There is an increasing trend across America - people are storing more food. Why? The reasons are many and they include increasing food prices and concerns over the economy. Food storage programs generally consist of buying quantities of canned goods as well as staples like beans, sugar, salt, and wheat.
One of my biggest priorities in Preparedness is increasing my food stores. Although not difficult - for me it is a matter of money, space, organization and planning.
One of my favorite food storage staples is peanut butter. It can be eaten right out of the jar, on crackers, on bread - it just tastes great. From a nutritional viewpoint - peanut butter does pretty well. High in fat and containing equal amounts of carbohydrates and protein - it has the calories needed to make a big dent in your caloric intake needs daily.
Now - I have no plans to live on peanut butter - but it certainly can be included in a post-TSHTF diet. It also could be a great morale booster for those that may be getting board with their survival diet. Peanut butter is also very useful as an ingredient in baking.
Shelf life is excellent - coming in easily between 1.5 to 2 years or more for a jar. I have found that some brands are lower than others - so shop around. Since my family consumes peanut butter on a regular basis - it is an easy food item to rotate on the shelf to keep fresh.
Cost? Very cheap. Buying on sale as well as using coupons a typical jar can run under $2.00. Also - multi-packs as well as large value sized jar can be purchased at a discount at wholesale clubs like Costco, BJ's and SAM's Club.
Peanut butter is a great addition to any size food storage program - whether it be a 72 hour kit or a 1 year supply.
Time to go get some Ritz crackers and a jar of peanut butter. Yum!
John Rourke
ModernSurvivalOnline.com.
John Rourke is the owner of http://www.modernsurvivalonline.com - a daily blog with thoughts on survival and the world today. John has had a life long interest in survivalism.Download our free toolbar
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
My Last Big Purchase Before The New Year
I broke down and bought me a Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator
and I cannot wait until it gets here! This is my last purchase before the new year and my plan to save money. I think that this will be a great thing to have and will be used a lot. Especially this time of year, my son will be making deer jerky. I will be working daily dehydrating stuff to stockpile. I think that it will be fun. I had been doing stuff in the oven all week. I did diced carrots, celery, and green peppers. They turned out great. But I wanted a regular dehydrator, because I was worried about the electric bill with the oven on all day! I might be wrong , but the oven being on all day just seems like a power runner upper. If anyone knows what the power usage of ovens as dehydrators and actual food dehydrators is , I would love to know.
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and I cannot wait until it gets here! This is my last purchase before the new year and my plan to save money. I think that this will be a great thing to have and will be used a lot. Especially this time of year, my son will be making deer jerky. I will be working daily dehydrating stuff to stockpile. I think that it will be fun. I had been doing stuff in the oven all week. I did diced carrots, celery, and green peppers. They turned out great. But I wanted a regular dehydrator, because I was worried about the electric bill with the oven on all day! I might be wrong , but the oven being on all day just seems like a power runner upper. If anyone knows what the power usage of ovens as dehydrators and actual food dehydrators is , I would love to know. Download our free toolbar
Friday, December 10, 2010
Want to Start Stockpiling Food But Can't Afford to Stockpile Food?
Many parents are saying, "I simply can't afford to stockpile food right now."
Unfortunately, many people are just barely surviving and struggling to make ends meet so stockpiling food seems to be out of the question when the electric bill needs to be paid and fuel put into the car. But in the back of our minds, there is this nagging fear that all the talk about a coming food shortage will actually happen one day and we will not be able to feed our families.
Here are a few simple tips to help you get a small food storage started for your family. I know it works because we have done it while on a monthly income of $1000 as a family of six!
We all go grocery shopping, whether it is at a Walmart superstore (my all time favorite for stockpiling groceries!) or a regular grocery store. And I dare say that most of us love sales. I like to shop sales myself, so here is what I like to do.
Allow yourself five to ten bucks to spend towards your stockpile food list every week. That may not sound like much but what will happen is that as you start building up your emergency food supply, you will find other ways to add to it.
Be careful to only stock up on things that have a fairly long shelf life, and things that you use a lot of. A lot of folks are really worried about their food getting outdated, but you really do not have to worry about that. If you have a pretty good food storage going in about a year, you can start rotating items. (for most of us with families, it is rare that food stays stored for more than a few months anyways!) If your family rarely uses stewed tomatoes, then for heaven's sake, DON'T stock it up just because there is a really good sale on them!
