Well since we have been in a state of constant upheaval over the past two years resulting in my having to visit the supermarket and other shops much more regularly than I had been doing, then my answer is yes – there is something very secure about having a little extra food, drink, toilet paper and such in my store than I have been able to keep lately. It means I don’t have to go to the shops every day or remember that the pasta or spaghetti is low, do we have enough butter? Darn it the last toilet roll or a number of other things.
Yes it is such a comforting thought to know that one has planned well to have an extra supply of groceries and goods in their house so that they can deal with any unforseen circumstance. The recent hype about the possible pandemic is a point in question.
Several years ago we discussed the very issue of being prepared for anything one day at church and the speaker on the day asked us this very question -
“If you could reduce the number of times you went to the supermarket, the number of decisions you made every time you went, the amount of food you carried out of the shop, put in your car, and then brought back into your home on your regular grocery trips, wouldn't you consider a change”
At the time I must confess my thoughts were – sure but I can’t afford it, however the idea remained and so I decided what could it hurt if I made a budget and planned for some extra food storage just for fun. The concept after all was quite straight forward and I found myself asking “if I have to buy one anyway then why not buy two? And so I did. Eventually I started to think well okay we like this or that so why not buy extra and buy enough for a week. Before I knew it I had enough for 3 months and soon after that enough for nearly 12 months. It was easy.
As you begin to add more to your storage plans and think longer term about the groceries you are buying, you begin to realise your saving money, time and a great deal of hassle to boot.
So what sort of things do we store? Okay, any items that can be stored safely or have a use/best buy date of a year can be stored safely for one year and bought in bulk. Things like breakfast cereals, crackers, pastas, canned food such as fruit, vegetables, meats, cake mixes, flour, sugar, and so on.
Now we have sorted that out how do we go about preparing to do so? When I started I made a list of all the foods I cooked most often then from that list drew up another for the ingredients of all those meals. From this I cross referenced what I would need against what was used in more than one meal (most regularly).
Having done this I then drew up a simple chart with 7 columns listing in the first column those items which were possibilities to meet my requirements.
The next 3 columns were used to list how many items I would need to purchase, the cost I could expect to pay per item and the total cost for all the items. The final 3 columns I used to list the actual items I bought and how many, how much they had cost and in the end the total cost for all the items.
I think having developed a master menu plan for a week/fortnight and finally a month, was the most helpful thing I could have done when I first began to develop a food storage plan. Don’t think you have to stick to this though as that couldn’t be further from reality as once you have a store of all your basics, the sky to creative cooking is the limit. Oh and if you have kids, don’t forget to include school lunches in the plan and after school treats/snacks.
Has it confused you all yet? Well don’t despair as it really didn’t take any time at all and before I knew it I had discovered that it was really very easy to do. I didn’t have to trek to the supermarket every other day, no longer had to queue for what seems like ages (when you’re in a hurry), knew exactly what I had in my pantry at any given time and most importantly for me, didn’t have to visit the supermarket during flu season or when certain other viruses were in full swing around the country. I also saved a lot of money by buying items in bulk on sale and avoiding those frequent impulse buys.
There really are so many benefits to reducing the number of times you visit the supermarket as every trip eliminated from this daily or weekly ritual saves you time, hassle, decision making dilemmas and money. So why not think about putting together a 3, 6 or 12 month food storage plan? It is easy and ever so simple.
Actually haven just read what I have written I had a light bulb moment when I realised that calling this article – food storage is a little skewy really as we don’t want to store just food but everything we use or will need on a regular basis. Things such as laundry soap, personal soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, tissues, shampoo/conditioner, fly spray, and so on...
Have a good walk around your home and think about what you could do towards becoming much less dependent on those weekly or daily supermarket trips and save money as you go.
Go on, what have you got to lose?
I certainly do miss not having a good store of both food and sundry items in my pantry. Am becoming quite anxious to finish building the house so I can get to work in my store room.
Kathleen