So overwhelmed


Kyra
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I've always felt a need to get my food storage, but we've only been able to get a little bit here or there. We wanted to get more, but we could only do so much. But now I'm feeling the need stronger than ever. I'm scared to death knowing that because my husband works in the oil field he could lose his job any day...that by next month there may not be enough food available to buy...that I won't be able to afford it because it's getting so expensive...I could go on and on about my fears, but it won't do me any good. I'm trying not to stress about it, but it's so hard.

So I need some encouragement here, because I'm so overwhelmed right now and when I start feeling this way I usually just ignore it. I can't ignore this, it is way too important. Now more than ever. So my question is where do I start? I have a few bags of wheat, a little of this and that, but nowhere near enough to feed my family of 4.

And that's just food. What about other necesseties? Then I hear about this flu pandemic that is going to hit in the next few years and I think I need to make sure I add surgical masks to my storage, also a bunch of vitamin c.

I constantly have all these things running through my head and I just feel like throwing my hands in the air and giving up. Honestly, the only thing that makes me keep trying right now is my daughters. I could never forgive myself if I had to watch them starve to death because I wouldn't follow a commandment. I hope there's someone out there who can give me the advice I need, because I'm feeling a little lost right now.

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Hi Kyra...maybe it would help you to make a list as you think of things. Once you write it down, and start organizing, you shouldn't feel so overwhelmed.

Yes, you will need to store supplies other than food. First aid and medicines...aspirin, kids meds, etc. Paper products (toilet paper/paper towels). Ways to prepare the food.

And buy as you find things on sale. Try to get a bit extra every time you shop. You will be surprised how a bit extra here and there will grow.

There is a thread with what different people have in their storage. I'll see if I can find it for you. It has a lot of helpful information/ideas. :)

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I'm right there with you Kyra. I've been taught all my life the importance of preparedness. I, like you, have added some here and there. Now I'm feeling such a strong urgency..the likes of which I've never felt before.

I've used this thread to get an idea of what others are storing.

http://www.lds.net/forums/preparedness/11123-whats-your-food-storage.html

Also this one:

http://www.lds.net/forums/preparedness/10495-100-items-disappear-first-disaster-situation.html

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Hi Kyra, I totally understand how you feel. My wife and I are newlyweds, we both come from a professional background in emergency management and we like to think we have a decent understanding of the threats we face. We've been doing all we can for the last year to prepare ourselves as much as possible.

One thing to remember is you don’t have to do it alone. A lot of items can be purchased as a group for a lot less than what an individual purchase would be. We do that a lot with medical items, gloves, masks and other items are especially good group buys. You can do the same with paper goods, bulk foods, and most anything you can think of. If you’ve got others who are trying to be better prepared it’s a good idea to work together. It works for us, and it might work for others as well. Check with the families in your ward see if you can organize a group purchase, or maybe set a schedule of purchases every few months for items you all need. Hope it helps, I know it’s really helped us to build up our home storage.

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I know years ago our ward used to do a monthly group purchase. They would announce what we could purchase and we would sign up for it. I haven't seen this done in any of the wards I've been in since then. But it's a great idea as the previous poster suggested.

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I'm right there with you Kyra. I've been taught all my life the importance of preparedness. I, like you, have added some here and there. Now I'm feeling such a strong urgency..the likes of which I've never felt before.

That's exactly how I've been feeling. It's such a scary feeling, it seriously makes me sick to my stomach sometimes when I think about how much I have compared to how much I need.

Hi Kyra, I totally understand how you feel. My wife and I are newlyweds, we both come from a professional background in emergency management and we like to think we have a decent understanding of the threats we face. We've been doing all we can for the last year to prepare ourselves as much as possible.

