“Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without.”
For most of our married life – we’ve adhered to a continuous routine of fixing up our world as we could afford it. Our agreed upon routine has been one INDOOR project a year (usually done in the winter), and one OUTDOOR project a year (usually done in the summer). There’s never been a shortage of projects, and they move up and down the priority list according to need and affordability at the time.
This year our big indoor project was to refinish our dining room table. It had been moving up the list for a long time, well worn from 24 years of heavy use. Unfortunately, the time we chose ended up being the coldest weeks of the year – so opening the windows to get some air became a sketchy thing, but we had to a couple of times! The stain smell became very strong that we opened a few windows in -40C temperatures for a few hours to get rid of the worst of it, while Gramma Great watched tv in front of the woodstove downstairs.
As soon as the Christmas decorations were put away, we cleared the table, set in all four leaves and began a job we’d been putting off for years: that of refinishing our well worn oak table. We were nervous as heck which is why we procrastinated for a decade. But we’d collected advice and courage long enough – while our table continued to collect more scratches and worn areas – letting us know it needed a major face lift. Thank goodness it was only the top that needed attention.
Step 1 – Borrowing a friend’s super-duper sander/vacuum system, Dan sanded the top. That was the only area that needed refinishing. He did it in the house – right there in the dining area. We thought we’d need to hand plastic sheeting everywhere but as I said that sander was of the ‘super-duper’ variety, and it was fabulous.
Step 2 – We took a leaf to into a paint shop, trying to match the colour with stain. The leaf had the original colour still in the facing under the top. Step 3 – With the help and encouragement of a talented friend, Dan applied the stain. But the colour was toooooo ‘red’ for me. Argh. Step 4 – Back to the paint store to ‘brown up’ the stain colour. They did a great job. Step 5 – Dan applied another coat of stain but sadly, didn’t apply it evenly enough which resulted in some splotches. We tried to fix them up by applying another coat but that didn’t work. By this time we were into a week or working on it – around our regular working / living obligations. I knew I wouldn’t be happy with it. Argh again.
Step 6 – Re-sand the whole stupid thing and start over. As frustrating as that it, I have learned with many other projects over the years, sometimes that is the ONLY way – and it’s far better to concede sooner than later. Step 7 – Re-stain. But this time we did it together. Working quickly and efficiently together, we covered the table beautifully. Step 8 – Still, a few uneven spots. Our friend and neighbour came back to assess and advise us. Back to the paint store to buy a matching stain in a spray bottle. We lightly touched up the spots. Wow! Great stuff.
Step 9 – Applied the first coat of Varathane – with our friend. We let it dry, then I lightly buffed with fine steel wool. We applied another layer, and let it dry – then lightly buffed again with steel wool. One more coat, let it dry – then gently rubbed with a piece of brown paper to smooth out the finished job.
Step 10 – We brought out our well worn chairs and after rubbing with steel wool, I gently sprayed the seats with our matching stain. Let dry, then smoothed with the steel wool again and applied a coat of Varathane.
It was a happy day to let the whole project harden over night, then removes some leaves to clear out the kitchen area. I happily vacuumed well, handwashed the floor and tucked the chairs around.
Done. Two full weeks later! So happy we finally DID it, and now its behind us. I still have three more chairs to finish, but that’ll be a piece of cake in the next week or so.
Not looking forward to the first scratch, but I’m resigned to it happening. And I have full confidence that we’ll be able to touch up as needed with the tools and confidence that we now have at our finger tips.
I am not going to put myself in the ‘Pro’ category with Water Storage, but we’re much better than we used to be, and we’re headed in the right direction. For most of my married life, water storage was on the back burner of my mind. There were so many other more, urgent things that needed to be taken care of. I filled a few jugs and stored them where I could find room. I rotated them infrequently and then mostly forgot about them. But still there was always this ‘needling’ in my conscience that we had not done due diligence where water was concerned. I think the reason I kept putting it off was because I didn’t have any real good plans for how to go about it. When we took our first real big step into storing a fairly good supply, I couldn’t believe what a load it was off my shoulders. I didn’t realize how much it had been bothering me, even weighing me down.
