Food Storage for Beginners: How to Start your Food Storage in 5 Easy Steps

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You’ve heard it countless times. “Get your food storage.”

But if you’re just starting out, there’s a problem with that advice….

WHERE DO YOU START?

It’s like most elephant-sized problems, you conquer them one bite at a time! The real problem is most people don’t understand what they’re really prepping for, so they waste a lot of time, energy, and money haphazardly buying and storing an emergency food supply. But that won’t be you after you watch this week’s video “How to Start Your Food Storage in Just 5 Easy Steps!”

HOW TO START YOUR FOOD STORAGE IN 5 EASY STEPS:

STEP ONE: Start with your 72-Kit food.

Why? Because it’s the easiest place to start and you can check it off your list. Your best bet for 72-hour kit food are survival bars.

What is survival food?

This is the food that you should have in your 72-hour kits and is meant to help you survive.

What should it be?

You’ll want food that is quick and easy to eat but gives you energy, doesn’t require water or cooking, stores for a long time (5+ years), and can be stored at varying temperatures including heat and cold. As an added bonus, it should taste good (so you and your kids will want to eat it). Realistically, when you are under a lot of emotional stress the last thing your body wants is a big meal to digest. Your main reason for eating will be energy and survival. A perfect example of this are survival bars. Survival Bars are the perfect First Three Days survival food because they are compact (about the size of a paperback novel), weigh under 2 pounds, provide energy, protein and vitamins, are made for eating on the go, are non-thirst provoking, safely store at very low and very high temperatures, have a 5 year shelf life, cost around $10 for a three-day supply, provide 1200 calories per day.

STEP TWO: Prepare emergency food for sheltering at home

(i.e. there is a disaster, but you’re safe and should be staying inside your home). These foods are simple, heat and eat foods your family already eats. Some times people get confused and try and store these foods in their 72-hour kit, but don’t do it!

What is emergency food?

Emergency food is the food you would eat if you were sheltering at home after a disaster.

What should it be?

The foods should be simple heat and eat foods that are easily rotated. Heat and Eat foods are meant to not just to sustain life, but to fill your bellies as you expend mental and physical energy over the next few weeks. These can be any foods that are shelf stable and fall into the: open; add water (if necessary); heat and eat category. These types of food can be eaten cold, right out of the can or box if necessary and require very little energy or brain power to make. They make it easy to conserve your water and fuel for more important things all while refueling your body and soul to give you that little extra to cope with the chaos around you. People deal with life better when they have eaten one filling meal per day with family or friends.

STEP THREE: A Rainy Day Food Supply or Short-term Food Supply

What is a 90-day supply of food?

You are most likely familiar with the term “rainy day fund.” It’s a term used to describe a savings account that ensures you have money to use when times are tough. Think of your 90-day supply the same way: a way to ensure you have food to eat when times are tough. And it makes sense, right? You can’t eat money, unfortunately. But you can have a supply of food to ensure you can feed your family following any job loss, family sickness, busy day, …well you get the idea, ANY PERSONAL EMERGENCY. Simply put, its 90-days of meals that your family already eats. It includes foods that are shelf-stable like the foods in your pantry, but it also includes foods that are in your refrigerator and freezer and foods that you pick fresh from your garden. It is 90-days of meals you can use every day and during life’s emergencies; insuring that your family will stand strong through any storm.

Begin building your 90-day supply in three easy steps

Start buying a few extras: Your 90-day supply should consist of food your family already eats. Build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated regularly to avoid spoilage.
Become the master of your food with menu-planning: The secret to great meals is in the planning. When you plan your dinner menus ahead of time, you eat healthier, save money, reduce stress, and enjoy delicious meals.
Have a good back up plan: Stuff happens, but it doesn’t need to get you down. With a great 90-day supply you will have emergency meals you can fall back on when life gets in the way of your plans.

STEP FOUR: A Basic Supply of Long-Term Food Storage

What is a basic supply of food?

Simply put, it’s a collection of foods that are storable long term, high in nutritional value, do not require refrigeration, and will sustain the basic needs of life. These basic foods include: grains, pasta, beans, sugar or honey, milk, salt and more. In addition, there are other shelf-stable foods such as dehydrated fruits and vegetables that when added to the basics open up the possibilities for real meals. Okay, we understand that “food that will sustain the basic needs of life” doesn’t sound exciting. But we promise that we’ll teach you how to turn these basics and other stable foods into meals you and your family are familiar with and will enjoy.

What should be in my basic supply of food?

The basics for one person would include:

400 pounds of grains (wheat, oats, rice, corn, barley, pasta–get a good variety)
60 pounds of beans
60 pounds of sugar/honey
12 pounds of non-instant powdered milk
23 quarts of oil (oil, shortening, peanut butter)
5 pounds of salt
2 pounds of yeast
1 pound baking soda
1 pound baking powder Then add:
Vegetables 8- #10 cans (3 potatoes, 1/2 can each onion, celery, carrots, tomato powder)
Fruits 8- #10 cans
Meats: 8-#10 cans of freeze-dried; 90 cans: 45 pints
Dairy: Cheese, eggs, etc. as needed

Download our chart for how to build a basic supply of long-term food storage for only $10 a week, HERE.

STEP FIVE: Add “The Others” to Your Long-Term Supply

What are the others?

Do you remember on Lost, when they met the others? Meet the food storage others. Simply put, the others are the nice-to-have comfort foods. These foods are either very expensive or do not sustain life (but they sure make life a little sweeter). One of the biggest mistakes people make when building their food storage is buying cases and cases of brownie mix first. Don’t let this be you (aside from the fact that you can make brownies out of your basic supply and those canned mixes are outrageously expensive), the others shouldn’t be bought until you have the basics.

Some items we consider to be others are:

cheese
meat
sweets
extra fruits and vegetables

BECOME A FOOD STORAGE PRO-THE EASY WAY!

Look—we get it, the world of food storage can be a confusing place not many people want to visit, but we’re changing all of that with our food storage best-seller books Store This, Not That! The ultimate food storage guide and I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage: A step-by-step program for using food storage in your own recipes. Think of them as the Cliff notes for food storage. You know, just go straight to what works, and forget everything else. We’ll help you quickly decipher what you should and should not be storing, share with you space saving tricks and insider information to save you $1,000s of dollars when buying your food storage, and in the end, how to make something your family would actually eat! Grab your copy today at Amazon.com or Deseret Book.