Daily Preparedness

When contemplating your food storage plan, remember to provide a wide variety of foods. This point was driven home for our family this past week when we discovered that our daughter can no longer eat any food that contains eggs, dairy in any form from any mammal, wheat, barley, rye, spelt, pork, game meat, packaged foods and only a little bit of beef. It is almost easier to list what she can eat! Her dietary restrictions could send us into even more of a tail spin if we had not stored a wide variety of grains, such as rice, oats and quinoa.

In addition to the dietary restrictions, we suddenly find ourselves having to learn to cook all sorts of new items and rely solely on home-prepared foods. If I had previously relied on packaged foods and had not acquired a variety of skills, a strong knowledge base and research skills this speed bump would have turned into a complete nightmare.  She would be eating Rice Chex 24-hours a day!

Regardless of dietary restrictions, everyone should store a variety of grains. Some which can keep for at least 30 years, are relatively affordable and available include hard wheat, white rice (brown rice has more oil, so will not keep as long), oats, barley, rye, spelt, triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye), and quinoa. If you store a variety of grains, you will be able to accommodate not only a variety of dietary needs, but prevent developing an intolerance to one grain. Variety also allows you greater flexibility in meal planning and the ability to ‘hide’ more whole grains in everyday foods.

In addition to grains, store some sugars in the form of white sugar, brown sugar, honey, agave, powdered sugar and maple sugar.

Variety is also important when choosing dehydrated or freeze-dried foods. Whether you purchase them dehydrated or dehydrate themselves, balance your storage items so that you have greater flexibility in meal planning. Balance yellow (carrots, wax beans) and green vegetables (green beans, cabbage, broccoli). Have a variety of fruits as well.

Even the lowly dried bean offers a smorgasbord of choices. Just as they vary in color and size, beans vary in nutritional value. Choose from pintos, black beans, garbanzos, navy beans, Great Northern beans, kidney beans and red beans. Each variety lends itself to different applications–mix together they can be wonderful!

One of the most important aspects of variety in food storage is in your storage of spices and flavorings. If you are forced to really rely on your food storage, a good dose of flavor will add palate appeal and variety to the most basic of ingredients. Don’t forget the basics of salt, pepper, garlic, onions, chili powder, ginger, cumin, Italian seasonings, bay leaves, curry and dry mustard. Consider stocking up on bullion cubes or powders. For flavorings, think about a choice of extracts such as vanilla, maple, lemon, mint and orange.

Of course, you also have to know how to cook with these things, so begin NOW to learn! If you know how to cook, experiment with new flavors and ingredients.

Variety is truly the spice of life, but it also can prevent the development of food intolerances and make your food storage truly usable. As you incorporate new flavors, textures and grains into your diet, your nutritional status will improve and you will be better prepared to meet any speed bump you encounter on your culinary travels!

Bowing to intense public pressure, it looks like the regulatory agency responsible for enforcing the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, slated to go into effect February 10, 2009, may be backing off a bit. Though the two-member commission cannot change the law (that is up to Congress), they can decide how it will be enforced. Currently, they are saying that those who sell second-hand items (including toys, books, clothing, bedding, etc) intended for use by children under the age of 12 may do so without having the items independently tested for lead content. However, the second-hand seller is responsible to remove all items which have been recalled. This added bit of diligence is costly in terms of man-hours and may continue to preclude stores from accepting baby and child items. There is also a bit of gray area surrounding the liability of second-hand sellers with regards to selling items that are later found to contain lead.

The exceptions do not apply to anyone producing anything for sale that is intended for a child (and don’t even try to confuse that with clever labelling or marketing strategies). Small business owners who cannot afford the costly testing are likely to be forced out of business.

Until the new law takes effect, policies and interpretations are likely to remain fluid. Even after the enactment date, the reality of the law may not be felt.

If you have been on task with preparing your yearly budgetary guidelines, you now know how you spend your money, how you will spend your money and what your goals are. One of the easiest and smartest ways to remain on task is to monitor and cut your weekly expenditure for groceries. And the best way to do that is to begin a food storage program.

How do you save money storing food?

• Take advantage of sales and coupons for products you use frequently. REALLY smart shoppers can reduce their food bill by more than 50 - 75%. Some products end up free.
• Reduce your dependency on carry-out or eat-in restaurants.
• Cut the number of times you go to the store, which is an important step in trimming the budget!
• Eat a greater variety of foods which contributes to a healthier you.
• Protect yourself from sudden cycles of inflation.
• Buy in bulk and greatly reduce your per item cost.
• Increase your sense of security, knowing that you can always feed your family.
• A freezer enables you to take advantage of deep discounts on meat and other frozen items. A freezer will also allow you to ‘cook ahead’, thus saving you time, money and energy costs. Don’t forget that many meal components can be frozen, such as chopped onions, cooked meat and vegetables.
• A freezer will allow you to ‘cook ahead’ for busy morning breakfasts, workday lunches and hurried dinners! Huge money savers!!

