12 Days of Food Storage Christmas

If you have family, friends, or neighbors who you have been wanting to introduce to the world of preparedness, this could be a fun way to do it. We’ve put together 12 days of free or inexpensive (under $1) gifts that follow along our 10 Babysteps to help someone get started and hopefully peak their curiosity to learn even more.

Feel free to adapt this to meet your needs. Spread the gifts out over 12 days, or you can do all 12 days at once as a “getting started” package. Each day has some recommendations for some more advanced gift ideas if you’d like to check them out. Don’t forget to download the tags and labels for each day and Merry Christmas!

Download tags and labels for all 12 days here

Emergency Preparedness is always a great place to start. Print out our in depth Emergency Preparedness Plan that your loved one can fill out as a starting point for their family. Roll it up and tie a pretty ribbon around it and attach the Day 1 tags and labels to it. You could also include a personal note letting them know that you will be giving them some fun little gifts over the next few days to help them be more prepared.

More expensive gift ideas
Prepare My Life Planner
InstaFire
Pre-made 72 hour kits

We have two ideas for day 2. Babystep #1 is shelves so you can build a little rotating can shelf out of cardboard and stick the day 2 tags on it. Download the instructions here and you can even give them a copy so they can make their own additional units to fill their pantry. If you don’t have the time or patience to do this, you can opt to print out our Small Spaces Storage Solutions handout which gives lots of ideas on sneaky places to store food storage. Again, this can be rolled up with a cute ribbon tied around it and the Day 2 tags added to make it fun

More expensive gift ideas
Canorganizers (Commercially made cardboard can racks for pantry)
Cansolidators (Plastic can racks for pantry)
Harvest Shelves (72″ rotating can rack shelf)

Babystep #2 is water, one of the most critical components of any preparedness or food storage plan. For today you can either recycle a few empty pop or juice containers and fill them with clean water, or you can splurge and grab a few little water pouches that can be great for 72 hour kits or car emergency kits. Depending on how many you buy they can be less than $0.50 each! Whichever option you opt for, add your Day 3 tag to make it cute.

More expensive gift ideas
WaterBricks
Berkey Water Purification Systems

Babystep #3 is to put together a 3 month supply of regular foods. Print out these worksheets to help someone get started on their 3 Month Plan. There is an Instruction Sheet, a Menu Plan Sheet and an Inventory Sheet. You will need to print the Menu Plan Sheet multiple times depending on how many different meals you want to plan. There is also a video tutorial to go along with these forms found here. Put the printed worksheets in sheet protects or roll them up and tie a ribbon around them. Don’t forget to attach the Day 4 tag!

More expensive gift ideas
Subscription to Deals to Meals (grocery savings program)

Babystep #4 is an introduction to long term food storage foods. People often get overwhelmed with how much and what to buy. Here is a handout that includes instructions and a simple food storage calculator that you can print out, tie a ribbon around, add the cute Day 5 Tags, and give to someone. This will help them determine quantities of foods to purchase based on their family size.

More expensive gift ideas
I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage
Country Beans
Dinner is in the Jar
Cooking with Food Storage Made Easy

Babystep #5 is learning to use grains, and more specifically wheat. People often have a hard time using wheat if they don’t have a wheat grinder. If you haven’t tried making Blender Wheat Pancakes you are missing out! This is something easy you can make that uses wheat with no wheat grinder required. Put the ingredients in a baggie, tie a ribbon around it and a recipe card with instructions. Don’t forget to add the Day 6 tag as well. It wont cost you much, but will surely impress and motivate someone to use their food storage.

More expensive gift ideas
WonderMill Wheat Grinder

Babystep #6 moves on to learning about beans/legumes. Legumes can be very intimidating to a lot of people so this is a great one to help people realize they aren’t so bad. Purchase a 1 lb bag of 12 bean soup mix from the grocery store ($1-$2). Tie a ribbon around it and include the Day 7 Tags. Include this 12 Bean Soup Recipe on a cute recipe card for them, it’s delicious!

More expensive gift ideas
Electric Pressure Cooker (makes it EASY to cook dry beans)
Instant Beans from Thrive Life (no soaking or long cook times)

Babystep #7 covers baking ingredients that are necessary for you to be able to make a lot of recipes using your grains and legumes. Salt is one of those things that you run out of, and don’t necessarily think of storing. Find or buy a container of salt and make it cute with ribbons, or put it in a gift bag, and remind them Food Storage isn’t just grains and legumes.

More expensive gift ideas
Instant Powdered Milk
Butter Powder
Pure Vanilla Powder

Babystep #8 is purchasing or preserving fruits and vegetables. While not critical for sustaining life, fruits and vegetables are a welcome addition to any food storage program for the health benefits, variety, and to help you save money on your day to day grocery shopping. Gardening is a great way to become more self reliant. Try giving a few packs of gardening seeds to help motivate people to get going on gardening. If you know the person doesn’t have a lot of space, pick herbs, or things you can grow on kitchen counters.

More expensive gift ideas
Excalibur Food Dehydrator
Canner and canning supplies
Freeze Dried Fruits or Veggies

Babystep #9 encourages people to store comfort foods for times of crisis. This is a great day for the holidays. Even just a candy bar or 2 in your storage for just in case scenarios are great. Pick up the person’s favorite one and surprise them with a little treat to have in time of need (and tell them they can’t eat it right away, they have to store it 😉 Tie a cute ribbon around the candy bar and add the Day 10 Tags and you’re all set.

More expensive gift ideas
FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer (great for preserving treats for longer storage)

Babystep #10 covers all aspects of storage that are NOT food. Although Food Storage (and Christmas for that matter) are a lot about food, we can’t forget the non-food items that are important and necessary to store not only for hygiene but also for cooking, cleaning, first aid, etc. Any inexpensive toiletry would be a great gift for this day (toothpaste, deodorant, etc.)

More expensive gift ideas
First Aid Kit

Once you have completed the first 11 days for a friend, or family member, it’s time for them to keep the journey going themselves. To help them do that, we have our BabyStep Checklists. Have the person you are giving to sign up for our free email checklists. You could even sign up for them with their email address and print out the first checklist for their gift. The checklists last for one year and are sent every 2 weeks. After following the 26 checklists they will have a full food storage for one person.

More expensive gift ideas
Food Storage Made Easy 3-Part eBook Program (buy and print out in a binder for them)