Stewardship and the Y2K Thing — Food


by Catherine Fournier

Food

How much? What kinds? Where and how to keep it? It's a big question, and when you start to do the math, a daunting one. Let's see, two cans of milk per day is 60 cans of milk in a month and, oh my gosh, 360 cans of milk for half a year!

Most knowledgeable and cautious sources are recommending at least a month's worth of food in storage. If you begin now, by buying the items with the longest shelf life, you can spread the expense over time and manage.

Start by figuring out 'meals'. How much canned spaghetti sauce and dry spaghetti noodles does your family eat in one meal? How much oatmeal for one breakfast? How much canned or powdered juice for a day? Then calculate how many times a month you want to eat canned spaghetti for dinner or oatmeal for breakfast. Then multiple it all out according to how long a period you want to plan for. For example, 2 cans of spaghetti eaten once a week is four times a month is 8 cans of spaghetti for a month and 48 cans for six months.

Use the lists and suggestions below to help draw up your list of foods.


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After compiling a list, and making all the necessary calculations, I have made a checklist where I can track how many cans of apple juice I have (written in pencil) against how many I want (written in ink.) I also have a small notebook for my purse with a month by month plan of what I will obtain, the longest shelf life items first, and the more perishable items later in the year.

One last point - even if the Y2K turns out to be a big fizzle, a six month supply of groceries in the house isn't a bad thing. In times of economic and employment uncertainty, this store of food will greatly lessen financial worries if we lose a job.

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