Sep122011
26 Comments
Preparedness mindset 1: Think annual, not monthly
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PDFGuest post by Heather of Prudent Pantry, a member of our Survival Mom-Blog Ring.
image by RambergMediaImages
We are taught to think in a monthly budget or a paycheck-to-paycheck budgeting manner. What would you say if I said it’s time to throw that idea out the window for your food and supplies?
Yes, I do mean buying a side of meat in the fall for the entire year’s needs. Or buying 100 boxes of pasta with coupons when it goes on sale in early March. It’s time we started thinking yearly rather than monthly!
The biggest obstacle to this is the quantity you will need. I am astounded at how much my family needs to keep going for 3 months, much less 12 months. In fact, this freaks me out at the grocery store, and I’ll chicken out when it comes to buying the larger amount. Then, I don’t buy the 100 boxes of food that I know we need to eat for a year.
Here is one of the easiest ways I have found to ease the pressure I put on myself when it comes to quantities. There are 52 weeks in the year. How many times in one week do we eat ground beef? We eat ground beef 2x times a week for lunch and 2 to 3 times a week for dinner. Each meal, at most, for my large family, would be 3 pounds of ground meat. That totals 15 pounds of ground meat a week. Then 15 pounds x 52 weeks = 780 pounds a year or 65 pounds a month.
image by GranniesKitchen
This information is great. Realize that I won’t cook this much ground beef every week. Some weeks I might be veggie heavy or chicken is on the menu. If I get this amount of ground beef, though, I know that I have five meals a week fully covered.
Why should you know how much ground beef you would use, or pasta, or salsa, etc?
Several months ago I was in Kroger when the meat manager was cleaning out the meats that would pass their expiration within two days. The ground beef was marked 60% off! I should have cleaned him out of all the ground beef he was putting in the clearance bin, but I didn’t. Why? Because I didn’t have a firm number in my head of how much we needed for a week, month, or year. That loose idea of, “Gee, we need a lot,” translated into a queasy feeling when I had 25 pounds in my cart, so I stopped there. Firm reliable numbers would have assured me that I was doing fine and to keep on shopping.
Knowing your family’s average usage will make getting over the quantity hurtle much easier!
Another thing that knowing the quantity your family needs for a year is in cost. If you know that you use 780 pounds of ground beef and it averages $3.00 per pound, that will come to $2340.00. If you can save even a dollar off the cost through coupons or bulk buying, you are saving your yearly budget $780!!
I highly recommend that you take the time to write down your families favorite meals and translate that information from a week menu into quantities needed for a year. Then take those amounts and find out how much your family needs for one year of eating the tried and true meals you enjoy. Don’t worry. You won’t get bored. Much of our menu revolves around the same food basics, just prepared differently.
Take the plunge and start adjusting your thinking and budget to a year long budget. That will help you know how much you need for your pantry, and roughly, how much it will cost. This is a great way to fill up your prudent pantry.
© 2011, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.
(26) Readers Comments
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A Review of the Diva Cup: Not for the faint of heart. (Men, avert your eyes.)
I love my DivaCup. Going on 6 years (with a year or so off due to havi
A Review of the Diva Cup: Not for the faint of heart. (Men, avert your eyes.)
I did the same thing! LOL
A Review of the Diva Cup: Not for the faint of heart. (Men, avert your eyes.)
Here, Here! Made the switch a few months ago and never looking back.
Padre
It strikes me the real problem is not figuring out what you need a year but figuring out how to safely store it for a year. Most preppers don't have a walk in fridge for their 780lbs of ground beef
gfcfmomofmany
That is a lot of extra beef but remember if you are turning over the food you will always be eating some of it. I can tell you how that looks in my home and give you some ideas to make your storage, and prepping of your meals easier! _One because this is a continuous change over I will always have some in my refridgerator and freezer in my kitchen. We were blessed with an extra freezer downstairs and that is where the real storage is. _You can make your recipes on a grand scale, such as meatballs, meatloaf, hamburger patties and freeze ready to go straight into the oven. _Zipploc baggies can also be your best friend. Weigh out your usual amount (for me 2 pounds) put into a baggie and press flat. Then freeze and stack. _Finally I use baggies to store pre-browned ground beef. When I need to use it I can pull it out and put it into a recipe or add taco seasoning!
gfcfmomofmany
Space is always an issue. Using a freezer, that sucks up and relies on electricity is also an issue. _My next big prepping step is to can ground beef. You can store ground beef by pressure canning (though I have not tried it). My mom used to and I can tell you it does change the texture of the meat. Use canned meat in chili, soups, or stew._I hope my article helps you think on a larger scale and think about things like storage, budgeting for peak harvest, and large scale meat buying like a whole cow at a butcher. _God bless_Heather L
Karen
I do can ground beef, and it does change the texture, more soft and mushy!! But hey, it beats a freezer if you do not have one!!!!
