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Comment #16: I was amazed to find a lot submitted by Terry D - "I was amazed to find a lot of people blogging about preparing for The End Of Life As We Know It. Peak oil and climate change are worrisome enough without trying to stockpile supplies in my garage or basement. I buy more if I find an item at a good price, but I also don't eat the canned beans until the ice cream and cookies are gone. I hope we have some warning before a catastrophe strikes, because I won't be in very good shape otherwise."
Tweet from @Gumnos - "Large backup stashes from sales (e.g. cereal or pasta & sauce), but not saved intentionally for emergency purposes."
12:03 PM Sep 10th from web
Living in rural American, there are many opportunities to save for a rainy day. In lieu of cash, gold, or savings bonds, many families have turned to laying hens, small-breed cattle, and extravagant canning and freezing systems to be sure they will always have food on hand. Even with the economy looking to be a bit more "up" these days, some are still insisting that investing in canned goods is always a safe bet -- perhaps one that may provide the ultimate in security should some unforeseen disaster happen (remember the Y2K that never was?)
While I believe in storing up for a couple months, just in case we can't get to the store (which is located almost an hour away), we haven't yet taken the plunge toward 2-5 years of food being stashed away.; The time, planning, and financial investment is a bit out of reach (and I'm not sure where I would put it all, anyway.) What about you? Are you someone who has a careful plan toward long-term food storage? Do you cause your friends and family to roll their eyes at your apocalyptic ramblings of how to store grain for 2011? Or are you barely managing to keep a week's worth of nutritious food on hand for when you cousin's kids come over?
We want to hear your thoughts on food storage. Do you do it for emergency insurance? Do you have it only as a result of amazing CVS deals gone wild? Is it something you feel is important? Crazy? Tell us in the comments and you will be entered to win our weekly $10 prize? (That's enough to order a good book on canning and freezing!)
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At my mum's insistence, I'm working on building at least a month's worth of food in my pantry and freezer for winter, as well as building a cab fund for when the buses aren't running and I'm on campus late--though the first is significantly more important.
I've got serious lung issues, a weak immune system, and winter is generally a bad time to be me. If there's something going around, I'm pretty much guaranteed to catch it, and in winter at a university, there's plenty going around. Add the bitter cold to that, which makes it so much harder to breathe, and the idea is for me to actually go out as little as possible. I'll have to go to classes, of course, and probably won't skip my extracirriculars (hence the cab fund, it'll be too cold at night to walk back to my flat), but since grocery shopping typically consists of fifteen to thirty minutes in the store and an hour waiting for the bus, it's something my mum and I want me to avoid during the coldest months. So, I've got about thirty pounds of rice stored, maybe ten pounds of pasta, and ten of dried beans, plus a freezer full of veggies.
Of course, I use the pasta, rice, and beans year-round, but the freezer's mostly for winter, or when I haven't gone grocery shopping in several weeks. >.>
We don't stockpile food for emergencies. We always have some canned goods on hand and that would be enough for any short-term emergency so we don't worry about the long-term stuff.
I always kept about 2 weeks worth of pantry supplies. Since I live in a small town, that seemed adequate. But after finding out I have gluten intolerance (similar to celiac disease), I've had to rethink how to handle possible emergency situations.
It can be difficult to find gluten-free products in the best of times. Our local health food store has plenty, and our local supermarket has started to carry a few gluten-free foods. But in an emergency, all bets are off. I'm creating a plan to have at least 3 months worth of gluten-free essentials on hand at all times.
Now that I'm finally feeling better, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure I can stay on the path of health.
I will never live down the scatterbrained list of Y2K supplies that I had purchased as a newly married 18 year old bride.
I do many things that I'm sure others do too. The most important thing is to store food that you already enjoy and are willing to eat.
My best tip would be water. A Red Cross leadership camp I went to as a teen had a large section on emergency prepare. I rinse milk bottles and fill them with clean tap water and a cap of bleach. (I keep about 60 in the garage) In any sort of disaster or small weather related storm that cuts off water/power it would be a shame to use the purified bottled water for basic washing needs. When a pipe burst down the street and our water was cut off for 2 days, we could also use it to flush the toilet as needed.
As far as Y2K type end of the world stuff? I like to keep a small selection of seeds as well as sprouting seeds for greens that would grow in less than a week. We have a couple months of food for the family. After that I guess we'll see how good fried cat tastes. :) In our financial future we will expand our reserves but we are focused more on cash than canned goods right now.
We keep our pantry stocked fairly well. We live 15 miles from the nearest town and we do can/freeze a bunch of garden produce. I don't stockpile for end of the world disasters, piling up bottles and bottle of water and 9000 cans of beans. We like to visit the grocery store as little as possible and try to do for ourselves as much as we can.
We plant a largish vegetable garden each year and so I have been processing the harvest for use in winter months. However, current conditions have us feeling like it would be prudent to have several months worth of food and supplies on hand. I stockpile on-sale grocery and other supplies anyway, but it is now a more organized effort. In addition, I do not freeze as much as I did previously, as that form of storage depends on a reliable electric supply. Our emphasis is now on canning and dehydrating the harvest from our garden and I am careful to have a nutritionally balanced array of canned and dried products. We are in the process of creating emergency "go" packs for each member of the family (including pets) in case the need to evacuate should ever arise and we are setting up an emergency communications system with out-of-state family. In short, it is better to be prepared and never need to use it than to be left in the lurch in event of some form of catastrophe.
I do store up on some food (cereal, noodles, etc) if I find a good sale. But I should start storing more.
I'm saving up for a computer emergency, when my faithful 12" Macbook putters out eventually. Too bad I'm starting NOW, instead of 2 years ago. Silly me.
As I never co-mingle my funds, so despite having the money for other things, I have "no money" set aside for the new apple that's beautifully packaged on my bedside table. Need to work for it... it's no fun otherwise.
Financial Samurai
I have a number of dry goods stocked up from sales and coupons. I wish I had more freezer space so that I could can and freeze more fresh vegetables. We live in a rural area but grocery stores are easily accessible. I like to stockpile so that I have options for when I don't make to the gorcery store or the budget runs a little thin that month. We are hoping to save up and buy a freezer so that I can really take advantage of the great deals out there!
