(no subject)
Feb. 25th, 2020 11:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brin_bellway[cw: food, (fairly mild) apocalypse, (fairly mild) illness]
One thing I recommend for everyone who isn't broke and isn't living in a capsule, even if they're not into prepping at all, is rotated stockpiles.
It goes like this:
1. Make a list of all the non-perishables you use on a regular basis. Some common examples to get you started: peanut butter, hand soap, cereal, chocolates, shampoo. The list can be on paper, in your head, on your phone, whatever you're most comfortable with.
2. Note how much of each item you normally use in three months. If you don't know, keep track of your usage for one month and multiply by three.
3. For each item, the next time it goes on sale, buy a three-month supply.
4. When it goes on sale again, refill to a three-month supply, even if you still have a bunch left.
5. Make sure to use the oldest ones first. For things like shampoo, line them up on the shelf so that the ones you bought longest ago are at the front; for things with expiration dates, line them up by that. (Things you bought more recently don't always have dates further in the future, so whenever possible it's best to line them up by *actual* age rather than by how long you've had them.)
---
The great thing about rotated stockpiles is that they're helpful for almost *everything*.
Snowed in? Quarantined? You can stay fed (and clean)!
Evacuating? Throw a few of your granola-bar boxes in your bag!
Business as usual? All of your non-perishables are now bought at sale prices!
If you don't have enough money and/or space for stockpiling *everything* on your list, you might still be able to do *some*. And being poor makes the sale-prices-at-all-times aspect all the more beneficial.
---
Optional step 6: once you've gotten comfortable with this routine, consider expanding to frozen foods. You have to be more cautious with these: freezers can break, doors can get left open. Keep your freezers in heavily trafficked areas of your home whenever possible, so that people will notice more quickly if something is wrong. Weight your frozen stockpiles towards things that can handle spending a while at room temperature if they have to (like bread), and towards cheaper things for less risk (also bread). If you have multiple freezers, *some* of which are in heavily trafficked areas and others are not, aim to keep cheaper and more resilient foods in the out-of-the-way freezer(s), and expensive and fragile foods in the monitored freezer(s).
---
This post inspired by *Dad*, of all people, suggesting we do our grocery shopping this week with coronavirus preparation in mind.
Further, more quarantine-focused reading: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1576034.html
One thing I recommend for everyone who isn't broke and isn't living in a capsule, even if they're not into prepping at all, is rotated stockpiles.
It goes like this:
1. Make a list of all the non-perishables you use on a regular basis. Some common examples to get you started: peanut butter, hand soap, cereal, chocolates, shampoo. The list can be on paper, in your head, on your phone, whatever you're most comfortable with.
2. Note how much of each item you normally use in three months. If you don't know, keep track of your usage for one month and multiply by three.
3. For each item, the next time it goes on sale, buy a three-month supply.
4. When it goes on sale again, refill to a three-month supply, even if you still have a bunch left.
5. Make sure to use the oldest ones first. For things like shampoo, line them up on the shelf so that the ones you bought longest ago are at the front; for things with expiration dates, line them up by that. (Things you bought more recently don't always have dates further in the future, so whenever possible it's best to line them up by *actual* age rather than by how long you've had them.)
---
The great thing about rotated stockpiles is that they're helpful for almost *everything*.
Snowed in? Quarantined? You can stay fed (and clean)!
Evacuating? Throw a few of your granola-bar boxes in your bag!
Business as usual? All of your non-perishables are now bought at sale prices!
If you don't have enough money and/or space for stockpiling *everything* on your list, you might still be able to do *some*. And being poor makes the sale-prices-at-all-times aspect all the more beneficial.
---
Optional step 6: once you've gotten comfortable with this routine, consider expanding to frozen foods. You have to be more cautious with these: freezers can break, doors can get left open. Keep your freezers in heavily trafficked areas of your home whenever possible, so that people will notice more quickly if something is wrong. Weight your frozen stockpiles towards things that can handle spending a while at room temperature if they have to (like bread), and towards cheaper things for less risk (also bread). If you have multiple freezers, *some* of which are in heavily trafficked areas and others are not, aim to keep cheaper and more resilient foods in the out-of-the-way freezer(s), and expensive and fragile foods in the monitored freezer(s).
---
This post inspired by *Dad*, of all people, suggesting we do our grocery shopping this week with coronavirus preparation in mind.
Further, more quarantine-focused reading: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1576034.html
no subject
Date: 2020-02-26 03:14 pm (UTC)If you have non-kitchen storage space available, you might be able to fix that part. We reallocated a few bedroom shelves to pantry storage when we started doing more of this.
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>>only spending another 9-10 months on this continent<<
True. I think I focused a bit too much on *space* in the housing constraints and not enough on *stability*: if you're moving soon (especially to a place not reachable by land transport), you probably don't want to have to lug three months of food with you.