Stocking Up For Winter

 Like squirrels and nuts, this family stores away food in the fall for the winter.  I am sure I have talked about this before in previous posts but here is the long and short of the why we do this.  My husband and I own a lawn care business.  Well, he does; I just help out when and where I can.  Winter is a down time in the business.  Grass doesn't grow around here in the winter.  However, in the fall, we have two of our most profitable seasons, aeration season and leaf season.  So we are more fluid right now.  Because of this, we like to stock up on provisions for the winter season now. 

I have pretty much just finished stocking up.  I am proud to say I have about a three month supply of most food groups.  I have also added to my  longer term food storage. I also have at least a three month supply of all hygiene products that we use, as well as household cleaning supplies.  I will continue to increase my food storage and other supplies through December.

My logic on this:  Each year we have a "planned emergency".  This is the time from January through March, but really it lasts to the beginning of May. I have always been a "prepper" and it has proved essential to us time and time again!  So when I realized that we were tending to need to use our food storage during our off season, we chose to think about this in our preps. One fall, many years ago, my husband did a big job and handed me a bunch of cash (I think it was like $500) and he said, "Go out and get everything we need for food for the next month and include all the stuff for Thanksgiving."  I spend the next couple days making an enormous list.  I scoured the ads from the local grocery stores and made a plan of attack. That year I was not only able to get enough groceries for that next month and for Thanksgiving, but also was able to put away enough meat for us for another couple weeks too.  From that point on, we made a point to start squirreling away food and supplies in the fall. 

This is what my list structure looks like:

1.  Menu planning:  My first step is to sit down and think of all the meals we love to eat in the winter.  This includes, chili, soups, chicken and potatoes, spaghetti, tacos, pork chops, meatloaf, etc. I stretch this out and create a 25 day meal plan.  Some meals we will eat more than once in that 25 day period. I also figure we will eat out 5 days in the month for dinners and more often for lunches.  I do this meal plan for breakfasts (which often look like "breakfast bars, poptarts, frozen sausage biscuits, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, omelets) and for lunches (which include a lot of planned leftovers, frozen entrees, ramen noodles, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches). I also make a list of grab and go snacks (microwave popcorn, chex mix, chocolate, peanut butter cracker packs, pretzels, nuts, cheese, etc). For the record, this is super hard for me because we eat pretty healthy and I don't have a lot of processed foods in our house. Stocking up on fresh foods is not in the plan, but I try to switch fresh for frozen.  I also do have three on-the-go teenagers/20-somethings who have classes and jobs still living in the house. {sigh} Meal planning is the hardest part.  My 25 day meal plan is for a month.  If I am wanting a 3 month supply of food then I might add a few more meals and multiply the number of meals by 3.  I will also include any holiday meals or birthday meals that might occur. Oh and think about a few desserts.

2.  Meal breakdown:  My next step is to break down each meal into the ingredients and amounts I need for each meal.   I also include spices and seasonings, too. 

3.  List making: I make a master list of all the ingredients from the meal breakdown step. I add all the same items up.  For example, if I am using  a pound of ground beef for each meatloaf I make and I am making it twice in the month then I need 2 lbs.  If I use a pound of ground beef for tacos and a pound for chili, then my total for the month is 4 lbs. Then I further this list to creating lists for each grocery store.  Some stores have specific products my family likes.  I also use the ads from each store, checking for sales.  If there is a sale on a certain product, I will include the sale price next to the item. This will come in handy when shopping.  

4. Checking inventory: Before heading out, I add anything else that we are getting low on.  Think about spices, seasoning packets, flour, sugars, coffees, other drinks.  This is the time when I go through my pantry and clean out expired, unwanted items, dust the shelves.  I pack up the unwanted items and send them on to the food bank. I sort and organize the drawers and cabinets in the bathrooms, and organize the cleaning closet. I add any additional items we are getting low on to the grocery lists.  While doing this, begin an additional list of little chores that need to be done.  These chores could include changing out the batteries in the wall clocks and smoke detectors, replacing burned out lightbulbs, swapping out baking soda boxes in the refrigerators, etc. 

Once the lists are made I head out.  I will shop one store a day. This gives me time to shop and not be in a big rush and come home and put everything away. While I am in a store if I see an item on sale and I have it on another store's list, I will compare the price at the other store with the sale price and then buy the better deal.  I keep all the lists with me so I can mark off any item found at a different store.  Remember when I said to put the sale price next to the item on your list?  This is where it might come in handy.  You can compare the sales. 

Things to remember when stocking up like this:

1. A place for everything.  You need to have a planned place for everything you buy.  I have a separate set of cabinets in my basement for our food storage.  This helps because for us, it is not up in my working pantry.  Out of sight, out of mind. Over the years we have acquired three refrigerator/freezers, one full size stand up refrigerator, one stand up full size freezer, and one chest freezer. We don't use all of them all year long but in this case, these will end up all pretty full.

2. What you bring home, family members will think it is all free rein.  It is best to remind family members that this extra food is not free for the eating.  This is for later.

3. Lots of items can be frozen.  Some items are better fresh.  For example, you can freeze milk but it separates and doesn't always come back together like it was fresh when thawed. However, butter freezes just fine.  In our "planned emergency" time, I still have a small budget for fresh items.  I buy those when needed not during this stocking up time. I focus on the meats, veggies, spices, seasonings, dry goods, bathroom supplies, cleaning supplies. However, if you are stocking up for winter or a time when you know you won't be able to get to the grocery store (like a big snow storm) I would consider adding shelf stable milk or powdered milk (blahhk).  Fresh eggs might be hard but you can include "Egg Beaters" to your freezer. Most cheeses will freeze just fine and so do yogurts.

Why would I want to do this?

Great question.  I do it because I know we have a poor time and I can alleviate some expense now with food storage. If you have a time where you know it will be difficult to get out then this might be a good method.  Perhaps you have a planned surgery coming up. Perhaps you know that each year you get snowed in for a period of time. Maybe you are having a baby.  Or more timely, maybe you may have to quarantine for a few weeks due to the pandemic. These are great reasons to stock up. My sister stocks up each month for the last week of the month when she and her husband are too busy with work and deadlines to shop. All these are "planned emergencies". 

What is different from this type of stocking up and stocking regular emergency food storage? 

Another great question.  For the most part it is not really that different other than the fact that you know you will be using your food storage.  I have our regular food storage and because I know I will be using our storage each winter, I stock extra so at the end of the winter I am not left with nothing in my food storage.  So this is a little extra because I know I am going to be using it. Do I then have double? Not really,  more like 1 1/2 times the normal amount. I continue to grab items when I see them on sale and put them in my food storage, but this is extra.  This also is funded by extra money, not my regular storage budget. 

Can't I just use what I have in food storage for my "planned emergency" without stocking up?

Yes, you can.  But a planned emergency isn't a REAL emergency.  Plus our additional income allows me to beef up our storage during this season.  If you use your emergency food storage during your planned emergency, you will just need to understand that your emergency storage will be depleted by the time you come out of your planned emergency time.  You will have to work to restock it quickly.  With this method, I am "restocking" ahead of time. Because I know it is coming, I can plan. 

What sorts of things do you forget?

I don't know....ha ha ha.... Honestly, Ziploc bags, aluminum foil, trash bags, dishwasher detergent, wine.  It is the little things.   But those little things are sorely missed when gone.