I think it's nuts to buy that much food!!! I've heard all the arugments on how it saves money, but I disagree we shop 1 time per week for 1 weeks worth of groceries. We tend to buy only 1 ingredient foods, so they don't have all the preservatives and wouldn't last longer then a week anyways. People think we're the crazy ones till they realize we only spend about 250.00 per month for 2 people to eat:) So we may not be "prepared" for an emergency...but we save a ton of money and are much healthier for it:)
Guest said "I think it's nuts to buy that much food!!! I've heard all the arugments on how it saves money, but I disagree we shop 1 time per week for 1 weeks worth of groceries."
My wife and I are on exactly a $250/month budget, we try to buy and cook with one ingredient foods. Our breads are: flour, sugar, salt, water. I know that because and we bake them at home. We eat mostly fruits and veggies. BUT IN ADDITION we try to keep a few months of the basic staples on hand. What exactly is "nuts" about keeping extra flour, rice, beans, pasta, etc. on hand? In fact we'd love to do more, but we just don't have the room as we are currently renting. Oh well, to each their own - as for me it's back to the booby hatch...
We have a set of shelves downstairs next to the freezer where we try to keep a supply of items we use a lot that don't have short term expiration dates. These are mostly things I buy when they are on sale. Canned goods, condiments, noodles, etc. I think of them as emergency supplies for the blizzard of the century or some similar disaster, but it's mainly a question of buying extra when the prices are low.
I'd really like to increase the amount of food reserves we have, but the budget doesn't allow me to get too far ahead.
Oops, sorry for posting completely off topic prior. Feel free to delete. I don't believe in stockpiling food by any means, and it's probably due to my environment of living in a big city. There's alwyas a small diner with a scurrying rat within a couple blocks wherever one goes :)
I have a little garden with a pear, plum, apple, and lemon tree. They have served many a good breakfast. I'd rather eat from my garden, than stockpile from Costco. It's a better use of money, and allows you to eat variably, when you are hungry, and not just because a schedule dictates.
Also, having less food in the house simply makes people eat less. Nobody can resist the tempting cookie jar if placed next to them. Out of sight, out of mind.
Financial Samurai
I think I have enough food to last me maybe a couple weeks. I just moved recently, so I haven't really thought about stocking up for an emergency in the new place. It's something I probably need to work on though. I don't think I even have bottled water right now, come to think of it!
If there's only one thing that I've learned growing up in southeast Louisiana, is always be prepared. My parents stressed the importance of having emergency food, water, and other basic necessities. Their advice of keeping an emergency stash came in handy especially after Hurricane Katrina. It is so much easier to be prepared before a natural disaster, instead of running to the store at the last minute to get supplies, to only realize that there's nothing left.
We can spagehtti sauce each fall---usually 50 quarts. Some is given to family and friends, but we could make do on it for some time. I do not put meat in it. I would check on the shelf life of some products if you are looking at a 2-5 year goal. Even home canned products have shelf lives and I do not know of any that would be safe after the 2 year mark. Also meat, even when frozen is only good for so long. I will not risk my family getting ill from something I have kept on hand too long. My mother in-law has meat in her freezer I swear is 2-5 years old. If she gives us anything to take home, we just throw it away. I would say the same with rice and pastas, as far as how long they can be kept. We do not eat a lot of rice, but we do eat alot of pasta, and I have had some get funky whiteish marks on them; I throw them away.
I was amazed to find a lot of people blogging about preparing for The End Of Life As We Know It. Peak oil and climate change are worrisome enough without trying to stockpile supplies in my garage or basement. I buy more if I find an item at a good price, but I also don't eat the canned beans until the ice cream and cookies are gone. I hope we have some warning before a catastrophe strikes, because I won't be in very good shape otherwise.
Hey Katrina gave warning and look what happened there. Tornado,s, Earthquakes, Chemical spill/accident,or god forbid another terrorist attack using Bio-Chem-nuke. These are all a "come-as-you-are-party". After New Orleans, I think it is safe to assume the only one looking out for you is YOU. Well planned, a few months of food and basic needs doesn't take much space and if TSHTF you will be glad you planned ahead.
I think food storage is an incredible smart idea. Unfortunately, we barely have enough space in our apartment for the food we have. But in our old house, we had a chest freezer, and it was great to be able to stock up when food was on sale. With snow storms and swine flu and all these crazy things going on, it's helpful to know you don't need to go out to purchase food.
I would like to keep much more, but I have a few weeks of food stocked for a bad time. My storage space limits me right now, but ideally I would have about 1 year of stocked food in rotation.
We live in North Idaho and have fair amount of power outages during the winter, so yes we always have a good supply of emergency food.
I don't currently stock up, though I usually have about a week's worth of food (but not water) on hand effortlessly. It's a little crazy how I have no water stored for emegencies, though. Anything can happen, and I shouldn't always take for granted that the tap water will flow 100% of the time!
Good luck everyone!
Where I live, we very occasionally get a serious blizzard that keeps us indoors for a couple of days until the main streets get plowed out - so as long as the cupboard is not completely bare, I'm fine.
We also get some significant flooding in spring, but the city is pretty well protected by a floodway system. In the fifty plus years I've lived here, flooding has never interfered with access to food supplies.
What I'm more likely to face is a financial problem, but when money is short, what you really need is money, not a basement full of canned goods. And serious stockpiling ties up money that you can't use for other things, like paying the rent.
I live in an apartment with a smallish kitchen and limited storage space. I suppose I could stash some stuff somewhere, but I like to feel like I'm living in a home, not a warehouse. I also don't have a vehicle, so I mostly just pick up the food I need for the next four of five days. If something is on sale for a really good price, and it's not too bulky or heavy, I may pick up a little more than I need - say an extra bottle of dish detergent or tray of chicken pieces - but that's about it. There is only so much weight you can haul up three flights of stairs in a granny cart.
Now if I lived somewhere hurricane-prone, I might take a bit of a different approach, but even so, a basement full of sodden foodstuffs and a freezer full of rotting meat is not going to be a lot of help.
And one more thing - God help you if you ever have to move and you've got a two-year stockpile of food for a family of four.
What are the odds that I will need more than a couple days of food, not very high. What are the odds that when I need those foods the power would have gone out (including my freezer), pretty good. So in order to do this effectively, I would need a generator, the food on hand and a lot of space.
