Howdy all! Wanna hear something shocking? My Food Storage Plan is not perfect for all people. Wanna hear an even bigger shocker? My plan is not even perfect for me! *gasp!* 🙂 That’s right. You heard me. I can admit when I have a problem, and sometimes ‘over-organizing’ myself is a problem (COD, remember?!). That’s why this step of the plan is so important. This is Step 7: Evaluate & Adjust. As we go through the steps to put our food supply together and start putting our plan into practice, we will likely notice bits and pieces of it that need to be adjusted. It is important that you make adjustments when and where needed! Why? Because if you don’t, you will not ‘enjoy’ the process and will want to quit.
So after evaluating my process thus far, I have realized that The Plan feels a little bit too structured for me. I’m generally a ‘structure’ type of gal, and for the most part I like the way The Plan is laid out. But when it comes to staying on top of having exactly ’62 cans of corn’ and ’18 jars of pasta sauce’, it can get a little overwhelming and stressful. My problem is that when I use a can of corn or green beans, I don’t like to put just one can of corn on my shopping list. Why? Because generally when I go to the store, I don’t have time to go up and down every single aisle to pick up one can of corn here and one jar of pasta sauce there… I end up trying to run around the whole store for little items everywhere. It gets to be annoying and so the process is starting to fall through the cracks.
So now I need to adjust. What can I do so that this structure doesn’t overwhelm me into giving up? One thing I’ve thought of is that I need to give myself some more breathing room. I know I have 10 ‘flex’ days a month already accounted for as part of the plan (days that don’t have an actual dinner planned for them but are covered by ‘extra’ long-term supplies), but maybe I can give myself more days than that (without changing my meal numbers that are listed in The Plan) so that I don’t feel so pressed to immediately restock the items I have used.
What I’m thinking I’d like to do is to purchase even more of my ‘extras’ (extra extras, if you will… particularly extra freeze-dried meals) to allow for more like 15 days or so of flex each month, but still keep my List Numbers (the number of ‘regular’ meals that I prepare for) the same. This way, my List Numbers become more like guidelines instead of rigid, set in stone, ‘thou shalt have 62 cans of corn’ type rules. (I’m not sure this is making any sense to you as I try to put words to it.) But basically, what it comes down to is that I’ll buy even more of the wheat, rice, freeze-dried meals, etc that have a very long shelf life, and then if I forget to add some items to my shopping list and have only 56 cans of corn and 14 jars of pasta sauce *gasp* it won’t be the end of the world. My extra extras are acting like a safety net. And then the next time I do my inventory (which I will probably need to do more often now), I will see that I am getting low on corn and pasta sauce, I’ll add the needed numbers to my shopping list and go purchase them… bringing me back up to my 62 cans and 18 jars. Still structured, but with breathing room. I think I like it. 🙂
So anyway, if at any point you feel like you are getting behind in, or not enjoying your food storage efforts, take a minute to sit down and evaluate your plan. Are there any adjustments that need to be made?
You’ll probably need do this several, if not many, times throughout your process… and that’s okay! It’s a good thing! Anything that improves the process for you is worth the effort.
Best of luck in all your efforts!
Photo courtesy of brokenarts
Food Storage And Beyond 