50 Money-Saving Food Tips

If you've been to the grocery store lately, you know that "inflation" as the government calls it is not 8% but closer to 300% based on price increases in many food categories.  If you need to stretch your food budget to meet ever increasing food costs, consider these ideas:

1. Garden and grow your own food if you can (it's harder than it sounds).
2. Hunt, fish, and forage for wild food that is available in your area.
3. Sign up for SNAP, WIC, free school meals, and other government food programs if you qualify.
4. Hit up local food banks, food pantries, and meal programs if you are in need of food.
5. Shop grocery store sales, app specials, and loss leaders to add to your food stockpile.
6. Skip restaurants, fast food places, Uber Eats, and your morning coffee at the drive-thru and make your own food and drinks at home.
7. Learn how to cook and bake at home; there are infinite resources for this online.
8. Switch out meat and dairy for beans, legumes, and vegetables in your cooking--it's both healthier and cheaper.
9. Buy in bulk--50 pounds of rice, giant boxes of oatmeal, 25 pound of beans, etc. are often cheaper than buying smaller containers of these items (be sure to store them properly).
   
10. Learn how to can, dry, freeze, pickle and otherwise preserve food as it comes on sale.
11. Shop a variety of stores to get the best prices (ie: buy loss leaders at several stores, buy items at membership stores if it is cheaper than at the local grocery stores, shop Dollar Tree if the price is cheaper, etc).
12. Check out ethnic grocery stores; many of these places have cheaper prices on meat/grains/produce than regular grocery stores.
13. If you do eat out, try ethnic restaurants, find things you like, then try cooking these items at home (food from poorer countries is often tasty, healthier, and cheaper to make than standard American meals).
14. Eat less.  Adults need about 2000-2500 calories per day yet many adults easily consume 3000+ calories per day when you add up the food and fancy beverages they ingest each day (thus the skyrocketing obesity rate in America).
15. Experiment with making your favorite restaurant/coffee shop meals and drinks at home.  There are literally recipes for everything you can think of online, examples here and here.
16. Get fresh produce from local u-pick farms, farmer's markets, and CSA programs.
17. If you want to host a get-together with friends, consider making it a potluck or progressive meal so the full cost of entertaining isn't all on you.
18. If you must eat out, consider eating lunch out instead of dinner (it's cheaper), use coupons, and decide whether a buffet would be more cost-effective than a sit-down restaurant.
19. Be sure to keep your fridge, freezer, and pantry organized and rotate food into these places so nothing gets left in the back and ends up getting thrown out because it is old and/or rotten.
20. Drink water.  It's much cheaper and much healthier than drinking milk/juice/soda/etc all day.
21. Eat leftovers.  If you don't like leftovers, freeze leftovers and have them at a later date so it will be "newish" food.
22. Cook in bulk and freeze the results for future meals.  This is a great way to pull out a meal at the last minute instead of ordering takeout.
23. Make friends with local farmers and ranchers.  This gives you an inside track to maybe buying a half cow for the freezer or trading things/skills you have for the food they produce.
24. When cooking, save scraps.  You can regrow these, use them for animal food, and/or make soup with them.
25. Buy a $5 roasted chicken from Costco or Sam's Club and use it to make several meals--chicken pot pie, chicken tacos, chicken salad sandwich, chicken fried rice, chicken soup, chicken Caesar salad, etc.
26. Share food as well as membership club cards.  If you can't eat 50 pounds of rice in a timely fashion but still want the bulk price, offer to split the cost, and the bag of rice, with a friend.  If you can't justify the cost of a Costco membership, see if a friend will take you with them when they make a Costco run so you can shop there using their membership.
    
27. Always have (homemade) snacks and drinks with you when you leave the house, this way if you get hungry or thirsty you won't be tempted to stop by a fast food place or the vending machines at work.
28. Unless you have an expense account, bring all of your work/school meals from home.  Again, this saves money and is healthier than cafeteria/restaurant meals.
29. When grocery shopping, keep track of the price of each item you add to your basket on your phone's calculator.  Often times, sale and discount prices don't ring up correctly at the register and you end up paying more than you should.
30. Try dumpster diving for food.  Many people are immediately repelled by the "ick" factor of doing this but others have turned it into an art form. 
31. You can pick up a bit of free food at grocery stores (Costco always has food samples), some community meetings offer snacks as well as open houses, weddings, etc.
32. Use apps that pay you back with credits that can be used for food items like Ibotta and Fetch.
33. Swing by mom's, dad's your grandparent's or auntie's homes around meal time and you will more than likely end up with a free meal as well as food to take home.
34. Google $1 a day eating challenge and low cost meal challenge for ideas on ways to eat well on the cheap.
35. Check your credit cards and see which ones give you cash back or bonuses for using them at grocery stores and use these to purchase your food (be sure to pay the card off each month!).
    
36. Make your own beverages--from beer to wine to soda to teas to juices--these are often cheaper (and more fun) to make at home.
37. Pay attention to unit pricing when shopping for grocery items (sometimes the bulk size can be more expensive than the smaller size on an ounce-by-ounce basis).
38. Buy useful food prep items at the thrift store--bread machines, blenders, cast iron pans, popcorn makers...these and many other items you use to cook with cost pennies on the dollar at a thrift store compared to buying them at a big box store.
39. If you must have coffee--and many people MUST have coffee--make your own, as cheaply as possible, at home.  Consider a drip coffee maker or French press instead of using a Keurig or expensive espresso maker.
40. Check the discount sections at the grocery store first.  Buying discounted meat, produce, and bakery items can be much cheaper than buying these items at full price.
41. Raise your own food like chickens, ducks, goats, pigs, or even cows.  Obviously you will need a good bit of knowledge and real estate to raise a cow but there are myriad videos on YouTube about raising backyard chickens even in the city.
42. Learn how to use spices.  Spices can make a blah meal great and are a cheap way to take your cooking to the next level for not a lot of money (note that ethnic stores often sell spices for a fraction of the cost of spices at the regular grocery store).
43. If you are trying to both pay down debt and save money on food, consider getting a second job at a restaurant or other business that provides free meals to employees (I know a few people who work in casinos who eat ALL of their meals for free in the employee dining room where they work).
44. If you are missing ingredients for the recipe you are making, consider substitutions instead of running out to the grocery store.
45. Try shopping at co-ops and other discount stores like WinCo (cash only), Aldi's, and Trader Joes; these places are famous for being cheaper than regular grocery stores.
46. If the stores you shop at have bulk bins, see if the bulk bin prices are cheaper than buying items off the shelf.  Rice, oats, spices, beans, etc are often cheaper in the bulk bins than in the pre-packaged section.
47. Buy dried beans and cook them instead of canned beans, it's much cheaper this way.  Note that cooking beans, meats, and grains in an Insta Pot is a very fast and fuel-saving way to cook them.
48. Try to only shop once a week and do so defensively.  Grocery stores are designed to separate you from your money so get in and get out as quickly and inexpensively as possible.
49. Pick hobbies that get you food--mushroom hunting, fishing, wine making, truffle hunting, etc.  There are dozens of hobbies where the end result is food so this is a great way to have fun and increase your food stockpile.
50. Eat down your food stores occasionally.  This is a good way to save money (like when someone is laid off and can't afford food) and use up old food (like cooking for a large event when you need to feed a lot of people).

50 Depression-Era Food Tips

Seeing as how people are stripping the shelves of many Costcos/Sam's Clubs/grocery stores bare this week due to "preparing" for the coronavirus pandemic, here are a bunch of ways folks dealt with food shortages during the Great Depression (many tips courtesy of my grandparents who lived through the era with a bunch of mouths to feed and very little money).

