Guest Post: J.S. from Nampa

From Marie: Reason I don't know how many that I really, really, really should check my e-mail more often--thanks to J.S. from Nampa, who wrote me an e-mail and graciously agreed to let me use it as this post:

I am not an LDS member but I also believe in being prepared. I am on a fixed income and make just enough not to qualify for any “assistance” from the government. I have 1 years worth of food already and did it in less than 6 months on a $100.00 a month budget for food. Now I’m working on not only surviving but thriving. Some things that worked for me:

Use the internet prior to shopping. Most stores have their sales flyers up on their websites every week. Fred Meyers on Sundays, Paul’s and Albertsons on Wed. Cash & Carry’s ads are once a month for dry good goods/freezer items.

Rethink priorities

100 pounds of rice will feed 1 adult for a year. You can get that at Cash and carry in Sep 09 for $35.00. Same for Beans but pintos are running about $25.00 for 50 pounds at Cash and carry. A person needs less than a pound a week of meat to be healthy. Get your basics 1st then add too them. Shop the ethnic food Isles in stores. In Paul’s I have found beans and rice up to 25% cheaper in the “Hispanic” Isles compared to the regular ones, because you buy in bulk.

Spices and more spices, Rice is so flexible you can make Indian Curries, Thai, Mexican, South American, Creole or Cajun meals just by using different spices.

Flour is critical for me since I bake all my own breads. It will store for 2 years in proper containers. I bought flour 1st and now working towards whole grains. I like Masa, better than corn meal. My body handles in better, it’s cheap and all you add is water.

My Basic List for Prep Start

50# bag of rice $17.00
50# bag of Pinto’s $25.00
50 # White Flour $15.00
10# bag Sugar $5.00 More if you have a sweet tooth/baking coffee,teas or make your own candies
Powder milk Lg Box $18.00
Honey, Real 5# $12-17.00 Great multi-tasker
Yeast 1# $2-5.00 Starter for sourdoughs and gets you going for baking breads, donuts and more.
Salt 4# $5.00 Kosher,iodized, and Pickling Salt

Now for about $100.00 you have a good start. No, it’s not perfect but it will give you a basis to build on without breaking the bank.

Thanks again to J.S. for the great info!

If you are just starting...

I am going to take this opportunity to freely steal from my own blog, and list here the amounts of long-term food storage recommended for one person for a year. I had to do some figuring, as noted in this post at Food Storage...A Necessary Adventure, and am combining the information from several posts from that month here for your convenience, so you can have it all in one post. If it's old news, you may want to skip this part... :):

Group 1: Grains
Wheat 153 lbs
Enriched white flour 16 lbs
Corn meal 28 lbs
Rolled oats 40 lbs
Enriched white rice 68 lbs
Pearled barley 4 lbs
spaghetti or macaroni 34 lbs


Group 2
Dry beans 45 lbs
Dry lima beans 2 lbs
Dry soy beans 2 lbs
Dry split peas 2 lbs
Dry lentils 2 lbs
Dry soup mix 7 lbs


Group 3: Fats and Oils
Cooking oil 5 q.
Shortening 2 q.
Mayonnaise 1 q.
Salad dressing 1 q.(mayonnaise type)
Peanut butter 1 q.


Group 4: Milk group
Nonfat dry milk 14 lb.
Evaporated milk 12 12 oz cans


Group 5: Sugars
Granulated sugar 40 lb.
Brown sugar 3 lb.
Molasses 1 lb.
Honey 3 lb.
Corn syrup 3 lb.
Jams or preserves 5 lb.
Powdered fruit drink 6 lb.
Flavored gelatin 1 lb.

Group 6: Miscellaneous
Salt 8 lb.
Dry yeast .5 lb.
Baking soda 1 lb.
Baking powder 1 lb.
Water 14 gal.

We originally got food storage information from Provident Living, which is an excellent source for even more information. I had a list figured for amounts for my family, and from my aforementioned post, this was how I arrived at the amounts:

It has been so long now that I can't remember if we counted our children as adults or not, but dividing the amount they told us for the various foods by the number of people listed, (and rounding up--wouldn't you always like to have more than less in an emergency situation?) at least what's below will give people an idea of what one person would need to have to survive for a year.

So, for those who are at a loss as to what/how much to store in terms of long-term storage, hopefully this will help. I'm still working on this, as well as a 3-month supply of foods that we normally eat, although I am trying to make meals using the long-term storage part of our normal meal schedule more and more often. Anything you get in that will last will come in handy sooner or later, so it's all a plus...