Preparing your family for an emergency is essential. Food storage plays a big part in your emergency preparedness plan. Having and maintaining a food storage supply can be a life-saving act and ensure the health and safety of you and your family.
Disaster can strike at any time. Mother Nature is unpredictable and not so forgiving at times. Whether your family is facing a natural disaster like an earthquake, hurricane and flooding or you are a victim of unemployment, food storage may “save the day” or at least relief some stress. Is your family prepared to face an emergency? The suggested food supply for most families is a year supply to start (two years is best). This may seem overwhelming especially if you haven’t even started to store any food or supplies for your family. There many reasons you should have some sort of food storage set up for your family. You need to be self-reliant and able to sustain your family in case resources are cut off for short or long periods of time.
If you are not sure where to start with your food storage then here are some suggestions to help you begin a proper storage supply for you and your family:
One of the most important things to remember is to always store things that your family will eat. There is no use in buying food items you don’t like or things your family members won’t enjoy eating. It is almost impossible to rotate your storage if you cannot eat and use the food.
Rotate your food storage. It is very important to rotate the things your store. Food doesn’t last forever and it doesn’t make sense to spend money on something you are not going to utilize. Buy your food storage items regularly while you use and alternate the supplies you have on hand.
Put a small amount of money aside each week and buy certain things that are on sale. Case lot sales and warehouse stores are good resources for beginning to build your food storage supply.
You need to store other items besides food. Paper products, first aid supplies, medications and personal care items such as toothbrushes, shampoo, toothpaste etc are all necessities your family will need.
Make a list or a calendar of things you will need and the items you already have so you can organize a system to help you get all of the supplies that needed to sustain your family.