THREE-MONTH SUPPLY This is where you start. Just begin with a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet. To do this, just buy a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food.
In other words, if you usually buy 2-3 cans of corn each week, buy 5 instead. Then put 2 of the cans back in a closet that will become your storage. This way you gradually increase your supply until you have three months. Then you try to get four months. Then five, and so on, until you eventually have a year's supply.
LONGER-TERM SUPPLY For longer-term needs, build a supply of food that will last a long time and that you can use to stay alive, such as wheat, white rice, and beans. These items can last 30 years or more when properly packaged and stored in a cool, dry place.
I have wheat that is more than 30 years old. People move and instead of moving their supply, they tell me, "Oh, it is so old. I will just buy new stuff when we get there." I smile, and think, "How nice to have that kind of money."
I also hope that disaster doesn't hit them before they get their new supply.
We have been married 26 years. I have been trying since day one to get a year's supply. We have enough wheat, beans, powdered milk. But I still need more sugar, oil, rice, and misc.
Our "EXPERIMENT" of living on just our food storage taught me, I definitely need more yummy stuff. Living on just powdered milk, things made from wheat, or even Spanish rice and beans would get really monotonous.
I really learned that items like flavored oatmeal, jello, pudding, Ramon noodles, mac and cheese, etc. Things that store well--but that only need water are good to have. Extra items that are canned, but yummy, are even better. I have not bought that many dehydrated items as you need water to reconstitute them and water might be scarce. I also do not buy any pull tab cans as they do not last as long as regular cans.
I do not buy anything expensive except for things such as dehydrated eggs, and so forth. I do not buy fancy containers, dry pack items, etc. It is too hard and too expensive to do it that way.
For years I have bought 5 gallon plastic buckets used from restaurants or donut shops. They sell them cheap and you just wash them out and set them in the sun for a few days to make sure they are really dry and clean. Also, make sure they have a tight lid that is easy to snap on and off.
Then I simply put the sugar, rice, wheat...whatever I am looking for at the time and buy it from the cheapest source. I then go home and put it in the bucket, put the lid on, use a permanent marker to put the name and date, stick it in a closet, under a bed, in the back of a cabinet, etc.
As for sugar, it gets hard when stored for a long time. Lately, I have left it unopened in the bags it comes in and then I have put the bags in industrial, heavy duty, black trash bags. We then duct taped the bag closed after getting all the air out. We then put it in another bag and taped it closed again. So far this has worked great. The sugar is 3 years old and has not gotten hard at all.
All food storage sites tell you to rotate regularly to avoid spoilage. That would be great in an idea world, but it still hasn't happened in mine. I do date stuff, and when I clean the pantry, I do move the older stuff to the front, but that is the extent of my rotation.
Don't worry too much about it. If some thing has gone bad, it will smell. If in a can, it will swell or the lid will bulge. You simply throw it away. I made the Peanut Butter treats awhile back. I opened a jar of PB and not until it was cooking did it have a peculiar taste. I realized it must be rancid. I threw it away. Life goes on. Just use common sense.
When beans are on sale. I buy a case or two. When sugar is on sale, I buy as much as I can afford. I only buy when things are cheap. I do not go out each week and buy a bunch of stuff. Only fresh stuff. We live off what is in the pantry and then buy when prices are low.
DRINKING WATER When we were first married we lived in rural Kansas on 40 acres. We had a well, but it wasn't deep enough so I was always running out of water. I would walk down to the pond with two 5-gallon buckets and haul back dirty pond water just so I could flush the toilet. I learned very quickly just how precious water is and how much we take it for granted.
If you do not store anything else. STORE WATER. AND IT IS FREE!
There are many circumstances in which the water supply may be polluted or disrupted.
To store water, simply use sturdy, leak-proof, breakage-resistant containers. I use soda or juice plastic bottles that I have washed out. Milk jugs do not work as they leak later on. I add six drops of bleach to each gallon of water I store. Keep water containers away from heat sources and direct sunlight.
Anyone can store water. Just start saving bottles, fill them up with tap water, drop some bleach in. Stick them in a closet, under a cabinet, hide them anywhere. I have stored them in the garage. I figure even if they are compromised, they still can be used for bathing, flushing a toilet, etc.
FINANCIAL RESERVE Establish a financial reserve by saving a little money each week and gradually increasing it to a reasonable amount .
This is easier said than done. Every time I have some money saved...I end up using it. But it is true, that had I not had anything saved, we would have been even worse off.
