I figure we can’t talk about cooking with food storage if we can’t afford one. We can learn all we want about storage and preparation but if we think we can’t afford to do this then what is the point? Or are we making excuses?
First of all, quit thinking about a whole year. Guidelines have been set to obtain a three month supply for your family first. When you accomplish that you can move on to your next goal. Three months is do-able. These are foods that you normally eat in amounts you normally eat. Include those canned and packaged foods which are continually used and replenished. Rotation here happens easily and it begins with picking up an extra can of corn and an extra box of noodles. Store what you eat/Eat what you store. Easy! Pick up a bag of beans or rice to begin your long term storage. It is very inexpensive and set a goal to rotate a serving of this into your every day menu with your regular three month supply.
In reference to food storage, Gordon B. Hinckley said “Individual and family preparedness rests on the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ, obedience to His commandments, and a provident lifestyle. Be prudent; you should not go to extremes in your efforts to build a store of food and financial reserves, but you should begin. By doing so you will be blessed with greater wisdom, security, peace of mind and personal well being.” November 2002 Ensign, p. 58.
I seriously started my pasta storage by purchasing 3 boxes of spaghetti on sale for .49 cents each. I spent under $1.50 and I was going to pay $1.50 for one box of spaghetti any time it wasn’t on sale. Painless, right?
“Food Storage & Children” in the March 1998 Ensign talks about storage guidelines and gives this advice “Do not go into debt”… The article further advises:
-Save a few dollars each week to build on food storage.
-Use basic foods in daily menus (which can cut food costs and enable more food storage purchases.
-Suggests giving up non-essentials, or at least some of them, for the short term.
We can still buy the chocolate chips for making cookies but maybe skip that $6 container of ice cream that month. The kids won’t even miss the ice cream if there are still cookies in the house.
The economy of actually using a food storage has really hit me in the last couple of years. With changes here and there, I can now purchase needed food, minimal paper products like toilet paper (we use cloth napkins and cotton rags and even cloth diapers when we were at that stage for years), beauty products (like shampoo, soap and toothpaste) and cleaning products (bleach, washing soda and borax) plus we add to our food storage and are able to contribute to a pot luck or a family in need ALL for $2.25 per day per person. A few do better than me but I find this an exciting challenge.
I rarely use a coupon. I’m not against them but coupons are often for expensive brand names and even with the coupon I do better purchasing a store brand. Coupons are often for packaged and processed foods of which I use rarely. Cooking with basics helps me to rotate through bulk quantities of basic foods that are less expensive to acquire. There are no coupons for those. Even when I have gone in with a coupon for something on “sale” I compare prices and often come out ahead choosing the store brand. Also couponing often costs money with purchasing a Sunday paper or scanning something and downloading it to my “Smart Phone”!!! I don’t have a phone like that and no coupon in the world is worth the price of that phone each month. I’d have to have the phone for a different reason with couponing being a “perk”. I do download onto a Shopper’s Club, however. That is free and works just fine for me.
Rather I shop by sales, much of the time, or in bulk. I decide if I have my grocery budget to spend in full or does some of it need to be pulled elsewhere this month? How much fresh dairy and produce can I afford? What pantry items do I need concentrate on and what basics do I use that are on sale? Only when an item is at it’s lowest price or within the range that I am willing to pay for it will I buy something. How much can I afford, use and store? Some months I buy no meat at all using this shopping method while the next month I might buy only chicken and pork. Compare EVERYTHING! If chicken is $1.99 per pound and pork is $1.77 lb. I buy more pork but I will go ahead and buy some chicken. Compare that with Turkey, least expensive in the autumn. I got mine for .50 cents a pound last time I bought turkeys. If apples and oranges are both on sale then buy the cheaper… or buy more of the cheaper one than the expensive. Carrots can be purchased in bulk; 5 lbs. at .60 cents a pound. or baby carrots at the super market go on sale for $1 per pound. Compare! Rice costs less (.39 cents a pound last I checked) than pasta (.50-$1 on sale). Now compare potatoes. They are cheaper than rice in November. Think about oats compared to boxes of cereal. Thinking about these things finds you extra money here and there for building a food storage and a little here and there is all you need to be successfully growing your home storage.
I purchase (or garden and eat) food that is in season. This is the cheapest. I buy it in bulk or I buy it at the Farmer’s Market. Don’t be afraid to ask the produce manager to order you mass quantities of something that you want to store or can. Oranges and apples keep for a long while if you have a second fridge. A box of canning tomatoes will be less expensive as well.
By having a food storage and planning to eat what I have I can utilize my money in smarter ways. One month I may spend a large portion of my budget for long term bulk items at the Bishops’ Storehouse. Because it is so far away I do not go very often and so I want to get the most out of my trip there. It is still the cheapest place to buy powdered milk at $2.66 lb. up from a year ago when it was $1.88 .lb. Another month I may choose to spend a good portion of my food budget on fruit we pick at a farm. This gives us our jam for the year and some fruit to freeze, as well, for smoothies or desserts. Last autumn I paid $100 for apples that would have cost me at the store between $200 and $600 depending on variety and season. At worst I paid half price. But most of the time apples are way more than that.
So eat more often at home, cook a little more often from scratch and have fun with it. Try new things. Share some quality time in the kitchen preparing food with your family members. Make it meatless once in a while or eat more soup and save that way.There are other ways to get food too. Check out Craig’s List under “free” and do a garden swap with somebody. Some people place an add giving all the fruit you can pick off their trees for free because they don’t want to use the fruit and they don’t want to clean up the mess after it falls from the tree so you end up doing each other a favor. Sometimes people moving will advertise all their pantry goods for free and save them for you or mention that they are going to be sitting out on the curb on a certain day. There are creative ways to get ahead with food and save money.
What is the most important thing you can do regarding family home storage? Get started and keep going. It doesn’t matter how fast you get there as long as you continue according to your abilities.
In the November 2002 Ensign, Gordon B. Hinckley is quoted “The best place to have some food set aside is within our homes… We can begin ever so modestly. We can begin with one week’s food supply and gradually build it to a month and then to 3 months. … I fear that so many feel that a long term food supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all. …Begin in a small way, … and gradually build toward a reasonable objective.”
And remember, if you find yourself eating solely from your pantry because you need to and are unable to replenish it for a while, remember that THAT IS what the food storage is there for. I have been so grateful for the peace of mind having a food storage has given to me during difficult times where there was no money for food. For tips and encouragement on that front visit one of my favorite inspirational women at www.theprudenthomemaker.com
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