Monthly Focus: Family Home Storage

This month we are looking at Family Home Storage, a.k.a Food Storage. The reason I use the newer moniker for this is, that Food Storage is misleading. Your Family Home Storage needs to include much more than just food.

Currently the advice is to have at least 3 MONTHS of storage in your home, but it is recommended that you have a year's supply. That sounds like a lot, especially if you have even a medium sized family.

There are ways to help you get started. There are a variety of plans and programs that will guide you on what to buy and when to buy it. Below are links to a few of these plans.

Noah's Ark Program

Storage Calendar

Project Noah

It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark booklet

Monthly Food Storage Plan - The Ark Project

You can also create your own plan. Base your plan on resources available in your area and your shopping habits. Here are some other suggestions on how to build up your food storage.

• Make use of bulk sales at your local store, or consider buying in bulk from a warehouse store in your area.
• Take advantage of good sales and deals at your local store. Check ads and the shelves to find some bargains. Tuna 10 cans for a $1.00, stock up!
• Add an extra item to your normal list. Need to get a can of peaches this week for dinner? Add an extra one to the cart.
• Consider setting aside a portion of your grocery budget every week to go to family home storage. Then you can get items you need without worrying too much about the extra cost.
• Use coupons. This will help defray the cost. Also if you have coupon that is money off two or more items (say a $1.00 off 2 boxes of cereal), consider putting that second item in your storage.
  

While you will need a plan or approach to family home storage, it is important to know what you should be including in it. Here are some of the basic groups that you should include. This is by no means definitive. Be sure that you have considered any special needs in your family, special conditions in your area, or availability. Also be sure to be storing items that you will USE! I've tried to include a variety of options for categories, but know what your family will eat. We don't want this stuff to go to waste.

Food

• Fruits- Canned fruit, dehydrated fruit (raisins, berries, etc), fruit leather (I personally recommend Stretch Island Fruit Leather), applesauce, fruit juices.
• Vegetables- Canned vegetables, dehydrated vegetables, possibly frozen vegetables
• Protein- canned meat (tuna, chicken, ham), dehydrated meat (beef jerkey), package meat (bacon bits, luncheon meats), nuts, peanut butter, beans (pinto, black, red, lima, kidney), dehydrated eggs
• Dairy- Shelf milk (boxed liquid milk with a long shelf life), powdered milk, canned milk, dried/dehydrated cheese
  
• Starches- crackers, pasta, bread mixes, pancake mix
• Sugars- granulated sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar (be careful on how you store this), corn syrup
• Grains- flour, wheat, rice, barley
• Oils and Fats- shortening, cooking oil, mayonnaise, olive oil
• Baking supplies- baking soda, salt, baking powder, baking mixes (consider ones that only require water)
• Liquids- WATER!!!!, juice, soda
• Other- condiments (ketsup, etc), drink mix, high energy foods (nutritional substitutes, granola bars), spices
  
• "luxuries"- candies, marshmallows, alcohol, chocolate
• VITAMINS! - You should have a multivitamin available (or individual vitamins if you cannot consume a multivitamin) which is appropriate for each age group. Sustained use of "life sustaining" supplies may not be providing all of your nutritional needs. Having a multivitamin will help to ensure that you stay healthy.
  

Water - This is a difficult one to store in large enough quantities. You should have at least 72 hours worth of water (that is one gallon PER PERSON PER DAY!).

Paper Goods- In the event of an emergency, you may not have adequate facilities to wash and sanitize eating utensils. Consider having some paper bowls, plates, disposable cups, plastic cutlery, paper towels, paper napkins, and disposable pots/pans.

Hygiene Items- Shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant

Personal Care- Tampons, maxi pads

Medical- bandages, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic ointment, tylenol (or other anti-inflamatory drug), antacids, decongestant

Baby- diapers, wipes, formula, canned baby food (can be eaten by adults and children as well)


It is important to store these items well, but it doesn't mean you have to store them in a little room. Be creative with your storage. Here are some of the places people told me that they stored items:

• under couches
• under beds
• closet shelves
• basements
• storage rooms
• storage sheds
• kitchen cabinets
• books shelves
• under misc. furniture

Another suggestion for Family Home storage is to know how to use it. It may be useful to practice making meals with the items you have in storage. There is nothing worse than having food and not knowing what to do with it. Also consider storing a book of recipes that include ingredients you have. You can buy recipe books, or you can make your own using a 3-ring binder and recipes you find.

