Food Storage Tuesday

Every Tuesday, we post specific items you should gather in order to supplement your emergency car kit, your three-month supply, and your longer term storage.  If you are new to our blog, don't worry!  You won't be left behind.  Just start up where we are and follow along.  You will eventually have everything completed.  Once the car kit is complete, we'll be putting together 72-hour kits again (week by week).  Once those are done, we'll gather the car kits again.  So don't worry, just jump on in and join us where we are today!


I hope you all had a great holiday season and that you are ready to get back into the swing of things as far as food storage/emergency prep goes.  I know I am ready to start up again!  I'll admit, my three-month supply is dwindling a little bit but I'm ready to get back on the bandwagon and start again.


We have finished our 72-hour kits and we're starting the car kits again!  Car kits are perfect for those little emergencies that could come up when we are traveling -- whether we are 5 miles from home or 500 miles from home.  This week, find a box to act as your actual kit.  I like using a small tupperware box with a snap-on lid.  You can see our list of car kit items here, so take a look at it and see how big you think your box needs to be.  Not everything needs to fit IN the box - for example, you could have your small first aid kit separate from your box, or the jumper cables could just be separate as well.  


For your three-month supply, assess what you have and what your plan is.  Don't have a food storage plan? Make one!  It's as simple as just writing out what meals you want in your three-month supply, and then making a master list of ingredients you need.  For example, 3 months = 12 weeks.  I plan on making spaghetti once per week in my plan, so I need to buy approximately 12 lbs of pasta, 12 jars of sauce, etc... and ta-da!  All my Monday dinners are planned.  Onto Tuesday...... click on the link above for more examples.  Don't have time to make a whole food storage plan?  We've done one for you, complete with recipes and a master shopping list... all in our food storage e-book.


This month for our longer-term storage, we are gathering "other" items.  Let's face it, the 4 staples (beans, oats, rice, and wheat) don't really bring much excitement to a "year's supply" of food.  I like to also have a year's supply (or at least 6 months' worth) of: powdered milk, yeast, pasta, white flour, sugar, honey, and bouillon cubes.  Oh, and cocoa powder and chocolate syrup. :)


Besides the 4 "staples", what do you stock up on?