A simple place to start in emergency preparedness is in the area of food. You can go to the store once and from that one trip feel the instant taste of victory. That being said, even starting a collection of surplus food can be intimidating. There are so many approaches to food storage, but I’ve found it the best if it’s easy, and not budget breaking. Sure, I’d love to go to the store with my debit card on hand, line up ten (or more) grocery carts, go through isle by isle and get everything I need and call it done in one fail swoop. However, that isn’t realistic for most of the population and for those of you who it is feasible, who wants to put all that away at once. Really. Come on.
I’ve done accumulation a few different ways. All of which have been successful. I’ve customized it based on what my family likes and will actually eat because while the thought process is if your starving you’ll eat anything, if I’m going to the effort I think liking what I’m eating should take some priority.
Which brings me to my first method: Meal Planning x 3 (or 5)
I am of the group of gals that plan out what I’m going to make each night for dinner. I usually do it in 2 week increments. Only because it corresponds with pay day…and I hate going to the store. I don’t know why. I have no explanation for you. I just don’t. So I attempt to keep my grocery store shopping to a minimum each week. The day before I go shopping I grab a piece of paper, write down the days of the week to the side and then start with the process of deciding what I’m going to fix the family on which night. I usually always do this with my calendar sitting right by me. I can accommodate for whatever our schedule is showing we have going on. For example, if I have a busy day with clients and work, I’ll plan a crock pot meal. If my boys have a game, I’ll plan something quick. I’ll plan ahead for holidays or special events…you get the idea. Once I have my “menu” for the time frame I’ve designated, I grab another piece of paper and start my grocery list. I go through each nights planned meal, pull out the recipe if necessary and write down everything I need from the store to make it. (If I told you here that I write my list into groupings of meat, produce and everything else, would you think less of me!? Hope not…I totally do that.) Where I live I find that shopping for bulk items is easier at Costco and Target for things like foil, cleaning products, etc …well maybe they aren’t cheaper…it just gives me the chance to go to target and “browse”. Who doesn’t love Target!? Especially since the new Magnolia line hit the shelves. Sorry, I digress.
So how does all this help you with accumulating food storage? Take your grocery list and highlight all the items you need (minus the fresh produce) for each of these 2 weeks of meals and then times the quantity of those items by 3 or 5…which ever you can afford. By doing this you are adding to your rotate-able food storage every 2 weeks with food that you know your family eats! Over time, your surplus of these items build into a nice stock pile. Once you acquire enough, you can plan your meal, buy the items necessary, and then the newest items you’ve purchased can go right into your food storage and you can then “shop” from your surplus food storage. Takes care of rotating your food storage easily.
I did this method for six months and found great success. Come to think of it, I need to revive this approach for myself. I really liked it.
The next way that I found to start food storage was with a program that is all over Pinterest in various forms. I have no idea of the originator of the idea or I’d give them source credit, so just know it wasn’t me.
We’ll call it: $5.00 A Week
You can approach this “program” in a dozen or more ways. I took it and multiplied it by the amount of people in my family and then also would shop for 2 weeks at a time. Remember, I hate the grocery store. I found this to be a really great program. It was easy, I kept a copy of it in my purse so I could look at it when I was at the store and then cross it off as I went. I substituted some of the items for items I knew our family would eat better. For example, tomato soup I substituted for other varieties of soup. I found this to be an exceptional way to build food storage fast. It wasn’t $5.00 a week though, which was the only fault I found in it. That being said, if you scaled back and just set that as your budget and bought what you could of each item listed for the week, you’d still be accumulating and still seeing progress. Again, it’s all adjustable for whatever you want to do. Victories no matter how you do it.
DOWNLOAD your copy of the $5 a Week list HERE
I came across these next 2 programs a few years ago and liked the approach.
2o Item Kick Start from www.backdoorsurvival.com
You set the time frame and the quantity based on your need, but it gives you the list of everything you would need to get going. Buy them one at a time, in bulk or however you can. Again…you just have to start somewhere. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will the project to be ready for emergencies. Small, little, sometimes baby steps. Even small steps get you going down the road. Be the hare or the tortoise, just start.
DOWNLOAD your copy of the 20 Item Kick Start List HERE
Link to 20 Item Kick Start List HERE
The last program I found was called: 1 year Challenge by www.thirtyhandmadedays.com
It’s also a list and gives you a great approach to what to acquire in increments that are easier to bite off.
At the end of any program you will find like I did, that it’s a start. However, what I’ve also found is that at the end of the program you’ve also figured out a few things that you like and don’t like and somehow in the middle of it, figured out a plan that you created your very own self that keeps you accumulating and growing your food storage.
Link to 1 Year Challenge HERE