I Want To Store Food

During the first lockdowns we all saw what fear can do. Before the introduction of a kind of rationing by the shops, I saw SO many people who had piled their carts up with what was clearly panicked swipes at the shelves. Bags of potatoes, perishable items, enough toilet paper to re-wrap all the pharaohs and all the rice and pasta they could get their hands on. Less than two weeks later I saw bins on my street full of food. Veg which had expired, impulse buys the buyer didn't even like to eat, and so, so many spoiled fruits and veggies.

When it comes to storing food - be it for concerns of rampant inflation, worries of job loss, or even war - the key to doing it properly is by first knowing how you're going to store it. Then, what you want to store (don't just wander to the shops and start grabbing stuff) and to accumillate slowly.

Every week add just a few items from your list and build it up slowly. For example, every week or two I always get one bag of; rice, pasta, brown sugar, white sugar, a jar of honey, some tinned food, a box of salt and the occasional bottle of vodka. The vodka tends to only be bought once every three months or so because it takes so much out of our budget, but still, it's amazing what a constant chipping away adds up to. I should also clarify that the reason there aren't things like dried beans on this list, is because I grow a lot of our food in my garden. Last year I managed about 40% of our food, this year I'm on track for about 60%. The dried beans in my home are from my own garden, so I save that money I would have spent for other prep purchases.

Once you have filled the storage space allocated for your food, stop until you need to top up. If you still don't feel secure with your supplies (and you're actually eating them with proper storage rotation) then feel free to make another storage area in your house, but I would avoid just buying food and then figuring you'll sort it out later. This approach leads to food waste, wasted money and chaos in your home. If you want to get more food, then make sure it has a place to go first.

This is the part where people like to find the most far-out scenario and say "oh, but if the Russians are two towns over you NEED to panic buy".

Honey, if the Russians are two towns over you need to get your ass out of there asap! Look, I know in these times our brain likes to hamster a little and ramp up the panic, but like I've said before, learning to be calm and steady is one of the most important skills you will learn. Also, you need to assess what your actual situation. This is another reason why I have clarified that I'm writing these posts for people from the UK. Our situation is very different to someone in Ukraine, Poland or Spain.

Panic buying doesn't help you, and it will mean less in the shops for people who actually like to eat the food you impulse purchased.

Well, fine, but a small shop a week is just not enough food!

If all you are doing to prepare for the interesting times ahead is to store food, then, yes, it is not enough. But as I'll explain in my subsequent articles, there is a lot more to building self-sufficiency than just storing food. You want to improve your physical health, make your home more suited to harder times, start a garden, have secondary sources of heating and electricity, along with many other things. Yes, even if you only live in a flat, a window-sill is still better than nothing. Now I know that living in a flat has some serious limitations, but having lived in one myself over over 6 years I can confidently say that while you are limited, you are not helpless. You can grow a small amount of food in your flat and I will share many, many different ways you can do this in my next articles.

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This series is mostly written in the order resilience training/or prepping should be approached. You don't need to panic, you don't need a massive budget and you can protect yourself more and more by taking small steps to improve each day. Not sure were to start? Start with my oldest article first and then work your way through them.