Tia
That is my problem as well. I have a large family so it takes a LOT to feed us all for a month, much less a year. I think I would need another 2 freezers to have enough room for the food, but where do I put the freezers? I am just glad that I look into my freezer and it is full. If a situation arises where that freezer is what we are living off of, I also know how to really stretch it. I can feed my family of 9 dinner using only 2 or 3 chicken breasts or a pound of hamburger. So to me it is not just having a large amount of something on hand but also making what you have last.
D T
Great post. I love the idea of multiplying the number of weeks for meat calculating.
speak_softly
Great idea! I've been struggling with this same issue of how much do we have and how much do we need for awhile now.
One hurdle I haven't gotten past is the fact that when we buy fruits and veggies they are almost always fresh, never frozen or canned. So do you have any suggestions for that problem?
gfcfmomofmany
You could have a 3 season garden and adjust your eating to match the season. The 3 season garden will keep your family well with greens, veggies, and depending on the season fruits. Then in a protected area near your home for the coldest of winter create a cloche (covered winter garden.)
God bless
Heather L
Cindy
Interesting idea! For ease of figuring, I'll just take the weekly quantitiy and multiply by 50. Just remember to look at expiration dates. Some boxed items do not last long, such as saltine crackers–they get stale pretty quickly.
Paula
I canned 18 lbs of ground beef last weekend. It does change the texture, but it's great for chili, spaghetti, taco meat, etc. And since we aren't real big meat eaters, I can get 36 meals out of that! I've got about a dozen jars of chicken canned on my shelf too. Love it!
rightwingmom
Great article. People don't realize HOW MUCH food is needed to provide 1 year's worth for an average family!
I've been canning meat as well. Another method I've tested is making hamburger rocks. It's basicly cooking the hamburger, rinsing the fat off, then dehydrating. I have not re-hydrated any yet. (Guess I should try.) You'd be limited on how you can use the re-hydrated hamburger in meals because it's pre-cooked. This just sounds like a good idea that saves space and you don't have to rely on your freezer.
Does anyone else have experinece with hamburger rocks?
Kirsten
No, but I’d like to hear more when you do rehydrate or from someone else. Relying on a freezer for months worth of meat seems crazy since it a) uses a hec of a lot of electricity and b) relies on that electricity to always be around. Unless you have fool proof off grid backup, that’s not a logical way to prepare for disaster, in opinion. (this is not to say that the original post’s idea of thinking annually is not brilliant – I think it is. I just wouldn’t do it with the freezer).
Rachael
Energy star rated chest freezers don’t use a lot of electricity. A 25 cubic ft one will use around $55 a year in electricity, 13 cu ft $35. That’s from to $3 – $4.5 a month in electricity.
So if you get a good deal on a chest freezer you can very quickly make back what you spent to buy the freezer. If you are buying a used one – make sure it is energy star rated.
millenniumfly
I like your way of thinking. As a prepper (and watching/reading too much doom-and-gloom news) I'm always feeling pressure to be MORE prepared FASTER. This is especially true when I go weeks without adding to my preps. I think looking more long term will help to ease my anxieties. Thanks.
lrod
Good post. I have been trying to purchase our food supplies with long term quantities in mind. Space is an issue for me like it is for so many others. I have finally given up my guest bedroom and turned it into our food storage room. That's been a big help. Freezer space is still a premium so I can as much as possible. I have enjoyed canning meat. It isn't hard. It sure does help when you need a quick meal.
Another thing, make friends with the people that work in the stores you frequent. They will tell you when things will be marked down or soon to go on sale. This has helped me with my food storage.
Barbara
For those that get anxious about storing that much spoilable foods, it may be a good idea to start with other stuff.
How much aluminum foil do you need? Figure out how much you use now (by putting the open date on the box, seeing how long it lasts). Figure in increased use due to possible outdoors cooking in an emergency, and buy that much when you find it on sale. Laundry detergent, bleach, toothpaste, date all those containers and see how long they last, then look for sales.
Valerie
Hi — I'm new here, but I've been trolling for a couple months. Just heard on the news that due to the drought in the South that peanut prices are rising dramatically. Jif announced a 30% increase, starting in November. Now is the time to by your year's supply of peanut butter and anything else peanut-related. Sending my hubby to Whole Foods to get about 30 more pounds of it! (We already have a good stash…) Love your site, SurvivalMom!