How to begin with a food storage program?

• Develop that basic shopping list that we already talked about. What items do you routinely purchase?
• Keep that list with you and when you see a sale, purchase as many as you can reasonably afford. Be certain to check for expiration dates. Know the difference between ‘best by’ (when the product is at its optimum), ‘use by’ (some foods can safely be eaten–especially canned goods–this date if they stored and prepared properly), and expiration date (the food may not be safe for long after this date).
• Your first goal should be a 30-day supply of foods you routinely eat. Include in this 30-day supply a 2 week supply of food that can be eaten with little or no power.
• Educate yourself about how to store the food you wish to use. (More on this later)
• Seek out resources for purchasing basic foods in large quantities. Always be certain to double check the price per pound/unit before purchasing in bulk.
• Seek out and find the areas of your home in which you can store food.
• Store a variety of foods.
• Work towards a year’s supply of basic commodities. This includes foods that can be stored for up to or exceeding 30 years, such as whole grains, beans, sugar, salt and some canned goods.
• Learn to cook with your food storage and introduce it into your family’s diet.
• Store a number of meal ingredients or complete meals that anyone old enough to safely cook can prepare on those ‘horrible, no good, very bad days’ when you might be tempted to pick up pizza.
• Store foods for times of sickness. Canned soups, gelatin mixes, pastas and other ‘gentle’ foods are good choices.

Where to store your food?

• Nearly all food will store for the longest period of time when it is kept cool, dry and away from direct light.
• Not all food needs to be in kitchen!
• Store foods by category whenever possible.
• When installing shelving for food storage, be certain that you anchor the shelves to wall studs.
• Put bed risers on every bed in your house and store food under them. If your children are very young, you might want to add safety rails to the sides of their bed to prevent them from falling too far.  Cardboard flats of vegetables are a great thing to store under beds. You can keep like vegetables together and keep the cans organized with the boxes. They slide out easily!
• The bottoms of closets are a great place! Instead of using this space as a breeding ground for dust bunnies, put it to work for you!
• Look up–high shelves in closets can easily store a variety of goods. Install extra shelving in every closet that you can. Foods in glass jars can be stored on sturdy shelves above your washer and drier. This has become our ’second pantry’ and provides easy to find storage for a huge variety of foods!
• High kitchen cabinets are great places for dry storage items such as rice, sugar, pasta. Store other goods in those hard to reach backs of lower cabinets.
• Utilize every glass and plastic food safe container you get! Look for the ‘PETE’ symbol which signifies that the container is food safe. ‘Juicy Juice’ type bottles can be washed in the dishwasher without the dry cycle and used to store a wide variety of foods. They often fit on the narrow shelves attached to closet doors. Glass jars with ‘pop top’ safety lids can be resealed to store dry goods (but not utilized for home canning).
• Canning jars make wonderful storage containers. They can be sealed with a ‘foodsaver’ type device and provide insect and rodent free storage. Sizes vary from 4 ounces to gallons.
• Ask for empty large sized jars from daycare centers, restaurants and other mass-feeding places.
• Most goods should be removed from their original paper packaging before storing.
• Plastic totes can store plastic bags of food such as powdered sugar and beans.
• Learn which foods can be stored without losing quality in your garage. Be certain that containers are tight so that you don’t invite critters. Sugars and salt can safely be stored in your garage. For more specific temperature guidelines, check the National Center for Home Food Preservation website.
• Analyze every room of your house to see if you can put up heavy-duty shelving for food storage and then disguise it.
• Food in packages can be stored in new metal garbage cans with lids. Add a ‘decorator round’ tablecloth and you have an end table.
• Dry basements are often the ideal environment as they stay cooler than the rest of the house.
• If you are storing in a variety of places, keep a directory of what you keep where.
• Ask at your local bakery for the plastic buckets that they receive their icing in. These make great food storage containers! If you line them with mylar bags, they are essentially rodent and insect proof. Just be certain to wash the buckets thoroughly.
• Food grade plastic storage containers are available in a wide variety of sizes and types. If you are investing in more than a few, seek out wholesalers and those that sell to the commercial food trade.
• Disguise lightweight items, such as pasta, in decorative baskets or other containers (IKEA is often a good resource) and place on open shelving in any room.

How much should I store?

