An easy way to start is just buy a half dozen cans each of whatever canned food that you normally eat. Or like you said, ten cans of tomato sauce instead of 1 or 2.
I use half gallon glass canning jars and oxygen absorbers for storing dry goods such as rice, oatmeal, and dried beans. I don't have easy access to whole wheat, and the shipping on that when ordered through the internet can be expensive. We store bread flour in a 5 gallon bucket with one of those screw on lids. That keeps the bugs out of it.