My In Home Grocery Store - LTFS Expansion Begins!

 

I’m not going to lie.  This project is the one I am most excited about this year and so far I’ve made great strides.

 

I have two of these sturdy shelving units in my LTFS

My long term food storage (LTFS) comprises four main components - Two shelving units I’ve set up in my empty downstairs bedroom along with about a half dozen stackable banker boxes with lids.  A small upright freezer I keep in the garage.  Two shelves in the upstairs linen closet where I keep non food items such as laundry and cleaning supplies, paper products and toiletries.  Also, a large section in the garage for pet food and supplies.

 

Canning beef

All of the items I keep in my LTFS are things I use on a regular basis to take care of a variety of needs.  First, and foremost, good solid nutritious food to feed myself and that I enjoy eating, food to share with others and food for certain activities I like to participate in.  Next is non food items – toilet paper, facial tissues, bath soaps, shampoo & conditioner, toothpaste & tooth brushes, cotton swabs & cotton balls, laundry detergent & stain removing spray, bleach and household cleaning supplies.

 

Before - with gaps to be filled

After

Since the beginning of the year I have been filling my LTFS shelves with loads of delicious, nutritious and shelf stable foods – mostly homemade soups and most recently beef stew meat I bought at Costco.  I also restocked the tuna which I had allowed to run low last year.  My shelf stable meat shelf is now completely full.

 

A large variety of healthy & delicious soups

I enjoy really good soup and find my own to homemade soups not only taste better but have much better ingredients.  This year I’ve made and canned a large batch of taco soup, minestrone and beef & barley.  I was able to utilize all meat and vegetables I already had on hand in the deep freezer to make these soups.  I keep a gallon size Ziploc bag in my kitchen freezer to collect vegetable scraps.  After a buying a larger rotisserie chicken at Costco last month I took the leftover carcass and that full bag of vegetable scraps and made a very nutritious chicken stock which I canned and was able to add to my LTFS.  Nothing goes to waste around here and that stock will be very much appreciated when it gets used in future recipes.

 

A well organized freezer

Out in my garage I pulled everything out of the deep freezer and made a point to use up anything that was older than 2024.  Right now the only things in there are dated 2024 and 2025 and they are all vacuum sealed to keep them as fresh as possible while staving off potential freezer burn.  In February I added sirloin steaks I had purchased on sale at Albertson’s.  They were quite large so I cut them into single size portions and vacuum sealed each one.  I also took a couple of the steaks and sliced one for fajitas or stir fry and divided it in two portions.  The same was done with the other steak but this one I cut into cubes for meals like broccoli beef or beef tips and gravy.  Each portion was vacuum sealed as well.  At the same time I added a package of salmon fillets and each fillet inside the package already comes vacuum sealed.

 

By taking advantage of sales and store offers I am
able to fill my freezer with good quality meats & seafood

Everything that goes into the deep freezer gets
repackaged and vacuum sealed including fruits & vegetables

Each shelf in the freezer is designated to hold certain items.  I have one for salmon & shrimp, one for pork, one for chicken, one for beef and two shelves for frozen produce.  I also keep one shelf to hold miscellaneous items such as lard, butter, cream which I had frozen first in ice cube trays to portion out, flour, cornmeal, yeast, etc.  All of these items are vacuum sealed as well.  My plan moving forward is that nothing goes into the deep freezer unless it has been vacuum sealed in order for it to safely stay in their long term.

 

I'll be working on this shelf next

Even though I’m just getting started I love that I am able to go and shop my LTFS before I even head into a grocery store.  I am now able to wait until I find the best possible prices on groceries before I buy anything too.  There is no urgency to buy anything because I have plenty.  If the weather is bad or I don’t feel well I am not pressured to go grocery shopping.  If we have a power outage, the only appliance I need to be concerned about is the small upright freezer which I can back up with my solar generator if I need to.  The majority of my food however, is shelf stable and that gives me great peace of mind regardless of what challenges I may or may not face in the future.