Food Storage for a Family of Two on Five Dollars a Week

A friend of mine gave me this list with a gift of some pantry basics (such as flour and salt) at my bridal shower. I just think this list is so cool, so I thought I would share it with you.

I have provided my personal notes and tips at the very bottom (right below the items and total amounts you will end up with at the end of the year).

This list provides the information needed to create a one-year food storage for a family of two. For every two additional people in your family, add $5.00 more and double the amount of the item you are buying for that week. So, for a family of four, it would be $10.00 a week instead. Still, very reasonable!

Food Storage on Five Dollars a Week
for a Family of Two
January 2007

Week 1--6 lbs salt
Week 2--5 cans cream of chicken soup
Week 3--20 lbs sugar
Week 4--8 cans tomato soup
Week 5--50 lbs wheat
Week 6--6 lbs macaroni
Week 7--20 lbs sugar
Week 8--8 cans tuna
Week 9--6 lbs yeast
Week 10--50 lbs wheat
Week 11--8 cans tomato soup
Week 12--20 lbs sugar
Week 13--10 lbs powdered milk
Week 14--7 boxes macaroni and cheese
Week 15--50 lbs wheat
Week 16--5 cans cream of chicken soup
Week 17--1 bottle 500 multi-vitamins
Week 18--10 lbs powdered milk
Week 19--5 cans cream of mushroom soup
Week 20--50 lbs wheat
Week 21--8 cans tomato soup
Week 22--20 lbs sugar
Week 23--8 cans tuna
Week 24--6 lbs shortening
Week 25--50 lbs wheat
Week 26--5 lbs honey
Week 27--10 lbs powdered milk
Week 28--20 lbs sugar
Week 29--5 lbs peanut butter
Week 30--50 lbs wheat
Week 31--7 boxes macaroni and cheese
Week 32--10 lbs powdered milk
Week 33--1 bottle 500 aspirin
Week 34--5 cans cream of mushroom soup
Week 35--50 lbs wheat
Week 36--7 boxes macaroni and cheese
Week 37--6 lbs salt
Week 38--20 lbs sugar
Week 39--8 cans tomato soup
Week 40--50 lbs wheat
Week 41--5 cans cream of chicken soup
Week 42--20 lbs sugar
Week 43--1 bottle 500 multi-vitamins
Week 44--8 cans tuna
Week 45--50 lbs wheat
Week 46--6 lbs macaroni
Week 47--20 lbs sugar
Week 48--5 cans cream of mushroom soup
Week 49--5 lbs honey
Week 50--20 lbs sugar
Week 51--8 cans tomato soup
Week 52--50 lbs wheat

Some weeks you will have leftover change. Save the change each week to be used for the weeks that you may exceed $5.00. At the end of the year, you will end up with:

500 pounds of wheat
180 pounds of sugar
40 pounds of powdered milk
12 pounds of salt
10 pounds of honey
6 pounds of yeast
6 pounds of shortening
12 pounds of macaroni
5 pounds of peanut butter
40 cans of tomato soup
15 cans cream of mushroom soup
15 cans cream of chicken soup
24 cans tuna
21 boxes macaroni and cheese
500 aspirin
1000 multi-vitamins

My personal notes and tips:

1. One of the things I mentioned in my last blog post (which I consider to be VERY important) is don't stock your food storage with foods you don't like/hate/won't eat! If something happens and you have to rely on your food storage, do you want to be hating life because you are detesting every morsel of food that is going into your mouth? No! So, if you detest canned tuna, replace it with something you WILL eat. Perhaps you would rather have more macaroni and cheese on hand because it is one of your favorite things to eat. Or, mix it up. Maybe you could replace your hated food item for a store-able food favorite that isn't on this list. For instance, you could stock up on Ramen noodles. If you hate cream of mushroom soup, replace it with more cream of chicken soup or cream of celery, asparagus, or potato. Would you get sick of only having macaroni? Get other kinds of pasta for your food storage as well. Be creative! But I must say this, if you don't like wheat, you'd better learn to like it! Ha ha!
   