It is also important to have a way to cook items in an emergency (assuming you are either on the go or the electricity is out). Consider having a small camping or backpacking stove available (remember to use them only in well ventilate areas), or if you have a barbeque grill, have fuel supplies stored for it. If you have a fireplace or wood burning stove, you can also consider storing cast iron cook ware.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers recipe books and a Family Home Storage Starter Kit through their distribution services. There are also many other sites that offer a variety of preserved, freeze dried, canned, or bagged food items for this purpose (just Google food storage to find some of them).

If you add a little at a time, it really will build up. This isn't a "quick" fix, so don't get discouraged if you cannot get your food storage all ready to go in one day. Keep trying!

Also remember to rotate items, first in, first out. You don't want items to go to waste. Also remember the "expiration dates" on most items are merely a recommendation. Do what you are comfortable with, but keep in mind if that can of green beans expired last week, they are probably still okay.

Please review the resources available, talk to friends and family, make your plan, and get started today!

Mini Challenges: Determine Your Food Storage Needs

Food storage (or Home Storage) is often a tricky subject. The LDS Church guidelines recommend a year's supply of food for you and your family. Some resources suggest less. Space is often an issue, and depending on where you live, laws may prohibit you from storing very much. If you live or work in the military community, you know hauling all that food to different duty stations can be difficult. So what is one to do? The answer is: Do what you can.

Well, since you generally can't rush out and get a year's supply tomorrow, we're going to start small...baby steps. Our December 15th Mini-Challenge is to calculate your family's food storage needs and make a food storage plan.

This exercise will involve a few steps.

1. Determine your family size...don't forget pets!
2. Pick a time frame. I would suggest starting with 72 hours. Then you can also calculate needs for 1 month, then 3 months, then 6 months, and then a year. This will help give you an idea of the different goals you can set, and the amount of food each period would require. If space is a concern, this could help you gauge for what time period you could store food.
3. Using some guidelines or calculators (Long Term Food Storage Calculator or General Food Storage Calculator), determine what the recommended amount (and types) of food are for your family. Don't be afraid to find a subsitution that works for your family. Food storage won't help if you won't eat it. ...just make sure you are covering all the essential categories.
4. Determine what types of special needs your family would have. You'll need to keep in mind items such as pet food, diapers, wipes, formula, baby food, medicines, vitamins, and personal sanitary items. Try to figure out how much you use during your selected time period and make sure you include those things in your list.
5. Make a list of all the items you would need, including quantities.
6. Make a trip to your local grocery or discount store and "shop" your list. This doesn't mean you have to buy anything...in fact DON'T buy anything yet. Just look for the items you've identified, and get an idea of what they cost. Add up the total cost (cost of each item x quantity needed) of each item and then the complete total for your entire list.
7. Make a goal of when you would like to have your food storage in place. Keep in mind the longer the time period you have chosen, the longer it will take you to aquire.
8. Take your total cost and divide it into increments based on your pay schedule or shopping schedule, to determine how much money you will need to spend each week/pay period to reach your goal. Say you have decided you want to have your food storage goal complete in three months. You shop every week. Your total is $300. That means that you would be spending roughly $25 a week on food storage in order to meet your goal.
9. Determine how you will finance this goal. Do you have a budgetary category for food storage? Will it come out of your normal grocery budget? Do you have a chunk of funds set aside in savings you want to use? It doesn't have to be complicated, but you should know how you will finance it, since food storage shouldn't put you into debt.
10. Share your plan with your family and ask for ideas on completing the goal together. You never know, you may find a co-worker or friend that is giving away an item on your list. Your children might want to "donate" to the goal from their allowance. You may be able to can some items yourself (if you have the resources and know how). Get creative.
11. And finally, don't despair or become discouraged. It will take time and effort, but it WILL be worth it.

It is hard to reach a goal, when you don't know what that goal will entail. That is why it is so important to do the planning. Take some time out to assess your food storage needs and set some goals. This is a very important part of Provident Living, and in these uncertain economic times, Food and Home Storage can be a great comfort.

Food Storage Guide

Here is another great resource for information on shelf lives for food storage items, in the long term.

Food Storage Guide

Prudent Food Storage

Here is a great link for Prudent Food Storage that discusses different items and answers some questions about storing those items.

