Let's Go Shopping

In today’s post I want to do a little shopping. Unfortunately we’re not shopping for anything luxurious, just food. Well, I suppose food is a luxury if you are without but let’s hope things never get that bad. I wanted to give you guys an idea of how I increase my food stores and what I like to buy to put away.

First of all, don’t go out and drop $3000 on a year’s worth of freeze dried food. If you have the money to do so that’s fine but I like the “eating an elephant” approach. When faced with a big task I’ve been told that you eat an elephant one bite at a time. The basic idea here is that with enough small steps I can finish any huge task. Well, I approach stocking up on food the same way. Every week when we go to either Costco or Kroger I grab a few extra items here and there that probably never total more than $40 and that is what I put away. Now, let’s talk about what I buy. My main staples are rice, dried beans, and canned meats and veggies. These items have a very long shelf life and take very little in the way of preparation. A pot, a spoon, and an open flame and I’m a cooking fool! These items are also relatively cheap and they provide the most bang for your buck in regards to nutrition. Beans are a great source of protein and fiber while rice provides carbohydrates and is very filling. Meat is more or less a luxury but it adds some substance to the meal plus I’m a big meat guy. I’ve always said that if the good Lord had not intended on us eating animals he wouldn’t have made them out of meat! I also buy things like biscquick because by just adding water you can make bread. I also buy cans of evaporated milk and powdered milk. I have yet to venture into freeze dried foods mostly due to the cost.

Now that we’ve covered what I buy when I’m shopping lets cover some of the why I buy extra. The grocery stores in any given area only have 3 days worth of food on the shelf. It appears as though there is an endless supply because trucks bring food to the stores and people keep the shelves stocked. This creates the appearance of an endless supply. This is not true. Here in the south if someone says a chance of snow a horde of people immediately buy up all the bread and milk. It’s amazing! Think back to any instance where people knew bad weather was inbound and remember how people panic and empty shelves. This also happens when a hurricane is about to make land fall. The reason people do this is that they know that resupply will be unavailable once the storm has struck. Now, let’s think about what would happen if trucks stopped rolling for a week or two. Would you have enough food to keep your family fed? Shipping is contingent on a lot of factors like fuel, ability to navigate roads, and availability of drivers. If any one of these criteria isn’t met the food doesn’t get shipped. Now let’s look at one last problem. So there has been no food on the shelves for a week and a truck rolls into town. Do you think that people are going to be polite and orderly when distributing that precious cargo? I doubt it. If you don't believe me look at how people acted after hurricane Katrina. Personally if my son had not eaten for a couple of days and I had to fight for his food I’d cut a path of death and destruction a mile wide to feed him. Well, if you have plenty of food stocked you can ride out these types of shortages, plus you won’t have to risk life and limb to get more once it starts to show up again. Our own government encourages households to prepare for such events. Take a look: http://www.fema.gov/plan-prepare-mitigate

I hope this post has got you to thinking about your own situation. The goal of this post in not to scare folks, but to get them to answer the “what if” questions and get them thinking. Remember that the only person who is going to look out for you and your family is you. We have to be able to stand and survive on our own.