That is the million-dollar question. How much food is enough for my family? You can find many “food storage calculators” online telling you how many pounds of x, y, z to buy. Likewise, you can find bulk packages that claim to provide enough food for 1 person for a year. But is this really enough?
No. It’s probably not. So welcome to my soap box.
*Updated October 2020* – This post contains affiliate links. Read my affiliate link disclosure here.
Click here to get my 3 step strategy to building a food storage you’ll actually eat.
How to know if you have enough food for your family.
You spend the time and calculate your food storage based off of a few things:
- Meals your family already eats. Do you have a go-to list of 2-5 meals that you can cook by heart and always have those ingredients on hand? So those are the meals you want to plan for food storage. (yes, macaroni and cheese can be one of those meals). Further, read this article on tips for picking food storage meals and how to get your family to love food storage.
- Know how much each meal feeds. Does it feed 4 and you need to double the recipe? Does one meal feed your whole family without needing sides or more?
- Pick a group of meals you are willing to eat when time gets tough. Then plan on how long you want to “prepare” for… I recommend starting with 3 months.
- Buy enough to have 3 meals a day, for 3 months using the group of meals you picked.
Click here to get my 3 step strategy to building a food storage you’ll actually eat.
I know sometimes you eat more than 3 meals a day or have snacks and sides. That’s ok. Just know, if you plan 3 “big” meals, for 3 months, you’ll have enough to feed your family. Then, you can add in extra snacks and sides (especially because most of us “boredom eat”, and realistically don’t need all the extra food in between…speaking for myself here).
I highly doubt cooking with food storage can be good.
WRONG!!! If you aren’t sure how to cook with food storage ingredients Store This Not That has some AMAZING recipes (and YouTube Channel) for making some great meals! Likewise, almost every meal I made, I have a food storage ingredient too. So you’d be surprised by how many tasty meals you can make using food storage.
In conclusion
Knowing how much is enough, is specifically related to YOUR family. So don’t depend on what a calculator or store tells you is enough. In other words, buy enough for the meals your family eats for the “frame” of time you want to be “enough”.
Click here to get my 3 step strategy to building a food storage you’ll actually eat.
How much do you hope to store? Enough for 3 months, a year? Comment below.
Further Reading:
What Type of Food Storage is Best?
How to Build your Food Storage- 4 Step Video Series
Where to get Food for Long Term Storage
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Thanks for reading!