2. Watch for sales. The order of this list isn't set in stone. If there is an amazing sale on pasta, don't wait until the sale is over to stock up on your macaroni! Perhaps your store is having a case-lot sale. You could get your year's worth of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup in one week and save a ton of money! Take advantage of the sales when they happen.
3. Pay attention to the tastes of your family. I would personally also stock up on chicken broth. I use it in a ton of stuff. Check the grocery store for other options that would work for your family as food storage. Instant potatoes/potato flakes and rice are other good choices for food storage. Canned vegetables, such as corn and green beans are also a good option. So, you can add your favorites in addition to or in lieu of another item. For instance, I don't use 40 cans of tomato soup a year--by itself or in recipes. So, I could buy half that or a quarter of that and swap canned vegetables for the remaining number of cans.
4. Use a marker or sharpie and write the date you bought each item. Also, highlight, circle, or write the expiration date as well. You can't just buy a year's worth of food storage and let it sit for 10-30 years. The shelf life of each item varies. Some items CAN actually sit for 10-30 years. Others will need to be replaced much sooner than that. The items that need to be replaced should be consumed before they go bad--otherwise it's a waste of money! The purpose of food storage is to provide food for your family to actually eat--in good times and in bad. That's another reason to only buy things that you and your family like to eat.
5. Rotate your food storage. After you have built your year's worth of food storage, you're going to want to start using it and replacing it. Some things will last longer than others before they expire (such as salt and sugar). Other things will need to be used sooner. So, start using your cream of chicken soup and then replace it with newly bought (and dated) cream of chicken soup which you can then add to your food storage to replace the food you used.
6. Some items have an amazingly long shelf life. Powdered milk is good for 20 years! Wheat is good for 30 years! Crazy! So, you won't have to replace those items each year (just increase them as your family grows). Check out this link regarding food storage shelf life.
   
7. Don't forget to buy necessary food preparation items such as a wheat grinder. It sure would stink to need to use the wheat but have nothing to grind it with and no idea what to do with it once it's ground!
8. Once you have your wheat, you don't have to worry about buying it again the following year (unless your family has gotten larger and you have more people to buy for). In that case, I would suggest replacing it on the list with all-purpose or wheat flour the following year. Flour is something that everyone uses in everyday cooking. Sure, it's shelf life isn't nearly as long as wheat, but it's more practical for everyday use. If your spouse loses their job, and money for groceries is tight, are you going to want to break out your wheat and wheat grinder or draw upon your stash of flour? I would say most people would prefer using flour.
9. Create a collection of recipes that you can make using your food storage. Sure, it's great to have all of this stuff, but do you know how to make anything with it? You can purchase a cookbook, such as this one, that contains food storage recipes. Or, you can research recipes online. Here is a good online resource.
   

Most of these items can be purchased in your grocery store. However, for longer term food storage--the ones that will last 10-30 years (items such as wheat), it might be easier to purchase it from a food storage store or center. Those items would not need to be replaced (except 30 years from now). You can do a Google search and find a ton of places to purchase food storage from. Here is one option.

Here is a list of other long-term food storage options, their shelf-life, and their cost.

It's just a good idea to be prepared! I'm not trying to use scare-tactics or sensationalism (I hate when people do that!). The world isn't going to end tomorrow. But things happen and it's nice to have a plan so that you can provide and care for your family.

I appreciated my friend passing this list on to me. It has a lot of good information that can be used as a basis to create a personal food storage for your family's needs. It's just handy information to have and when it is broken down like this, it makes acquiring a food storage seem much easier to afford and organize. I hope you find this list to be useful too!

Building a Pantry: Pantry Basics

Everyone's pantry is different--because everyone has their own food favorites. So, this is just a guideline, but I thought it might be helpful to have a list of some items to have in your pantry. It takes some time to stock up on all of these things, but once you have a well-stocked pantry, it makes cooking a lot easier. It gives you a lot more choices and makes grocery shopping less expensive. And the great thing about a well-stocked pantry is that you never run out of everything all at once. So, once your pantry is stocked, upkeep doesn't cost a whole lot.

