Provident Living

One of my goals this year is to work on our provident living. I don't know about you, but as I read the papers and watch the news, I can't help but wonder what's soon to come. It gives me the chills sometimes, just to think about how quickly our society could go "down hill" if there was a national disaster, or other break in the food chain.

I know there are many people out that that believe that food storage isn't worth the effort, for a variety of reasons. Some reasons include:

1. I don't have room (everyone can do something)

2. It's only for just before the Second Coming and that's not any time soon (I wish this were the case!)

3. When the prophet tells me "it's time", I will go get it (They have been telling us to for decades)

4. It's too costly (You'll actually save money)

5. I have no idea how to use it (Let''s learn together)

6. I'll share with my neighbor (your neighbor probably doesn't have theirs either)

7. My family doesn't eat that kind of food (you store what you do eat!)

8. I'm just plain lazy (turn off that t.v. and set your priorities!)

9. I have no interest (can't help you there-all I can promise is that if you will try, you will develop a testimony of this principle)

10. It's so overwhelming, I don't know where to begin (We'll start at the beginning and do this in baby steps)

Do any of these excuses sound familiar to you? If so, you're not alone. The whole concept of "food storage" may be a totally foreign concept to you.

Fortunately, I was blessed with parents who taught me while I was very young, about this concept. My mom was the "food storage specialist" in our ward and stake for a ton of years and we had the chance to help with the monthly orders from the cannery. Back in the days (I'm dating myself), they didn't have oxygen absorbers. We had to use a C02 tank and blow it into the cans. Just imagine trying to do this with flour or powdered milk. Oh the mess! We'd have white hair by the time we were done. But it was a bonding experience for my family. When we were older, we were allowed to go to the cannery and do the wet pack canning. We'd do tomatoes, peaches, chicken, stew, potatoes, etc. (I miss this as we don't have wet pack close by us now). I learned that food storage wasn't just for the "end of the world". We lived on ours when times were rough. I remember complaining about the bland soup mix! (Sorry mom, I know you tried to make it taste good!) I know that we were able to "stretch" our grocery budget because we purchased our staples (flour, sugar, oatmeal, etc) in bulk.

Food storage doesn't have to be costly, or overwhelming. It's not meant to be stored in the basement and never touched. And if you think that your neighbors are going to want to share when times get rough, think again, lol.

I think the biggest thing that hit home for me was when I had kids. I remember my dad talking to me about food storage and he told me that he never wanted to be in the situation where his grandchild would come to him and tell him that he/she was hungry. Now that I have kids, I don't want to hear my kids say that either (and really mean it).

G and I talked about it, and we've developed our plan and monthly goals. To help motivate me to keep moving forward, I emailed the sisters in my ward and asked if anyone wanted to join in. I was amazed at how many families wanted to join in. We have some families that have been storing food for years and others that no nothing about it.

I'm hoping that anyone out there with experience with join in and post your ideas and knowledge. I know that we can learn from each other. I've been searching the web for many months, trying to find ideas, tips, and recipes. There is so much out there! But I know not all of you have the time to do the searching. So I'm going to try and post the "best" of the best.

Please also keep in mind that food storage isn't an exact science, and that there are a lot of opinions out there on what's best. I'm going to try and post a variety of options, and let you choose what works for you. However, I'll be following the church's guidance on anything that they have posted about.

My goal is to post at least once a month (I'm really hoping it's more), covering topics such as 72 hour kits, water storage, short term storage, long term storage, cooking with food storage, etc.

How's that sound? Are you willing to toss out all your excuses and give it a try? I have to say, I'm pretty excited about working on this. So let's get started...