For instance, if you use a ton of ketchup and the ketchup is on sale one week, stock up on $5 - $10 worth of ketchup. Next week, it may be salt. Get $5 - $10 worth of salt.
As you build your stockpile of food,try to stick with plastic or metal containers and bottles. It seems almost everything is in plastic these days anyways, but if you have a choice, choose plastic and that way, if you ever have to move everything quickly, you will not have to worry about glass jars breaking, etc.
I know, you can't get pickles in plastic... yet. (And I sure like my pickles...)
But you get the idea. What will happen, and it has happened for many others, is that as you start your emergency food storage in the small ways that you can, you will be amazed at how quickly you will start thinking - "Oh, we can make it without ice-cream this week, and get that case of fruit that is on sale instead"... especially if you make a family thing.
The beauty of starting to stockpile food is that even though there may not be a food crisis within the next year or two, as we build up our storage, we have the comfort of knowing that should even harder economic times hit us, we will be prepared for it... Plus, you save a ton on your grocery bill by getting into the habit of buying when things are on sale!
Viola Bontrager is the author of Emergency-Survival-Skills.com where she talks about the basics of survival. Visit her blog to learn more about how to stockpile food, emergency food storage, how to make your own emergency kits, etc...Download our free toolbar
Unfortunately, many people are just barely surviving and struggling to make ends meet so stockpiling food seems to be out of the question when the electric bill needs to be paid and fuel put into the car. But in the back of our minds, there is this nagging fear that all the talk about a coming food shortage will actually happen one day and we will not be able to feed our families.
Here are a few simple tips to help you get a small food storage started for your family. I know it works because we have done it while on a monthly income of $1000 as a family of six!
We all go grocery shopping, whether it is at a Walmart superstore (my all time favorite for stockpiling groceries!) or a regular grocery store. And I dare say that most of us love sales. I like to shop sales myself, so here is what I like to do.
Allow yourself five to ten bucks to spend towards your stockpile food list every week. That may not sound like much but what will happen is that as you start building up your emergency food supply, you will find other ways to add to it.
Be careful to only stock up on things that have a fairly long shelf life, and things that you use a lot of. A lot of folks are really worried about their food getting outdated, but you really do not have to worry about that. If you have a pretty good food storage going in about a year, you can start rotating items. (for most of us with families, it is rare that food stays stored for more than a few months anyways!) If your family rarely uses stewed tomatoes, then for heaven's sake, DON'T stock it up just because there is a really good sale on them!
For instance, if you use a ton of ketchup and the ketchup is on sale one week, stock up on $5 - $10 worth of ketchup. Next week, it may be salt. Get $5 - $10 worth of salt.
As you build your stockpile of food,try to stick with plastic or metal containers and bottles. It seems almost everything is in plastic these days anyways, but if you have a choice, choose plastic and that way, if you ever have to move everything quickly, you will not have to worry about glass jars breaking, etc.
I know, you can't get pickles in plastic... yet. (And I sure like my pickles...)
But you get the idea. What will happen, and it has happened for many others, is that as you start your emergency food storage in the small ways that you can, you will be amazed at how quickly you will start thinking - "Oh, we can make it without ice-cream this week, and get that case of fruit that is on sale instead"... especially if you make a family thing.
The beauty of starting to stockpile food is that even though there may not be a food crisis within the next year or two, as we build up our storage, we have the comfort of knowing that should even harder economic times hit us, we will be prepared for it... Plus, you save a ton on your grocery bill by getting into the habit of buying when things are on sale!
Viola Bontrager is the author of Emergency-Survival-Skills.com where she talks about the basics of survival. Visit her blog to learn more about how to stockpile food, emergency food storage, how to make your own emergency kits, etc...Download our free toolbar
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Budget Planning!
Since I am wanting to stop spending money, I think that I need a Budget worksheet to see what money is actually coming in and what goes out. If I see it all in writing, I will be able to budget it better!! I hope. This is going to be hard, to not spend any extra money. But we have very little bills so we should save a bunch. I hope. That is the the whole plan ~ TO SAVE MONEY!! I want to have cash on hand in case of an emergency.
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Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Saving Money!
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