Food storage thoughts

Jamie and I have been watching a lot of Glenn Beck recently. Not a lot as we'd like to, as he airs every day and we don't find ourselves able to catch each show, but a lot more than we watch anything else. More and more I'm getting on board with the food storage idea. I joked in my last coupon post that our storage shelving is starting to look like a bomb shelter center.... well... yah. I guess it is. And I'm really okay with it. It might be a little embarrassing sometimes to have your cart loaded down at the store (like today, with 15 bags of chocolate chips and 4 bags of instant potatoes) but who cares? (more on that later).

I was given a big compliment by my husband yesterday and I'm really pleased with myself about it. He said that I was doing a good job with the food storage stuff. And when I stand back and look at it, I really like what I see. I need to do more with the long term storage, not just bulk storing. I need to start acquiring things like rice, beans, canned veggies, flour, sugar, salt (think Oregon trail-- haha) to stay outside and not go into our food consumption rotation. I've been able to replace my peanut butter stockpile recently and that was neat. I now have 6 jars outside and 3 inside. We know we'll eat them up, but it's nice to have them in reserve. I also recently got 8 boxes of cookie and corn muffin mix for FREE. Do we neeeeeed cookie mix boxes? Eh, probably not. But they really were FREE so I don't think it matters that they are out there. We still have a decent pile of pasta going on. I love reaching there for a pasta meal instead of paying full price at the store! We also recently stocked big time on crackers. Right now there are 4 boxes of saltines and two boxes of ritz. But they'll eventually be eaten up. Kroger Mega Event deals have been awesome.

Next harvest season, I'd like to look into seriously giving canning an attempt. That would be a huge addition to our food storage efforts. The other thing I want to start doing is WATER saving. I'm going to plan on buying my friend Nancy's (who's here weekly) favorite drink in 2 liters so I can keep the bottles after she uses them, rinse them and fill with good drinking water for storage. Glenn Beck's website advices a gal of water per person per day of storage goal--- the long term goal is to have enough food stored for a year... oh, ha, I hadn't mentioned that yet had I? well, um there it is. And anyhow, that's a lot of water, huh?! The short term goal would be a week. and then the next goal would be a month, then three months and then built up to 6 months and then the year's worth. THEN comes cycling. Be/c obviously you can't just leave a year's worth of food items in a room and call it a day. Things will expire. So we'd have to start buying for the house, and putting the new items outside and putting the older items inside, but we aren't there yet. *wink* not by a long shot. Are we becoming one of the crazy American families who think the government is bound for complete corruption (if it isn't already) and total failure and complete crash of the economy? Perhaps. If it doesn't though, and we have all this food stored, think about the money we're saving in the process since I'm coupon obsessed now...

Oh back to the chocolate chip news... Publix BOGO deals ROCK! Today I spent

$16.12, savings: $33.81. WOOOOT! Saving money rocks!

Planning for uncertainty also rocks. Even if I'm now labeled as extra crazy.... since I was well, crazy already. HA!

My chocolate chip pile... it needs a little tidying up, but shhh! (and then you also see the pringles pile from the Kroger Mega Event a few weeks ago)

condiments section: mayo, mustard, salsa, BBQ sauce, rotel, coffeemate, salad dressings, syrup, red sauce, peanuts, instant potato bags, peanut butter, crackers, baking mixes, rice packets, pasta boxes....