What is Food Storage?

[speedmom4]

I just read the thread about self sufficiency. I was really intrigued by the posts by people advocating food storage. It seems that it is something well known in the Mormon community. I have never heard of it. I went to some of the websites mentioned but I am still a bit confused.

 

First, what exactly is meant by the term "food storage". On one website I watched a video about how a woman uses food storage in her everyday meals. I didn't even understand what she meant by food storage. I'm assuming it is similar to stock piled ingredients. She mentioned wheat, beans, dried milk.

 

Second, what is the belief behind food storage for Mormons? I'm not trying to get a religious debate going. I'm just interested in why.

 

I think it's a really interesting concept and would like to learn more but need some basic background/terminology before I delve in a dig deeper.

 

God Bless,

[gaillardia]

Belief behind food storage for Mormons: Just basic life preparedness, for instance: you are 8 months pregnant and your husband loses his big $ job; maybe you both lose your jobs or have a cut in pay; maybe you can't work for some health reason or have to stay at home with a child with health issues; maybe you or your husband have a terrible accident or both of you are injured or worse.

You see, it isn't just about food storage. It is advisable to have $ savings, not much debt hanging over your head (a reasonable mortgage) and not much credit card debt; paying cash for cars or low $ loans; a plan in place so that "just in case", even clothing (don't some of us hold on to clothing outgrown by the older ones for the younger ones, or to give, just in case?). A backpack for everyone in the family packed, with 72 hour food kits, for evacuation emergencies. Water stored, if you can.

Someone on the wtm recently was without water AGAIN, she stated.

First off just start buying a little more than usual of what you usually eat. It doesn't work if you're going to buy stuff you don't know how to use or don't like.

Work up to a one month storage, then 3 months, etc.

There is a lot online about food storage.

[dangermom]

A lot of it is just preparedness for hard times. If there's a storm and the power is out for days, or your budget is tight, or you're out of work, food storage can keep you fed.

 

The way you start is just to start buying a little extra of things that are on sale. If you see tuna fish for super-cheap, buy 10 or so. You won't have to buy tuna again until the next time you see it for super-cheap, so you'll be saving a bit on your food budget and you'll always have tuna.

 

The next step is to buy in large bulk and store it all for future need. I have enough sugar, stored in air-tight cans, to last a really long time! Same with oats, beans, rice. When I need oats, I don't have to buy it--I go to the garage and get the next can. The LDS Church maintains dry canneries in many places, so it's quite easy to go over there, buy 50 lbs. of oats, can it and take it home.

 

You can find information about food storage, canning, rotating, and so on in many places all over the web. A really good place to start is The Prudent Homemaker--she's got some great stuff there.

 

Hope that helps?

[gaillardia]

I had to go and do stuff! so I didn't finish my comments earlier.

I'd like to add to what Dangermom said. Other reasons for food storage: truckers' strikes, floods, snow storms that lock up an area for days (remember the stores where shelves are stripped clean?), even crazy things like flu epidemics where we don't want to go out to the stores. Just considering that sometimes a minor emergency may strike an area, no power including in the stores, and no food for dinner!

I'm glad you asked, and thanks for saying you didn't want to get a debate going. May God bless you,:), as you venture off into the land of food storage.:001_smile:

Sometimes trucks tip and crash releasing toxic fumes into the air.

Or trains derail. Or a chemical factory has an accident. Or nuclear power plants...does your family have a place to meet if you are evacuated?

The government has been advising us to be prepared for this kind of stuff too, which you can find out on several different websites, like homeland security, etc.

[MamaSheep]

Food storage is, as has been said by others, just any organized plan for long-term storage and usage of basic food items. Things like wheat, beans, and dried milk are often mentioned because they are relatively inexpensive, nutritious and can be stored for a long time without refrigeration. Wheat, for example, stores a lot longer than flour does without going bad. But it doesn't do you any good to store it if you don't know how to prepare and eat it, so there do tend to be books and videos and classes about how to use things like that. It's also recommended that you store what your family uses regularly.

 

As has been mentioned, part of the reason we LDS store food is because we live in unstable times and having a supply of food on hand keeps us from being as vulnerable when whatever fluctuation of life lands squarely in our laps. My husband is self-employed and paychecks are not always as regular as we would like them to be. It brings me a lot of peace to know I can feed my family even if some client we were counting on is a month late paying the invoice.

 

Another reason is because we believe in helping others, and you can't do that unless you have the wherewithal to help them with. You can't feed the hungry from an empty shelf. You can't bandage a wound unless you have a first aid kit (which is another thing we are asked to store). You can't clothe the naked unless you have clothing to give them. If you get it when you can, you will have it when you (or someone else) need it, whether the store is open or not. Even minor emergencies don't always confine themselves to business hours or in front of a clinic or whatever. It is a good feeling, when you see a kid at the park injure himself to be able to offer the child's mom an ice pack to put on the ankle on the way to the emergency room for x-rays.

 

A big reason we do it is because we believe God has commanded us to--in much the same way that God commanded Noah to build an ark to prepare for the times in which he lived. We believe in ongoing revelation from God both on a personal level, and for the church as a whole. We believe that one of the things God has commanded us to do is to prepare for the times in which we live, and for the future that is coming. Storing food and other household supplies (in a rational, organized, sanitary manner, not in a spirit of careless panic-stricken fanatacism) is part of that preparation. We have also been counseled by God through church leaders for years and years to gain an adequate education and make education a lifelong pursuit; to live within our means, manage our money wisely, save for a rainy day, and avoid debt; to learn what is reasonable within our personal circumstances about home food production (gardening, chickens, whatever), which allows us to be less dependent on outside sources and again increases the stability in our lives and our ability to help other people. We are also encouraged to do what we can to improve and maintain physical, mental, and emotional health.

