Food Storage:  The Better Way to Grocery Shop

Also see:  [Food] [Best Price Box] [Recipe Box]

      There is something very secure about having a bit of food in your home and being able to go to the grocery store when you please.  There is something even nicer about planning sufficiently to have an extra supply of food in your home under any circumstances.

    If you could reduce the number of times you went to the grocery store, the number of decisions you made every time you went, the amount of food you carried out of the store, put in your car, and then brought back into your home on your regular grocery trips, wouldn't you consider a change?

    The concept of food storage, for our purposes, simply asks, "If I buy one, why not buy two?"  And, "If I like the item and use it regularly, why not buy enough for month?"  And then, "If I do that, why not buy for six months or even a year?"

    When you begin to think long term about groceries, you begin to save time, money, and a great deal of hassle.  Any items that can be stored safely for one year's time can be purchased in bulk.  Breakfast cereals, crackers, pastas, canned goods, cake mixes and on and on can be bought in larger quantities.

    The best way to start is to make up a simple chart with SEVEN columns, listing in the first column those items which might be possibilities for your food storage.   Go from cupboard to cupboard and through your pantry for possibilities.  (When you get really serious about food storage, you might want to make up a "form" listing these various items which can be copied time after time.)

    The next three columns are for listing how many items to purchase, the expected cost per item, and the total cost for all items.  The final three columns are for listing how many items you actually purchased, the actual cost per item, and the total cost for all items.

    Let's say, for instance, that you have set up your Master Menu.  From that beginning, you can easily see how much you will need of any one "storable" food for a year's supply.  Let's say, for instance, you are planning to serve mandarin oranges on Tuesday nights.  That means that you will need 52 cans of mandarin oranges for a year.  You will need 52 cans of fruit for Monday, Wednesday and so on through Sunday.  You will need so many boxes of cold cereal and so many cake mixes and so many packages of pasta.  All these items can be listed on your chart, bought in bulk, and stored for easy retrieval.

    Just think of the hassle you will save.  Once you have decided what kind of mandarin oranges to buy, have found them at a great price (see Best Price Box), have purchased a year's supply, and then stored them away in your home....well, you will never go back to the old way of shopping again!

    Find more helpful ideas in the "House of Order" Handbook, Chapter 23, "Food Storage".   

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