There are two types of food storage Long Term Food Storage which includes the staples, things that we’ll always use and we’ll always need like flour, sugar, oils, pasta—our software is especially designed to help you figure out your family’s needs and track what you have. The second kind of food storage is Short Term Food Storage. Short term food storage includes items we use for meals we make on a regular basis.

Here’s an easy plan to help you get started on a 3-month supply:

1. Clean out your pantry and get rid of (or donate) any items you don’t eat. Throw away expired items.

2. Make a note of 10-30 meals you cook regularly for your family. List each meal and each ingredient. And calculate the cost of each meal.

3. Next Bag your meals.

I like using Ziploc bags. Measure out your dry ingredients including pasta and even spices. If I were for example, bagging for spaghetti and meatballs. I would bag the spaghetti noodles in a large bag and then pre-mix my spices for the sauce in a small Ziploc and add it to the larger bag (or just put a jar of sauce in the bag) and I’d add another small Ziploc for spices for my meatballs. I would then add an address label to each bag specifying what needs to be added.

This also works really well for homemade pancake mix, and bread mixes. You can even put the dry ingredients in a canning jar.

Each time you go grocery shopping. Get a few extra complete meals to bag. Soon you should have a good reserve of meals your family will actually eat. Remember to put dates on the ziploc and rotate regularly.

Another good option is to create a recipe binder with a section titled frequently made meals. Have all your bag meal recipes neatly typed out in this section.

At first this may seem like a lot of work, but if you spend an afternoon planning and organizing and then 1 or 2 hours each week bagging meals, eventually you will have automated cooking.

Great Pantry-Clearing Pasta Recipes Here

A very easy and very delicious Smoothie that is fool-proof

All measurements are Approximate in this recipe and can be adjusted according to taste

about 2 C. Frozen Strawberries

1-2 bananas

1 C of Milk

Orange Juice to taste

Mix in blender.

You may add artificial sweetener yogurt and/or protein powder.

These Homemade cleaning products are Eco-friendly, pocket-friendly and very effective, all you need are spray bottles and a label maker and your ready to Green up your act.

General Cleaner

Add 2 T. baking Soda to 16 oz. warm water

Window Cleaner

Add 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar to 16 oz. warm water

Disinfectant Cleaner

Add 10-20 drops of tea tree oil to 16 oz. warm water

Floor Cleaner

To 16 oz of warm water add

1/2 teaspoon of liquid soap

1/2 teaspoon borax

Squeeze of lemon or splash of vinegar

Spray floor with solution and mop as usual

Linen Spray

Add 5 drops of your favorite scented oil to 8 oz water and use to freshen linens and curtains.

Look Here for 66 more all natural cleaning solutions

1.. Group items into categories. Use one drawer for vegetables and one for Fruit. If you don’t keep fruit in the fridge use one drawer for salad ingredients and the other for other vegetables.

2. Keep all sandwich making supplies in a large Tupperware container. When preparing sandwiches you’ll have all your deli meats and cheeses in one place.

3. Do not keep butter on the door. Instead place individual sticks of butter in a large freezer bags. Butter tends to take on the taste of other foods and keeps a lot longer in the freezer.

4. Cut up fruits and vegetables when you buy them and keep them in containers or small Ziploc's for fast snacks. Celery, baby carrots, and grapes are especially popular in my home.

5. If you have kids at home. Each morning prepare a sippy cup with water, milk or juice or all three on a shelf they can reach. This will give the little ones some independence as they will be able to easily help themselves, and it’ll save you from filling cups all day. This is also useful for adults--fill a sports cup with the amount of water you want to drink during the day and gain easy access and control over your daily H2O intake.

6. Portion out your meat after grocery shopping. Defrosting meat and re-freezing is not usually recommended. Keep the amount of chicken breasts, ground beef, fish or whatever you’re cooking in freezer Ziploc bags or wrap in freezer paper. Keep meats together in a freezer container.

7. Once a month or so boil a whole or cut up chicken with skin, onions, garlic and salt and a few bouillon cubes. Remove chicken once removed and keep the chicken broth. Place cooled chicken broth (fat skimmed) in small freezer ziplock bags in one to two cup measurements. Place all your small baggies in a larger bag or in a freezer container. When cooking defrost the broth by leaving it out at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. Nothing beats homemade chicken broth. Shred your chicken and freeze for fast and easy meals.

8. Remember the fridge door is the warmest part of your freezer. Use if for Juices. Hot dogs, vegetables or even the butter.

9. USE CONTAINERS AND LABELS! Sort things in groups and keep them in Tupperware. Keep all vegetables in a container in the freezer, all meats, all treats for the kids. Doing this also makes it easier to create a grocery list, you’ll know what you need with just a quick glance.

10. Clean spills as soon as they happen. Clean your fridge before grocery shopping and do a monthly date check on the stuff that collects in your doors.

Ever wonder how long food lasts in the Freezer. Click here.

