The week 4 assignment:
Going off your new Inventory Shopping List and this week’s sales, buy the 3 months’ worth of as many different items as you can as your new budget allows. This plan calls for buying your 3 month foods each week over the next 18 weeks. From now on, I'll refer to this as B for 3.
My friend Heidi recommends this inventory app- you scan items and they’re automatically entered. I can’t vouch for it yet, but she loves it.
How can you afford to buy all this extra food?
Waste less- this saves $$ on your regular food budget, freeing up money. Did you know the average family of 4 throws away more than $2000 of food every year? (See ways to waste less, here.) This alone has the potential to completely fund your food storage!
Budget it in- in addition to freeing up money by reducing the food you waste, there are other ways to find money you already have. Plan on finding $14/person/week. Vaughn J. Featherstone gave a talk years ago on how to get your full year’s worth of food within just one year. He recommends sitting down as a family and deciding on ways. Some of his suggestions include
-skip going on a vacation; use the money for food storage, and spend the time on growing a garden.
-at Christmas time, designate 25-50% of the regular gift budget for food storage.
-make your clothes last longer. Don’t replace anything that still has good use in it, and mend or repair what can be.
- cut your entertainment budget by 50%. Find memory-building activities that are free.
-Sell a ‘luxury item’ like a snowmobile, ATV, boat, camper, etc. (Modern note: If you have a storage unit, sell what’s in it; use the proceeds --and the rent savings-- for food.)
-watch the grocery sales, buy extra when what you need is on sale.
-reduce the meat you buy and switch in a protein source that costs less. Buy less ice cream, candy, chips, magazines… whatever is tempting to you there. Spend the difference on what’s on your inventory purchase list.
If after going through Elder Featherstone’s suggestions it still looks impossible, pray to see what you can do. Ways will open. God is still a God of miracles!
Grow and Glean- Grow the food you can- berry bushes can fit easily in a landscape, as can fruit trees, herbs, and vegetables. Gleaning- when a neighbor has too many zucchini or tomatoes, volunteer to take some. Use them in recipes, freeze them, bottle them, dehydrate them-- seasoned dried zucchini slices are great for snacking! Very often there are people around who have fruit trees they don't harvest. Knock on a door and ask! Usually they're a little sad about it going to waste otherwise, and grateful to have someone use it.
Buy smart – My dad laughingly said he learned in college about the ‘SOS’ Method. This can mean Stay Out of Stores or Stock up On Sales. Both have their place and their limits.
Stay Out of Stores-- the fewer times a week or month you visit stores, the less money you will spend there!
Stock up when things are on sale- know what the regular prices are, so you can recognize a good price. Buy as much of your 3 month's worth as you can fit in the budget. (Remember it’s only a ‘deal’ if you were going to buy it anyway. Don’t buy stuff just because it’s on sale. Be intentional!) If chicken is an amazing price, you can buy a case or however much your family will use; divide it into meal-size freezer bags, raw or cooked, or bottle it to store on the shelf.
Buy when others don’t want it. Buy foods that are marked down because they are at or near the ‘best by’ date. (The date matters much less on some foods than others.) Work this week’s sale produce into your meals and snacks. Ask the produce guy at the grocery store if they have too many bananas; several times I’ve been able to buy a 40-lb case of bananas for $10 or even $5. That’s enough for about three rounds of filling my dehydrator with sliced bananas, plus a batch or two of banana bread for the freezer. (My kids adore home dried bananas.) Some stores give away their day-old bread and other bakery items rather than marking them down. If you’re local, give me a call; I have access to some of this and am looking for people to share with!
Know the best places to buy things - call around or look online. But don’t spend too much time running from place to place. Remember the first SOS.
Two places you might not have considered that have great deals are the Home Storage Centers -- you can buy in person or order online-- and NPS-- a store that sells inventory overage, lost and missing freight.(This is in Salt Lake and Utah counties only. Other areas may have similar stores.)
Again, if you’re local, I’m glad to show you around at either place. NPS has amazing deals- including on GF and dairy-free items-- but not everything there is inexpensive. I tend to shop there once every couple months, and get a lot of what’s good.
How can you afford to build your food storage?
-Waste Less
-Budget it In
-Grow and Glean
-Buy Smart!
