The "Bare Essentials" Challenge: An Introduction

So, you read online all the time how you should create a stockpile of food storage for the lean times.  And then you watch things on hoarders and think, "Really?  Does this even make sense?  Why would you want to stockpile food?"

Well folks, here's a good start for you as I'm going to be documenting what it's like to actually live off of a working stockpile for as long as I can.  A "living lesson" as it were.  This isn't due to my husband being unemployed at the moment,which I've been there in the past, but because we desperately need to save money to use towards bills.  Basic situation we're in right now is that yes, we were able to pay off debt last year despite a lot of financial problems, but to do it we're also down to 13.00 in savings and are living very very VERY tight and hand to mouth right now.  So, once again, I'm in the depressing situation of having to live off the stockpile I have painstakingly built up over the last year by using my grocery budget to it's fullest extent.

So, before I officially started this period on our lives, I thought I'd quickly take some pictures of my stockpile so you'll be able to see how it changes over time as we live off of it.  Now this is JUST my stockpile.  I am not counting what is in my cupboards right this moment or what is in my fridge or the freezer attached to said fridge.

So, here you are folks.  A quick photo tour.

First is a shot of the pantry when you first walk in.  This picture does not include a subscribe and save order that I budgeted with some of this month's grocery budget.  That order will include coffee, a container of powdered country gravy mix and a container of chicken gravy mix.   Exciting, I know, but I started brainstorming and realized I can actually do quite a bit with the mixes.

Now also note:  This is a challenge built on my own personal set of circumstances.  You are going to see processed foods in these photos no matter what because that is what my son will currently eat regularly.  I refuse to not buy these for him as he would starve without them (and no, I'm not kidding), so no matter what my normal grocery shopping is going to have to include Cheetos, Doritos and the like until we can get him further in feeding therapy.  It's just the way it is.  But, I am going to be dialing in EXACTLY how much chips he goes through in a week and only keep that much in the house with an extra bag of each "just in case" (we have to worry about shipping delays and dock workers strikes and things, so it just pays to be cautious).

Below are some of my five gallon buckets of flours and rice.  I have another five gallon bucket with sugar and all purpose flour upstairs in my hallway closet to make it easier on me when I have to refill my containers in the kitchen.

My buckets full of white beans and black beans.  I bought these in bulk years ago from the LDS cannery and they are still going strong.

Boxes of home canned goods.  They are still doing well so far.  I'm seeing a lot of bread and jam in my future for lunches.

Canned and dried goods continue around the corner.  Behind the flats there in front is some more canned veggies and fruits on the metal shelf behind.  They are getting kind of thin, but we have frozen veggies in the freezer and honestly other than canned potatoes and canned green beans we don't use a lot of the canned vegetables.

Canned meats, soups and bulk flats of canned tomatoes and fruits are in this area (the condiment shelf is off tot he right there with the exception of a milk shelf on top).  On the shelf on the left is where I'm keeping dried fruits and veggies and baking supplies (thus the container of chocolate chips and brown sugar).  I also have some containers of nuts on the shelf itself and off to the right there (ran out of room on the shelf).

And here's a shot of the inside of our standing freezer.  It's basically all chicken and pork with a bit of fish and beef scattered throughout.  The third shelf down is basically a ham and a turkey with what is left of the home made apple sauce and apple pie filling I made jammed in around them *laugh*.

The bottom drawer area (which you can't really see that well) contains more margarine, a few small containers of beef ribs and my frozen vegetables.

So, there you are folks.  This is what I have to start to work with.  So, let's see where this challenge takes us!