When we think of following the counsel our leaders have given us for food storage, we envision ourselves heading over to the cannery, picking up some beans and wheat, and throwing it into our garage or basement. If we are technologically savvy, maybe we order our supplies off the Internet and have it shipped straight to our door. The downside to this mentality is twofold; first, purchasing all of our food storage at once can be costly, which can be difficult for a young family just starting out (or one several years and several kids along), and second, most of us don’t wind up using it.
I came to families.com through the Deals forum, then known as DAGG. Like many of the folks over there, I was one that made even my home and visiting teachers gasp in shock. And after going through two layoffs and two pregnancies – I don’t shop well with toddlers and a big belly – we were able to live primarily off our stockpile, purchasing only bread and milk. Furthermore, in the case of the pregnancies, the purchase of bread was a luxury; we had plenty of breadmaking materials and just didn’t feel like exercising the effort. We did lean on the Bishop’s storehouse during the layoffs (we totaled nine out of eighteen months laid off at one point), but only after I couldn’t stand turning down my kids’ request for fresh fruits and vegetables. Finally, when we moved from a house with a huge pantry and three freezers into a motorhome, I crammed the missionaries’ cupboards as full as possible and sold off the last dregs of my stockpile for about $200 at our yard sale. In short, we had quite a supply of food.
The point is, assembling an edible stockpile can be easier and cheaper than we generally think. I highly recommend our Deals boards as a great source of information; deals are posted by store and matched by coupon, which makes assembling your shopping list significantly easier. Couponing, especially aggressive couponing, can fill the most enormous pantry for only a few bucks (for most of my stockpile, I paid less than ten cents an item, and frequently only sales tax).
But even if you don’t want to expend the time or energy couponing, you can stockpile items you use cheaply by obtaining them on sale. A quick example: say you consistently buy spaghetti sauce twice a month at $2 a jar. It goes on sale for $1. If instead of buying your regular single can, you buy 10, then you save $9 – $1 per jar for the extra 9 jars. If your budget is tight, then you can start out on a smaller scale, with perhaps only 5 jars, then grab some more ‘next time’ it goes on sale, until you’ve built up a year’s supply. As long as you keep an eye on the expiration dates and keep things rotated (old stuff in the front, just like in the stores), you’ve got your pasta sauce food storage.
Putting together a year’s supply can be intimidating, especially if you get to travel to the grocery store with multiple small children. But if you do it literally one grocery trip at a time, one surplus item a week (on sale, don’t forget!), then eventually you’ll have an edible year’s supply, just like the prophets recommend.
Recommended Links & Articles:
Food Storage: Plan According to the Seasons
The Importance of Food Storage
Deals Forums
Deals Blogs