1. Grow what food you can even if you only have a small garden area.  Consider sprouting your own greens if you don't have a yard.
2. Forage for seasonal food (greens, wild apples, mushrooms, wild berries, nut trees, cattails, etc).
3. Consider fishing, hunting, and trapping for your protein needs (this is easier said than done so it's best if these are your hobbies to begin with).
4. Expand your concept of meat.  While chicken breast, a T bone, and pork chops may be what you consider meat, a severe shortage of meat will make squirrel, rabbit, and possum unusual but edible sources of protein.
5. When you eat an animal, eat ALL parts of the creature.  In many poor countries, the entire pig is consumed--ears, eyes, tail, feet...no parts of the animal are thrown away.
6. Cook from scratch.  Buying basic ingredients and turning them into your meals is a great way to stretch your food dollar.
7. When buying vegetables and fruit, consider produce that has a long shelf life (ie: potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots, and apples instead of avocados and strawberries).
8. Learn how to process your own food to extend it's shelf life.  Freezing, canning, drying, pickling, etc. are all ways to make food last much longer than it would in its natural state.
9. Bake your own bread.  It is super simple to make, and literally all you need is flour and salt (if you don't have yeast you can capture your own yeast via the sourdough process).
10. Buy staples like rice, wheat, pasta, oil, etc. in bulk.  Be sure to properly store and rotate these items for maximum shelf-life.
11. If you have a freezer, buy food on sale (to save money) or grow/forage food that you can freeze.
12. To stretch limited food like meat and vegetables, make soups, casseroles, or stews.  These are warm, filling, and make a little food seem like a lot of food.
13. Make "stick to your ribs food".  For example, sugary breakfast cereal is expensive and you will be hungry an hour or so after eating it.  A big bowl of oatmeal or copious amounts of fried potatoes with a little egg and onion stirred in will keep you full for hours.
14. Stock up on staples that "grow" when you cook it (beans, rice, pasta) instead of things that will "shrink" when you cook it (meat, delicate vegetables like spinach, etc).
15. Raise your own meat and eggs.  Chickens are pretty easy to keep, pigs/goats/cows are a bit more challenging.
16. Keep a library of "how to" books like 'Putting Food By' and 'The Encyclopedia of Country Living' on hand to teach you the food skills that you lack (YouTube is also an excellent resource for everything from how to cook every item under the sun to how to break down and entire animal).
17. If you are facing a shortage of a certain item, consider how to work around this problem (ie: these baking substitutions, or using potatoes to make gnocchi instead of making pasta if you have limited flour, etc).
18. Don't throw food away.  Old bananas can be peeled and frozen and used for baking, cut your bread on a cutting board and save the breadcrumbs to use in other recipes, save bacon grease to fry other food in, save old vegetables/meat scraps to make soup stock with, etc.
19. Re-grow your kitchen scraps.
20. You can also use produce scraps/coffee grounds/egg shells/etc. to put in your compost pile which will help grow future garden vegetables.
21. Dry and reuse tea bags and coffee ground. If that's too drastic, use half old coffee grounds and half new coffee grounds to make your cup of coffee.
22. If you can't afford to buy tea, consider making your own herbal tea.
23. Shop ethnic stores.  These stores often sell staples and produce at greatly discounted prices compared to buying the same items in your regular grocery store.  A small bag of rice may be kind of expensive in your regular store but you can buy 50 pound bags of rice (or beans or wheat berries or other grains) at steeply discounted prices at ethnic stores.
24. Experiment with making the items you usually buy such as vinegar, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, salad dressings, etc. entirely from scratch.
25. Hit up thrift stores (or search online) for old fashioned cookbooks.  Cooks in the 1800s and early 1900s had to make meals with many fewer ingredients than we have available today.
26. If there are fast food or other restaurant items you can't live without, the internet is full of recipe to make popular "copycat" items at home.
27. If you are entertaining or feeding many people, consider having a "potluck" where everyone brings food to share instead of providing all of the food and beverages yourself.
28. Eat seasonally.  Years ago, there was no such thing as fresh tomatoes in January (canned tomatoes from the summer before is what people ate), fresh strawberries in winter (strawberry jam had to do), and fresh peas before spring (canned peas had to do).  By eating seasonally you will save money and eat produce when it is at the peak of taste and healthfulness.
29. Eat less.  Most Americans are fat (about 70% of the population is overweight or obese) mostly because they eat far more calories than they burn with physical activity.  We don't NEED to eat so much.
30. Learn to eat and cook ethnic food.  Many poorer countries have fabulous (and tasty) ways to stretch their limited food supply.  Indian food, Mexican food, Ethiopian food, Chinese food, and more offer such a large array of tasty and interesting food that it pays to expand your palette.
31. When you buy dry food in bulk, protect it from spoilage and pests (like mice and rats).  Leaving a big bag of rice in the bag it comes in can be an open invitation to mice so it's better to store it in rodent-proof containers.
32. When you cook meals--everything from soups to casseroles--consider making double batches and freeze the leftovers for days when you don't have time to cook.
33. Search out channels on YouTube that will teach you how to stretch your food dollars.  There are people who feed their huge family on a budget, people who cook once a month for their families, and people who do extreme budget food challenges.
34. Drink water with meals.  Soda isn't a necessity, it's expensive, and it's mostly sugar.
35. Don't buy items that others are panic buying.  Rice is flying off the shelves right now (and the price online has skyrocketed) but you can buy a 50 pound bag of Maseca for $19.  Be flexible about what you eat and you will end up with many more cheaper choices than the one item that everyone wants at the moment.
36. In some cases you can buy bulk grains like oats from the feed store for a fraction of the cost of buying the same item at a regular grocery store (make sure that the grains you buy this way are safe for human consumption).
37. Have the proper tools to cook with.  For those who don't usually cook from scratch, having the proper tools--everything from a grain mill to an InstaPot--can make cooking much easier and less labor intensive.
38. If you will be out all day, pack and take your food with you.  A thermos of coffee, a couple of sandwiches, a piece of fruit...buying these items at a restaurant can be expensive so making and taking these meals with you can be a big money saver.
39. Go without meat.  It's perfectly possible to have a healthy diet without meat.  Lentils and beans, along with rice and corn can make good, balanced meals.  If you are going 100% vegan, be sure to supplement appropriately.
40. For times when people aren't getting well balanced meals, consider taking a good multi vitamin.
41. Consider bartering for food.  My grand dad with the king of bartering.  He could trade anything--guns, guitars, horses, work--for anything else he needed, and he was particularly good at trading food.  If he shot a deer, part of it would be kept for the family and the rest would be traded for everything from a neighbor's honey to live crabs pulled up by a local fisherman.
42. Other sources of protein to have on hand: canned tuna/sardines/salmon/spam, canned nuts, dried whole milk, peanut butter/almond butter, powdered eggs, powdered butter.
43. Make your own treats.  Desserts and snacks should be things that are cheap and easily stretched like popcorn, homemade cookies, homemade cakes, fruit in season, applesauce, etc.  See more ideas here.
44. Make the presentation as important as the food.  Basic, plain food can be "dressed up" simply by the way it is presented.  No one makes simple food look more appealing than the Japanese and their bento boxes.
45. Ask your oldest friends or family members for their budget food tips (old people are excellent sources of "how things were done in the olden days" knowledge).
46. Cut out a meal.  This is popularly called "intermittent fasting" but unless you actually need the calories, eating a late brunch and solid dinner is probably more food than most people need.
47. Google "poverty meals" for ideas of what kinds of foods people eat when they are poor (ie: starving students, people whose only source of food is what they can get with food stamps, etc.)
48. Source the food you want from multiple places.  Sometimes bulk food is cheaper at Costco, sometimes it's cheaper at Sam's Club or through Amazon, for those with military ID the commissary can offer good savings on food, and of course shopping your local grocery store's loss leaders is always a good idea.
49. Try to never be in the position that you have to run out with hordes of panicking shoppers and fight over the last gallon of milk (like now with the coronavirus or before a major storm is set to hit).  Build your food stockpile simply and consistently by buying an extra $10 to $20 of food each week when you do your regular grocery shopping.  An extra can of soup here, and extra bag of oatmeal there...pretty soon you will build up and entire few month's worth of extra food stores for you and your family.
50. Check out your local dollar store but be sure to know your prices before you buy food there.  Some food items are incredibly cheap at the dollar store, other food items are comparatively expensive because the price per ounce/specially shrunk packages are really more expensive than buying the same item at a regular store.

