Get Prepared, My Friends!

Stockpile

It’s time to get started with the grand kick-off of the 2014 Get Prepared-a-thon! In case you’re new to my blog, here’s what’s going on: as a Mormon I have been raised with the idea that I Must Be Prepared. For what, I’m not sure. But since most bad things involve food shortages, that’s what we anticipate.  Flu Pandemic? Trucking strike? Polar Vortex? Armageddon? It doesn’t really matter what it is; food will be the first thing to disappear.  You might be cool watching your kids starve to death because you spent all your money on cute Halloween decorations or a fabulous purse, but I like to make sure we’ve got some extra food in the cupboard. This isn’t just for Mormons or moms or any group in particular. This is for everyone who eats food. Does that include you? Ok, then. Time to get prepared!  Remember it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. If you’re waiting for some reason to get prepared, when that reason happens it will be too late.

 

In the olden days Mormons were supposed to have a year supply of wheat and dried beans and stuff like that. But that’s overwhelming and who even has room for a year’s supply of food? Now we are encouraged to have a three month supply of everyday food. Stuff you eat on a regular basis. But a three-month supply is overwhelming once you sit down and start making lists. So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to make this easy on you. This isn’t about doing this “the right way”; it’s about doing something, anything. We get so caught up in having the right plan that we get burned out before we even start.

 I don’t want to overwhelm you with talk of wheat grinders or dry-pack canning. I want you to get your three month supply of food and water. We’re going to do it through baby steps. Just one item per week. You can decide how much you want to get. It probably depends on your budget, your family size and your physical storage capabilities (those in a tiny apartment won’t be able to store as much as those who have a sprawling basement. If you have one of those I’m terribly jealous.)  Again, I don’t want to hear excuses. You can find a spot somewhere to stick some extra cans of food.

I don’t want this to turn into some sort of mania to buy your items at the lowest price. Price comparisons are not what we’re about. I want this to be easy and I want this to be do-able. That means buying a little extra whenever you go to the grocery store. I know you go to the grocery store every week. If you’re like me you go every other day because you’re too forgetful and disorganized to get everything in one trip.

This is the most important thing: Don’t save up items to buy during your monthly Costco trip or put things off for another time. Just buy what you need now. Get it done. That’s the name of the game. Yes, the lady at the grocery store is going to give you a weird look when you unload a mountain of canned soup at the checkout. Just tell her you’re stockpiling for the apocalypse and see if she laughs.

Every week I’ll give a little explanation about the item we’re going to stock up on and the quantities I recommend. (Again, it’s your decision. Every little bit helps, though. Something is better than nothing.) Then I’ll list the items over to the right on the sidebar, just in case you’re behind and need to catch up.

I’d love to hear your success stories! Even if you just want to post a comment saying that you’ve gotten your items for the week. It’s so great to encourage each other.

This week’s item is

Peanut Butter

Peanut butter is such a great food. Just about everybody likes it (apologies if you’re allergic. Feel free to substitute almond butter or sunflower butter) and it’s very filling. It doesn’t require heating or refrigeration which makes it particularly great in an emergency situation. My family eats a ton of peanut butter and we go through about 1 large jar every two weeks. That would mean we need 6 or 7 jars for three months. That’s just about one jar per person. So use that as your guideline. Get one jar per person in your family.

12 thoughts on “Get Prepared, My Friends!

  1. Headed to Costco on Thursday, so six jars of peanut butter will be in my cart! I’m so thrilled you are doing this again. Please feel free to call me out every so often to make sure I’m getting each and every item each week. I need accountability!

  2. I know a family that keeps their food storage under their beds. I shouldn’t say under their beds, actually. The food storage IS the bed; they keep it all in Rubber Maid bins and then put the mattress on top, and since they live in a four bedroom house, they have a pretty substantial stockpile.

    1. We have food storage under all the beds too. We have bed frames, though! We haven’t got a basement so we’ve had to be really creative about where we keep things. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!

  3. Okay…I really need to play along this year! I already bought a couple extra Costco sized jars the last time I was there, so I am halfway there!

  4. Totally doing this. Putting peanut butter on the list now. My husband is going to flip out when he realizes I’m stockpiling one of his least favorite foods in the entire world (the man is Australian, land of no peanut butter but yes to Vegemite, which is one of MY least favorite foods in the entire world), but maybe if he’s starving, he wouldn’t care 😉 Thanks!!

  5. How long does peanut butter stay safely edible? Do you throw it away and refresh your stash from time to time? Also, due to hurricanes or fire or ? Ice storm ? How long has any one in the US (and specifically in Austin) in modern times had to rely on stocked food at home? That might be a starting point. Cause if something really bad goes down your food is only as good as long as you are protected.

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