One thing to remember is you don’t have to do it alone. A lot of items can be purchased as a group for a lot less than what an individual purchase would be. We do that a lot with medical items, gloves, masks and other items are especially good group buys. You can do the same with paper goods, bulk foods, and most anything you can think of. If you’ve got others who are trying to be better prepared it’s a good idea to work together. It works for us, and it might work for others as well. Check with the families in your ward see if you can organize a group purchase, or maybe set a schedule of purchases every few months for items you all need. Hope it helps, I know it’s really helped us to build up our home storage.

Thanks, I'll look into getting a group big enough to buy things. I'm sure I could get my family involved. I also found out there's a place one town over from me that sales a years worth of food storage for 4 people for $2000. It will be totally worth it. Hubby is supposed to have a bonus coming, I know exactly what we're going to do with it!

I'll have to sit down after my girls are in bed tonight and read through a bunch of threads and see what everyone has to say. Hopefully I'll find something that will help me keep calm!

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Hi-

Thanks for the post. I completely understand where you are coming from! Just a few months ago I was lost and didn't know where to start. It's overwhelming. So, my friend and I started a blog about food storage and emergency preparedness, mostly to motivate us to get things done.

Feel free to check out our blog! We also share lots of recipes that use food storage (non-perishable) food only, which I think is important (because really, when you need to live off your food storage, you want it to be self-sufficient - you don't want to be having to go to the grocery store for milk, eggs, cheese, and other perishables).

Good luck with your food storage!!! And here is a link to our blog:

Safely Gathered In

Hannah

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That's exactly how I've been feeling. It's such a scary feeling, it seriously makes me sick to my stomach sometimes when I think about how much I have compared to how much I need.

Thanks, I'll look into getting a group big enough to buy things. I'm sure I could get my family involved. I also found out there's a place one town over from me that sales a years worth of food storage for 4 people for $2000. It will be totally worth it. Hubby is supposed to have a bonus coming, I know exactly what we're going to do with it!

I'll have to sit down after my girls are in bed tonight and read through a bunch of threads and see what everyone has to say. Hopefully I'll find something that will help me keep calm!

I suggest avoiding the food storage kits. Why let someone else plan your storage for you? What if you don't like the food? You'll have much more enjoyment and satisfaction by buying your storage yourself and you'll get things you like. The time spent with your husband and your girls in preparation will always be remembered as the best times of your lives - whether or not you ever need to live off of your storage.

Besides, I think having the UPS truck stop by and suddenly you are all done with buying your storage just sounds so boring and anti-climatic.

Take that bonus and spend just as much money buying things you want. I know you can feed a family of 4 (assuming 2 girls since you didn't say) for less than 2000 a year. You're a mother. You're an expert in this; you just don't know it yet.

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Okay! Yes it IS overwhelming. But READ the latest counsel from the Church. It says to store 3 months of food--the stuff you eat everyday, and THEN work on the long term stuff--wheat, dry milk, rice, etc.

3 months--so doable! One trip to your local warehouse grocery store and you can get most of it. Start there--THEN worry about long term.

Remember this. If you can only afford a couple of cans of corn (or whatever) this week towards your storage, then that's enough! Do that much. You are being obedient and are entitled to the Lord's blessings in times of need! Repeat: Do what you can and you will be obedient, entitling you and your family to the blessings.

Always pay your tithing. When you've done the best you can, you have no need to fear.

Does that help?

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Here is a link to a HUGE pdf file. I have CD with 19 Files but a memmber of this site put it all together. You can search through this and it may help. My wife and put this together as were co-chairs of the Stake Prep Fair.

http://www.letteringdelights.com/Doug/FoodStorage-PrepMegafile.pdf

I have since added another 250 pages but can't get into this format. This will give you a good start.

Abraham

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A fairly cheap and easy thing you can do is go to garage sales and buy mason/kerr/ball jars for about a quarter each. Sometimes they are cheaper, sometimes free. Then get a vacuum sealer, the small ones are about $40. You can vacuum seal just about anything in a canning jar, except liquids. If you seal powdery things like flour, you need to put a coffee filter over the top, inside the lid, to keep the powder from gumming up the vacuum sealer.

