Welcome to week four of our Summer Inventory Challenge. If you haven’t already signed up to participate you can learn more and sign up at this link.

This week we are focusing on Grains, Legumes, and Meats and doing an inventory of all our supplies. Remember each challenge will walk you through these three questions:

1. What do you want to have?
2. What do you already have?
3. What do you still need to get?

Introduction Video

What Do You Want to Have?

For a general overview of this weeks topics, please check out the Babystep 5: Grains page and the Babystep 6: Legumes page. These pages are a good starting point for the basics of what you SHOULD be storing. However, it’s always important to consider YOUR family’s individual circumstances and what will work best for you and your space.

Helpful Resources:
Long Term Food Storage Calculator
Modified Calculator with Meats, Fruits, and Veggies
Food Storage Shelf Life
How to Can Chicken
How to Can Ground Beef
How to Make Bean Flour Cream of Chicken Soup
How to Cook Dry Beans
Thrive Life Freeze Dried Meats (my favorite!)
Meals in a Jar Group (for recipes using beans and meats)

What Do You Already Have?

This is the fun part of this week … the part I have been waiting for for the whole challenge. I am digging into my basement with my spreadsheet printed out and I’m going to start adding up what I ACTUALLY have! After going through two moves (including one across the country) in the past year, and re-organizing my whole storage into my new home, I really have been like I don’t know what I have any more.

I’ve got the bulk of my grains and legumes in 5 or 6 gallon buckets … but I also have lots of #10 cans full of random items on my shelves and in boxes. I also have tons of meats stored that I need to inventory and get a complete picture of where I’m at. So excited for this week!

What Do You Still Need to Get?

Once you have your list of what you HAVE, cross-reference it with what you WANT. The difference is going to become your shopping list for the next few months. Stock up on things when they come on sale, set aside a little bit of money each month to go towards your long term storage purchases, or save up now and wait until the Black Friday sales can give you more bang for your buck!

Here are some of the companies I recommend buying from. For staples like grains and legumes typically any company will be similar quality. The LDS home storage centers will most likely be the cheapest place to get these. For meats I recommend Thrive Life as I consistently find it to be the best quality and taste and they don’t source anything from China.

Thrive Life
LDS Home Storage Center (online store)
Emergency Essentials
Honeyville Grain
Amazon

Follow me on InstaGram (@Jodi_foodstoragemadeeasy) if you want to see more behind the scenese details about my week three plans and progress.

Week 4 Giveaway

Earn entries by participating in the challenge in the following ways:
– Post about your progress in the Facebook Group (share your want list or pics of your process)
– Comment on InstaGram on any of the posts for this week
– Email me photos of your project for me to share (I will keep them anonymous) (info @ foodstoragemadeeasy.net)

Winners will be announced in next week’s email!

-Jodi Weiss Schroeder
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net