BEGINNING YOUR FOOD STORAGE

One Can at a Time

By Steve Palmer

Budgets can be tight for the first little while after getting married, but beginning your food storage can still be part of your grocery list. In reality, starting your food storage does not take much effort if you have a plan and many times the plan is simply this: one can at a time. 

Here are a few tips on building your food storage:

• Start the process knowing what your end goal is. How much food and for how many months are you trying to store? Most of this information can be found on the LDS website www.providentliving.org.
• Work towards building an extra week’s worth of food and then build up to a month, then six months and finally a year.
• “Store what you eat and eat what you store!” Although storing items such as wheat and powdered milk are important, start by buying the things you currently eat — soups, pastas and other canned goods that have a longer shelf life. Then move on to other important dried foods.
• Shop case lot sales or look for deals on the items you are trying to store. If there is a two-for-one sale, buy one to eat and one to store.
• Every time you visit the grocery store you should bring your food storage list and try to buy one or two extra items to add to your growing storage. You’ll be surprised at how quickly it will grow.
• Remember water is your first and most important resource to store! If you live in an apartment like most newlyweds, save soda bottles and fill them with water. This can usually be stored under a bed. You will need to refill these bottles each year.
• Don’t forget to rotate your food. Too many people invest their money into food storage only to throw it away a few years later. This can be very discouraging and ends up being one of the prominent reasons people discontinue storing food.
• In addition to food, there are many other essentials you wouldn’t want to live without in the event of an emergency. Be sure to include these items as you build your food storage.

 

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