Prudent Food Storage

Organized Pantry: Beginner Guide to Pantry Pride

Here is a great article on getting started on your food storage that was posted on Organized Home.com (the title below is also a link to the article on their site).

Organized Pantry: Beginner Guide to Pantry Pride

Posted September 9th, 2007 by Cynthia Townley Ewer

in

• in the kitchen

It's the secret weapon of a well-organized kitchen: a working pantry. A planned reserve of foodstuffs and sundries used in the. home, a pantry saves time, money and stress in the kitchen.

Tap the pantry for unexpected meals and reduce trips to the supermarket. Stock it with frugal finds to lower grocery costs. Set aside a supply of food and sundries for a rainy day and protect your family against weather emergencies or financial dislocation.

Properly managed, the pantry is an integral part of an. organized home. Polish your pantry pride with our best hints and tips:

A pantry's not a place, it's an attitude

"Oh, I'd love to have a pantry," writes a reader, "but my house doesn't have one!" Sure it does! If there's so much as a spare roll of toilet paper tucked underneath a sink, the household. boasts a pantry.

Don't confuse storage space with the reality of the pantry principle. Certainly, it's helpful to have designated cabinet space for. pantry goods--but that's not the pantry. Think of the pantry as a reservoir of consumable goods which may be stored in any area of the home.

Tiny urban apartment or spacious rural farmhouse, all homes can include a pantry. That some houses may or may not feature a specific storage area labeled "pantry" is beside the point. A pantry's not a place, it's an attitude!

Eyes on the goal

What's the goal of establishing and maintaining a pantry? It's two-fold: household convenience and protection against unexpected events. A well-planned pantry means that the household will never run out of commonly used products such as toilet paper.

More important, a pantry is a reserve against hard times. Whether it's job loss, illness, or natural disaster, a pantry ensures that the family will continue to be fed, clean, and comfortable in the face of adversity.

A beginner's pantry focuses on convenience and contains back-up products for each storable item used in the home. The standard is simple: for each open bag, box or carton in the household, the pantry contains a second, back-up product, toothbrushes to tortellini. A good first goal: a three-day supply of food and hygiene supplies adequate to support your family plus one additional person.

More robust pantries serve additional goals. A mid-range pantry can feed a family for a period of two weeks to a month in case of emergency. This pantry includes substitutes for fresh foods, such as powdered milk, dried fruits and vegetables, and protein products.This pantry offers convenience and basic protection.

The most comprehensive home pantries are designed to meet long-term food storage needs. For instance, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) are taught to maintain a one-year supply of food and clothing for their families. To do so, these premier pantry managers stock versatile foodstuffs with long shelf life, such as whole wheat berries, together with a variety of preserved and dried foods. LDS home managers learn pantry-specific cooking techniques to enhance nutrition and appeal of long-keeping foods.

Inside the well-stocked pantry

Traditional home organization advice often specifies long lists of "recommended pantry items", idea being that you buy them and voila! you've got pantry. Eighteen months later, you're hauling dusty cans of apricot halves to the Food Bank and wondering what ever possessed you to purchase them in the first place.

Reality check! Each family's pantry will vary according to their own tastes, needs and standard of living. Storage space and financial constraints also affect pantry contents.

For instance, single-income households with young children will build pantries replete with cold cereal, formula, disposable diapers and child-friendly snack foods--all purchased on sale with coupons. Empty-nesters with an active social life and his-and-hers diets will lean toward pickled asparagus, cocktail crackers and tiny jars of caviar for pick-up appetizers and hostess gifts.

Dedicated home bakers include specialty flours, gluten, and dried buttermilk powder in their pantries, while non-cooks rely heavily on microwave entrees and freezer pizza. And just about every family can stockpile basics for kitchen and bath: toilet paper, toothpaste, laundry and dishwasher detergent, disposable diapers and feminine hygiene products, paper napkins and food storage bags.

Where's the best place to discover your family's pantry preferences? A grocery list! If you buy it, use it, and it can be stored, it's a pantry candidate. Building a pantry from the grocery list is also a powerful antidote to Pantry Mania: the indiscriminate purchase of case lots of canned turkey chili or house-brand soups that no one in the household will eat. Hello, Food Bank!

An expansive view of the pantry principle encompasses more than the traditional dry storage of canned foods and baking staples. Manage your pantry to include freezer storage and a limited amount of refrigerator real estate. Carrots, potatoes, oranges and apples enter the pantry zone when bought on sale and tucked into corners of the vegetable bin, while freezer convenience entrees qualify, too.

