Converting to Food Storage – Changes 1 & 2

I’ve been working diligently on converting to food storage. I’ve stored #10 cans of items for years, however, I’m trying to follow the current counsel and work on my Three-Month Supply. I remember the rotation shelves in the coat closet growing up, but I never understood that it takes a conversion process to really progress with food storage. A conversion similar to a convert joining the church. I say that because when a new convert joins the church they don’t get baptized, and stop there. They start coming to church regularly, study the scriptures, and live a more Christlike life. It’s the same with food storage; I shouldn’t just get a food storage supply, and stop there. I need to make life-long changes.

CHANGE 1 – PURCHASE MORE NON-PERISHABLE FOODS

With the new focus on gathering a Three-Month Food supply of non-perishable foods your family eats, it’s a no brainer. I’m so used to buying fresh and frozen, that it would take me forever to accumulate a Three-Month Supply unless I focus on purchasing non-perishable items. I decided to change my grocery purchasing this month and I’m focusing on buying 75% of non-perishable items, and 25% perishable. This will make me use what I store.

CHANGE 2 – SHOP GROCERY STORE SALES INSTEAD OF JUST WAREHOUSE STORES

In my past life, I made huge purchases at Sam’s Club. But everyone keeps telling me their are better bargains elsewhere. It’s so much easier to shop at Sam’s Club, but do they really have the best prices? So this month, I decided to make only 1 monthly purchase at my friendly Sam’s Club, and do the rest of the shopping by watching the sales at grocery stores.

Yesterday, I placed an online order with Sam’s Club, and picked it up through their Click’n’Pull service early this morning. I love ordering this way because I think carefully about the items I need for the month, place the order from my home computer, then go to the store where a grocery cart of my items is waiting. They do have to go to the freezer/refrigerator for my perishables, which takes about 10 additional minutes. Then they help me load it in the car. I absolutely LOVE it! (I think I should get a free membership for promoting them, don’t you?) Having said that, I will share my Sam’s Club/Albertson’s Cost Comparison spreadsheet. Prices are from August, and I’m sorry to see they are creeping up. If you print it out and carry it to your local grocery store, you can compare prices and possibly Beat the Sam’s Club price. (Okay. No free membership now!)

I set a spending limit at Sam’s this month, which will force me to look for bargains at other stores in my area, and not just buy from them. Sometimes you need smaller sizes of items to store that aren’t offered at club warehouses. For instance, I buy my oil in the 48 oz size, not the gallon size offered at Sam’s, so I can rotate easier. I also didn’t buy any bread this time. Yikes! So, I’m making bread this month and trying out various recipes. I don’t think my family will mind.

I also signed up for My Food Storage Deals which is helpful because their spreadsheets help me see what the sales are at grocery stores outside of the club warehouses. Looking at ads in the newspaper takes a lot of my time, and I’m horrible with using coupons, so I wanted someone else to do the work of looking over the ads for me. It costs $4.95 per month and I get spreadsheets showing items on sale in my area that would be great for food and home storage. The list is divided into groups: items highlighted in red are Great deals, items highlighted in blue are Good deals, and items highlighted in green are Okay deals. The spreadsheet for each store also shows you how to incorporate it into your years supply. I will keep you posted as to how helpful this service is for me. Sorry. This is a Utah only service.

I’ll share other changes as I continue to learn and grow.