My food storage goals this year will actually be quiet similar to my goals last year. Last year, one of my goals was to actually deplete a lot of my food storage over the first half of the year, because we were planning to move in June 2010. I was pretty successful at that, and we ended up only having to pack about 4-5 boxes of food storage to take with us. When we got to our new apartment in July, I went on a big shopping spree and replaced much of my food storage with grocery money that I had been saving over the previous months (because we were eating our food storage). I wasn't able to bring us back to where we used to be (food storage-wise), but it was better than nothing.
But now.... we are moving AGAIN this June! My husband is only doing his intern year here in Virginia, and we'll be moving to Florida in June so that he can do his 4-5 year radiology residency.
So... you guessed it! Once again, for the first half of the year I'll focus on depleting my food storage, and carefully saving the grocery money I DON'T spend, so that I can quickly replace it all when we get settled in Florida. My main goal for the second half of the year will be to replenish my food storage.
Don't get me wrong: I am not opposed to "moving" food storage. I would definitely pack it all up and move it ALL if we had to. But anyone who has moved knows what a huge undertaking it is, and to add a bunch of food storage into the mix is a bit overwhelming. I know some people may tell me that it's a really bad idea to get rid of my food storage and, what if we NEED it? I understand that that's a risk I'm taking but I feel good about our decision.
Plus, I feel like it's good practice for me to be using my food storage so often. I'm getting a lot of experience with cooking with my canned goods, as well as with my longer-term storage. It's been fun to see what I can come up with, and it's also a little exciting to see our "food storage fund" grow semi-quickly as we save money on groceries each week (since we're eating more from the pantry).
Once we move to Florida, one of my food storage goals will be to figure out a good storage and rotation system in our new house. We don't know yet where we will be living, but I'm definitely crossing my fingers for a house with a pantry and lots of other storage space. Here's hoping! It's been difficult to really set up a "system" here because we are only here for a year. We'll be in Florida for 4-5 years, so I'm really looking forward to doing some longer-term changes to maximize food storage space (shelving, etc.).
Ideally, I'd also like to get a good water storage system in place (after we move), as well as focus on some emergency prep stuff.
4 comments:
Congrats on moving to Florida - I've lived here for 17 years and LOVE it! I can see Kennedy Space Center from my house, and live close to the beach. What I don't love about Florida are the bugs - and there are a lot of them. That needs to be taken into consideration with your food storage. I can't tell you the number of bags of wheat I've had to throw out because bugs got into them, and to open a bag and see it crawling with worms and moths is so gross. So I've learned that even though it's more expensive initially, I have to can all my wheat. I've even had squirrels bore through my 5-gallon plastic buckets - and found their droppings in there. So be prepared to store food a little differently than they do out west. You can't just stick it all in the garage here. Gets waaaaay too hot in the summer, and again, the critters make themselves at home.
We moved last summer, and I did the same thing you are planning: ate our food storage instead of moving it. Just after we got to our new ward, we helped move a family that had elected to move their food storage. They had a lot of stuff just in the "food storage" category, and I think that if they had considered how much it was going to cost them to move it they would have eaten it. They had to rent a bigger (more expensive) truck, which means more gas, and had to get more boxes. I think if you are moving anywhere far away you have to consider these costs.
Do you know what part of FL you will be moving too? We are in NE Florida. I am just starting the food storage thing and would love some advice. It's all so overwhelming. Especially since out storage needs to be all gluten free!
I am in your same situation. My family is moving from Minnesota to Georgia. We have decided to move it all. I created a blog about it on my page but I know it's not good web behavior to post links on someone else's blog. I agree moving is a lot of work and adding food storage to it makes the moving process harder. I have about 3 years of food storage. I couldn't possibly eat it all in 6 months. It must be moved :) I decided to blog my experience in hopes of helping othes with the decision to move to their food storage.
Post a Comment