Future Plans For My LTFS

 

Next year I am planning to expand my long term food storage (LTFS).  Last year I bought a large garage shelf unit to store my home canned goods.  This past summer I added another one as my canned goods were overflowing onto the floor.  That shelf filled up super fast.  Now I’m ready to expand once again and here is why.

 

I have committed myself to eating at least ninety percent REAL food in my everyday diet and to significantly minimize the amount of ultra processed foods I take in.  As a result I make A LOT of what I eat from scratch and because of this I want to keep a good stock of the best possible ingredients I can afford.  I’m shifting more toward nutritious whole foods, locally sourced when possible and natural or organic when not.  Processed foods that I can’t make myself, like flours, sugar, certain condiments, etc., I will buy but I want to focus as much as possible on them having good clean ingredients.  Having my LTFS allows me to have better control over the quality of my food and saves me a lot of money in the long run too.  Plus, I can make my own food so much less expensively than purchasing the premade stuff at the store.

 

It is also very important to me to have a long term supply of shelf stable food on hand because one just never knows how things will play out in the future.  I have no control over power outages, illnesses or inclement weather that may keep me home and unable to go shopping.  You can read more about that here.

 

Because I’m a busy girl I like to keep premade soups and foods on hand to prepare quick meals.  That means I do A LOT of home canning to put up shelf staple soups, chilis, pasta sauces, enchilada sauces as well as plenty of meats, vegetables and fruit.  Home canning requires space for proper storage.  Jars of food get pretty heavy so I need to have sturdy shelving in a low light and climate controlled room.  Fortunately I am blessed to have the room to do this.  And once again I find myself blessed to have exceeded my current shelf space and find myself again with jars overflowing onto the floor.

 

My goal is to ultimately create my own in home grocery store filled with plenty of wonderful, delicious REAL food options for me to choose from allowing me to make fewer trips to the supermarket.  The true beauty of doing my own home canning is that I know exactly what is in each jar.  My little grocery store is going to be amazing.   I am excited about this and I can hardly wait to get started!