It’s safe to say our whole world changed in March 2020. Entire countries found themselves in lock down in an attempt to keep COVID-19 at bay. Business closed, schools shifted to online learning, grocery store shelves emptied, and producers tried as best they could to help alleviate the demand for basic goods like toilet paper. Homes that were prepared with quarantine food storage even found themselves lacking in many necessities.
2020 The Quarantine Year
If someone would have written a script with the events of the first half of 2020 they would have been laughed at! No one would have produced such an irrational movie, but as the saying goes, “Truth is stranger than fiction.”
I am thankful that we were mostly prepared. I grew up learning how to preserve food though home canning. My mom and other family members taught me cooking, baking, and sewing. My husband grew up learning how to grow food, hunt, and is naturally mechanically inclined. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Our church leaders have always counseled us in self-sufficiency & provident living. We are taught to have a years’ supply of food storage (or at least 1 – 3 months), to live within our means, and to help one another. All these things combined put us in a good position when the pandemic quarantine hit.
No, we didn’t have a years’ supply of food, but we did have 3 months’ worth. When we realized where things were going, we supplemented our normal storage with a few extra things like peanuts, heavy whipping cream, and bread flour. Some of my ideas worked, others didn’t.
Where Do We Go From Here
Life is slowly beginning to return to “normal” for the most part. Grocery store shelves are no longer empty, and people are beginning to return to work. School is continuing online for most students, and people are starting to look forward to holidays instead of just trying to survive today.
Where do we go from here? Well, now is the time to start restocking or preparing your own food storage. We don’t know if there will be another full lock down, hopefully not, but now is the time to take the opportunity you may have not had before to prepare your home and family.
Looking back at the last 6 months, I can see what went right and what I can do differently. One thing’s for sure, doubling up on toilet paper storage is a must! I know everyone can relate! I have had several friends ask me for advice on what to store. It can be different for each family depending on your needs and likes so I thought I’d share with you the things that worked well and the things that didn’t. Hopefully, this will help you get on the right track to preparing your home for future needs.
So, buckle up or bookmark this one because I’ve got a lot of information for you!
Protein
This one seems easy. Chicken, pork, beef, and eggs are all standard forms of protein, but what do you do when the supply chain halts like it did this Spring? How do you get protein when the stores don’t have any? One way is through beans, lentils, and nuts. These items are inexpensive to purchase in bulk and are shelf stable for an exceptionally long time.
Another great way to ensure you have access to protein is to raise your own chickens. Backyard chicken raising saw a resurgence this Spring and for good reason. Chickens are easy to take care of. As long as they have a safe location to roam during the day and a secure place to roost at night, anyone can raise chickens. Most cities allow chickens even in areas where pets aren’t allowed because chickens classify as food, not pets. While roosters are commonly banned due to noise ordinances, even having just a couple hens can make a huge difference in your ability to have access to protein during a quarantine. There are some breeds of chickens that lay daily and others that lay 2 – 3 times a week. Do your research and find the option that works best for you.
You can find out more about raising chickens in my Backyard Barnyard series Diary of A Chicken Mama.
Vegetables
I have one word for you….SEEDS! Start buying and storing seeds now. Most seeds will keep for several years. Look for organic, non-GMO seed packets to add to your food storage. Admittedly this is one of my almost fails!
Growing vegetables was the weak link for me. I’ve never had the patience for gardening, and I had a hard time grasping all the “rules”. This quarantine became the perfect time for me to hone those skills and learn to become a farmer. Luckily, just before the quarantine, I had the prompting to buy some seeds just in case this thing went longer than we expected. Whew! I’m glad I followed that one!
I stopped at our local garden center, bought 10 different packets of seeds, and went on my way. This is where it became my almost fail! I should have also bought planting soil, soil amendment, fertilizer, and gardening tools, not to mention more seeds. I quickly realized I needed to start my Victory Garden sooner than later if I wanted to be able to eat from it if things got worse (seeds don’t grow overnight) so a few days later I went back to the garden center, bought the rest of those items, and asked A LOT of questions. It’s a good thing too because not only did we end up needing the vegetables from our garden, but all those gardening items quickly became scarce!
I also ended up being able to use the excess seeds and seedlings I’d started as bartering tools with friends and neighbors for other things we needed. Win/win!
Dairy
Dairy is a classification that is different for everyone. Some people use cow’s milk, while others use goat, almond, or other milk. Whatever your preference, be sure to pick up a few extra. Animal milk freezes well so that’s one great option if you have the space. Other milks like almond are shelf stable so it’s a great option to have on hand too. There are also several companies that produce shelf stable cow’s milk. You can find them online.
Another shelf stable, food storage option is powdered milk. While powdered (or instant) milk does get some getting used to, I learned you can mix it with regular milk and a little water to stretch your regular milk farther. This also makes the powdered milk taste more like regular milk. This is a good trick to use in a pinch.
Cheese, butter, and heavy cream also all freeze well. I did pick up 4 extra pounds of butter that came in handy, but I didn’t pick up enough cheese or heavy whipping cream. Why heavy whipping cream? It’s much more useful than you’d imagine. You can add a little salt to heavy whipping cream in a glass jar, shake it up, and have spreadable butter. Out of cream of whatever soup for a recipe? Make your own! I learned to make Cream of Chicken Soup that beats ANY canned version. Of course it’s also great to just beat heavy whipping cream with a little powdered sugar and vanilla to top fruit, cakes, pies, or hot cocoa!