A couple of weeks ago I was having lunch with two friends and we discussed the Preparedness Challenge I had just completed. We were all committed to Food Storage in our daily lives already, so our discussion was open and equal. But at some point, one of my friends said “Wait! We have to store WATER too?” She literally took my breath away. Water? It is the stuff of life. In the RULE OF 3’s, we’d only survive 3 days without water, so yes! We need to store water. Mostly ‘drinking’ water. But we use water for every area of our lives – in our country, clean running water is probably the blessing we take most for granted.
According to the World Health Organization, 2.2 BILLION people in our world today do not have access to safe drinking water. To put that into perspective, that is 1 in 3 people! If you’re reading this, I am going to assume you’re one of the few who do. Not only do we have safe drinking water, but through some miracle of modern living, it comes straight to our houses! Out of a tap! Not only that, but I have 5 of those taps INSIDE my house and 2 of them outside my house! Truly, I am among the most blessed people in the world today. But wait! It gets shockingly better. If I want it, that water comes out of my tap HOT. I know right! And though I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it, we even wash our clothes, water our plants and garden, and flush our toilets with clean, pure drinking water.
4.2 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services and 3 billion lack the basic ability to wash their hands in clean water. And you know what else? The scariest part of this whole conversation is that literally, in the blink of an eye – you and I could be in that group. Clean Water is precious, and 100% necessary for our health and well being. When my Aunt Dorothy was 15 years old, she died of Typhoid Fever. Typhoid fever is a life threatening infection caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi. You cannot see it or smell it, but it is usually spread through contaminated water or food. And yes, it is contagious. For me, the issue of clean water has always been personal. Dorothy Ileen Harrison was my dad’s older sister. He was 6 years old when she died. That is only a single generation away from me. A family tragedy. But she was not the only one. It was a community tragedy as the little prairie town of Magrath dealt with something they didn’t understand. A deadly disease caused by unsafe drinking water – here in Canada. That is what happens when water is compromised. Hence, our Day 2 Challenge was dealing with contaminated water.
During a water-related emergency or outbreak, we cannot count on the availability of safe drinking coming into our homes the way we’ve become accustomed to. It is critical to prepare for such an emergency by creating and storing a supply of water that will meet our family’s needs.
How much should we store?
3 days is the bare minimum to start with. We will need at least 1 gallon of water PER person PER day for drinking and the least amount of sanitation.
Once you have three days worth, go immediately to the next level of two weeks! That is 14 gallons per person. Let me do some math for you. If you have five people living in your house, that is 70 gallons of water. Do YOU have 70 gallons of clean water stored in your house? If not, it might be time to get serious about this. If you have pregnant or sick people in your house, or if you live in a hot dry climate, you might need more.
Wanna know what 70 gallons looks like? It’s more than 2 bathtubs full! Wanna know something else? Canadians have the distinction of consuming large quantities of water – more than TWICE as much water as Europeans. Now that’s not something to be particularly proud of, but there’s more. On average, a typical person in Canada consumes 335 litres of water DAILY. That’s the equivalent of 670 (500 ml size) water bottles, or 85 gallons! And no, we don’t drink all that. In fact, cooking and drinking only account for about 10% of that amount. Bathing and showering takes up 35% of it. Laundry and cleaning constitute 25% and flushing the toilet takes a whopping 30% of our water usage. We haven’t even talked about watering your plants or outside gardens or lawns. We use up a LOT of water. We’re accustomed to using a LOT of water. We like using a LOT of water.
How comfortable are we gonna be when we are rationed 1 gallon of water each, per day? I suggest, we try to get used to using a little less water daily. There are ways we can do this, but that will have to be another conversation for another day. Now that we’ve put things into perspective, let’s talk about properly storing water.
Don’t let the IMPORTANCE of water storage intimidate you. It is one of the easiest things you can store – so just do it.
What are our Options?
Unopened, commercially bottled water is a safe and reliable source of water in an emergency. But it can be pricey, takes up a lotta room and creates tremendous waste. And after a year, it doesn’t taste very good – just sayin’. Yes, even bottled water has a shelf life.
