For some interesting facts about canned SPAM click here. |
One of the things I struggled with in the area of food storage was keeping track of everything and making sure I was storing enough. That gets complicated when you are wanting to store enough food for ONE WHOLE YEAR for a large group of people.
I’ve talked lots about WHY I am crazy enough to even want to attempt this so I’ll just carry on from there.
I’ve tried several food storage calculators and messed around with my own versions but was never satisfied until recently. I was looking for a simple way to keep track so I came up with a system that’s easy to read and see at a glance. It can be used for any length of food storage and include any of your favourite foods. It can also be expanded to include non-food items that you want to store but for simplicity sake I keep that information separately.
Food Item
|
#10 Can
|
5 Gallon Bucket
|
Wheat
|
5 pounds
|
37 pounds
|
White Flour
|
4.5 pounds
|
33 pounds
|
Cornmeal
|
4.3 pounds
|
33 pounds
|
Popcorn
|
5 pounds
|
37 pounds
|
Rolled Oats
|
2.5 pounds
|
20 pounds
|
White Rice
|
5.3 pounds
|
36 pounds
|
Spaghetti
|
N/A
|
30 pounds
|
Macaroni
|
3.1 pounds
|
21 pounds
|
Dried Beans
|
5.6 pounds
|
35 pounds
|
Lima Beans
|
5.4 pounds
|
35 pounds
|
Soy Beans
|
5 pounds
|
33 pounds
|
Split Peas
|
5 pounds
|
33 pounds
|
Lentils
|
5.5 pounds
|
35 pounds
|
White Sugar
|
5.7 pounds
|
35 pounds
|
Brown Sugar
|
4.42 pounds
|
33 pounds
|
Powdered Milk
|
3 pounds
|
29 pounds
|
Powdered Eggs
|
2.6 pounds
|
20 pounds
|
Farther down the list I have some canned goods and instead of using “X’s” I just write the number in the space provided. eg. for tomato sauce I write “20” or if I am working up to that 12 or 15 or whatever I have so I will be able to add my new purchases and carry on to the next “person” (per) on the chart.
The amounts listed for each item are based on how much of them we already eat. It’s sometimes hard to imagine how much food it takes for a whole year simply because we are disconnected to it by not having to prepare much of it ourselves. Imagine having to bake every loaf of bread, grind wheat to make every muffin and cookie you eat – that’s a lot of food!
Here’s a link to a food storage calculator. It will allow you to input your families ages and be given a basic list – consider the one below Anita’s expanded list!
GRAINS 400 lb min
|
12pails
|
1 per
|
2 per
|
3 per
|
4 per
|
5per
|
Wheat kernels soft
|
2
|
XX
|
XX
|
|||
Wheat kernels hard
|
3
|
XXX
|
X
|
|||
Steel cut oats
|
1
|
X
|
X
|
|||
Large flake oatmeal
|
1
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
||
Brown rice
|
1
|
X
|
X
|
|||
Pasta
|
2
|
XX
|
XX
|
|||
Parboiled rice
|
2
|
XX
|
||||
Millet
|
.5
|
X
|
X
|
|||
Quinoa
|
.5
|
|||||
Spelt
|
1
|
X
|
X
|
|||
Buckwheat
|
.5
|
|||||
Quick Oatmeal
|
1
|
|||||
BEANS/MEAT 60lb min
|
5 pails
|
1 per
|
2 per
|
3 per
|
4 per
|
5per
|
Dried beans kidney
|
1
|
|||||
Dried beans chickpea
|
1
|
|||||
Lentils/red or brown
|
1
|
|||||
Yellow/green peas/split peas
|
1
|
|||||
Dried beans black
|
1
|
|||||
Canned chicken/turkey
|
50
|
|||||
Canned salmon
|
50
|
|||||
Canned sardines
|
20
|
|||||
Home canned meat
|
25
|
|||||
Falafel mix
|
5
|
|||||
COOKING OIL 10quarts
|
20lb
|
1 per
|
2 per
|
3per
|
4 per
|
5 per
|
Butter Powder
|
1
|
|||||
Olive oil
|
2
|
|||||
Coconut oil
|
4
|
|||||
Mayo
|
2
|
|||||
Peanut butter
|
2
|
|||||
Vegetable oil
|
3-5L
|
|||||
Nutella
|
2
|
|||||
SALT 8lb min
|
8
|
1 per
|
2 per
|
3 per
|
4 per
|
5 per
|
Pounds of salt
|
8
|
|||||
MILK/DAIRY 75lb min
|
75lb
|
1 per
|
2 per
|
3 per
|
4 per
|
5 per
|
Milk powder
|
40lb
|
|||||
Canned evaporated milk
|
12
|
|||||
Almond milk
|
24
|
|||||
Powdered cheese
|
2
|
|||||
Coconut milk
|
10
|
FRUIT 170 quarts
|
1 per
|
2 per
|
3 per
|
4 per
|
5 per
|
|
Applesauce
|
25 quarts
|
|||||
Dried apricots
|
10 pkg.
