Copy canning

In past posts I have written about storing food. The wisdom of storing a little extra food in your pantry and having a couple of months of living expenses in your savings account really makes sense in today’s economy. When you ask most people why they work the most common answer given is that they work to keep a roof over their family’s head and food on the table. In today’s economy with the national average of ten percent unemployment, what would you do if you lost your job next week? A lot of families live pay check to pay check. There are a few government programs out there to assist you if you lose your job and there are a few local food pantries like the one we have at our church to support the local community. The reality of cutbacks and layoffs becomes larger every day, but just think of the security you could provide for your family if you had three to six months worth of food storage available in your own pantry, and enough cash saved up to keep your house for a few extra months until you find work. That would certainly blunt the harsh psychological impact of losing your income knowing that you can still provide for your family. Even if your job is secure, having food stored and cash available can help you weather some of life's other emergencies such as getting snowed in for a few days, having to replace a tire or water pump on your car without using a credit card, or even something as simple as feeding a few extra unexpected guests without having to run to the store.

A couple of questions keep coming up about food storage. What foods should I store? And, With today’s food prices how can I afford to store a month’s, six month’s, or even a year’s worth of food. The answers are a lot easier to find than you might realize. I too wondered about the cost of storing a couple of month's worth of food supplies and it took a while to understand some of the basics. After working at this for a while, and making a few mistakes, I learned some techniques that I would like to share with others.

What to store and how to afford it. If you had a lot of cash burning a hole in your wallet and you wanted to store a years supply of food that doesn’t taste very good and has a shelf life of only a year, you might go out and by a pallet of military surplus MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat). A lot of people have done that, and a lot of people have thrown away a lot of food because of this “Panic Mode” style of storing food. The best advice that I have been given is the old adage of “Store what you eat, and Eat what you store”. I could give you a list of what I have stored, or you could go on the internet and find someone else’s list, but you would probably find that what works for me (or what you find on the internet) will not work for you. There are various methods of determining what you eat regularly which will help you understand what you will need to purchase for storage. One method is to keep a diary of the meals that you prepare at home and stock up on the non-perishable items on your list. This works if you keep up with the location of the list and you keep up with the documentation of the items you eat. I know that when I started storing food I bought a lot of canned goods that we haven’t eaten yet. So I kept looking for new methods and I kept learning.

Store what you will eat, and not spend very much right now. The best method for storing food that I have found lately is called “Copy Canning”. I found this method from reading an article by Karen Hood. This method is just one step beyond the grocery list that you probably already use. The idea is simple. When you use something from your pantry, say a can of beans, you add beans to your grocery list to replace the can you just removed from your pantry. When you go to the grocery store you need to buy TWO cans of beans instead of ONE. The next time you use a can of beans you repeat the process until you have accumulated the number of cans that you feel meets your total storage needs. This works for most any non-perishable storage item that you normally store in your pantry. This method sets up an automatic rotational system that spreads out the useful life of your stored goods longer than if you just go out and buy several cases of food at one time. It also spreads the cost of stored food over a longer period of time so you don’t break the bank when you start storing food. It can also eliminate the temptation to put a lot of food on your credit card instead of just adding to your normally budgeted grocery money. You do have a budget don’t you? You know what I say, one thing leads to another. It looks like I found another week’s blog topic right there.

If you combine this copy canning idea with my last weeks topic of using coupons and finding BOGO (Buy One; Get One Free) deals you might find that you can double your food storage without spending twice the money. Don't forget about storing food for your four legged family members as well.