November Week 3: Oats, oatmeal, cornmeal, cream of wheat, boxed cereal

This week's food storage items are:

November Week 3: Rolled oats, oatmeal, cornmeal, cream of wheat, boxed cereal

For this week, try to consider all of the cereal items you use, as well as cornmeal. There will likely be some that you use for breakfast, but also think about the cookies and baking you do. How much of these items would you go through in a year's time? Just make an estimation, and make a list. Do you already have some of these things in storage? If so, take that into consideration, and adjust your list accordingly. Now you have a shopping list of what you will need this week. In the next couple of days, make a point to go to a grocery store where you can pick up the things you need. After you bring them home, update your Inventory Sheets and get the items on your food storage shelves. Woo hoo! You are done for this week, and you are one week closer to having what your family will need for their food storage.

Now, if oats are packaged for long-term storage (like at the dry-pack cannery), then they can stay good for 30+ years! So, that means that you can have some long-term oats on the shelves, as well as some that you can rotate through for the next year. This is a food storage system that is meant for rotation. As I've mentioned before, I hate to throw away food storage that has gone bad. It feels like such a waste, and then it doesn't get me that excited about replacing it, UNLESS I rotate through the food and use what I am storing. If you check your shelves before you go grocery shopping, you can easily rotate through what you already have. That's why I like to have a little more than a year's supply of most items... so that when I get to the end of my year of "rolled oats", say, then I'm not completely out, but have some to get me by til my shelves are replenished.

Be sure to look at dates on your packages. Many cereals don't have a long shelf life, so work that into your plan.

You could also fill your shelves with everything BUT cold cereal, which is what I do. We don't eat enough of it for me to be concerned about putting it on my inventory sheet, but if you feel that's an item you want to keep track of, then add it to your sheet.

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the blogpost that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.