Monday

Homemade Chicken Nuggets & Sweet Potato French Fries

Tuesday

White Chili

Wednesday

Chicken Fajitas

Thursday

Portobello Penne Pasta Casserole

Friday

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Saturday

Steak Waldorf Salad

Sunday

Lemon Chicken with Croutons

Monday

Beef Fajitas with salsa guacamole and sour cream

Tuesday

Spaghetti & meatballs

Wednesday

Crock pot Roast Chicken with salad of choice

Thursday

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup (crock-pot)

Friday

Homemade Pizza (pepperoni)

Saturday

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Tomato Basil Salsa

Sunday
Southwest Chicken Chili with salsa, sliced avocado, black olives, shredded cheese sour cream and tortillas

Monday

4 Cheese Quesadillas with black beans and white rice

I literally make this recipe weekly—I make it so often I’ve taped to my cupboard door. It’s absolutely delicious! sweet and savory at the same time—and can be whipped up very quickly—my son often asks for these after school. I guarantee you’ll love them. I got the recipe from a friend who makes it for her family—she suggests mini muffins since they’re the perfect portion for kids. You can add nuts, raisins, or anything you like to these. They would be great with walnuts, and are a great alternative to a dinner roll.

Whole Wheat Muffins

2 c. whole wheat flour

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp soda

Mix dry ingredients.

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. milk

1/3 c. butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix wet ingredients. 

Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Homemade playdough is easy to make and has a great texture and doesn’t dry out as quickly as the store bought stuff. Not to mention it’s completely safe and non-toxic. This also makes a great handmade gift. We store ours in small tupperware containers.

Try making this with your kids. They’ll love it!

Homemade Playdough

Ingredients:

3 cups flour, sifted
1 1/2 cup salt
6 teaspoons cream of tartar
3 1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons oil
food coloring (I use the gel kind)

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large pot until no lumps remain.  Whisk in the wet ingredients (except for the food coloring) and stir until no lumps remain.  Cook on high for 3-4 minutes until a dough forms. Separate into several portions and add food coloring, kneading until uniform in color.  Store in airtight containers. 

This is truly the most delicious pumpkin bread I’ve ever had. Everyone who tastes it wants the recipe. Here it is for you just in time for the Fall season.

Best Pumpkin Bread

Wet Ingredients

1 can of Pumpkin (2 Cups)

3 C Sugar

1 C Oil

2/3 C Water

4 Eggs

Dry Ingredients

3 1/2 C Flour

2 tsp baking Soda

1 ½ tsp Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Nutmeg

½ tsp ginger

Combine wet ingredients beat for 1 minute. Sift dry ingredients and add to wet combine and stir for 1 minute.

Grease and flour bottoms of 2 large loaf pans 

Bake at 350 for 65 minutes and bake another 10 minutes at 300

Cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!

Ina Garten’s pantry.

Organizing a pantry can be a daunting task. I’ve broken it down into a few steps that are easy to follow and can be accomplished in a very short time. Of course as with all my tips, you can customize this to fit your needs. If like me you love to organize, you might want to take this a step further and put all your food in clear airtight containers with labels on them. You may want to use baskets to coral small items. The important thing to keep in mind is to group items by type and use.

Step 1: Clean out your pantry and throw away any expired items, and donate any items you NEVER use. We all have the occasional can of something we’ve never known what to do with. Do not clutter valuable space with things you do not need...sort items onto a counter or a table by group, breakfast items, school lunch items, canned, staples, baking, create as many categories as you need.

Step 2: Designate shelves. A small pantry usually has at least 4 shelves. I always leave the bottom (usually the floor) for heavy items like large containers filled with Flour, Sugar, Wheat flour, Rice, brown Sugar, Powdered Sugar, and large containers of oil and vinegar. It’s also good to have a large basket for paper products such as extra napkins and plasticware--basically things that children have no interest in.

Shelf 1, working from the bottom up, is great for canned items-- a great way to store canned items is in hard plastic basket-like containers (usually found near Tupperware) that you can pull out to actually see what you have. I also put boxed items or anything used for dinner prep on this shelf.

Shelf 2 is good for baking items: cocoa powder, shortening, oatmeal, flax seed, granola, etc

Shelf 3, hopefully out of the reach of children, is great for cereals and snack items. I like using this shelf for animal crackers, cheese crackers, and other like items.

The top shelf is great for lunch prep items. I store extra drinks, chips, and treats up there—Where my kids can’t see it or reach it.

A Few Tips:

Create a Master grocery list of items you usually buy and attach a pen to the door using Velcro, as you run out of items circle them on your list. If you want to take it a step further when you go shopping write down the aisle number of each item and then reorganize your list by aisle number. This saves so much time in the long run. You can even write prices next to each item for more detailed shopping.

Keep pasta and dry goods in clear jars and containers. This will help you know what you have and will help prevent wasting money—too often we buy items we think we need and end up with multiples.

Keep extra grocery bags contained on a hook on the door of your pantry as well as re-usable tote bags for when you go shopping.

Keep a small basket filled with on the go snacks. I like to keep a few snack size zip lock bags with animal crackers, homemade trail mix, pretzels and cheerios ready to throw in my purse when I’m on the go—this also minimizes unplanned drive-thru stops which are expensive and usually unhealthy.

Happy Organizing. Please feel free to ask any questions.