Store only what you eat regularly-discussed.

I’ve always taken the ‘store only what you regularly eat’ thing to mean just that. If I never eat and hate the thought of eating say, lima beans why the heck would I go and store #100 of them. If I like lima’s then I go for it! I would not buy something I hate just to have it. For the record, I love butter beans and have several rows in the garden every year!

Now, I did buy some things that I normally do not eat, just to have them for variety and nutrients. I do not normally eat rolled cereals or cracked cereal type things. I have a few cases of #10’s of them because I know I will not be able to get things like crunchy bread from the bakery and cereals/grains are a must for keeping regular and healthy. They are also pretty inexpensive compared to most of the other FD stuff available so a good nutrition deal. There are also #10’s of biscuit and pancake mixes in my storage. Sure I do have wheat, oat and rye seeds but they will take a season to grow and then process. I need to have something in the meantime to hold me until that first harvest. Would I have to force them down? Probably not. Would I look forward to eating them? Maybe maybe not. Will I eat them? You betcha and with gusto!

I also bought cans of FD beef stroganoff, chicken al la king and such for fast, easy cook meals. These I also do not normally prepare at home but know (or hope anyway!) they would be very palatable to me. I stocked cans of FD apple drink, lemonade, orange drink and the like that I would normally not drink just to have something for variety. For me the bottom line is if it is something I am going to have to force down, then why have it around.

On that thought I do have things in my short term storage (regular store bought canned goods – shelf life a 1 - 3 years) that I normally do not buy but bought for versatility. I looked at my storage in terms of multi-tasking. If I take one item, how many uses might it possibly have? Canned baked beans for example. I prefer to crock pot a batch but what if time is short or cooking is limited for some reason? I can open them and it is an instant, filling room temperature meal. I can also cook up some rice or noodles and use the sauce in them on them. Or if my supply of brown sugar or molasses is gone I can mix my raw beans with them to stretch available sauces. I bought canned soups for the same reason. Instant meal out of the can or I can throw some home grown veggies in them and save a ton of time on cooking while doubling the ‘size’ of the canned good. I usually enjoy making from scratch but what if there is not enough time for that?

I know when the time comes to start using this stuff that I am not going to be relaxing on the couch all day picking banjo and my nose. I’m going to have twice as many chores as I currently do and the limiting factor is going to be available daylight. Anything I can do to give me more chore time is going to be a huge benefit.

Clarice said:

If you know your family would not eat something, unless they were starving, why would you waste $$$ stocking up on that item?

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This is my main reason for stocking what we normally eat. My husband hates tuna. No point in wasting money buying the stuff.

We are very much in the 'store what you eat' camp. In fact, I think it is more a matter of learning to eat what you store, rather than storing only what you currently eat. Occasionally, this has meant adjusting our diet, and / or learning a new way to cook. If you actually eat what you store, you know everyone in your family will have comforting food they like and will eat without a fight. You will probably end up eating healthier if you start incorporating storage food into your diet now, as it is usually low-fat and full of nutrients and fiber. Also, it is a cheap way to eat. And a cheap way to store extra food. Bulk legumes and grains don't cost much, and ingredients are always cheaper to buy than end-products.

If you don't know how to cook with whole wheat and dried beans, you probably aren't going to learn very easily after things go stupid, unless the crisis happens to be one of unemployment. You will waste food and fuel trying to figure out what to do with the hundreds of pounds of whatever you stocked. In addition, lots of long-term storage food has different textures and / or cooking requirements from their canned or store-bought comparison, and you might find your husband / wife / kids will absolutely refuse to touch crunchy beans or dense bread or mushy rehydrated blueberries.

In answer to the original post, for long-term storage, we keep whole wheat, brown and white rice, several varieties of beans (navy, black, kidney, romano, etc), chickpeas, barley, split peas, lentils, oatmeal, a variety of dehydrated and freeze-dried fruit and vegetables, instant mashed potatoes, canned fruit and vegetables (home-made and store-bought), canned meat (going to get into canning our own shortly), olive and vegetable oils, lard, powdered milk, sugar, honey, pasta and pasta sauce, and a lot of 'seasoning' type stuff, like soy sauce, chili paste, cocoa, soup mixes, herbs and spices, salt, and canned sauces. While it does not really count as long-term storage, except in periods of unemployment, we go to you-pick farms and farmer's markets, and freeze our year's worth of local, organic corn, raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, wax beans, peas, etc. We also freeze butter and some yogurt (for a starter). In addition, we have a cold room where we keep a lot of root veggies, like onions, carrots, beets, turnips, and so on. The root veggies will keep for months like that - we threw out the last of last year's beets (stored from September) in June of this year.