I have, nuts, beans, raisins, dates, chocolate chips, rice, wheat berries, quinoa, barley, and a bunch of other stuff in canning jars. The products I'm using now are over 2 years old and still fresh when I open them.

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Kyra:

I like the idea of buying a year's food storage all at once and having instant peace-of-mind. Don't forget the water! Lots of it! You'll sleep well at night with those two items out of the way.

Then move on to other items like paper goods, first aid, etc. and once those are done, you can go back to the food storage and start adding more variety to it like canned goods, juices, etc.

I always kept six months of food on hand, but when I decided to expand it to a one year supply, I bought a one year supply of "the Mormon 4" wheat/honey/powdered milk/salt. So at that point, I had 1-1/2 years of food stored (and a couple months of water). I then turned to first aid, toilet paper, shoes, coats, blankets, clothes, camping gear, etc., and more water and a water filter... then I returned to the food storage and I now have three years food storage and about six months water. On items like razors, cotton balls, toothbrushes, etc., I have a 20 year supply.

My final goal is 7 years food and a full year of water (and of course the other items, too)

But if you can get that one year supply in quickly, you will immediately feel a weight lifted from you. I think that is an excellent use for the bonus money.

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Thanks...googled the Mormon Four and downloaded the posted files that are linked in this thread. Great information there.

My take on it is that you just need to do one months storeage (x12). I actually work on a three month goal at a time.

Recently I put together a home first aid kit/car kit/72 hour kit and personal carry purse including fire blanket...it cost me about a $100 less than a really good home firstaid retail kit with a lot less contents in it *and I made four kits*. I now have a list of items, know how to restock it instead of buying the expensive refills and a greater awareness of the contents and the reasoning behind it. Greater value in my opinion.

I intend to follow the same process with my 72 hour kit and I'm doing it with my one year food supply.

The thing about the one year food supply is that if you sit down and work out calorie needs and balanced diet and food you use...rotation and replacement and storeage and building on it is easier. Including high calorie foods for emergency situations is something I hadn't thought about and needed to fix.

My peronalised system involves rotating a quarter of the one year storeage for yearly use and thus rotating half of it every two years. It's stored in 4 lots. This means that one year storeage is turned over completely every four years and a quarter replaced yearly. That way items are not stored for longer than two years once the system is up and running/cost is spread out and can be added to the shopping list in allotments...it is a short term storeage system as the heat here means items do not store well long term). I have the milk, salt and honey covered in my yearly plan (1 years storeage of these). Wheat ...no...LOL. Though the grain quota is there via pasta, rice, flour etc. These don't have a long storeage life though. Ideally I think I would like flour,honey and salt in addition to the one years storeage. Milk powder is problematic for storeage... I believe it has a two year lifespan at best.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hannah, thank you for sharing your blog! It is just what I've been looking for. :)

Kyra, my heart goes out to you. I am discouraged too! With the economy faltering it is wise to be concerned, but I think one key is to just do something every day that will make you feel better prepared. It gives some sense of control whenever we take some positive action that moves us forward.

If you can afford $2000 for a year's supply, you are very blessed! :)

I get frustrated because there is just so much to think about. Just thinking about doing a little something every day helps me, but my tendency is to jump in all the way. That's when I get overwhelmed (which is where I'm at right now!) :D

Seriously. That's how I found this board. It's for the overwhelmers, isn't it? Or is that the overcomers? :P

Oh well, humor can help too. :)

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I've always felt a need to get my food storage, but we've only been able to get a little bit here or there. We wanted to get more, but we could only do so much. But now I'm feeling the need stronger than ever. I'm scared to death knowing that because my husband works in the oil field he could lose his job any day...that by next month there may not be enough food available to buy...that I won't be able to afford it because it's getting so expensive...I could go on and on about my fears, but it won't do me any good. I'm trying not to stress about it, but it's so hard.

