Why should I store food. (Baa Humbug)

[Guest]

My niece actually did the extreme couponing thing with food stamps, and ended up building a nice storage that way. I thought that was smart.

[mrmarklin]

I'm serious, why are we storing food in our basements and closet. We throw away alot of food, and we just finished throwing away hundreds of pounds of weevil infested wheat, and rice, and cases and cases of 40 year old canned food. My mom and dad prepared and did'nt need it. Why bother?

I don't store excess food either just for the above reason. It mostly goes to waste.

Really. How many of us eat whole wheat anything that we make ourselves?? Yeah, I thought so.

Here in the People's Republik of Kalifornia, we don't have basements, so food storage on any grand scale is moot, anyway. Our cupboards are full at home, and we own a travel trailer with some canned and packaged food in it. We could definitely live for a few weeks on our own if we had to.

But I'm self-employed as a professional, and a layoff is not even a remote possibility. that's my preparation.

Real preparation is getting educated for a good career, saving $$ for the layoffs that can happen to anyone and keeping the Lord's commandments regarding health etc.

[Guest]

Oh, mrmarklin, your self-confidence is. . . inspiring. What if the economy continues to decline, and there's no more market for your skill? I guess you'll have to go work at McDonald's like you've insisted others in that position do, but when that doesn't pay the bills and buy you filet mignon, what then?

We have stored wheat. The first we bought, we stored carelessly, and it became weevil-infested chicken feed. We invested in buckets, and now it's air-tight and safe. I learned how to cook and bake with it. It is quite good. We bought a good grinder for under $150. Did you know that a cup of wheat berries nets roughly 3 cups of flour when ground? Whole wheat baked goods are more nutritious and filling. I can bake a loaf of whole wheat bread that will fill my kids' tummies with a nice bowl of soup (and will knock it out of the park taste-wise compared to the fluff sold in the store) for about 50 cents a loaf.

We rotate. We buy more at harvest time when local farmers give us a good deal. We need more, and we need to add a wider variety to our storage, but it will sustain life. Yes, it takes a little more effort to do it right, and a little bit of effort to learn how to use it, but the results are satisfying in many ways. And we're 7 months into a layoff with no sign of needing food stamps or assistance from the church (of course DH has been working odd jobs and freelancing as work comes up, but we've leaned on our storage to fill in the gaps).

[Dravin]

Really. How many of us eat whole wheat anything that we make ourselves??

If you don't eat it then don't store it. On the flip side if you eat it, store it (if practical). We have a lot of canned tomatoes because we go through them, canned green beans? Not so much. And if I had a mill I'd use whole wheat in a heartbeat, as soon as I get a mill* I'll store some wheat (It'd be mostly pointless until then, while one can eat whole wheat berries I at least like them cracked and would use it much more as flour than anything else).

*That also opens up bean and rice flour, and even corn meal or flour (from dried corn), as culinary possibilities.

Edited February 9, 2012 by Dravin

[Guest]

That's right, Dravin. Store what you eat, eat what you store.

[NeuroTypical]

Real preparation is getting educated for a good career, saving $$ for the layoffs that can happen to anyone and keeping the Lord's commandments regarding health etc.

Indeed. The church has indeed long pushed education, savings being fit and healthy, as ways to prepare against hard times.

But there are situations when focusing only on those three will not help much. Eowyn mentioned changing economic conditions and vanishing employment in your career area. Other things would be a major disruption in the food supply, like a trucker's strike or some sort of global event that lowers food production to dangerous levels. Or local short-term event like earthquake or destructive weather event that paralyzes food and service distribution for a week or three.

Indeed, money helps (if you have access to it - meaning cash on hand, or stocked ATM's with the power on, and no run on the banks). Indeed, following the WoW helps much in such stressful situations. Indeed, good education and good career planning is a great part of an overall plan of dealing with adversity. But I'm having a hard time agreeing with you that storing food isn't a good idea.

[pam]

I didn't read the entire thread so I apologize if someone already posted it. The Church right now is focusing more on having people prepared for 3 months. Have 3 months worth of food that you normally eat. Then build on that with items that are more longer term storage. But work on your 3 months first.

