Many American households are growing increasingly cash-strapped, seeing their debt levels rising and their cost of living going up. That makes it increasingly difficult for them to maintain their standard of living. It also makes it hard for many households to prepare for the future when they feel like they’re just scraping by day to day.
But no matter how tight your budget is, with a few simple rules you can build up a stockpile of food that can keep you and your family healthy and well-fed during any type of survival scenario. It doesn’t require being rich or winning the lottery, just sticking to a few tried and true rules.
1. Stock Up Incrementally
The biggest temptation is to stock up on survival food all at once. Not only is that a major expense, it’s also setting your supply up to go bad all at once. Assemble the core items of your food stockpile incrementally, then continuing adding piecemeal.
2. Eat What You Store and Store What You Eat
There’s no sense in storing a whole bunch of survival food that you’re not ever going to eat. If you don’t eat pasta on a regular basis, why stock up on pasta? Or maybe you think that Spam and canned tuna are great for survival protein, but how often do you incorporate them into your meals? Storing food that you don’t want is a great recipe for spoiled food and wasted money.
3. Variety Is the Spice of Life
While the bulk of your stored food may be staples like rice, beans, flour, and pasta, don’t neglect the little things that can help improve the taste of those bland core foods. Little bits of herbs and spices, small pieces of canned meat, etc. can go a long way to creating a palatable meal rather than just something to get calories into your stomach.
4. Take Advantage of Sales
Along with not buying all of your food at once, it pays to take advantage of sales. Ten for $10 or five for $4 are examples of common sales seen on dried and canned goods. Accumulating your food stockpile piece by piece at sale prices will save you a lot of money.
5. Rotate, Rotate, Rotate
Remember that when you’re creating your stockpile you always want to consume the oldest foods first. Practicing proper rotation will ensure that any food you have in your stockpile will remain fresh when you really need it.