I would rather "save' for the emergency of lay-offs and car repairs than end of the world stuff. Just seems more likely. But I do have a full freezer (stuff bought on lowest price), it is full to give us an extra bit of funds if we should lose our jobs.
I've bumped up my water storage in case of emergency (though our emergencies are more on the level of blizzards, so we ought to have a backup heat source instead).
But since I can and dry so much in the fall, we generally have enough food to feed an army from August-March, and a normal amount of food the rest of the time except for April-May when there's hardly anything in the house - this year i'm trying root-cellaring as well, to try to make sure we have enough local food to get through til our first garden greens in June. In the past we've bought fresh produce from the grocery store in early spring when it's expensive and doens't taste very good.
frugality seems to be the new cult that everybody is following now. i wonder what luxury good makers are going to do with all that stuff they make??
I do stock up on food, but not because I can't get to a store in bad weather, I just don't want to go out in bad weather! I did learn a hard lessen last year. There was a great sale on meat. My gameplan was to stock up the freezer, which I did. A week later we had a bad snow storm, which knocked out power for about 5 days. I wound up losing most of the meat.
Now I have extra canned goods, etc., so I could probably stay home a few days and be fine.
Forgive me if I sound ignorant, as I have never lived in snowy areas. But why didn't you just bag/box the meat, and bury it in the snow to keep it frozen? Does that not work? (I know they used to keep meat frozen over the winter by storing it outside in the pioneer days)
I don't go overboard when it comes to hoarding food. I do have a solid two weeks of canned and frozen foods at any given time, however that is merely to take advantage of the summer harvest and sales on items that we use frequently. I always rotate stock by putting the new behind the old.
Water is an important item that I often overlook and upon reading other posts realize that water is the area I need to work on most.
We live in the country, so the shopping isn't as frequent or convenient, particularly during the winter.
A two or three day power outage is of no concern for us, we have alternative heating options and can always melt snow if necessary.
I really don't have the room to stockpile much food. I have some canned stuff and some rice and pasta but not nearly enough if there would be some major disaster. However, I live in a pretty populated area and am willing to take the chance, unlike those who are in rural areas.
1 week worth of backup at home - rice, curry, canned veg, fruit, granola bars, nuts, multivitamins and bottlewater.
72hrs worth in a backpack of military MRE's, multivitamins, trail-mix, energy bars First Aid kit and a cigar.
48hrs of military MRE's stashed in my car and truck.
I live in a small apartment with three roommates. There's no way I could store that much food if I wanted to.
In the future, I'd rather store rice/beans, etc., than canned food. BPA freaks me out, and while canned food would be ideal in the event of a disaster, I still think there are better alternatives. I guess I would buy soup in boxes, foil packets of tuna, etc.
Amazon has some decent prices on groceries, and they only sell in bulk. So I end up with a lot of food bought, which means I have some for a rainy day.
We are working on setting up some food storage. We are targeting 1 year of staples, and several months of more perishable stuff. We also are building up a couple week's supply of water.
Having things on hand is nice because we don't have to worry about running out of ingredients, and we can wait for big sales to bulk up on stuff.
I've never had a pantry before living in this apartment, and now i take advantage of buying things that are really cheap with sales and coupons and stocking them. Its not for an emergency - its for everyday use over the next few months. Right now I have tons of salad dressing, bbq sauce, and cereal because I got them super cheap a few weeks back. They'll last 6 months to a year with no problems at all. Now I use my regular grocery money to buy fresh stuff to supplement the pantry items each week.
I generally don't stock up, I'll only buy extras of something if I find a really good deal, but even then I'll only buy a little more than I need because I don't have the extra space in my apartment.
I live in Tampa Bay and was raised in Chicago. I've resided in heavily urban areas my entire life so finding space in a one bedroom apartment is kind of tough. Plus, there's a grocery store right up the road from my house so I just get a week's worth of food. I would love to learn how to can goods and be able to store them in case of a hurricane or other unforeseen event but I'd need help from someone who's probably a little older than me as that was something that my grandmother had expertise in.
We have about a month's worth of well-rounded meals in our freezer and pantry - mainly a result of sale purchases. Newer items get cycled to the back/bottom, and we use the oldest items first. I haven't bought meat for about 3 weeks now, thanks to our stockpile. I'll buy it again when it goes on sale. We keep our grocery bill to $40/week for 2 people this way.
We have mini-emergencies around here a lot - mainly icy roads and lots of snow. It can take a few hours to get shoveled out, and it's nice to know that we won't starve if the plow truck misses our road! It's also nice to have a well-stocked pantry if you have a busy week at work or don't feel good.
I live in an apartment and it's hard to stockpile much of anything due to lack of space. My biggest concern in an emergency is having enough water on hand, because I do have quite a collection of dried pasta and rice and such, but of course I would need water to cook it all. I guess I could clear off one of the kitchen shelves to store just bottles of water, but it somehow feels like a waste of prime shelving real estate. I guess it wouldn't in an emergency, though!
Living in southern california with grocery stores within 2 miles, stocking up would be for earthquake emergencies or such. We do keep canned/dry goods that would last through an emergency of a week or so, but that's all. If the freezer is till working, we likely have another week or two as well.
The nearest grocery store is about quarter of a mile away so is the Pharmacy and a few restaurants. If I am stuck at home for whatever reason, I usually have two weeks worth of food in my pantry and freezer. I stock bread, pasta sauce, pre-made meatballs, chopped meat in the freezer, cans of tuna and a variety of cheeses in the fridge. I also have plenty of bulgur what, beans, pasta and rice in my pantry.
I have one strange habit though. I stock toilet paper. Like tons of toilet paper! I do not know why but I just keep buying the stuff. There is probably enough to last 6 months if not more...
We have 2 dogs and 2 horses that are fed quite well. When they misbehave we tell them that their living with us insures “We’ll never go hungry!” But seriously, we have a summer home so about 6 months out of the year we keep a basic stock in both locations. When we close up for the winter we have a pretty full pantry in our regular home. We stock up when we find good sales or go to the Warehouse Club (my husband has a membership through his work). Our problem is that we can always find something to eat!
Grocery stores are expected to be out of food within 3 days if, for some reason, weather, natural disaster, fuel shortage, whatever, the re-supply trucks don't arrive.
