Setting up food storage

We have been told by the Prophets for decades that we should have a minimum of 1 year’s worth of food storage in our homes. While it would be wonderful to just go out and purchase the whole lot and suddenly have it available in our homes, the cost would be extreme. For a family of 2 adults and 3 children in the year 2008 food and living requirements (such as nappies, soap, deodorant & washing powder) would cost approx $8400. Very few people could afford to spend this much plus the cost of shelving to store these items.

Food for thought or thought for food?
Remember the old sayings of “Wants versus Needs” & “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”. Although you may want a wide screen TV, a new car or lounge suite, you cannot eat them when you have no source of food. Ask yourself would you rather your family be comfortable and hungry watching a blank plasma widescreen, or surviving and enjoying each other’s company on an old lounge suite reading stories and playing games?

Budgeting
The first step in setting up your food storage is budgeting. Allow yourself a few extra dollars to purchase 1 or 2 items (more if you can afford it) each time you do your shopping. It doesn’t take long for your storage items to build up using this method.
If you can afford it, budget a little extra to save up for bargains. When an item you can use for storage is on sale at an extra low price you can then use your savings to buy large quantities of it.

Example: Assuming you use a whole box of weetbix in a month and you shop fortnightly, 1 box of weetbix each shopping trip will equate to a years supply of weetbix in 6 months.

Hint: Tax returns are a great source of money for food storage items. Allocate at least half of your tax return to food storage and you will be even closer to that 1 year’s storage.

What to store
Many people think food storage is hundreds of cans of baked beans and 2 minute noodles. This just is not the case. You need to store nutritional food items that you would normally eat, water, and other items you would normally buy on shopping day. The idea is to have 1 year’s supply of items you would normally use and rotate the stock.

Example: As you finish your jar of vegemite, go and grab the oldest jar of vegemite from your storage and put that into your pantry. When you go shopping, buy another jar of vegemite and put it at the back of your storage. This will mean you should never throw any expired storage items away and maintain a year’s supply.

Some items such as flour will turn rancid after a long time in storage. Flour can be stored in the freezer to prevent this. If you are going to store wheat to make flour, make sure you gave a grinder and that you know how to grind it. It is also helpful to know how to bake bread without a bread maker and own some bread tins.

Hint: 10kg bag of flour fits nicely on 1 shelf in a standard width full height stand alone freezer.

You will need to store other items such as a camp stove or BBQ to cook with, including a gas cylinder and matches, in case the mains power or gas supply is interrupted. A generator and fuel would also be handy to have to run electric powered appliances, but is not essential.

We should not forget about water, as our bodies require water above all else. If a person is supposed to drink 2 litres of water a day, that makes 730 litres a year per person. For a family of 4, that’s nearly 3000 litres for a year, just for drinking.

It is important not to forget first aid kits, washing powder, soap, toilet paper, and other toiletries or items you use for your family’s day to day life.

Where and how to store
The next thing you will need is somewhere to store everything. Using the example above, 1 year’s supply of weetbix (26 boxes) alone would take up the whole of most people’s pantry space. First you will need to find somewhere dry, cool, and rodent free such as an enclosed garage, secure shed, or spare bedroom. Second you will need to set up some shelves. Most hardware shops, K-mart, & Supercheap Auto stock metal shelving. A lightweight aluminium 4 shelf (each shelf rated to 50kg) kit will cost about $20. These often go on special for $11 - $15, so keep an eye out in the junk mail. These shelving kits can be made up in about 30 minutes and only require the use of a Phillips head screw driver and a pair of pliers.

Example: One year’s supply of weetbix should only take up half the shelving space of a 4 shelf unit.

Approximately 6 to 8 shelving units should fit along the walls of a standard garage without restricting access to the driver’s door of your car.

Hint: Stack lighter items on the top shelf, so that you can stack it higher, as it has more room. Heaviest items should be stored as low as possible to prevent injury.

Water storage is best taken care of in rain water tanks due to large amount required (3000L a year for a family of 4 just for drinking), but these can be expensive. Plastic water jerry cans can be purchased from camping stores, or save cordial and juice bottles and fill them with water for your food storage. These will need to be used and refilled to prevent bacteria. Water purification tablets can also be used, and are available at camping/army disposal stores and possibly some supermarkets. Water can also be boiled to purify it.

Hint: store water in a dark cool place to prevent bacteria growth. Bacteria requires light to grow.