I’m Just Getting Started With My Food Storage
Welcome to phase 1 and congratulations for taking the time and caring enough about your family to get started down this emergency preparedness journey.
The most important thing to remember, don’t get overwhelmed. You’re not alone. We will work through this phase together.
Emergency Food Basics
There are a few things you need to remember before making your first order…
Not all emergency food storage is created equal. Since you are just starting, I recommend that you buy a few different brands and try them out. Once you know what you like, you can go to town and buy all you want.
Everything you buy should fit into one or more of the following 4 categories.
High Calorie
Since we’re talking specifically about keeping you alive for a longer period of time, make sure that the majority of your long-term food storage is high in calories.
Nutrient Dense
Having a nutrient-dense diet will give you the energy to accomplish the other important tasks that will be needed during whatever emergency scenario you find yourself in.
Long Lasting
You’ll want to be aware of how long the estimated shelflife is for each item you buy. It’s not necessary to have 100% of your food last 10+ years, but the majority of it should.
Easy To Prepare
If you’re to the point where you’re using your emergency food, you’re already going to be overwhelmed as it is. Having easy to prepare food on hand will make a huge difference.
For this first part, focus on buying foods that will keep you alive. For example: rice, beans, and wheat can sustain life for long periods of time. They may seem bland, but they will keep you alive and they are easy and cheap to buy in bulk.
Make A Plan
- Figure out what your monthly budget will be.
- Plan what food you’re going to buy each month.
- Don’t let anything get in the way.
My Favorite Places To Buy Food Storage
FREE – Emergency Food Storage Calculator
Here is a free tool to help with your planning.
Look, I know this isn’t anything fancy, but sometimes you just have to work with the tools you have. 😊
I’ve created this Sheet that automatically populates the quantity of each item you’ll need for a full 12 months worth of food storage. This can be used if you decide to build your emergency food storage one item at a time instead of buying pre-packaged meals ready to eat.
This option is recommended for those on a smaller budget and for those who need to build up their storage little by little.
FYI, this is how I built the majority of my emergency food storage.
How To Use It…
What Do I Do Now?
Follow these instructions to personalize the calculator and use it for your own family.
Step 1: Download Spreadsheet by clicking on the green button above.
Step 2: Add in the appropriate number of people in your home by age.
Step 3: Take an inventory of what foods you already have.
Step 4: Plan what foods you will buy over the next few months.
Step 5: Start buying the food and stocking up for an emergency.
Don’t get overwhelmed. One month at a time is okay.
Lots of people want to start getting their emergency food storage put together, but they don’t know where to start. Once they start looking at all the options, it’s easy to get “information paralysis”. This means that they get so overwhelmed that just don’t do anything.
We want to make sure and avoid that here. Let’s just take it one step at a time.
