Longfellow Life Skills: Get Your Start on Food Storage

I'm sure we all have some amazing moms, aunts, and grandmothers out there with a wheat grinder and a basement full of food storage. It seems like these women (and men, too!) will singlehandedly feed the world during the second coming. However, food goes pretty fast. We all need to be prepared for disaster, unemployment, and a myriad of problems the prophets have foreseen. However, we don't have to take out extra student loans to do it.

Make a goal now to buy an item or two of food storage every time you visit the store. Check the grocery ads for sales and deals (like 10 for $10). Case lot sales are a new best friend! After a few months, you will have built a nice little nest egg of food to get you through the tough times that inevitably will come.

Even if you think you'll be moving around once or twice in the next few years (let's face it, who isn't?), you can still have a weeks supply of food for yourself and keep it in a few portable boxes. Even if you just have some granola bars and cans of beans, that'll get you through that week when cash is tight for groceries. Anyway, we are promised that if we make efforts to keep a commandment from the Lord, He will bless us with a testimony and understanding of that principle (John 7:17).

Here are some basic food storage items and their average, non-industrial sized prices. Don't forget to include all of the food groups.

Canned Tuna: $1.50

Canned Corn: $2.00

Potato Flakes/Pearls (add water): $3.50

A Box of 12 Chewy Granola Bars: $3.50

Canned Peaches: $2.00

Evaporated Milk: $3.00

Hot Chocolate: $4.00

Applesauce: $3.50

Beef Jerky: $7.00

Mixed Nuts: $4.50

Canned Pinto Beans: $2.00