Pretty Providence

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How to Start Food Storage on a Budget

I mentioned before that one of our personal financial goals is to have a one year emergency food storage. Obviously, this is a big goal, and it can’t be achieved overnight. Today I’m going to share a few tips to help you start your own emergency food storage while still sticking to your budget. 

1. Make a list of all the foods you use on a regular basis that you’d like to include in your emergency storage. I have a dry foods list and a freezer list.

Here are what my lists look like (just to give you an idea of where to start): 

Dry Food Storage Items: 

Applesauce
Peaches
Tomatoes
Black Beans
Refried Beans
Kidney Beans
Pineapple 
Mandarin Orages
Corn
Tuna 
Chicken
Chili
Green Beans
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Cream of Chicken Soup
Hunts Spaghetti Sauce
Peanut Butter
Salad Dressing
Taco Seasoning
Powdered Or Canned Milk
Rice
Flour
Sugar
Brown Sugar 
Powdered Sugar
Honey
Oats
Salt
Noodles
Ketchup
BBQ Sauce
Mustard
Mayonnaise
Relish 
Spices

Freezer Food Storage Items

Peach Jam
Raspberry Jam
Strawberry Jam
Chicken
Hamburger
Cheese
Strawberries
Peaches
Bananas
Pancakes
Bread
Stir Fry Veggie Mix
Frozen Crockpot Meals

2. After you have your lists finalized, go down and figure out how much you would need of each item to last you a month. You don’t need to worry about knowing exactly, a ballpark figure will work just fine. Once you know how much you need to last you a month, it is easy to multiply by 3, 6, or 12 to figure out how many of each item you would need for a 3 month, 6 month, or 12 month storage supply. 

3. Take inventory of the items you already have in your pantry. Keep track of what you have. 

4. Every time you are at the store and you have a little extra in your budget, buy something that is on your list, ex: if you have $5.00 extra, buy a bag of flour or $5 worth of cans. 

5. Consider adding “food storage” as a line item in your budget. Even if you only budget $10.00 a month for food storage, this can help a lot. Remember, every little bit counts!

6. Make extras, and freeze what you don’t use. We love having frozen bananas to add to smoothies, so whenever we have bananas that are about to go bad, we peel them, cut them in half, add them to a ziplock and stick them in with the other fruit in our freezer. If you are making dinner and you know the recipe is more than your family will need freeze half for later use instead of letting it go bad in the fridge. 

Even though it can seem like a daunting task, don’t give up! Food storage can be a lifesaver, not only in natural disasters but in case of job loss or other financial stress. 

How do you build up your food storage?
*This post may be linked up to one of these lovely link parties, check them out! 

  • So true! My hubby and I are trying to start our food storage and emergency preparedness and it definitely can seem overwhelming! Thanks for the encouragement!

    • You can do it! I get overwhelmed alot too, but it is SO WORTH IT once you get things together. Good luck, and thanks for your comment, makes my day!

  • getting on food storage going has been weighing heavy on my mind. I think this will be the best way for us to get it going, just a little at a time, it will add up!

    • Even though it can be frustrating at times, just keep going, you will be so glad you did once you start reaping the benefits! Thanks so much for the comment!

  • What a neat idea! That’s an ambitious goal, food for a year. I have recently been using way of my very stocked pantry, but I think I need to drastically replenish it, even if we are eating more natural/whole foods, since disaster could strike whenever. I love the crock-pot frozen meals. I have a Slow Cooker Saturday feature on my blog every week, if you are interested. Found you at the Tip Junkie.

    • I can’t wait to check out your slow cooker ideas! I love my slow cooker and can’t wait to try out some of your recipes.

      I know what you mean about trying to eat more naturally. I try to can my own items when possible. (Right now I have canned tomatoes, apple sauce, peaches, jam, and apple pie filling) used of course with food strait from the growers. Also, food storage helps me avoid processed foods as well because when I have butter, sugar, flour etc. on hand I tend to make a lot more from scratch rather than buying from the store!

      Good luck, and thanks for commenting!

  • I too am stocking up. Thanks for the tips. One thing I’m doing is looking at the sales each week. When I find one or more things that I need to stockpile, I buy as much as I can afford that week of those items, that way I stock up and save money!

    • Such a great idea! I just bought a lot of my stuff at a Smith’s case lot sale, which helped a ton, but I could be better at checking ads every week. Thank you for the motivation!

  • Mel

    really great tips, I’m stocking up

    • Yay, you can do it! Good luck ;).

  • Jessica, this is super helpful to get started on a food storage. We have a couple of months supply at all times but I would love to have a years worth put up. Thanks so much for sharing this info on Creative Thursday this week. Can’t wait to see what you link up next :) Have a fabulous weekend.
    Michelle

  • Thanks for sharing your creativity at It’s Overflowing linky party this week!!! Love your ideas! XO, Aimee

  • Thank you for sharing this! I have just started to try to build up food storage…and am taking it one step at a time. This will help a lot! We are your newest followers! :) http://moresisterstuff.blogspot.com/

    • We are trying one step at a time too, and sometimes it can be so overwhelming! But it is so worth it once you get rolling. Thanks so much for following, can’t wait to check out your blog!

  • It’s important to remember that you need to add water to your storage at least 2 gallons per day per person in my family of 6 that is almost 4400 gallons, its not reasonable to store that much so having a way to treat water to make it drinkable is key!

  • Dona

    Do you rotate your supply at all? Thinking about doing this, but right now we eat everything we buy and I’m doing all I can to stick to a budget, buy healthy food and loose weight in the same breath. Great tips!

    • Margot

      whether you do or dont do couponing, you can go to http://www.extremecoupon.com and get information on how to get a stockpile going to last you for one to two years.