The Purpose For Prepping, And Why It Matters

In Prepping Part 1, I explained that food and supply storage has always been a part of my life and that life style carried over into my adulthood.

My reasoning for building a food storage has evolved over the last decade or so. What started out as an insurance policy against hard times has become preparing for any eventuality that would leave my family without the things they need, and without an outside source to obtain those things.

Preppers do what they do for countless reasons. From practical, common events to irrational, unlikely cataclysms. Your approach to food storage should reflect your reason for it. Why? Because if your motivation to build a food storage comes from hurricane or flood evacuation risk, you probably don't need a year's worth of canned meat, dehydrated veggies, shelf stable milk, freeze dried meals, a fully stocked medical supply kit complete with fish antibiotics and IV rigs, hazmat suits, a seed safe, a pistol and rifle for each member of the family and 10,000 rounds of ammo waiting in the bunker that's buried behind your bugout cabin within bike riding distance of your primary residence. If, on the other hand, you're prepping for an EMP that shuts down everything with an electrical component, a backpack with three days worth of supplies is a joke.

Like I've said, in the past my motivation for food and supply storage, 'putting up', was to keep my family fed and clean during the slow work months in the winter. What do I prepare for now? Zombie apocolypse. Really? Yep. Why? Because, the way I see it, if I'm prepared for zombies, I'm prepared for anything.

Let me give you another example of a time when our food and supply storage saved our asses. After the 2011 tornado that went through Joplin, supplies of any kind were hard to get. 7,500 homes were destroyed, leaving people with no food, no toothpaste, no nothin'. Whether they stayed with family members, at shelters, or at local campsites, they had to eat and be clean. There was a rush on the stores in Joplin (what was left of them) and all the surrounding communities. Individuals trying to find what they needed, people and organizations buying things up to donate to those in need, thousands of volunteers coming from all over the country who needed food and supplies, and those who anticipated the rush, running out to get everything they needed before the stores were empty. The damage wasn't limited to Joplin, though Joplin was the only town covered in the news. Trucks carrying supplies couldn't easily get in to deliver to stores for days, and for weeks they couldn't come in fast enough to keep up with demand.

As most of the city streets were blocked and so many volunteers were coming and going, and everyone needing to use the highways and bypasses to get where they needed to go, getting to the store wasn't a very convienient thing anyway.

We also lost electricity all over the city. Some of us for several days. And at one point, the gas was cut off to large parts of the city to fix mains that had been damaged when houses were pulled out of the ground.

Because of our preps and storage, we were able to stay at home, eat from our storage, and had access to toiletries and cleaning items to keep our home running efficiently. A $9 solar shower kept us in hot showers, and the ability to cook easily outside with a propane stove, grill and open fire meant we weren't limited to MRE's and dry Ramen. A generator kept our fridge cold and an attention span trained into our children made cards, board games and books entertaining and kept their minds busy while Adam and I worked to keep life normal and tried to distract them from what was going on in our community.

How I Build and Rotate My Food Storage

Because my family of 5 has lived on one income, and because I'm a tight wad, I don't have the luxury of buying high end, freeze dried, survival food for storage, and weekly groceries. When I go shopping, I've got to buy items that will fold into our food storage area and can be rotated into our weekly menus. It's not a hard thing to do. But it does take some organization and I have some rules, or guildlines, I follow while shopping.

The Rules

#1 DO NOT buy anything for foodstorage that your family doesn't eat.

Look, if I hit on a sale, Pickled Okra!! Just A Penny A Case!! Today ONLY!!, I wouldn't buy a single one. Not one.

But a case of food for a penny! You can't pass that up!

Yes I can. Every item that goes into our food storage takes up space, and I don't have a lot of that. I have to use that space for items that my family will eat. And nothing goes into my food storage that doesn't make it's way through rotation onto our menu.

But in a survival situation, you'd eat it.

No, I wouldn't. There are 6 foods that I won't eat. Okra is one of them. OK, yes, I'd eat it before I laid there and died. But why? I could have taken up that space on the shelves with something good.

#2 Plan weekly menus from food storage.

Before making a shopping list, I make a menu. I go through our food storage and 'shop' for the items that I need to put together a week's menu. Pulling all of the shelf stable ingredients for the menu from storage and purchasing only perishable items needed to finish off the meals insures that are being rotated out of storage.

For one meal this week I pulled:
For enchiladas - a can of enchilada sauce ($.25), a can of diced tomatoes with chilis ($.25), a can of seasoned black beans ($.25), a can of refried beans ($.25), a packet of taco season ($.05) and a can of corn ($.20)
I also pulled a pack of tortillas from the freezer. I scored a case of 24-12 count packs for $5 a couple months ago. That's about $.21 each.

So my shopping list included a bag of chicken and a bag of cheese, and I grow green onions.

The chicken I buy is about $6 and there are about 15 pieces of chicken in a bag. I'll use two for this dinner. ($.80)
The cheese is $3 for a 2 cup bag. I'll use roughly 1/2 cup. ($.75)

That brings my dinner cost to about $3.01.

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#3 Perishable items are: a) the only items on my grocery shopping list. b) the only food items I pay full price for, and only when I have to. c) can never exceed 1/3 of my weekly grocery budget.

