Sunday, June 5, 2011

Extreme Couponing/Hoarding

In light of the recent natural disasters-Earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunami, etc.. I have been looking at how much one should store for an emergency. I have been watching those extreme couponing shows and seen the "hoards" of toothpaste some of these people have in their garages. Although I am not LDS they do have some good recommendations of how much each family should REALISTICALLY have on hand for a years supply here is the list their calculator did for my family of  7 given our ages.

Grains
wheat-900 lbs
flour-149 lbs
corn meal-149 lbs
oats-149 lbs
rice-300 lbs
pasta 149 lbs
total grains-1796 lbs (Wow where would I keep this?) Aaron makes fun of my 50#s of just white rice in glass gallon jugs under my kitchen shelves. We do keep quite a bit of pasta as well as some dried navy beans in glass gallon pickle jars.My stock is nowhere near this much.I wouldn't know what to do with so much wheat and do not have a grinder to make it into flour. This would not be practical for my family. A much better idea is to buy an extra one of something you do use each time you go to the the store and rotate oldest to newest in your pantry. Build a pantry a little at a time out of what you can use. use your bottle deposit money to build up the pasta in your pantry. Or maybe your coupon savings money to buy and extra bag of rice or beans. Remember when the power is out you will be grilling outdoors. Do you have charcoal, sterno, or bottles of gas on hand?

Fats and Oils
Shortening -24 lbs
Vegetable oil- 12 gal
Mayo-12 qts
Salad dressing- 7 qts
Peanut Butter-24 lbs
Total Fats- 79 lbs
I don't have nowhere near this much in my pantry because oil goes rancid so fast. But we do have 6 jars of mustard in the cupboard for Aaron.And almost 24#'s of peanut butter because we will use almost that a month.


Sugars
Honey- 17 lbs
Sugar-240 lbs
Brown Sugar-17 lbs
Molasses-7 lbs
Corn Syrup- 17 lbs
Jams- 17 lbs
Fruit Drink Powder-36 lbs
Flavored Gelatin-7lbs
 Total Sugars-358 lbs We go easy on the sugar in my house! I have 15 lbs of sugar, 3 lbs of corn syrup,several home made jams/jellies,1 lbs of molasses, and 10 lbs of brown sugar in stock but that is all right now. We just don't use much sugar at home in our diet.

Milk
Dry Milk-360 lbs
Evaporated Milk-72 can
other -77 lbs
Total Dairy- 449 lbs   Right now I have several cans of evaporated milk and 3 bags of powdered milk on hand. No where near 77 lbs!


Legumes
Beans, dry-180 lbs
Lima Beans-27 lbs
Soy Beans-60 lbs
Split peas-27 lbs
Lentils-27 lbs
Dry soup Mix-27 lbs
Total Legumes-348 lbs  I have 3 lbs red lentils, several 1 lb bags of navy beans, several dried kidney and pinto beans-but not nearly even 20 lbs total. Budget wise dried beans are an inexpensive way to add protein to your diet. I use more in the winter than the summer.

Cooking Essentials
Baking Powder- 7 lbs
Baking Soda-7 lbs
Yeast-3.5 lbs
Salt-31 lbs
Vinegar-3.5 gal
Vinegar is a great cleaner I don't know why I don't have any around the house right now. I have 2# baking power, 4# baking soda, Yeast,and 4 # salt.I have been using these up and  haven't replenished.

Water
Water-98 gal
Bleach-7 gal
We always have 3 flats of bottled water on hand! No bleach in the house at this moment.

As I save more on my couponing adventures I hope to add to my "Hoard" of staples for emergency preparedness. A one year supply is not practical for storage but it does help keep to the hoard of supplies down to a realistic number instead of that 4 ft wall of toothpaste on TLC's Extreme Couponing! Everyone should have a few staples on hand in case of a power outage or other emergency. A large hoard of supplies isn't realistic for most people. I am aiming towards a 3 month supply of the things we use the most in my pantry. Use the guide from the LDS and if you have more than their guidelines you need to give some to the local food pantry or shelter house and seek professional help.


























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