Food Storage Inventory
October 19th, 2008 by HeidiFinally, FINALLY (okay, it only took six months) I inventoried our food storage. Except the one box on the bottom that wasn’t labeled that I refused to lift because my arms were aching from hefting the 30+lb boxes over my head. And for the record, Kit tried to help but I told him I was fine and asked him to go play with the kids. 
Anyway, this is the bagged/canned stuff that lasts 20 to 30 years, depending on what it is. We’ve got:
513lbs of grains (wheat, oats, rice, flour), 15lbs of beans (whoops), 128lbs of sugar (I am so a Thaden) and various other - 20lbs powdered milk, 6 cans potato pearls, apples, carrots, some pasta, dried onions, etc. But only 9lbs of chocolate chips. Sad. And those don’t last 20 years, but I thought I would throw that in for comparison sake.
We have almost 6 months of grains for our family size now (2 adults, 4 kids equalling 2 other adults) but we’re woefully behind on legumes. And if we add in the stuff in buckets we have not bagged/canned then we have closer to a 9 months supply. So we have about 800lbs of grains (flour, oats, rice, wheat) counting shorter term storage and we do have other protein sources than beans. Peanut butter, tuna, chicken, salmon all canned. But still.
We need more beans and more oil/fats. Maybe some more long term pasta storage. We have lots of canned fruits, veggies, tomatoes and juice. I think we need more:
beans
canned veggies
bagged/canned pasta
oil
honey
peanut butter
Then I’ll feel pretty comfortable. We will add some more white wheat when it comes to the cannery end of December. And we need to wash out and fill our water barrels, for our water storage. And get our camp stove. I’m loving it!
In the spring we’ll plant a garden and learn more how to can fruits. Before then we’ll be canning some jams. If I get a pressure cooker or find someone willing to loan us one then we’ll try canning veggies. I’m excited, this feels good!
I’ll post a picture later of what 158 cans/pouches of food storage looks like, about 800lbs of food. Wow. We have it in cases at the back of our closet and I’m sticking some of the pouches under Emy’s bed. The sad thing being we don’t even have as much as is recommended with the food storage calculator.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:19 am
I realize you homemake a lot of your food, but just wanted to throw this out there… http://www.thegrocerygame.com - it helps you line up your coupons with in-store sales in order to get the best value. They claim that not all the specials that are going on at your particular store are listed in the weekly flyer(s). I shop at Publix b/c they double their coupons and take competitors coupons. Just thought you’d find that helpful…
October 20th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Hey, Heidi… could you email me with your controversial anti-meat opinions? I’m feeling restless and would love to start a figh… erm… no, I do actually want to know! *grin*
October 20th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Sarah, I’ll check it out - thank you.
Jess, it’s controversial only because it’s how we are interpreting our religious dietary statement. I’ve only met a handful of vegetarian Mormons, but from our limited perspective we Mormons (ourselves included) tend to consume meat pretty routinely. Daily, even. To quote the Word of Wisdom:
Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;
And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.
The whole statement is here, it covers other food issues:
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/89
It was given in 1833 and back then meat in winter/cold made sense since all their food was local. In our country now, we’re not relying on hunting and our own garden to find food. And meat alternatives are available year round. So we don’t need to rely on meat for sustenance at all. And certainly famine does not apply in our situation, so really that leaves very few times that meat would be a necessary part of our diet. But this is how Kit and Heidi are interpreting it, and members of our church are all free to interpret that how they will. For us, we’re going to try and be more sparing in our meat consumption.
We’re bothered by the health and ethical issues as well, but not so much that it stopped us from eating meat obviously… and financially, other protein sources are more economical. But it was the religious aspect that kicked us over the edge to be more diligent about changing our diet.