DIY Dry Food Storage Hacks
So you have decided to start putting aside some food for longer term storage... and you are prepared to buy items in bulk. It is definitely a great idea for food storage, and actually is a great rule for everyday frugal grocery shopping.
But now the challenge to figure out:
1) Where are you going to get all this bulk food?
2) How are you going to store all this bulk food?
One thing to remember is this: focus on buying items you normally eat. Never purchase things you won’t eat in regular life. It will end up being a huge waste of money to purchase emergency food you won’t use in your ever day life. What if an emergency never happens? (Which would be wonderful!) Then you'll have all this food eventually going bad, which you will have difficulty working back into your daily food plan before it becomes unusable. Not a great insurance plan in my opinion.
Another thing I will note is this: Our family is not what you would call "preppers", meaning, we are not storing 20 years of dry goods. For us, we are shooting for roughly 3 months of food storage as we believe that in a crisis situation, that would give us ample time to adjust to the situation. A crisis could be anything from a pandemic which we recently endured, or even a job loss that was unexpected, leaving you without income for a period of time. We are preparing for shorter term challenges that we could face. For longer term, we are working on developing our grown and preserving skills so we could grow or raise much of our food if absolutely necessary.
We also believe that if we had a crisis that made it necessary to live on 20 years of food that we have stored, then there are far bigger issues that likely will be happening to cause such a thing. We are trusting first in our Lord, while also making a plan as is wise to do for providing for our family. For us we have decided that mark is 3 months of food. For others, you might want to go with less or more to suit your needs.
With that out of the way, now I will give you some steps that I am working on for our home currently. I'll provide a beginner's step and an "advanced" step. Don't let the word "advanced" scare you off, I just couldn't think of another word to describe it! The "beginners" step is the basic, easiest way to start that specific step or store that specific food. The "advanced" will be taking things a step farther if you have the time and ability to do so. Don't be concerned if you can't take that action right away - the key is taking small steps that are manageable while you gain experience in food saving.
First, let me provide a list of the places to obtain bulk food items, I'm sure there are others but these have been our favorites.
WHERE TO PURCHASE IN BULK
Azure Standard or other local co-op.
Even though I live in a smallish town, we have an excellent food co-op. There are many vendors for such things and our current vendor is Azure. We learned about the co-op by word of mouth, friends sharing. So ask around and see if you can locate one near you. Azure is a family owned business and we like supporting them when we can.
Costco
Costco offers a good selection of more organic items and is worth checking out. We do use them quite a bit for our food storage purchases.
Local farmers and farmer's markets
Okay, you may not find a ton of dry goods here, but I have to do a shout out for farmer's markets. I can't stress enough how important it is to develop a relationship with a local farmer. If at all possible, seek one more more out! You would be surprised how this can help you in your food storage plans and even in your regular purchasing for daily eating. Here are some reasons why: