One important principle that relates to food storage is the pantry principle. This goes along with the saying “store what you eat and eat what you store”. This principle allows you to stock up on supplies that you might need in conjunction with the sales of the items. A price book is an excellent tool that you can use to help you find the best prices on items that you will need to store.
I would suggest that you start your food storage by making a list of the items that you eat on a regular basis. Then using that list make another list of the ingredients that you will need in order to cook the items that you use on a regular basis. You may want to start with the staples—flour, sugar, rice, wheat, beans and pasta. Now if your family does not eat beans or wheat you have two options. You can begin slowly introducing these items into their diets or you can simply not store those foods. Suddenly eating whole-wheat products can make you sick, as soon as your body adjusts to it then you will be fine. However if you gradually introduced the wheat into your diet you won’t have the complication.
After you have gotten the staples you can move on to canned goods. This can include vegetables, soups, sauces, canned meat (tuna and chicken included), and peanut butter. After that you may want to purchase mixes that you may use. These can include items like meal mixes, pizza kits, and cake mixes. You will want to include comfort food and sweets in your food storage. At times of stress your family may crave these foods more. After that you will want to begin on storing foods that you freeze.
The key to successfully using the pantry principle is that for you will shop out of your pantry for most items, and then replace them as you use them. You will need to set up a rotation system to keep track of your food. As you do this you can make sure all of the items in food storage are fresh, as well as save money on items.
I know of several families that have taken the approach of purchasing a kit containing dehydrated foods or wheat and declaring themselves finished. This may sustain you, but about a week into it, you may be very tired of what you have planned to use to sustain you. I know families that have used their food storage during times when they experienced unemployment.
Another advantage to the pantry principle of food storage is that you are not spending money on food that you will never use. I have seen several older retired couples have flour that is thirty years old and not have a clue of what to do with it. The dehydrated food kits that are available, usually only last ten years. The current price on them is around $1000.00 for a year per person. If you do not use the food, that can add up to a significant amount of money. “Food Storage for the Clueless” is an excellent book, which talks about the pantry principle of food storage.