Can I Store Some McDonald's in My Food Storage?

Some families live on farms, with chicken coops and cows and root cellars and gardens the size of city blocks. At the other end of the scale, you'll find some families who live in apartments in cities. The closest they come to farm life is keeping a canary in a birdcage. The only thing they make for dinner...is a reservation. A home-cooked meal means reheating last night's Chinese take-out leftovers.

The rest of us fall somewhere in between.

So what do you do about food storage if you eat most of your meals in restaurants or you prefer to stop by the deli or corner grocery store on your way home from work every night?

Not to worry. You are not doomed to be an emergency preparedness statistic if you don't know how to bake a loaf of bread or have a basement full of food. You will, however, have to put a little more thought into being prepared than someone who is used to cooking from scratch or on a regular basis.

Remember that if the power does go out, the local deli or nearest take-out restaurant will most likely have no power either. Or if you are out of work for several months, just showing up at the nearest McDonald's with a smile will probably not result in a free meal.

So here's how you get started:

Decide on several recipes that are easy for you to fix and that you and your family are willing to eat. Choose two breakfast meals, two lunch meals, and two dinner meals. Keep them simple. Then, stock up on all the ingredients it takes to make each of them seven times. Once you have all the ingredients, you will have a food storage plan for two weeks!

For example: You might choose oatmeal and pancakes for your two breakfast meals, soup and tuna salad with canned fruit as your lunch meals. Dinner might be spaghetti with canned corn for one meal and homemade pizza for the second. (Yes, there is such a thing as "homemade" pizza - and it's easy.)

Now write down what ingredients you need for each meal.

Breakfast One: Oatmeal - oats, milk (dry or evaporated), sugar, cinnamon, salt.

Breakfast Two: Pancakes - pancake mix, or flour, baking powder, etc.), jam or syrup (or ingredients to make syrup).

Lunch One: Soup and canned fruit - soup (canned or dry mix), canned fruit.

Lunch Two: Tuna Salad and crackers - tuna, pickles, mayonnaise, crackers.

Dinner One: Spaghetti - pasta, spaghetti sauce (or ingredients to make sauce, or just canned spaghetti), hamburger (if you have a freezer), canned corn as side dish.

Dinner Two: Pizza - packaged pizza mix (or flour, baking powder, etc.), can of pizza sauce, pepperoni, can of mushrooms, pineapple, or whatever you like on pizza.


You might also want to have some ingredients, mixes or packaged treats on hand. Old-fashioned non-microwave popcorn stores well and is a good option.

Repeat the Process

When you have stashed away all of the ingredients for these meals, choose two more each of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Repeat this process until you feel satisfied that you'll be able to take care of yourself and your family for a while. If you follow this process, you can at least be somewhat prepared in an emergency, even if you have no intention of changing your current lifestyle.

What if I never cook that food? It will go to waste.

Here's my suggestion: Put away all the food according to this plan. Then, in a year or so (while the food is still good!), donate it all to a homeless shelter or food bank and buy new for your preparedness program.

Don't give it all away all at once - and don't buy many week's worth all at once. Stagger your buying, then stagger your donating. That way you'll always have some food storage and it won't spoil keeping it too long.

The key, however, is to use a Magic Marker, or something similar to put dates on your cans and packages. There will be no question about when to rotate if you follow this simple procedure.

Besides, it's not really a waste if you've gotten a year's peace of mind, and in turn, donated it to someone in need. That's a good investment.

Joan Crain is a "food storage enthusiast" who has experienced using food storage to survive. Your family's survival in any emergency is important too. There is always a way to squeeze a little extra out of your budget for your storage. Visit Family Survival Planning and find a food storage method that will work for you!