Ideas For Building a 3-Month Supply

IDEAS FOR BUILDING A 3-MONTH SUPPLY


Leann Cordon, Gilbert AZ Stake Canning Specialist

A 3-month supply of food that is part of your normal daily diet is THE FIRST STEP in getting food storage for you and your family (refer to pamphlet, “All is Safely Gathered In, Family Home Storage”). Emergency drinking water (14 gallons per person) should also be stored. In addition, financial reserves should be built over time. Food storage is a step-by-step process and is not meant to be a one-time purchase. Build your storage weekly. SOME IDEAS ARE:

1) Purchase a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is sufficient for three months.

2) Use a BLANK CALENDAR to plan meals and turn those menus into a shopping list. (A great source for a calendar and forms to plan meals and create a shopping list which computes all food amounts needed on Excel spreadsheets is Lynne Tolman’s Yahoo.com Group, “3monthsupply” -- see paragraph #6 below). Have a family meeting and decide what foods are your favorites. Store what your family will eat. What are your favorite meals? Here are examples of ways to fill your calendar:

a) Write down a month of meals and times it by three.

b) Write down two weeks of meals and times it by six.

c) Assign types of foods to each day of the week: for example, Mexican, Italian, soups and sandwiches, Chinese, salads, chicken, beef, etc. List four or five meals you can make in each category. Spread these throughout the month and times by three.

d) Think of meals that can be made up around carbohydrates such as potatoes, rice, pasta, bread and tortillas. Examples: beef stroganoff, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, chicken and potatoes, casseroles, stir fry, soups, stews, baked potatoes with fixings, ham and scalloped potatoes, enchiladas, tacos, sandwiches, haystacks.

3) SHOPPING: Once you have your meals listed on the calendar, you can make a shopping list for the EXTRA foods you will need for one week of menus. During your usual shopping trips, use that list to add these extra foods to your cart. Continue building a week or two at a time until you have your 3-month supply. You may choose to purchase foods in bulk. NOTE: Remember that you will need to purchase some items in cans or as dried foods which you usually buy fresh, such as meats, cheese, vegetables and fruits. Some items can be frozen, but if power is lost, they would be spoiled. USE these foods regularly and ROTATE ALL FOODS, replenishing from the back.

4) TO SAVE MONEY: Clip coupons for the foods you need, and/or go to the website, www.sistersavings.net. This website is updated weekly and lists discounts and bargains on groceries in many of the major stores in our area. Coupons add to savings.

5) USE YOUR OTHER STORAGE ITEMS IN YOUR 3-MONTH SUPPLY and rotate those products as well. Wet pack items such as meats, stews, soups, vegetables, fruits, jam, salsa and spaghetti sauce can be used. Dry pack items can also be used: Pasta, dry onions, potato flakes, potato pearls, and pancake mix are easy to incorporate into your daily menus. Oatmeal can be eaten as cereal or in pancakes, waffles, or cookies. Dried carrots can be used in soups and casseroles, in salads, or in baking carrot cakes, cookies and muffins. Beans are great in soups and salads, casseroles, in chili, or as a side dish. Rice, wheat, sugar, and flour can be used in many meals and in baking as well. Apple slices can be eaten out of the can as a snack or they can be soaked, cooked and baked in pies or in other desserts. Powdered milk works well in baking and cooking or as a drink. Hot cocoa mix and fruit drink mix also make great drinks.

6) TAKE THE COOKING CLASSES AT THE MESA CANNERY from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on most Mondays. Lynne Tolman is a great teacher and has wonderful ideas and useful handouts. She demonstrates recipes which you can taste during class. You will learn lots of new ideas for meals and ways to use your food storage creatively and regularly. Lynne also has a website on Yahoo groups called “3month supply.” On her site she has the cannery class schedule, handouts from classes, recipes (including a copy of the big yellow home storage cookbook the cannery used to sell), Wendy Dewitt’s book, the Utah State University Extension web site, Excel forms for planning menus, shopping lists, and inventory, and other cooking, canning, and storage ideas. You can also communicate with other members by posting/answering questions or adding information to the group. You must be a member of Yahoo.com to have access to their groups. This just involves going to Yahoo.com and joining their membership, which is free. They ask for your name, some personal information, and your e-mail address. Once you have chosen an ID name and password, you can use Yahoo groups. On the group page, look in the column with group categories and click on the “food and drink” category to find “3monthsupply” (or do a search). In Lynne’s “3monthsupply” group you will see a box to the left with headings in it. Much of the information you will want is under “files” or “links” but you will want to explore the entire site. (Try “files”; then “building a three month supply” to find the Excel forms mentioned in paragraph #2).

7) OTHER WEBSITES OF INTEREST:

Look at http://annban10.blogspot.com/2008/03/food-storage-organized.html to see some great pantry and storage ideas. Other good sites are Safelygatheredin.blogspot.com, Everydayfoodstorage.blogspot.com, and www.StoreMeals.com. Explore the internet to find even more.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS NOT TO STRESS ABOUT YOUR

3-MONTH SUPPLY. START OUT DOING A LITTLE AT A TIME, STEP BY STEP. You don’t have to do everything at once. You will accomplish your goals by working at your own pace in the areas where you are most comfortable and which are within your budget. Take the time to gradually build up your 3-month supply, using foods you already eat and some of your storage items from the cannery. ENJOY!