• First, do NOT go into debt to obtain your food storage. Do NOT purchase over-priced ‘kits’ of food storage. Effective food storage programs require that they be tailored to your family needs. Keep in mind food allergies, sensitivities and the ages of your family members.
• A 30-day supply for two adults would most likely include 15 lb. of meat (mix of frozen  & canned), 1 lb of crackers, 10lb of sugar, 5 lbs of dry beans, 20 lb of whole grain (rice, oats, corn, wheat), 10 lb of pasta, 2 lb of butter/margarine, 1/2 gallon of cooking oil, 15 cans of vegetables, 10 cans of tomato sauce, 10 cans of fruit, 2 lb of dried fruit, 10 cans of soup/stew/chili, 5 lb of flour, 1 box of pancake mix, 1 bottle of pancake syrup, 1 large jar of jelly/jam, 2 lb of peanut butter, 1 jar of years, 1 lb of salt, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, 2 lb of powdered milk or equivalent in shelf-stable milk, 1 lb of Parmesan cheese or other shelf-stable cheese, a variety of cold cereals, spices & flavorings. This 30-day supply includes 2 weeks of food requiring minimal preparation. You will, of course, want to add or subtract foods according to your own tastes and needs!
• A simple way to develop your own 30-day supply is to write out menus for two weeks. Develop a shopping list based on that menu and then double it. Don’t forget items you do not replenish frequently such as salt, baking soda, etc.
• Once you have a 30-day supply, consider doubling the amounts stored until you have a 60-day supply, incorporating more long-term storage foods such as whole grains, dried beans, sugar and salt. When you achieve the 60-day supply, work towards a 90-day supply and then add predominately long-term storage items.

How do I use food storage so that I do not waste money?

• This is an important component of an effective food storage program! You do not want to store food and simply have to throw it away.
• Rotate the food so that the newest food goes to the back of the storage area. This is fairly simple to do, especially if you store foods by categories. For instance, if you store all of your cold cereal in one place, you simply place the new boxes at the bottom of the stack or at the back of the row. This same principle is used in every grocery store and is often referred to as ‘first in, first out’.
• Mark expiration dates on sensitive foods (such as mayonnaise) clearly on the outside of the package. Keep a permanent marker handy for just this purpose. A quick glance at your storage will alert you to the fact, for instance, you have two jars of mayonnaise that are going to expire in the next two months. Adjust your menus and plans to accommodate items due to expire.
• When you find an item at a super-good price, work it into your menus!
• If you are storing long-term items, work them slowly into your family’s menus. One way to do this is to grind beans or grains and slowly add them to soups, stews or use as a thickening agent for gravies. Add just a few beans to a vegetable soup or stew. Wheat can be boiled and added to chili, spaghetti, soups and other foods.
• Experiment with new recipes that utilize items from your storage or that you find on sale.

Storing food is a proven way to not only save you money, but ease the stress of ‘what’s for dinner’, save energy, improve the quality of your diet, reduce your time in the kitchen and allow you be more self-sufficient. It is a wise, provident and easy thing to do that will enable your family to be prepared for many of life’s events! It is, ‘a good thing’ so start today. Start slowly, work diligently and be richly blessed for your efforts.

Alert all of you savvy children’s clothing shopping gurus–it looks like new regulations under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act going into effect February 10th may very likely jeopardize the ability of we frugal folks to obtain used children’s clothing. Thrift shop owners and consignment brokers fear that the new law, which requires extensive third party testing of all children’s products, will shut down their ability to sell anything for children. Yes, that is right–no more ‘in great condition’ OshKosh B’Gosh overalls at your local thrift store. Likewise, yard sales, eBay and Craigslist sales may be in jeopardy. Not only might you want to check now to see if your local thrift store is clearing out children’s clothes, watch for huge clearance sales on items in regular retailers. The law is retroactive, so goods already manufactured and shipped will force retailers to dump the merchandise.

Take note that clothing, toys, etc. made for resale by individuals, artisans and small manufacturers, such as those that produce ‘organic’ baby articles, will also be affected. Many are declaring bankruptcy based on their inability to sell items they have already made or utilize inventory on hand.

If you would like to read more details, check out the L.A. Times article at:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story

Before we get into our next face of grasping your financial bull by the horns, check out the new page entitled ‘Frugalmania’‘. The tab is at the top of the page and it will direct you to the first four categories of frugality tips. Have one to share? Email it to us! New categories will be added shortly and the newest items in each category will be written in italics.

All self-promotion aside, if you followed the instructions from last week’s post, you should have a clear idea of where you stand financially. You should know how much money you make, how much you spend, how much you owe and how much you have saved. Don’t you feel clever? You should and now it is time to make some decisions and plans to reach your GOAL ! ! ! !

It is time to sit down, plan, think, confer, decide, make a list, plot a course and move onward. The only tools you will need is the financial information you have gathered, a pencil, a calendar, a calculator and a notebook or other sturdy type of writing surface.

