If you are going to store food, make sure that the
food you store is adequate for the need you and your
family anticipate. This may not be as easy as to
achieve as many people think, because the facts are
that most people make serious errors when storing
food—errors that will come back to haunt them when
the food they’ve stored is the only thing that
stands between them and their empty, dissatisfied,
bellies.
There are seven
common mistakes people make when storing food. They
are:
1. Variety
Most people don’t
have enough variety in their storage. 95% of the
people I’ve worked with have only stored four basic
items: wheat, milk, honey, and salt. Statistics show
most of us won’t survive on such a diet for several
reasons. a) Many people are allergic to wheat and
may not be aware of it until they are eating it meal
after meal. b) Wheat is too harsh for young
children. They can tolerate it in small amounts but
not as their main staple. c) We get tired of eating
the same foods over and over and many times prefer
to not eat, then to sample that particular food
again. This is called appetite fatigue. Young
children and older people are particularly
susceptible to it. Store less wheat than is
generally suggested and put the difference into a
variety of other grains, particularly ones your
family likes to eat. Also store a variety of beans,
as this will add color, texture, and flavor. Variety
is the key to a successful storage program. It is
essential that you store flavorings such as tomato,
bouillon, cheese, and onion.
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Also, include a good
supply of the spices you like to cook with. These
flavorings and spices allow you to do many creative
things with your grains and beans. Without them you
are severely limited. One of the best suggestions I
can give you is buy a good food storage cookbook, go
through it, and see what your family would really
eat. Notice the ingredients as you do it. This will
help you more than anything else to know what items
to store.
2. Extended staples
Never put all your
eggs in one basket. Store dehydrated and/or freeze
dried foods as well as home canned and “store
bought” canned goods. Make sure you add cooking oil,
shortening, baking powder, soda, yeast, and powdered
eggs. You can’t cook even the most basic recipes
without these items.
3. Vitamins
Vitamins are
important, especially if you have children, since
children do not store body reserves of nutrients as
adults do. A good quality multi-vitamin and vitamin
C are the most vital. Others might be added as your
budget permits.
4. Quick and easy
and “psychological foods”
Quick and easy foods
help you through times when you are psychologically
or physically unable to prepare your basic storage
items. “No cook” foods such as freeze-dried are
wonderful since they require little preparation,
MREs (Meal Ready to Eat), such as many preparedness
outlets carry, canned goods, etc. are also very
good. “Psychological foods” are the goodies—Jello,
pudding, candy, etc.—you should add to your storage.
These may sound frivolous, but through the years
I've talked with many people who have lived entirely
on their storage for extended periods of time.
Nearly all of them say these were the most helpful
items in their storage to “normalize” their
situations and make it more bearable. These are
especially important if you have children.
5. Balance
Time and time again
I’ve seen families buy all of their wheat, then buy
all of another item and so on. Don’t do that. It’s
important to keep well-balanced as you build your
storage. Buy several items, rather than a large
quantity of one item. If something happens and you
have to live on your present storage, you’ll fare
much better having a one month supply of a variety
of items than a year’s supply of two or three items.
6. Containers
Always store your
bulk foods in food storage containers. I have seen
literally tons and tons of food thrown away because
they were left in sacks, where they became highly
susceptible to moisture, insects, and rodents. If
you are using plastic buckets make sure they are
lined with a food grade plastic liner available from
companies that carry packaging supplies. Never use
trash can liners as these are treated with
pesticides. Don’t stack them too high. In an
earthquake they may topple, the lids pop open, or
they may crack. A better container is the #10 tin
can which most preparedness companies use when they
package their foods.
7. Use your storage
In all the years I’ve
worked with preparedness one of the biggest problems
I’ve seen is people storing food and not knowing
what to do with it. It’s vital that you and your
family become familiar with the things you are
storing. You need to know how to prepare these
foods. This is not something you want to have to
learn under stress. Your family needs to be used to
eating these foods. A stressful period is not a good
time to totally change your diet. Get a good food
storage cookbook and learn to use these foods! It’s
better to find out the mistakes you’ll make now
while there’s still time to make corrections.
It’s easy to take
basic food storage and add the essentials that make
it tasty, and it needs to be done. As I did the
research for my cookbook, Cooking with Home Storage,
I wanted to include recipes that gave help to
families no matter what they had stored. As I put
the material together it was fascinating to discover
what the pioneers ate compared to the types of
things we store. If you have stored only the basics,
there’s very little you can do with it. By adding
even just a few things, it greatly increases your
options, and the prospect of your family surviving
on it. As I studied how the pioneers lived and ate,
my whole feeling for food storage changed. I
realized our storage is what most of the world has
always lived on. If it’s put together the right way
we are returning to good basic food with a few
goodies thrown in.
Vicki Tate is the author of the popular book,
Cooking With Home Storage, available in the BHM
General Store. Vicki also lectures on preparedness
subjects. You can reach her by calling (435)
835-8283.
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