Preparedness Archives - YES! Women's Network

Now that you’re on your way and determined to have a food storage… CONGRATULATIONS!! This is a BIG step and honestly, the rest is much easier. Knowing and understanding that this is important to have a food storage will get you so excited. When you start seeing 1, 2, 3 cans of food turn into several shelves of food… well, you’ll just get more excited.

So, what is the next step? You’ll need to find a smart place to store the food. This can be tricky if you have a small apartment or if you are going to be doing a lot of moving. It’s also tricky if you don’t have a lot of money.

How amazing would it be to build or buy shelving that’s perfect for food storage? But, most of us can’t do that, so we have to come up with smart and clever ways instead. Here are some things to consider and keep in mind:

Consider Temperature

This is very important as food will go bad and be useless or even cause harm if not done right. We don’t know when we will need the food storage so we need to plan on storing it for anywhere from 1 month to 2 years.

Heat, cold, dryness, and humidity could all ruin food.

I’ll admit I’m not an expert on this and since it’s so important, I’ve found this information on Family Survival Planning. Be sure to check out this article for even more on storing your food storage.

“If you live in an area that has four seasons, or very high temperatures and humidity, long term food storage can be difficult. If you live in an area where homes do not have basements, food storage must be kept somewhere in your home at a constant temperature (around 70°F). Cement basements are ideal because they are below ground level (for the most part) and therefore, maintain a pretty constant 50-60°F, which is ideal for long-term food storage. Lacking a basement, just know that the higher the temperatures, the shorter the shelf life of stored foods. But don’t let that stop you from getting prepared.

“If you live in a hot and humid area: For the best food storage conditions, a dehumidifier would be a good investment.

“If you live in a hot and dry area: Air conditioning is the most logical solution, but it takes electricity. Right? That’s ok as long as we have electricity. In the days before electricity, people dug root cellars in order to store their garden produce, jerky, and grains in a cooler environment. Is that a possibility for you?”

Find out more about Long Term Storage and Short Term Storage on their website.

Rotate It

Rotating your food will keep it fresh and keep your family comfortable with the food you have stored. Then if you don’t have money for groceries for a few months, you’ll already know how to use the food and you’ll know your family loves it.

The old restaurant rule always applies, FIFO, First In First Out. Knowing and planning to rotate your food will ensure that you’re storing it in a way that makes it easier.

Another great reason to rotate is to inspect your storage for signs of spoilage or signs of pet infestations. If cans are bulging or seeping liquid from the seal, they will need to be thrown away immediately. Those are almost sure signs of botulism poising, which could be life-threatening. For jars you’ll want to check to see if the lid seal is still intact by checking to see if it pops back up when you push down on the top.

When you bring home new food to add to your storage or when you take from your food storage to use it, you’ll be able to keep track of your inventory. It would show you how much your family is using, how long the items are on the shelf before they are used, and ensure you have stored the proper kinds of foods.

Remember that list you made of what you need? Be sure to keep that current during rotation. Every 3 months you’ll be able to adjust your purchases to match your families needs.

I’ve tried doing this each time I’ve gone to the store and it can be difficult. So, doing a family inventory about every 3 months is a good idea. If there is one food that you have never used in those 3 months, consider it. Would it be best to keep adding that particular food? Will your family use it? Is there a certain food you can never catch up on? Maybe you run out of it before you have more to add to it?

Another few tips about rotating:

Try new foods slowly to see if your family will use it
Be sure there are dates on everything, use a Sharpie (the tiny “use by” dates can fade, or be unreadable under certain conditions)
Store like things together similar to how the grocery stores do it, this saves searching time
Label your shelves if possible to make access, inventory and restocking easier
Put the heaviest items on the bottom shelves to prevent shelving falling over
Move items that are about to expire in the everyday cabinets to be used quickly
To rotate cans easier, use boxes with one row of cans so it’s easy to add to the back, or use tilted shelving where the front is lower so cans move down, Food Storage Made Easy has a great video and a downloadable plan for building a shelf like this
Use recipes in your weekly meal plans that include food from the food storage (If you’re storing dry milk be sure your family would drink it. Try mixing 1/2 regular gallon milk you buy with 1/2 gallon dry milk. This way your family gets used to the taste and it saves you money.)

Create and Find Clever Storage

My first food storage was under beds in the boxes they came in. I cut them in half so they were only one can high and slide them under. Dates written on the top, all I had to do was pull out the box, check the dates, add new cans to the back of the box, and take from the front.

I also built storage shelves with cinder blocks and Plywood.

We found a bunch of cinder blocks at a friends they weren’t using and then had the plywood cut at the hardware store where we bought them. Not great for floor to ceiling shelving, but it worked great for 3-4 shelves high in the garage.

