Thursday, March 17, 2011

food storage made simple

The new simplified approach to food storage suggests we gradually build a three month supply of the foods that are part of our normal, daily diet. Instead of randomly purchasing food, I've developed a method that makes sense and simplifies the process for me. Here's what I'm doing:

Step 1: Choose seven to nine of your family's favorite recipes.
This is one of the reasons I was so excited to get my Family Favorites Recipe Book project completed. My recipes are all compiled in one spot for easy access and meal preparation.

Step 2: Choose one recipe at a time and purchase the ingredients for three months worth of that meal.
I started with my Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe. If I fix it once a week for three months, that would be 12 meals. So then, I multiply each ingredient times twelve. The recipes calls for one can of diced green chiles, so I need 12 cans. The ingredients include three cans of chicken broth, so I need 36 cans for twelve meals. Simple, huh?


I was trying to wait for my food storage items to go on sale, but I found I wasn't getting anything done. Now I just go to the Walmart around the corner or Costco and purchase what I need. I still shop the sales, but I want to work faster.

Step 3: Store it all together in one place.
I have shelves in my food/cold storage rooms, so I'll put each meal on one shelf and label it. That way, I can "shop" for my items and they're all in one spot.

By storing specific family favorite meals, it's easy to rotate my storage because we eat them often. I have items like dehydrated onions and spices in bulk for multiple recipes. Of course I'm also purchasing things like cereal and peanut butter, etc. for other meals. For Ella, we store Grape Nuts. She eats them for every meal and snacks. She even named the stuffed cat we got her after surgery a couple of years ago, Grape Nuts. :)

We had a yard sale awhile back and made $600 (wow!). We decided to use it for food storage. We also allocate $50 of our grocery budget each month specifically for food storage. 

Just keepin' it simple. :)

No comments:

Post a Comment