Tips For Beginning Food Storage

One of the most important parts of my family's personal preparedness plan has been to work on our food storage. We've been through bad weather, with frozen pipes and no electricity, as well as weeks our budget hasn't really allowed for grocery shopping. Thanks to trying to keep a full pantry with a wide variety of foods, we haven't missed a meal. If you're contemplating starting your journey of food storage, here are a few things to think about:

Space How much space do you have in your home that you can dedicate for keeping extra foods? For many of us, the kitchen cabinets is all of the space you might have. Have you cleaned out your cabinets recently? You might be able to reclaim some extra space by getting rid of the expired foods or donating unopened snacks you bought on sale but your family refuses to eat. Check other cabinets in your kitchen: do you have a huge collection of old margarine tubs you don't use but keep for "just in case"? Pare down your collection of those, and you could gain some valuable space.

I often hear folks mention about storing food in other areas of your home, such as in a closet or behind a sofa, but I personally don't recommend that unless you're sure you'll remember it's there. It's too easy to forget hidden foods, and let it go to waste - or even worse, invite pests into your home if the packaging isn't secure. Cans can rust onto your flooring as well if they get damp, so keep all of these things in mind before choosing to create hidden spots.

Time This becomes a two part question: How long are you wanting to have extra food for? Are you planning a week? Two months? One year? This also ties into space - obviously, a one year supply of shelf stable foods for the average family of four is going to take up a lot more than an extra week's worth of food for the same family.

The second part of the equation is time itself - will you be storing foods you eat daily, and plan to be rotating it in and out? In this case you might not need to pay much attention to the expiration dates on all of the products you are bringing in, but you should still get in the habit of checking them each time you purchase something. The other day when I went to purchase a few cans of beans, one variety expired in January @014, the other variety didn't expire until December 2014. That is a big difference! If you are planning on storing long term dehydrated and freeze dried foods, be aware that the storage dates vary by brand and variety. Augason Farms tend to have dates from 2-10 years unopened, while Mountain House can have a date of *30* years into the future! That again is a BIG difference, especially if you're subscribing to the buy it and forget it until you might need it mantra.

Cooking This is a big one that many people forget in their food storage. How will you be cooking the foods you are buying? If you're storing for job loss, this might not apply to you, but if you're worried about bad weather, do you have a way to cook any of the foods you are purchasing if you have no power? A grill? Cast iron to cook inside on a woodstove? Enough water to cook with for dehydrated foods? Or how about a spare can opener, because those #10 cans eat your average can opener faster than you want to know. (Personal experience here!)

Your family It doesn't do you any good to store a flat of freeze dried broccoli or dried kidney beans if no one in your family will eat it. Ditto on whole wheat pasta, Spagetti-O's, or even those military style MRE's (meals ready to eat). Any food you are planning to purchase in quantity should be tested out before making a big purchase - after all, you don't want to waste your hard earned money. You also want to be familiar with how to cook any foods so you aren't struggling to learn to do so when you're freezing cold and hungry, or roasting alive slaving over a pot of hot beans when it's 100 degrees outside any longer than necessary.