Food Storage; is it necessary, is it the end of the world? Here's my take.

There are many blogs out there now touting the need to store food. Not just for a few months, or even a year, but some indicate the dire need, necessity, of storing food for 20, or 30 years or more! This quite frankly amazes me. If, God forbid, we needed food then that we've stored now, if the world is not able to provide it to us as it is now, what makes us think that we'll be around? Well, there have been multiple times in my life where I should have died, but I didn't (and my forehead is mis-shapen as a reminder), so I'll probably be around, but I shudder to think what that would look like, especially seeing that Tom Cruise movie, the Will Smith one, sorry, not much for remembering movie titles... granted the alien theme is totally far fetched, but what if something happened and changed the world as we know it? 

Okay, moving on to a lighter part of the discussion. I don't really believe anything like that will happen, but how do I know? I know that we are to live like Jesus could be coming back tomorrow, but I don't believe that's going to happen either. He will return no doubt, but I really don't think it will be in my life time. Obviously, I could be wrong on that take too, it's just that the Bible says, no one knows when this will happen, so I kinda take the Bible at it's word. 

So, why store food? First let me say, I believe this is a good idea. I don't know about 30 or 40 years worth, but if you have the means to do it and the storage space, go for it. I know where to go then if I'm not sufficiently prepared and it is necessary. :) Just don't do it out of fear. Don't do anything out of fear for that matter. 

Read Proverbs 31 - New Living Translation (I like the whole chapter , but have highlighted a few verses)

A Wife of Noble Character

 ^10 [b]Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
      She is more precious than rubies.
 ¹¹ Her husband can trust her,
      and she will greatly enrich his life.
 ¹² She brings him good, not harm,
      all the days of her life. ¹³ She finds wool and flax
      and busily spins it.
 ¹⁴ She is like a merchant’s ship,
      bringing her food from afar.
 ¹⁵ She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
      and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.
 ¹⁶ She goes to inspect a field and buys it;
      with her earnings she plants a vineyard.
 ¹⁷ She is energetic and strong,
      a hard worker.
 ¹⁸ She makes sure her dealings are profitable;
      her lamp burns late into the night.
 ¹⁹ Her hands are busy spinning thread,
      her fingers twisting fiber.
 ²⁰ She extends a helping hand to the poor
      and opens her arms to the needy.
 ²¹ She has no fear of winter for her household,
      for everyone has warm^[c] clothes.
 ²² She makes her own bedspreads.
      She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.
 ²³ Her husband is well known at the city gates,
      where he sits with the other civic leaders.
 ²⁴ She makes belted linen garments
      and sashes to sell to the merchants.
 ²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity,
      and she laughs without fear of the future.
 ²⁶ When she speaks, her words are wise,
      and she gives instructions with kindness.
 ²⁷ She carefully watches everything in her household
      and suffers nothing from laziness.
 ²⁸ Her children stand and bless her.
      Her husband praises her:
 ²⁹ “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
      but you surpass them all!”
 ³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
      but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
 ³¹ Reward her for all she has done.
      Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

She LAUGHS WITHOUT FEAR for the future. I like that part. Nothing concerns her.

Food and supply storage is something to be considering to be sure. In light of the events in Japan and with the cost of food rising exponentially (Trump said that due to inflation a loaf of bread could cost $25 soon – maybe just in gas to get it to you). Also crops are failing the world over, we do need to be wise stewards of our land, with what we’ve been given and be open to what may be coming.

I haven't discussed this much here, but the Genically Modified and Non-Organic stuff that’s passed off as food with respected labels such as Kraft, Uncle Ben’s, Campbells, etc. that fills the shelves at the grocery stores is terrible for us to be consuming. Also, canned food is no good for you with all those preservatives and God knows what in it, not to mention the BPA lined cans, which most of them are.

Here are a few helpful documentaries to consider:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-world-according-to-monsanto/

http://www.kingcorn.net/   (and then watch the sequel to it)

www.thefutureoffood.com/

Again, my intent is not to scare, I simply hope for the best, but I am slowly attempting to  prepare for the worst.

Use wisdom, a lot of those storage sites are over the top and many use scare tactics to get you to buy their stuff, but there is, I believe a thread of truth to it and we need to be discerning in it.

We bought a deep freeze with our wedding money, and are growing our own food for the first time ever and are planning to buy a pressure canner, have a water bath, and stock pot, some canning supplies, still building the supplies, and plan to buy a dehydrator.

We are starting to stock up on grains, legumes, coconut and olive oils, hoping to freeze fruit to make whole fruit juices later, etc.  Our goal is three month rotational storage, then 6 months, then a year.

Think of Joseph in the Old Testament, or to put it in our current economy's perspective, my husband doesn't work as much in the winter, so if we had freshly canned and frozen produce in the winter, that we grew  and preserved ourselves in the summer and fall, we wouldn't have to worry about potential global crop failures (happening now), contamination, etc. or finding produce and paying out of season and organic pricing.

75 to 80% of our diet is produce. 10-15% is beans, legumes, the rest is meat, grains, fat and other stuff on occasion. We are not vegetarians, but find it's cheaper and we feel healthier if we only eat meat (usually seafood or poultry) 2 or 3 times per week, and then it's only a small amount. Well, my DH does consume a bit more meat than I do and he does have organic milk once a day in his smoothies, he's not so keen on my nut milk, but will drink it if there's nothing else for his smoothie. 

This way, if for some reason we are short on funds, we have an abundance of healthy food stored up to choose from. Being self-sustaining and healthy are our main goals for producing and preserving our own foods. Besides, buying the rest in bulk is much cheaper also. Since we have started buying in bulk and reducing the amount of meat we eat, we show no increase in our food budget, even though we now buy everything Organic, in fact, the more we use our bulk storage, the less our output is on money, but we are gradually increasing our supplies.

What do you think?