[California_Dreaming]

As I read through this thread, several thoughts come to mind.

1) When buying food for storage, some talk about buying case lots…a good idea for saving. Some things like wheat, beans and rice have very long shelf life. Some things like flour, powdered milk and dried potatoes are shorter. Some items like canned soup and canned vegetables have short shelf life up to 1 or 2 years.

When purchasing the items with a shorter shelf life your food storage expiration dates should be “laddered” or spaced out. You don’t want all your chicken noodle soup or tomato sauce to expire at the same time. It might be easier to think when you use “one”; buy “two”. That way you will automatically create your “ladder” of expiration dates.

Lately, this has become apparent to me as I am on a quest to increase my food storage not just for me, but for my children and grand children.

Those expiration dates mean several things; “Sell By”; “Use By”; or “Best By”. They are usually the manufacturers date for the best quality. As long as the can is not bulging, it probably is OK. My rules are open it, smell it, is there anything green and fuzzy growing? “When in doubt, throw it out.”

When considering one year storage, don’t forget the non food items, like toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent and what I consider the most important of the non food item…toilet paper.

2) Someone said “I’ll store wheat when I can afford a grain mill”. First purchase a manual food mill. Inexpensive ones go for around $50-$75; then later you can purchase a power grinder. Then the manual grinder will serve as a back up if you do not have electricity.

3) What’s the matter with weevils in the wheat? They are just unsightly. I remember back in my navy days aboard a ship, when someone was in trouble and assigned “extra duty”, it was their job to sift the weevils out of the flour. I don’t think the flour sifters really sifted out the weevils, just ground them up.

4) I live in “The Peoples Republic of California” and like many, don’t have a basement. I did add a walk in pantry in which I keep the canned food from my garden and lots of #10 cans. This has overflowed into the closet of my home office and the guest room’s closet (only the grand children stay there) so they don’t need a closet. Recently a friend was over with her 85 year old mother, and my friend was showing her mother around the recent remodel. Upon seeing the pantry, the 86 year old commented “If we have a depression, I know where I’m coming”. That concerned me very much and since that time I keep my food storage out of sight.

5) Don’t have enough money to start your food storage. Look around the house for things that you don’t use. Then list them on Ebay. Last week I made $290. A “Win-Win” situation, money for food storage and an empty space to put it in.

[WyomingEMT]

I hope someone besides me is watching the series (Doomsday Preppers). This validates my comments about over preparing. This people on the show are nuts.

[mirkwood]

I hope someone besides me is watching the series (Doomsday Preppers). This validates my comments about over preparing. This people on the show are nuts.

Nobody here has advocated "overpreparing" as you put it.

[pam]

I doubt you will find many that are overprepared. The norm is most are under prepared.

[Gargantuan]

You must have a personal or family plan if you intend to be prepared for any unfortunate disaster that will come.

It has always been a concern for my family to have a supply of food and at least a week supply of water. It is more important to know how to disinfect water so it can be used without making you sick. It is important to have a plan to remove body waste material when it is needed to be removed. It is important to have a plan for sanitizing items, such as using bleach to disinfect. It is good idea to have a means of communication, radio, ham radio, walkie talkie, or a small two-way radio.

Utah and the Intermountain region have been flagged as being long over-due for a major earthquake. So far, we haven't had one, but it is my opinion that we will have a big one when it hits. I have spoken with internationally known experts in the field of earthquakes and it is not a matter of if, but when, we will have a big in this area.

What are we doing to get ready for that or any other kind of disaster? Do we have a plan that we have discussed with family members or neighbors that we will follow if we have a major emergency? How are we going to cope with not knowing if our family and friends are okay in the event of a disaster? These are issues that most of the local, state, and federal agencies have published answers to either online or by a published hard copy. Salt Lake County has a great small paperback handbook that details some of the procedures that will need to be followed during an emergency. You can write them for a copy or go get copies for you and your family. Read it often and store it in a safe place for quick referencing.

