Saturday, January 7, 2012

Food storage

One of my new year's goals (really my only one) is to get my food storage in order. I had my short-term food storage pretty well under control until Jake went dairy-free a few months ago, but never really had a good long-term plan in place. One of my friends shared her plan a while back and I decided that doing a similar format would help me. So my goal was to have a plan in place by the end of the first week, then each week I can add to my food storage, hopefully having it well under control by the end of the year. I'm almost there. I have my list of what I need short-term, which was a bigger under-taking than I thought. So I guess my goal for week 2 will be to get my long-term needs listed, and a weekly plan outlined.

If you're interested in some gluten-free food storage ideas, feel free to check out my spreadsheet and use it as you see fit. This is planning for 2 adults and 2 kids. The dinners are completely gluten-free, and able to be dairy-free (we just leave the cheese off until it's dished out then add it to the plates that are okay for dairy). Not all breakfast, lunches, and snacks are gluten-free because we go for quick and easy (and cheaper) when Jake's not around. These are all shelf-stable ingredients, or able to be frozen for longer-term storage, though not for over a year.

Probably a little explanation of each sheet is in order:
3 month meal plan: This sheet has all the meals and ingredients needed for each one. There are 18 meals, I think, which would mean you would need to rotate through the list about 3 1/2 times for a 3-month food storage, which is what I was going for. I multiplied the amounts by 4 to get a nice round number, so this plan is actually good for longer than 3 months.

ingredient amounts: This is where I compiled how much of each ingredient is needed. I also have random calculations and measurements off to the side, which may not make sense to people other than me, but the important part is the first 3 columns.

grocery list: I made a list of what I normally/occasionally get at the grocery store by aisle to make my grocery list making easier. I also put in parenthesis how many of the storage items I should have in my pantry. Useful for anyone who shops at the Rita Ranch Fry's but other than those few people, not much help to you.

Breakfast-lunch-snacks: This is basically my plan for the rest of the food besides dinners.

If you have questions or want any recipes that I haven't shared, let me know.

2 comments:

kathy said...

I really like the way you decided on your food storage for the spreadsheet, by meal. Also,my gluten free shelf is out of control. Any advice?

Colette Campbell said...

That depends on what you mean by out of control...?