 

These past couple of years have been interesting for me as I watch people around me coping with the current economic situation. The people I know who have followed this advice seem to have peace, even in the face of unemployment or other difficulties. Since they have not been living at the extreme edge of their income, they have had a cushion where they were able to reduce expenditures when their income decreased without huge stress or loss of property. Because they have avoided debt, they were almost entirely unaffected by the credit crisis. They've been able to take in extended family members who were harder hit, and help their neighbors with groceries when their paychecks or foodstamps ran out too soon. Some families I know have been able to weather stretches of unemployment without altering their lifestyles much at all because they had enough savings to see them through. Their kids barely noticed that Dad was job hunting instead of going to work. Such blessings! Our own income has dropped rather a lot this year, and we have put off some purchases and used up some of our savings on auto repairs and things that we would normally be able to just pay for, but we haven't had to worry about whether we'll be able to eat or pay the mortgage. We truly believe that following God's counsel in this has blessed us with peace and stability that we otherwise would not have had.

[DianeW88]

Food storage is, as has been said by others, just any organized plan for long-term storage and usage of basic food items. Things like wheat, beans, and dried milk are often mentioned because they are relatively inexpensive, nutritious and can be stored for a long time without refrigeration. Wheat, for example, stores a lot longer than flour does without going bad. But it doesn't do you any good to store it if you don't know how to prepare and eat it, so there do tend to be books and videos and classes about how to use things like that. It's also recommended that you store what your family uses regularly.

 

As has been mentioned, part of the reason we LDS store food is because we live in unstable times and having a supply of food on hand keeps us from being as vulnerable when whatever fluctuation of life lands squarely in our laps. My husband is self-employed and paychecks are not always as regular as we would like them to be. It brings me a lot of peace to know I can feed my family even if some client we were counting on is a month late paying the invoice.

 

Another reason is because we believe in helping others, and you can't do that unless you have the wherewithal to help them with. You can't feed the hungry from an empty shelf. You can't bandage a wound unless you have a first aid kit (which is another thing we are asked to store). You can't clothe the naked unless you have clothing to give them. If you get it when you can, you will have it when you (or someone else) need it, whether the store is open or not. Even minor emergencies don't always confine themselves to business hours or in front of a clinic or whatever. It is a good feeling, when you see a kid at the park injure himself to be able to offer the child's mom an ice pack to put on the ankle on the way to the emergency room for x-rays.

 

A big reason we do it is because we believe God has commanded us to--in much the same way that God commanded Noah to build an ark to prepare for the times in which he lived. We believe in ongoing revelation from God both on a personal level, and for the church as a whole. We believe that one of the things God has commanded us to do is to prepare for the times in which we live, and for the future that is coming. Storing food and other household supplies (in a rational, organized, sanitary manner, not in a spirit of careless panic-stricken fanatacism) is part of that preparation. We have also been counseled by God through church leaders for years and years to gain an adequate education and make education a lifelong pursuit; to live within our means, manage our money wisely, save for a rainy day, and avoid debt; to learn what is reasonable within our personal circumstances about home food production (gardening, chickens, whatever), which allows us to be less dependent on outside sources and again increases the stability in our lives and our ability to help other people. We are also encouraged to do what we can to improve and maintain physical, mental, and emotional health.

 

These past couple of years have been interesting for me as I watch people around me coping with the current economic situation. The people I know who have followed this advice seem to have peace, even in the face of unemployment or other difficulties. Since they have not been living at the extreme edge of their income, they have had a cushion where they were able to reduce expenditures when their income decreased without huge stress or loss of property. Because they have avoided debt, they were almost entirely unaffected by the credit crisis. They've been able to take in extended family members who were harder hit, and help their neighbors with groceries when their paychecks or foodstamps ran out too soon. Some families I know have been able to weather stretches of unemployment without altering their lifestyles much at all because they had enough savings to see them through. Their kids barely noticed that Dad was job hunting instead of going to work. Such blessings! Our own income has dropped rather a lot this year, and we have put off some purchases and used up some of our savings on auto repairs and things that we would normally be able to just pay for, but we haven't had to worry about whether we'll be able to eat or pay the mortgage. We truly believe that following God's counsel in this has blessed us with peace and stability that we otherwise would not have had.

 

:iagree:What she said. We believe in being prepared. And, let me reiterate...it is NOT the panicked "the end is near" mentality at all. Preparedness has been a message of the LDS church for over 100 years. We also have an extensive church welfare system that allows us to help our own members in times of difficulty and to be able to send aid worldwide when necessary. Once a month, our members fast for two meals (usually the first Sunday of each month) and donate the cost of those two meals as a "fast offering". This allows us to fund and run an amazing welfare system that attracts the attention of national and world leaders (every leader that visits Utah tours our "welfare square") and serves as a model for them of a welfare system that actually works. Here's an article that explains the purpose of our "food storage/welfare" and how it works.

 

http://beta-newsroom.lds.org/article/welfare-square--place-of-hope-for-the-needy

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

[speedmom4]

Ladies, thank you so much for responding with such great information!!!

 

What a valuable principle the LDS church is encouraging. I love how it goes beyond just trying to provide for yourself but being able to share that with others.

 

Our church and many around here have been teaching for about the past 10 years financial responsibility (no debt, lower expenses, etc) and it has become more important in the past 2-3 years since the real estate bubble burst. But, I love how this system goes beyond that. I have many friends who buy in bulk and store food but not with preparedness in mind.

 

I will definitely be checking these websites out. The whole philosophy makes a lot of sense to me. I like that it's not about end times and panicking. It's seems very organized and rational.

 

Thank you so much for answering my questions!!!

 

God Bless,