Most families will take care of their own first and then the city, county, state or church will help. We can go to city, county or state disaster and emergency planning agencies and ask for information that you can use to develop your own emergency and disaster plan. We must have a plan that will work during an emergency that we can use if we are forced to survive on our own until help can come to our assistance.

The best way to get through an emergency or a disaster is to have a plan and practice a way to work that plan. Best Blessings, Gargantuan

[shine7]

When I was a young wife and we bought wheat......the Spirit said to me: use it NOW do not wait. So we did and it was not easy at first....we had never used whole wheat. Too many people get it and store it and they never USE it/benefit from it.

Many years later, what have we learned?

~That food storage is to be used and rotated.

~That our doctor bills have been minimal, almost nonexsistent because whole grains and legumes have fiber.

~That we save money when we shop from our home storage first. Our meals are planned around wheat, other grains, legumes (dry beans and lentils), vegetables, fruits, meat sparingly. We use dry milk for all baking if recipe calls for milk (add dry milk powder to dry ingredients and use equal amount of water rather than fresh milk).

~That we are obedient to the prophet's request to have year's supply and it has blessed us in many many ways

Truly, the newest help from the church to get a 3 months supply, and also have longer term food items.......this should help us to use and rotate our food much better than before.

Here are 2 sites that have helped us:

Eat Wheat

The Prudent Homemaker

Edited March 4, 2012 by shine7

[shine7]

Can anyone really be in the wrong to be over-prepared? In a family crisis, being over-prepared guarantees you have needed supplies, which would be better than no supplies at all.

[shdwlkr]

Having lost my food storage due to divorce I wonder if I will ever have even enough to go just a few months and yet I know if I am supposed to finish this goal I will be able to and that is as far as I want to look into this issue.

I look for my storage to be needed for natural disasters knowing full well it could be for a far worse issue.

the best we can do is all we can do to acquire an adequate storage for our needs and let the rest be in the Lords hands as he knows us best, our needs best and most of all our purpose here best.

Whether we like it or not some of us will not need much food storage because we are not going to be here that long anyways and others of us are here for the long haul and will need more. If you have health issues that if modern medical items become unavailable and thus your life greatly shortened then a large food storage might not be something you need to worry about unless there are others that you should be thinking of for one reason or another who just might need that food you have.

[skalenfehl]

I don't store excess food either just for the above reason. It mostly goes to waste.

Really. How many of us eat whole wheat anything that we make ourselves?? Yeah, I thought so.

Here in the People's Republik of Kalifornia, we don't have basements, so food storage on any grand scale is moot, anyway. Our cupboards are full at home, and we own a travel trailer with some canned and packaged food in it. We could definitely live for a few weeks on our own if we had to.

But I'm self-employed as a professional, and a layoff is not even a remote possibility. that's my preparation.

Real preparation is getting educated for a good career, saving $$ for the layoffs that can happen to anyone and keeping the Lord's commandments regarding health etc.

There may well come a time when money is worthless. A barrel full of gold will not buy a loaf of bread. You many find that there is no food and no supplies available to buy. Now if money were edible...

[WyomingEMT]

You've peeked my interst in communications. My kids Walkie Talkies won't transmit past the end of the driveway, what should I get?

[shdwlkr]

There are very few jobs that when the SHTF will still be a good thing. Who says that even these jobs will be paid positions. Money in any form maybe of no value because of the large amount of it needed to purchase anything if it is even available.

Look at this if there is no electricity most likely there will be no gas, diesel, kerosene you name for fuel, which means no vehicles will be running which means no electricity, no water, no sewers working, no medical services, no garbage pickups, nothing.

Heat, air conditioning, stoves to cook on all gone so how do open a can of food, cook it, stay warm, wash your clothes, go from one place to another, protect your stuff as best you can if everything is down. Think this can not happen? Have you seen the tornadoes that are hitting the eastern part of our nation? That is just what they are living with and they are sort of lucky as there are parts of the nation that still can function but in a SHTF situation it will be nation wide maybe even world wide and what happens then?

Do you know how to grow some food, read the signs of what is going on in your area, do you know where to go if where your at is no longer safe, how much of what you have today can your carry for days, weeks maybe months with you, and lastly if your on medications what happens when what you have runs out?