Prepping alone

[chitchat]

I am a Christian prepper and really wish that more people in my church prepped. It is a hard and lonely walk sometimes doing this alone. So many think you're crazy if you prep.

I have heard that most Mormons do not really prep even though the church advises it. Is this true? Still, it must be nice to be able to talk about it at church without getting an odd look.

To me prepping just makes so much sense in the world we're living in.

[gabelpa]

Prepping? I think what you think that means is not the same as what we think it means. Prepping, is short for preparing, so what are we preparing for? On this board, typically we are following Prophetic counsel to keep a year's food storage, not for "The Rapture" or for a catastrophe, but because it is what we have been asked to do. My family used up our food storage when we had a financial crisis, and are going to be building it up again soon.

I get the impression this is not what you mean by prepping. Sounds to me like something that has had a name tacked to it, without any context. What do you mean by prepping?

[chitchat]

By prepping I mean living like most people did for thousands of years - canning and thinking ahead for a rough winter or time of shortage.

But considering the economic realities we face today and the threats of catastrophes (Haiti) and disruptions in the Middle East, I can also see reasons to prep for those reasons too.

It doesn't make sense to me to be dependent on government for my needs.

[pam]

On this board, typically we are following Prophetic counsel to keep a year's food storage, not for "The Rapture" or for a catastrophe, but because it is what we have been asked to do.

Yet isn't preparing for a catastrophe one of the reasons we HAVE been counseled to store food? Yes we do it because the brethren have said to..but they have also given some specific examples as to why we should. To be honest, having ideas of what kind of catastrophe could occur in my area helps factor in the kinds of preparedness needed.

In a talk by L. Tom Perry he states these reasons:

On a daily basis we witness widely fluctuating inflation; wars; interpersonal conflicts; national disasters; variances in weather conditions; innumerable forces of immorality, crime, and violence; attacks and pressures on the family and individuals; technological advances that make occupations obsolete; and so on. The need for preparation is abundantly clear. The great blessing of being prepared gives us freedom from fear, as guaranteed to us by the Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants: “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear” (D&C 38:30).

LDS.org - Ensign Article - “If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear”

[gabelpa]

Many many reasons, but it all ends in the same place. We have food, supplies, and most importantly, knowledge, at the ready when any sort of crisis comes along. :-)

[NeuroTypical]

Hi Chitchat,

Here is a mostly-LDS preparadness forum you might enjoy. I've learned a lot from these guys:

Got Lamp Oil Forums

GOT LAMP OIL is a free public message board for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and any and all others who may be inerested, to help them prepare for the return of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Forums include the following categories and topics:

Spiritual Oil

Spiritual Insights, Scripture Topics, Real Life Experiences, Sunday School Lesson Tips, Need to Prepare a Talk?, True Testimony, New to the Church or Just Investigating, Scripture Study on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, Words of the Prophets, Church News, Missionary Work

Temporal Oil

Food Storage, 72 Hour Kits, Emergency Power, Emergency Shelter, Water Storage, Communications, Personal, Family and Home Defense, Pandemics, Nuclear and EMP, Gardening, Nutrition and Exercise, Recipes, Herb and Oils

Mental and Emotional Oil

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself, Building Lasting Relationships, Uplifting Stories of Lifting Others, Success with Children, Pornography Addiction, Music, Humor

World Watch

General News, Natural Disasters, Wars and Rumors of Wars, Signs of the Times

Marketplace

Classifieds, Group Buys, Sales Alerts

[Blackmarch]

I am a Christian prepper and really wish that more people in my church prepped. It is a hard and lonely walk sometimes doing this alone. So many think you're crazy if you prep.

I have heard that most Mormons do not really prep even though the church advises it. Is this true? Still, it must be nice to be able to talk about it at church without getting an odd look.

To me prepping just makes so much sense in the world we're living in.

I think the larger families have a higher tendency of doing it, but young couples and singles are probably not, going to do a lot towards such. Just opinion tho.

Ya it is nice to be able ot talk about storage without loking like an ET or somethin ;P

Anyways I"m single and I live in an apartment so there is not much room for more than a weeks worth of food (maybe two if organised well and frugully used)... My strategy currently is to just buy a little more "nonperishables" then i'll use during the week every time i shop.

[Iggy]

. . . I live in an apartment so there is not much room for more than a weeks worth of food (maybe two if organized well and frugally used)... My strategy currently is to just buy a little more "nonperishables" then I'll use during the week every time i shop.

Just because you live in an apartment doesn't mean you can't have food storage.

I live in a very old adobe home. There is NO storage here. No closets, I only have enough upper cupboards in the kitchen for the tableware (plates, cereal/soup bowls, glasses, cups, etc.), and the one counter has the sink in it and below are the most USELESS cupboards ever designed. There are NO shelves!!