Bottom line: build a pantry to suit your family. Whether it's Chef Boy-ar-dee brand ravioli or Wolfgang Puck's upscale condensed soups, feature your family's favorites on the pantry shelves.

Organization and inventory tips

To work the pantry principle, you've gotta get organized! Maximum pantry power requires that you know what you have, how long it will keep, and how to store it safely. Good organization and inventory techniques will keep your pantry cycling smoothly.

Beginning pantries are relatively simple, and don't require complex organization systems. Create them by buying twice as many of each item as required for weekly use, then storing the extras. Use the last smidge of mayo making today's tuna salad? Retrieve the back-up jar from the pantry, and add "mayo" to the week's shopping list to replace the pantry jar.

Often, the beginner's pantry can be stored side-by-side with opened or in-use items. For example, stack the open box of detergent on top of the pantry box or line up cans of chicken noodle soup front to back on the canned goods shelf. Remember to rotate! Add newly-purchased items to the back of the stack or row; use the front items first.

Even for beginners, a dedicated pantry area can be a big help. Set aside a cabinet or shelf to hold pantry items. Organize them by category, stacking cans and boxes. Flat-bottomed plastic baskets support and contain bags of dried beans, rice, or pasta.

One exception to the "store by category" rule: complete pantry meals. On a section of pantry shelf, assemble all the makings for three to five pantry meals: a family-sized can of clam chowder, extra can of chopped clams, and the box of oyster crackers shelved together make it easy to replace these items after use.Check your "pantry meals" area before shopping day. Empty spaces will remind you to stock up on the clam chowder as needed.

More comprehensive pantries call for a more organized approach. Larger pantries require more storage space, often sited away from the kitchen.In this situation, a written pantry inventory can remind forgetful cooks of the existence and location of pantry items.

Pantry Inventory

To inventory the pantry, use a clipboard, steno pad, laptop computer or a free printable pantry inventory form from our Household Notebook Forms Library. Record pantry contents, amount and location for easy reference. Before grocery shopping, check the pantry; will you need to replace any items that have been used? Include them on the weekly shopping list.

Larger pantries may be stored in multiple locations around the house, so pay attention to food storage guidelines as you store. A cool, dry basement room is a good storage environment for root vegetables, apples, or baking staples; canned goods and dried beans can be safely stored in areas with greater temperature variation.

Long-term storage pantries require a thorough approach to selection, storage, maintenance and use of stored foods. Families storing a year's supply of food and water must pay close attention to storage guidelines, safe packaging, and integration of pantry supplies into the daily diet.

Building a pantry on a budget

Investing in the pantry principle pays off in savings of time and money, but it does involve an up-front cost. Even a beginner's pantry--a back-up product for each item used in the home, plus ingredients for three to five pantry meals--represents a significant financial outlay. Try these tips to spread the load:

"Tithe" for the pantry: set aside a regular percentage of each week's grocery budget for pantry-building. Even a few dollars a week will start the process of stocking and maintaining pantry reserves.

Buy on sale: take advantage of supermarket loss leaders to stock up. Supermarkets routinely offer tuna, tomato sauce, canned soup and canned beans at drop-dead prices to get shoppers in the door. If it's a pantry candidate and it's on sale, buy multiples!

Buy in bulk: bulk-buying for the pantry really pays off. Using the pantry "tithe", buy the 25-pound sack of bread flour for $3.89 at the warehouse store, rather than spend $1.39 for the supermarket's five-pound bag. You'll save and stock up at the same time!

Storage tips for small spaces

Even beginner's pantries may have a hard time finding a home in small houses or apartments. Try these storage ideas to tuck away a pantry in the tiniest home:

Break the mold: look beyond the kitchen to store pantry items in a small home. Provided that temperature and moisture are not issues, any room in the house is a candidate for pantry storage. Who says cans can't live in the coat closet?

Disguise it: integrate pantry goods into the home. For example, stack two large bulk-food storage containers and top with a plywood circle and round tablecloth. Who can tell this attractive end table is really storage space for 50 pounds of flour?

Look high and low: make use of storage space under or over furniture. Fill shallow under-bed storage boxes with canned food, labels up, and push them beneath the bed. Similarly, cover cardboard records boxes with gift wrap or fabric, fill them with bags of pasta, beans and rice, and stash them away on top of tall bookcases.