Planning storage -meal by meal

Planning for food storage is an awesome task, especially if you are unaccustomed to meal planning anyway. Hey, don't shoot the messenger! There are lots of people who shop for groceries only as they need a particular ingredient. And what about that part of society who eats out nearly every meal? Or what about the person who is so time-constrained that fast food is the norm? And what about those who simply do not know how to cook!!! There are a lot of reasons that meal and storage planning could be a bit off-putting. I say there is hope!!! You can do this. You can learn to put together simple meals for yourself and your family. I say that you can do this to survive any kind of disaster. You can do this regardless of your financial means


You don’t have to buy all at once, but purchase by the meal. You could buy a case of beans and a case of fruit cocktail. Not very nutritional, and canned beans and fruit for three meals a day? B-O-R-I-N-G.
My thought process for meal planning runs a long the lines this this. Why not consider buying some oat meal for breakfast, some canned beef and vegetable soup with crackers for lunch, and the ingredients to make chicken enchiladas? Oh, and don’t forget the beverages. For me, that is going to be coffee, ice tea and Peach Crystal Light. Ok, so that is one day planned and stored. Twenty nine days to go. For breakfast, I am thinking of a baked omelet with ham and cheese, for lunch I am going for left-overs from the night before, and am seriously considering breaking out the crock pot and making navy beans with corn bread. Take each day at a time. Meal by meal, a little at a time. Remember any meal that you HAVE stored is a meal that you do have for an emergency.
When you do the grocery shopping, buy an extra can of tuna and a package of noodles. Sounds like the makings for a tuna casserole. Double that recipe and you have lunch for the next day. Take advantage of buy-one-get-one-free deals.


Comparison shop, looking for the best deals. No, that doesn't mean driving around looking in every grocery store. You are internet savy or you wouldn't be reading this site. Go check out this website every Sunday morning when the grocery sales are posted for the upcoming week. http://www.sundaysaver.com. Check out those Family Dollar and Family General stores. Great deals and finds!!

Look at the labels; buy the big container of rice, its cheaper than buying a smaller bag. And you don’t have to go for that fancy-dancy foreign sounding company name. Rice is rice, go with the no-name or house brand. Same thing with soups, canned vegetables etc., Maybe you have sensitive taste buds that can detect the name brand mushroom soup, but I can’t tell the difference in my chicken enchilada cheese soup. For heaven sake’s, we’re talking about planning for emergency conditions, not inviting the in-laws to dinner.
Some family preparedness gurus advocate storing large amounts of un-milled wheat and corn. I don’t know about you, but I just don’t see me grinding corn or wheat. And I am not sure I would even know where to go to buy either of these, let alone using a grinder or whatever it is that turns wheat and corn into flour and corn meal.
Now, I do see me making bread with my bread maker using the flour I have in my food storage. No big deal, put in the ingredients, and push the start button, and three hours and seventeen minutes later I have a two pound loaf of bread. I can make that bread more nutritious by adding fruit, eggs, or other ingredients. The bottom line here is that it is simply not practical to invest is large amounts of any one food item…..unless it is coffee (have checked out the prices?).
The no knead bread experiment is in its final stage of rising. It had better be great after all that time for rising and baking.
Just for the heck of it I am providing you the recipe from my recent and successful pressure canning experiment. So easy, and now I have 16 complete meals sitting in my storage shelves.

Navy Bean and Bacon Soup via RecipeZaar
(Makes 16 quarts)
Ingredients
4 lbs dried navy beans or great northern, soaked overnight
4 quarts tomato juice (generic is great)
4 cups carrots, diced
8 cups potatoes, diced
6 cups celery, chopped
2 teaspoons salt and pepper, to taste
2 bay leaves
6 cups onions, diced
4 lbs bacon, diced (recommend quality bacon)

Directions
Notes: 1 medium onion is about a cup; 2 medium stalks celery is about 1 cup; 1 lb pkg carrots is about 4 cups; 5 medium potatoes is about 8 cups.
Combine all ingredients EXCEPT bacon and onion in large pot.
Cook over medium heat until soft.
Cut bacon into small pieces and fry in skillet.
Remove bacon and cook onion in bacon grease until soft.
Add bacon and onion to bean mixture and heat until it simmers.
Taste for salt and pepper.
Remove bay leaves before putting in jars.
Fill hot mixture into sterilized jars, filling to within 1" of tops of jars.
Pressure can 1 hour at 10 lbs.

I am off to search for the best price for salted butter. Canning butter is my next project. I have at least 24 pint jars and tops. Gotta find the best deal on the butter tho. I WILL have butter in my storage preps.

In case anyone is interested, I have managed to assemble ingredients for 60 days worth of meals. I am still a little concerned if I have enough for the “grain” part of my storage plan. My bread plan includes white bread that can be cooked on an open fire, regular oven or bread machine, ditto for garlic bread. My plan includes tortillas, corn bread, French toast, pancakes, biscuits, cornbread, Mexican spoon bread, and now the no knead artisan bread.

My weakest link is my “fruits” category. It is too late in the season to grow my own this year, and so I will have to rely on dehydrated and canned fruits. Hmmm, how to incorporate fruits into my diet. This is a priority because fruits provide a terrific amount of vitamins. Darn, I wished I would have planted some fruit trees and berries this year. Yeah, I know, like I can just plant trees, vines and expect fruit next season. But maybe I SHOULD be planning for the long hall.