Meat, milk, dairy, bread, fresh veggies, and anything with oil aren't things I buy in huge amounts at one time. When I'm making a shopping list from the menu I've already made, there's usually something I need that I don't have on hand. If my grocery budget for the week is $60, I have to pull meals from storage that require $20 or less to be spent on perishable items.

Like I said under rule #2, by building menus from shelf stable foods that are already in my storage, I insure that they're being rotated out. Nonparishable, shelf stable foods are never put on my grocery list. The remaining $40 from the above example is used to purchace inexpensive shelf stable items, usually in bulk.

The enchilada sauce in the above example was never on a grocery list. On a shopping trip, about 6 weeks ago, to a salvage grocery store about 40 minutes from my house, they had red and green enchilada sauce 4/$1. I purchaced 12 cans. That's enough to last a year if we have enchiladas once a month. Same with the diced tomatoes with green chilis. I found them at a salvage grocer for $.25 a can. I grow and can my own tomatoes, but I don't have a lot of land so I don't can enough to last a year. I use about 10 cans a month, so I bought $15 worth, enough to last about 6 months. Because I won't be buying tomatoes, or don't need to buy tomatoes for close to a year, my weekly budget is freed up to go toward what I find on my next shopping trip.

Rule #4 I don't put a lot of stock in best buy dates.

Here's where I'l loose a bunch of you. And that's okay. Let's do some research.

Let's look at what food date labels mean. But first, let's clairify something. With the exceptions of, 1) infant formula being date labeled by federal law, and 2) a mandate in some states to pull dairy from retail shelves on the printed date, food date labeling is voluntary.

That means that the manufacturer, the company that only makes money when you purchace their product, is in charge of determining when your food must be thrown out and repaced. I'm not claiming that date labels are completely arbitrary. But I take the with a grain of salt.

Expiration Date - This label is usually on fresh meat. This one I pay attention to. This is, by definition, the last day that something should be eaten. Meat's a little gross anyway, really. I won't take any chances with it.

A while back I purchased several Hormel preseasoned pork tenderloins, and a few pounds of Farmland bacon for $2 each. They were one day from their expiration date, so they all went into the freezer and aren't thawed util I'm ready to use them.

Sell By Sell by is really an indicator of quality, i.e. freshness, color, taste, etc. It is not connected to spoilage. It's a way for manufacturers to let retailers know when to pull the product from the shelves. According to a statement given to WebMD by Paul VanLandingham, EdD, senior faculty member at the Center for Food and Beverage Management of Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI, the sell by date is the last day that the item will be at peak quality, according to the manufacturer, and the item is still edible for sometime after.

Guaranteed Fresh This is usually found on bakery items. It's an estimated date that quality will begin to decline.

Best By and Use By More terms that refer to quality, not safety. These are determined by the manufacturer to mark peak quality dates.

Some Safety Rules and Things to Consider

• I trust canned goods if the can is in good shape. I refuse cans with rust or evidence that the can has leaked. If the can is swollen or bulged, chances are it's got bacteria growing in it. If a can is dented, I don't purchase it, because it can begin to swell with out being noticed.

• If a product is in a vacuum sealed pack, it must be vacuum sealed. If there is air in the package, the vacuum seal has been broken, allowing potential contamination.

• When I buy pasta, or anything containing wheat, I only buy if I'm able to see the product through a clear window on the box or through a clear bag inside the box. I'm looking for webs. Wheat weevils make webs in pasta, stuffing mix, etc. I'm careful not to bring them into my house. If I can't see the product, I don't buy it.

• I won't buy anything containing oil that is past it's printed date. Oil goes rancid. Ever get a nasty-ass peanut? It was probably rancid. Anything with nuts and anything fried must be within date. If I buy something with nuts in it, it goes in the freezer before it's date.

• Use your senses and your common sense. Look at your food. Smell it. Those are the first indicators that your food has gone bad.

• Store your food properly. There are 5 major food enemies that cause your food to begin to deteriorate, changing the color and texture and eventually lead it to spoilage. Light, heat, oxygen, pests and bacteria. Again, employ common sense when storing your food.

Store it in a cool, dark place. The attic is dark, but it's hotter than Hades. You may have a spare room, it's airconditioned, but if there's sun pouring in a southern facing window all day, consider blackout curtains.

Be sure packages are sealed properly to minimize air contact and to prevent contamination from bacteria, mice bugs and such. Consider repackaging food in flimsy boxes or paper bags, like pasta and flour.

Some Deals From My Last Shopping Trip

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I use Panko pretty often. I got 6 boxes for less than $3.
The noodle soup was $.17 each.
Apple juice by the gallon for $1.
Powdered milk $1.50 per 1.75 pound bag.
My husband and son drink a ton of Gatorade in the hot months at work. Bags for a 5 gallon water cooler and cans of 8 singles $1 each. I would usually consider this sort of thing a luxury item, and no matter how much I save on a luxury item, I don't consider it saving - it's just spending. But they'll buy Gatorade anyway, so I purchaced enough to last through half the summer. I may buy more on my next trip...we'll see.
I had been watching the soup to see if they'd bring the price down from $1 each, because it wasn't moving very fast. When it finally came down to 3/$1 I grabbed 6. It's gotta be dressed up with some garlic and a little more basil. And then it's just okay. I'm glad I didn't buy more.

In Part 3, I'll take you shopping with me and show you how and where I store our food with limited space.

Prepping Part 1 - Prepping Before Prepping Was Cool

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All photos are mine, taken with my trusty Android. :)