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Year's Supply

Yesterday in Priesthood meeting, we discussed the importance of getting our year's supply of food and how to go about it and how to use it. The quote below from L. Tom Perry in a recent General Coference was read by the instructor:

As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year's supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness.

The wording Elder Perry used hit me like a ton of bricks, " I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over". I realized that I have largely disregarded this councel over the years. We do have some food storage, but certainly not a year's worth.

What are your thoughts on food storage? Have you disregarded this councel as well?

Supply Years

You know... I have been meaning to start a topic on this, but never did because we always talk about it as 'by the way', but really, it does deserve a thread of its own. Our food storage is pitiful, more because we have no choice rather than because we do not want to. We realized long ago that to have a real food storage you need to have your own home, a place to keep it and the necessary facilities to store, etc. We rent, and the place is small with no yard for planting. We do try to always buy something extra when we go to the grocery and this has saved us many times so we know the value of it. Outside of Utah I know of few people that actually keep an entire year, most keep a few months, if that. Here is a thread that should be referenced to this one:
https://www.bordeglobal.com/foruminv/index.php?showtopic=5268

Year's Supply Studies Doctrine Mormon

Over half the members of my Branch have a year's/two year supply. I only had about 3 months, but I have had to use it what with only working part time and not qualifying for food stamps.

In my family, all but my little brother and myself have one to two years food and WATER supply. My older sisters have a two year supply for a family of 12. In their Stake nearly 3/4 of the membership have their 1 to 2 year food supply.

Last year our Relief Society Presidency handed out a list for Food Storage for $5.00 a Week. This is for two people for one year. If you would like the list, PM me with your email address, and I will gladly send it on to you.

As for renting and not having room, I can understand that (been there), but you can raise your beds up off the floor a foot to 18 inches and put plastic tubs underneath with food in them. In bedrooms that have a blank wall, rather than put pictures on the walls, put in shelving units. Closets: up above the clothes rod, put shelves and store food there, and below the shirts and skirts, put in shelves also.

Nearly every kitchen I have ever had the cupboards had so much wasted space! Ask the Landlord for permission to remove the one shelf and install two or three, depending on the interior height. Don't use round canisters, they take up too much room, use rectangle ones, and preferably ones that the lids screw on rather than snap on.

Several couples got together here and rented a storage space together, and that is where they keep an upright Freezer each, and plastic storage shelves and then their food storage. They also went together and bought a generator, so that IF the power goes out they can keep the three freezers running. One of those couples has a single car garage, and they all store barrels of water in there.

As for not having any land to grow vegetables. Do you have a porch or patio or deck? Anywhere you can put several good size pots? The last house I lived in had a postage size back yard, it was mostly cement, but it had a 4 1/2 foot wide porch that went all along the long side of the house. 2/3 of that porch got full sun all day long. I had four 1/4 whiskey barrel size peat pots filled with processed steer blend and grew 6 different leaf lettuces in one, 4 different mints in one, chinese snow peas and arugula and spinach in another. cucumbers, zucchini and marigolds in the last one. Then I had 6 hanging pots with cherry tomatoes in three, basil, chives, & lemon thyme in the others. I forgot about the single Gladiolas that I had growing in a 5 gallon bucket That sat on the bottom step. The skimpy little flower garden below the porch was rampant with nasturtiums. Those are great in salads, stuff the flowers with cream cheese that you have added: minced black olives, or minced walnuts, or finely chopped chives, or shrimp pieces. Inside do you have a sunny window? Put your pots there, just filter the sunlight so it doesn't fry your plants.

I prefer to buy bagged processed steer blend for outside pots rather than potting soil. If it is processed to the nth degree and smells like good rich soil, then use it inside too. Here it is 1.29 a bag and potting soil is nearly 3.00 a bag. (same size/wieght).

Supply Years

I'm always working on food storage it sure does come in handy -- especially when I was unemployed for most of a year, we had plenty of food. What a great blessing that was! I've had to replenish a lot of it since beginning to work again, and it's slow going. My folks are exclaiming about "all the food" I had to move ... Mom said "We've never had so much food in the house!" Well, I need to have it, and the water too. It's a real simple matter to gather various foodstuffs and to actually use the food so it doesn't go bad. Don't buy what you won't eat.

Now, of course, I'll be storing for five instead of just three Yes, the time for procrastination is over.

Roz

Supply Years

The church has a web site...... providentliving.org. A lot of great info regarding preperation etc. Here is the link for food storage. Tons of good info:


https://www.providentliving.org/channel/1,1...,1706-1,00.html

Edited: gaucho on 6th May, 2004 - 8:34pm

Year's Supply

Now get this story. It comes directly from a person on a Fundamentalist email list that I read. I have the author's permission to post it.

Today, he sent me this little note.

What do you think of this situation. If you had a full year's supply of food and clothing, would you be willing to disclose this information to such a person?

Year's Supply

Incredible story. I am sure a lot of people made fun of his comments on Church because members tend to take these things very lightly but he was right, I would also get probably mad if the leader who is calling me to find out about my food storage tells me:

*shaking head* No, I would probably not disclose that information to anyone.

Year's Supply Mormon Doctrine Studies

I don't have any statistics to back me up, but my personal experience living in various places in western Canada contradicts this. My mom has always kept a year's supply, as have many of my friends. We're definitely not at 100% in our ward, but neither are we close to 0%. One friend who has truly inspired me lives in a two bedroom town house on campus with three kids, and yet has diligently stored a complete year's supply. They took the bed idea to the extreme. They have so many boxes under their bed that it is at least four feet off the floor. They use a chest at the end of the bed to help them get on and off. It has the added advantage of keeping the kids from crowding the bed in the middle of the night .

A couple of things have motivated me to get on the ball over the last few months and finish up my year's supply. The first is the new recommendations on the provident living website. Under family home storage they list four points:
1) A three month supply of the food you regularly eat.
2)Drinking Water
3) A financial reserve
4)A year's supply of the basics, which they defined to be 25 lb grain and 5 lb beans per month per person.

I love these new recommendations, since they are simple and attainable. I no longer have to feel guilty about not storing a ton of powdered milk which is expensive, spoils easy, and I don't like to eat. Grains and beans have a shelf life of over 30 years and tend to be fairly cheap. I added oil and salt to my personal "must have" list, since I know how much better my beans taste with those two simple ingredients. These guidelines also cater to the world wide nature of the church, since they can be adapted to each family's personal eating habits (our family eats a lot of rice, therefore I store a lot of rice).

The second thing that motivated me was a vision that a friend shared with me. She said that she walked into her local grocery store and all of a sudden had a vision of the shelves being completely empty. It made me think about how dependent we are on the continual shipping of goods. All it takes is a trucker strike for the stores to empty out in a hurry, let alone some major disaster.

So, in a crisis situation, would I share my home storage with those who are less prepared? I don't know. In a short term crisis the beauty of a large storage is that you can share with others in need. In a longer term crisis things would not be as clear cut. I was reading an interesting article by Roger K. Young entitled "Tent cities in the Last Days?" (available at Tent Cities I don't know if I buy into all that he says, but one interesting analogy he makes is from the story of Noah:

Perhaps in the end the decision will be made for us.