While my mind is on preparedness these days, I thought I would share a couple of random thoughts about how to gather a usable food storage.

The way to store food storage, and use it, is as unique as the individual doing it, which is a good thing, but sometimes it helps to see what others are doing before making that commitment-level decision. There are four basic ideas that I have seen most often. They each have pros and cons:

 1.  Create a list of favorite meals and store the ingredients together as a package.

I’ve heard how people will pick maybe two weeks worth of favorite family dinners that don’t demand a lot of ingredients. Each item is calculated for the number of times you would have that meal in a given 3-6-12 month supply. You take the list to the grocery store and you start buying those items that will be stored as packaged meals in your storage room. I’ve even seen cookbooks where each complete meal is stored in a bag, ready to be used with instructions to serve each meal.

This idea is probably helpful for those who are really really organized. One problem I see is that some items never, or rarely, go on sale at the grocery store, so in some cases, just to get all the ingredients together at the same time, you may be spending top dollar. Another problem is putting bags of food in your storage takes a lot of space and may not serve your best purpose. In my case, I do not have the organization gene, which means I might be likely to steal certain items out of certain menu packages and be left “holding the bag,” if you know what I mean.

2.  Buy whatever is on sale and hope you can make a variety of meals from the random items purchased.

This sounds like a helter-skelter, very disorganized, way of gathering food storage. This is where you can almost mindlessly gather super-sale items and simply tuck them away. There are a few basic items you just rely on to pull a meal together. These are the items to capitalize on. For example, load up on rice. Pretty much anything can go with rice. Different seasonings can make meals unique without being monotonous. Buying whatever goes on sale and supplementing logical choices when you can is a good way to supply your family with the proper food groups and variety necessary.

3.  Gadget powered items or 18^th Century from scratch.

I put these two extremes together, because both are for the same type of person: One who likes to buy all the latest gadgets that will make your food storage amazing, or the person who could live with the Amish next week without skipping a beat. I have to admit; I have always avoided an electric can opener, because I didn’t want to be caught in an outage or apocalypse (as if that decision alone would save me!). Some gadgets are logical and extremely helpful when it comes to canning, drying, packaging, mixing, etc. but there is a point where the money you spend on those gadgets should really be going to store more eatable foodstuff.

And to the person who makes everything from scratch: I have made my own salad dressing from scratch forever, but face it, there comes a point when buying and storing several ingredients in order to make one store-bought item becomes ridiculous. Using electricity to make bread from scratch is wonderful and very wholesome, but what happens when there’s no electricity? That person will become catatonic watching the Amish gal muscle up her hand grinder and knead the heck out of her bread dough without as much as a cramp. As usual, there are good and bad coins to be tossed with these considerations. Better to be moderate, as well as in shape.

4.  Store an untouchable storage system.

Finally, there are those who think they are saving themselves a lot of time, effort, and frustration by simply buying a package deal and not touching that package until the zombies are pounding at the door. This is the worst idea of all. First of all, whether it’s whole grain or freeze-dried, your body is going to scream bloody murder when your diet switches over suddenly. And believe me, going to the bathroom has it’s own set of problems in an emergency situation and you DO NOT want to add diarrhea to the equation. Most bodies have forgotten how to metabolize real food and sadly preparing this kind of food would be a serious hit/miss.

The best solution may be a little of everything. We are used to variety, so be sure to provide that in the way you store, prepare, and eat your food.

 Water storage:

We go through an immense amount of water in a given day. Sometimes, I’ll actually think about the water going down the drain as I wait for it to warm up so it feels just right. Someone suggested that one person would need one gallon of water per day to survive. Really? Do you realize how little water that really is when you run through your regular daily routine? Experiment, for one whole day, and gage how much water you thoughtlessly use. It also helps to load up on wet wipes and disinfectant solution. And in spite of all those environmentalists out there, load up on paper products because you sure aren’t going to want to waste precious water on washing everyday dishes. And for that matter, here’s a valuable tip: Use foil to line all cooking pots and pans. It’s easier to throw away foil than washing the pot with every use.

Store water according to its use:

1. Drinking and Cooking—Super clean bottled water.
2. Bathing and Kitchen cleaning—Water that comes from the water heater or an old smelly, but clean, barrel of water.
3. Clothes washing—Bathtub water (they have liners now!), water stored in empty detergent bottles that still have some soap in them.
4. Of course, boiling and purifying water will allow you to use questionable water. You may want to store drink mixes that will camouflage the taste.

Simple Go-To meals:

Every family has their special favorite meals that every member of the family will eat and it’s easy to put together on those busy nights. It’s important to have a collection of these types of meals. First, they should store easily, so you feel like you always have something ready and familiar to eat. Second, these should be cheap meals that can cut your grocery bill drastically, so you can put your money in more important areas on occasion. Here are some of our favorite meals:

1. Spaghetti and Green Beans

It’s always a good idea to store pasta and pasta sauce. It can even be made in one pan for easy cleanup. Green beans are an alternative to fresh green salad (which is not always available). Sometimes I’ll add garlic powder to them, sometimes I’ll add a touch of sugar.

2. Beans and Cornbread

If you aren’t up to soaking beans all night or day, you can use canned beans and heat them up. Mash them with some bacon drippings (always saved after cooking up bacon!), or lard (which you can find covered in dust at the grocery store, which proves it stays good for ages). Add salt and you have refried beans. (Use pinto, black, cannellini, or navy beans.) Serve with canned corn, tortillas, cornbread, or Spanish rice (rice with tomato paste and seasonings).

3. Fresh Baked Bread and Soup

Everyone should know how to make bread. Seriously, there is not a more glorious food than hot bread with melting butter. Soup can be as simple as water, chicken or beef bouillon, and leftovers.

4. Gorak Goolash

There’s a story behind this simple meal, which is rice and cream of chicken soup (pieces of chicken optional). Back in those poor college days, I made this poor man’s goolash and promised if the kids ate it all they could play Gorak with daddy. 1)The Ewok Adventures movie was beloved by our children where the Gorak monster was defeated. 2) We’d turn out all the lights and dad would sneak around, pretending to be the Gorak, scaring the kids—most beloved game of all time at our house.

However you choose to store your food, and whatever you choose to store, make it work for you AND BE REALISTIC. If you are saving for a big-ticket item eat some of your quick and easy meals for two weeks and see if you can’t make that purchase a little sooner. Don’t rely on gadgets every time you think of storing foods. And give your body some whole foods now and again, because someday the potato chip aisle is going to be empty.