Last friday I had several guests from AlphaRubicon on my show to discuss the basics of preparation. This friday I will have 1 and possibly 2 more from there to discuss food storage. What to store, how much to store, how to rotate it so you are using it before it's expires or goes bad. Osage, one of last fridays guests will be back. He is a military combat medic and he is very knowledgable about food storage in particular and many other subjects as well.
And Remember the lovely young lady on my show? That was Pied Piper, or Piper as I usually call her. She has been living a prepared lifestyle for at least the 6 years I've known her. As she said on the show, when a fire threatened her home, she had a plan in place to get herself, her pets and her preparations out of the fires way. Well she sent me some E-mails which she has graciously given me permission to post here.
No worries – happy to do it. I’ve been prepping all my life – grew up in Hurricane Alley, but really got big time after sitting through Andrew at ground zero. That was a real eye opener to me. You have that hurricane outline, so even if you don’t need me, feel free to use information from there. And you might consider telling people to visit ready.gov, but tell them you recommend they treat it as a ‘bare minimum’ set of recommendations.
Piper
Will do. I've found the ready.gov sites recommendation to be the "lite" version of preparedness.
Mark
It’s definitely insufficient. But mention it for a couple of reasons.
It at least gives people an undaunting target – they’re more likely to start if the task seems small. They’re more likely to finish if it doesn’t take too much time and money.
It shows them this isn’t the fringe. This is mainstream. Even the government is pushing it.
You can even focus on the ready.gov ‘plan’ and build on it. SO you tell your people “we’re going to start with a 3-day supply.” That has to be 3 days of everything beyond what they need for the next 3 days. Then go to the 2-week plan. That’s really bare minimum, and many people have found they’re without power for a lot longer – i.e. ice storm victims.
Then you can build on that.
I love the idea you’re doing food next, because that would give your listeners a schedule. “By next week, let’s plan to have that 3-day supply. Next week, we’re going to add 3 more days, then 3 more the following week, then 3 more our last week of these preparedness discussions. The week after that, when I get on the radio, you should have that 2-week supply in your home.
That gives them a roadmap and ‘deadlines’ they shouldn’t find too hard to meet. Of course, you’ll only have maybe a handful of participants. They might be onboard with a 2-week supply already. So you can add, “for those who already have supplies good for 2 weeks to 5 months, your goal should be to build up to 6 months of supplies. So use our schedule to do that.”
You want to emphasize eat what you store and store what you eat. Emphasize it’s a good opportunity to get to know ingredients and a bit of nutrition, too. When you combine grains and legumes (beans), you get almost all the amino acids (proteins) you need. They actually substitute for meat, and they’ll stay good, on the shelf, pretty much our lifetimes.
Have fun with it.
Oh and can I post your e-mail edited of course on my blog, to explain some of what we are trying to accomplish?
Mark
Mark, sure, you can edit and use what's in the email. Check ready.gov to be sure exactly what the gov is recommending (I think it's 2 weeks but can't swear to it). Then use it as a springboard (gov is mainstream, not some weirdo survivalism) and go from there. You might cite the midwest ice storm power outage, Katrina, etc. if you want reasons why folks should do this, but you also could mention how food prices are going up. I did comment, last Friday, that I earned something like a 40% rate of return on some of my food. You just cite the increase in price of rice over last year and invite people to look at other prices on the shelves. Had they stocked it early last year, they could be eating at last year's prices for a while longer.
Then do your challenge. 3 days of supplies each week (but tell them if they can't handle that, then do the same schedule with one day of supplies each week, or even one day extra supplies each two weeks. Just making progress adding things is the goal, but the more they can do, the better off they area. Forgo eating out. Make your lunch instead of buying it near the workplace. Drop the cigarettes or that cup of coffee each morning at 7-11 or Starbucks. Lots of ways to cut out $10 or $20 a week in expenses. Use that for preps. $10 a week can buy a lot!
So as you can see preparedness ISN'T some weird thing certain people do. During and after the Great Depression almost everyone lived a prepared lifestyle. They had too. Food was scarce fuel when it was available was rationed. Unemployment was at astonomical levels. There were no jobs to be had, the banks made no loans. If you wanted to eat you had to grow it and store it yourself. Well, through technology we have a much easier way of storing foods without having to grow it ourselves. And it is very easy to start. It isn't a ginormous gargantuan task. Every week when you go to the store just buy a few extra cans of what you are already eating. Take the new foods you have bought and put them at the back of your pantry bringing what you already have to the front. There you have just rotated your food. The kids and I do this every time we go to the store. It's a bit more difficult with my deep freezer, having to take everything out and put the newest stuff on the bottom, but at the same time it gives me a running inventory of what I already have and what I need to get. Just keep adding to your supplies every time you go to the store, and look for sales on stuff you use all the time. I was able to get canned corn and canned gren beans on sale with a good case price which was more than 15 cents a can cheaper. Well with 7 kids plus myself I bought several cases of both. Those bean and corn now? Instead of the .47 cents a can I paid for it back when it was on sale it's now .89 cents a can, that's .42 cents a can more, almost 100% more than I paid for it. So preparing can also save you $$$$$, in addition to making sure if something happens your family will not go hungry.
This friday on my show I will be asking for volunteers from you my readers and listeners. I want you to take up the challenge I am going to give you. Here it is.....
Starting from where you are now, try to get at least 3 days to 1 weeks worth of food in your pantry. this is in adition to the food you already have. And every week try to add 1 or 2 more days worth to it. Watch for sales and use coupons. Buy from the small discount supermarket such as Aldi's, Save-A-Lot, Sav-Mor and others. Many people don't like to shop at these store because they don't have a butcher, or they ___________ isnert your own description. These stores have excellent deals on canned goods. Sometimes you can get them 3 or 4 for a dollar. Vegetables, soups, stews, chili, pasta. Just because they are a discount store and don't have name brand merchandise doens't mean the quality of the food is poor. Most of the no-name stuff is packaged on the line right next to the name brand stuff, but it doesn't have the really nice printed label and super shiny can. Don't let appearances deprive you of a resource which can help you prepare. So start out with 3 to 7 days worth of food. Take a picture of your pantry before you start, and e-mail it to me. Then start stocking up. When you get 3-7 days worth, take another picture and e-mail it to me. Then keep adding on to your stocks. I will post every picture that is sent to me here on the blog along with your name to help give you some incentive. Come on what do you have to lose?
And remember this friday at 11:00 P.M. Central Standard Time, Osage and maybe 1 other Member of the Rubicon will be on my show to discuss food storage, so you can ask questions you may have.
Mark
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