Does Food Storage Pay Off? Yes it does!

As you may know hubby has recently lost his job and we have struggled to find a new one locally.  Interesting times for those of us living paycheck to paycheck!  But at least I have one thing I don't need to worry about and that's food!  Nothing makes you feel worse than having to choose between food or electricity.

We have taken food storage very seriously ever since the crises of 2008 when the falling economy made my husbands job disappear.  It was not a fun year and we had some big revelations.  So now I have supplies of all the staples we use.  Every year I can a years supply of fruit for us to have every day and I also bought a huge supply of mandarin oranges and pears (which I couldn't find free for canning), all the fruit I can I either get free or very cheap.  We still have about 15 cans peaches, 6 cans apples sauce, 10 cans cherries, 15 cans pears, and 7 cans mandarin oranges to last us.  Cherry canning season is almost here so I will soon be replenishing our canned cherries.  We eat fruit at every dinner so I need allot of canned fruit to get us through a full year.

We have also taken food security further by having laying hens, meat rabbits, planting fruit trees and berries, and having a huge garden every year. I want to have our own fruit for canning so I don't have to ask other people for their unused produce.       I don't ever buy eggs and if we needed to we could survive just on the protein from our eggs, and the occasional rabbit.

But my big feeling of security comes from having a well stocked basement full of foods to get us through hard times.  We have built it up slowly, we can't afford those expensive dehydrated food packages.  Anyone can do what we do. I buy most of my foods in the bulk departments of WINCO.

The things I have stocked for emergencies?  Rice, flour, sugars, salt, cooking oils and fats, leavening agents, canned milk, coffee, tea, noodles, beans, cocoa mix, spices, drink mixes, canned veggies/meats/fruits/dinners, medical supplies and medications, toiletries, etc.

The thing about this is that all the above food we actually use on a daily basis.  These items will not just sit down there until they expire, I cycle them all the time.  That's really what people should do when buying food storage. You need to be able to eat your food and enjoy it.  But I do know from looking at prices that the food I have bought a year or two ago has gone up at least 25% and upwards of 100% in some cases.  That is money saved in my opinion.

The Cold Room - An Essential To Winter Food Storage

Back in the days of homesteading there were several ways to store food so that is would last you all winter.  Canning was an option but most homesteaders didn't have the money or the ability to bring breakable glass jars with them out to the west.  Pickling was good but it effected the flavor of food.  Salting and drying were also important but the change in flavor was also pronounced and the procedures were time consuming for a people already working dawn till late in the evening just to survive.

So many people used the root cellar or cold room to store produce from the garden and orchard and smoked meats.  This form of preservation extended the viability of fresh fruits and veggies with minimal effort.  Canning is great, but it takes lots of time, energy (fuel), and expensive equipment.

When we first looked at the house one of the things I loved about it was the huge basement.  It already had shelves for canned goods and room for much more.  But the problem with the basement is that it is very dry and warm, even in the dead of winter with the furnace off (we use our wood stove to heat the house).

Things like fresh apples and carrots need almost freezing temperatures with good humidity to keep in long storage.  So instead of using our basement I decided to try our enclosed back porch.  At one time it was just a back porch, but during some point the owners enclosed it.  I painted it the colors you see and intended to use it as a sewing room.  It stays very very cold in winter and is slightly humid.  We call it the dog room because that's where the dog has his food and water dish.  Really it is a multipurpose mud/coat room, dog room, cold storage room, and a place I keep all my baking supplies in winter.

I keep all my big baking items like flour, beans, fats, and sugars out here in the winter because my kitchen is so small and lacking in space.  In the summer this doesn't work because it heats the food up too much so these items either go back in the kitchen or down to the basement to stay cool.  Then into the space they exited I put items I use more often in summer like my canning supplies and pots.  The coffee containers hold dried apples, raisins, and other snacks.


This fall I bought close to 100 lbs of apples from a local farmer at 10 cents a pound for our winter use.  Much of them went to applesauce but I kept 3 boxes for fresh eating.  I bought Gala's for winter storage because they have a very good long storage life.  Some apples are just for immediate use, so if you buy them in bulk for winter use make sure they are renowned for good storage.  We go through 2 to 4 apples per day so buying them in bulk from the farmer is wise and saves a ton of money.

The experiment was simple.  I put the apples in cardboard boxes (they must have some ventilation to allow the natural gasses they produce to escape) closed the lids slightly and then put them under the white table.  they have done amazing and now we are at the end of January with one box left.  During an unseasonal freeze where temps went below zero I only lost a few to freezing in a box that was almost empty and the lid left open.  All the rest are in good condition and still are firm and crunchy.

The Wood Cook Stove you see is a Lang Junior and about 100 years old in perfect condition.  This spring we are going to hook it up in the living room.  I got it for a steal at a yard sale for $150.00!

As a note you cannot store apples and potatoes together even thought they have very similar storage needs.  This is because apples let off a gas that causes the potatoes to sprout.

Vacuum Packing Rice

The other day I accidentally split a 25 lb bag of rice and had no buckets or containers to put it in.  So I decided to try out my new vacuum packer.  This was my first time doing it and it was kinda fun.  Very fast and easy and a great way to store grains.  No little bugs can get in there but I still have to protect them from mice.  Even though I have yet to see any sign of mice I always assume they are around!  By the way I really hate mice!

First packaging up the rice

Next vacuum seal it

All Done!

7 Bags and maybe 10 minutes of work.  Now my rice wont be spoiled.