For drinking water, be sure to use only FOOD GRADE storage containers. Its okay to use various sizes. Water is heavy so don’t count on stacking them very high. Usually a stack of three similar sized containers is all you can count on .
Try to have a minimum size of 5 gallons. This size is manageable to carry and pour, and is also stackable.
For non drinking (sanitation or cleaning) water, you can use previously used jugs from laundry detergent, or bleach, or vinegar. Don’t use milk containers – they were never intended for long term storage.
Make sure your jugs have lids that close tightly.
Make sure they are of durable plastic, not metal, not glass.
Make sure they are something you can pour out of.
DO NOT USE containers that were previously used to hold liquid or solid toxic chemicals, such as pesticides.
“Sanitation and cleanliness are among the humblest of the civic virtues, and it is easy to underestimate their significance.” – Ram Nath Kovind
Don’t assume that your containers are clean enough when you buy them. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that before filling with water, follow these simple but important steps to clean and sanitize our water containers.
Wash the storage container with soap and rinse completely with water.
Sanitize the container with a solution made by mixing 1 teaspoon of unscented liquid household chlorine bleach in 1 quart (4 cups) of water.
Cover the container tightly and shake it well. Make sure the sanitizing bleach solution touches all inside surfaces of the container.
Wait at least 30 seconds and then pour the sanitizing solution out of the container.
Let the empty container air-dry before use.
Pour clean water into the sanitized container and cover it with a tight lid.
KEEPING IT CLEAN When taking water out of the container, always use a clean scoop or other container each time. Do NOT touch the water, or insides of the container with your hands.
Having CLEAN water in our homes will be a god-send after an emergency or disaster, as often times IF there is water available it may very likely be unsafe for use. If you suspect that your water is compromised, don’t use it to drink, brush your teeth, prepare food with, wash dishes, or wash your hands.
Follow recommendations from local governments for boiling or treating, but if in doubt – at least boil the water for 10+ minutes.
DO NOT DRINK water that has an unusual odor or color, or that you suspect might be contaminated with fuel or toxic chemicals. This water cannot be made safe – even by boiling, so you must find a different source of water for your needs.
BEGINNER level – starting from scratch!
5 tips for Beginners
Start with the basic amount – 3 days: 1 gallon (4 litres) per person per day. That means you want 3 gallons of CLEAN drinkable water for every person in your house. This is the barest, minimalistic amount. Buy suitable containers for this. Protecting the cleanliness of this water is of primary importance.
As soon as possible, transition to the next goal of 2 weeks. This is far more reasonable as far as need goes. You will still need 1 gallon per person per day, so we’re talking about 14 gallons of water for each person in your house.
Keep your goals manageable, but ever forward. Shoot for a month supply.
Set yourself budget that is affordable but forward moving to build up your water containers as you can afford them.
Your next level goal is to find other containers to store water that are suitable for non drinking/cooking water. Laundry jugs and bleach bottles for cleaning water.
Developing a water conscience. Start today to be more mindful of the water you personally consume and waste, and the amount your household goes through. Being more conscientious will help us be more respectful of the great blessing we enjoy, and to take it less for granted. It will also help us be less uncomfortable if we truly do have to conserve.
Where to put it? For a one month supply of water, you’ll have to be creative. If you’re in an apartment, perhaps behind your chesterfield, under a bed, or in a closet. If those with basements, that is preferable as they are generally cooler and the cement floor will be more forgiving of the weight of larger amounts of water.
INTERMEDIATE level – incorporate the basics and begin filling in the blanks
6 tips for Intermediates
Label DRINKING WATER, and give it the respect it deserves. It is the best of the best, the purest water you have. Protect it at all costs. It is your life line. Your ticket to good health.
Personal responsibility is key when it comes to something as precious as what water will be if we ever get to that point – god forbid. Consider assigning every person a 5 gallon bucket for the week. “This is YOUR water for the whole week.” Whatever that person drinks or brushes their teeth with will have to come out of that container. I expect there will be a lot more responsible use when individual consumption is obvious.
Insist that everyone drink at least 4 cups of water a day. That’s only one litre/quart. It’s a minimum. It will be tempting to skimp and drink less, with a ration mentality, but we’re talking about health, and if we’ve planned properly, it shouldn’t be a hardship. Safeguarding our personal health is critical in an emergency, high stress situation. We don’t want to complicate things with poor health.
