How To Get Started With Food Storage

People ask me all the time how to get started with food storage, I get it. It may seem overwhelming and expensive; you may even say where in the heck do I start? You may ask yourself what on earth should I buy? How much should I buy? How can I afford it? I get it. Here’s the deal, just start with a few cans and then add a few more cans as your budget and space allow.

I’ve always felt the need to have some food stashed away in case our family is faced with an emergency or natural disaster. Every family should have an emergency food supply just in case. Actually, it doesn’t take a disaster from Mother Nature to prompt the need for short-term or long-term food storage. The breadwinner could get caught up in a company layoff. You could have an accident or illness that keeps a family member from going to work. Life seems to be full of surprises, so it’s good to have food stored away for that “rainy day.”

What is food storage?

The thing you must think about is what the future may bring you and your family. I feel a very urgent message in my heart I MUST share; please get some food storage and store some water today, not tomorrow.

If you can order a few cans of this and a few cans of that and have them delivered to your home every month, you will sleep better every night knowing you are prepared for whatever comes your way. As mentioned, it could be a job loss, income reduction, health issues, a disaster, or an unforeseen emergency. If you can only afford one or two cans of green beans or two bags of rice to start, that’s awesome!

• Water Storage: How Much Do You Really Need?
• Is Tap Water Safe to Drink?
• Creative Water Storage Solutions for Emergencies 
• How to Barter with Food and Water

Icy Road Story

I can still remember a young mother sending me an email and stating the area where she lived that week had roads closed because of the severe ice storms. She wondered what she was going to feed her family. I suggested she go to the neighbors, if possible, to see if they had food to spare. She said the neighbors lived too far away. I’m not sure what she did, but I can almost guarantee you that when the roads were finally safe to travel on, she stocked up on instant milk, cereal, pancake mix, canned meats, vegetables, fruits, and other staples. Be sure to stock up on things you know your family will eat.

I truly believe God gives us a few chances, I guess you could say, to get prepared. Maybe this young mother and other families had a wake-up call to be prepared based on some of our recent severe weather storms. You need to be prepared even if it’s only for three days worth of meals. If you make food storage part of your life plan, as in using it every day, you will be prepared for almost anything. Then store for seven days, thirty days, or more long term so you can feed your family and sleep at night knowing you made goals and followed through to help protect your family.

Get Started With Food Storage

Here’s a PRINTABLE I hand out when I teach classes about food storage: Where do I Start? I made this printable sheet so people could write down what they eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You fill in the lines with what you eat for the different meals. Then, you purchase the items needed to make those meals. It’s actually fun to involve the whole family in choosing the different meals. You can make up your own spreadsheet, but I like this one as a starting point.

Breakfast Ideas:

Pancakes, cereal, waffles, biscuits, scrambled eggs, whole wheat cereal, oats or oatmeal, toast, French toast, to name a few. So, if you choose those items, you can always make them from scratch if you have the necessary items on hand. If you have chickens, that’s awesome! If not, you can store eggs; these are the only ones I will purchase: Ova Easy Egg Crystals; when you look for food storage items, particularly online, in #10 cans, compare the price, plus shipping per ounce, to find the best price.

I suggest you store some instant milk and some cereal and you are on your way to having one breakfast choice. Just remember, water is critical to store in containers because we need it to prepare meals and keep ourselves hydrated at the very minimum. We need water to make the instant milk and make the pancakes below.

Homemade Pancakes by Food Storage Moms

Ready Made Pancake Mix

You can buy a #10 can or store the basic ingredients above to make them. Add some maple syrup to your stash, and you are set. Please check the shelf life; they typically have a long shelf-life and last 8 years.

Lunch  & Dinner Ideas:

Take your family to your local supermarket and let them choose a few items of canned food that you will eat today, but also after a disaster. If after a year you do not eat those cans and they are not expired donate them to your local food bank. I realize people do not want to eat processed food, but if the grocery store shelves are empty you may not have a choice.

Buy some canned meats and some small jars of mayonnaise and you have lunch. Store some crackers, or make them if you do not make bread. I love the chicken salad on crackers at Costco when they hand out those samples. Easy peasy lunch. Add some hot soup if you have a butane stove, lunch is ready in no time. My four daughters all received one of these for Christmas or birthday gifts: A Butane Stove with Fuel

More Food Storage Ideas

• Food Storage Tips for Your Groceries and Leftovers
• Popcorn for Food Storage
• Which Methods of Food Storage are Correct?
• Survival Food And Emergency Food Storage

Final Word

I hope you enjoyed my post today about how to get started with food storage. We all have different budgets and tastes. Please only buy what your family will eat. You can do this, one can at a time, I promise. May God Bless this World, Linda