A well-stocked pantry is the beginning of (or a cousin to) your own personal food storage supply.

One tip: don't stock foods that you don't like! If you hate canned corn, why in the world would you keep it in your pantry? You won't eat it and it will either go bad, or you will end up donating it to the food bank or to the scouts when they are collecting canned foods for the food bank. A worthy cause, yes. But it's not the way to stock your cupboards. I learned that the hard way. I found a great deal where you could buy canned vegetables for a reduced price if you bought ten cans at once. I bought some great vegetables that I actually ate (like corn and green beans), but I also bought canned peas. I'd never eaten canned peas before, but I thought I'd give them a try. I HATED them. In my opinion, they are ugly (a muted army green color as opposed to the bright green that you get with frozen peas), they are mushy, and they don't taste that great. Yeah, I gave them to the scouts.

So, the pantry list I am providing is just a guideline. Skip the things you don't like or won't use. Also, I would love to hear what you consider to be pantry basics that I might have excluded from my list.

Also, don't stock your fridge with perishables that you won't use before they go bad. If you don't use cheddar cheese that much, don't stock it. Only buy it when you need it for a specific recipe. But if you use it all the time, make sure it's always in the fridge so that you can use it in a pinch if you decide to make a certain favorite recipe that calls for cheddar at the last minute.

The freezer is a great resource. I just included some ideas in that section. Am I saying that you aren't well-stocked if you don't have steak in your freezer? No! I'm just saying that if it's something you enjoy and you find it on sale but don't have plans to use it soon, buy it and freeze it and then you can have steak on hand when you want it! That goes for all of the items listed in the freezer section. You don't have to keep every single item listed there in your freezer all the time in order to be well-stocked. Those are just items that are freezer friendly that come in handy when you're trying to come up with a last minute dinner.

Finally, I included a garden section. I know a garden isn't a part of your pantry, but it goes a long way towards stretching your food budget and your dinner possibilities. I included a list of easy herbs/spices and vegetables to grow. You don't need a ton of space for a garden. Even a little corner of your yard will do. Or, you could grow herbs and keep them in pots on the window sill in your kitchen and then you have fresh herbs available all year long.

And mark my words, I've had fruit trees in the past and someday, I'll have fruit trees again. I had an apple tree which I adored. I made all sorts of fun things with those apples: dried apples, applesauce, strudels, crumbles, etc. Besides, apples keep fresh in the fridge forever! I was eating apples two months after I had picked them and they were still delicious. Oh yes, I will have an apple tree again someday. Besides, does anything beat being able to just pick an apple off the tree and eat it in your own yard? I don't think so!

My in-laws had a cherry tree which sadly died this winter. It bore the most luscious cherries I've ever eaten...and we all know how expensive cherries are at the grocery store or even at the farmer's market. They also have a pear tree that grows the most to-die-for pears I've had. Yum! We are saving up for a house of our own and when we do get it, I'm going to plant some fruit trees and bushes! Apples, pears, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, maybe apricots or peaches...hmmm. I'm going to need a big yard!

But I hope you find this pantry basics list helpful. Again, I would love to hear what basics I might have missed that you can't live without!

