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Monday, November 23, 2009

Food Storage

So as I try to get my act together my list of things to do grows longer and longer. But I have to start somewhere. So my first thing is emergency-long term food storage because it isn't going to get cheaper if I wait.

I didn't grow up in the church so food storage is a new thing to me and if you google it there is so much information. There are recommendations and such but it is so hard to get started.

It was a daunting task. Appliances - I don't have a grain mill (Mike's mom did buy one for me for Christmas this year. Thanks Jeannie) or mixer or those nice appliances that make cooking so much easier. There is a lot of elbow grease that goes into baking at my house. Lack of Experience - Recommendations on cooking with food storage which is hard because I grew up eating Asian food everyday of my life. I cook more American food now but I am still learning on how to incorporate beans and such. Rotation - If you buy in bulk it is a fabulous deal but you have to be able to rotate it through. I didn't want to wait until a few months prior to an expiration date and eat the same thing over and over again. Space - If you get a year supply of food that is going to take a huge amount of space. And since Mike and I are still in the moving phase of our lives, moving it would be more of a headache.

The doula I had was also into food storage and she helped Mike and I plan a short term 3 month food storage. I think we have a handle on that. I have a ton of room for improvement but atleast I have something that I use and rotate regularly. I have been able to buy items on sale or in case lots to stock up on.

Mike loves talk radio and I heard this ad for dailybread.com on Glenn Beck and I looked into it. Not until 4 months after. I decided to request a free sample and of course a salesman contacted me but wasn't pushy and answered all my questions.

Just a plug on daily bread. It is all freeze dried food that lasts atleast 25 years and has a huge variety. There is a huge investment upfront but here are the reasons I picked this product 1) It last 25 years and could last even longer which means I don't have to worry about rotating ever (maybe when I am 60) 2) It actually tastes fantastic. Mike is a food critic and he actually liked and so did Olivia 3) Variety, variety, variety 4) All I need is water to prepare it and it takes 10 minutes 4) Compact and stores easily. I can fit it easily into closets, stack it and when we move it will be easy to take with us. 5) The ingredients are real and organic

There are different packages and payment plans and even though it makes me cringe to spend that money in a huge chunk I know it is best to get it when prices are still lower. The packages are for a family of 5 and you pick between 2 or 3 meals daily and packages sell for 3, 6 or 12 months. I have figured if I buy a 3 month package with additional kits with every child Mike and I have we should have 9 months of storage if and when we reach our magical number of 4 kids.

I would love to know what you guys do for food storage. I could definitely learn something. Especially those in the 20/30 something family transition.

3 comments:

Brenda said...

I don't really have food storage. Although, I do have a pantry full of food and racks in the basement full of couponing items and home-canned fruit and veggies. We could probably get through for a few months (2-4) especially with the elk in the freezer. I visited dailybread.com to look at prices, but they aren't listed. So, how much is the start-up cost? How much does it end up costing per meal? Thanks for posting about this!

Shelly Traveller said...

Justin's brother sold Dailybread last summer, We have actually been hoping that when we get our own place we could get it. I was totally sold on it just couldn't afford it at the time and we have all his parents food storage here in case we needed it but like you said yummy, great space savers and storage life and the price was comparable to what you would pay for all the groceries for that long so I think it a great was to go.

Julie said...

I wish I had the devotion to home made organic foods that you do. I wish I had the time. Honesly I had no idea what this concept of food storage is, and I'm intrigued by it.