Guest Post: Stockpiling Tips

I am being featured over at The Preparedness Pantry today! Check out my post on stockpiling tips.

Have a good weekend!

Guest Post: Stockpiling Tips

Q&A: Storing & Preserving Produce

QUESTION: I was wondering with all the fresh produce around for prices that are relatively inexpensive you could tell us about foods you can freeze or otherwise store besides canning? I know about canning but I don't have a canner and they can be quite costly but I would like to be able to store up food while it is still fresh and cheaper.


ANSWER: Good question! There are so many ways to preserve food and I am by no means an expert on this subject. But I can tell you what I know and what I have done.


I personally love to can. So before I talk about other ways of preserving I must talk about it for a minute. I grew up with the canning process and if you want to do it, then it is worth the investment of the equipment. I have great yard sales in my area & was lucky enough to get all of my canning equipment at yard sales over a 2 year period about 8 years ago. Canning is easy once you get the hang of it. My main canning love is applesauce, but I also have canned peaches, apple pie filling, apple butter, pears, corn, salsa, and tomatoes.


If you want to stay away from canning there are other options for preserving your produce. It obviously depends on what you want to preserve so here are some loose guidelines.

• Freezing. You can freeze almost anything. Last year I had a HUGE abundance of tomatoes but I didn't want to can them. I used my Food Saver to freeze them in 2-3 cup amounts. With tomatoes you can freeze them whole or cut up. They are mushy once thawed so you don't want to use them in recipes where you want nice tomatoes. They are best used in soups, stews, spaghetti sauce, etc. I have also frozen spinach leaves, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, peaches, pineapple, corn, squash puree,(yellow & zucchini), pumpkin puree, etc......you get the idea. Basically, you can freeze anything. I would just recommend you use a Food Saver or another method similar to make sure you get the excess air out of your food. It makes it last much longer. You can even freeze cheese, gogurts, milk, butter....so many things! If you have a question on freezing a specific item, post and I will answer it.
• Dehydrating. I posted about this last year, and dehydrating is a great way to preserve your extra produce, and its easy too. Dehydrators are also a good emergency preparedness item to have in my opinion. They suck the moisture out of food so they last much longer. I'm sure you have eaten dried bananas before. But do you know the difference between dried bananas you do at home vs. the ones at the store? BIG difference! Same with anything you dry at home. Plus, if you have a Food Saver with the mason jar attachment you can dry your stuff, seal it air-tight with the Food Saver in a quart jar and preserve it that way too. HERE is some great info on dehydrating different foods.

How do you preserve your extra food this time of year?

Q&A: Storing & Preserving Produce

Food Storage Tip

If you are like me you try to have some cooking basics on hand. It's hard to make frugal meals or meal plan if you have nothing in the pantry. Additionally, I keep extra basics on hand for emergency purposes.


So....canola oil! It is my oil of choice. Did you know that there are things you can do to make your oil last longer? Yes, there are!

1. Keep your oil in a cool place. Most olive oils and canola oils will stay good for around 7-9 months after opening if kept tightly closed and in regulated temperatures. A few times I have had oil go rancid before the expiration date. But that is rare.

2. If at all possible, keep your oil away from light. Keeping it in a cupboard with a door, or even covering it with cloth if it is on an open shelf will help.

If your oil is rancid (smells bad and has an awful taste), don't cook with it. I know you can make soap with rancid oil but I haven't tried my hand at that. Any tips from you?

Food Storage Tip

Stockup Food.com

I posted about this back in January but I want to let all my new readers know about this awesome website. Stockup Food.com is a FREE way to keep track of your food storage! If you are like me you need some serious organization for keeping track of all this. All you do is enter how many adults and children you have and how many months you are wanting to plan for.

Then you enter in each category how much you have already, and it immediately tallies it up for you. Within a few minutes you will know right where you are. I love it! Then as you eat the food or add more food to your food storage, you just go into your account and add or subtract it to keep it current.I use Stockup Food.com for keeping track of my long term food storage. They already have entered into their system the recommended amounts of food (in the orange) so you don't have to worry about it. Go to Stockup Food.com to get started!

Stockup Food.com

My Storage

I have had many people ask me about this small picture on my sidebar of my storage asking me to explain more about it. Yes, it is my garage! I don't have a pantry in my kitchen so my garage is my pantry. I do have a free-standing pantry inside, but it is small so the bulk of my food is in the garage.

First I need to explain that I believe in having a food storage (or stockpile like others call it). My church encourages it's members to be prepared for emergencies like disasters or unemployment and by having a food storage you can have peace of mind knowing you can survive if you needed to. I will link to more information on that later in my post.