Pantry Basics

Pantry:

Bread crumbs (plain, Italian, panko)
Taco seasoning
Ranch dressing packets
Italian dressing packets
Cream of chicken soup
Cream of mushroom soup
Broth (chicken, beef, and vegetable)
Worcestershire sauce
Soy sauce
Teriyaki sauce
Balsamic vinegar
Red wine vinegar
White wine vinegar
Apple cider vinegar
Distilled white vinegar
Olive oil
Vegetable oil
Vanilla extract
Instant mashed potatoes
Rice (brown, white, basmati)
Flour (all-purpose, wheat)
Sugar (granulated and powdered)
Salt
Pepper
Baking soda
Baking powder
Cornstarch
Honey
Brown sugar
Cocoa
Cornmeal
Bisquick
Grains (oats, wheat germ, quinoa, etc.)
Pasta (spaghetti, linguine, penne, lasagna, fettucine, macaroni, couscous, egg noodles, etc.)
Marinara/pasta sauce
Peanut butter
Canned tomatoes (whole peeled, puree, sauce, diced, stewed, paste, etc.)
Canned beans (black, white, pinto, chili, etc.)
Side dish staples/favorites (corn bread mix, couscous, Rice-Roni, etc.)
Canned diced green chiles
Canned chipotle chiles in adobo
Canned vegetables (sliced mushrooms, green beans, corn, beets, olives, etc.)
Canned fruit (pears, peaches, mandarin oranges, pineapple, etc.)
Canned tuna (or in pouches, if you prefer)

Spice Rack:

Basil
Oregano
Thyme
Rosemary
Cumin
Dry mustard
Chili powder
Italian seasoning
Bay leaves
Ground ginger
Cayenne or ground red pepper
Red pepper flakes
Cinnamon
Paprika
Garlic salt and/or powder

Freezer:

Chicken breasts
Ground beef
Pork roast
Beef roast
Fish (salmon, tilapia, etc.)
Steak (flank steak, skirt steak, etc.)
Pork tenderloin
Frozen bread/roll dough
Bread (loaves, buns, etc.)
Puff pastry
Vegetables (mixed vegetables, corn, peas, broccoli, spinach, etc.)

Fridge:

Eggs and/or egg substitute
Butter (can also be kept in the freezer until ready to use)
Jellies, jams, and preserves (apricot jam is used in a lot of recipes)
Cheese (Cheddar, mozzarella, Parmesan, etc.)
Sour cream
Milk
Onions
Garlic
Parsley
Cilantro
Lemon juice
Lime juice
Salsa
Tortillas
Pita Bread
Hot sauce
Ketchup
Ranch dressing (or other favorite salad dressing)
Mayonnaise
Mustard (Dijon, Spicy Brown, Coarse ground, Yellow, etc.)

Garden:

Basil
Mint
Sage
Chives
Rosemary
Thyme
Parsley
Cilantro
Tomatoes (grape, cherry, large--such as Beefsteak, etc.)
Cucumbers
Bell peppers
Zucchini
Squash
Beets
Carrots

Laurie's Pantry Additions:

Having a well stocked pantry is the first step to being a good cook! A few extra things that I usually have on hand:

Pantry:

Rice Wine Vinegar
Sesame Oil
Peanut Oil
Peanuts
Sesame Seeds
Flax Seed
Some beef bouillon and chicken bouillon cubes
gelatin

Fridge:

Red Curry Paste
Hoisin Sauce
Red Chili Garlic Sauce (the Asian chili sauce, not the barbecue chili sauce)
Capers
A few lemons and limes
Olives (black olives come canned and can be kept in the pantry, but kalamata and green olives are kept in the fridge)
Garlic
Onions
Potatoes
Carrots
Celery

In the fall and winter if you have chicken broth, celery, carrots and onions and some chicken you can make a whole variety of things! Chicken and Dumplings, Chicken and Rice, Chicken Noodle Soup.

Spices:

Oh and another spice to add which I just got smoked paprika! It has quite a nice flavor to it. A few others that I like to have on hand:

Herbs De Provence (A blend of rosemary, lavendar, thyme and maybe a few others)
Garam Masala
Allspice ( For Jerk Seasoning)
Dill
Tarragon
Celery Salt
Cream of Tartar (For snickerdoodles!)
Onion Salt
Poultry Rub
Nutmeg
Cloves

Also sometimes I mix up some different spice rubs and store them in jars so that when I am in a pinch I can just make easy grilled meat or fish with a rub. I'll have to post some recipes.