A Couple More Reasons to Stockpile Food

There are many reasons to stockpile food.  Having food in reserve can be a Godsend if you get laid off or ill and can't work, just eat up your food stockpile until you have money coming in again.  If a major storm is heading your way and you have a good-size stockpile of food in your home, you won't be one of those people in the grocery store fighting over the last loaf of bread or gallon of milk.  And if a TEOTWAWKI sort of even happens, you may have enough food stockpiled to outlast the hoards of starving people.

There are a few more reasons to stockpile food, however, that not many people think of.  By buying food in bulk as it comes on sale, you can leverage the cost of buying low when something like the midwest floods wipe out major crops and send the price of some foods skyrocketing.  Also, since Trump has threatened to shutdown the US-Mexico border next week, such a move could significantly disrupt food trade with Mexico and make many of the fruit and other produce we are used to buying from Mexico extremely expensive or even impossible to find during a long shutdown.  Another slower moving change which could impact our food supply is climate change which could create significant, albeit not immediate, negative impacts on our food supplies.

While there is no one answer to these possible problems, stockpiling extra food is a good first step, growing some of your own food is another way to head off food supply disasters, and, like in the olden days, learning how to do without may be on the agenda as well.

Yet Another Good Reason to Stockpile Food

The subreddit for Seattle has been lit up with people freaking out over the forecasted four inches of snow that may fall this weekend.  Of course the news stations jumped right on this and here is their pictorial of what the store shelves look like after an evening of people "preparing" for the storm (be sure to scroll through all of the photos in the gallery).

Now this is only going to last for probably a weekend or so, maybe three or four days at the most, but you would think people were stocking up for a multi-week event.  As someone in the comments on one of the reddit threads pointed out, if this had been a major earthquake the entire city would have been screwed (Seattle has a lot of bridges/overpasses/underpasses which means that roads will be impassable, probably for weeks or months after and earthquake, so delivery trucks won't be getting in at all).

Unfortunately it doesn't surprise me that so many people are so ill prepared, but it should be a wake up call for everyone that in the event of a disaster, you may or may not receive any warning.  On the one hand, these people had plenty of notice so were able to run to the store and stock up on food and water (along with a million of their closest neighbors), on the other hand, if a major earthquake would have hit and people couldn't get out, does this mean a whole bunch of people would starve to death within a week?

I, for one, am happy with our food preps and whether the notice goes out on the news that a snowstorm is coming or whether the event is more sudden like an earthquake, there would be no reason for us to run to the store at the last minute to stock up on anything.  In fact, we could probably go several months without needing a grocery store as we have plenty of food stockpiled (which is rotated into our regular food each week) and we have the ability to cook nearly everything we need from scratch if necessary.

Obviously most people won't have a multi-month stockpile of food but people need to be prepared for at least feeding and watering themselves for a month.  It can be expensive to suddenly hit up the grocery store and buy an additional month's worth of food and water for your entire family, but it is easy enough to add additional food for your stockpile to your grocery cart each week.  An extra $10 a week when you go grocery shopping could easily purchase 10 meals (box of oatmeal, cans of soup, cans of chili, can of tuna, etc) or you can buy a couple large items from Costco (25lb bag of flour, 10lb bag of pinto beans, 50lb bag of rice) that could feed the family long-term in an emergency.

Start today to build up your stockpile of emergency food and water so when disaster strikes, you an watch the chaos on the news instead of being part of it.

100 Frugal Food Resources

We have now entered the longest government shutdown in history.  It's anyone's guess how long this shit show will continue but the people being most hurt by the shutdown at this moment are workers who aren't getting paid.  Obviously that's a bad situation, but if food stamps don't go out next month, shit show won't even begin to describe the chaos of what will happen when millions of people go hungry.  If you or someone you know is in need of free or frugal food resources consider the following ideas (note that if you don't qualify for some programs--or some programs aren't available at the present time--try reapplying if your circumstances change or when programs, like food stamps, begin accepting applications again):