I NEVER want to be one of the people scrambling for some of that 3 days of food. So, I simply buy 2 of everything when I shop. The new stuff goes to the back of the shelf; the older stuff gets used. When I'm down to 2 again, I buy 2 more. This way I am buying, and eating, what I usually do. I keep very little in the freezer as power outages are the mostly likely thing to happen for several reasons. Freezer things, like meat, are easily skipped for some time or replaced with canned proteins like tuna or ham.
However, eventually, it also dawned on me since I live in a high-rise building where if the power goes off, so does the heat and water. Now, I store water (in re-cycled 2-liter soda bottles) and have a camping stove that I can use on the balcony. I haven't solved the heat-for-me problem. If it isn't horribly cold, it just means bundling up. If it's sub-zero and staying that way, I'm going to have to get more creative, heating with solar-capture and candles. I think I can do it but I'm sure going to be living in a confined space for awhile. If it's worse than that, I'm probably looking at evacuation, if I can. For that purpose, I have a go-bag with the essentials already pre-loaded - one for the apartment in case the fire department sends me out of the building in the wee morning hours on 5 minutes notice and one in the car if I can retrieve it from the garage and drive away.
I hope to never need any of the above on an emergency or sustained basis. On the other hand, bottom line, having a supply of food in the house, means if the financial system goes down for awhile, or my employer can't pay me, or I don't have a job, I can still eat for several weeks while I negotiate with my utilities and landlord and/or look for work.
I do try to keep extra food on hand in the pantry and freezer. I keep extra water and am assembling an emergency kit in case a disaster should strike. Every part of the country gets hit by something and people should be prepared.
As emergencies are the norm when you have kids, yes we are saving. For them, for us, with money and with food stocks. And we pray a lot.
Not so good with stockpiling water, gasoline, etc. I kind of feel that if things that get that bad, we'll have bigger problems than we can imagine.
It must be in the air, because I posted about this to my own blog just 2 days ago.
Briefly, I've concluded that I need to keep only 1 week's worth of stuff on hand. This is because after 1 week either the emergency will be over, or I will have left town.
For just about everything, though, I end up keeping more than that, because it's more cost-effective to buy things in larger quantities. Also, if you wait until you're really close to being out of something, or until you have absolutely none of it in the house, then you risk paying a premium for it. In supermarkets, stuff goes on cyclically, and the cycles don't necessarily jibe with my rate of use, but I'll follow the supermarket cycles when I can.
One last comment: like some other posters, I have a hard time prioritizing water storage because of space limitations. It can be helpful to remember that just about everybody does have a pretty large "store" of water already: in the water heater! Teach yourself how to tap it and you're set for at least a couple of days.
I never stockpile food. I have always lived very close to many grocery stores. I do live in a very snowy climate, but there has never been a blizzard bad enough where I couldn't get out if I absolutely had to (even in a foot or two of snow!).
I have been slowly building a backstock of grocery supplies and other items for the last several months as finances will allow. I am stocking up on foods that will last a long time (rice, beans, etc.), as well as some shorter term foods that we enjoy (such as cookies and crackers). I have also started canning, dehydrating, and trying, not very successfully, to garden. My goal is to eventually have at least a 6-12 months supply of food for us. I also plan to get laying hens soon.
I live along the southeast coast (hurricane zone), so we have always kept emergency supplies during hurricane season. However, with the state of the world these days, I feel absolutely compelled to stock much more and to try be prepared for anything.
I am surprised at reading the comments how many people do not take preparing for emergencies more seriously. Our national grain stock is now kept at lowest levels per person ever, grocery stores operate with "just in time" shipping and will run out quickly, our food supply is in danger from drought & other weather events, shipping breakdowns, hybid seeds (totally another discussion), animal diseases, and the list could go on.
I have worked as a post-disaster responder for many years, and have seen heart-wrenching situations where people did not have food, water, clothes, hygiene necessities, or even food & milk for the baby after a disaster. There were times I've had to share my own resources (I've learned to take extra along with me on the road by now), or go find people help, or tell them where to go to get a meal or supplies, or help them communicate with others, etc. Do you want to be that person relying on someone else's good heart to help you out? (That being said, thank God there are still some good people in this world that are willing to help.)
Have supplies stocked in both your home & in your car. If you're short on space, stock them under your bed, behind or under your couch, in your closet, wherever you can stick them. A "go bag" in your car for quick getaways is essential. Don't forget the toilet paper (as mentioned above), hygiene items (include baby wipes, great for adults too, and hand sanitizer), a few changes of clothes, necessary items for baby, something for kids' entertainment, pet food (starving animals thrown out to fend for themselves are not a pretty sight), any special items for the elderly in your family (throw in a few cans of Ensure as well), essential medicines, contacts or glasses, and food & water.
Have your important papers ready to pick up and go if need be, as well as some cash (put some away in the house & in your go bag in the car & don't touch it for anything else).
One of the MOST important things in emergencies or disasters is preparing your mind *beforehand*. Instead of being one of the masses who are freaking out (for lack of a better term) and are non-functional because they are in shock, you will have already walked through various scenarios in your mind and prepared yourself. You will know how you will respond to a given disaster & you'll be ready to take care of yourself/your family, as well as help others when you can. Know what you have on hand, know what you are lacking, know what you can spare to share with others, and have some plans...plan A, plan B, etc. If you stay in your home, how long will your supplies last? Do you have people that you can trade with? How will you warm yourself & cook? What about water? What about light to see by? How will you get news? If you have to leave, where will you go? What route will you take to get there? How will you communicate with your loved ones? A preplanned map of your evacuation route in the car is also a good idea. If you have children, according to their age, think how best to prepare their mind and share some of your plans with them. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Planning for yourself or your family could get much more involved, but these are the essentials. Encourage others that you know to be prepared as well. After a disaster/emergency, supplies get tight very fast, then they are gone.
You and your family's survival is up to YOU! Don't count on FEMA or Red Cross or anyone else for your survival. That's who the masses are counting on, and as we can see from Katrina, that's not a very reliable plan of survival.
Don't neglect your faith. It is sheer faith in the almighty GOD that has seen many people through disasters.
Wishing you all peace and joy in these troubles times.