Valerie
Oops, "lurking", not "trolling"! haha
gfcfmomofmany
Peanut oil can spoil so be sure to place in a neutral temperature place. And use a permanent marker to mark the date you bought it on top.
MasterPo
It's still a matter of cash flow.
Yes, buying a side of beef or a couple cases of pasta may be cheaper on a per serving basis.
But for most people paying $2,000 up front isn't in the budget even if they pay that much or more over the course of the year.
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gfcfmomofmany
I understand the money issue. Perhaps starting your yearly purchases on cheap items with coupons would be helpful. Then buy your larger more expensive items with a tax return, garage sale proceeds, or any other cash flow surge.
Cindy
I agree it does take planning to buy in bulk. If I only have $120 for groceries for the week, I can't spend $50 of it on oatmeal or any one thing just because it's on sale. If there' s a really good sale, I'll shop it on Sunday and then again on Saturday after getting paid again on Friday. I do like to stock up on supplies when they are on sale for sure!
We buy 1/4 of a beef for the freezer-only steaks and roasts as my husband doesn't like the ground beef. So we buy ground beef from a local butcher and I usually can get 2-3 weeks' worth at a time.
I usually buy an extra turkey and ham when they are onsale at the holidays, but maybe I should buy a few more extra. We use a freezer and don't worry too much about it. For short term outages, we have 2 electric generators. If we have a long term outage, I guess we'll have a big BBQ!
gamrich
Rightwingmom wrote, "Does anyone else have experinece with hamburger rocks?"
Yes, as there are just two of us I vacuum seal 1/2 lb. per container. When rehydrated, the meat is just like any browned ground beef.
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katzien
It's coming up on Thanksgiving, and the stores will have lots on sale. It never occurred to me to buy an extra turkey or two, but I sure will this year! I too will often blow my budget when something is on sale…..I need to work on that.
Kat
I realize I’m a little late to this post, but I just found you today and I’ve been browsing for HOURS! I thought I’d share my tips for purchasing meats “on the cheap”.
We have a hard and fast “no meat over $2.00/lb” rule (I see this going up soon) due to our budget, the only exception is the rare fish purchase. We do this by knowing that london broil or sirloin will go on sale during the summer months for anywhere between $1.50-$2.00/lb. Then we buy as much as we can afford (and since we plan for it, it’s usually not a problem). Which for us is typically $1-300 worth, depending on how much we have left from the last purchase. Half of that we’ll have the butcher in the store grind for us into hamburger. The other half we bring home and cut into smaller portions for freezing.
We don’t buy any other beef at all unless it’s coming out of the “manager’s markdown” section of the meat department and is under $2/lb. We use it for stew meat, roasts, bbq, to shred for tacos/enchiladas. When we get it home we spend a few hours repackaging and vacuum sealing.
Typically I’ll buy a bag of onion at the same time we purchase meat and I’ll precook half the hamburger with the onion and package it into 1/2-3/4 pound bags. If we’re late getting started on dinner or we forgot to defrost something, we just pull out the precooked and heat it up for homemade Hamburger Helper or something equally fast. And the bonus is that this is typically MUCH lower in fat than you can purchase preground. I usually have to add a little olive oil to pans when cooking.
We do the same for chicken and pork. Right now you can find chicken breasts on sale for less than $2/lb and we stock up (not as much as we do beef, since chicken goes on sale more often).
Pork loin sold whole in the bag can be picked up for less than $2/lb as well, here. The pork is a lot like the beef, in that we use it for many things you might not think of. We have a grinder here at the house and we make our own sausage out of this if we don’t have a “butt roast” or “shoulder roast” and if we can’t find preground sausage on sale for less. Another thing we do with this is to make “boneless porkchops” from the loin, only you’re not paying $3+/lb. And it works well for roasts if you don’t have one on hand, but I much prefer using the “butts or shoulders” that go on sale in winter for $0.99-$1.50/lb for this.
I can’t wait to get my own meat slicer that will cut through bone. When hams go on sale at Easter for cheap, I’m planning on cutting my own ham steaks from them and pay $0.99/lb, rather than the usual $3.50 I see the ones in the store for!
Another thing we buy a year in advance is butter. When it goes on sale for $1.50/lb during the holidays we’ll buy up 24-30 lbs and stick it in one of our freezers.
Just some thoughts I decided to have a verbal explosion about. Sorry! :0)
Kat