1. Apply for food stamps (also called the SNAP program).
2. Apply for WIC (this is different than food stamps).
3. Go to a food bank/food pantry in your local area.
4. Ask at a local church for food assistance.
5. Sign your kids up for free or reduced meals at school (these are often served during summer vacation as well).
6. Call 211 and see what sort of food resources are available in your community.
7. Find out if there are prepared meal programs you can go to (like dinners at the Salvation Army, etc).
8. Shop at the $1 store (grains are cheap, skip the cheap junk food there).
9. Shop at ethnic stores (things like grains, spices, and staple foods are often cheaper than at regular grocery stores).
10. See if there is a CASA program near where you live (this allows you to support a local farmer and receive baskets of locally grown food each week).
11. Shop farmer's markets and swap meets that have food stands (you usually get the best deals late on Sunday when farmers are packing up to go home and will often discount food so they don't have to take it back home with them).
12. Learn how to forage for local food (berries, nuts, green, tree fruit, mushrooms, etc).
13. See if there is a gleaning organization in your area (these programs allow people to go to farmer's fields after harvest and take any produce that was left behind).
14. Similarly, if you see a farmer's field that has recently been harvested, you can skip the gleaning organization and just ask the farmer if you can glean any leftovers.
15. Shop loss leaders at your local grocery stores (these are really cheap items used to draw shoppers into the store).
16. Grow a garden if you can (seeds can often be found cheap or even free in some cases).  If you don't have space at your home, see if there is a P-Patch/community gardening area in your community.
17. Buy in bulk at Costco or Sams Club if possible (if you don't have a membership, maybe a friend will take you as a guest).
18. Take the family to Costco on the weekends (it seems like the free samples are a major source of nutrition for some families judging by how many times they hit up the sample tables).
19. If you need a job/part time job, consider working at a restaurant that will provide you a free meal during your shift.
20. Attend events where there will be free food (parties, community meetings, grand openings, etc).
21. Consider fishing, shell fishing, and/or hunting to stock your freezer (there is usually a cost for equipment to get started which you may be able to borrow or find cheap, as well as the cost for licenses).
22. See if an organization you belong to has a food pantry/free meal program (senior centers, food pantries at schools and colleges, etc).
23. If you are a veteran, see if your local military base/veteran's service center has free food resources.  Note that many restaurants also give vets free meals on Memorial Day and Veteran's Day.
24. Always ask for discounts at grocery stores and restaurants (some grocery stores give seniors a 10% discount on certain days, many restaurants give military folks a discount, etc).
25. Offer to work for food (farms, restaurants, even individual homeowners may have odd jobs you could do for a meal).
26. Dumpster dive for food (Google this topic for lots of how-to information).
27. Learn how to cook from scratch (you can stretch your food dollars quite far this way).
28. Consider going vegetarian (or vegetarian-ish); beans, rice, and legumes are often cheaper than meat and dairy plus they are very filling.
29. Use reddit to find food resources (this includes r/frugal, r/eatcheapandhealthy, r/randomactsofpizza).
30. Stop by mom or grandma's house for a meal (and ask to take home leftovers).
31. Ask for gift cards (like for Walmart or a local grocery store) for birthdays and Christmas.
32. Buy discount gift cards for Walmart or local grocery stores online.
33. Shop sales and discount racks (like discounted meat or bakery items) at your local grocery store.
34. If you can't afford to buy in bulk--like buying a 50 pound bag of rice for $30--go in with friends to buy the item and split it; this is often cheaper than buying smaller bags at a regular grocery store.
35. Shop seasonally (apples are cheaper in the fall, watermelon is cheapest in the summer, baking products are cheaper around the holidays, and a whole turkey can be found highly discounted around Thanksgiving and Christmas).
36. Shop bulk bins at the grocery store (always compare prices to ensure you aren't paying more than buying the item in a package).
37. Always check unit prices of grocery items to ensure you are paying the lowest prices.
38. Sign up for birthday freebies (this will often give you a week or more of free food items).
39. Use food coupons that you find in store ads and in your junk mail.
40. Make snacks instead of paying full price in the office vending machines (a 99 cent cake mix will make enough desserts/snacks for a week, ditto popcorn).
41. Skip the $5 fancy coffee shop coffee and make your own at home (a $5 can of coffee will make enough coffee for a month or more).
42. Download apps for various food places (these usually provide free food just for downloading the app).
43. Look for discount food offers in your local area (Ikea has a full breakfast for $1 and free coffee too, Little Caesars has very cheap pizza, Del Taco has 50 cent tacos).
44. Download supermarket apps which often give you even bigger discounts on groceries than what you see in their sale ad (an example, last week my local grocery store had eggs for $1.99 regular price, 99 cents on sale, and 49 cents if you use the store app).
45. Shop at food discounters--like Grocery Outlet--which often sell over run products and items that are getting close to their expiration date.
46. Learn to make soups and stews, this stretches your groceries further.
47. Always eat leftovers; don't let them decompose in the back of the fridge.
48. Ditto keeping up with perishables that go bad quickly; if you can't eat them before they go bad, cook them up and freeze them to eat at a later date.
49. Learn how to cook ethnic food (food from poor countries is often grain-based, is made with cheap ingredients, and is pretty filling).
50. Let friends and family know you are always on the look out for free and cheap food (they may remember this when they come back with a catch from fishing or are cleaning stuff out of their pantry that they don't want).
51. Consider cultivating unique foods (like making sprouts, growing mushrooms, keeping bees, etc).
52. Ask local homeless folks where to find free food (many are "in the loop" so to speak and have lots of insider info on this topic).
53. Google the name of your town/city/county/state and free food and see what resources pop up.
54. Google eat for $1 a day food challenge.  Plenty of people have done this sort of challenge then written about it which can provide you even more ideas for cheap eating.
55. Use social media to ask for food help (I've seen many people do this on Facebook and their local sub reddit and often complete strangers will come through with assistance).
56. Google how to stretch your food dollars (new articles and posts are constantly being added on this topic).
57. Eat basic food (oatmeal has fed generations, it isn't fancy but it is cheaper than a bacon/eggs/pancakes breakfast).
58. Cut back on your serving sizes (what people consider a "normal portion" is actually pretty huge compared to only a decade or so ago).
59. Try to avoid highly processed food (things like Lunchables are a huge waste of money when you can make the same thing yourself for a fraction of the price).
60. Invest in tools that will make bulk cooking faster and easier (things like a bread machine, slow cooker, Insta Pot, etc can often be found at thrift stores for the fraction of the cost of the item new).
61. Look at the price of a food item then determine if you can make it from scratch even cheaper (if milk is on sale, you can often make yogurt out of this much cheaper than buying actual yogurt, pizza is often cheaper to make from scratch than carry out, fried rice literally costs pennies to make over the cost of buying it at a Chinese restaurant, etc).
62. Buy the cheapest version of a food item.  Dried beans are cheaper than canned beans; frozen peas are cheaper than canned peas and much much cheaper than fresh peas usually,
63. Learn how to make stir frys.  This is a cheap way to use up small amounts of vegetables and, served over rice, make a cheap yet filling and tasty meal.
64. Grow your own herbs.  You can grow many herbs on a window sill and growing your own can be cheaper than buying the dried kind at the grocery store.
65. Buy containers (ziploc bags, insulated coffee cups, plastic sandwich containers) and always bring your meals and snacks with you instead of hitting up a restaurant.
66. Buy your food and snacks at a supermarket instead of at a convenience store; convenience stores are almost always much more expensive than any other kind of store.
67. Ask your oldest relative their old fashioned cooking tips.  My grandmother always saved bacon drippings to use for frying other things, lard was cheap and used much more than refined cooking oil, a loaf of bread was made into croutons, bread pudding, and even the crumbs were put to use for breading fish.
68. Learn how to preserve food so that if you get an abundance of one type of item you will be able to use it at a later date.  Dehydrating, canning, freezing, jam making, pickling, smoking...there may be an initial cost but preserving the harvest/processing food when you can get it really cheap, is a great way to stretch your food dollars.
69. Drink water.  Soda is over-priced sugar water.  Juice isn't as good as eating the actual fruit.  And many people get by just fine without milk.
70. If you must have a special beverage, see if you can make it yourself.  A cappuccino machine may be spendy, but it's less expensive than going to a coffee shop every day.  Ditto the popular soda machines that allow you to make soda water and flavored soda at home.
71. Check out cookbooks from your local library (or search for recipes online) to learn how to improve your cooking skills and increase you repertoire.
72. Instead of hosting an entire party, consider putting together social events that feature a potluck where everyone brings food to share.
73. Ask for samples.  Many stores offer all kinds of samples just for the asking--from the deli and bakery to the cheese shop and produce sections.
74. Skip a meal.  Most people won't suffer damage from not eating three or more times a day.  If you get up late, eat a late breakfast, skip lunch, then eat dinner--you save the cost of an entire meal this way.
75. If you do eat at a restaurant, go for lunch, it's cheaper than dinner.  Get water instead of a drink, skip dessert which is usually over priced, and, if the serving is huge, take half of it home to eat for another meal.
76. Fall back on cheap processed foods but not for the long term.  Ramen is cheap and it's OK occasionally but it is full of sodium and empty calories.  Vienna Sausages are cheap and OK occasionally, but again, they aren't the healthiest thing to eat.
77. Also keep a stockpile of cheap, nutritious foods like eggs, bananas, carrots, cabbage, etc.  These are better for you to eat long-term.
78. Ideally you can drink your tap water (be sure to bring your water bottle, filled up at home, with you everywhere).  If your tap water isn't very good consider getting a Brita filter pitcher.  Bottled water should be a last resort but you can get 5 gallons of water from dispensers in front of grocery stores much cheaper than individual bottles.
79. If you have a lot of people to feed, Google for cheap recipes that will feed a crowd.  Pasta meals are cheap and feed a lot of people, ditto taco bars, casseroles, and big salad dishes.
80. Buy a whole cooked chicken from your local grocery store (or ideally from Costco where these chickens are cheap and big).  You can literally make a dozen meals from one of these chickens (roast chicken, chicken tacos, chicken soup, chicken salad sandwich, chicken pot pie, etc).
81. Attend cooking classes if you have the opportunity.  A friend of mine, a retired dietitian, volunteers her time to teach cooking classes at our local food bank where she teaches people how to cook with lentils and barley, and other items that come in their food bags that they may not be familiar with.
82. Ask friends to teach your their best recipes.  I've learned how to make tortillas and tamales from scratch from a family in Mexico, how to make the best bread from a Kurdish refugee woman, how to make inexpensive food look appealing in Japan, and how to use pieces of a pig that one would think would be thrown in the waste bin to make delicious stews in the Philippines.  
83. Put aside a bit of extra money to use when you find a great deal on food.  You never know what kind of amazing, random deals you will find when you go shopping.  One day I walked out of the grocery store with two whole salmon for $1 each (no idea why they were so cheap), another time there was a 20 pound bag of carrots for $3.  If you run across a great deal--stock up!
84. Make a grocery price book so you will know if you are getting good deals while shopping.  You can't remember the best price for every grocery item you buy but with a price book, you will.
85. Also make a grocery shopping budget and preferably keep an envelope of cash to be used for groceries only.  Using a credit card makes it too easy to buy extra stuff (not to mention making it too easy to fall into credit card debt) but with cash you will be intimately aware of how much money you are spending on food.
86. Consider intermittent fasting.  This is actually a "hot" eating trend right now which is supposed to lead to better health and increased longevity.
87. Consider bartering for food.  Whether you are trading your homemade bread for eggs from a local farmer or trading your home-grown pumpkins for a bag of shellfish with a buddy, learning how to barter is a great way to increase your food supplies.
88. Join a food co-op or start your own.  It's a bit of work but having a dozen people pitching in money to buy restaurant-sized quantities of food is a good way to stretch your food dollars.
89. Cook in bulk and freeze the resulting meals for future eating.  When people are tired and overworked and stressed, it is too easy to splurge on a meal.  By taking a day each weekend or each month and cooking 20 servings of a meal instead of one serving of a meal, you can easily stretch your food dollars and your time.
90. If you must have meat, consider the cheapest way to get it.  Buying meat on sale at the store is one way, buying a side of beef may be a cheap option too, buying meat at Mexican or Asian stores may be inexpensive (especially if you know how to break down an entire animal--buying whole pigs is a thing at Asian markets), grinding your own hamburger allows you to make a higher quality burger for cheaper, etc.
91. Make food "fun" for the family.  Going on a picnic, cooking over a small barbecue grill, roasting hot dogs over a bonfire...the food may be cheap but the presentation can make eating a luxe event.
92. Cut out vices--alcohol, junk food, fast food--if your vice is costing you money and not helping your health, consider cold-turkey quitting.
93. When you do go out to eat, stock up on single-serve condiments (ketchup packets, mayo packets, hot sauce packets, etc).  This may be a fine ethical line, but a couple packets here and there shouldn't be a problem.
94. Don't fall off the frugal food wagon when traveling.  People spend a ridiculous amount of money on food when they come to my city for vacation, they would be far better off to take an Uber to the local grocery store/Walmart/99 cent store to buy some inexpensive food and snacks for their hotel room so they aren't spending an arm and a leg for each meal of the day.  Be sure to Google cheap eats for your destination to find local tips and tricks for eating on a budget.
95. If you absolutely can't spend much on food, mono eating can be a short-term solution.  A loaf of bread, a jar of jam, and a jar of peanut butter can make a week's worth of meals in a pinch.  The same with a bunch of bananas and a bag of potatoes.  This isn't a great option but at least you won't starve.
96. If you need specialized food, consider making it yourself.  Instead of expensive baby food, look for recipes to make it yourself.  There are even recipes for making Ensure at home.
97. Make boring food interesting.  Sliced zucchini is kind of blah but spiralized zucchini is much more interesting.  Cauliflower is kind of meh but there is a new trend of making cauliflower "steaks".  Hint, it's just sliced cauliflower.
98. Clean out your pantry regularly and donate food to those in need.  Even frugal people end up with food they don't eat in the back of the pantry so be sure to pass on food that others could use.
99. Consider living elsewhere.  Obviously this isn't possible for many but moving from an area with a high cost of living/high food prices to an area with a low cost of living/low food prices can make a significant impact on your food budget.  Friends in Canada and Japan are often shocked by the low cost of food in our area.
100. If you live in a food desert, consider other options for getting inexpensive, quality food.  In many poor areas, there may be a dozen liquor stores and a similar number of bodegas or corner stores but not a single place to get good, cheap regular food.  Look at the cost to take a bus to a better shopping area, buy your food, then Uber home, look at ordering from Amazon, get a ride with a friend when they go shopping, etc.

