This note is from a friend who read my blog and responded to me privately.
Jyotsna,
Hope your New Year has started off well! I couldn't figure out how to post on your blog, so I am emailing you this way. I was looking at your food storage post. You know, funny, but I like to start off every new year by cleaning out my pantries...and I love to organize it all and fill containers with rice, beans, etc....just in case we have a bad storm, etc...
When we lived in North Carolina, a horrific ice storm took out power for 2 weeks. We had no heat, our flashlights went out, and no can opener...when the water line froze...I gave in...we had to wait in line for 3 hours to get gas for the car...and finally made it to my older brothers place. I vowed never to be unprepared like that again.
So your post got me thinking. :)
Hi J.
As for the food storage, I'm taking a class online right now about food storage, and it is very inspiring. I was a little overwhelmed at first, but then I have decided to buy one bulk amount of one item every month until I have my list marked off. This month I bought bulk sugar (it was on sale), next month will be my 20 pounds of rice (have to join Sams Club now), and I'll keep adding on for the next 12 months.
And funny you mentioned it about clearing out the pantry in January, I've had that habit too. I just tossed anything we hadn't eaten. Now however, I'm storing things differently. Gosh, we were nearly out of food when I took those pictures of our stuff. We spend about $400 to $500 on food a month. I hope to bring that down with our spring and summer gardens this year, and I plan on canning veggies.
And what is it about this area of the country??? We had two things happen in the last 5 years, that kicked my butt in gear....
An ice storm that left us without electricity for 1 week, and a thunder storm that left us without electricity for 3 weeks. Just happened to start massage therapy school the second week during this event, and I didn't have any electricity. Our neighbors were totally prepared. They were bbq'ing every thing from their freezer, they had a generator, which they ran their fridge and pool with, and I had to carry stuff over to their house to keep things frozen. It was a shame how unprepared I was. And finally in the third week of it, (thinking this could go on forever) the kids and I moved over to my brothers house where we at least had lights and fans. They had a generator too. Can you believe I was outside on my front porch cooking from my propane camp stove??? Neighbors lost all of their sense. There were long electric cords going back and forth from houses, and laundry was all up and down the fenses. Seemed like we moved to India. But that was the friendliest time in our neighborhood. When the electricity came back on, everyone went back inside.
Jyotsna
2 comments:
I hadn't even thought about storing up food in case our "economic winter" lasts much longer or gets much colder than expected. But I'm with the person who said that s/he couldn't live with a full pantry knowing that the people next door were hungry. Since I am unemployed and we are basically broke, we've been buying in bulk from Costco, eating every scrap of leftovers and savings a ton of money, but as far as hoarding is concerned, I just don't believe we're heading for economic Armageddon. Call me Pollyanna if you want!
Chris
Hey Chris,
It's great to see you over here. I also don't think we are headed for economic armageddon, but I think things in our country are changing, and people are going to have to make changes to how they have been doing things, to get by. I worry about our economy, and I do think that just like we had wide spread black outs in gas stations back in 2003, and even for a week in our city in 2008, we will have times where we will have a hard time finding the foods that we like and want. I'm not talking about McD's or Taco Bell. They may very well fall by the wayside first. But I'm talking about being able to go to Kroger's or Whole Foods. Some days when I go to the store, I see that all of the food in one section has been completely sold! So, I think eventually we are going to have to depend on our own pantries alot more than any of us realize right now.
Sharon Astyk (took her food storage class this past month) is saying that we don't need to hide our stored foods, but actually talk to our neighbors, family and friends, and start the conversation about storing food for certain situations: 2 weeks without electricity because of thunder storms, hurricanes, tornados, living on an earthquake fault line (like I do) or economic downturns.
By talking to those closest to us, we can plant the thought in their minds to start saving and storing for hard times. Therefore, you won't have to worry about your neighbors starving. Community gardens and emergency food storage are just as important as emergency shelters.
I'm talking to the people closest to me (neighbors, friends and family). At first, honestly I got the "looks". They thought I was wacked, but now they are all telling me how I planted the seed in their minds, and how well things are going. One friend "rolled her eyes at me". She has a 50 gallon water storage container now. Ha!
My biggest goal is to have a 3 month supply of food and water. If I manage that, that will be incredible.
I have thought alot about the fact that I am a single mother with three kids, that if things got bad enough, no one would want to take in 4 people who are basic burdens. So I decided I didn't want to ever face that situation. I can feed one or two people in addition to my family. If everyone plans with this in mind (feeding others) we won't have any starving neighbors or friends.
We have been eating the way your family eats for years. This is "normal" for us.
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