I bought DIY cabinets- put them together, then measured the adjustable shelf and had several more made. I now have two cupboards in the kitchen- different sizes though that hold some of my food storage. There are two, same size cabinets in the living room that hold the rest of my kitchen things. Plastic storage containers, G2 drinks, cereal, etc.

It isn't the best system in the world- in my old place (rented dbl wide mobile home) the coat closet was turned into my pantry- plus I had some shelves that I put together eons ago that I stored my small appliances on, along with my mixing bowls, baking pans, cooking pans, etc., so that I could have the kitchen cabinet/cupboard space for food.

My living room here is dinky- postage stamp size. I don't even have room to take a metal garbage can, put vacuum sealed packages of grains in it, cover with a wooden top and place a decorative cloth over.

We are tossing the futon- it is bum sprung and broken- getting a new sofa that is 15 inches longer- so now have to get rid of the two end tables! See sofa here: Ashley Furniture: Showroom

It is 98" long- going to take some creativity to place it in the LR. There is some room under it, that I could put envelope food items in plastic 'under bed' containers and place them there. Keep the cats from laying on their backs and shredding the fabric that covers the underside of the sofa.

How much space do you have above your bathroom, utility room, bedroom doors? Enough to put shelves just above and across the door wall, and store paper items there? TPaper, Paper towels. Fab. soft sheets? A shelf 10 inches wide can hold quite a lot. I only have 2" of space from the top of my doors to the ceiling in the bedroom and kitchen. In the MB the ceiling slopes up- HATE it! If I could just get the HUGE exercise unit out of my bedroom/house, then I would have enough space to put 4 cabinets, and still have plenty of walk around room.

Is all of the space in your closets utilized? I took half of my side and put a rod half way down for half the length- for all of my shirts, skirts, sweaters, jackets and Capri's. Then I had a section for my long dresses and long slacks. Along one short wall I have shoe bags hanging for all of our shoes, and then I put up coat hooks to hang my scarves on and husbands ties. There are 4 rows of 5 hooks about 6 inches between rows - I alternated them so the scarves and ties hang freely.

Above the door, there is about 18 inches to the ceiling. I have a 12" shelf there, and that is where I store all the tpaper! IF it falls, it really doesn't hurt. Under my clothes, I have plastic storage bins that have extra bath soap, shampoo, tpaste, mouth wash, etc.

When the stores run some great sales, I check out what I already have, make note if I need more and get it all on sale. I shop from what I have in storage first, then make up a shopping at the store list.

In my dinky laundry room, I put up a plastic shelving unit and keep the liquid laundry detergent there, along with the dish washing stuff. Extra stuff that is. I also have a small freezer. It is counter height- with a door on the front. I have shelves above it, leaving one to two inches above and around it for "breathing space"- again I store garbage bags, grains, and the small appliances I only use seasonally.

All the time growing up, everyone I knew (non-members) had full pantries and basements/garages/root cellars filled with home and store canned foods. I grew up in a Teamster town- when one group went on strike, the rest did not cross lines. We grew our own vegetables and some fruit just in case we couldn't cross the lines.

We also raised our own rabbits- rather than chickens to eat. Rabbits were legal in the city limits, chickens were not. Rabbits don't make any noise, chickens sure do.

When my siblings joined the LDS church, and learned about food storage- heck we already were there. We just had to make a few minor adjustments. Like grind our own flour instead of buying 100 pound bags every month. We have always 'shopped' from the pantry and then shopped at the store. When canned veggies were on sale, we bought a case or two and stocked the pantry. We learned how to dehydrate foods, and which ones to dehydrate and how to cook with dehydrated foods.

I find it amazing that my peers - 55 to 65 years olds - do not have a well stocked kitchen/pantry. My brother-in-law has absolutely nothing in his kitchen cupboard. Well, 5 jars of gravy is not food! When he got snowed in this month- he and his wife had only the jars of gravy and some stale bread to eat. He emailed me to ask what foods they could make with some stale flour, a jar of jam and the gravy. Oh, they also had a big box of pancake mix.

Make pancakes and have jam on it. Then for dinner have pancakes with the gravy on it.

One note- do NOT store food you really do not like. No matter how cheap it is. If you do not like it in time of plenty, you certainly are not going to like it come adversity.

I was buying Velveeta Shells and Cheese in the mix - well after a year, the cheese goes really bad. Now I buy shells in the packages and repackage them in containers that I can vacuum seal. I buy the processed cheese in jars and when we want Shells and Cheese- I do it with out the boxed mix. We really like canned green beans and canned spinach with this. So I save all the liquid from the beans and spinach, add more water to it and cook the shells in that.

I don't have to conserve water, but by learning to do this now, when and if it comes to a Have To Do thing, I am already in the habit and it comes naturally.

WOW, this is one long post- oops -

Edited February 10, 2010 by Iggy
spelling - what else!