My possessions don’t usually make me happy – but my stockpile of food definitely does! I love going down to the basement and admiring it.

It’s not that it’s aesthetically pleasing (although I do like gazing at it). It’s more like I’m proud as hell that in an emergency situation, I’d be able to feed my family for a good while.

It feels GOOD to be prepared. Here’s a picture of some of my babies food storage (you can’t see all of it because it goes to the back of the shelves, but this gives you an idea):

There are different recommendations out there on how much food to have on hand. FEMA recommends storing a two-week supply. I actually have no idea how long my food stores would last our family – why do I have a survival blog, again? – but it’s definitely at least two weeks, probably more.

I’ve sourced it from all over. The Mormons are big on preparedness, so I bought a lot of the basics (rice, black beans, potato flakes, pasta) from their online store. I also fell in love with a brand called Augason Farms that you can get on Amazon. It’s pretty inexpensive and includes more ‘fun’ things like bananas and strawberries (you gotta stay in a good mindset, after all). I’ve bought kits from Camping Survival, a website that regularly has items go on sale, and I get their emails so I know when to buy.

As far as techniques, I have some freeze-dried things, but they tend to be pretty expensive, so most items I buy are dehydrated. I also have some MREs (meals ready to eat). I would love to be more self-reliant in this area, get into canning and dehydrating myself, but for now I have to rely on others to supply what I need.

Most of the food I buy comes in #10 cans, so I also recommend buying some #10 can lids so that you can reseal them.

Now: how do you do this on a budget? I’ve built my food stores over the last several years, so it can take time. If you want to take baby steps into having more food on hand, you can! If you buy a can of green beans at the store, buy two. Use one, and put one on a shelf. Over time, you’ll build up a nice stockpile. (Note: Focus on non-perishable items, obviously. I’m not saying you should put a second head of lettuce on a shelf and let it rot. Cans are good, boxes are okay.)

Put the newest food at the back, and use your stockpiles before they go bad. That’s why I like the #10 cans – they often have a shelf life of 20-25 years, which means I don’t have to replenish often at all.

If you’re interested in stockpiling food, I recommend doing some research and starting small. Here’s a nice article to get you started.