National Preparedness Month Day 3--Food

Your next project is to put aside--stockpile, to us preparedness folks--enough food to tide yourself and your family over for at least a couple of weeks in the event of an emergency.  Most people can't imagine not hitting up the grocery store, coffee shop, or fast food place every single day but there can be times when you may not be able to leave your house and/or be able to find an open grocery store like in the event of a major snowstorm, a tornado, or a hurricane that wipes out your town's business district.  Food stockpiles are also useful if you become laid off from your job, have a long-term illness or injury that limits your mobility, or suddenly have a large family/work/social group show up unexpectedly and you need to feed everyone.

The most basic way to stockpile food would be to calculate the number of people x 3 meals per day x 14 days.  For one person, 42 cans of soup will meet this requirement.  Most people like a bit more diversity in their menu however, so planning meals day by day (oatmeal for breakfast, powdered milk, soup for lunch, and freeze dried meals for dinner, throw in some granola bars and cookies, etc) will give you a better, more comprehensive food stockpile.

When you buy your food, it is a good practice to buy the things you like to eat so that you can rotate the stored food into your regular pantry then restock on a regular basis.  You also want a good mix of instant food (just-add-water soups and oats), pre-prepared food (things which don't need water to prepare), canned goods, and dry goods (like dried beans, rice, and legumes).  Don't forget to have a manual can opener on hand.

If you do have food stockpiled that is getting close to its expiration date, consider cooking up a bunch of food and freezing it in meal-sized portions, donating the food to a local food bank, or cooking up a big meal with these items for your next party or gathering.

You also don't need to go out and buy hundreds of dollars worth of food in one fell swoop--you can add a few extra items to each grocery run and eventually you will have a pretty good stockpile.  Here are some ideas to get started on your stockpile.

Some more tips for your food stockpile:

• grow a garden
• go fishing and hunting and freeze these items
• learn the best places to forage for wild foods in your area
• preserve bulk food by freezing, canning, drying, etc
• glean farmer's fields after harvest (with permission of course)
• trade garden produce with friends and neighbors
• shop ethnic food stores for great prices on staples
• for a big family, having a freezer is a great way to preserve a good amount of food

10 Fall Food Tips

It's harvest time which means food!  Here are ten things to do in the upcoming weeks:

1. Learn how to preserve food (canning, making jam, drying, etc).  There are literally thousands of YouTube videos and other websites to teach you how to do this.
2. Ask around in your local FB and other social media groups for opportunities to glean farmer's fields for some free/cheap produce.
3. Get your garden ready for fall/winter.
4. Forage for wild edibles (the last of the berry season, fall mushrooms, etc).
5. Get ready for fall hunting season if you are a hunter.
6. Consider planting a late fall/winter garden if this is possible in your area.
7. Check the food in your BOB, as well as your main food stockpile, and rotate/replace items that are near expiring.
8. Take the family to a u-pick farm for apples and later pumpkins if you don't grow these items yourself.
9. Stock up on staples during the upcoming holiday months (turkeys, baking supplies like four and sugar go on sale during the holidays.
10. Set a cooking goal--like cooking all of your meals at home for a week or even a month or taking your lunch to work/school for an entire month--this fall.  This will improve your cooking skills, save you money, and probably improve your health as well.