Have another container dedicated to cooking for the family. This is ‘common’ water and it will go further with everyone using their own personal water appropriately.
Drinking water should be rotated every 6-12 months. If its been sealed, its not suddenly going to get contaminated, but it will go ‘stale’ and not taste good when it gets old. Dumping it out and replacing it is a onerous task, but its manageable. We used to bring our water out in the spring and use it for watering plants, but you can also dump it into a washing machine or even down the drain if hauling it upstairs is too much work.
Once you have your foundational supply of drinking water – let’s start talking about non-drinking water. Daily personal hygiene, and non daily sponge bathing or bucket showering. Our showering-every-day habit is going to take a back seat for awhile, but we still want to be clean. This kind of water doesn’t have to be in such guarded containers. Old laundry soap containers are strong and made to hold heavy liquid, so they’re the perfect choice for cleaning and laundry. These are still important facts of our lives, and cannot be ignored.
ADVANCED level
Time to ask yourself the next level questions. How’re you going to wash clothes? How’re you going to water your garden? When your garden is your lifeline, you WATER it. Toileting. The minimum amount of water your toilet uses is 1.6 gallons per flush. I promise you’re not going to want to use your precious stored water to flush down the toilet – no pun intended. So what else are you going to do? If you live in an urban area, outhouses are not a possibility, but toileting is a pretty important part of life. Well, there are options, but you don’t want your house smelling like an outhouse either. You’re gonna have to do some research and be open mindedly creative.
If our water source has been contaminated, it may be necessary to shut off the main water valve to our homes to prevent contaminants from entering pipes and contaminating what we already have on hand.
Possible sources of water if you don’t live in an urban area, are streams, rivers, and other ‘moving’ bodies of water, as well as ponds and lakes or natural springs. If you live near some of these, good for you ‘maybe’. These waters might be contaminated with livestock waste, human sewage, chemicals, and other contaminants which can lead to illness when used for drinking, bathing, and other hygiene activities. Know the water source closest to you, and be mindful of its condition. If you live in rural areas, keep in mind that during floods, well water might be contaminated as well.
Water from sources outside the home must be treated as described in Make Water Safe, to kill harmful germs. If you suspect or know the water is contaminated with toxic chemicals or fuels, it cannot be made safe and you should not drink or bathe in this water.
Ancient societies understood their dependence on water and figured out ways collect it and store it. Massive water cisterns to collect precious rain water for use in the dry months were not uncommon in central America.
5 tips for those who are more Advanced
Follow the examples that people of yesteryears, when it came to water. They recognized how important it was, but also how difficult it could be to have a steady source. Learn where your household’s available water is: toilet tanks (if the water is clear and not chemically treated with toilet cleaners), hot water tank etc. Learn how to conserve.
Collecting rain water for watering the garden is a very important part of producing food in our own back yards, and could make all the difference. Find a way have your eaves troughs empty into large drums. Rain water could be used for many non-drinking purposes, both indoors and outdoors. Do you have a pail that you could dedicate to bringing rain water into the house?
Plan to re-use water. ie: save the water you wash your hands in for washing laundry, floors or other things. Having short rehearsals about how these things can be done is a good idea.
Consider options for laundering clothes in home. A large ‘laundry’ tub and a way to agitate your clothes. Laundry is going to be less fussy than it is today, but it is still important.
Toilet. There are camping options – chemical toilets you can buy from camping stores. Keeping in mind that this is most likely going to have to be INside your house, is pretty important when you’re making a plan. I suggest a 5 gallon pail dedicated for this purpose. In it you should store heavy duty bags to line it with, toilet paper, hand sanitizer and cleaner. You can even buy small plastic toilet seats that will attach right to the pail rim.
Consider purchasing wood chips from either a farm supply store or a pet store. You’ll want to use these in your makeshift toilet to minimize odours. Things are going to look a lot different to be sure. This may be the way your family gets through every day – the part of history we seldom read about. But DON’T ignore this just because its unpleasant to think about. It will be a lot more difficult to deal with later if we don’t plan for it.
