If I walked up to you on the street and handed you a prepaid $500 Mastercard credit card and said it’s yours to use, but you have to use it to stock a food storage pantry, what would you buy? After you picked your jaw up off the floor because a stranger handed you a prepaid card, the words sink into your head. “Food storage pantry. . .”
Yep, I want you to spend it on food storage. What would you buy?
Take a second. Mentally answer the question or take a moment to jot it down. Then, scroll down and see if any of your answers are any of the five items that most people forget to store.
Don’t peek. Don’t cheat!
Would any of these have made your list?
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Missing Food Storage Item #1 – Water
Most people don’t think of water as a part of food storage, but it is an integral part of not just food storage, but life. There’s so much to say about water, and because of that, I’m going to spend some time talking about it in several articles. One thing I will say is that it’s CHEAP!! I can get 35 .5-liter water bottles from Costco for $3! I can also buy water by the gallon from Walmart for $0.82 per gallon.
Missing Food Storage Item #2 – Salt
Did you know that salt used to be so valuable that Roman soldiers used to be paid in salt. Salt can take an incredibly bland meal to one that has flavor. The wonderful upside of storing salt is that it stores indefinitely and it’s CHEAP! I can get fifty pounds of Sea Salt from Azure Standard for $35.40! That’s one and a half six-gallon buckets of salt for less than $36! It’s a very cheap way to help stock your food storage pantry!
Missing Food Storage Item #3 – Honey
Honey has been found in the tombs of ancient Egypt, but why would that surprise us? Last week we talked about how they found mummified meat in the Egyptian tombs. What’s really crazy is that the honey that they found when the ancient tombs were excavated was still good! While honey isn’t as cheap as salt is, it will last for just about forever!
But, buyer beware! A lot of what is out there masquerading as honey isn’t honey at all or isn’t mostly honey.
A good piece of news though is that Costco sells honey which has been tested and given a grade A by the USDA. This is the most economical source of honey that I’ve found, and knowing that I can trust it is even more important! I have purchased five pounds of honey at Costco (close to a gallon) for as low as $12.
Missing Food Storage Item #4 – Vodka
Now I’m not listing vodka here because I REALLY like my alcohol and don’t want to be without it. While I like a glass of wine from time to time, to me, vodka tastes like what I imagine rubbing alcohol would taste like – GROSS.
Vodka, however, is the wonder drug of food storage. With vodka, you can make vanilla extract, peppermint extract, lemon extract, orange extract, medicinal tinctures, and SO MUCH MORE! If you’re not storing any vodka – pick some up. 100 proof is best, but 80 proof will do. This is fairly inexpensive and a little goes a long way. I’d plan to store one 750ml bottle per family member.
Missing Food Storage Item #5 – Spices
Variety is the spice of life, right? WRONG! Spices are the spice of life! Take a minute and consider the last time that you had chili. Can you imagine a pot of chili without ANY spice to it at all? It’s just beans and tomato sauce, and if you’re lucky, meat too. But still, the thought of it makes me cringe. How about pumpkin pie without cinnamon? It’s just a part of the pie, I bet you can’t even imagine what pumpkin pie really tastes like WITHOUT cinnamon.
The good news is that if you know where to get them, spices are very inexpensive.
I’m not talking about going to the grocery store and buying those ridiculously small glass bottles of cinnamon for $4 a bottle! Oh my! I’m also not talking about going to Costco or Sam’s to get cinnamon. That’s better than the regular grocery store but still more than I pay through Azure Standard! Through Azure, I can get one pound of cinnamon for $5.75. I can get one pound of chili powder for $6.25 through Azure. Their other spices are just as reasonable, if not more so. I can get
for $8.75. It’s amazing the prices I get from Azure standard on spices.
That being said, I would suggest that you put your focus on stocking herbs and spices that you cannot easily grow yourself. Oregano, basil, parsley, dill, onion, and garlic are all easily grown, dehydrated, and powdered (for those that powders are used). Whereas, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, cumin, turmeric, paprika, and others are harder to grow.
So did you hit it out of the park? Did you get at least one of the items above in your list of things you would buy if I gave you $500 to go shopping for your personal food storage? Congrats to you if you did!
What About You?
Are there any items would you add to this list? What important things do you think most people would miss that you think is incredibly important to purchase for food storage?
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GREAT post! I didn’t think of any of those — but was contemplating getting some of the pre-packaged, mylar-sealed food portions from one of the companies that I’ve been researching. Either that or lots of canned meats! I guess my question is HOW MUCH water, salt, honey, and spices would you suggest per family member? (You gave a quantity for the vodka, which I would have never thot to buy, but I do see your rationale now.) What would be the minimum you’d suggest on the other items? I have read to have a gallon of water per family member for two weeks, and that’s easily doable. What about salt, honey, and spices? Or is it a matter of “as much as you can manage to store?” THANKS for all your suggestions — they are always very helpful. 🙂
While I do store some water, we chose to buy a stand along pump for getting water. If worse came to worse, we could drop a can on a string and bail water from the well like I remember when I was really little. Until we had indoor plumbing and a house pump, my grandad bailed water for my Mom every morning before he left for work. The good old days. I store all of your list but will say that if someone gave me 500 bucks, I would have gotten basics like flour, sugar, baking soda/powder. Enjoyed the mental challenge and good article to get the thinking cap back on.
I had just bought four of those items to add to my ever growing stock pile. I have vodka on my list but forgot to buy it, although I do have a couple of big bottles on hand.
actually, i did hit this one out of the park! i have all of these in quantity. here’s a self sufficiency plus–grow your own herbs and spices. at least some of them. none of us are likely to grow a tropical cassia tree whose bark will provide cinnamon. but there are several herbs and spices that make attractive house and garden plants. ginger and tumeric grow in the shade and look good in a pot. violets, for beauty and cough syrup like to grow under the ginger. turkish bay trees–probably not. but the related california bay tree, yes. i have one in a big pot and prune it to keep it small. it is a similar, tho not as strong flavor, and as mine has smaller leaves, i just use more. anyone with a sunny window or deck can grow thyme, sage, marjoram, mint, chamomile, lemon balm, catnip, etc. feverfew and yarrow grow well in pots in a sunny spot and offer flowers and herbal remedies. i have plenty to share. next on my list to try is spice bush as a sub for allspice–and some say cinnamon. grows wide in the american south. can i help it to grow here? will i like the flavor? new things to try are fun.
like you, i favor azure standard for bulk purchases of high quality, usually organic supplies. i also order from penzeys spices as they have a wide selection of herbs and spices and usually offer recipes for their use.
I would probably spend it at nutrient survival mostly on their nutrition drink. I am definitely buying more curry powder or turmeric. at 59 yrs. old my thinking is getting slow and foggy trying to remember actors and actresses in old movies, but using curry powder has helped immensely.