Food storage is just one part of provident living (see http://www.providentliving.org). Here in Utah I am surrounded by neighbors who have food storage and are prepared for emergencies. We are helped by having Home Storage Centers (see http://www.rickety.us/2008/08/our-home-storage-center) that are also open to non-Mormons. They are located throughout the United States.
Your blog does a great service in generating interest in preparedness.
would love to have more, but the apartment has limited storage space. i buy grains when they are on sale and try to keep some basic beans and veggies in the pantry, too. i'm with the amazon grocery shopper above - buying in bulk and saving money = win/win.
I normally "save" because the food that I have in my house isn't what I'm craving at the moment so I go buy something different, leaving me with way more food stocked in my pantry. Not always a good thing. Gets a bit expensive after a while.
With SoCal on fire seemingly everyday these past few years, it's been important to stock up on canned, dried, and boxed food. More importantly has been keeping large portable jugs of water in case we have to throw everything into the car and take off for safety. Keeping a backpack full of supplies has been a key to success.
I first learned about bulk buying as a frugal tip from the Tightwad Gazette years ago. Whenever something we use regularly goes on sale, I buy as much as I can, up to dozen. So whenever I make spaghetti, sloppy joes, noodles or rice, I am always serving a very low-cost meal. I buy meat in larger packaged quantities when it is on sale and freeze it in portions we would cook for individual meals, such as three pork chops to a freezer bag. By combining this with a flexible monthly menu, we eat pretty inexpensively. If something is always on sale that I use only on occasion (such as $1 cake mix), I no longer stock up on it. If something is always on sale that I use frequently ($1 brownie mix) I keep about a half dozen on hand and replenish as needed.
My husband took me to meet one of his firends and we get along real well and he told us about a few thing that no one thinks of and now we are all on the same page and every week we give him at least 25 dollars and he goes and get stuff that has a long shelf life and we stock pile all kind of food so far i think he has a total of 3 or 4 months of food stred away the next thing is we are working on getting thing to have a huge garden at his house as i had my mother in law teach me how to pressure cook food and now i can do it by my self so when the time comes i will be able to do it with out any problem and i help my in laws with there garden every year i think it was last year we canned over 50 cans of green beas and then we had to bag like 20 as we ran out of jar
Unless you know for sure he is actually buying this stuff for you, and storing it, I would think you would be better off putting that extra $25 a week in savings. I might be pessimistic here, but why don't you buy and store the stuff yourself instead of trusting someone else? And do you have easy access to you supplies if they are ever needed?
I have a reasonably good stock of food for the family. There are toiletries around and sufficient cleaning goods as well. I found that the more important thing to do is learn new to me skills. I have learned to can. I can sew and crochet. I am pretty good at gardening and I am working on bread baking from scratch.
Slowly I am working on self sufficiency. I like the fact that I can make more food for my family and not buy a lot of pre-prepared it gives me the good feeling that maybe I am not feeding so many preservatives.
Bit crazy if you ask me... Sure, it might be a good idea to some, but two to five years? Surely that's just way excessive?? I mean, maybe a month or two, depending on family size, types of imminent disasters, etc I can see. Anything else and you're kinda leaning towards apocalyptic delusion...
I mean, I can hardly keep a couple of weeks' worth of appetizing food around. I can't imagine any more food laying around this house!
it takes extra money to be able to stock pile like that. We don't have extra money. We barely make due with the $200 per month food budget we have now.
I'm hoping to someday have a year's supply of food available. The trick with this however is to rotate your supply! Don't buy stuff that is "cheap" that you won't eat. If there was an emergency you'd be miserable. And don't rush out and buy it all at once. If there's something you buy a lot, and there's a good sale, stock up, you'll start building your extra stash. And if you do it slowly (save the free one from bogo sales, etc.) you won't notice changes in your daily life, except that your groceries might get cheaper because you don't have to buy when stuff's expensive, and if something happens like a job loss or a natural disaster you're that much more prepared. :)
I grew up on a farm and we would often not be able to get into town during inclement weather.
As a result of this, I've always made sure to have a few months worth of food at a time.
I keep a large plastic storage bin in my kitchen(the trash can and the composter sit on top of it) and make sure it is full of dried beans a rice and some canned veggies at all times. I also make sure to have canned tomatoes because they can make anything taste better. I also keep some extra seasonings and stock cubes in there. I'd hate to have an emergency and end up eating plain rice for a long time!
I go through it about once a month and put anything that needs to be used in my regular pantry so that i remember to use it soon.
It doesn't take too much to keep the bin full--I just buy a bag of beans or some rice or pasta every time I go to the store.
I stockpile by default.
My Grandfather had a grocery store and he taught me that most everything goes on sale roughly once every 12 weeks.
Ergo I buy enough of an item to last me 12 weeks based on my average usage.
This might be say 12 cans of yams or 24 cans of pasta.
As for storing it a 1 foot square bookcase 6 foot tall will hold almost 300 standard size 15-16 oz cans...actually around the 12 weeks worth if all you eat is canned....much more if the canned goods are for supplementing.
One of the advantages to canned goods are they are edible directly from the can without having to be cooked as the canning process cooks the food for you...they may not be appetising if cold out of the can but in an emergency you take what you can get.
is much more and much less than the other commenters I guess LOL!
We do have a large stock of food mostly because I buy the things we use most when they're at their best price - the longer they store the more I keep - not for disaster emergency as much as for convenience and financial 'emergency' [I consider it more part of my emergency 'fund' than my emergency 'supply']
I have stocked up to some extent on water and am trying to increase it too - and to figure out a way to keep some in the car [I had some 'juice box' type stored but they didn't hold up well in the storage places I have available there] that works well for us [since my place for storing water is an upstairs closet - hard to move lots of it in an evacuation situation]
I stock my freezers for my convenience - I do NOT count them as emergency storage because of the power outage possibility.
I've probably got enough food on hand that I could last a bit over a month. Mostly that's just a result of buying things when they are on sale and with coupons. Living alone, it makes things a little easier to have a stockpile.
We do keep a supply of food on hand. Where we live we could have hurricanes, or tornadoes, so keeping things stock up for emergencies is something that needs to be done. It is always good to know you are prepared.
I have studied for emergencies. They occur more frequently than you may think. I have therefore before even worrying about food, improve my house (electrical systems, water damages, etc.), then I have made a list of the home inventory, and create a special place to put all the food and other emergency items.