Preparedness is a Journey, and the journey is always more pleasant when you have a good support system. As always, I highly recommend you find a friend to share this journey with. Help each other, Encourage each other, Share resources and great finds with each other. Find classes that are offered in your community, designed to assist you in your preparedness – take them together if possible. Teach each other.
Find groups on social media that are dedicated to preparedness and helping one another. JOIN THEM. Especially if they’re local.
I’d love to hear where you are on your Water Storage Journey and I want to hear your tips. We learn so much better when we’re sharing. Mark your calendar for the 2nd week in January. Join the Challenge. Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/676439330803075/ If you’re not on facebook, but would like to join the next challenge, let me know. I’ll send you the daily test alert in an email.
Simple things that can make a difference when its all about what YOU can do at home. An onion chest poultice is an old folk remedy that is often still used, because it is surprisingly effective. Among other good things, onion contain sulfur compounds that help fight mucus and promote the expulsion of mucus from your airways. Onion and its even stronger cousin garlic, are powerful natural antibiotics as well as being antiviral and antimicrobial. This makes them valuable for viral and bacterial infections. So yes make a poultice which will soothe from the outside, and that you’ll be able to inhale, but don’t forget to EAT them as well. Let them work from the inside too.
I love how Wendi talks about using fresh onions, but in the absence of them she shows us how to use dehydrated onions. This is so important and like her, I rarely have fresh onions in my house anymore unless they’re in my garden for the few months I can grow them, and maybe a few months after harvesting. I do keep dehydrated onions, but for the most part – I choose to use THRIVE LIFE freeze dried onions for most of the year. They come diced or sliced, and are always ready to use in all my favourite dishes. As with all Thrive Life fruits and vegetables, they’re flash frozen within only a few hours of harvest, sealing in all their natural nutritional goodness. This is very important to me. All the benefits of ‘fresh’, but easier and much more convenient to use, and with a shelf life of 25 years. That’s very important to me, because I’m all about long term food storage. Even after opening, we have at least a year to use them, depending on humidity in your area.
Wendi Bergin, the Joyful Prepper
These two pungent herbs (onions and garlic) are probably best known for their immune enhancing properties, but that’s another topic for another day. Many folk remedies suggest sleeping with onions wrapped onto the bottom of your feet! Don’t laugh. And don’t be too quick to discount things that seem too simple or even silly at first glance. In fact, garlic and onions contain anti-inflammatory chemicals that have been shown to relieve some forms of arthritic pain. Onions are a rich source of flavonoids, one of which – the antioxidant ‘quercetin’, has been shown to inhibit inflammation-causing leukotrienes, prostaglandins and histamines in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Yeah, I had to look them up too – lol.
Q: What are leukotrienes? A: chemicals your body produces, especially when you come into contact with something you’re allergic to. As a form of protection, they can cause coughing. build up of extra mucus and fluid in your chest and throat, as well as inflammation or swelling in your airway.
Q: what are prostaglandins? A: fatty acids made at sites of tissue damage or infection caused by injury or illness. They control processes such as inflammation, blood flow, the formation of blood clots and the induction of labour.
Q: what are histamines? A: chemicals your body makes to help expel allergens from your body through symptoms such as a runny nose or sneezing.
While we shouldn’t want to get rid of these natural protective functions completely, they can cause a lot of discomfort. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was something natural and ‘normal’ you could eat, that could assist in alleviating the worst of those symptoms though?
Let Food Be Your Medicine
Onions are members of the allium family, which includes hundreds of species, and they are one of the most widely used vegetables/herbs in the world, with some types growing in every climate except the arctic. Ones we’re more familiar with are the ‘onion’ of course, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, green onions and chives. And even among these, there are many, many different types, each with its own special personality and qualities. In North America, the most popular onion to purchase is the yellow onion, for its long lasting quality. Named for its outside colour, not inside, it is cured (dried outside after harvest). If kept in a dry dark, semi cool place, it will last for months.
there are so many different types of onions, that could almost be a food group unto themselves.
