Normally i do my grocery shopping on Monday but with the snow storm on the weekend and another Thursday I was starting to run out of food. Today I created a list of my family favorite meals and am looking up ideas on long term storage.
What are some things you all like to store?

For just a snow storm I'll get a few extra perishables like milk or eggs. A full freezer of pre-cooked and portioned dinners and a gas camp stove for power loss days, if any.

Store what you like to eat. I hear so many times about people storing 5-gallon buckets of rice and beans. I'm not crazy about rice and beans so I don't store any. I like Thrive and use it on an almost daily basis. Pure food and no added salts or other garbage.
https://thrivefreeze.com/
The scrambled eggs may be pricey but sometimes I think they are better than fresh eggs.

Man if you are running out on a regular delay.
You need to assess your situation.

The simplest way to beef up is to just double or triple your normal food storage pantry. Use one section for everyday a second as back up and the third level is for longer than 2 weeks. As you use it - cycling the food will give you a buffer to always have extra on hand until you are able to go shopping but have at least a backup supply.

Recommendations has been 3 days, 3 ways
But realistically about 2 weeks for everyone in your household. As those 2 weeks really mean about 8-10 days.

At any given time, ask yourself why you don't have 20lbs of dry carbs (rice, beans, pasta, flour), and 10lbs of frozen meat (steak, ground beef, pork)? Is it storage space, or is it any lack of planning?

Large quantities are cheaper, dry goods do not spoil for at least a year, and frozen meat can last a year.

We probably have more than 30lbs of meat in our two chest freezers, plus some ready to make stuff that we both like. We also have 20-30 lbs of flour, 25+ lbs of rice, but not so much beans ( I like beans, Rita not so much). We also created what we call "the stash" of not so frequently used, but still handy to have in a big Tupperware box, and a spare Pelican box I got from work. I figure we can easily go 30+ days w/o having to worry about food.

The local church here has what they call a "glean" every Monday. At first I felt bad about going there and taking food, but they're desperate to give it away, and it gets thrown away if people don't take it. We can frequently pick up milk, eggs, meat, bread, butter, canned goods, fresh veggies (well maybe not as fresh as you'd find in a market, but still edible), there's things like peanut butter, even Nutella sometimes. We don't go every week, probably once or twice a month. She has a friend who goes every week to several gleanings (she's a bit of a hoarder) and she sometimes picks stuff up for us (mostly bread). The point is, there's food available for free at least in our area, and it's going to waste because not enough people take advantage of it. The little old ladies who run it try very hard to get you to take more. Like I said, I used to feel guilty about it because I felt like I was taking food away from someone who couldn't afford it, but there's simply more food than they can get rid of and not enough takers, so I no longer feel guilty about it.

First off make sure you can heat your house... Last year we had a snow storm and power outage for over a day, i was the only one in the neighborhood who's fireplace kept them toasty warm, other neighbor had a generator, but everyone else was S.O.L. This is in a 120 year old neighborhood that had(and many still have) chimneys, but everyone else removed their stoves.

I came home to a warm house and a bunch of diced onions and potatoes cooking.

Also gas up, i've seen a couple gas shortages in the last 20 years due to snow.

Do what you can, when you can.

If you have the money, research what preps are good, and spend your dough.

If not, start where you can.

What do you eat now, and like?

Are you into soup? Get an extra 2 cans each time you shop. Wait for a favorite, like Progresso, to go on sale, and buy 10 or 20 at a $1 each.

Tuna, etc., the same.

Meat’s expensive right now, but learn your stores. While QFC is expensive on some things, they often have unadvertised specials like “Buy One, Get One Free” meat and chicken. Pay attention to stuff you’re ‘not’ shopping for, when shopping…

Double down on stuff you like, but also consider getting things that store well.

Do research on preserving & storing food, rotating your stock, freeze-dried food, etc.

Don’t panic and try to fix it all at once, but don’t lose that sense of urgency once the snow melts.

I recommend the P.A.C.E. approach to preparing (not just food, but all areas - water, communications, energy/heat, security, etc). It stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency. If Primary is unavailable, move to Alternate, etc. For example, in the context of food, your Primary is what you eat on a regular basis - i.e. fresh foods with a short shelf life. Alternate is frozen and more shelf-stable dry goods. Contingency is freeze-dried meals. Emergency is foraging/hunting/fishing.

It's a good idea to make preps for all levels, but you should focus on Alternate and Contingency, as those are easy. Rice and beans are a great way to stretch a buck, but make sure you store them properly (sealed mylar bag in a sealed 5-gallon bucket, with appropriate amount of O2 absorbers and desiccant inside the mylar bag). This will greatly extended the shelf life of your dry goods, and protect your investment. I also like to stock up on oatmeal - the steel cut oats are filling, and they stick with you longer than the rolled oats. Admittedly, the rolled are more palatable, though.

And, don't forget that a lot of foods require water to prepare/cook, so make sure that's part of your checklist.

Y'all may want to be more mindful of the contingency/emergency end of that acronym:

"Qin Yuyun, head of grain reserves at the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, told reporters last month, "our wheat stockpiles can meet the demand for one and a half years. There is no problem whatsoever about the supply of food."

Holy shi-shi. China has amassed enough food (for their entire population?) for a year and a half?

Someone sees dire times ahead?

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/c ... mpaign=379

Hopped on the Fred Meyer website and was able to create a Pantry & Fridge/Freezer shopping list of our favorite foods.
My wife doesn't want huge piles of food so my plan is just to buy a little extra of anything on the list until I get it all stocked up.
I am mainly concerned about fresh foods like milk, eggs, cheese & meat so did some research on different long term storage options.
In addition to powdered milk I found that the Soy/Nut milks don't need to be refrigerated until opened so they can be stored in the pantry.

Snowed in. I thought we might be a little low on broccoli rab, gai lan, bok choy, gai choy, spinach, cabbage, parsley, cilantro, but we are ok for a couple more days.









Freezer. Full.
Pantry. Packed.

Wife just made almond cookies. Damn.

Haggen at Barkley is well stocked.

But also friends from way south and canookistan. In fact one older friend from the Lynden days brought us a box of restaurant samosas* from BC.

*

Where do you find broccoli rab around here?