The human body won’t last long without food – a few weeks without any nutritional supplements. Today I’d like to help you get started with your food supply. If you saw my last POST, you recognized that in an emergency, such as severe weather, the stores won’t have a whole lot of food left on the shelves and certainly not enough to support all of the people in your area, especially if you live in a highly populated area like I do! So what’s the answer?
FOOD STORAGE!!!
Beginning to store food can be absolutely daunting. I know, I too thought “Where do I even start?” This was once the biggest thing keeping me from having food storage. I didn’t realize that sometimes you just have to learn as you go!
Here’s my list of 5 things to consider when starting out. These seemed adequate and encompasses a lot of information for beginners. Besides, too much too soon is overwhelming and makes people not start, and that is not what we want!
1 - DO NOT GO INTO DEBT. There are a lot of companies out there that sell products for storage. They aren’t bad, and you SHOULD invest in some of their products. You don’t need to jump feet first and buy a whole year’s supply at once. It’s not logical or financially responsible! Unless you’re rich, but most of us aren’t! Simply start by grabbing an extra can or two of veggies, package of pasta, or extra condiment for storage the next time you’re at the store. It’s that simple to get started.
2 - MAKE IT A PRIORITY BY SETTING A BUDGET. My husband and I allocate a specific set of funds each month to stock our food supply. It can be as much or as little as you can afford. Stock up on the things that we LIKE to eat. No one ever said that you have to eat boring food! In a time of crisis, you’ll be happy that you have your normal foods to eat! All hail comfort food!!! TRUST ME!!!
3 - DECIDE HOW MUCH IS APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR FAMILY. This is something I can’t tell you, you must figure it out. Just know that you should have enough for each member of your family to eat at least two (hopefully three) meals per day. That amount can vary from family to family!
4 - HAVE A PLAN. Build your short term food storage first. These are the items that you eat on a regular basis. THEN work on your long term storage or items that can be stored for longer periods of time. This is what the “experts” say. There is wisdom in this, and most people have success with this method! You’ll most likely need your short term items long before those long term ones!
I, on the other hand, like to have a balanced approach. I like to store my favorite items for short term and mix in a few long term items. When I order my shipments through Thrive, I try to double order items. For example, this month I got 2 cans of green beans; one of which I will place with my short term items and the other is my long term. Since most Thrive products have a 25 year shelf life due to being freeze dried, I’m confident that if I need them in a few years - they’ll be fine! This works for me – but if following the above counsel works for you – do it!!!
5 – GET YOUR BASICS (flour, sugar, rice etc.) and KNOW HOW TO COOK WITH THEM!!! Flour is no good to you if you can’t make it into bread, or anything else you need flour for!!! Don’t let the basics give you a false sense of security. So you have 100 pounds of hard wheat, do you know how to make it into something that you can eat? All the preps in the world don’t matter if you don’t know what you’re doing! So get into the kitchen and start cooking with basics!!!
It’s as simple as that - 5 easy steps to get you started!!! If you are a list person and need someone to tell you exactly what to get (no problem with that at all) check out this on PINTEREST. I have NOT followed this list, but it looks to be thorough, and will help you get started. I suggest doing MORE than this, if able, BUT this is a good start! So don’t be afraid - just get started! I challenge you to purchase $10 worth of food this week for your home storage and get started!!! Don’t let a crisis be your motivation like I did!!!
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