They are a good source of nutrients and are known to offer a plethora of health benefits – many more than what we’ve reviewed here. Onions are a tremendously rich food source of flavonoids, in particular, the antioxidant quercetin (see above), which is known to prohibit the activity or creation of cancer-causing elements. A quercetin-rich diet is a recognized good defense against developing cancer.
Make onions more a part of your life.
– If you’re one of those people who don’t like the texture of onions, use freeze dried – they’re better than any alternative we can buy at the grocery store anyway.
– If you’re one of those people who don’t like the taste of onions, get over it and find a way eat them anyway. They’re really good for you. They’ve proven themselves enough times to be taken seriously, figure out a way to incorporate them into your daily diet. Hide them, disguise them if you must, but definitely EAT onions. Thrive Life’s freeze dried onions will help immensely with that.
– If you’re one of those people who have kids who think they don’t like onions, be the parent and find a way to use them anyway. If you need to hide them, then hide them! But use them! Thrive Life’s freeze dried chopped onions will become your new best friend.
Okay, its not possible for any food to have only good things said about it. I think we all know the one downside, and it has something to do with ‘the smell’. Not just the smell of onions, but the smell of ‘us’ after we eat them. Onions contain organic sulfur compounds, which are the reason onions have such a sharp, strong taste and smell. Yes, those sulfur compounds help reduce the level of cholesterol in our bodies, breaking down blood clots and lowering our risk of heart disease and stroke. BUT, those same sulfur compounds cause the only negative effects from eating onions – irritation to eyes when cutting, and body odor.
When our bodies break them down, those sulfur compounds react to sweat on our skin, creating what is generally considered to be an unpleasant odor. In our society, that’s a considerable downside. And in some individuals with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), they may increase gas and bloating. Small price to pay in my opinion, but I have found that freeze dried onions do not seem to create the same problems. As far as the tearing up aspect, try rinsing a peeled onion under water or chill it for 30 minutes before cutting. Or of course, you can skip the whole chopping step, and go straight for the freeze dried option.
As far as the onion poultice – this is new to me. I’m happy to know about it and appreciate Wendi’s thorough instructions. I have everything I need on hand and will take her advice to set aside some more clean, white cotton for that purpose.
Have you ever tried an onion poultice? Or any other type of poultice? I’d love to hear your opinion and your experience.
We’ve all seen things this year, we thought we’d never see. We can no longer say “it’s never gonna happen”. It already has. It still is. It will again. And again! Stores running out of necessities. Supply chain issues that backlog commodities for weeks or even months, or in some cases – remove them completely. Panic buying which leads to even more shortages, and finally rationing. Not that long before, we couldn’t even imagine it. Now most of us have seen it with our own two eyes. The year 2020. Never to be forgotten. A year full of uncertainty and constant upheaval, where nobody had 20/20 vision.
During much of 2020, empty shelves became common place all over the world.
All of us were affected. All of us were at least inconvenienced, by not being able to get the things we wanted or needed in a reasonable time – if at all. Some of us lost income. Some lost jobs. Some lost businesses. Some lost lots more. The businesses who survived, had to figure out how to reinvent themselves. Some did it really well. Some thrived. Some were so well suited to the new way consumers had to buy, that they had a stellar year. Every one of them adjusted in some way. If they didn’t, they probably didn’t survive. Most will never be the same again.
The question is: “if 2020 didn’t wake us up, what’s it gonna take?” What’s it gonna take to convince us that being prepared could make a repeat of that whole experience so much easier? Look at it as the best dress rehearsal ever! The whole world joined in. It revealed to us our weak spots – things we can improve on. I hope we learned some valuable lessons.
As we strive to care for ourselves and our families, one of our greatest challenges is to find peace in the midst of an uncertain future. Never has our future been as uncertain as it is now. Though we may have the basic necessities of life today, what about tomorrow? Psychologists explain hoarding and panic buying as expressions of the need for “taking back control in a world where one feels out of control”. It leads to “me-before-you” thinking, and disregards the basic needs of everyone else. Experts say that when people are stressed, their ability to reason is often hampered, and they look at what others are doing for guidance. They will likely follow the crowd – engaging in the same behaviour. The great toilet paper shortage in 2020 is the perfect example of this, and has become the “icon” of mass panic buying.
