You Still Have Time. You Want to Stock Up, but You Don't Know How.

A ton of articles out there tell you what to stock up on.

Many of them will tell you why.

They don’t tell you how.

Over the years, I’ve watched a few people build panic stockpiles based on lists of items that “will run out soon.” The items sit in the back of their pantry for years, and then they wind up throwing them out.

That helps nobody.

As I’ve said before, there’s nothing wrong with maintaining a strategic stockpile of food and supplies. The Amish and the Mormons have been doing it for generations. But they don’t simply rush out to stores and fill their carts with perishable foodstuffs based on fears generated by the latest headlines. For them, it’s a mindset. It’s a habit. It’s a lifestyle. It’s just what they do.

In a recent article, I pushed back on the idea of “stocking up” and presented a different approach that focused more on utilizing what was right in front of you, learning to do without some items, and putting our energy into localizing production of things like medicine, where it’s just not feasible to “stock up” for more than a year—and even that’s often difficult. That article stopped several times to make clear that we’re not rejecting the idea of keeping extra food and supplies on hand. Neither are we under the impression that we can survive by exclusively dining out on weeds. But “stocking up” is often not sufficient. When we focus on that exclusively, it ignores all the other things we could be doing.

But if and when you decide to build a food reserve, there’s ways that work and ways that don’t. There’s sustainable ways, and wasteful ones.

We might have a difference of opinion about what’s going to hit us and when. But most of us reading these kinds of articles agree, it’s wise to keep a deep pantry. As of now, in early June, the shelves aren’t empty. The trucks are still driving. You still have time to execute a plan. That’s the thing:

“Stocking up” isn’t a plan.

I’ve covered bulk food in my guide, but it’s worth revisiting under the circumstances. Years ago, I remember watching a documentary on preppers who stockpiled canned food. Every few years, they threw out the expired cans and bought new ones. This would be an example of an expensive, wasteful way to prep. I remember reading a handful of articles about people who filled their pantries with canned beans at the beginning of the pandemic, didn’t eat them, and then threw them away. I also remember reading at least one viral thread about a prepper couple who spent hundreds of dollars on canned chili and survival food, but then wound up in the Texas ice storm with no way to prepare it, not even a can opener.

Don’t be like them.

Simplify your diet, permanently

Food storage gets less complicated when you don’t have a problem eating black bean soup and dried tomatoes every day for weeks, even months. Americans have gotten a bit spoiled. They’re used to rotisseried chickens and sushi on demand. I haven’t picked up a rotisseried chicken in ten years.

I’m doing okay…

This suggestion falls into the broader category of John Michael Greer’s popular adage, “Collapse now and avoid the rush.” The sooner you can simplify your diet, the easier time you’re going to have stocking up.

First off, I would recommend adapting your diet to foods with a long shelf life to the extent you can. Over the last several years, we’ve cut out meat, dairy, and eggs completely. They’re not sustainable on any scale. So when egg prices go up, or beef goes up, we see it as a bellwether, but we’re not freaking out—and that’s a good thing. My spouse likes tofu, and they’re currently learning how to make their own. It’s easier to store soy beans than soy products.

My daughter likes frozen veggie nuggets, but she’s fine eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apple sauce. It’s not difficult to stock up and rotate through those items. We focus on dry goods: Beans, lentils, quinoa, oats, rice, pasta, wheat berries. We can grind our own flour with a stone mill, and we’re going to start doing that more often. We keep rather deep stocks of these items. It’s not super difficult or expensive. On top of that, we donate to local food banks. In fact, we’ve given thousands of dollars to them over the years. We also finally have a family or two we feel comfortable enough telling about our stocks, and we’re sharing.

We also stock dehydrated lentils, beans, and chickpeas that cook up fast during an emergency, if we lose power. You can heat water to a boil with tea candles and a small folding stove in about 15-20 minutes.

Figure out where you’re going to put it

Next, you need a place to store your food. As I’ve explained in my guide, you can convert part of your house to storage. You can convert a closet or part of a basement. Avoid garages, sheds, and attics. They get hot.

Put up shelves.

Before you put up your shelves, measure the kinds of items you’re going to store. Make sure you’re putting enough space between the shelves. Nothing would stink more than to put up a bunch of shelves, and then realize none of them will actually fit what you need to put there.

Calculate how much food you’ll need

You can find plenty of food calculators online. They’ll tell you what to stock for how long, based on the number of people in your family.

You can adjust it for your diet.

Nutritionists have noted that most foods will start to lose vitamins after a couple of years in storage, but they retain protein, carbs, and fiber. Most of us just won’t have space to store food for longer than 6-12 months, especially if you’ve got a bigger family. 6-12 months: That’s considered a good goal for preppers. If you have more space and the resources to store more, that’s great.

Figure out where to get your food

Many of us would rather not hoard food from local stores. Instead, focus on retailers that offer bulk foods, even if they’re online. You can try Harmony House, Wheatland Seed, Palouse Brand, Country Life Natural Foods, North Bay Trading, and similar outlets. I would avoid too many emergency food buckets.

If you’re extroverted, you can try farmers’ markets. I’d suggest telling people you’re interested in bulk foods. Skip the whole “we’re going to have a famine” bit. Focus on sustainability and self-reliance. They’ll understand.

We also found a couple of local stores that let us order foods in bulk and either have them shipped directly, or we can pick them up. That way, we’re not depleting shelves and contributing to the panic.

We’re just preparing.

Develop a rotation system

You’ll want to store dry goods in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, inside 4-5 gallon buckets. You’ll either want a bucket opening tool, or just buy buckets with gamma seal lids that are easy to open and close.

You’ll also want a container system, so you can transfer food from big containers into smaller, usable ones. We keep a lot of our dry goods in big steel canisters with scoops, and we scoop into mason jars as needed.

You can save a lot of freezer space by transferring frozen foods into mylar bags. We started doing that, and it doubles our capacity.

We don’t keep a lot of frozen or packaged food, because it’s more of a liability if the power goes out. We keep my kid’s food in a chest freezer, connected to a backup power source. That’s about it.

Make sure you have ways to cook your food

You also need a way to cook your food.

This is one reason why we keep dehydrated goods—not just dry goods. It’s easier to cook dehydrated food during an emergency. You can buy dehydrated beans and lentils, etc, without having to break your budget on expensive freeze-dried pouches or food buckets. It’s cheaper, and it’s healthier.

What else?

Tea candle stoves, camping stoves, candles, fuel tablets, and plenty of matches and ferro rods. We also have a couple of solar cookers, and we know how to make a decent one with foil tape and boxes, or even an old satellite dish. We don’t use propane stoves. Propane goes fast, and it takes up a lot of space. It’s also flammable. I’m not a fan of keeping large amounts of highly flammable, pressurized containers in my house. But if you want to, that’s your call.

Start small

You don’t have to build a famine-proof pantry overnight. Start small, with a few items you know you’ll need. Make the space. Go from there.

Often, it’s not about what you store.

It’s how.

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