7 Food Items NOT To Stock Up On

(Before It's News)

Hopefully by now we all know that when it comes to food storage, it’s important that we store up foods that we are used to eating on a weekly basis. If you don’t typically eat quinoa or spelt, you might not want to buy it in bulk until you know that you like it and will know how to use it.

We also know that variety is important, and that spices and condiments play a big part in keeping our meals from getting boring. Especially if it were ever to get down to eating only what we can forage.

There are a lot of great ideas out there as to what you should store, but there are a few items I would actually encourage you to steer clear of (or at least not invest heavily in).

If you’re shooting for convenience in a post-apocalyptic world, you might not like my personal suggestions. We all have our own ideas about what’s important and what exactly we’re preparing for, so by all means do what you feel is best for you in your particular situation. This is just a little of how my food preps go, what I’m storing and my reasons for doing so.

Photo Credit: Kropsoq

Convenience vs. Make-It-Yourself

In the initial stages of an emergency, you’re probably not going to have the energy or mindset to make full, from-scratch meals.  Having a few Just-Add-Water entrees and snacks in your preps is a GREAT idea. But for long term scenarios, I think it’s important that we consider trading the convenience of boxed meals for foods that will last longer, will yield more food for your dollar, and will have higher nutrition than pre-mixed options.

Instead of investing in quick meals, my advice would be to store the ingredients and equipment to make those meals from scratch. The more individual ingredients you store, the more variety you’ll have in what you eat.

For instance, instead of storing cases of macaroni and cheese, buy a pasta maker and stock up on the ingredients to make your own noodles! Powdered eggs, durum wheat (to make semolina/pasta flour), and salt is all you need to make fresh, homemade noodles in a variety of shapes. Toss in some powdered cheese, powdered milk, and dehydrated butter, and you have a much healthier version of this pantry staple. Not only have you provided your family that beloved mac and cheese, but you also have the means to make many other dishes with all of those individual ingredients you’ve stored.

You see how by doing this you aren’t limiting your meal options?

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having some convenience foods. As I mentioned before, they may be quite necessary in the beginning of a crisis. But if you’re planning on feeding your family through several years of hard times, consider the following suggestions.

When I first got into food storage, we bought lots of canned goods. We now buy freeze dried.

7 Foods NOT To Stock Up On

Here are some food items you might want to think twice about storing, and some alternatives that will give you more bang for your buck (monetarily and nutritionally) in the long run.

1. BBQ Sauce

I’ve known people to buy gallons of this at a time to keep in their food preps. I don’t blame them, the right barbeque sauce can make any meat taste amazing! But instead of storing dozens of bottles of your favorite brand, stock up on the ingredients to make it yourself! By having these items on hand, you’ll give yourself much more flexibility in how you can use what you’ve stored.

Here’s a list of what you’d need to make my family’s favorite BBQ sauce recipe:

• Ketchup (learn to can it yourself!)
• Molasses (buy it by the gallon)
• Sugar
• Liquid Smoke (buy it by the gallon)
• Salt

Recipe:  Mix the following together in a med. pot over low heat until warm: 3 c. ketchup, 2 c. sugar, 3 Tbsp liquid smoke, 1 tsp salt, 6 Tbsp molasses. Makes 4 cups.

I’ve found that I can buy all of these items at a local restaurant supply store in bulk. Sams or Costco may also carry them.

2. Salad Dressing

If you’re following general food storage guidelines, you ought to have cooking oil, vinegar, and spices in your pantry. The right combination of these three simple food categories, and you’ll have a delicious homemade salad dressing ready to go! Again, by storing the ingredients themselves instead of bottles of ready made dressing, you’ll be able to use these individual items in infinitely more ways.

