I can not stress enough how important I think it is that all my friends keep a supply of emergency food. Some of you think I'm a kook, and that's ok. I just want you to know that my grandparents, living in peaceful, prosperous Netherlands, never expected they'd be eating tulip bulbs and Grampa's pet pigeons. This is exactly what happened in the Winter of 1944 when the supply trains to Amsterdam were cut off. People were eating their cats, dogs and leather shoes. Just you think about that when you are laughing at me (and don't come knocking on my door when you are hungry either; I will tell you "I told you so" ;) ) I will not go into how dire I think things might get in "peaceful", "prosperous" America in the current political climate, I just know that this:
is a place I never want to find myself in. Thus, I store food.
All of us survivalist folks have our own preferences and ways of doing things. I divide my food storage into four categories.
Category One are foods that have a good shelf life and are things that you buy in every day stores and would use in every day situations. Things like Pilot Bread, canned goods, pickled veg, milk powder etc. Look for a case lot sale or a good deal and buy some extra every time you find a deal. These foods come in handy when you live on an island like I do, and some drastic weather prevents the grocery barge from coming in for a week or two. Or if something drastic happens "Down South" and Alaska has supply problems for a short while. Or, if you are like me, and you forget to take out your week's worth of meat from your meat freezer and find yourself with two organic leeks and a bag of organic peppers on a Saturday morning and need to fix lunch! (For someone who is into "preparedness", I sure am a scatterbrain!). No worries, because I had my Category One foods to the rescue! Two leeks and a bag of peppers turned into a beautiful Southwest vegetable soup.
(Two leeks, a bag of peppers, 1 can tomato puree, 1 can pinto beans, 1 can kidney beans, 1 can corn, spices & salt. Served with Pilot Bread, of course)
The good thing about my occasional lapse of meal planning, is that I get to practice using my Category One food stash supplies to make something tasty with minimal fresh additions. This way, when the SHTF, I know I can make a tasty meal without getting frazzled about it.
Category Two foods are for the more serious scenario. This is where we get into the Mormon-style tubs of grain berries, buckets of honey (honey; the miracle food that never goes bad! Did you know honey found in ancient Egyptian tombs is still good?), and mylar sealed bags of freeze dried goods. Store at least a year's worth of this type of food for your family. There are many different choices of where to get your Category Two supplies. I happen to like
AAOOB Unless you are rich and can buy whatever you want, stick with your basics first. Don't be distracted by all the shiny, dehydrated "taco bits" and such. You can always add those later. And if you get in the habit of baking your own bread with grain that you have ground yourself, you will find that buying grain berries is much cheaper and when the SHTF, using your grain mill will be no big deal, because you already do that.
Category Three foods are your renewable food sources. Seeds for gardening, things that are alive and breed more things that are alive (chickens, bunnies etc.) I am sadly not very strong in this department, because of my current residential situation. I keep hens for eggs and I have a seed stash for my garden. That's about all I can do in my current location. Buy seeds from an organic, heirloom seed company. Again, there are many to choose from. I am also drying and storing seeds from the organic vegetables I grow and get in my CSA box. There are so many opinions about how to dry and store seeds from vegetables. All I have to say about it, is that many ancient cultures stored seeds without any fancy technology or freezers and refrigerators. I am experimenting with storing my dried seeds in different types of containers and, since I plan to use them all next year in the garden anyway, am not too concerned about long-term storage. Again, if you live a lifestyle in which you grow foods and store seeds for the next year ahead, none of this will be a big deal if it becomes a necessity. I am trying glass jars and cleaned dry containers for things like baby formula. I most certainly will post the germination results come Spring. I just am leery about freezing seeds for vegetables that normally grow in areas where it never freezes. Crazy, right!?
So, Category Four is a special category. These are your PMA foods (Positive Mental Attitude). I store things like Kool Aid, candy, cocoa powder, alphabet soup noodles. Basically anything that will keep and that will make you happy when things are gloomy. Yes, I know Kool Aid is crap and is not really food, but do not underestimate the importance of these little treats. When everything is topsy turvy, my kids will still smile over a glass of Kool Aid when the kids down the street are drinking plain water. A Positive Mental Attitude is the most important tool in any survival situation. Without one, you are as good as dead. So store things that make you happy! Twinkies, peeps; whatever junk makes you smile. You will miss them when they are gone ;) Also, this is an excellent way to make all that Halloween candy "disappear"; put it in your food storage for a crappy day when you can't just run to the store for a Twinkie.
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