A Well Stocked Pantry

The Basics of Family Home Storage

* Three - Month Supply

* Drinking Water

*Financial Reserve

*Longer-Term Supply

It's no fun to be half way into the evening's dinner recipe and then realize you

are missing a critical ingredient. You're positive you had a can of corn, but
after scrounging around in all the cabinets you come up empty handed.
This kind of thing makes me crazy!  And I've had to turn off the stove on
more than one occasion and run down to the store to get what I need.

This scenario can be almost completely eliminated with a three month supply
of food.  I say almost, because I still find myself running out of something on
occasion, but that's the exception instead of the rule.  Having a well stocked
pantry is a cook's best friend.  And that's all a three month supply of food is.

Working towards a three month supply begins when you are buying
groceries and instead of picking up a can of beans for your chili recipe,
you pick up three or four - especially if they are on sale.   If it's a killer
sale, buy a case.  Each week as you plan out your menus, (you do that right?)
make a list of what you need and then buy some extras.  Over time, you will
build that supply of food, working towards having three months of food
in your home.  This is the first step to having a food storage.

How do you know how much food your family needs for a three month
supply?  Here's one way to figure it out.

*Plan two weeks of dinner meals that your family would usually eat.
  You would rotate these meals so that you will actually eat each meal
   twice in a month.

  

Menu Examples        

  spaghetti

  chicken noodle soup

  tacos or taco soup

  beans and rice

  chicken pot pie

  shepherd's pie

  bean and burger casserole

*Then take each meal and decide what ingredients would be used to make

  that meal.   For example:   To make Bean and Burger Casserole I need,

  1 lb. hamburger

  1 can pork and beans

  1 can diced tomatoes

  worchestershire sauce

  onions

  2 to 3 strips of bacon 

  shredded cheese

This will make one meal.  But if I want to have the ingredients to make

this meal twice in a month I would double each of these things.  At this 

point I have a month's supply of food for this one meal.  Double it again

and I have two month's supply of food for this meal.  And in order to have

a three month's supply of food for this meal, I need the following:

6 lbs. hamburger

6 cans pork and beans

6 cans diced tomatoes

worchestershire sauce

onions

1 package of bacon

3 packages of shredded cheese

Now, here's the fun part (or not).  You need to do this for each meal. 

Then make up your master grocery list.  

You most likely will not go out and buy all this food at once, unless you 

have a hefty grocery budget.  But each week, buy a few extra  things and

before you know it you will have your own three month supply of food.

And you will love it!

Since these are meals that you will be preparing regularly, as you make
a meal, add to your grocery list each week, to replace the items you have
used.  Put the newly purchased item in the back of your supply, always
rotating to use the oldest first.  

Much of my food is stored in my upright freezer.  It was one of the best 

investments we ever made.  This allows me to store items like butter, cheese, 

fruits and veggies, fresh juice, milk, meats and breads.  This opens up lots
more opportunities for my three month supply.

Even if I don't follow the menu plan exactly each week, it is a good feeling 

to know that without going to the store, I could prepare food for my family

for weeks.  We would run out of some fresh items, but we would not go
hungry!

Another real benefit to having a well stocked pantry is you can buy things
on sale and save a lot of money on your groceries.  I rarely pay full price
for anything.  We are moving into that time of year when all the baking
supplies will be on sale and I'll stock up on everything from nuts, chocolate
chips and coconut, to basics like flour, sugar, salt and spices.  Last year, we
had a shortage in our grocery stores on canned pumpkin, but it didn't affect
me, because I had cans of pumpkin in my three month supply.  I'm telling you,
it's a good feeling to be prepared.

Tonight we had Bean and Burger Casserole for dinner.  It's one of my
family's favorite meals. Years ago,  I ran across this recipe in one of
those  "church ladies" cookbooks.  You know those church ladies know
how to cook some awesome food!  It's so easy and I keep the ingredients
in my three month supply.

I begin by browning a pound of hamburger (from my freezer storage).

After browning, I drain the meat and add a T. or so of Worchestershire sauce.

In a casserole dish ( I doubled the recipe for this large size casserole) place the

seasoned meat on the bottom.

Add a layer of pork and beans(from my pantry) on top of the meat.

Next place a layer of drained, diced tomatoes (from my pantry) on top 

of the beans.

I put chopped onions on top of the tomatoes.  If I have fresh onions, I 

definitely use those, but I keep freeze dried onions in my storage, so 

that I can always have onions for cooking.  They sure come in handy.

Today I used some of the dried onions.  First I reconstituted them in

a bowl of water and then after a few minutes, drained them and squeezed

the water out.

Then you start over again with the layers.

Meat.

Beans.

Tomatoes and onions.

Top with a few slices of bacon.(from my freezer storage. I found it

on sale for $2.99 a package- for organic, thick sliced bacon!  Yes, I 

bought every package they had and put it in the freezer.)

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbly and

the bacon has cooked and is crispy on top.  Then add shredded cheese

to the top and return to the oven until cheese melts.

This makes your house smell wonderful while it is cooking and we

love it with mashed potatoes and corn, or broccoli or fried okra (which

is what we had tonight, from my freezer storage).  It's a comfort food

meal and for us it's a food storage meal.  My twenty five year old son

who was here for dinner tonight, said, "Bean and Burger Casserole! 

It's my favorite!"  Now how cute is that?

Start today, make out those menus. And the next time you go grocery

shopping, pick up a few extra items and before you know it, you will

have a three month supply of food.  It's a smart thing to do and will be 

a blessing to your family and quite possibly to others. 

For the next few months, I'm going to take my own advice and work 

on my three month supply.  With adult kids shopping in my storage(that's

part of the reason I have it) and feeding a lot more people than normal, my 

storage has become low and I want to have a full pantry heading into 

the winter months.   My husband informed me this week that we only

had one jar of peanut butter left in storage.  Now, that could be a 

disaster.  Around here, peanut butter is one of the staples of life!

"The ants go marching one by one......to the grocery store."  :)

*MYOF Goal #18 - Work on monthly storage and preparedness goals.