Food storage on the cheap

[arbilad]

One of the families that will be taking the Sunday School food storage class mentioned that their main concern right now is cost. Five dollars is a big deal to them right now. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get started on food storage on a shoe string budget?
My thoughts are this. I can recommend couponing and/or extreme couponing. Watch for sales. Downsize their food budget by living on a simpler diet. That is, fewer Twinkies and Ding Dongs, and more spaghetti or simple dishes. Try to eat as similar to a food storage diet as you can, and then use the savings to purchase some food storage.
What are your ideas? I'm sure this question will come up a lot as I teach this class.

[libertygranny]

Could the couple barter/trade w/someone in the ward to help get their food storage going? Let me explain, there is a family (A) in our ward who can't afford to get the monthly specials I offer, so they trade services w/another family (B) who can afford to order. The 2 families worked out a deal that family A orders $10 worth every month, family B pays for it and family A uses their talents to make things family B could use/need. It may not seem like much, but family A tells me it has been a huge blessing to them and family B was actually able to get some nice things made for Christmas gifts.

[Noahs ARK]

Watch for sales. Downsize their food budget by living on a simpler diet. That is, fewer Twinkies and Ding Dongs, and more spaghetti or simple dishes. Try to eat as similar to a food storage diet as you can, and then use the savings to purchase some food storage.
What are your ideas? I'm sure this question will come up a lot as I teach this class.

Definitely sales!

Avoiding junk food while shopping is a BIG step. Even a bag of chips is expensive - swap it for a bag of rice instead.

PB&J sandwiches, grilled cheese, eggs, pancakes, baked potatoes, Mac & cheese - we ate lots of these when building our storage.

I avoided junk food like the plague. Trips thru McDonalds were a big no-no.

[arbilad]

Great ideas so far. And cutting out the junk food is plain good for you anyway.
I also like the idea of bartering skills or services for food storage. Even if it's something as simple as shoveling snow off someone's driveway in exchange for $10 or $20 worth of food storage. If you shovel snow or mow lawns to get food storage, then in a year you could have at least $120 worth of food storage. Not much, but it's a start. If you choose what you get wisely, that's already three months supply for one person.

[mgriffith]

There are several links for creating a food storage supply on only $5 a week. They should look into this. Here's one:

http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/how-to-build-your-food-storage-for-only-5-a-week.htm

Mark

[libertygranny]

Another thought, prayer....ask Heavenly Father specifically for help in gathering your fs. Prayer is the only way this past year and a half we have been able to get fs on NO income. Every month when I do the group orders I pray that we will come up with the money to get stuff for ourselves and to be able to order enough to meet the minimum required on the group orders. If we are short of the min. we have been blessed to personally come up with the money to order the shortage.

We have a testimony that if you are doing all that you can, pray, magnify your callings, then Heavenly Father will bless you w/resources to get your fs. I even say an extra prayer before heading out to the grocery store, I let HF know how money I have to spend, what I need and I ask to be lead to the bargains. It never fails that I come home w/way more than on my list and on budget.

[HeatherC]

Well the Bakers' Union strike made it easy for us to avoid the Twinkies and Ding-Dongs! http://www.ldsglo.com/forum/images/smilies/lol%20%282%29.gif

I love the suggestion to barter for storage with your skills or services. And it is always good to remember, that since this is a commandment Heavenly Father wants us to keep, He will provide a way; so just ask for it. Here are a few ideas of my own:

--If there's something you buy already prepared, learn to make it from scratch instead. Raw ingredients are way cheaper than pre-packaged food. You trade your dollars for the time you spend. Some people (like me :l0 (5):) have more time than money. I have been the queen of heat-n-eat over the years, but I'm working on cooking more from scratch. The more I do, the more money I save. It's healthier, too.

--Gardening fits into the same category. Anything you can grow yourself is one less thing you will need to buy. I am a total noob at gardening but I'm determined to increase my skills at it! It doesn't have to cost a lot of money. Just today I showed my dh that I had taken the end of a used green onion and stuck it in some dirt scavenged from another plant, in a torn-down paper cup, in the kitchen window and it is now an inch tall, yay! 99% free onions from now on! (1% for a tiny bit of water, whatevs.) He wondered why I felt like I needed to grow my own when it's easy enough for us to go buy more. *SIGH* Oh well, baby steps...

--De-clutter your house and sell the stuff you are not using on eBay or Craig's List or something. Lots of people fund their storage that way.

--Even if all you do is buy one more can of tuna than you plan to eat, you will be putting food in your storage. It may not be much, but seeing your stores grow no matter how slow has a psychological effect. You now have a surplus, which is growing. You feel more abundant than you did before. Ever read the book The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clayson? Your food storage is your pouch full of money.

--Cut down on your utility bills by wearing warmer clothes in the winter and putting up with less a/c in the summer. I figure that if I start hand-washing all my dishes instead of using the dishwasher I will save a chunk of change. If I used a clothesline instead of the electric dryer I will save a chunk. If I cook outside during the summer the kitchen won't heat up so much requiring the a/c to cool it back down. If I turn the a/c down at night during the summer, and open the windows and use fans to cool only our bedrooms, I will save a nice chunk because that thing is an energy hog. The conveniences of modern appliances are nice, but we are so spoiled by them! We can sacrifice them a little here and there to save money.

