Three Methods To Create Your Home Food Storage System

If you are unfamiliar with in-home food storage, the following article provides a general idea of what you might expect if you choose to pursue your own program. In upcoming articles, I will provide you with the details of in-home storage. Remember that this is a lifestyle choice. Being prepared through home food storage requires a commitment to learning new skills and use resources in ways you might have never considered before. Scroll down and find out more about the different methods of creating your own home food storage system.

A Quick Rundown of Basic Food Storage Methods:

1. The Pioneer Method: Alternatively called the survivalist method, it is the most difficult but the most rewarding. That’s because it requires you to be proficient in a wide variety of homesteading skills, like: gardening, cooking, food preservation, and home maintenance, among others.

2. The Package Method: As its name implies, this entails buying your food and supplies in bulk then storing them until they’re needed. Simple and easy.

3. The Pantry Method: There’s only one rule to this method, and it’s “eat what you store and store what you eat”. Basically, you should have a constantly well-stocked pantry whose stores should be refreshed regularly as they’re depleted from everyday use.

Maximize Home Food Storage Easily

Think of your home, apartment, or other safe living/storage place as your personal in-home grocery store. That’s right, a virtual personal shopping center, stocked with the things you need and like to eat—set up where you have unique access to all of it when needed! Imagine having supplies of food and other necessary items on hand from which you can draw continuously for 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, up to a year––or longer––if you so choose. Imagine everything in constant stock rotation—items consumed are replaced and new items added as they are eaten and enjoyed. Think about having quality food to utilize in the preparation of wholesome and nourishing meals when there is no surplus of food available to you especially when SHTF.

So first, let us discuss the three methods for building an in-home storage program. The following charts outline some major considerations for each of the methods described. Choose the method or combination of methods that work most effectively for you. Also, find out the advantages and disadvantages of home food storage and think of ways you can work around it.

1. The Pioneer Method

By far, the Pioneer Method is the most difficult method, requiring the most dedication and commitment––but has the greatest benefits for the family striving to achieve family preparedness. The Pioneer Method requires such skills as scratch production and gardening. At-home production and preservation skills have been lost because the pioneer proficiencies have not been passed to the younger generations. Additionally, most people either don’t have the personal discipline, won’t take the time, can’t provide the space, neglect developing abilities to master the skills, or refuse to implement the plan in which they’ve invested. The Pioneer Method is the most difficult because it requires continual effort and serious modification to your current lifestyle to achieve it! However, it’s the basis for sustainable preparedness. Some refer to this as the survivalist method.

2. The Package Method

The Package Method seems simple, easy, and quick! Then the buyer neglects to learn how to use all those stored bulk-packed cans, sacks of wheat, and barrels of untried and therefore unused products, eventually throwing out the stuff without ever trying to learn how to use it and angry for not having made a better investment. The dismaying truth is that the buyer (now perceiving himself a victim!) is then turned off to the wisdom of preparedness because of his own lack of education and application. This is the reason for the motto: Store what you eat, eat what you store––use it or lose it. The Package Method requires little thinking or planning—with consequential results— because no lifestyle modifications are required or implemented. You need to determine what you want to eat or you could starve in the midst of plenty!

3. The Pantry Method

The Pantry Method is perhaps the most-used of all the methods, whether your existing pantry is adequately provisioned, or merely a pass-through for your daily bread. This method is also known as the: eat what you store—store what you eat system. Most people forget the 3rd part of the equation: use it or lose it to prevent resources waste. The Pantry Method requires only a moderate lifestyle modification and some thoughtful analysis of the family’s diet to accommodate its effective implementation. Most people are comfortable starting with the reasonable change in their lifestyle, then increasing their immersion into other methods as they increase their intensity in preparedness activities. Light up your pantry with the Hybeam 2-in-1 LED lantern and flashlight. Get it here. 

Commitment: The Major Requirement for In-Home Food Storage

Your basic home food storage requires thoughtful planning and review because family resources will need to be re-allocated in new and perhaps unfamiliar ways.  Achieving the goal of preparedness demands personal change, and change requires commitment.

Essential resource demands will be:

• sacrificing immediate gratification for long-term objectives;
• setting aside time to establish and maintain a home storage program;
• investing financial resources in purchasing adequate food and supplies;
• designating and using living space for storage of food and supplies;
• using stored foods as a regular part of daily food preparation; and
• rotating foodstuffs and supplies on a fixed schedule.

Though establishing a basic home food storage program is not easy, it’s worth it. You must accept that there is:  no security without labor; no progress today without the experiences of yesterday; and no future prosperity without adhering to a sound advice.

Advantages of In-Home Food Storage

If you’ve only considered food storage necessary for natural disasters and major catastrophes, then consider the following possibilities supporting the wisdom of being prepared for an in-home food storage program:

• more economical way to live—allows more disposable income for other needs;
• simpler lifestyle—more time for other activities;
• feeling of security—confident because you’ve made preparations for the unexpected;
• healthier lifestyle—reduce processed foods in the diet;
• new skills for living—survival of the fittest;
• sharing responsibilities in the home—increasing stewardship & maturation of family members; and
• discipline of mind and body.

Check out this food storage tips video for thrifty preppers!  

The optimum solution for family preparedness is an intelligent combination of all 3 methods discussed previously––utilizing a mix-and-match approach to in-home storage.  It’s effective to have some package or program foods with your in-home storage supplies—they’re lightweight, less expensive, compact, and fairly portable.  Learn how to preserve foods from your own garden, your neighbor’s, or from the store––gain experience with in-home production and food preservation.  The single most important thing is to get started now––and just do it! As a survivalist or a devoted prepper, preparedness and being armed with survival skills will save us especially in times when SHTF is more perilous than anticipated.

Penny for your thoughts? Tell us what you think about this article by dropping your two cents in the comments below.

Looking for more food storage tips? Check it here! 

The Hoffman Richter 13-in-1 Multitool is every prepper’s best friend. Get it from our Amazon shop. Don’t forget to use NCSAVE10 to save a few dollars. 

Featured Image Via bilnkit