First, if you are in debt and have not already done so, go through last week’s check list and slice everything you haven’t sliced from your budget. Your primary goal will be to get out of debt as soon as possible, build up an emergency nest egg and STAY OUT OF DEBT! Keep that in mind as we move forward with making plans.

Look at your nice blank calendar for the year. Fill in all gift giving occasions, including birthdays, known weddings, holidays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduations, Valentine’s Day, Easter and Thanksgiving. Why Thanksgiving? No gifts are involved but there are usually increased food and social costs so you need to plan for them. If you have detailed enough records, look back and see if your spending spiked during these periods. Was it a reasonable amount or was it too much? Either way, you will need to work these extra expenses into your savings plan.

Do any of these events incur travel expenses? Can you afford that? Can you plan far enough ahead to cut your costs? If they are family events, can extended family members help with travel expenses so that they can meet your new little bundle of joy? Estimate realistically what these trips are going to cost you.

On your piece of paper, develop a budget for these events and divide the cost over the next 12 months. Add that amount to your savings projections.

It might be helpful at this point to start a spread sheet or a month-by-month cost analysis for the major categories. It will help you keep track of what you are saving for and the amount you have available to you. Only you and your family can prioritize many of these categories and decide where you can or want to cut back.

Next, write down any household repairs, car repairs (including emissions, safety, tires, etc), or major items you know you will need for the next year. Add those amounts up and divide by 12. Enter into your monthly expense chart.

Now, you get to write down things you would like to purchase or trips you would like to take. Think about even mundane things such as a new mattress, a new freezer or new television. Set a realistic budget for these items. It might be worthwhile to do some research about the items you believe you want to purchase, typical prices, features, etc. so that you can be prepared.

If you can chart all of these items in addition to the ‘regular’ household expenses you previously figured out and still have money left over–wahoo! You have a plan!

If you cannot cover all of your regular expenses and pay off your debts while covering these other expenses, you will have to cut items from your newly formed ‘wish list’ and/or your regular expenses.

For those that are out of debt and saving on schedule, the purpose of the exercise is for you to identify not only what you might need for the next year, but what you want. If you and your family/spouse agree on the list of priorities, your discretionary income will be better channeled. The biggest secondary benefit is that by identifying the items you will need/want for the coming year and doing the preliminary research, you will be prepared to pounce on a good deal when you find it.

Example:

You want a new stainless steel refrigerator. It is on your list and everyone agrees that it is a good idea for the coming year. You do some preliminary research to know what size your kitchen can hold, what features you want, which brands are best and the expected cost. You have the money set aside, but no strict deadline for purchase. One day, you stop at a store for an item and decide to browse through the appliances. And there it is–your perfect stainless steel refrigerator with every feature you want and it is the last floor model. It is marked 50% off the normal price. Eureka–you did it! You knew what you wanted, what it should cost (so you knew the 50% off was really 50% off the retail) and had the money!

Likewise, if you want to go to cousin Freddy wedding in August, you know it will cost your family $2000 to go. You’ve carefully shopped for hotels, tickets and even calculated in the cost of clothing. By doing your analysis, you see that you simply are not going to have the $2000 in time. You will know have to decide if there is another way to accomplish your goal (can one family member go or could you find a cheaper place to stay?) or decide that going to cousin Freddy’s wedding is not something you can do this year. If you can afford it, you have plenty of time to shop, plan, bargain hunt and get the best possible prices on everything before August.

Having a plan also helps develop self-control. It is easier to tell yourself, “I don’t really need this dress and I want to go to cousin Freddy’s wedding more” than it is to tell yourself just plain “No”.

If your goal is to simply get out of debt (and that is a FABULOUS PLAN that should be your first plan), give yourself a visual reminder of that goal. Fill an empty jar with beans. Mark the jar (a permanent marker will write on glass) in increments of debt, proportionate to the debt and your time table for paying it off. It can work best if your first few marks are fairly small amounts–say what you can pay off in a week’s time. You can lengthen the increments as you get further into the plan.  For example, if I had $10,000 in consumer debt that I was going to pay off in the next year,  I would make my first mark at $200 which would be a little bit more than one week’s ‘pay down’. I would do this for the first several months worth of weeks and then lengthen it to monthly. Unless you need constant re-enforcement! You might add a bean to your wallet to remind you of your goal. As you pay off that debt, take out the beans to that line. When the jar is empty, you are FREE!! Pat yourself on the back, roast a marshmallow, sing a song and enjoy the freedom–then stay that way!

Having a plan helps family members understand cut backs in other areas and gives you a common goal to work towards. Just remember to keep saying, “Nothing feels as good, looks as good or tastes as good as being financially free!”