These days it is a great idea to have some food storage at home. We never know when we might have a power cut, and our fridge and freezer cut out. We also don’t know when we might need things in, during some extreme weather. Which in the UK, could be a few centimetres of snow! Instead of being one of those people rushing out to the supermarket, you can be relaxing at home. If you have some food storage prepared, then you can keep calm, and carry on!
It can be a little tricky knowing what to store at home, though. Where do you start with food storage? First of all, it is a good idea to create a little space for it all to go. Will a cupboard under the stairs work or do you have a pantry? Getting some shelving is a good idea so that you can make the most of the space that you have. You could even use something like a wooden shoe rack if you are using under the stairs space. The next thing to do is to buy some things in bulk. It is a good idea to budget what you can spend on extras. Then get to a shop to stock up. Somewhere like Costco is a good idea, or even somewhere like Aldi so you can get the items cheaply.
The best things to buy in bulk are the non-perishable items. So think about getting plenty of pasta, cereals, oats, wheat, and tinned goods. How nice would it be to have some delicious creamy canned soup when you are stuck in on a snow day? So stock up on tinned vegetables and fruit too. Rice is another good idea, as well as things like tinned tuna or corned beef. You want to think of your family and what they would eat. If they don’t like rice, then there isn’t any point getting a load of rice. Try to think about things that will go together too. Have you got some jarred pasta sauces in, to have with some dried pasta or spaghetti? Have you got some dried herb packets to spice the food up a little? It might be an emergency situation, but you still want the food to taste good.
Keep buying little bits and over time, it will become a big store of food. Looking out for ‘buy one get one free’ offers is a great idea. Things like beans and soup are often on this kind of offer. Then you need to start to use some of your stored food and rotate around the shelves. Check expiry dates and move the furthest to the back. You don’t want to get round to using your storage and then it has all gone out of date. If your family doesn’t currently have much wheat in their diet, think about introducing it slowly into their diet. If you suddenly had to live off it, it wouldn’t sit well with their bodies! So it is important to use a bit from your storage now and again, to make sure that you are ready for it all.