If you buy food, and the food will be damaged in a fire or because of humidity, or whatever other reason, you will be more desesperate than if you did not have any food, because you will feel frustrated, asking why it happened to you, feeling stupid because you lost your money and your time, and most of all, because you SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING.
So, yes, I am preparing for emergencies, with a first aid kit, with organization, with a better inventory system, and by the way, I have set ut hidden places, where no one will likely search for the food. Please remember, some people will steal anything from you... Specially if they are hungry.
By the way, you should TASTE the food you buy, before you stock it, because you may be alergic to it, and if you are, and there is a problem, you will likely not be able to be treated...
I grew up on a small dairy farm in the middle of no where (eastern Nebraska). About twice a year we'd have no power for 2+ days & snow drifts higher then a mountain. Between that & my Dad hating to drive town to get one things we always had a bit of a stockpile.
Due to needing a job (something that paid better then a Pamida cashier) I had to move to a bigger town :(
Even though Walmart is down the street from our house, we stockpile.
I cook from scratch buying a good deal of our stuff @ Ethic markets which are cheaper(yes, cheaper then Walmart) & that sell things in bulk.
I love the fact that when there's a big storm we can just stay home, make some yummy baked thing & watch movies all day while the snow (and sometimes rain) blows.
We go grocery shopping once a month & I'm able to feed myself & my growing boy on about $100 a month. About twice a year we'll get the 20lb bags of rice and such so that probably bumps our monthly average up to 180-ish. Until I can figure out why our garden doesn't really grow, we're kinda bartering & getting other peoples over flow veggies & fruit this year. I'm learn to can this fall - for fun. Someday I hope to get us to the point we only go to the store for TP & scotch tape. Then we can spend all our weekends living life, not pacing around a store.
The time we save by not running to the store all the time is spent going to the park, reading, socializing, gardening, doing my son's sports & working on our fixer upper house.
This winter we're going to experiment growing our greens indoors - not to save money but for fun & to see what happens! If it works then (like so many of my "experiments") the money saving part will be gravy.
I was raised in the military, back when living in a foreign country was really foreign. When there was a commissary in the vicinity, my parents would make a monthly trip to stock up, and in between we bought from the local markets and stores. When my parents retired, they moved to the country, twenty miles from the nearest small town and almost a hundred miles from the nearest commissary, so the habit continued. As a result, I tend to store food also, even though I now live in a large city. I don't have a pantry, so I have a couple of bins in my office/guest room. There's a closeout grocery in this city, and since I like to cook, I have a lot of gourmet-type items stored away. They might not be the usual survival food, but in case of emergency, I can make it on canned mushroom-truffle spread and minced hazelnuts with honey and cardamom.
Personally, I don't stockpile food for an emergency. I'm trying to decrease the amount of "stuff" I keep around my house, and having another cupboard filled with emergency just doesn't make sense for the amount of space I have. If something were to happen, I guess I would have to ration the small supply that I do have available.
Can I come to your house if something happens?
I do food storage just when good deals come around and to save money by stocking up, not for emergency issues.
I try to use the pantry stocking method of shopping: when items that I use regularly are on sale, I buy several depending on the shelf life. I try to keep at least one extra week of all essential items on hand and several months work of food in general.
I got a great deal on a new brand of organic soup once so I bought several. After I tried a few, I decided I didn't care for the soup, but I kept the extra cans for three more years because I figured if I really needed something to eat in an emergency, the yucky soups would at least keep me alive.
I usually don't go too crazy on most essentials in the pantry- except for when it comes to cereal. I live by myself, yet have no problem with having 8-10 boxes on hand. I stock up whenever there's a sale because I refuse to pay over $2.50 for a box of it (even Kashi!).
My husband and I have a small pantry in our kitchen (2 mos. supply) and just recently decided to invest in an "emergency/catastrophic conditions" food storage area in our basement that will last for a couple of years.
The reasons for this are threefold:
The dollar has been devaluing slowly, but surely for the last few decades - and is now worth only about 70% of its value. That fact, coupled with double digit inflation that will hit in a few months as a result of our humongous national debt, leads us to believe that the more food we can stockpile now, the better.
Food shortages may occur in the coming months or years, as a result of decline in agricultural production worldwide and/or fuel shortages interrupting the distribution chain.
We are no longer living in the country we knew as children. Look forward to supply interruptions (fuel and food) - possibly even shortages and taxes on particular items. And one very big tax that could really hit us all in the wallet - the V.A.T.(value added tax)- which is basically a consumption tax!!!
My husband felt very strongly about this and researched the shelf life for all foods and necessities exclusive of fresh meats, poultry fish,fruits and vegetables from a spreadsheet he downloaded from the Internet. He also purchased special 5 gal containers that can be sealed airtight with an additive that eliminates any oxygen that is left in the container. The containers are solid and also vermin-proof.
Consequently, with an extensive checklist in hand, including the shelf-life of 95% of products we consume, we have been building up our supplies slowly this summer. The longer the shelf life, the larger the quantity i.e. --white rice - 20lbs, brown rice - 10 lbs, sugar - 20 lbs, flour - 10 lbs, assorted spices - by the pound,etc...all the way down the line to oils and those with a shorter shelf life.
Remember, our plan is to have enough to last us for at least 2 years. Assuming prices increase at least 15-20%, we will have saved at least that much annually.On an annual grocery budget of about $ 8000 and household supplies/pet food/cosmetics -- we are talking possibly $10,000 total and what is 20% of that? That sure isn't "chump change" to us.
Wake up before it's too late - stop SNORING and start STORING!
Jane
We have a large garden and I can vegetables and freeze vegetables for the winter months when the local stores have a limited or too costly supply of veggies. I do have about 1 week worth of canned food that can be either eaten out of the can, or cooked on the propane BBQ. Since we live in an area with snow, and the power goes out several times each winter, we think it's not a bad idea. Our area is also earthquake prone, and we like to have an accessible emergency kit with food and water.
In the winter, my husband and I each have an emergency pack in each of our trucks- extra clothes, blanket, water and food for 3 days.
We also have two cases of bottled water in the garage in the event of an earthquake. They don't happen too often here, but the last couple were doozies.
