Planning smart for your food supply

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Planning smart for your food supply

Why store? The world we live in today is fast moving, ever changing and full of surprises. On top of this, there has never been a time when the average family has had less food in their homes than now. A hundred years ago, people generally didn’t go to the store very often. As a rule, America was much more agrarian than it is today, with people growing the majority of the plants and animals they ate. Today, many of us would be at our rope’s end after just a couple of days of not being able to go to the grocery store. Listed below are some of the things that have happened within the last couple of years to break up a normal family’s food supply channels:

Loss of employment
Strikes
Fire
Floods
Droughts
Hurricanes
Wind Storms
Earthquakes
Civil unrest
Major injury or death of the prime wage earner

It’s a good guess that every family will have at least one serious crisis during their life time. During such times, a family shouldn’t have to worry about what they are going to eat.

So why not be ready for it? If you were the mayor of a small town during a time of disaster, wouldn’t it be a great relief if 1/2 of the inhabitants of your town had a three day supply of emergency supplies. A month supply? And wouldn’t it be great to know not only you, but all the neighbors on your street had an emergency supply of food and other items? One thing is for sure: When an actual emergency arises, the time of preparation is past. One of the greatest advantages that can come to you from this type of preparation is peace of mind.

How much is enough?

FEMA suggests at least a three day supply. The rationale is that in the event of a disaster it will take at least three days for emergency personnel to get things going again. In case you must leave your dwelling it needs to be already together and transportable. It’s referred to as a '72 hour kit.' You should have at least three days worth of anything and everything you might need in the worst of conditions.

Somewhat on the other end of the spectrum is the LDS Church who believes strongly in self reliance. Spencer W. Kimball, one of the deceased presidents of this church said, "No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family's well-being to someone else... Maintain a year's supply. The Lord has urged that his people save for the rainy days, prepare for the difficult times, and put away for emergencies, a year's supply or more of bare necessities so that when comes the flood, the earthquake, the famine, the hurricane, the storms of life, our families can be sustained through the dark days... I am not howling calamity, but I fear that a great majority of our young people, never having known calamity, depression, hunger, homelessness, joblessness, cannot conceive of such situations..."

Whatever you choose to believe, it is a good idea to put something away for ‘that rainy day,’ as President Kimball called it.

Basic rules for home storage:

