Getting Started - Step 3

Once we had our 3 month supply purchased and nicely organized, I didn't want anyone to touch it. I know - that kind of defeats the purpose. The key to making food storage work for you is actually using it.

Here are a few ideas for using/rotating your 3 month supply:

1. Store the foods that your family will eat.
A lot of recommendations for a 3 month supply include processed/packaged foods that have a long shelf life. That's great - if your family will eat it. If not, then you'll end up taking a big trip to the local food bank to donate your soon to be expired 3 month supply. If you store the foods you regularly eat, and then rotate them over a 3 month time period, you won't have to worry about expiration dates.

2. Use fresh, but plan for canned.
I love our produce co-op and all of the wonderful farmers markets we have here. We use fresh ingredients as much as possible. Most of the meals in our 3 month supply include fresh ingredients, but can be made from the can as well. For example, my Italian skillet includes pasta tossed with tomatoes, fresh mushrooms and spinach, and feta cheese. But, I can also make it with canned ingredients. I usually use a combination of fresh and canned items to make sure that I'm rotating my food storage.

3. Use Menus
Whether you plan meals weekly or monthly, a menu will help you rotate your food storage. It also helps your food budget and answers the daily question of "Mom, what's for dinner?"

Here are a few ideas for organizing your menu:

Index Cards
My sister-in-law uses a sheet protector designed to hold baseball/collector cards. She folds a 3X5 index card in half and writes the name of the meal on the front. Inside the card is the recipe for that meal. She uses these cards to plan her monthly menu, slipping them into the sheet protector pockets. The main meals are the same each month, but she can rearrange as needed. The sheet protector menu hangs on the side of the fridge.

Post-It Notes
A friend of mine, who loves color coding, spreadsheets and all things Post-It, created her own calendar on the computer. She prints out her blank calendar and then uses small post it notes that fit in each square. She lists one meal from her 3 month supply list on each note and then arranges the post it notes on the calendar. If she changes her mind, or something comes up, she simply rearranges the post it notes to fit her schedule. This gives her flexibility during the month, but ensures that she is including (and rotating) all of the meals from her 3 month supply.
Since she loves to color code everything, she uses yellow post-its for chicken, pink for beef, blue for pork and green for vegetarian meals.

Blank Calendar and Menu List
I use a blank monthly calendar to plan my meals. I pencil in dinner for each day using the meals from my 3 month supply list. I have 18 meals on my list and I use each meal once. I fill in the remaining dates with seasonal favorites, new recipes I want to try, and a pizza night or two. This way I'm using/rotating the foods from my 3 month supply, but I still have plenty of flexibility.

More Ideas for Menu Planning:
The Hillbilly Housewife
Simple Mom
Passionate Homemaking
Menu plans from Food Manufacturers

Menu Planners
Menus 4 Moms menu planner
Better Budgeting Printable Menu Plan
Monthly Menu Planner from Organized Home

Getting Started - Step 2

Now that you have your plan, it's time to start shopping.

*As you do your grocery shopping for the week, buy double - one to use and one to store. Depending on your budget, you can do this with 1 meal, 2 meals or all of your meals. Do what works best for you.

*Continue to buy 6 of each item needed for your 14 meals until you have built up your 12 week supply. (Or 12 each for 7 meals, 4 each for 21 meals, etc. ) This step takes some time. Here are a few tips we learned along the way:

1. Slow and Steady wins the race.
Don't panic and feel like you need to buy everything you need all at once. I did this once and blew an entire month's grocery budget on one trip to Costco. I don't recommend this method - unless you like eating a lot of Mac&Cheese and green beans.
Also, don't go into dept to buy food. This defeats the other part of provident living.

2. Take advantage of sales and bulk discounts.
Sales are a great way to stock up on items you need. We loved the Macey's case lot sale! And once you have food stocked in your pantry, you won't have to buy it at regular price. My weekly grocery list consists of bread, dairy and fresh produce. I have everything else on hand. The extra money goes to buying food storage items that are on sale that week. My grocery budget hasn't changed, but I'm able to buy and store much more food.

