Food Storage Solutions: Part 2

Here are some ideas for storing water:

A woman in my ward shared these pictures of their barrels stored on the side yard of their house.  The barrels should not be stored directly on concrete because of contamination, so they have placed their barrels on top of 2x4s.  The barrels are also covered from protection from the sun and elements.

Storing water in mylar bags, placed in boxes is a more portable and stackable way to store water.  Click here   to see the box options that can be purchased from Emergency Essentials.  They have a pour spout for convenience.  Each box holds 5 gallons of water, and the basic kit comes with 5 boxes for $29.99 per kit.

The Water BOB is also a cool thing to have in your emergency supplies.  Click here  to see more about it.

 Bottled water is cheap, convenient to transport, and easy to rotate.  Store a couple cases in every closet in the house, or wherever you can find room.  Every time we go to Costco, we buy one extra case of water for a few dollars. 



Food Storage Inventory Tactics

•Establish a method

•Plan how you will organize and set up your food storage

•Make sure your family knows the rules of how the inventory is set up.

•Establish a menu

•Create a monthly menu of meals that utilize your food storage in a balanced manner.

•Food Rotation

•Keep oldest food at the front so it gets used first. 

•Put a date on everything you put into your storage.  If no expiration date, then put the purchase date.

•Store like items together when possible

For our inventory, Brad and I created a simple Excel spreadsheet with a tab for each different category of food.  This lets us know exactly what we have, when it was purchased, and when it will expire.  It would also be helpful to add a column that says exactly where that item is stored in your house (since most of us don't just have one area in the home for our food).  The blog is not allowing me to upload a picture or file of our spreadsheet, but I'm happy to share it!  So if you're interested, email me at ventanawardprovidentliving@gmail.com and I will send you a blank file.

There is also this website trackmyfoodstorage.com that I haven't tried, but it may be a great tool for you!


10 tips for emergency preparedness on a budget

1. plan for specific disasters
2. create a personalized list
3. budget for preparedness items
4. save by shopping sales
5. store water in safe containers
6. request prep items as gifts
7. think ahead
8. review insurance policies
9. update contact records
10. trade a night out for prepping

      
10 Rookie Food Storage Mistakes

1. having buckets full of grains, beans or wheat, but have never cooked them before
2. storing food that your family doesn't eat
3. not rotating food storage
4. minimal variety of food for a balanced diet
5. poor choice of storage containers
6. never put all your eggs in one basket
7. forgetting salt, cooking oil, shortening, baking powder, baking soda, yeast, and powdered eggs
8. not storing water to cook the food
9. forgetting to store spices, salt, oil and basic condiments that are needed for your food storage
10. not having an alternative cooking source if the power goes out    

Getting started on your 3 month supply

1. choose 7-9 of your family's favorite recipes
2. choose ONE recipe at a time and purchase the ingredients for three months worth of that meal
3. store the items for each meal together if possible

Here's a great example of how this woman stores her meals.  Each box contains ALL the ingredients for an entire meal.