For a lot of people these days, keeping groceries in the pantry for their family to eat now can be a true hardship. At that point, it’s difficult to even fathom the idea of storing food in the event that there is a disaster, whether natural or man-made.
However, it doesn’t have to be a horribly expensive endeavor to prepare for the worst. Whether you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel or you’re just reluctant to spend much on food storage, a bare bones food storage plan will likely make you feel a lot more secure in the long run. Spend a few dollars each time you visit the grocery store on this famine food storage menu to safeguard your family’s future.
Related: Prepping on a Budget – How To Get Survival Supplies When You Have Almost No Money
Basic Menu Items for One Day:
•Three pieces of bread per person (homemade, obviously)
•One pan of oatmeal
•One pan of rice
•One pan of beans
•One cup of milk
Weekly Additions:
•A pint of fruit jam (this is how to make survival dandelion jelly with 2 years shelf life)
•A jar of peanut butter
•A pasta dinner with meat (here’s how to can pasta sauce for long term preservation)
•4 pots of soup (explained below)
•Sprouting seed rotation (see below for details)
Monthly Additions:
•A can of popcorn
•A can of potato flakes
•A can of refried beans
•A can of white flour
One-Year Purchases for A Family of Four:
•366 lbs wheat
•96 lbs rolled oats
•240 lbs rice
•240 lbs dry beans
•96 lbs refried bean
•52 16 oz jars of peanut butter
•52 pints of canned meat, ideally something relatively fatty (find out how to pressure-can hamburger meat for long term preservation)
•192 lbs white flour
•160 lbs granulated sugar
•18 quarts oil
•8 lbs yeast
•8 lbs salt
•57 lbs honey
•64 lbs powdered milk
•72 lbs potato flakes
•52 quarts pasta sauce
•240 lbs pasta
•Spices of your choice
•1460 multivitamin doses
•6 #10 cans of popcorn
•52 pints of jam
•160 lbs sprouting seeds (choose your favorite) + jars for sprouting rotation
Making the Famine Food Storage Menu Work for You
The needs and wants of each family varies a great deal, and this menu allows for customization so that you can create a food storage plan that has the best chance of keeping your family happy. You’ll find some tips for how to choose the right items to suit your needs below.
Beans and Rice
Choose a wide variety of dried beans and different types of rice to help break up the monotony of eating essentially the same thing every day. While the pasta dinner that is laid out in the menu will help with that, it will also help to keep the everyday menu variable. Lentils, red beans, black beans, and bean mixes are some good protein options.
Canned Meat
This menu, while providing slightly more than the recommended calories a person generally needs every day, is a little light on fat. Fat is crucial to keeping your body, particularly the brain, functioning at its peak. When purchasing or home-canning meat for your famine food storage, use meats that are high in fat, like sausage and high-fat ground beef. You can even can bacon, which would be a wonderful, flavorful treat.
Related: 10 Long Shelf-Life Canned Foods Every Prepper Should Consider Stockpiling
Soup
The soup listed above is to be made from any leftovers that you may have on hand. It’s the perfect way to make sure that none of the food you prepare goes to waste. You can also add in any bits and bobs of fresh vegetation you have on hand. This is great for veggies that are past their prime, but not actually spoiled.
Sprouts
Sprouts are a great way to keep fresh veggies in your diet in a SHTF situation. Think about this: if society collapses, even if you’re prepared, it’ll take some time to produce your own produce, and depending on the season, it could be more than a year. Sprouts provide fresh produce without the wait. They’re not difficult to grow, they’re a quick way to get to the vitamins and minerals they provide back into your diet. The positive psychological effects of fresh produce can’t be ignored, either.
Multivitamins
Be sure that you purchase multivitamins that are appropriately formulated for each member of your family. Depending on age, sex, and many other factors, the nutrients each person needs likely varies a little. In order to prevent such nutritional deficiencies as scurvy, be sure everyone’s needs are accounted for.
Spices
What spices do you use most often in your everyday food prep? Those are probably the ones you want to stock up on
Important Notes
It’s important to note that food storage is for more than just the zombie apocalypse like people tend to think of when they imagine it. It can help get you through an unseasonable ice storm where it’s not safe on the roads, or it can help ensure your family has enough food through horrible financial hardships.
Keep in mind that you ought to consider rotating your stocks of stored food. When you’re going to buy one of the items in your food storage, pull one out of storage and replace it with the new one. You can even use masking tape to create a simple bought-on date label to keep your rotations simple. You’d just take the oldest item out and use it.
It’s also important that you keep a significant amount of fresh water on hand and that you have a plan for keeping clean water coming. If a real disaster occurs, this could quickly become an issue. You’ll need potable water to prepare many of the items on the list and to drink for daily hydration and for hygiene. A good rule of thumb is one gallon of water per person in the household for at least three days at the absolute bare minimum. From there, make sure you’ve got a plan and the materials you need to carry it out.
Related: 24 Prepping Items I Don’t Spend Money On
You don’t have to spend a fortune to create a comprehensive food storage plan. It can be done a little at a time, and you can make the most of the items that you store by knowing exactly how to use them and practicing creativity within the proscribed items before you’re forced to rely on your food storage.
|
|