How can you know where to go, if you don’t know where you are?
Last week, as we continued our journey to preparedness, we discussed the many different options for food storage. If you are like most of us, you’ve already started your journey, and have some items tucked away on your shelves. The question is, how much do you really have? Oh, you may know that you have two cases of this, or several boxes of that…but what does that really mean? Well, don’t worry, you aren’t hopelessly lost on the trail! We have a food storage GPS™ for you! It is called the Food Storage Analyzer, and not only will it pinpoint where you are in your preparedness, but it will help you know where to go next! Have I piqued your interest? I hope so! Let’s learn more!
This free preparedness online tool is available at BePrepared.com/analyzer. You can simply try it out without creating an account; however, by creating a login your data will be saved for future reference. Let’s go through the step by step process of using your Food Storage Analyzer.
Login. You create your own password and username so you can save all of your data and update it as your journey progresses. It is a very simple process, and you just need a username and your e-mail address to begin!
Input Your Family Information. The Analyzer wants to know how many people you are storing for, their sex and age. This helps the program determine how many calories you need for each member of your family. You will get to see the recommended caloric intake for each member, and later on you’ll see how important this information is!
Fill in Your Current Food Storage Items. These are items that are commonly stored, like Mountain House Foods, MRE’s, SuperPails, and Provident Pantry #10 Cans. There are also many commonly purchased grocery store canned items in the system. All of the items you have purchased from Emergency Essentials will be in the Analyzer, so you will quickly be able to click on each item you have and add it to your list.
Add Your Own Items. Do you have items not listed on the Analyzer? Don’t worry, you can add them! Just input the name, nutritional, and serving size information found on each package and the Analyzer will add it to your list, and calculate the calories and nutrients for you!
View and Analyze the Calculations. After you have put your items in, now you get to calculate your results! The Analyzer will tell you how many days worth of calories your current food storage has. Not only will you see how many days your family can survive on the calories you have stored, the Analyzer also tells you what nutrients you are short on, and suggests items to help round out your food storage. For example, if you Replace that you are short on Vitamin A, the Analyzer will allow you to look up items that will add more Vitamin A to your plan!
Add Intended Future Purchases. You can now take the time to figure out what items you could add to your plan to make it more nutritionally sound for your family. The Analyzer will allow you to add items that you “intend” to purchase and then see how it affects your calculations! No busy work for you, just a few simple clicks to help you make a plan for your future purchases.
Ordering. If you would like to, you can even order items straight from the Analyzer! If you choose to do so, the Analyzer will guide you step by step through the ordering process.
Keep your Analyzer Updated. As you visit the store, and add items to your shelves, don’t forget to add them to your Analyzer list! The analyzer allows you to print out a copy of your food storage contents to hang in your pantry and manually update as items are added and consumed. Periodically take this information and update your analyzer.
So, if you aren’t sure where you are in your preparedness journey, don’t hesitate to click on the link at BePrepared.com/Analyzer! Your Food Storage GPS™, The Food Storage Analyzer, will change the way you look at your food storage! It really is much more than just a calculator.
-Angie Sullivan