I like to buy food by the case from Amazon. They have good deals with the subscribe and save program plus I use an Amazon credit card for a 3 per cent cash back. I buy soups, dried fruit, sardines, etc.
I can't say that I have a huge cache of supplies, but during hurricane season in SC, I do have an emergency supply just in case.
Unfortunately we are limited by space and the fact that we will be moving next year, so that has curtailed my border-line parckratting.
I also like to buy extra (preferably on sale) because I am a recipe adventurer and like to whip up new things at the spur of the moment. There is nothing more annoying than excitedly starting a delicious looking recipe, only to find you have no evaporated milk!
We live in a tiny apartment, with barely enough room for a week's worth of food, so if some sort of horrible disaster were to hit... I guess we'd be in trouble. But we don't live in a place where there are hurricanes or blizzards, so hopefully we'll be okay!
We have had food storage, by necessity, until recently. My husband's line of work had him laid off from 5-7 months every year...a classic case of feast (he earns good wages when working) and famine. By adding just a little bit to our food storage every shopping trip, we were able to survive the "famine" times. As his job was seasonal due to the part of the country we live, we just moved last month. It was no picnic for us to move the food storage with us, but after giving some of it to a family in need, we did successfully move it to our new home with hopes that we will never have to rely upon it the way we did before. Will we still have food storage, yes...but not as much.
Growing up, my mother easily had months of food in the basement. Most of this was due to bulk shopping in order to save money, but we lived in a rural area and it wasn't uncommon to have winter storms that kept us stuck at home for a few days. While Dad could usually still get out to go to work, the roads weren't good and people only did the driving they had to - which meant no trips to the store, and definitely no taking the kids out in the car.
I live in an apartment with little room for storage and I often think I should stock up more. I definitely need to put together at least a multi-day emergency pack with food and water. I do have a few gallons of drinking water in a closet, plus a few 2 liter bottles of tap water for things like toilet flushing and the like. I figure that plus the cans of soup and boxes of granola bars will get me through a few days.
I would like to be the sort of person who keeps a good stock of supplies and then rotates through them. My problem is that I buy things and then end up having to replace them because they go bad.
We don't keep a big stock of food, I found I wasted a lot of food trying to do that and also spent more at the store. But, if there was an emergency we could survive on the food we have for a few weeks. It might not be the best meals ever, but we have beans, canned meat, peanut butter and dry cereal, etc. We'd be okay.
My reason--emergency storage. Too many times I have run out of something I use because of a faulty memory or just too busy and didn't buy it before I ran out of it.
I'd like to have more info from Jane who posted above as to where the 5 gal storage containers can be purchased and also where to find the spreadsheet for how long food lasts.
Thank you!
texasleslie@gmail.com
I live on the Texas Gulf coast. We have to keep supplies of bottled water, canned food, food for our pets, etc. in case of hurricanes. After Ike last year we were without electricity for almost two weeks. We plan ahead by having not one but two gasoline generators to power some items like the freezer but it isn't enough for the kitchen so we bbq a lot. You would be amazed at how versatile the bbq pit is!
Yes I stock up and store food supplies. There are just 2 of us and I have 3 Freezers that food is alternated through. Nothing is more than a year old. I have meats, butter, fish, sweets, canned goods and pasta's that I have stocked up on. I live in town but and married to a farmer/truck driver, here in ND you learn to stock up because you never know when the blizzard is going to hit.. We even have a generator just in case.. if not 2 fireplaces to cook all our stored food should we need it.
I have always been the one that purchased all things that were on a great sale...if it was 2 for $5.00, then two it was...I also have the container in the garage for emergencies complete with clean and fresh under garments...a person can never be too ready! When Yk2 was upon us, I was ready...it was all in vain, however, in the recent days, I caught a show on TLC called "HORDERS". Oh my gosh! I am too afraid of becoming one of those and so I gave a ton of my reserves to the local food bank...in the case of a disaster I will have to rely on the fact that I hope good karma comes my way because I gave so much to the food banks...no one can accuse me of being a "HOARDER"...priorites you know! :)
Probably to the point where it could be called hoarding. I learned when I was young to always keep a lot of food on hand. Now, I've taken it to a new level. I can my own sauces, soups, jams, etc., and I store massive amounts of standard pantry goods: honey, flour, sugar, yeast, beans, rice, pasta, dried fruits and veggies, canned veggies, milk, fruit and meats, etc. We also store water, and have a propane grill and a butane stove.
In addition, I keep my freezer stocked as well as my fridge. This has come in handy many times for me. During Ike, we were without power for about a month. All the foods in my freezer helped not only us, but also the less-prepared neighbours. None of that food went to waste (though largely because we were willing to share it; otherwise I would have pressure canned all the meats). Aside from Ike, finances have been a mess the last year. This has resulted in me frequently refusing to go to the grocery store for up to a month at a time and we still get to eat because I store food. We don't have a lot of space, either. Much of my food storage is in large rubbermaid bins I stack on top of one another.
There are a lot of types of emergencies - not just natural disaster types. Keeping some food on hand to at least carry a person a few months is a good practice.
I am a firm believer in stockpiling. Emergencies happen all the time, and they aren't just the weather related kind. I have many times been able to live off mostly my stockpile for a month or so, while scraping the cash together to pay some large bill coming up. I am thinking right now of the $1200 root canal and the $3000 transmission replacement. Stuff happens and you need to be prepared.
I can feed my family well for at least 2 months on what I have on hand and probably another month on random, not necessarily balanced foods.
Hello
yes, I've just began about close to a month ago buying a little extra. Lately the main things I've stocked are toilet tissue, soap, toothpaste among many other personal items. This week looking to grab a few extra food items for freezer/storage shelf. The reason for the extras is due to the possibility of a layoff coming ahead. There have already been some situations that have taken place over the past month that has put me kind of on edge. With seeing this arise I've started trying to prepare while I do have the money to do this. If you can, always try to stock up on the essentials you never know what may come your way.
Stock your heart out!
D
I always found it easier to keep the basics on hand and have some extras in case I ran out. Family of five. Then I was doing better financially so I would buy extra of somethings to have on hand. I was unemployed this year for several months and we were very blessed to have that food stored. We had some home maintenance expenses, car expenses, and dental work done. So food wasn't really in the budget. I am also interested in where the husband in the above post found the online list of expiration dates of food?