Baking Goods
Baking Soda is another particularly important food storage item. You may not know it, but Bicarbonate Soda (aka Baking Soda) is one of the most versatile things to have in your food storage. Yes, it’s an ingredient in a lot of baking recipes, but did you know it has an endless list of uses?
- Need Baking Powder? Mix 1 teaspoon of Baking Soda with ½ teaspoon of Cream of Tartar! Voila!
- Got a bug bite or sting? Mix 1 teaspoon of Baking Soda with a couple drops of water to make a paste. Put it on bug bites to stop the itch! Baking Soda paste is a natural astringent. It will suck out a stinger and dry out the reaction causing bug saliva, etc.…. to reduce pain and swelling from a sting!
- Need to clean up a spill or dirt? Good Housekeeping has an entire article Cleaning with Baking Soda on how to naturally clean with Baking Soda!
- Smell something stinky? Open a box of baking soda and leave it nearby or sprinkle a Tablespoon or two of it on cat litter, carpet, upholstery, inside shoes or other items to absorb the odor!
Oh, the MAGICAL WONDERS of BAKING SODA!
Bread flour, bread flour, bread flour! Oh, and did I mention bread flour? Look, I get it. Making bread can seem like an overwhelming task. Trust me! I had tried unsuccessfully many times. What I discovered though, is that I was going about it all wrong! I needed to find a fool proof recipe, one that didn’t require a lot of steps. Turns out, I found TWO! I now make bread weekly! Our two favorite, SUPER EASY bread recipes are this Sweet Molasses Bread by House of Nash Eats, and this fantastic Easy Homemade Sandwich Bread by Earth, Food, and Fire. The real trick is using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour. I even learned to make pizza dough which became a weekly movie night go to!
Since you’re buying bread flour, you’re also going to need yeast. Save yourself the headache and just go straight to the Instant Yeast. In all the recipes that tell you to put the active yeast in water and let it sit to proof….just skip that step. Instant yeast just goes straight into the bowl with the flour and takes out the guess work. (You do still need to add the amount of water called for in the recipe. Yep, found that out the hard way!)
Seasonings & Spices
This was a big fail for me! I ran out of so many of my usual spices it was ridiculous. Save yourself the headache and make sure you have an extra, full bottle, of whatever spices you use the most. I’ve had a little practice at growing herbs so I’m now learning to dry and store fresh herbs to make my own spices just in case I end up in this predicament again. But seriously, did you know garlic takes 6 months to grow? And then it needs time to dry too. Ugh! Total fail! Thanks to bulk shopping stores and my garden, I won’t have that problem again!
Snacks & Comfort Foods
As much as we’d all like to think we can stick to a healthy diet, there are times when a bowl of ice cream or candy bar make all the difference! Be sure to add a few treat items to have on hand when you need it. Cake mixes, Jell-o or pudding mixes, cupcake wrappers, and candles are also important things to have in your food storage. You never know when a lock down will occur and a cake can make a quarantine birthday much more tolerable!
Types of Storage
Now that you have all this great inventory for quarantine food storage, how do you store it?
I recommend purchasing a stand-alone freezer to stock meats. It doesn’t need to be big. You can find them in many sizes and styles. We have a chest freezer that was given free to us by a friend who was downsizing. It’s been a HUGE blessing to us. We’ve always kept ours in the garage. They also come in handy to store dairy items and bread.
Don’t have the room for a big freezer? Learn to can! Home canning is the best way to ensure safe and proper, shelf stable storage for all food types! Pick yourself up a pressure canner, jars, and extra seals. Practice by canning or “putting up” your leftovers! You can process just a single can in a canner. Foods high in acid like tomatoes and peaches can be water bath canned. You can either purchase a separate water bath canner or get a pressure canner designed to do both. It’s up to you!
Want to learn more about canning? Check out my 2-part canning posts Home Canning Basics Part 1 & Part 2.
Handy Food Storage Tips
- Only buy what your family already eats. During the stressful time of a quarantine is NOT the right time to try to get your family to eat something new. You’re going to want comforting, familiar food. This also makes it easy to rotate your quarantine food storage by using it and restocking on a regular basis.
- Buy meats in bulk for freezing or canning. Use those big stores like Costco, Sam’s, Smart & Final, or WinCo to get bulk packages of meat at a cheaper price, divide it into freezer bags for freezing (don’t forget to label them properly so you don’t end up with mystery meat), or into quart jars for canning. You’ll save a lot of money this way.
- Get creative with your storage areas. Perfectly lined up jars and cans are a beautiful sight, but don’t limit yourself to only storing your quarantine food storage in your kitchen. Those really high cabinets that no one can reach make a great spot for less used items, under beds, in the back of closets, or even under couches make great, inconspicuous spots to store properly sealed food. Avoid places like garages or sheds where temperatures can change drastically affecting the shelf life of foods, or where rodents or other pests can easily get to them.
- Visit Providentliving.org for more ideas, resources, and tips on food storage, emergency preparations, and more!
I hope we don’t find ourselves in another quarantine in our lifetime, but in case we do, I hope this post helps you and your loved ones to be prepared.