Now, back to my photo....

(For those who know me...pay no attention to that Heineken box...no we did not start drinking...I got it with some canning jars years ago and never changed the box.)

First, this picture was taken six months ago, back in January 2009. This area in my garage looks MUCH different now. Lots of this food is gone and more has taken it's place. It is not as full now, I have more empty space on the shelves. My storage looks different depending on the sale items I get. For example, much of that instant oatmeal is gone, and lots, lots of salsa has taken it's place. Although that is disappearing fast too!

Those large bags of rice on the top shelf are gone. I had purchased them at Costco to dry pack for longer term food storage, and I did that not long after I took this photo. Everything you see here is my short-term food storage, six months or less. My long term-food storage I don't touch. Much of that is dry packed in #10 cans. I keep those in my crawl space (up on wood slats of course), under the beds in my house, in closets, and the garage. Basically, anywhere I can find space.

The large buckets are full of flour, white sugar and brown sugar. They are my regular rotation of food. Like I stated above, my longer term food storage I have dry packed. The backpacks on the top shelf are our 72 hour kits. Yes, we do have water storage. We currently have about a month's worth of water storage for our family in two 55 gallon drums and other containers. Those are also in the garage.

In the photo above I have lots on the floor in my garage...toilet paper, paper towels, etc. In May my husband built these creative shelves on the ceiling in our garage to store more of our stockpile:

It has been a big help having more space to store! We don't live in a very big house (1605 sq ft) and it's a 2 car garage. We don't have much storage space in the house so I have had to be very creative with where to find room for all of our food. My husband just threw stuff up there when he built them that day and I have yet to organize it the way I want. But I am thrilled with the shelves.

My food storage areas and items have changed with my needs over the years. Here is a photo of my food storage area in the garage (the same area as the first photo) in 2006:

Those two photos are drastically different! At the time of this photo I had just had my third child and my other two children were much smaller (thus consuming less food). Plus, I didn't have those shelves all over the wall in my garage then. But couponing was still awesome! In fact couponing was so much better then. All those brownie mixes I got for only .50 cents and cereal for .30 cents a box. Albertson's was a good couponing store then too just not as many people did couponing. Prices are higher now but that's inflation for you.

Anyway, so what I do after I shop a big stock-up sale is re-organize my area in the garage. I try to keep the items that expire first in the front so I know what to use first. I also keep items together that are similar: condiments, salsa, taco shells, spaghetti sauce, etc. Then I can also find items quickly and they don't get lost on the shelf. Much of that stuff is hidden in the photo above from the bikes hanging or the boxes of other food, but I always know where things are. I can ask my husband to get me something from the garage and he will not be able to find it...but I know where it is! :) :)

If you are starting to begin your stockpile or food storage, just start putting food anywhere you have space. I mentioned above that we keep food under our beds. I put bed risers on all the beds to fit more under them. Utilize your space, and you will be surprised at what you can come up with. I can do it, so I know you can too!

For more detailed information on acquiring your food storage, read A New Message on Home Storage. Also check out basic information on family home storage techniques and how-to's.

My Storage

Stockpiling Mistakes

Stockpiling or building a usable food storage is important for me and my family. However, in my ten years of marriage and avidly doing this, I have found there are many mistakes you don't want to make!

1. Take note of certain items go on sale and plan accordingly.

In the past I have gotten really excited about great sales, only to find later on lots of what I had purchased was stale. So now I try to only buy as much as I know we will eat before the next sale hits. For example, Albertson's has a really good Quaker sale twice a year. That's when I stock up on my oatmeal. I buy enough to last us until the next sale, unless the expiration date is over a year away.

2. Only buy what you know your family will use.

It can be tempting to buy everything you see on sale, clearance, or free after rebate. But for me, I only have so much room in my house and I can only afford space for the items I know I will use. It is good to get those items for donations and charities though, I am just talking about storing them for my family. I have learned over the years certain things we just don't use so matter the price, and I leave them for others to get.

3. Try a new food item first before adding it to your stockpile.

I only made this mistake once, but I know people who do it all the time. I don't see the point in buying 20 boxes of a new kind of granola bar if we won't eat it. Buy one box on the sale, try it first, then go back for more if you like it.

4. Don't stockpile items too close to the expiration date.

Watch those expiration dates! Many times at cheap sales I have noticed in the store the expiration date is only a month away. No use buying 20 boxes to last a few months! No one likes stale food. Even deodorant and toothpaste lose their effectiveness after the expiration date. I personally stockpile items with an expiration date of at least 6 months in advance. I know approximately how much we use of everything we use so that helps.

