Times are really getting tough for folks, and more and more families are having to curtail their spending habits. In lean times, food storage is a total blessing. I grew up in a Mormon household, where having a year supply of food was considered just as important as believing in Jesus or paying tithing to the church. Our family was on welfare for a substantial portion of my childhood, and the canned goods from our food storage and our trips to the food bank enabled our family to never go hungry.

There must be something about growing up with enough canned goods to last a year that leaves a permanent mark on your psyche. I haven’t considered myself a Mormon for over a decade, but I still keep my pantry stocked. I feel better knowing that if a zombie uprising occurs, we’ll still be able to feed ourselves. Summer is an especially lean time for us because my partner doesn’t receive financial aid during the summertime. We’re going to be eating a lot of canned peaches and fresh veggies out of the garden. But at least we planned ahead.

You don’t have to have a lot of money to start a food storage. In fact, the whole point is that food storage is supposed to help you reduce your food budget. If you live in an apartment, you might not have a lot of storage space. However, you can always find a corner in your closet or a nice space under the bed. Those flats of green beans from Costco slide right under the average bed frame. Here are a few tips and tricks to building up your own food storage.

1. Watch the food sales. Big grocery chains often have fire sales on canned fruit and canned vegetables. You can often get veggies for 50 cents a can if you watch the food ads.

2. Buy a little extra. If you’re buying something like pasta, buy one or two extra packages. If you add to your food storage a little at a time, the overall cost is minimized because you’re doing it in increments.

3. Invest in good, airtight containers. I hate bugs in my food. Flour, pasta, dried beans, cake mixes, cereal, and dried fruit all have a tendency to attract critters. So keep it shut in an airtight container. Your food will also keep longer if you keep it stored properly. Why spend money on dried goods just to throw food away because it’s gone bad?

4. Rotate your stock. Don’t just shut your cans away in a closet and forget about them. Use them on a regular basis so that things don’t expire before you have a chance to use them. When you buy new food items, rotate the cans or the containers so that the oldest one are in the front.

5. Make your own preserves. Many of us are growing gardens to help reduce our food costs. When you’ve got tomatoes and zucchini coming out of your ears and you don’t know what to do with it, consider canning your own tomato sauce or diced tomatoes. If you get some great deals on fresh fruit, you can always cut it up and freeze it to use during the winter when produce is more expensive.

If you and your family don’t already have extra food in your pantry, I hope you’ll start thinking about ways to tuck something away for a rainy day. I’ve dwelt in apartments for the bulk of my life, so I can totally relate to not having space for extra food. But trust me – this is especially important for folks living on financial aid, because you can always count on lean times during the summer and winter vacations. If you plan ahead by stocking up during the months when you do have financial aid, and only keep 2-3 months worth of food on hand, space really isn’t that big of a problem.

Next week I’ll share some suggestions for determining the right amount of food to keep on hand for your particular household. If you’ve got any tips you’d like to share, please leave a comment.

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