Perhaps the Most Important Lesson for Preppers

The most fundamental lesson for preppers: when disaster hits (and before a disaster hits if people are warned that said disaster is coming) whatever the average person needs to do to prepare, you can bet that all 50,000/100,000/2.5 million people in your city will be doing the same thing.  You need groceries for a storm heading your way?  You can bet that most people in your city will need to do the same thing.  You need gas to be able to evacuate ahead of a hurricane?  You can bet that most people in your city will need to get the same thing.  You need a fan or an air conditioner because your city is experiencing a heat wave?  Yep, everyone else will have the same need.

As a prepper, there should be no need for you to fight your way through the hordes to get the survival supplies you need.  You will have prepared way ahead of time, and be chillin on the couch watching the news showing the masses fighting over the last roll of toilet paper at your local store. 

Exhibit A   Exhibit B

Taking Food Along

It used to be that any fast food place would do if I was out on the road during meal time.  Although I usually carry granola bars with me for hunger emergencies, a meal could be found at any restaurant, diner, or drive-thru.  These days, especially after the spouse had a heart attack, I am a bit more picker about the healthfulness of the food I ingest.  That usually means cooking at home and bring food with me if I plan to be out for the day.  It's rather simple to do as well as money saving, especially if you look at the cost difference between eating out for lunch everyday at work and brown bagging it.  Here are some things you need to be ready to bring food with you when you leave home:

• A small cooler and gel ice packs (remember to re-freeze the ice packs each evening).
• Leak-proof bottles to bring hot or cold beverages with you (Contigo is my favorite brand).
• Ziploc bags.
• Re-usable plastic food containers (square, sandwich sized, etc).
• Knife/fork/spoon.
• Napkins/paper towels.
• Package of wet wipes.
• Foil/plastic wrap.
• Insulated soup thermos.
• Bento box/tiffin.

A simple Google search will provide a lot of ideas for brown-bag type lunches.

The One Week Eat-At-Home Challenge

Challenge yourself and your family to eat every meal at home for an entire week.  This includes breakfasts, lunches (packed and taken to school or work), and dinner, as well as all snacks and beverages (no Starbucks!) for an entire week.  This challenge is more difficult than it sounds as it is almost automatic for many people to run by a fast food place for a meal, stop by a coffee shop at least once a day, and even use the vending machine at work if you didn't plan ahead and bring a snack.

This will not only show you what it is like to plan, shop for, and prepare a range of meals but it will give you a good idea of how much food it takes to feed the family for a week, the cost of said food, and what it would be like if you couldn't go to the store or go out to eat for an entire week after a disaster.

Be sure to prepare ahead of time by creating a menu, shopping for everything you need at one time, and getting together the things you need to pack each lunch (lunch bags, ziploc bags, thermos for coffee, etc).  This will definitely be a learning experience!

10 Things Everyone Needs to Be Able to Cook

There are some basics that everyone should be able to cook.  You might end up with a few staples and no store access for weeks.  You might end up out in the wilderness and need to put together a meal with very meager ingredients.  You might be put on the spot at a family gathering and need to whip up something amazing with what you have in the fridge.  These are the basics that everyone should practice making until they are reasonably competent at it:

1. Bread.  It's the staff of life and with a few ingredients you can make a staple food to keep yourself full no matter your circumstances.
2. Soup.  This is a basic that can stretch a few ingredients into a filling meal (ditto for chili).
3. A grain.  Depending on where you are from, a basic grain like oats (oatmeal), corn (grits), wheat (porridge), or rice (congee) is usually a simple-to-make breakfast staple.
4. Salad dressing.  From basic (oil and vinegar) to fancy (seed based dressing with a dozen ingredients), being able to make a dressing that can be used on salads, over vegetables, or on bread can dramatically expand your cooking repertoire.
5. Meat.  These days you can buy pre-cooked meat from the deli section of your grocery store and never learn how to make it yourself.  In a survival scenario, you need to know the basics of meat and fish cooking so if someone tosses you a skinned squirrel or side of pork, you would know how to prepare it so that it remains edible, and preferably, tasty.
6. Vegetables.  Some people hate vegetables, most likely because they were given vegetables to eat by someone who had no idea how to actually cook them.  I've never met a vegetable I didn't like, as long as it was cooked properly (ie: not boiled to mush or scorched).  Bonus points if you learn how to find and cook wild edibles.
7. A dessert.  Something to round out the meal and give people something to look forward to after dinner.  Deserts can be simple (melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together then add oats to make no-bake cookies) to elaborate (baked Alaska).
8. Foreign foods.  Indian, Asian, Mediterranean, even African food is usually based on basics (a grain and spices) yet these simple foods can be complete, filling, and enjoyable meals with a bit of cooking skill.
9. Foods to feed a crowd.  There are some tricks to cooking for 50 to 100 people.  Simple is good of course, and food that is able to be cooked in bulk is also good (you don't want to make deviled eggs for 100 people).  Spaghetti, sandwiches, pizza, a crawfish boil...you never know when you might end up cooking for a hundred first responders during a disaster.
10. Coffee.  Everyone should know how to brew a good cup of coffee.  Even if you don't drink coffee, you will probably end up making it for others sometime in your life.  Besides using a basic coffee maker or fancy espresso maker, you should also learn how to make it with a French press as well as boiled over a camp fire.

10 Foods to Stockpile Right Now

Looking over my stockpiled food, I note that I have more than enough of the following 10 food items simply because I use these items so much in everyday cooking (which makes it easy to rotate stock often).

1. Canned beans.  All kinds such as pinto beans, black beans, chickpeas, white beans, etc.  I like canned beans because they are ready to eat immediately and if water or fuel is limited it would be a problem to cook dried beans (although having bags of dried beans on hand is also a good idea).
2. Canned tomatoes.  I use these for all kinds of things including making spaghetti sauce, as a base for soup, to make salsa, etc.
3. Canned spaghetti sauce.  Again, this has multiple uses including making spaghetti, making pizza, making lasagna, as well as a range of Italian foods.  Plus this is a quick way to make a big dinner to feed a crowd in a hurry.
4. Old fashioned oats.  I buy the big boxes of old fashioned oats at Costco and go through this stuff pretty quick.  In addition to regular oatmeal for breakfast, I use oats to make granola, oat flour, oatmeal cookies/granola bars, etc.
5. Rice.  We used to buy 50 pound bags of white rice but with the new healthy diet, I lean more towards brown and wild rice now.  Whichever kind of rice you choose, you can easily stockpile pounds of the stuff and use it for making all sorts of meals.
6. Spices.  I like the basic spices instead of the spice mixtures (which usually feature salt and more salt).  Salt, pepper, garlic powder, dill, paprika, oregano, chili powder, curry powder, etc.  All of these will give an extra zing to whatever food you are cooking.
7. Canned soup and chili.  These tend to sit in the stockpile until I donate them to the food bank but in a crisis (illness, disaster where you are living out of your tent, etc), it's a good idea to have these already prepared, quick energy foods on hand.
8. Peanut butter.  Instant protein, easy to eat (no cooking involved), and goes well on all sorts of things, having jars of peanut butter on hand is a very simple prep.
9. Jars of honey.   I tend to use raw honey a lot more often than sugar.  It has a very long shelf life, doesn't need to be refrigerated, and is good to use for all kinds of purposes (it is healing for a sore throat, can be used in place of sugar in many recipes, etc).
10. Baking items: flour, yeast, baking soda, baking powder...you can make all kinds of baked good such as bread, pizza dough, biscuits, etc. with a handful of simple baking ingredients.

Other items to have on hand: canned fish, canned vegetables, canned fruit, canned/dried milk, nuts and seeds, vinegar, and oil/shortening.

