Stocking The Survival Pantry

Too many people think they need to spend thousands of dollars on freeze-dried foods in order to be prepared for disaster. Freeze-dried foods are great for stocking the pantry, if you have the money and prefer to go that route, but there are other, less expensive ways to fill the larder.

A lot of people don’t want to stock up on the basic foods like wheat, whole corn, rice and beans. It’s sad really, you could save money while gaining valuable processing and survival skills.

There’s nothing like grinding wheat into flour, baking your own bread or cooking a pot of beans over an open fire to muster feeling of self-reliance. But for many this is too much of a first step,

Your local grocery store has everything you need for a well stocked pantry, the trick is in knowing what to buy and how much. There is no exact way to figure this out, individual needs vary so you need to figure out how much of each item your family will consume over a given time period.

Tools like the food storage calculator will provide a rough estimate and is a good starting point, but it is not an exact science. You will still need to base your needs with individual consumption and buy accordingly.

Make a list of everything your family eats for a week, then multiply by the number of weeks needed to reach your goals. It’s best to work in three month increments, completing each goal before starting on the next.

Putting back enough food to last a year or more can be a daunting task, dividing it into three month sections can help alleviate disrepair and give a feeling of accomplishment that can be used to help you complete the cycle for the next three months.

Most canned foods have a shelf life of from three to five years. But your going to rotate, so you will always have a fresh supply on hand, so it doesn’t matter if the collapse is next week or in ten years, with proper rotation you will be ensured a fresh supply.

Rotation is simple; Use a marker to date each can or case of food, use the oldest first and replace with new. An easy way to rotate canned goods is to Build a Rotating Canned Food Shelf, this works better than stuffing the cans into cabinets where older foods are pushed to the back.

Remember the important thing is to decide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.