Prepare: Getting Started Part Three Food Part Two

Are the titles of these posts getting confusing? I hope not. This is a continuation of a "getting started" series for new preppers. Like you, I am no expert. I learned what I know about preparedness on the job and from websites like mine. I hope you find it useful.

My last post dove in to the subject of food, namely, building a practical long term food supply. If you have some liquid income, feel free to skip the hard work and make a purchase of LTS food from Mountain House or one of my other advertisers. My better half will appreciate it!

Otherwise, if you are pinching pennies and watching every buck, but want to have a preparedness plan in place, please read on.

As I mentioned yesterday, a food plan does not have to be so disconcerting. There are two easy methods to building a food supply -

One - Buy Two! That is when buying one item, double the purchase. Please limit this to dry, canned and shelf stable foods. Instead of two cans of tuna, get four. Five pounds of sugar on the list? Get ten. Take the extra and store it away.

Two - Buy Bulk. Get a membership to a warehouse club or search out an ethnic grocery store. Both carry extra large sizes of certain commodity foods like rice, pasta, flour, sugar and so on. Instead of purchasing a one pound bag of rice, get a twenty five pound bag. Place in proper storage and add to the storage until there is a one year supply for the number of people in the house. 

Both of these food buying plans demand the right storage. Putting a plastic bag of rice on the shelf may result in a bag of bug infestation at a future date. Food storage is mandatory. 

I store my dry bulk goods in 5 and 6 gallon buckets. I place the food item in a sealable plastic bag with an anti-moisture packet, place in the bucket, seal tightly and stack in a cool, dark closet inside the house. 

Don't store food - 

- in cloth or burlap bags. 

- outside in damp, temperature extreme sheds. 

- in hot attics

- only in original packaging.

- on ground or dirt floors susceptible to flooding, bugs or accessible by larger vermin such as rats or mice. 

I picked up my buckets at a restaurant supply store. I have also used the sealable buckets from the hardware store and they work well for me. Some of my buckets are five years old and I have had no problem with them. 

Here's a good video about storing food: 

There will be one more part on food before we move on to the other topics. In the meantime..

- Buy Two - buy double and store the extra.
- Buy Bulk - buy big sizes and store
- Store properly

Get your supply of storable food at eFoodsDirect.com!