10 Things to Do With Your Food Stockpile

So you have your six months to a year's worth of emergency food stockpiled, it's neatly arranged in a temperature and humidity controlled room, and of course it's dated to keep it in order.  But what do you do with it?  You can...

1. Rotate it into your regular pantry food; sort of the first in, first out theory of stockpiling food this way nothing ever becomes old and inedible.
2. Donate the older stuff to a food bank and restock on a regular basis.
3. Use the older stuff when you throw a party in order to feed everyone then restock.
4. Give stuff that may age out or which the family no longer eats to those in need (friends, family members, neighbors, etc).
5. Use it for your camping/backpacking trips then restock.
6. Use it to feed emergency responders during a disaster response in your area then restock.
7. Bury the older stuff in a super secret TEOTWAWKI cache.
8. Give the older stuff to random homeless people you see on the streets.
9. Do a month or two "no spend" challenge and live off of your food stockpile, then restock.
10. Use the older stuff to train the kids or grandkids how to cook in an emergency, using the food as real props, then restock.

March Challenge #4 Your Food Supply

After a disaster you can go quite a while without food but who would want to?  If you are preparing for whatever may happen, you need to ensure a pretty steady supply of food in order to keep yourself energized and healthy no matter what is happening in your immediate environment.  Here's how:

• Always keep a small stash of food in your vehicle, office, BOB, and daypack or briefcase.
• Always carry food with you when you go out hiking even if you only intend to be gone for a few hours.
• Keep enough food on hand at home to allow you to bug in for a month or so without having to go to the grocery store.  This food can be bought on sale or as loss leaders in order to save money but remember to rotate it regularly.  With this stash, not only will you be ready for a disaster but you can put together a big party without having to hit the store, you will have plenty to eat if you suddenly lose your income and can't afford food, and you can even use it, in bulk, to make a donation to a local food bank or family in need if necessary.
• Consider what would happen if you couldn't access factory/factory-farm produced food for a couple of months.  Could you hunt and dress an animal for cooking?  Do you have a garden growing?  Can you fish?  Can for forage for edible and medicinal food in the wild?  Once you have all of this food (or once you get a great deal on a giant box of produce at the grocery store) do you know how to preserve this food for future eating?
• Learn food storage methods (practice now), food preservation methods (ditto) and, when storing disaster food, aim for storage longevity (canned food, long-term grain storage methods, etc).
• Keep your food costs as low as possible.  Of course you can buy pallets of MREs or Mountain House backpacker food but those are pretty expensive options (and not very likely to be rotated into your everyday food supply).  
• On the other hand, you never know if the disaster is going to make you flee your home and thus all of your stored food.  In this instance you would want some MREs or freeze-dried/dehydrated foods for easy carrying but you don't want to leave thousands and thousands of dollars of food behind.
• Learn how to cook a range of foods.  During a disaster, you may not have access to restaurants and take out food.  All of those dry staples (beans, rice, spices, etc) can turn into a pretty tasty meal if you know your way around a kitchen.
• Be sure to store enough food that doesn't need a whole lot of prep (canned soups and stews, Pop Tarts and granola bars, etc) since often after a disaster you may not have the time/water/fuel to cook an entire meal and clean up after yourself.  In this sort of scenario, any kind of quick, easy to prepare food is the best option.
• Be sure to have a range of foods on hand (in order to get enough vitamins and minerals in your diet).  Also make sure that you have a suitable balance between fats, protein, and carbs.
• Consider augmenting your diet with vitamin supplements since disaster meals often won't provide all of the nutrition you need.
• Don't forget comfort food.  During a disaster, comfort food can make you happy.  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a chocolate bar, a bottle of whiskey...all of these items can make a bleak situation look a little better.

Find more info on food preps here, here, and here.

Fueling Yourself for an Emergency

It's interesting how people worry about fuel--in the literal sense of the word--when it comes to a disaster (they keep extra fuel for their cars, camp stoves, and generators) yet the most important type of fuel--that which powers their body--is generally an afterthought.

When I ask someone what kind of emergency food they have on hand, I am occasionally surprised to learn that some people think a case of ramen and a case of beer will tide them over until they can get some "real food" after a disaster.  While ramen is cheap and in some cases (mostly for broke college students) it is considered a staple, the massive physical effort it takes to recover from a disaster warrants much better sources of fuel for your body.

Regardless of what you eat now (high fat, low fat, paleo, keto, vegan, etc), after a disaster you will need two things.  #1 a stockpile of food since grocery stores will either be empty or closed or both, and #2 a variety of food that covers the fats/proteins/carbs spectrum.  Note: if you want to see what the human body can consume after days and months of strenuous physical activity just hit up a buffet restaurant near the end of the Appalachian Trail in the fall during which "calorie deficit" meets all you can eat.  It's rather quite a spectacle.

So if all you can afford to stock up on now is a case of ramen, that's better than nothing, but your goal should be to stockpile a range of quality foods that will meet your (possibly excessive) calorie needs that you are likely to experience during the rescue and recovery aspects of a disaster. Note: if you think you can hunt and fish your way to daily meals after TSHTF, forgeddaboutit.  Game is particularly uncooperative when you most need to eat.

Here's what you want to stockpile (note that most of these items can easily be rotated into your regular food supply, be used as a generous donation at your local food bank, or thrown together to feed an unexpected crowd at the last minute.  Note also that you want to stockpile food you actually like to eat because after a disaster, food serves not only to nourish your body but also lends some comfort to your soul).

--MREs and backpacker style freeze-dried foods (not my first choice of stuff to eat but these items have a very long shelf life and can be reasonably well rounded...and filled with a ton of sodium but I digress...)
--canned stuff you like to eat (soup, chili, tuna, salmon, spam, vegetables, fruits, beans, pasta sauce)
--dried stuff (instant soups, jerky, dried fruit, powdered milk, powdered eggs, powdered butter, dried mushrooms, instant rice, pasta like couscous, instant potatoes, instant oatmeal)
--quick eating stuff (nuts, seeds, granola bars, candy, cookies and crackers, cereals)
--fats (peanut butter, olive oil)
--spices (salt, pepper, garlic, chili powder, any spices you usually use)
--staples (flour, sugar, corn meal, lard or shortening, Bisquick, baking soda, baking powder, yeast, honey)
--beverages (instant coffee, tea, whiskey, Gatorade powder)
--exotic stuff (dried seaweed, canned coconut milk, dried tofu, fish flakes)

The bottom line: after a disaster you won't be making elaborate "home cooked" meals.  You will want things that are simple to prepare and simple to eat.  Even boiling water may be too much to do sometimes so eating something right out of the can will be preferable.  Should a disaster last a longer time then you may get all "old timey" with your cooking but while the camp cook out looked rather romantic in old movies (and can be rather tasty on a well-stocked camping trip) such elaborate preparations will be the exception rather than the rule.

