One day you get the dreaded call. Your spouse calls telling you that his hours have been drastically reduced – or perhaps he’s even been laid off. Even if you’re both working with two incomes, what an awful day! That night you both work out a new budget – one to fit into your new income. Suddenly your income looks more like an outgo. Perhaps you’ve cut every bit of spending possible What are the best ways you can prepare today for the possibility of this happening to you? One way is to have a well-stocked pantry at your disposal.

Having a source of nutritious food available to your family is a great comfort while facing a really tough time in life. Our family has been able to put our grocery budget down to zero for quite a while in order to make due with less money under emergency circumstances. At the moment when we’re all under stress, we can know that at least our bodies can be nourished by our favorite foods and we won’t have to be struggling to find the additional money for food each week!

Most of these items below can be stored for long periods of time with the use of a cool place in a house and a freezer and refrigerator. I’ve listed stuff that can be purchased cheaply between sales and in bulk. I’ll list some easy recipes that can be made with these items later.

The great benefit of always having enough of these items on hand is that a grocery budget can either be reduced, eliminated, or the majority of the money can be dedicated to fresh items such as eggs, milk, cheese and fresh fruit and vegetables. For instance, I usually buy large bags of flour or sugar to store, getting a much better price per pound. Then during a week or month with a lower grocery budget, I can use that money to provide fruit and milk, making a tough month feel easier to our hungry tummies!

We’ve used our freezer extensively. Our current model was found at a garage sale for $20 and it’s been running perfectly for 2 years! We have installed a cheap thermometer so we’ll have a good warning if it quits on us, though! I love this as an option since I can occasionally find amazing sales when I’m not expecting them, and with a resource such as a large freezer, I can take full advantage of these sales! For instance, I’ve found incredibly large packages of hamburger for a greatly discounted price. There’s no way our family could use up this amount of meat before spoiling took place, but I packaged it in ¾ pound packs and stored it away. I’ve been so grateful for these little gifts lately!

Remember, the purpose of this list is NOT an extensive storage system. I’m only listing items that I’ve been deeply grateful to keep on hand at all times in case of unexpected emergencies like a drop in income or a sudden lack of ability to get to stores such as a sick child, snow or well, whatever else could keep you inside for a while!

Spices
Cinnamon
Garlic
Basil
Vanilla flavoring
Cocoa powder
Chili powder
Onion powder
Cayenne
Dried Onion

Staples that last a long time
Flour
Sugar
Salt
Cornmeal
Oats (old fashioned, slow cooking)
Canned tomatoes
Tomato paste
Beans (all kinds help – dried, canned, and all varieties)
Rice
Baking powder
Baking soda
Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar
Peanut butter
Jam or jelly – this can be purchased or made when you can get cheap or free
Shortening
Saltines
Popcorn
Canned fruit
Canned vegetables
Tuna
Noodles
Onions
Potatoes
Oil – canola or vegetable, olive oil
Pasta (all kinds and shapes, whatever your family eats)

Drinks
Coffee
Tea
Tang
Oj (frozen)

Refrigerated staples
Lemon juice
Butter (freeze)
Cheese
Yeast (keep in the freezer)
Celery
Carrots

Other Stuff
Toilet paper
Cleaners
Bleach
Toothpaste
Deodorant
Shampoo
Soap (all kinds)
Feminine hygiene products
Stock of medical items (more on this later)

All of these items will be such a blessing for your family one day – I believe this would benefit anyone!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.