Here is a great list of sites that have some super clever ways of storing food. Many of these can be done on a very small budget.

I’d love to see how you are storing your food storage! Leave a comment with a picture or idea below.

When I found myself single in 2010 I was very grateful for the food storage I had been building. I had 5 children and no income for 9 months. If it wasn’t for my food storage we would have gone hungry, not had laundry detergent and many other necessities that we needed.

I didn’t start out my adult life with a food storage but I did learn from watching my parents that it was important. We had always had a food storage growing up. There were many times in my youth where it was our main source of food. So, when I got out on my own I knew it was necessary to start one.

One day I was asked to teach a class about food storage at my church. I knew nothing about starting one or how to have one in a small apartment. There was also no internet at the time to go searching on to help me. I asked and learned from watching a very dear friend of mine who had nailed it. Her food storage was the envy of anyone who saw it and still is.

Lastly, another dear friend was an endless resource of knowledge. Kati Kiefer, founder of True Couponing. In 2009 Kati’s husband, James, received a large pay cut and they quickly found themselves in a difficult financial situation. Because of this Kati, with her degree in accounting, quickly figured out creative ways to reduce their monthly grocery bill from $600 to $200. Since then she has helped thousands of people do the same thing.

With these amazing women as examples in my life and a bit of research as well, I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge. I’ll share with you some of the best ideas for how to get started and how to do it on a budget. To make it more simple and easier to follow, I’ll break it into 3 different posts.

Where and How do I Start?

Starting is a lot easier than you think it will be. Here’s the three-step plan to getting starting:

#1 Decide to Start with Intention

I know. I know. This is pretty obvious, right? Well, did you think to yourself when you saw the title of the post, saw a picture recently, or even while reading this post that you should start one? Did you do anything about it? Did you make a real decision? Did you tell your significant other or have a discussion about it with your family? Or did you just think, “humm… I should probably start a food storage.” Then the thought was quickly pushed to the back of your mind? If you’re like most people, that’s actually what happened.

Here’s how I decided to start and set my intention:

Have a family meeting and get my husband and children on board and helping
Clear a place for the storage by the end of January
Work out what we need in our 72-hour kits and complete them by February 15th
Create a list of food storage that our family needs to have for 1 month
Spend an extra $5/month to fill my pantry to double its current size
Spend an extra $10/month to add to my 3 month supply

These are just a few of the steps that I’m going to take now that I have decided. What about you? What are you going to do to get started?

HINT: It doesn’t have to look pretty! You don’t need a bunch of fancy shelving and containers. My first good storage was stored under my bed, in closets, and we even used it to make tables by stacking.

#2 Make an Action Plan

This is the part that so many of us get hung up on. I don’t know about you, but thinking of needing a food storage gives me anxiety! I immediately think of a wall of 5-gallon buckets with whole wheat in them or spending thousands of dollars on shelving and containers. Then I imagine coming in from the cold to try to find something to feed my crying babies and not knowing at all what to do with what I had. Am I alone?

Start with storing water and a water filtering plan. This is a must and shouldn’t be put off. Put this one at the top of your list. I’ll even challenge you to do this one thing before the end of the week.

One thing I learned very early from my friend 26 years ago was that I needed to store what my family would eat. First, go to a site like Provident Living and enter your families information. This will show what is recommended to have and in what amounts. THEN be sure to consider this list as a starting place to create your own real list depending on your own families tastes. She explained to me that if we never ate whole wheat it would be a bad idea to have it in storage.

My recommendation is to start with a 1-month supply and begin rotating this through your regular meals. This is a great first goal to set. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll get this done.

Next work on a 3-month supply, then 6-month, then 9-month, then 12. Before you know it you will have created a great system for storing and using your storage. Then if/when something unexpected happens you will be secure in knowing you have a store of food that your family will use.

#3 Track Additional Needs & Add

We need to be sure to store more than just food. What about medicine? Do you have pets? We all use soap and other cleaning products so we need to be sure to store these as well.

Over the next 10 days or so, be sure to track what items you may need to store outside of food items.

Other things to consider are a generator for electricity, oil, gas, and things that you may need in case of a major disaster.

WARNING: If you are like me you will soon find that you have way too much information and quickly lose steam. This happens when we research a topic and sign up for every free list or download. Then we get bombarded with so much information our heads explode. So, I’ve saved you the trouble. Here are a few links to sites that I recommend.

MOST IMPORTANTLY do not sign up for every one of them or use every one of them as a resource. Chose ONE or TWO that you enjoy or find valuable. Once you have learned what you can from them chose another one or two to learn from next. Sometimes too much information can be overwhelming.

I’d love to hear from you! What food storage ideas work for you and your family?