Food storage can be a real relief even if it's as simple as a few home-cooked casseroles stocked in the freezer for those "bad days," or a cabinet full of cans of chicken noodle soup when you have a cold. Becoming prepared can seem like an overwhelming task, but it can be as simple as buying two cans of diced tomatoes and putting one in storage and the other in the kitchen. Continue this with the rest of the grocery list.
Strive to have 72 hours worth of ready to eat food. Then make it a week's worth and eventually 4 week's worth. Next multiply that by 12 and I'll bet you will have a year's supply of food. Do the same with paper products, hygiene, first aid, etc.
Of course storing a year's supply depends on whether you have the room. Maybe you only have space for 72 hours or a week--it's okay to do what you can. There is peace in knowing you can "shop" your pantry and not have to run to the store for every little thing!
Here are some sites I return to again and again for food storage knowledge and inspiration:
The Family Homestead is a site I enjoy exploring for inspiration.
http://thefamilyhomestead.com/
LDS Church Provident Living site runs the whole gammut of preparedness training. I personally have used this site to buy a year's worth of food storage.
LDS Church Provident Living site runs the whole gammut of preparedness training. I personally have used this site to buy a year's worth of food storage.
Provident Living is a source for food storage purchases. They teach about preparedness and gardening and much, much more.
Food Storage Made Easy is your food storage 101 class for newbies.
Preparedness Skills
Random Sampler of Great Ideas! (Ensign, June 1974) Has a ton of useful information beginning with how to dehydrate all kinds of food from the garden and even meat! It explains how to smoke and can fresh caught fish. I get a thick sales paper each week in my mailbox that must be put to some use or thrown away. An idea is given to turn newsprint into bundles that can be stacked and used like wood. (Or make these cute pioneer haysticks with newspaper that I found at Martha Stewart). Whether a camping enthusiast or survivalist wannabe, learning how to cook using a tin can is a useful skill. Instructions are given for recipes, a buddy burner, stove and oven.
Food Storage Rotation
For the real enthusiast, the question is how to keep up with the food storage and rotate it out so that nothing spoils and is wasted. "Tracking Our Food Storage," by Leslie O. Anderson (Ensign, Feb 1996) uses a system much like the old library cards where each section of food storage has a card or slips of paper that you pull when you take something from that shelf. Then you put the slips with the grocery list and replace the items.
