Everyday Preparedness…… grocery stores
An editorial on the necessity of grocery shopping.
Quote of the Day
I know what it’s like to finish the laundry and to look in the basket five minutes later and it’s full again. I know what it’s like to pull all the groceries in, and see the teenagers run through, and all of a sudden, all of the groceries you just bought a few hours ago are gone.
- Ann Romney
Everyday Preparedness
By Bev Sandlin
I FAILED! I have to admit it! We ran out of flour the other night (white not wheat; and Bob hates wheat flour) as Bob was making gravy from a pork roast I had roasted earlier in the day.
I looked innocent and said, “Down in the basement pantry? There’s the whole wheat,” and pointed, as he scowled. The gravy turned out just fine with whole wheat, I thought.
Yeah, actually I had put all the white flour into long term storage bags! Dumb, dumb, dumb! But we hadn’t gone through 5 lbs. in 6 months and I had forgotten the pumpkin pie crusts I had made for Thanksgiving.
Part of my concept for preparedness is to never go to the store out of necessity. Rather to have everything on hand for at least 6 months. This long term storage bags concept is fairly new to me. I had bought so much flour and put it away that I never considered the shorter term storage. And we just hadn’t been using flour! And I like whole wheat flour and it needed to be used…
But that got me busy doing inventory! Hmmm, almost out of Kitchen Bouquet (I use maybe a bottle every six months), Liquid Smoke (again, about a bottle every six months), down to one container of salad dressing (use about 1 a month), and yes, it has been about 3 months since I’ve shopped—normal for me. I shop the sales in-between, but the “Big Shop” is traditionally every 3 to 6 months for me. Saves me tons of money!
Part of my problem is that my pantry is now in the basement. On my homestead I had a 4’x10’ pantry off my kitchen—everything at a glance and immediately accessible—EASY! And it wouldn’t be so bad if I had an inside set of stairs down to the basement, but no, I have a very heavy hatch door or I have to walk outside, around half the house and access the basement from on outside door—not convenient. Generally I “shop” once a week in my basement carrying up the storage vegetables, canned goods, etc. to the kitchen.
So, how are You doing with short term storage? Am I the only one who runs out of things and NEEDS to go to the store, as opposed to wants to go to the grocery store?
*****
A smile for you…
BECAUSE my wife hates shopping, she mounts a major expedition once every six months to purchase all the groceries that can be stored at home. Our last trip resulted in 30 bags. The young man at the pickup bay looked amazed that this endless procession down the conveyor belt was all for one family. But he did have time to think of a parting shot: “Good-by. See you next week.”
As I entered the supermarket I was followed by an elderly man clutching a handful of grocery coupons. I met him again in the baby-food department trying to match up the coupons with the items on the shelf and leaving the appropriate coupon on display. “I’ve no need for these but some young family could probably make good use of them,” he explained smiling
FOR years my mother has taken a good deal of teasing about her supply of groceries. Even though the store is just across the street, she buys by the case lot, and her cupboard – as well stocked as any store – always looks as though she lives far back in the mountains. Just how well stocked she is, was confirmed one blizzardy week this winter when the grocer trudged over from the general store to borrow six cans of pork and beans from her.
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D5 Creation
I swear my mother-in-law goes to the grocery store almost everyday even though she keeps a long term pantry in the basement… I don’t understand it.
This brings up another though that Bob doesn’t like wheat flour (or all wheat products?). If that’s the case then even though you might expect to rely on the wheat you have stored it could be that he won’t touch it, even if he’s starving. Or, at least, will rarely eat it. This is something that worries me with my kids: appetite fatigue. It’s a real thing that may become a huge problem for many of us intending to use our long term food storage foods.
Hey Bev….you didn’t fail ..just a “oops” moment. :-) It does bring to light the thought of “Eat What You Store and Store What You Eat”.
Might want to cut back on wheat flour just a little for…Bobs sake.
My pantry is also located in the basement and I count that into my exercise program. Seems I always have “Oops Moments” and forget something that I needed, resulting in more trips up an down the stairs…great cardio work…lol
Have a great day and keep up the great work your are doing here.