While we do not eat all of the stuff from our storage every day, or even every month, we have sampled and taste-tested and learned to cook with the things we keep in bulk. We make our own bread from the wheat, and use the beans and lentils and barley in our day-to-day cooking, though I do often forget to soak beans, and keep canned ones on hand. We put freeze-dried spinach in our lasagna, and use dehydrated celery in a lot of our soups. We also taste-test all of the packaged camping food we keep on hand - occasionally we'll cook one up instead of heading out to a restaurant when we're feeling lazy. If we ever really need to use any or all of this stuff, we will know that you need to add extra water to the camping packages, and leave them sit five minutes longer than is called for. We know what dense WW bread tastes like, and have developed a taste for it. We know how to soak and cook the beans so they are not crunchy. We have figured out how the dehydrated and freeze-dried and canned veggies will work in our regular recipes.

One major point about dietary change - if you suddenly switch from fast food and Kraft Dinner to a diet of whole wheat, rice, and beans, your guts will not be happy, and you can expect an adjustment period of gas, bloating, and running to the toilet. Again, not something you really want to be dealing with when a crisis hits. Personally, I'd rather get used to it slowly, and not have to change my eating habits much in an emergency.

Having said all that, we love our fresh fruit and veg around here, and we do buy out-of-season stuff from the store all the time. We are learning to root cellar and can, and to cook seasonal food. Even with the focus on seasonal cooking, I'd imagine we will continue to buy occasional out of season treats, while we can. However, if, for whatever reason, we could no longer get spinach and red peppers in January (we live in Canada), we'd be able to cope with what we keep on hand.

I would expect that a lot of the resistance to the idea of eating what you store would come from folks who eat a lot of packaged food or take-out...maybe no-one has ever showed them how to cook. Maybe they think is is really complicated, or takes tons of time. My advice to them is that cooking does not have to be difficult or fancy like the gourmets on TV - go get yourself a good, basic, comprehensive cookbook like the Joy of Cooking, or get your Mom or Aunt or Grandma to share some old-time recipes. Cook extra, and freeze the leftovers for lunches, or for meals on nights when you don't feel like cooking. I work full time and still cook most of our meals from scratch. Start trying this stuff out. It's cheap, and not all that complicated...

I can see the point in NOT stocking something you simply dislike or can't eat. But there is some merit to stocking things we don't regularly eat but would if we had to. I have a variety of grains and beans that we rarely use in everyday cooking, but we could. Eventually I do, so they can be rotated, but they're not in our top favorites foods.

For us it's been a learning process. First we got a grain grinder and learned how to grind and use whole grain flour. Then, 3 years ago, we started learning how to grow the grains ourself. It takes a while to figure out your favorite ways to use whole grains. I'd rather experiment with it now, when my life doesn't depend on it, than to start when it does. Even if these things don't become a regular part of our diet at this point, we'll know what to do and what we like, if the SHTF

In our BOB's we have snacks that we don't particularly like, such as hard granola bars and hard candies, because we know we won't have a "weak" moment and eat them! They'll be there when/if we need them.

Store what you eat?

I started out storing what we ate, I took a 2 week menu and figured out how much it would take to feed all 12 of my family members.(1 grandchild has a severe allergy to peanuts, tree nuts and peas) So everything I buy has to be monitored for those items and if processed in a facility with those items. I got about 6 months worth of food stored back.

Then I started on long term storage. I have buckets of rice, beans, sugar, gallons of oil and vinegar and syrups among other things. I haven't started on wheat yet.
I do know how to make my own breads and cakes and pies from scratch. Right now everyone thinks its a treat. We have always had beans and cornbread as a staple so no problem there either. Most of the meals I make are from scratch because I don't work now, I learned from my grandparents how to cook from scratch. I grew up with my grandparents, who were dirt poor and I learned to eat anything. My son and daughter also learned to eat anything that was put on the table. When my grandchildren come over they get to eat whatever "Nana" eats. So far no one has turned their nose up to anything I have put on the table.
I try real hard to make a variety of things and incorporate new items every once in a while. While they may not be enthusiastic about something, they have never turned a meal down.
I dehydrate veggies and make my own jerky. I can even shoot, field dress and cut up a wild animal be it deer or turkey or fish.

Well somehow I think I got off the subject, but I will be a survivor no matter what. Wheat and other long term items like dehydrated foods and such will be on my list soon.