Home Food Storage, Emergency Food Supply… is it a good idea?
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Why would I consider working on a home food storage plan? Because I love it when my family looks at me like I’m crazy… just kidding! Really there are good reasons for being prepared.
- Economic Collapse
- Weather or Catastrophe related emergency. (think hurricanes or tsunamis)
- Loss of Job
- Self Sufficient Feeling
- It is a less expensive way to feed your family now! Buying in bulk will save you money.
Most of the time when a person starts talking about an emergency food supply, one might envision a fanatic fringe who believes the world is on the edge. Well sometimes I think maybe I’m on the fringe a bit… but really I’m just a woman who has concerns.
You need to decide what are YOUR goals. For me, I want a buffer. If an emergency situation occurs, I want to know that I have enough to feed my family until we figure out what to do and how we will care for ourselves. No matter how much you store it will never last forever. But we can give ourselves some time.
If you lose your income… If there is a natural disaster and you can’t get to the stores… If the world economy collapses… you won’t have to worry about how you are going to feed yourselves for at least 3 months (assuming you have your 3 month supply of daily foods built up). That is a buffer. And if you have prepared really well, you’ll have enough food to hold you over until you can plant a garden and provide food for yourself.
Govt agencies encourage you to have a few days supply on hand… I’ve also seen articles where they recommend 3 weeks supply. That is a good start but then I’d encourage you to keep going and get an emergency food supply with about 3 months stock of foods for your family. That is a buffer. It won’t last forever… but it will give you time.
After you have your 3 months supply, why not go ahead and get the next 3 months? Doing this in baby steps will seem so much less overwhelming than thinking you need to have hundreds of pounds of wheat all at once. Just 3 months. You can do that! Then 3 months more. You can do that too!
Freeze Dried Foods is what most folks think of when they consider food storage.
I assume if you are here, you are a home canner. Home canning is a great way to get some supplies of food. But don’t think of it as LONG term food storage. Home-canned goods are good for a year… or a bit more.
Remember that one-year shelf life recommendation for home-canned foods is a best practice, but only because the food starts deteriorating faster after that one year mark. Don’t just throw it away after a year… simply make a plan to use it up.
Did you know that you can also make freeze dried foods at home? Yep, there is a home freeze dryer available. Now this is not for everyone but take a look here and see what you think.
Don’t forget water, supplies and all the other things that you family might need in your home food storage.
Thinking about Home Food Storage
Do it Yourself Freeze Dryer – This option is not for everyone but take a look… you might just love the do it yourself option.
Emergency Food Supply Short and Long Term Food Storage. Trying to figure out just where you should start? When I finally got it through my head that I should plan for long term AND short term… well it saved many many brain cells. Much simpler to break things down.
Food Grade Storage Containers A discussion of the options for containers to keep it all in. Most important… it MUST be food grade.