Going off your new Inventory Shopping List and this week’s sales, buy the 3 months’ worth of as many different items as you can as your new budget allows. This plan calls for buying your 3 month foods each week over the next 18 weeks. From now on, I'll refer to this as B for 3.
My friend Heidi recommends this inventory app- you scan items and they’re automatically entered. I can’t vouch for it yet, but she loves it.
How can you afford to buy all this extra food?
Waste less- this saves $$ on your regular food budget, freeing up money. Did you know the average family of 4 throws away more than $2000 of food every year? (See ways to waste less, here.) This alone has the potential to completely fund your food storage!
Budget it in- in addition to freeing up money by reducing the food you waste, there are other ways to find money you already have. Plan on finding $14/person/week. Vaughn J. Featherstone gave a talk years ago on how to get your full year’s worth of food within just one year. He recommends sitting down as a family and deciding on ways. Some of his suggestions include
-skip going on a vacation; use the money for food storage, and spend the time on growing a garden.
-at Christmas time, designate 25-50% of the regular gift budget for food storage.
-make your clothes last longer. Don’t replace anything that still has good use in it, and mend or repair what can be.
- cut your entertainment budget by 50%. Find memory-building activities that are free.
-Sell a ‘luxury item’ like a snowmobile, ATV, boat, camper, etc. (Modern note: If you have a storage unit, sell what’s in it; use the proceeds --and the rent savings-- for food.)
-watch the grocery sales, buy extra when what you need is on sale.
-reduce the meat you buy and switch in a protein source that costs less. Buy less ice cream, candy, chips, magazines… whatever is tempting to you there. Spend the difference on what’s on your inventory purchase list.
If after going through Elder Featherstone’s suggestions it still looks impossible, pray to see what you can do. Ways will open. God is still a God of miracles!
Grow and Glean- Grow the food you can- berry bushes can fit easily in a landscape, as can fruit trees, herbs, and vegetables. Gleaning- when a neighbor has too many zucchini or tomatoes, volunteer to take some. Use them in recipes, freeze them, bottle them, dehydrate them-- seasoned dried zucchini slices are great for snacking! Very often there are people around who have fruit trees they don't harvest. Knock on a door and ask! Usually they're a little sad about it going to waste otherwise, and grateful to have someone use it.
Buy smart – My dad laughingly said he learned in college about the ‘SOS’ Method. This can mean Stay Out of Stores or Stock up On Sales. Both have their place and their limits.
Stay Out of Stores-- the fewer times a week or month you visit stores, the less money you will spend there!
Stock up when things are on sale- know what the regular prices are, so you can recognize a good price. Buy as much of your 3 month's worth as you can fit in the budget. (Remember it’s only a ‘deal’ if you were going to buy it anyway. Don’t buy stuff just because it’s on sale. Be intentional!) If chicken is an amazing price, you can buy a case or however much your family will use; divide it into meal-size freezer bags, raw or cooked, or bottle it to store on the shelf.
Buy when others don’t want it. Buy foods that are marked down because they are at or near the ‘best by’ date. (The date matters much less on some foods than others.) Work this week’s sale produce into your meals and snacks. Ask the produce guy at the grocery store if they have too many bananas; several times I’ve been able to buy a 40-lb case of bananas for $10 or even $5. That’s enough for about three rounds of filling my dehydrator with sliced bananas, plus a batch or two of banana bread for the freezer. (My kids adore home dried bananas.) Some stores give away their day-old bread and other bakery items rather than marking them down. If you’re local, give me a call; I have access to some of this and am looking for people to share with!
Know the best places to buy things - call around or look online. But don’t spend too much time running from place to place. Remember the first SOS.
Two places you might not have considered that have great deals are the Home Storage Centers -- you can buy in person or order online-- and NPS-- a store that sells inventory overage, lost and missing freight.(This is in Salt Lake and Utah counties only. Other areas may have similar stores.)
Again, if you’re local, I’m glad to show you around at either place. NPS has amazing deals- including on GF and dairy-free items-- but not everything there is inexpensive. I tend to shop there once every couple months, and get a lot of what’s good.
How can you afford to build your food storage?
-Waste Less
-Budget it In
-Grow and Glean
-Buy Smart!
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