A Tiny Emergency Food Pack

How many times have you been caught out at meal time and there was no meal in sight (or there were some restaurants/fast food places but they happen to have sky-high prices because they are at venues with a captive audience)?  The answer to this problem is to make a tiny emergency food pack that can be kept in your briefcase/day pack/messenger bag and utilized under these emergency conditions.  Here are some items to include:

• Your choice of beverage mix: tea bag instant coffee packet, powdered drink mix packet
• Gum or mints
• Granola bar
• Packet of instant soup
• Jerky
• Mini-sized candy
• Small bag of pretzels
• Small packet of nuts
• Small box of raisins
• Packet of dried fruit (apricots, mangoes, etc)
• Dried fish (like dried cuttlefish found in Asian stores)
• Nut butter squeeze packet
• Tiny seasoning packets: salt, pepper, sugar, Tabasco, etc

Survival Skill #3 Procuring Food (part 3 of 10)

Right after a disaster, and right after procuring water, your next task will be procuring food.  Of course you can go days, even weeks without food but who would want to do that, especially in a high stress/high physical exertion state?  Here are some post-disaster food options:

• Food in your home which is perishable (this means you eat the things most likely to spoil first including produce, food in your refrigerator, and things in your freezer).
• Food stored in your home (assuming your home is accessible, using up the food in your pantry and the food you have stockpiled will be your next option).
• Food stored in your car BOB and your backpack BOB (ditto above, you should have some amount of food with you at all times).
• Food you raise yourself (this includes food from your garden, orchard, and any animals you raise for food...during growing season of course.  If you do garden, you may want to look into year-round type gardening skills).
• Food from the local grocery store (not usually a good or viable idea.  If you've seen the shelves of grocery stores just before and right after a disaster strikes--like a tornado or hurricane--you will know that entire stores can be cleaned out within hours).
• Food that you can catch/trap/glean (people often think that procuring wild food is as simple as walking out their door with a shotgun but this isn't always the case.  While hunting, fishing, and gleaning are options for obtaining food, consider that #1 the rest of the population in your area has the same idea, #2 animals often make themselves scarce before, during, and after a natural disaster, and #3 doing this sort of thing on private property--and many people are surrounded by private property--can be downright dangerous as the owner may not like people trespassing on his property).
• Government food stations.  Usually after a disaster, the government or other aid organizations will step in with food and water distribution programs.  While this is an option, it is also less than reliable because of the huge lines of people, the limited amount of food, the stress and often the fighting that occurs over such limited resources, and the length of time it takes to get the distribution system set up (this often happens many days, not hours, after a large-scale disaster).
• Anything else you can catch and eat (birds, roaming dogs, rats, insects...unpleasant of course but if you are truly starving, any sort of protein and fat will keep you alive).

Once you have procured food for yourself and your family after a disaster, you will need to worry about:

• Storing it.  Refrigeration will often NOT be an option so fresh food will spoil quickly.
• Cooking it.  Ditto your usual cooking methods may not be available so be sure to have multiple ways to cook food.
• Preparing it.  You will need to be able to open the cans (do you have a manual can opener?) and serve it (paper plates and plastic utensils mean you won't have to use valuable water to clean up afterwards).
• Eating it.  Make sure the food you eat isn't spoiled or contaminated as this will make you sick and weak--two states you don't want to be in after a disaster.
• Protecting it.  What do you think the hungry masses will do when they smell steak grilling over your fence?
• Ensuring everyone gets to eat...this includes your pets, your infants who need specialized food, and the ill/elderly/allergic who may have a restrictive diet and can only eat certain foods. 

Stockpile These Foods

When it comes to stockpiling food for an emergency, you want to make sure that you get the best bang for your buck when it comes to purchasing this food.  Here's where you want to put your money in order to reap the most nutrients:

Top 10 foods with the most protein

1. Meat (beef, pork, chicken, etc)
2. Fish (tuna, salmon, etc)
3. Cheese
4. Tofu
5. Beans
6. Eggs
7. Dairy (milk, yogurt)
8. Nuts (almonds, peanuts, etc)
9. Seeds (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc)
10. Spirulina

Top 10 foods with the most fat

1. Animal fat (beef tallow, lard, etc)
2. Fish oil (cod liver oil, herring oil, etc)
3. Oil (olive, corn, peanut, etc)
4. Butter/margarine
5. Cheese
6. Nuts/nut butter
7. Fatty fish
8. Dark chocolate
9. Dried coconut
10. Avacado

Top 10 foods with the most carbohydrates

1. Sugar
2. Grains and cereals (rice, oats, etc)
3. Dried fruit
4. Crackers, potato chips
5. Flour (cakes, cookies, bread, etc)
6. Jams and jellies
7. Potatoes
8. Soda
9. Pasta
10. Starchy fruit and vegetables (bananas, apples, etc)

Survival Food: 10 Things

Most of the time I am not a "sky is falling" type of person.  There are times, however, when a little warning is a good thing.  So today's warning will be about food.  Or the possible lack thereof in the coming year.

If you haven't heard about the massive drought in California, well, you probably should have.  And since California is where a lot of food is grown that feeds the people of the United States, this is something to worry about.  Add to that the fact that food prices keep rising.  The price of meat, for example, has risen exponentially over the past couple of years ($8 for a single chicken??? Some years back I was paying 39 cents a pound for chicken!).  Here are 10 things to consider about the current food situation:

1. Start a food garden.  Even if all you have is a window sill where you can grow herbs, being able to produce any sort of food for yourself is liberating.  Planting a flower pot of lettuce and a couple of tomato plants is even better.  Obviously I don't expect that many people will have the space/inclination to grow the majority of their produce but growing a few things is better than nothing.
2. Fill up your freezer.  Whenever I find loss leaders or sale meat, I always plan for the future and buy as much as we can reasonably consume within a year or so.  Needless to say, the freezer is full of meat and vegetables.
3. Ditto for your pantry.  While there are a lot of sale items at the grocery store that we simply don't buy no matter how low the price (processed anything basically), there are times, such as when stores have case lot sales and such, that we make a haul and fill the pantry with canned soup/vegetables/fish/etc.
4. Hit up the $1 store and 99 cent store.  There are some items in these stores that you can find cheaper elsewhere but there are usually plenty of items that are a bargain for $1 and deserve to be bought in bulk.
5. Canning, freezing, dehydrating, smoking, etc.  Buy a giant, cheap, box of something and experiment.  A friend delivered a huge box of bananas that he got on sale for a couple of bucks and said "what can you do with these?"  What we did: canned banana baby food.  Froze most of the bananas for smoothies and banana bread.  You don't want to spend a fortune on something to experiment with but you can often find cheap items that are worth trying to process for your future food needs.  FWIW smoked fish is tasty and has along shelf life.  Also, canning and jelly making isn't as hard as it seems.
6. Learn how to procure your own food.  Hunting and fishing are fun hobbies which also provide you with a lot of protein for little more than the cost of a license and a bit of your time once you have the necessary equipment and knowledge.
7. Learn how to forage.  Have you ever eaten a cattail?  These plants are prolific in some areas and were once a staple food for many Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest.  There are literally dozens and dozens of edibles that grow wild that can be had for just the effort needed to gather them (warning: know what it is you are harvesting, take a class to learn if necessary and/or go with someone who knows what they are doing until you know what you are doing).
8. Procure seasonally.  Old timers probably remember that food used to be seasonal.  There was no such thing as a watermelon in January or a fresh tomato in February.  You can still flow with the seasons, however, and get dirt cheap prices on food just by buying or harvesting when items are in season (wild berries in late summer, mushrooms in the fall, smelt when they are running, super cheap watermelon at the grocery store in summer, etc).
9. Buy grains in bulk.  Dried grains (oats, rice, wheat, etc) tend to have a long shelf life, are easy to store, are cheap to buy (ie: a bag of dried beans are much cheaper than the same amount of beans in canned form), and are endlessly useful.
10. When you do buy/grow/harvest food items to last for a long time (unlike just buying enough groceries to tide you over for a week), learn how to safely and effectively store them for the duration (the LDS folks are genius at this, info here) so you don't waste your time, money, and most importantly the food.

Just a Reminder...

A good way to increase your food stockpiles on the cheap is to take advantage of case lot sales.  From the ad below you can see that you can get 12 cans of Chunky soup for $12 which means 12 meals (four days) of emergency food rations.  12 jars of peanut butter for $17 will give you enough protein for a month!