Rule 1: Store what you eat, and eat what you store. It would be too bad to have a supply of food you would only eat with the greatest reluctance. Also, you can spend a lot of money on a supply of food and other provisions now, but after 15 or 20 years it won’t be much good anymore. Which brings us to the second rule.
Rule #2: Rotate your food supply. Eat the old and replace with new food. It’s great on the pocket book. Large amounts can be purchased when they are on sale, then used when they are not. This may also require you to change your eating habits just a bit - like eating more whole grain and legume foods that are inexpensive but nutritious. But whatever you choose to store, be sure it's something you can eat or it will never get rotated.
Rule #3: Whatever you store, insure it is as nutritious as possible with the 50 essential elements required for good health. You should also consider storing a good mineral/vitamin supplement.
Rule #4: Special care should be taken in preserving your emergency supply, especially if you plan on storing it for several years. Generally, if you plan on using it up within a year it should be safe to store your dry grains and beans in the paper or plastic bags it came in. But if you do this, be sure you have a cool, dry place to keep it. Bugs are always a serious concern. If you haven't bug proofed your food you need to check it every few weeks to insure it stays insect free. Aside from packing up your own dry goods, you can also...
- Can your garden produce in bottles. This works best for fresh vegetables and fruits, and even meat if it is done correctly. However, know that after two years, wet packed foods in cans or bottles lose much of their nutritional value. Rotation is the key!
- Dehydrate your own foods. Some foods that lend themselves well to this kind of food preservation are potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers, and all kinds of fruits. After dehydration, be sure to store them in air tight bags or containers. It would also be a good idea to throw in a couple of oxygen absorber packets.
- Whatever method you use to preserve your food, Store it in a cool, dry, dark place.
- Rule 5: Learn to grow a garden now before any hard times come. This way you will get the trial and error out of the way before you really need to eat off your garden. For someone who has never grown a garden before, it is not as easy as it may seem. There is a real art to growing a great garden and this knowledge doesn’t come all at once. Become proficient at it now, and learn now how to preserve what you grow.
Getting back to What you should store, someone in the LDS Church wrote a little freeware DOS program (87K) back in 1989 that really spells most of it out. The program is designed to input the number of months storage wanted, and the number of family members with their respective ages. It will then print out the minimum food requirements. What follows is a sample 12 month food supply for an adult couple run by this little program:
(Go to Revelar for a high speed food storage program.)
(We have also put together a spreadsheet that will be a great help here.)
(And here's another nifty one from Brain Brawl Challenge
(Zipped Excel inventory spreadsheet. Keep track of your food storage by Glenn Anderson.)
```
   STORAGE ITEM        YOUR AMOUNT

- Wheat                  321 lbs
- Enriched white flour    29 lbs
- Corn meal               71 lbs
- Oats, Rolled            71 lbs
- Rice                   143 lbs
- Pearled barley           7 lbs
- Spaghetti & macaroni    71 lbs

  TOTAL FOR GRAINS GROUP 714 lbs

- Beans (dry)             50 lbs
- Beans, Lima (dry)        2 lbs
- Beans, Soy (dry)         2 lbs
- Peas, Split (dry)        2 lbs
- Lentils (dry)            2 lbs
- Dry Soup Mix            10 lbs

  TOTAL FOR LEGUMES GROUP 68 lbs

- Vegetable Oil            4 gal
- Shortening              10 lbs
- Mayonnaise               2 quarts
- Salad Dressing
    (mayonnaise type)      2 quarts
- Peanut Butter            8 lbs

  TOTAL FOR FATS & OILS   51 lbs

- milk, Nonfat dry        28 lbs
- Evaporated milk         24 cans (12 oz net wt)
(equivalent to 6 lbs dry milk)

  TOTAL FOR MILK GROUP    32 lbs

- Sugar, Granulated       80 lbs
- Sugar, Brown             6 lbs
- Molasses                 2 lbs
- Honey                    6 lbs
- Corn syrup               6 lbs
- Jams and preserves       6 lbs
- Fruit drink, Powdered   12 lbs
- Flavored gelatin         2 lbs

  TOTAL FOR SUGARS GROUP 120 lbs

- Dry yeast                1 lbs (You will want more yeast
- Soda                     2 lbs  if you make lots of
- Baking Powder            2 lbs  bread)
- Vinegar                  2 lbs
- Chlorine bleach          1 gal
- Salt (iodized)          16 lbs (8 lb/person/year)
- Water                   28 gal (14 gal/person/2 weeks)
```
If you don’t like it’s choices, you can choose your own tastes and this little program will tell you if you have the right amounts. I think this little program is great stuff! It is an excellent tool for anyone who is serious about maintaining a supply of food.
Foods & other items I've noticed the program doesn't address and you will have to determine manually:
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Vitamin & Mineral supplements
- Yeast culture knowledge
- Medical supplies
- Cleaning Supplies/soap (laundry, dish, hand, shampoo, all purpose cleaner, toilet cleaner)
- Fuel (fire wood, lantern/stove/heater fuel, and gasoline/diesel for your vehicles/generators)
- Shoes/Clothing/Blankets/Sleeping bags
- Field Expedient tools: (assortment of knives, garden tools, shovel, ax, hatchet, sledge, wedge, rifle for shooting game, chisels, hand drill w/different sized bits, hammers, a good supply of different size nails, rope, saws, pry bar, chain saw [don’t forget to store extra two cycle oil]
- Outdoor cooking equipment
- Back packing equipment
- Battery radio w/extra batteries
- Tent & tarps
- Matches!
- Something to read: Survival manual, Bible, special interest literature, etc.
- You should consider as a final goal a well organized neighborhood ready for any problem.
Some last things...
- Wealth does not guarantee happiness
- Luxury does not build character
- Pay your tithing.
- Stay out of debt except for a house or business
- Live on less than what you earn
- Save for a time of need
- Learn to distinguish between needs and wants
- Develop and live within a budget
- Work is a wonderful principle, essential for success. Work for what you get.
- Always be honest - integrity will never go out of style
- Promote excellence
```
                                  Spencer W. Kimball
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Doug Eborn, E-mail: info@waltonfeed.com
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All contents copyright (C) 1996, Doug Eborn. All rights reserved.
Revised: 11 Jun 99