For a very long time, we’ve been counseled by our church leaders to lay up in store. But what does that really mean?
President Harold B. Lee said, “Perhaps if we think not in terms of a year’s supply of what we ordinarily would use, and think more in terms of what it would take to keep us alive in case we didn’t have anything else to eat, that last would be very easy to put in storage for a year… just enough to keep us alive if we didn’t have anything else to eat. We wouldn’t get fat on it, but we would live; and if you think in terms of that kind of annual storage rather than a whole year’s supply of everything that you are accustomed to eat which, in most cases, is utterly impossible for the average family, I think we will come nearer to what President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., advised us way back in 1937.” (Harold B. Lee, In Welfare Conference, 1 October 1966.)
So, how much is a year’s supply? There are dozens of food storage calculators out there to help you decide how much and what kinds of foods you should store to create a long-term supply of food. The Nutrition, Dietetics & Food Science Department at BYU has created a food storage guide that allows for 2000-2400 calories per person per day. This is a good, basic guide. The items on this list can be stored for long periods of time and can be purchased at almost any grocery store or LDS Home Storage Center. The chart below takes the amounts advised in BYU’s guide, and multiplies them, adding the amount you would need to increase your food storage supply for each family member.
We have also been counseled to store a three-month supply of foods we are accustomed to eating on a daily basis.
For the PDF version of this guide, click here.