5. Remember there is always another sale.

I have also learned not to go too crazy at sales. There will always be another sale! If you buy a ton of cereal at one sale you won't have much of a variety. Not that I don't stockpile a lot of cereal, because I do. I have just found we like variety so I try to balance it out between sales.

6. Don't let your food or other items go to waste.

Organize your stockpile or food storage. Know where everything is, and try to rotate it. My house is fairly small, but I know where every tube of toothpaste and every jar of salsa is. If you do find an item that is close to the expiration date or even past, don't throw it out! I use some canned food items at my local library to pay fines. Or donate food and hygiene items to the food bank. Many items will stay good for a small time after the expiration date, but some do go stale.

Here is agreat article I have in my file about food storage mistakes to avoid:

The Seven Major Mistakes of Food Storage by Vicki Tate

What mistakes or pitfalls have you noticed that need to be avoided in food storage or stockpiling?

Stockpiling Mistakes

FREE Food Storage Tracking System

Thanks Tonya for letting me know about this awesome website! StockupFood.com is a FREE resource for you to keep track of your food storage! All you do is enter how many people are in your family, what you have, and how many months you want storage for. It tells you where you are at immediately!

It literally took me just minutes to find out how much storage we have. I am currently working towards a year's worth of food storage for my family. I found out I am 61% there! Whoo Hoo! I have been tallying my food the past few weeks so I already knew my amounts. That's why it didn't take me long.

Check out StockupFood.com! It's really easy to use and you will have a free resource to keep track of your storage.

FREE Food Storage Tracking System

Stretching your food storage

Everyday Food Storage is a fantastic blog that puts real food storage and garden produce into real meals for your family.

I have been wanting to use my food storage and rotate it better, and I am so glad I found this blog! I made this macaroni and cheese recipe on Saturday for dinner, and it was amazing! The pureed yellow squash was not even noticeable. Two of my kids had thirds! I have a handful of recipes I am planning on making in the next few weeks from her blog. I can't wait to try them!

She has downloads for handouts, tutorials complete with videos, and tons of valuable information! Check out Everyday Food Storage and learn how to stretch your budget more, and use your food storage.

Stretching your food storage

General Mills sale

From May 4th through May 10th, Albertson's is having a sale on several kinds of General Mills cereal. The sale price is 10 for $10 when you purchase in increments of ten. Combine coupons with this sale and you can get cereal for as little as .50 per box (depending on how many coupons you have). No this sale isn't as good as some others they have had recently, but it is still a decent price. I don't stock up on cereal unless I can get it for .50 or cheaper. Oh, and as you can see from the photo the sale also includes some other items as well.

So where do you find the coupons? There was a coupon in this past Sunday's newspaper (5/4) for $1/2 General Mills cereal. There have also been coupons in past editions of the Sunday paper for the chex mix and fruit snacks as well. But if you don't already have those, then you can always print some coupons off the internet. Unfortunately there are not any cereal printable coupons out there right now, but there are some printable coupons for the other products. Boodle has some of the coupons, as well as Betty Crocker, and Box Tops for Education. You can also click here for more printable coupon links and info about printable coupons.

This might not be a killer sale, but for $1 or less it isn't too bad. It's a good place to start if you want to begin buying ahead a little.

General Mills sale

Secrets & tools to help you maximize your usable food storage

Deann from Pinching Your Pennies has put together a fantastic resource list! HERE is the link to her original post on all this, you will want to read all of it. I will just summarize here for time and space reasons.

Have you ever been overwhelmed, confused or discouraged by all there is to do and keep track of when it comes to your food storage? Deann has listed the cycles of sales and other tools to help keep you on track and organized. She has many years of experience and is willing to share. Thanks Deann! She put this together month by month to help with planning.

In her words:
The first item is a detailed listing of what & when the Seasonality Sale Cycle of Retail Operations are. This can assist in maximizing planning/stretching food storage dollars.

Next tool is a Food Storage/Stockpile calculator (this is an EXCEL spreadsheet) to assist one in getting a grasp of what is literally in the pantry/freezer, how much one uses in a 12 week period (the average period til an item goes back to its lowest price again). And how much of an item, a family unit NEEDS to have on hand, too. Time spans can be customized for other time frames or one can literally see how much TP is used in any given amount of time.

I really like the excel calculator she set up, and I plan on using it. How do you keep track of everything, and what system do you have?

Secrets & tools to help you maximize your usable food storage