The Food Storage Blog

Some ideas for how folks can organize their preparedness supplies in normal-sized spaces from Self-Reliant Sisters.

(H/T to www.whenshtf.com)

Just FYI, we’re back in stock with everything at the Advice and Beans store.  Tomorrow I’ll be updating with the new SKU’s:  7 Mil 8″x8″ bags (these things are awesome; thick, strong, and are among the best gas and moisture blockers on the market!) and 100CC oxygen absorbers.  I got a deal on some great little keychain LED lights as well that will go up also.  They’ll be only $4.00 and free shipping with any other purchase (Amazon retails an equivalent LED for over $8.00).

Thanks y’all!

This is definitely one of the most unusual checklists on preparedness I’ve come across.  It coincides with a lot of the ideas my wife and I try to live by, especially in terms on continual personal improvement.  This year my wife and I are determined to get fit, though we gave up most of our more self-destructive habits years ago (smoking).

It’s worth a read for anyone, at the very least as a reminder that there are more important ways to prepare than just stocking food and water. (H/T Instapundit)

One-Page Preparedness Checklist

Happy Independence Day everyone!  I hope everyone keeps in mind today (and every day) those who have given us and protected our freedom, and honors our military men and women everywhere.

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So its been a while!   As I mentioned, I have been busy with various facets of the business, as well as life’s normal everyday stuff.  Work, school, gardening, prepping, programming.

One piece of good news is that the Amazon portion of the business took off in the last few days, so I’ve been able to put in another large order to my supplier.  The webstore is going slower, but it’s been active, so that is positive as well.  The new order will also bring 2 new items/SKU’s.  First, some had requested a thicker bag.  To test the need, I will be offering an 8″x8″ bag in 7Mils, which is almost as thick as Mylar comes.  It’s not quite bulletproof, but structurally it is very puncture-resistant.  And for certain foods, such as spices, hard candies, tobacco, coffee, the extra thickness will also retain freshness longer.  It’s also a great size if you are one who doesn’t like to store food in big heaping 5-gallon bags.  The bag will hold a little more than a quart of product, and 8-10 will fit in a standard 5-gallon bucket.  Other applications it will be good for would be storing or shipping electronics, especially those with sharp edges that might bust other bags.  To complement the bag size, I will also be offering 100-packs of 100CC oxygen absorbers, which will help maintain a consistent 1 to 1 Bag/Absorber ratio at the webstore.   I expect to have the new items in-stock by Friday, July 16.

We are also proud to announce that Advice and Beans is also now a certified reseller of Cold Steel products.  Whether you are looking for a good $20 pocket knife or the adaptable Special Forces Shovel, Cold Steel makes awesome, affordable products.  We’ll be putting together an order in the next week or so and should have some great items in stock by the beginning of August.  If anyone thinks I should carry a particular favorite, let me know and I’ll make sure to order at least a couple!

Using Vistaprint, I was also able to get some marketing pieces done, such as business cards, refrigerator magnets (1 free with every order while supplies last!), a car magnet and a large banner.  The last will be used as we’re going to set up at the Bowling Green Flea Market one weekend after we resupply and see how it goes.  I walked around up there this weekend, and while there was occasionally a vendor with high-quality merchandise, much of it was junk.  I expect to be one of the few with a unique offering of both our food storage and Cold Steel products.  Anyone who visits and buys at the flea market gets 10% off if you mention you read the blog!

I am currently still working on a food storage calcuator for the website; however, learning PHP has been a longer process than I’d expected.  It took 3 weekends just to get my programming and testing environment set up on my home computer.  I hope it will be at least ready for testing by the end of August.

There are two more long-term projects on the horizon.  One is still the super secret Project Enigma; as I stated initially, I think this will really provide an awesome way to bring together and promote Preparedness and Survivalism on the ‘net.  The timeline is still up in the air, though my expectation is to release it some time in early 2012; official announcements will precede the release by at least 6 or 8 months, so some time in 2011.  One other item I am looking at is a short novel called ‘4000 Cells’; the outline I have currently puts it in the vein of Patriots and One Second After.  I used to have quite the literary gene, but I’m not sure if I still do, as I’ve eliminated most of the drama and drinking from my life (and we know most great authors are all about the drama and drinking!).  Still, I’ve been thinking about this storyline for over a year, and I think it might be suitable to present as a serial on Advice and Beans.  It is a little more hardcore than I expected to be in this space, but as the readership is small I hope a slight pivot in the material presented won’t be overly obnoxious!

