"$uper" frugal living. "$aving" money...one idea at a time.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

One Year Basic Food Storage for $5 (ish) Dollars A Week--Overview

I grew up in a home where food storage was taken very seriously.  My mother has ALWAYS been good at hording food and it saved our families bellies over and over.  When my husband and I had just had our first child, I became a SAHM and he made $7.75 a hour.  We relied pretty heavily on the food storage my mother had been building up for us (Christmas presents...he he).  Some weeks, I only had $12 or so dollars for fresh groceries.  True story!  Our food storage definitely saved us too.  

One of my "New Years Resolutions", this year, is to get a better hold on my year food storage.  It's looking pretty sad right now.  Something about dragging 4 kids to the store and pushing around a full cart while trying to wrangle them just doesn't appeal to me....so I have been avoiding it at all costs.  And it shows.  Like I said...our storage shelves are looking pretty empty and the task of filling them once again seems daunting, to say the least.

Then I remembered I had picked up this "Food Storage for $5 dollars a week" program at a church activity not too long ago.  Ta Da!  Perfect.  I can do that.  (I only wish I knew who came up with it so I could give them the credit...but I don't.  So...if it was you....thank you.)

The basic idea is that, for every two people in your family, you can build up a basic years food storage on just $5 (ish) dollars a week (because there are 6 of us, that's $15 a week, $60 a month).

The reason I say $5 (ish) dollars is that, as you know, food prices are rising.  This program is a few years old, at least, so we'll have to account for inflation.  My plan is to keep track of my purchases and report the present day cost to give all y'all a better idea.

By following this plan you should end up with:
500 lbs wheat
180 lbs sugar
12 lbs salt
6 lbs yeast
10 lbs honey
6 lbs shortening
40 lbs powdered milk
5 lbs peanut butter
45 cans tomato soup (we dont eat this so we will be substituting for chicken noodle)
15 can cream of mushroom soup
15 cans cream of chicken soup
21 boxes mac and cheese
12 lbs macaroni
24 cans tuna fish
500 pain reliever pills
1000 multi-vitamins
                ---for every two people.

Now...if you don't have the room to store this much food (we are going to have to get creative ourselves) you can adjust the amounts as you see fit.  The idea is to prepare yourself for whatever may come (unemployment, sudden financial hardship, etc) and to do it little by little so that it doesn't stress you out or strain your food budget.  The way I see it...something is better than nothing. 

Basic Instructions:
Each week you will take your $5 (for every two people) and purchase the items on the list.  Some weeks you will not spend the whole amountSave the left over in a jar to be used for the weeks you may exceed the $5 (like when purchasing wheat and pwd milk).

These basic staple items should be enough to sustain 2 people for one year.

Remember to add an extra $5 dollars a week and double or triple (or quadruple...or  he he) the amount of items being purchased for every two people in your family.

How does that sound?


Happy Hoarding!

One Year Basic Food Storage for $5 (ish) Dollars a Week--JANUARY

6 comments:

  1. I applaud your efforts!! it always pays off to be prepared!! food and water are very very important necessities... but don't forget about other items you use every day (soap, deodorant, toothpaste, toilet paper, etc). I stock up when things like that go on sale!

    The looks on other shoppers faces is really funny when they look at your cart loaded with 10+ sticks of deodorant and 5+ tubes of toothpaste! I feel like smiling at them and saying something like... I have severe halitosis and chronic body odor - this is my 10-day supply!

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  2. No worries Rebecca. I coupon for those kinds of things.

    ha ha ha, though. I laughed out loud... "halitosis and chronic body odor"...that's awesome.

    I bough 16 cans of pineapple and 16 cans of manderine oranges on new years eve (because my coupons expired that day) and the checker says, "Wow...you must have something big planned for those."

    I say, "No...just stocking up. I have about a million kids and they like to eat." He looked at me like I was crazy....and guess what...he's right. Ha ha ha!

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  3. Hey! I'm working on this too this year! I just have to remember to actually do it. It will be good and I need to learn how to use wheat so it doesn't just sit there. I need a wheat grinder and a class on how to grind wheat and then what to do with it. Do you know?

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  4. Wow, this is something I've never even thought of!! I'm confused though because what happens if you never end up needing this stuff? Does it go bad? Oh, and I'm a little food challenged, so I have to ask, what do you use powdered milk for? A recipe or do you drink it like regular milk? This is a whole new world for me! I've never thought about storing food. In fact, I try to keep as little in the house for some reason. I guess it's my diet secret!! :-) But this sounds like a great plan to me!

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  5. MWSM....you are not alone. It is a new concept to a LOT of people.

    First off, you can actually use the stuff regularly...you just replace it as you use it.

    As far as the powdered milk thing goes, yes...you can use it in recipes and yes, you can drink it. In fact, I was raised on it. Store bought milk was a delicacy in my house. It's not the BEST tasting stuff (better when cold) but it does when you have nothing else, or when you can't afford $3.00 a gallon of milk (ugh). Any more questions? I'd be happy to answer!

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  6. Mel, I just sent you some cool things that I found a long time ago, on how to use up powdered milk! Love what you are doing here!

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