Long-term Food Storage on a budget

Storing enough food to last a family a year is a daunting task. When you get a good idea of the amount of food and storage area you'll need, it is quite amazing. Here is a good food storage calculator to give you an idea of how much you'd need for a certain time period. And the worst part of it all, is how much it will hurt your wallet. Its expensive! But luckily, there are ways to store lots of long term food without breaking the bank.

What You Need for One Year per Adult

• Grain (wheat, rice, corn, oats, barley, pasta, etc) : 400lbs
• Legumes (dried beans, split peas, lentils, nuts, etc) : 60lbs
• Dairy Products (powdered milk, cheese, etc) : 30lbs
• Sugars (white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, honey, etc) : 60lbs
• Leavening Agents (yeast, baking powder, powdered eggs, etc) : 6lbs
• Salt (table salt, sea salt, soy sauce, bouillon, etc) : 6lbs
• Fats (vegetable oils, shortening, canned butter, etc) 30lbs
• Meats (freeze dried chicken, beef, pork, etc.) : 200lbs

How?

One of the easiest ways, is every time you go to buy groceries, grab a few extra cans of food, or a bag of rice, or beans, etc. Just make sure what you're getting has at least a few years worth of shelf life. And when you get home, put these cans in a closet or place you keep your preps and before you know it you'll have a months worth of food.. then two.. you get the picture. The best way to go about this is by only buying when they are on sale. Every 4 weeks the major chains go on a price battle and you can get some killer deals.

Another good way is with a company called Thrive, they sell pre-packaged freeze dried foods. When you set up a plan with them, you pick out what items you want to purchase and put them on a list in order of what you'd like first, and then set up a monthly plan of how much you want to spend. They will send you only that amount per month, and anything that goes on sale that you have in your list will automatically go to the top of your shipping list. I've personally ate Thrive foods and they are really good. So even if you can only spend $20 a month on your food preps, at least you'll be getting them hassle free.

If you are lucky enough to live near a LDS distribution center, they may let you purchase from them. (LDS typically only sells to those of the Mormon faith, as part of their religion is stockpiling food) LDS sells everything you would need in bulk at amazing prices.

I did another blog article on how to store your food located here that may help as well. 

Do not forget to store water! At least get a few cases and throw them in a closet somewhere. 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

NCPrepper10 out.