One of my favorite sites for shopping grocery sales is Sister Savings.
(For AZ and Utah) I print out the Excel list, highlight the items I need for my food storage, and take this list with me as I shop. Walmart will price match from this list so you don't need to take the ads with you.

3. It doesn't take a lot of money to start working on your food storage.
Start is the key word. You can buy an extra can of veggies or a box of Mac&Cheese for 50 cents. A can of soup, a package of spaghetti noodles, etc. Continue to add a few items each time you go to the store, and watch your cupboards start to fill up.

4. Use "extra" money to buy items for your food storage.
"Extra" money for us is anything in addition to our budgeted income. This includes bonuses, rebate checks, etc. It's also any money left over once our monthly expenses are met - money for eating out, entertainment and "extra" stuff like that.
As we started working on our 3 month supply, I started thinking about all of my other purchases in terms of food storage.

Dinner from a fast food place = 40 cans of veggies for my food storage.
Five movie tickets = 30 packages of pasta.

As I started looking at things that way, it was easier to cut back on some of our "extra" expenses and put that money towards building up our 3 month supply.

Note I said some, not all - balance is important.

Here are a few resources for sales and coupons:

Sister Savings
Grocery Smarts
Coupons.com
Pinching Your Pennies

Getting Started - Step 1

President Hinckley counseled: "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 three 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."

So let's start small.

Grab a notebook or sit down at your computer and make a list of 14 easy meals that you like to cook and that your family will eat. Use these meals for your 2 week menu. (You can change the numbers to fit your needs.)

7 meals for a 1 week menu x 12 weeks
14 meals for a 2 week menu x 6 weeks
21 meals for a 3 week menu x 4 weeks

The key is figuring out what works for you.

I like to try new recipes, cook with produce that is in season, and leave room for Saturday nights when we just want waffles or maybe homemade pizza. So I leave a couple of days in our monthly menu blank. I know I'll use recipes from my 3 month supply for most of our meals. But I also leave room for flexibility. I still store food for three months, but I actually rotate it over 4-5 months. (More on this when we get to step 3.)

Once you have your list of meals (ie. menus) you can move on to the next step.
If you are a little OCD when it comes to organization, you can use a spreadsheet to keep track of your food storage. Here a couple of charts that you can customize to meet your own needs:

Menu Chart at sistersavings.net
Food Storage Made Easy - Three Month Plan

Both of these sites have great info too. If you want a copy of my spreadsheet, shoot me an email or leave a comment and I'll send it to you.

I'll post a few of our favorite "food storage" recipes. If you have one you love, send it along and I'll share it too. There you go - that's the first step.
Good luck!

Why a Food Storage Blog?

Like we need another blog to keep up, right? But here's our thinking:

Throughout our marriage, we've always tried to have food storage. We've never reached a year's supply, but we're working toward that. In college when money was really tight, after Cam was born (and my benefit checks were delayed for 2 months) and several other times during the years, we've needed to rely on food storage to feed our family. We have a strong testimony of food storage! We have an even stronger testimony of following the prophet.



When the First Presidency gave this counsel in the summer of 2007, we knew we needed to get serious about our three month supply. Food storage can be so overwhelming, and it's hard to know where to start. We talked to others, did a lot of research on our own, and figured out what would work best for our family. It took us about six months, and we learned a lot along the way. I've shared pieces of our plan with family and friends, and hopefully helped others get started with their own 3 month supply. We thought we'd share our plan here. We'll include recipes, resources, ideas, and hopefully have a few guest bloggers as well.

Whether in times of personal need or as a result of global events, we know \we'll be blessed as we follow the counsel of our prophet to be prepared.

For if we are prepared we shall not fear. (D&C 38:30)