My 90 Day Supply

So about 3 months ago, after hearing it from at least 6 people - I decided that I had better start getting my 3 month supply together. This has always been an issue for me - we got a few things during the Y2K scare (figured if worse came to worse the Wallaces would feed us :0) but have never had food storage. So I decided to finally get on board. For those of you who know me, you know I can't do anything halfway..... so I kinda over did it. Not with the actual purchasing of food (that is still a work in progress) but with the way I went about organizing it.

First off, I wasn't even sure what I was supposed to have for a 90 day supply. I really did not want to just buy a bunch of wheat and beans and stuff I would NEVER use. So I checked the church website, and it recommended just getting 90 days worth of stuff you use right now that you could rotate through easily. So this is where I got a little crazy. I put together a spreadsheet and figured out about 10-12 different dinners (less variety for breakfast and lunch) that we eat often. Then I figured out all of the ingredients for the meals and how much of each I would need to cover 90 days for my whole family. Then I made a separate sheet in my spreadsheet with a list of all of the items I needed to buy and the quantity I needed for each. Then I headed to Walmart (definitely the cheapest place for groceries here in Idaho - and our Walmarts are nice - not like what we saw in Vegas - I would not step foot in there!) and priced out every product on my list.

So then I set a budget of $100 a week to buy food storage items (separate from my grocery budget). Every week I check the sale ads for Smith's and Albertsons, and if an item on my Walmart list is cheaper there, I will go there and buy a bunch of it. I did not limit my storage to food either. I have everything we would need if we could not make it to the store for 3 months. So laundry detergent, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, cleaning supplies, garbage bags etc - it's all on the list.

After that I got a little bit crazy and went ahead and planned out my family's dinner menu for a month at a time making sure to include at least 6 dinners a month that I could make from food storage items. As far as rotation goes (my kids think I am crazy), I have the spreadsheet of everything that is supposed to be in storage posted down right next to the shelves where I store everything and every time we use something from food storage, we put an X in the box next to that item and then I add it to my grocery list for the next week. Since I have my entire menu for the month planned out, I try to only go to the grocery store once a week. I make a list of items I need for the weeks food, then add any used food storage from the week before. It has been working pretty well. I would say I have about 75% of my food storage items purchased. Just a few more weeks and I will be at a full 100%.

For the first time in my married life (that is almost 17 years) - I actually have a supply of food on hand! Feels pretty good.