--Turn off the cable/satellite TV! If you can't afford food storage but you are paying for TV, if your shows are more important to you than your food storage, you need to give your priorities an attitude adjustment. Likewise if you are spending the bucks for expensive clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. You can look nice for less. Don't pay for designer labels if you can't pay for food storage.

[Noahs ARK]

Doomsday Preppers just did an episode on bartering.

[LEVE]

Bartering only works if you have something to barter. Soon, you'll run out of stuff other people will want. So may I suggest education?

One thing you can do is to acquire skills worth bartering such as (off the top of my head): Gardening Welding Metal working Blacksmithing Gunsmithing Animal husbandry Mechanics Electronics Computers Carpentry Masonry Body and Fender repair Nursing/Childcare/healthcare Midwifery Tailoring Farming GardeningMost of these skills can be learned with a minimal of investment in time and books coupled with ol' fashioned work. These not only can be bartered, but free the learner from having to seek these skills out in time of need. Education need not be formal. In most cases there are other like minded people in the community who are more than happy to teach the basics.

[jackmormon]

--Turn off the cable/satellite TV!...


...acquire skills...

I'm gonna combine two ideas here, and this should be good for anybody, not just the less fortunate folks. I'm not really sure how anybody can afford premium cable/satellite TV, and I'm not just talking about $$$ but also the time one would need to spend watching TV to justify the cost. I propose that we all should spend less time watching the tube and more time learning useful skills. Leve made a good list of things to learn, and a person could spend a lifetime mastering just those things in that list.

[prairiemom]

Already a lot of good ideas here. Something they can do right now:

Rein in the budget and everything they save goes into a food storage piggy bank.
-No boxed or prepared foods mixes. Make it from scratch. Save $???
-Make homemade bread. Not only will this cut down on food bill, but helps learn/improve a skill. If you make your bread from wheat you will save about $2.50/loaf or about $10/wk.
-Substitute bag of chips for popcorn. Save $2-3/bag
-Make 2 meals a week with beans instead of meat. Save $5-8/wk
-Make yogurt from scratch. Save $5 each 2 qt batch.
These 5 things will save them about $100/mo. Put that into FS.

Things they can work into their routine:
-Shop the sales cycles. TP goes on sale about once a month. Buy a 4-6 wk supply. Flour, canned milk, spices, sugar, etc are all on sale in the next month. Buy as much as you can afford, hopefully at least 3-6 mo supply. Once you've stocked up on extras that are on sale, never buy it again unless it is on sale.
-Learn to shop with coupons. This will take some learning because much of what's on coupons is packaged and processed foods. Avoid those, focus on the personal care, cleaning and baking basics. Stock up as much as you can afford and don't buy again until it's on sale or have coupons.
-Learn skills (as already mentioned)

Things to plan for in the coming year:
-Grow a garden. And yes, anyone can garden. There are container gardens, square foot gardens, vertical gardens, a garden to fit anyone's time, space and skill limitations. Just study it out and find one that works for you. My garden produces about $2000 worth of food every year. Put that into the FS piggy bank.
-Glean. There are lots of opportunities to glean free food--just look. I got 300 lbs of free potatoes this fall. Carrots, corn, apples, all free this year from gleaning--at experimental farms, farmers who couldn't get into certain fields or people who were away on vacation and let me pick their gardens while they were gone.
-Preserve. Plan to preserve your gleaned and garden food. If you are going to can, start looking for canning equipment now at thrift stores, rummage sales, Craigslist or Freecycle. I've gotten 200 jars for $20, canners for $5 and pressure canners for $10. I've gotten brand new Vacuum Sealer for $7, an almost-new dehydrator for $10. Use some of the money saved in the FS piggy bank to buy food-preserving equipment.

And here's the real lesson: you can't afford NOT to do FS. Because of my FS, I never buy anything except milk and eggs unless it's on sale. I always have enough food to get through to the next sale or next gardening season. But that's a skill and a mind set that requires practice.

A final note: my sister's mother-in-law was called by the church to teach food storage to the Saints in Brazil. The Brazilians are much poorer than we are. Most don't have cars and most can't afford to buy more than a couple days' worth of food at a time. They eat rice and beans everyday for every meal. My sister's MIL taught them that when they cook the rice and beans for that day's meal, they are to take one handful of rice and one handful of beans and put them into a container (an empty oil container) When it's full, put it under the bed or in the closet and start a new one. They build their FS every day, one handful at a time.

It's not about money, it's about faith.

[Noahs ARK]

My sister's MIL taught them that when they cook the rice and beans for that day's meal, they are to take one handful of rice and one handful of beans and put them into a container (an empty oil container) When it's full, put it under the bed or in the closet and start a new one. They build their FS every day, one handful at a time.

It's not about money, it's about faith.

Wow - that took me back to my single mom ' struggling days' .... when it was all faith & NO money. **sniff**

Humbling.