September is National Preparedness Month. I love to talk/think/do things about preparedness. Like I said before, I am not one of those nutty people who is preparing for the end of the world or the zombie apocalypse. I am someone who knows that being prepared is important so I really like National Preparedness Month. There is so much to talk about because there are so many ways to be prepared. Yesterday we talked a little bit about long term food storage.

Lots of times when people hear about having long term food storage, they get turned off easily. Long term food storage is generally viewed as being for one year. This can be a scary amount of food storage to think about. It sounds hard to do, time consuming and expensive. It really isn’t hard, time consuming or expensive. There are some pretty simple guidelines one can follow when you are trying to build up your long term food storage.

The long term food storage items and quantities your family will need for one year is listed below. These amounts are per each person who is seven years old or older. For those younger than seven, storage about half of these amounts.
Grains
Wheat 150 lbs
Flour 25 lbs
Corn Meal 25 lbs
Oats 25 lbs
Rice 50 lbs
Pasta 25 lbs
Total Grains 300 lbs

Fats and Oils
Shortening 4 lbs
Vegetable Oil 2 gal
Mayonnaise 2 qts
Salad Dressing 1 qts
Peanut Butter 4 lbs
Total Fats 13 lbs

Legumes
Beans, dry 30 lbs
Lima Beans 5 lbs
Soy Beans 10 lbs
Split Peas 5 lbs
Lentils 5 lbs
Dry Soup Mix 5 lbs
Total Legumes 60 lbs

Sugars
Honey 3 lbs
Sugar 40 lbs
Brown Sugar 3 lbs
Molasses 1 lbs
Corn Syrup 3 lbs
Jams 3 lbs
Fruit drink powdered 6 lbs
Flavored Gelatin 1 lbs
Total Sugars 60 lbs

Milk
Dry Milk 60 lbs
Evaporated Milk 12 can
Other 13 lbs
Total Dairy lbs

Cooking Essentials
Baking Powder 1 lbs
Baking Soda 1 lbs
Yeast .5 lbs
Salt 5 lbs
Vinegar .5 gal

Water
Water 14 gal
Bleach 1 gal

Come back tomorrow when we will talk more about preparedness month and food storage. Have ideas to share, let us know. We love to hear from you.