I try to buy a little extra whenever I can, particularly if there's a good deal on something, and it does build up.
Every so often I do a minimal purchase month, particularly if I have some unexpected expenses. We just eat through what's in the cupboard/fridge/freezer, and only buy the fresh stuff that has to be bought regularly.
Then we can either ride out the other expenses that month, or even be left with a nice sum at the end to go into savings.
The more food I have in the pantry the easier I rest at night. I also don't worry so much about money if I have a full pantry. I love the planning and storing of all food. It helps me through the winter months when heating is so expensive and I have a house full of people at the holidays!
I sure do have food storage. Right now we are going to be moving we are sure, so we are trying to use it up. I buy much of it using coupons combined with sales, so I get much of it free or nearly free. Other things like powdered milk, yeast, flour,rice, beans and the like I always have a good stock of on hand, I constantly use those things, they are great staples and a great emergency stash.
We survived an ice storm, earlier this year that left us without electricity for 7 days. We learned a lot during those seven days.
We ate very well during the storm. Inviting family and friends, along with their food from their refrigerator, to our home. We prepared meals together, pooling resources, from what would spoil first. The only thing in short supply was desserts as they usually reguired an oven. One day, I did plug in my bread machine to the generator and made a cake from a mix.
I always keep 2-3 dozen eggs on hand. In a real emergency they can be hard boiled and they keep well with lots of protein.
I write the date (just month & year) on all of my canned items and rotate stock every time I add to my pantry. I keep extras of veggies, fruit, canned meats & pasta-type meals, flour, sugar, oil, and cereals (which can always be eaten dry if necessary).
I also freeze milk, in 1/2 gallon jugs (keep about 2 inches head room for expansion). Milk takes a long time to defrost, so you can use it to keep other things cold in a cooler.
Food is not the only necessity. Fire is a biggie. Propane helped us prepare food on the BBQ grill. Wood helped us heat water for all kinds of purposes. Washing hair, (and bodies if you were rugged enough to undress in 40 degree temps) and cleaning pots and pans. Gasoline, we keep a rotation of several cans on hand. Even the gas stations could not pump gas without electricity. If you have a generator, gasoline is a must. A rope/clothes line to hang up towels or clothing to dry.
We have city water. But many people around us have pumps. Many were not prepared with enough water for day-to-day usage. They went to fire stations or neighbors to collect gallons of water each day. I have 3 five gallon bottles of water in my garage, even though I have city water.
We used coolers to keep food cold. The refrigerator is too big to try to keep things cold for a long period of time. Solar emergency blankets sold in the camping section of your local discount store can serve two purposes. Keep you warm or keep your food cold. I have several on hand.
Paper plates were a necessity. Washing only pots and pans in our limited supply of hot water. I keep plenty on hand now.
Lamp oil and old-fashion oil lamps were the only reliable lights after about 4 days. No recharging necessary. Also matches or multi-purpose lighter and small candles.
I also keep a to-go bag in my pantry with items necessary if we need to leave suddenly. Toothpaste, toothbrushes, travel or sample sized shampoos, band-aids, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, matches and emergency solar blankets. I keep this in the pantry so food items can be thrown in quickly.
I do keep a stash of extra canned/boxed goods on hand-- at least a good month's worth. It's mostly canned tomatoes/sauces, beans/soups, tuna, and dry pasta. I live on the Gulf Coast where every summer we brace for hurricanes, so it just seems prudent. I also like knowing that I'm not at the mercy of supermarket prices and can stock up when I see a good sale (last week it was half-off egg noodles-- we love stroganoff so I bought 4 bags!).
We don't have emergency food supply but after reading this, I am seriously considering it. We do have an emergency supply of water but we should probably add food to it too.
Yes I guess I do. I can and freeze enough to last thru the winter and if an emergency were to occur we would survive for a few months. Have cast iron cookware that could be used to cook in the fireplace if need be and well for water.
Lol. I don't go overboard but I do spend a nice chunk of change every three months on staples. I buy bulk items like rice, pasta, beans, chicken cubes, dried spices n seasoning, flour, brown sugar, cereal etc. Dry goods that lasts however I do it out of convinience, I hate shopping n long lines. I really dislike running to the store every couple of days unless it's for fruits veggies or milk. I keep three months of food always going. Easy convinient and frugal for me. It's not easy keeping a grocery list for a house of 13. Sheez. :-)
I have some food stocked in case of an emergency, and I'm working on building a year supply worth of food. My parents set the example, and it was and is strongly encouraged by our church.
It started as simply as purchasing the maximum amount of canned goods I had coupons for, spending just a little extra each grocery shopping trip. But I also have some food basics like wheat and oats and rice that last much longer, and I regularly rotate out my items.
If there is a storm that clears the shelves at the grocery store (I saw this a couple years ago) or keeps me from wanting to drive (this just happened last winter), I am prepared. If the electricity goes out so I can't eat the food in my fridge or freezer (this happened last year), I am prepared. And if funds are tight so I can't spend the regular amount on groceries, I am prepared.
In addition to groceries, I have some water that I store and rotate, because I've seen water supplies yanked from shelves after being told not to drink the local water supply. I also buy a little extra household supplies when they're on sale to have them on hand in case of an emergency. And I'm working on putting together a bag I can grab with 72 hours worth of supplies in case of needing to evacuate without much warning, as well as items to create a shelter in place.
And another benefit is financial savings. Instead of waiting until I run out of something and "need" it, I buy things when they're on sale and don't have to pay full price for something.
The roommate and I keep a fairly large supply of staples in the house -- dried beans, barley, rice, oats, red winter wheat, pasta, salt, flour, sugar, honey etc., as well as cans of tomato sauce and such. We keep water purification supplies on hand. We've talked about getting a small stove to boil water outside in case of power outages. I've been cooking grains with boiling water and a Stanley thermos for years -- it's energy-efficient and means I don't have to actually cook anything in the morning.
My colleagues might think this is strange, but I don't see anything wrong with saving up for financial independence AND saving up for possible zombie apocalypse. I just set aside a certain amount of money from my monthly budget for buying preparedness supplies. Why not cover both sides? Invest in index funds AND ammunition. ;)
Various people in every country take the business loans in various banks, just because it's comfortable.