“Food in the basement is better than money in the bank.”
There are many reasons for stockpiling a one-year supply of food. The value of food commodities generally increases at the same rate as inflation. Money in the bank doesn’t do that. Investing in 500 cans of tuna fish in your basement or dehydrated food that will last five to 10 years is a better bet than putting $350 in the bank.
The most important reason to store food is that it comes in very handy in many situations. Whether it be a large emergency such as an earthquake, flood, volcano eruption, war, strike or economic crash, or something as personal as being laid off work, moving or helping other family members that are down and out or when cash is short, it is comforting to know that you can use your home grocery store to help buffer lean money times.
If you had to live on what you had in your basement for an extended period of time, you would wish you had a well-rounded supply of food.
Food stockpiling is one of the easiest and most vital measures a person could take. Yet, sadly, it is one of the last preparations on people’s minds.
In general, most households do not have more than a one-week supply of food. Let’s face it, as a nation, we rely almost totally on the supermarket and restaurants. It’s convenient to order out and have food delivered, and this has driven people’s reliance on food from outside the home even higher.
During the pandemic, it was estimated that lockdowns, school closings (lost access to school meals), and failing food supply chains all contributed to food insecurity rates doubling among all households from February 2020 to May 2020. Even worse, food insecurity among households with children tripled in the same period.
The Census Bureau found that 10 percent of all U.S. households are still having trouble finding food. Grocery store shelves can be quite sparse right now, and many items are out of stock when ordering online. And food has exploded in price. In the past five years, inflation on food has risen more than anything else has. Your best investment right now is storage food!
If you ask any supermarket chain manager to tell you how long it would take to empty the shelves in any store in the event of a crisis, the answer would be approximately three days. They just don’t keep that much in their warehouses (that’s the “supply chain” — orders are only made as needed). And if there were a trucking problem… say, a blockade at the border between the U.S. and Canada? — it would be even fewer days.
Just look at what happens when any weather event is imminent; People storm the grocery stores and buy anything they can get. The water is the first thing that goes, then bread, then everything else.
Your own store: A Three Month Well Rounded Food Storage Plan
Peggy Layton, author of Food Storage 101. Where do I begin? and Emergency Food Storage and Survival Guide strongly suggests that “you find a place in your home, either in a basement, spare bedroom, closet, junk room, under the stairway or heated garage and go to work fixing it up into your own home grocery store and pharmacy. Somehow get shelves in there, build them, have them built or buy them pre-built. Whatever works best for you. Just do it, starting now.
“This ‘home grocery store’ will be to you and your family as the ark was to Noah and his family. It will contain all the necessary food, water, bedding and medical supplies to sustain life for a minimum of three months to one year.
“So what are the best kinds of food to stock pile? It is recommended that you ‘store what you eat and eat what you store’ otherwise you might get sick. A crisis is not the time to change your family’s diet.
“Appetite fatigue is a very serious condition. Food storage experiments have been conducted where people had mock disasters and lived on their basic food storage for extended periods of time. If you are suddenly thrown into a diet that you are not used to, especially one with a lot of wheat, beans, corn, honey, powdered milk and dehydrated food, you will have a double crisis. One thing we do not need in an emergency is a sickness caused by a drastic change in our diet.
“It is best to incorporate these foods into your diet gradually. These are the foods that store well for long term and, to rehydrate them, you just need to add water, so they are good to have in your storage along with any canned goods that you like. The shelf life on canned goods is approximately two years and dehydrated food up to 10 years.
“There is nothing wrong with storing wheat, beans, rice, powdered milk and honey, if that is what you are used to and prefer. Some people have allergies to wheat and they learn this when they change their diet. Store a variety of wheat and other grains, along with flour, oatmeal, rice, noodles, evaporated milk, beans, peas, lentils, legumes, canned meats, tuna fish, canned salmon, soup of all kinds, tomatoes, sauces of all kinds, all baking items, shortening, oils, peanut butter, jams, syrups, salad dressings, mayonnaise, jello, cocoa, bottled fruits and vegetables and many other dehydrated products.
“Nothing should be kept for more than two years without rotating except the following: wheat, grains, beans, sugar, salt and any product that is nitrogen packed for long term storage, that has a low oxygen content.
“If people store what they eat and eat what they store, the rotation will automatically take care of itself. Rotating your food so your family gets accustomed to eating the grains, beans, honey and dehydrated products is very important. Planned menus can eliminate the panic feeling you get when you know you should store food and you don’t know where to begin.”
Three months
Layton also says that “a three-month well-rounded supply of food storage is much better than a year’s supply of wheat, beans, honey and powdered milk. The basics are important, but it is just the beginning.
“A sample formula for knowing how much food to store is to keep track of what you eat for a two-week period of time. Surprisingly most families repeat meals every few days. Multiply the basic ingredients by six to calculate a three-month supply, 13 for a six-month supply and 26 to calculate a year’s supply. Separate menus can be calculated for summer and winter taking into consideration gardening and seasonal foods available. Build your own stockpile slowly, over a six-month period of time.”
A hint that will help: Every time you go to the grocery store during good times, get two of each item that you normally buy and want to store. Put one away and use the other. It’s a good idea to keep adding more and more of a variety of items to your home grocery store, so your diet won’t be so bland.
Bob Livingston
