*Using Our Stored Food for 3 Months*
As some of you know, I was laid off at the end of March. At that time, my wife and I decided we would not buy any food or toiletries until I went back to work. We figured it would only be about three weeks at most, but were going to just use our stored items for about 6 weeks to see how things went. We didn't think it would be long because of the field I am in; there is usually no problem finding a job. We wanted to know how long our food would last in a crisis situation, and what we would use the most. As it turned out, I was off without a paycheck for a little over 3 months which made it a better test for us. We made a list of every item we took out of our storage area, and the amount.
The only things we did buy at the store were milk, butter, bread, and meat like ribs or chicken that we fried. That was rare to buy the meats, but it was for the visitors we had. My wife would make bread about once a week or so.
When we seriously started storing our food and toiletries about 6 years ago, we had looked at various charts and the LDS plan to determine what we would be using during a situation where everything was closed indefinitely. As it turned out, they were close, but lacking in some areas because everybody's eating habits are different. When we started storing some items, we kinda looked at what we had been buying on a regular basis, and pretty much went from there.
Our kids have grown a lot in that length of time, and their eating habits, as well as ours, have changed; their personal toiletries have also changed.
One of the items we used, but some of my family did not particularly like, was the DAK hams. One of my sons and I liked it, but my wife and daughter were not really fond of it. They said it tasted too much like old Spam. They ate some of it just to try it. I think it was the way it was prepared. Everyone likes Spam when it is fried.
We went through a lot of canned meats, more than I had figured. This includes the DAK hams, salmon, spam, tuna, chicken, beef stew, and chili. My teenaged kids love chili mixed with any kind of noodles (bowtie, elbow, shell, etc). I am included on the chili and noodles like.
My wife made her own spaghetti sauce, when we had spaghetti, about once a week from the various tomato sauces and paste we had. We like lots of garlic in ours. The chicken spaghetti made with the cans of chicken was probably the best.
Some of the items we used the most were: toilet paper, and feminine items, coconut oil and Crisco oil, ranch style beans, oatmeal, flour, spaghetti, various types of noodles, hot sauces, 6 jars of jelly and jams (partly due to the fresh bread), and lots and lots of sugar. We drink a lot of tea. Everything else we used was about what we had figured. This does not take into consideration the food that was in the pantry, which is usually well stocked also.
The items for my family, that we will be adding extra in the future, are: the various hot sauces we like, a lot more sugar and oils, canned meats, and feminine products. Most everything else we used went as we had planned it would. Now that we have a new granddaughter, we will be adding things for her and future grandkids.
To sum it all up, we were really surprised at what we used (and what we didn't use much of). For instance, we didn't eat very much fruit or canned vegetables, other than corn and ranch style beans. We also did not eat much soup. I figure this is due to the warmer weather we have here in the Houston area.
We need to change our eating habits to include more fruits and probably less sugar. Also, we should have used some of our powered milk, at least mix it in with the milk we bought to make it last longer. Having chickens was also a blessing. We eat a lot of eggs.
Pistolshooter
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