How do you go about it?
I am a huge fan of picking 7 specific dinner meals and multiplying them by 12 and voila! you have a 90 day supply of dinners. What is awesome about this plan, is you get to pick what your family eats. You have a gluten allergy? No problem, you pick your menu. You have a picky child that loves macaroni and cheese? No problem, you pick your menu.
This is a great way to get started on the 3 month supply of
food you already eat. The most basic way
is to pick 7 different meals and multiply the ingredients by 12. If you want more variety you can do 14 menus
by 6, 28 menus by 3 and so on. Having a
full 3 months of food can get you through illness, job loss, major medical
expense, unexpected car or home repair.
Choose meals that are not too hard to prepare so that either
husband or wife can make in the event of an illness. If it requires a recipe, print the recipe out
and keep it handy. I have taped recipes
to containers so that my older kids can help prepare something.
Choose meals that are appealing so that you can avoid the
unnecessary expense of eating out.
If your meals require meat, watch for deals and bulk sales
and package your meat in “meal-sized” bags for your freezer.
Keep a clipboard or a spreadsheet with your inventory, and
cross off items as you removed them from your family grocery store, then always
be watching for deals to stick back up.
For example: baking supplies go on sale every fall.
Plan for 12 treats so that you have enough to make a treat a
week. If you are using food storage
because of tough times, treats help to endure.
Plan for everything needed for a meal, so that you can be
truly prepared.
Watch for deals—there are weekly specials so if you see that
spaghetti is on sale and it is part of your 3 month supply, buy it when it is
50 cents a pound. This is the best way
to save and prepare. DO NOT GO INTO DEBT
TO GET FOOD STORAGE
If you follow the counsel to start with the three months of
food you already eat and then the one year supply of life-sustaining food, you
will end up with a total of 15 months’ worth of food. That’s 450 days of security for your
family—pretty awesome!
List 7 dinner meals that your family enjoys and are relatively shelf stable and list all of the items needed for the preparation
Dinner
|
Ingredients
|
Ingredients x 12=3 month supply
|
Example:
Spaghetti,
green beans, breadsticks
|
1 lb
spaghetti, 2 cans spaghetti sauce, 2 cans green beans, 3 ½ cups flour (1lb),
1 tbsp yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp oil, garlic seasoning
*you could
also have home canned tomatoes from your garden to save even more on these
meals
|
12 lb
spaghetti, 24 cans spaghetti sauce, 24 cans green beans, 42 c flour (12 lbs
wheat), 12 tbsp yeast, ¼ c salt, ¾ c oil, garlic seasoning
|
List 7 lunch meals that your family enjoys and are
relatively shelf stable and list all of the items needed for the preparation
Lunch
|
Ingredients
|
Ingredients x 12=3 month supply
|
Example:
PB & J
Sandwiches, canned fruit,
Pretzels
|
12 tbsp
Peanut Butter, 6 tbsp Jelly, Bread: 3 ½ cups flour, 1 tbsp yeast, 1 tsp salt,
1 tbsp oil
2 cans fruit
or 1 qt
3 cups
pretzels
|
4.5 jars
Peanut Butter, 2.5 pints jelly, 42 c flour (12 lbs wheat), 12 tbsp yeast, ¼ c
salt, ¾ c oil
12 qt fruit
1 big box of
pretzels from Sams
|
List 7 breakfast meals that your family enjoys and are
relatively shelf stable and list all of the items needed for the preparation
Breakfast
|
Ingredients
|
Ingredients x 12=3 month supply
|
Example:
Pancakes,
Syrup, Bacon
|
3 cups
pancake mix, 1 1/3 c syrup, 1 lb bacon
|
10 lb pancake
mix (just add water), 1 gallon & 2 cups syrup, 12 lb bacon
|
List 4 treats that your family enjoys and are relatively
shelf stable and list all of the items needed for the preparation
Treat
|
Ingredients
|
Ingredients x 3=3 month supply (1 per week)
|
Example:
Black Bean
Brownies
|
1 box brownie
mix, 1 can black beans
|
3 boxes
brownie mix, 3 cans black beans
|
