3-month supply: Snacks

OK, so this one might sound a little bit silly at first but bear with me.

 

Several years ago, food storage was thought of as buckets of wheat and home-canned foods. While these are still necessary parts of food storage, in the last few years the ideas about food storage have changed.

 

One of the changes is that it is recommended that we store 3-months worth of food that our family eats on a daily basis. This often means items with a shorter shelf-life, but that's OK because we are going to rotate our food.

 

Having food storage is about being prepared for hard times. This might be a tight month financially or even just unexpected company. Having an extra bag of tortilla chips and a bottle of salsa in your storage could make those hard or unexpected times more enjoyable, right?

 

Another big part of storing food is shopping for deals. This is a big deal in the snack department...especially for a tight budget. I don't generally love buying snacks. They cost A LOT of food per ounce and they go SO fast. But, I have also realized that with kids in school needed snacks or even just being able to grab something quick, snacks can be handy.

 

So, first of all, you will want to make a little list of what snack items you use a lot. For our family it would look something like this:

 

Chips (mostly tortilla)

Butter crackers (like Ritz)

Saltines (good to have on hand for tummy aches)

Popcorn

Jerky or meat sticks

Peanuts

Raisins

Graham crackers

 

Once you have a list, you can decide how many of each thing you want to store. I would start with having one EXTRA of each. Once I open my extra, that item goes on my grocery list so that within a few days (theoretically) I again have an extra one.

 

Back to shopping... Around the holidays there are a lot of deals on snack items, so it might be a good time to stock up. Also, big warehouse stores have a serious amount of snacks that are usually priced better than regular grocery stores (although not always) so you may want to stock up that way.

 

Even though I think that it is good to "be prepared" and to have things on hand that you use, I do NOT recommend spending a lot of money stocking up on snacks if you basics like water, grains and meats are low. But, storing things like snack items which you know you kids (or spouse) will eat in the case of a minor set-back or emergency can be just as important as your long-term storage.