Food Storage Friday- Meal planning list

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcmj253q_105fbsxm8cbWe're going to start taking some steps toward building our three-month food and necessities (household supplies) storage.  This will help you know what deals you need to be looking for later as we build up our storage a little at a time.

There can be some confusion between three-month food storage and long term food storage.  
Three-month food storage are what you probably eat most of during the week- what your family likes and is accustomed to.  These items usually don't have much shelf-life (or freezer-life).  Long-term food storage are items that can store longer and can provide our families with nourishment in times of need, but not only in an emergency- they can be incorporated into our diets now.

There are different ways of building a three-month food storage.  One way is to list 30 of your family's favorite meals and keep 3 of each ingredients in stock.  The other method is a 10x10 method, which means you list 10 meals and keep enough around to be able to make that meal 10 times.  10 meals x 10 times having that meal = 100 meals, a little more than 90 days/three-months worth.

First step: LIST.
Items needed: pad of paper or printout, pen

This is an idea you can do on FHE night- have your family list your favorite meals. Explain that you are working on a list of the family's favorites so that you will know what to shop for when it's on sale to save money.  We are following the prophets who have told us to keep our food storage stocked.  There are many cases when a food storage comes in handy- in a natural disaster or family emergency, when no money might be coming in for a short while or when someone is sick or just can't get to the store.  Decide as a family how much of the family budget should go toward building food storage.  (Buying extras of an item when it is on sale will save your family $$ in the long run, so you aren't buying something when you feel like making it again at regular price.) 

Keep a variety in your list, cause you'll need to be able to have some nights where the preparation takes less time than other nights.  Besides entrees, also list side dishes, lunches, breakfasts, snacks/desserts.  See if you can get up to 25 in each category, if not then you may fit better with a 10x10 in some areas.

Save this list for step two next week.

When our family did this, our boys suggested "canned green beans" as every side dish.  We definitely learned we needed to work on introducing more variety into their diets!