Other than that, summer boils onward in Tennessee!  My AC is out in the Jeep, but I refuse to pay the $1100 to fix it.  It has been good practice for Hot Yoga, however, a new pastime my wife and I have taken up.  As I have quite a few wrist/arm problems, it’s been good for me as its low impact.  (Although I miss raquetball immensely!)  Plus, I did promise my preparedness group that I would get fit this year.  I also think I am going to jog the Music City Half-Marathon in 2011, so its a good start on getting my creaky old body working again.

For my wife and I, and many others, food storage has become a little bit of an addiction. It combines two of our favorite themes, preparedness and saving money, in one neat little package. While many in the preparedness community stress having a good food storage plan as a foundational principle, I do it now more for the financial benefits. As a procurement professional I have noticed that having a food storage program allows us to leverage the quantity of our purchases, when we buy things, and the price benefit of both.

What are the main financial benefits of a robust storage program?

1) You only need to buy when you see something on sale. As I mentioned several posts back, typically the only things we don’t buy on sale now are perishables and milk. And the perishables no longer even include bread, as we have begun baking our own with a brand new breadmaker we found on Craigslist for $40. The benefits to our checking account has been immense. As I learned while perusing the Coupon Mom website, most items go on sale on a certain cycle, usually ever 6-12 weeks. Now, instead of picking up a box of Special K whenever we run out, we buy 10 boxes when it is on sale. And the last time it was on sale it was actually Buy One Get One Free, and we picked up almost as many boxes as a cart would hold. Savings: $2.50 per box times 10, or $25.

2) Buying in bulk saves money. Almost everyone knows this, but many either don’t think about it often or worry about where they are going to store something they have bought. We simply reserved one room of the house to be our food storage/shipping and eBay room, and filled it with racks where we could store things. I felt almost a little sheephish when my wife was at Costco and found the same Special K with a regular price the same as what I found at the BOGO sale, except packaged larger (37 oz boxes instead of 12 oz boxes) – 1 large box cost $7.50 vs. 3 small boxes costing $7.50 (though originally $15).  Because of Costco, now I can buy the lowest priced option at any time for half its regular price. If you have access to a Costco, Sam’s Club or BJ’s, you should definitely take advantage of their everyday savings in comparison to the grocery store! (Plus, they are a good place to pick up large quantities of staples like, (guess what!), rice and beans)

3) Try the off brand. Not every experience I’ve had with private label brands has been great, but there are a good many items where I can’t tell the difference between it and the Name Brand.  For example, my local HG Hills (not a great store, but its the closest grocery to my house) has around 20′ of shelf space right upon entering the store where they have many of their private label items. One day on a whim I picked up a couple boxes of $.35 macaroni and cheese, and $.43 cans of corn and green beans.  The equivalent prices of the name brands is $1.39 for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and around $1 for Green Giant corn and green beans. I thought the mac and cheese was great (with a little Truffle Salt my wife picked up) and the corn, while not quite as perfect as Publix’s private label, was still quite good.  The AdviceWife thought the green beans were fine as well.

The next time I went to HG Hills they probably thought I must have lost my job or someting as I picked up around 10 boxes of mac and cheese and 2 cases of their vegetables.  I also bought some other items to test (chili fixins mainly) and I’ll let y’all know how they perform as well once I get to making some.  Total savings over 12 months vs. name brand on just 3 items: $125 or more, assuming we eat each once a week.

Now, the above examples are just for 4 food items, and we do the same for every regular item we eat.  At $50 a year savings on average for each item, that’s $200.  On the 30-40 items we regular keep and eat, it’s more like $2,000 a year saved, not through sacrificing our tastes, but simply through better buying.  On occasion my wife clips coupons and we add a little bit more to the total.

So don’t just take a look at what you’re buying, examine how you are buying it and you’ll likely find a significant amount of dollars you can save.