How to get my head around this

[Aroha]

i read your ideas on stocking up food in case of emergency, and eating through your stores in rotation. This is almost the EXACT opposite of what I actually do. I grocery shop on a Monday and we usually eat the cupboards bare by Sunday. In fact if there's still food in the fridge it annoys me because I don't want to buy more fresh food when I haven't used up the last lot. I use a lot of fresh food, very little canned. I don't eat beans or rice. Obviously in an emergency I would be willing to eat rice and beans, but I'm not keen to include them regularly now just for the sake of keeping fresh stores that may never be needed. As for eating the packaged foods on holiday, that would really be a bummer to me.

On the other hand I can see the wisdom in being prepared. Do you have any hints for getting my head around this. Clearly my mind is in quite a different place.

[Spartana]

i read your ideas on stocking up food in case of emergency, and eating through your stores in rotation. This is almost the EXACT opposite of what I actually do. I grocery shop on a Monday and we usually eat the cupboards bare by Sunday. In fact if there's still food in the fridge it annoys me because I don't want to buy more fresh food when I haven't used up the last lot. I use a lot of fresh food, very little canned. I don't eat beans or rice. Obviously in an emergency I would be willing to eat rice and beans, but I'm not keen to include them regularly now just for the sake of keeping fresh stores that may never be needed. As for eating the packaged foods on holiday, that would really be a bummer to me.

On the other hand I can see the wisdom in being prepared. Do you have any hints for getting my head around this. Clearly my mind is in quite a different place.I'm somewhat like you in that I mainly eat fresh foods and often shop daily or every few days and almost never have a lot on hand. However I do have a pretty large emergency stash of canned food and water. I try to buy it in bulk when it's on sale or buy it as Costco in large quantities and get the latest expiration date it has. I don't eat any of this stuff usually and if it gets close to, but not at, it's expiration date (which is often a couple of years or more) I donate it to my local food bank. It's more expensive then eating it myself, but I look at it as part of my annual donation to charity.

[Gardenarian]

That's a great idea Spartana. I don't like having an over-full pantry myself, as things tend to get overlooked and go to waste.

[Blackdog Lin]

Aroha - if you could give us an idea of your daily menus, perhaps we could collectively brainstorm on possibilities for food storage for you.

(I think it's very important to have at least a rudimentary food and water storage plan. Everyone.)

[jp1]

The majority of food we eat on a daily basis is fresh. However, there are some things that we do eat that come in cans and such. For instance we use canned tomatoes and tomato paste to make spaghetti sauce. And we buy the canned tomatoes, as well as dry pasta, in bulk at costco. It wouldn't be the most exciting diet, nor the most healthy for the longterm, but if need be we could certainly eat spaghetti every day for a couple of weeks just with these items on our pantry. If we're in a grid down, no food in the stores, scenario for longer than that we will be doing what we have to to go somewhere else.

[awakenedsoul]

I like having plenty of nuts, dried fruits, crackers or bread, and some treats. Most of what I eat is fresh, too. I keep a large bag of rice in the freezer, but I don't eat it that often. Like jp1, I also stock up on pasta and canned tomatoes at Costco. I think it helps to stockpile things you enjoy eating all the time. I always have extra milk and soy milk. I keep a box of powdered milk and a can of milk in my cupboard.
I usually eat through my stockpile and replace it. Sometimes I donate a few items to the local food pantry when the mail carrier picks them up. They do a food drive once a year.
A lot of it is your habits, and how you were raised. My mom always kept extra food, but never wasted it. I had some lean times between shows as a dancer, and would sometimes eat popcorn all week until I got my paycheck. I wish I had stockpiled then! It also helped me with cash flow when I owned a business and the economy tanked. If there is a storm or and earthquake, I like knowing I have plenty to eat in the house.
If you google stockpiling, you can find reasons why people stockpile.

[Aroha]

Ok I have been thinking about this a little bit now, thank you for all your points.

I like the food bank idea, if I stock and later donate food that I would only eat in an emergency I could live with that, the people on the receiving end would obviously be in an emergency situation for them and would be glad of it.