The sad truth is, that none of it was necessary. And it still isn’t. Not because I don’t believe shortages will happen again, but because with a little bit of foresight and planning, we can all be prepared. With preparation comes peace of mind, and there is no price on “peace of mind”.
For over a century the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has counselled its members to be prepared in all things. “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear” is a basic tenet in the religion. Preparation in all things, not just food. In 1977, then leader of the Church – Spencer W. Kimball said “We have placed considerable emphasis on personal and family preparedness. I hope that each member of the Church is responding appropriately to this direction. . . . This implies the [prudent managing] of our resources, the wise planning of financial matters, full provision for personal health, and adequate preparation for education and career development, giving appropriate attention to home [food] production and storage as well as the development of emotional resiliency.” These were strong words to the members of the Church at the time, and many took them very seriously. The wise counsel was considered “Direction”, and it certainly shaped the direction I took as a young adult, influencing many choices I made then, and in my future: primarily my choice to establish a serious FOOD STORAGE. I guess you could say some of us were “preppers” long before prepping was cool. LOL.
We don’t have to wear a long pony tail and live in a mountain cabin to be prepared. The term “prepper” may be a fairly current term, but there is nothing new about the concept of preparedness. So how does an urbanite prepare themselves and their family for the inevitable empty shelves and high prices of the future? I’ll tell you how. They begin by storing a modest supply of food. And they go from there.
HOW do you start a serious Food Storage?
It is actually really simple. Embarrassingly simple, however, don’t confuse the word “Simple” with easy, it’s about DOING. But with a clear mind and a good plan, we can move forward, beginning right here, where we are today. Below is counsel the Church’s governing body gave to its members worldwide in 2007.
Note that there is no incitement of panic in this loving counsel. It is reminiscent of the counsel a kind and wise parent might give to a child. And therein lies the simplicity of it. While worldwide circumstances and laws may alter drastically, the direction is still clear: to “store as much as circumstances allow“. What members do with that direction of course, is up to them – but if society as a whole followed it, we would never again have to live through the panic buying of 2020.
WHAT TO STORE?
Advice from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, – long recognized as experts in the area of preparation says: “It is important to remember that you should not go to extremes when establishing your food storage. For example, it is not wise to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. Develop it gradually so that it will not become a financial burden.”
hymn: Come Ye Thankful People by Henry Alford
There are three main components of food storage: *short term, *long term, and *water. Taking on the project of establishing a full year’s supply of food and necessities is huge, and for many – price prohibitive. But breaking it up into bite size, manageable pieces, removes the overwhelming immensity of it, making it feel less daunting, and more realistic; making it Do-able.
Start by setting a goal to store a THREE month supply, and divide that into months, beginning with ONE week: seven days of breakfast, lunch and supper. You know what is normal for your household. Start there. It is very important that you “STORE WHAT YOU EAT, AND EAT WHAT YOU STORE“.
Think of seven family favourite recipes for main dish meals. Write them down, with a list of ingredients for each. Begin your journey by buying what you need for those seven meals.
Now think of seven breakfast meals that are not dependent on fresh ingredients. Write them down, with a list of ingredients for each.
Fill the week’s menu in, with a list of seven lunch ideas, and write them down with a list of ingredients.
This exercise becomes a little more elaborate as you go through it, and it requires serious contemplation to make sure your choices are manageable for YOUR particular circumstances, especially if you have children in the home. Remember, it MUST be liveable. People say to me all the time “if I’m starving, I’ll eat anything“. Okay, I get that, and I might not even disagree with it in theory, but framing it with such extreme adjectives as “starving” is what panic thrives on. Calm down, and try to reframe your preparation in terms of “normal”. In times of stress, you want as much to remain comfortable and normal as possible. THIS is a huge step in the “peace-of-mind” department. An adequate food storage is not simply for some future ‘zombie apocalypse’, it is for those times when life throws you curveballs and you cannot get out to shop; it is for times of illness, disruption in employment, or – as we all saw in 2020, when the stores themselves cannot supply the general public. An adequate food storage removes the feeling of losing control over one’s own environment.
