Do you ever go on road trips and want to save money? You probably know you can save on gas when you spend at most grocery stores with a loyalty card. If you are travelling, look for microwave items or sandwich fixings, or even chopped salads.
 We got a deal on pizza pockets for the ice chest and they came with free canned goods and dry soup to eat when we got home.

Well the dry chicken noodle soup mix turned out mushy, and too salty, but the noodles were nutritious and the broth flavor was excellent. I remember my grandmother's solution for any food problem. FRITTERS. She frittered everything.  Enter food storage to the rescue!
To start with I gathered my ingredients and put some FD corn in the microwave covered in water.

1 cup of FD corn,
 mixed it with the soup,
a little black pepper,
3 cups pancake mix
2 cups water
 Mix it to a stiff batter. Drop scant 1/2 cups onto a non stick skillet. Cook exactly like pancakes but they will be fluffy like biscuits. They will have texture and flavor like a chicken pot pie I could not believe how well this soup was rescued and how many servings I now have.

The Journey Starts Now

Do you eat as well before payday as you do right after payday?  Not me! I used to be really prepared, for anything. I had quit doing this thinking I would lose more weight. Thus began the cycle of feast or famine at my house.  My family was not interested in food storage any more than I was, but we had too much food spoiling before we could even eat it, and to top it off, very meager rations because of that spoilage.

Enter the instant milk and dehydrated onions. Well, that was something we could all agree on. We went to a warehouse club and bought a one person one month food supply with no intention of opening it until the last week of the month.  We loaded up our freezer and fridge as usual, with one exception. We downgraded the hamburger from 85% down to 80% and got more of it for the same price. Customers and employees stopped us and began organic, real conversations with us about preparedness!

Curiosity got the better of us when it was time to put the box away. There were just too many interesting things to try. Addictive banana chips, soups to serve alone or with turkey sandwiches, even chocolate milk and strawberries! It turns out that cream of wheat with milk really fuels a work out and stabilizes blood sugar levels for hours.

My housemate even figured out how to make broccoli casserole better than the restaurant where she used to work.  Neighbors have knocked on our door while she is cooking because they are curious.

Last month I was eating ramen and carrot sticks this time of the month, and saving all the favorite things for the baby. Today, our entire family sat down to apple flavored pancakes, real bacon, and a choice of milk or juice. Can you afford to start storing food? If you are on a budget, the better question is can you afford not to? Start with the FREE Food Storage Analyzer from Emergency Essentials at the right and see how long your food will last. Take the Prepper Lite journey with me and enjoy the peace of  mind as we build our supplies.