For rotating my current items, there are things that I could keep a spare of and replace as i begin to use them - dozen eggs, can of tuna, pineapple pieces, tomato paste, peanut butter, marmite, and that my family eats such as oats, rice and baked beans. Could add package of soup stock and keep a spare pumpkin. Frozen veges too, I guess.

Would be reluctant to stock up on nuts and dried fruit, I do eat them but the only way to keep from eating too many is not to stockpile!!!

Am I starting to get on track do you think?

[awakenedsoul]

Yes, that sounds good. It's an individual thing. The blog and forum at Down To Earth by Rhonda Hetzel has lots of posts on stockpiling. She's in Australia. That's what got me started.

You're right, it doesn't work if it's too tempting for you to eat. I like having plenty of pet food, too.

[Spartana]

Yes, that sounds good. It's an individual thing. The blog and forum at Down To Earth by Rhonda Hetxel has lots of posts on stockpiling. She's in Australia. That's what got me started.

You're right, it doesn't work if it's too tempting for you to eat. I like having plenty of pet food, too.Ha Ha - I want my emergency food to be ice cream and fudge sauce :-)!!

I really only keep thing I don't like very much because it can be tempting to eat up the emergency supply and then you have to replace it all, only to eat it again and need to replace it and so on. So I have things like canned lima beans (blech) and other stuff I don't like. I figure I won't eat it unless I'm really starving and it might actually last me longer in an emergency then something I like would. I also keep lots of extra pet food and water on hand for my dog. I also keep mostly foods that don't need to be cooked and are packed in water. I figure I might not be in a situation where I can cook the food so want to be able to just open a can and eat, and it being packed in water or juice will extend my water supply here in drought stricken SoCal. Of course raw canned lima beans will probably be the last thing on earth I'll be tempted to eat so will last a long, long time!

[Aroha]

Awakenedsoul, that look like a brilliant blog, thank you for the tip. Spartana, oh goodness I wasn't thinking of lima beans, maybe canned lamb stew or something though. Good idea to have something ready to eat out of the can. I could light a little fire and heat the can in a billy of water.

Water - it tends to fall out of the sky here with monotonous regularity so I didn't consider storing it - till now, lol. All I need to do is stick a container under the drainpipe and collect it. But if the mountain erupted it would be full of ash so maybe not such a foolproof plan. How much do people think is necessary to have on hand?

[meri]

As for water it depends on your location (climatic conditions) and needs (large family, livestock to take care of?) but in general: in average it takes anything from 2 to 7 days for things to get a bit organized and sufficient help to arrive (people, water, food, shelter, clothes ... ) in case of a major disaster. We are family of 3 with no livestock so we might keep packaged water in 5 and 10 liter container to last for about a week which is about 30 liters. Obviously that is for drinkable water that does not need to be boiled or purified in any other way. For any other use such as cleaning I would use rain-water.
Anyway, I think it's much better to invest in reliable emergency water filter or purifier which is something you can easily carry with you should you be forced to leave your house. I would rather carry away a water filter I could use many times to get water to drink from a river and bunch of other important things and tools rather than fleeing with heavy container skilfully balanced on the top of my head while using my hands to frantically thumb through SAS survival guide's chapter on getting water anywhere you probably don't want to be right now.

I'm not sure what kind of place you live in but there is a lot of things you can stockpile on that are neither rice and beans nor canned. If you have a good, cool cellar think of potatoes, celery, parsley, apples, carrots, cabbage, beetroot, sauerkraut ... all of these keep well for months if stored properly and can be used fresh.
Also dried food is practical - not necessarily only fruit but mushrooms, vegetables that can be thrown into soups - it can be safely stored for long periods of time, used throughout the year to rotate the supplies and it's healthy.

[Aroha]

Meri thanks, I will start mulling on this and see what I can come up with. I do have a water container that we used to take camping, it wouldn't hurt to keep that filled instead of empty. The purifier idea is also a good one.

Cellar, well our basement garage is a shambles, but when I have done decluttering the house I could turn my attention down there and maybe allocate some shelving for over winter food storage. It's a bit of a long shot unless I get hubby on board, but something to consider.

Dried - Another avenue I could look into at some point. I like the use it and rotate it aspect, rather than simply stockpiling. I so regret not snapping up a cheap dehydrator I saw once in the op shop.