Food Storage Step 3
Imagine the benefit of going to the store less often. When you do, it’s for a little meat, dairy, and fresh produce. Besides saving tons of time, you actually save $$$! Fewer trips to the grocery store mean money saved, not only on gas but on impulse purchases. As two financial gurus have noted, cutting supermarket trips from four times to just once a week can save $10 per trip or up to $120 each month (Jean Chatzky and Jeff Yeager, “Ten Ways to Stash Cash,” Reader’s Digest, June 2008, p. 135).
In addition, just like President Spencer W. Kimball taught, eating your food storage creates a major shift in lifestyle. We’re finally eating less fast food because we already have fast and easy meal options available at home.
Preparation means less of our time is wasted on constantly re-designing or re-engineering our meals. We figure it out once and then enjoy the freedom and clarity that affords.
To summarize the three steps, then, the combination of foods from 1) long-term storage, 2) short-term storage, and 3) fresh items looks like this:
The chart above illustrates my concept of how a longer-term supply, a three-month supply, and fresh ingredients combine to create a comprehensive food storage that can be used on a daily basis.
Long-term food storage
A “Longer-Term Supply” is comprised of basics that can be stored for 30 years or longer. The Church recommends that a family of five store 1500 pounds of a variety of grains, in whatever combination they prefer, plus an additional 300 pounds specifically in dried beans, for a year supply.
For your family, if you multiply the number of people by two cases in each of these seven groupings, you will reach the weight goal recommended by the Church. The chart illustrates that a family of five, multiplied by two cases (products canned and purchased at a Home Storage Center), needs ten cases each in seven food groups (5 x 2=10).
Three-month supply
The “Three-Month Supply” section represents thirty different meals that incorporate a long-term storage item as well as shorter-term storage ingredients (the canned, dried, and bottled ingredients you normally use). I recommend designing these dishes five at a time, building up gradually to the goal of 30—one month of meals, to be repeated three times—so that the planning or financing doesn’t become overwhelming. Select meals that suit your family’s preferences, and then purchase the short-term storage ingredients in groups of three for a three-month supply of everyday meals.
Immediate supply
The “Immediate Supply” section includes fresh or frozen ingredients purchased on a frequent basis at the grocery store. The 30 meals I’ve designed for my family use our long-term storage, our three-month storage, and fresh ingredients from the supermarket. It’s actually the fresh ingredients that make the thirty meals viable on a daily basis.
If you cover up the portion of the diagram containing the grocery store and fresh ingredients, you can see that in the event of an emergency, food storage is still a workable resource with just the long-term and three-month supply. Recipes may not be prepared exactly as originally planned, but there is a wide variety of familiar ingredient options that could greatly enhance the basic grains and beans, thus helping to comfort and sustain during a time of need.