Once you have your week’s menu written down, go out and begin purchasing the ingredients for it – as you can. Make it a priority, pushing less important things to the side for now. Then, when you have those supplies firmly in-hand, repeat it. Or better yet, create another week’s menu.
Think of seven MORE family favourite meals. Repeat all the steps above. And then repeat again. And repeat again.
Now comes a new way of thinking, that is key to making this whole thing work. Avoid the scarcity mentality that “food storage” is food storage and “groceries” are groceries and never the twain shall meet. Don’t buy into that idea of “protecting” your food storage from yourself. That is where the scarcity mentality comes in and starts to mess with you. I have friends who absolutely will NOT touch their food storage. They’ve developed such a mental block against using it because of their belief that it is for emergencies only. But what constitutes an emergency? And when is it big enough? Some of them tell me they’ve got freeze dried food in their storage, and knowing that it has a shelf life of 25 years, they can just forget about it, knowing they’ve done due diligence.
The problem with this thinking is multifaceted. Firstly, they never learn how to use it, so the learning curve never goes away – making using the food seem more intimidating than it ought to be. And nothing ever gets resolved. Secondly, time slips by – and pretty soon 25 years has come and gone. Some of my friends admitted they’ve had their food storage well in the excess of 30 years! The natural question should be “So, WHEN were you gonna get around to using it?” They spent thousands of dollars, on this food insurance – only to have it now, decades past the expiry date. What a waste of a LOTTA money!
I am not speaking against long shelf-life foods. I am speaking against wasting them. Spencer W. Kimball emphasized – and I can hear his gravely voice even still say “We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” [Luke 6:46.]”
USE the food you’re acquiring, and replenish continuously. This prevents food getting stale and outdated, and saves you money. The key to making the whole FOOD STORAGE thing work, is to normalize it. This is food that you EAT, remember? So eat it. These are your family’s favourite meals right? They’re comfort foods. You’re used to buying these groceries. So keep buying for them.
Put USING it, into your plan. As you work toward your goal of acquiring ingredients for a week’s meals, . . . . simply add more. You should be in a constant state of replenishment: replenishing more than what you’re consuming. As you can afford it! Never, ever, ever go into debt to buy food storage. That is flawed thinking, and completely polar to the whole principle of self sufficiency behind it. Perhaps you’re replenishing with a little bit more than what you’re eating, perhaps with a lot more. Follow the good advice to “store what your circumstances allow”. In the example of my friends with the expired food: they could have saved a whole lotta money if they had been regularly using and regularly replenishing their food storage. You don’t have to worry about buying two sets of groceries every month: one for the kitchen pantry, and the other for your “food storage”.
SHOP THE SALES We all look for bargains when we go into grocery stores. When something we like is on sale, we try to pick up extra. With the food storage mentality, pick up a little MORE than extra. Gradually your week’s supply will expand to a month’s supply, and eventually to three months. This is where you start enjoying the sense of peace that comes with preparation.
NORMALIZE It is critical that the meals you are planning, are as ‘normal’ as possible, because it is also critical that you rotate them: first in, first out. Doing so keeps your food items current, avoiding spoilage. When my family was young, I had an added motivation to ‘normalizing’ our food storage. I didn’t want my kids to ever feel ‘hard-done-by’, if and when we ever relied on our food storage (which we did for short spurts from time to time). No matter how difficult things might be for us, I wanted life to be as ‘normal’ as possible for our kids. That meant that we couldn’t be eating completely one way in the good times, and completely another way when things got hard. That simply meant we stored what we ate, and we ate what we stored.
*hint: You should also have a short-term supply of medications, hygiene items, and any other necessities of your family.
There are lots of resources about storing food, and quite simply – there isn’t ONE way to do it. We all have circumstances unique to us that make our stories a little different. But there is lots we can learn from our own experience and the experiences of others. I intend to create future posts answering questions I have heard, that may hopefully give you some suggestions for how you can work things out in your own home.
Watch for future posts on: what to store, including personal recommendations *where to store it – including to freeze or not to freeze *home canning and other skills for food storage *how to use *water storage *seed storage – and more . . . .
In the meantime, I’d love to hear your comments about what works for you.
