Food storage? Why?

I have had several conversations lately about why we are trying to get food storage. And there were a couple of comments here about why we are working so hard to get our food storage. So I thought I would share our reasons why we are working hard to prepare our family now for times that may come in the future.

For as far back as I can remember, I have memories of our church leaders offering counsel to be prepared and to have our food storage. To avoid debt. The modern day scripture from our church leaders has taught us, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." It has always sounded like good counsel. There have been times in our marriage that we had several months worth of food stored up and a crisis would hit... and the food storage allowed us to live on the food we had while we spent the money we would have used for food on prescriptions and other medical necessities. Years ago while serving in the Relief Society Presidency in Illinois I did a class on being prepared. There was a quote, I think by Spencer W. Kimball that said something to the effect that there may come a time when having our food storage was just as necessary in our day as boarding the ark in the days of Noah. That has always stayed with me and kind of haunted me. There have been times that we could barely make it payday to payday... and other times we have been able to stock up. For a while now, both Thayne and I have felt a constant, nagging need to get our lives in order in this way. We have felt that we need to spend every extra penny on getting our food storage and preparing our family for troubled times. We aren't looking for trouble... just preparing in case something comes up. As the economy sinks deeper and deeper it seems even more important to follow the good advice of our leaders. President Gordon B. Hinckley offered this advice, “The best place to have some food set aside is within our homes. … “We can begin ever so modestly. We can begin with a one week’s food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. … I fear that so many feel that a long-term food supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all. “Begin in a small way, … and gradually build toward a reasonable objective.”

We are asked to work up to having a 3 month supply of foods that we normally eat and then work into the long term storage of wheat, rice, beans and other long term storage items that would keep us alive in extreme conditions. We are working on getting at least a 2 week supply of water. That's not an easy task for a family of 17 or so... but we are working slowly but surely. Not long ago there was a small earth quake that caused a lot of damage to a town near us. After hearing from people there and in other places where natural disasters have occurred the common thing people shared was that they couldn't have stored enough water. We will be concentrating on getting a LOT of water stored, but every trip to the store we are trying to throw in a couple of jugs or a case of water for storage.

We have also been counselled to have our 72 hour kits prepared. 3 days worth of stuff that we could grab and go if we needed. Recently at church, our ward (congregation) has been working hard at getting our emergency essentials prepared. Last month we did a big preparedness activity that involved putting together medical/sanitary and food kits that would last 3 days. We sealed 3 days worth of food per person in Mylar bags....

We did one for each member of the family. They will go in their 72 hour kits. We aren't doing this out of fear, or in a rushed and crazy way. We are counselled to be prudent in obtaining our storage. We decided that we waste a lot of money on things that don't really mean anything in the long run, so instead we would try to use that extra money for things that matter. Who knows what is going to happen in our nation, our economy, jobs... we can't see the future. But we have been promised that if we are prepared, we won't have reason to fear. There is peace in my heart as I watch our food storage increase. We are working through our church to build our supplies. I just ordered a couple of cases of butter that has a shelf life of 20+ years. Several people we know have used it and it comes highly recommended (http://www.mrewholesalers.com/cannedbutterdetails.html). They also gave everyone the opportunity to buy wheat, and thousands of pounds of wheat will be delivered to our area next week. Last month I bought a couple of cases of honey that was offered at a great price. We aren't going into debt to buy... we are adding weekly and planning to continue to get bulk items as they are offered through our food storage specialists from church. It's exciting to see so many people working together to be prepared for hard times should they ever come! A great site that explains why we do what we do and gives helpful tips for any family that wants to do the same thing is http://www.providentliving.org/ There are also great websites that I love... http://morewithlesstoday.com/ and http://www.myfoodstoragedeals.blogspot.com/

Our prophet, Thomas S. Monson said: "Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their... supply of food....and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year's supply of debt and are food-free." Isn't that the truth???

So, in a nutshell... that is why we do what we do!