Food Stocking Up
This is something that I completely agree with. You should have food in your homes. FEMA says that you should have at least 3 days. But when you look at all of the disasters it should be closer to 1 week. I prefer a much longer time frame. If food supplies were to be disrupted, even like they were in Louisiana, then you might just starve if all you can do is heat up a can of something. I remember a few years ago, middle of summer, we had a huge power outage. It lasted for almost a week. Grim and I were curious, as how the other half lived. We headed out to one of the grocery stores that was still running on generators. Honestly, it was the saddest thing I had ever seen. People were walking around with microwavable dinners and dried beans, as there was nothing left. No power to turn on the microwave and no idea of what to do with the beans.
I didn’t cover this in the cooking section but I will mention it here. Please if your going to store something, make sure you know how to cook it and if your family will eat it. Can you imagine being in a crisis (though enough), but to make matters worse you can’t figure out how to cook the bean and then no one will eat. Or they do eat it and end up with tummy troubles. So if your family won’t eat tuna now what makes you think that they will eat the 300 cans you got on sale when there is an emergency?
Another point Wendy Brown makes is that if your family is only use to eating highly processed foods, what are they going to eat when that runs out? Your going to have to think local, local…. LOCAL! Go to the famers markets and see what they have….. Fruits, Vegetables, Honey, Herbs, Spices, Fermented items, possibly dairy and eggs. If your really lucky they will also have meat and fish. These lines of commerce should continue. So if your unfamiliar with how to store and eat something now is the time to find out. And now is the time to introduce it to your family.
Simply put, if the trucks stop running, your going to eat things you never thought you would eat. Better to be prepared now.
Need to Do or Get
- Need more 5 gallon buckets
- Need more glass jars
- Need to get more local honey
- Need to find a better supply of eggs
Yart
3 comments:
Learning to cook out of doors, either on a camp stove [best 50 bucks we ever spent. Propane is 2 bucks per canister] a charcol grill or wood fire are great skills to have for power outages.
As much as I love the farmer's market, depending on the time of year for a disaster and how some crops here have been decimated due to floods this year [just one example] I wouldn't hold out hope that they would be up and running. At least here.
Since we have already managed quite a few of these in the past 40 years - some lasting 9 days or more - I don't worry too much. I certainly don't rush out at the first hint of a major snow storm or flooding conditions. We're fine and I know we will be for some time.
Disasters like Katrina are a different thing altogether tho' - the need to evacuate trumps staying and utilizing all your goods stored.
Living so close to DC if we get hit by something [nuclear war?] what we have saved is going to make a lick of difference.
That should say "isn't" going to make a lick of difference.
Wendy and I try to go to the farmers market as often as we can. We have developed a relationship with these people ... they know us and we know them.
In addition to eating locally, one might think about eating seasonally. This includes not only eating the food fresh, but preserving it as it is in season.
We also try to raise as much of our own food as possible. This is pretty tough on 1/4 acre, but ... we raise all of our own meat chickens, all of our own eggs, and all of our own maple syrup (4 gallons this year). We also raise a garden for fresh produce and have worked to increase our foraging knowledge.
You are absolutely correct about cooking the food. We have also been learning to cook over open fire ... perhpas the most reliable source of cooking (art least in my area).
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