My favorite Italian Salad Dressing calls for mixing the following…

• 1 c. oil (expeller pressed vegetable, olive, or grapeseed oil)
• 1/3 c. wine vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1 garlic clove, minced

3. Brown Sugar

I use a lot of brown sugar, especially in our favorite bread recipes and oatmeal. But after being stored for long periods of time, brown sugar can turn rock hard. By making your own you can avoid this problem, while creating a product that has much more nutrition and flavor than its store-bought counterpart. You can buy baker’s molasses by the gallon at your local restaurant supply store, or if you’re lucky, you can buy it locally made by the case. Molasses will last for years and years. As a matter of fact, some say that although the flavor changes over time, molasses itself could possibly never go bad.

To make dark brown sugar, simply mix 1 c. white sugar with 3 Tbsp molasses; or reduce that to 1 1/2 Tbsp molasses for light brown sugar.

4. Pasta

As I mentioned in my example above, instead of storing cans or buckets of spaghetti, macaroni, and other various pasta noodles, buy a pasta making machine and durum wheat. Then get online and print off several homemade pasta recipes to experiment with. With the right equipment and simple ingredients, you can make any type of pasta you wish, for much cheaper than storing the already made stuff!

5. Rolled Oats

When I first got into food storage, I bought a hundred pounds of rolled oats from a local LDS cannery, and packaged them up myself in mylar bags with O2 absorbers in 5 gallon buckets. Just as I was told I should do. But as I’ve rotated through my food storage, I’ve found that once I open a bucket of rolled oats, I never seem to be able to get through them all before they begin to go rancid. (You’ll know when they’re rancid because your oatmeal will taste awful.) We just don’t eat that may oats.

I’ve since learned that if you store oat groats- in their whole form- they last MUCH longer. Rolled oats, when stored in an oxygen free environment below 75*, have about a 7-10 year shelf life. Oat groats, on the other hand, last 20 years or more under the same conditions.

To make your own freshly rolled oats out of the whole grains, you’ll need a roller grain mill (or “oat roller”). You can pick them up new for about $100. The benefit of rolling your own is not only that you can store them longer, but you’ll be getting all of the nutrients that would otherwise be lost with pre-rolled oats. And they won’t go rancid. You can also cook oats in their whole state just like you would regular oatmeal, if you prefer. My kids actually like it that way.

If I’d known all of this from the get-go, I could have saved myself a lot of money. It’s such a shame when you have to dump rancid oats into the chicken feed because they went bad before you could use them. I’m still working my way through my stored rolled oats, but what I’m buying now is strictly oat groats.

6. Flour

I’ve noticed that several long term food storage companies offer flour in #10 cans and 5 gallon buckets. Although it’s definitely much more convenient to use, flour doesn’t last nearly as long as the wheat berries you grind to make it. Wheat berries last 25 years or more, while flour only stays good for about 5 years when properly stored. All you need to process wheat berries is a grain mill, and you can have freshly ground, nutritious whole wheat flour at your convenience.

7. Baking Mixes

Although cornbread, pancake, and brownie mixes are undeniably convenient, I wouldn’t stock up heavily on boxed and bagged foodstuffs such as these. You’ll get a much longer shelf life and more nutrients if you store the ingredients (in their whole state when possible) to make your favorite baked goods instead. Remember, whole kernel corn can be ground into cornmeal, and again, wheat berries can be ground into flour, as can other grains. Not only that, premixed boxed goods usually contain nasty preservatives and additives that nobody should be putting in their body. Optimal health is key to survival. By baking from scratch you can avoid putting these toxins in your body- a good thing to remember even on a daily basis!

Wheat Berries

Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Stock Up

The next time you find yourself shopping for long term food storage items, I’d encourage you to ask yourself two simple questions…

Does this come in a less processed state?
Can I buy the individual ingredients to make this myself?

If the answer is yes, then seek out the better alternative.

I reiterate: By buying ingredients instead of already processed items, you are giving yourself much more freedom in what you can make with what you’ve stored, while also maintaining optimum nutrition.

If the world is in chaos and food is in short supply, you want to have as much food at your fingertips as possible. Variety and nutrition are important. Quick and easy meals, while necessary in the midst of immediate crisis, are not so important long term. Make the most of your purchasing power by trading convenience for quality, and prep for from-scratch cooking!

What food items that can be made from scratch would you add to this list?

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