy back-I'll let them splurge at the yard sales...
Or better yet wait for Grandma to visit! :)

Really, in this uncertain economical time we live in, being prepared will be a blessing to your family. Please consider getting started today it only takes an extra can or box and you're on your way!

Enjoy this wonderful video I came across:


For more articles on Food Storage visit these great sites:
Prepared LDS Family GREAT! pics. of a food storage (much neater then mine;)
Safely Gathered In Food storage ideas,recipes, and Emergency Preparedness
Everyday Food Storage-great recipes to use your food storage with.