|
|||||
Coconut
|
.25 pail
|
|||||
Mandarin oranges
|
20 cans
|
|||||
Pears
|
20 quart
|
|||||
Peaches
|
20 quart
|
|||||
Pineapple
|
25 cans
|
|||||
Raisins
|
1lb
|
|||||
Dates
|
4 pkg.
|
|||||
Figs
|
10 pkg.
|
|||||
Jam
|
20 pint
|
|||||
Apple butter
|
2 pint
|
|||||
VEGETABLES 200 quarts
|
200 qu
|
1 per
|
2 per
|
3 per
|
4 per
|
5 per
|
Beans
|
50
|
|||||
Beets/plain/pickled
|
25 pints
|
|||||
Carrots
|
10
|
|||||
Onions
|
10lb
|
|||||
Peppers frozen
|
2 bags
|
|||||
Pickles
|
10
|
|||||
Canned Potatoes
|
10 quarts
|
|||||
Rhubarb
|
5 froz
|
|||||
Sauerkraut
|
5 quarts
|
|||||
Spinach/kale
|
10 froz
|
|||||
Tomato sauce
|
50
|
50
|
||||
Home canned soups
|
20
|
|||||
Diced tomatoes
|
20
|
|||||
Salsa
|
2
|
|||||
Boxed potatoes
|
1
|
|||||
Canned corn
|
5
|
|||||
Sweet potatoes
|
10 quarts
|
|||||
Chili sauce
|
1
|
|||||
BBQ sauce
|
1
|
|||||
Sprouting Seeds
|
1 quart
|
OTHER NECESSITIES
|
1 per
|
2 per
|
3 per
|
4 per
|
5 per
|
|
Baking powder
|
2
|
|||||
Baking soda
|
10
|
|||||
Sugar
|
1 pail
|
|||||
Brown sugar
|
.5 pail
|
|||||
Apple juice
|
12 cans
|
|||||
Hot chocolate mix
|
2 can
|
|||||
Instant yeast
|
2 brick
|
|||||
Garlic powder
|
1 quart
|
|||||
Cinnamon
|
1 quart
|
|||||
Carob chips
|
.25 pail
|
|||||
Cocoa powder
|
1 can
|
|||||
Ginger
|
1 quart
|
|||||
Ketchup
|
2 bottle
|
|||||
Mustard
|
2 bottle
|
|||||
Relish
|
1 bottle
|
|||||
Lemon juice
|
1 bottle
|
|||||
Black pepper
|
1 quart
|
|||||
Maple syrup
|
4L
|
|||||
Honey
|
5lb
|
|||||
Stevia
|
2 bottles
|
|||||
Crackers
|
5 box
|
|||||
Cold cereal
|
5 box
|
|||||
Walnuts
|
2lb
|
|||||
Almonds
|
2lb
|
|||||
Hemp seeds
|
2lb
|
|||||
Flax seeds
|
5lb
|
|||||
Dehy.Veggie flakes
|
1 pail
|
|||||
Vinegar
|
10 bottle
|
|||||
Apple cider vinegar
|
2 bottle
|
|||||
Mrs. Dash
|
1 jar
|
|||||
Pickling spice
|
.5 quart
|
|||||
Herbal tea
|
5 boxes
|
|||||
Caf-lib
|
1 jar
|
|||||
Tea bags
|
50
|
|||||
Coffee
|
1
|
|||||
Parmesan cheese
|
2 can
|
|||||
Bouillon
|
12 cubes
|
|||||
I’ve expanded this list over the years. I started with the most basic things and added more items as I thought of them. Some of these things I could do without but they are nice to have. Some items like hot sauce I currently have in the fridge but we are not huge hot-sauce-kind-of-people so I don’t actually have it on the list – I think the last bottle of hot sauce lasted two years.
There are other items I could have added and may add in the future but for now this is what I am working on.
I watch for sales to add to my stores. For example this week pasta was on sale so I purchased enough to fill several buckets. It was on sale for .77 for 900gr. 900 gr. is approx 2 pounds. It takes 21lbs of macaroni to fill a bucket so that’s 11 packages. 11 x .77c = $8.47 per bucket. O2 absorbors and mylar liner take the cost up to approx. $10.00 in total if you can get a free bucket. Not a bad deal.
I am also careful to keep things balanced – no sense having pasta for 10 people for a year and no sauce.
One of the eureka moments I’ve had over the past years with food storage and organization is to divide it into five different components.
- Long term storage – it’s packed in Mylar and rotated out in 15-30 years.
- Long term shelf stable food – our personal grocery store – wet pack foods, boxed foods we rotate within 5 years.
- Freezer items – we rotate out in 1 year and replenish
- Upstairs pantry – our every day eating – not counted in food storage and probably enough for several weeks
- Fridge items – on a weekly/bi-weekly rotation
Start with a three day supply of shelf stable food. Expand it to a week, then three weeks, then three months. Remember to store foods you like to eat. Who cares if SPAM is on sale if no one likes it! YUCK!
There are lots of plans out there and ANY plan is better than NO plan. Keep working towards your food storage goals – step by step. Whether it’s for three months or one year I hope seeing my One Year Food Storage Organizational System will help you to make sense of your own.