Building your food storage on $5 a week

The question I get asked the most is "How much of what foods should I buy & store?"

After giving some suggestions I hear "I can't afford it".  I use to have the same mindset, but with the help of friends around the www I learned that I couldn't afford NOT too.

Here is what I bought with my $5 this week:

Wednesday I purchased 8 Knorr Rices.  They were on sale for .59 each for a total of $4.72. I count this as part of my rice.

Everyone has their reasons for stockpiling/prepping, but everyone's goal is the same.  After much research here is the two tools I use and recommend.

The first one is A Management Plan for Home Food Storage  by The Utah State University Extension.  The first thing it has you to do is print off a "Food Storage Planner" chart. List your 10-20 most served meals. After you are done filling out this planner you will know exactly how many cans of tomato sauce, chili beans, corn, green beans, etc. you will need in your pantry to prepare your meals for a year.

The other tool I use is this concept taught by the LDS. I've made some substitutions/additions to this list to fit my families needs. I substituted flour for the wheat, some of the tomatoe soups with other soups.  I added rice, coffee, saltines, beans, oatmeal, ramen noodles, popcorn, pancake/baking mixes, chocolate, yeast, potatoe flakes, etc. Store what you use, Use what you store.

Food Storage for $5.00 a Week
Week 1: 6 lbs. salt
Week 2: 5 cans cream of chicken soup
Week 3: 20 lbs. of sugar
Week 4: 8 cans tomato soup
Week 5: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 6: 6 lbs. macaroni
Week 7: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 8: 8 cans tuna
Week 9: 6 lbs. yeast
Week 10: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 11: 8 cans tomato soup
Week 12: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 13: 10 lbs. powdered milk
Week 14: 7 boxes macaroni and cheese
Week 15: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 16: 5 cans cream of chicken soup
Week 17: 1 bottle 500 multi-vitamins
Week 18: 10 lbs. powdered milk
Week 19: 5 cans cream mushroom soup
Week 20: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 21: 8 cans tomato soup
Week 22: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 23: 8 cans tuna
Week 24: 6 lbs. shortening
Week 25: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 26: 5 lbs. honey
Week 27: 10 lbs. powdered milk
Week 28: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 29: 5 lbs. peanut butter
Week 30: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 31: 7 boxes macaroni and cheese
Week 32: 10 lbs. powdered milk
Week 33: 1 bottle 500 aspirin
Week 34: 5 cans cream of mushroom soup
Week 35: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 36: 7 boxes macaroni and cheese
Week 37: 6 lbs. salt
Week 38: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 39: 8 cans tomato soup
Week 40: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 41: 5 cans cream chicken soup
Week 42: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 43: 1 bottle 500 multi-vitamins
Week 44: 8 cans tuna
Week 45: 50 lbs. wheat
Week 46: 6 lbs. macaroni
Week 47: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 48: 5 cans cream mushroom soup
Week 49: 5 lbs. honey
Week 50: 20 lbs. sugar
Week 51: 8 cans tomato soup
Week 52: 50 lbs. wheat
________________________________________
Some weeks you will have leftover change. Save the change each week to be used for the weeks you may exceed $5.00 (like wheat or milk).
You will end up with:
500 pounds of wheat 180 pounds of sugar
40 pounds of powdered milk 12 pounds of salt
10 pounds of honey 5 pounds peanut butter
40 cans of tomato soup 15 cans of cream of mushroom soup
15 cans of cream of chicken soup 24 cans of tuna
21 boxes of macaroni and cheese 500 aspirin
1000 multi-vitamins 6 pounds of yeast
6 pounds of shortening 12 pounds of macaroni

This should be enough to sustain two people for one year. For every two people in your family add $5.00 more and double or triple the amount of the item you are buying that week.

If you can not afford more than the $5.00 a week for the whole family at least do the $5.00, it's a start.

Remember to mark the date on each item when you buy them and use the oldest first.


I'm taking it slow, keeping myself from getting overwhelmed, and not breaking our bank while building our food storage.

I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Do you have a stockpile of food? What methods do you use?