Ideally, you will purchase your 3 month supply little by little, while taking advantage of sales. However, maybe you haven't gotten around to it, you haven't been able to afford it, or you don't trust your ability to stay on top of sales. You might not live close to regular grocery stores, or you could have any other reason to not add to your 3 month supply little by little. If any of those reasons to not add to your 3 month supply bit by bit sound like you, you may chose to use your tax refund (or a big chunk of change) and buy a lot of it all at once.

Our Babystep 3 teaches you all about figuring out how to make a list of everything you may need for your 3 month supply of food. You can chose to use the spreadsheets included, or the printable forms. 

When referring to traditional food storage, the food items typically include grains, legumes, sugars, oils, etc. These foods provide a life-sustaining diet and at the very least these should be the ones you store. These items also have a long shelf life thus they are ideal for long term food storage. We recommend including additional foods such as fruits, veggies, meats and powdered dairy products in your traditional food storage to add a variety to your diet, and to allow you more flexibility to make your regular recipes using foods you have stored.

A lot of people like to shoot for a goal of storing a one year supply of long term food storage, so buying a big chunk of that at one time when you come across some "extra" money is a great way to make a dent in it. 

We used to consider storing Just-add-Water meals to be "cheating" when purchasing Food Storage. However, over the years we have come to realize that there is a time and place for this type of food storage. If you go through a short term disaster or need to grab some food and go, having a bucket or two of this kind of food will be invaluable to you. If you choose to store "Just Add Water" meals there are several things to consider as you determine what you need to store.

• First, decide how many servings your family will need to store.
• Second, decide if you want to supplement with other foods.
• Third, plan for the appropriate fuel and water. 

Our BabyStep 1 is to get your shelves, and food storage area ready. The reason we have shelves as step number 1 (after your basic eprep) is because when you have a room set up, building and adding to your food storage feels fun. It no longer becomes a task of figuring out where to put stuff. So whether its cheap and temporary shelves, or if you're more experienced and run into extra money, some of the food rotation shelves can be really nice solutions.

When deciding on which shelves to put in your home, there are a lot of things to consider.  You may have space or budget issues to deal with, but there are options out there. Depending on what types of foods you are storing, rotating shelves can be a great thing to have. It's also okay to start small with one shelf, and then add to it as you grow your food storage.

There are hundreds (probably thousands) of Emergency Preparedness products available out there. Some products are critical to have, while others just make life easier. Over the years of doing this blog, we have tried lots of different things, and have become dealers for many of them to help our readers get better prices!

When determining what it is you need, we always recommend taking care of basics first. Take care of your 72 hour kits, your water storage, basic first aid, and sanitation supplies. After you have taken care of the basics (and have either saved up money or get a nice chunk of change) add to your supplies. If you follow our blog, you know we often try to teach you cheap or free solutions to tie you over in the mean time. 

When determining what it is you need in terms of appliances, we recommend the "test yourself" theory. What we mean by that, is test yourself by either borsrowing, or doing things the hard way before buying an appliance. Try making bread by hand before buying an expensive mixer. SURE the mixer WILL make the job easier, and oftentimes make the bread turn out better, but see if you are dedicated enough to the habit or lifestyle before buying something you may never use. 

We borrowed wheat grinders, canners, and dehydrators before ever getting our own, and it was great practice to allow us to see what it was we wanted. So here are a few of our favorite appliances to help us use and preserve our Food Storage.