Beginning Steps

Good Morning Everyone,

I thought today I'd get back to where we left off and continue with some of the basics on prepping. Before I got off task, we went over some of the most common reasons to prepare - the what if scenario way of thinking, not in the negative way we use it when we worry about a problem, but in a positive way, before things happen, that can help us keep our live running smoother.

One thing all emergency scenarios have in common is the need for food, water and shelter. Whether it's a total collapse of the world economy, your house is destroyed by an earthquake or tornado or you suffer a loss of a job, we need shelter, food and water to survive. Food is one of the easiest things to build up in surplus for emergencies.

 Take a few minutes here and check your pantry.  Do a quick inventory. How many days worth of food do you think are there?  7?  14?  So many people have fewer and a week's worth of non-perishables on hand by the end of the week.

Disaster preparedness doesn't mean MRE's, rice, and beans. Surely those things would get you through in an emergency, but you unless you normally cook with a lot of rice and beans, you probably wouldn't be very happy. However, if you store things that you would normally eat, you would be a lot happier. Whatever you like on a regular basis is what you should be stocking up on. Rice and beans are inexpensive, but unless you learn to fix them in ways you enjoy, they are not your best choice.


I know several people who have lost jobs since the economic downturn. I've had times where ends just didn't meet and having extra food stored in the pantry was a great source of comfort. Just knowing that you don't have to worry about feeding your family takes a lot of stress off a person when things are tight. There's a reason why when you ask someone why they hang on to a job they hate, their response is usually something to this effect. " I have to keep a roof over our head and food on the table." 

Jack Spirko at The Survival Podcast puts it this way, "Store what you eat and eat what you store".  Anyone who has been in charge of inventory at a business will be familiar with the concept of rotating stock. In other words, the oldest of any item is at the front of the shelf, and the newest is at the back. Stock is used from the front, the older is brought forward and the new replacement stock is put at the back. We should treat our pantry in the same fashion.

But how do we start increasing the amount of food we have on hand without breaking the bank?  Since many of us are on tight budgets or fixed incomes, start small.  Buy one or two extra of something you use all the time that doesn't require refrigeration. 

This is called "copy canning". Do it each week. It won't take as long as you think to start building up some extra stores in the pantry. When the cupboard gets full, start putting the "copied" items in  a plastic tub or bucket covered with a lid and stored in a closet. 

If you're like me, not very organized in your shopping list, try for one week making a list each time you use something out of the cupboard. Then when you go to the store, and replace those items, use that list to pick the one or two items you are going to buy extras of.  

Even if nothing ever goes wrong, you'll be surprised how convenient it is to have a few extras on hand. It can save you extra trips to the store when you're in the middle of making dinner and discover you're out of one of the ingredients. 

This is a pretty simplistic way of describing how to build up your stores. But it's just a start. Give it a try and let me know how you do.

Well, that's about all for today. So till next time, keep prepping because what you do matters, and remember, "Just 'cause there's snow on the rooftop, doesn't mean there ain't a fire in the fireplace."