So I need some encouragement here, because I'm so overwhelmed right now and when I start feeling this way I usually just ignore it. I can't ignore this, it is way too important. Now more than ever. So my question is where do I start? I have a few bags of wheat, a little of this and that, but nowhere near enough to feed my family of 4.

And that's just food. What about other necesseties? Then I hear about this flu pandemic that is going to hit in the next few years and I think I need to make sure I add surgical masks to my storage, also a bunch of vitamin c.

I constantly have all these things running through my head and I just feel like throwing my hands in the air and giving up. Honestly, the only thing that makes me keep trying right now is my daughters. I could never forgive myself if I had to watch them starve to death because I wouldn't follow a commandment. I hope there's someone out there who can give me the advice I need, because I'm feeling a little lost right now.

Why? Are you from California - a place where the ground shakes constantly [the urgent need to prepare]?

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Start small. One thing. Like a first aid kit, or a 72 hour kit for each member of the family. simple things. A case of tomato sauce, a case of corn or beans. One thing at a time.

don't ever just run out and buy 2000 bucks worth of food storage that will jsut sit in yoru closet and never get rotated. that is a waste of your precious resources. rotate all foods, as described and store what you use, use what you store.

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I never got a chance to thank everybody for all your great advice. I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting food storage for Christmas again. I told my mom a couple years ago that food storage is the only gift I ever want for Christmas or birthdays. Some people think I'm boring, but it sure helps me feel better.

Start small. One thing. Like a first aid kit, or a 72 hour kit for each member of the family. simple things. A case of tomato sauce, a case of corn or beans. One thing at a time.

don't ever just run out and buy 2000 bucks worth of food storage that will jsut sit in yoru closet and never get rotated. that is a waste of your precious resources. rotate all foods, as described and store what you use, use what you store.

I wouldn't go out and spend all that money on food storage just to let it sit there. I would keep rotating it and adding to it, of course. But just knowing I have what I need would make me feel much better. And yes, there may be things in there that I wouldn't use if I had the choice. But if I'm starving to death, I'm going to be grateful for whatever I have. And it will help me feel much better knowing that my daughters will also be okay.

Plus, if I know that I have enough food to get us by, then when I add to it I know I can add some fun things in there. Things like Kool-Aid or something that will be a real treat my kids might not get otherwise. :)

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Getting all your food storage as quickly as possible is very comforting... and you're right, after you KNOW you have your one year supply, then you can add fun things to it. I believe it's critical to have the faith and then follow-thru to put the one year supply together.

While doing it is better than not doing it and having a year's supply is better than having a half-year's supply - especially if there's a disaster - I still think having the year's supply delivered on a truck all at once would be rather anti-climatic. And you'd miss the teaching, growing, sharing, and loving opportunities that come from building your storage together as a family instead of Dad ordering it at the PC.

I suggest start now, not tomorrow, and take a few month's to do it - if you're feeling nervous about the security of the world. If you're feeling secure, you don't really have to even go that fast. Delivery for many companies selling food storage online is 8 to 12 weeks or longer. Your local grocery has food today.

Maybe tomorrow is too late. Maybe 10 years from now is soon enough. Who knows.

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  • 1 year later...

You just break my heart! Please, above all JUST TRUST GOD! HE WILL ALWAYS PROVIDE ANGELS TO HELP THOSE WHO LOVE HIM. Yes, many of us are going hand to mouth and just making it. Yet, we are the fortunate ones...really. Don't dwell on the worries of tomorrow because it may not come. I suppose cancer helps you put things in priority. Only consider those things that you as a human can control. you will find it isn't much! The rest you MUST rely on GOD. I will be praying for comfort and wisdom for you and your family. God will meet your needs, not necessarily our wants. Just do what you can in the day and rest in the Lord. Love your family, share your feelings...talk about things that matter. The children will know your stressed and feel powerless. Show them where to gain strength. Don't have a spirit of fear. Its energy wasted. You don't gain one minute of peace by worrying. honest! wishing you peace

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