~Dairy ;-)
My solution, that works for me, is to vacuum pack all of my dry goods in their original smaller package. With flour, I put it in the freezer overnight to kill any undesirables that may be in it, then vacuum pack it. (even the best brands sometimes have some!) With things like Rice and Beans, I cut a tiny hole in two corners to allow the air to be sucked out as the vacuum packing takes place. So far this has worked great on everything with my latest test being 5 year old beans and flour usage, with no problems. This keeps the items in small easily rotated packages that are also easy to move around. It also makes it easier to find storage places too! It even allows spices to last longer and not dry out!
Thanks Dairy for the positive way of looking at going up and down those basement steps!
John from Iowa, great idea! When I had a bigger freezer I used to just keep my flour in there until needed (too many problems with bugs!). I have never used a vacuum sealer. Suggestions on cost? Brand? How to use?
I’ve seen them mentioned a lot on the preparedness sites, but just never have messed with them.
Bev :)
I use the Foodsaver Model. They come in various sizes and models to fit your budget. Wallet World has them, and the bags, but so does Amazon too!
You can buy the bags by the roll and cut to the size you want, or get the precut ones as well. Generic vacuum bags work fine too!
There are some neat attachments you can buy too! One allows you to vacuum seal fruit jars to store items, and my favorite is a meat marinader. You put the meat in the container, add the marinate, then attach a vacuum hose and vacuum it. It cuts the marinate time way down, and sucks the marinate into the meat real deep!
Keeps everything out of stored dry goods, especialy the things that make them go bad! I don’t use the oxygen absorbers, as most is sucked out, but you can use them for added assurance, if desired.
Good article. It reminded me that I have several bags of supplies to put up still in my living room. I have taken advantage of the Holiday baking sales at my local store to load very cheaply. I vacuum seal my bags in small increment sized bags (1 qrt) size for my dry goods (flour, baking powder, sugars, salts,etc) then they go in 6 gallon gamma seal buckets. Long term items though packed in 1 quart bags are placed in Mylar and vacuumed and stored in 6 gal-buckets. The extra work up front will save me later, as I can pull as I need with out having break the seal on an reseal each time I pull one. Store it up in the size you use most and you will good to go.
@John: I learned from my mom who used to be an Iowa farmer and went through the depression. She was sent there by her parents, her family lived in the city and times were hard and folks bag then were breaking up families to survive. She went to her Aunt Nina’s Farm. Her aunt Nina had know idea there was even a depression they still ate good.
Yep! Most folks around here still have allot of ‘old school’ in them!
The new generation seems to be loosing that knowledge though. Hopefully sites like this will help keep it going!
All great comments!
And I do remember hearing about families being broken up and the kids sent to the farms. I knew an older gentleman, he’s passed now, that his folks just couldn’t feed him anymore and “gave” him to a farmer. It was sad, he got beat a lot if he didn’t work 16 hours a day and he was only 11 years old at the time. He ran away at 13 and was on his own from then. Many of the social programs we have now came from the memories of the Great Depression and the hardships of families and children who lived through it.
If John won’t eat whole wheat and you are storing wheat to grind yourself you can store Hard White Winter Wheat. When you grind it it’s white like store bought white flour. But it is still whole wheat. I used it when my kids were little and they couldn’t tell the difference. I still store a lot of it now for my grand kids and to make cakes. Just an idea.
Good point LC. I like the taste of white winter wheat a bit more than the hard red winter wheat. Either way – good stuff.
Thanks
Rourke
My family has always teased me about my mini grocery store. I believe my oldest sister wishes she had my supply of groceries, and the youngest lives close enough if she out come over and get what you need.
I shop sales with coupons, and only buy what I will use or family members will eat. Special trips are to the commissary, but only when we are going to be in the area. By purchasing extra supplies, planning ahead I rarely have to make extra trips to the store, even more so, since I have to drive 30 miles one way to a store.
Becky –
Thanks for commenting. I suspect many of us get teased about having our own mini grocery store.
Great job ad keep it up.
Thanks for sharing!
Rourke