Why food storage and why now more than ever

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I have heard all my life that we need to have a food storage supply and be prepared. When I was a young girl, in the age of Reagan's 'bear in the woods' camping, I assumed that this supply was something that my family would live off of in the event of a nuclear attack. I pictured my dad with his pistol protecting us from attacks of unprepared and radiation burned mobs. Frankly, I was not sure that I wanted to live through something like that and rebuild the earth.

After I got married, I was overwhelmed with the idea of starting with nothing. My parents always had a garden and canned their own food. They had purchased a prepackaged year supply survival kit for the family with all the basics like canned wheat, sugar, flour, beans and honey. They spent a lot of money on these items. Now I lived 2000 miles away from mom and dad and had no-one to turn too in the event of that impending nuclear event. As a new bride, I lived in a very small apartment with no garden and no idea how to can. If Ron and I could scrape together an extra $5 at the end of the month we were lucky. Our monthly date was to go down the hill to the local McDonald's and get a value meal and maybe an ice cream cone. (Notice I said monthly dates - we had no money for weekly dates. We always just spent free time on hikes or other things that did not cost us any money) I had no clue how I was going to get a years supply and so I literally gave up. I did not even try to get food storage for the first 4 years of our marriage. I always tried to make sure we had at least a weeks worth of groceries in the cupboard, but there was not much more than that.

After the birth of our first daughter, we were even more broke. Ron was determined that I would be a stay-at-home mother since that was what I had always wanted. As we budgeted anew for this seemingly impossible feat, I also began to think about food storage again. To save money we used cloth diapers. We also shared rent on a larger house with Ron's sister, who was recently divorced. We got a better place to live, with more storage, for less rent. Ron's sister was an inspiration to me. She knew how to make jams and jellies. She canned fruit. She made applesauce and had a stockpile of all sorts of store bought goods. We rented a couple of houses together with Debi. The first one had fruit trees and she and I worked side by side picking and canning what we could. I watched and learned as much as I could from my sister-in-law. Free education is the best. I wish I had paid closer attention to my mother when I was a kid - but hindsight is always 20/20.

The first major storage purchase I made was our daughter's first Christmas. It was 1991 and the Gulf War was on. Ron's brother was serving in Iraq, in Operation Desert Storm. Terrorism was just starting to emerge in my brain as another reason for being prepared. We had no money for frivolous presents. I was holding back a few dollars from our weekly grocery allotment every week to save for Christmas. (I have always tried to save a little each week for Christmas to avoid using the credit card for the holiday.) I purchased a few toys for our new baby daughter at a local thrift store and then sat and thought long and hard about how to get a meaningful Christmas for Ron and I on our limited funds. I decided that I should be heeding Church counsel and getting prepared. Since long-term storage seemed too daunting, I decided to get our 72 hour kits. We already had sleeping bags and a pup tent. (it leaked - but it was better than nothing) I went to a sale at a local emergency preparedness store and got a duffel bag full of MREs. I also got all the other basics - waterproof matches, emergency reflective blankets, wing stove, etc. I was so proud. Ron was so surprised when he opened that big box on Christmas morning. That night when we were in bed and the house was quiet, I asked him if he was disappointed in the present. He said 'no'. He was happy that we were getting prepared. So - from then on out I decided that I was going to get a food supply.

I have tried a lot of different methods over the years. I have thrown out a lot of unused food storage. I have learned a lot of valuable and expensive lessons. That is why I have started this blog. I really want to save those of you reading - the frustration and money that I wasted. I now have a system and it is simple. I do not waste food. I rotate it and use it. I store only what we eat. I do not waste time and money on the latest and costliest food storage prepackaged menus. I plan and store from my own grocery store. There are a few things that I pick up at specialty places - but we use them on a regular basis. I use a 50lb bag of oats every year. I use powdered milk almost exclusively. I have found a brand my family likes and that is what I store. I have learned to make my own yogurt, and granola cereals for breakfast. It is easy, cheap and wonderful. My baby girl will not grow up on sugar, dye and preservative filled cereals. I make my own bread and roll dough. Again - it is easy, cheap and preservative free.

There are lots of reasons for making my own foods, but the reason I first did it was necessity. When we were young and broke, I had to cut the grocery budget somehow. So - I learned to do a few things. It was hard and I have never been one to collect cookbooks. With the advent of the Internet, I found a new resource. I liked being able to look up a certain food item and get a hundred different recipes for it . I also loved the detailed picture instructions and sometimes even instructional videos that came up with certain foods. When Ron was out of work for short spells earlier in our marriage due to accidents and unpaid vacation time at his jobs, we fell back on our pantry supply to save money for the week or two. This past fall, however, we faced our toughest times. The economy has not been kind as we all know. Ron's job is particularly susceptible to fluctuations in the economy. In July, our paychecks started getting smaller and we found ourselves supplementing our monthly budget with our savings. In early November, Ron found himself out of work. It lasted until the middle of February. 3 1/2 months without a single paycheck. It was a very difficult time for us. It would have been tempting to refinance the house - but the housing market was down and we already had a mortgage payment that was more than we could bear without a paycheck. Besides - how could we refinance without a job to show. I am glad to say that we have survived that momentary financial crisis and Ron now has a good paying job again - but it was very scary for a while. I am convinced my friends - that this current economic downturn is the reason most of us will be using our food storage in the near future.

Don't let the thoughts of a basement full of empty shelving and the piles of cash that it would cost to fill them all at once get you down. Just start small and keep building. Use you tax refund if you have one to get a good jump start. Set aside all or part of your found monies for food storage. 'Found money' is anything that is not part of your regular budget. IE: birthday cash, rebate checks, bonuses from work - you get the idea. The thing is - you can do it. It will take time - but starting is the only way you can even think about finishing. In this blog I will endeavor to share positive messages and do-able ways that you can start and expand your food storage. I have posted links to recipe sites and money saving blogs. I want to help you to help yourselves.

Please post a comment if you like and let me know if there are any sites, ideas or other things that I can include here to help others. I can be reached via email at kayreynolds3@gmail.com