What are you forgetting in your food storage?

Throughout my 7 years of gathering food storage, I have made A LOT of mistakes!  Here is a list to help you be prepared and make the right choices for your family.  Don’t fall into the same traps I did… what are you forgetting in your food storage?

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1. Not having a way to cook

Food and water is great, but how are you going to cook with them when your electricity goes out?

Most likely, the emergencies you will be using your long-term food supply for will be a long term like job loss or something.  In this case, you’ll probably still have your electricity to cook from home.

Click here to get my 3 step strategy to building a food storage you’ll actually eat.

But, if you are planning on using your food storage after a major storm where there might not be electricity for a few weeks, it’s a good idea to have a way to prepare your meals.  This is what we have and LOVE!

I understand that this might be more expensive up front, and you will also need to store propane, but it works best for our family and meals.  Some other options would be a Sun Oven or Volcano Grills.

Be sure you are storing enough fuel to last a full year of cooking.

2. Comfort Foods

This may be one of the biggest things you are forgetting in your food storage.  I know we need to add more!  Here are a few reasons why comfort foods are great in your food storage.

• If you are in a stressful situation, what do you want?  Life to be back to normal right?  Chocolate, cookies, ice cream, all make you feel like life is normal is again because you can “afford” the luxuries.
• Kids.  If you have kids, the only way you might be able to get them to eat the quality calories they need to sustain life is to bribe them with yummy food!
• Lets face it… who can really live without chocolate?

You can read more about what comfort foods you should have in food storage

3. Did you add spices?

Spices can make ANY meal go from bland to extravagant!

Lets face it.

If something tastes boring, will we eat it?  If we really have to, yes, but enough to fill us for the day or enjoy it- no.   Food storage meals can taste pretty plain at times, so spices can “spice it up”.

Also, if your food storage has an off or old taste too it, sometimes lots of spices can cover that up!  It doesn’t matter how new my potato flakes are, I feel like they still have an off taste.

Click here to get my 3 step strategy to building a food storage you’ll actually eat.

4. Fruits, Veggies, Meats

Do you have all your bulk grains, but are forgetting the other nutrients?

Buying bulk grains is great… (that is, if you KNOW how to use them and are consistently cooking with them on a daily basis), but, be sure to add some fruits, veggies, and meats to make sure you are getting ALL the nutrients you need!

Fruits and veggies can be great to snack on, add as a side dish, or “beef” up a meal to make it less bland.

5.  Variety of food storage and all food.

Another thing you may be forgetting in your food storage is variety.

Just gathering a case load of canned corn and spam might sound like a good idea… that is, until you are stuck eating corn and spam for a week.  Your family probably won’t appreciate that one.

Along the line of adding spices, comfort foods, fruits, veggies, and meats, you want to be sure to add variety to ALL of that.

Be sure when you are adding variety it’s the variety your family will actually eat!

I love the idea of gathering a TON of food for practically free with coupons, but ONLY if it’s food you are going to eat.

If you stockpile and you constantly use and rotate your items, then that’s great! But, usually, the people I’ve met who love to stockpile, don’t use their items.  They start collecting dust and space up in their basement… which is valuable storage space.

So, if you stockpile as a hobby, that is ok!  Store only what you need, then donate the rest! (This will help with clutter, and allow you more space to store other food storage items).

Click here to get my 3 step strategy to building a food storage you’ll actually eat.

***Updated***

6.  Water Storage

Are you storing enough water for cooking, cleaning, and your hygiene purposes?  I haven’t covered this topic much on my blog… we do store water, but I’m not 100% comfortable with my knowledge on it (I’m working on learning more).  But Skilled Survival has some great tips on how to store water here.

In conclusion

There may be some important staples you are forgetting in your food storage. Many charts around the web show how many grains you need for one person.  Or this bucket of soup will give you all the nutrients you need.  Beware when reading those.  Do you really want to be eating oatmeal and beans for 2-3 months when you’re trying to find another job?  Read about the top 3 food storage mistakes for some more information.

Do you think you should ONLY store basic food items?  Why?

Further Reading:

How to get your family to LOVE food storage

5 Steps to Start your Food Storage

7 Tips for Picking Food Storage Meals

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Thanks for reading!